Association between pregnancy-related low back pain, physical activity, and health related quality of life: A survey of pregnant women in Northern Nigeria

BACKGROUND@#Pregnancy-related low back pain is a common complaint with numerous adverse consequences. Unfortunately, the effect of healthrelated quality of life and physical activity status on pregnancy-related low back pain remains understudied.@*OBJECTIVES@#This study aimed to examine the influence of physical activity and health-related quality of life on pregnancy-related low back pain among pregnant women.@*METHODS@#A survey of 398 pregnant women was conducted using the Modified Pregnancy Low Back Pain, Medical Outcome Survey Short Form (MOS-SF), and Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) to assess pregnancy-related low back pain, quality of life, and physical activity status among the participants.@*RESULTS@#About fifty-four percent (54%) of the pregnant women reported experiencing low back pain during pregnancy. There were no significant differences between most physical activity intensities and domains for pregnant women with and without pregnancy-related low back pain, with the exception of women identified as sedentary (12.9±14.8 versus 17.4±16.2) or inactive (18.7±20.0 versus 23.6±19.8). Furthermore, waist circumference (OR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.96 to 0.99) and Physical component scores (PCS) (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.98) were associated with pregnancy-related low back pain. An interaction of height and occupation also showed an association with pregnancy related low back pain (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.08).@*CONCLUSION@#Sedentary and inactivity are the only physical activity intensity and domain associated with pregnancy-related low back pain, which affect the physical well-being of the expecting mothers.

Impact of diabetes mellitus on nerves

Background: Involvement of the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems is probably the most common complication of diabetes. The main symptoms of diabetic polyneuropathy include negative symptoms (those related to nerve fiber loss or dysfunction) such as numbness and weakness, and positive symptoms (those related to abnormal function of surviving nerve fibers) such as tingling and pain.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study held in diabetic clinic of Nishter hospital, Multan, Pakistan. The study included any diabetic patients showing symptoms of neuropathy.Results: There were total of 140 in this study. This study included 85% of male and 15% of female. Most common symptoms of diabetic neuropathy were pain (70%) and tingling (70%) followed by numbness in 65% of patients. There were 28 patients in 5 years duration of diabetes, 35 people in 6-10 years duration, 21 patients in 11-15 years duration, and 14 patients in 20+ years duration.Conclusions: Neuropathy due to diabetes is crippling especially when pain is the prominent symptoms. Autonomic symptoms like constipation and lightheadedness are discomforting for the patients. The most commonly used screening test is vibrating tuning fork test which is east to perform is clinical setting and is not time consuming. Diabetic patients need to take special care of.

To Determine the Frequency of Successful Outcome of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Treated as Outpatient in a Tertiary Care Center

Objectives: To determine the frequency of successful outcome of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treated as outpatient in a tertiary care center. Subject and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done from 13 April, 2018 to 13 Oct, 2018. All the patients fulfilling inclusion criteria having age 20-60 years of either gender under treatment of MDR-TB for more than six months were enrolled in study the from Programmatic Management of Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (PMDT) site at Department of Pulmonology. Informed consent was taken from patients. Strictly exclusion criteria i.e. patients having neurological or psychological problems before diagnoses of MDR-TB (as per medical record in history), co-infection with HIV, was followed to exclude potential confounder and biases. Education status was evaluated and the response of treatment was checked in matriculate & under matric patients, also socioeconomic status was evaluated by asking about monthly salary whether below or above 12000, and subsequently their effect on treatment outcome. HIV screening is done through ICT method and DST for tuberculosis done on sputum of the patients in the Provincial Reference Lab in Hayat Abad Medical Complex Peshawar for diagnosis. Results: A total of 151 patients were included in this study, among which males were 94, and females were 57. The mean age was 41 years and S.D 10.82. As per the results, 110 (72.84%) patients were having a successful outcome. Conclusion: This study concludes that the out-patient treatment strategy success rate was 72.84% and it is feasible and safe for the treatment of MDR-TB patients.

