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Investigating The Flux of Covid-19 Viral Load and It’s Impact on Severity
No full textAmidst the Coronavirus disease -2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, understanding viral load's significance for global patient outcomes is crucial. The strain from SARS-CoV-2 underscores the urgency of deciphering its impact on disease severity. This cross-section study, conducted at Ziauddin University between April and September 2021, aims to investigate the potential correlation between COVID-19 viral load, measured by RT PCR CT values, and disease severity and outcome. A total of 103 COVID-19 patients identified via PCR testing, were enrolled, and their demographic data were collected from electronic records. Viral load analysis was conducted using multiplex PCR post-RNA extraction. Ethical considerations, including informed consent and approval from the Ethical Review Committee (ERC), were diligently followed throughout the study. Top of Form the majority of PCR-positive patients exhibited severe (26.2%) or moderate (26.2%) disease, with a higher prevalence among males (52.8%) and those aged 50 years or older (74.8%). Our analysis found no statistically significant difference in viral load among different severity groups. Despite the lack of significant differences, Viral load tended to increase with the Severity of COVID-19. Furthermore, no statistical difference in means of viral load concerning age and gender was observed. In conclusion, while the viral load may increase with disease severity, our findings suggest no significant relationship between the viral load and the severity of COVID-19 in this study, providing important insights into the understanding of disease progression and its clinical management
Administration of Glycine Following Immobilized Stress Produces Neurobehavioral And Biochemical Effects in Rats
No full textIntroduction: Glycine is the simplest amino acid. Glycine acts as a neurotransmitter, stimulating and inhibiting brain cells affecting cognition, mood and appetite. Other biochemical molecules that have an impact on bodily functions are metabolized with the help of glycine. All species have evolved coping methods to deal with stress, which is often encountered in everyday activities. Stressful situations that last for an extended period of time can cause anxiety and affective disorders like depression, which in turn cause an excessive amount of free radical generation and oxidative stress. Methodology: Current research is planned to evaluate how glycine may affect in rats expose to repeated restraint stress. Two test groups and a control group of rats were used, test 1 animals were treated with immobilized stress for 14 days and test 2 were treated with immobilized stress following glycine administration at a dose of 200mg/kg/ml. The effect of immobilized stress and glycine on anxiety was assessed by elevated plus maze test while open field was used for evaluating locomotor activities and depression like symptoms assessed by forced swimming test. Results: Anxiogenic effects, depression like symptoms and hyperlocomotor activity observed in restraint stress rats while counter effects seen in case of test 2 animals. Biochemically glycine also produces counter effects against restrain stress. In conclusion glycine significantly improves anxiety and depression like symptoms in stressed rats
Consanguineous Marriages and Congenital Heart Disease in Pakistan
No full textObjective: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a set of isolate or combination of heart malformations that may or may not cause cyanosis (bluish discoloration of the skin) indicating poor oxygen status in effected patients. CHD represents a wide range of heritability from chromosomal abnormality to single gene defects to multifactorial pattern of inheritance particularly VSD, ASD, and AVSD. Consanguinity may increase the homozygosity of recessive genes causing copy number variation (CNV) in the disease. Methods: The present study was conducted in National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD) during the year 2010 - 2015. Ethical approval was obtained before initiation of the study. A total 1640 diagnosed patients with CHD were included. Patients or their guardians were interviewed using a written questionnaire and their consents were obtained. Data collection form included detailed history regarding relationship of marriage, dietary, medical status during pregnancy such as smoking, infection (e.g. rubella), diabetes mellitus or hypertension etc. Pedigrees were drawn for selected families for further analysis. Results: The relative risk of CHD in first degree relatives is 3.2 and the tendency of having higher frequency (3-4 times) than in general population the consanguinity was found to be the highest in Punjabi (47.3%), followed by Balochi (40.28%) patients of unknown ethnicity (36.8%), Sindhi (34.2%) and Urdu speaking (31.4%). Conclusion: Our study will help provide some clues to the direction of exploration of this malformation especially in Pakistani population, where higher rates of consanguinity and higher prevalence of various forms of CHDs.
