Lactose intolerance in infants in Faisalabad region

Lactose tolerance tests were done on 30 infants. Lactose, lg/kg body weight, was given to each infant orally. Heal capillary blood samples were taken at 0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes and blood glucose and galactose were estimated. An increase in blood glucose and galactose of at lease 20 mg percent was the criteria for Lactose tolerance. Intolerance of lactose was observed in 4 out of 11 female infants below six months while 5 out of 5 females infants above six months were intolerant to lactose. Out of 14 male infants, none below six months were intolerant to lactose. There was a significant increase in the percentage of intolerance of lactose after six months of age. It was concluded from this study that lactose intolerance is common in Faisalabad area and is quite common in female infants and increases with age

Pattern of blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in various regions of Pakistan

A multicentric epidemiological survey was conducted to determine the pattern of blood pressure and prevalence of Hypertension and diabetes mellitus among urban and rural population of various regions of Pakistan. The preliminary results, presented here, are based on data collected by PMRC Research Centre, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore. Two thousand four hundred subjects [1322 males, 1078 females] were screened. Out of them 1200 subjects [710 males and 490 females] were from urban areas and 1200 subjects [612 males and 588 females] were from rural areas of Lahore. Overall prevalence was estimated to be 3.96% for diabetes mellitus and 9.33% for hypertension. Both the diseases were significantly more prevalent among urban population [11% hypertension, 4.75% diabetes mellitus] as compared to rural population [7.67% hypertension, 3.17% diabetes mellitus] and females were affected more frequently[12.15% hypertension, 4.36% diabetes] as compared to male counterparts [7.03% hypertension, 3.63% diabetes]. Prevalence rates for both diseases increased with the age. After the age of 35 years, females showed a trend of significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure level compared to males of the same age groups. Urban males had significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to rural males after the age of 45 years, whereas urban females had higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure level at all age groups between 15 and 64 years as compared to rural females in the same age groups

Lactose intolerance in Pakistani adults

To study the prevalence of lactose intolerance, oral lactose tolerance tests and glucose-galactose tolerance tests were conducted on 50 adults. On the first day, lactose [1 g per kg body weight] and on next day 1/2 g glucose and 1/2 g galactose mixture was administered to same individual. Finger tip capillary blood sample were taken on each day at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the administration of lactose or glucose galactose mixture to estimate blood glucose and galactose levels. Intolerance of lactose was observed in 9 out of 26 males [34.61%] and 13 out of 24 females [54.16%]. The overall prevalence was 44 percent. The prevalence of lactose intolerance among males aged 15 to 35, 36 to 55 and 56 to 75 years was 25%, 2 1.43%, 100% whereas the corresponding figures for females were 44.45, 58.33, 66.66 percent. This study revealed that prevalence of lactose intolerance was high among females as compared to males

Effect of smoking on lipid profile of smokers and non-smokers

This study was conducted in sixty healthy individuals, 40 males and 20 females. Lipid and lipoproteins concentrations in serum were estimated. Higher levels of serum cholesterol were found in smokers. No significant difference was found in serum triglyceride concentrations in smokers and non-smokers. Though low concentrations of HDL-cholesterol, below the reference limit, were observed in the serum of male and female smokers, yet, values found in male smokers were lower than those observed in female smokers. This shows that smoking has a more pronounced effect on serum HDL-cholesterol concentration in male smokers than female smokers