ABSTRACT
The objective of the current study is to test the impact of low-tech solutions during COVID-19 school closures on maths, Urdu, and English scores for students in the underdeveloped district of Bahawalnagar, which is situated in the southern part of Punjab in Pakistan. The target population for this study is Grade 8 students attending private schools. Simple random sampling technique is adopted for the selection of participants in the study. We have tested the impact of three interventions, namely: Teaching at the right level (TaRL), Fortnightly assessments (FAS), and Digital teacher training sessions (DTS). Our findings show a significant and positive ‘Intention to Treat’ (ITT) impact on Urdu and English scores of the students in the TaRL treatment group. The students increased their English and Urdu scores by 0.56 SD. However, we found no significant impact of the intervention on maths scores in the TaRL treatment group. Fortnightly assessments and digital teacher training sessions were also found to contribute to higher English scores of the students. However, we found no ITT impact on the maths and Urdu scores for these treatment groups. The Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) analysis revealed positive and significant improvement in Urdu and English scores of the students in the TaRL treatment group. Key stakeholders whom we interviewed suggested that redesigning the curriculum and incorporating TaRL within this approach could facilitate enhancement in learning outcomes in students in deprived areas. Our findings are important to help inform policymakers on the importance of designing and implementing cost-effective, low-tech solutions to help reduce learning gaps. Copyright © 2022 Adil, Nazir and Akhtar.
ABSTRACT
Background: The immune system defends the host against many harmful microorganisms. The immune system has developed to contain various specialized cell types, signaling molecules, and functional responses to deal with this wide range of threats. In Covid-19 infections immune system is the key component for prevention of the disease. Hospital admission and duration of stay due to covid 19 infection have a considerable physical, financial, and psychological burden for the individual, family, and country. Diet has been shown to have a vital role in boosting one's immunity. Non vegetarian diet is traditionally considered to be immunity boosting as it is rich in protein, vitamins, and micronutrients. Aims and objective: To study the effect of dietary pattern on duration of hospital stay in patients with respiratory Covid illness Material and Methods: This was a double blind retrospective cohort study comprising of 113 patients tested positive in RTPCR for SARS-CoV-2 and admitted at DCH located at super specialty hospital of Jayarogya Group of Hospitals, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, was studied retrospectively between July 2020 to October 2020. Patients were divided based on diet pattern into Group A (patients following a vegetarian diet;n=70) and Group B (patients following a non-vegetarian diet;n=43). The outcome was measured as the duration of hospital stay and comparison of diet type, age, and gender of patients. All these patients were discharge stable and case files of deaths were excluded. Non vegetarian diet was defined as inclusion of eggs, meet, fish in the routine diet whereas a vegetarian diet was exclusion of these items. Result: Out of 113 patients, most (61.94%) had a vegetarian diet, whereas 43 (38.06%) had a non-vegetarian diet. Duration of hospital stay was more in patients in Group A (10.71±5.5 days) than Group B (8.4± 4.7 days), p=0.0302. Hospital stay was longer (11.05 days) in older patients (>50 years) compared to younger patients (≤50 years) (9.2 days) (table 3). In Group A, hospital stay was longer in those with age >50 years (11.4 days) compared to those with age ≤50 (9.2 days). On the contrary, older patients had shorter hospital lengths (9.9 days) than younger patients (10.09 days) in Group B (p value =). Conclusion: A significantly shorter hospital stay was observed in patients of respiratory covid infection following a non-vegetarian diet with Covid-19 infection.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The pandemic of COVID 19 has affected a number of people around the globe. The data from paediatric population is scarce. The present study is aimed to present the paediatric perspective of the disease in terms of different clinical presentations, laboratory parameters, complications, and outcomes so as to develop an insight into disease manifestations in children. METHODS: This descriptive case series was conducted in the department of Paediatrics after approval of institutional review board. All children admitted in paediatric unit with confirmed SARS-COV-2 infection either by PCR or antibody test were included in the study. Patients' characteristics were documented on a predesigned proforma and analysed using SPSS 26.0. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients comprising 13 (76.5%) male and 4(23.5%) female were included in the study. The major clinical features were fever, cough and shortness of breath documented in 15 (88.2 %) patients. Major complications were shock in 13 (76.5%), respiratory complications in 16 (94.11%), CNS complications in 4 (23.5%), cardiac complications in 5 (29.4%), hepatic involvement in 3 (17.6%) Acute Kidney Injury in 4 (23.5%) patients and 9 (52.9 %) patients were labelled as having Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). A total of 7 (41.2%) patients had coexistent comorbid diseases. A total of 13 (76.47%) patients were discharged, 2 (11.8%) patients expired and 2 (11.8%) left against medical advice. CONCLUSION: The clinical presentation of paediatric patients with SARS-COV-2 infection is highly variable. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-COV-2 must be considered in the differential diagnosis of children presenting with multiorgan dysfunction.