Excellence in academic performance at the graduate level requires good command of writing skills. Teachers' written feedback can help students to develop their writing skills. However, several personal and contextual factors may influence feedback processes and its utilization by students. Therefore, understanding these factors is essential to improve the practice of written feedback. This study aimed to appraise the quality of written feedback in the graduate programmes and to ascertain students' perceptions about it at a private university in Pakistan. A purposive sample of 15 participants comprised the study. The data were collected through in-depth students' interviews and the teachers' written comments on students' assignments. Data were coded and categorized to assess the pattern of similarities and dissimilarities. The analysis of comments on students' assignments indicated that the amount of feedback varied greatly. Although some feedback focused on form and style, most comments focused on the content. Moreover, the tone of comments lacked a balance of praise, criticism and suggestions. The data from students' interviews were categorized as: variations in experiences, functions of written feedback, effectiveness of feedback and utilization of feedback. With some exceptions students' perceptions about the quality feedback corroborated with the teachers' comment analysis. The study highlights several factors that impact the receptivity and utilization of feedback by students. Therefore, teachers need to be aware and trained to enhance the quality of their feedback.

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Introduction: Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterized by multiple symptoms and signs of infection during the first month of life. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of commonly isolated bacteria from patients of neonatal sepsis and their susceptibility patterns in POF hospital at Wah. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in POF Hospital Neonatal intensive care unit and Microbiology laboratory from January 2018 to December 2019. The blood samples of patients suspected with neonatal sepsis were processed as per standard methodology. Results: Out of ninety blood samples, fifty-one (56.7%) yielded the growth of Gram-negative rods and thirty-nine (43.3%) yielded Gram-positive cocci. Among Gram-positive bacteria, coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most common pathogen isolated from 53.8% cases followed by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (15.3%). Among Gram-negative bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae (54.90%) was the most frequently identified bacteria followed by Serratia marcescens (27.45%). The Gram-positive cocci were the most susceptible to linezolid (100%) followed by vancomycin (87.2%). The Gram-negative rods depict remarkable resistance to ciprofloxacin (92.2%), gentamicin (100%), and meropenem (54.9%). Conclusions: The study concluded a predominance of Gram-negative bacteria as a causative agent of neonatal sepsis in our setup. The bacterial isolates are highly resistant to commonly prescribed oral as well as injectable antibiotics. Implementation of infection control policies is a dire need to combat the grave situation of increasing antibiotic resistance.

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Objective: To find out the histopathological findings in appendectomy specimens, negative appendectomy rate (NAR) and the association of gender and age groups which underwent negative appendectomies in our set up. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: POF Hospital, Wah Cantt, from Jan to Aug 2017. Methodology: The records of 1050 patients were assessed for the relevant clinical history, age, gender and date of their presentation in hospital. The appendectomy specimens were classified as positive specimens which contained fecoliths, worms, granulomatous inflammation, foreign body reaction, mucocele, or appendiceal tumors. All the data were entered and analyzed in SPSS-21. Results: Among the 1050 patients with suspicion of acute appendicitis, 458 (43.6%) were cases of acute appendicitis followed by acute suppurative appendicitis 100 (9.5%) and fecolith 79 (7.5%) in appendiceal lumen. The negative appendectomy rate was calculated as 248 (23.6%). A significant association of normal appendices was found with female gender (p=0.002) and young age group (p=0.02). Conclusion: Acute appendicitis was the most frequent histopathological finding in our study. The negative appendectomy rate was significantly associated with the females of young age.