Biomedical subjects

Muhammad Afzal

Publications and source records attributed to Muhammad Afzal.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Breast feeding patterns in a military hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the status of breast feeding, exclusive breast feeding and other feeding patterns in infants upto 12 months age. DESIGN: Cross- sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Paediatrics Department and Immunization Center, Combined Military Hospital, Multan, from October 2004 to March 2005. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study was based on "current status analysis method" to eliminate the bias of recall method used in most previous studies. Mothers of 650 infants from 0-12 months of age, attending immunization centre and paediatrics OPD, were interviewed about current feeding patterns and other socioeconomic variables. They were divided in three groups depending upon their monthly income. Living conditions matched with monthly income status in all groups. Month-wise distribution of feeding pattern was determined. Analysis was made about the effect of education of mothers, family income, place and mode of delivery, gender of the baby on exclusive breast feeding, duration of breast feeding and initiation of breast feeding. Statistical analysis of the results was made by application of Parson's Chi-square test. RESULTS: Breast feeding was maintained at high level (more than 88%) throughout infancy. Exclusive breast feeding was also maintained at quite high level (66%) till 4 month age. But later there was a sharp decline to 16% at six months of age. The median duration of exclusive breast feeding was 3 months. Mothers with lesser education and lower family income were more likely to exclusively breast feed (p < 0.001). The time interval between birth and first feed observed was quite desirable (less than 3 hours) in most cases. Only 14% infants received pre-lacteal feeds (ghutti, honey, water etc.), while majority of them (59%) received breast milk. Formula milk was first feed in only 25% cases. Breast milk as first and early feed was observed more in babies born by normal delivery in hospital (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Status of breast feeding, exclusive breast feeding and other feeding practices was quite encouraging and desirable in this study. The factors responsible for these results are comprehensive, free and readily available medical facilities including motivational and preventive services provided to women and children in military hospitals. However, there is still need to improve the figures to achieve internationally set goals.

Breast Feeding↗

PubMed2005

Role of FNA cytology in the management of carcinoma breast.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility and role of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in essential surgical management of carcinoma breast. DESIGN: Descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: PNS Shifa, Karachi, Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Pannu Aqil and PNS Rahat from August 1998 to August 2003 [05 years]. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included one hundred cases of carcinoma of breast-97 females and 3 males, confirmed on histopathological examination and surgically treated at PNS Shifa, CMH Pano Aqil and PNS Rahat. FNA cytology was the primary tool of investigation in all. The benefit of the procedure was evaluated considering the ease of the procedure, cost, safety, reliability as screening procedure and its effect on sparing the patients from excision or incision biopsy and thus additional anesthesia. RESULTS: Sensitivity of the procedure was 78%, specificity 100%, predictve value 100% and overall diagnostic accuracy 72%. Out of 78 cases, diagnosed as positive for malignancy on FNAC and later confirmed by histopathological examination, 58 underwent frozen section examination followed by definitive surgery (modified radical mastectomy). Remaining 20 cases underwent additional core biopsy. Out of these, 12 cases underwent definitive surgery without frozen section and 8 patients underwent frozen section examination followed by definitive surgery. A single case required general anesthesia (GA) while the patients undergoing core biopsy required a local anesthesia (LA) as well. Cases remaining undiagnosed by FNA-cytology (22 cases) required either an excision biopsy (17 cases) or incision biopsy (5 cases) under GA followed by definitive surgery, thus requiring general anesthesia twice during the management. CONCLUSION: FNA-cytology can positively affect the surgical management of carcinoma breast. It can be utilized to select the patients for frozen section examination and can thus spare the patients from additional procedure of excision or incision biopsy under separate anesthesia. It may be adopted as a routine procedure in surgical outpatient.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Spontaneous rupture of pancreatic pseudocyst.

Pseudocyst formation is a recognized complication after pancreatitis in any age group. A case of pancreatic pseudocyst and its spontaneous rupture leading to haemorrhage and shock is reported. Prompt management saved the life of the child.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2004

Lens lipids and maximum lifespan.

