ABSTRACT
Almost nothing is more important to the effectiveness of a laboratory than a specimen that has been appropriately selected, collected, and transported. If these are not a priority, the laboratory can contribute little or nothing to patient care. Specimens should be rejected if there is a risk to the safety of a patient; i.e. occasions where there is concern for the identity of the specimen, the wrong container type, incorrect transport conditions, etc. However, it is always important to double check if a specimen could be accepted. This may involve processing the specimen so as not to compromise specimen integrity while also evaluating the specimen for acceptability. In this review article, we will cover specimen collection, specimen transportation, culture, and rejection by the laboratory.

ABSTRACT
Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) is a curable malignancy, but it carries a high early mortality rate of around 10-20% in various studies. As data from India regarding APL is scarce, we have undertaken a single centre study on the mortality and induction morbidities on patients with APL. This was a descriptive study conducted in a tertiary cancer centre on all adult and pediatric patients with confirmed APL from May 2018 to May 2019. Patients were treated as per protocol with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) along with arsenic trioxide in low risk and daunorubicin in high risk patients. A total of 57 patients were included, of which 51 patients were adults and six were pediatric patients. Among these, 26 adults and 4 children were high risk and 25 adults and 2 children were low risk APL. The median age of the adult patients was 29 years. The most common presenting complaint was fever (n=50) and bleeding manifestation (n=41). Six patients had intracranial hemorrhage at presentation. The median hemoglobin, total count and platelet count were 7g/dL, 14000/cmm and 20000/cmm respectively. The overall CR rate is 56.5%, with a median time to remission of 40 days (IQR 33 – 45 days). The median EFS is 18 days (IQR 9 – 39 days). The overall mortality rate is 43%, with 35% deaths in first week due to intracranial hemorrhage. The outcome of APL when compared to literature is very poor and further studies on how to improve outcomes are the need of the hour.

ABSTRACT
Background: Bangladesh is facing a high burden of breast cancer. Late presentation with advance stage is the common feature of breast cancer patient in Bangladesh, when it is extremely difficult to manage this deadly disease. It is easily understandable that the incidence and mortality of breast cancer is growing at a fast rate. But as we do not have any cancer registry along with relevant data it is difficult to say the exact situation in Bangladesh the rate of breast cancer occurrence is estimated to be 22.5 per 100000 females of all ages; In case of Bangladeshi women, aged between 15-44 years, breast cancer has the highest prevalence 19.3 per 100000 compared to any other type of cancer. However, this figure is far more less than the real figure, simply because very few cases is diagnosed and reported. Many patients die with unnoticed cancer. There may be many reasons behind this, but studies in many other countries show that poor or no knowledge, ignorance, lack of awareness and misbelieve is one of the leading causes of this fastest silent killer. Methods: This prospective quasi-experimental study was conducted in the Department of Surgery, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh from August 2014 to July 2019. Samples were collected in non-randomized basis with stage IB–IIIB breast cancer in female (n=1156) with the age group of 35-65 years and their mean age was 48.16 years. Diagnosis was performed with history, clinical examinations and investigations. Types of surgery were depending upon the TNM staging of the disease and the mean post-operative hospital stay was 4 days. The follow up time was 5 years and the mean follow up time 4.61 months. Outcomes variables are satisfaction (Surgical site pain, Post radiation scar pain, Local relapse of disease, Nodal metastasis, Distance metastasis and response to chemo-radiation), communications and the quality of life (Systemic therapy side effects, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and arm symptoms). .................

ABSTRACT
Background: Lung cancer has been the most common cancer in the world for several decades, and by 2008, there were an estimated 1.61 million new cases, representing 12.7% of all new cancers. Lung cancer is considered as the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women. It is also one of the most common cancers in the world. The majority of lung cancers are related to smoking. Objective: This study was intended to identify thehistopathological types of lung cancer in relation to gender, age, and smoking habit in a sample of Bangladeshi patients. Patient and Methods: A retrospective study, included a total of 170 patients with histopathologically proved primary lung cancer were targeted by this study. All lung cancer cases diagnosed during a period of one year from January 2011 until December 2011 were retrospectively analyzed based on the data of the Dept. of Clinical Oncology, Enam Medical College & Hospital, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results: There were 124 (72.9%) males and 46 (27.1%) females .The age of patients varied from 19 to 90 years and the mean age was 62.5 year. From the total number of cases 115 (67.6 %) patients were smokers while 55 (32.4 %) patients were nonsmokers. It was significant to find mean ages of each type of lung cancer are about the same (around 62 years) except younger (58.8 year) for large cell carcinoma. It was significant to find that most frequent type of primary lung cancer is squamous cell carcinoma (47.1%), followed by adenocarcinoma (30.0%), then by small cell carcinoma (20%), while large cell contributed to small proportions of the sample (2.9%). Lung cancer among male, was more often squamous cell carcinoma (53.2%). Adenocarcinoma represents the most common type of lung cancer among female (43.4%).Among smokers squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type (51.30%) of primary lung cancer while adenocarcinoma was commonly seen in nonsmokers (41.8%). Conclusion: Males are more liable to have lung cancer than females. ..

