No abstract

Background: Meningococcemia is a serious bacterial disease caused by Neisseria meningitidisresulting in septicemia and meningitis in previously well individuals and is associated with serious consequences including mortality. As the data from our region is scarce, the study was conducted with an aim to highlight the disease manifestations and outcomes so that appropriate interventions are devised. Methods: A descritive study was conducted in Pediatrics A Unit from 1st March 2020 to 30th September 2021 after approval of institutional review board. Children admitted with features of meningococcemia in the form of fever and typical petechial purpuric rash were included in the study. Results: A total of 46 patients with meningococcemia were included in the study. Of these, 24 (52.2%) were male. Majority of the patients 22(47.8%) were in the age group of 1 year to five years, Major complications were meningitis in 39 (84.8%), septic shock in 26(56.5%) and purpura fulminans in 12(26.1%) patients. Mortalit[y was documented in 6(13%) patients. Outcome was associated with age. (p= 0.039). There was a significant difference in outcome in patients with prolonged PT/APTT (p=0.031), purpura fulminans (p= 0.000) and septic shock (p= 0.021). Conclusion: Meningococcemia is prevalent in our region in pediatric population. The disease has a fulminant course with a myriad of complications and potentially fatal outcomes especially in children under one year of age.

Power consumption of individual devices is often ignored in the development of computer networks. The traditional approach to a local areas network, such as might be deployed in a cyber-café or classroom environment, has a number of workstations attached to a server, where the workstations have very similar specifications (and hence power demands) to the server. Intuitively, this means there is significant over specification of the workstation, and that much of the capability of the device is not used, with consequential wasted energy. Alternative topologies exist, particularly those which make use of thin client technology, and are meeting with success particularly in developing countries, where cost and power consumption take on a much greater importance. One such design is the ndiyo project, which is delivering thin-client based network solutions to a number of nations, allowing IT support to be deployed in places where it would not have otherwise been achievable. In this paper, we report our work in developing a simulation model to allow us to study the behaviour and operation of ndiyo, offering us the opportunity to carry out some "what if" analyses of the behaviour of such systems under differing network loads.

Background: Present study was designed by keeping in view the importance of vitamin D in adolescents’ age group. Objectives: To explore the cases of low vitamin D status (<50 nmol/l) with respect to age & sex factors in school students. Study Design: Observation cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Biochemistry faculty of Health Sciences, Hazara University Mansehra, Ayub Medical College and Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. Period: June 2014 to June 2015. Subject & Methods: We recorded daily intake of vitamin D of each individual and  measured serum 25 hydrxoy vitamin D in a school based cross sectional sample of adolescents girls (n=93) and boys (n=96) students. Results: Results of this study reflected that, out of total boys and girls students, 16% and 39% of the sample  respectively showed low serum vitamin D status(<50 nmol/l). Number of cases had low vitamin D level increased with age in girls and decreased with age in boys. Serum vitamin D concentration was decreased with increase in age of girls and found significantly low (p=0.0087) in higher age group (>13-≤16).  No significant difference (p=0.29) was noted regarding daily intake of vitamin D between lower & higher age. Conclusion: It is concluded that, age and sex might be contributory factors in the occurrence of low vitamin D status.