Internet addiction among engineering students in Belagavi city: cross sectional study

Background: Internet addiction is not clinical diagnosis, but a potentially pathological behavioral pattern with symptoms: a loss of control over the behavior, preoccupation with the Internet, using the Internet to modify mood, and withdrawal symptoms. Easy access and low cost of Internet packs- are main cause of development of increased internet use in India. Internet addiction – factors like gender, environmental factors, socioeconomic status, etc. have effect on internet use.Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted during January 2016 to February 2016. Data was collected among 500 engineering students of four engineering colleges of Belagavi city using young's questionnaire. Analysis was performed using SPS 20. Chi-square applied as statistical test of significance for the association between age, sex, residence, SES and schooling. P<0.01 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: The present study revealed that 16.2 and 6.2% of participants had moderate and severe form of internet addiction respectively. With increase in age prevalence of addiction increased. Internet addiction was more among Males when compared to females. Addiction was seen more in students whose both parents were working.Conclusions: Internet addiction is an emerging form of addiction among students with males more than females mostly among engineering students who are dependent on internet for their work, carrier and completion of course Hence it's time to develop comprehensive intervention approach to promote healthy and safe internet use from family, college and peers.

Comparison of School Health Services among Private and Government Owned Schools of Belgaum.

Introduction: Children are the creators and the shapers of tomorrow and school marks an important early milestone in the child’s life long journey of intellectual and psychological development. Objective: To assess the school health services in government and private schools of Belgaum. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at 3 Primary Health Centres and 3 Urban Health Centres in Belgaum. All the government and private schools were selected and necessary data of child school health services was collected based on criteria recommended by Indian Academy of Pediatrics. Results: Of the total schools, 53.76% of schools provided hygienic drinking water, 64% of the schools did not have adequate toilet facilities, 30% of schools did not have adequate ventilation and lighting, 34.40% of schools did not have playground and 90% of schools did not have safe and proper transportation facility. When private and government schools were compared private schools were better in providing services like safe and proper transportation, properly ventilated and illuminated class rooms ,where as kitchen facility was available more in government schools (p<0.05). Conclusion: We found that none of the schools met all the 10 criteria. Although 50% of them followed 4 to 5 criteria.

Retrospective Analysis of Tuberculosis Patients’ Treatment Outcomes under DOTS in a Designated Microscopic Centre in North Karnataka.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem worldwide. Two deaths occur for every three minutes in India due to tuberculosis and two people become sputum positive for tuberculosis every minute. Designated Microscopic Centre (DMC) is the most peripheral laboratory unit under RNTCP catering to population of one lakh. Objective: To know the outcome of tuberculosis patients in terms of treatment success, cured, treatment completed, transferred out, died and defaulted among registered TB cases under DMC. Methodology: Five years’ secondary data about tuberculosis patients on DOTS under the Designated Microscopic Centre (DMC), Vantamuri (R) PHC, Belgaum from January 2008 to March 2013 was included. Total of 182 patients on DOTS, who were enrolled under Vantamuri (R) DMC during this period were included for data analysis. Revised International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUATLD, 2001) definitions in tuberculosis control were used. Data was analysed using percentages. Results: Among 182 study participants, 105 patients (57.7%) were males and 77 (42.3%) were females. Overall treatment success rate was 90.7% among TB patients enrolled under Vantamuri (R) DMC. Conclusion: Males were affected more than females by TB. Eight out of ten TB patients were in the age group of 20-60 years. Study area DMC performed similar to national averages.

Determinants of Nutritional Status of Under - Five Children - A Cross Sectional Study.

Introduction: Children between one and five years of age constitute 16.5% of the total population whereas mortality in this age group constitutes 40% of the total deaths in the country. Environmental factors like parental education, socio-economic status, sanitation, standard of living, parental attitudes and child rearing practices influence the growth and development of children. Objective: To find the determinants of malnu-trition in children aged 1-5 years. Methods: This study was conducted in a Primary Health Centre area. The study population consisted of children 1-5yrs of age. Sample size calculated was 933. Anthropometric meas-urements, i.e., height, weight of each subject, were taken according to the standard procedures. Children were considered with underweight, stunting and wasting if their weight-for age, height-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores were below -2.0 SD of the WHO standards. EPI INFO statistical package was used for analysis. Results: The present study included 933 (453 males and 480 females) under five children. The prev-alence of wasting, stunting and underweight (< -2 SD) by WHO standards was 23.7%, 38.2% and 37% respec-tively. Type of family, overcrowding, birth weight, duration of exclusive breast feeding and administration of pre-lacteal feeds were found to have an effect on the nutritional status. Literacy of mother also contributed to malnutrition in children. Conclusion: Besides poverty, there are other factors that directly or indirectly affect the nutritional status of children. The prevalence can be reduced using multiple interventional strate-gies.

Objective structured clinical examination; a tool for formative assessment.

