Growth Assessment of Under-Five Children of Employed and Unemployed Mothers of Etawah District, Uttar Pradesh: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction The under-five age group is crucial because the health profile of this age group will have a huge effect on the future development of the nation. Early infancy is marked by several distinct developmental characteristics. Progress in each domain of childhood development is used to track a child's development. Objectives The objectives of the present study were to assess and compare the growth of under-five children of employed and unemployed mothers in the Etawah District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Material and methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was carried out in Etawah district's urban and rural areas between January 2021 and June 2022. A total of 200 mothers with children under the age of five were recruited using the purposive sampling method. To gather pertinent information, a semi-structured, pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Results In the present study on the comparison of the growth of children among employed and unemployed mothers, it shows that 48 children (50.5%) with a weight between 10.5 and 15 kg were of employed mothers, while 52 children weighing less than 10.5kg were of unemployed mothers (p<0.001). Forty-four children (57.1%) with a chest circumference of more than 48 cm were of employed mothers, while 26 children (78.8%) with a chest circumference of less than 45 cm were of unemployed mothers (p = 0.001). Conclusion The present study indicates that statistically significant differences were found in age-appropriate gain in weight and chest circumference, which was higher among the children of employed mothers in comparison to children of unemployed mothers. There was no statistically significant difference in age-appropriate gain in height, head circumference, or mid-upper arm circumference among the children of employed mothers and unemployed mothers.

Assessment of knowledge and their practices regarding malaria among members of Village Health Sanitation Committee in rural Uttar Pradesh: A cross-sectional study.

Background: In 2019, the global number of malaria cases was estimated at 229 million. An estimated 409,000 deaths were attributed to malaria in 2019. Under-five children are the most susceptible to malaria, accounting for 67% (274,000) of all malaria deaths worldwide in 2019. This study aimed to assess knowledge and practices regarding malaria among Village Health Sanitation Committee (VHSC) members in rural Uttar Pradesh. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the villages of four districts of Uttar Pradesh with high malaria burden. In the present study, 484 participants were interviewed from four districts of Uttar Pradesh. Results: Nearly all the participants (97.1%) have heard about malaria. Majority of the participants (97.1) were aware that mosquito bites spread malaria. However, many participants were also having a false awareness that malaria is spread by other modes like drinking contaminated water, touching each other, eating contaminated food, and so on. More than half of the participants told that mosquitoes are responsible for malaria breeds in stagnant clean water (25.6%) and stagnant dirty water (28.5%). Nearly half of them were aware that mosquitoes' biting time was sunset (42.1%) and sunrise (7.8%). Conclusion: In the present study, many participants were having a false awareness that malaria is spread by other modes like drinking contaminated water, touching each other, eating contaminated food, and so on. Even the knowledge regarding any government program for the prevention and control of malaria of the mosquitoes was very weak. There is an urgent requirement of increasing knowledge among the VHSC members to reduce the malaria burden in the country.

Intraoperative crush smear cytology of vertebral chondroblastoma: A diagnostic challenge.

Chondroblastoma is a rare, cartilage producing primary neoplasm of the bone. Although generally benign, chondroblastoma is placed in the "intermediate, rarely metastasizing" category in the 2013 World Health Organization classification of bone tumors. It typically involves the epiphysis of long tubular bones and is exceptionally located in the vertebral column. To the best of our knowledge, less than 35 cases of vertebral chondroblastoma have been reported in the literature. We report a case of chondroblastoma involving D6 -D7 vertebrae in a 17-year-old male patient, diagnosed on intraoperative crush cytology and later confirmed on histopathology. Intraoperative crush cytology is rarely been used for the diagnosis of bone lesions. Till date, this is the third case of vertebral chondroblastoma being diagnosed on cytology and first case being diagnosed on intraoperative crush smear cytology. Previous two cases were diagnosed on fine-needle aspiration cytology. Chondroblastoma possesses distinct and diagnostic cytological features, which allows correct diagnosis even in the rarer locations like vertebral column. Crush cytology can be helpful in the rapid intraoperative diagnosis of vertebral chondroblastoma leading to early proper management of the patient.

Study of placenta in sickle cell disorders.

Remarkable changes are seen on gross and microscopic examination of placenta of patients with sickle cell disorders, hence the present study was undertaken to find out the pathological changes seen in the placenta of sickle cell disorder patients, as compared to control and to study the effect of maternal sickling on the fetus. It includes total 73 cases, of which 10 were of control group and 63 were from patients with sickle cell disorders, which included 47 sickle cell trait (AS) and 16 sickle cell disease (SS) patients. In group II, 9 (14.28%) patients with SS pattern developed complications during pregnancy, in the form of vaso-occlusive and hemolytic crises. Pregnancy induced hypertension was seen in 4 (25%) out of 16 SS and 11 (23.40%) of the 47 AS patients. Urinary tract infection (UTI) was seen in 6 (37.5%) out of 16 SS and 8 (17.02%) out of 47 AS patients. Placentae in sickle cell disorders showed pathological changes in the form of infarction, calcification, sickled red blood cells and hemorrhage in intervillous spaces, increased syncytial knots, fibrinoid necrosis, stromal fibrosis, hyalinised villi and compensatory proliferation of trophoblastic cells.