Observations: the chemical profile of urinary calculi

Rental stone disease is an etiologically heterogenous problem associated with a high rate of recurrence. The biochemical profile of urinary calculi removed from the urinary tract of 48 patients in urology ward, Mayo Hospital Lahore was determined. The distribution of stone analysis was calcium oxalate with uric acid 46%, calcium oxalate with phosphate 27%, pure calcium oxalate 19%. Magnesium ammonium phosphate with calcium oxalate 6%, and pure uric acid 2%. The incidence of urolithiasis in upper urinary tract was higher than lower urinary tract in adults. This study suggests calcium oxalate stones to be the most common type

Evaluation of risk factors in antenatal care

A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 198 pregnant woman attending the antenatal clinic. Lady Aitchison Hospital Lahore, to determine the incidence of high risk pregnancy and to demonstrate the risk factors. The scoring system developed by Fortney and Whitehorne was used. The subjects with scores 0-2 were considered at low risk, those with score 3 or more were categorised as high risk Our results revealed that high risk pregnant women constituted 58% of the study population. The most frequently encountered risk factors were bad obstetrical history [52.5%]. anaemia [43.4%]. high gravidity [32%]. and high panty [20 7%] Stepwise logistic regression analysis Indicated that obstetrical history and panty were major predictors of total variation in the score. The use of objective risk scoring is recommended for identification of high risk pregnant women

Visual evoked potentials in patients of insulin-dependent [type 1] diabetes melliyus

The latencies and amplitudes of visual evoked potentials [VEPs] were recorded in 30 patients of insulin-dependent [type1] diabetes mellitus and 15 age and sex matched non- diabetic controls to find out subclinical involvement of optic nerve in diabetic patients. The P100 latency of VEPs was highly significantly [P< 0.001] and the N75, N145 latencies were significantly [P<0.01], prolonged in diabetic patients as compared to the non- diabetic controls. Subclinical optic neuropathy was found in 40% of the diabetic patients. There was non- significant [P>0.05] correlation of P100 latency of the VEPs with duration of diabetes mellitus, fasting blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin [HBA][1c] level

Circulating platelet aggregates in essential hypertension

A study was carried out in 24 normotensive and 49 hypertensive subjects to measure the in-vivo platelet aggregation. Platelet aggregation ratio [PAR], which determines the circulating platelet aggregates quantitatively, was measured using the method of Wu and Hoak. The mean +/- SEM of PAR in the normotensive group was 0.90 +/- 0.01, whereas in the hypertensive group it decreased to 0.57 +/- 0.01 showing a significant decline [p < 0.0001]. The PAR was inversely correlated with the level of blood pressure. These results suggest increased level of circulating platelet aggregates in hypertension. This increased stickiness of platelets and hyperaggregability may lead to impeded blood flow and subsequent development of atherosclerotic complications. The results also suggest that the increased in-vivo platelet aggregation may be associated with the raised haemodynamic stress in the arterial vasculature