Risk Factors of Diarrhoea in Malnourished Children Under Age of 5 Years

Background: Acute infectious enteritis remains one of the commonest causes of death among infants and children in developing countries. Acute enteritis is defined as a loss of stool consistency with pasty or liquid stools, and/or an increase in stool frequency to more than three stools in 24 hours with or without fever or vomiting. Human survival depends on the secretion and reabsorption of fluid and electrolytes in the intestinal tract. The objective of the study is to evaluate the risk factors of diarrhoea in children under age of 5 years. Methodology: It was an observational study. Study was completed in about six months. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. In this study, 270 samples were taken from Diarrheal ward of The Children Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Results: In this study, out of 270 patients, 58.52% were males and 41.48% were females. 90.37% patients were vaccinated. 54.81% had weaning history. 91.85% patients had feeding history. 29.26% had blood in stool. 96.67% patients were dehydrated. 95.56% patients had loose watery diarrhoea. 62.96% patients used boiled water. 58.52% patients consumed less than half litre of water, 30.00% patients consumed 1 litre of water and 11.48% patients consumed > 1 litre of water. 49.18% patients had proper hygiene. 38.15% mothers of patients were well educated. 40.37% patients had model household condition. 57.41% patients lived in rural area and 42.59% patients lived in urban area. Conclusion: The variation in the level of diarrheal morbidity was well explained by maternal education, income, personal hygiene, refuse disposal system and the effect of health extension programme

Prevalence of Xerostomia in Diabetes Mellitus at lower Sindh.

Introduction: Xerostomia is a common problem in apparently normal as well as in ill individuals. Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine disorder in which Xerostomia is complained frequently. Xerostomia contributes to altered eating habits and increase risk of dental caries and oral infection if there is inadequate blood glucose control. Factors affecting Xerostomia includes socioeconomic and medical condition, includes uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, presence of peripheral neuropathy, use of medications, gender and age. Objective: To document the prevalence of Xerostomia among diabetic patients. Methodology: This prospective, cross sectional study was conducted on known cases of Diabetes mellitus attending medical OPD at Muhammad Medical College, Mirpurkhas Sindh from March 2017 to August 2017. During this period 100 patients were included according to inclusion criteria. Demographic details were recorded. Fox questionnaire was filled in, the data collected was analyzed by SPSS version 22, and presented as number and percentage. Result:  Among100 patients; 37% were xerostomic and 63% were non xerostomic, age range of xerostomic was 50 ±7years and non xerostomic was 35 ±11 years. 21 females had Xerostomia and 29 had no Xerostomia .16 males were xerostomic, and 34 males were non xerostomic. Among xerostomic patients 15 were insulin dependent and 21 were non-insulin dependent. Where as in non xerostomic 22 were insulin dependent and 42 were non-insulin dependent. The mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 10 ±5 years in Xerostomic and it was 8 ±3 years in non xerostomic diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Xerostomia is common in elderly diabetics and in females and is dependent on glycemic control and duration of diabetes. Key words: Xerostomia, Diabetes mellitus, Elderly and Duration of Diabetes Mellitus.&nbsp

Introduction and evolution of dengue virus type 2 in Pakistan: a phylogeographic analysis

Discrete Bayes Factors from SPREAD. Locations are denoted with two letter codes (Additional file 5: Table S3). The upper half of the matrix shows the mean (standard deviation) for the discrete Bayes Factor calculated for the 12 discrete trait models. The lower half of the matrix shows how many times a linkage had a Bayes Factor greater than 3.0. (XLSX 9 kb

Extensive study of flow characters for two vertical rectangular polygons in a two-dimensional cross flow

