Prevalence, Geographical Distribution, Social Problems and Treatment of Thalassemia Patients.

A total of 700 beta thalassemia patients were gathered at the outdoor of the Hematology department of Medical College, Kolkata, attending during the period from January 2010 to December 2010. The data is generated by the interaction between them and their family members in presence of the physicians. Actual ethnic identities, place of residence, parity and sibship together with social stigma, if any, faced by the patient or by the member of the family and details of their treatment including transfusion history were noted down and reconfirmed from past records. The prevalence of thalassemia was found 70% among Hindus of which the 62.26% was contributed by castes like Maishya, Namasudra, Barga Kshatriya and Panda Kshatriya. The relative prevalence of subtypes of b-thalassemia was found to be 65% E-b thalassemia, 30% Homozygous b-thalassemia and 5% S-b thalassemia. The aboard of the 85.28% patients were found to be localised along banks river Hooghly and Ganga delta region and we can thus consider tentatively that this belt is a thalassemia zone in West Bengal. The maximum number of cases showed parity to be 1 and there was considerable amount of reproductive wastage. Regarding social stigma, 82.71% responded with no stigma. Early diagnosis and early onset of transfusion with chelation therapy was found to provide benefit for the patient reducing the total amount of transfusion needed per year and also restoring the quality of their life.

Study of the Fatigue Strength of the Artificial Ceramic on Ceramic Hip Joint under Normal Walking Conditions

Hip joint, bearing and transmitting the major part of our body weight, is very vulnerable to damage, which may be further accentuated by certain factors like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, avascular necrosis of femoral head following fracture neck femur, tumour, osteoporosis or any type of street accident. Of them single most determining factor is osteoporosis – observed in most of the postmenopausal women which may be further magnified by lack of proper nutrition in a developing country like India. When these factors become chronic and debilitating, leading to severe pain, restriction of mobility and function; – need for the complete or partial hip arthroplasty comes to play. Number of patients suffer every year throughout the world is well over 10 lakh and the figure in India is about 4 lakh. In India however, number of hip operation every year is much lower (about 1 lakh)1 as most of our patients cannot afford the prosthesis and operation cost. Again, while opting for surgery, along with cost other factors like the material itself or its efficacy should be considered. The most popular material, which is in vogue internationally, is ceramic on ceramic prosthesis which is now considered to be the best material.