Monitoring and risk assessment due to presence of heavy metals and pesticides in tea samples

Tea is one of the most consumed beverages after water, but unfortunately the application of pesticides and heavy metals in crops make it unsafe for use. This research was conducted to evaluate the risk of heavy metals and pesticides in samples of natural source tea (gardens) and different local market brands. High Performance Liquid Chromatography was used to detect pesticides, Bifenthrin, Lambda chalothrin, Imadachloroprid, Dichlorovas, Glyphosate and Emamectin. Heavy metals such as Zinc, Iron, Chromium, copper, manganese and cobalt were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The value of HRI and THQ was still calculated for some exceeded samples. From results obtained some of the tea samples were contaminated from with heavy metals i.e., cobalt and manganese and pesticides as: dichlorovas, imacloroprid, bifenthrin, emamectin, glyphosate, difenaconazole and lambda above the allowed limits. The assessments revealed the potential for potential health risk for the consumers. The results of the study suggested that risk assessment and monitoring should be done at source that is at the production and processing area so that toxic effects are not passed on to the consumers or to the environment.

Awareness of oral health in educated community of khyber pakhtoonkhwa

Oral health may be defined as a standard of health of the oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat, speak and socialize without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment and which contributes to general well being. Students play an important role in health promotion and to impart preventive information among the family and the society. Hence the purpose of this study was to investigate oral health knowledge, attitude and practice among the educated population

Objectives: To assess Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards oral health among educated population

Methods and Materials: The study group comprised of 240 people, data on oral health Knowledge, Attitude and Practice [ KAP] were collected by means of self administered questionnaire .The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 16.0 software. The individual scores were summed up to yield a total score and given in subtitles for each question. Frequency, distribution, number and percentage were calculated. The study design was cross-sectional survey

Result: The results showed that among 240 respondents 200 [83.3%] agreed that smoking causes oral cancer, 24 [10%] disagreed while 16 [6.7%] did not know .160 [67%] brush their teeth in correct method , 23 [9%] do not brush their teeth in a correct method while 57 [24%] don't know proper tooth brushing technique . 72 [30%] consumed soft drinks at least once a day ,34[14%] at least once a week and 86 [36%] consumed it occasionally

Conclusion: Result of this study suggest that oral health Knowledge, Attitude and Practice [KAP] of the respondents were quiet satisfying regarding the knowledge about dental care but has to be improved in the other two aspects [i.e. attitude and practice] through oral health promotion programmes. These programmes are needed to improve KAP of educated community

First cancer statistics report from Hazara division

'Cancer' is on rise globally. Cancer registry is vital for policy making, resource allocation, progress tracking and overall cancer control. In Pakistan, cancer prevention, screening and standardised clinical trials, as well as quality assurance through surveillance are badly hampered due to the lack of a National Cancer Registry. For Pakistan a well-integrated system of Cancer Registry is need of the day. This retrospective study was conducted on the hospital records at the Oncology Department of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad from year 2007-12. Data were collected through a standard data capture form with a final figure of 555 patients. The malignancies were diagnosed clinically and histopathologically at different laboratories of Pakistan. Among these cases, 54.08% were male and 45.92% female. Incidence of cancer in patients below 14 years age was 8.47% and 91.53% above 14 years. Majority [31.95%] cases were from Mansehra followed by Abbottabad with 27.08% and Haripur 14.26% cases. Leukaemias were at top with 15.14% cases followed by breast carcinoma [13.69%], Lymphomas [12.07%], ovarian carcinomas [8.65%], and gastric carcinoma and skin cancers with 2.70% each. Among men, the highest incidence was of Hodgkin's lymphoma [14.9%] followed by lymphocytic leukaemia [14.3%]. Prostate cancer was seen in 8.3% male patients. Another 5.7% patients had lung cancer. In women, the highest incidence was carcinoma breast [19.7%] followed by ovarian carcinoma [13.4%], leukaemia [9.7%], and Hodgkin's lymphoma [4.3%]. A variety of cancers are prevalent in the indigent population. Record-keeping in wards is sub-optimal. Commonest cancers in the area have slight differences with rest of the country

In vitro assessment of relief to oxidative stress by different fractions of Boerhavia procumbens

