Wilson’s disease in pregnancy: case series and review of literature

Background: Wilson’s disease is a rare, autosomal recessive inherited disorder characterized by impaired liver metabolism of copper leading to decreased biliary excretion and incorporation of ceruloplasmin levels mainly in the liver and brain. Untreated Wilson’s disease has been shown to cause subfertility and even in cases where pregnancy occurs, it often results in spontaneous miscarriage. Case presentations: We present four cases of successful pregnancy outcomes in three patients diagnosed with Wilson’s disease along with the literature review. All the patients were managed with zinc sulphate without any postnatal complications. Conclusion: Patients with Wilson’s disease receiving regular treatment who remain asymptomatic are usually able to conceive and achieve successful outcomes. However, these pregnancies should be considered high risk and merit regular surveillance

Self‑resolving prepontine cyst

Background: Intracranial prepontine cysts are rare and include epidermoid cysts, arachnoid cysts, and neurenteric cysts. Symptomatic prepontine cysts may require surgical intervention. Reports of spontaneous resolution of cysts are rare.Case description: We describe the case of a young gentleman who presented with headache and fever. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain identified a prepontine lesion with features consistent with epidermoid cyst. During admission, the patient received symptomatic management in addition to empirical antibiotic therapy and dexamethasone. The patient improved symptomatically in the next 48 hours and was discharged. Follow-up imaging at 6 months and 1 year showed significant reduction in size of the lesion.Conclusion: For asymptomatic prepontine cysts, a close radiological and clinical follow-up may prove useful

An embedded implementation research initiative to tackle service delivery bottlenecks in the expanded programme on immunisation in Pakistan: Overview and reflections.

BACKGROUND: Embedded implementation research (IR) can play a critical role in health systems strengthening by tackling systems and implementation bottlenecks of a program. To achieve this aim, with the financial support of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, in 2016, the Government of Pakistan, UNICEF and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) launched an Embedded IR for Immunisation Initiative (the Initiative) to explore health systems and implementation bottlenecks, and potential strategies to tackle such bottlenecks in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Pakistan. In total, 10 research teams were involved in the Initiative, which was the first of its kind in the country. In this paper, we provided a brief overview of the Initiative's approach as well as the key learnings including challenges and successes of the research teams which could inform future embedded IR Initiatives. METHODS: Data were collected from members of the IR teams through an online survey. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted via phone and in-person from IR team members to explore further the challenges they faced while conducting IR in Pakistan and recommendations for future IR initiatives. The qualitative information obtained from these sources was collated and categorized into themes reflecting some of the challenges, successes, and lessons learned, as well as teams' recommendations for future initiatives. RESULTS: The embedded IR Initiative in Pakistan followed several steps starting with a desk review to compile information on key implementation challenges of EPI and ended with a dissemination workshop where all the research teams shared their IR results with policymakers and implementers. Key factors that facilitated the successful and timely completion of the studies included appreciation by and leadership of implementers in generation and use of local knowledge, identification of research priorities jointly by EPI managers and researchers and provision of continuous and high-quality support from in-country research partners. Participants in the Initiative indicated that challenges included a lack of clarity on the role and responsibilities of each partner involved and need for further support to facilitate use and dissemination of research findings. CONCLUSIONS: The Initiative established that an immunisation programme in a lower middle-income country can use small and time-bound embedded IR, based on partnerships between programme managers and local researchers, to generate information and evidence that can inform decision-making. Future embedded IR initiatives should strive to ensure effective coordination and active participation of all key stakeholders, a clear research utilisation plan from the outset, and efforts to strengthen research teams' capacity to foster utilisation of research findings

Four Year trend of antimicrobial susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a tertiary care hospital, Lahore

Objective: To determine the susceptibility pattern of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus to different antibiotics. Method: The descriptive study was conducted at the Microbiology Department of the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, from August 2016 to July 2019, and comprised staphylococcus aureus samples that were processed and identified using colony morphology on blood agar, gram stain, catalase, coagulase and deoxyribonuclease testing. Screening for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus was done using cefoxitin disc 30µg and oxacillin disc 1?g. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using the modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method in line with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines 2019. Data was analysed using SPSS 24. Results: Of the 2704 strains processed, 402(14.86%) were found to be methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Of them, 204(50.74%) were recovered from pus, while 10(2.48%) were recovered from urine. All 402(100%) isolates were sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid, and resistant to penicillin, followed by erythromycin 306(76.11%) and sulfamethoxazole/ trimethoprim 295(73.38%). Overall, lower resistance was seen with doxycycline 145(36.06%) and clindamycin 160(39.80%). Inducible clindamycin resistance was seen in 142(35.23%) isolates. Conclusion: An efficacious susceptibility pattern of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus was seen with vancomycin and linezolid, moderate susceptibility with doxycycline and clindamycin, while high resistance was observed for penicillin, erythromycin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Key Words: Antimicrobial resistance, Antibiotic susceptibility, Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, MRSA. Continuous..