A STUDY OF VISUAL PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN SCORING LOW GRADES AND THOSE WITH LACK OF CONCENTRATION AT SCHOOL IN PUNE CITY

Background: A good vision is important for a student to reach his/her full academic potential. Roughly 80 percent of what a child learns in school is information that is presented visually, hence good vision is essential. Methodology: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 children within the age group of 5 to 10 completed years and scoring low grades at school exams. The study was conducted with the help of predesigned semi-structured questionnaire which was to be filled by parents. The selected students also undergone vision testing, Colour vision testing, refractive errors, Anterior and Posterior segment examination, squint evaluation by us. Results: Out of the 100 children, 35% children were without any eye problem whereas 65% children showed some kind of vision related problem. It was seen that 55% boys had vision problems compared to 45% in girls. The major visual problems are allergic conjunctivitis (15%), Myopia (22%), convergence weakness (22%), squint (4%) and hypermetropia (4%). Roughly 60% parents were aware about some vision problem in their child. Conclusion: Of 100 students with low performance in our study, 65% had treatable visual problems. The low performance can be attributed to the low vision but long term follow up is needed to see the improvement in scores and studies

A study to assess the knowledge about sexual health among male students of junior colleges of an urban area

Background: Sexuality is an important part of personality of adolescents. The age of sexual debut is falling globally. The subject of adolescent sexuality is taboo in most societies. Since 2007 sexual health education program has been banned in six states including Maharashtra and Karnataka. This may lead to misconceptions about sexual heath knowledge and practices among young people. Objective: The aim was to assess the knowledge about sexual health among male students of junior colleges of an urban area and to evaluate the change in their knowledge after imparting sexual health education. Settings and Design: Pre-post-intervention study. Materials and Methods: All 245 male students of 11 th standard of all three educational streams of two junior colleges were included in the study. The data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 18. Results: Science students had "adequate" knowledge about sexual health when compared to arts and commerce students (P = 0.004). Students whose parents were unskilled and semiskilled by occupation had "inadequate" knowledge about sexual health when compared with students whose parents were skilled by occupation (P < 0.05). Education of parents had positive effect on the knowledge about sexual health of students (P = 0.062). In posttest, the knowledge about sexual health of students was found to have increased significantly when compared to pretest. The mean posttest score was 12.61 (standard deviation [SD] 3.12), which was significantly higher than the mean pretest score of 6.34 (SD 3.23) (P < 0.001). Students from nuclear families had "adequate" knowledge about sexual health when compared to students from joint families (P = 0.158) Conclusion: Imparting knowledge about sexual health in adolescent age will be beneficial to the students in avoiding risky sexual behavior. Such educational programs must be given due importance to achieve desirable behavior change among them

Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among adults in a rural sub-district of South India.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a survey to estimate point prevalence of bacteriologically positive pulmonary TB (PTB) in a rural area in South India, implementing TB program DOTS strategy since 2002. METHODS: Survey was conducted among persons ≥ 15 years of age in fifteen clusters selected by simple random sampling; each consisting of 5-12 villages. Persons having symptoms suggestive of PTB or history of anti-TB treatment (ATT) were eligible for sputum examination by smear microscopy for Acid Fast Bacilli and culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis; two sputum samples were collected from each eligible person. Persons with one or both sputum specimen positive on microscopy and/or culture were labeled suffering from PTB. Prevalence was estimated after imputing missing values to correct for bias introduced by incompleteness of data. In six clusters, registered persons were also screened by X-ray chest. Persons with any abnormal shadow on X-ray were eligible for sputum examination in addition to those with symptoms and ATT. Multiplication factor calculated as ratio of prevalence while using both screening tools to prevalence using symptoms screening alone was applied to entire study population to estimate prevalence corrected for non-screening by X-ray. RESULTS: Of 71,874 residents ≥ 15 years of age, 63,362 (88.2%) were screened for symptoms and ATT. Of them, 5120 (8.1%) - 4681 (7.4%) with symptoms and an additional 439 (0.7%) with ATT were eligible for sputum examination. Spot specimen were collected from 4850 (94.7%) and early morning sputum specimens from 4719 (92.2%). Using symptom screening alone, prevalence of smear, culture and bacteriologically positive PTB in persons ≥ 15 years of age was 83 (CI: 57-109), 152 (CI: 108-197) and 196 (CI :145-246) per 100,000 population respectively. Prevalence corrected for non-screening by X-ray was 108 (CI: 82-134), 198 (CI: 153-243) and 254 (CI: 204-301) respectively. CONCLUSION: Observed prevalence suggests further strengthening of TB control program

Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis--a baseline survey in central India.

BACKGROUND: The present study provides an estimate of the prevalence of bacteriologially positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Jabalpur, a district in central India. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A community based cross-sectional survey was undertaken in Jabalpur District of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A stratified cluster sampling design was adopted to select the sample. All eligible individuals were questioned for pulmonary symptoms suggestive of TB disease. Two sputum samples were collected from all eligible individuals and were examined by Ziehl-Neelsen smear microscopy and solid media culture methods. Of the 99,918 individuals eligible for screening, 95,071 (95.1%) individuals were screened. Of these, 7,916 (8.3%) were found to have symptoms and sputum was collected from 7,533 (95.2%) individuals. Overall prevalence of bacteriologically positive PTB was found to be 255.3 per 100,000 population (95% C.I: 195.3-315.4). Prevalence was significantly higher (p<0.001) amongst males (355.8; 95% C.I: 304.4-413.4) compared with females (109.0; 95% C.I: 81.2-143.3). Prevalence was also significantly higher in rural areas (348.9; 95% C.I: 292.6-412.8) as compared to the urban (153.9; 95% C.I: 123.2-190.1). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The TB situation in Jabalpur district, central India, is observed to be comparable to the TB situation at the national level (255.3 versus 249). There is however, a need to maintain and further strengthen TB control measures on a sustained and long term basis in the area to have a significant impact on the disease prevalence in the community

Flow chart showing study population, coverage and results.

<p>Flow chart showing study population, coverage and results.</p

Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in different parts of India.

<p>Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in different parts of India.</p

Distribution of cases by Smear and Culture results.

<p>Distribution of cases by Smear and Culture results.</p

Age wise prevalence of bacteriologically positive pulmonary tuberculosis disease.

<p>Age wise prevalence of bacteriologically positive pulmonary tuberculosis disease.</p

Prevalence of PTB per 100,000 population, by method of estimation, all clusters-using screening by symptoms alone.

<p>( ): 95% confidence intervals.</p><p>N: numbers included in analysis.</p>∧<p>: Reason for difference in numbers analyzed by three methods: for crude and cluster level prevalence, only those individuals from whom all actual data is available were considered for analysis; persons missed from screening for symptoms and persons who were eligible for sputum collection but one or both sputum specimen not collected or found contaminated on culture were excluded.</p