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Bacteria were isolated from samples of Fresh Apple juices from shops of three different localities of Lahore. Analysis of samples from Liberty, Anarkali and Yateem khana Markets show different levels of contamination. There were pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria in all samples and were identified by the morphological and biochemical tests. Most of the plasmids of pathogenic bacteria were 4kb in their molecular size. Ribotyping of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing was done to confirm Helicobacter pylori strain and Gluconobacter oxydans. The highest sensitivity of 210mm was shown by Enterobacter sp. against Aztheromysine disk (15µg) while Micrococcus sp. was highly resistant against all of the Antibiotics applied. The antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria was also checked against Ricinus communis plant's extracts, all isolated bacterial pathogens were resistant but only, E.coli was inhibited at 300µl of the extracts. Presence of pathogenic bacteria in Apple juice samples was due to contamination of sewage water in drinking water while some of these pathogenic bacteria came from Apple's tree and other from store houses of fruits. Resumo As bactérias foram isoladas de amostras de suco de maçã fresco de lojas de três diferentes localidades de Lahore. A análise de amostras dos mercados Liberty, Anarkali e Yateem khana mostram diferentes níveis de contaminação. Havia bactérias patogênicas e não patogênicas em todas as amostras e foram identificadas pelos testes morfológicos e bioquímicos. A maioria dos plasmídeos de bactérias patogênicas tinha 4 kb em seu tamanho molecular. A ribotipagem do sequenciamento do gene do RNA ribossômico 16S foi realizada para confirmar a cepa de Helicobacter pylori e Gluconobacter oxydans. A maior sensibilidade de 210 mm foi mostrada por Enterobacter sp. contra disco de azteromisina (15µg) enquanto Micrococcus sp. foi altamente resistente a todos os antibióticos aplicados. A resistência a antibióticos de bactérias patogênicas também foi verificada contra extratos de plantas de Ricinus communis, todos os patógenos bacterianos isolados foram resistentes, mas apenas E. coli foi inibida em 300µl dos extratos. A presença de bactérias patogênicas nas amostras de suco de maçã deveu-se à contaminação da água de esgoto na água potável, enquanto algumas dessas bactérias patogênicas vieram da árvore da maçã e outras de armazéns de frutas.

A field experiment entitled “Effect of nitrogen and zinc on summer cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) under south Gujarat condition” was carried out during summer 2019 at College Farm, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat). The experiment comprising sixteen (16) treatment combinations were laid out in randomized block design with factorial concept in three replications. The treatment consisted combinations of 4 level of zinc viz., Zn0: 0 kg Zn/ha, Zn1: 2.5 kg Zn/ha, Zn2: 5.0 kg Zn/ha and Zn3: 7.5 kg Zn/ha and 4 level of nitrogen viz., N0: 0 kg N/ha, N1: 10 kg N/ha, N2: 20 kg N/ha and N2: 30 kg N/ha. An application of different levels of zinc significantly increased number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, protein content, nutrient content in seed and stover, seed and stover yield of cowpea. Similarly, plant height, number of branches/plant, protein content, nutrient content of seed and stover, number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, seed yield and stover yield were significantly increased with increasing levels of nitrogen. While, 1000 seed weight and harvest index were not significantly influenced by different levels of zinc and nitrogen. There was no significant effect of interaction between different levels of zinc and nitrogen on growth and yield attributes, yield, protein content and nutrient content in seed and stover of cowpea.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease and its actual prevalence among Pakistani blood donors is currently unknown. A cross sectional study was conducted at different district healthcare hospitals of Punjab, Pakistan with an aim to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors associated with syphilis in blood donors using immunochromatographic test (ICT) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A total (n=1200) blood samples were collected from donors aged 18-65 years. All the information regarding personal data, demographic data and risk factors was collected via structured questionnaire. On the basis of ICT and ELISA, the overall prevalence of syphilis was 3.91% among blood donors. The demographic factors positively linked with syphilis were age (P= 0.000; Odds ratio, OR= 7.18; 95% confidence interval CI= 2.816-18.295) and education status (P= 0.000; Odds ratio, OR= 12.33; 95% confidence interval CI= 3.469-43.849) of donors. Similarly among the risk factors analyzed, marital status (P= 0.012; Odds ratio OR= 2.251; 95% confidence interval CI= 1.206- 4.202) and blood transfusion history (P= 0.030; Odds ratio OR= 1.981; 95% confidence interval CI= 1.083-3.623) were also strongly associated with syphilis. We emphasized the importance of promoting preventive measures for syphilis. The syphilis diagnosis should not be based on a single test. The present study indicates that higher prevalence is alarming for blood donors in Pakistan. Stringent donor screening is highly recommended to ensure maximum safe blood transfusion.

