Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude and practice of medical and paramedical staff about cervical cancer as well as its screening and prevention. Methods: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from March 1 to August 30, 2019, and comprised women medical and paramedical staff randomly selected from different specialties. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. Results: Of the 347 participants 144(41.5%) were nurses and 203(58.5%) were doctors. The overall mean age was 26.22±6.38 years. Of the total, 108(30%) respondents were married and 239(68%) were single. Overall, 239(68.8%) were well aware of Pap smear being the screening test; 85(24.5%) were aware of the true guidelines to repeat the test; 152(43.8%) had an idea of the exact use of visual Inspection with acetic acid; 61(17.6%) had got a Pap smear done; and 156(45%) thought they were at risk of developing carcinoma cervix. The common risk factors identified were multiple sexual partners 254(73.2%), age at first sexual intercourse 160(46%), smoking 131(37.8%), foul-smelling discharge 221(63.7%), and post-coital bleeding 231(66.6%). Conclusion: Cervical cancer prevalence is rising due to inadequate knowledge and awareness among healthcare personals. Improvement can be brought by regular use of Pap smear. Key Words: Cervical cancer, Pap smear, Healthcare professionals, Visual inspection with acetic acid.

Objective: To present and validate psychometric properties of Urdu version CLDQ, yet another objective was to do exploratory factorial analysis (EFA) of CLDQ Urdu version. Methods: This Cross-sectional Analytical Study was conducted at Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi during the period Nov. 15, 2021 to Jan. 30, 2022. CLDQ Urdu questionnaire was self-administered by the patients. The questionnaire consisted of 29 items and responses were recorded on 7-point Likert type scale. Reliability testing was done by Cronbach’s α, test value of >0.7 is taken as reliable. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Adequacies for conduction of EFA depended on Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of ≥0.5 and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (BTS) of ≤0.05. Mean CLDQ Urdu scores were also compared with Child Class using ANOVA and post-hoc analysis was done. Results: A total of 320 patients were selected after informed consent. All conditions for adequate EFA were met (Cronbach’s α =.949; KMO = .846; BTS ≤.001). Mean CLDQ Urdu score was 156.74 in male and 133.27 in female (p<.001). Child Class-A had best quality of life with score of 186.63 ±6.91 and Child Class-C had the worst with scores of 109.78 ±21.33. EFA resulted in reduction of domains to 4 (Muscular Symptoms, Emotional Symptoms, Abdominal Symptoms & Somnolence) & reduced the number of items from 29 to 11. Conclusion: Urdu CLDQ version is validated in our settings. EFA resulted in reductions in number of domains and items. CLDQ Urdu showed that quality of life decreases significantly with Child Class. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6602 How to cite this: Hussain SM, Zuberi BF, Rasheed T, Ali FS, Majid E. Validation and exploratory factor analysis of Urdu Version of Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(1):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6602 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.

Risk of development of cervical carcinoma has been identified in patients with abnormal cytology on Pap smear. A long duration of prior to development of invasive cervical carcinoma is governed by a precancerous lesion. Consequently, screening and proper treatment reduces the overall risk of cervical carcinoma. Objective: Aim of study was to identify the frequency of abnormal cervical cytology detected by Papanicolaou smear in married child bearing female presenting with bleeding following coitus. Methods: A Descriptive, Cross-sectional study was carried from 15th November 2021 to 31st May 2022 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jinnah Post graduate Medical Centre, Karachi. A total of 218 females of reproductive age group (18-50 years) presenting with post-coital bleeding were included. Patients with previously histo pathological diagnosis, ablative or excisional treatment modalities of cervix and trauma to genital tract were excluded. All cases underwent Pap smear testing with standard technique by utilization of Ayre's spatula and were fixated with 95% ethanol on microscopic slides. Two specimens were prepared for each patient and were assessed for abnormalities. Results: Patients encountered were between 18 to 50 years with mean of 32.20 ± 7.80 years. Majority (139; 67.43%) of the patients were between 18 to 35 years. Mean parity was 3.53 ± 1.51. Mean BMI was 29.12 ± 2.37 kg/m2. Frequency of abnormal cervical cytology was found in 37 (16.97%). Conclusions: This study concluded that Pap smear is an easy, effective and a cheap method for detecting women with cervical pathology.

Objective: To determine the association of Metabolic Disorders in women of reproductive age with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) Study Design and setting: Cross Sectional Study conducted in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Ward 9, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi. Methodology: The study was conducted from November 2021 to February 2022. A total of 227 diagnosed patients of PCOS were included in this study. Five components of Metabolic syndrome were assessed: Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, central obesity, fasting blood sugar and lipid profile. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Patients’ history, physical examination and laboratory investigations in terms of symptoms and findings relating to MS were recorded and assessed using SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics were calculated and stratification was done. Chi-square test used post stratification and p-value =0.05 were considered significant. Results: Mean age was 27.05±4.51 years. Mean symptom duration was 11.26±3.02 months. Central obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, HDL-cholesterol <50 mg/dl and fasting glucose >100 mg/dl were found in 44.9%, 31.7%, 38.3%, 27.3%, and 38.8% patients, respectively. A total of 47 (20.7%) study subjects were identified with two or more above components of MS. Significant association of MS with age (>27 years; p<0.000) and duration of disease (>12 months; p<0.000) was observed. Conclusion: A higher prevalence of MS was observed when participants aged more than 27 years and had symptoms for more than a year. Higher BMI was also found nearing statistical significance

Objective: To describe the clinical, etiological and neuroimaging profile of children with microcephaly at a tertiary care children hospital of Karachi Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at neurology outpatient department of National institute of child health (NICH) Karachi from 1st December 2020 to 30th November 2021. Methodology: Patients with microcephaly who presented to outpatient department of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Karachi were included. Clinical history and physical examination findings were recorded in proforma and neuroimaging was done in all patients including computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of brain. Data entry and analysis was done in SPSS 25.0. Results: Total 130 children were enrolled with mean age was 7.17 ±7.1 (range 1-41) months of which male were 57(43.5%) and females were 74(56.5%). Mean weight was 7.74 ±2.9 kg. Mean FOC was 40.6 ±3.3 (range 33-49) cm. common clinical symptoms for presentation were seizures 95 (73%) and developmental delay 95 (73%). Most frequent etiology was birth asphyxia 60 (46%), and neuroimaging shows brain atrophy in 32 (24%). Conclusion: In our study common cause of microcephaly was cerebral palsy and was commonly associated with of epilepsy, developmental delay, hearing and vision problems. Further plans are needed for prevention of perinatal asphyxia by regular antenatal checkups and delivery by trained person with co-ordination between pediatrician and obstetrics along with early identification of danger signs, which may improve outcome and prevent lifelong disabilities Keywords: Microcephaly; developmental delay; seizures.