ABSTRACT
Low birth weight (LBW) is a major contributor to neonatal deaths and presents a significant burden on neonatal services of developing countries like Nigeria. The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of low birth weight in a secondary health facility in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It was a hospital-based cross-sectional study carried out over a two-month period. Five hundred new-borns were recruited for the study. An interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from the mothers and subsequently all new-borns were weighed within 24 hours of delivery. Three hundred and thirty-seven (67.4%) of the mothers were of high socioeconomic class and 485 (97%) of them had antenatal care. There were 255 males and 245 females with a male to female ratio of 1.04:1. Twenty-six babies (5.2%) were LBW, while the mean birth weight of all the babies was 3.29kg ± 0.53. Out of the 26 LBW babies, 18 (69%) were preterm while 8 (31%). Prematurity was a significant contributor to low birth weight (p=0.0001). Overall, males were significantly heavier than females (p=0.001), however the relationship between gender and low birth weight was not significant (p= 0.766). The prevalence of LBW in the study was 5.2%. Improvement in socioeconomic status and utilisation of antenatal services are important in reducing prevalence of LBW.

ABSTRACT
Electrolytes are essential substances in the body required for cell function and cell signalling. The study investigated the effects of Citrus aurantifolia (lime) and Camellia sinensis (lipton tea) decoction on some plasma electrolytes and creatinine concentration. Twelve (12) female albino rats weighing between 150 -200g were used. The rats were divided into two groups: the control and test groups (n=6). The test group received 2ml/kg body weight of the decoction of lime and lipton tea orally thrice daily for 14days.The rats were sacrificed periodically and blood samples were obtained from the heart. Results obtained showed significant reduction in plasma levels of sodium and significant increases in plasma chloride and creatinine levels (P<0.05). The plasma potassium concentration increased in the test rats but this elevation was not statistically significant. It was thus concluded that the additive effect of decoction of lime and lipton may impair renal handling of electrolytes with consequent hyponatremia and hypercreatininemia. It is therefore suggested that this might be of therapeutic value in conditions associated with hypernatremia in humans.

ABSTRACT
NAFLD affects extrahepatic organs, including the cardiovascular and renal system. NAFLD was linked to an increased risk of future CVD and CKD events and a renal stone disease, which involves the deposition of crystals in the medulla and urinary tract, affects up to a third of the population in Asia. Nephrolithiasis is related to hypertension, asthma, chronic kidney failure, vitamin D deficiency, insulin resistance, fatal conditions, and coronary morbidity. Liver ultrasound is largely available and noninvasive for investigation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In this study we hypothesized presence of kidney stones in the patients of nonalcoholic fatty liver independently from the Cardio vascular disease patients. Objective: To evaluate incidence of nephrolithiasis in the patients of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. As a particular underlying risk factor, the relation between fatty liver and renal calculi has received little publicity. So we find out connection between fatty liver and renal calculi and explored in this study. Approach: 381 reports of Patients of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who had undergone a transabdominal ultrasound scan were studied to rule out the presence of renal stones. Setting: Data was collected from private sector hospital Gujrat, Pakistan Results: 381 ultrasonography reports 167 (43.8%)of females and 214(56.2%) of males. Analysis shows incidence of 13.2% nephrolithiasis in females and 7.9% in males. Totally 10.2% in all 381 subjects. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that there is a 10.2% incidence of nephrolithiasis in the patients suffering from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. There is high ratio in females than in males. All the data was analyzed by using Microsoft excel 365. Tables and graphs are used to demonstrate the results.