Giant cell myocarditis is a rare, often rapidly progressive and potentially fatal, disease due to T-cell lymphocyte-mediated inflammation of the myocardium that typically affects young and middle-aged adults. Frequently, the disease course is marked by acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, intractable ventricular arrhythmias, and/or heart block. Diagnosis is often difficult due to its varied clinical presentation and overlap with other cardiovascular conditions. Although cardiac biomarkers and multimodality imaging are often used as initial diagnostic tests, endomyocardial biopsy is required for definitive diagnosis. Combination immunosuppressive therapy, along with guideline-directed medical therapy, has led to a paradigm shift in the management of giant cell myocarditis resulting in an improvement in overall and transplant-free survival. Early diagnosis and prompt management can decrease the risk of transplantation or death, which remain common in patients who present with cardiogenic shock.

Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is a homeostatic process mediated by membrane channels composed of a protein family known as connexins. Alterations to channel activity can modulate suppression or facilitation of cancer progression. These varying roles are influenced by the cancer cell genetic profile and the context-dependent mechanisms of a dynamic extracellular environment that encompasses fluctuations to nutrient availability. To better explore the effects of altered cellular metabolism on GJIC in breast cancer, we generated a derivative of the triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 optimized for growth in low-glucose. Reduced availability of glucose is commonly encountered during tumor development and leads to metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells. MDA-MB-231 low-glucose adapted cells exhibited a larger size with improved cell–cell contact and upregulation of cadherin-11. Additionally, increased protein levels of connexin 43 and greater plasma membrane localization were observed with a corresponding improvement in GJIC activity compared to the parental cell line. Since GJIC has been shown to affect cellular invasion in multiple cancer cell types, we evaluated the invasive qualities of these cells using multiple three-dimensional Matrigel growth models. Results of these experiments demonstrated a significantly more invasive phenotype. Moreover, a decrease in invasion was noted when GJIC was inhibited. Our results indicate a potential response of triple-negative breast cancer cells to reduced glucose availability that results in changes to GJIC and invasiveness. Delineation of this relationship may help elucidate mechanisms by which altered cancer cell metabolism affects GJIC and how cancer cells respond to nutrient availability in this regard. Supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s12079-020-00601-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The relationship between oil prices and metal prices has been extensively investigated. However, the tail risk, systemic risk and spillover risk of oil prices have not been investigated via extreme value theory (EVT). We use this novel approach to determine the tail risk of oil, precious metals, how much risk they pose to the financial system and to what extent a shock in oil prices spill over to other precious metals as well as from the financial system. We use long time series of daily data from 1st January 1987 to 31st December 2021 as long time series is required for the EVT. The data is based on the total return index (RI) of four precious metals including gold, platinum, palladium and silver. Our results show that the tail risk of these metals is lower during the crisis period except the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Most importantly, gold is a safer asset due to the lowest tail risk among four precious metals, indicating the claim that gold is a precious asset to mitigate the returns during market downturns and acts as a ‘safe haven’. Moreover, we also find that extreme systemic risk (tail-β) for crude oil and selected precious metals reduces during crisis period. This is also recognising the fact that these commodities act as a prospective asset for portfolio diversification to hedge against financial assets' volatility. Finally, the spillover risk among crude oil and selected precious metals varies over time, especially during the crisis period and crude oil is an important stimulator of the spillover risk for precious metals. By using our findings, financial market investors can improve their investment planning to attain the maximum advantage of portfolio diversification. Financial managers can further apply these results in forecasting to estimate future global oil market trends for improving their hedging skills and portfolio performance.

This paper examines long‐run dependence and causality between oil and precious metal (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, steel, and titanium) prices across quantiles by exploiting their time series properties with the help of novel econometric techniques. The empirical results for the period 1990–2019 indicate that oil and metal prices are nonstationary across different quantiles and that cointegration patterns differ widely across quantiles. Causality running from oil to metal prices is quantile‐dependent and differs according to the metal, whereas upward and downward movements in metal prices have no causal effect on oil prices. These results have implications for investors and policymakers in terms of portfolio and risk management decisions.

Effective implementation of artificial intelligence in behavioral healthcare delivery depends on overcoming challenges that are pronounced in this domain. Self and social stigma contribute to under-reported symptoms, and under-coding worsens ascertainment. Health disparities contribute to algorithmic bias. Lack of reliable biological and clinical markers hinders model development, and model explainability challenges impede trust among users. In this perspective, we describe these challenges and discuss design and implementation recommendations to overcome them in intelligent systems for behavioral and mental health.

