demographic and clinical characteristics of leprosy in Saudi Arabia

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Although the occurrence of leprosy has declined in Saudi Arabia, it has not yet been eradicated. To our knowledge, this descriptive retrospective study is the first to assess the clinical presentation of leprosy at the time of diagnosis in Saudi Arabia. All study subjects were leprosy patients admitted to Ibn Sina hospital, the only referral hospital for leprosy in Saudi Arabia, between January 2000 and May 2012. A total of 164 subjects, the majority of whom [65%] were between 21 and 50 years of age, were included, and the male-to-female ratio was 2.8:1. Of these 164 patients, 63% were Saudis, and 77% of all admitted patients were from the western region. Lepromatous leprosy was observed most frequently [33%], and 31% of cases had a positive history of close contact with leprosy. At the time of diagnosis, 84% of all subjects presented with skin manifestation. The prevalence of neurological deficit at the time of diagnosis was 87%. Erythema nodosum leprosum [E.N.L.] developed in only 10% of all subjects. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical characteristics pertaining to each type of leprosy in the region, and training courses in caring for and diagnosing patients with leprosy should be organized for health workers

Intercomparison of environmental gamma doses measured with A NaI (Tl) survey meter and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) in the Poonch division of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

This study presents the intercomparison of the outdoor environmental gamma dose rates measured using a NaI (Tl) based survey meter along with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and estimation of excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR), for the inhabitants of Poonch division of the Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. CaF2: Dy (TLD-200) card dosimeters were installed at height of 1 m from ground at fifteen different locations covering the entire Poonch division comprising of three districts. During three distinct two month time periods within the six month study period, all the installed dosimeters were exposed to outdoor environmental gamma radiations, retrieved and read out at Radiation Dosimetry Laboratory, Health Physics Division, PINSTECH laboratory, Islamabad. The ambient outdoor gamma dose rate measurements were also taken with NaI (Tl) based portable radiometric instrument at 1 m above the ground. To estimate the annual gamma doses, NaI (Tl) based survey data were used for one complete year following the deployment of the dosimeters. The mean annual gamma dose rates measured by TLDs and survey meter were found as 1.47±0.10 and 0.862±0.003 mGy/y respectively. Taking into account a 29% outdoor occupancy factor, the annual average effective dose rate for individuals was estimated as 0.298±0.04 and 0.175±0.03 mSv/y by TLDs and survey meter, respectively. For outdoor exposure, the ELCR was calculated from the TLD and survey meter measurements. The environmental outdoor average annual effective dose obtained in present study are less than the estimated world average terrestrial and cosmic gamma ray dose rate of 0.9 mSv/y reported in UNSCEAR 2000. The possible origins of gamma doses in the area and incompatibilities of results obtained from the two different measurement techniques are also discussed.

Prevalence and resistance pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa against various antibiotics

A prospective study on various clinical isolates from patients admitted from various parts of NWFP and Afghanistan at Post Graduate Medical Institute [PGMI] Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar was conducted from January 2000 to December 2004 to ascertain the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Among 4709 positive isolates, 314 [6.67%] were Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The highest rate of infection due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed in orthopedic ward [24.61%] and OPD [20%], in other wards the infection was between 13% to 1.5%. Gender-wise prevalence showed 61.78% male and 38.22% females were infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The highest percentage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were observed in pus [57.64%] and urine [24.2%] samples. Maximum Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were found between March to August and the highest percentage 13.846% was observed in June. Using the disc diffusion method, the resistance patterns of 314 isolates against 14 antimicrobial agents were determined. The highest resistance was observed against ampicillin [>/= 98.4%], ampicillin/ sulbactam [85.3%], co-amoxiclave [83.8%] and ofloxacin [68.4%] and least resistance was observed against amikacin [24%]. Similarly the MIC for ampicillin [4 to >2048 micro g/ml], ampicillin/sulbactam [1 to 2048 micro g/ml] and co-amoxiclave [1 to > 2048 micro g/ml] against clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also high. High resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa against various commonly used antibiotics showed the alarming situation. The control of drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa required rational prescribing and proper use of antibiotics

Relationship of Gleason's score with age, cellularity of tumor and PSA immunohistochemical stain in prostatic carcinoma

