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OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and cyberchondria and to find out the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity in this relationship. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2021 to January 2022 at Bahauddin Zakariyya University, Multan, Pakistan. Participants ranging in age from 18 to 55 years were selected through purposive sampling techniques from different cities of Southern Punjab. Participants who actively use social mediums for online information-seeking of disease-related symptoms were included in the study and participants who confirmed having a physical or psychological health condition were excluded. Cyberchondria, anxiety sensitivity index-3, and intolerance of uncertainty scale were used for measurement. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Out of 413 participants, 148 (42%) were males and 265 (64.2%) were females. Majority (n=188/413; 45.6%) spent >5 hours on net. Main symptoms searched on internet were psychological (n=61; 14.8%), Physiological (n=175; 42.4%) and both (n=177; 42.8%). Correlation metrics showed that intolerance of uncertainty has a moderate positive correlation with anxiety sensitivity (r=0.59) and cyberchondria (r =-0.41). Similarly, anxiety sensitivity is also positively correlated with cyberchondria (r=0.38). Results further revealed that intolerance of uncertainty has a significant impact on cyberchondria (β=0.48, R2=0.30). Anxiety sensitivity significantly mediates the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and cyberchondria among the general population (β=0.64, R2=0.41) (β=0.25, R2=0.26). CONCLUSION: A significant positive relation exists between intolerance of uncertainty, cyberchondria, and anxiety sensitivity. Intolerance of uncertainty significantly impacts cyberchondria. Anxiety sensitivity significantly mediates the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and cyberchondria.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the demographic differences on caregiver burden, hopelessness, and psychological distress among caregivers of psychiatric patients. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad and Nishtar Hospital Multan, Pakistan in eight months from 10th April 2019 to 20th November 2019. Purposive sampling technique was used to include 240 caregivers of different age of Psychiatric patients (with different duration of illness and type of illness) which were assessed on Burden Scale for Family Caregivers, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Beck Hopelessness Scale. RESULTS: Out of 240 participants, 124 (51.6%) were females and 116 (48.3%) were males, ranging in age from 18 to 45 years. Results disclosed that age group 36-45 years showed significant mean difference on psychological distress and age group 18-35 years showed significant difference on hopelessness at p

OBJECTIVES: 1: To investigate the relationship among dispositional optimism, psychological resilience, coping strategies and quality of life (QoL) among burn survivors, 2: To find out the impact of dispositional optimism and coping on QoL among burn survivors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Burn Unit of Pakistan Institute of Medical sciences (PIMS) Islamabad, Pakistan. Two hundred and thirty post-burn survivors, ranging in age from 18 to 64 years were selected using purposive sampling technique. Dispositional optimism scale, psychological resilience scale, QoL scale and coping strategies scales were used to measure variables. RESULTS: Out of 230 patients 123 (53.5%) were males and 107 (46.5%) were females. About 54.3% (n=125) were married. Majority (n=126; 54.8%) had flame burn. Duration of burns was up to two months in 70.9% (n=163) cases. Results revealed highly significant positive correlations between psychological resilience and dispositional optimism (r=0.807), problem-focused coping (r=0.724) and supportive coping (r=0.598) but significantly negative correlation with emotion focused coping (r= -0.559) while emotion focused coping is negatively correlated with mental QoL (r=-0.378) and supportive coping (r=-0.138). Multiple regression analysis revealed that dispositional optimism, problem-focused and supportive coping have significant impact upon the QoL (p

The current study was conducted to explore emotional climate, work stress and occupational cognitive failure among doctors. The sample of 150 doctors was selected from two cities i.e. Jhang and Faisalabad. Emotional climate was measured by Emotional climate scale by Yurtsever& De Rivera (2010), for work stress, Work Place Stress Scale by American institute of stress and adapted by Fatima Chohan (2013) was used. Occupational Cognitive Failure was measured by occupational cognitive failure questionnaire by Allahyari, Rangi, Khosravi and Zayeri (2011). The data was analyzed by administering t-test, correlation and regression analysis. Results revealed that Emotional climate, work stress and cognitive failure are significantly positively correlated. No significant difference between male and female, rural and urban, government and private doctors on the level of emotional climate, work stress and occupational cognitive failure was found. Significant difference between nuclear and joint family doctors on the level of work stress was found. Doctors from nuclear family system showed higher level of work stress as compared to Joint family doctors. Emotional climate, work stress and demographic variables are predictors which collectively and significantly contributed to occupational cognitive failure.

