Psychological disorders; old age and prevalence

Psychological anthropology is one of the most current academic discipline; the intellectual study of the association between the individual and culture debatably instigated in the late nineteenth century, when W. H. R. Rivers and his contemporaries commenced an expedition to Melanesia to examine the perceptions of the local people. objective of the study is to find relationship between old age and psychological disorders. Cross sectional. The study was conducted in Rawalpindi city. A structured questionnaire was designed to investigate all the variables of the study. A sample of 500 respondents were drawn from the older population [older persons] of Rawalpindi city by using convenient sampling technique. Data entry and analysis was done by using SPSS. There was a significant relationship found between old age and psychological disorders. According to this study, older people are suffering from psychological disorders namely; anxiety, sadness, depression, isolation, insomnia, dementia, and feeling of being useless. Older persons are more vulnerable to the mental illness and psychological problems. Some problems are prevailed in high proportion among elder persons such as anxiety, insomnia and feeling of being useless. Good mind is bound with good health, this clearly depicts that older persons are not suffering from poor psychological health but also they are facing adverse health conditions. Statistical observations show that some of the older adults facing more than one psychological problem, their ratio is 6.2% of total sample

Role of traditional birth-practices causing maternal and neonatal mortality in Faisalabad: an anthropological approach of household decision making

Anthropology is a holistic science that targets the study of man in its social, cultural, economic, psychological, political, geographical and ecological settings. Anthropology views major's interventions in areas of health to be planned with the complete cognizance of cultural factors that largely effect the target populations regarding their participation in all such major interventions. The Social Impact Assessment [SIA] referred by Anthropology basically demand scientific verifications of all such hurdles that may later on impede the acceleration of such heavy funded programs. The objective of the study was to investigate the decision-making regarding Safe Child Birthing Process among pregnant females and role of their in-laws. Cross Sectional Study This study was commissioned to the research team on behalf of Pakistan National Council on Ageing [PNCA] based in Islamabad. The data collection was done in the BHU of Chak # 474 GB, Tehsil Samundari, District Faisalabad. The study duration was three months and lasted from July 2012 to September 2012. Structured questionnaire was developed to collect information on child birth practices as well as opinion of females of respective sample area. In this regard, an extensive questionnaire was designed and pre-tested vigorously. Questionnaire contained bio-informatics including demographic information of clients and the second part covered areas of decision making, role, agents and other stakeholders. Questionnaires were filled with the help of LHVs and LHWs after getting the permission from their senior authorities. Results show that 29.2% of the respondents were illiterate, while 33.4% of the respondents pass their primary education. Ratio of birth attendant at last delivery was 58.1% for TBA/Dai and 17.2% respondents used the services of doctor for delivery proposes. Mother-in-law was the most influential decision maker in the family. As result explains that, for antenatal visit 118 time, for normal delivery 135 times and for EmONC 128 times decision taken by mother-in-law [n=267]. The decisions regarding child birth largely remain a female issue and rest with the mother-in-law mostly. The second dominant agents are husband and the father-in-law/brother-in-law. On statistical level, the result show strong association between clients and in-laws. The study verifies that the para-medical staff is also required to get training on the importance of cultural factors and means to convince the target population with threatening their cultural mind-set. A complete cognizance of such cultural variable may lead to promotion of safe child birthing as well as contributed in reducing the maternal mortality rates among the rural women

Targeting the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling network in cancer / 癌症

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase-AKT-mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K-AKT-mTOR) pathway is a frequently hyperactivated pathway in cancer and is important for tumor cell growth and survival. The development of targeted therapies against mTOR, a vital substrate along this pathway, led to the approval of allosteric inhibitors, including everolimus and temsirolimus, for the treatment of breast, renal, and pancreatic cancers. However, the suboptimal duration of response in unselected patients remains an unresolved issue. Numerous novel therapies against critical nodes of this pathway are therefore being actively investigated in the clinic in multiple tumor types. In this review, we focus on the progress of these agents in clinical development along with their biological rationale, the need of predictive biomarkers and various combination strategies, which will be useful in counteracting the mechanisms of resistance to this class of drugs.

Re-challenge chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus carboplatin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer / 癌症

Despite recent improvements to current therapies and the emergence of novel agents to manage advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the patients' overall survival remains poor. Re-challenging with first-line chemotherapy upon relapse is common in the management of small cell lung cancer but is not well reported for advanced NSCLC. NSCLC relapse has been attributed to acquired drug resistance, but the repopulation of sensitive clones may also play a role, in which case re-challenge may be appropriate. Here, we report the results of re-challenge with gemcitabine plus carboplatin in 22 patients from a single institution who had previously received gemcitabine plus platinum in the first-line setting and had either partial response or a progression-free interval of longer than 6 months. In this retrospective study, the charts of patients who underwent second-line chemotherapy for NSCLC in our cancer center between January 2005 and April 2010 were reviewed. All the patients who received a combination of gemcitabine and carboplatin for re-challenge were included in the study. These patients were offered second-line treatment on confirmation of clear radiological disease progression. The overall response rate was 15% and disease control rate was 75%. The median survival time was 10.4 months, with 46% of patients alive at 1 year. These results suggest that re-challenge chemotherapy should be considered in selected patients with radiological partial response or a progression-free survival of longer than 6 months to the initial therapy.

Management of patients with blunt abdominal trauma

To evaluate limitations of diagnostic peritoneal lavage and ultrasonography in patients with blunt abdominal trauma. The study was conducted in Accident and Emergency Department of Nishtar Hospital, Multan on 100 cases presented with BAT having equivocal abdominal findings during one year i.e. September 2007 to September 2008. It was a prospective comparative study. Main age group involved in accidents and BAT was between 40 to 60 years. Male to female ration was 5:1. Liver was main organ injured in most cases. It was observed that DPL was 100% sensitive and 91.3% specific while USG of abdomen was 88.9% sensitive and 100% specific. DPL is more sensitive while abdominal USG is more specific. Both are complementary to each other. By using these diagnostic modalities we can reduce both morbidity and mortality and also hospital stay

Pattern, of cancer; among the patients of the allied hospital

To detect the types of cancer. Retrospective cross sectional survey. Department of Clinical Oncology [Liaqat Ward] Allied Hospital Faisalabad. From January, 1st 2005 to December, 31st 2005. The data was obtained from the hospital record and then was tabulated with respect of age, sex, and the type of cancer. This survey includes the patients who presented in the department of oncology with one type of cancer or other. A total of 1087 patients met inclusion criteria for this survey. There were 526 [48.2419%] male and 557 [51.2419%] female patients, and 594 [54.65%] Urban and 493 [45.35%] Rural patients. Out of the total 1087 patients, 201 patients [18.4219%] presented with breast cancer, 60 patients [5.579%] presented with squamous cell carcinoma of the face and 58 patients [5.335%] were found to be suffering from brain tumor