The dynamics of child poverty in Britain: Trends, transition and trajectories. An analysis of the BHPS (1991-2002).

The context for the thesis is the Government's ambitious target to eradicate child poverty by 2020 with interim targets to reduce it by a quarter by 2004/05 and to halve it by 2010/11 compared with its level in 1998/99. This remarkable pledge, with its implication of long-term commitment, is based on static headcount indicators, which measure the proportion of poor children in the population in a given year. These take no account of whether the same children experience poverty over a number of years or escape this condition. Furthermore, this pledge has not been matched by a sustained interrogation into the longitudinal nature of child poverty, which considers time in the mediation of poverty. While research on cross-sectional trends in child poverty and the associated risk factors is well established, there has been a dearth of research into the dynamic aspects of child poverty. Investigating the dynamic aspects of poverty is important since the longer the time a child spends in poverty, the more serious are the consequences to the quality of childhood, future outcomes across the life-course, and to society as a whole. The primary objective of this thesis is to explore the heterogeneity of child poverty experiences using twelve annual waves of the British Household Panel Study (1991-2002). Poverty is explored across three distinct time dimensions, namely, cross-sectional trends, short-term transitions between two consecutive years, and longer-term trajectories over the entire twelve year period. Low income is used as a proxy for poverty, with poverty defined as living in a household where income is below 60 per cent of the median adjusted for household size. As the poverty line is essentially arbitrary, the sensitivity of the findings are tested at different thresholds. Children are systematically compared with the overall population in order to assess similarities, differences, and progress over time

Comparison of Frequency of Hypothermia in Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infant Managed with Plastic Bag Versus Conventional Method

Objective: To compare the frequency of hypothermia in preterm and low birth weight infant managed with plastic bag VS conventional method Study Design: Randomized Control Trial with Consecutive Non probability sampling. Place and Duration of Study: Neonatal unit of Sheikh Zayed Hospital. From October 2014 to November 2016 Methodology: A total of 200 (100 in each group) preterm Neonates gestational age <37 completed weeks, having birth weight <2.5kg of male and female babies were included, informed consent from parents/attendants were taken. Quantitative variables like gestational age, birth weight and temperature was presented by mean and standard deviation, qualitative variables like gender and presence of hypothermia was presented by frequency and percentage in both groups.  Results: In our study, mean gestational age of the mothers was recorded as 33.54+1.76 weeks in Group-A and 33.46+1.82 weeks in Group-B. 54%(n=54) in Group-A and 47%(n=47) were male while 46%(n=46) in Group-A and 53%(n=53) in Group-B were females, in a Group B by conventional method hypothermia was recorded as 69% (n=69) Group-A 45%(n=45). While remaining 31%(n=31) in GroupA and 55%(n=55) in Group-B had no findings of the morbidity, p value was calculated as 0.000 showing a significant result in favor of plastic bag method.  Conclusion: We concluded that by using plastic bags we reduced the frequency of hypothermia in preterm and low birth weight infant managed with plastic bag is significantly reduced when compared with conventional method. However, our data is primary in our population and needs some other studies for its validation

Tactile-like corpuscles in gastric mucosa: a case report

BACKGROUND: The presence of tactile corpuscle-like structures in Schwannomas, Neurofibromas and Neuroid Intradermal Melanocytic Nevi is well-documented. We report a case describing the presence of such structures in the lamina propria of grossly normal gastric mucosa. CASE PRESENTATION: A 30 year-old male underwent esophagogastrectomy for carcinoma. Examination of hematoxylin and eosin stained sections reveal tactile corpuscle-like structures in the mucosa adjacent to the main tumor mass. CONCLUSION: This is a rare phenomenon and a literature search revealed only one paper describing such structures in the benign colonic mucosa of a colectomy done for carcinoma. We did not come across any cases in the literature describing such structures in gastrointestinal specimen resected for reasons other than carcinoma. To our knowledge this would be the first case reporting the existence of tactile corpuscles-like structures in gastric mucosa

Free l-glutamate-induced modulation in oxidative and neurochemical profile contributes to enhancement in locomotor and memory performance in male rats

Glutamate (Glu), the key excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, is considered essential for brain functioning and has a vital role in learning and memory formation. Earlier it was considered as a harmful agent but later found to be useful for many body functions. However, studies regarding the effects of free L-Glu administration on CNS function are limited. Therefore, current experiment is aimed to monitor the neurobiological effects of free L-Glu in male rats. L-Glu was orally administered to rats for 5-weeks and changes in behavioral performance were monitored. Thereafter, brain and hippocampus were collected for oxidative and neurochemical analysis. Results showed that chronic supplementation of free L-Glu enhanced locomotor performance and cognitive function of animals which may be attributed to the improved antioxidant status and cholinergic, monoaminergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission in brain and hippocampus. Current results showed that chronic supplementation of L-Glu affects the animal behaviour and brain functioning via improving the neurochemical and redox system of brain. Free L-Glu could be a useful therapeutic agent to combat neurological disturbances however this requires further targeted studies

