Gender Wise Comparison of Trained and Untrained Teachers’ Performance on Students’ Learning Achievement in Mathematics

AbstractThe study was aimed at comparing the performance of trained and untrained teachers in the subject of mathematics and to find out the factors affecting teachers’ performance. Sample of this study was comprised of the students of grade-4 and their teachers. 48 schools were selected conveniently. Achievement test for students and a questionnaire for teachers were designed. Data were analyzed by calculating mean score and independent sample t- test. Main findings were that trained male and female teachers are significantly better than untrained male and female teachers. On the basis of findings, recommendations were made

Application of new biomedical materials in orthodontic appliances

This review article describes the application and characteristics of certain biomedical materials in orthodontic appliances. The elastic recoil of shape memory polymers, determination of the forces and moments experienced by the brackets and eventually by the tooth, reduction in treatment time by employing self-healing smart brackets and decreased enamel lost during debonding due to usage of biomimetic adhesives such as dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) is discussed. Increased plaque retention and microbial attachment around brackets and teeth is of profound concern and by utilisation of hydrophobic properties of self-cleaning materials, this can be reduced significantly. Implantation of bioresorbable temporary anchorage devices, which resorb once their purpose is accomplished and increasing the concentration of fluoride in the oral environment to counter the deleterious consequences of orthodontic treatment such as white spot lesions and caries, are also discussed brief

Detection of bacterial load in drinking water samples by 16s rRNA ribotyping and RAPD analysis

Background: Safe and healthy drinking water is inaccessible to more than 20% of the world population. Among some major risks to safety of potable water, contamination with pathogenic microorganisms is the most alarming and harmful Therefore, it is needed to develop and implement fast and accurate methods for the detection of bacterial contamination in water. Methods: Biological analysis of drinking water samples obtained from nine different collection points of Lahore city was carried out and total of six different bacterial strains were isolated. Biochemical characterization was done under standard laboratory conditions. Molecular identification of these isolates was done by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Results: The drinking water sample collected from Punjab University showed highest bacterial count 1066/0.5 ml of drinking water while residential area of University of the Punjab contained least number of bacterial counts i.e., 38/0.5 ml of drinking water. Amplification patterns of isolates SZ1, SZ3, SZ4 and SZ6 obtained by RAPD were found similar to genus Bacillus. While, SZ2 and SZ5 had unique amplification patterns identical to Bacillus megaterium. All the six bacterial strains were tested for the presence of protease, lipase, cellulase, and amylase. Strain SZ2 gave positive result for all of them except amylase.Conclusion: Tube well water of Punjab University area of Lahore is safe for drinking purpose except admin block tube. It is recommended to monitor the bacteriological load of drinking water at regular intervals in order to control water borne bacterial diseases

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in a dengue-endemic region: lessons for the future.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are endemic in Pakistan. However, the overlap of geographic distribution and early clinical features between the two conditions make a reliable diagnosis difficult in the initial stage of illness. A 16-year-old boy presented with a history of hematemesis and high-grade fever. A preliminary diagnosis of dengue hemorrhagic fever was made and supportive treatment was instituted; however, the patient continued to deteriorate clinically. Dengue IgM antibody testing was negative on the third day of admission. Qualitative polymerase chain reaction test for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viral RNA was sent but the patient expired shortly after the results became available on the sixth day of admission. Considerable resources had to be expended on contact tracing and administration of ribavirin prophylaxis to all the health-care workers who had come in contact with the patient. It is crucial that Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever be recognized and treated at an early stage because of longer term financial and health implications for contacts such as health-care workers in the setting of a developing country. Increased surveillance of dengue and Crimean-Congohemorrhagic fever cases is warranted for the derivation of reasonably reliable, cost-effective and prompt predictors of disease diagnosis. These predictors can help guide future decisions in the management of similar cases. Ultimately, such a strategy may translate into better cost containment in resource-poor settings. Institution of ribavirin prophylaxis in selected patients also merits consideration

Poor knowledge--predictor of nonadherence to universal precautions for blood borne pathogens at first level care facilities in Pakistan

Background: We conducted an assessment of knowledge about blood borne pathogens (BBP) and use of universal precautions at first level care facilities (FLCF) in two districts of Pakistan.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey and selected three different types of FLCFs ; public, general practitioners and unqualified practitioners through stratified random sampling technique. At each facility, we interviewed a prescriber, a dispenser, and a housekeeper for knowledge of BBPs transmission and preventive practices, risk perception, and use of universal precautions. We performed multiple linear regression to assess the effect of knowledge score (11 items) on the practice of universal precautions score (4 items- use of gloves, gown, needle recapping, and HBV vaccination).Results: We interviewed 239 subjects. Most of the participants 128 (53%) were recruited from general practitioners clinics and 166 (69.5%) of them were dispensers. Mean (SD) knowledge score was 3.8 (2.3) with median of 4. MBBS prescribers had the highest knowledge score while the housekeepers had the lowest. Mean universal precautions use score was 2.7 +/- 2.1. Knowledge about mode of transmission and the work experience alone, significantly predicted universal precaution use in multiple linear regression model (adR2 = 0.093).CONCLUSION: Knowledge about mode of transmission of blood borne pathogens is very low. Use of universal precautions can improve with increase in knowledge

