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Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify which social and psychological factors better determine intentions to quit smoking to inform public health policy. Design/methodology/approach Data for this cross-sectional study were collected via face-to-face interaction following the pen-and-paper method. A total of 371 usable responses were received from randomly selected respondents of eight public sector universities located in the South Punjab province of Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis was performed using SmartPLS program. A supplementary qualitative study, based on 21 in-depth interviews with the smokers, was conducted to augment findings of the quantitative study. Findings Results showed that protection motivation theory and theory of planned behaviour are supported to predict intentions to quit smoking. Subjective norms have a greater influence on intentions to quit smoking than attitudes towards smoking cessation, while perceived behavioural control fails to predict intentions to quit smoking. Perceived rewards and perceived cost are significant in predicting attitudes towards smoking cessation, while extrinsic rewards predict intentions to quit smoking. Originality/value The existing models reported in the literature have sparsely investigated the cognitive (such as motivation and emotions) and social factors (such as social influence and behavioural controls) together as determinants of intentions to quit smoking, leaving room for more studies on an integrated model of these factors. This study takes the opportunity and proposes an integrated model encompassing psycho-social factors to predict tobacco consumption quitting behaviour in an emerging economy context.

The global demand for good quality food is going to be increased gradually. Mushrooms are broadly used as healthy nutritious meals. The nutritional values of extracts from four distinct Pleurotus species—Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus sajor-caju, Pleurotus sapidus, and Pleurotus columbinus—were determined in the current study. Firstly, proximate analysis of selected Pleurotus species was performed followed by the Bradford assay to analyze the protein spectrophotometrically; high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed for sugar determination while GC-MS was done to determine fatty acids on organic extracts of selected mushrooms. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the percentages while significance was determined by SPSS statistics. The results depicted that fat, protein, ash, fiber, energy contents, and total carbohydrate were in the range of 0.64-2.02%, 16.07-25.15%, 2.1-9.14%, 6.21-54.12%, 342.20-394.30 kcal/100 g, and 65.66-82.47%, respectively. The protein’s maximum concentration was observed in P. ostreatus followed by P. columbinus>P. sajor-caju>P. sapidus, sequentially. Various sugars may or may not be present in selected Pleurotus spps. Among the fatty acids, the prevalence of UFA was more than that of saturated fatty acids among all selected mushrooms. From this study, it is concluded that all four Pleurotus spps. have excellent nutritional composition and can be used as valuable food and a great source of biochemical compounds.

Introduction: Inflammation is an established mortality risk factor in chronic kidney disease patients and particularly in patients on dialysis. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find the role of procalcitonin in chronic kidney diseases patients undergoing renal therapy. Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi during November 2021 to June 2022. The data was collected with the permission of ethical committee of hospital. Baseline characteristics of patients were collected, including age, gender, BMI, history of diseases and time of dialysis. Results: The data was collected from 200 patients. There were 88 (44.0%) male and 112 (57.0%) female patients. The mean age for male was 45.9 ± 11.7 years and for female 49.8 ± 14.1 years. The PCT level in CKD patients (0.45 ± 0.70 ng/mL) was significantly higher as compared to reference value of healthy control subjects. Significance increase in the value of BUN, Na, K, CRP and BUN is also observed in CKD patients. Practical implication: PCT must be measured in CKD patients especially for dialysis patients. Conclusion: It is concluded that PCT levels were significantly high in CKD patients, thus PCT is a valuable marker for early diagnosis of CKD or patients undergoing HD. Keywords: CKD, PCT, CRP, Inflammation, Dialysis, Diagnosis

RISC-V ISA is a popular open and royalty-free ISA that enables the development of low-cost Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). Ballast is a novel multicore RISC-V-based SoC developed by SoC Hub in collaboration with different companies for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. It includes multiple subsystems that feature three RISC-V cores. Interrupts allow processor power saving and fast interaction with external pe- ripherals. Having proper software support for interrupts enables easy and accurate configuration. Additionally, safety is a concern, and having a language that guar- antees safe operation, such as Rust, will minimize catastrophic bugs. This thesis outlines the process of implementing interrupt software support in the Ballast SoC using the Rust programming language, as well as test techniques for ensuring proper interrupts operation. Software support was implemented as part of Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), and two use cases were developed to test the implemented software and validate interrupts on the Ballast SoC development board. Interrupts were successfully brought up in Ballast SoC and were proven to func- tion correctly using the test methodologies introduced in this thesis. Moreover, the developed software support can easily be utilized on other SoCs that use similar cores (such as the new SoC Hub chip Headsail) by including it as a dependency crate using Cargo tool.

