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Background: Adolescence is a time of rapid development in many facets of an individual’s physiological, cognitive, and interpersonal traits, but it also comes with some complexities. Aim: To evaluate the level of participation in different domains of life situations in adolescents with Cerebral Palsy. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methodology: Study conducted in adolescents with Cerebral Palsy between age 10 – 19, with motor impairment level I, II and level III on GMFCS. Sample size was 84 participants. Questionnaire of Young People’s Participation (QYPP) was used to evaluate participation in different activities and domains of life. Statistical analysis: Analysis of data was done by SPSS v.26. Results: The highest percentage score was observed for Autonomy followed by Getting on with other people, Home life, Reception and Leisure and School or College life. The least percentage score was seen for two domains i.e., Work life and Preparing for the future. It was observed that participants in higher age category had higher score except school or college life domain but no significant difference was evident as per p-value. Conclusion: It was concluded that overall frequency of participation levels proved inadequate in adolescents with CP in all the domains tested. Keywords: Adolescents, Cerebral Palsy, Personal Autonomy and Social Participation.

Expression of the immediate early gene Arc/Arg3.1 (Arc), a key mediator of synaptic plasticity, is enhanced by neural activity and then reduced by proteasome-dependent degradation. We have previously shown that disruption of Arc degradation, in an Arc knock-in mouse (ArcKR), where the predominant Arc ubiquitination sites were mutated, reduced the threshold to induce, and also enhanced, the strength of Group I metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated long-term depression (DHPG-LTD). Here we have investigated if ArcKR expression changes long-term potentiation (LTP) in CA1 area of the hippocampus. As previously reported, there was no change in basal synaptic transmission at Schaffer collateral/commissural-CA1 (SC-CA1) synapses in ArcKR versus wild-type (WT) mice. There was however a significant increase in the amplitude of synaptically-induced (with low frequency paired-pulse stimulation) LTD in ArcKR mice. Theta burst stimulation-evoked LTP at SC-CA1 synapses was significantly reduced in ArcKR versus WT mice (after 2 hours). Group 1 mGluR priming of LTP was abolished in ArckR mice, which could also potentially contribute to a depression of LTP. Although high frequency-stimulation (HFS)-induced LTP was not significantly different in ArcKR compared to WT mice (after 1 hour) there was a phenotype in environmentally enriched mice, with the ratio of LTP to short-term potentiation (STP) significantly reduced in ArcKR mice. These findings support the hypothesis that Arc ubiquitination supports the induction and expression of LTP, likely via limiting Arc-dependent removal of AMPA receptors at synapses.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a commonly prevailing disease among women. Disease progression deformities such as ulnar and radial shift of the wrist, Boutonnière, swan neck deformity and mallet finger become evident, which results in marked limitation of hand function. Patients usually lose the ability to hold, grasp and pinch thus activities of daily living are compromised. This study aimed to diagnose stage II Rheumatoid Arthritis through assessing the limitations of hand functions in adult females. Methods: A sample of 37 adult females with Stage II RA presenting to the rheumatology department of National hospital, Lahore and Combined Military Hospital, Lahore were recruited in the study. Patients with clinically diagnosed Stage II RA presenting with pain and dysfunction of the hands and wrist joints were included. Patients with any traumatic condition or any other bone disease that limits hand function were excluded from the study. The scale used for the assessment was Patient Rated Wrist/Hand Evaluation (PRWHE) with the reliability of >0.75 and validity of 0.7. Results: In a sample of adult women with a mean age of 42, 39% reported moderate pain and 61% had severe pain whereas the functional limitations was reported to be moderate in 47.3% while 52.7% had severe limitation of hand function. These results prove that there is a negative impact of hand malformations on hand function. Conclusion: The adult females with stage II Rheumatoid Arthritis had severely limited hand function. The functional limitations of hand were increased with disease progression especially in adult females.

Background: For a small but significant group, pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain may become persistent. While multiple factors may lead to post-partum disabilities’ such as kinesiphobia sleep disturbance, body perception or mindfulness. Objective: To explore the frequency of kinesiophobia in pregnancy related low back pain. Methodology: The Cross sectional study was conducted on n=97 pregnant women in 3rd trimester presenting to gynaecology outpatient department of Ghurki Trust and Teaching hospital from August 2016 to January 2017 were included in the study through non probability convenient sampling technique. All women were experiencing low back pain in their third trimester of pregnancy. Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) was used to determine pain whereas; the kinesiophobia was assessed by using Tampa scale of kinesiophobia (TSK). The mean ± standard deviation, frequency and percentages were used for description of result. SPSS Ver. 20 was used for data analysis. Results: The mean age of n=97 pregnant women having low back pain was 29.45±5.87 years Results showed that, n=18(18.6%) patients represented high level of kinesiophobia while n=52 (53.6%) and n=27 (27.8%) had moderate and low levels of kinesiophobia respectively. The result also showed strong positive correlation between pain and level of kinesiophobia (rs=0.708, p<0.001). Conclusion: The study concluded that all women those having low back pain in 3rd trimester also has kinesiophobia. The level of LBP highly contributes in kinesiophobia. Keywords: Kinesiophobia, lumbo pelvic pain, pregnant women, postpartum depression.