Maternal death and its causes - a challenge for achieving millennium goals

Maternal death is not the only death of a leady but it is in fact a death of a family. one of the millennium goal of WHO is to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters up to 2015. In order to achieve the role it is essential to have basic figure from worldwide. District head quarter women and children hospital DHQ [W and C], Dera Ismail Khan situated in southern areas of NWFP is providing as emergency obstetric care to this area and peripheral areas of Punjab and Bulochistan. Maternal mortality ratio and and its causes in Distt Headquarter setting of D.I Khan can serve as a baseline figures for planning the strategies for achieving millennium goals. The study was carried out in District Headquarter for women in Dera Ismail Khan. It was a seven year study starting from 15t January 1999- 31st December 2005. It is a descriptive retrospective hospital based study. The record was collected from admission Register, Labour Register. and maternal mortality register. In the seven years period total No of live birth were 11811 and there were 131 maternal deaths. Maternal mortality ratio was 1109/ 100,000 live births. Direct causes of maternal death contributed to 94.5% and indirect causes contributed to 5.35%. Hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death was responsible for 57.5% of maternal deaths. Antepartum [APH] and post partum [PPH] contributed equally. Obstructed labour killed 13.9% of the mothers, eclampsia killed 16.74% while infections killed 5.35% of the mothers. Indirect maternal deaths were hepatic coma, sever anaemia and cardiac failure. The challenge for achieving millennium goals is very high. The leading cause of death of the mothers is haemorrhage. The three delays i.e delayed decision, delayed transport, and delayed management are the virtual causes. To achieve the millenium goal we need to improve the first level health care facilities. We also need public awareness, rising the self determination and women's right and women empowerment and her role and decision maker

Diagnostic value of human telomerase for detection of squamous cell carcinoma in oral smears

Human telomerase has been associated with most malignant tumors such as squamous cell carcinoma [SCC] of the oral cavity. One simple non-aggressive method for early diagnosis of oral SCC is taking smears. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of telomerase expression in smears of oral SCC, compared with normal mucosa. Smears were obtained from 18 subjects with SCC of different sites in the oral cavity, presenting with various degrees of malignancy. Control samples were taken from the contra-lateral normal epithelium of the same subjects. The expression of hTERT, the most reliable marker of telomerase activity, was registered by extracting RNA, performing RT-PCR and then nested PCR by specific primers. Fisher's exact test was used to analyze the data. Positive expression of telomerase was detected in 8 of the 18 cases, while the normal epithelial samples demonstrated no such expression of telomerase. A significant difference in the expression of telomerase was reported between the two groups by Fisher's Exact test [P<0.003]. There is a potential for telomerase enzyme activity to act as a simple non - aggressive diagnostic tool in detection of oral SCC using smears of the lesion

Effect of L.carnosine on some hepatic antioxidants after ethanol intoxication in rats

Chronic or acute administration of ethanol has been shown to result in a generation of reactive oxygen species [ROS] in many tissues with changes in the endogenous antioxidants. The basis for the biological activities of carnosine is its potent antioxidant and membrane-protecting activity. Male rats of Rattus norvigus strain were used in this experiment. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of ethanol and the action of carnosine treatment on liver lipid peroxide and certain antioxidant defense system; glutathione, vitamin C, vitamin E and catalase enzyme activity. The data show that lipid peroxides and vitamin C are significantly increased under the effect of alcohol, while glutathione, vitamin E and catalase activity showed a significant reduction in the liver of rats. Carnosine treatment ameliorated the toxic action of ethanol through the improvement of all the previous parameters. The results indicated that the toxic effect of ethanol induced oxidative stress and carnosine ameliorated the changes in the liver antioxidant defense system