Background: Elastography is a method recently being used in the evaluation of thyroid nodules by comparing tissue elasticity. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of elastography in differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules, taking histopathology as gold standard. Methods: Total of 50 patients with palpable thyroid nodule of any size of age 20-60 years of either gender were included. elastography was performed in every patient by using a high resolution unit with a linear array probe centered at 7.5 MHz, elastography was performed in every patient by a consultant radiologist benign or malignant thyroid nodules was noted. Elastography findings were compared with histopathology report Results: All the patients were subjected to strain ultrasound elastography. USG supported the diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules in all 50 patients. Histopathology confirmed malignant thyroid nodules in 46 (true positive) cases where as 4 (false positive) had no malignant lesion on histopathology. In USG negative patients, 47 were true negative while 2 were false negative. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of strain ultrasound elastography in differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid nodules, taking histopathology as gold standard is 90.0%, 90.30%, 92.31%, 94.77% and 93.18% respectively Conclusion: According to this study, strain ultrasound elastography is the non-invasive modality of choice with high diagnostic accuracy in diagnosing malignant thyroid nodules. Keywords: Thyroid cancer, Ultrasound elastography, Sensitivity, Specificity

Introduction: Hematuria is a common urologic finding in young adults, reported in 0.3–38.7% of adults in population-based studies. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find the role of CT urography in investigating hematuria among local population of Pakistan. Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore during June 2020 to July 2021. Fifty patients with hematuria from the hospital OPD provided the data for this study. Results: Most common age group for hematuria was 31-45 years which constituted 41% of the study group and least common age group was 61-75 years constitutes 16%. Thirty-eight women and twelve men took part. Urinary obstruction was caused most frequently by renal, ureteric or both stone disease, which was found in 75.0% of group A patients and 65.0% of those in group B, as shown in table 01. Conclusion: It is concluded that CT urography is useful in detecting urolithiasis, nephrographic phase mostly useful for upper urinary tract pathologies and pyelographic phases are useful for detecting lower urinary tract pathologies. Keywords: Patients, Hematuria, Urolithiasis, Urography

In this study, the computerized molecular docking method was used to investigate the interactions of five nitro diazo dye derivatives 1-5 with COVID-19, CLpro, RAF and PLpro as very important viral proteins to target the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Among the used diazo dyes, compound 5 showed the highest binding free energies and the lowest inhibition constants Ki with all studied proteins, and it exhibits a large effect to inhibit the activities of the RAF and COVID-19. Therefore, compound 5 may be useful as an antiviral candidate that worth more trials for COVID-19 disease. The binding sites of compound 5 with the tested viral proteins were evaluated.

Local transanal excision of early rectal carcinoma is an appealing treatment because of its low morbidity rates and better functional results than radical resection. However, this treatment approach is controversial due to its association with local recurrence when compared to the latter. This review aims to compare the local recurrence and mortality rates of local vs. radical excision in patients with T1N0M0 rectal carcinoma, based on data in the literature in the last 20 years. A PubMed, Cochrane, and Google Scholar search of published literature in the last 20 years was performed. A total of 12 studies were identified. Three were prospective, one was a population-based propensity matching study, one was a nationwide cohort study, one was a meta-analysis, and the remaining studies were retrospective/observational. The mean local recurrence rate within five years from the studies selected for local excision (LE: 12.8%) was nearly double that of radical excision (RAD: 5.0%). The five-year mean survival rate for both LE and RAD groups from the studies selected was 86%, which was equal for both groups. The main predictors of poor outcomes were older age and the presence of two or more comorbid conditions. There is a consensus amongst studies that LE is associated with inferior oncological outcomes such as postoperative complications and recurrence when compared to RAD. The higher local recurrence rates in LE are attributed to occult lymph node disease and inadequate adjunctive therapy due to suboptimal staging. There is no difference in the five-year survival rate when compared to RAD. A longer follow-up period is needed to determine whether the survival rates diverge after five years.

