Background:In this age, diabetes is one of the most prevalent, incurable diseases present. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and self-care practicesrelated to diabetes in an urban population in Pakistan.Methods:A cross sectional survey to assess the knowledge and practices of people with diabetes was conducted in general urbanpopulace. People with diabetes were interviewed using a structured questionnaire from which data was collected. A total of 139 diabetics were included into the study. Basic knowledge about diabetes and its complications were assessed as well as the frequency of practices such as keeping a blood glucometer at home and checking blood sugar with it.Results:A total of n=139 participants fulfilling the inclusion criteria were recruited in the survey. Only 18.7% had knowledge regarding the complications of diabetes mellitus. Only 8.6% of participants checked their blood glucose levels at homeregularly, and only 4.3% visited their physiciansregularlyfor check-ups. With regard to practices, a minority attested to have changed their lifestyle and commit to basic practices in order to reduce diabetes related complications with women being more prone to changes than men.Conclusion:The results show that most participants had a negative attitude and very little knowledge regarding diabetes. There is a need for increased diabetes related education and for developing positive attitudes towards reduction of diabetes related complications. The Pakistani population is seen to be almost completely unprepared to fight against an increase in type 2 diabetes prevalence.

Objective: To evaluate stressors, coursework stress and coping strategies such as wishful thinking and problem solving coping among medical students. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a private medical school of Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 240 students were selected through random sampling technique from first year to fourth year medical students. Validated questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was entered on SPSS version 20. Descriptive analysis was performed to report the frequency of stressors. Pearson correlation test was performed to test correlation between coursework stress and coping, independent t test was performed to test the mean difference of academic stressors on the basis of gender and ANOVA was performed to test the mean difference of stress and coping strategies scores between years of study, p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The mean (SD) age of the students was 20.98 (1.46) years. Majority of the students were females. In general, medical students frequently used wishful thinking and problem solving as coping strategies. Academic related stressors (mean=2.48, SD =0.82) were found to be predominant in all the years of study followed by social related stressor. Conclusion: Student who were frequently using the coping techniques seem to experience high level of coursework stress. Third year medical students were seen to be more stressed out, followed by fourth year students. Least amount of stress was seen in the first year. Academic requirements were found to be the most prevalent stressor.

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Introduction: According to WHO latest by March 19th 2021, it has now become a global threat with globally 122,665,852 confirmed cases and 2,707,206 deaths involving 220 countries.. NIH Pakistan has reported the national tally of COVID 19 cases in Pakistan to 543,214 and total deaths 11,683, making it an extremely serious issue in Pakistan like in the rest of the world. Physicians, consultants, paramedics and other staff working in hospitals are at risk due to the emergence of COVID-19 which also is responsible for severe burnout in the specialties who are working at the frontline. Burnout affects job performance, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationships, and vulnerability to illnesses [1]. This research aims at finding the burnout in healthcare professionals of Karachi, Pakistan due to the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study carried out in the tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan from Feb’2020 – Apr’ 2020 in which the questionnaire based on Malsch burnout inventory were distributed amongst the healthcare professionals including doctors and paramedics, working at the front in departments of emergency, covid special units and other areas. A scoring system of 1-4 was applied (strongly disagree-strongly agree). Results: The results of this study showed that highest burnout was faced by healthcare professionals in the category of depersonalization and personal accomplishment amid COVID-19 while the association between the burnout and the demographic factors mentioned was also found to be significant. Moreover, the challenges faced by the healthcare professionals to the maximum owing to this pandemic were found to be lack of presence of personal protective equipment and fear to spread the infection to family. Conclusion: The study concluded that the current pandemic situation of COVID-19 has been significantly associated with the burnout and stress amongst the health care professionals in tertiary hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan, particularly those who are working on the frontline.

Since the last two decades, the risk factor of various diseases has spiked up among the children and adolescents, which has an immediate alliance to the increased use of smartphones. Previously children used to lag behind their adults for possession of smartphones, but with ease of accessibility in succeeding years, smartphone ownership among teens has jumped to 72% with unnecessary prolonged screen time durations. The objective of this literature review was to highlight and refresh the slow poisoning effects of the smartphones in our younger generation due to its compelling traits which make them use it for a long time carelessly.