METHODS: The (n = 1614) students enrolled in the science section for the academic year 2019-2020 participated in this descriptive correlational survey, selected from 40 high schools in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, through a non-proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ) and the Study Skills Scale (SSS) were used to collect data about students' reading habits and study skills. At the same time, academic achievement was the students' grades obtained in the ninth class in the subject of English that were determined by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore in 2019. Students' responses were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics.
RESULTS: The results indicated that students have competent reading habits and study skills. The correlational findings showed a strong positive relationship among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English, while moderate positive relationships between reading habits and academic achievement in English. However, regression analysis results were significant, while reading habits and study skills moderately predicted academic achievement.
DISCUSSION: It is implicated that teachers should plan such assignments and tasks based on reflective thinking by considering the role of study skills in academic achievement. Moreover, teachers and school administrators could mutually create timetables for library lessons to build reading habits and study skills among learners.
METHODS: The spatial dependence of district-wise incidence rates is investigated using spatial autocorrelation analysis with two orders of contiguity weights for various pandemic waves. Nine determinants are chosen from 14 covariates of socio-demographic factors via elastic net regression and recursive partitioning. The relationships between incidence rates and socio-demographic factors are examined using ordinary least squares, spatial lag and spatial error models, and geographically weighted regression.
RESULTS: In the first 8 months of 2021, COVID-19 severely affected Sarawak's central region, which was followed by the southern region in the next 2 months. In the third wave, based on second-order spatial weights, the incidence rate in a district is most strongly influenced by its neighboring districts' rate, although the variance of incidence rates is best explained by local regression coefficient estimates of socio-demographic factors in the first wave. It is discovered that the percentage of households with garbage collection facilities, population density and the proportion of male in the population are positively associated with the increase in COVID-19 incidence rates.
CONCLUSION: This research provides useful insights for the State Government and public health authorities to critically incorporate socio-demographic characteristics of local communities into evidence-based decision-making for altering disease monitoring and response plans. Policymakers can make well-informed judgments and implement targeted interventions by having an in-depth understanding of the spatial patterns and relationships between COVID-19 incidence rates and socio-demographic characteristics. This will effectively help in mitigating the spread of the disease.
METHODS: Data were collected from 10 researchers from 10 different countries (Australia, China, the UK, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkiye) using semi-structured interviews. NVivo was employed for data analysis.
RESULTS: Based on the responses, five themes about the influence of ChatGPT on academic and research writing were generated, i.e., opportunity, human assistance, thought-provoking, time-saving, and negative attitude. Although the researchers were mostly positive about it, some feared it would degrade their writing skills and lead to plagiarism. Many of them believed that ChatGPT would redefine the concepts, parameters, and practices of creativity and plagiarism.
DISCUSSION: Creativity may no longer be restricted to the ability to write, but also to use ChatGPT or other large language models (LLMs) to write creatively. Some suggested that machine-generated text might be accepted as the new norm; however, using it without proper acknowledgment would be considered plagiarism. The researchers recommended allowing ChatGPT for academic and research writing; however, they strongly advised it to be regulated with limited use and proper acknowledgment.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether early valve intervention reduced the incidence of all-cause death or unplanned aortic stenosis-related hospitalization in asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis and myocardial fibrosis.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This prospective, randomized, open-label, masked end point trial was conducted between August 2017 and October 2022 at 24 cardiac centers across the UK and Australia. Asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis and myocardial fibrosis were included. The final date of follow-up was July 26, 2024.
INTERVENTION: Early valve intervention with transcatheter or surgical aortic valve replacement or guideline-directed conservative management.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause death or unplanned aortic stenosis-related hospitalization in a time-to-first-event intention-to-treat analysis. There were 9 secondary outcomes, including the components of the primary outcome and symptom status at 12 months.
RESULTS: The trial enrolled 224 eligible patients (mean [SD] age, 73 [9] years; 63 women [28%]; mean [SD] aortic valve peak velocity of 4.3 [0.5] m/s) of the originally planned sample size of 356 patients. The primary end point occurred in 20 of 113 patients (18%) in the early intervention group and 25 of 111 patients (23%) in the guideline-directed conservative management group (hazard ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.44-1.43]; P = .44; between-group difference, -4.82% [95% CI, -15.31% to 5.66%]). Of 9 prespecified secondary end points, 7 showed no significant difference. All-cause death occurred in 16 of 113 patients (14%) in the early intervention group and 14 of 111 (13%) in the guideline-directed group (hazard ratio, 1.22 [95% CI, 0.59-2.51]) and unplanned aortic stenosis hospitalization occurred in 7 of 113 patients (6%) and 19 of 111 patients (17%), respectively (hazard ratio, 0.37 [95% CI, 0.16-0.88]). Early intervention was associated with a lower 12-month rate of New York Heart Association class II-IV symptoms than guideline-directed conservative management (21 [19.7%] vs 39 [37.9%]; odds ratio, 0.37 [95% CI, 0.20-0.70]).
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis and myocardial fibrosis, early aortic valve intervention had no demonstrable effect on all-cause death or unplanned aortic stenosis-related hospitalization. The trial had a wide 95% CI around the primary end point, with further research needed to confirm these findings.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03094143.