Objective: To assess the autopsy in relation with age and gender in tertiary care hospital of Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Study Design: Retrospective, observational and non-interventional study Place and Duration of Study: Medicolegal Department of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Hyderabad from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2018. Methodology: Three hundred and eighty-one patients were enrolled. Results: According to cause of death, 88 (23.10%) were died due to road traffic accident, firearm injury 73 (19.16%) and asphaxial death 70 (18.37%), assault 65 (17.06%), poisoning 37 (9.71%), electric shock 30 (7.87%) and undetermined 18 (4.72%) respectively. Conclusion: The relatable factors such as age and gender with the suicidal cases in results of autopsy examination which plays the most relevant role in the medical practices even after the advancement of diagnostic technologies. Key words: Assess, Autopsy, Age, Gender, Tertiary care hospital

Objective: To assess the medicolegal causes of asphyxial deaths in tertiary care hospital of Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Study Design: Descriptive, observational and retrospective Place and Duration of Study: Medicolegal Section of Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad from 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2019. Methodology: Two hundred and nineteen patients were retrieved and died due to other reasons were excluded from the study while no any patient’s age and gender restrictions. Results: There were 157 males and 62 females. Sixty six patients of asphyxial belonged to age 39-48 years. Among 74 patients of suffocation, 51 patients were males and 23 were females. There are 5 reported reasons of asphyxial deaths. Out of 45 hanging patients, 5 patients belonged to 18-28 years, 8 patients belonged to 29-38 years, 9 patients belonged to 39-48 years, 6 patients belong to 49-58 years and 15 patients belonged to ≥59 59 years. Conclusion: Male is the most vulnerable victim of the violent asphyxial deaths. The major contribution in the suicidal deaths is dominant by the hanging and strangulations. The manner of deaths indicates the frustrations and carelessness of the majority of the population. The social awareness and hopefulness contributed by the awareness sessions and education on Individual levels is encouraged for such cases. Keywords: Asphyxial, Post-mortem, Medicolegal causes

Thalassemia, inherited genetic disorder is among the main medical issues facing Pakistan like many other countries of the world. The main factor ofthalassemia prevalence with frequent rate in Pakistan is consanguineous marriages causes misery not only to the patients but for their families also. The current treatment strategies such as blood transfusion, chelation therapy (Fe), bone marrow and stem cell transplantation are not compatible due to high iron load, development of alloantibodies, arthritis and severe agranulocytosis like side effects. In developed countries regular screening of pregnant women is done to control the prevalence of Beta-thalassemia but in Pakistan genetic counselling and parental diagnosis resources are limited to control the birth rate. Additionally, in the absence of coherent policy at national level creates more pressure on the health care system of the country. Thalassemia in Pakistan is managed by traditional diagnostic methods, such as chromatography, Hb electrophoresis and ARMS-PCR. The ARMS-PCR can only detect the commonly known mutations while the other ethnic specific, novel mutations remain obscure. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers advantages over standard PCR, including higher sensitivity and the ability to identify novel mutations. Health system and cultural issues creates hurdles to implement the policies of public health genomicsin Pakistan. So, the government of Pakistan must take some measure to ensure the health quality of human and also make short and long term policies to overcome this genetic disorder.

Providing quality education to students is the main objective of higher education institutions. The need of identifying students with weak performances has been a rising problem and most teachers have relied on calculating the average of exam grades. The main objective of our project is to predict and identify the students who might fail in semester examinations. This would prove helpful for teachers in providing additional assistance to such students. The data which was analyzed consisted of students’ transcript data that included their CGPA and grades in all courses which were taken from a university. The machine learning algorithms which were used in this research include; Naïve Bayes classifier, Neural Network, Support Vector Machine, and Decision Tree classifier. A comparative analysis has been performed on the obtained accuracy results of the algorithms used. This research shows that machine learning proves useful in predictions, but there is a lot more work to be done using this technology.

This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the academic performance of international doctoral students in China. In particular, using insights from the theory of reasoned action, this study analyzed the interplay of academic attitude, subjective norms, knowledge-seeking intention, and academic performance. Data were collected from 415 international doctoral students from six universities in China (61.4 % male, 38.6 % female, 45.5 % Asian, 40 % African, 9.4 % European and 5.1 % American). SPSS (version 23) and AMOS (version 22) were used for data analyses. While academic attitude, subjective norms and knowledge-seeking intentions were found to be positively associated with academic performance, knowledge-seeking intentions mediated the positive relationships of academic attitude and subjective norms with academic performance. The findings suggest that students’ positive attitude toward studies and subjective norms are critical to their academic performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed., Ovo je istraživanje imalo za cilj istražiti čimbenike koji utječu na akademsku izvedbu međunarodnih doktorskih studija u Kini. Konkretno, koristeći uvide iz teorije razumnoga djelovanja, u ovoj se studiji analiziralo međudjelovanje akademskoga stava, subjektivnih normi, namjere traženja znanja i akademskoga uspjeha. Podatci su prikupljeni od 415 studenata međunarodnnih doktorskih studija sa šest sveučilišta u Kini (muškarci = 61,4 %, žene = 38,6 %; Azijci = 45,5 %, Afrikanci = 40 %, Europljani 9,4 % i Amerikanci 5,1 %). Za analizu podataka korišteni su SPSS (verzija 23) i AMOS (verzija 22). Utvrđeno je da su akademski stav, subjektivne norme i namjere traženja znanja pozitivno povezani s akademskim uspjehom, a namjere traženja znanja posreduju u pozitivnim odnosima akademskoga stava i subjektivnih normi s akademskim uspjehom. Nalazi upućuju na to da su pozitivan stav studentata prema studiju i subjektivne norme ključni za njihov akademski uspjeh. Raspravljaju se implikacije za teoriju i praksu.

