Dietary habits and physical activity patterns in relation to nutritional status among school-aged children in Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

Background: Childhood malnutrition remains a significant public health problem impacting the physical and mental growth if school aged children, particularly in limited-resource countries. Objective: The study objective was to assess levels of physical activity, patterns of screen time (S.T.), the relationship between physical activity and screen time patterns, and how these factors affect growth status (adjusting for socioeconomic status). Methodology: A cross-sectional study included 3,834 children between 6–14 years attending pre-selected schools. Teachers, students, and parents were invited to fill out a standardized questionnaire, and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using Center for disease control (CDC) centile charts. A Chi-square was performed to see the possible association between any height and weight abnormalities and all possible risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to see the effect of variables significantly associated with univariate analysis. Results: Approximately 2,447 (63.8%) children were between 11–14 years old and 1,387 (36.2%) were between 4–10 years old. The mean height was 143.71 ± 16.51 centimetres, the mean weight was 36.5 ± 12.9 kilogram, and the mean BMI was 17.16 ± 3.52. Multivariate logistic regression status and junk food combined affected stunting socioeconomic status was significantly associated with being underweight p = 0.001. Conclusion: Childhood obesity and stunting remain significant problems in Pakistani school-going children. These are significantly associated with poverty, a lack of physical activity opportunities, and available food quality

Aconitum cochleare woroschin fenolik bileşenlerinin tanımlanması.

This study involves the investigation of antioxidant phenolic compounds in Aconitum cochleare. There is a continuous mounting pressure, in the scientific world, to discover new and potent antioxidants, to combat the free radicals. Among the antioxidant compounds, the phenolics comprise the largest class, and thus hold an important place in biochemical studies. Phenolics are abundantly present in some plant families as secondary metabolites and Ranunculaceae is one of those families that contain alkaloids and phenolic compounds in many of its species. Aconitum cochleare is one of the Ranunculaceae specie which was yet to be exploited for its phenolic components and its antioxidant capacity and thus in this study, the methanolic extract of the flowering parts of this plant was obtained and subjected to fractionation and each of the fractions were subjected to the methods for antioxidant capacity determination. The DPPH test was used to estimate the antioxidant capacity, while determination of total phenol was done to confirm which fraction has the most phenolic constituents. More over total flavonoid contents were determined to find out which fraction has the most flavonoids. Further investigation about fractions was done by RP-HPLC, which showed the presence of esculin in the ethyl acetate fraction, as well as some other compounds, evident from the RP-HPLC chromatograms. For confirmation of the molecular weight of phenolic compounds, HR-MS was employed and by its result it was concluded that ethyl acetate fraction has the highest content of flavanol and flavonol glycoside.M.S. - Master of Scienc

An observational multi-center study on type 2 diabetes treatment prescribing pattern and patient adherence to treatment

Abstract In 2021, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported that the prevalence of diabetes in Pakistan was 9.6%, higher than the global average. However, adherence to treatment guidelines, e.g., American Diabetes Association and Pakistan Endocrine Society and prescription patterns for Oral anti-diabetes (OAD), is poorly understood in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prescribing practices of anti-diabetic medications, an association of lifestyle modification with drugs prescribed, and their effectiveness in preserving ideal glycemic levels in diabetic patients undergoing treatment in tertiary care teaching hospitals in rural and urban Pakistan. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from prescriptions of outpatient diabetic patients from different rural and urban tertiary care hospitals between October 2021 and February 2022. 388 participants were enrolled in the study for a detailed interview on prescription evaluation and glycemic control. The coinvestigators conducted an interview with the patient and used a pre-validated questionnaire to collect the data. The relationship between following treatment guidelines and clinical and demographic factors was found using chi-square tests for bivariate analyses. The study reported that out of 388, the mean ages of the patients were 48 ± 12.4, and the majority were female. It was observed that 60.1% and 66.5% have uncontrolled fasting and random blood glucose, respectively. The education level of the study participants was also below par to have a complete understanding of the medical condition and self-management therapy. Even though they were taking the right medications—an average prescription regimen included 5.08 medications—52.1% of the studied people had glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels higher than the therapeutic threshold set by the International Diabetes Federation. In this modern era, it was observed that the prescribing trend was still focused on traditional therapeutic options Biguanides, sulfonylureas, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors were prescribed in 64.6% of the patients. A significant association was found between glycemic control and body mass index, adherence to lifestyle modifications, and the number of medications prescribed (p-value < 0.05). The study reveals that Pakistan's prescribing practices do not align with international and national guidelines, leading to a high prevalence of uncontrolled diabetes and widespread use of polypharmacy among patients. To address this issue, policymakers should prioritize establishing a comprehensive national diabetes action plan. Additionally, there is a pressing need to develop diabetes education and awareness programs emphasizing the importance of lifestyle modifications for effective diabetes management