Placenta previa, anemia, care in antenatal, employment score: Development of a scoring system to predict low birth weight in underserved area in Indonesia

2016-09-20T22-59-58Z
Source: National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Sarma Nursani Lumbanraja.
Background: Early intervention of low birth weight (LBW) should reduce maternal and fetal morbidity. In underserved areas, with inadequacy of health technologies, it was very important to develop a simple scoring system based on the LBW risk factors. Aims and Objective: The aim of this study is to develop a scoring system to predict LBW in underserved area. Materials and Methods: This casecontrol study enrolled total of women with a singleton LBW in Padang Sidempuan General Hospital. For every case, the subsequent woman who delivered a baby weighing ≥2500 g acted as control. All data were by Chi-square or Fishers exact test. Significant variables were taken to be analyzed in backward stepwise binary regression. Then, receiver operating characteristic curve was developed to determine cutoff point and diagnostic value. This was done by SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions, Chicago, IL, USA) 22.0 with 95% confidence interval significant value. Results: This study involved 62 LBW and 62 normal birth weight newborns. Among all variables, only four variables were found to be significant, such as employment, antenatal care, history of anemia in pregnancy, and history of placenta previa in pregnancy. The placenta previa, anemia, care in antenatal, employment (PACE) score was obtained as score for employment was +1, antenatal care was −2, history of anemia in pregnancy was +2, and history of placenta previa was +3. The cutoff point was determined as 0, where a positive score will predict fetal with LBW and total score ≤0 (negative) will predict fetal with normal weight. This model had sensitivity of 88.7%, specificity of 66.1%, and area under curve 0.844 (P

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Self-perceived occupational stress and blood pressure profile of nurses from government hospitals

2016-09-20T08-33-01Z
Source: International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health
Shipra Gupta.
Background: Nursing is a demanding profession that can lead to occupational stress and influence the health and nursing ability of nurses. Objective: To determine the self-perceived occupational stress and blood pressure profile of nurses from government hospitals in Delhi. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 100 nurses working in government hospitals in Delhi, who were selected using purposive sampling technique. A questionnaire-cum-interview schedule was designed to elicit information regarding the general profile, perceived occupational stress, and other health-related aspects of the nurses. Blood pressure measurements were also taken. Result: Job and salary satisfaction were reported by 77% and 90% subjects, respectively. Occupational stress was experienced by 70% subjects and 81.2% of them could satisfactorily manage household and nursing chores simultaneously. Health risks due to their occupation were reported by 60% subjects and 73.8% subjects perceived themselves as healthy. About 40% and 13.8% subjects were in prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension categories as per their blood pressure measurements. Conclusion: This study indicated that nurses working in government hospitals have a satisfactory self-perception about their occupation and health even though their occupation poses several stressors and health risks. The stressors may, however, have a gradual detrimental effect on their health. Regular stress-relieving and coping strategies to maintain optimum health need to be promoted among nursing professionals.


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Perceptions, beliefs, and awareness of Dental College Students of western India regarding Hepatitis B Vaccination

2016-09-20T08-33-01Z
Source: International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health
Varun Kothari, Ruchi Kothari, Pradeep Bokariya.
Background: The threat posed by the global HBV epidemic continues to assume alarming proportions in areas of public health and national development. Globally, 2 billion people have been infected with HBV at some point in time in their life time and 360400 million people,representing more than 5% of the worlds population are chronic carriers with anestimated 600,000 deaths each year due to consequences of HBV. Objective: The objectives of this study were to assess the hepatitis B vaccination awareness, status, reasons for non-compliance, and the risk of exposure to dental students at dental college and hospital. Material and Methods: A total of 250dental college students in Jodhpur region of Rajasthan were included in the survey. The tool of study was a structured questionnaire specially designed for this study. Result: The study showed that on average, sampled students had a fair idea about hepatitis B even though there were significant differences between rural and urban adolescents. The study also discovered a significant difference between female and male students regarding their knowledge about types of HBV and different modes of transmission especially the horizontal one. Conclusion: This study was able to highlight 3 thematic areas and the need for prompt action to be taken. Firstly, the study deduced that majority of dental students of this region were not knowledgeable about the modes of transmission and effects of HBV. Secondly, the issue of stigmatization against already infected persons was very strong among students. Thirdly, vaccination was very low among dental students.


