Heavy metal pollution through hand loom-dyeing effluents and its effect on the community health

Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia district of western Bangladesh has become especially vulnerable to dye-effluent pollution over the last two decades. Twenty dyeing effluent samples were obtained at random from various dyeing units and used to determine the heavy metal concentration. The effluent pH, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids ranged from 3.69 to 13.68, 627 to 7160 mS cm^-1 and 4140 to 19800 mg L^-1, respectively. In dyeing effluents, the average concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, Mn, Fe and Cr ions were 5.50, 82.75, 6.80, 14.27, 66.03 and 65.28 μg mL^-1, respectively, while the amount of Cd was barely detectable. Total annual discharges of Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Fe and Cr were found to be 21.52, 1.43, 1.77, 3.71, 17.12 and 16.98 kg year^-1, respectively, which were high enough to pollute the local environment. According to the survey report, only a minority were aware of public safety measures and proper disposal procedures, though many respondents were conscious of the dangers associated with dyes and chemical substances. Most interviewees (58.33%) used synthetic dyes and other dangerous chemicals throughout the dyeing process, despite the fact that 43.33% did not use hand gloves. A remarkable 80% of respondents were improperly disposing of unused dyes and chemicals. Overall, there was a lack of awareness, right attitude and appropriate behavioural patterns about using dyeing chemicals. To prevent the negative effects of dyeing effluents on the community in the research area, environmental conservation rules should be appropriately implemented.

953 Amyand's Hernia: The Fortuitous Intraoperative Diagnosis – a Case Report

Introduction

Amyand's hernia is a very rare form of inguinal hernia, in which the vermiform appendix is in the inguinal canal/hernia sac. Its incidence is less than 1% of groin hernias and is complicated by appendicitis in about 0.1% of cases. It is commoner in males, on the right side and has a bimodal age distribution – neonates and the elderly.

We present the case of an elderly gentleman with amyand's hernia diagnosed intraoperatively.

Case Presentation

A 78-year-old male with a background of systemic hypertension presented to the clinic with an 18-month history of painless right groin swelling. Physical examination revealed a full, non-tender abdomen. He had a 4cm soft, reducible right groin swelling, with visible and palpable cough impulse. A diagnosis of right inguinal hernia was made. Baseline blood workup and ECG were unremarkable. He was listed for a day case open hernia repair.

Intra-operatively, the right indirect hernia sac contained a grossly uninflamed appendix lying freely within it. Figure 1.

Appendicectomy was performed and a tension-free repair was done.

The post-operative period was uneventful. Histology of the excised appendix revealed reactive lymphoid hyperplasia and submucosal fibrosis.

Conclusion

As only about 1 in 60 cases of Amyand's hernia are diagnosed pre-operatively, usually as an incidental finding on imaging; the overwhelming majority are intra-operative findings.

Although rare, the vermiform appendix remains a possible content of the inguinal hernia sac, and it is important to be aware of likely complications and options of repair.

426 Conservative Management of Bilateral Undescended Testes in an Adult

Bilateral undescended testes are an uncommon finding in children and even a rarer phenomenon in adults. Undescent of the testes (UDT) has important consequences on fertility, testicular injury, hormonal concerns, testicular torsion, and testicular cancer risk, as well as psychological health.

We present the case of a then 21-year-old native caucasian who was referred to the urology clinic with an ‘empty scrotum’ in 2009. On examination, he had secondary sexual characteristics with expected pubertal transformation. Testes were palpated as small smooth ovoid masses in each groin with the inability to be reduced into the scrotum. The basic hormonal screen was within the normal range. Ultrasound of the scrotum and groins identified testes in the left and right inguinal canal, respectively. Semen analysis showed azoospermia.

Treatment wise no pharmacological therapies were warranted in view of normal hormonal function. The patient opted for conservative options for fertility in view of likely low success rates in atrophic testes including sperm extraction techniques After detailed discussions around the dilemmas of Bilateral UDT, a decision for a tailored surveillance regimen including ultrasound and self-examination was taken. Psychological counselling was declined by the patient as felt unwarranted. He continues to remain well in himself to date with his wife and adopted children.

