Unintentional, paediatric domestic injury in a semi rural area of Karachi.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the characteristics of unintentional domestic injury in children living in a semi-rural area of Karachi. METHODS: This retrospective descriptive study was carried out at a private hospital located at the northern outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2005 to January 2007. We enrolled 271 out-patient children of either gender with a positive injury history. A questionnaire inquiring socio-demographic characteristics, timing of injury, monthly variation, injury pattern and factors was filled out. Descriptive analysis and Chi-square test were applied to find out the statistically significant differences. RESULTS: Among the 271 patients, the male-to-female ratio was 1.2:1. Fall from height 145 (54%) or at the same level 52 (19%) was the commonest form of domestic unintentional injury across all ages. Children younger than 2 years of age, 140 (52%), were more prone to injuries, with 49 (51%) having fallen from the lap. Cuts with sharp domestic utensils were noted in 19 (6%), while 15 (6%) had burns. Submersion in underwater tank was noted in 20 (7%) cases and poisoning in 7 (3%). Majority of the injured children were from the low socio-economic stratum and more injuries, 194 (72%), were reported during the summer months. CONCLUSION: Male children are more prone to suffer unintentional domestic injuries especially during summer vacations. Fall was the commonest pattern noted

EFFICACY OF 3O% SALICYLIC ACID AND JESSNER SOLUTION CHEMICAL PEELING IN PATIENTS WITH EPIDERMAL MELASMA

Background; Melasma has a significant impact on appearance, causing psychosocial and emotional distress, and reducing the quality of life of the affected patients. In this context, it has a negative impact on the quality of life of patients, affecting their psychological and emotional well-being, which often motivates them to search for a dermatologist. Objective; To compare mean MASI score of in patients with epidermal melasma treated with 30 % salicylic acid versus Jessner solution chemical peeling. Material and methods; A total of 396 patients were taken in our study. Patients was randomly allocated in to two groups by lottery method. Group A, having 198 patients, were treated with 30 % salicylic acid while group B, having 198 patients, with Jessner solution chemical peeling in patients. After two weeks of priming, which was comprised of nightly application of 0.05% tretinoin and daytime sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 60, treatment according to the group was started. Night-time use of moisturizer was applied in all patients and asked for follow up visits after 2 weeks till 12 weeks to document final outcome. Baseline and post-treatment MASI scores was calculated and patients were followed weekly till 12 weeks from the beginning of therapy to document efficacy. Results; Of these 396 study cases, 126 (31.8 %) were male patients while 270 (68.2 %) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 27.20 ± 5.08 years.  Mean body mass index of our study cases was 24.82 ± 2.51 kg/m2 and obesity was present in 28 (7.1 %) of our study cases. Fitzpatrick Skin type III was noted in 270 (68.2%) and skin type III was noted in 126 (31.8%) of our study cases. Mean disease duration was 10.62 ± 5.92 months and 293 (74 %) had duration of illness up to 1 year. Mean post treatment MASI score in our study was noted to 9.31 ±2.93 while mean MASI in group A was 7.59 ± 3.02 while in group B mean MASI was 11.03 ± 1.48 (p = 0.000). Conclusion; Our study results have indicated that 30 % salicylic acid is more effective in treatment of epidermal melasma as compared with Jessner solution as there was significant reduction of mean MASI score in our patients and it provides rapid and sustained clinical improvement in the treatment of melasma. The results of this study support use of 30 % salicylic acid among targeted population which had significant impact on the improvement of quality of life of these patients and relieved them from psychological stress of this disease. Proper management of melasma helps improve productivity of the patients as it hits main working force of the society, hence plays important role in the national productivity and health economy. Keywords; Melasma, Salicylic acid, Jessner Solution, MASI.

