Prevalence of unmet need for contraception in urban slum communities, Mumbai

Background: Unmet need for family planning is a tool to monitor the family planning program. Hence, the objective of study is to examine the prevalence of unmet need for family planning among women living in urban slum communities, Mumbai.Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted among currently married women aged 18-39 years and having at least one child. A total of 2797 women were selected using systematic random sampling. Information on demographic characteristics, their contraceptive behaviour and fertility intention were collected by face to face interview using structured questionnaire. Chi square test was applied and p <0.05 was considered as significant.  Results: About 59.4% were currently using family planning methods and 40.6% have reported unmet need for family planning. Awareness of contraceptive methods among women with unmet need for family planning was universal. The prevalence of unmet need for family planning significantly decreased as the age and number of children increased. The prevalence of unmet need was significantly higher than met need for family planning among women having one child as compared to women having 2 or more children.Conclusions: A significant gap was observed between met and unmet need for family planning among younger women and having one child. The study emphasises the need for family planning programs to focus on younger couples having one child.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PHARMACOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENT IN TWO DIFFERENT HOSPITALS IN TAMIL NADU

Objective: The objective of the present study is to compare the prescribing patterns and cost of illness of Rheumatoid arthritis patients in two different hospitals. Methods: This is an observational study conducted in two different tertiary care hospitals in Salem district after obtaining approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) (Registration Number EC/PHARM D/2019.06). A sample size of 102 (above 18 y) patients were included (52 from group 1 hospital and 50 from group 2 hospital). The study was conducted over a period of 6 mo from February 2019 to July 2019. The cost was collected by a patient face-to-face interview. Results: Out of 102 patients, females (57.84%) patients were more prevalent than men with the age group of 50-59 y in both groups. Methotrexate was most commonly prescribed drug in group 1(36.5%), whereas in group 2 are Sulfasalazine (37%). Among the DMARDs unit cost of methotrexate is high but the monthly cost was high for Sulfasalazine, because the methotrexate is prescribed on a once-weekly basis while sulfasalazine is taken twice a day. The cost of NSAIDs comes around 46.47% of the total drug cost of the month. In steroids, cost comes around 11.73% of the total drug cost. Among the direct cost of two groups, the drug cost and transportation cost is higher when compared with other costs. Indirect costs such as lost wages, due to disease is higher in group 1. Conclusion: The study concluded that the burden of RA to the patient is huge, Appropriate standard prescribing guidelines should be developed and implementation of the rational drug must be promoted. Polypharmacy was reported in group 1 hospital, the progression of symptoms was the same in both hospitals, it increases the cost of therapy and overall cost of patients. Hence it becomes vital to diagnose and control the disease at an early stage to control the economic burden on the patient

Crystal structure of isobutyl 4-(2-chloro-phenyl)-5-cyano-6-{(E)-[(dimethylamino)-methylidene]amino}-2-methyl-4H-pyran-3-carboxylate

The authors thank Dr Babu Varghese, Senior Scientific Officer SAIF, IIT Madras, India, for carrying out the data collection.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ion-Mobility Mass Spectrometry for the Rapid Determination of the Topology of Interlocked and Knotted Molecules.

A rapid screening method based on traveling-wave ion-mobility spectrometry (TWIMS) combined with tandem mass spectrometry provides insight into the topology of interlocked and knotted molecules, even when they exist in complex mixtures, such as interconverting dynamic combinatorial libraries. A TWIMS characterization of structure-indicative fragments generated by collision-induced dissociation (CID) together with a floppiness parameter defined based on parent- and fragment-ion arrival times provide a straightforward topology identification. To demonstrate its broad applicability, this approach is applied here to six Hopf and two Solomon links, a trefoil knot, and a [3]catenate.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CRC 765 “Multivalency”). Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P2_161270). Fondation Wiener-Anspach