Pakistan BioMedical Journal

Revolutionizing Drug Development: Harnessing the Potential of Organ-on-Chip Technology for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery

Jehan Zeb — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

One of the groundbreaking advancements in the field of biomedical research is the development of organoids or organ on chip technology. Promising potential of this technology has reshaped the future of disease modelling and drug discovery. Organoids are microfluidic devices which can mimic the physiological functions of natural organs of human body. Animal models are being used in laboratories to evaluate the drug effectiveness but due to the recent ethical concerns, regarding the use of animals, are affecting drug development and treatment for various diseases. But organ on chip is an emerging tool which is filling the gap between animal models and outcomes of drug treatment by eliminating the ethical concerns.

Demand for precision medicine is growing due to rapid arousal of various deadly disease but traditional methods of developing drugs fall short as they can’t exactly replicate the human physiology. So instead of using animal models or cell cultures to design drug, to detect the its efficacy and toxicity, organ on chip technology is perceived to be a best option. It saves the time and resources that were being wasted, due the use of animal models, during the preclinical and clinical trials of the drug. On the other hand, organoids are more reliable in satisfying the demand of precision medicine. These artificial organs provide a bioengineered platforms mimicking the specific functions of living organs such as gut peristalsis and lung breathing in a very controlled manner. Moreover, different organs communication after drug treatment is also being studied by developing multi-organ systems so that the utility of these micro-engineered organs can be enhanced. These organs generate more accurate data about the drug effectiveness and toxicity. Moreover, it generates it in real time thus reducing the reliance on the animal models on which testing is usually time taking and can give false results. Furthermore, molecular basis of numerous complex diseases like cancer, diabetes and neurogenerative diseases can be predicted with this technology and it is very helpful in producing precision medicine. Controlled drug delivery is one of the best applications of these organoids eliminating the chance of false hits. Therefore, this technology has demonstrated a paradigm shift in biomedical research providing a better alternative in case of efficiency and reliability.

Now the integration biosensors, artificial intelligence in organ on chip technology has enhanced its predictivity power and also allow the real time imaging and monitoring of cellular responses to the particular drug. Though, there some obstacles regarding the adoption of this technology but efforts are being made continuously to accelerate its usage in mainstream research. Thus, paving the way for a new era of personalized medicine.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Nurses Regarding Safe Administration of Chemotherapy at Tertiary Care Hospitals of Peshawar

Ashfaq Ahmad, . Abdullah, Muhammad Ziad, Sajid Hameed, Imran Waheed Ahmad — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It is well known that many anti-cancer medications can cause teratology and mutation in humans. The primary groups exposed to these drugs in a hospital setting are nurses. Typically, handling patient waste, administering and preparing antineoplastic agents, and cleaning up chemotherapy spills are the jobs that carry the highest risk of exposure. Objectives: To assess nurses' attitudes, practices, and Knowledge related to the safe administration of cytotoxic drugs. Methods: Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected from 51 nurses who participated in a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Peshawar public sector hospitals. The study was conducted using a structured questionnaire and the Universal sampling technique. Results: The result shows that 49.0 % of total nurses have excellent Knowledge, and 41.2% of nurses have good Knowledge, regarding the safe administration of cytotoxic drugs. 29.4% of nurses have good practice. In comparison, 70.6% of total nurses have poor practice. Most nurses have a positive attitude towards safely handling chemotherapy drugs. Conclusions: It was concluded that this study comes to the following conclusion after a thorough analysis of a review of nurses' administration of chemotherapy to patients. The majority of samples had poor practice for giving chemotherapy drugs. As a result, it's essential to increase workplace safety, provide protective gear, and create best practices for oncology nurses.

Diagnostic Role of X-ray Imaging in Renal and Ureteric Calculi Keeping Computed Tomography as Gold Standard

Kalim Ullah, Tauseef Qamar, Siraj Khan, Bilal Ahmad — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The renal colic is an initial onset of flank discomfort that often radiates to the groin and may be linked with complication like hematuria and dysuria. Physicians initially use KUB plain x-ray imaging for the initial diagnosis and ultrasonography for the suspected calculi, and evaluation of the upper tract of urinary system. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of x-ray KUB imaging in diagnosis of renal and ureteric calculi keeping computed tomographic scan as a gold standard. Methods: An ethically approved cross-sectional study was conducted at Maqsood Medical Complex, Peshawar with a convenient sampling technique between August to November 2024. Data of KUB x-ray and CT scan were collected by predesigned proforma. Data were entered in SPSS version 27. Demographics were described in tables and applied Chi square test for the sensitivity and specificity of the KUB radiographic x-ray take the CT scan gold standard. Results: The sample size of the study was 235, where the mean and standard deviation of age was 33.77 ± 8.61. The male patients were 152 (64.68%) and the female were 83 (35.32%) participated in this research study. The Chi square test result shows that x-ray was able to properly detect 92 cases of calculi verified by CT but missed 124 cases. While X-ray did not incorrectly identify any calculi. Conclusions: Although KUB x-ray imaging has been configured to be an initial diagnostic tool in detecting renal and ureteric calculi, its diagnostic yield lacks in comparison to CT scans.

