RESUMEN
Background: The task of using the growth chart by Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for growth monitoring requires technical skill. It was hypothesized that skill up-gradation can make a difference in the performance of AWWs in regard with growth monitoring. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of intervention in improving skill of AWWs regarding growth chart plotting and interpretation.Methods: It was a field based interventional study, which was conducted in rural areas of Varanasi district, India. A total of 66 AWWs each from Chiraigaon (intervention) and Cholapur (control) community development blocks of Varanasi district was selected for the study. Each AWW was provided 3 weight readings of different ages for plotting and 4 filled growth charts for interpretation. Chi square test has been applied to assess the significant difference.Results: Only around 10% of AWWs could correctly plot all 3 growth charts and similar proportion of AWWs could also correctly interpret all 4 filled growth charts. The planned intervention could significantly improve their skill of growth chart plotting and interpretation and during end line survey 41% and 77% of AWWs could correctly plot all 3 growth charts and interpret all the four growth charts, respectively.Conclusions: The developed hypothesis is proved, and intervention was found effective in significantly improving the skills of AWWs in regard with growth monitoring.
RESUMEN
Recent studies indicate that periodontal health influences systemic health and that this has also been considered as a bidirectional relationship for several systemic conditions. This is particularly evident for the inter-relationship between periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus (DM). This relationship between the health of periodontium and DM provides an example of a viz. association. Whereby, there is always possibility that a systemic disease predisposes the individual to oral infections, and, once the oral infection is established, it exacerbates the systemic disease through its pathogenesis and its disease cycle incorporating other organs as oral cavity is also a part of a human body. There are also associations between periodontal disease and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular problems, osteoporosis, obesity, and pancreatic disease. Hence, emphasis should now be placed on treating chronic periodontal diseases as a means of deteriorating systemic diseases. Now-a-day periodontitis has been considered as the sixth complication of DM.
RESUMEN
Epidemiological transition has given the opportunity to grow the traditional system of medicine across the world. Indian healthcare system which is already famous for providing quality of medical services at affordable cost as compared to developed countries took advantage of this opportunity and created a ‘basket of services’ by merging traditional medicines in existing allopathic system to attract patients across the borders. Government has made efforts in the direction of promoting medical tourism in the country and this has been fuelled by the private players both nationally and internationally. Recently this medical tourism has proved a major growth factor for expansion of Indian economy. However, the growth in this sector is underscored in terms of market share and cost advantages due to various challenges. There is also a need for proper diversion of revenue by a clear cut mechanism to strengthen the nation’s healthcare sector.
RESUMEN
We report the case of a male patient, known to have rheumatic mitral valve disease, who presented to us with huge mediastinal lymphadenopathy and dry cough. He was a life-time non-smoker and the only past medical history was his exposure to smoke during the Gulf war in 1991. This patient was in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion and had a continuous exposure to the polluted environment. Mediastinoscopic lymph node biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of anthracotic reactive lymphadenopathy and excluded other causes. Anthracotic pigmentation is a common finding in mediastinal lymph node biopsies especially in smokers, but symptomatic huge lymphadenopathy was rarely reported. This observation and its correlation to the gulf war are also not reported in the literature