Greater awareness of testicular self-examination amongst young men should be advocated. With established neonatal screening availability, UDT in adults is seldom heard of but it is a primary risk factor for testicular cancer. Proper counselling advice and prosthesis should be offered proactively.

425 Extra-Anatomical Detour Ureteric Stents: Our District General Hospital Experience of 50 Patients with a Minimum Follow Up of 6 Months

Aim

Extra-Anatomical Detour Stents offer a viable modality of decompression particularly in the context of malignancies; with the absent need for changes of stents, cosmetically better than nephrostomies and fewer admissions associated with blockages/infections. Our aim was to assess the safety and feasibility of performing detour stents in a district general hospital.

Method

A review of prospectively collected data on all patients undergoing detour stents between 2016 and 2021 was undertaken. This enabled a possible follow up period of 6 months, provided the patients remained alive. A statistical package was utilised for the analysis of the collected data.

Results

Fifty patients were identified to have undergone detour stent insertion with malignancy being the indication in 90% of cases. Seven patients required a further eleven procedures with the most common being due to repositioning of the stent (36%) or change of stent due to infection (27%). Four patients passed away within 60 days of their procedure. Four patients had their stents eventually replaced with nephrostomies and a patient no longer required the detour stent due to resolution of their obstructive pathology. Nine patients are currently being followed up and thirty-six patients from the original cohort passed away with functional detour stents. Their median survival time post-procedure was 164 days.

Conclusions

Extra-Anatomical Detour Stents offers patients with obstructing renal tract secondary to malignancy a better quality of life when compared with nephrostomy. Continued caseload and refinement of surgical technique would lead to further optimised surgical outcomes.

Evaluation of prognostic risk models for postoperative pulmonary complications in adult patients undergoing major abdominal surgery: a systematic review and international external validation cohort study

BACKGROUND

Stratifying risk of postoperative pulmonary complications after major abdominal surgery allows clinicians to modify risk through targeted interventions and enhanced monitoring. In this study, we aimed to identify and validate prognostic models against a new consensus definition of postoperative pulmonary complications.

METHODS

We did a systematic review and international external validation cohort study. The systematic review was done in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched MEDLINE and Embase on March 1, 2020, for articles published in English that reported on risk prediction models for postoperative pulmonary complications following abdominal surgery. External validation of existing models was done within a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥18 years) undergoing major abdominal surgery. Data were collected between Jan 1, 2019, and April 30, 2019, in the UK, Ireland, and Australia. Discriminative ability and prognostic accuracy summary statistics were compared between models for the 30-day postoperative pulmonary complication rate as defined by the Standardised Endpoints in Perioperative Medicine Core Outcome Measures in Perioperative and Anaesthetic Care (StEP-COMPAC). Model performance was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROCC).

FINDINGS

In total, we identified 2903 records from our literature search; of which, 2514 (86·6%) unique records were screened, 121 (4·8%) of 2514 full texts were assessed for eligibility, and 29 unique prognostic models were identified. Nine (31·0%) of 29 models had score development reported only, 19 (65·5%) had undergone internal validation, and only four (13·8%) had been externally validated. Data to validate six eligible models were collected in the international external validation cohort study. Data from 11 591 patients were available, with an overall postoperative pulmonary complication rate of 7·8% (n=903). None of the six models showed good discrimination (defined as AUROCC ≥0·70) for identifying postoperative pulmonary complications, with the Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia score showing the best discrimination (AUROCC 0·700 [95% CI 0·683-0·717]).

INTERPRETATION

In the pre-COVID-19 pandemic data, variability in the risk of pulmonary complications (StEP-COMPAC definition) following major abdominal surgery was poorly described by existing prognostication tools. To improve surgical safety during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and beyond, novel risk stratification tools are required.

FUNDING

British Journal of Surgery Society.

POS0039 MONOCYTE TRANSCRIPTOMICS AND TARGETED PROTEOMICS DEFINE HETEROGENEOUS SUBGROUPS IN WOMEN WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE) AND SUBCLINICAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Background

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease, predominantly affects women with a 9:1 female:male incidence. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality in SLE via accelerated atherosclerosis: the build-up of cells and lipids in the vascular wall and the main pathology underlying CVD.

