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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of faculty members about the influence of family motivation on their self-efficacy and organizational citizenship behavior-individual (OCBI). Design/methodology/approach The proposed model was tested on a sample of 353 faculty members from different public and private universities of Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data. Findings Surprisingly, results reveal that family motivation was not positively related to faculty members’ OCBI; instead, this relationship is fully mediated by self-efficacy. The findings suggest that it is employees’ self-efficacy belief through which their family motivation translates to their increased OCBI. This study also finds that supporting the family is a powerful source of motivation to work, offering meaningful practical and theoretical implications for policy-makers, leaders, managers and researchers on the new dynamics of work and family engagements. Originality/value The study contributes to human resource management (HRM) and organizational behavior (OB) literatures by providing some useful practical implications for managers and HRM and OB consultants who are interested in understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms (i.e. self-efficacy) through which employees’ family motivation results in the increased OCBI.

Hydrazones are active compounds having an azomethine –NHN=CH group and are widely studied owing to their ease of preparation and diverse pharmacological benefits. Novel isonicotinic hydrazone derivatives of vanillin aldehyde and salicyl aldehyde were synthesized that had azomethine linkages and were characterized by UV–Visible, FTIR, EI-MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. The compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilus, and Escherichia coli using disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods. For cytotoxicity, a brine shrimp lethality test was performed to calculate the lethal concentration (LC50). The results demonstrated appreciable antibacterial activities against the applied strains, amongst which the compounds coded NH3 and NH5 showed maximum inhibition and MIC responses. In terms of cytotoxic activity, the maximum effect was observed in compound NH5 and NH6 treatments with minimum survival percentages of 36.10 ± 3.45 and 32.44 ± 2.0, respectively. These hydrazones could be potential candidates in antitumorigenic therapy against various human cancer cells.

Background: Gestational outcomes are known to be negatively correlated with hypothyroidism. This study was designed to compare the maternal factors affecting gestational outcomes in women with and without hypothyroidism. Methods: This retrospective analysis was carried out in a tertiary hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, between 2008 and 2016. A standardized form was used to collect information on the age of the mother, gestational duration at the prenatal appointment, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), hypertension, and past records of miscarriages in hypothyroid and healthy pregnant women. Gestational outcomes were recorded as live birth or pregnancy loss. Statistical analysis was performed to examine overt versus sub-clinical hypothyroidism and among those diagnosed before versus during gestation. Results: A collective of 708 women were enlisted in the hypothyroid pregnant group and 759 were recruited in healthy controls. Pregnancy loss was 9.9% (n=70) in hypothyroid women, whereas it was 14.3% (n=108) in the control group. The age of the mother, gestational duration at the prenatal appointment, and past records of miscarriages were discovered to be related to a higher chance of pregnancy loss in a multivariable analysis, but GDM (OR 0.04, CI 0.06-0.32, P=0.002) and hypothyroidism (OR 0.62, CI 0.43-0.89, P=0.01) exhibited a protective effect. Conclusion: This study found the age of the mother, gestational duration at a prenatal appointment, and past records of miscarriages to be associated with negative outcomes in hypothyroidism. These factors remained significant in overt as well as subclinical hypothyroid women.

Humic acid (HA) is composed of a complex supramolecular association and is produced by humification of organic matters in soil environments. HA not only improves soil fertility, but also stimulates plant growth. Although numerous bioactivities of HA have been reported, the molecular evidences have not yet been elucidated. Here, we performed transcriptomic analysis to identify the HA-prompted molecular mechanisms in Arabidopsis. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that HA up-regulates diverse genes involved in the response to stress, especially to heat. Heat stress causes dramatic induction in unique gene families such as Heat-Shock Protein ( HSP ) coding genes including HSP101 , HSP81.1 , HSP26.5 , HSP23.6 , and HSP17.6A . HSPs mainly function as molecular chaperones to protect against thermal denaturation of substrates and facilitate refolding of denatured substrates. Interestingly, wild-type plants grown in HA were heat-tolerant compared to those grown in the absence of HA, whereas Arabidopsis HSP101 null mutant ( hot1 ) was insensitive to HA. We also validated that HA accelerates the transcriptional expression of HSPs. Overall, these results suggest that HSP101 is a molecular target of HA promoting heat-stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Our transcriptome information contributes to understanding the acquired genetic and agronomic traits by HA conferring tolerance to environmental stresses in plants.

