A School-based Health Awareness Program MISSION SHAKTTI, with an Assessment of Health Literacy Among School Children of Delhi: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Worldwide, more than 1.2 billion population is adolescents. Nutrition, physical activity, psychological health, and sanitations are few areas that affect adolescents, making them more vulnerable to diseases and contributing in disease burden. The present study was part of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) school based health program Mission SHAKTTI which focused, and reported on adolescents’ awareness and health literacy about nutrition, physical activity, and sanitation in Delhi. Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted with students (aged 11-19 years), and the Mission SHAKTTI program was devised using the pillars of Gandhi’s teachings for good health. Data were collected using a pre-tested open ended questionnaire (n=1796). For data analysis, deductive approach was adopted, and thematic content analysis was done with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: The study showed that students were somewhat aware of various health-related issues pertaining to Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of health, with 49.5% (CI: 46.72-51.39) reported that Gandhiji’s mantra for staying healthy was simply a clean environment and proper sanitation. A gap between their understanding and perceptions of a balanced diet was observed, since many felt that merely eating enough food could labelled as balanced diet (36.46%; CI: 34.24-38.74). Conclusions: Findings may be useful in developing a suitable health-based educational program to inculcate knowledge about healthy practices among school-aged children through Gandhian health ideology. This may also help in forging a stronger and more aware foundation of nation leading to prevention of numerous diseases in the near future.

Status of mental stress among medical students: Experience from medical colleges in Bihar

Background: Admission in medical colleges exposes students to a new educational environment. Then, they encounter the pressure of huge syllabus, language hurdles, peer stress, stress of hostel life, etc. The coping capability in these stressful conditions varies student to student. Aim and Objectives: In this study, we aimed to ascertain the level of stress assessed by a validated questionnaire among first-year medical students. Materials and Methods: This was an online survey-based study. A validated questionnaire Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to ascertain the level of perceived stress. The questionnaire assesses the perceived stress for the past 1 month period. Questionnaire link was distributed among 200 students. Data were tabulated and presented by descriptive statistical tests such as mean, standard deviation, and percentage. The inferential statistical test – Chi-square test and ANOVA were conducted in Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: A total 103 student submitted completed questionnaire (survey response rate 51.5%). Among the students, 27.18% was in “no stress” category and 72.82% was among different level of “stress” category. Among the stressed students, 39.81% was in “mild stress,” 18.45% was in “moderate stress,” and 14.56% was in “severe stress.” Mean score of these four groups showed statistically significant (P < 0.001) difference when tested by ANOVA. Conclusion: The majority of medical students have mild stress. A significant percent also suffers from moderate-to-severe stress. Teacher and the stakeholders should take necessary steps to help those students in coping up with stress related to studies by counseling and other interventions.

Genotypes of erythrovirus B19, their geographical distribution & circulation in cases with various clinical manifestations

Erythrovirus B19 (B19V) is one of the erythroviruses known to be pathogenic in humans. B19V is classified into three distinct genotypes; 1, 2 and 3, differing from each other by 2-13 per cent. Genotype 1 consists of the prototype B19V isolates, genotype 2 comprises the A6, LaLi and their related isolates while genotype 3 includes the V9- and V9-related isolates. The classification of genotype 1 into two subtypes (1A and 1B) and genotype 3 into two subtypes (3a and 3b) with an estimated nucleotide difference of about 5 per cent has been done. Predominance of genotype 1 across all the continents is seen followed by genotypes 2 and 3. There are no disease-specific genotypes. All the three genotypes have been found in symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individuals and have been reported from several countries across the world. The prevalence of genotype 2 in older populations and its absence from current circulation in Northern Europe has also been reported. The present review focuses on geographic distribution and association of genotypes of B19V with different clinical manifestations.

"The Chennai declaration" Recommendations of "A roadmap- to tackle the challenge of antimicrobial resistance" - A join meeting of medical societies of India.

