Validation of a food frequency questionnaire for assessing macronutrient and calcium intake in adult Pakistani population

To develop and validate a food frequency table [FFQ] for use in urban Pakistani population. A validation study. The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from June to November 2008. Healthy adult females, aged >/= 18 years who consented to be included in the study were inducted, while males, unhealthy females, aged below 18 years or who did not consent were excluded. The FFQ was administered once while 4, 24 hours recalls spread over a period of one year were administered as the reference method. Daily intakes for energy, protein, fat, and calcium intake were estimated for both the tools. Crude and energy adjusted correlations for nutrient intakes were computed for the FFQ and mean of 4, 24 hours recalls and serum N-telopeptide of type-I collagen [NTx]. The correlation coefficients for the FFQ with mean of 4, 24 hours recall ranged from 0.21 for protein to 0.36 for calcium, while the correlation for nutrient estimates from the FFQ with NTx ranged from -0.07 for calcium to 0.01 for energy. Highly significant correlations were found for nutrient intakes estimated from the FFQ vs. those estimated from the mean of 4, 24 hours recalls but no correlations was found between nutrient estimates from the FFQ and serum NTx levels. FFQ was concluded to be a valid tool for assessing dietary intake of adult females in Pakistan.

Pattern of drugs of abuse identified in chemical samples

To determine the pattern of drugs of abuse in urine and blood samples processed at referral laboratory in Pakistan so that information on the type of drugs used can be identified and used for ready reference for future strategy. Observational study. Clinical Laboratory of The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July 2006 to March 2008. Retrospective review of records were done for the common drugs that are used for screening at the Clinical Laboratory include alcohol, amphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine and opiates. Alcohol was tested in blood and others were identified using urine. Percentages of tests screened positive and negative for individual drugs were computed by using SPSS 16.0. The ratio between male and female users was also established. A total of 17,714 tests were performed for drugs. The mean age of the patients whose samples were processed was 30 +/- 14.84 years. Majority used benzodiazepines 520/1317 [39.5%] among the samples tested for drug of abuse, followed by cannabinoids 423/5450 [7.8%], alcohol 75/1302 [5.8%], barbiturates 32/1148 [2.8%], opiates 137/5640 [2.4%], cocaine 5/1655 [0.3%] and amphetamine 3/1 202 [0.2%]. In all, males 15411 [87%] were tested more frequently as compared to females 2303 [13%]. Males were more frequently tested for drug abuse; however, drug abuse is increasingly seen among females. Benzodiazepines are the most frequently used. The same pattern of drugs abuse existed in different gender and age group. There is a need to explore the pattern and type of drug abuse on national scale