Home > Biochemical Analysis and Genetic Polymorphism of Angiogenic Factors and Inflammatory Markers in Pakistani Patients With Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Biochemical Analysis and Genetic Polymorphism of Angiogenic Factors and Inflammatory Markers in Pakistani Patients With Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is an ophthalmic disease with complex aetiologyand is considered to be one of the major reasons of blindness in aged population. Inflammatory processes are suggested to play an important role in AMD pathogenesis and its progression. The present cross sectional and case-control study was carried out to investigate the role of inflammatory markers and angiogenic growth factors in AMD pathogenesis. Diagnosis was done through slit lamp examination, OCT and FFA. Normotensive and non-diabetic subjects aged ≥50 years diagnosed with AMD were selected. Age matched healthy individuals with no symptoms of AMD were selected as controls. Serum lipids, apolipoprotein E (ApoE), leptin, HTRA1, interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), C-reactive protein (CRP) and complimentary factor H (CFH) were determined in patients and controls. Genotype analyses of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-6 gene (rs1800795; rs1800796; rs1800797); IL-8 gene (rs4073; rs2227306; rs2227543); VEGF gene (rs3025039; rs699947) and CRP gene (rs1205; rs1130864) were done through restriction fragment length polymorphism. Data were computed through SPSS version 18.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA) and Graph Pad Prism (GraphPad Software, San Diego, California, USA). Data sets were compared between control and AMD patients through student’s t-test. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared through χ 2 . Significance level was p<0.05. Since the data were obtained from a sample population, to reduce heterogeneity of error, Box-Cox transformation algorithm was applied. Multivariate analysis of variance (M-ANOVA) was applied on the transformed data to investigate association of serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF and CRP with AMD. Transformed data showed elevated serum levels of IL-8 (p<0.015) and VEGF (p<0.0108) and reduced ApoE (p<0.032) in AMD patients compared to control subjects. Serum VEGF levels were significantly raised (p<0.0001) in wet AMD patients compared to the dry AMD patients. The IL-6 levels were significantly high in patients with genotype GG for rs4073(p<0.0001). IL-8 levels were significantly high in patients with genotype GG for rs2227543(p<0.002). Significantly high VEGF levels were observed in patients xwith genotype TT for rs3025039(p<0.038). CRP levels did not change significantly with respect to genotype forrs1205 and rs1130864. The study concludes that inflammatory markers and angiogenic growth factors are significantly altered in AMD pathogenesis. Significant findings of the present study which are pertinent to mention is that altered levels of inflammatory markers and angiogenic factors are related to the genetic polymorphism for IL-6, IL-8 and VEGF genes. However, SNPs in relation to CRP were not related to serum CRP levelsin AMD patients.
This study aims to analyze the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Employee Performance through Work Stress at the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, East Java I. This research method is an explanatory research, the analysis unit in this study is employees who work in the Directorate General of Customs and Excise Office. East Java I region, which consists of 80 structural officials, 79 functional officials and 1323 executive staff. The method of collecting research data using a questionnaire. The results showed that organizational culture affects the work stress of employees at the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, East Java I, this shows that organizational culture is able to increase the work stress of employees of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, East Java. Organizational culture influences the performance of the employees of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, East Java I, this shows that with a good and appropriate organizational culture, it is able to increase the performance of the employees of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, East Java I. New organizational culture that also improves Employee stress, namely the imposition of input into daily work activity reports by employees in the daily logbook through an internet-based application with details on the types of activities, time norms, achievement targets and employee daily problems for all levels of employees, both structural, functional and executive.
Remediation of Written English in Government Schools of Rawalpindi Region The purpose of this research study was to explore some remedial measures required to make the Pakistani students at the Secondary School level use correct English language in their writings. The problem under concern is that students at even higher levels make simple grammatical mistakes which they seem to have carried with them from high schools. The study aims to find out if these errors can be eliminated at a lower level. For this investigation, the researcher has taken the students at the Secondary School level as the subject. Common grammatical deviations have become a challenge for teachers of English in Pakistan. The study aimed to find out specifically some of the most common grammatical deviations and some of the likely causes behind them. The study has also suggested some measures to eliminate these deviations or irregular patterns and to improve the level of English, especially at school level in Pakistan. The researcher analyzed essay scripts written by students of Matriculation to find out common deviations. The researcher then analyzed these deviations by applying Theory of Contrastive Analysis to find out some of the likely causes behind these deviations. The researcher collected two hundred essays (twenty essays each) from randomly selected ten Government High Schools for boys in Rawalpindi. For this purpose, the researcher gave a topic on the spot to let the students write spontaneously. The researcher also used interview as the research tool. One teacher of English, each from the ten schools selected for collecting scripts was interviewed. The analysis of data received showed that First Language interference played a dominant role in the problem under discussion. Secondly, there was a shortage of skilled teachers in the schools. Some main recommendations were: to involve the teachers at the lower levels in curriculum designing, give regular and effective teacher-training workshops and try to develop a spoken English culture in schools. It is expected that this study will serve as a useful tool to study the standard of English at the lower levels and find out some more solutions to the problem of weak standard of English in Pakistan. The analysis of interviews has opened up many new areas to work on. The significance of the study is that we can expect to get students who write and speak correct English at the lower as well as the higher levels of study. Teachers teaching ESP and other special courses of English can face this challenge more easily and can also keep their focus on the actual objectives of the courses.