Background: Metabolic syndrome over decades has undergone multiple diagnostic criteria announced by National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), WHO, International Diabetic Federation (IDF) and certain regional criteria. Recently, Soldatovic et al. have provided a mathematical model for evaluating metabolic syndrome. We aimed to compare siMS score among subjects with and without metabolic syndrome and other biochemical risks including insulin resistance. Methods: The study was conducted at PNS HAFEEZ hospital from July-2017 to Jan-2019. A comparative cross-sectional analysis was carried out among 232 subjects to evaluate siMS score among metabolic syndrome and those without metabolic syndrome. Pearson’s correlation was performed for siMS score with other anthropometric and biochemical measures. Finally ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate various biomarkers along with siMS score for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Results: Insulin resistance between subjects was higher among subjects with metabolic syndrome [Mean = 3.27 ± 4.45] than non-metabolic syndrome subjects [Mean = 2.10 ± 1.89] (p = 0.012). Differences in siMS score was higher in subjects with metabolic syndrome (Mean = 3.58 ± 0.725, N = 121) than subjects without metabolic syndrome (Mean = 2.83 ± 0.727, N = 108). AUC for various biochemical parameters was highest for sdLDL cholesterol and siMS score. Conclusion: siMS score has shown better performance than HOMAIR, sdLDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, HbA1c, and fasting plasma glucose in diagnosing metabolic syndrome.

Background Corneal blindness accounts for a significant proportion of avoidable visual impairment in developing countries. Eye donation is voluntary and awareness in undergraduate medical students being a future practitioner in any field are expected to be linked to patients during death in hospitals. Objective To assess the awareness of medical students on eye donation at Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS). Method This was a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduate medical students of KUSMS. Students' responses were recorded using a predesigned, pretested, semistructured questionnaire inquiring knowledge and attitude of eye donation, sources of information, their willingness to donate eyes as well as the reasons for donating/ not donating eyes. Result Less than half of the medical students (45.6%) were aware of eye donation only after death. Newspapers (72.2%) were the major source of information. The final year medical students were more aware (Average knowledge score = 11.56 ± 2.05) than their juniors. 80.7% of the students were willing to donate their eyes. The adjudged reasons for willingness to donate were that eye donation is a noble work and pleasure in helping a blind person while the reasons for unwillingness to donate were lack of awareness followed by family objection to eye donation. Conclusion Future medical practitioners possessed satisfactory knowledge about eye donation. Educating this cadre of human resources to sensitize them towards the need for eye donation would be a crucial step towards reducing the global burden of corneal blindness.

