Demographic and clinical variables in the dengue epidemic in Punjab, Pakistan.

Objectives: To identify the latest trends in the clinical picture and severity of the disease, which will help better understand and manage dengue. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional, hospital-based study performed in the tertiary care hospitals of Punjab from August 21 to December 2022, in which serologically and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed patients with dengue infection, were enrolled. Demographic and clinical variables were recorded on a pre-tested Performa, processed and presented in frequency and percentages, and graphs were generated. Mean and standard deviation was used to present continuous variables. Results: Out of a total of 580 patients, 472 were diagnosed with Dengue Fever (DF) and 108 with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF). About 79.31% of the patients were male and 20.69% were females. The mean age of patients was 32.5±9 years. Among the clinical features the percentage of high-grade fever, body aches, and vomiting were the highest. The liver function profile showed that serum bilirubin, Serum aspartate transaminase (AST), serum alanine transaminase (ALT,) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels were markedly raised. Conclusion: This study showed that with time the trends in the presentation of dengue are slowly shifting, which will help us better manage the disease burden in the future.

Missed Opportunities for Prevention of Sudden Death.

BACKGROUND: We assessed patterns of health care utilization to further characterize chronic comorbidities prior to sudden death. METHOD: From March 1, 2013, through February 28, 2015, all out-of-hospital deaths aged 18-64 reported by emergency medical services in Wake County, North Carolina, were screened to adjudicate 399 sudden death victims. Retrospective analysis of clinical records on victims determined health care utilization. Health care utilization frequency was assessed by latent growth curve analysis. RESULTS: Medical records were available for 264 victims (aged 53.5 ± 9.2) who were predominantly male (65%) and white (64%). Of these, 210 (80%) victims had at least one visit within two years of death and 73 (28%) had a visit within one month of death. Over the two years prior to death, there was an increasing frequency of doctor visits (P < .001). Victims averaged 3.7 ± 4.6 yearly visits and were categorized into low (0.4 visits/year), medium (3.3 visits/year), and high (11.4 visits/year) tiers of visit frequency. The high visit tier had a greater prevalence of coronary artery disease (38%), hypertension (80%), diabetes (58%), depression (74%), anxiety (64%), and substance misuse (46%) (P < .001). LIMITATIONS: Those who were non-free-living, minors, without formal medical records, and adults aged 65 and older were excluded from the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of sudden death victims utilized health care within two years prior to death and had comorbidities that may have contributed to their unexpected death. The increasing frequency of visits prior to death provided an opportunity for health care providers to address potential victims' chronic medical conditions to potentially prevent death.

Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl Syndrome: A Rare Case With a Literature Review.

Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome (LMBBS), a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder, results from consanguineous marriage. It is a congenital ciliopathy manifesting with primary and secondary characteristics. Primary clinical features include rod and cone dystrophy, polydactyly, central obesity, genital abnormalities, and mental retardation, often presenting as poor schooling skills. Secondary clinical features include developmental delay, speech deficit, brachydactyly/syndactyly, dental defects, ataxia, olfactory deficit, diabetes mellitus (DM), and congenital heart disease. Herein, we report a case of a 15-year-old male with clinical manifestations of LMBBS, namely learning disabilities, night blindness, hypogonadism, polydactyly, polysyndactyly, and obesity. Physicians must be familiar with this syndrome, for which an early diagnosis, multidisciplinary approach, and regular follow-ups can profoundly diminish morbidity and mortality in LMBBS patients.