Background and Objectives: Clinicians need to build an astute doctor-patient relationship. The term clinical empathy is the ability of doctor to cognitively appreciate a patient’s perspective, experiences, and deliver such an understanding back to patient. Studies associate high physician empathy with improved patient trust and clinical outcomes. In Pakistan, there is paucity of research data on this relationship. This study assessed the empathy and its relation to fatigue levels among physicians and surgeons. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study involving 262 Physicians and Surgeons (1:1) chosen by convenience sampling method. Physicians and Surgeons were included from three hospitals in Rawalpindi from September 2017 to February 2018 and RAO soft sample calculator was used. The Jefferson Scale for Physician empathy (JSPE) (score range 20-140) and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) (score range 20-100) were used as data collection tools. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Statistical tests including T-test and Pearson Correlation were used. Results: Overall, mean score of empathy was found to be 98.8±21.9 (range; 46-138). The empathy in Physicians (106.8±18.3) was found to be greater than Surgeons (89.4±22.1) and the difference was statistically significant (p value <0.01). Mean score of fatigue was 50.6±16.0. The fatigue level in Surgeons was greater than Physicians and the difference was found to be statistically significant (p value < 0.01). Strong negative correlation was observed between empathy and fatigue (r= -0.5, p=<0.01) using Pearson correlation. Conclusion: Overall, physicians had better empathy than surgeons, while fatigue scores were higher among surgeons. Fatigue is associated with empathy decay. This research provides an understanding of empathy deterioration and other factors responsible for it. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.3.1973 How to cite this:Rashid Z, Sharif I, Khushk IA, Raja AA. Evaluation of empathy and fatigue among physicians and surgeons in tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(3):663-667. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.3.1973 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In this study, the changes in free amino acids of soybean leaves after ethylene application were characterized based on quantitative and metabolomic analyses. All essential and nonessential amino acids in soybean leaves were enhanced by fivefold (250 to 1284 mg/100 g) and sixfold (544 to 3478 mg/100 g), respectively, via ethylene application. In particular, it was found that asparagine is the main component, comprising approximately 41% of the total amino acids with a twenty-five fold increase (78 to 1971 mg/100 g). Moreover, arginine and branched chain amino acids (Val, Leu, and Ile) increased by about 14 and 2–5 times, respectively. The increase in free amino acid in stem was also similar to the leaves. The metabolites in treated and untreated soybean leaves were systematically identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and partial variance discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) scores and heat map analysis were given to understand the changes of each metabolite. The application of ethylene may provide good nutrient potential for soybean leaves.

Nano-vesicles of multi-tailed macrocycle molecules have demonstrated a great ability to enhance the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs. In this study, amphiphilic multi-tailed resorcinarene (MTR) derivative was synthesised in two steps reaction by O-alkylation of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and then condensation with resorcinol. The synthesised amphiphilic macrocycle was characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR and mass spectrometry. Self-assembly and aggregation behaviour of amphiphilic macrocycle was studied in aqueous medium and vesicles were characterised for morphology, critical micelle concentration (CMC), size and surface potential and cellular biocompatibility. The self-assembling ability of MTR was used for one-step loading of hydrophobic drug, i.e. clarithromycin. MTR presented a low CMC value, i.e. 0.055 mM and formed niosomal vesicles with a mean diameter of 210 ± 2 nm, narrow size distribution and 65.12 ± 3.31% drug entrapment efficiency. MTR vesicles showed sustained in vitro drug release while maximum drug release was achieved at 8 h. Biocompatibility of MTR was investigated with blood haemolysis and cytotoxicity assays. The results indicated suitability of MRT as amphiphilic macromolecular surfactant.

The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR will investigate the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities. Enhanced production of strange baryons, such as the most abundantly produced Λ hyperons, can signal transition to a new phase of the QCD matter. In this work, the CBM performance for reconstruction of the Λ hyperon via its decay to proton and π − is presented. Decay topology reconstruction is implemented in the Particle-Finder Simple (PFSimple) package with Machine Learning algorithms providing effcient selection of the decays and high signal to background ratio.

Background Degenerative kidney diseases are mostly associated with oxidative stress. Natural products are considered as the antioxidants enrich food that can restrict the progress of oxidative stress induced disorders. Therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate the renal protective effect of Ajuga parviflora leaf extract in carbon tetrachloride intoxicated rats. Methods The hydromethanolic extract of A. parviflora leaves was obtained by extracting twice in 60% methanol. The principal bioactive constituents were detected by LC/MS analysis. Toxicity of plant extract was assessed using brine shrimp lethal toxicity test and acute toxicity model on healthy Sprague-Dawley male rats. Nephroprotective effects of plant extract were also evaluated on rats by inducing CCl 4 renal toxicity in comparison with positive control and naïve groups. The dose of A. parviflora administered to animal was 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg. All administrations were given orally on an alternate day basis for 30 days. Urine and serum biomarkers were analyzed, along with antioxidant enzymes. Finally, the DNA damages, lipid peroxides, hydrogen peroxides and nitrites were assessed in rat’s renal tissue. The histopathology alterations in renal tissues were further studied for kidney damages. Results The LC/MS analysis confirmed the presence of different important pharmacological compounds in A. parviflora methanolic leaf extract. The key bioactive compounds include pyocyanin, zonisamide, D Saccharic acid, altretamine, carbocyclic thromboxane A2, Sinapyl alcohol, and vitamin C. The important polypeptides identified include Lys-Tyr-Lys, His-His-Lys, Met-Asp-Arg, Phe-Val-Arg, and PyroGlu-Val-Arg. The LD 50 of A. parviflora was found to be > 1000 μg/mL. A. parviflora administration significantly subsides CCl 4 toxicity in rats, reduced the elevated level of RBCs, pus and epithelial cells. The abnormal elevated level of specific gravity, creatinine, urobilinogen, urea and albumin were also reduced to normal physiological level. The reduced urinary protein and pH were also normalized. The serum urobilinogen, urea and total bilirubin levels were also reversed to normal levels while the diminished albumin and total protein levels also came to normal. The important phase I and II enzyme levels were also reversed in A. parviflora administered rats. The H 2 O 2 , thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) and nitrite levels were significantly decreased. Furthermore, the damaged DNA and histopathological changes in CCl 4 exposed rats were also highly significantly reversed after the administration of A. parviflora . All effects were significant ( P < 0.05 ) and highly significant ( P < 0.005 ) at 100 and 300 mg/kg respectively. Conclusion The restored urine and serum profile of various parameters to normal physiological levels suggests that the A. parviflora has potential antioxidant and repairing potential in renal disorders.