Practice and problems regarding oral hygiene: study among female medical undergraduate students of tertiary care hospital, Pune, India

Background:As a health provider to community, a doctor should himself be aware of his oral health and undergraduate medical students who are future health professionals should also be well aware of their dental hygiene. Hence with an aim to assess the practice and problems about dental hygiene amongst female medical undergraduate students, this study was planned. Objective of the study was to assess the practices and problems regarding oral hygiene among female undergraduate medical students and efforts taken by them to solve these problems.Method: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among female undergraduate medical students residing in a hostel of a medical college.Results: 56.7% girls were using soft tooth brush, 69.3% students change their tooth brush every 6 monthly and 63.3% of them were brushing only once in a day. 79.3% were rinsing teeth after snack or meal. The percentage of students who were using mouth wash and tongue cleaner was 27.3% and 52% respectively. Bad breath was faced by only 9.33% of students, 39.33% were having cavities and 49.33% were having problem of plaque. 25.3% had never visited dentist. Scaling was performed by only 24.7% students and among them only 1.33% did it 6 monthly. It was observed that students using mouth wash 22.2% had significantly less problem of bad breath as compared to students who were not using 6.7%. Significantly larger numbers of students, with problem of cavities were observed to use mouth wash 60% and floss 68% as compared to those who did had this complaint.Conclusion: The study highlights the fact that preventive behaviour among medical students increased after they experienced some or the other oral health problem for which they were advised to follow these preventive practices so that the severity and extent of the disease does not progress. Further research is required on a larger scale so that the ways to increase the promotive and preventive oral health practices can be identified (e.g. behaviour change communication) to prevent the occurrence of oral health problems.

Substance use among females –Study from Rural Western India

Background: Substance abuse is a common health problem which affects individual and takes a toll on not only person consuming it rather all members of society related to that person. Aim & Objective: The purpose of study was to determine the prevalence of substance use among females & to know the reasons for same and association of socio-demographic profile and substance use. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study was conducted among females attending OPD at rural health training centre of a medical college for 6months duration. Total 500 females were interviewed for same by convenience sampling. Methods and Material: After taking informed consent from participants all the information was collected on predesigned and pretested oral questionnaire. Statistical analysis used: Qualitative Data was presented in the form of numbers and percentages. Test of significance such as chi-square was applied. Statistical analysis was done using MedCalc version 19.1 and Epi-info7. Results: Prevalence of substance use was found very high as 74%. Most common form of substance use was tobacco chewing at 77.03%. Abuse was maximum among females educated up to primary level (82.3%). Near about 72.7% were using substance out of curiosity. 84.32% were interested in quitting abuse. Conclusions: Substance use prevalence was very high affecting health of females adversely

Mounting dengue awareness: A cost effective Strategy for prevention

Background: Dengue is a serious illness which takes toll on human health every year. The best way to prevent it is by increasing awareness among common people. This study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever in people urban heath training centre in Pune, Maharashtra. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending OPD of Urban heath training centre of department of community medicine, Pune situated in Ajmera, Pimpri, Pune. Through convenience sampling, a questionnaire was administered to patients after taking their informed consent. Results: A total of 100 patients were interviewed. Among knowledge 83% had heard about dengue and the most common source of information was TV & radio (72.3%) Most of them were aware regarding mosquito bite being the mode of dengue transmission (80.7%). 22% were unaware regarding biting time of mosquito while 22% said night is the biting time of dengue mosquito. 62.7% were using coils for mosquito bite prevention followed by mosquito net (43.4%) and spray (31.3%.). Conclusion: This study revealed that most of the study population is aware of dengue illness and increasing education level is having positive attitude on dengue illness

Evaluation of efficacy of whatsapp messenger application in medical research education

Background: There is lack of knowledge regarding research amongst medical students as it is not included in the present curriculum of MBBS. Hence authors have selected ‘Medical Research’ as a topic to evaluate the efficacy of WhatsApp messenger application as a teaching-learning tool. There is very limited research on impact of technological modalities like WhatsApp on education. Authors undertook this study to evaluate its efficacy as a tool to supplement medical research education and assess the perception of students about e-learning via WhatsApp messenger application.Methods: A prospective analytical interventional study was conducted after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee. A self-designed comprehensive questionnaire was used to test the knowledge of medical students. A series of modules were sent and discussed on the WhatsApp study groups followed by assessment in change of the level of knowledge amongst the participants post intervention.Results: Applying the paired t-test, the scores of the study participants showed a statistically significant increase in the post- intervention evaluation (Mean=10.13, Median=10, Range=0-21) as compared to the baseline knowledge regarding medical research as reflected in the pre intervention evaluation (Mean=6.76, Median=7, Range=0-16). Conclusions: Growing availability of economical and user friendly smart phones in every generation has promoted use of WhatsApp by teachers as well as students. WhatsApp has the potential to supplement academic learning and become a natural educational modality. Necessary precautions could be taken to minimize the drawbacks expressed by the students to make it a more enjoyable and acceptable tool for teaching and learning