Vanillin is the major component which is responsible for flavor and aroma of vanilla extract and is produced by 3 ways: natural extraction from vanilla plant, chemical synthesis and from microbial transformation. Current research was aimed to study bacterial production of vanillin from native natural sources including sewage and soil from industrial areas. The main objective was vanillin bio-production by isolating bacteria from these native sources. Also to adapt methodologies to improve vanillin production by optimized fermentation media and growth conditions. 47 soil and 13 sewage samples were collected from different industrial regions of Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Kasur. 67.7% bacterial isolates produced vanillin and 32.3% were non-producers. From these 279 producers, 4 bacterial isolates selected as significant producers were; A3, A4, A7 and A10. These isolates were identified by ribotyping as A3 Pseudomonas fluorescence (KF408302), A4 Enterococcus faecium (KT356807), A7 Alcaligenes faecalis (MW422815) and A10 Bacillus subtilis (KT962919). Vanillin producers were further tested for improved production of vanillin and were grown in different fermentation media under optimized growth conditions for enhanced production of vanillin. The fermentation media (FM) were; clove oil based, rice bran waste (residues oil) based, wheat bran based and modified isoeugenol based. In FM5, FM21, FM22, FM23, FM24, FM30, FM31, FM32, FM34, FM35, FM36, and FM37, the selected 4 bacterial strains produced significant amounts of vanillin. A10 B. subtilis produced maximum amount of vanillin. This strain produced 17.3 g/L vanillin in FM36. Cost of this fermentation medium 36 was 131.5 rupees/L. This fermentation medium was modified isoeugenol based medium with 1% of isoeugenol and 2.5 g/L soybean meal. ech gene was amplified in A3 P. fluorescence using ech specific primers. As vanillin use as flavor has increased tremendously, the bioproduction of vanillin must be focused. Resumo A vanilina é o principal componente responsável pelo sabor e aroma do extrato de baunilha e é produzida de três formas: extração natural da planta da baunilha, síntese química e transformação microbiana. A pesquisa atual teve como objetivo estudar a produção bacteriana de vanilina a partir de fontes naturais nativas, incluindo esgoto e solo de áreas industriais. O objetivo principal era a bioprodução de vanilina por meio do isolamento de bactérias dessas fontes nativas. Também para adaptar metodologias para melhorar a produção de vanilina por meio de fermentação otimizada e condições de crescimento. Foram coletadas 47 amostras de solo e 13 de esgoto de diferentes regiões industriais de Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad e Kasur; 67,7% dos isolados bacterianos produziram vanilina e 32,3% eram não produtores. Desses 279 produtores, 4 isolados bacterianos selecionados como produtores significativos foram: A3, A4, A7 e A10. Esses isolados foram identificados por ribotipagem como fluorescência A3 Pseudomonas (KF408302), A4 Enterococcus faecium (KT356807), A7 Alcaligenes faecalis (MW422815) e A10 Bacillus subtilis (KT962919). Os produtores de vanilina foram posteriormente testados para produção aprimorada de vanilina e foram cultivados em diferentes meios de fermentação sob condições de crescimento otimizadas para produção aprimorada de vanilina. Os meios de fermentação (FM) foram: à base de óleo de cravo, à base de resíduos de farelo de arroz (resíduos de óleo), à base de farelo de trigo e à base de isoeugenol modificado. Em FM5, FM21, FM22, FM23, FM24, FM30, FM31, FM32, FM34, FM35, FM36 e FM37, as 4 cepas bacterianas selecionadas produziram quantidades significativas de vanilina. A10 B. subtilis produziu quantidade máxima de vanilina. Essa cepa produziu 17,3 g / L de vanilina em FM36. O custo desse meio de fermentação 36 foi de 131,5 rúpias / L. Esse meio de fermentação foi um meio à base de isoeugenol modificado com 1% de isoeugenol e 2,5 g / L de farelo de soja. O gene ech foi amplificado em A3 P. fluorescence usando primers específicos para ech. Como o uso da vanilina como sabor aumentou tremendamente, a bioprodução da vanilina deve ser focada.

Background Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is increasingly being diagnosed and treated with sometimes variable lifestyle advice and pharmacological interventions. Obesity is considered as the sole culprit and variable definitions in clinics compound the understanding of pathogenic heterogeneity of this syndrome. We evaluated the differences between various simple to calculate anthropometric indices along with some anthropometric-biochemical equations in subjects with or without PCOS. Objective To compare traditional measures like waist to hip and height ratio (WHpR and WHtR), BMI, newer markers depicting central obesity like Abdominal Volume index(AVI), Body roundness index (BRI), A Body Shape index (ABSI), Conicity index (C-index) along with biochemical-anthropometric equations like lipid Accumulation Products (LAP), Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI) and Chinese Visceral Adiposity Index (CVAI) for diagnosing PCOS as per the Rotterdam criteria Design Cross-sectional analysis Place & Study Duration Naval hospital, Islamabad from Jan- 2018 to July- 2019 Subjects and Methods From our finally evaluated 333 female subjects we initially compared the differences for the presence of hirsutism as per modified Ferrimen Gallwey scores and biochemical hyperandrogenism by measuring free androgen index (Total testosterone/SHBG x 1000. We evaluated waist circumference, BMI, WHpR, WHtR,AVI, BRI, ABSI, C-index along with biochemical-anthropometric equations like LAP, VAI and CVAI for differences in subjects diagnosed to have PCOS by Rotterdam criteria or ultrasonography alone. Results Differences in hirsutism as defined by modified FG score between subjects defined to have PCOS or otherwise as per Rotterdam defined criteria were as [(PCOS=169, Mean=17.33 + 9.05) (No PCOS=164, Mean=8.21 + 5.74), p< 0.001] and ultrasound [(PCOS=87, Mean=16.95 + 9.57) (No PCOS=246, Mean=11.38 + 8.51), p< 0.001]. Similarly, the differences in FAI between subjects defined to have PCOS or otherwise as per Rotterdam criteria and ultrasound were as [(PCOS=169, Mean=6.41 + 4.88) (No PCOS=164, Mean=2.77 + 1.79), p< 0.001] and [(PCOS=87, Mean=5.75 + 5.01) (No PCOS=246, Mean=4.22 + 3.68), p= 0.011]. Anthropometric measures and anthropometric-mathematical equations were raised in non-PCOS subjects than PCOS subjects. Lean-PCOS demonstrated lower degree of hirsutism and biochemical hyperandrogenism in comparison to obese-PCOS. Conclusion Hirsutism and free androgen indices were raised in PCOS females. Anthropometric based measurements were not different in PCOS cases and non-PCOS females. Lean-PCOS demonstrated lower degree of hirsutism and biochemical hyperandrogenism in comparison to obese-PCOS.

