Objective: Our study aimed to assess the perception of medical students about their knowledge of ... more Objective: Our study aimed to assess the perception of medical students about their knowledge of biostatistics and epidemiology before and after applying participatory teaching methods for teaching these topics. Materials and methods: It was a correlational study conducted at Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar, with a sample size of two hundred and ten. Using a simple random sampling technique, the students of fourth year M.B.B.S were taught the course Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The methodologies included a participatory teaching method, using a two-step approach. The first step aimed to make the students understand the basic concepts of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, with hands-on activity on how to use different websites to interpret the information. The second step involved database analysis with the production of a scientific report. In the end, a nine-item pre-validated questionnaire was used to check the difference of perception among the students, before and after th...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2003
To estimate the proportion of patient referral and to identify the factors associated with unsucc... more To estimate the proportion of patient referral and to identify the factors associated with unsuccessful referral in Karachi, Pakistan. In a cross-sectional survey, a total of 347 patients referred to different health care facilities by the LHWs were interviewed. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, on demographic characteristics of patients (age, sex, income etc) and potential factors (seriousness of medical condition, distance of health facility, attitude of health center staff etc) that can affect patient referral outcome. An overall referral rate of 55% was found in this study. Out of a total of 347 patients interviewed, 265 (76.4%) were successful while 82 (23.6%) were unsuccessful referrals. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that objection to referral (Adjusted OR, 2.96; CI: 1.44-5.52), never referred before (Adjusted OR, 1.25; CI: 1.34-6.90), not visited the referral site before (Adjusted OR, 4.04; CI: 2.50-6.08) and no knowledge of who to meet a...
Objective The study aimed to determine the frequency of nosocomial transmission of severe acute r... more Objective The study aimed to determine the frequency of nosocomial transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) in a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan. Methodology This cross sectional, analytical study was carried out in Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan from 1st June 2021 to 31st August 2021. Consecutive patients aged 18 years and above admitted for conditions other than COVID-19 with a negative rapid antigen test for COVID-19 at admission were included. Patients with respiratory symptoms or those who were hospitalized for any reason in the preceding six weeks in any health care facility were excluded. The study protocol was completed by 90.9% of participants. The rapid antigen test was repeated for participants at the time of discharge or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. Patients with a positive rapid antigen test for COVID-19 either at the time of discharge or symptom onset were considered to have acquired nosocomial SARS-Co...
Background: Upper GI endoscopy is the gold standard technique for diagnosing esophageal varices a... more Background: Upper GI endoscopy is the gold standard technique for diagnosing esophageal varices and to assess the risk of bleeding but is invasive in nature, costly, time consuming and burden for the department. Besides this platelet count is also an important tool to predict the esophageal varices in cirrhotic patient and it is a highly accurate test. it has been noted that platelet count in cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices, is less than 100,000/cmm but very few of the data is available so the aim of the current study was to find out the association between mean platelet count and grading of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the medicine department of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi. For testing platelet count the blood sample was sent to the pathology laboratory of the hospital. Gastroenterologist performed the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to grade the esophageal varic...
OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of acute coronary syndrome presentations among diabetic pat... more OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of acute coronary syndrome presentations among diabetic patients and in-hospital outcomes based on gender variance. METHODOLOGY This observational cross-sectional study was conducted at the cardiology department of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. 106 consecutive diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome were enrolled. Patients were assessed for in-hospital outcomes like congestive heart failure, recurrent angina, and mortality. The outcomes were evaluated based on gender. The Chi-Square test was used for significant differences keeping the P value < 0.05. RESULTSThe mean age of the patients was 57.75±8.16 years. Males were 57 (53.8%), and females were 49 (46.2%). Congestive heart failure, re-angina, and mortality were significant in both genders yielding a P value of <0.05. CONCLUSION Diabetes is an important predictor of acute coronary syndrome. The complications related to congestive heart failure and mortali...
Objective: To find a possible association between levels of vitamin D and glycosylated hemoglobi... more Objective: To find a possible association between levels of vitamin D and glycosylated hemoglobin levels in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar over six months. Diagnosed cases of Type-II diabetes mellitus were recruited through non-probability consecutive sampling. The levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and serum vitamin D levels were assessed in 219 selected patients enrolled in the study through Cobas Integra 800 and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay respectively. Patients were divided into three categories based on increasing levels of glycosylated hemoglobin. The trend in the levels of vitamin D levels in these categories of increasing HbA1c was identified. Results: Out of 219 Type II diabetic patients, 30.1% (66) were men while 69.9% (153) were women. The mean age was 59.48 ± 9.29 years. Si...