Objectives

To define molecular profiles of SLE with subclinical atherosclerosis using multi-omics data analysis and clinical data in a well-characterised cohort of CVD-free SLE women.

Methods

Multi-omics analyses were conducted to explore the molecular signatures of SLE patients with (SLE-P) and without (SLE-NP) subclinical atherosclerosis defined by non-invasive ultrasound scanning of the carotid and femoral arteries. SLE blood CD14+ monocyte transcriptomes were investigated by bulk RNA-sequencing (SLE-P N=13, SLE-NP N=8), and targeted serum cardiometabolic and cardiovascular proteomics (OLINK) were used to explore matched protein expression (SLE-P N=17, SLE-NP N=20) (no difference in disease activity between groups). Bioinformatics approaches, including pathway and disease module enrichment analyses and extended protein-protein interaction networks, further defined molecular profiles of SLE patients with atherosclerosis from patients that remained plaque free. Gene signature-derived interferon (IFN) scores were applied to investigate heterogeneous subgroups within the cohort as a measure of inflammation.

Results

Distinct monocyte gene and protein expression profiles were identified in SLE and enriched in biological pathways relating to extracellular mechanisms, including purinergic and cytokine signalling. Lipid regulatory mechanisms were enriched in SLE-P, whereas SLE-NP patient’s transcriptome and proteome profiles were defined by pathways relating to inflammation. Specifically, the type-I IFN pathway was exclusively reduced in SLE-P compared to SLE-NP. IFN scores derived from published IFN-responsive gene expression signatures stratified patients into significantly distinct subgroups (high versus low IFN-response, p=0.0001) with 66% (N=14) of patients showing high IFN expression across multiple signatures not associated with age, ethnicity, or disease activity. However, IFN scores did not predict the presence of sub-clinical atherosclerosis and further heterogeneity was revealed with 46% of SLE-P patients showing a low IFN response (N=6). Further, a measure of plaque lipid content (echogenicity) was inversely correlated with IFN score (grey scale median, p=0.03, r=-0.8) which may reflect distinct plaque phenotypes between these subgroups relating to clinical presentation and risk of cardiovascular events.

Conclusion

Lipid dysregulation is a key mechanism that drives atherosclerosis pathology and genes and proteins relating to lipid metabolism distinguished SLE patients with and without subclinical atherosclerosis. Differences in levels of interferons and other inflammatory molecules may contribute to unique patterns of gene expression between SLE patients. A distinct subset of SLE-P patients showed low interferon expression, which may be suggestive of a dampened immune response in early subclinical CVD. Further elucidating the complexity of lipid dysregulation, inflammation and immune function in atherosclerosis in SLE will help improve patient stratification towards investigating the efficacy of anti-atherosclerotic therapies.

Disclosure of Interests

None declared

Effects of mannan-oligosaccharide supplementation on gut health, immunity, and production performance of broilers

The study was designed to investigate the effect of mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) supplementation on intestinal histomorphology, immunity against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and productive parameters of broilers. A total of 1800, day old broiler chicks of Cobb-500 strain were selected and randomly assorted into 6 treatment groups: T1 (basal diet without antibiotics as negative control); T2 (basal diet plus antibiotics as positive control group); T3 (basal diet plus 200g/ton MOS); T4 (basal diet plus 400g/ton MOS); T5 (basal diet plus 600g/ton MOS) and T6 (basal diet plus 800g/ton MOS). Each treatment was having 6 replicates and the feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were recorded on weekly basis. Results showed that, MOS supplemented birds have significantly higher feed intake, weight gain and FCR (P < 0.05). Similarly, supplementation of MOS showed positive effect on villus height and crypt depth both in jejunum and ilium. Goblet cell density was unaffected by MOS addition (P < 0.05). Furthermore, birds fed with diets containing MOS, exhibited better productive performance in comparison to positive and negative control groups. In conclusion, MOS can replace antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) as non-microbial performance-enhancing feed advocates.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection: Analyses of risk factors and literature review of knowledge, attitude and practices

