A study on contraceptive knowledge, attitudes and practices among women in the reproductive age group

Background: India, with one of the world’s fastest growing populations, is a nation very much in need of contraceptive counselling. To assess the knowledge and attitude regarding family planning methods and contraceptive practices among women of reproductive age group.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in which 547 women in the reproductive age group i.e., 15-45 years, attending a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai were interviewed with predesigned validated questionnaire. A total of 547 women were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire from January 2016 to December 2016. The proforma included details such as socio-demographic features, questions related to knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) regarding contraceptive use.Results: Out of 547 women interviewed, 498 (i.e. 91%) had displayed an awareness of family planning methods (permanent/temporary). Out   of these 498 women, about 78% had procured the information from family and friends. 13% got their information through mass media. Only 9% of women had been counselled in detail by health personnel about the various contraceptive options available. Out of 547 women interviewed, 342 (62.5%) were using contraception. More than a third of these women (26.8%), resort to barrier contraception as a contraceptive method of choice for spacing and to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Only 17% women used OC Pills as a contraceptive method though 66% women knew about them. Though 59.4% of the women knew about IUCDs only 3.5% were actually using IUCD. Most of the women were in the younger age group of 21-30years (62%) and already had one or two children.Conclusions: Ignorance regarding use and side effects various contraceptive methods is the reason for inadequate practice of family planning methods. There should be emphasis on focused awareness programs, based on bridging the knowledge gaps among the women in reproductive age group

MALDI-TOF MS: the proteomic approach, the future of fungal identification in India

Background: India, being a country where fungal infections are rampant, is urgently in need of effective tools for early and accurate diagnosis of fungal infections. Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) is a recent method which has shown potential in identifying clinically important bacterial pathogens as well as clinically important fungi. The main objective of this study was to compare the utility of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification of fungi against that of conventional methods.Methods: The project was carried out in a tertiary care government hospital in India. Fifty clinical isolates comprising mainly various yeast species were subjected to conventional identification (Phenotypic) as well as MALDI-TOF-MS. Their results were further compared.Results: MALDI-TOF MS showed a high concordance with conventional methods while identifying species like C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis and C. neoformans, although the concordance for species such as Rhodotorula and Trichosporon could only be matched up to genus level.Conclusions: MALDI-TOF MS-based identification is both a rapid and a viable tool for identification of clinically relevant yeast species with good correlation to conventional methods and a quick turnaround time

Coping with global uncertainty: Perceptions of COVID-19 psychological distress, relationship quality, and dyadic coping for romantic partners across 27 countries

Article first published online: August 26, 2021Following the global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, individuals report psychological distress associated with the “new normal”—social distancing, financial hardships, and increased responsibilities while working from home. Given the interpersonal nature of stress and coping responses between romantic partners, based on the systemic transactional model this study posits that perceived partner dyadic coping may be an important moderator between experiences of COVID-19 psychological distress and relationship quality. To examine these associations, self-report data from 14,020 people across 27 countries were collected during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–July, 2020). It was hypothesized that higher symptoms of psychological distress would be reported post-COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19 restrictions (Hypothesis 1), reports of post-COVID-19 psychological distress would be negatively associated with relationship quality (Hypothesis 2), and perceived partner DC would moderate these associations (Hypothesis 3). While hypotheses were generally supported, results also showed interesting between-country variability. Limitations and future directions are presented