Assessment of Dietary Behavior of Children Aged between 3-12 Years Suffering from Thalassemia Visiting Tertiary Care Hospitals, Lahore Dietary behavior of Thalassemia children

Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder passed down through families in which the body makes hemoglobin in an abnormal form. Nutritional deficiencies in thalassemia children results in anemia and other medical complications. Objective: To assess dietary behavior of children aged between 3-12 years suffering from thalassemia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the outdoor patient department of thalassemia at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore for 4 months.100 patients were selected through non probability sampling technique. Data was tabulated and analyzed by SPSS version 21.0. Results: Thalassemia was more prevalent in the age group of 8-12 years. Nutritional deficiencies in thalassemia patients caused anemia as it was evident from results that 74% of thalassemic children had pale skin. As far as dietary intake was concerned only 4% of thalassemia children were consuming meat and meat products.58% of thalassemia children consumed milk on daily basis. Only 8% took green leafy vegetables on daily basis as it contains high amount of iron. Micro nutrient deficiencies as vitamin A, C were common among thalassemia patients as only 30% were consuming fruits on daily basis. Conclusions: Most of the thalassemiacchildren were found to be malnourished due to inadequate dietary intake. The caregivers and parents should be counseled to create awareness

Exploring the Ways a Principal Influences Students Learning in a Private School in Karachi, Pakistan

The study explores the principal's ways of influencing student learning. This study was conducted to gain a qualitative insight into the principal's ways and practices of influencing students' learning. The study explores the strategies and methods a principal uses to engage students in their learning. This study was conducted in a context, hence, the design of the study demanded adopt a adoption of qualitative case study paradigm. Interviews and observation were the main data collection methods. The data was analyzed using the grounded theory method. The study was conducted in a private girl's secondary school in Karachi. The principal of the school, and eight students from class 3 to 9 were the research participants. The principal's activities revolve around students' learning. She spends her school time in interacting with students and teachers to facilitate them in teaching and learning process. It was also found that the principal used to encourage students by giving them respect and helping them participate in curricular and co curricular activities in the school. The principal was found accessible and visible in school and cared for the school members, visitors, and parents. The study found that the current principal played an instructional dimension of her role to a large extent, contrary to the general assumption that government school heads attend to more managerial aspects of their role. My study found evidence that this particular principal did go out of her way to make sense that she attends to student learning needs from both inside and out side the class. The study explores the strategies and methods a principal uses to engage students in their learning.