Electroencephalography abnormalities in generalized epilepsy and their predictors: A multicenter experience

Background: In spite of the overwhelming significance of knowledge of basic elements of electroencephalography (EEG) in its application to the diagnostic workup and the management of patients with suspected or already established generalized epilepsy (GE), there is a dearth of data on the pattern and utility of clinical variables that can independently determine EEG abnormalities in GE. Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the frequency and pattern of EEG abnormality as well as assess the utility of clinical variables in predicting the likelihood of an abnormal EEG in GE. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study involving the analysis of EEGs of consecutive patients with clinical diagnosis of idiopathic GE from three centers over a 7-year period. Information on sociodemographic and seizure variables was obtained. The International Federation of Societies for Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology definition of interictal epileptiform discharges (interictal epileptiform activity [IEA]) was adopted in the study. Results: A total of 403 patients comprising 242 (60%) males and 161 (40%) females with clinical diagnosis of GE had EEG. Their age ranged between 2 weeks and 70 years, with a median age of 21 years and an interquartile age of 26 years. Two hundred and thirty-seven (58.8%) and 213 (52.9%) patients had abnormal EEG and IEA, respectively. Before adjustment for confounders, female gender (P = 0.0001), pediatric age group (P = 0.0388), duration of epilepsy of 1­4 years (P = 0.01387), uncontrolled seizure (P = 0.0060), and seizure frequency (P = 0.0001) were significantly associated with the presence of abnormal EEG. However, age, female gender, poor seizure control, and seizure frequencies were the independent predictors of EEG abnormality. Conclusion: The study showed that about 58% of patients with GE patients had abnormal EEG. Age, poor seizure control, and high frequency of seizure were independent predictors of the presence of EEG abnormality

Ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate isolated from kaempferia galanga inhibits inflammation by suppressing interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and angiogenesis by blocking endothelial functions

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects of ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate isolated from Kaempferia galanga. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate were assessed using the cotton pellet granuloma assay in rats, whereby the levels of interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-α were measured in the animals' blood. In addition, the levels of interleukin, tumor necrosis factor, and nitric oxide were measured in vitro using the human macrophage cell line (U937). The analgesic effects of ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate were assessed by the tail flick assay in rats. The anti-angiogenic effects were evaluated first by the rat aortic ring assay and, subsequently, by assessing the inhibitory effects of ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate on vascular endothelial growth factor, proliferation, migration, and tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. RESULTS: Ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate strongly inhibited granuloma tissue formation in rats. It prolonged the tail flick time in rats by more than two-fold compared with the control animals. The inhibition of interleukin and tumor necrosis factor by ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate was significant in both in vivo and in vitro models; however, only a moderate inhibition of nitric oxide was observed in macrophages. Furthermore, ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate considerably inhibited microvessel sprouting from the rat aorta. These mechanistic studies showed that ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate strongly inhibited the differentiation and migration of endothelial cells, which was further confirmed by the reduced level of vascular endothelial growth factor. CONCLUSION: Ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate exhibits significant anti-inflammatory potential by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokines and angiogenesis, thus inhibiting the main functions of endothelial cells. Thus, ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate could be a promising therapeutic agent ...

Biosorption of lead(II) and chromium(VI) on groundnut hull: equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamics study / Biosorción de plomo (II) y cromo (VI) en cáscaras de maní: estudio de equilibrio, cinética y termodinámica

The biosorption of lead(II) and chromium(VI) on groundnut hull was investigated. Batch biosorption experiments were conducted to find the equilibrium time and biosorption capacity. Effect of parameters like pH, temperature and initial metal concentration was studied. The maximum biosorption capacity of lead(II) and chromium(VI) was found to be 31.54 +/- 0.63 and 30.21 +/- 0.74 mg g-1, respectively. The optimum pH for lead(II) and chromium(VI) removal was 5 ± 0.1 and 2 +/- 0.1, respectively. The temperature change, in the range of 20 - 45ºC affected the biosorption capacity. The maximum removal of lead(II) was achieved at 20 +/- 2ºC, where as maximum uptake of chromium(VI) was observed at 40 +/- 2ºC. The biosorption data was fitted to the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherm models. The Langmuir model showed better representation of data, with correlation coefficient greater than 0.98. The kinetics of biosorption followed the pseudo second order kinetics model. The thermodynamics parameters were evaluated from the experimental data.