Purpose of the study: To study the relationship between Gleason's Score with age, cellularity of Tumor and PSA immunohistochemical staining in prostatic carcinoma

Basic procedures: An exploratory study carried out at the Department of Histopathology of a Tertiary Care Hospital Lahore, from January 1999 to July 2002. Sixty-two [62] cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma were graded with Gleason's score and degree of cellularity of the prostatic cancer were determined on each slide, along with degree of positive staining with immunohistochemical stain marking tissue PSA. These were correlated and relationship was evaluated by ANOVA and simple regression

Main findings: Age of the 62 cases ranged between 50 - 90 years and no significant difference was found between age groups regarding tumor cell differentiation. Cellularity of the prostate cancer showed a weak positive relationship with Gleason's score. Relationship between staining positivity and Gleason's score showed an inverse quadratic relationship with an F statistic of 76.2 [p.0001] and Beta of -.75

Conclusions: From this study it can be concluded that cellularity of tumor tissue in a specimen bears little or no relationship with Gleason's Score. There is an inverse relationship between Gleason's Score and percentage of tumor cells showing positive staining with PSA immunohistochemical stain

Relationship between Gleason's score and immunohistochemical staining intensity of tissue PSA in prostatic carcinoma

To evaluate the usefulness of Immunohistochemical Staining of Tissue PSA in determining the severity of Prostatic Carcinoma. Material and An explanatory study carried out at the Department of Histopathology of a Tertiary Care Hospital Lahore, from January 1999 to July 2002. Sixty-two [62]- cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma were graded with Gleason's score and stained with immunohistochemical stain for tissue PSA. Intensity of staining was correlated with Gleason's score and relationship was evaluated by ANOVA and simple regression. Specificity and sensitivity of staining intensity was estimated for specific Gleason's scores. Age of the 62 cases ranged between 50 ' 90 years and no significant difference was found between age groups regarding tumor cell differentiation. Staining intensity was found to be positively related to cellular differentiation [->2 51]. 'Relationship between staining intensity and Gleason's score showed an inverse relationship with ANOVA / linear regression; F statistic of 209.72 [p.0001] and R 0.882. Our study confirmed the findings of other international studies exploring relationships between Gleason's score and staining intensity of tissue PSA. Staining of tissue PSA with immunohistochemical stains is helpful in diagnosing the severity of the tumor grade as a complimentary tool along with Gleason's scoring

Level of awareness about HIV/AIDS among truck drivers and their attitude towards persons with AIDS

HIV thrives on mobile population. Truck drivers particularly long distance truck drivers are more vulnerable to the AIDS virus, because they travel a lot, cut off from mainstream society, often in order to reduce their loneliness, engage in activities such as having unsafe sex with commercial sex workers and with fellow crew members. In this study seventy-five truck drivers were interviewed on nonrandom basis, using the convenient sampling technique, at the Badami Bagh Truck Stand, Lahore. A questionnaire was designed as a tool for data collection to assess the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and their attitude towards persons with AIDS. It was found that 50% of the truckers did not know whether needles had any role in the spread of AIDS and another 30-40% thought that needles had nothing to do with the transmission of AIDS. Forty to fifty percent of the respondents had the misconception that AIDS can be contracted by casual contact and being in the same room with a person with AIDS. Two thirds of the truck drivers did think that monogamy and condom use is an effective method for AIDS prevention. An association between low knowledge of AIDS and high negative attitude towards persons with AIDS was found to exist, which was statistically significant. The study gives some direction for prospective studies assessing the knowledge and attitudes of the truck drivers or other populations with similar demographic characteristics

Study of hepatitis D in high risk population of hepatitis B

Hepatitis delta is a defective RNA virus which depends upon HBV for expression and replication. It may coinfect with HBV or super-infect an HBV infected individual. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of antidelta in patients of hepatitis in blood bank donors in Karachi. Sera from 329 patients of hepatitis and healthy volunteers were tested for HBsAg by ELISA technique. Forty-two cases were processed further for delta antibody. HDV infection was detected in eight of the 22 patients [36.8%] of hepatitis and two [10%] of the 20 healthy carriers of HBV. The presence of HDV among our population emphasizes HBV and HDV screening prior to surgical and endoscopic procedures as well as before transfusion of blood and blood products.The use of disposable syringes in general practice should be made mandatory.There is a need to educate people for vaccination against HBV