Progression in the severity of aortic stenosis according to race among those with advanced chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: There is a higher prevalence of aortic stenosis (AS) in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and European ancestry. However, studies comparing AS progression in white and black patients in an advanced CKD population do not exist. METHODS: Advanced CKD (stage IV-V) patients who were referred to the UNC Cardiorenal Clinic for pre-operative kidney transplant evaluation, and diagnosed with either AS (mild, moderate, or severe) or a left ventricular outflow tract velocity ≥2 m/s at any point between 2006-2016 were eligible for inclusion. Serial transthoracic echocardiograms over the 10-year period determined AS progression. All echocardiograms acquired after renal transplantation or aortic valve replacement were excluded. The rates of change of three indices of AS severity [mean gradient, aortic valve area (AVA), and aortic valve velocity] were compared between white and black patients. Mixed effects linear models with repeated measures were used to estimate the overall and race-stratified yearly rate of progression for each index, adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, dialysis, and baseline cholesterol. RESULTS: Of 1,283 patients, 140 (34% white, 66% black) developed or had baseline AS. Initially, 81% had no AS, 13% had mild, and 6% had moderate. White patients were more likely to be male and less likely to be on hemodialysis compared to black patients. No differences in AS severity (P=0.55) or age (60 vs. 58 years, P=0.34) were seen at baseline. In white vs. black patients, mean gradient increased at 1.90 (95% CI: 0.79, 3.01) mmHg/year vs. 1.46 (95% CI, 0.79, 2.14) mmHg/year, P=0.20, AVA decreased at -0.10 (95% CI: -0.15, -0.05) m2/year vs. -0.08 (95% CI: -0.11, -0.05) m2/year, P=0.13, and transvalvular velocity increased at 0.11 (95% CI: 0.04, 0.18) m/s/year vs. 0.07 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.11) m/s/year, P=0.09. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to black patients, white patients in an advanced CKD cohort may have exhibited more rapid progression of AS. Ours is the first study to analyze racial differences in such a population. A study with a larger sample size is needed to confirm our findings.

Treating Mooren's Ulcer - Squeezing Water From a Stone.

Mooren's ulcer, a rare ophthalmic disease, presents clinically as a painful, chronic, peripheral corneal ulceration of unknown etiology with some autoimmune origin evidence. It begins with an intense limbal inflammation, leaving behind an opaque cornea. If left untreated, progressive damage and corneal degeneration can lead to permanent loss of vision. Herein, we present a classic case of Mooren's ulcer in the right eye of a 60-year-old male patient with no known comorbid condition. No underlying systemic disorder being the rarity in our case, the cause remains idiopathic. The patient was previously diagnosed with having Mooren's ulcer in his left eye 10 years ago. Despite multiple topical treatments and surgical interventions, there was a complete loss of vision. He presented exaggerated manifestations, including pain, redeye, watery eye, photophobia, and the progressive decline of vision. A combination of multiple pharmacological and surgical interventions, including lateral tarsorrhaphy, amniotic membrane grafting, conjunctival flap, and scleral patch graft, was tried to ameliorate the affected eye but failed to salvage the eye permanently.

The Reproducibility of Racial Differences in Ambulatory Blood Pressure Phenotypes and Measurements.

BACKGROUND: We examined the reproducibility of differences in ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) phenotypes and other parameters (sustained hypertension, masked hypertension, nocturnal hypertension, and nondipping) between African Americans and Whites. METHODS: A total of 420 participants untreated for hypertension attended 2 research visits 1 week apart during which traditional office BP averages and ABPM session averages were determined. We computed percent agreement in ABPM phenotypes across the 2 visits stratified by race and associated kappa statistics with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Whites on average were older, more likely to be male, and had a higher body mass index. There was no significant difference in sleep quality as defined by sleep diary between the 2 races. There were also no significant differences between races in the proportions of participants with sustained hypertension, sustained normotension, or masked hypertension at either testing session. The prevalence of nocturnal hypertension was 59% vs. 75% (P = 0.012) at session 1 and 59% vs. 73% (P = 0.024) at session 2 for Whites and African Americans, respectively, with moderate reproducibility for both (kappas 0.45 and 0.44). Nocturnal BP nondipping had a prevalence 29% vs. 53% (P < 0.001) at session 1 and 29% vs. 47% (P = 0.004) at session 2 for Whites and African Americans, respectively, with fair reproducibility (kappas 0.28 and 0.29). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support that African Americans indeed exhibit a greater preponderance of abnormal nocturnal BP patterns than Whites. Our work is some of the first to demonstrate that these abnormal patterns are modestly reproducible.

Interferon-induced central retinal vein thrombosis.

A middle-aged lady presented with sudden onset of unilateral central retinal vein thrombosis after completing 6 months course of interferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C infection. She had no risk factors and all her thrombophilia workup was normal, however, she was found to be dyslipidemic which may have contributed to atherosclerosis and predispose to thrombosis. Despite anticoagulation, her visual acuity deteriorated. This case illustrates the possibility of unpredictable visual complication of interferon. Frequent eye examination should be undertaken in patients having underlying risk factors like diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidemia undergoing interferon therapy.