Objective Psychogenic movement disorder (PMD) and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are two subtypes of conversion disorder (CD). In this case-control study, we asked whether these subtypes varied as a function of personality and history of childhood abuse, using the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R). Methods Fifty-nine patients with PMD from the Human Motor Control Section Clinic at the National Institutes of Health, 43 patients with PNES from the Rhode Island Hospital Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology Division, and 26 healthy volunteers (HC) received a battery of neurological, psychiatric and psychological assessments. Results One-way ANOVA between the three groups indicated significant differences in overall domains of Neuroticism (p=0.001) and Conscientiousness (p=0.009): Patients with PNES reported significantly greater levels of Neuroticism (p=0.002) and lower levels of Conscientiousness (p=0.023) than patients with PMD. Levels of Neuroticism remained significantly higher in both PMD and PNES than HC following correction for multiple comparisons. Patients with PNES reported greater levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, overall psychopathology, greater history of sexual abuse, greater levels of alexithymia, higher levels of dissociative symptoms, and an earlier age at which they experienced their most distressing traumatic event than patients with PMD. Conclusions These findings suggest that personality traits, type of abuse and age of onset of trauma varies as a function of CD subtype. Patients with PNES rated greater Neuroticism and lower Conscientiousness than patients with PMD. These differing psychological profiles may inform differing treatment approaches such as psychological therapies for PNES and physiotherapy (with/without psychotherapy) for PMD.

ObjectiveTo determine the frequency and clinical features of bleeding disorders in the tribe as a result of consanguineous marriages.DesignCross Sectional StudyIntroductionCountries in which consanguinity is a normal practice, these rare autosomal recessive disorders run in close families and tribes. Here we describe a family, living in village Ali Murad Chandio, District Badin, labeled as haemophilia.Patients & MethodsOur team visited the village & developed the pedigree of the whole extended family, up to seven generations. Performa was filled by incorporating patients, family history of bleeding, signs & symptoms, and bleeding from any site. From them 144 individuals were screened with CBC, bleeding time, platelet aggregation studies & RiCoF. While for PT, APTT, VWF assay and Factor VIII assay, samples were kept frozen at -70 degrees C until tested.ResultsThe family tree of the seven generations comprises of 533 individuals, 63 subjects died over a period of 20 years and 470 were alive. Out of all those 144 subjects were selected on the basis of the bleeding history. Among them 98(68.1%) were diagnosed to have a bleeding disorder; 44.9% patients were male and 55.1% patients were female. Median age of all the patients was 20.81, range (4 months- 80 yrs). The results of bleeding have shown that majority had gum bleeding, epistaxis and menorrhagia. Most common bleeding disorder was Von Willebrand disease and Platelet functional disorders.ConclusionConsanguineous marriages keep all the beneficial and adversely affecting recessive genes within the family; in homozygous states. These genes express themselves and result in life threatening diseases. Awareness, education & genetic counseling will be needed to prevent the spread of such common occurrence of these bleeding disorders in the community.

Due to its low prevalence, epidemiologic data on afibrinogenemia are limited and none are available on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We conducted a cross-sectional international study to characterize the clinical features, the fibrinogen supplementation modalities and their impact on HRQoL in patients with afibrinogenemia. A total of 204 patients (119 adults and 85 children) from 25 countries were included. The bleeding phenotype was severe: 68 (33.3%) patients having at least one bleed per month and 48 (23%) a history of cerebral bleeding. About 35% (n=72) of patients were treated with fibrinogen concentrates or cryoprecipitates as prophylaxis, 18.1% (n=37) received more than one injection per week and 16.6% (n=34) were on home treatment. A thrombotic event was reported in venous and/or arterial territories by 37 (18.1%) patients. Thrombosis occurred even in young patients and recurrence was frequent (7.4%). The total HRQoL was lower in children than in adults. Discomfort linked to treatment and limitations to sports and leisure were the main concerns. Women and children were particularly affected in family relationships. In multivariate analyses, younger age, residence in Asia or Africa and a previous thrombotic event were statistically correlated with a worse HRQoL. In conclusion, our study underlines the severe bleeding and thrombotic phenotype and their impact on HRQoL in afibrinogenemia. The optimal strategy for fibrinogen supplementation needs to be determined.

Background The recent pandemic by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global emergency. There is large number of asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 that are not reported. Hence, serological evidence of SARS-CoV2 antibodies is warranted for a better estimation of the actual number of infected patients to limit the disease spread and to get an idea of herd immunity. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 2020 to July 2020 at National Institute of Blood Diseases at Pakistan. The study includes healthcare workers (HCWs), community and industrial workers. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 test was performed by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer. Results A total of 1675 samples have been received from three groups of population. The percentage positivity for industrial employees is high (50.3%) for HCW (13.2%) and community population (34%).Total percentage for positive antibodies result is ~36%. Conclusion Our seroprevalence is 36%, which still far from herd immunity that needs to be at least 60–70% in population. If we consider acquiring 60% seroprevalence in next few months, then herd immunity is not far from reality, provided the antibodies did not decline with time. Although the current study is based on a small sample of participants, the findings suggest a study with larger population to implement stronger and targeted interventions.

Objectives:To study the prevalence of HBsAg, Anti-HCV, HIV, Syphilis and Malaria in blood donors.Methods:This is a cross sectional descriptive study, conducted at Blood bank and Transfusion center at Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS) Hyderabad, during the period from January, 2014 to June, 2015. A total of 4683 blood donors were screened for HBsAg, Anti-HCV and HIV on Architect 20001 (manufactured by Abbott), employing chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA). For Syphilis, VDRL ICT kits were used and Malaria parasite was screen through MP slides. Blood grouping was performed by both forward and reverse methods.Results:This study showed a high frequency of HBsAg, VDRL and malaria positivity among the O-ve blood group donors, i.e. 3.70%, 9.25% and 0.61% respectively. Blood group B-ve individuals were commonly infected with HCV (12.5%) as compared with all other blood group donors. HIV is more commonly reported in A+ve blood group individuals. Blood group O+ve is more prevalent (37.41 %).Conclusion:High frequency of HCV infection in blood donors advocates implementation of strict screening policy for donors and public awareness campaigns about preventive measures to reduce the spread of this infection as well as other transfusion transmissible infections.