Comparison of Quality of Life of Medical Students in Annual and Modular System in Public Sector Medical Colleges in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Curriculum structure in medical education in Pakistan includes an annual system which is based on subject wise learning and clinical rotations, and a modular system, with the basic and clinical sciences taught cohesively. The effect of curriculum designs in the quality of life (QoL) of medical students has not been assessed in Pakistan. We aimed to compare these two curriculum structures focused on QoL. Methods: Cross-sectional study of medical students from three different medical schools in Karachi, Pakistan, comparing QoL based on their curriculums. QoL was measured using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Through random sampling students from each year (1st-5th year) in each institution were selected. Kruskal Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare scores among different years of medical training and between curricular systems. Results: Response rate was 85%. Out of 404 participants, 81.3% were females, and age average was 21±1 years. According to the year of study, significant differences were observed in physical health and overall QoL domain, with 3rd-year students having the highest scores. Overall QoL of students in clinical years was found to be significantly higher than those in preclinical years. The modular system was found to have a better but not significantly higher QoL when compared to the annual system (mean 83.34±11.41 vs. 82.32±10.27, respectively). Conclusion: Overall QoL in the modular system was slightly higher than the annual system, but a significant difference was noted only in the environmental domain. QoL of students in clinical years was higher than preclinical years

Schooling opportunities for girls as a stimulus for fertility change in rural Pakistan

This paper tests Caldwell’s mass schooling hypothesis in the context of rural Pakistan. His hypothesis was that the onset of the fertility transition is closely linked to the achievement of “mass formal schooling” of boys and girls. Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) were selected for this study because they appear to be on the leading edge of the demographic transition-a transition that has only recently begun-as suggested by rapid recent increases in contraceptive practice. The study covered a range of rural villages or communities with very different socioeconomic and schooling conditions in order to examine the effects of both school access and quality on family-building behavior in Pakistan. The study concludes that gender equity in the schooling environment, as measured by the number of public primary schools for girls in the community or by the ratio of the number of girls’ schools to boys’ schools, has a statistically significant effect on the probability that a woman will express a desire to stop childbearing and, by extension, on the probability that she will operationalize those desires by practicing contraception. Indeed, the achievement of gender equity in primary school access in rural Punjab and NWFP could lead to a 14-15 percentage point rise in contraceptive use in villages where no girls’ public primary school currently exists and an 8 percentage point rise in villages with one primary school for girls. This is entirely supportive of the Caldwell argument that mass schooling is an important determinant of fertility change, particularly when girls are included. It would appear that fertility change will be much more difficult and will come much more slowly when girls are left behind

Bringing About a Behavioural Change in Providers to Meet the Reproductive Health Needs of Clients

The international conference on population and development held in Cairo in 1994 has became a historical turning point in the way population policies and programmes are perceived and sexual and reproductive health services are conceptualised and delivered. Inherent in the ICPD plan of action is the concept of care that recommends providing a range of reproductive health services to both men and women, that are safe and effective, and that satisfy clients, needs and wants. Clients are far more likely to use services that are of high quality. Achieving quality care requires complying with high technical and ethical standards (such as freedom of choice, informed consent, and freedom from coercion and abuse) and providing services at costs that are affordable to both clients and health care system. The most common barriers to quality are negative provider attitudes or behaviours, poor interactions between clients and providers, a lack of essential drugs and supplies in facilities, and delays in referrals to other necessary services. Pakistan has among the worst reproductive health indicators in the developing world. It has lagged behind many of its neighbours in terms of its social indicators. Access to health and educational facilities, especially in the rural areas has remained outstandingly weak. Maternal and infant mortality rates are unacceptably high at above 500 per 100,000 and 80 per 1000 births, respectively. Malnutrition, anaemia and reproductive tract infections are widely prevalent in women.

Integrating STEM Approach in Primary Education of Bangladesh: Perception and Challenges of the Teachers

Bangladesh is aspiring to develop a competitive workforce for the 21st century To reach this aspiration STEM education can be a good way as it has widely been considered to have the potential to prepare students with 21stcentury skills The potentiality of STEM can be fully utilized only when teachers apply STEM approaches effectively in their practices Since teachers prior views and perceptions influence their STEM teaching the study aims to explore the teachers perception of STEM education This study also analyzes the challenges of introducing STEM at primary education in Bangladesh A qualitative research design is adopted in this study Teachers perception of STEM education was explored through semi-structured interviews Additionally in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the challenges of implementing STEM education at the primary level Data were analyzed thematically following an inductive approach One of the key discoveries made in this research is that a large majority of teachers have limited knowledge about STEM education Despite this lack of familiarity it was observed that these teachers occasionally apply the STEM approach unintentionally Most teachers perceive STEM education as effective however it has several challenges to implement such as a lack of teachers knowledge about the discipline and pedagogical approach inadequate physical facilities lack of STEM-related training the mindset of stakeholders etc The findings of the study can be practical guidelines for academic institutions curriculum developers teachers trainers and policymaker

Bringing About a Behavioural Change in Providers to Meet the Reproductive Health Needs of Clients

The international conference on population and development held in Cairo in 1994 has became a historical turning point in the way population policies and programmes are perceived and sexual and reproductive health services are conceptualised and delivered. Inherent in the ICPD plan of action is the concept of care that recommends providing a range of reproductive health services to both men and women, that are safe and effective, and that satisfy clients, needs and wants. Clients are far more likely to use services that are of high quality. Achieving quality care requires complying with high technical and ethical standards (such as freedom of choice, informed consent, and freedom from coercion and abuse) and providing services at costs that are affordable to both clients and health care system. The most common barriers to quality are negative provider attitudes or behaviours, poor interactions between clients and providers, a lack of essential drugs and supplies in facilities, and delays in referrals to other necessary services

Coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2-xSex (x = 0.5 and 1.0), a non-U material with Tc < TFM

We have carried out detailed magnetic and transport studies of the new Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2-xSex (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) superconductors derived by doping Se in Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2. Se–doping produces several effects: it suppresses semiconducting–like behavior observed in the undoped Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2, the ferromagnetic ordering temperature, TFM, decreases considerably from 7.5 K (in Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2) to 3.5 K and the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, gets enhanced slightly to 2.9–3.3 K. Thus in these Se–doped materials, TFM is marginally higher than Tc. Magnetization studies provide evidence of bulk superconductivity in Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2-xSex at x ≥ 0.5 in contrast to the undoped Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2 (x = 0) where magnetization measurements indicate a small superconducting volume fraction. Quite remarkably, as compared with the effective paramagnetic Ce–moment (~2.2 μB), the ferromagnetically ordered Ce–moment in the superconducting state is rather small (~0.1 μB) suggesting itinerant ferromagnetism. To the best of our knowledge, Sr0.5Ce0.5FBiS2-x Sex (x = 0.5 and 1.0) are distinctive Ce–based bulk superconducting itinerant ferromagnetic materials with Tc < TFM. Furthermore, a novel feature of these materials is that they exhibit a dual and quite unusual hysteresis loop corresponding to both the ferromagnetism and the coexisting bulk superconductivity