Efficacy of Atorvastatin Plus Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin Versus Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin Alone in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Genotype-3a Atorvastatin for the treatment of chronic HCV with Genotype-3a

Background: Chronic hepatitis C infection has created a huge burden of disease causing serious health effects. The combination therapy used to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection includes Pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. As cholesterol biosynthesis plays a pivotal role in HCV replication, the use of various statins has been associated with higher sustained viral response Objective: To compare the efficacy of atorvastatin plus pegylated interferon and ribavirin versus pegylated interferon and ribavirin alone in patients of chronic hepatitis C with genotype-3a Methods: This Randomized controlled trial was conducted at outpatient department, Mayo Hospital Lahore for six months i.e. May to November 2017. After ethical approval, 60patients of ages 25 to 55 years of either gender with chronic hepatitis C with genotype 3a were included in the study. Informed consent was taken from all patients. Then patients were randomly allocated into two groups “A” and “B” using random number table. Patients in Group A received standard of care treatment for chronic hepatitis C i.e. Pegylated interferon and ribavirin while the patients in Group B also received tab atorvastatin along with the standard treatment. Patients were follow up for 4 week. Blood samples were collected and HCV RNA detection. All this information were entered in proformaResults: In standard therapy group, the mean age of patients was 39.50±8.39years. In atorvastatin plus standard therapy group, the mean age of patients was 34.30±6.78years. In standard therapy group, there were 25 (83.3%) males and 5 (16.7%) females. In atorvastatin plus standard therapy group, there were 16 (53.3%) males and 14 (46.7%) females. After 4 weeks, Rapid VirologicalResponse (RVR) was achieved in 4 (13.3%) patients in standard therapy group while in 14 (46.7%) in atorvastatin plus standard therapy group. The difference was significant (p<0.05) Conclusions: Atorvastatin in combination with Pegylated interferon and ribavirin have better efficacy as compared toPegylated interferon & ribavirin alone in chronic hepatitis C-3a.

Effect of E-Learning As a Supplement to Traditional Method of Learning in Biology at Secondary School Level

The idea of E-Learning merely means electronic learning. It is multifaceted. It includes all forms of electronic devices that are involved in teaching and learning situation to make learning easy. The devices include computer and other audio-visual services. E-Learning encourages individual teachers to find out new ways of integrating technology and resources into their classroom settings. In education the use of the combination of traditional and E-Learning results in a new learning environment called Blended learning environment. It is, therefore, the current study is performed to inquire about the effectiveness of E-learning on the academic outcomes of the students. The study was focused on its objective of comparative analysis of the traditional means of education with the modern innovative way of teaching and learning known as E-learning. In this regards the best research strategy of experimental approach, pre-test and post-test control group deign, was adopted. Two government’s girls high school of Bannu, KP, of Biology students were taken as sample for the study. A pre-test was administered for the formation of two groups i.e.Control group and experimental group. The objective of the pre-test was to know prior knowledge of each student and to justly equalize the both groups.For the period of four week of teaching to both groups was equally done only with the exception of E-learning as a supplemental treatment to the experimental group was additionally provided. After the treatment in the stipulated time period, a post-test was taken from both groups to judge the effectiveness of E-learning method as compared to the face to face traditional method of teaching.Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used to determine the performance of both groups. Experimental group of the study performed well as compared to the control group which signifies the effectiveness of the E-learning as a supplement to usual teaching method. The new approach of teaching based on E-Learning was recommended as supplement to traditional method for instruction in secondary schools. However, it was suggested that teachers should be exposed to the new technology of E-Learning not only in the subject of Biology but also in other subjects.