METHODS: All MI patients admitted to the emergency department of Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology from April, 2016 to March, 2017 were recruited into the study. The clinico-laboratory profile and in-hospital outcomes of patients with and without DM were compared using chi-squared test or student t-test, where appropriate.
RESULTS: A total 4063 patients (Mean age: 55.86 ± 12.37years) with male preponderance were included into the study. STEMI was most prevalent (n = 2723, 67%) type of MI among study participants. DM was present in substantial number of cases (n = 3688, 90.8%). Patients with DM presented with increased BMI, higher blood pressure, elevated levels of cholesterol, serum creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen, when compared to the patients without DM (p<0.05). Out of 560 patients who were followed up, cardiogenic shock was frequent (n = 293, 52.3%) adverse outcome followed by heart failure (n = 114, 20.4%), atrial fibrillation (n = 78, 13.9%) and stroke (n = 75, 13.4 %). Moreover, in-hospital adverse outcomes were more prevalent among MI patients with DM than those without DM.
CONCLUSIONS: MI patients with DM present with varying clinico laboratory characteristics as well as experience higher prevalence of adverse cardiovascular events as compared to patients without DM. These patients require individual management strategy on very first day of admission.
METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised data related to a three-month period from January to March 2015 at two medical centres in Lahore. Data from Pakistani centres was analysed based on province, gender, age and clefts of lip and palate conditions and Spearman's correlation matrix.
RESULTS: Of the 1574 cases, 1061(67.4%) were from Punjab, 361(23%) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 85(5%) Sindh and 67(4.2%) were from Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The incidence of clefts of lip and palate was higher in males than females. There was higher awareness of the need for timely management in new borns with clefts of lip and palate. Some patients seeking secondary treatment were also being surgically corrected. There is no national registry of children born with cleft defect, making it difficult to assess the full scale of the problem..
CONCLUSIONS: Based on available data, it is likely that there are many adults who have not been treated when younger..
METHODS: The cross-sectionalstudy was conducted at the Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan, in July and August, 2020 during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, and comprised healthcare professionals from the obstetrics and gynaecology department. Data was collected online using the 25-item Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Data was analysed using SPSS 26.
RESULTS: Ofthe 142 individuals approached, 102(71.83%)responded; 55(53.92%) doctors, 43(42.15%) nurses and 4(3.92%) operation theatre technicians. Overall, there were 98(96.1%) females, and 67(65.7%) married subjects. Mean exhaustion scorewas 2.53±0.54 anddisengagementscorewas 2.14±0.57. Burnoutwasfoundin40(39.2%)participants, 83 (81.4%)were exhausted, 44(43.1%)weredisengaged, and4(3.1%)weredisengagedbutnot exhausted. Participants aged>50 yearswere significantly more exhausted and disengaged than the younger ones(p<0.05). Those with work hours >60 per week were significantly more exhausted and disengaged than the rest (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Health care professionals inobstetrics and gynaecology teams showed considerably highburnout levels during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic in Pakistan.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst university students from a Malaysian's public university. A total of 228 students responded to a self-administered questionnaire consisting of items evaluating knowledge and practices of osteoporosis.
RESULTS: The students showed a moderate level of osteoporosis awareness with a score of 63.3%. Male subjects had higher awareness scores of osteoporosis complications compared to female subjects (p= 0.010). Malay (p= 0.002) and Chinese (p= 0.005) had higher levels of osteoporosis awareness compared to Indian students. Coffee and alcohol intakes were significantly different between the sexes (p= 0.013) and the ethnic groups (p= 0.029). Most of the subjects in our study were minimally active (43.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: The students had a reasonable levels of knowledge about osteoporosis, but their health activities to avoid osteoporosis were insufficient. This illustrates the need for educational programmes to improve students' knowledge and awareness for successful osteoporosis prevention.
METHODS: The quasi-experimental study with single-blinded parallel groups will comprise subjects from two civil departments. The intervention group will be required to conduct 2 days of fasting and 5 days of ad libitum diet in a week, while the control group will follow the usual healthy lifestyle. The largest sample size will be taken to achieve a power of 80% and an alpha value of 5%. Based on the 30% attrition rate, the total sample size needed in the study will be 140 participants, with 70 in each of the two arms. This study will use SPSS 24 for statistical analysis.
