Prevalence of pelvic floor disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean region

Objectives: High prevalence of risk factors for pelvic floor disorders (PFD) in the Eastern Mediterranean may result in higher rates of prevalence of PFD in comparison to other regions. Despite individual studies, there are no clear statistics on the cumulative prevalence of PFDs in the East Mediterranean region. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of PFDs in the Eastern Mediterranean region.Methods: A literature search without language restriction was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane database and Web of Science from 2016 to 01 June 2022. Cross-sectional and cohort studies that reported prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI), constipation, fecal incontinence (FI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) among women in the Eastern Mediterranean region were included. Study quality was assessed according to the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool. Data were pooled and meta-analysed using a random effects model. PROSPERO: CRD42021283127Results: The search yielded 390 articles, from which 12 studies containing 9905 patients were included. Five studies were high quality and seven were low quality. The prevalence of POP (12 studies, 9905 participants), UI (5 studies, 2340 participants), constipation (4 studies, 2045 participants) and FI (1 study, 166 participants) was 39% (95% CI 21-57; I2 99.8%), 48% (95% CI 16-80; I2 99.7%), 39% (CI 17-60; I2 99.1%) and 14% (95% CI 9-20) respectively.Conclusion: In meta-analysis pooling studies of mixed quality, a high prevalence of PFDs was seen in the Eastern Mediterranean region.PROSPERO No.: CRD4202128312

ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN IN KARACHI

Background: Children were major part of our society and their health issues were too much, so it’s necessary that child should b healthy so their health assessment is important worldwide the acceptable method for assessment of health status is anthropometry (weight & height). This study was done to assess the anthropometric measurement of primary school going children of Karachi, sindh Pakistan, and evaluate how much students were underweight. Methods: The study was done in different primary school of Karachi including private semiprivate and government. The study design was cross sectional study. The sample size of our study was 240, including both genders male& female with range between 7-12 years. Result: The result shows that 34.9% were underweight (below 5th percentile), 63.44% were normal weight (between 5-95th percentile) and only0.8% overweight (above 95th percentile).The result showed male-female ratio was 51.5% boys and 48.5% were underweight. The prevalence of underweight in private sector was only 9.5% but in government it was 45.5%.The height of student also calculated and 26.3% children were below the 5th percentile of height for the age, 62.8% were between 5th to 95th percentile and 10.9% above 95thpercentile. Conclusion: The prevalence of underweight in primary school going children in Karachi shows the dietary requirements of children are not fulfilled properly and this may lead to many sever pathological conditions, so it is necessary to take positive steps regarding awareness of proper diet, hygiene and growth & development of child. Keywords: Underweight, Karachi, Anthropometric, School, Heigh

CONSTRUCTION WATER SUITABILITY MAPS OF TIGRIS RIVER FOR IRRIGATION AND DRINKING USE

The Tigris River is one of two major sources of surface water in Iraq, with 1900 km length, 1415 km of which are in Iraq. Increasing demands of the river water for beneficial uses lead to increase the concern about its quality.World Health Organization (WHO, 2004) and Iraqi Quality Standards (IQS, 2001) have been adopted along the river to compare and examine the degree of permissibility of polluted parameters T.H, SO4, CI¹, and T.D.S for drinking use, whereas American Salt Laboratory Standards has been adopted basing on SAR and EC for irrigation use. Different international methods have been applied to classify the water quality index for the Tigris River at north of Baghdad station which are Brown (1970), Mecllelend (1974), and Bhargava (1983). A general program was constructed to estimate the surface water quality variation with time and location for drinking and irrigation adopting Bahrgava, 1983 method, since it is more effective in dealing with many sensitive functions related to the pollutant parameters through the analysis of TH, SO, CI, T.D.S, EC, Ca SAR, pH, and BOD which are the relative parameters to the previous mentioned beneficial uses.The program use Visual Basic Studio, 2008 language as a tool because it is easy to operate automatically by engineers or the decision makers for the water quality assessment. Thirteen stations along Tigris River were taken in the analysis, starting at Feeshkabour and ending at Al-Qurna. The historical recorded data which were used had been selected through 2007/2008 as a monthly base In general, the results showed that the Tigris River is class 1 to Il for irrigation use, while its class ranges from II-V for drinking use. According ing to these classes, the Tigirs River is divided into two reaches as follows: From Feeshkhabour to Tarmiyah, the water quality index (WOI) is classified as class 1 for irrigation, and class 11 for drinking use as class for From North of f Baghdad till Qurna, WQl is classified Il for irrigation, and class IV drinking use. The results also indicate that there is an increase in Till values leading to deterioration in water quality for drinking use, also, an increase in SOU parameter after Tarmyah, and C parameter after Kut that affects the suitability of water for irrigation use.Finally, different suitability maps are constructed to classify water of 2007/2008 for irrigation and drinking use, which will be a base to trace the type of pollutants and their weight that cause the deterioration of the previously mentioned uses.Finally, different suitability maps are constructed to classify water of 2007/2008 for irrigation and drinking use, which will be a base to trace the type of pollutants and their weight that cause the deterioration of the previously mentioned uses.Finally, different suitability maps are constructed to classify water of 2007/2008 for irrigation and drinking use, which will be a base to trace the type of pollutants and their weight that cause the  deterioration of the previously mentioned uses