In this study we hypothesise that more frequent extreme negative daily equity returns result in higher tail risk, and this subsequently increases firms’ likelihood of entering financial distress. Specifically, we investigate the role of Value-at-risk and Expected Shortfall in aggravating firms’ likelihood of experiencing financial distress. Our results show that longer horizon (three- and five-year) tail risk measures contributes positively toward firms’ likelihood of experiencing financial distress. Additionally, considering the declining number of bankruptcy filings, and increasing out-of-court negotiations and debt reorganisations, we argue in favour of penalising firms for becoming sufficiently close to bankruptcy that they have questionable going-concern status. Thus, we propose a definition of financial distress contingent upon firms’ earnings, financial expenses, market value and operating cash flow.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • DCLV is a rare congenital defect. • Echocardiographic findings include a muscular ridge in the left ventricle. • Cardiac MRI can differentiate DCLV from pseudoaneurysm or aneurysm. • The structural abnormality in DCLV can act as substrate for ventricular tachycardia.

Existing theories explaining security price clustering as well as clustering in the retail deposit and mortgage markets are incompatible with the clustering in the corporate loan market. We develop a new theoretical model that the attitude of the lender toward the uncertainty about the quality of the borrower leads to the clustering of spreads. Our empirical results support our theoretical model and we find that clustering increases with the degree of uncertainty between the lender and the borrower. In contrast, clustering is less likely when the uncertainty about the quality of the borrower has been reduced through repeated access and through prior interactions of the lender and the borrower.

Alopecia areata is defined as an autoimmune disorder that results in hair loss. The latest worldwide statistics have exhibited that alopecia areata has a prevalence of 1 in 1000 and has an incidence of 2%. Machine learning techniques have demonstrated potential in different areas of dermatology and may play a significant role in classifying alopecia areata for better prediction and diagnosis. We propose a framework pertaining to the classification of healthy hairs and alopecia areata. We used 200 images of healthy hairs from the Figaro1k dataset and 68 hair images of alopecia areata from the Dermnet dataset to undergo image preprocessing including enhancement and segmentation. This was followed by feature extraction including texture, shape, and color. Two classification techniques, i.e., support vector machine (SVM) and k -nearest neighbor (KNN), are then applied to train a machine learning model with 70% of the images. The remaining image set was used for the testing phase. With a 10-fold cross-validation, the reported accuracies of SVM and KNN are 91.4% and 88.9%, respectively. Paired sample T -test showed significant differences between the two accuracies with a p < 0.001 . SVM generated higher accuracy (91.4%) as compared to KNN (88.9%). The findings of our study demonstrate potential for better prediction in the field of dermatology.

This paper makes an innovative contribution to the extant literature by analysing the determinants of economic stimulus packages implemented by governments in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. In particular, we explore whether stock market declines observed in many countries can predict the size of COVID‐19 stimulus packages. Moreover, we explore whether a country's level of income can augment the underlying relationship between stock market declines and stimulus packages. The findings reveal that a larger stock market decline results in a larger stimulus package; however, this effect is only observed in countries that have an income level greater than the mean and/or median per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, our results show that monetary policy is more responsive to a stock market decline than fiscal policy. Thus, our results underscore the importance of international donor agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in supporting less affluent countries in coping with the adverse impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on their economies.

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in patients with cancer. Management of AF in patients with cancer poses unique challenges. Long-term use of antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy lacks evidence of efficacy in this population and poses risk of drug interactions. Catheter ablation is a well-established treatment modality for AAD resistant symptomatic AF and in patients with heart failure. Nevertheless, the effectiveness and safety of catheter ablation in patients with cancer is not well established. Method We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients who underwent catheter ablation for AF, with either history of cancer (other than non-melanoma skin cancer) within 5-years prior or exposure to systemic anthracycline and/or thoracic radiation therapy at any time. Results The study included 162 patients. The mean age was 65.5 (26–84 years) years and 50% were female. Overall 133 (82%) patients had freedom from AF at 12 months following ablation. Of these 74 (54%) required post-ablation AAD, 18 (13.5%) required another ablation within the first 12 months and 9 (6.7%) required both AAD and a second ablation to maintain sinus rhythm. There were 14 adverse events (8.6%); 5 access site and 4 non-access site bleeding, 2 strokes, 2 cardiac tamponade and 1 pulmonary vein stenosis with ≈1% serious complications. Conclusion The success of catheter ablation for AF and the incidence of procedure related complications in patients with a history of recent cancer or prior exposure to cardiotoxic therapies are similar to that reported in patients without a history of cancer and hence if needed, it should be considered in select patients. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Private hospital(s). Main funding source(s): Dr. S Ganatra is supported by Lahey Physician Research Stipend Program.

