Rota virus diarrhea in hospitalized children

Objective: To determine the frequency and clinical features of Rota virus diarrhea in children presenting in a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: A cross-sectional, observational study. Place and Duration of Study: National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, from January to June 2007. Methodology: A total of three hundred children of either gender aged 1 month to 5 years, who presented with diarrhea of \u3c 7 days as a primary illness were enrolled. Children with bloody diarrhea or nosocomial gastroenteritis acquired duringhospitalization for other disease were not included. Detection of Rota virus in stool was done by enzyme linked immunoassay. Results: Out of 300 children, 188 (63%) tested positive and 112 (37%) tested negative for Rota virus. Positive Rota virus cases in 7 – 12 months of age was (n = 34, 18.08%). Overall, 151 (80.3%) children with Rota virus were less than 3 years old. 182 (60.7%) had fever, 118 (39.3%) had vomiting and 156 (82.9%) children had both fever and vomiting. Conclusion: This study shows that Rota virus is a common organism causing diarrhea in children less than 3 years of age. There is a need to incorporate Rota virus vaccine in the national EPI program to decrease the disease burden as highlighted in this study

Scientific Thinking in Historical Perspective

We talk of scientific temper today in the context of Nehru's overt commitment to the idea. It can be safely said that scientific temper is also one of the important Nehruvian policy legacies which we inherited and have always tried to keep alive, of course, not as successfully as we would have liked it to be. Most of the times it gets embroiled in confrontation with faith and all sorts of arguments, for and against, are exchanged between the votaries of each of them. We tend to forget, in the heat of arguments, that people of faith have played crucial role in the progress of science from times immemorial, including modern science as well. It is not a question of either/or, just a reconciliation of the two. Religions have also been emancipatory in intent, as was the case with Islam in the early centuries and before it got institutionalized and mired in superstitions. I will try to engage with some of the related issues in historical context, a period when the term scientific temper was not around, yet there were a large number of autodidacts and intellectuals who appealed for a rational approach in our daily lives and also disseminated modern science in local language. They used science to fight against dogmas and superstitions proclaimed in the name of religions

Impact of infection control activities on the rate of needle stick injuries at a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan over a period of six years: an observational study.

Background:Accidental exposure to blood and body fluids is frequent among health care workers. They are at high risk of nosocomial transmission of blood borne pathogens due to injuries caused by used sharps. We are reporting impact of surveillance and educational program on the rate of needle stick injuries among health care workers at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Methods: At Aga Khan University Hospital sharp injuries are reported to infection control office. To reduce these incidents a quality improvement project was inducted in the year 2005. Health care workers were educated, surveillance data from 2002 to 2007 was analyzed and compared with various risk factors. Results: During study period 1382 incidents were reported. Junior doctors sustained highest number of injuries (n = 394, 28.5%) followed by registered nurses (n = 283, 20.4%). Highest number of incidents was reported during blood collection (19%). An increasing trend was observed in the pre intervention years (2002-04). However noticeable fall was noted in the post intervention period that is in year 2006 and 2007. Major decline was noted among nurses (from 13 to 5 NSI/100 FTE/year). By relating and comparing the rates with various activities directly linked with the use of syringes a significant reduction in incidents were found including, hospital admissions (p-value 0.01), surgeries and procedures performed (p = 0.01), specimens collected in the laboratory (p = 0.001) and Patients visits in clinics (p = 0.01). Conclusion: We report significant reduction in needle stick injuries especially during post intervention study period. This is being achieved by constant emphasis on improving awareness by regular educational sessions, implemented as a quality improvement project

An exploration of vacuum evaporable non-fullerene acceptors for use in organic solar cells and molecular orientation in evaporated thin films

