RESUMO
Background: According to WHO statistics, close to 3 million deaths occur every year due to harmful use of alcohol of which 3.2 lakh people are aged between 15-29 years. College students are more prone to experimenting and risk taking behavior. Keeping this in mind, our study was aimed to assess the alcohol use patterns and factors associated with alcohol consumption among college students. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted including college students from various streams in the South Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Data was collected from 1129 participants using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 4 sections including socio-demographic details, alcohol use patterns, attitude towards alcohol consumption and media exposure. Results: Prevalence of alcohol consumption in the sample population was found to be 31% (348). Among the 348, 30.2% (105) reported that one of the reasons for the consumption of the first drink of alcohol was peer-pressure. Higher prevalence of alcohol consumption seen among the groups with higher media exposure and higher tolerance to alcohol advertising was found to be statistically significant. The study statistics show that 600(53.14%) participants were exposed to actors consuming alcohol in media more than 10 times in the past 30 days while only 320(28.34%) reported seeing warnings or health education material in the same duration. Conclusion: Considering the above findings, it is high time policy makers focused on using media for health promotion and health education, since it is proving to have the potential to influence the decisions and lifestyles of the future generations.
RESUMO
@#A total of 17 species of the genus Bifurcohaptor Jain, 1958 have been reported from two fish families namely Bagridae Bleeker, 1858 (Mystus vittatus (Bloch, 1794), M. tengara (Hamilton, 1822), M. keletius (Valenciennes, 1840), Hemibagrus nemurus (Valenciennes, 1840), Rita rita (Hamilton, 1822) and Sperata seenghala (Sykes, 1839)) and Sisoridae Bleeker, 1858 (Bagarius bagarius (Hamilton, 1822)). Out of these, only two species viz. B. indicus and B. giganticus are found valid in India, parasitizing gills of Mystus spp. and Bagarius sp. Taxonomic studies suggest, present specimen of B. indicus and B. giganticus, both are morphologically close to species described by Jain (1958), except morphometric variations and posses 7 pairs of marginal hooks instead of 6 pairs. Present manuscript delves with the characterization of B. indicus and B. giganticus reported from India, using molecular techniques. Partial mt COI nucleotide sequence based insilico protein analysis and partial 28S and ITS-1 rDNA based phylogenetic analysis, estimated by Neighbour-joining (NJ) and Minimum Evolution (ME) methods revealed that the species of the genus Bifurcohaptor are genetically distinct and valid. The grouping of Bifurcohaptor spp. with other representatives of family Dactylogyridae supports morphology based placement into family Dactylogyridae. Present and previous host-parasite information suggests both Bifurcohaptor spp. are species specialist however, the genus Bifurcohaptor is generalist at generic level.