Middle School Literacy Educators\u27 Views About Student Texting and Its Impact on Student Writing

This applied dissertation investigated middle school literacy educators’ views about the impact of text messaging on students’ spelling and writing abilities. Specifically, the researcher determined educators’ views about the impact of text messages from Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Short Message Service (SMS) on middle school student writing and spelling. The researcher interviewed middle school teachers about their experiences with student writing and whether text speak is present in students’ writing and spelling. Four research questions are posed: (a) To what extent do middle school teachers notice textspeak within student writing? (b) What do middle school literacy teachers report as the impact of textspeak on students’ written work? (c) What are middle school teachers’ attitudes about using features of texting, or textspeak, in written classwork? (d) How do middle school teachers describe student attitudes about using features of texting, or textspeak, in written classwork? Following individual interviews with 12 educators, the researcher analyzed the data in search of patterns and themes in the responses. The results were both positive and negative. The participants reported that textspeak was beneficial because it increased students’ personal efficiency in notes and group or team assignments. However, they reported the negative aspect of textspeak is it reduces students’ writing expertise and students’ grades. Future research could expand on investigating the effects of textspeak on students’ writing from kindergarten to 12th grade in all subjects. Additional research could determine if the use of textspeak in the media has influenced the quality of students’ writing. Furthermore, future studies could analyze the effects of texting and typing on students’ mechanics of penmanship and letter formation

Manuscript writing and publication workshop: An invoking pilot study on enhancing cognitive research capabilities in health sciences institutes of Pakistan

Background: With an upsurge in research in developing countries, researchers from allied sciences need to augment their skills for disseminating research work worldwide. Training workshop is one of the quick interventions which can enhance writing skills and ease research publication.Objective: We designed this research to explore the perception of the faculty of different higher education institutes (HEIs) regarding manuscript writing and to assess the impact of these workshops in the improvement of cognitive capabilities of preliminary researchers in Pakistan.Methodology: We conducted workshops in HEIs of Sindh, Pakistan. Contents of the workshop covered algorithm of writing manuscript and related descriptions, choice of quality journals, correspondence with the editor, and dealing with rejection. The knowledge of the participants was assessed by 15 items pre and post evaluation tests. McNamar\u27s test assessed the significance of the change in knowledge. Kruskal Wallis test was performed to check the difference in the opinion of workshop quality among different institutes.Results: A significant improvement was observed in participants’ knowledge on the readers’ prospects (P=0.001), the algorithm of writing (P\u3c0.001), interpretations of results (P\u3c0.001), and selection quality journal for publication (P \u3c0.001). The agreement with the workshop\u27s quality based on need, knowledge, and content was above average.Conclusion: The participants’ response regarding the effectiveness of manuscript writing for publication workshop was overwhelmingly positive, and there was a significant impact on the knowledge of the participants. There is a need for research training that will help for better capacity building in different HEIs of Pakistan

Medical students’ endeavour to make use of their mental capabilities

Objective: To identify and compare awareness of intellectual wellness in male and female medical students of Karachi. Methods: The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey comprised randomly selected 800 medical students of both gender. It was conducted from January to December 2010 in 8 medical colleges of Karachi. Responses - never, sometimes, mostly and always (numbered 0-4) - were analysed in terms of frequency, proportion and percentages by Predictive Analysis Software version 18. Chi square test was applied for comparison of intellectual wellness in both genders. Results were considered significant at p \u3c0.05. Results: Of the 800 questionnaires distributed, 736 (92%) were received fully completed; 526 (71.5% of them from females. Intellectual wellness was significantly higher in females due to an increasing aptitude towards book reading (p Conclusion: Females were found to be better in terms of intellectual wellness compared to the males. However, males used mentorship support to acquire intellectual wellness

