ABSTRACT… Objectives: To find out the association of body mass index with different blood groups in medical students. Background: Increased body mass index leads to obesity and is a prominent risk factor for hypertension and diabetes. Blood groups are known to be associated with various diseases and recent studies have shown that a particular blood group with the highest body mass index appeared to be more susceptible to predisposition to hypertension. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Liaquat National Medical College, Karachi. Period: June 2015 to September 2015. Methodology: 181 medical students with 85 males and 96 females and age ranging from 18-22 years. Weight and height of each student was measured using the standard stadiometer and blood groups were determined using the antisera. Results: Mean age of the participants was 19.92 ± 1.10 years. Blood group "O" was found to be most prevalent (39.2%) while blood group "AB" was found to be the least (8.3%). Mean BMI of subjects with blood group A, B, AB and O were found to be 24.3 ± 5.04, 22.6 ± 3.59, 23.0 ± 2.91 and 23.7 ± 4.20 kg/m 2 respectively. The highest BMI was found in subjects with blood group "A" 24.3 ± 5.04 kg/m 2 and lowest in blood group "AB" 23.0 ± 2.91kg/m 2 . The Rhesus-D positive and male students had greater body mass index 23.6 ± 3.56 than females 23.2 ± 3.44. Comparison of overall mean BMI values among different blood groups showed significant difference with p-value < 0.001. Conclusion: Blood group "A" and Rhesus-D positive subjects especially males were found to be the high risk blood type with predisposition to morbidity associated with increased body mass index. Key words:Blood groups, body mass index, medical students. Article Citation: Parveen N, Rehman J, Hassan SH, Hassan Z, Rehman M. Different blood groups; association with body mass index in medical students of Karachi.

Astragalus psilocentros Fisch. is a medicinal plant belongs to family Papilionaceae and is used to cure various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, liver diseases, hypertension, cardic ischemia, heart failure, nephiritis etc. The aim of this study was to identify the antimicrobial activity for controlling pathogens and antioxidant efficacy. The methanolic extract of A psilocentros was dissolved in water and partitioned with hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol successively. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, phenolics, sugars, saponins and flavonoids. Antimicrobial activity was carried out against four bacterial (Bacillus subtilis, Pasturell multicoda, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus) and two fungal (Aspergillus niger and Alternia fusarium) strains. The chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were effective against these tested microbes. The antioxidant potential of all these fractions and remaining aqueous fraction was evaluated by seven methods i.e. DPPH free radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity, FRAP assay, TPC assay, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, ABTS assay and super anion radical scavenging activity. All the fractions exhibited significant antioxidant potential. The results revealed that ethyl acetate showed the highest % inhibition by DPPH radical (183.92 ± 0.17), highest FRAP value of (56.86 ± 0.39), highest TPC value (53.69 ± 0.68) and highest inhibition by lipid peroxidation value (44.65 ± 0.44). The chloroform soluble fraction showed the highest TAA of (0.7005 ± 0.05). The GC-MS analysis of hexane soluble part of ethyl acetate fraction identified few potential markers responsible for the activity e.g., 1,3-bis-(trimethylsiloxy) benzene, diethyl benzoylmethylphosphonate, nonadecyl alcohol and 1,2-benzene dicarboxylic acid.

Objective: To compare the means of Anti-Mullerian hormone levels in bothfertile and infertile women. Study Design: Case-Control study. Place and Duration of Study:This study was conducted at infertility clinic of Gynecology& Obstetrics Unit-II, Civil Hospital,Karachi. The total duration of the study was approximately 1 year from October 2011 to October2012. Methods: A total of 52 infertile women attending the Gynae-Unit-II out-patient clinic at CivilHospital, Karachi and 48 fertile non-pregnant females of reproductive age group i.e. 20-35 yearswho met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The serum Anti-Mullerian hormonelevels were measured in both the infertile and fertile groups. Blood samples to determine AntiMullerianhormone levels were obtained irrespective of their menstrual cycle days. Results:Independent sample t-test showed decreased mean serum Anti-Mullerian hormone levels ininfertile group (cases) than the fertile controls. Conclusions: Mean concentration of serum AntiMullerianhormone in infertile women was sig nificantly lower than that in fertile control women.

Objectives: To find out the association of body mass index with different bloodgroups in medical students. Background: Increased body mass index leads to obesity and is aprominent risk factor for hypertension and diabetes. Blood groups are known to be associatedwith various diseases and recent studies have shown that a particular blood group with thehighest body mass index appeared to be more susceptible to predisposition to hypertension.Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Liaquat National Medical College, Karachi.Period: June 2015 to September 2015. Methodology: 181 medical students with 85 malesand 96 females and age ranging from 18-22 years. Weight and height of each student wasmeasured using the standard stadiometer and blood groups were determined using the antisera.Results: Mean age of the participants was 19.92 ± 1.10 years. Blood group “O” wasfound to be most prevalent (39.2%) while blood group “AB” was found to be the least (8.3%).Mean BMI of subjects with blood group A, B, AB and O were found to be 24.3 ± 5.04, 22.6 ±3.59, 23.0 ± 2.91 and 23.7 ± 4.20 kg/m2 respectively. The highest BMI was found in subjectswith blood group “A” 24.3 ± 5.04 kg/m2 and lowest in blood group “AB” 23.0 ± 2.91kg/m2. TheRhesus-D positive and male students had greater body mass index 23.6 ± 3.56 than females23.2 ± 3.44. Comparison of overall mean BMI values among different blood groups showedsignificant difference with p-value < 0.001. Conclusion: Blood group “A” and Rhesus-D positivesubjects especially males were found to be the high risk blood type with predisposition tomorbidity associated with increased body mass index.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways, which is associated with excessive airway narrowing in response to stimuli that have little or no effect on healthy subjects. Airway hyper-responsiveness with a short duration of asthma is coupled with airway inflammation which may or may not be associated with lung impairment. Objectives: To study correlation of asthma duration with total anti oxidant capacity and lung function parameters. Design: Cross sectional study. Period: June 2013 to Dec 2013. Setting: Baqai Medical University and Hospital. Methodology: A total of 92 known and diagnosed cases of asthma meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited in the study. The subjects included both male and female with age ranging from 16-70 years. Portable handheld electronic Spirometer was used for performing spirometry. FRAP assay was done to measure TAC according to the method of Benzie and Strai. Results: The mean age of patients (n-92) was 34.88±12.14 SD. The mean duration of asthma was 11.57 ± 11.30 SD years. Mean value of TAC was found to be 11.46 ± 4.34SD. Mean FEV I was 1.90±0.82SD, mean FVC was 2.17±0.88 SD, mean PEFR was 247.8±122.7 SD and mean FEV 1 /FVC was 86.21±16.58 SD. Paired sample t-test was applied to compare the spirometric values which were found highly significant. Pearson correlation was applied and showed negative but insignificant correlation of asthma duration with patients' FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR as well as insignificant correlation with other spirometric parameters and TAC. Conclusion: Our study showed that duration of asthma has no significant correlation with lung function parameters and antioxidant capacity.