The aim of the present was to assess and compare the mental health of male and female healthcare students in a Health University of Karachi, Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted for which questionnaire was designed along the standard scoring scales of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and phobia (IAPT) completed by 300 enrolled students. Females (52%) of the medical institute suffered from mild to moderately-severe depression in contrast to the males (33%). Females were found to be affected by mild anxiety and phobia (42.7 and 26% respectively) exceeding the male population (27.3 and 15.3% respectively). However, severe depression or anxiety was not observed in either gender groups significantly, suggesting a healthy mental picture of these medical students. It can be concluded that health care students in modern upgraded education systems, in contrast to evidence from literature, have been able to adopt better coping mechanisms for maintaining their mental health.

It can be concluded that in spite of awareness, the role of sunlight exposure and the proper time and duration of exposure cannot be ignored to create a healthy and active society.

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Objective: To investigate the role of serum lipids in the onset and progression of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) in Type-II diabetes (T2DM) individuals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology (NIDE), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) from March to May 2019. After signing the informed consent, healthy controls (n=30), T2DM patients (diabetic n=30), proliferative (PDR n=30) and non-proliferative (NPDR n= 30) of age 18 to 65 years were selected by convenient sampling. Background information was gathered through interviews and the fundoscopy was done. Fasting five ml venous blood samples were collected and analysed for triglycerides (TGs), cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL and the HbA1c using commercially available assays. The SPSS, version 24.0, was used for data analysis. Results: The HbA1c level was high in the diabetes, NPDR and PDR groups than control (p<0.05). The serum TGs and cholesterol were raised while the HDL was low in the diabetes group than in control (p<0.05). The cholesterol and LDL were high in the diabetes group compared to NPDR and PDR groups (p<0.05). The cholesterol and VLDL showed a positive moderately strong correlation with HbA1c in the PDR group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The serum lipid levels vary with the HbA1c levels and greater degree of derangement is observed with increasing mean HbA1C independent of diabetic retinopathy. For this reason, strict control of HbA1c and serum lipid level by lifestyle and/or pharmacologic intervention is recommended in diabetes with or without retinopathy. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6265 How to cite this: Gitay MN, Sohail A, Arzoo Y, Shakir MA. Changes in serum lipids with the onset and progression of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type-II Diabetes Mellitus. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(1):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6265 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Striae gravidarum (SG) is a physiological skin change that many pregnant women experience during pregnancy. Striae gravidarum seems to be undesirable to many pregnant women but its impact on women’s life is unclear. It is a disfiguring change on the skin of pregnant women presenting atrophic linear scars. They may occur anywhere on the body, though the abdomen, breasts, hips and legs are common. This change has a deep impact on the psychology and quality of life (QoL) of women. The quality of life of pregnant women deteriorates with distressing body image, causing psychological problems.The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of striae gravidarum on the dermatology-specific quality of life (QOL) of pregnant women. Objectives:To evaluate the impact of Stria gravidarum on the dermatology - specific qualoty of life (QOL) among pregnant women.Method:A multi-disciplinary cross-sectional study was conducted among the pregnant women attending the outpatient department at Dow university hospital for antenatal visits in third trimester. Striae gravidarum was assessed by using Dave’s score. After taking informed consent, Skindex 16 dermatology specific QOL questionnaire was used to evaluate the QOL. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version -16. Using Mann Whitney level of significance <0.05.Study Design:A cross sectional study. Duration of Study: January 2016 till January 2017. Place of Study: Department of Dermatology and department of Gynecology, Dow University Hospital, Dow International Medical College (Ojha Campus), DUHS, Karachi.Result:Among 112 pregnant women striae gravidarum was present in 32(28.6%) in primigravida, and 80(71.4%) in multigravida.Severity of striae gravidarum was assessed by using Davey’s score. Pregnant women with severe striae gravidarum showed significantly higher scores on emotion of Skindex-16 compared with those with absent or mild striae gravidarum. Conclusion:It is concluded that due to Striae gravidarum, pregnant females worry more with greater concern regarding their appearance. Their interaction with others was found to be highly affected due to this disfiguring physical change. The symptoms, emotional well-being and functionality differed significantly when the women with mild SG were compared with those with severe SG, though no difference was observed when primiparae subjects were compared with multipara subjects.The occurrence and severity of striae gravidarum influenced their dermatology-specific QOL and it is important to prevent or reduce the severity of striae gravidarum.