Fluid dynamics problems have a significant impact on the growth of science and technologies all over the world. This study investigates viscous fluid’s behavior when interacting with two rectangular polygons positioned vertically and aligned in a staggered configuration. Two physical parameters, Reynolds Number and Gap spacings, are discussed using the Lattice Boltzmann Method for two-dimensional flow. Results are discussed in vortex snapshots, time trace histories of drag and lift coefficient, and power spectra analysis of lift coefficient. Nine distinct flow vortex streets are identified based on increasing gap spacings between the pair of two rectangular polygons. The vortex shedding mechanism is disturbed at small gap spacings and becomes optimal at large gap spacings. Different physical parameters of practical importance, like mean drag coefficient, root mean square values of drag coefficient, root mean square values of lift coefficient, and Strouhal number, approach the single rectangular polygon value at large gap spacings

Utility of iRat as a Tool to Identify Low Academic Performers in 1st Year MBBS with High Scores in Pre-Medical Examination

Objective: To identify low performers by utilizing individual readiness assurance test (i-RAT) scores in first year MBBS students using Team-based learning (TBL) strategy. Study Design: Cross sectional observational study. Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted in Federal Medical College Islamabad from 10 January to 31 March 2022. Materials and Methods: TBL were introduced in 1 year MBBS. Six TBL activities were practiced by Anatomy Department during the 12-week respiratory and CVS course program. Premedical examination scores, first week individual readiness assurance scores and average i-RAT scores of 6 weeks were gathered. Mean and standard deviation were calculated. Difference in the first week i-RAT scores of three groups based on their premedical examination scores i.e., upper percentile group (A), middle percentile group (B) and lower percentile group (C). Each group comprised of 37 students, was calculated using One Way ANOVA Method. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to access strength and direction of linear association between premedical examination scores and i-RAT scores. The data was analyzed in the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 for analysis. Results: High scorers in premedical examination (Group A) showed lowest scores in first week iRAT (i-RAT 1) and Average i-RAT when compared with group B and C with significant p value < 0.05. Significant increase was seen in progressive i-RAT scores in all 3 groups. Negative linear association (r= -0.2) was found between premedical examination scores and i-RAT 1 scores. A strong positive linear association with r= 0.54 was found between first i-RAT and average i-RAT scores. Conclusion: High achievers in premedical examinations struggled the most in 1 year of medicine

Effects of Host and virus related factors on Interferon-α+ribavirin and Pegylated-interferon+ribavirin treatment outcomes in Chronic Hepatitis C patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current standard therapy commonly followed for chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in Pakistan is interferon alpha plus ribavirin combination therapy (IFN α/ribavirin) and pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (PegIFN/ribavirin). PegIFN/ribavirin has increased rate of sustained virological response than standard IFN α/ribavirin therapy. Objective of current study was to analyze rate of early and delayed response to antiviral treatment as well as rate of relapse response in patients following standard treatment IFN α/ribavirin and in patients following pegylated interferon treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Baseline serum samples of 153 patients enrolled for IFN α/ribavirin and 50 patients for PegIFN/ribavirin were collected. After total RNA extraction, genotyping was and HCV RNA viral load was done. Subsequently HCV RNA viral load was estimated at 4 weeks of treatment, at 12 weeks, at 24 or 48 weeks and finally after 6 months follow up period. All the data was statistically analyzed using fisher's exact test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Total 86 patients out of 153 patients following conventional IFN α/ribavirin therapy completed treatment and 69% of them showed Rapid Virological Response (RVR). Whereas 50 patients following PegIFN/ribavirin treatment completed treatment and 80% of them achieved RVR. Total 64 out of 86 patients following IFN α/ribavirin therapy completed follow up period and 53.5% of them achieved Sustainded Virologcal Response (SVR). Forty-five out of total 50 patients who received PegIFN/ribavirin treatment completed 6 months follow up period and among these 70% achieved SVR. SVR rates were significantly associated with RVR (p < 0.001), age (p < 0.001) and gender (p < 0.01)</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Rate of sustained virological response can be determined by factors like rapid virological response and age since they share significant association with one another. More over rate of SVR was more prominent in males than in females.</p

Proximate and Sensory Analysis of Wheat Bread Supplemented with Onion Powder and Onion Peel Extract