The study aimed to explore the risk factors for MERS-CoV infection and systematic review of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) with regard to MERS-CoV among the health care workers (HCWs) and the general population. The World Health Organization's MERS-CoV line list (January 2013-January 2020) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was analysed. A Poisson regression model was used to calculate the univariate relative risk of outcomes to each potential risk factor, p-values and 95% confidence intervals. An electronic literature search was conducted to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of the HCWs and general population of the KSA, with regards to transmission of the infection, risk factors and preventative measures. The line list analysis shows that age, gender, comorbidity, exposure to camels and camel milk consumption were associated with an increased risk of fatality; however, year-wise analysis did not show any decline. Over the years, the mean durations between the symptom onset and hospitalization; the hospitalization and laboratory confirmation have reduced. The review of literature shows that the health care workers and the general population had inadequate knowledge about MERS-CoV, lacked motivation and were disconnected from the health authorities. The WHO line list provides information on risk factors for MERS-CoV, KAP analysis helps to know the potential underlying factors. The literature review shows that continuous education for HCWs and increasing public awareness can help effectively manage future MERS-CoV.

Analyzing sentiments and themes on cannabis in Canada using 2018 to 2020 Twitter data

Introduction

The Canadian Cannabis Act came into effect on October 17, 2018, which allowed Canadian adults to consume cannabis for non-medical purposes (Government of Canada, Cannabis regulations (SOR/2018-144). Cannabis Act, (2018a); Parliament of Canada, C-45: an Act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts, 2018). With this major policy change, it is unknown how the attitude of the public changed and how information on cannabis changed. Social media platforms, including Twitter, are significant venues for studying emerging patterns in social issues such as cannabis legalization. This study aimed to examine sentiments, themes and contents of cannabis-related tweets by suppliers (both licensed and unlicensed) and general tweets in Canada. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis that mixes sentiment analysis and thematic analysis of Canadians’ cannabis-related Twitter data.

Method

A sample of Canadian cannabis-related tweets was collected from January 2018 to August 2020 through the Twitter Application Programming Interface (API). Using a standard access token and the Twitter Standard Search API, tweets were extracted based on Twitter handles to capture the content of both licensed and unlicensed cannabis retailers in Canada, as well as relevant cannabis-related keywords to capture public content. We conducted sentiment and positive polarity analyses, and content analysis to identify attitudes and themes around cannabis use in Canada.

Results

This study gathered and analyzed a total of 44,970 tweets in the sentiment analysis and a total of 1035 tweets in the thematic analysis. Descriptive analysis showed that monthly tweets peaked prior to legalization in October 2018 and again during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in February and March 2020. The data showed an overall positive sentiment polarity with a high of + 0.24 in April 2019 and a low of + 0.14 in March 2020.

Thematic analysis revealed the themes: (i) education/information, (ii) uses of cannabis, (iii) cannabis products including packing, quality, price, types, and sources, (iv) cannabis policies including regulations and public safety, (v) access, (vi) social issues include gender and stigma, and (vii) COVID-19 impact.

Conclusion

This study combined the power of big data collection and analysis with manual coding and analysis methods to extract rich content from large data using social media communications on issues related to cannabis in Canada. The findings of this study may inform policies on advertising cannabis products and highlighted some patterns related to education, access, and safety that deserve further investigation.

A feasibility study evaluating the uptake, effectiveness and acceptability of routine screening of pregnant migrants for latent tuberculosis infection in antenatal care: a research protocol

