Objective: To evaluate the Saliva specimen as a non-invasive sample for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 compared with Nasopharyngeal Swab. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Virology Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi, in Oct 2020. Methodology: Forty-eight patients were included in this study from SARS-CoV-2 Outdoor Clinic in Pak Emirates Military (PEMH), Rawalpindi. Out of 48 patients, 28 known SARS-CoV-2 positives by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and 20 known SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR negative patients were included in this study. Paired samples of Nasopharyngeal swabs and Saliva samples were collected from forty-eight patients. Samples were transported to Virology Department AFIP in Viral Transport Medium (VTM) and subjected to SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR simultaneously. The sensitivity and specificity of the Saliva specimen for SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR were compared with Nasopharyngeal Swab. Results: A total of 48 patients were included in this study, of which 28 (58%) patients were positive for SARS-CoV-2 on NPS by RT-PCR. Among the 28 positive cases, 18 (64.3%) were positive by RT-PCR using saliva specimens. The sensitivity and specificity of saliva specimens compared with NPS were 64.3% and 95%, respectively. Conclusion: Saliva specimen has much lower sensitivity as compared to NPS in our study. Therefore, it cannot be implemented for the diagnosis of COVID-19 as it can compromise the results of a highly sensitive test like RT-PCR.

Background: The proportion of female students is increasing progressively in medical schools, but concern remains about differing performance in exams. A limited data is available on comparison of academic performance of male and female students from developing countries. Aim: To compare them regarding their academic performance in the subject of pharmacology. Methods: This comparative study was conducted at Pharmacology departments of Sheikh Zayed medical college Rahim yar khan and Quaid-e-Azam medical college Bahawalpur among 3rd yr MBBS students of sessions 2019 and 2020. The overall attendance of students was counted and compared as well as all the pharmacology test results were evaluated and compared on the basis of previous record of fortnightly, end of module, midterm and end term examinations. Results: Girls outnumbered boys (528 girls vs 437 boys) in medical admissions. The girls were having better attendance and test results ( 92% vs 65% for better attendance & 26% vs 19% for better results) in both sessions 2019 and 2020. The results also showed that students from literate background and urban areas got more admission in medical college but more number of boys are boarders compared to girls who prefer to be day scholars due to social circumstances of South Punjab. Conclusion: The female students tend to perform better than boys in pre clinical subjects. The number of female medical students is increasing progressively and they out perform their male counterparts both in attendance and internal assessments. The study is documentation of this fact, for future measures that can be done for improvement of male students performance. Keywords: Gender difference, pharmacology, performance

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Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of the COVID-19 Ag Rapid test device for detection of SARS-CoV-2 with Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction as the gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Virology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, in the month of Sept 2020. Methodology: A total of 106 patients suspected of COVID-19 were tested, including 63 patients admitted to the COVID-19 ward of Pak Emirates Military Hospital and 43 from the emergency department of Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan respectively. The samples were transported to the Virology department and subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction and Antigen testing. In addition, the diagnostic accuracy of the COVID-19 Ag Rapid test device was compared to Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: Out of 106 nasopharyngeal swab samples tested, 48 (45.2%) samples were positive by Rapid test device and Reversed Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, and 52 (49.0%) samples tested negative by both methods. Inconsistent results (False Negative) were obtained in 6 (5.6%) samples. COVID-19 Ag Rapid test device has detected the maximum number of cases, 41 (85.4%), during the first week of illness. Its sensitivity decreases as the duration of infection progress. Conclusion: The overall sensitivity of the Rapid test device is much less than the Polymerase chain reaction due to potential false negative results. However, it can be helpful in the early isolation of cases in an outbreak in a closed community and for case management in peripheral setups....