Specialty choices of postgraduate medical students: Are they related to the kind of animal identified with oneself.

Background: Research has pointed to a possible role of certain personality attributes in the choice of medical specialties, but not much is known about the Indian setting. Furthermore, most personality assessments are quite lengthy and time-consuming. Objective: The study aimed to explore if the specialty choices of Indian postgraduate students are related to their personality attributes, using a brief projective animal question. Methods: The study was carried out as a retrospective survey (n=450) of responses to a projective question, in which students were asked to name the animal they identified themselves with the most and their reasons. Results: Mean age was 25.46±1.94 years (Males: 71.8% males; females: 28.2%). Reasons for identification with the stated animal were categorized as aggressive 11.8%, autonomous 40%, nurturing 30.4% and aesthetic 17.8%. Technology-oriented specialties were associated with aggressive/ autonomous responses (p<0.01), while pre/paraclinical specialties were associated with nurturing/aesthetic responses (p<0.01). Females had twice the odds (OR: 1.86) of choosing a personoriented clinical specialty over a technology-oriented specialty. Conclusion: Research in this direction is needed to assist the career counseling of medical students.

Clinical Profile of Mood Disorders in Children.

Objective: To described the clinical profile of pediatric mood disorders. Design: Retrospective record review; Ages 16 y. Setting: Tertiary case hospital. Participants: Children 16 year with a DSM-IV diagnosis of Mood disorders. Methods: Records were screened for the period between June 1, 2008 and May 31, 2010. Results: The prevalence of mood disorders was 4.1% (38/930). Mood was depressed in 51.9% and irritable in 33.3% of depressive disorders. Other common symptoms were anhedonia, sleep/appetite disturbances, concentration difficulty and anxiety. Nearly 13.2% had suicidal ideation and 28.5% had comorbid psychiatric disorder. Family history was positive in 39.5%, while an identifiable stressor was present in 50%. Conclusions: The pediatric mood disorders have a unique clinical presentation and requires more research, especially from Indian setting.

Comparison of self-reported benzodiazepine use and urinalysis among consecutive treatment seekers at a tertiary care drug dependence treatment centre.

Information provided by drug dependent patients might be incomplete and/or discrepant. Benzodiazepines are frequently abused, but not necessarily reported, even by the treatment seeking population. The study aims to compare the self reported benzodiazepine use with a quick and effective urinalysis method. A total of 51 consecutive adult patients were included after an informed consent during their first visit to a tertiary care drug dependence treatment centre. The socio-demographic and clinical details were recorded on a semi-structured proforma. Patients were specifically asked for ever, current and recent benzodiazepine use and thereafter ten ml urine sample was collected to perform urinalysis with cassette test for benzodiazepines. The sample, predominantly males, had a mean age of 37.86 ±10.46 years. The common primary drugs of use were heroin (52.9%), alcohol (23.5%) and other opioids (21.6%).Drug use was uninterrupted in most of users (72.5%) and ranged from one to forty years. The recent benzodiazepine use was reported by 21.6% of all users whereas urinalysis by cassette test was positive in 50.9% of the treatment seekers. Denial among users was 69.2% and denial among negative self report was 45%. A poor level of agreement (K) was found between results of self-report and urinalysis for all the treatment seekers. Self report of benzodiazepine use is highly questionable among treatment seekers. The urinalysis with cassette test is a quick objective method which is recommended for routine screening.