A cross sectional study on personal hygiene among rural school students in southern Rajasthan

Background: The level of personal hygiene has a strong bearing on preventive capacity for many diseases and hence the assessment of its level assumes great significance. The school being a strong base for hygienic practices, the present study aimed to assess the level of personal hygiene and its associated factors as well as its effect on morbidity level of school children in a rural belt of southern Rajasthan.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 250 students studying in classes VIII to XII in 3 different schools of southern Rajasthan from November 2018 to February 2019.The data was obtained by interview method using pretested questionnaire which included socio-demographic factors, the hygienic practices and occurrence of diseases as dichotomous questions. The association of the attributes was tested through Chi-square test, correlation and regression techniques.Results: Only 22% students scored above 75% and were categorized as good practioners of personal hygiene. The age of students, parents literacy, and household income were significantly associated with personal hygiene. The common morbidities like head lice and dental caries were found gender sensitive in the study area. The negative association between disease score and personal hygiene score implied that the disease burden of children can be minimized with higher personal hygiene practices.Conclusions: Systematic efforts to sensitize school children and parents about importance of personal hygiene, improvement in parental literacy coupled with economic empowerment of rural families can help to enhance the status of personal hygiene of students and thereby drastic reduction in their disease burden.

Renal cell carcinoma: the experience of Kuwait Cancer Control Center, Kuwait

This retrospective study was undertaken to analyze the profile of patients presenting with renal cell carcinoma [RCC] and treatment outcomes. Subjects and Records of 49 patients [36 male, 16 female, 21-75 years] treated at the Kuwait Cancer Control Center, Kuwait for RCC during the period 1993-1998 were analyzed. Forty-one patients had a nephrectomy, 18 postoperative radiotherapy and 1 patient also received adjuvant immunotherapy with interferon. Patients with metastatic disease were treated with a variety of agents including interferon, chemotherapy [vinblastine] or a hormonal agent [megestrol acetate]. Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software package. Overall survival and disease-free survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Twenty-nine patients presented with symptoms classically associated with RCC. Metastases at diagnosis were seen in 9 patients [18%], with lung being the most frequent site. The commonest tumor subtype was clear cell carcinoma [32.6%]. Thirty-nine patients [80%] achieved a complete response to treatment and relapse was documented in 10 patients [26%]. The majority of failures were distant, with lung metastases being the most common. Response to salvage treatment was poor. Overall survival was 83% at 2 years. The disease-free survival was 68 and 45% at 2 and 5 years, respectively. Although many patients presented with advanced local disease, a majority achieved complete response after radical surgery with or without postoperative radiation therapy. Salvage of metastatic disease proved difficult with interferon, chemotherapy

Characterization of verotoxin producing strains of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli [EPEC] from children with diarrhea: effects of the toxin on rabbit intestine

249 enteropathogenic Escherichia coli [EPEC] strains from faecal samples of 90 children with diarrhoea were examined for verotoxin [VT] production. Polymyxin B extracts of 61 strains belonging to 9 serogroups from 35 children produced various verotoxins [VTs], The titre of these various VTs ranged from 1:40 to 1:1280. Of the 26 [43.6%] adherent strains, 19 [73%] exhibited localized adherence [LA] and 7 [27%] manifested enteroadherent-aggregative [EA-Agg] patterns. The remaining 35 strains were nonadherent. Verotoxin producing EPECs elicited diverse effects on rabbit intestine ranging from no effect to severe damage to epithelial architecture, irrespective of their adherence patterns of HEp-2 cells. In conclusion, as far as EPEC pathogenesis is concerned, the role of verotoxins could not be established, but strains producing moderate to high levels of verotoxins may have an increased pathogenicity over non-producers