The ROC curves of Ranson and Glasgow scores for mortality are comparable with that published in earlier studies. In a Singaporean population, the Ranson score is more accurate in the prediction of mortality. However, both scoring systems are poor predictors for severity of acute pancreatitis.

IntroductionAbout 20% of febrile neutropenic patients are presented with bloodstream infection which is a leading cause of mortality among these patients. Awareness of the locally prevalent pathogens and their susceptibility pattern is important for proper treatment of infection which improves survival in these patients. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of bloodstream infection in patients with febrile neutropenia admitted in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in the Medical wards in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi from 21-2-2016 to 20-8-2017. Patients of over 15 years of age of either gender with severe neutropenia were included in this study. Patients with noninfectious cause of fever, or fever prior to neutropenia were excluded. Patients meeting inclusion criteria were enrolled after taking informed consent. About 2–5 ml blood was collected under aseptic measures in Bactac culture bottles. Blood samples were sent to lab within 30 min of collection. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing of all isolates was performed on diagnostic Sensitivity test plates by Kerby – Bauer Method. Patients were referred back to treating physician if blood culture is positive. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.ResultsOf 200 patients, the mean age was 25.8 ± 5.7 years, 120 (60%) were male with male to female ratio of 1.5:1, 89 (44.5%) had low grade fever (Temp. ≤102 °C) and 111 (55.5%) had high grade fever(Temp. >102 °C). The frequency of staphylococcus aureus was 16%, E. coli was 14.5%, Pseudomonas 8.5% and Klebsiella 15.5%ConclusionsIt is concluded that the frequency of staphylococcus aureus was 16%, E. coli was 14.5%, Pseudomonas 8.5% and Klebsiella 15.5%

Objective: To determine the correlation between levels of stress with level of empathy in all five years of undergraduate medical students of a private medical college in Pakistan. Methods: This descriptive correlation study was conducted at Al Tibri Medical College, Karachi from 15th June to 14th November 2021. Of the 500 students in the medical school, 408 participants filled out the questionnaires through online Google Forms. The student’s version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE-S) estimated the self-reported student’s empathy levels. At the same time, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was utilized to assess the student’s levels of stress. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 and correlation between empathy and perceived stress was calculated by Pearson’s coefficient. A p-value <.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 408 participants, there were 217(53.2%) males, and 191(46.8%) females. The overall mean JSE-S score was 94.60±11.85, and the mean PSS score was 20.20 ±5.70. Empathy scores improved over the basic sciences years and then significantly decreased in the clinical years of medical college with a significant p-value of .019. The highest stress was present in third year medical students with a p-value of <.001. No statistically significant difference was present between empathy and stress levels (r = 0.04, p = .40). Conclusions: The study showed no statistically significant correlation between empathy and stress. Future research is needed to investigate other main factors for the decline in empathy among medical students. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.5.7211 How to cite this: Rafi S, Andrades M, Naz R, Jiskani A. Correlation between levels for stress with level of empathy in undergraduate medical students. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.5.7211 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.

Background: Liver abscesses are localized suppurative destruction of liver tissue due to infections of either bacterial (Pyogenic) or protozoa (Amoebic). Historically; pyogenic liver abscess has been described since the time of hippocrates (400 BC). Despite the more aggressive approach to treatment, the mortality rate remained at 60-80%.Methods: This Cross-sectional analytical study carried out at Department of Medicine, Al-Tibri Medical College Hospital, Karachi, from June 2017 to December 2018. All participants of either gender with diagnosis of liver abscess were included in this prospective study. Patients with co morbidities like malignancy, autoimmune disease or on immunosuppressive treatment for any reason were excluded from the study. Following confirmation of the diagnosis; different characteristics of either type of liver abscess like demographic, clinical features, biochemical and imaging findings were evaluated.Results: Data of 73 subjects, 65(89.0%) males and 08(11.0%) females were analyzed with mean age was 45.42±14.518 years. Fifty-four (73.97%) patients had pyogenic liver abscess while amoebic liver abscess was found in 19(26.03%) subjects. Clinically, the most common symptom was abdominal pain, found in 66(90.4%) subjects, followed by fever in 61(83.6%), hepatomegaly in 47(64.4%), jaundice in 18(24.7%) and vomiting in 10(13.7%) cases. Demographics and clinical features are shown in (Table 1).Conclusions: Local trends have been changing and majority of liver abscess were of pyogenic liver abscesses. Clinically, clear differentiation between two types of abscesses is not possible always but few manifestations like typical symptoms, raised alkaline phosphatase and leucocytosis may be helpful.

Objective: To determine the comparison between the capillary glucose and venous plasma glucose in type II diabetic patients. Study Design: Cross Sectional Observational study. Setting: Al–Tibri Medical College and Hospital Karachi. Period: 1st January 2020 to 30th April 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 86 diabetic patients from the out-patient department with non-probability consecutive sampling were selected. Subjects were diagnosed cases of type II diabetes based on the screening recommendation by the American Diabetes Association between 35-75 years of age of either gender included in this study. Patients with type I diabetes, pregnant females and hematocrit of more than 55% or less than 35%, and patients taking medications like Acetaminophen, and Ascorbic acid were excluded from the study. Each participant was measured for the capillary blood glucose levels by using Accu Chek, Easy max and On-call EZII, using strips by Glucose Oxidase Method. A venous sample was collected within 5 minutes of finger-prick test in a sodium fluoride tube. A Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 was used for data analysis. Results: Out of 86 patients in the study, 48(55.8%) were females and 38((44.2%) were males with a mean age of 47.16±9.916. The mean blood sugars by venous plasma glucose were 249.58±110.75 mg/dl, by Accu Chek 250.47±117.071 mg/dl, by EasyMax 259.26±119.751 mg/dl, and by On-call EZII 249.33±124.380 mg/dl which shows statistically significant correlation with a p value of <0.001. The glucometers accuracy was determined by using Error grid analysis showed a strong positive correlation between the Accu Chek R2= 0.917, EasyMax R2= 0.917, and Oncall glucometers R2= 0.868 with venous plasma glucose with a statistically significant (p <0.001). Conclusion: This study shows a strong positive correlation between capillary and venous glucose measurements.