Curriculum implementation challenges: Development and validation of an integrated curriculum implementation challenges tool.

Objective: To develop an instrument to identify the challenges faced by faculty while implementing an integrated curriculum in an undergraduate dentistry program. Methods: The study was conducted between September 2020 and October 2021 at the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD), University of Lahore (UOL). A preliminary questionnaire, developed through literature review and faculty interviews was sent to 10 medical education experts for content validation via the Delphi technique. Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated for individual items (I-CVI) as well as for the composite scale (S-CVI). A panel agreement of more than 75% was considered as the criterion for the inclusion of items in the questionnaire. Cognitive pretesting of five faculty members was conducted and pilot testing was subsequently done with 27 faculty members. The reliability of the tool was determined by Cronbach's alpha. Results: After the Delphi process, the final Integrated Curriculum Implementation Challenges (ICIC) questionnaire had 42 items. S-CVI was 0.87 and the cut-off value for I-CVI was taken as 0.78 as the criterion for item deletion. Cognitive interviews and pretesting revealed good item interpretation. Cronbach's alpha for this tool was 0.87. Conclusion: ICIC is a useful instrument with good reliability and content validity. It can be used to identify the presence and extent of challenges faced by the faculty while implementing an integrated curriculum.

Students' perception about assessment environment of University of Lahore - Dental School: A cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perception of undergraduate dentistry medical students about the assessment environment at their institution. METHODS: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan, from April 2017 to September 2017, and comprised undergraduate dentistry medical students who were asked to complete the Assessment Environment Questionnaire. Students' individual perception scores were calculated and the means of both individual domain and global score were compared in terms of different academic years. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the100 subjects, 50(50%) each were from 1st year and 2nd year. Overall, the students perceived their assessment environment positive yielding a global mean score of 49.84}10.84 out of the maximum 80. Second year students scored significantly higher compared to first year students in all domains except feedback mechanism (p=0.0017), learning and performance (p=0.0014), information on assessment (p=0.0064), and total mean score of 53.5}8.24 compared to 46.12}11.7 (p=0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: The students' perception of the assessment environment was more positive than negative.

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of tryptamine based benzamide derivatives.

Benzamides and tryptamine are biologically significant compounds, therefore, various benzamide analogous of tryptamine have been efficiently synthesized using tryptamine and different benzoyl chlorides, in order to find new biologically active compounds. The resulting products were then characterized by melting point determination, calculation of Rf values and LC-MS techniques. At last, structure activity relationship (SAR) of the synthesized compounds was evaluated against two microbial strains; Bacillus subtilis and Aspergillus niger. All the five prepared products have shown high yield, sharp characterization and significant resistance against the growth of tested microorganism, providing a new range of tryptamine based benzamide derivatives having significant antimicrobial activities.

Patulin Contamination of Citrus Fruits from Punjab and Northern Pakistan and Estimation of Associated Dietary Intake.

This research aims to assess the natural occurrence of patulin (PAT) in selected citrus fruits from central cities of Punjab and Pakistan's northern cities. A total of 2970 fruit samples from 12 citrus cultivars were examined using liquid chromatography fitted with a UV detector. The detection limit (LOD) and quantification limit were 0.04 and 0.12 µg/kg, respectively. About 56% of samples of citrus fruits from Punjab's central cities, Pakistan, were found to be contaminated with PAT, with values ranging from 0.12 to 1150 µg/kg in samples from central Punjab cities. Furthermore, 31.7% of samples of citrus fruits from northern cities of Pakistan were contaminated with PAT, with values ranging from 0.12 to 320 µg/kg. About 22.1% of citrus fruit samples had PAT levels greater than the suggested limits established by the European Union (EU). The dietary intake levels of PAT ranged from 0.10 to 1.11 µg/kg bw/day in the central cities of Punjab, Pakistan, and 0.13 to 1.93 µg/kg bw/day in the northern cities of Pakistan.

Short communication: synthesis and applications of Coumarin.

In this work, coumarin was synthesized by Perkin reaction using salicylaldehyde, acetic acid and sodium acetate. Due to the misuse of acetic anhydride in narcotics synthesis, acetic acid was substituted for acetic anhydride in Perkin reaction. On the basis of this substitution a hypothesis was proposed that "acetic acid could be substituted as an acetylating agent in place of acetic anhydride in coumarin synthesis via Perkin reaction". In the present research project, salicylaldehyde was prepared from phenol, sodium hydroxide and chloroform for further procedure. Then four different coumarin samples were synthesized by changing the parameter of reactants proportions. From this parameter, we designed a trend of high product yield. Yields of Coumarin samples will lead towards either acceptance or rejection of the above proposed hypothesis. In the next step, these Coumarin samples were characterized by age yield (%), solubility and melting points. At last Antibacterial activities of all the four coumarin samples were evaluated against two bacterial strains; E.coli and S.aureus. As a consequence of all above, it was inferred that the yields of all coumarin samples obtained were low as compared to the yield obtained by the use of acetic anhydride in previous reports. This led to the rejection of proposed hypothesis. Among four Coumarin samples, sample-4 obtained by taking equal amounts of all the reactants had shown maximum yield, best characterization and excellent antibacterial activity. In spite of low yields obtained, the remarkable antibacterial activities of Coumarin samples have enabled us to suggest coumarin as a strong antibacterial agent and it must be employed for further applications.