Education is the basic right of every child. However, there are many barriers to education for children with special needs. These special needs are due to their physical or physiological make up and are the reason they often feel desolated, mostly due to the lack of educational facilities required to fulfill those needs that should be available for all. This conceptual paper attempts to outline the term ‘inclusive education’ in terms of the democratic principles established by the international community. The paper also attempts to discuss Pakistan’s progress in adopting inclusive education by analyzing the current institutional framework of the education sector and infrastructure constraints in mainstream schools. Various case studies about educational centers in Pakistan’s urban hubs have been analyzed also to learn more about the impediments in this regard. Moreover, data has been collected from 25 districts of Punjab to learn about the current status of public schools and to know whether or not they have been transformed into inclusive schools. Findings show that building design is a major barrier among other challenges. Building layout of an inclusive school has been presented as a model for making existing schools more inclusive for students with various disabilities, so that benefits of inclusion are drawn not only by the disabled but also by mainstream students.

Cognitive styles are the thinking patterns that greatly influence our day to day activities. People may adopt specific learning styles to the way they want to act. Creativity is an important aspect and a great requirement of now a day’s organization because competition is so enhanced that it is an important aspectto be a part of market. So there is a need to explore what types of learning styles and cognitive styles will help the employees to be creative. The key variables of this study were Cognitive styles (CS), Learning styles (LS) and Employee Creativity (EC). The main purpose was to study cognitive styles as a moderator in relationship of learning styles and employee creativity; and to explore these variables further. Descriptive research design was used and data was collected from 450 employees in different sectors(public and private) through convenient sampling from banks, insurance and telecommunication sectors of Multan. Participants responded to cognitive style inventory (CS; Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen, and Westney, 1997), Learning Style Questionnaire (LS; O Brein 1985), and Employee Creativity Questionnaire (EC; Tierney et al. in 1999)in order to study the target variables. Descriptive statistics and reliability of scales was calculated. One way ANOVA, t-test was calculated by using SPSS. To check moderation, Partial least square structural Equation modeling (smart PLS) were used. Cognitive styles had significant moderating effect on learning styles and employee creativity. Limitations and suggestions are discussed.

Adolescence is a very crucial stage of development. In order to determine the effect of perceived parenting styles on disruptive behavior, this study was planned to conduct among adolescents. The sample consisted of 120 adolescents who were taken from Multan City by using Purposive sampling technique. Parenting styles scale developed by Jody Powell (1990) and Beck Disruptive Behavior Inventory developed by Beck (2005) were used to assess perceived parenting styles and disruptive behavior respectively. The results indicated that there was a negative correlation between parenting styles and disruptive behavior. Results also showing the significant difference among male and female adolescence disruptive behavior and also defined that there is no significant difference in disruptive behavior among rural and urban adolescence. More studies should be conducted on this issue because it is important to enhance the positive child rearing practices in order to avoid problems in later life.

The Study has been conducted to explore the relationship between mindfulness and depressive symptoms with mediating variable of Self-Compassion. The Objective of this study determines how mindfulness predicts depressive symptoms by taking account of self-compassion. The sample of three hundred and fifty 350 students was taken from Bahudin Zakriya university, Multan (Punjab, Pakistan). The results revealed that mindfulness and self-compassion have significant negative correlation with depressive symptoms. Moreover, self- compassion has strongly predicted depressive symptoms than mindfulness through multiple regression analysis and it has more mediating effect than mindfulness through mediation analysis. t- test and ANOVA shows that statistical difference found on depressive symptoms regarding age and education.

This study was designed to estimate the relationship of peer victimization, psychological distress and self-esteem among teenagers. The sample consisted of 233 teenager’s age range from 11 to 20 years. Data was collected from Kot Addu and Multan District. Convenient Sampling method was used to collect the data. Illinois Bully scale developed by (Espelage, D. L. & Holt, 2001) consisted of 18 items was used to check the rate of Peer Victimization. A 20 item state Self Esteem scale developed by (Heatherton, T. F. & Polivy, 1991) was taken to check the level of self-esteem among teenagers. Another 10 item Kessler psychological Distress scale (K10) developed by (Kessler & Mroczek, 1992) was used to check the level of distress among teenagers. The results were analyzed through SPSS. The findings of the study show that peer victimization leads to psychological distress and victimized teenagers have low level of self-esteem. It was also found that rate of peer victimization is high among school going teenagers as compared to college or university. Result further exposed that there is no significance difference in peer victimization on the basis of demographic variables like age group, gender, parent’s qualification, no of siblings and family system.

