A study on smartphone addiction and its effects on sleep quality among nursing students in a municipality town of West Bengal.

BACKGROUND: Smartphones are now an important gadget for us, but the many are getting addicted to it. Researchers showed that smartphone addiction and late-night usage affects sleep quality. Indian nurses are already facing a heavy burden of depression and present position of nurses is quite insecure. Very few studies were performed over nursing students and that leads to the selection of this topic for my research. METHODOLOGY: It was a cross-sectional, observational, and questionnaire-based study, performed over B.Sc. Nursing students of University College of Nursing, WBUHS. The questionnaire has three parts. The first part was for sociodemographic variables, the second part measures the addictive phenomena associated with smartphone overuse using a Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), the last part was intended to measure the sleep quality by using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Collected data was compiled and analyzed with the help of MS-Excel from Microsoft Office Package-2016. RESULTS: Out of 91 students, 46 students were found to be not addicted, while 45 were addicted to smartphone, as measured by SAS. On PSQI, 17.58% students were found to be good sleepers, while 82.42% came out to be poor sleepers. Significant association was found between age and smartphone addiction (p=0.000031) and between daily calls and sleep quality (p=0.025333). CONCLUSION: It can be finally concluded that increase in smartphone usage is now a serious matter of concern and lower age groups are more susceptible towards it. Broad-spectrum studies involving multiple institutions is needed to reveal the bigger picture.

Impact of Climatic Variations on Drug-induced Skin Reactions in Two Different Regions of India.

BACKGROUND: Around 2-3% of hospitalizations have been reported due to dermatological adverse drug reactions. Recent studies suggest that climatic variations affect the skin barrier function and extreme conditions aggravate skin disorders. OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to compare the impact of climatic variations on drug-induced skin reactions in the Northern and Eastern regions of India. METHODS: We performed a one-year retrospective study to evaluate the impact of climatic variations (temperature and humidity) on drug-induced skin reactions in the Eastern (Kalyani, West Bengal) and Northern (Karnal, Haryana) regions. Drug-induced skin reactions were reported month-- wise in both the Eastern and Northern regions. Temperature and humidity levels were also noted month-wise in both regions. The direct correlation between climatic variations and the number of drug reactions were assessed using Pearson's correlation and quadratic regression analysis. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Overall, 99 and 81 dermatological adverse drug reactions were reported in tertiary care hospitals in the Northern and Eastern regions, respectively. During the summer season, the humidity level was found to be low in the Northern region as compared to the Eastern region. During this period, drug-induced skin reactions were reported significantly (p<0.05) more in the Northern region as compared to the Eastern region. Furthermore, quadratic regression analysis revealed that climatic variations contributed to drug reaction variability in the Northern region (68.5%) and Eastern region (23.5%). CONCLUSION: Therefore, the difference in the prevalence of drug-induced skin reactions may be related to the different climatic conditions among these two regions. Further studies in controlled climatic conditions should be performed for definitive correlations and to look into possible solutions.

Breastfeeding practices and infant feeding pattern of a tribal population region of eastern India.

BACKGROUND: Regular vigilance over infant feeding practices in the community is necessary for assessment of optimal growth and development and the intervention if needed. OBJECTIVE: To illustrate infant feeding practices, and socio-demographically correlated time like when weaning starts, the challenges met by mothers, and the types of complementary feeding adopted. METHODS: A structured pretested and predesigned questionnaire was used to collect information regarding sociodemographic, detail information regarding initiation and duration of breastfeeding, age of complementary feeding and type of food given during complementary feeding, minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency, and also advice given during child feeding session. RESULTS: The study revealed that it was a predominantly Hindu tribal community where majority of infant were female and belong to joint families. Most of the mother had completed high secondary school and were housewives and belong to upper lower social class. Majority of women had more than two children, and rate of delivery at government institution was more than private institution and home delivery. Exclusive breastfeeding was practiced among 78% of infants, 46% had started breastfeeding within 1 h of birth. In total, 48% of infants were given prelacteal feed, and colostrum feeding was practiced among 62% of infants. Complementary feeding was given by 82% of infants and minimum dietary diversity, and minimum meal frequency was found among 77 and 85%, respectively. CONCLUSION: This community-based study carried out among tribal population of Kalyani showed that exclusive breastfeeding and other domains like complementary feeding and minimum dietary diversity are almost satisfactory.

The Battle against COVID 19 Pandemic: What we Need to Know Before we "Test Fire" Ivermectin.

The world is faced with the dire challenge of finding an effective treatment against the rampaging COVID 19 pandemic. Amidst the crisis, reports of in vitro inhibitory activity of ivermectin, an approved anthelmintic, against the causative SARSCoV2 virus, have generated lot of optimism. In this article, we have fished and compiled the needed information on the drug, that will help readers and prospective investigators in having a quick overview. Though the primordial biological action of the drug is allosteric modulation of helminthic ion channel receptor, its in vitro activity against both RNA and DNA viruses is known for almost a decade. In the past two years, efficacy study in animal models of pseudorabies and zika virus was found to be favourable and unfavourable respectively. Only one clinical study evaluated the drug in dengue virus infection without any clinical efficacy. However, the proposed mechanism of drug action, by inhibiting the importin family of nucleus-cytoplasmic transporters along with favourable pharmacokinetics, warrants exploration of its role in COVID 19 through safely conducted clinical trials. Being an available and affordable drug, enlisted in WHO List of Essential Medicine, and a long track record of clinical safety, the drug is already in clinical trials the world over. As the pandemic continues to ravage human civilisation with unabated intensity, the world eagerly waits for a ray of hope emanating from the outcome of the ongoing trials with ivermectin as well as other drugs.

Efficacy of alternate-day versus everyday dosing of atorvastatin.

BACKGROUND: Atorvastatin has a longer duration of action than other hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of alternate day vs. daily dosing of atorvastatin for the treatment of hyperlipidemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective, open label, crossover study, 40 patients with plasma low-density cholesterol (LDL-C) of more than 130 mg/dl and total cholesterol (TC) more than 200 mg/dl were recruited. After baseline tests, they were randomly allocated to two groups. Group A received 20 mg atorvastatin on alternate days and group B received 20 mg atorvastatin daily for 12 weeks. After 4 weeks of washout period, the groups were crossed over to the other treatment regimen for another 12 weeks. Fasting plasma lipid profile and serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) were measured for both groups at 6(th), 12(th), 16(th), 22(nd), and 28(th) weeks. Results were pooled across the periods and data between the two groups were compared using unpaired t-test. RESULTS: Among the 40 enrolled subjects, 38 completed the study. Both treatment regimens significantly reduced LDL-C and TC compared to baseline. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of reduction of plasma LDL-C and TC at 6 and 12 weeks of treatment. Both the regimens were well tolerated. CONCLUSION: Alternate-day treatment with atorvastatin is comparable in efficacy and safety to the established daily treatment regimen, thus being a cost effective alternative.