At present time portal hypertension is perceived as one of the complications of advanced liver disease. It results in various vascular changes in gastrointestinal tract (GI), including esophageal varices, gastric varices and portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). PHG and gastric varices are a common cause of acute as well as chronic bleeding from GI tract which resulted in significant mortality among patients. Objectives: To determine the frequency of gastric vascular changes in various causes of cirrhosis. Patients of age ≥30 years, with clinical evidence of cirrhosis and without prior treatment of esophagiogastric varices were included in the study. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in the study out of which 47 were male and 53 were females with mean age of 53.6 years. The most common type of cirrhosis was turned out to be Hepatitis C affecting 50% of patients and most of the patients were in Child class C. Portal hypertensive gastropathy was present in 74% of patients. Among them 24.3% have mild changes while severe changes were present in75.7% of patients. Gastric varices were found in 40% of the patients and the most common type was IGV type I which was present in 29(72.5%) of the patients. Correlation of severity of PHG was seen with grading of esophageal varices, grading of gastric varices and Child class. Conclusion: Frequency of severe gastropathy is higher than the mild gastropathy. It is also concluded that gastric vascular changes are associated with cause of cirrhosis, child class and degree of portal hypertension.

Prolonged mechanical ventilation and premature removal from mechanical ventilation (MV) are independent risk factors for morbidity and mortality. Weaning and liberation from MV remain critical stages of a patient's ICU stay. To date, no weaning predictive index has proven to be ideal. Objectives: To determine the frequency of successful extubation in patients on mechanical ventilation after 2 hour of spontaneous breathing trial (SBT). Methods: A total of 100 consecutive patients admitted in Medical ICU, meeting the inclusion criteria was enrolled. Non probability purposive sampling was employed. Patients of both gender and age >18 years, on mechanical ventilator for more than 48hrs were included. Two hours of SBT was performed in a semi seated position. RSBI were measured at 1 min after extubation. Patient who have not developed any feature of SBT intolerance, was continued on SBT up to 120 min. All collected data was entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 for analysis. Results: Successful extubation was found to be (86%). in patients with RSBImax <105. Among 43 patients with successful extubation, 60.5% were male and 39.5% were female. The average age was 53+ 14.6 yrs and the average days of MV were 7+ 2.3 days. Rate of successful extubation was high with the age < 60 yrs, in male gender and with duration of MV <7 days. Conclusion: It is concluded from the above study that patients with RSBImax <105 were found to have successful extubation

At present time portal hypertension is perceived as one of the complications ofadvanced liver disease. It results in various vascular changes in gastrointestinal tract (GI),including esophageal varices, gastric varices and portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). PHGand gastric varices are a common cause of acute as well as chronic bleeding from GI tractwhich resulted in significant mortality among patients. Objectives: To determine the frequencyof gastric vascular changes in various causes of cirrhosis. Study Design: Cross sectional study.Setting: Department of Gastroenterology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad.Period: 1st August 2007 to 31st July 2008. Materials and Methods: Patients of age ≥30 years,with clinical evidence of cirrhosis and without prior treatment of esophagiogastric varices wereincluded in the study. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in the study out of which47 were male and 53 were females with mean age of 53.6 years. The most common type ofcirrhosis was turned out to be Hepatitis C affecting 50% of patients and most of the patientswere in Child class C. Portal hypertensive gastropathy was present in 74% of patients. Amongthem 24.3% have mild changes while severe changes were present in75.7% of patients. Gastricvarices were found in 40% of the patients and the most common type was IGV type I whichwas present in 29(72.5%) of the patients. Correlation of severity of PHG was seen with gradingof esophageal varices, grading of gastric varices and Child class. Conclusion: Frequency ofsevere gastropathy is higher than the mild gastropathy. It is also concluded that gastric vascularchanges are associated with cause of cirrhosis, child class and degree of portal hypertension.

Objective: To determine the coronavirus disease-2019-related risk perception and altruistic response among undergraduate medical students post-lockdown. Method: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from October 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, at the Baqai Medical University, Karachi, and comprised undergraduates aged 16 and above, studying in medical, dental, physiotherapy, pharmacy and Information technology departments. Data was collected using a structured and standardised online questionnaire.  Positive responses led to a perceived risk score ranging 0-9, with a higher score indicating a greater perception of risk. The score was corelated with demographic variables. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. Results: Of the 743 subjects, 472(63.5%) were females. The overall mean age of the sample was 21.34±1.8 years. The mean risk perception score was 3.8±2.5, and it was significantly associated with disease exposure (p<0.001). Altruism had a strong association with the perceived risk score (p<0.001), indicating lower risk perception. Conclusion: The risk perception among the students was low, pointing towards a need of psychological assistance program for the students. Key Words: COVID-19, Risk, Perception, Students, Academics, Institutes.

Objective: This study aims to assess the knowledge and practices towards novel corona virus pandemic (COVID-19) among general patients of a tertiary care hospital in Gadap town, Karachi, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: At OPD of Fatima Hospital, Baqai Medical University, Karachi. Period: 16th to 21st March 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 267 respondents were included using non-probability convenience sampling. Knowledge and Practices towards COVID-19 were assessed using interview based, open-ended questionnaire. The knowledge questionnaire consists of 11 questions assessing, General information, symptoms, modes of disease spread, methods of disease control and self-isolation techniques. Practice assessment was based on five parameters towards prevention. Mean knowledge and practice scores were calculated. A bivariate Pearson correlation, independent sample T-test and One Way ANOVA were utilized to depict statistical correlations between variables. Post-Hoc Analysis was applied within the demographic groups. Results: The mean age of participants was 37.33+15.1 years, 64.8% were 40 & below age, 64.4% were male, 40.4% belonged to Pushtoon, 43.3% were illiterate, 24.3% were laborer and 27% were housewives. The mean knowledge score was 9.31+5.59 out of 30, depicting an overall 31% rate of knowledge. The mean practice score was 1.33+1.34 out of 5. There is a strong positive (p<0.001) correlation between knowledge and practice scores were found. The knowledge and practice scores were also significantly associated with level of education (p<0.001). Conclusion: The overall knowledge and practices towards COVID-19 were found to be very poor in population of low socioeconomic status with low educational background improvising the public health authorities to design the specialized health education interventions aimed at targeting the specific population.