Language Difficulties and Challenges Faced by Students in Understanding the English Curriculum at PNS LUMHS

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The English language is spoken all over the world nowadays. It is issued in various socio-economic settings such as tourism, travelling, business, commerce, communication, teaching, learning, international diplomacy, science and technology. Objectives: To describe the challenges that students experience because of the curriculum in English. To investigate how these challenges are overcome by students in their academic years, and to explore which strategies are used by students to overcome challenges faced because of the curriculum in English. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Peoples Nursing School, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Science, Jamshoro, to evaluate language difficulties and challenges faced by students in understanding the English curriculum at Peoples Nursing School, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Science. Results: According to this study, nearly 41% of students face difficulties when communicating in English. 41% of students have difficulty in grammar. The major problem faced by participants is that 57% of students feel shy, and because of that students don’t communicate well in English. 53% of participants don’t speak English or read in English because of shyness and 51% of participants haven’t enough confidence to read in English in front of people. Conclusions: It was concluded that participants have major problems in English speaking because of again lack of confidence, shyness, lack of vocabulary, lack of fluency, and sentence-making problems.

The Effect of Caffeinated Coffee on Tears Secretion among Young Adults

Ayesha Sajid, Abdullah Bilal, Sameer Saeed, Muhammad Hamza, . Isham — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Caffeine, the most often taken psychoactive stimulant, is said to have contradictory effects on tear film dynamics. Objectives: To determine the effect of caffeinated coffee on tears secretion. Methods: Quasi experimental study was conducted from January 2023 to May 2024 at Superior University Lahore including 86 subjects of ages between 18-35 years by using convenient sampling technique. After visual acuity assessment, tear secretion of participants was checked by using Schirmer test strips. Tears secretion of all the subjects was noted before and after intake of caffeinated coffee by using Schirmer test strips. Descriptive statistics and T test was used for analysis of data by using SPSS version 25.0. Results: Before intake of coffee, 14(16.3%) showed tear secretion in the range of 5-15 mm, 21(24.4%) were in range of 16-25mm while 51(59.3%) were in the range of 26-35mm. Tear secretions after 30 minutes of coffee intake in 23(26.7%) subjects were in the range of 5-15mm, 20(23.3%) were in the range of 16-25mm while 43(50%) were in the range of 26-35mm. Similarly tear secretions after 90 minutes of coffee intake in 35(40.7%) were in the range of 5-15mm, 32(37.2%) were in the range of 16-25mm while 19(22.1%) were in the range of 26-35mm. Tear secretions before and after intake of coffee was found to be statistically significant i.e. p<0.05. Conclusion: A decreasing trend was observed in tear secretion levels at 30 and 90 minutes following the intake of caffeinated coffee and normal prior to coffee consumption

Factors Delaying Antenatal Management Leading to Maternal Morbidity: Empirical Evidence from Tertiary Care Hospital KPK

Sabah Safdar, Zoopash Inayat, Sheema Safdar — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Antenatal care is a branch of preventive medicine focused on the early detection and prevention of pregnancy disorders. Objective: To determine the frequency of factors responsible for delaying antenatal management leading to maternal morbidity. Methods: This cross-sectional was conducted at Khyber Teaching Hospital. In this study, a total of 151 patients were observed. Before data collection, approval was obtained from the hospital's ethical committee after approval of the synopsis. All the admitted patients (pregnant women) presented to labor room in Khyber Teaching Hospital meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited for the study explaining the objective of the study to every patient. Inform consent was obtained from the patients. Patients were thoroughly examined according to the routine health assessment protocol of the hospital. Data were collected with the help of a Performa attached. Results: The mean age was 30 ± 12.45 years. 67% of patients were from rural areas while 50 (33%) patients were from urban areas. 65 (43%) patients were un-educated, 53 (35%) patients had primary to secondary education and 33 (22%) patients had an education level above secondary. There was a significant association (p-value=0.001) between the distance from the hospital and delays in antenatal care. Conclusions: It was concluded that antenatal care is essential for reducing maternal and fetal mortality, particularly in developing regions where the maternal mortality ratio remains significantly high. This study identifies key barriers to Antenatal care utilization in Pakistan, such as low education levels, poor socioeconomic status, geographical inaccessibility, and systemic healthcare issues.

Emerging Trends in Bioprinting for Cartilage Regeneration: Materials, Techniques and Challenges

Adam Rafiq Jeraj, Zulekha Zameer — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cartilage repair is a major clinical problem because of the poor intrinsic healing capacity of cartilage coupled with the limitations of conventional therapies and synthetic substitutes. These challenges have been pursued by bioprinting, which is a technique that can generate scaffolds that mimic native cartilage. This review aims to discuss current and future development of bioprinting for cartilage tissue regeneration with a focus on the most common biomaterials such as alginate, gelatin, and collagen, along with the emerging materials such as smart hydrogels, nanomaterials, and bioactive molecules. The review also outlines other emerging bioprinting technologies like high resolution, 4D, hybrid, and microfluidic assisted bioprinting that are believed to improve the mechanical properties, biological integration and vascularization of the constructs produced through bioprinting. Some of the major problems which are still unresolved are those of scale up, biocompatibility and immune response that hinders the clinical application of bioprinted cartilage. The review further concludes that owing to some regulatory issues along with a lack of an ideal practice the challenges in bioprinting for cartilage regeneration still persists. Some of the future prospects that have been highlighted include the use of patient derived cells, artificial intelligence for process optimization and the development of smart and adaptive biomaterials. Mitigating these challenged and integrated these advanced technologies will enable the clinical translation of bioprinted cartilage to develop personalized, functional, and durable tissue constructs.