Untamed Subjectivity upon Blasphemy: Comparative Subjectivity of the National and International English and National Urdu Print Media upon Reporting a Blasphemy Case in Pakistan

Objectivity of news have always been a debate, even the trusted source of information, the newspapers are not ‘clean’ so to say. Contrary to the codes of neat journalism, news reports are often found reflecting ideological, economic, regional, religious and pre-determined viewpoints. In the current study the researcher has purposely picked the blasphemy case of Aasiya Bibi from year 2010 involving Salman Taseer (late), then the Governor of Punjab and Mumtaz Qadri (late) the member of elite police force who shot Mr. Taseer and was later hanged in 2016. The researcher analyzed level of subjectivity in the news stories and editorial of two international and three national newspapers, The Guardian, The New York Time and The Dawn, Daily Jang and the Daily Express respectively. Through the scientific method of analyzing the content it is observed that in such cases, even the pioneers of print medium and the self-proclaimed champions of the codes of journalism are found overwhelmingly subjective.

Correlation Between Toxoplasmosis and Some Endocrine Parameters for the Assessment of Immunopathogenic Mechanisms of Human Population

Present study deals with the correlation of Toxoplasma with some endocrine parameters for the assessment of immunopathogenic mechanism in human population selected from different localities of Lahore. Besides analysis of blood using ELISA for various parameters (anti-Toxo IgG and IgM, Insulin, TSH, T3, T4, FSH, LH, testosterone and estradiol) this multidisciplinary study involved the questionnaire survey of the area for the assessment of health status of the study respondents and risk factors regarding toxoplasmosis. Data was analyzed statistically by Chi-square test, ttest, ANOVA and correlation (p<0.05). Analysis of data revealed that seroprevalence of Toxoplasma infection was significantly related to various factors; socioeconomic status, pica habits, consumption of untreated water for drinking purpose and exposure to oocysts contaminated surfaces as feral cats have high abundance in the study areas. Toxoplasma gondii infection was highly prevalent among study subjects. It was found that chronic Toxoplasma infection was more prevalent (58.5%) among respondents then acute/recent cases (41.5%). Gender wise comparison showed that prevalence of infection was higher among male subjects (86%) in compared to the females (34%). Percentage prevalence of Toxoplasma had positive correlation with seropositivity among subjects of 36-44+ years of age. Toxoplasma infection was found to be correlated with different endocrine hormones. Higher insulin concentration was detected among seropositive subjects reflecting similar trend in both sexes. The deviation was significant among senior age groups. The concentration of TSH, T3 and T4 was detected to be higher than the reference value among 9%, 19% and 79% subjects respectively. In case of male seropositive subjects, LH was significantly higher (11.89±0.66mlU/ml) whereas testosterone was found to be lower (2.82±0.13ng/ml) than normal reference value. In general female Toxoplasma positive respondents were detected with variable ranges of FSH, LH and estradiol during various reproductive phases. These changes in various hormones reflect the possible role of toxoplasmosis leading to various metabolic disorders and reproductive problems. The results are depictive of the fact that lack of education and awareness, poor hygiene conditions and other risk factors greatly enhance the transmission of such parasites. The results of the study are significant and provide enough evidence regarding toxoplasmosis and its correlation with the changes in various hormones leading to health effects.