Prevalence of Oral Submucous Fibrosis in relation to the chewing habits in Karachi, Pakistan
Full text linkThe addiction of chewing of betel quid (paan), areca nut (chaliya), unburned tobacco, gutka, niswar and manpuri is relatively high in the South Asian countries like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. To observe the prevalence of Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSF), 200 OSF patients from tertiary care hospitals of Karachi were selected and informed consent was obtained. Patients were interviewed for their age, gender, and quantity and frequency of chewing habits using a structured questionnaire. The age group of patients between ages 26 years to 35years was found to be more prone to OSF as compared to other groups. The disease was more prevalent in males (81.6%) as compared to the females (18.4%). The minimum age recorded was to be as low as 15 years in manpuri addicts and as high as 66 years in betel quid (pan) with areca nut (chaliya) addicts. The percentages of habitual chewers eating betel quid (paan) (52%), areca nut (chaliya) (81.5%), unburned tobacco (19%), gutka (49%), niswar (7%) and manpuri (33%) were recorded. The study concluded that the above chewing habits can cause OSF which transmute into Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) by undeniable genetic alterations. Therefore, extensive restrictions should be implemented by the government on the manufacturing, selling, buying and use of carcinogenic materials like paan, gutka, chaliya, niswar, manpuri, mawa and all forms of tobacc
Exploring the Relationship Between Obesity and Depression: A Cross-Sectional Study at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi
Full text linkObjective: Obesity and depression are highly prevalent and have a significant effect on morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between obesity and depression at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi, from January 23 to June 23.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 157 obese and 157 non-obese participants, aged 18 to 70, selected using non-probability consecutive sampling. Data collection included demographic variables and the Beck Depression Inventory-II questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20, employing the Chi-square test to examine associations with depressive episodes. Statistical significance was established with a p-value of < 0.05.
Results: The study found that 43.31% of obese participants suffered from depression, with varying frequencies of depression, compared to 5.73% of non-obese individuals. A significant association was found among obese and non-obese individuals and their BIDS scores with p-values < 0.005 and < 0.001, respectively. BIDS score indicated a high prevalence of borderline clinical depression among obese individuals compared to non-obese. Age, gender, education, marital status, occupation, and socioeconomic status were also assessed, revealing a significant association with obesity status except for marital status (p-value = 0.249) with p-values 0.001, 0.041, 0.002, 0.249, and 0.049, respectively. In addition, obesity was more prevalent among alcohol consumers 11 (07.01%) compared to smokers 28 (18.47%).
Conclusion: A significant association was found between obesity and depression. This association persisted even after considering factors like age, gender, education, marital status, occupation, and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, alcohol consumers were more prone to obesity
Comparing Prophylactic Vaginal Progesterone & Cervical Cerclage In Preventing Preterm Birth: A Systematic Review
Full text linkPreterm birth complicates at-risk singleton pregnancies, and this is associated with a poor prognosis for pregnant mothers. When comparing cervical cerclage to vaginal progesterone, the rationale is clear, but its effectiveness remains a mystery.It is the goal of this systematic review to shed further light on this well-known conundrum. To find research on preventive vaginal progesterone usage vs cervical cerclage, PubMed, PubMed Central, Medline, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were searched. There were three randomized control trials, three systematic reviews and meta-analyses, two cohort studies, and two conventional reviews. It was determined that both strategies for managing preterm delivery were equally effective in terms of preterm birth prevention when applied to pregnant women. We found that vaginal progesterone had less side effects than cervical cerclage, but it has no influence on a woman's ability to function and does not improve her life expectancy. The systematic reviews and randomized controlled studies unequivocally confirmed these findings. Cervical cerclage was shown to be more risky than preventive vaginal progesterone in a comprehensive study. However, prophylactic application of cervical cerclage still remains a superior treatment modality if serial transvaginal ultrasound scans are pointing towards cervical shortening. Therefore, more research is required to understand this relationship to identify populations at risk
Sero-Prevalence of Peste Des Petits Ruminants Among Goats of Different Zones of District Thatta, Sindh
Full text linkIntroduction: Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious and viraldisease primarily affecting goats and sheep, caused by the PPR virus (PPRV), which belongs tothe family paramyxoviridae, and genus morbillivirus. Methodology: A total of 100 bloodsamples (female n=67 and male n=33) of goats from different areas of Thatta district werecollected. Risk factors like area, age, sex and season were analyzed. Clinically affected animalsexhibited high temperature (41oC), anorexia, dullness, lacrimal secretions, and nasal dischargediahhrea starting from 2 to 6 days post infection, hair blow the eyes becomes wet and there ismatting together of the eyelids as well as partial blockage of the nostrils by dried up purulentdischarges. Samples were transported to Central Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (CVDL)Tandojam, Sindh for laboratory confirmation. The competitive ELISA was performed to measureantibodies to the PPR virus. Results: The sero-positivity of PPR cases in female were 76.12%(51/67) and male 51.52% (17/33). The highest sero-prevalence was observed in age group of 4-12month 75.56% (34/45). Lowest sero-prevalence was detected in age group of 0-4 month 47.83%(11/23). Highest prevalence of PPR infections were observed in the month of August 70%(21/30), followed by 69.04% (29/42) in the September, the lowest prevalence was 64.28% (18/28)in the July. Conclusion: It is concluded from the present study that female animals were moreaffected than males. The higher infection was recorded during the August. Comparatively, younganimals were more affected than the suckler and adults
Correlation of anthropometric indices with metabolic syndrome and its components in young adults.
