Emotional intelligence, perceived stress and burnout among resident doctors: An assessment of the relationship.

Background. Burnout is an increasing problem among the medical fraternity, especially resident doctors. We assessed the relationship between burnout, emotional intelligence and perceived stress in an attempt to explore a probable solution. Methods. Residents in the departments of medicine (n=29) and surgery (n=27) were assessed with a specially designed proforma consisting of participant’s profile sheet, Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM), Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Correlation and mediational analysis were used to analyse the data. Results. The findings showed a positive correlation of burnout with perceived stress and a negative correlation with trait emotional intelligence (EI). Perceived stress also showed a negative correlation with trait EI. Mediation analysis showed that perceived stress mediates the effect of trait EI on burnout. Conclusion. Enhancing EI through training may be an important intervention for targeting burnout.

Brucellosis in association with HIV infection- A case report.

An unusual presentation of brucellosis is being reported in a patient infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, who sought medical advice for fever of long duration accompanied with myalgia and headache.

Granulomatous angiitis of the central nervous system associated with herpes zoster.

Granulomatous angiitis of central nervous system (CNS) is a rare inflammatory disease of blood vessels mostly confined to CNS. We describe a case which presented with right sided hemiplegia with aphasia, after herpes zoster ophthalmicus. CT scan and MRI brain showed a large left sided infarct in the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory. MRI angiography revealed narrowing and thinning of left internal carotid artery (ICA) and to a lesser extent, left MCA suggestive of granulomatous vasculitis. Herpes zoster is often associated with major CNS involvement and a vascular etiology was previously postulated. Recent pathological reports suggest that cerebral angiitis secondary to herpes virus infection may be more common than realised.

Benign breast lesions in prepubertal female children--a study of 20 years.

A clinicopathological study of benign breast lesions in prepubertal female children was done retrospectively for 20 years. Thirty-seven cases of benign breast lesions like fibroadenoma in 22 (59.5%) cases, juvenile fibroadenoma in 9 (24.2%) cases, virginal hypertrophy in 3 (8.1 %) cases, cystosarcoma phylloides, duct papilloma and tuberculosis of the breast in one (2.7%) case each were seen. The majority of the cases of breast lesions were from urban area ie, 34 (91 .9%) cases. The commonest age of occurrence of benign breast lesion was observed between 7.5 and 11.5 years. In 2 (5.4%) cases bilateral virginal hypertrophy was seen. The aim of presenting this paper is to study the occurrence of breast lesions in prepubertal age especially before menarche. In rare case even the possibility of malignancy has to be ruled out.

Comparison of seropositivity of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis in replacement and voluntary blood donors in western India.

A 5 year retrospective study from June, 1994 to May, 1999 was conducted at Zonal Blood Transfusion Centre, Umaid Hospital and Department of Pathology, Dr. SN Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Jodhpur (Rajastha, Western India. Donors were evaluated for seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and Syphilis. A Total 46,957 donors were tested, out of which 42,291 (90.1%) were replacement donors and 4666 (9.0%) were voluntary donors. The incidence of HIV was 0.44% in total donors, more in replacement (0.461%) as compare to voluntary (0.279%). The seroprevalence of HBV in total donor was 3.44%. The replacement donors had high incidence (3.52%) as compared to voluntary donors (2.57%). The incidence of HCV seropositivity was 0.285% (5 month data), all were replacement donors (0.328%). The seroprevalence of VDRL in total donor was 0.22%, more in replacement donor (0.239%) as compare to voluntary donors (0.129%). Hence forth, it has been observed that voluntary blood donation is more safe and advocated as compare to replacement donation, as high incidence of HIV, HBV, HCV and Syphilis are observed in replacement donors.

Angiokeratoma of tongue.

An 8-year-old male child who presented with lesions of angiokeratoma on tongue is described.

Thyroid hormone profile in obese subjects--a clinical study.

Fifty obese subjects with body weight above 120% of the ideal weight for that height or body mass index greater than 27.8 kg/m2 in men or 27.3 kg/m2 in women were studied for thyroid hormone profile. Nearly three-fourths obese subjects had body mass index of 30-40 kg/m2. Eighty-six per cent subjects were clinically and biochemically euthyroid. Fourteen per cent of the subjects had hypothyroidism; out of them, 8% were clinically and biochemically hypothyroid while 6% were only biochemically hypothyroid. None of the hypothyroid subjects had morbid obesity (greater than 40 kg/m2 body mass index). Duration of obesity in hypothyroid subjects was less than 10 years in nearly three-fourths of cases.

Stimulation of iron uptake and Hb synthesis in iron deficient reticulocytes.

The effect of inhibitors and intermediates of heme synthesis, inhibitor of globin synthesis, and some iron proteins on in vitro iron uptake and haemoglobin synthesis by reticulocytes of iron deficient subjects was investigated in this study. Lead, INH, ALA, mesoprophyrin, ferritin and albumin substantially increased iron uptake by iron deficient reticulocytes, while cycloheximide and glycine depressed it. The results showed that it is possible to stimulate iron uptake and Hb synthesis in iron deficiency by substances other than iron; the most effective and remarkable of them was ferritin.

Oral zinc therapy in diabetic neuropathy.

The present double blind randomized study was conducted on 50 subjects; 20 age and sex matched healthy controls (Group--I); 15 patients of diabetes mellitus with neuropathy who received placebo for 6 weeks (Group--IIA); and 15 patients of diabetes mellitus with neuropathy who were given supplemental zinc sulphate (660 mg) for 6 weeks (Group--IIB). Serum zinc level, fasting blood sugar (FBS) and post prandial blood sugar (PPBS) levels and motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) were estimated on day 0 and after 6 weeks in all subjects. Serum zinc levels were significantly low (p < 0.001) in group IIA and IIB as compared to healthy controls (Group--I) at baseline. After 6 weeks the change in pre and post therapy values of FBS, PPBS and MNCV (median and common peroneal nerve) were highly significant (P = < 0.001) for group IIB alone with insignificant change (P = > 0.05) in group IIA. No improvement (P = > 0.05) in autonomic dysfunction was observed in either groups. Therefore, oral zinc supplementation helps in achieving better glycemic control and improvement in severity of peripheral neuropathy as assessed by MNCV.