Background: Increasing smartphone use among adolescents in todays' world has made this handy device an indispensable electronic tool, however, it comes at a price of problematic overuse or addiction. We aim to investigate the prevalence of smartphone addiction among undergraduate medical students and explore its association with various demographic and personal factors. Methods: A pool of 250 undergraduate students completed a survey composed of socio-demographics information, smartphone-use related variables and 10-point Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version in February 2019. Results: Smartphone addiction among medical students was estimated at around 36.8% with higher percentage of male smartphone addicts. Phubbing was reported by 37.6% participants with more than 60% reporting overuse. Statistically significant association was observed between smartphone addiction and gender and overuse. Self-acknowledgement of addiction was found to be the biggest predictor of smartphone addiction. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary insights into smartphone use, smartphone addiction and various factors predicting smartphone addiction among early undergraduate medical students from Nepal, which should be extended in future studies. Education policymakers and educators need to develop some strategies encouraging student's smartphone utilization to enhance academic performance.

BackgroundComplete blood count is one of the routinely advised blood investigation during pregnancy. It is also utilized as a diagnostic tool for neonatal anemia, sepsis and determining hemostatic status of the newborn. The present study aims at estimating the complete blood count of maternal and umbilical cord blood at the time of delivery and to establish its correlation.MethodThis cross sectional study included 114 mothers and their healthy neonates born through normal vaginal delivery. Complete blood count of umbilical cord blood and maternal blood was estimated using automatic hematology analyzer.ResultsThe mean maternal and neonatal hemoglobin concentration was 11.14 ± 1.39 g/dL and 16.34 ± 2.01 g/dL respectively. A significant positive correlation was found between maternal and fetal hemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001 and Pearson R = 0.496). The correlation between maternal and fetal WBC, RBC and Platelet count was not statistically significant. A significant positive correlation was found between maternal and fetal MCV and MCH while PCV showed a non-significant positive correlation.ConclusionThere was moderately positive correlation between maternal and fetal hemoglobin, MCV and MCH. The cord blood hemoglobin was lower in babies born to anemic mothers. The decrease in hemoglobin followed the severity of anemia, however, the correlation did not exist in anemic mothers. It suggested that fetal hematological parameters are not reflective of maternal hemogram.

Background and purposeThe success story of a modern-day physician centers substantially on the knowledge of proper communication-skills with patients and their bedside relatives. Therefore, it has become extremely important to start a communication-skills course early on in undergraduate medical study, but to date, this has been given relatively little or no emphasis. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess the attitude of undergraduate medical newbies towards learning communication-skills, and the association between attitude and various student characteristics.Patients and methodsA total of 99 recently admitted undergraduate medical students at Chitwan Medical College were included in the study, and their attitude towards communication-skills training was measured using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS).ResultsA positive learning attitude was found in over 50% of participants. The idea of a requirement of communication-skills curriculum was associated with a positive learning attitude. Gender, age, and past educational institute were not associated with communication skills learning attitude.ConclusionThis study provides perceptions of newly admitted undergraduate medical students towards communication-skills learning. We suggest the integration of communication-skills curriculum into the undergraduate medical syllabus, with an acceptable, focused, and interesting teaching module.

A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base. And The Framework used can be understood as a tool or checklist to understand poverty in responding to poor people’s views and their own understanding of poverty. In this context, a research was designed to study the sustainable livelihood framework: monitoring and evaluation.  Different related of published and unpublished materials like books, research articles and other materials like package manuals were reviewed and the paper was prepared. The paper showed that, livelihood approaches are conceptual frameworks that promote people centered development. They are responsive and participatory, and they favor multidisciplinary and multilevel development interactions. Monitoring and evaluation must look beyond activity-based indicators of progress and resource-based definitions of change to measure achievements from the perspective of partners and beneficiaries. Livelihoods analysis helps us to address these assumptions as part of the project design. Assumptions can be ‘internalized’ either by including complementary activities (to cover ‘horizontal’ assumptions) or by linking projects up-stream and down-stream to ensure an appropriate enabling environment. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 8, Issue-1: 266-271