Unlike in most organs, the lipid composition of lenses varies dramatically among species and with age. The focus of this study is to assess how these changes relate to lifespan. Studies on cataract suggest that the lens may serve as a window into the processes leading to accelerated mortality. As a first step toward elucidating cellular processes in the lens that may serve as markers for accelerated mortality, we examined the correlation between species-dependent and age-related lens lipid compositional differences and maximum life span. We included data from camels, which, even in old age, rarely develop cataracts although they live under adverse conditions. Camel lens lipids were mainly composed of sphingolipids (77%) and phosphatidylcholines (23%). Bovine lens lipid composition was comparable to a previous study, and both bovine lens sphingolipids, phosphatidylcholines and camel lens phosphatidylcholines content fit well (within the 95% confidence limits) in the curve obtained by plotting maximum life spans of other species with sphingolipids and phosphatidylcholines. Lifespan was directly related to lens sphingolipid content and indirectly related to lens phosphatidylcholine content. The camel lens sphingolipid value was significantly above the curve for other species. Except for the camel lens nucleus, lipid order and sphingolipid content were linearly related, p < 0.005 with a slope of 0.85+/-0.07, and intercept of 6.9+/-3.8. Lipid phase transition temperature and sphingolipid content were also linearly related, p = 0.01 with a slope of 0.20+/-0.07, and intercept of 21.7+/-5.3. Our data support the hypothesis that humans have adapted so that their lens membranes have a high sphingolipid content that confers resistance to oxidation, allowing these membranes to stay clear for a relatively longer time than is the case in many other species. Age-related changes in human lens lipid composition may serve as a marker for oxidative stress and may reflect systemic oxidative insult, providing a window into the health of an individual.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Method to overcome photoreaction, a serious drawback to the use of dichlorofluorescin in evaluation of reactive oxygen species.

Non-fluorescent dichlorofluorescin (DCFH) was converted to fluorescent products by photo-irradiation during observations with spectrofluorometer and fluorescence microscopy. Photo-irradiation of DCFH at 250, 300, 330, 400, 500, or 600 nm generated fluorescent dichlorofluorescein (DCF), an oxidation product of DCFH, and an unrecognized fluorescent product. The ratio of the unknown product to DCF varied from 0.15 to 8.21 depending on wavelength. Although reactive oxygen species scavengers, such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and sodium azide, did not suppress the increase in non-specified fluorescence, reagents such as ascorbic acid, mercaptopropionyl glycine, and methoxycinnamic acid, in a cell-free system, almost completely suppressed it with little effect on the fluorescence of DCF. Meanwhile, ascorbic acid also suppressed non-specified fluorescence in cells, but not completely. At low concentrations of DCFH, the speed of increasing fluorescence was considerably retarded, to such a degree that the fluorescence increase in cells during fluorescence microscopic observation was negligible. The addition, at the time of evaluation, of the above reagents to cell-free systems and, in cell systems, reducing the concentration of DCFH, effectively suppressed the photoreaction of DCFH.

Antioxidants↗

PubMed2003

Galactosemia: a treatable metabolic disorder.

Galactosemia is a rare metabolic disorder. It has good prognosis, if detected in neonatal period or early infancy. Two cases of classic galactosemia are presented. One case was detected in neonatal period. Early intervention has led to normal development till now. The second case was diagnosed at 1 year of age. Elimination of milk from diet is quite simple and effective treatment modality.

Failure to Thrive↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Selective processing of gastrointestinal symptom-related stimuli in irritable bowel syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was associated with attentional bias toward symptom-related cues in IBS patients versus healthy controls, using a modified Stroop task to measure selective processing of gastrointestinal symptom-related cues. METHODS: Fifteen patients with a clinical diagnosis of IBS and 15 healthy controls were recruited into the study. All participants attended a single testing session, during which they completed a modified Stroop task using gastrointestinal symptom-related and neutral control words. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant main effect of word type (p = .013), with slower color-naming times for IBS-related compared with neutral words, and a significant main effect of exposure (p = .001), with slower color-naming times in the unmasked condition compared with the masked condition. The group x word type x exposure interaction was significant (p = .048). A series of post hoc tests indicated that among patients there was significant interference of symptom-related words in the masked condition but not in the unmasked condition, whereas among controls, the reverse was true. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that IBS patients selectively process gastrointestinal symptom-related words compared with neutral words when they are presented subliminally but not when they are presented supraliminally. In contrast, healthy controls demonstrate the opposite pattern. Implications for the cognitive mechanisms in IBS, and future research directions, are discussed.

Adult↗