Primary versus secondary closure of stoma reversal skin wound: Randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of primary versus secondary closure of stoma reversal skin wound in terms of wound infection. Methods: The study was conducted at Surgical B Unit of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, Pakistan, from January 1 to December 31, 2020, and comprised adult patients of either gender undergoing stoma reversal. The patients were randomised into primary closure group A and secondary closure group B. Surgical procedure was similar in both the groups except the skin closure technique. In group A, skin was closed with interrupted polypropylene sutures, while in group B, wound was dressed with saline-soaked gauze daily using aseptic technique and was allowed to heal by secondary intention or delayed primary closure later on. Postoperatively, the wound was assessed for infection till 30th postoperative day or complete wound healing. Data was analysed using SPSS 16. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients, 35(70%) were males and 15(30%) were females. The overall mean age was 28±1.65years. There were 25(50%) patients in each of the two groups. There were 19(76%) males and 6(24%) females in group A with a mean age of 32±2.8years. There were 16(64%) males and 9(36%) females in group B with a mean age of 23±3.5years. Overall, 10(20%) patients had wound-site infections; 9(36%) in group A versus 1(4%) in group B (p=0.005). Frequency of wound infection with respect to gender, type of stoma and length of hospital stay was not significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Secondary skin closure was found to be associated with significantly reduced wound infection rate after stoma reversal. CClinical Trial Number: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04785404.

Social support and health related quality of life among pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between social support and health-related quality of life among pregnant women. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at City Hospital, Kashrote, and District Headquarters Hospital in the city of Gilgit, Pakistan, from January to March2017.Pregnant women presenting to the two hospitals were approached for data collection. The chronological age range of the sample was 15-35 years and age of pregnancy in months were included. Social support of pregnant women was measured through multidimensional scale of perceived social support and health-related quality of life was measured through medical outcomes study questionnaire.. RESULTS: Of the 120 participants, 66(55%) were from the City Hospital, Kashrote, and 54(45%) from the District Headquarters Hospital. Subjects who were in their first trimester of pregnancy were 72(60%), while 25(20.8%) were in their second trimester and 23 (19.2%) in the third. Of the total, 80(66.66%) were educated women and 40 (33.34%) were illiterate. Subjects with a history of physical illness were 76 (63.30%) while 60 (50%) suffered from psychological illness too. There was a significantly positive relationship between social support and health-related quality of life among the pregnant subjects (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: More social support, can increase the health-related quality of life of pregnant women.

Biallelic variants in LINGO1 are associated with autosomal recessive intellectual disability, microcephaly, speech and motor delay.

PURPOSE: To elucidate the novel molecular cause in two unrelated consanguineous families with autosomal recessive intellectual disability. METHODS: A combination of homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing was used to locate the plausible genetic defect in family F162, while only exome sequencing was followed in the family PKMR65. The protein 3D structure was visualized with the University of California-San Francisco Chimera software. RESULTS: All five patients from both families presented with severe intellectual disability, aggressive behavior, and speech and motor delay. Four of the five patients had microcephaly. We identified homozygous missense variants in LINGO1, p.(Arg290His) in family F162 and p.(Tyr288Cys) in family PKMR65. Both variants were predicted to be pathogenic, and segregated with the phenotype in the respective families. Molecular modeling of LINGO1 suggests that both variants interfere with the glycosylation of the protein. CONCLUSION: LINGO1 is a transmembrane receptor, predominantly found in the central nervous system. Published loss-of-function studies in mouse and zebrafish have established a crucial role of LINGO1 in normal neuronal development and central nervous system myelination by negatively regulating oligodendrocyte differentiation and neuronal survival. Taken together, our results indicate that biallelic LINGO1 missense variants cause autosomal recessive intellectual disability in humans.

Self-related factors and decision making styles among early adults.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of self-related factors, including self-regulation, self-esteem and self-efficacy, on decision-making styles of early adults. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from February to August, 2014 at four universities of Islamabad, Pakistan, and comprised adult students of both Social and Natural sciences. Data was collected through Self-Regulation Questionnaire, Self-Esteem Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale and the General Decision Making Styles Questionnaire. Data was subjected to multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Of the 300 participants, 160(53%) were men and 140(47%) were women. The overall mean age was 22.68±5.96 years. Besides, 170(56%) were studying Social sciences and 130(44%) Natural sciences. Self-regulation, self-esteem and self-efficacy positively predicted rational and intuitive style and negatively predicted avoidant and spontaneous style. Self-efficacy and self-regulation negatively predicted dependent style. CONCLUSIONS: Ensuring positive self-related factors affected adults' effective decision-making choices.

Paternal malparenting and offspring personality disorders: Mediating effect of early maladaptive schemas.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mediating role of maladaptive schemas between permissive/authoritarian parenting by fathers and personality disorders, including histrionic, antisocial, narcissistic and depressive attitudes among adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan, and comprised university students. Data was collected by administering the parental authority questionnaire, the young schema questionnaire and the personality diagnostic questionnaire. SPSS 23 was used for data analysis. The study was completed in one year. It was started from June 2014 and ended in June 2015. RESULTS: Of the 200 participants who were handed the questionnaires, 100(50%) returned it fully filled up. Of them, 87(87%) were women and 13(13%) were men. All scales had greater than 0.70 alpha reliability coefficients. The values of skewness for all scales ranged from 0.10 to 0.86.Permissive parenting style had positive correlation with histrionic (p<0.05), narcissistic (p<0.05) and antisocial personality disorders (p<0.01). Authoritarian parenting had positive correlation with early maladaptive schemas (p<0.01) and depressive personality disorder (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both permissive and authoritarian parenting styles led to personality disorders among offspring in the adult phase of their lives.