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Background : Substance abuse is an important health hazard and also a major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. This habit not only affects health, education and occupational career, but also incurs huge financial and social burden to the society specially when the doctors are involved in it. Aims and objectives : To estimate the prevalence of substance abuse, its pattern and causes among the MBBS students of West Bengal. Methods : A questionnaire based cross-sectional retrospective study was designed to collect data from the Medical Officers of the State to record their experience of substance abuse during their MBBS course. Results : The prevalence of substance abuse was 22% among the study participants. Smoking Tobacco was most common (16.67%). 76% of the subjects with substance abuse spend Rs1000 or less per month. The prevalence was 25% in upper class and 22.22% among those who belonged to lower class of socio-economic status as per BG Prasad Classification. Curiosity was the reason as per 34.5% of the subjects followed by depression (23.25%), peer pressure (13%) study pressure by 15%; media influence by 11%; to cope with home problems by 10.75% and parental influence by 2.25% of the study subjects. Conclusion : The institution should keep a Psychological Counselor who can guide the students who suffer from problems related to Depression, Peer pressure, Study pressure that may lead to substance abuse. Allotting, hobbies, sports and recreation would help in keeping away from substance abuse
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Introduction : Deaths of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) from COVID-19 infection were reported from various parts of West Bengal months after rolling out of Vaccines for them. Empirical data suggested that those HCWs who died due to COVID- 19 were either not vaccinated or partially vaccinated. which points to Vaccine hesitancy among them. Objectives : (1) To study the perception of HCWs of West Bengal about COVID-19 Vaccine. (2) To determine the level of vaccine hesitancy and its causes among the study population. Methods : A cross sectional exploratory survey was conducted on 400 HCWs. A prevalidated questionnaire was administered which contained questions on profile of the study population, perception about COVID-19 Vaccine, Vaccine hesitancy. Results : 70% of the study population were nurses and only 13% were trained in COVID-19 Vaccination. 44% chose Mask as the most effective strategy to prevent COVID infection followed by Vaccination (36%), social distancing and sanitization. 37% HCWss were hesitant to take Vaccine when offered. Causes of Vaccine hesitancy as admitted by the study population - doubts about Vaccine effectiveness (56%), concern about side effects (30%), difficulty in availability of Vaccine (9%) and confusion about Vaccination strategy (5%). Conclusion : Vaccine confidence among HCWs can inspire the general public for a better coverage of Vaccine among all. The findings of this study will help the program managers to effectively plan strategies to enhance risk perception and Vaccine confidence among General Public.
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Objectives : To estimate the prevalence of primary dysmenorrhoea among school girls and to compare the impact of exercise and hot water bottle on the occurrence and severity of primary dysmenorrhoea among the study population. Material and methods : A cross sectional study was done to estimate the prevalence of dysmenorrhoea in two schools of Chandigarh, India. For the Randomised Controlled Trial, group randomisation of the two schools was done into 2 intervention groups (exercise & hot water bottle groups). 53 girls in school 1 and 75 girls in school 2 participated in the intervention. Comparison of baseline Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) scores & Visual Analogue Scale for Pain (VASP) scores were done with 1st, 2nd & 3rd month post intervention scores using mean, standard deviation, t-test. Results : Prevalence of dysmenorrhoea was 60.7%. Median age of the school girls was 14 years. The mean VASP score decreased from 5.75 to 2.96 (P<0.0001) and from 5.16 to 2.06 (P<0.0001) at 3 months, in the exercise and hot water bottle group respectively. The mean MDQ score decreased from 14.53 to 7.85 (P<0.0001) and from 14.92 to 8.16 (P<0.0001) at 3 months, in the exercise and hot water bottle group respectively. Conclusion : Both exercise & hot water bottle can be used in dysmenorrhoeic girls in home setting to provide relief from pain and menstrual distress.
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This paper focuses on the applications of multivariate statistical techniques for designing cost-effective, low non-target nerve-damageable organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) used in Indian agriculture. The study was done with regard to the effect of seven OPs on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in four different parts of rat brain: hypothalamus (H), striatum (S), cerebellum (CR), and cerebrum (C). Not all the parts of mammalian brain are equally sensitive to the same pesticide as was evident by direct plotting of inverse of AChE activity versus inverse of LD50 (lethal dose), and that of AChE activity versus Pow values. The nature of dependence of AChE activity on the pesticide (Pow i.e., octanol water partition coefficient values) and LD50 was determined by multiple regression analysis (MRA). This was supported by multiple correlation coefficient values, which indicate the measure of efficacy for different predicting equations. In most of the cases, the results appeared satisfactory. Thus, using MRA, model pesticides can be designed which are less toxic to non-target organisms such as mammals.
ABSTRACT
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) has been purified from three different regions of rat brain using Sephadex G 200 column. SDS PAGE (6%) showed single band for the purified AChE fractions. Purified and lyophilized AChE from different (NH4)2SO4 precipitated fractions of three brain parts were utilized for in vitro enzyme kinetics using Dimethoate (Dmt) as inhibitor. K(m) values for cerebellum and hypothalamus were almost similar whereas cerebrum showed a different K(m) value compared to other two regions. With the drug Rivastigmine it was found that % G1 and G4 forms of AChE in three different parts of brain are different.