Relationship between hair nicotine levels with blood pressure, body composition, lipid profile and leptin among healthy male smokers in Kelantan

Objectives: Cigarette smoking has been reported to cause acute blood pressure elevation. Therefore, it is important to assess the relationships between chronic smoking and blood pressure, body composition, and the metabolic profile to gain an understanding of the long-term effects of smoking on an individual's body weight and health. This study examined the relationships between the hair nicotine level, blood pressure, body composition, lipid profile, and leptin in healthy male smokers

Methods: For this cross-sectional study, 107 male smokers aged between 20 and 50 years old were recruited as volunteers. The nicotine levels in the volunteers' hair were measured using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Moreover, the subjects' blood pressure, body composition [weight, height, body mass index, body fat percentage, visceral fat, waist and hip circumferences, and basal metabolic rate], lipid profile, and leptin concentration were also measured

Results: The means for age and BMI among the subjects were 37.00 [9.42] years and 24.59 [4.33] kg/m[2], respectively. The average length of time as a smoker was 16.91 years. The hair nicotine level was found to be positively correlated with the total cholesterol [r = 0.314, r[2] = 0.099, p = 0.028] and triglyceride [r = 0.351, r[2] = 0.0.123, p = 0.013] levels. However, no significant correlations were found between the hair nicotine level and blood pressure, body composition, or leptin concentration

Conclusion: The positive correlations between the hair nicotine level and total cholesterol and triglyceride levels highlighted the harmful effects of chronic smoking, even among healthy male subjects

Awareness of parents about dental diseases and their prevention in children

The objective of the present study was to determine the level of awareness of parents about dental diseases and their prevention in children. The subjects included 214 parents of the children attending Paedodontics Department, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar for treatment. A questionnaire designed for self-administration was used to collect data so as to evaluate the effects of gender, age and level of education of parents on their awareness. The results showed that more than half of the parents [55%] correctly identified the most important cause of dental caries but only one-fourth [26%] of them were able to identify the most important way to prevent it. Fifty-nine percent [59%] of the participating parents were able to correctly identify the most important cause of gum diseases while 65% know the most important way of their prevention. Nearly two-third of the parents [63%] replied that children should be taken to the dentist regularly for check up even if they don't complain of any problem. Majority of the parents[[82%] showed no knowledge of fluoride. Female parents showed more awareness as compared to their male counterparts. Age and level of education of parents had no effect on the level of awareness except for the knowledge of fluoride, which increased, with increasing level of education it was concluded that the awareness of parents about dental diseases and their prevention in children was not satisfactory and needs to be improved through various measures

Prevalence of hypodontia in the populace of NWFP

The purpose of the study was to identify the pattern of congenital absence of teeth in a group of individuals seeking treatment of malocclusion in the Department of Orthodontics, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar and to find out the gender difference and in addition the horizontal, vertical and diagonal correlation among the missing teeth. The sample represents the population of North West Frontier Province

Carcinoma in cholecystectomy specimens of acute cholecystitis

This study was conducted in surgical 'D' ward Khyber Teaching Hospital from July 2003 to June 2005 looking for malignancy in cholecystectomy specimens of acute cholecystitis. A total of 56 patients, 43 females [78%] and 13 male [23.2%] were included in this study. The histopathology reports showed carcinoma in 8 [14.28%] patients. It was observed that number of cases with carcinoma gall bladder with acute cholecystitis was quite high. All cholecystomy specimen should be sent for histopatholgy to detect the clinically non evident malignancy

comparison of the effect of breast feeding, mixed feeding and top feeding on weights of infants and children

A retrospective analysis of 503 patients admitted to diarrhoea ward between June to August 2003 was done regarding their weight and feeding practices. Out of them 36 children were excluded as they did not full fill the required criteria. So a total of 467 patients were studied. The patients were divided into three groups depending upon whether they were breast fed, mixed i.e. both breast and top fed, or top fed respectively. All patients between the ages of birth and 24 months were included. The number of patients in breast fed, mixed fed and top fed were 134,135 and 198 respectively. Male to female ratio was 1.4:1,1.5:1,1.4:1,with mean age in breast fed group for females 6.9 +/- 4.7 months and males 10.3 +/- 7.63,in mixed fed group 8.3 +/- 5.97 months and 8.4 +/- 6.4 months and in top fed group 8.25 +/- 7.35 months and 7.65 +/- 5.72 months respectively. Mean weight in each group was 6.1 +/- 1.9, 5.7 +/- 2.1 and 4.9 +/- 2.0 kg. When weight of breast fed children was compared with those of mixed fed the difference was not statistically significant with p value of 0.236 while the comparison with top fed was highly significant with p value of 0.000. Similarly babies on mixed feeding had significantly better weight than that of top fed with p value of 0.004. Although it has been stressed upon and a lot of effort has been put in to encourage breast feeding but still top feeding and mixed feeding are on the top resulting in malnourished and wasted children. From our study it is obvious that top fed children are grossly malnourished, and exclusive breast feeding is low. We need to take more steps to encourage breast feeding