International Archives of Medicine

BACKGROUND: Associations between certain environmental and lifestyle factors and Parkinson's disease (PD) have been reported in several studies, but information on these factors and Parkinson's Disease (PD) in South Asia, is limited. OBJECTIVE: To determine associations between lifestyle factors and PD in an urban clinic-based study in Sri Lanka. METHODS: In this case-control study, demographic and lifestyle factor data (including diet, coffee/tea drinking, smoking, alcohol status) was collected from an unselected cohort of PD patients and age and gender-matched controls attending clinics in Greater Colombo, Sri Lanka...

OBJECTIVE: To identify the elite of authors about the subject adherence to antiretroviral therapy; to identify the journals turned to publishing articles about adherence to antiretroviral therapy; and to identify and analyze the most commonly used words in abstracts of articles about adherence to antiretroviral therapy. METHOD: A bibliometric study conducted through the Scopus base. We used articles published between 1996 and 2014, after application of the eligibility criteria, there were composed the sample with 24 articles...

Background: Influenza and Influenza like illness are representative of a class of epidemic infectious diseases that have important public health implications. Early detection via biosurveillance can speed lifesaving public heath responses. In the United States, biosurveillance is typically conducted using ICD9 coded visit diagnoses and uncoded chief complaint data. Objective: To determine the accuracy of ICD9 diagnoses using laboratory confirmed cases as the gold standard...

BACKGROUND: Spinal tuberculosis presents in various pathological patterns. The clinical presentation and often the management depend on exact pathological findings. Objective of study was to evaluate the Pathology of spinal tuberculosis as depicted by MRI findings in 119 consecutive cases of spinal TB. METHODOLOGY: It was a cross sectional and observational study conducted at Civil Hospital, Karachi from July 2010 to December 2012.Total numbers of participants were 119...

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most serious occupational hazards faced by healthcare workers. Surgical personnel are particularly at risk. HBV infection is preventable by vaccination, but no previous study has assessed HBV vaccination coverage among healthcare workers in Cameroon. We assessed knowledge of risk factors of HBV infection, awareness of HBV vaccine, and vaccination status of surgical residents in Cameroon. METHODS: A structured pretested questionnaire was administered to 49 of the 70 surgical residents in Cameroon during the 2011-2012 academic year...

OBJECTIVE: To characterize clinical aspects of Idiopathic Parkinson's disease from a movement disorders consultation in University Hospital of Rabat. METHODS: Retrospective review of medical records of 117 patients with diagnosis of Idiopathic Parkinson's disease seen in our outpatient clinic from 2006 to 2011. RESULTS: Mean age was 64 ± 10 years with predominance of men (61.5%). Mean age at disease onset was 57 ± 11 years. Early onset Parkinson's Disease was recorded in 12...

INTRODUCTION: Lipoma is a benign soft tissue neoplasm that may contain mesenchymal elements, as a result of metaplastic process. Ossification in benign and malignant soft tissue tumors can also manifest due to metaplastic process. CASE PRESENTATION: A 45 year old woman presented with a large thigh mass. The mass was developed one and a half year ago which insidiously increased in size and was associated with movement restriction. Radiological findings revealed soft tissue neoplasm on antero-medial aspect of thigh encircling the femur and displacing adjacent muscles...

Fibro-osseous pseudotumor of the digit is rare benign lesion of subcutaneous tissue which is thought to be reactive process as a result of repeated trauma. We report a case of an ulcerated lesion of skin of middle finger, clinically thought to be leishmaniasis which after punch biopsy followed by excision turned out to be fibrosseous pseudotumor. Diagnosis of fibro-osseous pseudotumor requires immense precision as it can clinically mimic unungal exostosis and can sometimes be misinterpreted clinically and radiologically as myositis ossificans...

BACKGROUND: Acute viral bronchiolitis is a respiratory disease with high morbidity that affects newborn in the first two years of life. Its treatment with physiotherapy has been highlighted as an important tool, however, there is no consensus regarding its effects on patients improvement. We aimed to evaluate the physiological parameters before and after the procedure respiratory therapy in newborn with acute viral bronchiolitis. METHOD: This was a cross sectional observational study in 30 newborns with acute viral bronchiolitis and indicated for physiotherapy care in a hospitalized Urgency and Emergency Unit...