Charge transport mechanisms in monovalent doped mixed valent manganites

Abstract In this communication, we report the results of the studies on structural and transport properties of monovalent Na + doped La 1-x Na x MnO 3 (LNMO; x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25 and 0.30) manganites synthesized by conventional ceramic method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinements reveal the single phasic nature of LNMO manganites without any detectable impurity within the measurement range. Temperature dependent resistivity, under different applied magnetic fields, has been performed on LNMO samples. Samples understudy exhibit metal to insulator (semiconductor) transition at temperature T P which is strongly influenced by the substitution of Na + at La 3+ site. -T plots also exhibit resistivity upturn behavior at low temperature well below 40K under all the applied fields. Variation in T P and resistivity has been discussed in the context of the competition between the transport favoring tolerance factor and zener double exchange (ZDE) mechanism and transport degrading Jahn-Teller (JT) and size variance effects. In order to understand the mechanisms responsible for the charge transport in metallic and semiconducting regions and to explore the possible electronic processes responsible for the observed low temperature resistivity minima in all the presently studied LNMO manganites, various models have been employed. It has been found that VRH mechanism gets successfully fitted to the resistivity data in the semiconducting region while ZDE polynomial law is responsible for the charge conduction in metallic region for all the presently studied LNMO samples. A strong dependence of activation energy on the Na + -content as well as applied magnetic field has been discussed in the context of variation and interrelations between the structural parameters. Charge conduction in metallic region has been discussed in the light of electron-phonon interactions which is influenced by the Na + -content and applied magnetic field. Electrostatic blockade model has been employed to understand the low temperature resistivity minima behavior. Blocking energy for the charge carriers shows a dependence on the magnetic energy provided to the charge carriers. Present study can be useful to understand and to control the charge conduction in the manganites and hence to design the manganite based thin film devices for various spintronic applications

Pericardial tamponade after left posterolateral thoracotomy for left upper lobectomy for pulmonary aspergilloma

Pericardial tamponade limits diastolic filling of the heart; therefore, a high venous pressure is required to fill the ventricle. In presence of cardiac tamponade, therapeutic agents and manoeuvres that results in venodilation or vasodilation can severely compromise diastolic filling of the heart and might result in rapid cardiac decompensation. Equalization of central venous pressure and pulmonary artery diastolic pressure or equalization of pressures in all four chambers during diastole confirms cardiac tamponade. Transthoracic echocardiography can detect the site of tamponade and assist in pericardiocentesis. We describe acute pericardial tamponade in a young man who underwent left posterolateral thoracotomy for left upper lobectomy. Intraoperatively, mobilization of the left upper lobe was frequently associated with hypotension. Postoperatively, the patient suffered two more episodes of hypotension. The episodes of hypotension were attributed to surgical manipulation and epidural blockade. Hemodynamics normalized after discontinuing epidural infusion, volume resuscitation and lobectomy. On third postoperative day, the patient developed cardiovascular collapse; arterial blood pressure and central venous pressure were 70/50 and 12 mmHg. Investigations showed haziness of left lung, and severe respiratory acidosis. On opening of the left thoracotomy wound, pericardial tamponade was diagnosed. A pericardial window was created and tamponade was released with that the hemodynamics normalized. Episodes of unexplained hypotension after left upper lobectomy suggest a cardiac etiology and acute pericardial tamponade is a possibility which should be released immediately otherwise it can result in fatal outcome

Community Alcoholic- A Ticking Bomb

Alcohol is having varying impact on health of people. As developing nation its toll is very high on overall growth of a country. Alcoholic if addicted has no sense of any kind of responsibility or moral duties. With increase in industrialization, its consumption is increasing worldwide.  India is no exception to this also seeing rise in alcoholic numbers. Major problems is different policies in different states  of same country for consumption of alcohol .Major reasons for indulging in drinking is peer pressure, social gatherings,  failure in love affairs, stress,pressure at workplace etc. Impact of alcoholism is not only in terms of detoriation of health rather it disturbs social milieu as well. Presence of alcoholic in family segregates other  family  members from  society and causes state of stigma among them. So its very important to make robust policies regarding alcohol

Access to health services among slum dwellers in an industrial township and surrounding rural areas: A rapid epidemiological assessment

Context: The biggest challenge in implementing the primary health care principles is of equitable distribution of health care to all. The rural masses and urban slum dwellers are most vulnerable to lack of access to health care. Aim: To study access to health services among slum dwellers and rural population. Setting and Design: A cross-sectional survey in an urban slum and surrounding rural areas in field practice area of a medical college. Materials and Methods: Structured instrument along with qualitative techniques such as focus group discussions, were used to collect information on access and utilization of health services from 865 individuals of both sexes and all ages selected from urban slums, villages, and indoor and outdoor patients. Access to basic determinants of good health such as housing, water, and sanitation was also elicited. Besides, health needs based on self-reported disease conditions were compiled. Results: More than 50% of respondents were living in poor housing and insanitary conditions. Besides the burden of communicable diseases and malnutrition (especially in children), risk of lifestyle diseases as evidenced by high Body mass index in 25% of adults surveyed was found. Private medical practitioners were more accessible than government facilities. More than 60% sought treatment from private medical facilities for their own ailments (for sickness in children this proportion was 74%). People who visited government facilities were more dissatisfied with the services (30.88%) than those who visited private facilities (18.31%). This difference was significant (OR=1.99, 95% confidence interval 1.40 to 2.88; χ2 =15.95, df=1, P=0.007). The main barriers to health care identified were waiting time long, affordability, poor quality of care, distance, and attitude of health workers. Conclusion: The underprivileged in India continue to have poor access to basic determinants of good health as well as to curative services from government sources during illness