Examining Relationship between Electricity Consumption and its Major Determinants in Pakistan

The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between electricity consumption and its major determinants; particularly economic growth, number of electricity customers, electricity prices and electricity shortages in Pakistan using time series data from 1972 to 2012. The study employed the Johansen cointegration test to examine relationship between electricity consumption and its determinants. Multivariate granger causality test is then applied to determine the causality direction between electricity consumption and its major determinants. The results reveal that determinants of electricity consumption function are cointegrated and economic growth, number of electricity customers are positively related to electricity consumption, while electricity price and electricity shortages are negatively related to electricity consumption in Pakistan. However, bidirectional causality found between electricity consumption, economic growth and electricity customers except electricity prices which is exogenous determined. The short run, long run elasticities and multivariate granger causality results implies that at different time frame there is need to implement different policies for Pakistan. There is need to revise electricity pricing policy and find alternative renewable sources to generate low cost electricity and  further need to enhance energy management expertise to cope with crises in an efficient way. Keywords:  Electricity consumption; Economic growth; Electricity customers; Pakistan JEL Classifications: Q4; Q4

From text to e-text: perceptions of medical, dental and allied students about e-learning

ObjectiveMore than a year ago, Pakistan like the rest of the word, was hit by a global pandemic, due to which students of higher education had to accept the new era and adapt to the electronic learning environment for the very first time. This study aims to analyze the perceptions of medical, dental, and allied health students about e-learning in Pakistan. MethodsA descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted throughout the country. A pre-validated, anonymous online questionnaire regarding demographics, past-experience of e-learning, advantages disadvantages of e-learning, and general perception of students towards e-learning was distributed. Descriptive statistics were computed for all demographics. Chi-square test was used to compare the differences of perceptions between pre-clinical year and clinical years students. Chi-square was used to compare overall category-wise positive and negative responses of students. The association between participant demographics and their perception towards e-learning was also calculated using chi square. ResultsA total of 1200 students participated in the study of which 797 (66.4%) were from pre-clinical years and 403 (33.6%) were from clinical years. The major advantage identified by all students was the ‘comfortable environment’ (70%) and ‘technical problems with IT equipment’ was listed as the biggest disadvantage (89%) of e-learning. For preclinical year students, ‘anxiety due to social isolation’ was selected as the biggest issue (p < 0.05) whereas, for clinical year students, it was ‘lack of patient interaction’ (p < 0.05). Overall, 72% of students had a negative perception of e-learning. ConclusionAfter more than a year of online studying, medical and allied students of Pakistan have expressed dissatisfaction towards e-learning. Student-teacher training, student counselling sessions, and innovative techniques need to be introduced to enhance student engagement and reduce pandemic stress.We are thankful to all the students who participated in the study. We are grateful to biostatistician Mr. Kashif Siddique for his inputs. Open Access funding was provided by the Qatar National Library

Evaluation of Xpert MTB/RIF testing for rapid diagnosis of childhood pulmonary tuberculosis in children by Xpert MTB/RIF testing of stool samples in a low resource setting

Objective: Children with tuberculosis (TB) remain underdiagnosed due to difculty in testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. We evaluated the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for respiratory and stool testing in children for pulmonary TB through a cross-sectional study at tertiary care facilities in Karachi, Pakistan. Fifty children aged 0–15 years screened by a modifed Kenneth-Jones (KJ) score were included. Mycobacterial culture of respiratory samples was the microbiological standard against stool Xpert TB results. All positive TB cases were compared against a treatment response standard (TRS).Results: Twelve study subjects were diagnosed by Xpert TB and nine by MTB culture. Compared with culture [gastric aspirates (GA)/sputum (spm)], stool Xpert TB had a sensitivity of 88.9% (95% CI 50.7–99.4) and a specifcity of 95% (95% CI 81.8–99.1). Xpert TB stool versus GA/spm had sensitivity of 81.8% (95% CI 47.8–96.8) and specifcity of 94.7% (95% CI 84.6–99.9). We found good agreement (kappa scores of \u3e0.8) between stool Xpert, GA/spm Xpert and GA/ spm culture. Stool Xpert PPV and NPV against TRS was 100 and 82.1% respectively. Stool Xpert TB is a relatively easy option for diagnosis for pulmonary childhood TB in a high burden low-resource setting