Study of anxiety among medicalstudents of Benha Faculty of Medicine

Medical student may experience an enhancement of anxiety symptoms which in excess Impair effectiveness and becomes a handicap. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the level of anxiety and its impact on academic achievement among medical students in Benha Faculty of Medicine. It was carried out on 1374 medical students of both sexes of all academic years chosen by systematic random method of sampling. A questionnaire including personal, familial and social features together with faculty stressors was used. The standardized Arabic translation of Taylor's test was applied to assess the level of anxiety among students. It was found that anxiety levels were higher in females, young-er students, urban residents, those living away of their families and stu-dents with older parents or having no siblings and those belonging to low social class families. Personal and familial psychiatric troubles, lack of friends, bad parental relations and family incoherence were also associated with higher levels of anxiety. The significant college factors affecting the level of anxiety were: academic rank, relation with peers, medical curriculum and practice of hobbies. Severe anxiety was encountered more significantly among students with poor grades while in excellent students anxiety was at moderate levels. Stepwise regression analysis showed that low academic achievement is best predicted by high anxiety level. The findings suggested the need to design intervention strategies to screen and prevent anxiety and other psychiatric problems among medical and. other college students

Scholastic achievement, physical and psychosocial aspects of quality of life in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of young people with type one diabetes in countries worldwide. This cross sectional study was conducted on 170 children [students in basic education] with type 1 diabetes mellitus to study the impact of the disease and glycaemic control on their scholastic achievement, physical and psychosocial aspects of quality of life. They were selected by systematic random sampling method from diabetic clinics in Benha University Hospital and Benha Teaching Hospital. A group of 120 matched controls were selected from the residents of the same areas. All subjects were clinically examined and interviewed using special structured questionnaire to assess their physical, psychological and social domains and scholastic achievement. Psychometric measures were also done to assess level of anxiety, depression and I.Q score among them. Glycaemic control for the cases was assessed by glycosylated haemoeglobin [HbA 1C] level. This study revealed that the quality of life of the studied groups regarding physical, psychological and social domains and scholastic achievement were significantly impaired in the affected children more than those in control group [P < 0.05]. The diabetic children showed significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression and lower level of IQ score than those in the normal group. Children with type 1 diabetes who had poor glycaemic control were found to have higher levels of psychological and social distress and lower level of scholastic achievement. Hence the study recommended implementing a program to improve the quality of life of diabetic children as well as regular psychiatric evaluation and interventions for those children

Neuropsychological functioning and health of dentists exposed to mercury

Objectives: To study if there is an effect of chronic exposure to mercury on health and cognitive functions of dentists and to study the effects

Methods: A case control study of 90 male dentists were asked to complete a questionnaire that included items on handling of amalgam, symptoms experienced, possible influences on psychomotor function, and the 12 item general health questionnaire. Dentists were asked to complete a dental chart of their own mouths and to give samples of urine, hair, and ails for mercury analysis. Environmental measurements of mercury in dentists' surgeries were made and participants undertook a package of computerized psychomotor tests. Another 90 male control subjects underwent similar procedure, completing a questionnaire, having their amalgam surfaces counted, giving urine, hair, and nail samples and undergoing the psychomotor test package

Results: Dentists hail, on average, urinary mercury concentrations over four times that of control subjects. Dentists were significantly more likely than control subjects to have had disorders of the kidney and memory disturbance. These symptoms were not significantly associated with urinary mercury concentration. Differences were found between the psychomotor performance of dentists and controls, but there was no significant association between changes in psychomotor response and mercury concentrations in urine, hair, or nails

Conclusions: Several differences in health and cognitive functioning between dentists and controls were found. These differences could not be directly attributed to their exposure to mercury. However, as similar health effects are known to be associated with mercury exposure, it would be appropriate to consider a system of health surveillance of dental staff with particular emphasis on symptoms associated with mercury toxicity where there is evidence of high levels of exposure to work environmental mercury

Quality assessment of maternal health services provided by primary health care facilities in Qalyobia Governorate

This cross sectional study was conducted along a period of six months to assess the quality of maternal health services provided by primary health care [P.H.C] facilities at Qalyobia Governorate and to compare between the developed and the undeveloped facilities. All PHC facilities providing maternal health services in two convenient districts [Benha and kafr Shoker] in Qalyobia Governorate, were chosen to carry out the study. The quality was assessed by fulfillment of a standardized check list recommended by Ministry Of Health and Population [MOHP] guided with its categories, criteria and standards. Beside the assessment of the quality of the maternal health services [antenatal, natal and postnatal services] a number of general aspects have to be assessed as they are essential for the provision of any services; general resources, unit administration and lab. services. This study revealed that the majority of the PHC facilities at Benha and Kafr Shoker districts are developed ones and most of these facilities are rural ones. The majority of the developed facilities [80.77%] have fair and good Quality index [Q.I] grade of the general resources while the majority [73.33%] of the undeveloped facilities have poor Q.I. grade with statistically significant difference [p<0.05]. The majority [88.46%] of the developed PHC facilities and all the undeveloped facilities have poor QI grade of unit administration and lab. services with statistically non significant difference. All the facilities either developed or undeveloped at Benha and Kafr Shoker district provide poor grade antenatal and post natal care services. The developed facilities have higher Q.I values of the general resources, unit administration, lab. services and antenatal and postnatal services than the undeveloped facilities with statistically significant differences[p <0.05]. The undeveloped facilities showed higher non-compliance percentages with the criteria of the components of all the studied variables [general resources, unit administration, lab. services and ante natal and post natal services] than the developed ones. The differences were statistically significant [p<0.05] only for the furniture of general resources, special resources and process of the lab services and the special resources of the antenatal and post natal services. An immediate program to improve the quality of the provided maternal health services in Qalyobia Governorate is highly recommended