Self-efficacy is the person’s complete belief on his or her abilities that he or she succeeds in a specific situation. Different activities covered by Personal growth which develop aptitudes, improve identity and boost our quality of life. The present study was intended to explore the impact of self-efficacy on personal growth among distance learners. It was deeply focused on new emerging trend of distance learning in Pakistan. Data was collected through simple random sampling from participants (males and females) aged 20-32. For the purpose of data collection two scales were used in this research i.e., Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS -II; Robitschek, Ashton, Spering, Geiger, Byers, Schotts, & Thoen, 2012) and Self Efficacy scale (Schwarzer &Jerusalem,2000). Analysis of the data revealed that there is a significant impact of self-efficacy on personal growth. No gender differences were found on personal growth Initiative and self-efficacy. The findings conclude that the present study will be fruitful in uplifting the society’s emerging trend of distance learning and to provide quality education to the door step of every member of the society.

Purpose: An extensive pressure arose by work environment or by family environment resulted as work-family conflict. Occurrences of such conflicts are observed when employees experienced interference of work to family and family to work. Keeping the literature available on effects of work-family conflict in relationship to job satisfaction and marital adjustment, this study was designed to investigate the mediating role played by work family conflict between the relationship of job satisfaction and marital adjustment among paramedical staff. Another aim of this study was to explore the relationship among three variables. Furthermore, it was aimed to find out if there are any differences on gender or other demographical variables. A sample of 100 employees was taken from Jhang and Faisalabad city. Instruments for measuring Work family developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996), job satisfaction developed by Paul E. Spector, (1994), and adapted and translated by Shazad, (2011) were used. Dyadic adjustment scale developed by Spanier, (1976) and adapted and translated into Urdu by Naseer (2000) were also used. Results revealed positive correlation between work to family and family to work conflict, while negative with marital adjustment and job satisfaction. The regression analysis showed Job satisfaction contributed 29% and family to work contributed 27% in predicting marital adjustment. Significant gender differences were found. The results of partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) found significant mediating role of work to family conflict and family to work conflict.

Modern communication technologies have become a very essential part of our lives, especially smartphones (Salehan & Negahban, 2013). Present study explored the effects of fear of separation from the smartphone on university students. The sample comprised of three hundred students of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan with age range of 18-30 years. The purpose of this present study was to explore the existence of nomophobia among smartphone users. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate effect of smartphone separation causes anxiety. An experimental research design was used and participants were randomly assigned to two conditions. Two measures were used in the study they included, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) developed by Spielberger, (1983) and nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) developed by Yildirim ( 2015). Results revealed that 68% of the students experienced moderate level of nomophobia and the level of anxiety gradually increased with increase in duration of separation from phone. One- way analysis of variance found significant difference on different levels of anxiety in experimental group I and experimental group II. No significant gender differences were found for state anxiety and nomophobia. It is concluded from the findings of the study that excessive use and dependence on smartphones does cause anxiety and feeling of restlessness in the absence of smartphone.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel usually produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. This study investigates the extraction of oil and its conversion into biodiesel by base-catalyzed transesterification. Firstly, the effect of various solvents (methanol, n-hexane, chloroform, di-ethyl ether) on extraction of oil from non-edible crops, such as R. communis and M. azedarach, were examined. It was observed that a higher concentration of oil was obtained from R. communis (43.6%) as compared to M. azedarach (35.6%) by using methanol and n-hexane, respectively. The extracted oils were subjected to NaOH (1%) catalyzed transesterification by analyzing the effect of oil/methanol molar ratio (1:4, 1:6, 1:8 and 1:10) and varying temperature (20, 40, 60 and 80 °C) for 2.5 h of reaction time. M. azedarach yielded 88% and R. communis yielded 93% biodiesel in 1:6 and 1:8 molar concentrations at ambient temperature whereas, 60 °C was selected as an optimum temperature, giving 90% (M. azedarach) and 94% (R. communis) biodiesel. The extracted oil and biodiesel were characterized for various parameters and most of the properties fulfilled the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard biodiesel. The further characterization of fatty acids was done by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) and oleic acid was found to be dominant in M. azedarach (61.5%) and R. communis contained ricinoleic acid (75.53%). Furthermore, the functional groups were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The results suggested that both of the oils are easily available and can be used for commercial biodiesel production at a cost-effective scale.