INTRODUCTION

Globally, tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death in women of reproductive age and there is high risk of reactivation of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in pregnancy. The uptake of routine screening of migrants for LTBI in the UK in primary care is low. Antenatal care is a novel setting which could improve uptake and can lend insight into the feasibility and acceptability of offering opt-out screening for LTBI.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This is an observational feasibility study with a nested qualitative component. The setting will be the antenatal clinics in three hospitals in East London, UK . Inclusion criteria are pregnant migrant women aged 16-35 years attending antenatal clinics who are from countries with a TB incidence of greater than 150/100 000 including sub-Saharan Africa, and who have been in the UK for less than 5 years. Participants will be offered LTBI screening with an opt-out interferon gamma release assay blood test, and be invited to complete a questionnaire. Both participants and healthcare providers will be invited to participate in semistructured interviews or focus groups to evaluate understanding, feasibility and acceptability of routine opt-out LTBI screening. The primary analysis will focus on estimating the uptake of the screening programme along with the corresponding 95% CI. Secondary analysis will focus on estimating the test positivity. Qualitative analysis will evaluate the acceptability of offering routine opt-out LTBI screening to participants and healthcare providers.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study has received the following approvals: Health Research Authority (IRAS 247388) and National Health Service Ethics Committee (19/LO/0557). The results will be made available locally to antenatal clinics and primary care physicians, nationally to NHS England and Public Health England and internationally through conferences and journals.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04098341.

Adverse In-Hospital Outcome of Transradial PCI in Comparison to Transfemoral PCI in NSTEMI Patients during Index Hospitalization: A Single Center Study in Bangladesh

NSTEMI patients, in comparison to STEMI patients, are more at risk of bleeding, access site complication and MACE after PCI during index hospitalization. Because they get, multiple adjuvant anti-thrombotic agents before PCI than do the STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI. Transradial access (TRA) is proven to decrease those adverse in-hospital outcomes compared to transfemoral access (TFA) in STEMI patients. But very few studies were conducted in this regard considering NSTEMI patients. We observed prospectively the adverse in-hospital outcomes of total 180 NSTEMI patients who had undergone PCI through TRA (Group I = 80) and TFA (Group II = 100) during index hospitalization between October 2017 to September 2018 in National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Samples were selected purposively. Patients were followed up 2 hours after PCI and thereafter every day until discharge. Demographic and risk factor variables were almost same in both groups. TRA, compared with TFA, yielded less major bleeding (0% versus 3%, p=0.12) which was statistically non-significant. Minor bleeding was significantly less in Group I (2.5% versus 13.0%, p=0.04). Overall bleeding was also significantly less in Group I (2.5% and 10.0%; p=0.002). Access site complication was non-significantly less in Group I (0% versus 1%, p=0.91). TRA caused non-significant reduction in MACE (2.5% versus 5%; p=0.38) but significant reduction of total adverse in-hospital outcome (5% versus 20%, p=0.006%). In this study TRA seems to have less adverse in-hospital outcome than TFA in NSTEMI patients undergoing PCI during index hospitalization.

335 Early Initiation of Biochemical Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis Following Traumatic Spleen Injury Is Safe and Effectively Reduce VTE Events

Aim

This study examines the safety and timing initiating VTE prophylaxis post traumatic splenic injuries (TSI).

Method

Patients with TSI were identified from prospectively maintained Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) database from 2015–2020 in a single tertiary trauma centre. Clinical and radio-logical information were collected retrospectively. TSI were graded using American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) splenic injury scale. Chemical venous thromboprophylaxis initiation were categorised as not given, &lt;48h and &gt;48h following the injury.

Results

In total 102 patient were included out of 136 patients identified with TSI. 34 patients were excluded for lack of electronic data, palliative decision, or fatal condition on arrival. 12 patients out of 102 required operative management (OM) and 90 patients NOM. VTE prophylaxis was not given for 31 (30.4%). Medical reasons for this include severe brain injury and early discharge before 48 hours. VTE prophylaxis was initiated for 37 (36.3%) patients within 48 hours, and for 34 patients (33.3%) after 48 hours of admission. Seven patients developed thromboembolic events, majority of which (6/7) received VTE prophylaxis after 48 hours. Importantly, none of the patients who received VTE prophylaxis had rebleeding.

Conclusions

This study showed that early initiation of chemical VTE prophylaxis (&lt;48h) is safe, resulted in lower incidence of DVTs/PEs without increasing the risk of bleeding. Results from this study supports recommendation from other studies 1 to initiate chemical VTE prophylaxis after TSI as early as 24h post injury with no other contra-indications.

