Pak J Med Sci
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Pakistan like many Asian countries is investing in medical education to address increased societal needs and to meet the requirement of national and international accrediting bodies. Establishing medical education departments is part of this investment. The research question was "What are the expectations of faculty from medical education department?" The objective of this study was to explore the Faculty's perception about the roles of medical education department and their suggestions for its future endeavors. ⋯ Institutions must ensure consultation with faculty members and should take proactive measures to sustain change, including giving ownership and team building among the faculty members.
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Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) have been found to be useful indexes for the diagnosis of sepsis in adults. However, the knowledge of their roles and cut-off values in pediatric patients is limited. The primary objective of this study was to assess the ability of NLR and MPV to predict sepsis in children. A secondary aim was to evaluate the comparison of these parameters with C-reactive Protein (CRP). ⋯ NLR and MPV values should alert clinicians to the possibility of sepsis and to initiate or change antibiotic treatment.
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Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) as other chronic medical conditions is commonly complicated by psychiatric symptoms. Saudi SCD patients are usually originally from Eastern and Southwestern Provinces. The main objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of depression among adults with SCD in southern region of Saudi Arabia. We also studied the sociodemographic profiles for these individuals. ⋯ This study confirms that depression is common in adult patients with SCD as confirmed by previous studies. On the other hand, socio-demographic factors were not significant predictors of depression in SCD patients. Further research is needed to explore the magnitude and impact of this problem at the national level.
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Review
Exercise therapy versus surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
To compare the effectiveness of exercise therapy with surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis. ⋯ In brief, the current evidence demonstrated a trend that exercise therapy had a similar effect for lumbar spinal stenosis compared with decompressive laminectomies. However, for the small sample size and low methodology quality of the included trials, some rigorously designed and large-scaled RCTs need to be performed to confirm the conclusion.
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To determine the frequency of subclinical hypothyroidism in local adult obese population. ⋯ Subclinical hypothyroidism is highly prevalent in our population with BMI of more than 29kg/m2. Further studies are recommended on relationship between thyroid functions and BMI and its effect on cardiovascular functions.