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Objective There has been a rise in the magnitude of dermatological diseases in the South East Asian region. This study aimed to determine the pattern of various skin disorders appearing in the Dermatology Department of a tertiary care hospital, which will help people to understand the scale of the rising incidence and possible preventive measures that can be undertaken to curtail it. Methods An observational study was conducted on all the patients who attended the Dermatology Department during a one year span. A thorough medical history with detailed cutaneous examination was carried out on every patient. Investigations and skin biopsies were performed, where required, for confirmation of diagnosis. Results A total of 95,983 patients presented in the outpatient Department of Dermatology, King Edward Medical University Mayo Hospital Pakistan. Out of this sample, 24,302 patients repeatedly came to the hospital for a follow up visit related to their diseases, while 71,681 were enrolled as new cases. This group comprised 58% females and 42% males; most patients were in the 20–40 years age group. Out of 71,681, eczema was diagnosed in 22,275 (31.07%), infections including bacterial, viral, fungal, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in 20,178 (28.16%), acne 7910 (11.03%), drug reactions 4830 (6.74%), urticaria 2910 (4.06%), and pigmentary disorders such as lichen planus, melasma and vitiligo were reported in 2739 (3.82%) cases. In addition, psoriasis was reported in 2724 (3.80%), bullous disorders in 1187 (1.66%) and connective tissue disorders in 645 (0.90%). The majority of patients presented with advanced eczema and infectious diseases. Conclusion Eczema was the most common skin disease seen in our study, followed by dermatological infections. The emerging challenges for dermatologists are to prevent and reduce these skin diseases that pose a major healthcare burden, as well as affect the quality of patients' lives.

Pakistan is one of the countries in South Asia ranking high in maternal mortality rate. Though, a signatory of Agenda 2030, the country still lags behind considerably in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ratio of maternal mortality is, even higher in rural areas of the country. Lack of health care facilities, education, malnutrition, poverty, high prevalence of violence against women in rural areas, and socioeconomic factors are some of the major contributing elements for elevated levels of maternal mortality and morbidity rate in Pakistan. By making inclusive policies at the national level to improve the reach of the rural population to healthcare facilities, educating women and eliminating gender-based disparities, introducing family planning interventions, accountability, and continuity of democracy are essentially needed to improve maternal health in Pakistan’s rural areas. This chapter focuses on challenges to maternal health in rural areas and possible options to resolve these issues.

This paper is designed as a tool that a researcher could use in planning and conducting quality research. This is a review paper which gives a discussion of various aspects of designing consideration in medical research. This paper covers the essentials in calculating power and sample size for a variety of applied study designs. Sample size computation for survey type of studies, observation studies and experimental studies based on means and proportions or rates, sensitivityspecificity tests for assessing the categorical outcome are presented in detail. Over the last decades, considerable interest has been focused on medical research designs and sample size estimation. The resulting literature is scattered over many textbooks and journals. This paper presents these methods in a single review and comments on their application in practice.

The study is aimed at investigating the competency level of primary school teachers in the disciplines of science, mathematics and pedagogy. The sample comprised 1,800 randomly drawn Primary Teaching Certificate (PMC) teachers working in different state primary and middle/elementary schools of 22 districts of the Punjab province. The competency was determined by developing standardised achievement tests in each of the three subjects. The results show teachers have a low level of competency in all these three areas. On average, their achievement rate remained 30.8 percent in mathematics, 34.1 percent in science and 39.2 percent in pedagogy; even below the minimum set criterion of 40 percent against each subject. Gender was found to be a significant indicator in the study that the competency level of female PTC teachers was lower than their male counterparts’.

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Role of textbook in any education

Objective. Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a chronic distressing disease characterized by an urge to move the legs with an unpleasantsensation during periods of rest. The global prevalence estimates of RLS range from 2.5% to 15%. Method. This cross-sectional study was conducted at various hospitals in Karachi during August 13 to March 14. The visitors who had accompanied patients to Outpatient Department or had come to visit admitted patients were approached conveniently. Subjects were interviewed regarding the essential criteria of RLS and its attributes. Results. The sample size was 390 with 56% being females. The point prevalence of RLS was estimated to be 23.6%. The prevalence in females was twice as high as compared to males. Smoking and low level of education were associated with RLS (P < 0.001). Among RLS positive individuals, 50.1% reported frequency of their symptoms to be greater than 16 days per month and 64.1% graded their symptom severity as mild to moderate. About 37% of RLS positive individuals consulted a general physician for their symptoms. Conclusion. RLS is highly prevalent and underdiagnosed condition among Pakistani population. Efforts must be directed to raise the awareness of this condition among physicians and general population.