Background and Objective: The objective of this analysis is to report from a teaching hospital in eastern Saudi Arabia hospital based prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Methods: This is a retrospective study of all patients who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan between January 1, and December 31, 2018, at King Fahd Hospital of the University at Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia. Demographic data of patients, which included age, sex, diabetes mellitus status based on fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C, Vitamin D level, parathormone level, and T score of the neck of femur and lumbar spine was extracted from the Quadrumed patient care system. The data was entered into database and analyzed. Results: Three hundred and one patients had a DXA scan for the year 2018, a jump of 27.2% of requests to diagnose osteoporosis. There were 55 (18.27%) were male and rest females (246). The average age for males was 65.2 ± 10.5 and females 62.9 ± 9.4 years. Using T score of the lumbar spine, 63.6% were osteoporotic in males and 52.8% in females. Conclusions: The hospital-based study shows that the prevalence of osteoporosis has significantly increased in men to 63.6%, while in postmenopausal women to 58.4%, this is high compared to the earlier reports.

Perforated viscus is a fatal condition associated with a high mortality rate that necessitating immediate management. In gastric cancer, perforation is a relatively late rare presentation. In this study, we report a case of a 40-year-old male who presented with perforated gastric cancer. In the emergency department (ED), the provisional diagnosis was septic peritonitis and shock. However, upon exploratory laparotomy, pyloric tumor was detected metastasizing to the duodenum, liver, and porta hepatis.

Objective: There is a lack of studies exploring the effects of Zamzam water on human physiology. The present study determined the effects of Zamzam water on blood pressure and heart rate variability (HRV). Methods: This comparative interventional study was conducted at the Department of Physiology, of our university in March 2018. A total number of 97 female subjects drank 500 ml of either Zamzam water or mineral water in one minute. Finometer Pro and PowerLab (ADInstrumentsR) with ECG electrodes through bioamplifier and attached finger pulse transducer were used to collect data at the baseline (for five minutes), during (for one minute) and after the drink (for five minutes). Paired and uunpaired student’s t-test, one-way ANCOVA and one-way repeated measure ANOVA were used for analysis. Blood pressure parameters were followed minute by minute and HRV parameters were compared as a 5-minute of baseline segment to 5-minute post drink segment. Results: Within-the-group comparison exhibited significant increases in blood pressure parameters (systolic, diastolic, pulse and mean arterial pressure), over a 5-minute post-drinking period in both groups. Zamzam water caused a significant increase in SDRR (an indication of overall HRV) and RMSSD (an indication of vagal activity) as compared to baseline. Conclusion: Both drinks cause a significant increase in systolic, diastolic, pulse and mean arterial pressure within five minutes post-drinking period. Zamzam water produce a significant increase in cardiac vagal tone but has no effect on cardiac sympathetic activity. Mineral water has no significant effect on both, cardiac vagal and sympathetic activity. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.1755 How to cite this:Latif R, Majeed F, Al-Sunni A, ALamrie RMK, AlNaimi SN. Acute effects of Zamzam water on blood pressure and heart rate variability. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.1755 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.