This study is an effort to contribute to understanding of the ongoing process of democratization in the Gulf region. The study explores the role played by the United States and its Civil Society in the process of democratization of the Gulf Countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, during 2000 and 2008. Among the questions addressed in this study are (a) to what extent has the Bush Administration supported democratization in the Gulf region? (b) what role the nongovernmental American organizations have played in this regard? and (c) what is the official response of the Governments in the Gulf region to the U.S. demands for democratic change? Activities carried out by the American State and Civil Society that promote democratic values and strengthen democratic institutions have been examined. The study is an effort to examine what role the United States played to enhance democracy in the Gulf region during 2000 and 2008. Focus of the study is on areas of politics, economy, education, civil society, human rights, women empowerment, and media. Goals, objectives, approaches, strategies, and tools adopted by the U.S. State and Society have been examined in the light of the Bush Administration’s policy of democracy promotion in the Middle East. The study also takes an account of the reforms and changes that have taken place in the region during this period
شانتی رنجن بھٹا چاریہ جناب شانتی رنجن بھٹا چاریہ کے انتقال سے اردو زبان اپنے ایک مخلص خادم اور زبردست شیدائی سے محروم ہوگئی وہ موجودہ بنگلہ دیش کے ضلع جیسور میں پیدا ہوئے تھے اور ان کی تعلیم حیدرآباد میں ہوئی تھی مگر کلکتہ ان کی سرگرمیوں کا مرکز رہا وہ عرصہ تک مغربی بنگال کے محکمۂ اطلاعات سے اور کچھ عرصہ تک مرکزی وزارت اطلاعات و نشریات سے بھی وابستہ رہے، جناب شانتی رنجن بنگالی اور اردو دونوں کے ماہر اور اردو کے ممتاز مصنف تھے۔ انہوں نے بنگلہ ادب کی تاریخ کے علاوہ بنگالی ناولوں کے ترجمے سے بھی اردو کے سرمایہ میں اضافہ کیا، وہ انجمن ترقی اردو کی مجلس عام اور اردو یونیورسٹی کمیٹی کے رکن بھی تھے، بنگال میں اردو کے فروغ اور مغربی بنگال اردو اکیڈمی کے قیام میں ان کا بڑا دخل تھا، ان کی ادبی خدمات کے اعتراف میں میر اکیڈمی لکھنؤ اور ساہتیہ اکیڈمی دہلی سے انہیں ایوارڈ بھی ملے، شانتی رنجن جی ہماری مشترکہ تہذیب کے عاشق اور صحیح معنوں میں سیکولر تھے، ہر شخص سے خوش اخلاقی اور گرم جوشی سے ملتے، راقم سے بھی دوبار ملاقات ہوئی تو اپنے خلوص و محبت کا نقش دل پر بیٹھا گئے۔ (ضیاء الدین اصلاحی۔ اکتوبر ۱۹۹۳ء)
Gastric substances that potentially increase the esophageal mucosal damage are: gastric acid, pepsin, bile salts, and pancreatic enzymes. From all of these substances, the highest potential for reflux damage is gastric acid. Although the main cause of clinical symptoms of GERD is acid reflux, it has been known that there are subgroups with typical reflux symptoms that do not provide sufficient response or not responsive to PPI treatment. Despite the improvement of esophagitis, there is no clinical improvements in reflux symptoms of 30% respondents. Therefore, this study was designed to determine fasting gastric acidity with endoscopic findings in patients with GERD. A comparative-analysis study, which determine the fasting gastric acidity from endoscopic findings in patients with GERD. Samples recruited using consecutives sampling technique and divided into groups of esophagitis and non-esophagitis reflux. A total of 40 samples involved in this study. The Mann-Whitney test, was used for analyzing the difference between fasting gastric acidity from endoscopic findings of esophagitis lesions in patient with GERD. The median value for fasting gastric acidity in the esophagitis reflux group was 1.88 (0.82-4.84), whereas the median value for fasting gastric acidity in the non-esophagitis reflux group was 2.49 (0.68-5.97). The Mann-Whitney test result was p=0.298 (p>0.05). This study shows that there is no significant difference of fasting gastric acidity from endoscopic findings between esophagitis and non esophagitis reflux groups in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This study shows that esophagitis lesions are not affected by gastric acidity.
Among viral hepatitis, HCV is the second leading cause of hepatitis with approximately 3% carriers worldwide and 8-10 % carriers among Pakistani population. In the absence of any approved vaccine against HCV, the pegylated- interferon-alpha in combination with Ribavirin is the only standard regimen. The goal of this treatment is viral eradication to achieve sustained viral response (SVR) which means to decrease the viral titer to undetectable levels after treatment completion. However, the success rate is not hundred percent for this treatment (40- 50% for HCV genotype 1/ 4 and 75-80% for HCV genotype 2/3). Beside this fact, this treatment has several side effects that require either treatment modification or withdrawal. The present study was designed to find out the association of viral and host factors with the response of interferon treatment in chronic HCV patients of Pakistan. Two hundred CHC treatment-naïve patients from June 2011 to June 2013 were enrolled and treated with combination therapy of interferon plus ribavirin. Treatment response was analyzed by quantifying viral titer at specific interval of times during the treatment course and 6 months after treatment completion. Response rate was as followed; 81.1% patients attained Sustained virologic Response (SVR), 11.7% patients did not respond and in 7.2% patients’ virus was relapsed. It was observed that HCV genotype 3a is the most prevalent genotype followed by 1a while prevalence of mixed genotype is the least in Pakistan. Moreover, the success rate of treatment is higher in patients infected with HCV genotype 3a as compared to HCV genotype 1a. Quantification of viral load at 3rd month of treatment is valuable determinant of SVR and also helpful in tailoring the individualize treatment. As the SVR rate (93.3%) is higher in patients who achieved early viral response (EVR) as compared to those who failed to attain EVR (6.7%). It was observed that the success rate in female patients is more than male patients while rate of non-response is more in male patients than female. While no association of SVR with body mass index and age of patient was analyzed. Human genetic variations of IL28B SNPs (rs12979860, rs12980275, rs8099917, rs1181222) was identified and find out that the patients with CC genotype of SNP rs12979860 of IL28B are more likely to cure than patients with CT/TT genotype of SNP rs12979860. While the rate of NVR and relapse is higher in patients having GG genotype of SNP rs8099917. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed significant association of following factors with SVR; female gender (OR; 5.99, 95% C.I; 1.26-28.51, p= 0.024), HCV genotype 3a (OR; 9.33, 95% C.I; 1.94-44.95, p=0.005), 12 week response EVR (OR; 14.83, 95% C.I; 2.87-76.7, p=0.001) and CC genotype of SNP rs12979860 (OR; 6.39, 95% C.I; 1.18-34.7, p=0.032).