Tshering Wangchuk

Facebook is the most popular network site among young Bhutanese people. Students spend a substantial amount of time checking Facebook and chatting with friends, which could be detrimental to their reading habits. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of Facebook on the reading habits of a higher secondary school students in Bhutan. A mixed method, specifically a convergent design, was adopted for the study, and it was guided by the Pragmatism worldview. Quantitative data were gathered from 274 participants and qualitative data were collected from 10 interviewees and one focus group discussion. Participants included teachers, parents, and students from a higher secondary school in Thimphu Thromde. A descriptive and inferential statistical following thematic analysis was used for quantitative data and the qualitative data were analyzed along the same themes. The findings of the study revealed that use of Facebook positively affected students’ reading habits. Students de...

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) with concern over the convergence of these two diseases. Although screening for PTB among people with DM has been recommended by WHO, it has not been implemented in Bhutan yet. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of PTB among people living with DM at the National Referral Hospital (NRH), Thimphu, Bhutan. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from 1st June – 9th October 2018. All 343 consenting DM patients were screened for PTB using the WHO recommended questionnaire and those with TB positive symptoms were tested for active PTB using sputum smear microscopy and Gene-Xpert. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21. Results: The prevalence of PTB among people living with DM was 0.87% (95% CI: 0.20-2.50).The mean age was 54.95 (± 13.2 years) and all were DM type II. The median duration of diabetes was 4 years (rang...

Today world face one of the biggest problem is hypertension in adults. Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, two leading causes of death for people in the United States [1]. In the United States, about 77.9 million (1 out of every 3) adults have high blood pressure. A global brief on hypertension by WHO reported that, the prevalence of hypertension in adults aged 25 and above was about 40% around the world in 2008, rising from 600 million in 1980 to 1 billion in 2008 during the past 28 years [2]. Similarly, this prevalence among the adults aged 18 and above in China has risen from 18.8% in 2002 to 25.2% in 2015, presently, there are more than 200 million hypertensive patients in China [3]. Epidemiological studies show a steadily increasing trend in hypertension prevalence over the last 40 years, more in urban than in the rural areas. This is converse to findings reported from developed countries where there is a significant...