Islamic Foundations of Education: Item Analysis of a Teacher Made Test at Master Level

This study is aimed at constructing and analyzing a researcher made Multiple Choice Test in the subject of Islamic foundations of Education. Sixty items were finalized and administered on the selected sample which consisted of the students of Education at Masters’ level in the four HEC recognized public sector universities in Pakistan i.e., Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, University of Sargodha and University of Education (Multan and Vehari campus). After pilot testing, test was administered on 385 male and female students selected through multistage sampling technique. Item analysis was performed by using classical test theory. According to discrimination and difficulty indices 8 items in Form A and 6 items in form B needed modifications because the low and high achiever students were unable to attempt those items. This study recommends that a larger size of sample should be included to attain higher reliability of the items

Effectiveness of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with COPD

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is beneficial for patients with COPD, with improvement in exercise capacity and health-related quality of life. Despite these overall benefits, the responses to PR vary significantly among different individuals. It is not clear if PR is beneficial for patients with COPD and normal exercise capacity. Although it is believed that longer pulmonary rehabilitation programs can provide better results, most of the evidence comes from short-term programs. Objective: The objective of this analysis was to determine the effectiveness of respiratory services provided in the hospital or community by respiratory therapists (RTs) in reducing health care utilization and improving patient outcomes. The aim was to evaluate the outcomes of a comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Methodology: All 65 Pakistani patients who met the inclusion criteria with ages between 40 to 65 years, including both male and female, with mild to severe COPD were enrolled in the study on the basis of convenient sampling. Informed consent was taken from each patient starting about the study and their rights to withdraw from study. A demographics detail (name, age, sex) was noted along with the necessary medical history. A questionnaire was made to see the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD. All necessary tests were performed to evaluate the patient betterment completely. Results: The mean FEV1 in the subjects was 1.29 ± 0.47 L/min, 64.8 ± 23.0% of predicted. Clinically there is a little effect on CXR pattern, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC after pulmonary rehabilitation. But overall quality of life improved after pulmonary rehabilitation. Mainly improvement occurs in peak expiratory flow rate, BORG dyspnea scale, 6 mint walk test distance (meters) and Oxygen saturation after rehabilitation. Conclusion: These results showed that patients with COPD had benefited from a comprehensive PR program in an out-patient setting regardless of disease severity. Exercise training can result in significant improvement in health-related quality of life, exercise capacity, respiratory muscle strength, and exertional dyspnea in subjects with COPD and normal exercise capacity

Self-Assessment of Students’ Anxiety during High Stake Laboratory Work Examinations

The present study intends to explore the level of practical examination anxietyamong secondary and higher secondary school students and its causes andremedies. A self-developed Perceived Science Practical Anxiety Scale (PSPAS)was used to collect quantitative data from 900 science students of two districts of central Punjab: Sargodha and Faisalabad. Moreover, 50 students were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the causes of science practical examination anxiety and the remedies to reduce it. All students had recently taken science practical examination and therefore had first-hand vivid experience of science practical examination anxiety. The analysis of responses in the questionnaire revealed that on an average more than half (61.50 %) of the students experienced anxiety during practical examination. Fourteen sources of anxiety during practical examination were ranked and synthesis of qualitative data from interviews recorded five categories of anxiety causes: shortage and unavailability of the materials, lack of practice, harsh behaviour of laboratory personnel, over loaded syllabus and lack of guidance. The students’ opinion regarding reducing anxiety was synthesized into four themes: relaxation during practical examination, individual level preparation, completion of practical syllabus well before time and training of laboratory personnel. The findings of the study may be beneficial for teachers, school mangers and policy makers and those who are responsible for the preparation and execution of examination policies, to reduce anxiety among students.Keywords: high stake examinations, higher secondary schools, laboratory work examinations, self-assessment, student anxiet

Gastrointestinal and Hepatic manifestations of COVID-19 in patients attending tertiary care hospital

Introduction: To evaluate the frequency of Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and elucidate the association of GI symptoms and hepatic injury markers with the severity of COVID-19 and mortality.Methodology: Single-centered observational study recruited 160 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients who were admitted in Medical Unit-1/C1 of Civil hospital Karachi, Pakistan from 21 February to 30 April 2021. Data was ana-lyzed using SPSS version 23.0.Objective: To evaluate the frequency of GI symptoms and elucidate the as-sociation of GI and hepatic abnormalities with the severity of COVID-19 and its mortality.Results: Among 160 patients, 20% presented with digestive symptoms; ab-dominal pain (33.1%), and nausea (33.1%) being the most common. GI symptoms and liver injury markers notably ALT, AST, and GGT were signifi-cantly associated with severity of disease (p value<0.05), ICU admissions (p value<0.01), and poor outcomes (p value<0.01).Conclusion: COVID-19 infected patients presenting with GI symptoms and liver dysfunction have a worse prognosis and needs to be addressed on ur-gent basis to avoid complications and reduce mortality.Key words: Covid-19, Hepatic injury, Gastrointestinal symptoms, Liver dysfunction

Mutations in the E2-PePHD region of hepatitis C virus genotype-3a and correlation with response to interferon and ribavirin combination therapy in Pakistani patients