Methanolic extract of Boerhavia procumbens Bank ex Roxb. was partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol sequentially after dissolving in distilled water. Phytochemical screening showed presence of phenolics, flavonoides and cardiac glycosides in large amount in chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol soluble fraction. The antioxidant activity of all these fractions and the remaining aqueous fraction was evaluated by four methods such as: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl [DPPH] free radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power [FRAP] assay, total antioxidant activity and ferric thiocyanate assay. Total phenolics were also determined. Some fractions showed noteworthy antioxidant activity. The results of the antioxidant activity revealed that the ethyl acetate soluble fraction showed the highest value of percent inhibition of DPPH [82.54 +/- 0.62] at the concentration of 125 micro g/ml. The IC[50] of this fraction was 37.11 +/- 0.23 micro g/ml, compared with butylated hydroxytoluene [BHT], which have IC[50] of 12.1 +/- 0.92 micro g/mL. It also showed the highest FRAP value [251.08 +/- 1.46 micro g of trolox equivalents] as well as the highest value of lipid peroxidation inhibition [57.21 +/- 52%], the highest total antioxidant activity [0.549 +/- 0.08] and also the highest total phenolic contents [77.1 +/- 0.6] as compared to the studied fractions. Phytochemical screening showed high percentage of phenolics, flavonoides and cardiac glycosides in this fraction

Knowledge, attitude and practice for breast cancer risk factors and screening modalities in staff nurses of ayub teaching hospital abbottabad

Background: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer modality in female worldwide. Avoiding the risk factors can reduce its incidence and adhering to screening and early detection can reduce its mortality. A sufficient knowledge regarding the risk factors and screening modalities is therefore essential. We assessed the knowledge level about these parameters in our staff nurses. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was performed. Knowledge regarding the risk factors and screening modalities were categorised into good, fair, poor and very poor categories. Results: Knowledge regarding most of the factors was found to be fair. A few things were termed as good knowledge like role of breast-feeding in protecting against breast cancer. Practice regarding the screening modalities was not satisfactory. Only a few nurses had good knowledge of the risk factors and screening modalities. Practice of the Screening modalities was also poor. Conclusion: There is a need to improve the nursing curriculum, training at the workplace and motivate them for screening practices. They should be encouraged to talk to their patients and their female attendants about prevention and early detection of breast cancer. Keywords: Breast cancer, BSE, knowledge

BRCA1 status in Pakistani breast cancer patients with moderate family history

To determine BRCA1 status in breast carcinoma patients of Pakistani origin. Observational study. The Oncology Clinics of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, between May 2005 and December 2009. Fifty three breast cancer patients based on clinical and laboratory diagnosis were recruited for this study. Moderate family history was defined as having a close relative [mother, daughter, sister] diagnosed with breast cancer under 45 years. Peripheral blood samples were collected from each patient in a 5 ml tube containing EDTA as anticoagulant. Subsequent to DNA extraction, mutational analysis of BRCA1 exons 2, 5, 6, 16, 20 and 22 was carried out using single strand conformation polymorphism [SSCP] assay while protein truncation test [PTT] was used to examine mutations in exon 11. All BRCA1 sequence variants were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Twenty-three patients were diagnosed with early onset breast cancer, 30 patients had moderate family history. At the time of diagnosis, the median age of enrolled patients was 39 years [range 24-65 years]. Out of 53 patients, analyzed by SSCP assay, mobility shift was detected in exon 6, 16 and 20 of three patients, whereas one patient was tested positive for mutation in exon 11 by PTT assays. All patients with BRCA1 mutations were further confirmed by DNA sequencing analysis. In exon 16 c.4837A > G was confirmed, which is a common polymorphism reported in several populations including Asians. Moreover, mutations in exon 6 [c.271T > G], exon 20 [c.5231 delG] and exon 11 [c.1123 T > G] were reported first time in the Pakistani population. Several BRCA1 mutations were observed in Pakistani breast cancer patients with moderate family history. Therefore, mutation-based genetic counselling for patients with moderate family history can facilitate management, if one first or second degree relative or early onset disease is apparent

Medullary carcinoma of breast with a novel germline mutation 1123T>G in exon11 of brca1

Breast cancer, the most common malignancy in females, has an estimated 5-10% hereditary predisposition. BRCA1 is a tumor suppressor gene and is known to be responsible for breast cancer and breast-ovarian cancers running in families. In breast caner patients, several mutations in BRCA1 have been reported throughout the gene. This report describes identification of a mutation in BRCA1 gene using protein truncation [PTT] assay in a patient with medullary carcinoma of breast who also had a family history of breast cancer. Following DNA sequencing, the mutation was confirmed as substitution of thymine at position 1123 with guanine of exon 11 [1123 T>G]. This mutation can be added to the pool of known BRCA1 mutations in Pakistani population, which will help in developing a local screening panel of BRCA1 mutations