Background & Objective: Conventional examination system mostly assesses student’s theoretical knowledge and fails to assess clinical competencies required for future practice. OSCE is objective and reliable method of assessment; if included as formative assessment, can identify student deficiencies and help them to prepare better for summative assessments. Methods: The present study was conducted to know the role of OSCE in formative assessment, in comparison with long case discussions in Community Medicine. 126 undergraduate medical students of 2008 admission batch, who had appeared for practical and OSCE exams in pre-final year were included in the study. Mean, S.D. and correlation co-efficient were used for analysis. Results: The students performed better in long case discussions (68.60 ± 9.7) compared to OSCE (48.67 ± 10.3) in the present study. 80% of students perceived that OSCE is one of the good methods of assessment. The students felt that it creates an insight on self performance of students and helps them to prepare better in summative assessment. Conclusion: OSCE can be included in formative assessments, as there is uniformity in assessment and objectivity in scoring. Majority of students perceived OSCE as one of the good methods of assessment.

Epidemiology and outcome of burn injuries.

Burn injury is a serious public health problem in developing countries. The causes vary in different communities and so this study was done to know the epidemiology and outcome of burn injuries. A one year cross sectional study was done of all the burn injury patients admitted during April 1st, 2004 to March 31st, 2005. Data was collected using a pre designed and pre tested proforma from the patients themselves or their relatives and analyzed using chi square test and percentages. A total of 76 burn injury patients were admitted. Majority were females (52.63%) and sustained burn injuries at home (p=0.000). Maximum number of females were wearing synthetic clothes (p=0.000) and suffered from flame injuries (0.006).The case fatality rate was 31.58%.Burn injuries can be reduced by bringing about regulations to develop safer cooking appliances, promoting less inflammable fabrics to be worn at home and educating the community especially women.

Nutritional status of under-fives in rural area of South India.

Background: Malnutrition is widely recognized as a major health problem in developing countries. It is wide spread in rural, tribal and urban slum areas. Growing children are most vulnerable to its consequences. Anthropometry is a simple field technique for evaluating physical growth and nutritional status of the children. Objective: To assess the nutritional status of under-fives'. Materials and Methods:This cross sectional study was conducted in Kakati-A sub-centre, under Primary Health Centre Vantamuri of Belgaum district. The sample size was 290. Data collection was done using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical Analysis:Distribution of variables was assessed and comparison was done using chi square test and P value. Results: The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was observed to be 26.55%, 31.38% and 7.59%, while severe degree of underweight, stunting and wasting was observed in 5.86%, 27.24% and 6.51% respectively according to World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 classification. According to the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) classification the prevalence of Grade I malnutrition was 121 (47.10%), Grade II was 29 (10.00%) and Grade III and IV were 4 (1.40%). Conclusion: Majority of the children's diet was not adequate for calories and proteins as per Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines. Less than half of children were underweight, nearly one third were stunted and one fifth of children were wasted. No child was found to be overweight or obese.

Morbidity among infants in south India: A longitudinal study.

To study the incidence and types of morbidity in the first year of life in a birth cohort, a longitudinal study. This study was undertaken in northern part of Karnataka state in India. Birth cohort consisted of all the children born during first six months of the study period. They were assessed at the time of enrollment and monthly follow up was done till they attained one yr of age. Out of the 194 newborns, 46.4% were boys and 53.6% were girls. 24.8% of newborns were of low birth weight and 5.1% were preterm. Four (2.1%) had congenital anomalies and 2.5% developed birth asphyxia. Diarrhea (10.8%) and skin diseases (8.2%) were the commonest morbidities in the neonatal period. The incidence of morbidity was 3.28 per infant per yr. It was more among boys and in the second half of infancy. Commonest morbidities during infancy were respiratory tract infection (62.4%), diarrhea 42.8% and skin diseases (21.6%). Incidence of disease in infancy highlights the need to improve and plan health programmes.

Impact of training of traditional birth attendants on the newborn care.

OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of training of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on the Newborn care in resource poor setting in rural area. METHODS: A community based study in the Primary Health Center (PHC) area was conducted over one year period between March 2006 to February 2007. The study participants were 50 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs)who conduct home deliveries in the PHC area. Training was conducted for two days which included topics on techniques of conducting safe delivery and newborn care practices. Pre-test evaluation regarding knowledge and practices about newborn care was done. Post-test evaluation was done at first month (early) and at fifth month (late) after the training. Analysis was done by using Mc. Nemer's test, Chi- square test with Yates's correction and Fischer's exact test. RESULTS: Pre-test evaluation showed that, knowledge and practices about newborn care services provided by the previously trained TBAs and untrained TBAs were poor. Early and late post-test evaluation showed that, there was a progressive improvement in the newborn care provided by both the groups. Preintervention period (one year prior to the training) and postintervention period (one year after the training) showed that, there was a statistically significant (p<0.05) reduction in the perinatal deaths (11 to 3) and neonatal deaths (10 to 2) among the deliveries conducted by TBAs after the training. CONCLUSION: Training programme for TBAs with regular reinforcements in the resource poor setting will not only improve the quality of newborn care but also reduces perinatal deaths.