Hepatitis C is a major health problem affecting more than 200 million individuals in the world. Current treatment regimen consisting of interferon alpha and ribavirin does not always succeed in eliminating the virus completely from patient's body. One of the mechanisms by which virus evades the antiviral effect of interferon alpha involves protein kinase (PKR) eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2a) phosphorylation homology domain (PePHD). This domain in genotype 1 strains is reportedly homologous to PKR and its target eIF2a. By binding to PKR, PePHD inhibits its activity and therefore cause virus to evade antiviral activity of interferon (IFN). Many studies have correlated substitutions in this domain to the treatment response and lead to inconclusive results. Some studies suggested that substitutions favor response while others emphasized that no correlation exists. In the present study we therefore compared sequences of PePHD domain of thirty one variants of six hepatitis C virus patients of genotype 3. Three of our HCV 3a infected patients showed rapid virological response to interferon alpha and ribavirin combination therapy whereas the remaining three had breakthrough to the same combination therapy. It is found that PePHD domain is not entirely conserved and has substitutions in some isolates irrespective of the treatment response. However substitution of glutamine (Q) with Leucine (L) in one of the breakthrough responders made it more identical to HCV genotype 1a. These substitutions in the breakthrough responders also tended to increase average hydrophilic activity thus making binding of PePHD to PKR and inhibition of PKR more favorable

Hepatitis C Treatment: current and future perspectives

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a member of Flaviviridae family and one of the major causes of liver disease. There are about 175 million HCV infected patients worldwide that constitute 3% of world's population. The main route of HCV transmission is parental however 90% intravenous drug users are at highest risk. Standard interferon and ribavirin remained a gold standard of chronic HCV treatment having 38-43% sustained virological response rates. Currently the standard therapy for HCV is pegylated interferon (PEG-INF) with ribavirin. This therapy achieves 50% sustained virological response (SVR) for genotype 1 and 80% for genotype 2 & 3. As pegylated interferon is expensive, standard interferon is still the main therapy for HCV treatment in under developed countries. On the other hand, studies showed that pegylated IFN and RBV therapy has severe side effects like hematological complications. Herbal medicines (laccase, proanthocyandin, Rhodiola kirilowii) are also being in use as a natural and alternative way for treatment of HCV but there is not a single significant report documented yet. Best SVR indicators are genotype 3 and 2, < 0.2 million IU/mL pretreatment viral load, rapid virological response (RVR) rate and age <40 years. New therapeutic approaches are under study like interferon related systems, modified forms of ribavirin, internal ribosome entry site (HCV IRES) inhibitors, NS3 and NS5a inhibitors, novel immunomodulators and specifically targeted anti-viral therapy for hepatitis C compounds. More remedial therapies include caspase inhibitors, anti-fibrotic agents, antibody treatment and vaccines

Preclinical Ward Teaching Student's Perspective

&nbsp;History taking and basic clinical examination plays a pivotal role in the training of medical undergraduates. Medical history is the information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, from the patient with the aim of obtaining information useful in formulating a diagnosis and providing medical care to the patient. The relevant complaints reported by the patient are referred to as symptoms, in contrast to clinical signs, which are seen by direct examination of the patient by the doctor. The information thus gathered, enables the doctor to make a diagnosis and plan treatment for the patient. There is a need to encourage active participation of learners by engaging all students rather than engaging a single one while others observe. Thus history taking and examination skill is central to the transformation of a medical undergraduate student into a competent health professional and must be given due emphasis in medical schools. Keywords: Medical history, clinical examination, student prospectu

RAB33B and PCNT variants in two Pakistani families with skeletal dysplasia and short stature

Background Skeletal dysplasia is a heterogeneous group of disorders resulting from different genetic variants in humans. The current study was designed to identify the genetic causes of skeletal dysplasia and short stature in two consanguineous families from Pakistan, both comprised of multiple affected individuals. Patients in one family had proportionate short stature with reduced head circumference while affected individuals in the other family had disproportionate short stature. Methods Clinical data were obtained and radiological examinations of the index patients were completed. Whole genome sequencing for probands from both families were performed followed by Sanger sequencing to confirm segregation of identified variants in the respective families. In-silico pathogenicity score prediction for identified variant and amino acid conservation analysis was completed. Results Whole Genome Sequencing identified a known biallelic variant c.6176_6189delGTCAGCTGCCGAAG; p.(Gln2060ArgfsTer48) in PCNT gene and a novel biallelic variant c.174delC; p.(Asp60ThrfsTer7) in RAB33B gene respectively in affected members of the two families. Clinical imaging revealed platyspondyly and varus deformity in the legs of the affected members in the first family. Radiographs indicated severe platyspondyly, genu valgus deformity of legs and pectus carinatum for the patients in the second family. Conclusion In this study we report the phenotypes and genetic variants in two unrelated families with two distinct forms of skeletal dysplasia. This study strengthens the previous findings that patients harboring PCNT variants are phenotypically homogeneous and also extends the genotypic spectrum of RAB33B variants.Peer reviewe

A Study of principles and teacher’s role towards school performance

For the Quality of education, the leader and the teacher’s attitude is very important for institutes’ performance. In secondary schools of Pakistan head teachers are the leaders. The main purpose of the study was to find out the role of head teachers’ and teachers towards school performance. The study was delimited to head teachers and teachers of district Sargodha. This was a descriptive research based on quantitative research design. Survey method was used to collect data from head teachers and teachers. Perception of head teachers and teachers were taken on a two self-developed tool including 39 items for teachers and 43 item for Head teachers having reliability of 0.72 and 0.85 respectively. Hence a sample of 60 head teachers (30 male and 30 female) and 240 teachers (120 male and 120 female) were selected randomly. School performance was evaluated by the result percentage of matriculation. Major findings showed that school performance is significantly affected by head teachers’ poor communication with teachers, head teachers’ personality, head teachers’ encouragement, proper check and balance in high performing school. It was also concluded that school performance is affected by teacher’s gender, and teacher’s attitude in high performing schools. Correlation analysis revealed significantly positive relationship between school performance and principals’ leadership. By multiple linear regression analysis, it was concluded that school performance is affected by teachers’ attitude, teachers’ methodology and teaching assessment in high performing schools