COVID-19 is a menace for Pakistan’s fragile and overburdened health care system and infrastructure, insidiously permeating the socio-economic fabric. Globally complete to partial shutdown of educational institutions has been enforced, transitioning from face to face to online academics. Academic institutes are floundering to withstand the brunt. Therefore, the current study was conducted to attempt to review and highlight the impact and challenges posed by transition from conventional to online academics and how to approach them, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic with the perspective of developing countries like Pakistan. For this purpose, search for relevant literature using search engines and websites including Google, Google Scholar and Web of Science as well as Medline database was conducted with keywords “Covid-19, academics, mental health, social impact and e-learning and combination of words”. Thirty two English language, full text articles published in the last ten years from 2010 to 2020 were selected for the literature review. With this literature review, we conclude that this lockdown has caused significant distortion in the academic world yet unequal interruption in learning with significant disruptions in internal assessments and qualification examinations with developing countries like Pakistan, compounded by a compromised educational system. However, COVID-19 is spurring the case for conversion to online academics and developing countries like Pakistan are poised to develop reliable, cost effective and secure online academic system whether it is bane or boon. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.1.2894 How to cite this:Mumtaz N, Saqulain G, Mumtaz N. Online Academics in Pakistan: COVID-19 and Beyond. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(1):283-287. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.1.2894 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objectives: To determine the level of stress experienced and coping strategies used by parents of hearing impaired and autistic children. Methods: Using non-probability convenience sampling this cross sectional study recruited n =200 parents of hearing impaired (HI) and 100 parents of autistic children, of either gender, aged 20 to 60 years. Samples were recruited from Special Education Institutes of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, over a period of six months, from October 2018 to March 2019 and conducted at Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Islamabad. Basic demographical sheet, Parental Stress Scale and Coping Strategies Inventory were used for data collection. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 21. Results: In parents of hearing impaired the mean parental stress score was 47.44±12.85 and commonest coping strategy was problem focused engagement (26.03) followed by problem focused dis-engagement (24.25). In the autistic group the mean parental stress score was 48.92+11.22 with problem focused engagement being the most frequently used strategy (27.4) followed by emotion focused strategy. Conclusion: Different level of stress experienced by parents of autistic and hearing impaired children which is statistically significant and they employed different coping strategies. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.3.1766 How to cite this:Ishtiaq N, Mumtaz N, Saqulain G. Stress and coping strategies for parenting children with hearing impairment and autism. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(3):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.3.1766 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Objectives: To determine the awareness about autism among Medical and Allied-Medical Practitioners. Methods: This cross-sectional survey recruited a sample of n=300 participants including n=150 Medical and n=150 Allied-Medical practitioners using convenience sampling from Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Autism Resource Centre, Rawalpindi, Pakistan between 20th May 2018 to 20th October 2018. Sample included both genders, aged 21 to 50 years. Basic demographic sheet and Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) Questionnaire was used to collect data. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 21. Results: Study revealed the total mean KCAHW score of 15.20±5.17 and 8.84±6.31 for Allied-Medical and Medical practitioners respectively. While the Domain-I mean KCAHW scores was 6.28±2.10 and 3.68±2.41; Domain-II score 0.86±0.35 and 0.45±0.50; Domain-III score 3.28±1.00 and 1.91±1.65; and Domain 4 score of 4.83±1.72 and 2.80±1.75 for Allied-Medical and Medical practitioners respectively. Conclusion: The present study shows that there is significant awareness regarding autism among Allied-Medical compared to Medical practitioners. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.1703 How to cite this:Akhter N, Mumtaz N, Saqulain G. Autism Cognizance: A dilemma among medical and Allied Medical practitioners. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.1703 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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