Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Awareness and Acceptability for Primary Prevention of Cervical Cancer in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is the most effective option for primary prevention HPV, a well-known cause of cervical cancer.  The objective of the study was to assess awareness of HPV, the acceptability of its vaccine and factors associated with the acceptability among the adult population in Pakistan. MATERIALS & METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adult population of Pakistan from January 2022 and March 2022. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, instead of face-to-face interviews, a self-administered questionnaire was developed and distributed through Google Forms. The questionnaire was available in both English and Urdu languages to cater to a diverse population. RESULTS: Overall, 313 (65.2 %) study participants had heard about HPV infection, while 297 (61.9%) knew HPV as the cause of genital warts and 256 (53.3 %) knew that HPV can cause any type of cancer, with a higher percentage of awareness among those who were in any health care setting compared to those who were in a non-healthcare setting. Regarding the acceptability to get HPV vaccine, 320 (66.7%) of the study participants were willing to get vaccinated, while only 15(3.1%) of the study population had previously received HPV vaccine. The most important factors associated with HPV vaccine acceptability were younger age of 18-25 years (Prevalence Ratio (PR) =1.60, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) =1.11, 2.32), and 26-35 years (PR= 1.65, 95% CI=1.09, 2.50). HPV vaccine acceptability was also associated with working in a healthcare setting due to better awareness of HPV vaccine (PR= 1.29, 95% CI=1.03, 1.62). CONCLUSION: It is important to address the knowledge gaps existing in the community about HPV vaccine acceptability and barriers against it for the successful rollout of the HPV vaccination program in Pakistan. Mass awareness campaigns about HPV, HPV vaccine, and cervical cancer are needed to increase the acceptability of HPV vaccine among public at the time of reintroducing HPV vaccine.

Natural history of pituitary apoplexy: a long-term follow-up study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pituitary apoplexy (PA) is a rare neurosurgical emergency, associated with deficiency of one or more pituitary hormones. Few studies have explored the relative outcomes associated with conservative and neurosurgical intervention. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of all patients with PA reviewed at Morriston Hospital was undertaken and diagnosis was obtained from Morriston database (Leicester Clinical Workstation database) between 1998 and 2019 from clinic letters and discharge summaries. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients with PA were identified with a mean age of 74.5 years and 20 (51.3%) patients were women. Patients were followed up for a mean±SD 68.1±61.7 months. Twenty-three (59.0%) patients had a known pituitary adenoma. Commoner clinical presentations of PA were ophthalmoplegia or visual field loss. Following PA, 34 (87.2%) patients were noted to have a non-functioning pituitary adenoma (either pre-existing or new), while 5 (12.8%) patients had a pre-existing functional macroadenoma. Neurosurgical intervention was taken in 15 (38.5%) patients of which 3 (20.0%) patients also received radiotherapy, 2 (13.3%) patients had radiotherapy alone and the remainder managed conservatively. External ophthalmoplegia recovered in all cases. Visual loss remained in all cases. One (2.6%) patient with chromophobe adenoma had a significant second episode of PA requiring repeat surgery. CONCLUSION: PA often occurs in patients with undiagnosed adenoma. Hypopituitarism commonly occurred following conservative or surgical treatment. External ophthalmoplegia resolved in all cases, however, visual loss did not recover. Pituitary tumour recurrence and further PA episodes are rare.

A series of patients with hospital-acquired diabetic ketoacidosis (HADKA): a descriptive analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hospital-acquired diabetic ketoacidosis (HADKA) can complicate hospital admission in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We aimed to determine the characteristics of such patients and the reasons for HADKA. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients referred to diabetes services with HADKA at Morriston Hospital between January 2016 and January 2022 was undertaken. Patients that were included were admitted without diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), were aged 18 years and over, and who subsequently developed DKA in hospital. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients were included with a mean age of 65.2 years; nine (32.0%) were men, 13 (52.0%) had T1D and 12 (48.0%) had T2D. Patients had a mean pre-admission glycated haemoglobin of 84.7 mmol/mol, and 17 (68.0%) were insulin-treated. Most were admitted under medicine (n=14; 56.0%) and the remainder under surgery (n=11; 44.0%). More common reasons for HADKA were erroneous insulin administration (n=9; 36.0%), infection (n=7; 28.0%) and surgery (n=5; 20.0%).Five (20.0%) patients required intensive care admission, and the mean length of hospital stay was 42.6 days (range 2-173). Three (12.0%) patients died during the hospital admission. CONCLUSION: HADKA was identified in a significant number of patients at our hospital and was associated with significant mortality. Earlier recognition of ketonaemia and associated medication use may prevent HADKA and improve outcomes.

