Search

This survey aimed to understand the physicians' practice pattern and challenges faced while treating their patients with asthma in five countries-Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar, Morocco and Lebanon. Questionnaire-based data was gathered from internal medicine doctors (209), general practitioners (206), chest physicians (152) and pediatricians (58) from 232 locations from across the five countries. Of the 816 physicians, 374 physicians encountered at least 5 asthma patients daily. Approximately, 38% physicians always used spirometry for diagnosis and only 12% physicians always recommended Peak flow meter (PFM) for home-monitoring. Salmeterol/fluticasone (71%) followed by formoterol/budesonide (38%) were the most preferred ICS/long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA); Salbutamol (78%) was the most preferred reliever medication. 60% physicians said >40% of their patients were apprehensive to use inhalers. 72% physicians preferred a pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) to a dry powder inhaler (DPI) with only a third of them using a spacer with the pMDI. 71% physicians believed that using similar device for controller and reliever can be beneficial to patients. Skipping medicines in absence of symptoms (64%), incorrect inhaler technique (48%) and high cost of medication (49%) were considered as major reasons for non-adherence by most physicians. Incorrect inhaler technique (66%) and nonadherence (59%) were considered the most common causes of poor asthma control. There are opportunities to improve the use of diagnostic and monitoring tools for asthma. Non-adherence, incorrect inhaler technique and cost remain a challenge to achieve good asthma control. Asthma education, including correct demonstration of inhaler, can potentially help to improve inhaler adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foot plantar pressure is the pressure field that acts between the foot and the support surface during everyday locomotor activities. Information derived from such pressure measures is important in gait and posture research for diagnosing lower limb problems, footwear design, sport biomechanics, injury prevention and other applications. This paper reviews foot plantar sensors characteristics as reported in the literature in addition to foot plantar pressure measurement systems applied to a variety of research problems. Strengths and limitations of current systems are discussed and a wireless foot plantar pressure system is proposed suitable for measuring high pressure distributions under the foot with high accuracy and reliability. The novel system is based on highly linear pressure sensors with no hysteresis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scrub typhus is a potentially fatal infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. We report on a retrospective analysis of clinical manifestations, lab investigations and outcome of patients admitted to our hospital fromJanuary 2009 to December 2009 with scrub typhus. The Weil-Felix test was the serological method used to diagnose scrub typhus. A total of 29 patients were diagnosed with scrub typhus and themajority of them presented with fever (100%), headache (51%), myalgia (51%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (44%) as predominant features. Six patients (20%) presented with altered sensorium and signs of meningial irritation. There is an emergence of rickettsial infection in southern India, posing diagnostic difficulty and delay in treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment are important as it prevents serious complications associated with the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital ventricular diverticula and aneurysms are very rare. Prenatal diagnosis of such cases is reported only by few authors. Differentiating these two entities by echocardiography alone is very difficult. We present a case of prenatally diagnosed right ventricular diverticulum at 33 weeks of gestation. She was 37-year-old and primigravida with no past medical history. She underwent a routine prenatal scanning and was suspected to have a foetal cardiac abnormality and referred to us. It was diagnosed as foetal right ventricular diverticulum with the help of Motion-mode (M-mode) echocardiogram and was advised follow up after delivery. One of the differential diagnosis is ventricular aneurysm. Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage at 36 weeks due to unknown cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]