Journal of Akhtar Saeed Medical & Dental College

HEAT WAVE IN PAKISTAN: A BURNING ISSUE

Sidra Ahmad — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

HEAT WAVE IN PAKISTAN: A BURNING ISSUE

FREQUENCY AND RISK FACTORS OF POSTSURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS IN PATIENTS VISITING TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS IN DISTRICT PESHAWAR

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background:
According to WHO report in 2016 the post-surgical site infection rate in patients was 11%. In Pakistan, 12.7% SSI rates were reported in emergency cases and 4.6% in elective surgeries. In Objective of this study is to find surgical site infection (SSI) frequency and risk factors in patients admitted to tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar.

Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted from October 2021 to March 2022 using a non-probability consecutive sampling technique. One hundred and thirty patients who had undergone surgery were selected. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using SSPSS-23.

Results:

The frequency of SSIs in Peshawar was 30%, highest frequency is reported un age group between 15 -20 years. Emergency surgery got 31% SSIs, while 28% of patients on whom elective surgery was performed got 33% SSIs. Laparoscopic surgery had 33% frequency of SSIs as compared to 29% with open conventional surgery. SSIs was reported in 62% of smokers, 33% of hypertensive and 40% with diabetes.

Conclusion:

The study has found that the frequency of SSIs in Peshawar is 30%. Males, emergency and laparoscopic surgery is at a higher risk of getting SSIs. Smokers, Diabetics and hypertensive patients are more prone to SSIs.

EFFECT OF TORILIS LEPTOPHYLLA WHOLE PLANT EXTRACT ON ORAL GLUCOSE TOLERANCE IN GLUCOSE INDUCED HYPERGLYCEMIC RATS

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background:
Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder characterized by persistently raised blood glucose levels. Defects in insulin secretion and its peripheral actions lead to imbalance in glycemic homeostasis. This research is designed to determine the effect of Torillis leptophylla on glycemic changes after oral glucose challenge in rats in comparison with glibenclamide.

Material and Methods:
This study was conducted at University of Health Sciences, Lahore from April, 2016 to September, 2016. Thirty adult albino Wistar rats of male sex, weighing 140-180g were assigned to five groups (n=6) randomly. Animals were subjected to 12 hours fast. Fasting blood
glucose levels were measured at zero hour, drawing blood samples from tail vein. Afterwards, distilled water was given to group A (negative control). Whole plant extract of Torillis leptophylla was administered orally to groups B, C and D at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively. Positive control was given glibenclamide by gavage as a reference drug at the dose of 5 mg/kg following the protocol described elsewhere.15 The rats were administered 4 g/kg oral glucose load ½ hour after the drug treatment. Repeated blood sampling was done at ½, 1, 1½ and 2 hours after glucose challenge. Changes in blood glucose level were noted. Data was analyzed with the help of SPSS, taking p value < 0.05 to be statistically significant.

Results:
Torillis leptophylla and glibenclamide showed significant decline in blood glucose level (5.48 ±0.35 and 4.13 ±0.13 mmol/l respectively) as compared to negative control (7.67 ±0.13 mmol/l) after oral glucose load (p value < 0.0001).

Conclusion:
Torillis leptophylla possesses glucose lowering activity comparable to glibenclamide. It could be used for developing new oral agents to treat diabetes mellitus.

EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND FREQUENCY OF TETANUS VACCINATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF KARACHI

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background:
Knowledge about Tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccination in students is lacking in our setup. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and frequency of tetanus vaccination among university students of Karachi.

Material and Methods:
A crosssectional survey was conducted after. ERB approval was taken from Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College Lyari Karachi. Convenience sampling was used to collect data for six months after the approval in July 2022. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 24. Descriptive statistics were applied for quantitative and qualitative variables. The association of qualitative variables was tested by applying the Chi-square test. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant.

