Background: Oral health care in pregnancy is often neglected by women and is also not appropriately addressed by prenatal and other health care providers and justify appropriate attention. The purpose of this cross sectional study was to describe percentage of oral disease occurrence and underlying causes in this sample of pregnant women. Methods: The study included 147 women aged between 15 to 49 years receiving prenatal care at the outdoor department of Azimpur Maternal and Child Health Training Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh were invited to participate in this study from January 2013 to April 2013. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection. Clinical exam data were recorded using validated scales in a special form. Results: Majority (72%) of the women were  between  20 to 24 years.  57%  had secondary  school  education.  88% of the women were unemployed and 52% women had very low family income of BOT s;10000. More than 90% of the women had good oral hygiene practices. However, 68% liked to  have  sugary  snacks  or  drinks  in  between  main meals, 7% visited their dentists during pregnancy , only 3% received advice  for  routine  oral  health  screening  from their prenatal care providers and only 4% women started their antenatal check-up during first trimester.  All  these negative influences might expose expecting mothers to high level of dental caries (54%), dental  erosion  (52%),  gingivitis (100%) and periodontitis (27%). This study also showed that majority of the women acquired oral health information through watching television (61%) or reading  newspaper  (12%)  while  only  4%  received  information from doctors/dent ists throughout their lifetime. Conclusion: The undertaken research highlighted the importance of using media in modifying Bangladeshi pregnant woman's behaviours toward oral health. It also emphasizes the need for inclusion of oral health preventive programme as part of pre and postnatal care. Further study in this area on a large scale will facilitate formulation of appropriate oral health policy to achieve satisfactory oral and general health outcomes during pregnancy and ensure optimum oral health conditions of their offspring. JOPSOM 2020; 39(1): 50-59

Background: The incidence of gestational trophoblastic disease varies dramatically in different regions of the world. While there are some geographical and racial variations, perhaps a higher incidence in Africa and Asia. The high incidence of molar pregnancy in some populations have been attributed to nutritional and socioeconomic factors. Some maternal biological factors also associated with molar pregnancy. This study aims to explore the various maternal risk factors associated with molar pregnancy. Methods: This case control study was carried out among 50 molar and 100 non-molar pregnant mothers admitted at in patient department of obstetrics and gynecology, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital from January to December 2011. The patients of molar pregnancies were selected on the basis of clinically diagnosed confirmed by ultrasonogram and histopathological examination. Controls group were selected as pregnant women of 1st & 2nd trimester. With the ethical approval from the institutional review board (IRB), patients were selected after taking their written consent. A structured questionnaire and a check list were designed with considering all the variables of interest. Results: Out of 50 cases 48% belongs to the age group below 20 years, 17% belongs to the age group above 34years. 88% of the control groups are belongs to the age group 20-34 years. Out of 50 cases 4% had history of prior molar pregnancy, none of the control groups had prior history of mole. 46% of molar cases belongs to the blood group A, 82% in case group and 86% of control group were hormonal contraceptive users. Among the socio-demographic risk factors occupation, education, socioeconomic condition, nutritional status of the case and control group were included. Conclusion: Molar pregnancy largely remains as etiologic dilemma. No pregnancy is immune to develop as hydatidiform mole. As the risk factors for the disease are unclear, an attempt has been made to identify some risk factors of molar pregnancy to compare them with normal pregnancy to find out any modifiable factors. JOPSOM 2020; 39(2): 34-39

Pre-eclampsia induced liver disease is a disorder unique to pregnancy and is frequently seen in third trimester. Severe pre-eclampsia is defined by extreme elevation in systemic blood pressure and evidence of organ compromise. HELLP syndrome is a unique liver related disorder of pregnancy that was first described by Weinstein in1982 as a constellation of clinical and laboratory abnormalities in pregnant women in their third trimester. This disorder was termed HELLP syndrome with (H) for haemolysis, (EL) for elevated liver enzymes and (LP) for low platelet counts. This is a severe variant of pre-eclampsia. Objective of this study was to determine the alteration of liver function in preeclampsia and its correlation with the clinical severity as well as the perinatal outcome. This was a one-year prospective observational cross sectional study included 100 patients with pre-eclampsia. Severity of the pre-eclampsia clarified clinically. Pre-eclampsia patients having history of hepatitis, cirrhosis of liver, gallbladder diseases and other pre-existing medical disorders that altered liver function were excluded from this study. The mean age of the patients was 25.3+4.9 years ranging from 18 to 37 years. One third of the patients (33.3%) were in the age group 28 to 32 years. Out of 100 patients, 58% belongs to poor income group. Among the studied samples 17% had epigastric pain and discomfort, 13% had complaints of vomiting and 43% develop severe pre-eclampsia. Among the Patients with altered hepatic enzyme level, 8.33% had complaints of epigastric pain, 6.66% complains vomiting. Maximum patients (66.6%) with elevated liver enzyme had no major complications whereas 33.4% of patients developed major complications. Patients with severe pre-eclampsia have elevated liver enzyme whereas patients of mild symptoms had normal liver enzymes level. Cases with raised serum biochemical markers had strong association with complications of severe pre-eclampsia. Pregnancy outcome in severe pre-eclampsia with hepatic involvement is grievous. Graves sequlae of pre-eclampsia can be prevented and minimized by timely institutional intervention. Post-partum followup would help to find out other parameters of pregnancy outcome. Bangladesh Med J. 2020 May; 49(2) : 9-13

Background: Testicular Cancer (TC) is of interest and importance because its incidence has been increasing in most countries over the past four decades. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of patients with common histopathology, most common stage during presentation, biochemical and radiological findings, common levels of tumour markers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Medical Oncology of National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2015 to June 2016. A total number of 52 patients were taken as study participants who are admitted as newly diagnosed at the NICRH. Data collection: tumour markers, USG of whole abdomen and chest X-ray were performed to all the patients for determination of the staging of the tumour. Results: The present study found the majority of the patients were found in stage III disease. Patients with Cryptorchidism needed to be educated regarding its early management to reduce the incidence of testicular tumour among them. It was observed that young people could be adequately knowledgeable and optimal awareness could be developed regarding early symptoms of the disease, then they may be found in earlier stage of their disease, which is curable with modern management method. Targeting to alter the cancer patients’ presentation by rising consciousness about TC, prognosis can be largely improved in future. Conclusion: This study was conducted to find out the features which were unknown in perspective of Bangladesh, so that burden of TC can be reduced, and prognosis can be further improved of this potentially curable disease. JOPSOM 2021; 40(1): 26-33

not available Bangladesh Med J. 2020 Sept; 49(3) : 53-56