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Objective: Determination of the frequency of pathological cardiotocography in laboring women with high-risk pregnancies and to compare perinatal outcomes with and without pathological CTG among them. Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Gynecology Department, Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore, Pakistan from March 2023 to September 2023. Methods: A total 75 women with high-risk pregnancies were included in this cross-sectional comparative study. Women were selected by consecutive nonprobability sampling techniques. Adverse perinatal outcomes were assessed in terms of stillbirth, cesarean section, low Apgar score, neonatal mortality, and morbidity. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used for data analysis. Quantitative variables like age, parity, gestational age, and Apgar score were presented as mean± SD. Frequency and percentage were used for qualitative variables like high-risk illness, pathological CTG finding, cesarean section, stillbirth, neonatal mortality, and neonatal intensive care unit admission. Two groups were compared by using Chi-square test. Data stratification was done for age and gestational age. P-value ≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: A mean age of 28.0±4.1 years was found in included women. Pathological CTG was found in 28 cases (37.3%). The adverse perinatal outcome was found significantly higher in a group with pathological CTG (P≤0.005). Conclusion: The relationship and frequency of pathological CTG in high-risk pregnancies should be timely determined to get good maternal and fetal outcomes. Women with pathological CTG, are at great risk of caesarean section with rising trends of low Apgar score at birth, increased rate of NICU admission, and mortality.

ABSTRACT Aspergillus fumigatus is a respiratory pathogen, which has the potential to cause brooder pneumonia in poultry chicks and aspergillosis in birds and farmers. Frequent and irrational use of antifungals has led to the development of resistance in the fungal species. The present study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of essential oils (EOs) from four different spices against multi-drug resistant (MDR) A. fumigatus isolated from 40 poultry feed samples. Twenty fungal isolates were identified to be A. fumigatus based on the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics, which were confirmed by targeting and amplifying the species-specific rodA gene (313 bp). Five (5/20) isolates were found to be MDR by the disk diffusion method. EOs were tested as an alternative strategy for 5 MDR isolates of A. fumigatus. Clove EO provided better activity by 6 log10 reduction for 30-90 min exposure as compared to other EOs, therefore, shortlisted for well-diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method. Clove EO provided promising results as compared to fluconazole, amphotericin B, ketoconazole, nystatin and voriconazole as its mean ZOI (39.6 ± 6.34) were better than all other commercial antifungals (p< 0.001). Mean MIC was reported to be 0.195 ± 0.11 µl/ml. Safety testing of the EO produced 74-82% cell viability for the range of 0.390 - 0.097 µl/ml as compared to DMSO. Findings of the present study highlight that clove EO can be source of a good therapeutic agent for infections of MDR isolates of A. fumigatus.

Introduction: Dengue is an epidemic in Pakistan. Proper monitoring of dengue cases is necessary for its early diagnosis and prevention, especially in developing countries with limited resources. Our study aims to use some hematological parameters as Early Diagnostic Indicators in Acute Dengue Infection which can help reduce mortality and morbidity. Materials and Methods: Dengue NS1 Antigen test was used to identify 119 Dengue Patients over August-October, 2019. Hematological data from such patients was collected and analysed. Results: In our study thrombocytopenia was prominent with sensitivity based on gender distribution being 86% for males and 76% for females. According to age, distribution thrombocytopenia had a sensitivity of up to 81% in the younger age group and 80% in the older age group. The other prominent findings in younger age groups were lymphopenia, neutropenia, and monocytopenia with a sensitivity of 55%, 43%, and 24% respectively. Lymphopenia and neutropenia had similar sensitivity across the two genders, whereas monocytopenia had higher sensitivity among females of 27% as opposed to males of 12%. Eosinopenia did not differ as much among the two age groups i.e. 18% in young and 19% in older patients and across the two genders i.e. 56% in males and 60% in females. The sensitivity of lymphocytosis in older patients is 21% which was also significant. Conclusions: The Differential Leukocyte Count and Platelets Count can help as an early indicator of acute dengue infection in resource-limited areas. This can help in early diagnosis and prompt treatment thus reducing complications.