Radiological findings in peri-partum neurological emergencies: experience from a tertiary care hospital

Acute neurological diseases requiring hospitalization are unusual in young women. Some of these diseases are unique to pregnancy and the post-partum period including pre-ecclampsia. Others such as cerebral venous thrombosis, ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, etc. are indirectly related to pregnancy and seen less frequently. To explore the causes of neurological emergencies in this specific patient population, we performed a radiological audit of young women in pregnancy and postpartum period presenting with neurological emergencies. Material and methods: This was a retrospective study carried in the Department of Radiology, Liaquat National Hospital over one year from January 2013 till January 2014, after approval by ethical review committee of the hospital. Patients presenting with neurological signs and symptoms during pregnancy or in postpartum period (up to 6 weeks) requiring medical referral were included in the study. Result: A total of 18 patients presented with acute neurological emergencies during postpartum period. Imaging was done in all those patients including CT and MRI while MRV was done in selective patients. Age range was between 20-33 years. The commonest radiological diagnosis was PRES in 9 patients. Other patients had cerebral venous thrombosis (4 patients), intra-cerebral hemorrhage (2 patients), infarction (1 patient), ADEMS (1 patient) and arterio-venous malformation (1 patient). Conclusion: Young women in pregnancy and post-partum period can present with a variety of acute neurological emergencies. In our series, PRES was the commonest diagnosis

Cerebral cavernous malformation presenting as seizures

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) is one of the rare vascular malformation. It is diagnosed by characteristic lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). CCMs typically appears as a “popcorn-like” masses on T2-weighted images on MRI studies.And clinically can lead to headaches, seizures,focal neurological deficits or intracerebral hemorrhages. . A familial form is suggested if lesions are multiple, and a sporadic form, if singl

Asymptomatic unilateral cerebellar hypoplasia in an adult patient - A unique presentation.

Unilateral cerebellar hypoplasia is a relatively rare malformation. We report a case of 54 year old female patient who presented with single episode of sudden unconsciousness and slurring of speech. Imaging finding suggests the diagnosis of unilateral cerebellar hypoplasia. The patient recovered with conservative management probably because the symptoms were due to Transient ischemic attack not due to hypoplasia

Clino-pathological features of urinary tract infection: a study at Nishtar University Hospital Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common clinical issue among pediatric population and might progress into renal scaring, hypertension as well as end stage kidney disease. This study was aimed at finding clino-pathological features of UTI and antibiotic sensitivity against most common causative agents involved at a tertiary care hospital of South Punjab, Pakistan.Methods: This descriptive case series study was conducted at department of Paediatric Medicine, Nishtar University Hospital Multan from July to December 2019. A total of 100 children fulfilling the inclusion criteria, presenting in outpatient department or emergency section of paediatric medicine department, having positive urine culture and sensitivity were selected. Their detailed history, clinical examination and relevant investigations were done.Results: Out of the 100 children, 73 (73.0%) were female and 27 (27.0%) were male. There were 57 (57.0%) children from 1 year to 4 years age group and 43 (43.0%) were of more than 4 years. Most common clinical presentations were fever 83 (83.0%), urinary symptoms, vomiting 52 (52.0%) and pain abdomen 48 (48.0%). Most common aetiological agents were Escherichia coli 74 (74.0%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae 9 (9.0%).Conclusions: UTI is more common in female children. Most common presentation observed was fever and/or urinary symptoms while most common aetiological agent was E. coli

Genetic differentiation and geographical Relationship of Asian barley landraces using SSRs

Genetic diversity in 403 morphologically distinct landraces of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare) originating from seven geographical zones of Asia was studied using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from regions of medium to high recombination in the barley genome. The seven polymorphic SSR markers representing each of the chromosomes chosen for the study revealed a high level of allelic diversity among the landraces. Genetic richness was highest in those from India, followed by Pakistan while it was lowest for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Out of the 50 alleles detected, 15 were unique to a geographic region. Genetic diversity was highest for landraces from Pakistan (0.70 ± 0.06) and lowest for those from Uzbekistan (0.18 ± 0.17). Likewise, polymorphic information content (PIC) was highest for Pakistan (0.67 ± 0.06) and lowest for Uzbekistan (0.15 ± 0.17). Diversity among groups was 40% compared to 60% within groups. Principal component analysis clustered the barley landraces into three groups to predict their domestication patterns. In total 51.58% of the variation was explained by the first two principal components of the barley germplasm. Pakistan landraces were clustered separately from those of India, Iran, Nepal and Iraq, whereas those from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were clustered together into a separate group