Giant cell myocarditis is a rare, often rapidly progressive and potentially fatal, disease due to T-cell lymphocyte-mediated inflammation of the myocardium that typically affects young and middle-aged adults. Frequently, the disease course is marked by acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, intractable ventricular arrhythmias, and/or heart block. Diagnosis is often difficult due to its varied clinical presentation and overlap with other cardiovascular conditions. Although cardiac biomarkers and multimodality imaging are often used as initial diagnostic tests, endomyocardial biopsy is required for definitive diagnosis. Combination immunosuppressive therapy, along with guideline-directed medical therapy, has led to a paradigm shift in the management of giant cell myocarditis resulting in an improvement in overall and transplant-free survival. Early diagnosis and prompt management can decrease the risk of transplantation or death, which remain common in patients who present with cardiogenic shock.

This paper makes an innovative contribution to the literature by analyzing the determinants of the COVID-19 economic stimulus. In particular, we explore whether the stock market fall observed due to the coronavirus pandemic in many countries around the world can predict the COVID-19 stimulus package. Moreover, we explore whether the level of income can augment the underlying relationship between the stock market fall and the COVID-19 stimulus package. The findings reveal that a larger stock market fall results in a larger stimulus package; however, this effect is only observed in countries having an income level greater than the mean and/or median per capita GDP. Moreover, our results show that monetary policy is more responsive to the stock market fall as compared to fiscal policy. Thus, our results underscore the importance of international donor agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in supporting less affluent countries to cope with the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economies.

Background In recent years, mobile apps have been developed to prevent burnout, promote anxiety management, and provide health education to workers in various workplace settings. However, there remains a paucity of such apps for frontline health workers (FHWs), even though FHWs are the most susceptible to stress due to the nature of their jobs. Objective The goal of this study was to provide suggestions for designing stress management apps to address workplace stressors of FHWs based on the understanding of their needs from FHWs’ own perspectives and theories of stress. Methods A mixed methods qualitative study was conducted. Using a variety of search strings, we first collected 41 relevant web-based news articles published between December 2019 and May 2020 through the Google search engine. We then conducted a cross-sectional survey with 20 FHWs. Two researchers independently conducted qualitative analysis of all the collected data using a deductive followed by an inductive approach. Results Prevailing uncertainty and fear of contracting the infection was causing stress among FHWs. Moral injury associated with seeing patients die from lack of care and lack of experience in handling various circumstances were other sources of stress. FHWs mentioned 4 coping strategies. Quick coping strategies such as walking away from stressful situations, entertainment, and exercise were the most common ways to mitigate the impact of stress at work. Peer support and counseling services were other popular methods. Building resilience and driving oneself forward using internal motivation were also meaningful ways of overcoming stressful situations. Time constraints and limited management support prevented FHWs from engaging in stress management activities. Conclusions Our study identified stressors, coping strategies, and challenges with applying coping strategies that can guide the design of stress management apps for FHWs. Given that the pandemic is ongoing and health care crises continue, FHWs remain a vulnerable population in need of attention.

We extend the scope of monetary aggregation beyond capital certain assets that make up central bank data sets and identify groups of assets that form monetary aggregates composed of both capital certain and risky, capital uncertain, assets. We construct monetary aggregates for the US and UK using a superlative index and relax a key assumption of the Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Model (CCAPM), a one year planning horizon, by using forecasted returns on risky assets. Our new risky monetary aggregates perform well in VAR tests. We recommended exploring risky assets as providers of liquidity services in future research on this topic.

