ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the prevalence of micro-organisms causing vaginal infection in women of child bearing age attending the Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Department
Materials and Methods: This study was done with 479 patients in the age group of 15-45 years attending the Obstetrics and Gynecology OPD of Gulf Medical College Hospital, Ajman with various gynecological complains between January 2010 to December 2011. Socio-demographic details along with their reproductive history were recorded from the medical records. Vaginal swabs were taken from the patients irrespective of their marital status and sent for smear examination and culture identification. The presence of concomitant diseases in these patients was also recorded
Results: Out of 479 patients studied, 50% were Asians followed by Middle East and African patients [47%] and Caucasians [3%]. Ninety percent of the patients were in the age group of 20-40 years. Eighty three percent were married and had children and the rest did not have any children. The majority of the women complained of vaginal discharge [83%], pruritus vulvae [45%], dysuria [18%], abdominal pain [16%] and vulvo vaginitis [5%]
Microbiology reports revealed normal flora in 29% of the specimens collected
The most common organism found was Candida species [51%] among the specimens. Bacterial infection was found in 36% cases, of which Gram negative cocci [Gonococci] were more prevalent than Gram positive cocci [Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species; 18%]
The incidence of Gram negative bacilli was 7% and that of the flagellates belonging to Trichomonas species was 13.5%
Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were present in 9.4% and 3.3% patients respectively which did not show any correlation with the microbial flora
Conclusion: The vaginal infection was identified in 71% women in their reproductive age with or without disease symptoms. It is recommended that all women should get a periodic check done for any asymptomatic infection
ABSTRACT
Objectives: The present study assessed the prevalence of Breast Self-Examination [BSE] practice among female university students and identified the most important reasons for not performing BSE and also assessed their breast cancer risk perception
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among female students in three universities in Ajman namely, Gulf Medical University [Ul], offering health related programs, Ajman University of Science and Technology [U2] offering mostly science and technology programs, and Preston University Ajman [U3] offering science programs. A stratified random sampling procedure was adopted in recruiting the participants. Validated, pilot-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data related to socio-demography, information whether they practiced BSE, the frequency of BSE, timing of BSE in relation to menstruation, and if they were using any measure to remind themselves about the timing, factors that discouraged them doing BSE, whether they considered themselves to be at-risk of having breast cancer or not, how much the risk they attributed to. Data were entered in to Excel sheets and analyzed using PASW 19. The x2 test was used for testing the association
Results: The results shows that the majority of the participants were between 18-22 years of age [63.5%], from Eastern Mediterranean countries [72.2%] and unmarried [82%]. The family history of breast cancer was positive for 9.2% and was more common among second degree relatives [63.9%]. None of the students had a personal history of breast cancer. 89 [22.7%] reported 'ever practiced BSE', only 3.3% were practicing monthly, while 77.3% admitted that they were not practicing BSE. No significant association was noticed between family history of breast cancer and the practice of breast self-examination [P<0.9].No significant associations were noticed between BSE Practice and age, nationality, and university. Married female students had significantly higher frequency of BSE practice. With regard to the risk perception about breast cancer, [25%] thought that they were at risk. Higher frequency of BSE practice was seen among participants who perceived themselves to be at risk of breast cancer, but the difference was not significant
Conclusion: The study showed that the proportion of female university students who ever practiced or practiced BSE monthly was low. The most frequent discouraging factors for BSE were lack of knowledge on how to do BSE and the absence of advice of a doctor to do BSE. About one third of the respondents perceived themselves to be at risk for breast cancer and in about half of those the perceived risk was low
ABSTRACT
Spontaneous hemoperitoneum in pregnancy is a rare cause of acute abdomen. Often in these cases the diagnosis made is obstetric emergencies like abruption, placentae or the commoner surgical emergencies in pregnancy. The causes of spontaneous hemoperitoneum include obstetric emergencies like ovarian cyst rupture, ectopic pregnancies which present in early pregnancy and uterine rupture and hepatic rupture in cases of HELLP syndrome which present in late pregnancy. Pregnancy may also predispose rarely to splenic rupture, rupture of visceral arteries like splenic and uterine and rupture of utero-ovarian veins
However in certain cases of spontaneous hemoperitoneum the site of bleeding may not be identified at surgical exploration. Even with recent advances in angiography there are cases where the site of bleeding is not identified. These cases of idiopathic spontaneous hemoperitoneum were historically termed as abdominal apoplexy. The first case of idiopathic spontaneous hemoperitoneum was reported in 1909. We report a case of idiopathic spontaneous hemoperitoneum at 32 weeks of pregnancy. Early operative intervention was done in the case which led to good maternal outcome. The fetal prognosis usually depends on the degree of prematurity. In our case the baby was premature and was discharged well after a 17-day NICU stay