Pakistan BioMedical Journal

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Needle Stick Injury among Undergraduate Nursing Students

Nazim Shahzad — 2024-10-31

Needle stick injuries pose a significant risk to undergraduate nursing students, potentially exposing them to serious infections. Understanding their knowledge and attitudes towards needle stick injury prevention is essential for enhancing safety protocols and education. Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and attitudes of nursing students regarding needle stick injuries. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate nursing students regarding needle stick injury. This study was conducted among 145 undergraduate nursing students at a private institute in Karachi Pakistan were included which was assessed by an online survey. Results: The students show a good knowledge score with a mean of 5.724 (SD=1.45). The range of accurate answers to each question ranges from 21.4% to 89.7%. 62.1% (n=90) show good knowledge. The students had a positive attitude toward needle stick injuries with a mean of 19.66 and SD=3.16. The students showed a positive attitude regarding needle stick injuries was 64.2% (n=93). Conclusions: It was concluded that students show good knowledge and a positive attitude towards needle stick injury. According to this study after performing nursing interventions recap of the syringe is recommended to decrease the risk of needle stick injury remains challenging, but overall knowledge was good and positive attitude of the students towards needle stick injury.

Exploring Gender Differences in Perceived Stress, Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness, and Coping Styles among Caregivers of People Diagnosed with Psychiatric Illness

Shamsa Batool — 2024-10-31

Globally it is seen that not only the patients who are suffering from mental disorders but also the caregivers or family members are also facing multiple psychological distress due to their disturbances. Objectives: To measure perceived stress, internalized stigma, and coping styles among caregivers of psychiatric patients. Methods: 160 participants were selected through purposive sampling from eight hospitals in Lahore. The study questionnaire booklet included the Urdu versions of the Internalized Stigma Scale, Coping Styles Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale respectively. Pearson product-moment correlations and T-tests were computed to explore gender differences in levels of the study variables. Results: The results revealed that women spent more time with loved ones as compared to men. There was a strong relationship with most of the variables among men, whereas the copying style scale showed no relationship with all variables. There was a strong relationship reported among women on most of the variables but coping style indicates a negligible relationship with the internalized stigma of mental illness. The T-test indicates that there was a significant difference (p-value=0.04*) reported on the internalized stigma of mental illness stereotype endorsement among men and women, whereas the rest of the variables did not report any significant differences. Conclusions: It was concluded that future research should be conducted on caregivers to create awareness and mitigate internalized stigma of mental illness as well as reduce stress common among people.

Prevalence of Forward Head Posture and Its Association with Smartphone Use among University Students

Ayesha Saeed — 2024-10-31

A person exhibits forward head posture when their spine is out of neutral alignment with their head. Nowadays, smartphones are a necessary tool whose use is becoming increasingly significant. The side effect of smartphone use is forward head posture, which is most common among university students. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of forward head posture and its association with smartphone use among university students. Methods: This correlational study was conducted on university students with a sample size of 340. Both male and female students aged between 18-28 years, who use their smartphones for at least four hours and have no previous record of birth defects of cervical and lumber vertebrae were included. Whereas, any history of cervical surgery, or spinal abnormalities was excluded from the study. The goniometer and ruler method were used to measure the craniovertebral angle, and a smartphone addiction scale was used to screen the participants. Results: A positive correlation was found between craniovertebral angle and duration of smartphone usage with a correlation coefficient of r=0.084 and p=0.02. In contrast, a negative correlation was observed between the ruler method and the duration of smartphone usage with a correlation coefficient of r=0.54 and p=0.403. Conclusions: It was concluded that the prevalence of forward head posture was found to be 47.9% by the ruler method and 62.1% by the craniovertebral angle measurement. There is a correlation between craniovertebral angle and smartphone use and the duration of smartphone usage.

CRISPR-Cas9: Revolutionizing Gene Therapy for Genetic Disorders

Nihat Dilsiz — 2024-10-31

Faulty or mutated genes cause multiple human disorders such as cancer, neurogenerative disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. These mutations in genes are usually inherited. Many treatments have been established to cure such diseases, but gene therapy is the most promising strategy. It’s an application of biotechnology that is based on correcting and replacing the mutated gene with the healthy gene, providing the genes for the proper expression of desired proteins required for curing the disease. In clinical settings, gene therapy has proved itself as a very promising treatment but has some drawbacks. Traditionally, these methods involved viral vectors that are used to deliver correct genes and replace them with the mutated genes, in patients. These approaches have somehow potential to cure diseases but often off-target effects, limitations in the editing process, and immune responses caused by patients’ immune systems are the main challenges that are the main shortcomings of this method. However, the discovery of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated nuclease protein 9 (Cas9) genome editing system (CRISPR/Cas9) in 2012 and its development have increased the value of gene therapy in the therapeutic world [1]. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionizing tool that has been in gene therapy for knocking in and out gene to correct the mutation associated with many genetic diseases. This system has evolved greatly and has many isomers using different strategies to improve both applied, basic research and its clinical application.

The ability of CRISPR-Cas9 to target various genetic diseases is one of its greatest advantages. Mutation in single gene results in monogenic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia, and this system has shown the potential to edit or fix the defective genes, causing these diseases. Even in the case of complex disorders caused by the mutation in multiple genes such as several types of cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, CRISPR has shown very positive results.

The application of CRISPR-Cas9 in gene therapy is very promising and has tremendous potential to give cures for many complex disorders. The ethical issue regarding the editing of human DNA and the inheritance of modified DNA into the next generation is still under discussion and causing hurdles in uncovering the full potential of this system. Researchers are working to increase its efficiency and specificity to reduce the off-target sequences so that only targeted modification can be achieved. Moreover, they are trying to give possible results to reduce ethical concerns.

CRISPR has evolved greatly and has many isomers using different strategies to improve both applied, basic research and its clinical application in the future.