A study of different scenarios of fetal middle cerebral artery peak systolic velocity in an Indian population

Fetal Middle Cerebral Artery Peak Systolic Velocity (MCA-PSV) is being increasingly used for non-invasively diagnosing fetal anemias irrespective of their cause. A study was therefore undertaken to find out what different scenarios can be encountered in the local obstetric population. Doppler ultrasound measurements of fetal MCA-PSV were done in 1200 pregnant women who were referred for antenatal ultrasound between 12 - 40 weeks of gestation. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS software version 12. The different scenarios encountered in this study were then compiled and are presented here. With increasing gestational age, the value of MCA-PSV was seen to increase correspondingly in all normal fetuses. This correlation between the two was thus positive and was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Abnormally raised values of MCA-PSV were seen in fetuses with severe anemia due to ABO-Rh Isoimmunization which left untreated, ultimately resulted in fetal hydrops. Almost similar and normal values were seen in separate as well as conjoint healthy twins. Abnormally elevated values were seen in twins with discordant growths. Fetal MCA-PSV is very useful to confirm the presence or absence of fetal anemia irrespective of underlying cause in singleton as well as twin pregnancies. For complete assessment, it is essential that the specialist is thoroughly aware of the different scenarios that can be encountered while using this non-invasive method.Keywords: Fetal Anemia; Middle cerebral artery; Non-invasive DopplerInternet Journal of Medical Update 2012 July;7(2):14-1

A review of significant aspects contributing to curriculum development

Curriculum is an essentially signified foundation of an academic arena. The master key of the treasure curriculum is anchored in its development. The basic and progressive aspects are the prominent spectrums of curriculum in navigating the stakeholders. Empowerment of curriculum by augmenting its development has been a topic of ongoing discussion in the enrichment of the educational field. By reviewing selected past and present relevant articles, this review article is aimed to provoke and fortify insights for the due perfection, systematization, and standardization in the futuristic aspects towards curriculum development. This is a sincere effort to present the versatile role of the concept of curriculum development and validate its significant aspects by keeping the various stakeholders in mind. It is hoped that this article would help motivate elder and newer generations of curriculum developers, academicians and researchers for expounding the process, for recognizing the intrinsic and upcoming challenges in the field of curriculum development for recognizing needs to refresh, update technology and upgrade pedagogics, for standardizing curriculum at the global application and for instigating an urge to research various aspects of this topic to bring in the due change, advancement and standardization

Letter to the Editor

Background Adolescents account for nearly one fifth of the world’s population. Anaemia in this group attributes to high maternal mortality, high incidence of low-birth weight babies, high perinatal mortality and foetal wastage and consequent high fertility rates. An interventional study was carried out to ascertain the impact of three months iron supplementation along with deworming & health education on anaemic adolescent girls in rural area Method The study was conducted at one of the residential school in rural India. All the residential girls of this school (total 209) included in the study. Their haemoglobin status was done and all anaemic girls were treated with 100 mg of Mebendazole two times a day for 3 days. Then all these anaemic girls were randomly allocated in experimental group & control group using random number table. The experimental group was supplemented with 100 mg of iron and 0.5mg of folic acid per day for a period of 3 months. No supplements were given to the control group. For both control & experimental groups, health education regarding anaemia & personal hygiene was given Results Overall prevalence of anaemia in present study was 51.67 %.After 3 months of iron supplementation, mean haemoglobin level in experimental group was increased from 8.93 gm% to 12.51 gm %.( z = 11.5,p < 0.01) .Among control group also there was significant increase in mean haemoglobin status from 8.78 gm% to 9.49 gm %.( z = 2.08, p< 0.05). Conclusion The study proves that anaemia is a very high magnitude of problem in adolescent girls. There is need for anaemia prophylaxis measures for adolescent girls in India including nutrition education in schools. This prophylaxis should be along with periodic deworming. Word count: [2588] Figures and Tables: [4