Low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops for medical students in Pakistan: a creative, scalable, and sustainable solution for student research.

BACKGROUND: Pakistan has not been a major contributor to medical research, mainly because of the lack of learning opportunities to medical students. With the increase in online learning systems during COVID-19, research related skills can be taught to medical students via low-cost peer taught virtual research workshops. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the effectiveness of a comprehensive low-cost peer-taught virtual research workshops amongst medical students in Pakistan. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study assessed the effectiveness of five virtual research workshops (RWs) in improving core research skills. RWs for medical students from across Pakistan were conducted over Zoom by medical students (peer-teachers) at the Aga Khan University, Pakistan, with minimal associated costs. The content of the workshops included types of research, ethical approval and research protocols, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing, and improving networking skills for research. Improvement was assessed via pre-and post-quizzes for each RW, self-efficacy scores across 16 domains, and feedback forms. Minimum criteria for completion of the RW series was attending at least 4/5 RWs and filling the post-RW series feedback form. A 6-month post-RW series follow-up survey was also emailed to the participants. RESULTS: Four hundred medical students from 36 (/117; 30.8%) different medical colleges in Pakistan were enrolled in the RWs. However, only 307/400 (76.75%) medical students met the minimum requirement for completion of the RW series. 56.4% of the participants belonged to the pre-clinical years while the rest were currently to clinical years. The cohort demonstrated significant improvement in pre-and post-quiz scores for all 5 RWs (p <  0.001) with the greatest improvement in Data Collection and Analysis (+ 34.65%), and in self-efficacy scores across all domains (p <  0.001). 166/307 (54.1%) participants responded to the 6 months post-RWs follow-up survey. Compared to pre-RWs, Research involvement increased from 40.4 to 62.8% (p <  0.001) while proportion of participants with peer-reviewed publications increased from 8.4 to 15.8% (p = 0.043). CONCLUSION: Virtual RWs allow for a wide outreach while effectively improving research-related knowledge and skills, with minimal associated costs. In lower-middle-income countries, virtual RWs are a creative and cost-effective use of web-based technologies to facilitate medical students to contribute to the local and global healthcare research community.

Real-World Clinical Experience of Semaglutide in Secondary Care Diabetes: A Retrospective Observational Study.

INTRODUCTION: The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor analogue (GLP-1RA) semaglutide is associated with improvements in glycaemia and cardiovascular risk factors in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to examine the real-world impact of semaglutide administered by injection in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) across three secondary care sites in Wales. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of 189 patients with T2D initiated on semaglutide between January 2019 and June 2020 with at least one follow-up visit was undertaken. RESULTS: At baseline, participants had a mean age of 61.1 years, mean glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) of 77.8 mmol/mol (9.3%) and mean body weight of 101.8 kg. At 6 and 12 months of follow-up, mean HbA1c reductions of 13.3 mmol/mol (1.2%) and 16.4 mmol/mol (1.5%), respectively, were observed, and mean weight loss at 6 months was 3.0 kg (all p < 0.001). At 12 months, there were significant reductions in total cholesterol (0.5 mmol/L) and alanine transaminase (4.8 IU/L). Patients naïve to GLP-1RAs or with higher baseline HbA1c at baseline had greater glycaemic reductions, although clinically significant HbA1c reductions were also observed in those who switched from other GLP-1RAs, whose body mass index was < 35.0 and > 35.0 kg/m2 or who had lower baseline HbA1c. Semaglutide was generally well tolerated, although adverse-effects limited use in 18 patients (9.5%). CONCLUSION: Semaglutide provided clinically and statistically significant reductions in HbA1c, body weight, lipids and liver enzymes.

