Media Turns Villainous While Performing its Upright Obligations of Educating, Informing and Entertaining: Analysis with Particular Reference to Pakistan

Media has become a powerful actor in the modern world, particularly in Pakistan. Media inclusive of traditional media and social media primarily aims at informing, educating and entertaining the public; but in doing it so; it led its viewers and/or readers in Pakistan to sociopolitical chaos in various ways. That being said, it helped prop up militancy and extremism, presented unethical contents to the viewers, succumbed to ideological division, and became the harbinger for online extremist communication. Said in another way, it has assumed both the face of a guide and a monster in Pakistan. Key Words: Traditional media, social media, culture, sociopolitical chaos, online extremist communicatio

Attenuation of hypotension using phenylephrine during induction of anaesthesia with propofol

Objective: To observe if phenylephrine mixed with propofol can attenuate hypotensive effects of propofol during induction of anaesthesia. Methods: A total number of 135 adult ASA-I and ASA-II patients were divided into three groups. (Group A, B and C). All patients were induced with propofol 2.5 mg per kg. In Group A (control group) patients received propofol mixed with 2cc of 0.9% normal saline. Group B (study group) patients received propofol mixed with 2cc of a solution containing phenylephrine 25µg/cc (total 50µg); Group C (study group) patients received propofol mixed with 2cc of a solution containing phenylephrine 50µg/cc (total 100µg). Haemodynamic variables like systolic, diastolic, mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate were noted. Hypotension was defined as 20% decrease in baseline systolic blood pressure recorded before induction of anaesthesia. Results: Phenylephrine in a dose of 100 micrograms attenuated the drop in systolic blood pressure. However phenylephrine in a dose 50 micrograms did not effectively prevent anticipated drop in SBP. Conclusion: Phenylephrine in doses of 100 micrograms effectively attenuates anticipated hypotension upon induction of general anaesthesia with propofo

Assessment of knowledge & practice of contraceptives in females of reproductive age group at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract Objectives: To assess the knowledge & practice of contraceptives in females of reproductive age group.Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive. Place and Duration of Study: OPD of Fauji Foundation Hospital from February 2008 – September 2008.Subjects and Method: 339 Females of age b/w of 15 – 49 years attending OPD of Fauji Foundation Hospital were included in study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data.Results: Eighty eight percent of the females in our study sample were familiar with one or more methods of contraception (72.7%were familiar with combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), 60.7% were aware of intra uterine contraceptive device (IUCD) &76% knew about condoms) whereas 12% showed ignorance. 64.6% of the study population was contraceptive users & 35.4% were not using any method of contraception. Regarding preferred method of contraception 34.6% of females said they are using COCP, about 21.8% females said their tubes had been liagated whereas 26.9%& 16.7% were using IUCD & Condoms respectively. Almost 46%of our study population said that contraceptive method they were using was suggested by their husbands, 44 % said by health professional .Only 10 % of the study population were using a method of their own choice.Conclusion: The present study concludes that there is a gap between knowledge (88%) and use (64.6%) of contraceptives among females of reproductive age group. Another important inference drawn from the study is that men should be made equal targets of such programs in since 46% females in our study population were using method of contraceptive suggested by their husban

Ethnomedicinal Study of Vegetables Mentioned in the Holy Qura’n and Ahadith

The present research work is based on nine herbaceous plant species: Agaricus campestris L., Allium cepa L., Allium sativum L., Beta vulgaris L., Citrulus lennatus, Cucumis sativus L., Lagenaria siceraria, Trigonella foenum- graceum L. and Zingiber officinale Rroscoe. mentioned in Holy Quran and Ahadith. These plants were collected from Dera Ismail Khan District, NWFP, Pakistan, during 2007. This is a part of check list of medicinal flora and their uses enlisted in Holy Quran, Ahadith and Islamic literature. The main aim of this study is to document the knowledge of ethnobotanical importance of vegetables in the light of Islam. In view of the importance of this study related comprehensive and detailed data was collected. Complete macro & microscopic detailed morphological features of these species were discussed. Results were systematically arranged by alphabetic order of botanical names, family followed by Quranic name, Arabic name, English name, Local / vernicular name, habit and distribution, parts used, medicinal uses and references cited from Holy Quran, Ahadith. It is concluded that herbal medicines are being widely used in the world because of better cultural acceptability, least injurious with none or much reduced side effects

Perioperative glycemic control and its outcome in patients following open heart surgery

