ResultsIn this study, hundred patients with Pott's disease of the spine were recruited. 60 patients (60%) were females and 40 patients (40%) were males. The majority of the patients fall in the age group 45-54 years, which constituted 25 cases (25%) of the study group, followed by the age group 15-24 years, 22 cases (22%). The groups 65-74, 35-44 and 25-34 constitute 20 cases (20%), 18 cases (18%) and 15 cases (15%) respectively (Table 1). The mean age of presentation in our study was 41 years. In 36 patients (36%), Pott's disease was found in association with pulmonary tuberculosis. The main complaint in the whole study group was backache and lower limb weakness. The course of the disease was progressive. In 92 patients (92%), the onset was gradual. 87 patients (87%) said that they had experienced weight loss, where 74 patients (74%) had mild fever. 76% of patients presented with neurological deficits. Lower limb anaesthesia was seen in 72 patients (72%) and numbness in 70 patients (70%) of the whole group. 46 patients (46%) presented with weakness of the trunk, whereas 44 patients (44%) AbstractTuberculosis (TB) of the spine (Pott's disease) is the commonest and most dangerous form of skeletal TB. Delay in establishing diagnosis and management can cause spinal cord compression and spinal deformity resulting in serious neurological deficit and bad prognosis. This was a prospective hospital-based study investigating the data on hundred cases of Pott's disease presented to Khartoum Teaching Hospital during the period from 2008 to 2010. 60 patients were females and 40 were males. The mean age of our patients was ± 41. The course of the disease was progressive and of gradual onset in the majority of the cases. 76% of our study group was presented with neurological deficits ranging from lower limb anesthesia, numbness, trunk weakness, root pain, muscle pain and flexion spasm.

This was a cross-sectional hospital-based study conducted at Neurology Department, Shaab Teaching Hospital, Khartoum in a period of two years. The aim of the study was to determine the most affected region of the spine in adult Sudanese patients with Pott's disease. Hundred patients with clinical suspicion of spinal TB were enrolled in the study. Clinical history and examination, investigations for TB and imaging studies were performed. Midthoracic spines (T5 -T8) and lower thoracic spines (T9 -T12) were found to be the most regions affected with tuberculosis. In 20 cases (20%) the disease affected the upper thoracic vertebrae (T1 -T4) and in 12 cases (12%) it was in the lumbar spines. Only four patients (4%) were having cervical spinal tuberculosis. The higher affection of the mid thoracic and lower thoracic levels of the spine was thought to be attributed to infection from combination of haematogeneous, lymphatic and direct invasion.

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Background Distractor efficiency of multiple choice item responses is a component of item analysis used by the examiners to to evaluate the credibility and functionality of the distractors.Objective To evaluate the impact of functionality (efficiency) of the distractors on difficulty and discrimination indices.Methods A cross-sectional study in which standard item analysis of an 80-item test consisted of A type MCQs was performed. Correlation and significance of variance among Difficulty index (DIF), discrimination index (DI), and distractor Efficiency (DE) were measured.Results There is a significant moderate positive correlation between difficulty index and distractor efficiency, which means there is a tendency for high difficulty index go with high distractor efficiency (and vice versa). A weak positive correlation between distractor efficiency and discrimination index.Conclusions Non-functional distractor can reduce discrimination power of multiple choice questions. More training and effort for construction of plausible options of MCQ items is essential for the validity and reliability of the tests.