Significance of Philadelphia Chromosome in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients of Anmol Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

Background: Chronic myelogenous Leukemia is a form of cancer that was firstly recognizes to associate strongly with the chromosomal abnormality [t (9; 22) translocation] called Philadelphia chromosome. Objective: Philadelphia chromosome is a characteristic chromosomal marker that is associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Methods: More than one hundred patients of either sex were selected for the experiment. RNA was isolated from whole blood of patients so can use exclusively in RT-PCR. Results: Philadelphia chromosome in blood samples of patients with suspected diagnosis of CML was detected in 63% of patients. During our experimental studies on CML patients we do not encounter any complex translocation involving chromosome 8, 9 and 22.  Conclusions: Philadelphia chromosome is a precise cytogenetic marker the detection of which is significant for differential diagnosis and clinical organization of patients with clinical diagnosis of CML. It is of significant that Ph chromosome occurs in pre-leukemic stage and has great diagnostic significance.

The Effects of an English Teachers Teaching Methods on Students Reading Comprehension Skills

In Pakistan, English is taught as a second or foreign language in the government schools with minimal opportunities to practice it both in and outside the school. Teachers still use traditional ways for teaching reading. They are not familiar with the latest ways and appropriate trends of teaching reading in ESL/EFL contexts. This affects students' comprehension skills. They still struggle to understand the text even after reaching the higher grades. In this situation, English language classrooms could be the only place for practising language skills. Teachers can provide ample opportunities to their students if they know how to teach reading comprehension. This study was conducted to explore the effects of an English language teacher's teaching methods/strategies on students' reading comprehension skills, and to gain insights from it, in order to improve my own understanding of teaching of reading comprehension in English. It means that after observing the teacher's existing teaching reading methods/strategies and interviewing the teacher and the students, I improved my own understanding of teaching reading comprehension in English. It would help me in teaching reading comprehension in my own context. This study was conducted in a private school with an English language teacher and grade six students, especially with three students as the focus group. Interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and post-lesson discussions were used as data collection methods. Ongoing and summative data analysis was used to analyze the data. The research location was chosen keeping in view the socio-economic status and language similarities in the teaching and learning of English in the context where the research problem occurred. It was found that the methods which the teacher used for teaching reading comprehension were effective for improving students' reading comprehension skills as students were able to use reading comprehension skills such as; skimming, scanning, predicting, and summarizing to comprehend the text. However, it was difficult to claim that all students used these strategies because assessing reading comprehension is a very complicated process. But observing the teacher and students closely and their responses to the tasks, it could be said that these methods were useful for teaching reading comprehension.