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National mental health program of India: a review of the history and the current scenario

2016-09-20T04-10-11Z
Source: International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Sarbjeet Khurana, Shweta Sharma.
Mental health is an important and essential component of Health. India was one of the first few countries in the developing world to formulate a National Mental Health program (NMHP). NMHP was launched in 1982 with very comprehensive objectives. The basic strategy of NMHP was to integrate the basic mental health care with general health services. At the end of five years of initial implementation of NMHP it was observed that although there were some developments but the financial constraints limited its success. The concept of DMHP was introduced in 1996 and various changes were made in the consecutive five year plans. In the XIth plan there was an effort to address the main barrier in the mental health service provisions i.e. the shortage of manpower. The NMHP in the XIIth plan has a focus on psychiatric problems specific to vulnerable sections of the population. The program has had various modifications since the time of its inception and now that the time is approaching for the XIIth plan to conclude it would be an opportunity to have deliberations over the success and the failures of the program and to take the program to the next level.


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Should the use of complementary and alternative medicine be restricted?

2016-09-20T04-05-23Z
Source: International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology
Saikrishna Nadimpalli.
There is a considerable amount of doubt about the effectiveness and safety profile of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This review article aimed at observing the trend of use of CAM in various countries and its acceptability. It was observed that CAM was more commonly used as a form of treatment in developing countries when compared to the developed countries which may be due to the cultural and economic aspects. The major reason for restricted use of CAM in developed countries is the lack of scientific evidence and adequate studies confirming its efficacy and safety. It involves use of several natural products and body parts of animals which might not always be beneficial and cause harm not only to individual but also the environment. However, some treatments like artemisin for malaria are considered the treatment of choice. CAM is an extensive field consisting of numerous wide ranging therapies, differing in concepts and effectiveness; hence, it is very difficult to have a generalised approach while drawing conclusions about its usage. It is important that more studies are conducted comparing CAM with western medicine for scientific input on its efficacy and safety. Proper monitoring and education about CAM like Ayurveda and yoga by qualified personnel can avoid any harm and facilitate its use as a complementary treatment to western medicine, combination of these two can form a more holistic medical model for treatment.


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Abnormalities of thyroid function tests in adult patients with nephrotic syndrome

2016-09-20T03-49-09Z
Source: International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Hareeshababu Karethimmaiah, Vijaya Sarathi.
Background: Nephrotic syndrome is well-known cause of thyroid dysfunction in children; however, there is limited data on this issue in adults, especially regarding natural course of thyroid abnormalities. Methods: Patients with nondiabetic nephropathies were included in the study and evaluated with thyroid function tests at diagnosis and every 2-3 monthly. Age and sex matched healthy volunteers constituted the control group. Results: The study included 39 patients with newly diagnosed nephrotic syndrome and 39 controls. When compared to the control group, patients with nephrotic syndrome had significantly higher thyroid stimulating hormone and significantly lower total thyroxine, total triiodothyronine, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine levels. Eighteen patients had remission at last follow-up (18.3±3.4 months) and those with remission had improvement in thyroid function tests. Anti thyroperoxidase antibody tended to be more common in nephrotic syndrome patients and among patients with remission, elevated antibodies was associated with persistence of hypothyroidism. Conclusions: Nephrotic syndrome in adult patients is significantly associated with abnormalities in thyroid function tests. All these abnormalities improve with remission of nephrotic syndrome. Patients with elevated thyroid stimulating hormone and anti-thyroperoxidase antibody levels are more likely to progress to overt hypothyroidism and should be closely followed-up or replaced with levothyroxine.


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In-vitro study of MIRB labelled Ovine Bone marrow derived Mesenchymal stem cells by MRI technique

2016-09-20T00-29-43Z
Source: International Journal of Livestock Research
Gnanadevi R., Geetha Ramesh, Kannan T.A., Justin William B., Sathyan G. and Sabiha Hayath Basha.
Internalized MIRB was observed only after 72 hrs of incubation of the cells. The MIRB labelled cells showed decreased intensity when subcultured. Prussian blue staining was done to demonstrate the iron uptake of the cells. MIRB labelled cells showed positive reaction whereas, the unlabelled cells did not show any positive reaction. There was no significant difference in the viability of MIRB labelled BM-MSCs and ADMSCs compared to the unlabelled BM-MSCs and ADMSCs, respectively. The signal intensity in MIRB-labelled cells at passage 4 decreased with increasing concentrations of SPIOs. It is concluded that SPIONs could be used to label BM-MSCs at various passages and they emit signals sufficient to pickup at MRI T2 weighted images.


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