Smoking habits of medical students in a private medical college of Bangladesh.

Objective: To assess trends of smoking and the relation between smoking behavior of undergraduate medical students and their attitudes towards smoking and treatment of tobacco dependence. Methodology: Data was collected from the medical students of Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College, Bangladesh. A total of 200 male students completed the anonymous questionnaire. Response rate was 80.0%. Results: Of the respondents 20% and 80% were regular smokers and non-smokers respectively. Only 32.50 % of the regular smokers smoke less than ten cigarettes, 30.0 % smoke ten to twenty cigarettes whereas, 37.50% smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day. 25% started smoking at nineteen years of age, 22.5% started before this age and 27.5% and 25.0 % started at twenty and twenty one years of ages respectively. 70% started smoking just for pleasure. Only 29.72% smoke light cigarettes whereas 33.78% and 36.48% smoke medium and heavy cigarettes respectively. Almost 75% smokers agreed with the fact that smoking is harmful to health and 45% realized that their cigarette smoke bother others and again 70% of smokers have attempted to quit smoking but failed and 42.5% still wanted to quit smoking. About 55% of smokers complained that they suffer from chronic cough, 60% were lacking concentration in their studies and 45% felt that they were short of memory. Conclusions: Attitudes of smokers were significantly different on most items of tobacco, but knowledge of tobacco problem in the undergraduate medical students was not sufficient. Teaching about tobacco and related issues remains essential in the undergraduate medical course.

Etiological pattern of atrial fibrillation.

An attempt to find out the causes of atrial fibrillation was made in this study; although this does not represent total picture of whole population as the number of cases was limited and taken from a particular area for a limited period. Among the causes in our country, rheumatic mitral valvular disease topped the list followed by rheumatic multiple valvular disease IHD, HHD; lone atrial fibrillation came in the aetiology sequentially. This information is valuable in regard to management as rheumatic heart disease, the prime cause of atrial fibrillation in our country.

Risk factors & clinical presentations--a study of eighty-five hospital admitted stroke cases.

Stroke is the commonest neurological cause of morbidity and mortality. Changes in risk factors may influence stroke incidence. Definitive diagnosis of the type of stroke is necessary for management and it has a strong impact on stroke outcome. A total of eighty-five consecutive stroke patients irrespective of age and sex admitted during the period of August 2000 to June 2001 were studied. They were asked about occupation, area of habitat, smoking habit, family history of ischaemic heart disease and/or stroke, any febrile illness, recent history of productive cough, dysuria and diarrhoea. They were searched for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease, valvular heart disease and dislipidaemia. In every patient complete blood count, urine examination, fasting blood glucose and serum lipids, ECG, x-ray chest were performed. CT scan of brain was performed in 68 cases. Male was found 81.18% of cases with age 62.54 +/- 13.08 (m +/- SD) years. Female were 18.82% of cases with age 58.81 +/- 12.77 (m +/- SD). 75.29% of patients were belongs to middle class family. 51.76% of patients came from rural area and 48.24% of patients came from urban area. 78.82% of patients were hypertensive. Infection was associated with 37.65% of cases. Hemiplegia was commonest presentation (88.24%). Though altered consciousness was found more in haemorrhagic stroke (54.84%) but it was not significantly. High from ischaemic cases (p > 0.10) Male suffer more from stroke. Hypertension is the commonest risk factor. Infection is a common association of stroke. Altered consciousness is not a reliable guide to differentiate between ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke is hospitalized cases.

Dietary fibre and coronary heart disease.

Intake of dietary fibres lowers plasma lipids. Fibres particularly soluble ones lower serum total cholesterol (TC) and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) without significant alteration in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triacylglyccrol (TG). Consequently, the incidence of atherosclerotic heart diseases is lower in those who take high dietary fibre. Persons taking diet rich in saturated fat and poor in dietary fibre is more prone to develop coronary artery diseases. Dietary fibres also lower TC: HDL-C and LDL-C: HDL-C ratios. Higher TC: HDL-C and LDL-C: HDL-C ratios are in favour of development and progression of atherosclerotic vascular diseases, a pioneer cause of myocardial infarction (MI).

Turner syndrome: a case of gonadal dysgenesis.

An eighteen years old girl came from Ishargang, Mymensingh complaining of short stature, absence of development of breast, lack of menstruation and other secondary sex characters. She was found in infantile appearance with a height of 123 cm, body weight of 28 kg. She had short, broad, webbed neck, cuvitus valgus, absence of development of breast, axillary and public hairs with infantile external genitalia. Hormonal profile revealed high level of LH and FSH, low level of estrogens. Ultrasonography revealed uterine hypoplasia and ill defined gonadal streaks, Karyotype showed typical 45, X0 pattern. She was diagnosed as a case of gonadal dysgenesis due to Turner syndrome.