Result:
The mean age 21+ 2 years were enrolled. The majority of the students 93.3% had heard about the Tetanus disease and 59.5% had heard of the Tetanus vaccination. A total of 93% of students knew that the Tetanus vaccine is injectable. Only 36% of the students were vaccinated, 25% were unvaccinated, and 39% did not know about their vaccination status. Among the students who were vaccinated, injury was the single most common reason for getting the tetanus vaccine.

Conclusion:
The knowledge level and vaccination status of the students were unsatisfactory. So, awareness campaigns and immunization programs should be started.

TRENDS IN CAESAREAN SECTION RATE AND ITS DETERMINANTS IN DISTRICT HOSPITAL GUJRANWALA

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background:
C-section are showing increasing trend worldwide. This study aimed to measure the rate and various indications of Cesarean sections in DHQ-Teaching hospital, Gujranwala.

Material and Methods:

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study retrospective data was collected from hospital records. The mode of delivery and basic demographics of the patients who underwent elective and emergency cesarean section were noted down. Clinical indications were recorded. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 21.0

Results:

A total of 7159 pregnant women, booked and un-booked were admitted for delivery out of which 4038 (56.4%) patients had a vaginal delivery and 3121(43.6%) underwent cesarean section. Among Cesarean sections, 67.7 % (n=2112) were emergency cesarean sections and 32.3 % (n=1009) were elective cesarean sections. The top six indicators for cesarean sections were previous multiple Cesarean sections 49.8 % (n=1554), fetal distress 14.8% (n=462), failure to progress of labor 8.6 % (n=269), cephalo pelvic disproportion (CPD) 7.8 % (n=244), breech presentation 3.6% (n=112) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) 2.7% (n=84).

Conclusion:

The rate of cesarean section was 43.6% in Gujranwala. Most of the cesarean sections were emergency cesarean sections with fetal distress as a major risk factor.

KNOWLEDGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Objective:
To assess the knowledge and extent of application of artificial intelligence among healthcare workers along with comparison between male and female gender as well as seniority of healthcare workers.

Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 healthcare professionals in two hospitals Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital Lahore and Allied Hospital Faisalabad over 6 months using a questionnaire proforma by chat GPT.

Results:
he study included 356 participants, mostly female (72.2%) with an average age of 28.08±4.20 years. Most had 1-9 years of work experience (61.5%). Nearly half (49.4%) had no AI application experience, and only 14.0% had formal AI training. Despite this, 80.3% recognized AI's importance in healthcare. AI was used by 24.4% of participants, mainly in patient monitoring (25.3%), research (27.2%), and diagnostics (19.7%). Challenges included clinical validation (33.1%) and cost (32.6%). Ethical concerns were significant, with 80.9% worried about privacy and 59.0% distrusting AI with sensitive data. Education and training (71.1%) were key for AI integration.

Conclusion:
Learning and application of artificial intelligence is the need of the hours and the general opinion is that if used under doctors' supervision, it will help improve patient care.

VERTICAL TRANSMISSION OF DENGUE INFECTION

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dengue is a significant health concern in adults and children in many regions worldwide. Dengue infection is rarely reported in newborn babies. Here, we report a case of a 4-day-old neonate with dengue infection transmitted likely by maternofetal transmission. Mother developed fever, headache, vomiting, and generalized body aches at 38 weeks of gestation—her blood reports, including serology, confirmed dengue fever. Emergency cesarean section was carried out, and a healthy baby was born. At 4 days of life, the baby developed a fever and generalized petechial rash. The baby was admitted to the NICU of Farooq Hospital Lahore. His initial CBC revealed thrombocytopenia, dengue NS1 antigen, and anti-dengue IgM antibodies were also positive. Serial CBC showed a decreasing trend in platelet count in the next 4 days. On the 5th day of admission, the patient improved clinically and his CBC showed a rising trend in platelet count. In conclusion, vertical transmission of dengue virus is possible if infection occurs late in pregnancy. Further studies and evidence are required