Parenting Style and Anti-social Behavior: An Exploratory Study of Secondary School Students

The primal objective of present study was to investigate the relationship of parenting style with secondary school students’ antisocial behaviour. Population of the study consisted of all students enrolled in public secondary schools of the Sahiwal division. Random sampling technique was employed for sample selection. Researchers selected all three districts of Sahiwal division i.e. Pakpattan, Okara and Sahiwal. Eight schools from each district were randomly selected as sample of the study. Data were collected from 190 male (95 urban and 95 rural) and 200 female (100 urban and 100 rural) students by using two questionnaires viz.  Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) and Sub-Types of Antisocial Behaviour (STAB). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Pearson r was run to analyze the data. It was inferred from  analysis that majority of public secondary schools students perceive fathers’ parenting style to be authoritarian and mothers’ to be authoritative. No significant correlation was found between authoritative parenting style and students’ antisocial behaviour. Authoritarian as well as permissive parenting styles were significantly correlated with students’ antisocial behaviour. To conclude, both authoritarian and permissive parenting styles are the major contributors to lead students towards antisocial behaviour. It is recommended that parents should employ authoritative parenting style in rearing their childre

Parenting Style and Anti-social Behavior: An Exploratory Study of Secondary School Students

The primal objective of present study was to investigate the relationship of parenting style with secondary school students’ antisocial behaviour. Population of the study consisted of all students enrolled in public secondary schools of the Sahiwal division. Random sampling technique was employed for sample selection. Researchers selected all three districts of Sahiwal division i.e. Pakpattan, Okara and Sahiwal. Eight schools from each district were randomly selected as sample of the study. Data were collected from 190 male (95 urban and 95 rural) and 200 female (100 urban and 100 rural) students by using two questionnaires viz.  Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) and Sub-Types of Antisocial Behaviour (STAB). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Pearson r was run to analyze the data. It was inferred from  analysis that majority of public secondary schools students perceive fathers’ parenting style to be authoritarian and mothers’ to be authoritative. No significant correlation was found between authoritative parenting style and students’ antisocial behaviour. Authoritarian as well as permissive parenting styles were significantly correlated with students’ antisocial behaviour. To conclude, both authoritarian and permissive parenting styles are the major contributors to lead students towards antisocial behaviour. It is recommended that parents should employ authoritative parenting style in rearing their childre

A comparison of WHO guidelines issued in 1997 and 2009 for dengue fever - single centre experience.

Objective: To compare the original (1997) and revised (2009) versions of World Health Organization guidelines for dengue patientsMethods: Adult patients with a positive dengue Immunoglobulin M serology, and a diagnosis of dengue were included in the study at Aga Khan University Hospital during a three-year period from January 2005 to December 2007. Data related to these dengue patients was collected from their medical records. Guidelines were then applied by the research assistant and correlation among these guidelines was computed. SPSS 19 was used for statistical analysis.Results: A total of 612 patients were found with a diagnosis of dengue, but only 439 (71.73%) had a positive IgM. The median age of these 439 patients was 28 (interquartile range: 18) years and majority of them were males, 295 (67%). According to the 1997 guidelines, 383 (87%) patients were classified as having dengue, while according to the 2009 guidelines, all the 439 (100%) patients were classified with a dengue infection. Under WHO 1997, 21 (5.5%) cases were classified as dengue shock syndrome, while 2009 guidelines labelled 88 (20%) cases as severe dengue. There was a consensus on only 11 severe cases by both the guidelines, showing different results between the two.Conclusion: By using 2009 guidelines, a physician would classify more dengue patients as having severe disease

The Influence of Internet Usage on the Academic Achievements of the Students in Pakistani Universities

The advent of the Internet has invaded every aspect of students’ life in all college and university campuses throughout the nation and throughout the world. At the same time the use of the Internet in the academic arena has empowered students to sharpen and refine their skills and communication capabilities in their pursuit of successful strategies of success. Present study was conducted to know the effect of internet use on the academic achievement of the students. The study also focused to examine the gender differences among students on excess usage of internet. It has delimited the whole world and made a man able to access anywhere, anytime and in any field of life. Facilities are available at one’s door step. Likewise, excessive use of Internet has become a problem today. This part of research contribution will analyze the reality and gap between the positive and negative impact and aspects of usage of Internet on education. For this purpose quantitative research was conducted. The respondents were the universities students of Rawalpindi and Islamabad city. Two (2) universities were selected from Rawalpindi and three (3) universities from Islamabad. Researcher used simple random sampling technique. Researcher conducted face to face structure interview based on interview schedule. The data obtained in this way were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Most (60.4%) had positive effect of internet on academics performance, slightly less than one third (31.6%) had low GPA/poor results as an effect of Internet usage on academics performance