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of moderate-intensity exerci... more Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of moderate-intensity exercise (MIE) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and working memory (WM) in young adult females. Methodology: This study was conducted in the Physiology Department, Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar. Young adult females (n = 22), with a mean age of 20±2 years were recruited for two experimental sessions of MIE and HIIE, respectively. Baseline and post exercise blood samples were taken for determination of serum BDNF level and backward digit span test (BDST) for assessment of working memory in both sessions. Results: Serum BDNF levels pre and post MIE were 707±448 pg/ml and 829±476 pg/ml (p = 0.006) respectively while pre and post HIIE were 785±329 pg /ml and 1116±379 pg/ml (p < 0.001) respectively. BDST scores were significantly high at post intervention for both MIE (p = 0.05) and HIIE (p 0.001). Conclusions: Altogethe...
Objectives: To determine the association between ABO/Rh-D blood types and susceptibility to SARS-... more Objectives: To determine the association between ABO/Rh-D blood types and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in Pakistan. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1935 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were included using consecutive sampling. Age and gender-matched sample of 1935 blood donors was used as a comparison group. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used for inferential statistics. Results: Significantly higher proportion of blood type-B was observed in COVID-19 group (35.9% vs 31.9%, p=0.009). Blood type-AB was found more frequently (14.2% vs 11.8%, p=0.03) in the comparison group. The Rh-D Positive blood types were 93.3% in COVID-19 group and 94.9% in comparison group (p=0.03). The odds of blood type-B, AB and Rh-D positive to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 were 1.195 (95% CI 1.04 – 1.36, p=0.009), 0.80 (95% CI 0.66 – 0.97, p=0.03) and 0.75 (95% CI 0.57- 0.98, p = 0.03), respectively. Blood types A and O did not have significant association with SARS-CoV-2 PC...
BackgroundAvailable research compared serum biomarkers such as lymphocyte count, C-reactive prote... more BackgroundAvailable research compared serum biomarkers such as lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, ferritin, Lactate Dehydrogenase and D-dimers to predict survival in patients with mild, moderate and severe COVID-19. This study aims to compare these biomarkers among survivors and non-survivors of severe COVID-19. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on patient’s data retrieved from Hospital Information System. Sixty-nine patients for whom a record of the biomarkers and survival status was available, were included in the study. For every patient, baseline and peak values were selected for CRP level, serum ferritin level, serum LDH level and serum D-Dimer level. Similarly, baseline and trough levels were selected for lymphocytes. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Mean and standard deviation was used to compare the biomarkers with paired t-test. P value less than 0.05 was taken as significant. ResultsThe mean age of the study population was 55.5±9.1 years and 72.5% w...
Objective: Our study aimed to assess the perception of medical students about their knowledge of ... more Objective: Our study aimed to assess the perception of medical students about their knowledge of biostatistics and epidemiology before and after applying participatory teaching methods for teaching these topics. Materials and methods: It was a correlational study conducted at Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar, with a sample size of two hundred and ten. Using a simple random sampling technique, the students of fourth year M.B.B.S were taught the course Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The methodologies included a participatory teaching method, using a two-step approach. The first step aimed to make the students understand the basic concepts of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, with hands-on activity on how to use different websites to interpret the information. The second step involved database analysis with the production of a scientific report. In the end, a nine-item pre-validated questionnaire was used to check the difference of perception among the students, before and after th...
JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2003
To estimate the proportion of patient referral and to identify the factors associated with unsucc... more To estimate the proportion of patient referral and to identify the factors associated with unsuccessful referral in Karachi, Pakistan. In a cross-sectional survey, a total of 347 patients referred to different health care facilities by the LHWs were interviewed. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, on demographic characteristics of patients (age, sex, income etc) and potential factors (seriousness of medical condition, distance of health facility, attitude of health center staff etc) that can affect patient referral outcome. An overall referral rate of 55% was found in this study. Out of a total of 347 patients interviewed, 265 (76.4%) were successful while 82 (23.6%) were unsuccessful referrals. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that objection to referral (Adjusted OR, 2.96; CI: 1.44-5.52), never referred before (Adjusted OR, 1.25; CI: 1.34-6.90), not visited the referral site before (Adjusted OR, 4.04; CI: 2.50-6.08) and no knowledge of who to meet a...
Objective The study aimed to determine the frequency of nosocomial transmission of severe acute r... more Objective The study aimed to determine the frequency of nosocomial transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) in a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan. Methodology This cross sectional, analytical study was carried out in Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan from 1st June 2021 to 31st August 2021. Consecutive patients aged 18 years and above admitted for conditions other than COVID-19 with a negative rapid antigen test for COVID-19 at admission were included. Patients with respiratory symptoms or those who were hospitalized for any reason in the preceding six weeks in any health care facility were excluded. The study protocol was completed by 90.9% of participants. The rapid antigen test was repeated for participants at the time of discharge or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. Patients with a positive rapid antigen test for COVID-19 either at the time of discharge or symptom onset were considered to have acquired nosocomial SARS-Co...
