Medical students' attitude towards cultural diversity: a cross-sectional study at a health sciences university in eastern Nepal.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the attitude of medical students towards cultural diversity aiming to elucidate our current status in understanding cultural awareness and sensitivity. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A web-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 601 undergraduate health science students (medical and dental courses) at a health sciences university in eastern Nepal via various modes of social-media platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, Gmail, etc. OUTCOME MEASURES: Medical students' attitude towards cultural diversity and its association with the sociodemographic profile of the students. RESULTS: A total of 601 students participated in the study, out of which, 64.2% were men with a sex ratio of 1.8:1 and a mean age of 22.3±1.9 years. More than two-thirds (77.2%) of the students had an excellent to good attitude towards cultural diversity. The proportion of students reporting 'excellent' attitude towards cultural diversity was higher among male students compared with female students (37.8% vs 20.5%) and students aged >22 years compared with younger students (37.1% vs 26.7%). Gender (p<0.001) and age (p=0.009) were significantly associated with the attitude towards cultural diversity. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students, in general, are aware of the impacts of a cross-cultural society on the delivery of quality healthcare and also about the need to be aware of prejudices doctors may have towards certain cultures. Majority suggest the inclusion of concepts of multicultural awareness and sensitivity in the medical curriculum itself.

Spindle cell sarcoma: a case report of diagnostic and therapeutic quandary in a low resource setting.

Sarcomas can present differently in different parts of the body and showcase varied histopathological features and tend to recur locally and metastasize to distant sites. We discuss a case of a 37-year-old male with local recurrence of spindle cell sarcoma of the paraspinal muscles of size 20 × 20 cm2 with overlying ulceration and discharge with possible pulmonary metastasis. The mass was evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography and the histology was confirmed by biopsy. Wide surgical resection of the mass was done and the patient was referred to another center for radiotherapy and further treatment. The large size of the sarcoma and the possible pulmonary metastasis poses a risk of significant morbidity and mortality in this patient. This case showcases the scenario of many patients in developing countries where the patients are lost to follow-up due to various reasons and present later with grave consequences.

Diffuse proliferative cerebral angiopathy: a case report and literature review on a very rare and misdiagnosed entity.

Diffuse proliferative cerebral angiopathy (DPCA) is an uncommon type of cerebral vascular malformation, mostly diagnosed in young females. It is characteristically different from other cerebral arteriovenous malformations and can be differentiated by its peculiar imaging findings. A nidus of normal brain parenchyma is present between the abnormal vascular channels. Therefore, it is crucial to diagnose it as a separate entity because unnecessary treatment of DPCA increases the risk of damage to the normal parenchyma leading to neurological deficits. Here we describe a case of a 60-year-old male who presented with severe neurological deficits and was later diagnosed with DPCA. He was managed conservatively with antiepileptics and almost completely recovered to normal within 2 weeks. A rare case of DPCA confused with other hemorrhagic disorders is discussed here. Rare cases are often overlooked. Correct diagnosis helps to prevent tragic consequences.

Association of geographic distribution and birth weight with sociodemographic factors of the maternal and newborn child of hilly and mountain regions of eastern Nepal: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association of geographic distribution, and birth weight with sociodemographic factors of the maternal and newborn child of hilly region (lower altitude) and mountain region (high altitude) of eastern Nepal as well as the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) and large for gestational age (LGA) among term singleton deliveries in eastern Nepal. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the district-level hospitals of Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Solukhumbu and Taplejung districts of eastern Nepal of Province 1. Mothers with preterm or post-term delivery, multiple pregnancies, stillbirth/intrauterine fetal death and incomplete records were excluded from the study with only 1386 term pregnancies (37-42 weeks) delivered at the respective facilities between 17 July 2019 and 16 July 2020 were included. The appropriate data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2019 V.16.0 and statistical analysis was performed by using the statistical package for social sciences, IBM SPSS V.29. RESULTS: The low maternal age, Dalit ethnic group, low gravidity, low parity, higher antenatal care (ANC) visits (≥4), incomplete deworming and dT vaccination status, breech deliveries and LBW newborns were significantly attributed to hilly region (lower altitude) (p value <0.05). Similarly, the hilly region, lower and/or no ANC visits and early term gestation had significant negative association with birth weight at the lower quantiles only. Meanwhile, the female newborn had significant and negative association with birth weight distribution at all seven quantiles. The prevalence of the LBW, average for gestational age and LGA newborn child among term singleton deliveries in Eastern Nepal is 6.6%, 85.8% and 7.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The local organisations should focus on adequate antenatal care visits in mountain region and coverage of dT vaccine and deworming medications in hilly region. Appropriate measures and programmes should be initiated to bring down LBW in hilly region.

Clinical Profile of End Stage Renal Disease Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in Chitwan, Nepal.

BACKGROUND: There are very few researches from Nepal that have evaluated clinical profile of end stage renal disease patients. Our main objective was to study the clinical profile of end stage renal disease patients, who were under maintenance hemodialysis for at least three months duration in two dialysis centers located in Chitwan Nepal. METHODS: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted among 138 end stage renal disease patients, who were undergoing maintenance hemodialysis at two government centers located in Chitwan, Nepal. RESULTS: Among 138 patients in our study, 42 (30.4%) patients had diabetic nephropathy and 11 (8%) patients had hypertensive nephropathy as the leading causes of end stage renal disease; however the cause could not be ascertained in 63 (45.7%) patients. 47 (34.1%) patients had started hemodialysis within one month of diagnosis of their kidney disease. Fatigue and musculoskeletal pain were the commonest symptoms found in 78 (56.6%) patients, whereas hypotension and fever were the two most common intra-dialytic complications found in 73 (52.9%) and 61 (44.2%) patients respectively. Anemia was present in 127 (92%) patients, 41 (29.7%) had hyperkalemia, 54 (39.1%) had hypocalcemia, 116 (84.1%) had hyperphosphatemia and 43 (31.2%) had hyperuricemia. Regular use of erythropoietin analogs was significantly associated with higher hemoglobin levels (p value- 0.000) and lesser frequency of blood transfusions (p value- 0.000) in our study. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic nephropathy was the leading cause of end stage renal disease in our study. Cause of ESRD could not be ascertained in nearly half of the total patients.

Massive Gastrointestinal Bleeding Masquerading Coagulopathy in Acute Viral Hepatitis: A Case Report.

Hepatitis A virus infection is typically an acute self-limiting illness associated with general nonspecific symptoms such as fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or discomfort, and diarrhea. This may have atypical manifestation like prolonged cholestasis. Despite having varying typical and atypical manifestations such a case may present with life-threatening bleeding from a co-existing surgical cause such as perforation of Meckel's diverticulum.