Gene signatures of cyclin-dependent kinases: a comparative study in naïve early and advanced stages of lung metastasis breast cancer among pre- and post-menopausal women.

The Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer (BC) is a more aggressive tumor with 5 years median survival rates after metastasis. Despite successful treatment, unfortunately, the majority of affected patients die. Defects in cell cycle and transcription regulation phases which are governed by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are the hallmark of many cancers that underpinning the progression of the disease. Therefore, the current study looked at the alteration of six CDKs mRNA expression levels in pre- and postmenopausal lung metastasis BC groups; the majority were HER2+. Two hundred pre-and postmenopausal lung metastasis breast cancer and healthy control blood samples were taken for RNA isolation. Quantitative PCR was done for CDKs mRNA expressions. We observed overexpression of CDK11, CDK12, CDK17, CDK18, and CDK19 in both pre- and postmenopausal groups. However, CDK20 showed progressive downregulation from early to advanced stages in both groups of patients. Collectively, this data revealed that CDKs overexpression levels may predict BC disease progression and provide further rationale for novel anticancer strategies for HER2+ BC cancers.

Single Intramuscular Methylprednisolone dose in Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients on Discharge.

OBJECTIVE: In this pilot study we aimed to evaluate the safety of a single intramuscular methylprednisolone (IM) injection at the time of discharge as a replacement for oral steroid therapy for patients in our population with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: This proof-of-concept, open label clinical trial without randomisation was conducted at the Pulmonary Department of Ziauddin Hospital and University, Karachi from January 2018 to March 2018. Patients discharged after in-hospital treatment for exacerbations of either asthma or COPD were recruited for this study. Intramuscular injection of methylprednisolone was administered to these patients who were then followed-up after one week and one month. During that period, information was collected of the patients' self-report of any unscheduled emergency room visit, blood sugar and blood pressure control, symptoms suggestive of thrush, increase gastric acidity and weight gain. For the data analysis, frequency and percentages were calculated with SPSS version 21. RESULTS: A total of 30 patients aged 52.83 ± 14.27 years were recruited for this pilot study. At one month follow-up, no unscheduled emergency room visits were observed in all of the study patients. Symptoms suggestive of oral thrush were recorded in only 2 (6.7%) patients and weight gain was reported by only 5 (16.7%). Controlled blood sugar and blood pressure was reported by all the patients. No incidence of nocturnal symptoms, awakening and dyspepsia were reported. CONCLUSIONS: A single dose of methylprednisolone injection without any obvious side effects over one month among patients with asthma and COPD demonstrated a safe strategy for them.

Depression Among Medical Students of Karachi A Cross Sectional Study.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. INTRODUCTION: Depression is a mood disorder characterized by loss of interest in daily activity, feeling of hopelessness and helplessness, decreased appetite, anger and irritability. The risk factors which leads to depression include academic demands, daily habits, sleeping hours, sedentary lifestyle, inability to cope, helplessness, increased psychological pressure, mental tension and increased work load etc. The objective of current study is to find out the prevalence of depression among students of different medical colleges of Karachi and its association with life style, habits and coping mechanisms. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 6 months i.e. April 2018 to September 2018, using a self-designed, self-explanatory questionnaire which also included Public Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for identification of depression. The coefficient of reliability including Cronbach alpha was 0.839 for the questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using mean with standard deviation and frequency with percentages while association was calculated by using Chi-square test. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 21.43 ±1.803. About 2/3 of the participants were female with marital status of 3/4th of participants being single. 92% of the medical students were found to be depressed while 26% of them have suicidal thoughts. Symptoms of depression were compared with depression score, which showed strong positive correlation. Depression scores were also compared with lifestyle habits of participants, including sleeping hours, exercise, recent trauma and multiple coping mechanisms, presented significant association with depression scores (p-value ≤ 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that depression is highly prevalent amongst medical student populations while the lifestyle habits, sleeping hours, physical activities, recent trauma and coping mechanism showed significant positive association with depression.