DISCUSSION: The study describes a unique protocol of intermittent fasting mimicking the Muslim Sunnah of fasting among people with elevated blood pressure. The findings will contribute to decrease blood pressure among those with elevated blood pressure. If proven to be effective, the intermittent fasting method would be useful for developing an effective programme to prevent elevated blood pressure among adults. The protocol will contribute to efforts to find whether or not intermittent fasting can improve elevated blood pressure as well as body weight, body mass index, waist circumference and nutrition status among adults.
CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: The study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04953650).
METHODS: The cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted from September 2020 to June 2021 after approval from the research ethics committee of Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, and comprised student-athletes of either gender aged 18 years or above at various universities across Pakistan and who played contact or collision sports for their universities. Data was collected using the Urdu version of the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey-Student Version. Data was also gathered about the participants' self-reported exposure to formal concussion education, previous sport-related concussion history, and reporting behaviours, where applicable. Data was analysed using SPSS 23.
RESULTS: Of the 369 participants, 224(60.7%) were males and 145(39.3%) were females. The overall mean age was 19.95±1.75 years. Among the participants, 327(88.6%) had not received formal concussion education. The mean knowledge score was 12.76±2.73 out of a possible 25 points, and the mean attitude score was 38.63±10.30 out of 75 points. Knowledge had a weak positive correlation with attitude towards sport-related concussions SRC (p<0.05). Females displayed better attitudes towards sport-related concussions than their male counterparts (p<0.05). Overall, 126(34%) participants had experienced sport-related concussion symptoms following a blow to the head in the preceding 12 months, and 81(64.3%) of them had continued playing while being symptomatic.
CONCLUSION: Pakistani university student-athletes lacked adequate concussion knowledge and held poor attitudes towards sport-related concussions.
METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from January to May 2016 in seven schools of Bhakkar district in the Punjab province of Pakistan, and comprised of school children aged 11-12 years. Diet diaries were used to assess the frequency of sugar intake while caries was assessed using the Modified International Caries Detection and Assessment System. Bivariate analysis was used to assess the association of sugar consumption and early carious lesion with selected sociodemographic variables, and regression analysis was performed to evaluate the factor that matters most in caries occurrence.
RESULTS: Of the 226 subjects, 115(51%) had early carious lesion. Mean frequency of sugar intake was 5.2±3.2 times per day. Children who consumed sugar between main meals (p=0.01) and within two hours before bedtime (p=0.04) had significantly higher history of having caries. Cariogenic intake before bedtime was significantly associated with overall caries risk (p=0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of sugar intake among the subjects was slightly higher than the recommended level. .
METHODS: The systematic review was conducted from April to September 2022, and comprised search on PubMed, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases for relevant studies published in English language between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2022. The search was updated in September 2022. After transferring literature to Mendeley, relevant data was extracted from the included studies. Quality assessment for eligible studies was done using Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist. Quality of evidences was assessed by using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation tool.
RESULTS: Of the 203 studies identified, 18(8.9%) were analysed; 16(89%) with humans and 2(11%) with animals as subjects There were 5 (31.25%) studies for SP-D, of which 4 (80%) studies reported lower surfactant protein-D in type 2 diabetes mellitus cases than controls. Its significant negative association with glycated haemoglobin was reported by 1(20%) study and 2(40%) studies with fasting blood glucose levels. Higher surfactant protein-D in type 2 diabetes mellitus cases and its positive association with glycated haemoglobin was reported by 1(20%) study. Recurrent infections were frequent in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Malondialdehyde level was higher and superoxide dismutase activity was lower in type 2 diabetes mellitus cases, reflecting oxidative stress. Animal studies also showed that reactive oxygen species generating from hypochlorous acid during oxidative stress promoted the formation of non-disulfide linkages in surfactant protein-D structure, resulting in its decreased functionality.
CONCLUSION: Surfactant protein-D, oxidative stress, inflammation and infections were found to be linked to each other for pathogenesis of infections in type 2 diabetes mellitus.