Conventional banks which once were competing with non-banking financial institutions and capital markets today face the new challenge of being reintermediated by Islamic banks. Earlier academic research has been debating over disintermediation and reintermediation of conventional banks, but consistently failed to address reintermediation through Islamic banks as a possibility. This study, however, fills the void by addressing the novel possibility of reintermediation “within” the banking sector and is the first attempt to analyze and compare Islamic and conventional banks from the perspective of reintermediated financial markets. After identifying the reintermediation trends led by Islamic banks we investigate several bank specific financial and non-financial characteristics that might have enabled Islamic banks to emerge as an important player in reintermediated financial markets. By keeping our focus on slightly modified version of CAMELS framework where ‘S’ represents “Service Quality” we find that along with better capitalization (C) and improved liquidity (L), better service quality (S) is another distinguished feature of Islamic banks that might be linked with their high degree of intermediation.

CuS nanoparticles synthesized by solid-state reaction were used to remove Mordant Orange (MO), Acridine Orange (AO), and Safranin-O (SO) from water. Average diameter, band gap and surface area of CuS nanoparticles were 50 nm, 3.2 eV and 1.52 m2/g respectively. CuS nanoparticles removed 22%, 45%, 51% SO, AO, and MO in 180 min respectively. Addition of H2O2 resulted in 100% removal of dyes in 180 min in ambient light and 75% dye removal in dark. H2O2 also increased apparent reaction rate constant (Kapp). Details of dye removal mechanism by CuS nanoparticles and enhanced dye removal due to H2O2 is provided.

This paper presents a study aimed at evaluating and comparing the performance of six different tracking systems for photovoltaic (PV) with diesel-battery hybrid system in arid climate of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study considered various technical and economic factors including system net present cost (NPC), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and PV power generation using energy analysis and microgrid design software “HOMER”. It also presents an overview of the current electricity production and demand in the Kingdom. The weather data used in this study have been collected from the new solar atlas launched by King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). The selected solar resource monitoring station for this study is located near to Riyadh city and has an annual average daily total irradiation of 6300 W/m2/day. The study shows that, for stand-alone PV system in the vicinity of Riyadh city, tracking system is economically better than fixed angle system. Among the considered tracking systems, VCA system is the most preferable as it has low NPC and LCOE values with a high return on investment (ROI) as well as low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to a high renewable energy penetration.

We investigate the impact of cultural dimension on energy poverty—a topic hitherto overlooked in the literature—employing panel fixed effects, logistic, and heteroskedasticity identified endogenous variable regression estimators. The panel framework incorporates 103 countries over a period of 1971–2018. Using five different proxies representing the cultural dimensions and other demographic and macroeconomic control variables, the empirical analyses reveal that power distance and masculinity (as opposed to femininity) worsen the conditions of energy poverty while individualism (as opposed to collectivism) and long/short-term orientation (i.e., pragmatism vs. traditionalism/conservatism) tend to lessen the probability of energy deprivation. We find the effect of uncertainty avoidance on energy poverty ambiguous. Our research findings have profound policy implications in reducing not just energy poverty but also eradicating poverty in general. In light of our results, we suggest policy reforms and global initiatives that are gender sensitive, incorporate the multidimensional impact of culture on national behavior particularly aiming at reversing the cultural acceptance of a higher degree of unequally distributed power, and create a more inclusive society with pragmatism, leading to the achievement of the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda.

This paper proposes a novel approach, based on probit framework, toward measuring bilateral synchronization, separately within business cycles and within financial cycles, for 11 eurozone economies. We find strong cross-country synchronization both within real cycles and within financial cycles. Moreover, financial cycle synchronization dominates business cycle synchronization in the eurozone, especially after the introduction of the single currency. For some peripheral country pairs, we even find some evidence of ‘decoupling’ of business cycles relative to the core countries but majority of marginal business cycle effects do not change much before and after the common currency. The former observation supports the plea for more Europe-wide macro-prudential regulation whereas the latter observation gives ammunition to those economists who always stress that the euro zone architecture is an unfinished business and that the conditions for an optimum currency area are not fulfilled.

