Knowledge of pubertal changes and self-care in adolescent boys

Objectives: The proportion of adolescents population has grown rapidly since last decade. Pakistan is among those countries having largest youth population in the world. These adolescents have some common misconceptions about pubertal changes. The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions and practices of adolescents' boys about puberty, and to assess effectiveness of educational sessions on knowledge of adolescents about puberty at secondary school F.B. area Karachi

Methods: Time series pre and post quasi-experimental design was used to conduct the study. Need assessment was done to assess adolescent needs of Secondary School students. On the basis of need assessment session were arranged for the student of class VIII, IX and X. Pre and Post mean score of knowledge was calculated to see the effectiveness of the sessions

Results: Over all Fifty-eight participants were enrolled in the study. However, for need assessment 15 subjects were selected. Approximately half of the participants were unaware about their pubertal age. 73.33% of the adolescents reported that they felt shame and hypersensitive over the physical changes they experience in pubertal age group. Interestingly, 53.33% of the adolescents reported that they talk about these changes with their parents. Pre-test mean score was 4.12 with standard deviation of +/-1.339, while Post-test means score was 5.43 and standard deviation was +/-1.523. Adolescent scores improved from 4.12 in Pre-test to 5.43 in Post-test

Conclusion: In conclusion the adolescent boys feel hypersensitive over physical changes they experience in pubertal age group. Most of them have misconceptions about puberty, which may lead to poor physical and mental health. The knowledge of adolescents regarding puberty significantly improved after educational sessions

Comparative analysis of health care system: Pakistan versus Japan

One of the important responsibilities of the health care system is to meet the health needs of the population mainly through health promotion and disease prevention initiatives. This objective can be achieved through an equitable resource distribution/allocation. This paper comprises of comparative analysis of health care system of two countries i.e., Pakistan and Japan in relation to the WHO recommended guidelines on Health care system. The analysis consists of organizational environment, health care delivery model, health information management system, health indicators, financing, and workforce of both the countries. This analysis suggests some strategies to overcome the shortcomings for both the countries

Bridging gap between Theory and Practice

Background: nurses are facing many challenges in this competitive era in health care settings and the one biggest challenge among the others is application of theoretical concepts into practice. Moreover, the knowledge about nursing theory and its application into clinical practice is the hallmark of evidence-based practice which is the focus of today's health care environment

Method: a clinical scenario has been analyzed in the light of Nightingales' theory. Based on the analysis of application of theory into clinical scenario, few recommendations have been set forth to be implemented for better outcomes of health and speedy recovery from illness with minimum risks

Results: a detailed analysis of clinical scenario showed explicit gap between actual practice and Nightingales' theory

Conclusion: florence Nightingale is regarded as a pioneer in the nursing profession. Nightingale has given her notes on nursing in the form of theory of environment which is very useful for nurses to apply those concepts into clinical practice in order to improve health care standards. Application of theoretical concepts in clinical practice would not only improve health outcomes but also minimizes risks and complications

Overcoming personal biases: a key for effective performance appraisal

Performance appraisal is a very challenging task for a manger that needs expertise along with commitment to fulfill the process in a fair and transparent manner. There are some standards, which are very essential for motivation of the staff and organizational growth. Performance appraisal does not only mean evaluating the performance of a staff but it provides a platform to overcome the deficiencies and set plan for the staff with mutual understanding. The most neglected part of performance appraisal process is setting SMART goals for the staff by a manager with mutual understanding. Many factors hinder the process of appraisal that include; organizational culture, predetermined budgetary constraints, capability of manger/supervisor and lack of training opportunities by human resource department. These factors may lead to dissatisfaction among staff and in the long run develops a mindset with negative image for the entire process. Maslow's needs theory should be kept in mind to evaluate the performance of a staff as all human have common needs but with different desires to satisfy their hierarchy of needs

Discovery and design of cyclic peptides as dengue virus inhibitors through structure-based molecular docking

OBJECTIVE@#To find potential peptide inhibitors against the NS2B/NS3 protease of DENV which in turn, can inhibit the viral replication inside host cell.@*METHODS@#Cyclic peptides were designed having combination of positively charged amino acids using ChemSketch software and were converted to 3D structures. DENV NS3 protein structure was retrieved from Protein Data Bank (PDB) using PDB Id: 2FOM. DENV NS3 and cylic peptides were docked using MOE software after structural optimization.@*RESULTS@#Through molecular docking it was revealed that most of the peptides bound deeply in the binding pocket of DENV NS2B/NS3 protease an had interactions with catalytic triad. Peptide 2 successfully blocked the catalytic triad of NS2B/NS3 protease. Peptide 1, 4 and 6 also had potential interactions with active residues of the NS2B/NS3 protease while all other peptides were in close contact with the active sites of NS2B/NS3 protease thus, these peptides can serve as a potential drug candidate to stop viral replication.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Thus, it can be concluded from the study that these peptides could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the viral replication and need further in-vitro investigations to confirm their efficacy.

RNAi: antiviral therapy against dengue virus

Dengue virus infection has become a global threat affecting around 100 countries in the world. Currently, there is no licensed antiviral agent available against dengue. Thus, there is a strong need to develop therapeutic strategies that can tackle this life threatening disease. RNA interference is an important and effective gene silencing process which degrades targeted RNA by a sequence specific process. Several studies have been conducted during the last decade to evaluate the efficiency of siRNA in inhibiting dengue virus replication. This review summarizes siRNAs as a therapeutic approach against dengue virus serotypes and concludes that siRNAs against virus and host genes can be next generation treatment of dengue virus infection.