Medical and Clinical Pathology Pre-Screening Visit and Enrolment Seasonal Variability in Healthy Volunteers
Pages 422-427
Yahya Murad and Zaher A. Radi

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1927-5129.2014.10.55

Published: 08 September 2014

Abstract: In the pharmaceutical industry, selection of healthy volunteers is one of the foundations in phase I clinical trials and is a difficult and costly process. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the seasonal variability in recruiting healthy volunteers and examine the value of utilizing a pre-screen visit for healthy volunteers to generate a database pool that will be used in the routine screening process of phase I clinical research studies. We retrospectively studied a total of 1115 male and female volunteers who were scheduled for a medical and clinical pathology pre-screen visit over a one year period. Written consents were obtained from all individuals who participated in the study. Medical pre-screen visit included a full medical history and examination and electrocardiogram and clinical pathology (clinical chemistry, hematology and urinalysis). There was apparent seasonal variability in the participation of individuals in the pre-screen visit. Increased values of clinical chemistry values such as alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase accounted for the majority of the clinically relevant increased values. Increased values of WBC’s and both platelets and mean corpuscular volume accounted for the lowest values. In urinalysis, the most prevalent abnormal values were increased WBC’s and red blood cells. No apparent differences were seen between sexes.Conducting medical and clinical pathology pre-screening visit is important as a source for healthy volunteer database pool to participate in phase I trials.

Spatio-Temporal Transformation in Agricultural Land-Use Pattern in Karachi Using Geo-Spatial Techniques: A Case Study along West Bank of Malir River
Pages 414-418
Anila Kausar, Khalida Mahmood and Razzaq Ahmed

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1927-5129.2014.10.53

Published: 01 September 2014

Abstract: The study attempts to investigate spatio-temporal transformation along the west bank of Malir River in Karachi between 2005 and 2013, using geo-spatial techniques. The major objective of this study is to find out the changes occurring in the pattern of land use along Malir River in various administrative units of Karachi division. The study indicates changes in agricultural land during the period covered by the study. These changes which are all related to agricultural land are mainly explained by transformation occurring in terms of various land-use.

Due to the unavailability of statistical data at grass root level, primary data have been collected from imageries to obtain different land-use categories. The results show that considerable changes have been witnessed in the entire study area. This kind of research is very useful for all agricultural areas around major cities of the Asia and Africa in terms of land-use change detection.