JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association
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Comparative Study
Comparison of non cardiac chest pain (NCCP) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients presenting to a tertiary care center.
To compare clinical characteristics of patients admitted with chest pain with those who had Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and Non Cardiac Chest Pain (NCCP) presenting at a tertiary care center. ⋯ Patients with NCCP were younger, majority were non- diabetics, had slower pulse, more atypical/non-cardiac chest pain, had more normal ECG at base line as compared to patients with ACS. Muscular chest pain was the most common diagnosis in NCCP and NSTEMI in ACS group.
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To determine the complication rate of (PICCs) peripherally inserted central catheters in cancer patients with a 1 year prospective cohort study. ⋯ Despite a significant complication rate, PICCs are a relatively safe and cost effective method of establishing central venous access.
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Procalcitonin (PCT) is a marker of the inflammatory response to infection. In the present study the serum PCT of 46 pulmonary tuberculosis patients, 46 non-tuberculosis pulmonary disease and 46 healthy subjects were analyzed using semiquantitative PCT-Q kit. ⋯ Using cut-off value of 0.5 ng/ml, The sensitivity, specificity positive predictive value and negative predictive value for serum PCT in distinguishing tuberculous from nontuberculous pulmonary disease were 36.9%, 63.1%, 50% and 50%, respectively. According to our results the serum PCT is not a reliable marker for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis due to low sensitivity and specificity.
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The delivery of health and family planning services in Pakistan is the respective mandate of the Ministry of Health/departments of health and the Ministry of Population Welfare. This institutional separation creates issues due to marginalization of family planning and reproductive health as core health issues. The government of Pakistan has made several attempts in the past to merge both the institutional hierarchal arrangements. ⋯ The latter are envisaged to be a yardstick for public delivery of services and the basis of contractual relationships in new management arrangements, which involve a role for the private sector. The short to medium term strategies proposed in this paper centre on a range of specific collaborative measures with a view to building capacity for the broader systems transformation. Sustained political and institutional commitment will be needed to implement these recommendations.