EVALUATION OF PHARMACOECONOMICS AWARENESS AND ITS APPLICATION AMONG POSTGRADUATES OF A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Objectives: Pharmacoeconomics (PE) is a branch of health economics which focuses particularly on the cost and benefit of drug therapy. Postgraduatestudents form the first line of the health care delivery system, especially in government run hospitals; therefore, it is essential that they need to beaware of the concept of PE. The main objective of the study was to assess the extent of knowledge and awareness of PE and its methods of applicationamong medical professionals who are doing postgraduation in various departments.Methods: This study was conducted at Sheri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, a tertiary care hospital associated with Government MedicalCollege, Srinagar. Self-administered questionnaire was distributed among 100 students, out of which 78 completely filled questionnaires were finallyused for statistical analysis. The statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 19, Chicago, IL, USA).Results: It was observed that most of the participants were willing to participate in the study, and a good proportion of them (45%) were awareabout the concept of PE. However, the majority of the respondents had little knowledge about the principles of PE and only 16% of them respondedpositively. When it comes to the application of PE, it was found that only 9% are applying these principles in their day to day clinical practice.Conclusion: There is need to sensitize the health care providers to the concept of PE at undergraduate level so that they will be able to utilize theirknowledge of PE, in their clinical practice in the future.Keywords: Pharmacoeconomics, Postgraduate students, Level of knowledge, Methods of application

Comparison of Bupivacaine and Dexmedetomidine versus Bupivacaine Alone in Transversus Abdominis Plane Block for Post-Operative Analgesia

Objective: To study the effects of adding dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine in transverses abdominis plane block in comparison with using bupivacaine alone. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective comparative study that was conducted in the Anaesthesia Department, CMH, Lahore over a period of six months from 1st June 2020 to 30th November 2020. Fifty patients of the American Society of Anesthesiologist Class I and II with an age range between 40 to 60 years were divided into two groups. Group B received 20ml of 0.25% bupivacaine with 2ml of normal saline on each side in the transversus abdominis plane block while group BD was given 20ml of 0.25% bupivacaine with dexmedetomidine 0.5mcg/kg on each side (in a volume of 2ml). Post-operative pain was assessed with a visual analogue scale. Rescue analgesia was given when a score of greater than 3 was observed using this scale. Time to first rescue analgesia was noted. Total opioid consumption in the first 24 hours was also recorded. Patients were observed for postoperative hypotension and bradycardia.Results: The mean-time for the first dose of analgesia for group B and BD was 302.92 ± 24.01 and 419.28 ± 31.97 minutes respectively with a p-value of 0.001. The mean of the total consumption of opioids in 24 hours post-operatively for group B and BD was 14.20±2.36 and 10.40±1.38 mg respectively with a p-value of 0.001. Hypotension was not seen in any patient in either group. Only one patient developed bradycardia and he belonged to group BD. P-value was 0.327.Conclusion: The addition of dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine for transversus abdominis plane block for postoperative analgesia significantly prolongs the duration of analgesia and reduces the postoperative opioid requirements

Impact of peak/mid luteal estradiol on pregnancy outcome after intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Abstract Objective: To compare peak to mid estradiol ratio with the probability of successful conception after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Method: The quasi-experimental study was conducted in an infertility clinic at Islamabad from June 2010 till August 2011, and comprised couples subjected to intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. Down-regulation of ovaries was followed by calculated stimulation, ovulation induction, oocytes retrieval, intra cytoplasmic sperm injection, in vitro maturation of embryos and finally blastocysts transfer. Serum estradiol was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on ovulation induction day and the day of embryo transfer. Failure of procedure was detected by beta human chorionic gonadotropin5-25mIU/ml (Group I; non-pregnant).Females with beta human chorionic gonadotropin\u3e25mIU/ml and no cardiac activity after 4 weeks of transfer were placed in Group II (pre-clinical abortion), and confirmation of foetal heart in the latter comprised Group III (clinical pregnancy). Data was analysed using SPSS 15. Results: Of the 323 couples initially enrolled, embryo transfer was carried out in 282(87.3%) females. Clinical pregnancy was achieved in 101(36%) of the cases, while 61(21.63%) had pre-clinical abortion, and 120(42%) remained non-pregnant. The peak/mid-luteal estradiolratio was low (2.3) in patients who had high oocyte maturity (p=0.001) and fertilisation rate (p=0.003) compared to non-pregnant patients with high peak/mid-luteal estradiolratio (2.56). Conclusion: High peak estradiol with maintenance of optimal levels in mid-luteal phase is required for implantation of fertilised ovum and accomplishment of clinical pregnancy

