Relationship of cytokines and AGE products in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with cataract.

Objectives: Cytokines are important mediators of inflammatory and immune responses. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in cytokines concentration (IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α) and serum advanced glycation end products (sAGEs) in senile diabetics with or without cataract and non-diabetic patients with cataract.

Methodology: The study included 124 subjects (sixty or over sixty years age), distributed as four groups thirty senile diabetic patients with cataract (Group I) (16 female and 14 male), thirty senile non-diabetic patients with cataract (Group II) (15 female and 15 male), thirty three senile diabetic patients without any complication (Group III) (16 female and 17 male), thirty one apparently normal healthy individuals (Group IV) (16 female and 15 male), age, sex and weight matched with senile control subjects were investigated.

Bedtime and its correlates among secondary school children in Karachi, Pakistan.

Objectives: To determine the demographic and lifestyle predictors of bedtime among secondary school children in Karachi, Pakistan, and to assess what variables of daytime functioning correlate with bedtimes.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted between September and October 2007, among secondary school students aged 10-16 years, in the socio-economically diverse city of Karachi. Data was collected using a pre-tested self-reporting questionnaire, and analysed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis on SPSS version 15.

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) associated peritonitis in a child: a rare case of peritonitis caused by sphingomonous paucimobilis.

First identified in 1977, Sphingomonous Paucimobilis has emerged as an opportunistic human pathogen. It is primarily known to cause a range of mostly nosocomial, non-life-threatening infections that typically are easily treated by antibiotic therapy. Sources of its isolation linked to clinical disease include blood, spinal fluid and leg ulcers.

Branch retinal vein occlusion.

Retinal vein occlusions (RVO) are the second commonest sight threatening vascular disorder. Branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) are the two basic types of vein occlusion. Branch retinal vein occlusion is three times more common than central retinal vein occlusion and- second only to diabetic retinopathy as the most common retinal vascular cause of visual loss.

Influence of cimetidine and bromocriptine on prolactin levels in rat fertility.

The present study was designed to see the effects of parenterally administered drugs cimetidine and bromocriptine affecting serum prolactin upon the fertility of adult male albino rats. Ninety adult young male albino rats between the ages of 60 to 120 days were selected. The animals were divided into three groups.

Anatomic pattern of arteriovenous crossings in branch retinal vein occlusion.

Objective: To determine the relative position of the two vessels at the site of venous obstruction, as it facilitates Arteriovenous adventitial sheathotomy and to look for the associated diseases with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) so as to create more awareness among the masses.

Methods: It was a case series carried out at the Ophthalmology out-patient department of Ziauddin University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan, from April 2005 to March 2006. The diagnosis of BRVO was made on the clinical basis.