A250 NUTRISUP-PPN; PILOT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL OF ORAL AND PARENTERAL NUTRITION IN MALNOURISHED HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS

Background

Hospitalized malnourished patients experience poor outcomes. Despite this, health care practitioners are poor in identifying, monitoring and treating hospital malnutrition.

Aims

Our study determined the feasibility of a novel nutrition care pathway which both rapidly identifies and treats malnourished medical inpatients accounting for the obstacles for nutritional optimization by utilizing both peripheral parental nutrition (PPN) followed by oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) on a composite outcome of 30 day readmission, mortality and continued admission, as well other important clinical and nutritional outcomes. The study was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier no. NCT02632630

Methods

NutriSUP-PPN was a 2x2 factorial pilot randomized trial. In two large Canadian hospitals, we recruited 100 adult patients &gt; 18 years, &lt; 48 hours from admission to a general medicine ward who were moderately or severely malnourished. Patients received: 1. PPN for 5 days and then enhanced ONS until 30 days post randomization; 2. PPN for 5 days and then standard ONS until 30 days; 3. Standard care for intravenous (IV) fluid administration for 5 days and then enhanced ONS until 30 days; 4. Standard care for IV fluid administration for 5 days and standard ONS until 30 days.

Results

There was no significant differences between a composite outcome of 30 day readmission, continued admission or mortality between any interventional group and control. We did however note a trend in the PPN + ONS arm where only 4/22 patients versus 10/24 patients (p=0.16) in the control (no PPN, no enhanced ONS) experienced an adverse outcome which was largely driven by a reduction of readmission in the ONS + PPN arm We demonstrated feasibility in recruitment, adherence to protocol, and safety. The incidence of sepsis was greater in the PPN arm compared to control (15.5% versus 4.2%) but was not statistically significant. Improvement in nutritional status for interventional arms were not significant compared to control. However, there was a trend of improvement in preventing decline of nutritional status in both the enhanced ONS arm and PPN + enhanced ONS arm.

Conclusions

There are signals in our data, which suggest that the combination of PPN with ONS may improve both clinical and nutritional outcomes compared to PPN or ONS alone. We posit that a large, multi-center, definitive randomized control trial is now justified to determine if PPN for up to 5 days along with 30 days of ONS, versus standard of care, will improve a composite outcome of death, continued admission, and readmission at 30 days.

Funding Agencies

CAGAMOSO

Sex-Driven Differences in the Effectiveness of Individualized Clinical Management of Alzheimer's Disease Risk

BACKGROUND

The Comparative Effectiveness Dementia and Alzheimer's Registry (CEDAR) trial demonstrated that individualized, multi-domain interventions improved cognition and reduced the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). As biological sex is a significant risk factor for AD, it is essential to explore the differential effectiveness of targeted clinical interventions in women vs. men.

METHODS

Patients were recruited from an Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic. Subjects with normal cognition, subjective cognitive decline, or asymptomatic preclinical AD were classified as "Prevention". Subjects with mild cognitive impairment due to AD or mild AD were classified as "Early Treatment." The primary outcome was the change from baseline to 18-months on the modified-Alzheimer's Prevention Cognitive Composite. Secondary outcomes included a cognitive aging composite, AD and cardiovascular (CV) risk scales, and serum biomarkers. Subjects who adhered to > 60% of recommendations in the CEDAR trial were included in this a priori sub-group analysis to examine whether individualized intervention effects were modified by sex (n=80).

RESULTS

In the Prevention group, both women (p=0.0205) and men (p=0.0044) demonstrated improvements in cognition with no sex differences (p=0.5244). In the Early Treatment group, there were also no significant sex differences in cognition (p=0.3299). In the Prevention group, women demonstrated greater improvements in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis risk score (MESA-RS) than men (difference=1.5, p=0.0013). Women in the Early Treatment group demonstrated greater improvements in CV Risk Factors, Aging and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) risk score (difference=2.3, p=0.0067), and the MESA-RS (difference=4.1, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Individualized multi-domain interventions are equally effective at improving cognition in women and men. However, personally-tailored interventions led to greater improvements in calculated AD and CV risk, and CV blood biomarkers, in women compared to men. Future study in larger cohorts is necessary to further define sex differences in AD risk reduction in clinical practice.