"A Roadmap to Tackle the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance - A Joint meeting of Medical Societies in India" was organized as a pre-conference symposium of the 2 nd annual conference of the Clinical Infectious Disease Society (CIDSCON 2012) at Chennai on 24 th August. This was the first ever meeting of medical societies in India on issue of tackling resistance, with a plan to formulate a road map to tackle the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance from the Indian perspective. We had representatives from most medical societies in India, eminent policy makers from both central and state governments, representatives of World Health Organization, National Accreditation Board of Hospitals, Medical Council of India, Drug Controller General of India, and Indian Council of Medical Research along with well-known dignitaries in the Indian medical field. The meeting was attended by a large gathering of health care professionals. The meeting consisted of plenary and interactive discussion sessions designed to seek experience and views from a large range of health care professionals and included six international experts who shared action plans in their respective regions. The intention was to gain a broad consensus and range of opinions to guide formation of the road map. The ethos of the meeting was very much not to look back but rather to look forward and make joint efforts to tackle the menace of antibiotic resistance. The Chennai Declaration will be submitted to all stake holders.

Primary chondrosarcoma of the breast: a case report.

Mammary sarcomas are uncommon tumors. Of these pure chondrosarcoma without any other area of epithelial or mesenchymal differentiation feature as even rarer. This excludes tumors like malignant cystosarcoma phyllodes and metaplastic carcinoma where malignant cartilaginous areas may be present. Further primary chondrosarcoma arises from breast stroma and not from underlying bone or cartilage. Only five cases of pure and primary chondrosarcoma have been reported so far. The sixth case is reported here.

Adenocarcinoma renal: factores pronósticos: Experiencia de 10 años del club urológico del sur de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (C.U.S.P.B.A) / Renal adenocarcinoma: prognostic factors: 10 years experience of the Provincia Buenos Aires urologic Club

Objetivo: Establecer factors pronósticos en el adenocarcinoma renal.Material y método: Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo de todos los casos de adenocarcinoma renal operados por los miembros del Club urológico del sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires que participaron en este estudio, entre los años 1986 y 1996. Resultados: Se revisaron 231 casos de carcinoma renal operados en ese período. La edad fue de 62+= 11,63 por ciento fueron hombres. La sobrevida a 5 años fue : 100 por ciento estadio I, 77 por ciento estadio II, 51 por ciento estadio III y, 0 por ciento estadio IV; 32 por ciento fueron incidentales. Los pacientes < de 60 años y los tumores > de 5 cm presentaronmenor sobrevida. Conclusiones: Los tumores de bajo estadio (I y II), < de 5 cm, y en pascientes mayores de 60 años tienen mejor pronóstico en cuanto a la sobrevida global

Insuficiencia renal en pacientes nefrectomizados por cancer. Experiencia de diez años del Club Urológico del Sur de la Provincia de Buenos Aires / Renal failure in patients who undergone nephrectomy because of cancer. Experience of CUSPBA

Objetivo: Establecer la incidencia de insuficiencia renal posoperatoria en pacientes nefrectomizados por adenocarcinoma renal. Material y método: Se analizaron retrospectivamente todas las nefrectomías por cancer renal realizadas por los participantes en el estudio entre los años 1986 y 1996. Se evaluó la presencia de insuficiencia renal pre y posoperatoria tomando valores de creatinina de 1,5 mg/dl como límite superior. Se evaluó si hubiera sido posible realizar cirugía conservadora en cada caso. Resultados: se revisaron 231 casos de nefrectomía por cáncer. El 7,8 por ciento presentó insuficiencia reanl posoperatoria (3,9 por ciento transitoria y 3,9 por ciento definitiva) con creatininas>1,5 mg/dl. Sólo el 0,43 por ciento requirió hemodiálisis crónica. La falla renal se presentó a los 18,7 meses posoperatorios. Dentro del grupo donde se hubiera podido efectuar cirugía conservadora, el 2,1 por ciento presentó insuficiencia renal definitiva. Conclusiones: La incidencia de falla renal posnefrectomía es del 7,8 por ciento(3,9 definitiva y 3,9 por ciento transitoria). Sólo el 0,43 por ciento requiere hemodiálisis crónica

Seasonal prevalence and succession of rice field breeding mosquitoes of central Gujarat.

Studies on seasonal prevalence and succession of mosquitoes in rice fields, revealed the dominance of Anopheles culicifacies and An. subpictus in newly transplanted fields during early months of rice cultivation, which was later replaced by the species like An. annularis, An. barbirostris, An. nigerrimus and An. tessellatus with the growth in plant height. Among culicines, except Cx. quinquefasciatus other species were prevalent during growing and later stages of the rice crop. Larval density was found inversely proportional to the height of plants, whereas species diversity maximized during growing phase due to equitable number of specimen among species.