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Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and perception of post-graduate residents of neurosciences towards research ethics (RE) and research ethics committees (RECs). Methods: This prospective cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted by the Punjab Institute of Neurosciences, targeting post-graduate neuroscience residents throughout Pakistan during January and February, 2024. An English-language general questionnaire, designed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of RE and RECs, was adapted to reflect local conditions. The collected responses were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to determine measures of central tendency, percentages, and frequencies. Results: Out of 241 residents, 64.3% were males. Sixty-eight percent respondents were from neurosurgery and 32% were from the field of neurology. Approximately 47% responses were from the province of Punjab. More than half (51.5%) of participants acknowledged the existence of a REC within their institution. A similar proportion (52.3%) claimed familiarity with ethical guidelines for research involving human subjects, only a slight majority (48.5%) demonstrated awareness of the specific functions carried out by RECs. Meanwhile, 44.5% expressed concerns that undergoing review by a REC could potentially delay research and pose additional challenges for researchers. Additionally, 27.4% of respondents admitted to considering the fabrication of data or results as acceptable. Conclusion: Our research uncovered a significant correlation between participants' perceptions of RE and RECs and their comprehension of ethical principles. These findings indicate that medical postgraduates with a deeper understanding or awareness of research ethics principles and RECs tend to hold more robust attitudes toward these aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyze the existence and uniqueness of mild solution to the Stieltjes integral boundary value problem involving a nonlinear multi-term, Caputo-type sequential fractional integro-differential equation. Krasnoselskii's fixed-point theorem and the Banach contraction principle are utilized to obtain the existence and uniqueness of the mild solution of the aforementioned problem. Furthermore, the Hyers-Ulam stability is obtained with the help of established methods. Our proposed model contains both the integer order and fractional order derivatives. As a result, the exponential function appears in the solution of the model, which is a fundamental and naturally important function for integer order differential equations and its many properties. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the key findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of delivering a single workshop in evidence based medicine by comparing the pre and post workshop scores to ascertain level of knowledge and skills of formulating an answerable question and EBM literature searching skills among healthcare professionals. Design: Single center quasi-experimental study. Setting: PNS SHIFA Karachi, Pakistan Navy Medical Training School. Participants: Volunteers in four groups including postgraduates group 1, undergraduate group 2, nursing student group 3 and medical technician group 4. Intervention: Eight workshops (two per group) of EBM literature searching skills were carried out with pre and post evaluation through first two questions of Fresno tool. Results: A total of 102 participants were enrolled with 17 (16.6%) postgraduates, 34 (33.33%) undergraduates, 31 (30.4%) nursing students and 20 (19.6%) medical technicians. There was statistically significant improvement after the workshop in mean Fresno scores of individual groups. Mean pre and post workshop scores of different groups were nursing students 0.68 and 2.89, medical technicians 0.80 and 3.55, postgraduates 2 and 4.17, undergraduates 1 and 4.97 respectively. Conclusions: A single EBM brief workshop has a statistically significant impact on the competence level of healthcare professionals in first two EBM steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]