Organic solar cells (OSCs) offer an attractive pathway for next-generation photovoltaic technologies. Recent advances in molecular design have advanced the technology with the advent of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). NFAs have enabled rapid efficiency gains in OSCs, with state-of-the-art OSCs showcasing efficiencies of close to 20%. These advances are constrained to the solution processing field and are not compatible with vacuum deposition, a more industrially mature and commercially relevant manufacturing method which also eliminates the need for solvent use and related components in the fabrication process. In the first part of this thesis various NFA molecules, specifically oligothiophenes and a perylene diimide, are investigated for use as a vacuum evaporable NFA. the investigation focused on studying the optical and energetic behaviour, primarily using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and ambient photoelectron spectroscopy, of these materials. Based on the results, the oligiothiophene BTIC-H was identified as a strong candidate for use in vacuum evaporated NFA OSCs with a good extinction coefficient k = 0.6, and a HOMO and LUMO of −5.9 and −3.6 eV, respectively. Planar and bulk heterojunction devices using BTIC-H were explored. PHJ devices showcased promising performance (good VOC ≈ 1V with low voltage losses ≈ 0.8 V), however, photocurrents in BHJ devices were poor (≈ 0.5 mA/cm2). These results showed that there is very real promise for vacuum evaporable NFAs, however, significant optimisation of devices as well as molecular design are needed. The second part of this thesis explored a comprehensive analysis of molecular orientation in vacuum evaporated organic thin films, a concept which is often poorly understood but plays a critical role in the photophysics of organic electronics. This was done using SE and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Three different molecules were investigated, namely alpha-sexithiophene, the merocyanine dye HB194, and the donor-acceptor (DA) type donor DTDCPB. NEXAFS was used to calculate the mean facial orientation of the molecules while SE was used to calculate the backbone orientation, with the results supplemented by grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS). Results were compared to literature, showing strong agreement in the case of alpha-sexithiophene and revealing significant changes in orientation upon substrate heating, which were broken down into their respective facial and backbone orientation changes. These results showed that understanding both the facial and backbone changes reveal rich information about the microstructure of organic thin films and provide a foundation for more comprehensive analysis of blended films which may reveal device relevant insights

Colonialism, Modernization and the Asian Identity

"Professor Irfan Habib was invited by the Japan Scientists Association to give the memorial lecture for the fortieth year of its foundation as a guest speaker. This paper “Colonialism, Modernization and the Asian Identity”was delivered at the International Symposium on Exchange and Cooperation of Science and Technology in Asia held on December 11, 2005 in Tokyo. On the following day he visited Kyoto University and delivered the same paper at the South Asian Study Society. Professor Habib is well-known all over the world as a historian of the medieval Indian history, especially Mughal Indian history. He has, however, been prolifically writing not only on the medieval history but also on the whole range of Indian history from the ancient to modern periods. A British historian says that Professor Habib is a national treasure of India. He is widely acknowledged as the most distinguished historian of contemporary South Asia. I, as one of the coordinating members of his invitation, am very happy to introduce here his impressive and comprehensive paper read in Japan. "Asian civilizationscolonialismmodern Asiaimperialismsolidarit

Timur in the Political Tradition and Historiography of Mughal India

I. Timur’s image in India before the establishment of the Indian Timurid (“Mughal”) dynasty in 1526, was naturally coloured by the experience of his invasion of 1397-99. This can be seen from the account of this event in Yahya Sihrindi’s Târikh-e Mobârakshâhi, which was completed in 1434, though the portion containing the account of Timur’s invasion was probably written much earlier. It was, therefore, practically contemporaneous with, and is certainly completely independent of, Sharaf al-Din..

ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AS A MEANS TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR MINORITY GROUPS

This investigation explores the strategic function of Islamic Religious Education in materializing social equity for minority segments in Indonesia. Through qualitative methodology utilizing library research approach, this study analyzes theoretical construction of social justice from Islamic perspective and its implementation within educational contexts. Findings indicate that Islamic Religious Education possesses substantial potential as social transformation instrument through developing inclusive and justice-founded learning models. Complexity of identified challenges encompasses structural barriers, pedagogical competency limitations, and cultural resistance. Minority community empowerment strategies necessitate multidimensional approaches integrating transformative education principles, critical pedagogy,  and  culturally responsive  teaching. The justice-founded Islamic  ReligiousEducation model formulated accentuates developing diversity-sensitive curricula, student- centered learning methodologies, and comprehensive evaluation systems. Implementation of this model requires long-term commitment from all educational stakeholders to create authentically inclusive and equitable learning environments. This research contributes theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for enhancing Islamic Religious Education's effectiveness in promoting social equity and minority rights within Indonesia's diverse educational landscape