Background: Diabetes is not uncommon in patients requiring cardiac surgery. These patients have a higher incidence of morbidity and mortality. Subsequently, diabetes represents a major medico-economic problem in both developed and developing countries. This study was designed to observe the association between glycemic control and outcome of patients after open heart surgery in adult population.Materials and methods: Data was collected retrospectively in all patients who underwent open cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting, valve, or bypass grafting with valve surgery) and survived 72 hours postoperatively and had diabetes. The study was conducted from January 2015 to December 2016.Results: Of the 129 patients included in the study, male dominated 101 (78.3%). Most frequent surgery was coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) 123 (95.3%), CABG plus aortic valve replacement 4 (3.1%), and CABG plus mitral valve replacement 2 (1.6%). Considering diabetes, only 3 (2.3%) were on diet control, 112 (86.8%) on oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA), whereas 9 (7%) had control on both insulin and OHA. Only 5 (3.9%) had type I diabetes. The mean fasting blood sugar (FBS) was 154.58 g/dl, and the mean duration of diabetic mellitus was observed 12.32 years. Microvascular and macrovascular complications were 26/129 (20.16%) and 17/129 (13.17%), respectively. Total 75 (58.1%) patients did not require insulin and 54 (41.9%) were treated with insulin intraoperatively to keep the blood glucose level less than 200 g/dl. Cardiac arrhythmias were frequent in the insulin group (P \u3c 0.05), which was also associated with increased stay in the cardiac intensive care unit.Conclusion: Inadequate glycemic control during open cardiac surgery can possibly lead to increased perioperative morbidity and mortality and with decreased long-term survival and recurrent ischemic events. Therefore, aiming for blood glucose levels around 140 mg/dl appears reasonable. Further studies are required to define specific glucose ranges for a clearer definition of recommended blood glucose goals in postoperative cardiac patients for the best outcomes in patients with diabetes mellitus

Association of hyperglycaemia at admission with in-hospital mortality and severity of illness among patients with COVID-19.

Objectives The association between hyperglycemia at admission and COVID-19 severity and in-hospital mortality is an area of active medical research. Our study aims to explore this association across diabetics and hyperglycemic patients while keeping normoglycemic patients as control. Methods This retrospective cohort study involved a total of 90 patients with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Patients were divided into three equal groups based on their history and BSR levels (diabetics, hyperglycemic, normoglycemic). Various laboratory parameters and inflammatory markers were compared across the study groups using Kruskal Wallis test. Finally, chi-square test was use to assess the association of severity and mortality across the study groups. Results Out of 90 patients, 38 (42.2%) were males with a mean age of 57.1 ± 14.7 years. Serum ferritin, LDH and lymphocyte levels were significantly higher in diabetics and hyperglycemic patients than in normal COVID-19 patients (p<0.05). hyperglycemia at admission was significantly associated with disease severity (p=0.03) but not with in-hospital morality (p=0.07).   Conclusion Patients with diabetes and stress hyperglycemia have increased levels of inflammatory markers than normoglycemic patients. Hyperglycemia at admission is associated with poor COVID-19 severity. More studies a required to validate and further explore this relationship

Cumulative fluid balance as a major predictor of clinical outcome in patients admitted to surgical intensive care unit

Objective: Fluid balance remains a highly controversial topic in the critical care field, and there is no consensus about the amount of fluid required by critically ill patients.In this study, the objective was to find the relationship between fluid balance and in hospital mortality in critically ill surgical patients.Our secondary objective was to identify the association between use of colloid and acute kidney injury and use of blood products and development of ARDS.Study Design: The medical records of adult patients admitted to a surgical intensive care unit (ICU) \u3e48 hours, from Aug 2014 toFeb 2016 (18 months) were reviewed retrospectively.Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the surgical intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.Medical records of 18 months from Aug 2014 toFeb 2016 were reviewed.Material and Methods: Sampling technique was convenience sampling. A total of 100 patients met the inclusion criteria. Abstracted dataof patients admitted to surgical intensive care included body mass index, Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE)-II scores, fluid balance during first 5 days of ICU stay, length of ICU stay andin hospitalmortality. All statistical analysis was performed using statistical packages for social science version 19 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Frequency and percentage werecomputed for qualitative observation and wereanalyze by chi-square test. Mean (±Standard deviation) andmedian (IQR) were presented for quantitative variables and analyze by independent sample t-test and Mann-Whitney test. Normality of quantitative data wasalso be checked by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Statistically significantresults had a p-value less than0.05.Results: A total of 100 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The average age of patients was 44.08±18.14 (years), BMI (kg/m2) 27.84±5.56 and APACHE II Score 17.28±6.96. The in hospital mortality was 26%, median length of ICU and hospitalstay was 6.91 ±4.07 and 14.74 ±7.78 days. In non-survivors fluid balance was significantly positive on 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5thday of SICU (p-value: 0.005, 0.0005 and 0.024), APACHE II score (pConclusion: Positive fluidbalance, high APACHE II score and acute kidney injury is significantly associated with hospital mortality of non-cardiac surgical ICU patients