Pak J Med Sci
-
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of countries worldwide and their abilities to cope with the fast-paced demands of the research and medical community. A key to promoting ethical decision-making frameworks is by calibrating the sustainability at regional, national, and global levels to incorporate coordinated reforms. ⋯ The World Health Organization's ethical framework proposed for the entire population during the pandemic was applied to thematically delineate findings under equality, best outcomes (utility), prioritizing the worst off, and prioritizing those tasked with helping others. The findings demarcate ethical concerns about the validity of drug and vaccine trials in developing and developed countries, hints of unjust healthcare organizational policies, lack of equal allocation of pertinent resources, miscalculated allocation of resources to essential workers and stratified populations.
-
Review
Efficacy of Articaine vs Lignocaine for infiltration anaesthesia during primary molar extractions.
The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate if articaine has better efficacy as compared to lignocaine when used for infiltration anaesthesia for primary molar extractions. ⋯ Our review encompassing a limited number of studies suggests that single buccal infiltration of articaine may have a role in primary molar extractions. Articaine may have a better anaesthetic effect compared to lignocaine but the difference may not be clinically relevant.
-
COVID-19 patients develop Life-threatening complications like pneumomediastinum/pneumothorax and emphysema which might experience prolonged hospital stays and additional costs might be imposed on the patient and the health system. The clinical features and outcomes of mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 infection who develop a pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema has not been rigorously described or compared to those who do not develop these complications. So a systematic review of studies conducted on this subject was carried out to better manage these complications by investigating the underlying factors in COVID-19 patients. ⋯ With the expansion of our clinical understanding of COVID-19, recognition of the uncommon complications of COVID-19 especially pneumothorax is crucial. Although in our review we couldn't find a causal relationship between COVID-19 and pneumothorax or association between pneumothorax and death, as it is limited by many variables such as included studies' design, or incomplete outcome data especially more information about the associated risk factors, we recommend performing more well-designed studies to describe the pneumothoraxes' incidence, risk factors, and outcomes in COVID-19 patients.
-
To observe the role of Mentzer index for differentiating iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta thalassemia trait (β TT) in pregnant women. ⋯ In this study, it was found that Mentzer Index can be used as a discriminatory test to differentiate between iron deficiency anemia and beta thalassemia trait. The high risk group can then be subjected to definitive diagnostic tests. This can result in better patient compliance and cost effectiveness.
-
To investigate the comparative diagnostic accuracy of cardiac computed tomography (CT) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for detecting infective endocarditis. ⋯ CT performs statistically significantly better than TEE for detecting abscesses while TEE provides statistically significant superior results for detecting vegetation. There is a need for well-designed prospective studies to further corroborate these findings.