Metabolite profiling of arginase inhibitor activity guided fraction of Ficus religiosa leaves by LC-HRMS.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the major causes of deaths worldwide. Increased arginase activity is associated with cardiovascular disease. The literature shows that plants are a good source of arginase inhibitors. Hence in the present work arginase inhibitor activity is studied from Ficus religiosa leaves. A fine powder of F. religiosa leaves was serially extracted in various solvents, viz. hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol. Out of those four solvent extracts, the one showing highest arginase inhibitor activity was loaded onto the column for further fractionation. Among the collected fractions, the one showing the highest activity was subjected to identification of metabolites by using LC-HRMS. Total compounds including acipimox, edoxudine, levulinic acid, hydroxyhydroquinone, ramiprilglucuronide, berberine, antimycin A, swietenine and some short peptides were identified from the fraction showing the highest arginase inhibitory activity. Identification of these metabolites from F. religiosa and their biological importance may help to promote its use as medicinal plant. Further purification and characterization of therapeutically novel molecules will be the subject of future work.

Dapagliflozin is associated with improved glycaemic control and weight reduction at 44 months of follow-up in a secondary care diabetes clinic in the UK.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: We examined HbA1c and cardiovascular risk factors with a median follow-up of 44 months therapy with dapagliflozin. METHODS: We undertook a clinical practice evaluation of 101 patients attending our clinic. RESULTS: Dapagliflozin resulted in a significant reduction in HbA1c 82.6 ± 15.7 v 68.7 ± 17.8 mmol/mol. CONCLUSION: Dapagliflozin maintains glycaemic control along with sustained improvements in weight and no decline in renal function.

Attitudes and Beliefs About Medical Usefulness and Legalization of Marijuana among Cancer Patients in a Legalized and a Nonlegalized State.

Background: There is a growing preference for the use of marijuana for medical purposes, despite limited evidence regarding its benefits and potential safety risks. Legalization status may play a role in the attitudes and preferences toward medical marijuana (MM). Objectives: The attitudes and beliefs of cancer patients in a legalized (Arizona) versus nonlegalized state (Texas) regarding medical and recreational legalization and medical usefulness of marijuana were compared. Settings/Subjects: Two hundred adult cancer patients were enrolled from outpatient Palliative Care centers at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gilbert, AZ (n = 100) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX (n = 100). Design and Measurements: Adult cancer patients seen by the Palliative Care teams in the outpatient centers were evaluated. Various physical and psychosocial assessments were conducted, including a survey of attitudes and beliefs toward marijuana. Results: The majority of individuals support legalization of marijuana for medical use (Arizona 92% [85-97%] vs. Texas 90% [82-95%]; p = 0.81) and belief in its medical usefulness (Arizona 97% [92-99%] vs. Texas 93% [86-97%]; p = 0.33) in both states. Overall, 181 (91%) patients supported legalization for medical purposes whereas 80 (40%) supported it for recreational purposes (p < 0.0001). Patients preferred marijuana over current standard treatments for anxiety (60% [51-68%]; p = 0.003). Patients found to favor legalizing MM were younger (p = 0.027), had worse fatigue (p = 0.015), appetite (p = 0.004), anxiety (p = 0.017), and were Cut Down, Annoyed, Guilty, and Eye Opener-Adapted to Include Drugs (CAGE-AID) positive for alcohol/drugs (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Cancer patients from both legalized and nonlegalized states supported legalization of marijuana for medical purposes and believed in its medical use. The support for legalization for medical use was significantly higher than for recreational use in both states.

Helicobacter pylori and cardiovascular complications: a mechanism based review on role of Helicobacter pylori in cardiovascular diseases.

Heart disease comprises a wide class of cardiovascular abnormalities, including ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease. It is the leading cause of death all over the world. Several traditional and novel risk factors, such as infectious and noninfectious agents, have been associated with heart disease. Out of these, Helicobacter pylori has been recently introduced as an important etiological factor for heart disease. Numerous seroepidemiological findings observed H. pylori antibodies in the blood of a patient with cardiovascular complications. The bacteria survive in the epithelial cells of gastric organs and cause digestive complications. Excess inflammatory pathogenesis and prognosis stimulate an immune response that further causes significant disturbances in various factors like cytokines, fibrinogen, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, C-reactive protein, heat shock protein, and white blood cell count, and provoke a number of problems such as atherosclerosis and prothrombic state, and cross-reactivity which eventually leads to heart diseases. H. pylori releases toxigenic nutrients, chiefly vacuolating cytotoxin gen A (Vac A) and cytotoxin associated gene A (Cag A), of which Cag A is more virulent and involved in the formation of cholesterol patches in arteries, induction of autoimmune disorder, and release of immune mediated response. Although numerous mechanisms have been correlated with H. pylori and heart disease, the exact role of bacteria is still ambiguous.