Background Globally many studies have reported on violence faced by healthcare workers. However, there is still a lack of homogeneous data to give us a concrete understanding of the present scenario on a global scale. Conducting a global survey required a robust team organization structure, unique dissemination strategies accounting for the regional limitations, and continual networking to maintain and propagate the pool of survey collaborators and responders. This study aims to describe the strategies that helped carry out a global survey- based study, the lessons learned, and recommendations for future studies. Methods This cross-sectional survey-based study was based on methodology of the “Hub and Spoke” model with the core team and sub-groups about different regions and managing country leads. The study was conducted across eight weeks from 6th June 2022 to 8th August 2022. The key steps included team organization, strategy formulation for survey dissemination and data collection, launching the project on social media, and conducting a post-survey amongst the collaborators. The Core Team convened weekly via video conference platforms to discuss the modus operandi, including the responsibilities of team members in communicating with HCWs from each country; strategies for data extraction and analysis. A standard message was created for the survey in English, which was spread via text, audio and video messages; the message was tailored according to the target region and population. The language barrier was managed by creating an audio translation or shifting to “an interviewer-administered” questionnaire. Call for leads and collaborators was organized through social media platforms and incentivized by proposing collaborative authorship. Results A core team of 11 members from 7 countries was assembled, which expanded to 40 country leads from around 110 countries. We also amassed more than 75 regional collaborators who worked to provide feedback and spread the message. The “Violence Study of Healthcare Workers and Systems” (VISHWAS) amassed 5500 responses across the world. A weekly alternating trend in the number of survey responses was observed for eight weeks. Guiding principles garnered through this collaborative project include focusing on 1. Effective team organization, 2. Ensuring external validation of survey tool, 3. Personalized communication, 4. Global networking, 5. Timely communication for maintaining momentum, and 6. Addressing regional limitations. The post-survey analysis showed that WhatsApp messaging was the most common modality used for survey dissemination, followed by in-person meetings and text messaging. The successful techniques were noted to be 1. Direct communication with respondents, 2. Regular progress updates, 3. Responsiveness for regional and country lead’s needs 4. Timely troubleshooting. The most common barriers for the respondents were limitations in language proficiency, technical fallouts, lack of compliance with, and difficulty understanding the questionnaire. Conclusion In this global survey-based study of more than 5500 responses from over 110 countries, valuable lessons in team management, survey dissemination, and addressing barriers to collaborative research. We thereby recommend incorporating the guiding principles from this study to design future surveys on a global scale.