Factors associated with severe envenomation of snakebite cases at emergency department, Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim, Kedah, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Snakebite envenomation is a medical emergency and cases continue to be encountered in Malaysian hospitals. This study aims to determine the prevalence of snakebite presentations and the associated factors with severe envenomation of snakebite in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a retrospective, crosssectional study involving snakebite patients presented at the Emergency Department (ED), Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim (HSAH), Kedah from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2019. The cases were extracted from the computerized system and the case records of patients were retrieved from the Medical Record Unit. Patients that met the study criteria were included and their sociodemographic features, clinical presentations including use of anti-venom were collected. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with severe envenomation.

RESULTS

A total of 220 snakebite cases with the mean age of patients was 39.66 (SD±21.79) years old. Majority of them were Malay and males. 41.4% of snakebite cases occurred in late evenings and the mean time-lapsed to arrive at HSAH was 108.6 minutes. 81.4% of snakebite cases occurred while engaging in outdoor activities and 43.6% of the snakebite cases involved work-related incidents. 58.2% of the patients were bitten in the lower limb. 78.6% of patients were bitten by the identified snake species, predominantly from Viperidae family. The prevalence of severe envenomation was 50.9%. Malay ethnicity (adj. OR =2.549, 95% CI =1.277,5.089), bite to the upper limb (adj. OR =2.125, 95% CI =1.192, 3.790), and bite by snakes from Viperidae family (adj. OR =3.017, 95% CI =1.613, 5.642) were found to have significant associations with severe envenomation of snakebite.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of severe envenomation was more than 50% of snakebite cases. Malay ethnicity, upper limb snake bites, and snakebite from a Viperidae family had a higher chance of severe envenomation.

Milk-alkali syndrome: The forgotten diagnosis for altered sensorium

Milk-alkali syndrome (MAS) is one of the causes of hypercalcaemia. We report a case of a 75-year-old lady with a history of thyroidectomy, presented with an altered mental state and had an extremely high calcium concentration of 4.96mmol/L. The hypercalcemia was attributed to the ingestion of large doses of calcium supplements, including calcium carbonate and calcium lactate, leading to MAS. She was managed with intravenous fluids, diuretics and withdrawal of calcium supplements. The patient responded well to treatment and regained consciousness. Details of the case including clinical presentations, electrocardiogram (ECG) findings and treatment plan, are discussed in this article.

Impact of Myocardial Blush Grade on In-Hospital Outcome after Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is the optimal reperfusion strategy in patients with ST elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). However, despite achieving TIMI 3 flow after PPCI, some patients have less optimal perfusion at the myocardial tissue level, as assessed by Myocardial Blush Grade (MBG) and consequently show adverse outcome. This prospective observational study was performed in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 2016 to February 2017. Total 74 patients with STEMI who underwent primary PCI and achieved TIMI 3 flow were included among them 37 patients were taken with low MBG (grade 0 or 1) in Group I and other 37 patients with high MBG (grade II or III) were taken in Group II. Mean age of Group I and Group II were 53.70±9.17 and 51.49±9.41 years respectively (p=0.536). Male to female ratio was 5.7:1. Smoking (59.5% versus 35.1%, p=0.036) and diabetes mellitus (43.2% versus 18.9%, p=0.024) were significantly higher in low MBG group than high MBG group. Multi vessel involvement (24.3% versus 5.4%, p=0.022) and anterior MI (72.9% versus 51.4%, p=0.047) were significantly higher in low MBG group. LVEF was significantly lower in low MBG group than high MBG group (49.92?6.60% versus 58.84?4.55%, p=0.003). Among the complications acute heart failure was found significantly higher in low MBG group than high MBG group (8.1% versus 0.0%, p=0.048) along with total adverse in hospital outcome (24.3% versus 5.4%, p=0.041). In study population total mortality was 2.7% and all were in low MBG group (5.4%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed MBG was an independent predictor of adverse in hospital outcome after PPCI (OR 6.553, 95% CI 1.984-21.643, p=0.002). Low MBG is associated with more adverse in hospital outcome after PPCI. So, along with TIMI 3 flow following PPCI we have to assess MBG for evaluation of complete reperfusion and further outcome.

