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Background: Abnormal nutritional status i.e. underweight, overweight and obesity is increasing rapidly amongst adolescents irrespective of socioeconomic status and geography. This study was carried out to assess prevalence of abnormal nutritional status and common associated morbidities among school going adolescent of rural areas of Vadodara, Gujarat, India.Methods: A cross sectional observational study was done among school going adolescents of rural areas of Vadodara, Gujarat. A predesigned and pretested semi-structured proforma was used to get relevant clinical details of study participants. Total 474 students aged 12-17 years participated in our study.Results: Out of 474 enrolled adolescents, 16.67% were underweight, where as 3.8% and 2.95% were obese and overweight respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were almost similar in both genders. Out of total 16.24% were stunted with predominance in boys compared to girls (p value: 0.039). Hypertension was found in 5.0% of participants with 3 times more prevalent in girls than boys (p value 0.011). Similarly, anemia was affecting both genders equally.Conclusions: Although underweight is a known nutritional problem of adolescents from rural areas, overweight and obesity are also rapidly growing health issues among them now a days. With keeping in mind this increasing burden of abnormal nutritional status and associated morbidities, regular health check-up, education of parents and adolescents on healthy lifestyle and inclusion of adolescents in existing government programmes are essential measures to reduce these problems.
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Background: India has made tremendous progress in allfronts since independence including food production. Scurvy isa clinical syndrome that results from vitamin C deficiency.Hence; the present study was undertaken for assessingVitamin C Deficiency among Population in Semi Urban Area.Materials & Methods: The net semi-urban population in thepresent study was 796 patients. After obtaining the writtenconsent in these patients, blood samples were taken and weresent to the department of general pathology. From the bloodsamples, plasma concentrations of vitamin C were calculatedusing an-autoanalyzer. All the results were recorded inMicrosoft excel sheet and were analyzed by SPSS software.Results: A total of 796 semi-urban subjects were analyzed.Among these 796 subjects, deficient levels of vitamin C wasfound to be present in 28.64 percent of the patients, while suboptimal and adequate levels of vitamin C was found to bepresent in 26.64 and 44.72 percent of the patients. Among 228vitamin C deficient subjects, 39.48 percent belonged to the agegroup of more than 45 years. 54.82 percent of the Vitamin Cdeficient patients were males while the remaining werefemales.Conclusion: Vitamin C deficiency is prevalent in significant insignificant amount among semi-urban population.
ABSTRACT
Background:Typhoid (cloudy) fever is a systemic infection, caused mainly by Salmonella typhi found only in man. It is characterized by a continuous fever for 3-4 weeks, relative bradycardia, with involvement of lymphoid tissue and considerable constitutional symptoms. Hence; we planned the present study to assess the efficacy of two different antibiotic regimes in treating patients with typhoid fever. Methods: We planned the present study on a total of 20 patients who were confirmed with diagnosis of typhoid fever and were broadly divided into two study groups as follows: Group 1- Patients who were treated with Ceftriaxone for 5 Days and Group 2- Patients who were treated with Chloramphenicol for 14 Days. Stool samples and venous blood samples were sent to laboratory for further investigation by bacteriologically culturing for confirming the presence of S. typhi. Stool specimens were examined microscopically for the presence of leukocytes, ova, parasites, and occult blood. Repeating of the blood cultures was done on days 3 and 14, and culturing of the stool specimens was done on days 5 and 14 and 1 week after the patient's discharge from the hospital. All the results were analyzed by SPSS software Results Clinical cure was seen in 8 and 9 patients of group 1 and group 2 respectively. Positive blood culture for S. typhi was seen in 4 patients of group 2 on third day whereas none of the patient of group1 exhibited positive blood culture. Conclusion: Ceftriaxone has equal efficacy in comparison to chloramphenicol in treating typhoid patients.