A study on prevalence of alcohol consumption among higher secondary school students in Theni district, Tamil Nadu

Background: Studies show that in India, the health loss from alcohol will grow larger, unless effective interventions are implemented. Initiation of alcohol intake starts from a very early age and is higher in rural areas. The best way to reduce alcoholism is prevention rather than curing the already addicted persons. For this we need to know the magnitude of this problem. This study is aimed at estimating the prevalence, identifying the causative and contributing factors of alcoholism among higher secondary school children of Theni district.Methods: A self-administered validated questionnaire was given to the male school students of 15 to 17 years (XI and XII students) to assess the prevalence and pattern of alcohol use among them. The questionnaire was prepared with reference from the global school-based student health survey (GSHS), the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) questionnaire and the cut-annoyed-guilty- eye (CAGE) questionnaire. Data analysis was done using software OpenEpi, Version 3.Results: A total of 500 students were analyzed with a response rate of 94% (n=470). The overall prevalence of alcohol use was found to be 31.06%. Nearly 70% had the possibility of alcoholism and should be investigated further for severity of alcohol use, 30% had impaired control over drinking almost daily and 17% had injury or injured someone because of drinking.Conclusions: The mean age of initiation of alcohol consumption is decreasing and the number of alcohol consumers is increasing.

Rock magnetic investigations of surface and sub-surface soil samples from five lake catchments in tropical southern India

Iron oxide minerals in soils provide valuable insights into pedogenic processes. A wealth of such information has been obtained by rock magnetic investigations on temperate soils but similar studies on tropical soils are rare. Here, we report rock magnetic data on pristine soil profiles and surficial soils from five catchments in the tropical southern India and throw light on the pedogenic processes. We ruled out contributions from greigite, bacterial magnetite and anthropogenic sources; hence, the magnetic signal is mainly from the catchment, principally pedogenic and, thus, has a climatic signature embedded in it. The Pookot profile from a high rainfall [4000 mm/year] region does not exhibit any magnetic enhancement at the surface. In fact, there is hardly any difference between surface and sub-surface samples, which reflects on its deeply weathered nature as a result of the high rainfall. The Shantisagara profile exhibits lessivage of magnetic minerals, resulting in a thick magnetically enhanced zone. It shows the highest chi[if] values among the five profiles studied. The Thimmannanayakanakere [TK] and Ayyanakere [AK] soil profiles do not exhibit any magnetic enhancement of top-soil. In fact, chi[if] values increase towards the profile-bottom, suggesting top-soil erosion, besides contribution of magnetic minerals from parent rocks. In the TK profile, there is a clear distinction between surface and sub-surface samples, the former being magnetically coarser grained. The Kurburukere profile exhibits moderate to strong chi[if] values and a mild magnetic enhancement at the surface.The data would be useful for establishing soil-sediment linkages for paleoclimatic studies of lake sediments