Screening to Determine Prevalence of β-Thalassemia and Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Medical Students

According to the Thalassemia Federation of Pakistan, the mostly inherited disorder in Pakistan is β-thalassemia, which is characterized by a deficient, abnormal, or lack of β-globin chain synthesis and has a prevalence of 6%. The only method of controlling and preventing β-thalassemia is to increase awareness among students. This was an observational study using a random sampling technique. The Dow-Thalassemia awareness program recruited 915 medical students from the Dow Medical College (DMC) and Sindh Medical College (SMC) to voluntarily donate blood samples, which were analyzed by the naked eye single tube red cell osmotic fragility test (NESTROFT) and complete blood count and results were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography and analyzed using the NESTROFT. The samples were collected in 2012-2013. A total of 915 samples, out of these 390 samples, 390/915 (42.6%) samples were positive and complete blood count found 282 (72.3%) were positive for iron deficiency anemia. The remaining 108/390 (27.6%) were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Only 2.4 % subjects were positive for the β-thalassemia trait. Of 915 students, 57.4% of students were healthy, 39.2% had iron deficiency anemia, and 2.4% were carriers of the β-thalassemia trait. The overall prevalence of β-thalassemia was 38/915 (4.1%), which was lower than observed in previous studies. This study also demonstrated the NESTROFT can be used as a primary method of screening out healthy individuals, where approximately 50% require further screening for β-thalassemi

Uterine Artery Doppler Pulsatility Index in the First Trimester as a Forecaster of Pre-Eclampsia in Primary Gravida

Objective: To uncover a correlation between a high uterine artery pulsatility index on Doppler ultrasound and the early onset of pre-eclampsia to reduce maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Combined Military Hospital, Multan Pakistan, from Jun 2020 to Dec 2021. Methodology: After Ethical Approval and informed consent, the umbilical artery pulsatility (UAPI) of the patients was measured by a transabdominal scan(TAS) between 75 and 100 days. Raised UAPI was correlated with early onset preeclampsia. Results: One hundred and sixty pregnant women were included in the study, out of which 34(21.3%) women developed preeclampsia, and 126(78.8%) were normal patients. Maternal weight (p=0.001), maternal BMI (p=0.002), gestational age and weight at delivery (p=0.001), and uterine artery doppler pulsatility index (p=0.001) had statistically significant differences with pre-eclampsia and regular patients among the target population. Conclusion: First-trimester uterine artery pulsatility index on Doppler ultrasound is a beneficial technique to recognize the women by risk status and target them to prevent pre-eclampsia

Dividend policy and earnings management: An empirical study of Pakistani listed companies

Dividend policy is one of the widely addressed topics in financial management. It is an important duty of a financial manager to formulate the company's dividend policy that is in the best interest of the company. Many a time financial managers are involved in earnings management practices with the intention of adjusting dividends. The present study has been carried out to scrutinize the effect of earnings management on dividend policy. The researchers have taken the data of 86 listed companies for the year 2004 to 2009. The researchers have measured the dividend policy by using dividend payout ratio while Modified Cross Sectional Jones Model (1995) has been employed to measure the earnings management. The results of the common effect model show that there is not any significant relationship among earnings management and dividend policy. Moreover, smaller companies are paying more dividends as compared to larger companies. This study reveals that involvement of managers is not for dividend policy. There might be some other motives behind the earnings management

Impact of Age and Ethnic Variability on Cardiovascular Risk in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Objective: To investigate the effect of age and ethnicity on cardiovascular disease risk in patients with chronic kidney disease. Study Design: Descriptive Cross-sectional. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Nephrology, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre and Cantonment board Clifton health care center, Karachi from 21st August 2023 to 21st February 2024. Materials and Methods: One- forty male and female chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients aged 25–60 with diabetes and hypertension for at least five years were included. Patients on renal replacement therapy with coronary artery disease, liver disease, hormonal or steroidal medicine, pregnancy, or breastfeeding were excluded. Descriptive statistics employed mean for quantitative variables. The demographics and case history of patients were collected on a performa and grouped by ethnicity. BMI, Hb, creatinine, urea, lipid profile, and BNP were measured. Quantitative variables were shown. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation test and One-way Anova to compare the biochemical parameters across the different groups. Results: In CKD patients, age was positively linked with Hb% (P = 0.018), serum urea (P = 0.000), serum creatinine (P = 0.000), total cholesterol (P = 0.002), and LDL- Cholesterol (P = 0.024). Pathans had significantly higher total cholesterol levels (171.53± 39.75) with a P-value of 0.019. Sindhi had the highest HDL- cholesterol levels (mean 54.44 ±6.48) with a significant P-value < 0.001. Gilgiti had the highest BNP levels (307.37± 57.71) with a significant P-value< 0.0001. Conclusion: The study found that age and ethnicity affect CKD-related CVD. Adding these traits to clinical practice should improve high-risk CKD screening and management. By closing demographic gaps and customizing treatments, clinicians can lower CVD risk and CKD consequences