Full text linkIntroduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) previously known as syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome it is a cluster of different components characterized by central obesity, lipid and insulin dysregulation, and hypertension. Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a precursor to cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, is rapidly increasing in young adults. Methodology: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted among the healthy young adults, age was 18-25 years living in Qasimabad. Data was collected through self-designed questionnaire. T-test, chi square and bivariate tests were used to analyze the data for MetS. Results: The total number of participants were 336 among them 134(39.9) were males and 202(60.1) were females. Overall the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among young adults in this study was 7.4%, the prevalence of MetS was higher in males 15(11.2%) than in females 10(5%) according to the NECP ATPIII diagnostic criteria for MetS, statistically significant Chi square= 4.56, p=value 0.033. BMI showed slightly higher correlation with SBP (r=0.601, p<0.01), FBS (r=0.481, p<0.01, TG (r=0.506, p<0.01) and HDL (r= -0.359, p<0.01). Whereas WC showed higher correlation with SBP (r=0.578 p<0.01). Conclusion: The prevalence of MetS components were higher in males than females. The correlation of BMI with the individual components of MetS was found better than other anthropometric indices.
Keywords: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), Insulin Resistance (IR), Young Adults
Comparative Antiemetic Study of Fruit, Leaves and Bark Extract of Cordia Gharaf and Cordia Myxa via Dopaminergic Pathway: in-vivo Study
No full textVomiting, often associated with various ailments and as a side effect of treatments like chemotherapy, remains a challenging symptom to manage. This study aimed to evaluate the antiemetic properties of ethanolic extracts derived from the bark, fruit, and leaves of Cordia gharaf and Cordia myxa. Using a copper sulphate-induced chick emesis model with young chicks aged 7-10 days, we assessed the reduction in the number of retches as a measure of antiemetic efficacy. Extracts were administered at a dose of 150mg/kg, with Chlorpromazine (150mg/kg) and Domperidone (100mg/kg) serving as reference standards. Notably, the ethanolic extracts from C. gharaf bark, leaves, and C. myxa fruit demonstrated significant antiemetic effects compared to the standard groups. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of flavonoids and alkaloids in these extracts, suggesting their potential contribution to the observed antiemetic activity. These findings highlight the prospective role of these extracts as natural antiemetic remedies, warranting further exploration in future research endeavors.
Heat Inactivation of Avian Influenza (H7N3) Virus In Experimentally Infected Chicken Meat
Full text linkIntroduction Avian influenza virus (H7N3) cause severe systemic disease in chickens and can be persisted in infected chicken meat that cause public health concern. Influenza viruses are heat liable but parameters for heat inactivation have not been known. Methodology The study investigated the quantitative heat inactivation of H7N3 virus from experimentally infected chicken meat. Twenty (20) sero-negative broiler chickens of 04 weeks age were divided into two group viz A (control) and B artificially infected by giving 0.1ml of 106 embryo infectious dose 50 (EID50) (H7N3) virus through intranasal route. Birds were slaughtered on day 9 post infection and tissues (trachea, kidney, lungs and liver) were collected. Inactivation curves were determined at temperature 60, 61, 62, 63 and 64°C. Results Based on D values, time to inactivate H7N3 virus depends on viral titers and inversely related to temperature. This study investigated confirmed that H7N3 virus was effectively inactivated in chicken meat at 60°C in 4 minutes while at 64°C in 1 minutes. Moreover, protocols per log EID50/g reduction in terms of D values at 60 and 64°C were noted 120 and 30 sec, the coefficient of regression ranged as 0.941 to 0.889