Use of over the counter drugs in urban and rural populations of Mandya district: a cross-sectional study

Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines which are sold directly to a consumer without a prescription. There is a big potential for misuse and abuse of such products. Over the counter (OTC) drugs are meant for self-medication and are of proved efficacy and safety. Their improper use and unable to follow the precautions due to lack of knowledge of their side effects and interactions could lead to serious complications, especially in children and elderly.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using a pre-tested & semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 400 urban and 400 rural persons were interviewed for this study. 100 persons were interviewed in Mandya city and 50 each from the city in each of the 6 taluks. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel software and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Chi-square test was used to calculate the difference in use among the urban and rural OTC drug users.Results: A total of 800 persons were interviewed regarding their use of OTC drugs, among them 400 were urban residents and 400 were rural residents of Mandya district. Of the 400 urban persons and rural persons, 310 respondents (77.50%) and 273 respondents (68.25%) reported the use of OTC in the recall period of the last 6 months respectively. The difference in the usage of OTC by urban adults was significantly more than that of rural adults.Conclusions: The proportion of the respondents who had practiced self-medication with OTC drugs is very high. The prevalence of self-medication with OTC drugs in our study was found to be 72.87% and is nearly same in both rural and urban population. As this study was conducted in a limited population in Mandya district, generalization of the study to all the population cannot be done, and it requires large study in all districts of Karnataka with adequate sampling methods

Study of analgesics usage in third trimester of pregnancy and its ill effects on pregnancy course and outcome

Background: Pregnancy is a special physiological state. Pregnancy care is one of the greatest challenges in medicine as it demands a special care in the use of drugs because of altered physiology. At least 10 percent of birth defects are thought to result from maternal drug exposures. NSAIDS are one of the most commonly used medications during pregnancy (17%) to treat painful events during pregnancy.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted after taking approval from the Institutional ethical committee and study was conducted for a period of one year. Antenatal clinics and inpatients wards of department of obstetrics and Gynaecology were visited and all the pregnant women with exposure to analgesics during third trimester and at the time of labour were included in the study. Information regarding the analgesics exposure either prescribed by the physician or self-medicated was collected.Results: Total 1520 pregnant women were included in the study over a period of one year. Analgesic exposure was seen in 77.1% of pregnant women during labour. Most common analgesic used to relieve labour pain was tramadol. 22.9% pregnant women were exposed to analgesics during third trimester, among them exposure to paracetamol was observed in 14% of pregnant women and to tramadol in 8.9%. Indications for usage of these analgesics during pregnancy were fever with myalgia (45.8%), false labour pain (37%), and headache (11.4%).Conclusions: Study showed that there is a positive association between analgesics exposure during third trimester of pregnancy particularly to paracetamol exposure and preterm delivery. Association between paracetamol exposure and low birth weight was also observed in this study but this finding could be due to more number of preterm deliveries which could not be ruled out in this study. Further studies have to be conducted to confirm the association since there are only limited numbers of studies done till now

ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF SUITABLE WATER HARVESTING SITE IN GEOSPATIAL ENVIRONMENT

Water is the prime requirement for agriculture, domestic uses and industrial production. In India the per capita available of water is decreasing at a higher rate due to impact of climate change and ever-increasing population. Rainwater harvesting is the technique which is being used in effective storing of surface runoff. There are various types of water harvesting structures namely check dam, farm pond, percolation tank, etc. However, identification of potential site for the construction of the particular water harvesting structure is bit difficult as it depends upon numerous parameters such as soil type, slope, water availability, land use and land cover of the site and the surrounding, etc. The guidelines such as Food and Agriculture Organization; Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development are available for selecting suitable site for water harvesting structures. As the site suitability analysis involves multiple parameters for decision making, in the present study, the selection of suitable site for check dam is made through analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in geospatial domain for Hatni watershed, Madhya Pradesh, India. As location for check dam construction is influenced by soil texture, slope of the terrain, land use land cover, stream order and water availability; these parameters were derived from remote sensing data and analysed. The slope and stream network layers were generated from the digital elevation model (DEM). Further, the influence of soil and water availability in identifying the suitable sites was studied through soil texture and curve number. Different parameters influence the site suitability analysis, therefore, in the present study, IMSD guidelines were used to assign weights to each parameter under consideration. The layers were assigned weights by AHP technique based on pairwise comparison. The layers were reclassified according to the weights, then overlay analysis has been done to get the final site suitability map. As remote sensing provides the synoptic coverage of the earth, it has been further utilised to study the impact of water harvesting structure on its surrounding. The land use land cover map of before and after the construction of water harvesting structure was analysed for change in vegetation condition. It was observed that the vegetative cover has increased after implementation of the water conservation measures. It may be concluded that the geospatial technology has immense potential in site suitability studies for water harvesting structures