Objective: To analyze Rapid virological response (RVR) and End treatment response (ETR) in Hepatitis C genotype 3 infected patients being given Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin combination (dual) therapy presenting to Liver clinic of Benazir Bhutto Hospital. Methods: It was a retrospective study, conducted at Benazir Bhutto Hospital from January 2016 to July 2017. For this study, data of HCV subjects attending liver clinic (OPD) was obtained from computerized hospital management system (HMS). Variables that were obtained through administrative data included age, sex, pretreatment hemoglobin, TLC and platelet counts, pretreatment ALT, pretreatment PCR, and pretreatment ultrasound Liver findings. Only data of patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria was included and data for patients who met the exclusion criteria was omitted. The inclusion criteria for patients was 18 years of age or older, having PCR for HCV RNA positive for genotype 3, treatment naïve, both cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic. The exclusion criteria included those that did not give informed consent, pregnant patients, history of active drug abuse, overt infection with other hepatitis viruses, autoimmune disease and HIV positive patients. Keeping the selection criteria in view total number of patients included in the study from liver clinic records was 135 and all had received Sofosbuvir with Ribavirin dual therapy in our OPDs for a duration of 24 weeks. 3 PCRs were performed during therapy for monitoring. One at the start of treatment, then at 4 weeks to assess RVR, then at the end of treatment at 24 weeks therapy to see ETR. Results: A total of 135 patients were included in the study having genotype 3 amongst which 33(24.4%) were males and 102(75.6%) were females. The mean age of participants was 46.23259 (± 11.86040) years. Of 135 patients, PCR of all 135 was available at four weeks of treatment and 112 (83%) had achieved RVR while PCR of 131 patients was available at completion of treatment i.e. at 24 weeks amongst whom 112(85.5%) had attained ETR. The association between attainment of RVR and attainment of ETR was also assessed using Pearson’s Chi square test and results were statistically significant, showing that patients who achieved RVR were more likely to go on to achieve ETR. The comparison of patients who attained RVR with those who did not was also executed based on gender and Pearson’s chi square test revealed no statistically significant difference in the two groups with p values greater than 0.05. Comparison of the mean age of patients who attained RVR with those who did not was made using independent t test and similarly comparison of mean pretreatment CBC indices, mean pretreatment ALT, mean pretreatment viral load was also done for the two groups i.e RVR achieved/not achieved using independent T test. The impact of advancing liver disease (as evidence by progressively worsening ultrasound liver findings) on 4 week viral clearance was assessed ising Mann Whitney test and none of these found any statistically significant association, with p values being greater than 0.05 in each case. Conclusion: In our study population, which was reflective of disease epidemiology in Rawalpindi, Pakistan: females were more affected than males, average age was 40 years and majority of patients presented early in the disease course with normal liver findings on ultrasound, followed by the non specific findings of fatty liver. Sofosbuvir plus Ribavirin combination therapy has shown to be very effective and successful in achievement of viral clearance with little or no resistance in genotype 3 infected patients in our study population regardless of the age, gender and other variable differences. 83% of the patients achieved RVR at completion of four weeks of treatment while 85.5% had attained ETR at end of therapy. Patients who achieved RVR were more likely to go on to achieve ETR.

Objective: To identify the frequency of criminal acts/type of crime among different psychiatric diagnosis. Patients and Methods: All the inpatient and outpatients above 18 years of age, involved in crime brought by law enforcing agencies of Pakistan through a valid legal documentation with history of offender crimes.The data was collected on semi structured proforma designed with the help of supervisor depict demographic variables, types of crime and psychiatric diagnosis. Results: The crime distribution killing cases were found most common 50.5%, wound were 40%, while assault by sexually were found 7.50% with 38.3% in age roupd 20-30 years with rural population predominance 62.5%. Conclusion: Killing and wounding are the most important criminal acts in the psychotic disorder patients and lack of education is the commonest demographic features behind psychiatric patients involve in the crime. Key Words: Demographic features, Psychotic disorders, Crime

Objective: To determine the drug therapy effects of atropine alone and the combined therapy of atropine and glycopyrrolate in patients with organophosphate poisoning. Patients and methods: Total one hundred patients with history of organophosphorus poisoning were included in the study. These patients were divided in to two groups with 50 patients each. One group was treated with atropine alone while the other group was treated with atropine in combination with glycopyrrolate. The results of treatment of both groups were compared after 48 hours of the treatment and data was analyzed on SPSS version 18.0 and statically evaluated by using paired student T-test. Results: During one year study period total one hundred patients with OP poisoning were evaluate as far as management is concerned. The mean ± for age (years) for overall population was 23.74±4.72. The group-A consisted of 50 patients out of which 28 were males and 22 were females. All belonged to the mean age of 22.82 ± 1.166% mostly from rural areas (62%). The group–B also consisted of 50 patients with 29 males and 21 females having mean age of 22.88 ± 1.1. Majority of patients in this group i-e 88% belonged to rural areas with 56% of them were from low economic status. The mortality rate among patients treated with atropine alone was 20% (10 patients), whereas the mortality rate recorded with a combined therapy of on atropine and glycopyrrolate therapy was only 8% (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Since, glycopyrrolate doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier thus; it has no effects on Central Nervous System. Therefore, the combined therapy of atropine with glycopyrrolate showed more positive results as compared to therapy with atropine alone, in the management of mild to moderate cases of organophosphate poisoning. Key words: Organophosphorus poisoning, atropine, glycopyrrolate, blood brain barrier.