Background: The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer are overweight or obese, and gain weight after diagnosis. The Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction (POWER) study reported that, in an obese population with cardiovascular risk factors, a scalable remote weight loss intervention with web support was equally effective to an in-person intervention (Appel NEJM 2011). We adapted the remote intervention for breast cancer survivors. Methods: We conducted a phase II single-blind trial in which women with stage 0-III breast cancer and a BMI ≥25 were randomized to a remotely-delivered weight loss intervention with a study specific website (POWER-remote) or to self-directed weight loss. Participants were stratified by menopausal status and concomitant hormone therapy use. Weight was assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months. The primary objective was to compare the proportion of women who lost ≥5% of their baseline body weight after 6 months in the POWER-remote and the self-directed arms. A sample size of 80 patients yielded approximately 93.6% power to detect a difference in weight loss response of 19.0% in the self-directed arm and 38.2% in the POWER-remote arm with a one-sided type I error of 10%. We obtained blood samples for correlative studies including inflammatory biomarkers and assessment of telomere length at baseline and 6 months. Results: From 2013-2015 we enrolled 96 women; 84 were evaluable for the primary analysis. Both cohorts had similar baseline characteristics including menopausal status, race (77% Caucasian and 20% African American in entire cohort), and BMI (average mean 32 kg/m2). The majority (93%) of patients received endocrine therapy, and 55% had completed chemotherapy. At 6 months 43.1% (95% CI 29.3–57.8) of women randomized to POWER-remote had lost ≥5% of their baseline body weight, compared to 11.1% (95% CI 3.7–24.1) in the self-directed arm, p Table 1. Proportion of patients achieving ≥5% weight loss after 6 and 12 months POWER-remotePOWER-remoteSelf-DirectedSelf-Directed n% [95% CI]n% [95% CI]p-valueInteraction p-value for heterogeneity of treatment effectLost >=5% of baseline weight at 6 months All patients4343.1 [29.3, 57.8]4111.1 [3.7, 24.1]=5% of baseline weight at 12 months All patients3031.4 [19.1, 45.9]3113.3 [5.1, 26.8]0.006 Endocrine therapy2632.5 [18.6, 49.1]2616.7 [6.4, 32.8]0.040.99No endocrine therapy427.3 [6, 61]50 [0, 33.6]0.05 Chemotherapy1119.2 [6.6, 39.4]167.4 [0.9, 24.3]0.070.72No chemotherapy1944 [24.4, 65.1]1522.2 [6.4, 47.6]0.07 Conclusions: Sustained weight loss over 1 year is feasible in breast cancer survivors who undergo a remotely delivered weight loss intervention. Weight loss was observed irrespective of endocrine therapy or chemotherapy. These data will be used to design a new trial with a physical activity component. Citation Format: Santa-Maria CA, Coughlin J, Blackford A, Carpenter A, Dalcin A, Huang C-Y, Luber B, Schreyer C, Armanios M, Sharma D, Chaudhry M, Jerome GJ, Snyder C, Appel L, Stearns V. POWER-remote: A randomized study evaluating the effect of a remote-based weight loss program in women with early stage breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-14-01.

This paper empirically investigates the effect of carbon emissions on sovereign risk? To answer this question, we use fixed effects model by using annual data from G7 advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA, for the period from 1996 to 2014. We employ a novel extreme value theory to measure sovereign risk. The results indicate that climate change (carbon emissions) are likely to increase sovereign risk significantly. We also expand our analysis to some specific sectors, as some of the sectors emit more carbon than others. Specifically, we take top three polluting sectors namely: transportation, electricity and industry and show that they are more likely to increase the sovereign risk. Our results are robust to change in risk measures, estimation in differences and dynamic version of econometric models. Therefore, we have robust consideration that the carbon emissions significantly explain the sovereign risk.

Using a unique dataset consisting of all corporate loans in Pakistan, we study the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the lending ability of its banking sector. We also take into account various bank and loan types along with extensive margins, firm size effects, and impact of information asymmetry. Our findings show that the Pakistani banking sector was indeed affected by the GFC as high exposure banks, who borrow relatively more internationally, reduce lending to local firms and this impact is larger for small firms. We also find differences in the lending ability of various bank types and loan types. By using direct information asymmetry measure, we find that banks reduced lending after the global financial crisis shock. However, the information gathered from the previous relationship of the borrower with relatively low exposure banks can overcome the negative financial shock and increase lending after the shock. These findings are very relevant in the context of the spillover effects of the GFC and have important policy implications for emerging markets.

The study, qualitative and descriptive in nature, examines the use of transliteration in the paid Pakistani obituary announcements authored in the English language. Primarily, it identifies the frequently used transliterated vocabulary in these linguistic messages and reconnoiters the functional relationship that emerges in and between the textual moves of these announcements due to the linkage created by these transliterated words and phrases. Additionally, the study sheds light on the motives of the authors of these announcements behind opting for this lexical borrowing. Data, for the purpose, comes from the two prominent Pakistani English newspapers: The Dawn and The News International. The study concludes that the transliterated vocabulary used in the Pakistani English obituary announcements is a need-based, religiously and culturally enthused, lexical borrowing that not only helps the authors of these texts convey their intentional messages effectively but also enhances the exactness and spontaneity of the contents of these announcements. Keywords: Obituary Announcement, Transliteration, Lexical borrowing, Source language, Target language, Cognitive synonyms