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Muhammad Junaid Tahir,1 Waleed Tariq,1 Muhammad Anas Tahseen Asar,1 Muhammad Irfan Malik,1,2 Fahd Kamal Akhtar,1 Muna Malik,3 Qirat Akhtar,4 Khabab Abbasher Hussien Mohamed Ahmed,5 Muhammad Talha Awan,1 Kaleem Ullah,6 Muhammad Sohaib Asghar7 1Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan; 2Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, Pakistan; 3Combined Military Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan; 4Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan; 5University of Khartoum, Faculty of Medicine, Khartoum, Sudan; 6Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat, Sindh, Pakistan; 7Dow University of Health Sciences–Ojha Campus, Karachi, PakistanCorrespondence: Khabab Abbasher Hussien Mohamed Ahmed, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, 11111, Sudan, Email Khabab9722@gmail.comBackground: This study was carried out to find the awareness level, prevalence of anxiety and depression, and their associated factors among doctors and medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Punjab province, Pakistan.Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted; data were collected regarding the demographic profile, awareness of COVID-19, anxiety symptoms using a self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and depression symptoms using a self-rating depression scale (SDS). A total of 504 responses were obtained. The Chi-square test was used to compare groups and the logistic regression model for the association of factors with anxiety and depression.Results: A total of 504 medical students and doctors responded to the questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 25.66 ± 6.71 years. The awareness rate of COVID-19 was 97.6%. The prevalence rate of anxiety and depression was 3.4% and 15.1%, respectively. According to the logistic regression model, those with low awareness levels (≤ 6 points) and spending more time on the news (> 3 hours) had higher levels of anxiety, while higher levels of depression symptoms were reported in females, young people, and medical students.Conclusion: Doctors and medical students had a high level of awareness of COVID-19 and a low level of anxiety and depression. However, female gender and younger age group were the most vulnerable groups significantly associated with depression.Keywords: COVID-19, doctors, medical students, awareness, anxiety, depression, infection

Despite decades of research and the growing emergence of new treatment modalities, Glioblastoma (GBM) frustratingly remains an incurable brain cancer with largely stagnant 5-year survival outcomes of around 5%. Historically, a significant challenge has been the effective delivery of anti-cancer treatment. This review aims to summarize key innovations in the field of medical devices, developed either to improve the delivery of existing treatments, for example that of chemo-radiotherapy, or provide novel treatments using devices, such as sonodynamic therapy, thermotherapy and electric field therapy. It will highlight current as well as emerging device technologies, non-invasive versus invasive approaches, and by doing so provide a detailed summary of evidence from clinical studies and trials undertaken to date. Potential limitations and current challenges are discussed whilst also highlighting the exciting potential of this developing field. It is hoped that this review will serve as a useful primer for clinicians, scientists, and engineers in the field, united by a shared goal to translate medical device innovations to help improve treatment outcomes for patients with this devastating disease.

Background: The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of many people, including medical students. The present study explored internet addiction and changes in sleep patterns among medical students during the pandemic and assessed the relationship between them., Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in seven countries, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guyana, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and Sudan, using a convenience sampling technique, an online survey comprising demographic details, information regarding COVID-19, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)., Results: In total, 2749 participants completed the questionnaire. Of the total, 67.6% scored above 30 in the IAT, suggesting the presence of an Internet addiction, and 73.5% scored equal and above 5 in the PSQI, suggesting poor sleep quality. Internet addiction was found to be significant predictors of poor sleep quality, causing 13.2% of the variance in poor sleep quality. Participants who reported COVID-19 related symptoms had disturbed sleep and higher internet addiction levels when compared with those who did not. Participants who reported a diagnosis of COVID-19 reported poor sleep quality. Those living with a COVID-19 diagnosed patient reported higher internet addiction and worse sleep quality compared with those who did not have any COVID-19 patients in their surroundings., Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that internet addiction and poor sleep quality are two issues that require addressing amongst medical students. Medical training institutions should do their best to minimize their negative impact, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Synthetic microbial cocultures carry enormous potential for applied biotechnology and are increasingly the subject of fundamental research. So far, most cocultures have been designed and characterized based on bulk cultivations without considering the potentially highly heterogeneous and diverse single-cell behavior. However, an in-depth understanding of cocultures including their interacting single cells is indispensable for the development of novel cultivation approaches and control of cocultures. We present the development, validation, and experimental characterization of an optochemically controllable bacterial coculture on a microcolony level consisting of two Corynebacterium glutamicum strains. Our coculture combines an l-lysine auxotrophic strain together with a l-lysine-producing variant carrying the genetically IPTG-mediated induction of l-lysine production. We implemented two control approaches utilizing IPTG as inducer molecule. First, unmodified IPTG was supplemented to the culture enabling a medium-based control of the production of l-lysine, which serves as the main interacting component. Second, optochemical control was successfully performed by utilizing photocaged IPTG activated by appropriate illumination. Both control strategies were validated studying cellular growth on a microcolony level. The novel microfluidic single-cell cultivation strategies applied in this work can serve as a blueprint to validate cellular control strategies of synthetic mono- and cocultures with single-cell resolution at defined environmental conditions.

This cross-sectional study clinically assesses the tightness of proximal contact points of fixed dental prosthesis with natural teeth. Sixty nine (69) patients visiting the Department of Prosthodontics, Armed Forces Institute of Dentists (AFID), Rawalpindi, were included. The crowns, as a single unit or terminal abutment of bridge, prepared and fabricated at the same institute were included. A total of 142 Proximal Contact Points (PCPs) were assessed with the dental floss and categorized as acceptable, loose and tight. Among these, 83 (58.4%) were acceptable, 41 (28.8%) loose and 18 (12.6%) were tight. Out of 142 PCPs, 104 (73.2%) were Porcelain Fused to Metal (PFM) and 38 (26.7%), all metal. Out of 104 PFM crown/FPD PCPs 59 (56.7%) were acceptable, 32 (30.7%) were loose and 13 (12.5%) tight. Out of 38 all metal crown/FPD PCPs 24 (63%) acceptable, 9 (23%) were loose and 5 (13%) were tight. PCPs must be checked for acceptability before cementation. The PCPs of adjacent natural dentition in same patient may serve as guide for assessment.

In the Biken test a precipitin line forms in the agar between an Escherichia coli colony producing heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and anti-cholera-toxin or anti-LT sera placed in an adjacent well. E. Coli isolates form 273 unselected patients with diarrhoea and 516 stock cultures of known toxin type were screened blindly for LT production by means of the Biken tests and the standard Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell assay. The Biken tests was 98% sensitive and 99% specific. All results of the Biken test which did not accord with the CHO cell assay were attributable to mixed stocks of LT-producing and non-LT-producing E. coli strains. The Biken test performed on agar plates with commercially available reagents offers clinical laboratories in developed and developing countries a simple, reliable, and inexpensive method of diagnosing diarrhoea caused by LT-producing strains of E. coli.