The menace of noise is a by-product of civilization and its hazards are well known. Noise levels were measured in Karachi, at different places and at different times of the night and day, using an Amplaid noise meter. The leg for Karachi came to 80 dB (A), the General Noise Index x (G.N.I.) to 460, and the noise pollution level (N.P.L.) to 99 dB (A). These values are significantly higher (P les...

IT IS OBVIOUS FROM his review of my book that J.H. Huebert holds me in genuine high esteem. This saddens him all the more for, in his view, I have squandered my talents on so unworthy a topic as Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, which he characterizes as “an unfortunate waste of talent for a powerful mind such as Randy Barnett’s” (p. 108). While there is much that I d...

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between democracy and economic growth in 30 Sub-Saharan African countries. As our proxy for democracy we first use the democracy index constructed by Freedom House and then check the sensitivity of our findings using, as an alternative proxy for democracy, the Legislative Index of Electoral Competitiveness (LIEC). We find support for the Lipset hypo...

Objective: To determine the frequency of congenital hypothyroidism among healthy newborns presenting to a public health facility in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out for six months duration at the Well Baby Clinic, Paediatric unit III, Civil hospital Karachi. Neonates of both sex delivered after 37 weeks of gestation, at Civil Hospital Karachi and visited th...

Road Traffic Crash (RTC) mortality and morbidity is one of the major public health problems in Karachi. In this study we used geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize and quantify the spatial distribution of RTC mortality and yearly trend from 2008 to 2012, for all 24 administrative subdivisions of Karachi, using Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Center's (RTIRPC) data. Cumul...

INTRODUCTION Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, is located at latitude 30.25; longitude 67.00. It has a population of 759,245; 425,474 males (56%) and 333,771 females (44%); Census 1998. The majority of residents are Persian or Baluchi speaking Baluchs. METHODOLOGY The cancer cases from Quetta reported to the Karachi Cancer Registry were reviewed. The data included cases from the Aga Khan Un...

OBJECTIVE Dietary Fe deficiency has a high incidence in Pakistani children and may be associated with increased gastrointestinal absorption of trace metals such as Mn. Therefore, children residing in heavily polluted cities like Karachi may be prone to Mn toxicity. The present study investigated blood Mn concentrations in Karachi children of different Fe statuses. DESIGN A prospective observa...

OBJECTIVE Our study attempted to describe the differences in circumstances, risk groups, and severity of road traffic injuries (RTIs) among injured children (1-15 years) and adults (≥16 years) coming to the tertiary-care hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS Past medical records from June 2006 to May 2007 of injured patients coming to the Emergency Department of the Aga Khan University Hospita...