Prescribing pattern in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care hospital of North India

Background: The neurosurgical disorders are amongst the leading cause of global mortality and morbidity. Though surgical intervention is thought to be the main management protocol in the neurosurgical setup but drugs are being equally used especially in the outpatient setting. The present study was carried out in view of the sparse data available on prescribing pattern in neurosurgery.Methods: The present study was conducted by the department of pharmacology in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care centre to look into the prescription pattern among these patients.Results: In 268 patients analyzed, mean age was 43.02±15.93 years and 52.23% were females. Majority of our participants (44%) were found to be of young to middle age group (21-40 years). The diagnosis among the study population was spread over large number of diseases. Lumbar Disc Prolapse (LDP) was found to be the leading cause of neurosurgical morbidity, amounting to 32%. As far as the prescription of various drugs in the outpatient of neurosurgery is concerned, Analgesics were the most common drugs prescribed constituting about 48% of the total drugs prescribed followed by GABA analogues and multivitamins which equally formed 41% of the total prescribed drugs.Conclusions: Although the prescription pattern studies among the outpatient neurosurgery patients are very scant, the analysis of prescription studies will be helpful to encourage the rational drug prescribing pattern

Recurrent Miscarriage and Associated Factors

The incidence of recurrent pregnancy loss in women of reproductive age group is 0.5%–3%, And idiopathic causes accounts for 50%–60% of recurrent pregnancy losses. Approximately 30%–50% of conceptions end in spontaneous miscarriage before the completion of first trimester. Miscarriages mostly occur at the time of implantation. The causes of recurrent pregnancy loss are many including parental chromosomal abnormalities, maternal thrombophilias, immunologic causes and endocrine disorders. Recurrent pregnancy loss is an extremely distressing clinical problem for women as well as health professinals. According to current studies the decidualized endometrium act as a biosensor of good quality embyos , if it is faulty ,may lead to implantation of embryos resulting in miscarriage. Other factors implicated in the pathophysiology of miscarriage are Systemic and placental oxidative stress. Vascular endothelial damage, abnormal vascularity of placenta and immunologic reactions have been proposed to play some role in causing recurrent miscarriage. The objective of this review is to discuss the causes of recurrent miscarriage, based on the published research articles. Key Words: Recurrent pregnancy loss, Immunology, Miscarriage

Producing financially literate medical graduates -- a national need for a brighter Pakistan

Objective: To compare the awareness of financial wellness between male and female medical students.Methods: The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from February to December 2011 and comprised first year medical students belonging to different medical colleges of Karachi. Students from both genders, aged 19-24 years, belonging to all ethnic groups willing to participate were included. A close-ended questionnaire evaluated aspects of financial wellness, using four-point Likert\u27s scale: never, sometimes, mostly, and always from 0 to 4. Besides, factor analysis was performed to investigate common financial wellness among the participants.Results: Of the total 800 students approached, complete responses were received from 736(92%); 210(28.5%) boys and 526(71.5%) girls. The mean financial wellness score of boys was 8.60±3.04 and that of the girls was 7.61±3.12 (p \u3c 0.0005). Greater number of boys 93(44%) set both short- and long-term financial goals compared to 180(36%) girls (p=0.03). Besides, 218(42%) girls confined themselves to the budget compared to 81(39%) boys (p \u3e 0.05). More boys 71(34%) were spendthrift (p \u3c 0.0001) and 57(27%) preferred to keep their savings in bank accounts compared to the girls (p \u3c 0.0001). Overall, boys were better in financial security wellness compared to the girls (p=0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Male medical students exhibited awareness of financial wellness better than girls