Pak J Med Sci
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in developing countries like Pakistan. Pentavalent antimonials are still drug of choice, despite being toxic and intolerable for patients. Second line treatments have been extensively studied but the results of their efficacy are conflicting. This, to our knowledge, will be the first study in this regard. Our objective was to determine if combination of oral itraconazole with intralesional (IL) meglumine antimoniate (MA) reduces the duration of treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis, as compared to intralesional MA alone. ⋯ Combination of oral itraconazole with intralesional MA offered no benefit over intralesional MA alone in the management of cutaneous leishmaniasis in terms of duration of therapy.
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To compare the predicted accuracy of PFR with RSBI for successful spontaneous breathing trial before extubation in intensive care unit. ⋯ Even though neither rapid shallow breathing nor the PFR was enough accurate in prediction of successful extubation but rapid shallow breathing index 105 threshold had higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to RSBI threshold 130PFR. Therefore, RSBI105 is more accurate in predicting the outcome of extubation of ICU patients.
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To explore the Barriers and Priorities accorded to neo-natal hearing screening at government health policy level. ⋯ The barriers to NHS are lack of financial resource allocation by the federal government, and lack of research and reliable statistics about Hearing Impairment (HI) and its economic cost.
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To examine potential associations between neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio, mean platelet volume (MPV), HbA1c and microvascular complications in diabetic patients from a cost-effectiveness perspective. ⋯ Microvascular complications may be associated with certain hematologic parameters, as suggested by comparisons both between diabetics and healthy individuals and within the group of diabetic individuals. We believe that hematologic parameters such as hematocrit, MPV, NLR, and PLR, which can be obtained through a simple complete blood count, may be utilized as cost-effective predictors of diabetic microvascular complications. Further prospective studies with larger sample size are required to better delineate these associations.
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To compare and see the association of serum Lipoprotein (a) levels in younger and older patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome compared to healthy controls. ⋯ Serum lipoprotein(a) is strongly associated with coronary vascular disease especially in patients younger than 45 years of age despite comparable LDL and HDL between cases and controls, making Lp(a) likely independent risk factor for coronary vascular disease.