Background: Upper GI endoscopy is the gold standard technique for diagnosing esophageal varices a... more Background: Upper GI endoscopy is the gold standard technique for diagnosing esophageal varices and to assess the risk of bleeding but is invasive in nature, costly, time consuming and burden for the department. Besides this platelet count is also an important tool to predict the esophageal varices in cirrhotic patient and it is a highly accurate test. it has been noted that platelet count in cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices, is less than 100,000/cmm but very few of the data is available so the aim of the current study was to find out the association between mean platelet count and grading of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the medicine department of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi. For testing platelet count the blood sample was sent to the pathology laboratory of the hospital. Gastroenterologist performed the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to grade the esophageal varic...
OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of acute coronary syndrome presentations among diabetic pat... more OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of acute coronary syndrome presentations among diabetic patients and in-hospital outcomes based on gender variance. METHODOLOGY This observational cross-sectional study was conducted at the cardiology department of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. 106 consecutive diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome were enrolled. Patients were assessed for in-hospital outcomes like congestive heart failure, recurrent angina, and mortality. The outcomes were evaluated based on gender. The Chi-Square test was used for significant differences keeping the P value < 0.05. RESULTSThe mean age of the patients was 57.75±8.16 years. Males were 57 (53.8%), and females were 49 (46.2%). Congestive heart failure, re-angina, and mortality were significant in both genders yielding a P value of <0.05. CONCLUSION Diabetes is an important predictor of acute coronary syndrome. The complications related to congestive heart failure and mortali...
Objective: To find a possible association between levels of vitamin D and glycosylated hemoglobi... more Objective: To find a possible association between levels of vitamin D and glycosylated hemoglobin levels in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar over six months. Diagnosed cases of Type-II diabetes mellitus were recruited through non-probability consecutive sampling. The levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and serum vitamin D levels were assessed in 219 selected patients enrolled in the study through Cobas Integra 800 and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay respectively. Patients were divided into three categories based on increasing levels of glycosylated hemoglobin. The trend in the levels of vitamin D levels in these categories of increasing HbA1c was identified. Results: Out of 219 Type II diabetic patients, 30.1% (66) were men while 69.9% (153) were women. The mean age was 59.48 ± 9.29 years. Si...
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of moderate-intensity exerci... more Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of moderate-intensity exercise (MIE) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and working memory (WM) in young adult females. Methodology: This study was conducted in the Physiology Department, Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar. Young adult females (n = 22), with a mean age of 20±2 years were recruited for two experimental sessions of MIE and HIIE, respectively. Baseline and post exercise blood samples were taken for determination of serum BDNF level and backward digit span test (BDST) for assessment of working memory in both sessions. Results: Serum BDNF levels pre and post MIE were 707±448 pg/ml and 829±476 pg/ml (p = 0.006) respectively while pre and post HIIE were 785±329 pg /ml and 1116±379 pg/ml (p < 0.001) respectively. BDST scores were significantly high at post intervention for both MIE (p = 0.05) and HIIE (p 0.001). Conclusions: Altogethe...
Objectives: To determine the association between ABO/Rh-D blood types and susceptibility to SARS-... more Objectives: To determine the association between ABO/Rh-D blood types and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in Pakistan. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1935 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were included using consecutive sampling. Age and gender-matched sample of 1935 blood donors was used as a comparison group. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used for inferential statistics. Results: Significantly higher proportion of blood type-B was observed in COVID-19 group (35.9% vs 31.9%, p=0.009). Blood type-AB was found more frequently (14.2% vs 11.8%, p=0.03) in the comparison group. The Rh-D Positive blood types were 93.3% in COVID-19 group and 94.9% in comparison group (p=0.03). The odds of blood type-B, AB and Rh-D positive to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 were 1.195 (95% CI 1.04 – 1.36, p=0.009), 0.80 (95% CI 0.66 – 0.97, p=0.03) and 0.75 (95% CI 0.57- 0.98, p = 0.03), respectively. Blood types A and O did not have significant association with SARS-CoV-2 PC...
BackgroundAvailable research compared serum biomarkers such as lymphocyte count, C-reactive prote... more BackgroundAvailable research compared serum biomarkers such as lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, ferritin, Lactate Dehydrogenase and D-dimers to predict survival in patients with mild, moderate and severe COVID-19. This study aims to compare these biomarkers among survivors and non-survivors of severe COVID-19. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on patient’s data retrieved from Hospital Information System. Sixty-nine patients for whom a record of the biomarkers and survival status was available, were included in the study. For every patient, baseline and peak values were selected for CRP level, serum ferritin level, serum LDH level and serum D-Dimer level. Similarly, baseline and trough levels were selected for lymphocytes. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Mean and standard deviation was used to compare the biomarkers with paired t-test. P value less than 0.05 was taken as significant. ResultsThe mean age of the study population was 55.5±9.1 years and 72.5% w...
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