Use of over the counter drugs in urban and rural populations of Mandya district: a cross-sectional study

Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines which are sold directly to a consumer without a prescription. There is a big potential for misuse and abuse of such products. Over the counter (OTC) drugs are meant for self-medication and are of proved efficacy and safety. Their improper use and unable to follow the precautions due to lack of knowledge of their side effects and interactions could lead to serious complications, especially in children and elderly. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using a pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 400 urban and 400 rural persons were interviewed for this study. 100 persons were interviewed in Mandya city and 50 each from the city in each of the 6 taluks. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel software and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Chi-square test was used to calculate the difference in use among the urban and rural OTC drug users. Results: A total of 800 persons were interviewed regarding their use of OTC drugs, among them 400 were urban residents and 400 were rural residents of Mandya district. Of the 400 urban persons and rural persons, 310 respondents (77.50%) and 273 respondents (68.25%) reported the use of OTC in the recall period of the last 6 months respectively. The difference in the usage of OTC by urban adults was significantly more than that of rural adults. Conclusions: The proportion of the respondents who had practiced self-medication with OTC drugs is very high. The prevalence of self-medication with OTC drugs in our study was found to be 72.87% and is nearly same in both rural and urban population. As this study was conducted in a limited population in Mandya district, generalization of the study to all the population cannot be done, and it requires large study in all districts of Karnataka with adequate sampling methods. [Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2016; 5(4.000): 1617-1621

Hypersensitive reaction to tattoos: A growing menace in rural India

Background: Increased enthusiasm toward newer fashion trends among rural India along with the lack of government regulation has led to increased tattoo reactions. Objective: The objective of this study is to describe various clinical manifestations of hypersensitive reactions to tattoo ink reported at a tertiary care hospital in Mandya district. Materials and Methods: An observational study was carried out over a period of 1 year from June 2014 to May 2015 at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya. All the patients reporting with allergic reaction due to tattooing were included in the present study after obtaining informed consent. Transient acute inflammatory reaction, infections, and skin diseases localized on tattooed area were excluded from this study. A detailed history regarding the onset, duration and color used for tattooing were collected. Cutaneous examination and biopsy was to done to know the type of reaction. Results: Fifty cutaneous allergic reactions were diagnosed among 39 patients. Mean age of subjects was 22 years and mean duration before the appearance of lesion was 7 months. Common colors associated with reactions were red (53.9%), black (33.3%), green (5.1%), and multicolor (7.7%). Itching was the predominant symptom. Skin lesions mainly consisted of lichenoid papules and plaques, eczematous lesions, and verrucous lesions. Lichenoid histopathology reaction was the most common tissue allergic reaction. Conclusion: Increasing popularity of tattooing among young people has predisposed to parallel increase in adverse reactions. Red pigment is most common cause of allergic reaction in the present study, and lichenoid reaction is the most common reaction

Spatial patterns in the diet of Gyps vultures in India and their implications for conservation

Dietary analyses are particularly useful for developing conservation programmes for species threatened by resource depletion, poisoning and environmental pollution. Gyps vultures in South Asia represent one such case, having undergone a population collapse caused by feeding on carcasses of cattle treated with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. Following a ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac, populations of vultures remain low and mostly concentrated near protected areas. Understanding the role of protected areas in the recovery of these critically endangered species requires analyses of spatial variation in their diet. We used faecal metabarcoding to investigate the spatial variation in the diet of Gyps vultures across four landscapes from sites located inside and outside protected areas. We collected faecal 642 samples, of which 419 yielded adequate molecular data to identify the vulture species and 30 molecular operational taxonomic units corresponding to at least 28 diet species. The diet was dominated by large ungulates and varied across landscapes, protection status and vulture species, with the observed variation largely explained by differential intake of wild and domestic species. Domestic livestock was present in >95% of the samples from Central, West and North India, but 77% of the samples had only wild species in South India. This variation was explained by livestock density within 100 km radius of the sampling site. Our results imply that protected areas may not offer a respite from possibility of diclofenac-poisoning across most parts of the country and efforts should continue unabated to remove nephrotoxic drugs from veterinary use

Sagar Nidhi: Braving the Antarctica Waters

30-32Sagar Nidhi, India’s pride and most sophisticated ice class multi-disciplinary vessel of the sub-continent, is also the first Indian flagged research vessel that reached the 660 S latitude, facing 11 storms and 73 nm/hr wind speed, witnessing nature’s harshest conditions and awesome breathtaking sceneries