Objective: To identify frequency of nosocomial urinary tract infections along with their antibiotic susceptibility in spinal cord injury patients. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Acute Spinal Ward, Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from Apr to Oct 2016. Methodology: Total 120 male and female patients of ages (18-70 years) with acute (>6 months) or chronic (>6 months) spinal cord injury admitted for rehabilitation and developing urinary tract infection 48 hours after admissionwere included. Patients whose culture results have polymicrobic bacteriuria samples, immune deficiency disorder and immunosuppressive therapy were excluded. Urine samples of all admitted patients suspected having urinary tract infections were collected and send to Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for culture sensitivity test showing isolated causative microorganisms and their antibiotics susceptibility. Results: About 34.58 ± 12.59 years was mean age, 120 patients were included. In these were 97 (80.80%) male and 23 (19.20%) females with male to female ratio of 4.2:1. Frequency of nosocomial urinary tract infections was found in 83 (69.17%) and no nosocomial urinary tract infections in 37 (30.83%) patients. This study shows the frequency of antibiotic susceptibility in spinal cord injury patients as follows; Amikacin in 111 (92.50%), Gentamicin in 108 (90%), Imipenemin 113 (94.17%), Tazocin in 115 (95.83%), Ceftriaxone in 105 (87.50%), Nitrofurantoin in 89 (74.17%) and Ciprofloxacin in 96 (80.0%) patients. Conclusion: This study shows that frequency of nosocomial urinary tract infections in spinal cord injury patients is high and tazocin and imipenem are the most sensitive antibiotics.

Objective: To compare the mean pain score and range of motion in chronic knee osteoarthritis patients treated with intraarticular Steroid injection versus ultrasound therapy. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Combined Military Hospital, Pano Aqil Pakistan, from Oct 2020 to Apr 2021. Methodology: Patients were divided into two groups (50 patients in each group). One group received ultrasound therapy for six weeks, with three sessions per week. The second group received a single 80mg intraarticular Triamcinolone Acetonide. Patients in both the groups were monitored for six weeks to assess the pain score and range of motion. Results: A total of one hundred (100) patients with knee pain due to chronic osteoarthritis were included in the study. The mean age in the ultrasound group was 54 ± 4.8 years and in the intra-articular group, the mean age was 54 ± 4.7 years. The mean reduction in pain score and mean improvement in the range of motion were compared between two groups and statistically significant difference was observed (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: According to our findings, intra-articular Corticosteroid injection is more effective in comparison to ultrasound therapy. However, there were statistically significant reductions in pain scores and improvements in the range of motion in both groups.

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of language and swallowing problem in individuals with cerebral palsy. Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Riphah International University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from September 2018 to January 2019 while data was collected from the Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi, a tertiary care hospital. The sample comprised individuals with cerebral palsy of either gender aged 5-18 years. Language Sample Checklist was used for language problems and the Northwestern Dysphagia Patient Checklist was used for swallowing problems.Data was analysed using SPSS- Version 21. Results: Of the55 subjects,62% were males, 38% were females, 76% were from urban areas and 24% were from rural areas.In terms of concepts, processing, and comprehension, 18(33%) persons were able to attempt the tasks, 45(81%) were unable to attempt morphological tasks, 41(74%) were unable to attempt sentence structure tasks, 40(72%) were unable to attempt literacy and narrative skills tasks, 41(74%)could not fulfil pragmatic tasks and 49(89%) had unintelligible speech. The patient checklist showed that 47(85%) children had normal medical history, 41(75%) had normal behavioural variable, 29(52%) had normal gross motor ability,40(73%) completed oral motor test, and 39(71%) had normal swallow trials. Conclusion: Language problems were more prevalent in children with cerebral palsy compared to swallowing difficulties. Key Words: Cerebral palsy, Dysarthria, Language, Swallowing, Dysphagia.