Hoffmann syndrome is a rare form of hypothyroid myopathy in adults characterized by presence of muscle weakness, stiffness and pseudohypertrophy. We report a 39 year old male with primary hypothyroidism diagnosed at childhood and not on regular thyroxine therapy who presented with fatigue, cold intolerance, constipation, exertional breathlessness, progressive proximal muscle weakness and swelling of the legs for one year. Examination revealed pseudohypertrophy of calf muscles with marked symmetrical proximal upper and lower limb weakness...

BACKGROUND: Although postural changes were already reported in blind adults, no previous study has investigated postural stability in blind children. Moreover, there are few studies which used a stabilometric instrument to measure postural balance. In this study we evaluated stabilometric paramaters in blind children. METHODS: We evaluated children between 7 to 12 years old, they were divided into two groups: Blind (n = 11) and age-matched control (n = 11) groups by using computerized stabilometry...

INTRODUCTION: HE are common acute complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) and include diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), normo-osmolar hyperglycemic state (NHS) and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS). They contribute a lot to the mortality and morbidity of DM. The clinical features include dehydration, hyperglycemia, altered mental status and ketosis. The basic mechanism of HE is a reduction in the net effective action of circulating insulin, resulting in hyperglycemia and ketonemia (in DKA) causing osmotic diuresis and electrolytes loss...

INTRODUCTION: Thyroid swelling is common problem among South Asian women. Although benign nodules far outnumber cancerous lesions, the risk of malignancy needs to be evaluated preoperatively for which fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is widely used. Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology (BSRTC) was introduced to streamline the reporting of thyroid aspirates. We aimed to evaluate the disease spectrum of thyroid cytopathology and correlation of BSRTC with final histopathology in our setup...

BACKGROUND: The literature indicates that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects cardiac autonomic control. In this study, we conducted a literature review in order to investigate the heart rate variability (HRV) in COPD subjects. METHODS: A search was performed in Medline database, using the link between the keywords: "autonomic nervous system", "cardiovascular system", "COPD" and "heart rate variability". RESULTS: The search resulted in a total of 40 references...

Many different factors can temporarily or permanently impair movement and impairs cortical organization, e.g. hand immobilization. Such changes have been widely studied using electroencephalography. Within this context, we have investigated the immobilization effects through the theta band coherence analysis, in order to find out whether the immobilization period causes any changes in the inter and intra-hemispheric coherence within the cerebral cortex, as well as to observe whether the theta band provides any information about the neural mechanisms involved during the motor act...

The human brain is a system consisting of various interconnected neural networks, with functional specialization coexisting with functional integration occurring both; temporally and spatially at many levels. The current study ranked and compared fast and slow participants in processing information by assessing latency and amplitude of early and late Event-Related Potential (ERP) components, including P200, N200, Premotor Potential (PMP) and P300. In addition, the Reaction Time (RT) of participants was compared and related to the respective ERP components...

The objective of this study is to determine the time interval from decision to seek medical help and arrival of the patients to the emergency department (ED). The duration of stay in ED was also calculated. This study also assesses factors responsible delayed presentation to hospital. This prospective study was conducted during day timings (9 am to 3 pm) from May 2012 to August 2012 in ED at Civil Hospital, Karachi. Patients older than 18 years and meeting the inclusion criteria were considered to be eligible for the study...

BACKGROUND: In the light of the impact that pain has on patients, emergency department (ED) physicians need to be well versed in its management, particularly in its acute presentation. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of unrelieved acute pain during ED stay in a Moroccan ED, and to identify risk factors of unrelieved pain. METHODS: Prospective survey of patients admitted to the emergency department of Ibn Sina teaching university hospital in Rabat (Morocco)...

INTRODUCTION: Uterine tumors resembling ovarian sex cord tumors (UTROSCT) are uterine neoplasms of unknown histiogenesis which show near complete differentiation towards ovarian sex cord elements and are postulated to arise from pluripotential uterine mesenchymal cells or endometrial stromal cells with secondary sex cord differentiation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 48 year old post-menopausal women presented with abnormal uterine bleeding for which she underwent total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-ophorectomy...

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a major health issue in Nigeria and it is also a common cause of emergency admissions. Stroke often results in increased morbidity, mortality and reduced quality of life in people thus affected. The risk factors for stroke include metabolic abnormalities such as dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus (DM). The stress of an acute stroke may present with hyperglycaemia and in persons without a prior history of DM, may be a pointer to stress hyperglycaemia or undiagnosed DM...