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The objective of the present work aims to find an alternative oral contrast agent that could be used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the gastrointestinal system and satisfy the following criteria: it should be safe, it has no or few side effects, it is inexpensive, and it produces the highest imaging quality. The method: We prepared samples (solutions) as oral contrast agents by separately dissolving calcium and magnesium supplements (taken daily dose) in varied quantities of distilled water. In order to identify the sample with the lowest concentration and best quantitative image, the samples were examined in MRI by phantoms. After that, the best sample was tested by ten healthy individuals. The image result is measured by the signal value to calculate signal to-noise-ratio (SNR), relative signal to noise ratios (RSN) and contrast (C) and then a different test is performed. There were significant variations in stomach signal values between pre and post contrast (p-value 0,05). The results: The results showed that the magnesium supplement has essentially no effect on the water signal intensity in T1-weighted and T2-weighted, whereas the calcium supplement enhances the signal intensity of the water in T2-weighted. The conclusion: The magnesium mineral solution with all concentrations has relatively little impact on the water's hydrogen signal, making it impossible to distinguish this impact with the naked eye. Therefore, it is neglected in the clinical study. The calcium supplement can be employed as a positive contrast agent on T2-weighted images for gastrointestinal imaging

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of joints and is the major cause of chronic impairment in older ages. This is the consequence of several years of use accompanied by the effect of wear and tear of bone, joint, and cartilage. Aims & Objectives: To evaluate the quality of life among patients with osteoarthritis actively and non-actively performing religious prayers in district Swat, Pakistan. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at District Swat, from November 2019 to September 2020. Material & Method: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among osteoarthritic patients. A pre-tested and validated KOOS questionnaire was administered to osteoarthritic patients (group 1), who had modified their prayer method by using a chair to perform prayers, and compared to another group of osteoarthritic patients (group 2) who were practicing normal praying position. Pain, symptoms, everyday activities, sports and recreation, and knee-related quality of life (QOL) were assessed. SPSS version 22 was used for statistical analysis. P-value ?0.05 was considered significant. Results: The total number of patients in both groups was 800. Among those, 54.8% had a family history of knee pain, 60.4% had bilateral knee problems and 93.4% had no prior knee injuries. Group 1 was found to have more complaints related to the knee as compared to group 2 in all subscales of KOOS. Statistically significant relationship was observed between duration of knee pain, family history, knee problem, and previous knee injury between group 1 and group 2. (P

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Accurate software cost estimation in Global Software Development (GSD) remains challenging due to reliance on historical data and expert judgments. Traditional models, such as the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO II), rely heavily on historical and accurate data. In addition, expert judgment is required to set many input parameters, which can introduce subjectivity and variability in the estimation process. Consequently, there is a need to improve the current GSD models to mitigate reliance on historical data, subjectivity in expert judgment, inadequate consideration of GSD-based cost drivers and limited integration of modern technologies with cost overruns. This study introduces a novel hybrid model that synergizes the COCOMO II with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to address these challenges. The proposed hybrid model integrates additional GSD-based cost drivers identified through a systematic literature review and further vetted by industry experts. This article compares the effectiveness of the proposedmodelwith state-of-the-artmachine learning-basedmodels for software cost estimation. Evaluating the NASA 93 dataset by adopting twenty-six GSD-based cost drivers reveals that our hybrid model achieves superior accuracy, outperforming existing state-of-the-artmodels. The findings indicate the potential of combining COCOMO II, ANN, and additional GSD-based cost drivers to transform cost estimation in GSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This research aims to find an alternative oral contrast agents that can be used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, this contrast agent must be with no or minimum side effects and gives a best imaging quality. Material and Methods: We have used manganese supplement (intake daily dose) after dissolving in different amounts of distilled water to obtain samples (the concentrations of the manganese solution) as oral contrast agents. The samples have been placed in tubes and imaged by MRI for finding the sample that has lowest concentration with best imaging sequences and contrast of the images. After that, this sample was tested by healthy volunteers. The subjects of the investigation were ten healthy volunteers who were scanned precontrast and post-contrast. The image result is measured by the signal value to calculate the SNR, contrast and then a different test is performed. There were significant variations in stomach SNR values between pre and post contrast (p-value < 0.05). Results: The results show that the manganese supplement gives a good imaging sequences and contrast of the images. The contrast of manganese solution is positive on T1-weighted and negative on T2- weighted. This manganese supplement behavior is similar to the complex chemical manganese compounds studied in other investigations. Conclusion: The manganese supplement can be considered as a positive contrast agent on T1-weighted and negative contrast agent on T2-weighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The emergence and evolution of Islamic Banking in Pakistan".The emergence of Islamic Banking along with its evolutionary stages, the need and importance of Islamic Banking, the system of Islamic Banking in the present era and whatever development has been made for Islamic Banking in Pakistan sine 14th August 1947, is assessed. In addition, a brief assessment is presented about the present position of Islamic Banking in Pakistan along with the coming issues facing it.

Civic engagement is among some most demanded skills of the decade for all professionals and there are some measures for assessing civic engagement among individuals. However, a valid measure for assessing journalist’s civic engagement is still missing in the literature. Therefore, the effort has been made to develop journalist’s civic engagement scale. Owing to the purpose, 22 items was initially constructed based on seven point Likert scale. The items were reduced to 16 after content validity estimated based on judgment of fourteen experts. The retained items were administered on 182 working journalists. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were employed for construct validation of the scale and it resulted in one factor solution with 09 items. The item loads were above 0.60. Alpha reliability of the scale was estimated at 0.927. Model fit indicators such as SRMR, RMSEA, RMR, CFI, NFI, AGFI, and specifically CMIN/df were found satisfactory. The journalist’s civic engagement scale is ready and available for use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the co-administered dexamethasone and diclofinac potassium in controlling pain and swelling after dental implant surgery. The study was done in the PN Dental Centre(PNDC), PNS Shifa hospital Karachi from Aug 2009 to Dec 2010. It was a cross sectional comparative study. One hundred patients were selected in this study and divided into two equal groups, A and B of 50 patients each. In group A only Diclofinac potassium was given and in group B patients intraoral infusion of Dexamethasone was given along with Diclofinac potassium. In Group B patients reported good control over pain and swelling in first 24hours as compared to the group A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civic engagement is among some most demanded skills of the decade for all professionals and there are some measures for assessing civic engagement among individuals. However, a valid measure for assessing journalist's civic engagement is still missing in the literature. Therefore, the effort has been made to develop journalist's civic engagement scale. Owing to the purpose, 22 items was initially constructed based on seven point Likert scale. The items were reduced to 16 after CVR estimated based on judgment of fourteen experts. The retained items were administered on 182 working journalists. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was employed for construct validation of the scale and it results in one factor solution with 09 items. The item loads were above 0.60. Alpha reliability of the scale was estimated at 0.927. Model fit indicators such as SRMR, RMSEA, RMR, CFI, NFI, AGFI, and specifically CMIN/df were found satisfactory. The journalist's civic engagement scale is ready and available for use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]