‘XYZ’ application as a tool for teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning: an exploratory study

Teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning has undergone transformation as a result of rapid development in the field of communication and technologies. The emergence of social networking sites has paved the way for the enhancement of teaching and learning approaches. The focus of this study is on ‘XYZ’ application (the actual name is not disclosed due to confidentiality) that was recently launched in Malaysia. Using a mixed research method, the study investigated the perceptions of undergraduate students in a public university to identify the viability of this application in comparison with other applications and to analyze its effectiveness as a tool for teaching and learning. The findings indicate the application has good features that enhance the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. However, there is concern about the limited compatibility of this application. The paper ends with recommendations on how the application can be improved

Facilitators and barriers to NCD prevention in Pakistanis-invincibility or inevitability: a qualitative research study.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading causes of death globally. In Pakistan, they are among the top ten causes of mortality, especially in the productive age group (30–69 years). Evidence suggests that health perceptions and beliefs strongly influence the health behavior of an individual. We performed focus group interviews to delineate the same so as to design the user interface of a non-invasive stroke risk monitoring device. Methods: It was a qualitative study, designed to explore how health perceptions and beliefs influence behavior for NCD prevention. Four focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with 30 stable participants who had diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, blood pressure, and stroke. The data was collected using a semi-structured interview guide designed to explore participants’ perceptions of their illnesses, self-management behaviors and factors affecting them. The interviews were transcribed and content analysis was done using steps of content analysis by Morse and Niehaus [10]. Results: Medication adherence, self-monitoring of blood sugars and blood pressures, and medical help seeking were the commonly performed self-management behaviors by the participants. Personal experience of illness, familial inheritance of disease, education and fear of premature death when life responsibilities were unfulfilled, emerged as strong facilitators of self-management behaviors. A sense of personal invincibility, Fatalism or inevitability, lack of personal threat realization, limited knowledge, inadequate health education, health care and financial constraints appeared as key barriers to the self-management of chronic disease in participants. Conclusions: Behavioural interventional messaging will have to engender a sense of personal vulnerability and yet empower self-efficacy solutions at the individual level to deal with both invincibility and inevitability barriers to adoption of healthy behavior

Quality of life after stroke in Pakistan

Background: There is very little information about the quality of life (QOL) of stroke survivors in LMIC countries with underdeveloped non communicable health infrastructures, who bear two thirds of the global stroke burden. Methodology: We used a sequential mix methods approach. First, a quantitative analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 700 participants, who constituted 350 stroke survivor and their caregiver dyads. QOL of stroke survivor was assessed via Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOLS) whereas QOL of caregivers was assessed through RAND-36. In addition; we assessed complications, psychosocial and functional disability of stroke survivors. Following this quantitative survey, caregivers were qualitatively interviewed to uncover contextually relevant themes that would evade quantitative surveys. Multiple linear regression technique was applied to report adjusted β-coefficients with 95% C.I. Results: The QOL study was conducted from January 2014 till June 2014, in two large private and public centers. At each center, 175 dyads were interviewed to ensure representativeness. Median age of stroke survivors was 59(17) years, 68% were male, 60% reported depression and 70% suffered post-stroke complications. The mean SSQOLS score was 164.18 ± 32.30. In the final model severe functional disability [adjβ -33.77(-52.44, -15.22)], depression [adjβ- 23.74(-30.61,-16.82)], hospital admissions [adjβ-5.51(-9.23,-1.92)] and severe neurologic pain [adjβ -12.41(-20.10,-4.77)] negatively impacted QOL of stroke survivors (P \u3c 0.01). For caregivers, mean age was 39.18 ± 13.44 years, 51% were female and 34% reported high stress levels. Complementary qualitative study revealed that primary caregivers were depressed, frustrated, isolated and also disappointed by health services. Conclusion: The QOL of Stroke survivors as reported by SSQOLS score was better than compared to those reported from other LMIC settings. However, Qualitative triangulation revealed that younger caregivers felt isolated, depressed, overwhelmed and were providing care at great personal cost. There is a need to develop cost effective holistic home support interventions to improve lives of the survivor dyad as a unit