Barbers’ awareness about Hepatitis B in Sindh Pakistan.

Introduction: Hepatitis B is the serious public health problem and a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. HBV alone is responsible for 0.5-1 million annual deaths globally due to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.Methodology: This Cross-Sectional study was carried out in 8 different union council of Khairpur Taluka/ tehsils in district KhairpurMirs district from December 2014 to April 2015. Selection of barbers was done through two staged cluster sampling. In first stage 8 different Union Councils (UCs) of Khairpur Taluka of KhairpurMirs district were randomly selected. In Second stage 25 Barbers from each selected UC practicing was included in the study after random selection.Objectives: Main purpose of the study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding Hepatitis B among barbers working in different union councils of Khairpur tehsil/ taluka of district KhairpurMirs.Results: Majority (19%) of our study participants belong to UC Shah Latif while large proportion (30%) of participants belongs to age group 26-30 years. When questions related to knowledge of Hepatitis B were asked from our participant, majority (84%) of them knew that hepatitis B is a disease, while only 9% of them said that using of already used razors or blades by barbers is the main mode of spread of hepatitis B and 27% of them said that using contaminated water the reason for spread of hepatitis B. Majority (46.6%) of participants replied that there is no any vaccine available for hepatitis B prevention. Surprisingly almost 65% of them don’t have any information about Government free hepatitis vaccination program. Half of the participants believe that changing of blades every time with every new client can also prevent spread of HBV. 76% of participants use to clean their instruments with disinfectants between the clients and 46% of them use new blades on every new client. Majority of the participants were not vaccinated for Hepatitis B.Conclusion: Findings of our study demonstrate that despite the many mass media health educational campaigns related to the awareness of Hepatitis B in Sindh, barbers in KhairpurMirs district had no detailed understanding of diseases.Keywords: knowledge, attitude, practice, Hepatitis B, Barbe

Socio-demographic risk factors for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke: a study in tertiary care hospital of hyderabad

Stroke is a common neurological disorder and major cause of death and disability worldwide. Stroke is a second leading cause of death after cancer and ischemic heart disease. Incidence of stroke has not been well studied in Pakistan but it is estimated that 350,000 cases of stroke occur per year. Objective: To determine the frequencies and Socio-demographic features of Hemorrhagic and Ischemic strokes among stroke patients in tertiary care hospital.Material & method:This cross-sectional study was carried out at department of medicine Liaquat university hospital Hyderabad from June to September 2010, Patients were included in study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A data was collected on pre-designed proforma and data was analyzed according to study design.Results: Out of 261 included stroke patients, 54% were males and 46% were female patients. The mean age of patients was 54.7 years. In 172 patients (66%) had Ischemic stroke whereas 89 (34%) patients had hemorrhagic stroke noted in this study. The high proportion of patients (36.4%) were between i.e., 55-64 years, Most of them (79%) were married, only 8% were unmarried and 13% were widowed, divorced or separated. In this study (67.0%) patients of both sexes were illiterate, Positive family history of stroke was noted in 24.5% patients. Regarding Stroke types 66% had Ischemic and 34% had hemorrhagic stroke. Incidence of Ischemic stroke was more in females (70.8%) and hemorrhagic stroke was more in males (38.3%).CONCLUSION: This study on socio demographic factors of stroke patients is the effort by which we would be able to take appropriate preventive measures to create awareness about stroke. In future more extensive surveys should be conducted to get knowledge about the effects of demographic and other factors on the onset of stroke

Macrovascular Complications and their risk factors in Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Hyderabad, Pakistan.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM), is the universally occurring non-communicable disease as well as exemplary health problem affecting peo-ple worldwide.1 The number of cases of DM are rising at an enormous pace irrespective of any age, gender, economic status or ethnicity around the globe.Objective: To evaluate the macro-vascular complications and its correlation with different risk factors among type-2 diabetic patients.Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Red Crescent General Hospital Latifabad Hyderabad from October 2018 to October 2020. Type 2 diabetics of either gender, between age 20 and 70 years, on diabetic medication visited during the study duration were included in the study. Data related to socio-demographic details and clinical features was collect-ed from the participants using a written questionnaire. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 22.Results: Significant association (p<0.05) was demonstrated between Coro-nary artery diseases and the risk factors like; age of patient, the duration of diabetes mellitus, diastolic as well as systolic blood pressures, body mass index and serum triglycerides levels. While the statistically significant asso-ciation (p<0.05) of peripheral vascular diseases with the duration of diabe-tes mellitus, systolic blood pressure and serum triglyceride levels. Whereas, cerebrovascular disease was associated (p<0.05) with age, systolic and diastolic BP.Conclusion: The coronary artery disease seems to be most frequent macro-vascular complication among the type 2 diabetic patients. Whereas the risk factors including; advancing age, duration of diabetes mellitus, hyperten-sion, BMI as well as serum triglycerides levels are the most significant fac-tors for these complications.Key Words: Coronary artery disease, Cerebrovascular Disease, Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Peripheral vascular diseas

Nephroprotective Effects of L-Arginine against Chemotherapy Induced Acute Kidney Injury in Wistar Rats

Background: L-arginine is a nitric oxide precursor that decreases oxidative stress and regulates the blood flow by modifying the tone of vessels and also prevent ischemic renal tissue injuries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the protective role of L-arginine in cisplatin-induced acute renal injury through assessment of renal, oxidative stress, and inflammatory markers in albino Wistar rats.Material and Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Department of Physiology and Postgraduate Research Laboratory, Isra University, Hyderabad, Pakistan from April to September 2019. Thirty male Albino Wistar rats were selected through non-random purposive sampling and divided equally into three different groups: Group A (control group), Group B (cisplatin group), and Group C (cisplatin plus arginine group). Blood samples from rats were collected through cardiac puncture, followed by renal histopathological analysis under light microscope. The severity of tissue damage was observed using a graded scale from ‘0’ (no damage) to III (severe damage). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24.0., with one-way ANOVA and Post hoc Tukey analysis used for comparison of different variables.Results: There was a statistically significant decline in the bodyweight and rise in absolute kidney weight of group B in comparison with the other two groups (P <.05). Moreover, a significant rise in serum renal markers was observed in group B (P <.05), with a statistically significant decline in these markers in group C compared with group B (P <.05). Marked histological alterations (glomerular and tubular damage) were observed in renal tissues of group B as compared to group C.Conclusions: The present study concludes that L-arginine exerts anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and nephroprotective effects against renal tissue damage caused by Cisplatin

Internet Use and Its Addiction Among Medical Students in Hyderabad, Pakistan

Background: With the advances in information and technology, internet addiction appears as a serious obsessive condition that has numerous dreadful effects on human physical and mental health. The objective of the study was to determine the level of internet addiction among medical undergraduate students of Isra University, Hyderabad. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Isra University, Hyderabad from August to December 2019. All medical (MBBS) undergraduate students of either sex were included. A stratified sampling technique was used for the selection of participants. A structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire for the internet addiction test was adopted from Dr. Kimberly Young and used for the collection of participant’s information and measurement of their level of addiction. Results: A total of 263 undergraduate medical students participated in the study. The majority (56.65%) were males while 51.71% were from the age group 21-22 years. Over two-thirds (85.17%) of participants were found to be internet addicts. Of these internet addicts, 63.84% were mild or minimal internet addicts while 12.05% were severely addicted participants. A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between gender, age groups, year of study, and current residential status of participants. Conclusion: Internet addiction was highly prevalent among undergraduate medical students, specially in the age group (19-20) years, hostlers, 2nd year of study and male