Awareness and acceptance of the pandemic influenza (H1N1v 2009) vaccination among antenatal patients in a district general hospital.

Pandemic H1N1 influenza virus was the cause of worldwide respiratory infection in 2009. The majority of these infections were self-limiting, however, high-risk groups, including pregnant women were at increased risk of mortality and morbidity from swine flu. Because of these risks, the World Health Organization recommended that pregnant women should receive the swine flu vaccine during pregnancy. The swine flu vaccine, like the seasonal flu vaccine, is safe to use in pregnancy. In view of the obvious benefits and safety of the pandemic flu vaccine, we decided to undertake a survey to assess the awareness and uptake of the vaccine among pregnant women in our local community. In our survey, lack of counselling from healthcare providers and fears of risks from the vaccine are the main reasons for refusal. For these reasons, healthcare professionals are provided with up-to-date information about the vaccine and are asked to provide this information to pregnant women at all stages of pregnancy in order to increase their awareness and acceptance of the vaccine.

Prevalence of Nasal Septal Deviation in New-borns and Its Precipitating Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study.

To estimate the prevalence of neonatal nasal septal deviation and to identify the precipitating factors. 250 neonates were examined on the 2nd day using Gray's struts for the presence of deviated nasal septum. Struts passing up to the 4 cm mark was taken to be normal, while struts getting stuck before the 4 cm mark was diagnosed to have deviated septum on that particular side. Out of 250 neonates, 49 had nasal septal deviation. There was significantly higher number of deviations in neonates of primiparas, emergency LSCS and in high birth weight babies. Neonatal septal deviation is quite common, being present in approximately 20% of all newborns. Greater amount of birth trauma increases its incidence further.

Relationship between molecular markers and treatment response in a retrospective cohort of Indian patients with primary carcinoma of the larynx.

p53 Mutations and over expression have been shown to predict treatment response in head and neck cancer patients. Failure of organ sparing therapy has been attributed to cisplatin and radiotherapy resistance in carcinoma of the larynx patients. In this study, we evaluate the relationships between p53 over expression/mutations, bcl(2) expression and ploidy status in a retrospective cohort of responder and non-responder carcinoma of the larynx patients. Tissue samples from 22 patients with histopathologically confirmed carcinoma of the larynx and matched for age, stage, node status and treatment regimen, were analysed from our tissue biorepository. Differences in the above molecular markers were analysed between the responders and non-responders to conventional treatment. p53 and bcl(2) over expression was checked by IHC and p53 mutation by PCR and direct sequencing. DNA ploidy and S-phase fractions were also analysed. Chi square analysis was used to identify changes in proportions of these markers in responders and non-responders and likelihood ratio test was done to determine the best predictor biological marker for treatment response. Bivariate relationships were determined between these variables using Spearman's rank correlation. Node negativity at time of diagnosis (p=0.05), p53 mutation (p=0.02) and bcl(2) negativity (p=0.05) are some of the factors that are known to influence treatment response in our study. p53 over expression, S-phase fractions and ploidy status did not seem to influence treatment response. There was a significant inverse correlation between stage of cancer (p=0.03) and node positivity (p=0.06) with bcl(2) positivity. There was an inverse correlation between mutation category to treatment response (p=0.01). The results suggest p53 mutations to be a promising marker in predicting treatment response in carcinoma of the larynx patients.