Publications by authors named "Mohammad A Arif"

Naphthalene is a major component of mothballs. Domestically, people use mothballs as an insect repellent. Its deliberate or accidental ingestion leading to toxicity has rarely been reported in the medical literature, despite its widespread use in Southeast Asia.

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Salmonellosis, caused by species, is one of the most common foodborne illnesses worldwide with an estimated 93.8 million cases and about 155,00 fatalities. In both industrialized and developing nations, Salmonellosis has been reported to be one of the most prevalent foodborne zoonoses and is linked with arrays of illness syndromes such as acute and chronic enteritis, and septicaemia.

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Background And Aim: Probiotics can be used as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters because antibiotics are prohibited worldwide. This study investigated the potential combination of probiotics and acidifiers to improve feed intake, productive performance, egg mass, and egg yolk chemical composition of late-laying quail for the health of humans who consume quail products.

Materials And Methods: One hundred laying quails were divided into 4 × 5 treatments, with each group consisting of five replications.

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Background: Enteric fever is an infectious disease caused by Salmonella enterica including Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A and is associated with potentially serious outcomes, especially in developing countries. The study was conducted with the aim to present the clinical features, laboratory characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility in patients with culture-proven extensively drug-resistant (XDR) enteric fever and to explore drug combinations as a possible solution for the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Paediatric unit of Ayub teaching hospital.

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Objective: This study focused on examining the clinical manifestations, disease severity, and outcomes among cases of dengue fever (DF) confirmed through serological testing. The study specifically targeted individuals admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Methodology: This prospective observational study at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, tracked 1,003 patients from admission to discharge or death between August 2022 and November 2023.

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Wilson's disease is arare inherited disorder of copper met abolism. If le f t untre ated, i t can turn into a multi systemic disease with copper deposition in the liver, brain, a nd other tissues. Diagnosi s of Wilson's is delayed in Pak ist an by many ye a rs on average due to va riabl e presen tations.

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Background And Aim: Antibiotics that increase growth have long been employed as a component of chicken growth. Long-term, unchecked usage may lead to microbial imbalance, resistance, and immune system suppression. Probiotics are a suitable and secure feed additive that may be provided as a solution.

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Background: In the past 15 years, the decline in annually detected leprosy patients has stagnated. To reduce the transmission of Mycobacterium leprae, the World Health Organization recommends single-dose rifampicin (SDR) as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for contacts of leprosy patients. Various approaches to administer SDR-PEP have been piloted.

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Objective: To determine the nasal carriage of staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus among healthcare workers in a tertiary care setting.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from April to July 2018, and comprised healthcare workers at the institution. Nasal swabs were collected and cultured on Mannitol salt agar.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Conducted with 200 participants, the study found that while mild side effects were reported, there was no significant difference in COVID-19 prevention between the HCQ treatment groups and the placebo group (p>0.05).
  • * Although many healthcare workers reported exposure to COVID-19 cases, the use of personal protective equipment improved over time, but overall, the study concluded that HCQ did not effectively prevent COVID-19 infection in high-risk settings.
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Enteric fever is a multisystem illness caused by Typhi and Paratyphi, and it is associated with a spectrum of conditions ranging from minor cases of diarrhea and low-grade fever to a potentially fatal illness that can lead to gastrointestinal (GI) perforation, hemorrhage, central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is predominantly described as an idiosyncratic reaction to neuroleptic medications. However, it has also been associated with a variety of drugs that reduce dopaminergic activity.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to evaluate how often symptoms occur and how they affect the quality of life for individuals with dry eye disease, focusing on patients at an outpatient clinic in Islamabad, Pakistan over a six-month period.
  • - Researchers gathered data from 191 patients, predominantly females, using specific diagnostic criteria for dry eye disease and employed the Dry Eye Quality of Life Score questionnaire for analysis.
  • - Findings revealed that the most prevalent symptoms were itching, watering, and burning, with watering and photophobia having a significant negative impact on the patients' quality of life.
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Objective: To assess the prevalence and severity of fibromyalgia in hospital-visiting patients.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from July, 2018, to January, 2019, and comprised patients aged 18-75 years of either gender. Demographic information, comorbidities and previous medications were recorded for each patient.

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Background: The Leprosy Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (LPEP) program explored the feasibility and impact of contact tracing and the provision of single dose rifampicin (SDR) to eligible contacts of newly diagnosed leprosy patients in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. As the impact of the programme is difficult to establish in the short term, we apply mathematical modelling to predict its long-term impact on the leprosy incidence.

Methodology: The individual-based model SIMCOLEP was calibrated and validated to the historic leprosy incidence data in the study areas.

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Objectives: To determine the association between ethnicity, environmental factors, lifestyle factors, chronic diseases and pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX).

Methods: A case control study conducted at four major hospitals in Pakistan from January to November 2019, with 241 cases and 294 controls, aged ≥ 40 years, who were administered a questionnaire assessing demographics, lifestyle factors, chronic diseases and ethnicity. Multivariate binary logistic regression was applied to calculate the odds ratio between cases and controls.

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Objective: To identify patient practices and knowledge pertaining to Ramadan fasting and to see whether physicians were providing adequate counselling and adjusting medications accordingly.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from June to August 2018, and comprised diabetic patients who fasted during Ramadan. A questionnaire was designed to assess patients' knowledge, risk category, pre-Ramadan counselling, medication adjustment, lifestyle changes, pre- and post- Ramadan glycated haemoglobin levels, and complications during Ramadan.

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Background: Innovative approaches are required for leprosy control to reduce cases and curb transmission of Mycobacterium leprae. Early case detection, contact screening, and chemoprophylaxis are the most promising tools. We aimed to generate evidence on the feasibility of integrating contact tracing and administration of single-dose rifampicin (SDR) into routine leprosy control activities.

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Infectious diseases resulting in epidemics and pandemics have moulded human history and continue to do so even today. Cholera, plague, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and influenza have been some of the most brutal killers. The advancement of medical science has helped us win the war against several of these deadly agents.

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Objective: To assess the association of red cell distribution width with glycaemic control and the presence of complications in diabetes patients.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was done at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from September to November 2017, and comprised patients with type 2 diabetes. Clinical and demographical characteristics were documented and they were subjected to complete blood count, red cell distribution width, glycated haemoglobin, fasting and random blood glucose, lipid profile, urea and creatinine.

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Objective: To evaluate knowledge of diabetes using diabetes knowledge questionnaire in diabetic patients.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from October to December 2017, and comprised subjects aged >20 years with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The modified version of diabetes knowledge questionnaire was used for data collection.

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Objective: To determine the frequencies of single nucleotide polymorphisms rs201919874 and rs138244461 in genes SLC22A2 and SLC47A2 respectively in Pakistani diabetes patients in order to characterise the genetic variants and determine their association with the pharmacokinetics of metformin.

Methods: The case-control study was conducted at the International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan, from June 2016 to June 2017, and comprised genotypes of diabetic cases and matching controls which were determined following allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. Cases were further divided into Group A and Group B.

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Objective: To assess foot-care behaviour in diabetics attending a tertiary care hospital, and to see if there are any influencing factors.

Methods: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from September to November 2017 at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, and comprised diabetes patients either admitted to the wards or attending the outpatient clinics. Foot-care behaviour was assessed through the validated Nottingham Assessment of Functional Foot-care scale.

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Objective: To assess diabetes distress and its associated factors in Pakistani population..

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, from July to December 2017, and comprised patients of diabetes type 2.

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