In current era, the agro-waste production is tremendously increasing which strongly influences the stability of the ecosystem and ultimately the human health. Onion is among one of the most commonly consumed vegetables worldwide, but its peel is generally regarded as waste, which is rich in various phytonutrients. Wheat bread is consumed as a staple food by large number of populations hence this study was aimed at improving the nutritional quality of bread by supplementing it with onion peel extract (OPE) and onion powder (OP). A control bread was synthesized using standard formulation while breads supplemented with OPE and OP were prepared by substituting wheat flour with OPE and OP at 1%, 3% and 5%, 7% respectively. Proximate analysis of five types of bread (A, B, C, D, E) presented that addition of onion peel extract significantly (p <0.05) improved the moisture content (21.06-21.79%) of breads while incorporation of onion powder brought significant improvement in fiber (0.24-0.32%), protein (9.80-10.35%) and ash content (1.55-1.94%). Sensory analysis of the breads was done by a semi- trained panel constituting of 7 members. Significant differences were reported among the five treatments for appearance, texture, taste, odor and overall acceptability. Maximum score for all the above- mentioned attributes was obtained by 1% OPE fortified bread while the 7% onion powder fortified bread attained the lowest scores. The sensory attributes of OPE makes it a good flavoring ingredient for baked items.Peer reviewe

Hepatitis C Treatment: current and future perspectives

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a member of Flaviviridae family and one of the major causes of liver disease. There are about 175 million HCV infected patients worldwide that constitute 3% of world's population. The main route of HCV transmission is parental however 90% intravenous drug users are at highest risk. Standard interferon and ribavirin remained a gold standard of chronic HCV treatment having 38-43% sustained virological response rates. Currently the standard therapy for HCV is pegylated interferon (PEG-INF) with ribavirin. This therapy achieves 50% sustained virological response (SVR) for genotype 1 and 80% for genotype 2 & 3. As pegylated interferon is expensive, standard interferon is still the main therapy for HCV treatment in under developed countries. On the other hand, studies showed that pegylated IFN and RBV therapy has severe side effects like hematological complications. Herbal medicines (laccase, proanthocyandin, Rhodiola kirilowii) are also being in use as a natural and alternative way for treatment of HCV but there is not a single significant report documented yet. Best SVR indicators are genotype 3 and 2, < 0.2 million IU/mL pretreatment viral load, rapid virological response (RVR) rate and age <40 years. New therapeutic approaches are under study like interferon related systems, modified forms of ribavirin, internal ribosome entry site (HCV IRES) inhibitors, NS3 and NS5a inhibitors, novel immunomodulators and specifically targeted anti-viral therapy for hepatitis C compounds. More remedial therapies include caspase inhibitors, anti-fibrotic agents, antibody treatment and vaccines

Proximate and Sensory Analysis of Wheat Bread Supplemented with Onion Powder and Onion Peel Extract

In current era, the agro-waste production is tremendously increasing which strongly influences the stability of the ecosystem and ultimately the human health. Onion is among one of the most commonly consumed vegetables worldwide, but its peel is generally regarded as waste, which is rich in various phytonutrients. Wheat bread is consumed as a staple food by large number of populations hence this study was aimed at improving the nutritional quality of bread by supplementing it with onion peel extract (OPE) and onion powder (OP). A control bread was synthesized using standard formulation while breads supplemented with OPE and OP were prepared by substituting wheat flour with OPE and OP at 1%, 3% and 5%, 7% respectively. Proximate analysis of five types of bread (A, B, C, D, E) presented that addition of onion peel extract significantly (p < 0.05) improved the moisture content (21.06-21.79%) of breads while incorporation of onion powder brought significant improvement in fiber (0.24-0.32%), protein (9.80-10.35%) and ash content (1.55-1.94%). Sensory analysis of the breads was done by a semi-trained panel constituting of 7 members. Significant differences were reported among the five treatments for appearance, texture, taste, odor and overall acceptability. Maximum score for all the above-mentioned attributes was obtained by 1% OPE fortified bread while the 7% onion powder fortified bread attained the lowest scores. The sensory attributes of OPE makes it a good flavoring ingredient for baked items202