ABSTRACT
The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of English only and bilingual approach with additional use of Urdu as medium of instruction for facilitating students' learning and communication in academic and clinical interactions, in undergraduate education of health sciences. Survey based quantitative study. The study was carried out at Islamic International Medical College, Islamic International Dental College and Riphah College of Rehabilitation Sciences belonging to Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Riphah International University Islamabad, Pakistan from May to September 2013. A survey was conducted by administering two structured questionnaires using ordinal scale. Questionnaire A was filled by 600 students and B by 60 teachers. The collected data was processed and analyzed by SPSS version17. Thirty five percent students came from institutions using only English medium of instruction. 55% received education in both [English and Urdu] and 10% in other languages. The students speaking Urdu with parents and patients were 63% and 79% respectively. 50% and 61% students talk in both languages with friends and teachers respectively because of comfortable communication and expression. 62% students prefer to be taught, 54% prefer to give viva voce and 55%understood viewpoints better using both languages. 87% students and 91% teachers admitted that use of Urdu enhances learning. 84% students confirmed that teachers used both languages during lectures and 72% teachers admitted it. Considering p<0.05 the nonparametric test applied shows significant value of 0.0499. Bilingual approach in medium of curriculum using English and native languages is an effective tool for better learning, expression and communication
ABSTRACT
To determine the accuracy of the non-invasive pre-natal real-time polymerase chain reaction based fetal RhD genotyping from maternal plasma. Cross-sectional study. Juma Health Sciences Research Laboratory, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July to December 2008. Cell-free plasma DNA from 21 D-negative women with D-positive spouse between 20-39 weeks of gestation was tested for the presence of exon 5 region of RhD gene using real-time polymerase chain reaction. beta-globin was employed as the house-keeping gene. Sensitivity and specificity of the real-time PCR-based non-invasive fetal RhD genotyping was obtained by calculating proportion of the D-positive fetuses that were D-positive at birth as well. Of the 21 D-negative women 13 and 8 neonates were determined to be D-positive and D-negative, respectively, by serologic studies on cord blood samples at birth. RhD status was correctly determined in 17 of 21 cases. There were three false-positive and one false-negative results. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay was 92.3% [95% Cl: 62.1, 99.6] and 62.5% [95% Cl: 25.9, 89.8], respectively. The positive and negative predictive value of the assay was 80% [95% Cl: 51.4, 94.7] and 83.3% [36.5, 99.1], respectively. These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of non-invasive pre-natal diagnosis of fetal RhD status of D-negative mothers in Pakistan