Liming potential and characteristics of biochar produced from woody and non-woody biomass at different pyrolysis temperatures.

Large amount of wastes are burnt or left to decompose on site or at landfills where they cause air pollution and nutrient leaching to groundwater. Waste management strategies that return these food wastes to agricultural soils recover the carbon and nutrients that would otherwise have been lost, enrich soils and improve crop productivity. The incorporation of liming materials can neutralize the protons released, hence reducing soil acidity and its adverse impacts to the soil environment, food security, and human health.

Frequency of Ischemic Stroke Subtypes Based on Toast Classification at a Tertiary Care Center in Pakistan.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of ischemic stroke subtypes based on Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification at a tertiary care center in Pakistan.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Stroke Unit of Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad. We included 145 patients who presented to us from November 2015 to February 2016 with radiological confirmed neurological deficits consistent with ischemic stroke.

Presence of pre-diabetes in Helicobacter pylori positive versus Helicobacter pylori negative patients having dyspepsia.

Pre-diabetes is a state of intermediate hyperglycaemia. Helicobacter (H) pylori infection is an established risk factor for pre-diabetes. This comparative cross-sectional study was done in Mayo Hospital Lahore from November 2015 to August 2016 in which 270 patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with antral biopsy.

Efficacy of high dose Allopurinol in reducing left ventricular mass in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy by comparing its efficacy with Febuxostat - a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: : To determine the efficacy of high-dose allopurinol in reducing left ventricular mass in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy by comparing its efficacy with febuxostat..

Methods: The randomised controlled interventional study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from April to December 2015, comprising patients with left ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiography.

Dengue fever in Pakistan: a paradigm shift; changing epidemiology and clinical patterns.

Dengue fever has huge public health implications and affects over 100 million people worldwide. This review pictures the current situation of Dengue in Pakistan and presents a review of published literature. Pakistan has seen recurrent epidemics of Dengue Fever recently.

Paradoxical respiratory sinus arrhythmia due to a large thoracic empyema in an ambulatory patient.

We report a case of paradoxical respiratory sinus arrhythmia (PRSA) caused by a retro-cardiac empyema in an ambulatory patient. The case describes the dynamics and deleterious impact of PRSA on cardio-respiratory cycle, its electrocardiographic, radiologic and echocardiographic findings. Furthermore, it discusses a probable mechanism of paradoxical respiratory sinus arrhythmia in the setting of a retrocardiac mass and suggests a need for physicians to check for the changes in ventilation perfusion mismatch and rise in physiological dead space in such patients.

An unusual cause of acute abdominal pain in dengue fever.

Dengue fever is an acute febrile viral disease caused by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito. It is a major health problem especially in tropical and subtropical areas including South East Asia and Pakistan. In the past few years, dengue fever has been endemic in Northern Punjab.

An unusual cause of stroke in a young female.

Takayasu arteritis is a granulomatous vasculitis of medium- to large-sized arteries. Initial presentation is usually with nonspecific constitutional symptoms, but unusually, it can present with acute ischemic features in the advanced disease. We present a case of a young Asian female who presented with acute stroke due to Takayasu arteritis.

Risk factors in young patients of acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Ischemic heart disease is a leading cause of death throughout the world. CAD has been recognized among younger age group more frequently in recent years. Very limited data is available regarding the prevalence of various risk factors in our younger patients that is why this study was planed.

Effect of intravenous mannitol in mobilization of resistant cirrhotic ascites.

Introduction: Cirrhotic ascites is conventionally treated with bed rest, salt restriction, and diuretics. In 20-30% of patients it eventually became resistant to diuretic therapy partly because of reduced sodium excretion owing to the development of resistance against atrial natriuretic peptide. Diuretics resistance can be overcome partially by increasing distal tubular sodium delivery by atrial natriuretic peptide and mannitol administration.

Multiple dengue serotypes and high frequency of dengue hemorrhagic fever at two tertiary care hospitals in Lahore during the 2008 dengue virus outbreak in Punjab, Pakistan.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with dengue viral infection during the 2008 outbreak in Lahore in order to better understand the clinical pattern and severity of disease in Lahore.

Methods: We analyzed the clinical characteristics of 110 patients infected with dengue virus; data were collected on standardized data collection sheets at two tertiary care hospitals from September to December 2008. Dengue infection was confirmed serologically or by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).