Introduction:The most prevalent form of hypertension is systolic blood pressure (SBP) and it is considered to be predisposing risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The objective of the study was to assess self-care practices, knowledge and awareness of hypertension, especially related to SBP among cardiac hypertensive patients.Methodology:A Cross sectional study was conducted on 664 cardiac hypertensive patients, which were selected by non-probability convenience sampling from cardiology outpatient department of three tertiary care hospitals. Face to face interviews were conducted using a pre designed questionnaire. Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS (V17).Results:81.8%, did not know that hypertension is defined as high blood pressure. 97.1% of the sample population did not know that top measurement of blood pressure was referred to as systolic and only 25.0% correctly recognized normal systolic blood pressure to be less than 140mmHg. 7.4% of the patients consulted their doctor for hypertension once or twice in a month. Risk factor for high blood pressure most commonly identified by the participants was too much salt intakeConclusions:The results state that there is an inadequate general knowledge of hypertension among cardiac patients and they do not recognise the significance of elevated SBP levels. There is a need to initiate programs that create community awareness regarding long term complications of uncontrolled hypertension, particularly elevated SBP levels so that there is an improvement in self-care practices of the cardiacpatients.

BackgroundSelf-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is a critical component of diabetes care. However, it has been shown that use of glucometers in developing countries such as Pakistan is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of glucometer usage in the urban diabetic population of Karachi and to identify variables that influenced the likelihood of practice of SMBG.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 567 adult diabetic patients selected at random from the out-patient departments of multiple healthcare institutions in Karachi categorized into two settings; Government and Private. Non-diabetics, patients having gestational diabetes, diabetes insipidus and Cushing’s syndrome and terminally ill patients were excluded. Pearson Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test were applied as the primary statistical method.ResultsPrevalence of home glucometer usage was 59% (n= 331). High socioeconomic status (p < 0.001), receiving care from private institutions (p < 0.001), higher education (p < 0.001), a family history of diabetes (p =0.001), awareness regarding diabetes (p < 0.001), having diabetes for > five years (p <0.001), and managing diabetes via pharmacological interventions (p <0.001) (versus diet and exercise) were significant positive predictors of glucometer usage. ConclusionsOur study demonstrates the increasing trend in use of SMBG. Lack of awareness and cost of glucometers were reported to be the main reasons for not practicing SMBG. Given these factors are easily modifiable, government subsidized initiatives and awareness programs can result in a successful public health strategy to promote SMBG.

Introduction Bibliometric analysis is one of the emerging and latest statistical study type used to examine and keep a systemic record of the research done on a particular topic of a certain field. A number of such bibliometric studies are conducted on various topics of the medical science but none existed on the vast topic of pharmacology - opioids. Hence, we present a bibliometric analysis of the ‘Citation Classics’ of opioids. Method The primary database chosen to extract the citation classics of opioids was Scopus. Top 100 citation classics were arranged according to the citation count and then analyzed. Results The top 100 citation classics were published between 1957 and 2013, among which seventy-two were published from 1977 to 1997. Among all nineteen countries that contributed to these citation classics, United States of America alone produced sixty-three classics. The top three journals of the list were multidisciplinary and contained 36 citation classics. Endogenous opioids were the most studied (n=35) class of opioids among the citation classes and the most studied subject was of the neurosciences. Conclusion The subject areas of neurology and analgesic aspects of opioids are well established and endogenous and synthetic opioids were the most studied classes of opioids. However, the egregious issues of addiction and misuse of opioids were underrepresented in the citation classics. The pulmonary and gastrointestinal aspects of opioids are also marginalized among the citation classics.

BackgroundBibliometric analysis is a statistical tool used to examine the exponential growth in medical research. Many analogous analyses have been conducted, but none existed for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Hence, we conducted a citation analysis of the hundred most cited and recently published articles on this topic.MethodsScopus was chosen as the primary database, through which the top 100 and recent publications were ranked according to the citation count and were then analysed.ResultsThe 100 most cited articles were published between 1992 and 2013, among which the greatest number of articles were published in the years 2002 (n = 15) and 2006 (n = 11). Amidst the 24 countries from which the articles originated, the United States of America (n = 76) topped the list. The Journal of Clinical Oncology (n = 15) and the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (n = 10) contributed majority of the top articles. Harvard Medical School alone produced 44 of the top 100. Articles from 2013 to date showed the same trend as that of top 100 articles regarding origin and institutions.ConclusionBasic science and genetics of GISTs are established, and new drugs are being studied for medicinal therapy. Surgical management and diagnostics of these tumors, however, are yet to be studied as extensively.