RESUMO
Background: The Corona Virus (SARS-COV2) is one of the major pathogens that affect the human respiratory system. As it spreads via droplets, healthcare workers are at increased risk of acquiring the infection. Nursing students who are exposed to the hospital setting during their clinical postings are prone to infection because they may provide care to patients who are suspected of or diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. In dentistry, the use of hand pieces and ultrasonic instruments during dental procedures unavoidably result in generation of blood and saliva droplets. Objective was to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among Dental and Nursing students of Government dental college and nursing college, Alappuzha. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Dental and Nursing students of Government TD Dental College and Nursing College, Alappuzha in November 2021. Convenient sampling was done and persons who were willing to take part in the study were distributed with a pretested questionnaire via Google Form and data was collected and analysed. Results: Out of the 174 study participants, 77 were Dental students and 97 were Nursing students, 33% of Dental students and 36% of Nursing students reported of being infected with COVID-19 virus. Significant association was obtained between COVID-19 infection and contact with Covid positive case. Conclusions: Prevalence of COVID-19 infection among Dental and Nursing students was 35.10%. Prevalence of COVID-19 infection among Dental students and Nursing students were 33% and 36% respectively.
RESUMO
Introduction: Chronic otitis media (COM) is a long standinginfection of a part or whole of the middle ear cleft. It is oneof the most common ear diseases encountered in developingcountries because of poor socioeconomic standards, poornutrition, lack of health education and unhygienic habits.Perforation of the tympanic membrane(TM) is sequelae ofotitis media and primarily results from middle-ear infection,trauma or iatrogenic causes. The major advantage of cartilagegraft is the stiffness and bradytrophic metabolism. Hence,the aim of the present study was to assess the tolerance,durability and performance of the graft with various thicknessand effectiveness and also to study the acoustic transfercharacteristics of cartilage plates.Material and Methods: This was a prospective study done inthe Department of ENT, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundryfrom September 2016 to august 2018. Patients who were 15-60years of age, with total and subtotal perforations, perforationswith tympanosclerotic plaques, Perforation with atrophicmembranes, Revision surgery for failed myringoplasty ortympanoplasty were selected for the study. Materials usedwere tragal and chonchal cartilage along with an underlaytype I tymponoplasty (primary or revision), using temporalisfascia, tragal cartilage of two different thicknesses was alsoperformed.Results: The graft survival rate with cartilage tympanoplastyis extremely satisfactory (95.2%). There was no significantdifference observed between the graft survival and type ofcartilage used. Hence, both tragal and conchal cartilage canbe used without any predisposition. The hearing results werebetter with cartilage tympanoplasty post-operatively (meanhearing gain 10.57dB).Conclusion: Cartilage is a valuable material for repairing aretracted tympanic membrane because of its stiffness, andcartilage will resist retraction.