Association of ABO blood types and novel obesity markers in healthy adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Association of ABO blood type with body mass index (BMI) was explored in the past studies, but literature on association of novel obesity markerssuch as total body fat and lean body mass (LBM) is scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship of ABO blood types with novel obesity markers in normal adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done on 387 medical students. Bio-impedance analysis (BIA)-derived novel obesity markers such as body fat percent (BFP) and lean body mass (LBM) were recorded. Blood typing was done using slide-agglutination method. Mean and SD were calculated; analysis of variance and Chi-square (χ2) correlation were used to determine the relationship between ABO blood types and obesity markers. RESULTS: Highest propensity for BFP and LBM was seen in blood groups AB and B (25.09 ± 8.92 and 44.45 ± 6.91) respectively. Highly significant (P < 0.001) differences were observed in the values of BFP and LBM in normal and obese participants across ABO blood types. Prevalence of obesity did not show significant relationship (χ2 = 2.069; P = 0.913) with ABO blood types. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike BMI, novel obesity markers (BFP and LBM) significantly differ across ABO blood groups in normal and obese population. The findings suggest that ABO blood type might have role in determining body composition. This will be helpful in recognition of the participants at the risk of obesity on the basis of their blood groups.

Anthropometric Predictors of Bio-Impedance Analysis (BIA) Phase Angle in Healthy Adults.

INTRODUCTION: Phase Angle (PhA) is a ratio of whole body reactance and resistance obtained from Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). It indicates cellular health and integrity and is considered as prognostic tool in medical disorders. In spite of prognostic potentials of PhA, it has limited usefulness in clinical practice and in population studies because of non-availability of normal population reference limits for comparison. Moreover, it is influenced by various factors like age, sex, race and body composition (i.e. body fat, muscle mass, visceral fat, body cell mass, total body water, etc). AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors of phase angle which will be useful in formulation of reference values for Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: BIA was performed by Tanita Body Composition Analyser on healthy adults aged 17-24 years. The inbuilt software measured the phase angle by the formula: Phase angle (PhA) = Reactance (xc)/Resistance (R)* (180/π). Phase angle values were compared across categories of age, sex, weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI), total fat, visceral fat and muscle mass. RESULTS: Mean value of phase angle was found to be 5.65. Phase angle was significantly (p< 0.001) higher in male than in female. Phase angle was significantly predicted from height (p< 0.001), weight (p< 0.002), muscle mass (p< 0.002) and visceral fat (p< 0.02) in multiple regression models. CONCLUSION: Phase angle differs across anthropometric and body composition categories. Thus height, weight and muscle mass should also be taken into consideration while deriving population specific reference limits of phase angle.

Pharmacotherapeutics knowledge of some nonemergency and emergency conditions among medical undergraduates in an Indian medical college.

OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmacotherapeutics (PT) knowledge of second professional medical undergraduates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was designed to objectively assess the current level of knowledge of PT acquired by the second MBBS students in a medical college in India. Thirty Type-A multiple choice questions (MCQs) related with the PT of common and important medical conditions and some emergency conditions were administered to 125 participants. Grading of knowledge was also done as poor, average, and good both subjectively and objectively. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze responses. Association of PT knowledge with respect to mode of admission in a medical college was analyzed with Chi-square test. RESULTS: MCQs related with PT of nonemergency conditions were responded correctly by 9.8-77.7% of participants. MCQs related with PT of some emergency conditions were responded correctly by 17-66.1% of participants. No statistically significant association was observed in PT knowledge with respect to mode of admission. CONCLUSION: Gross deficiency in the PT knowledge can potentially and adversely affect future rational prescribing skills. PT knowledge about common medical conditions should be emphasized during undergraduate training program.

Contemplation on marking scheme for Type X multiple choice questions, and an illustration of a practically applicable scheme.

Ever since its inception 100 years back, multiple choice items have been widely used as a method of assessment. It has certain inherent limitations such as inability to test higher cognitive skills, element of guesswork while answering, and issues related with marking schemes. Various marking schemes have been proposed in the past but they are not balanced, skewed, and complex, which are based on mathematical calculations which are typically not within the grasp of medical personnel. Type X questions has many advantages being easy to construct, can test multiple concepts/application/facets of a topic, cognitive skill of various level of hierarchy can be tested, and unlike Type K items, they are free from complicated coding. In spite of these advantages, they are not in common use due to complicated marking schemes. This is the reason we explored the aspects of methods of evaluation of multiple correct options multiple choice questions and came up with the simple, practically applicable, nonstringent but logical scoring system for the same. The rationale of the illustrated marking scheme is that it takes into consideration the distracter recognition ability of the examinee rather than relying on the ability only to select the correct response. Thus, examinee's true knowledge is tested, and he is rewarded accordingly for selecting a correct answer and omitting a distracter. The scheme also penalizes for not recognizing a distracter thus controlling guessing behavior. It is emphasized that if the illustrated scoring scheme is adopted, then Type X questions would come in common practice.