The Influence of Internet Usage on the Academic Achievements of the Students in Pakistani Universities

The advent of the Internet has invaded every aspect of students’ life in all college and university campuses throughout the nation and throughout the world. At the same time the use of the Internet in the academic arena has empowered students to sharpen and refine their skills and communication capabilities in their pursuit of successful strategies of success. Present study was conducted to know the effect of internet use on the academic achievement of the students. The study also focused to examine the gender differences among students on excess usage of internet. It has delimited the whole world and made a man able to access anywhere, anytime and in any field of life. Facilities are available at one’s door step. Likewise, excessive use of Internet has become a problem today. This part of research contribution will analyze the reality and gap between the positive and negative impact and aspects of usage of Internet on education. For this purpose quantitative research was conducted. The respondents were the universities students of Rawalpindi and Islamabad city. Two (2) universities were selected from Rawalpindi and three (3) universities from Islamabad. Researcher used simple random sampling technique. Researcher conducted face to face structure interview based on interview schedule. The data obtained in this way were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Most (60.4%) had positive effect of internet on academics performance, slightly less than one third (31.6%) had low GPA/poor results as an effect of Internet usage on academics performance

Intubation in emergency department of a tertiary care hospital in a low-income

Objective: To study the indications, method, success rate and complications of intubation at the Emergency Department of a private, tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: The case series involved 278 patients above 14 years of age who underwent emergency intubation at the Emergency Department of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi between 1998 and 2003. Descriptive statistics were used to compare rapid sequence intubation with crash intubation. The level of significance was p\u3c0.05.Results: Of the total 278 intubations performed, 37 (13.3%) had to be left out for incomplete information. The study population remaining for inferential analysis comprised of 241 patients. Of the total 278 patients, 174 (63%) were males. Rapid sequence intubation was the commonest type (n=185, 67%) of intubation and was performed mostly by anaesthetists (n=236, 85%). Cardiogenic pulmonary oedema and head injury were commonly seen in these patients. The success on first attempt of intubation was 98% (n=181) in rapid sequence intubation, and 85% (n=48) in crash intubation. Overall, 15 (5.3%) complications were seen in these intubations.Conclusion: Study showed a satisfactory success rate in both rapid sequence and crash intubations

Assessment on Proficiency of Using Information and Communication Technology among Students of University of Lahore (Sargodha Campus), Pakistan

The main purpose of the study was to assess the proficiency of using information and communication technology among students of University of Lahore (Sargodha Campus). The researcher conveniently selected the sample of 200 M.Phil. Students and sample included male and female students. A questionnaire was constructed that comprised of three parts. It was concluded that students had high proficiency in using spreadsheets, presentation software, internet, E-mail, E-learning whereas they had not enough knowledge of using blogs and were also facing obstacles in the use of ICTs in their work environment

Trends of acute poisoning: 22 years experience from a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

Objective: To determine the trends of acute poisoning in terms of frequency, nature of poisoning agent, clinical presentation and its outcome. Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data of patients who presented with poisoning between January 1989 and December 2010.The patients were randomly selected , and demographic, chemical information, clinical feature, treatment and outcome were analysed using SPSS 16. Results: Of the total hospital admissions during the period, 3,189(0.3%) were cases of poisoning. Of them, medical records of 705(22%) cases were reviewed; 462(65.5%) adult and 243(34.5%) paediatric cases below 16 years of age. The overall median age was 21 years (interquartile range: 4-32 years)Moreover, 544(87%) were critical at the time of presentation. In 647(92%) cases, the poisoning occurred at home. Psychiatric drugs were found involved in 205(29%) cases, followed by prescription drugs 172(24.4%), pesticides 108(15.3%), hydrocarbons 71(10%), analgesics 59(8.7%), household toxins 59(8.7%), alcohol and drug abuse 21(2.97%) and others 47(6.67%). Conclusion: Poisoning was a serious cause of morbidity in children and young adults. Medications were the leading cause and home was the most common place of incident