BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbances are be poorly documented by primary care physicians. OBJECTIVE: Our objective for this survey was to assess the awareness level amongst medical and dental house officers, medical and dental practitioners, and ear, nose and throat specialists (ENTs) regarding OSA and its effects on daily life. METHODS: This was a questionnaire-based survey with yes and no and true and false type questions. In order to assess knowledge, questions related to the most common signs and symptoms of OSA were selected. Questionnaires were distributed in seven medical and dental colleges in Karachi, Pakistan under graduates and above. Stratified random sampling technique was used to assess specific professionals which made a total sample size of 614. The data of this descriptive study was compiled and analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: 84% of the participants stated their awareness about OSA. After analyzing a detailed response in the form of questionnaires, an average of only 15% showed adequate knowledge of the problem in question, the rest was unaware of the pathophysiology, signs, symptoms and management of a patient suffering from OSA. CONCLUSION: knowledge about pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea and its effect on daily routine work is insufficient among health professionals. It is essential to create awareness among medical and dental fraternity regarding OSA as it is often not diagnosed and treated.

The aim of this review is to report studies performed in Pakistan on the prevalence of blood groups among various sections of the population and their association with human diseases.  Google Scholar was searched for the last 20 years based on MESH keywords mentioned below. The inclusion criteria were the studies published in the new millennium that reported either prevalence of blood groups or their association with diseases in the Pakistani population. There were 50 studies in Pakistan which fulfill the inclusion criteria. Among them, twenty- six were from Punjab, seven were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KpK), six from Sindh, four from Kashmir, two from Northern areas, one from Baluchistan and 4 are review articles. This review concludes that blood group B is prevalent among Pakistani population followed by O, A and AB. Studies done in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit- Baltistan reveal that B and A is prevalent in these areas respectively. AB is the least found group and Rh+ve is common among all studies. Moreover, this review also shows that blood groups act as a risk factor for many diseases. Therefore, Pakistani researchers are suggested to work on the genetic makeup of these blood groups to find out the cause of association with systemic ailments in the country.

Background: It has been stated that leptin has a role in glucose regulation as it decreases the insulin resistance and regulates the insulin mediated glucose metabolism. As the body need more glucose, more secretion of insulin which stimulates adipose tissues to secrete more leptin which causes the release of cytokines which decreases insulin sensitivity and develop insulin resistance. The aim of the current study was to find out the association of serum leptin with gestational diabetes mellitus in current setting. Methods: A case control study was conducted at the Gynecology department of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Karachi during April to September 2022. A self-designed proforma was used, consisting of 4 parts consisting of demographic variables, general physical examination and laboratory findings. Blood sample was collected during 24th to 28th week of gestation for testing fasting blood sugar, OGTT and then ELISA was done. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version-20 was used to analyze the data. p-value ≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 27.42 ± 0.39 and 24.96 ± 0.51 in cases and controls respectively. The basal metabolic index (BMI) was higher among the cases of gestational diabetes as compared to normal controls. Likewise, oral glucose tolerance test results showed higher levels of blood glucose than the normal controls during all steps of the test. The comparison of serum insulin and serum leptin during pregnancy and after delivery in cases of gestational diabetes showed a decrease in both serum insulin and serum leptin levels with significant p-value (p-value ≤0.05). Conclusion: Leptin is the contributory factor of insulin resistance and leads to gestational diabetes mellitus. Both serum insulin and serum leptin levels were having strong significant association with gestational diabetes mellitus. Keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus, Serum Leptin, Hyperinsulinemia

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