Objective: To evaluate the demographical and clinical profile of patients with acute organophosphorus poisoning at tertiary care hospital. Patient and Methods: The one year cross sectional study was conducted on patients with organophosphorus poisoning and beside immediate management the patients were explored for demographical and clinical survey by taken detail history and clinical examination. The data was saved and analyzed in SPSS 21 while the frequencies and percentages and mean ± SD were calculated. Results: Total one hundred patients were recruited and studied for demographical and clinical profile with mean age ±SD 22.82 ± 1.16 mostly from rural areas (77%). Majority of them belonged to low economic status and 69% and the precipitating problems identified were financial (36%), domestic (11%) and social (9%). Majority of cases were detected during winter (50%) and spring (39%) in morning (49%) and night (29%) as suicidal (86%) and route was infestation (100%) whereas the tachycardia (100%), elevated body temperature (82%), peri orbital dryness (74%) and conjunctival injection (56%) wee the common systemic findings observed in patients with OP poisoning. Conclusion: The acute and chronic poisoning by pesticides is a serious health problem; therefore, medical and health professionals should be aware and learn about the toxicology, prevention and proper management of OP poisoning. Key Words: Organophosphorus poisoning, toxicology and Insecticide

Objective: To determine the frequency of psychiatric diagnosis in patients involved in crime. Patients and Methods: All cases in CSJIP inpatient and outpatients referred from civil surgeon for psychiatric assessment, above 18 to 60 years and who are consenting to interview. All the patients involved in crime brought by law enforcing agencies of Pakistan through a valid legal documentation with history of offender crimes. The data was collected on semi structured proforma designed with the help of demographic variables and psychiatric diagnosis. Results: Age group 20-30 year was most common 75(38.3%). Out of 196 cases married patients were in the majority 130(66.3%). According to the psychotic diagnosis, Psychotic disorder, Bipolar disorder, Personality disorder, Substance related disorder and Development disorder were found with percentage of 35.71%, 22.95%, 20.40%, 12.75% and 08.16% respectively. Conclusion: We concluded that psychiatric diagnosis diagnosis are the most important criminal acts in the patients involved in crime and the present study detect the psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder and personality disorders with majority were between 21-30 years age group. Key Words: Psychiatric disorders, crime and Bipolar disorders