Impacts of mining on local fauna of wildlife in District Mardan & District Mohmand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

Mining is vital for human sustenance and a crucial sector in the state economy. However, its impacts on the environment and biodiversity cannot be underestimated. Which are potent to the attract government's attention. Environment and wildlife are subject to the harmful impacts of mining and its related activities. In this study, districts, namely Mardan and Mohmand have been targeted with respect to mining impacts. The assessment was carried out on wildlife adversely affected by the mining sector. The fauna has been keenly observed to bring the calculated risks and threat perception of the regional wildlife. Total 9 species of mammals, 21 species of birds, were recorded in District Mardan. While in District Mohmand 2 species of mammals, 9 species of birds, and 4 species of reptiles were studied. The Study explored that mining primarily responsible for land degradation. Which lead to food and agriculture losses. Several other factors like blasting, pollution, hunting, deforestation, habitat loss was also observed. Deforestation surfaced one of the major causes for extinction of fauna in the said region. preemptive measures are needed to seize the man-made catastrophe.

Residue level and health risk assessment of organophosphorus pesticides in country bean and bitter gourd collected from Cumilla, Bangladesh

Organophosphorus pesticides are one of the most commonly used pesticide classes in agriculture in the management of insect pests due to their high efficacy. The extensive use of organophosphorus pesticides can contaminate both the atmosphere and food, which may lead to health problems. In this study, the residue level of organophosphorus pesticides, and their health risk assessment was evaluated on country bean and bitter gourd. Out of forty analysed samples of the country bean, two samples contained multiple residues, seven samples contained single residue. On the other hand, out of forty samples of bitter gourd, one sample contained multiple residues and three samples contained single residue. Among the organophosphorus pesticides, diazinon was the most frequently detected organophosphorus pesticide in country bean and bitter gourd. The highest short-term risks or acute risk (aHI) was below 1.83%, and the highest long-term risk or chronic risk (HQs) was below 10.46% for the country bean and bitter gourd, respectively. Short- and long-term risk assessment results showed that the intake risks of country bean and bitter gourd were acceptable. The health hazard results showed that country bean and bitter gourd consumption in Cumilla, Bangladesh does not pose an acute or chronic risk to human health. However, a routine monitoring system must be established to control the contamination of vegetables with pesticides.

Comparative analysis of brain in relation to the body length and weight of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in captive (hatchery) and wild (river system) populations

Cyprinus carpio is the member of family cyprinidae commonly called common carp. This study was aimed to find out the comparison of brain of wild (river system) and captive (hatchery reared) population of common carp. A total of thirty samples (15 from hatchery and 15 from river Swat) were collected. All the specimens were examined in Laboratory of Parasitoloy, Zoology Department, University of Malakand. Findings indicated that wild population were greater in brain size and weight as compared to hatchery reared population. The fish samples collected from captive environment (hatchery) were showing more weight and length as compared to wild population of common carps. The mean value of total weight of hatchery fishes 345±48.68 and the mean value of brain weight of hatchery reared fishes 0.28±0.047. The mean value of wild fish's total body weight 195.16±52.58 and the mean value of brain weight of wild fishes are 0.45±0.14. Present research calls for the fact that fish in dependent environmental conditions possess brain larger in size as compared to its captive population, it is due to use and disuse of brain in their environmental requirements.

Iced towel - a novel method to revert supraventricular tachycardia in a paediatric patient

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is the commonest tachyarrhythmia among paediatric age group. Modified Valsalva manoeuvre can be attempted in a stable child. We discuss here a case of a 6-year-old boy who presented with stable SVT and iced towel was applied to his face to revert the tachyarrhythmia. This method was well tolerated by the child without any complications. The SVT was successfully reverted, and pictures were taken to capture the simple but effective method.