Hypoxic Preconditioning as a Strategy to Maintain the Regenerative Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are non-hematopoietic cells with high proliferative potential and multi-lineage differentiation capacity. MSCs are promising therapeutic candidates for cell-based therapies, and hundreds of clinical trials have been registered using these cells. Potential of stem cells is compromised with the factors such as disease condition and age of donor. Therefore, taking the cells from such patients for autologous use may compromise the benefits of cell-based therapies. It is therefore required to enhance the potential of these cells before use in stem cell-based therapies. Optimization of culture conditions is preferred strategies to enhance the regenerative potential of cells before use. This chapter briefly overviews the benefits of hypoxic preconditioning of stem cells to enhance the regenerative potential of cells in terms of their survival, proliferation, and differentiation

SmartSIM - a virtual reality simulator for laparoscopy training using a generic physics engine

International audienceVirtual reality (VR) training simulators have started playing a vital role in enhancing surgical skills, such as hand–eye coordination in laparoscopy, and practicing surgical scenarios that cannot be easily created using physical models. We describe a new VR simulator for basic training in lapa-roscopy, i.e. SmartSIM, which has been developed using a generic open‐source physics engine called the simulation open framework architecture (SOFA). This paper describes the systems perspective of SmartSIM including design details of both hardware and software components, while highlighting the critical design decisions. Some of the distinguishing features of SmartSIM include: (i) an easy‐to‐fabricate custom‐built hardware interface; (ii) use of a generic physics engine to facilitate wider accessibility of our work and flexibility in terms of using various graph-ical modelling algorithms and their implementations; and (iii) an intelligent and smart evaluation mechanism that facilitates unsupervised and independent learning

Role of awake prone positioning in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19: An experience from a developing country

There is limited evidence on the efficacy of awake prone positioning (PP) in non-ventilated patients with COVID-19 who have hypoxemia. We, therefore, aim to describe our experience with the use of early proning in awake, non-intubated patients with confirmed COVID-19. In our retrospective observational study, 23 patients with confirmed positive PCR test results for Severe Acute respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and hypoxemia that required oxygen therapy with or without non-invasive ventilation were treated with PP. Patients were classified into mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 disease. There were no targeted number of hours for proning per day and patients were kept in prone position according to their tolerance. The primary outcome measure was the avoidance of intubation and secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality, length of hospital stays and complications related to PP. The mean (standard deviation) age of our cohort was 54.5 (11.7) years, and the majority were males (21/23, 91.3%). Sixty-one per cent (14/23) of the patients were suffering from severe disease and 82.6% (19/23) had bilateral lung involvement with interstitial infiltrates. Majority of the patients were prone positioned for a median of 6 days (IQR 4 - 8). Only one patient required transfer to ICU for mechanical ventilation and subsequently died due to severe ARDS. All 22 patients showed progressive improvement in oxygen requirement and PF ratio, mostly after 3-5 days of proning. The mean length of hospital stay was 12 days. All patients, except one, were discharged in stable conditions, on room air or on a minimal oxygen requirement of 1-2 liters. No major complication of PP was recorded. Awake prone positioning is a valuable and safe therapeutic adjunct that can be applied in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19. It can also be included in the home-based management protocols of COVID-19 to improve patient outcomes and mitigate the burden on health care facilities

Development of zerovalent iron and titania (Fe0/TiO2) composite for oxidative degradation of dichlorophene in aqueous solution: synergistic role of peroxymonosulfate (HSO5−)

Abstract Binary composite of zerovalent iron and titanium dioxide (Fe0/TiO2) was synthesized for the catalytic removal of dichlorophene (DCP) in the presence of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The as-prepared composite (Fe0/TiO2) exhibits synergistic effect and enhanced properties like improved catalytic activity of catalyst and greater magnetic property for facile recycling of catalyst. The results showed that without addition of PMS at reaction time of 50 min, the percent degradation of DCP by TiO2, Fe0, and Fe0/TiO2 was just 5%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. However, with the addition of 0.8 mM PMS, at 10 min of reaction time, the catalytic degradation performance of Fe0, TiO2, and Fe0/TiO2 was significantly improved to 82%, 18%, and 88%, respectively. The as-prepared catalyst was fully characterized to evaluate its structure, chemical states, and morphology. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that in composite TiO2 causes dispersion of agglomerated iron particles which enhances porosity and surface area of the composites and X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) results revealed successful incorporation of Fe0, and oxides of Fe and TiO2 in the composite. The adsorption–desorption analysis verifies that the surface area of Fe0/TiO2 is significantly larger than bare Fe0 and TiO2. Moreover, the surface area, particle size, and crystal size of Fe0/TiO2 was surface area = 85 m2 g−1, particle size = 0.35 μm, and crystal size = 0.16 nm as compared to TiO2 alone (surface area = 22 m2 g−1, particle size = 4.25 μm, and crystal size = 25.4 nm) and Fe0 alone (surface area = 65 m2 g−1, particle size = 0.9 μm, and crystal size = 7.87 nm). The as-synthesized material showed excellent degradation performance in synthesized wastewater as well. The degradation products and their toxicities were evaluated and the resulted degradation mechanism was proposed accordingly. The toxicity values decreased in order of DP1 \u3e DP5 \u3e DP2 \u3e DP3 \u3e DP4 and the LC50 values toward fish for 96-h duration decreased from 0.531 to 67.2. This suggests that the proposed technology is an excellent option for the treatment of antibiotic containing wastewater.Graphical abstrac