Association of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors with Transfusion in Surgical Patients.

Background: The clinical relevance of chronic exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to transfusion in surgical patients is unclear.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study involving patients undergoing cardiac, vascular, spinal, and intracranial surgery at 2 academic medical centers. Medication use, demographics, comorbidities, and laboratory values were determined at baseline by patient interview and review of medical records.

Apoptotic gene expression in Alzheimer's disease hippocampal tissue.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the major cause of dementia, accounting for 50% to 70% of the late-onset patients, with 17 to 20 million affected. It is characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, neuronal loss, and amyloid plaques in tissues of the cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala. Apoptosis or programmed cell death appears in the progression of AD.

Do mothers-in-law matter? Family dynamics and fertility decision-making in urban squatter settlements of Karachi, Pakistan.

The perspectives of mothers-in-law about intra-household decision-making, family size and family planning are investigated, and their views compared with those of their sons and daughters-in-law. Women (717 daughters-in-law), their husbands (717 sons) and their 522 mothers-in-law were interviewed in eight squatter settlements in Karachi, Pakistan. Decisions about the schooling and health care of children, and the purchase of jewellery, are perceived to lie within the nuclear family domain (i.

Does early age at marriage influence gynaecological morbidities among Pakistani women?

This paper presents the prevalence of and investigates predictors for specific perceived gynaecological morbidities in Pakistani women. A total of 717 women were identified from eight squatter settlements in Karachi, Pakistan. Detailed information on demographics, contraceptive use and gynaecological morbidities was elicited.

Predictability of medical students' performance at the Aga Khan University from admission test scores, interview ratings and systems of education.

Introduction: Performance in an admission test and carefully conducted, structured interview provides a uniform basis for the assessment of applicants prepared in different systems of education for admission to an institute of higher professional learning. We studied the predictability of the system of education followed by the students prior to entrance into the Medical College, the admission test scores, and interview ratings on performance after five trimesters at the Aga Khan University Medical College.

Method: A cohort of 374 medical students who were admitted during 1989--1994, were considered.

Perceived gynecological morbidity among young ever-married women living in squatter settlements of Karachi, Pakistan.

Background: Community-based information on obstetric and gynecological morbidity in developing countries is meager and nearly non-existent in Pakistan.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of specific gynecological morbidities and investigate the predictors of pelvic inflammatory disease.

Methods: Users [404] and non-users [313] of modern contraceptives were identified from eight squatter settlements of Karachi, Pakistan and detailed information on basic demographics, contraceptive use, female mobility, decision-making and gynecological morbidities were elicited.