Background: Hysterectomy is the major procedure performed abdominally/vaginally. Uterovaginal (UV) prolapse is preventable but still common indication for Vaginal Hysterectomy (VH). The aim of this study was to compare different aspects of abdominal and vaginal approach to hysterectomy and to find out frequency of prolapse. Material & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at DHQ Teaching Hospital, D.I.Khan. The study was conducted from January 2013 to December 2014. Sampling technique was purposive sampling. Sample size was 123. Information regarding socio-demographic characteristics was noted. Indication for surgery, type of hysterectomy and post-operative morbidity and mortality were our research variables. In patients with UV prolapse information about place of delivery and person who conducted delivery was also recorded. Data collecting tools were charts/ register. Data was analyzed by using percentage and frequency using SPSS. Results: Within study period total gynecological admissions were 1693. 185 (11%) were major surgeries. 123 (66%) were hysterectomies. Average age was 50 years in VH and 52.5 years in Total Abdominal Hysterectomy (TAH). The mean parity was 9 in VH and 4 in TAH, 48 (92%) Patients of VH were illiterate. While in TAH 30 (42.2%) patients were illiterate.. Among indications prolapse was responsible for 44% of total hysterectomies and it was only indication for VH. Complication rate of VH was 5.8% and TAH was 5.6%. Conclusion: Most common indication was UV prolapse and most frequent procedure was abdominal hysterectomy. UV prolapse is associated with large family size and home deliveries. Post-operative complications rate difference was in significant in the two procedures.

Recent studies have shown that involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) can be elicited in the laboratory. Here we assessed whether the specific instructions given to participants can change the nature of the IAMs reported, in terms of both their frequency and their characteristics. People were either made or not made aware that the aim of the study was to examine IAMs. They reported mental contents either whenever they became aware of them or following a predetermined schedule. Both making people aware of the aim of the study and following a fixed schedule of interruptions increased significantly the number of IAMs reported. When aware of the aim of the study, participants reported more specific memories that had been retrieved and rehearsed more often in the past. These findings demonstrate that the number and characteristics of memories depend on the procedure used. Explanations of these effects and their implications for research on IAMs are discussed.

Hepatitis C is among the leading hepatic disorders in current period through which about 3 % world population has been anguish among them 170 million were diagnosed as persistent carriers. A great range of alteration in liver biochemical parameters were found to be allied with HCV infestation. Current study was designed to evaluate the extent of HCV mediated abnormalities in liver biochemical markers which includes ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate transaminase), ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase) and serum bilirubin. The study was conducted on coal miners of Punjab province, Pakistan. HCV was primarily diagnosed through one step rapid test device after which positive samples were confirmed through ELISA. Biochemical markers were determined through Autoanalyzer by using standard procedure provided with spinreact kits. Simple linear regression analysis significantly explained 24 %, 56.2 %, 68.8 % and 56 % variance in ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate transaminase), ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase) and serum bilirubin level among HCV positive coal mine workers respectively. Results have clearly indicated significant correlation between HCV seropositivity and liver biochemical markers. Findings of present study conclude monitoring of liver biochemical markers is crucial during HCV infectivity as it represents the degree of impairment in liver functioning. In addition to this elevation in these diagnostic markers could points toward the presence of HCV in respective individual.

For the study of heavy metals impact on human beings, areas in Sargodha city that were supplied with various types of fertilizers were chosen. The three industrial areas; (Bhalwal, Sillanwali, and Sahiwal) of this city were explored for research reasons. The researchers wanted to know how much heavy metal was in the soil, food crops, and human. Excess fertilizer use contributes to global pollution. Farmyard manure, urea, and potassium chloride were used on Site 1; urea phosphate, manure, and ammonium sulphate were used on Site 2; and super phosphate, ammonium phosphate, and nitrate phosphate were used on Site 3. Samples of commonly used food crops, their respective soils and blood of residents who ingested the food crops of the studied area were collected. The zinc and lead levels in soil (8.30-16.80 and 1.80-12.71 mg/kg) and food crops (0.26-2.02 and 2.26-4.70 mg/kg) were far lower than WHO permitted limits. Blood mean concentration of both Zn (2.30-4.30 mg/L) and Ni (0.24-0.70 mg/L) were found maximum in residents of Site 3. The values of pollution load index, bioconcentration factor, enrichment factor for both zinc and lead were (0.18- 0.37 a n d 0.220-0.948), (0.027-0.138 and 0.316-1.705), (0.020-0.144 and 0.515-2.780), respectively. Daily intake of metal (0.004-0.008 and 0.001-0.002 mg/kg/day) and health risk index (0.0001-0.016 and 0.005-0.115) values were observed to be lower in individuals for Zn and Pb, respectively. In present work values of all pollution indices were