Due to the universal use of technology and its pervasive connection to the world, organisations have become more exposed to frequent and various threats (Rotvold, 2008).Therefore, organisations today are giving more attention to information security as it has become a vital and challenging issue. Mackay (2013) noted that the significance of information security, particularly information security policies and awareness, is growing due to the increasing use of IT and computerization. Accordingly, information security presents a key role in the internet era of technology. Gordon & Loep (2006) stated that information security involves a group of actions intended to protect information and information systems. It involves software, hardware, physical security and human factors, where each element has its own features. Information security not only secures the organisation's security but the complete infrastructure that enables the information's use. Organisations are facing an increase in daily security breaches, especially information that is more accessible to the public as the threat becomes greater. Therefore security requirements need to be tightened.Information security policies control employees' behavior as well as securing the use of hardware and software. Organisations benefit from implementing information security policies as it helps them to classify their information assets and define the importance of the information assets to the organisation (Canavan, 2003). Information security policy as a number of principles, regulations, methodologies, procedures and tools created to secure the organisation from threats. Boss and Kirsch (2007) stated that employees' compliance with information security polices has become an important socio-organizational resource. Information security policies are applied in organisations to provide the employees with guidelines to guarantee information security.Herold (2010) expressed the importance for organisations to have constant training programmes and educational awareness to attain the required result from the implementation of an information security policy. Security experts' emphasise the importance of security awareness programmes and how they improve information security as a whole. Nevertheless, implementing security awareness in organisations is a challenging process as it requires actively interacting with an audience that usually does not know the importance of information security (Manke, 2013). Organisations tend to use advanced security technologies and constantly train their security professionals, while paying little attention on enhancing the security awareness of employees and users. This makes employees and users the weakest link in any organization (Warkentin & Willison, 2009).In the last ten years, the state of Qatar has witnessed remarkable growth and development of its civilization, having embraced information technology as a base for innovation and success. The country has perceived tremendous improvement in the sectors of health care, education and transport (Al-Malki, 2015). Information technology plays a strategic role in building the country's knowledge based economy. Due to the country's increasing use of internet and being connected to the global environment, Qatar needs to adequately address the global threats arising from the internet. The global role of Qatar in world politics has led Qatar to not just face the traditional threats from hackers, but more malicious performers such as terrorists, organized criminal networks and foreign government spying. Qatar has faced a lot of discomfort with some countries which try to breach the county's security. Qatar Computer Emergency Response Team (Q-CERT) who is responsible of addressing the state's Information Security needs stated “As Qatar's dependence on cyberspace grows, its resiliency and security become even more critical, and hence the needs for a comprehensive approach that addresses this need” (Q-CERT, 2015). Therefore Q-CERT established National Information Assurance policy (NIA), which is an information security policy designed to help both government and private sectors in Qatar, to protect their information and enhance their security. Nevertheless the NIA policy has not been implemented still in any organization in Qatar. This is due to the barriers and challenges of information security in Qatar such as culture and awareness, which make the implementation of information security policies a challenging approach.As a result, the scope of this research is to investigate information security in Qatar. There are many solutions for information security, some are technical and others are non-technical, such as security policies and information security awareness. This research focusses on enhancing information security through non-technical solutions, in particular information security policy. The aim of this research is to enhance information security in organizations in Qatar by developing a comprehensive Information Security Management System (ISMS) that considers the country-specific and cultural factors of Qatar. ISMS is a combination of policies and frameworks which ensure information security management (Rouse, 2011). This information security management approach is unique to Qatar as it considers Qatar culture and country specific factors. Although there are a lot of international information security policies available, such as ISO27001 but this research shows that sometimes these do not address the security needs particular to the culture of the country. Therefore there was a need to define a unique ISMS approach for Qatar.To accomplish the aim of this research the following objectives must be achieved.1. To review literature on information security in general and in Qatar in particular.2. To review international and local information security standards and policies.3. To explore the NIA policy in Qatar and compare it with others in the region and internationally.4. To define problems with implementing information security policies and NIA policy in particular in organisations in Qatar.5. To provide recommendations for the new version of the NIA policy.6. To assess the awareness of employees on information security.7. To assess the information security process in organisations in Qatar.8. To identify the factors which affect information security in Qatar including culture and country specific factors.9. To propose an ISMS for Qatari organisations taking into consideration the above factors.10. To define a process for organisations to maintain the ISMS.11. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed ISMS.To achieve the aim of this research, different research methodologies, strategies and data collection methods will be used, such as literature review, surveys, interviews and case study. The research undergoes three phases, currently the researcher has completed phase one of the research which analyses the field of information security and highlights the gaps in the literature that can be investigated further in this research. It also examines the country factors that affect information security and the implementation of such information security policies. While undertaking interviews with experts in the field of information technology, information security, culture and law, to identify the situation of Information Security in Qatar, and the factors which might affect the development of Information Security in Qatar including the cultural effect, legal and political issues. In the following two years, the researcher will complete phase two and three of the research. During phase two the researcher will measure the awareness of employees and their knowledge of information security and information security policies in particular. The finding will help the researcher in completing phase three which involves investigating further the NIA policy and a real implementation of ISMS in an organisation in Qatar, and analyses the main findings to finally providing recommendations for improving NIA policy.In conclusion, the main contribution of this research is to investigate the NIA policy and the challenges facing its implementation, and then define an ISMS process for the policy to assist organisations in Qatar in implementing and maintaining the NIA policy. The research is valuable since it will perform the first real implementation of the NIA policy in an organisation in Qatar taking advantage of the internship the researcher had with ICT. The research will move the policy from paper-based form into a real ISMS system and oversees it in reality in one of the organizations.Information security, National Information Assurance policy, Information Security Management System, Security Awareness, Information SystemsReferencesRotvold, G. (2008). How to Create a Security Culture in Your Organization. Available: http://content.arma.org/IMM/NovDec2008/How_to_Create_a_Security_Culture.aspx. Last accessed 1st Aug 2015.Manke, S. (2013). The Habits of Highly Successful Security Awareness Programs: A Cross-Company Comparison. Available: http://www.securementem.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Habits_white_paper.pdf. Last accessed 1st Aug 2015.Al-Malki. (2015). Welcome to Doha, the pearl of the Gulf. Available: http://www.itma-congress-2015.com/Welcome_note_2.html. Last accessed 4th May 2015.Rouse, M. (2011). Information security management system (ISMS). 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International Conference on Information Systems. unknown (unknown), p 9–12.Canavan, S. (2003). An Information Security Policy Development Guide for Large Companies. SANS Institute.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are network of physical small sensors which are interconnected through wireless links. WSNs are ubiquitous in diverse types of environment such as air interface and underwater acoustic communication. WSNs are responsible for collecting data, accomplishing appropriate operations on it and if required then relay it to the sink node. WSNs had many issues and challenges specifically in underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN). Secondly there is an issue of network life time as the sensor nodes have limited battery and it is challenging to replace it frequently specially in UWSN. An important challenge in the performance of the DBR is the energy constraint due to limited battery life time, which can cause the entire network to go down. In this paper, we propose an Energy Harvesting Depth Based Routing Protocol (EH-DBR) protocol. Our proposed protocol (EH-DBR) sensor node harvest and store power via external acoustic source in the form of packets. The key advantage of our protocol is that its lifetime will be extended indefinitely. Moreover, our routing protocol can take advantage of DBR architecture without introducing extra cost. We conduct extensive simulations. The results show that EH-DBR can achieve very high packet delivery ratios due to long time performance.

Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) has the worst survival of all periampullary cancers. This may relate to histopathological differences between pancreatic cancers and other periampullary cancers. Our aim was to examine the distribution and histopathologic features of pancreatic, ampullary, biliary and duodenal cancers resected with a pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and to examine local trends of periampullary cancers resected with a PD. Methods A retrospective review of PD between January 2000 and December 2012 at a public metropolitan database was performed. The institutional ethics committee approved this study. Results There were 142 PDs during the study period, of which 70 cases were pre-2010 and 72 post-2010, corresponding to a recent increase in the number of cases. Of the 142 cases, 116 were for periampullary cancers. There were also proportionately more PD for PC (26/60, 43% pre-2010 vs 39/56, 70% post-2010, P = 0.005). There were 65/116 (56%) pancreatic, 29/116 (25%), ampullary, 17/116 (15%) biliary and 5/116 (4%) duodenal cancers. Nodal involvement occurred more frequently in PC (78%) compared to ampullary (59%), biliary (47%) and duodenal cancers (20%), P = 0.002. Perineural invasion was also more frequent in PC (74%) compared to ampullary (34%), biliary (59%) and duodenal cancers (20%), P = 0.002. Microvascular invasion was seen in 57% pancreatic, 38% ampullary, 41% biliary and 20% duodenal cancers, P = 0.222. Overall, clear margins (R0) were achieved in fewer PC 41/65 (63%) compared to ampullary 27/29 (93%; P = 0.003) and biliary cancers 16/17 (94%; P = 0.014). Conclusions This study highlights that almost half of PD was performed for cancers other than PC, mainly ampullary and biliary cancers. The volume of PD has increased in recent years with an increased proportion being for PC. PC had higher rates of nodal and perineural invasion compared to ampullary, biliary and duodenal cancers.

Patients with stroke symptoms but negative diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) might have transient ischemic attacks (TIA) or stroke mimics. Brain DWI is important for the diagnosis of cerebral infarction but it is not available before thrombolysis for most patients to avoid treatment delay. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of IV thrombolysis in patients with a negative post-treatment DWI for cerebral infarction.We conducted a retrospective study of 89 patients treated with IV recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) within 4.5 h after stroke symptom onset. The patients were identified in our acute stroke registry from January 2009 to September 2010. Information on patients' demographics, clinical characteristics, neuroimaging, treatment complications, and outcomes was obtained and analyzed.Out of 89 patients, 23 patients (26%) had a negative DWI on follow-up stroke imaging. Fourteen patients had a TIA and nine patients had a stroke mimic, including Todd's paralysis, complicated migraine, and somatoform disorder. We found significant differences between patients with a positive and a negative DWI in mean age (62 years vs. 52 years; P0.01) and median admission NIH stroke scale score (11 points versus 6 points; P0.001). Among patients with a positive DWI, four patients had a symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). No patients with a negative DWI had symptomatic or asymptomatic ICH.Our results suggest that the administration of IV rt-PA within the first 4.5 h of symptom onset in patients with suspected ischemic stroke is safe even when post-treatment DWI does not demonstrate cerebral infarction.

This paper describes the design of a fuzzy logic based intelligent controller for wall following behavior of a differentially steered mobile robot. The distance of robot from the wall and its orientation with respect to the wall is read with the help of three ultrasonic sensors mounted on left side of robot. The measured sensor values are fed to fuzzy logic controller that generates motor commands for the robot to follow wall on its left side at a set distance. The designed fuzzy logic controller is implemented using a low cost single chip AT89C52 microcontroller and its performance is evaluated for different wall trajectories. Experimental results are presented to show the validity of designed controller for wall following behavior of a mobile robot.