The world is reeling under the crisis caused by corona virus disease (COVID-19), print, electronic and social media are flooded with numerous advisories issued by governments and other national & international agencies. While all this is being done with best of intentions so as to contain the spread of this viral disease, this is causing a significant negative impact on mental health of people specially person of obsessive-compulsive disorder with fear of contamination and excessive washing of hands.

Introduction The overall environment of the medical school is often considered very stressful. It projects negative effects not only on the academic performances of medical students but also deteriorate their physical health and psychosocial wellbeing. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of depression, stress, and anxiety among final year medical students. Methods This observational study was conducted in public and private medical colleges in February 2019. The instrument utilized in this study was Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Factors predisposing to depression, stress, and anxiety were also recorded. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS v. 21. Results The mean scores of depression, anxiety, and stress were 18.00 ± 11.5, 19.15 ± 11.2, and 20.92 ± 11.2, respectively. The mean score of anxiety and stress was higher in private college students, while that of depression was higher in public college students. Overall, 57.6% of the students suffered from moderate to extremely severe depression, 74% of the students suffered from moderate to extremely severe anxiety, and 57.7% students had moderate to extremely severe stress. The common reasons to high stress and anxiety included the pressure of passing exams, the pressure of living up to family’s expectations, fear of stepping into the real world of medicine, and dissatisfaction with the administration. Conclusion The incidence of psychological illnesses including anxiety, stress, and depression is high among the medical students of Pakistan. Reasons predisposing the students to these illnesses must be efficiently tackled.

Myringoplasty is one of the commonest operations performed on the middle ear. Our aim was to compare the results of endoscopic permeatal myringoplasty with that of conventional myringoplasty by post aural approach using operating microscope. A total of 120 patients having central perforation of tympanic membrane were randomly divided into two equal groups of 60 patients each. In the first group, endoscope was used and in the second group microscope was used to do myringoplasty. Temporalis fascia was used as a graft material. The patients were kept in follow-up for 1 year. The pre-operative and post-operative audiograms, post-operative pain, graft uptake and time taken for surgery were compared in both the groups. The graft uptake rate was 91.67% in the endoscopic group, whereas it was 93.3% in the microscopic group. Post-operative pain was significantly less in the endoscopic group as compared with microscopic group and not much difference was found in the gain in A-B gap in either group. The mean ABG gain was 16.16 dB (SD = 4.68) in endoscopic group and 19.54 dB (SD = 3.45) in microscopic group. On applying the Mann-Whitney test, this finding was statistically significant ( value = 0.0001). In our study success rate was equal between endoscopic and microscopic technique. In terms of morbidity and postoperative recovery endoscope produced better results. Endoscopic tympanoplasty can be a good alternative of microscopic tympanoplasty.

We report a high level of cephalosporin resistance with high MICs and ESBL- and AmpC-mediated antibiotic resistance in Shigella from north India.

The majority of patients with epilepsy maintain seizure control during pregnancy. The apparently higher risk of seizures among women treated with oxcarbazepine and the more frequent increases in drug load in the oxcarbazepine and lamotrigine cohorts prompts further studies on relationships with pharmacokinetic changes. Risks associated with status epilepticus appear to be lower than previously reported.