RESUMO
Background: Around 0.84 million people contracted malaria in India in the year 2017 and it resulted in 194 deaths. This study was conducted to describe the demographic and clinical profile as well as the geographical distribution of malaria patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Mangaluru.Methods: It was a record based descriptive study. All the malaria cases which were admitted from 1st May 2017 till 30th April 2018 were included in the study. QGIS software was used to plot the cases geographically.Results: A total of 97 malaria cases were present, of which 74.2% were males. The mean age of the participants was 33.4 years. Fever and chills were the most common presenting complaints (94.8% and 85.6% respectively) and thrombocytopenia was the foremost complication. Diagnosis was done using blood smear in 45 cases and rapid diagnostic kit in 59 cases. 8 patients were detected positive by both the tests. Plasmodium vivax (69%) was the most common infection. QGIS plotting of address showed that 61.4% were from Mangaluru block. Rest of the cases were from other parts of Karnataka, Kerala and Bihar.Conclusions: Malaria has a male preponderance and usually affects the economically productive age group. Thrombocytopenia was a common complication, thus necessitating close vigilance on platelet counts in malaria patients. Thick and thin blood smear is recommended to be performed to every case irrespective of their rapid diagnostic kit results. Mangaluru block accounted for 60 cases out of 97 cases which necessitates intensification of preventive measures in the block.
RESUMO
Background: Stress has become common among the working people in this era. This may lead to further dire psychological consequences such as anxiety, depression etc. India being the information technology (IT) hub with lakhs involved as IT Professionals, there is a need to assess prevalence of professional stress. Not many studies have been conducted regarding this research topic in urban areas. Hence, this study has been exclusively done in Coimbatore which is an urban area in which IT is still developing. Aim of the study was to assess the stress levels of IT professionals in a software company in urban Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.Methods: Cross–Sectional Study based on a validated questionnaire based on professional life stress scale (PLSS).Results: Out of the 105 employees interviewed 68% were in mild degree of stress. The remaining 32% had moderate degree of stress and none of the participants had high degree of stress.Conclusions: India being a leading sector in IT, its development largely depends on its employees’ physical and mental health. Occupational stress (job stress/work stress) need to be kept harnessed and minimized to provide conducive work environment in the organization.
RESUMO
Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in today’s world. With early intervention and improvements in critical care the mortality from stroke is decreasing. Today there are more chances of a patient surviving after a stroke than it was 2 decades ago. But this downward shift in mortality has caused increased prevalence of patients surviving with considerable neurodeficits and cognitive dysfunction. These patients are at increased risk of developing depression which may directly affect the recovery process. Yet the depression in post-stroke patient is rarely recognised and treated. Many a times such patients remain bed-ridden, neglected depressed and only a small number of these patients are treated for depression. Some of this has to do with the fact that there are not many randomised controlled trials dealing with this aspect. Gradually with increasing survival of the patients with stroke data is becoming available suggesting that the treatment of depression in post-stroke patient have a positive effect on recovery of these patients. We conducted this study to identify the prevalence and severity of depression in post stroke patients and to assess its relationship with demographic variables and stroke characteristics. Methods: This was a cross sectional study comprising of 52 patients selected on the basis of pre-defined inclusion criteria and was carried out in Department of Neurology of a tertiary care medical institute situated in an urban area. All patients attending follow up stroke OPDS having a history of stroke confirmed on imaging (Computed tomographic, MRI or MR angiography) were included in this study. Dependent variable of our study was depression while independent variables were demographic and clinical factors such as age, gender, marital status, financial status, residence status, education level and the clinical variables were stroke type, side and site of stroke. All the patients were interviewed using the preformed questionnaire specifically designed for this study. The data was tabulated and analysed. SPSS Statistics version 2.0 was used to analyze the collected data. Results: Forty four patients with stroke out of 52 (85%) met the criteria for depression. out of which 40 were males and 12 were females with a M: F ratio being 1:0.3. Demographic variables and stroke types (hemorrhagic versus thromboembolic) were not significantly associated with post stroke depression. A peculiar finding we encountered was infarcts in the middle cerebral artery territory were significantly associated with depression. Majority of the patients (87 %) had ischaemic stroke and most common location was found to be left hemisphere (60%). Most common territory was found to be left middle cerebral artery territory which was affected in 50% of the patients.81% patients were found to be having illness since more than 6 months. Depression was more common in male patients of more than 45 years of age. There was a significant association between the post stroke depression and left middle cerebral artery infarction. Conclusion: These results highlighted the need to investigate, diagnose and treat post-stroke depression. From a neurologist’s point of view it is important to recognize the symptoms of depression so that a psychiatric opinion can be sought.