The present study was designed to explore the antioxidative status and circulating biochemical markers having a potential role in the pathogenesis of ethambutol (EMB) induced toxic optic neuropathy (TON) among diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Fifty patients under complete therapy of EMB for tuberculosis were included in the present study. Inclusion criteria for patients were to receive EMB everyday during treatment, a dose of 25 mg/kg for initial 2 months and 15 mg/kg during the rest of therapy period. We conducted color vision and visual acuity test for all patients. Fifteen out of fifty EMB induced TON patients, were found to be diabetic. Color vision and visual acuity test results were evaluated for diabetic and non-diabetic as well as twenty age matched controls. The results demonstrated a significant pattern of circulating biochemical markers between the studied groups. Data regarding hematological (RBC, p value = 0.02; Hemoglobin, p value = 0.02), hepatic (total bilirubin, p value = 0.01), renal (urea, p value = 0.03; creatinine, p value = 0.007), lipid (total cholesterol, p value = 0.01; total triglycerides, p value = 0.03) and antioxidative (superoxide dismutase, p value = 0.005; glutathione, p value = 0.02; catalase, p value = 0.02) profile showed a highly significant difference among the studied groups specially patients with diabetes. Malondialdehyde (MDA) level had gone significantly up in diabetic TON patients (p value = 0.02), in comparison to other antioxidants and vitamins (Vit). Vit-A, E, B1, B12 and Zinc seem to be playing a major role in the pathogenesis of TON, specially Vit-E and B1 surpassed all the antioxidants as having highly significant inverse relationships with MDA (MDA vs Vit-E, r = -0.676(**) and MDA vs Vit-B1, r = -0.724(**) respectively). We conclude that during the ethambutol therapy the decreased levels of Vit-E and Vit-B1 possibly play a role in the development of TON and may be used as therapeutic agents to lessen the deleterious effects of ethambutol.

Refractive errors are a noteworthy cause of visual disruption worldwide. Objective: To compare the results of dynamic and cycloplegic retinoscopy in children. Methods: A descriptive-type cross-sectional study was conducted at the university of Lahore teaching hospital on 50 patients from 5 to 12 years of age. Approval was taken from the ethical board of the institution and informed consent from patient’s parents. Patients who had any other ocular pathology other than refractive errors were excluded. To study the refraction results in children, first in a dark room, retinoscopy without cycloplegic was performed then 1% cyclopentolate eye drops were used. After that retinoscopy was done under cycloplegic effect results were compared after being converted into spherical equivalent. Paired sample t-test was applied to compare means. P < .05 was taken as significant. Results: There were 25 males and 25 females. The mean age in years was 7.66 ±there were 12 myopic patients, 22 hypermetropic and 16 astigmatic patients. The mean logMar of visual acuity uncorrected was 0.5 ± 0.23 and the best corrected visual acuity was 0.1± 0.01. The mean S.E of right eye dynamic retinoscopy was 1.78±2.60, cycloplegic retinoscopy 1.52± 2.54 and of left eye was 1.72±49 and1.47± 2.34 respectively. It can be deduced that on average 0.26D more by dynamic retinoscopy. A significant correlation with r 0.96 and r 0.94 in left eye existed. Conclusion: There is a significant difference between cycloplegic retinoscopy and near retinoscopy. It was deduced that near retinoscopy showed more hypermetropic readings than cycloplegic retinoscopy

Objective: To find the association between interleukin- 1 receptor associated kinase 1 rs 3027898 gene polymorphism and preeclampsia in Pakistani population. Preeclampsia (PE) is defined as hypertension with proteinuria, diagnosed after 20 week of gestation up till 2 week postpartum. . It affects 2-8% of all pregnancies and remains a leading cause of maternal and perinatal deaths worldwide  with around  344,000  women  dying  from preeclampsia in the last ten years. Incidence of preeclampsia in pregnant women in Pakistan is 1.2%. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that preeclampsia is responsible for 12% of  maternal mortality in Asia. Continuous...

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