Background This cross-sectional study was carried out to ascertain if first-time cadaver dissections can cause acute stress disorder (ASD) in medical students, and if death anxiety and gender play a role in the development of these symptoms. Methods A total of 135 first-year medical students at the Services Institute of Medical Sciences and King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan, who had recently conducted their first ever cadaver dissection filled out three scales: the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Appraisal of Life Scale (Revised) (ALS-R) and Death Anxiety Inventory. The results were then calculated via SPSS v.23. Any students with a history of psychiatric treatment or disorder were not included in the study. Results Scores on the IES-R showed that the sample suffered from symptoms of ASD (mean = 36.15, standard deviation = 15.99). Multilinear regression showed that death anxiety did not predict any variance on the scores for IES-R, whereas higher scores on the ALS-R threat domain scale predicted higher scores on the IES-R. Death anxiety had little to no impact on the scores for IES-R. Conclusion Results showed that students who perceived the dissection situation as threatening and anxiety inducing were more likely to test positively for ASD symptoms. A major limitation of the study was that it did not measure whether these symptoms reduced with repeated exposure to cadaver dissection or how symptoms changed over time.

Objective: To assess the utility of liver function tests (LFTs) for early recognition and prediction of severity of dengue fever in hospitalized patients. Study Design: An analytical study. Place and duration of study: Services Institute of Medical Science and Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, from September to December 2010. Methodology: Admited cases of dengue fever were divided into three groups: mild, moderate, and severe increases in aminotransferases. Elevation in LFTs was co-related with good or bad outcome i.e. (survival or complication free stay) or (death or complications). Results were analyzed in SPSS version 18. Results: Out of the 353 patients with mean age of 37.12 ± 15.45 years, 245 (69.4%) were males and 108 (30.6%) were females. Seventy ive patients (21.2%) had mild elevation of aminotransferases (twofold increases), 265 patients (75.1%) had moderate increases (three to fourfold), and 13 (3.7%) had severe (>4 fold increase). Alanine transaminase (ALT) was statistically higher in patients with septicemia, hepatic, and renal failure (p-value ≤0.05). Aspartate transaminase (AST) was higher in almost all complications. Prolonged hospital stay was associated with raised LFTs and greater complications and mortality. AST was found to be twice as much raised as ALT. Conclusion: AST and ALT were statistically higher in patients with worse outcome thus can lead to early recognition of high risk cases.