Tran slation , cultural adap tation an d psycho metric anal ysis of U rd u ver sion of Vic torian; institu te of sp or ts ass es sme nt: Achill es quest i onnaire fo r athletes with achilles tendinopathy.

OBJECTIVE: To translate, culturally adapt and psychometrically analyse the Urdu version of the Victorian Institute of Spor t Assessment-Achilles questionnaire. METHODS: The cross-sec tional study was conducted at the Pak istan Sports Board, Lahore, Pakistan, from June 17, 2021, to February 15, 2022, and comprised patients with Achilles tendinopathy in group A and healthy controls in group B. Beaton's guidelines for cultural adaptation and validation for self-repor ted measures were followed to translate and validate the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles questionnaire in Urdu language. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 180 subjects with mean age 28.06±5.95 years, 125(69.6%) were males. There were 130(72.2%) patients in group A and 50(27.8%) controls in group B. The overall mean score of the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment- Achille s questionnaire was 55.99±25.43; group A 41.14±9.54 and group B 94.60±4.22. The Urdu version exhibited excellent internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha values 0.95, and excellent test-retest reliability (p<0.001). Absolute reliability was expressed by standard error of measurement 5.317 and minimal detectable change (6.38). Convergent validity demonstrated strong correlation with the physical domain (r=0.81) of the Urdu version of the World Health Organisation Quality of Life Brief Version. CONCLUSIONS: The Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles questionnaire could be utilised for assessing severity of Achilles tendinopathy among Urdu-speaking population for clinical as well as research purposes.

A Fatigue Measuring Protocol for Wireless Body Area Sensor Networks.

As players and soldiers preform strenuous exercises and do difficult and tiring duties, they are usually the common victims of muscular fatigue. Keeping this in mind, we propose FAtigue MEasurement (FAME) protocol for soccer players and soldiers using in-vivo sensors for Wireless Body Area Sensor Networks (WBASNs). In FAME, we introduce a composite parameter for fatigue measurement by setting a threshold level for each sensor. Whenever, any sensed data exceeds its threshold level, the players or soldiers are declared to be in a state of fatigue. Moreover, we use a vibration pad for the relaxation of fatigued muscles, and then utilize the vibrational energy by means of vibration detection circuit to recharge the in-vivo sensors. The induction circuit achieves about 68 % link efficiency. Simulation results show better performance of the proposed FAME protocol, in the chosen scenarios, as compared to an existing Wireless Soccer Team Monitoring (WSTM) protocol in terms of the selected metrics.

Pulpotomy of Immature Permanent Teeth using Two Different Sealing Materials: A Comparative Study

Objective: To compare the outcome of pulpotomy of immature permanent teeth using calcium hydroxide (CH) and mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) as sealing materials. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was carried out in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Punjab Dental Hospital, Lahore. Duration of the study was 9 months: 6 months data collection (February 01, 2016 to May 31, 2016, and August 01, 2016 to September 09, 2016) and 3 months follow up period (October 01, 2016 to December 31, 2016). Total of 110 patients was included in this study. They were divided into 2 groups; A and B, each comprising of 55 patients. All cases were treated by the same operative team. Conventional access cavity was formed and coronal pulp was removed to the cervical level using a sharp spoon excavator and a sterile round diamond bur. Results: There were 25 males (45.4%) and 30 females (54.6%) in calcium hydroxide group, while in the mineral trioxide aggregate group, there were 26 males (47.2%) and 29 females (52.8%) with a male to female ratios 1:1.2 and 1:1.1 respectively. The mean ± SD ages were 8.93 ± 1.82 and 8.89 ± 1.97 years. Total 44 patients (80%) have success and 11 patients (20%) have a failure in calcium hydroxide group, while in mineral trioxide aggregate group, 48 patients (87.2%) have success and 7 patients (12.8%) have a failure. Statistically, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the two groups. Conclusion: Mineral trioxide aggregate showed good clinical and radiographic success as a pulpotomy agent in immature permanent teeth and seems to be a suitable alternative to calcium hydroxide.