Perceived coercion and need for hospital admission among psychiatric in-patients: figures from a Pakistani tertiary care hospital

In Pakistan, an increasing proportion of psychiatric patients present to community health services as crisis admissions, with their relatives as the main decision makers. Patients are bound to perceive this process as coercive. Farnham & James (2000) report that elements of coercion are found even in voluntary hospital admission, in the form of verbal persuasion, physical force and threats of commitment. Few patients consider hospitalisation justified and most view the process of admission negatively (Swartz et al, 2003; Katsakou & Priebe, 2006; Priebe et al, 2009)

Well-being of medical students and their awareness on substance misuse: a cross-sectional survey in Pakistan.

Objective: To investigate psychological well-being and substance abuse among medical students in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted in six medical colleges across Pakistan. Final-year medical students were interviewed by either a postgraduate trainee in psychiatry or a consultant psychiatrist. Results: A total of 540 medical students were approached, 342 participated and the response rate was 64.5%. Mean age was 23.73 years (SD 2.45 years), 52.5% were male and 90% single. Two out of every five respondents reported that work/study at medical school affected their personal health and well-being. A considerable proportion of students were aware of alcohol and smoking as coping strategies for stress in medical students. The main factors causing stress were heavy workload (47.4%), relationship with colleagues (13.5%) and staff (11.9%). A total of 30% reported a history of depression and 15% among them had used an antidepressant. More than half were aware of depression in colleagues. The majority of respondents said that teaching provided on substance misuse in the areas of alcohol and illegal drugs, management/treatment of addiction, and models of addiction was poor. There was significant association (p = 0.044) between stress and awareness about alcohol as a coping strategy for stress among medical students. A significant negative association was also found between medical colleges in public sector (p = 0.052), female gender (p = 0.003) and well-being. Conclusion: The majority of the medical students reported a negative impact of heavy workload on their psychological well-being. Significant numbers of medical students think that substance misuse is a coping strategy for stress. Teaching on addiction/addictive substances is poor at undergraduate level in Pakistani medical colleges

Bullying of medical students in Pakistan: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

Background: Several studies from other countries have shown that bullying, harassment, abuse or belittlement are a regular phenomenon faced not only by medical students, but also junior doctors, doctors undertaking research and other healthcare professionals. While research has been carried out on bullying experienced by psychiatrists and psychiatry trainees in Pakistan no such research has been conducted on medical students in this country. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey on final year medical students in six medical colleges of Pakistan. The response rate was 63%. Fifty-two percent of respondents reported that they had faced bullying or harassment during their medical education, about 28% of them experiencing it once a month or even more frequently. The overwhelming form of bullying had been verbal abuse (57%), while consultants were the most frequent (46%) perpetrators. Students who were slightly older, males, those who reported that their medical college did not have a policy on bullying or harassment, and those who felt that adequate support was not in place at their medical college for bullied individuals, were significantly more likely to have experienced bullying. Conclusion: Bullying or harassment is faced by quite a large proportion of medical students in Pakistan. The most frequent perpetrators of this bullying are consultants. Adoption of a policy against bullying and harassment by medical colleges, and providing avenues of support for students who have been bullied may help reduce this phenomenon, as the presence of these two was associated with decreased likelihood of students reporting having being bullied

Gender identity disorder Is this a potentially fatal condition?

A person with a Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is a person who strongly identifies with the other sex. The individual may identify with the opposite sex to the point of believing that he/she is, in fact, a member of the other sex who is trapped in the wrong body. The treatment option is sex reassignment surgery. In Pakistan There is no specialized facility sex reassignment surgery. This case report deals with possible serious outcome of GID in Pakistan as a result of castration procedure which is carried out by \u27gurus\u27 in Pakistan. A systemic research in our country to this effect is required to find out the outcome of GID in Pakistan

Assessment of genetic variability in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes

The evaluation of phenotypic characteristics is critical in the selection of top cotton lines. Cotton breeders want to use a variety of genotypes in hybrids to segregate for desired characteristics while also allowing for selection and genetic gain. Breeders can use phenotypic diversity information to aid in parental selection. In this context, a set of 12 advance cotton lines were evaluated for genetic diversity at Cotton Research Institute, Tandojam during Kharif season 2020. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications, while seven agronomical traits were included in the experiment. The mean squares of genotypes were significantly differences (P<0.05) for all studied traits, representing that genetic diversity is existed in these cotton germplasms for further utilization. Considering the agronomic performance, the genotype B-2 was on top in average values for plant height (174.40 cm), bolls plant-1 (42.067), seed cotton yield plant-1(139.34 g), GOT% (37.800%) and staple length (28.00 mm), hence indicates its valuable breeding resources for future cotton breeding. The greater genetic distance of 92.683 was found between B5 and B2 genotypes, revealing that this pair may be used in hybridization program for vigorous hybrid production and better selection in subsequent generations. The variance percentages for the first, second, and third principle components were 42.70, 23.10, and 17.20, respectively; the first three components contributed 83.00 percent of the variation for genotypes, which is high enough for cotton crop improvements. The cotton genotypes were divided into three categories based on phenotypic data. The many groups obtained might be beneficial in generating cotton genotypes with a variety of characteristics and diversifying the cotton gene pool

Factors associated with an increased likelihood of having experienced bullying or harassment: Simple Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis

*<p>Statistically significant at the level of P<0.05</p