Welcome to the inaugural Issue of Pakistan BioMedical Journal

Firstly, I would like to welcome all the readers, authors, editorial team and management of Pakistan Biomedical Journal (PBMJ) to this new journal in Biomedical Sciences. It is an intenational peer-reviewed, open-access journal that merges the basic and clinical research for the better outcome in terms of diagnosis and therapeutics. This approach will update and upgrade the existing knowledge among the researchers and clinicians, regarding the patient care and practice as well as understanding of underlying mechanisms of diseases. The ultimate beneficiary is patient and community as a whole. PBMJ is led by an outstanding Editorial Board comprising of national and international members with multidisciplinary research background. Our goal is to promote the basic and clinical research, health and disease perspectives. We receive original studies, review articles, case reports, systemetic reviews on medical, biomedical, basic and therapeutic research. We welcome scientific contributions from all over the world. It is the need and demand of the recent world scenario to focus on biomedical research. In the current world, basic and medical science cannot be considered as two separate and independent entities. There should be coherent efforts to unveil the basic understandings of pathologies at physiological, cellular and molecular level. Furthermore, the therapeutic strategies should also be explored on regional and global levels, by keeping in mind the different genetic makeups and considering the individual identities. It leads to the field of ‘personalized medicine’. There are many other recent therapeutic regimens such as regenerative medicine, exosomes, gene silencing and gene editing technologies. The world has also advanced in diagnostic modalities. Much focus has been emphasized on rapidness, accuracy and cost-effectiveness of these techniques. Imaging, scanning, histopathological, biochemical and hematological techniques have been much advanced than before. World has been changing rapidly in medical profession. Hence, it is important to be aware of these advancements worldwide and also to share the health related researches at local level. We hope this new journal will be a good addition in this perspective of sharing the recent knowledge, advancements and create awareness among masses.

Facilitating Social Studies Teachers in Teaching Controversial Issues for Developing Political Literacy in Students

This research study a small scale action research attempted to look into the role of a teacher educator in facilitating social studies teachers in teaching controversial issues to develop political literacy in students. A need for teachers to be educated and facilitated in teaching controversial issues was felt by the researcher which led to this study. The study was conducted with two secondary social studies teachers in a private English medium school in Karachi. The process of action research started with the teacher educator studying her own and the participants' existing beliefs and practices regarding the teaching of controversial issues and political literacy. The situation was also studied to gain an understanding of what was going on. Using the training model by Joyce and Showers, the researcher followed the steps of planning, implementation, observation and reflection, through two main and several small cycles. Data was collected through observations, semi structured interviews, pre and post discussions and reflective conversations. Analysis of data was done side by side with data collection. The study reports some possible strategies for teacher educators which facilitated the preparation of teachers to teach controversial issues. Findings and key learning include the researcher's learning as a teacher educator and an action researcher, learning about the teachers and the situation. The study explains how the teacher educator was able to facilitate the teachers and improve her practice as a teacher educator in the process. Based on the findings some implications are put forward along with some recommendations and suggestions.