and Ashok Kumar Das e

Abstract- Background: Hypertension, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), accounts for 57 % and 24 % of deaths due to stroke and coronary artery disease, respectively. Even blood pressure (BP) in prehypertension category (systolic BP 120-139 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP 80-89 mm Hg) hold 3 times more risk for CVD than normal BP (systolic BP <120 mm Hg and diastolic BP <80 mm Hg). We sought to compare the markers of inflammation and insulin resistance in age and body mass index (BMI) matched prehypertensive and normotensive subjects, and to evaluate the association of prehypertension BP status with markers of inflammation and insulin resistance. Methods: A total of 572 participants in the age group 20-60 years of both gender without any known CVD from the community were recruited (Aug 2010 to Dec 2011). After considering the BP, inclusion and exclusion criteria and writte

Social Pattern Of Seeking Medical Care In Rural Setting

In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the perception and management of sickness among rural population in Haryana State. The relationship between medical care seeking behaviour with dependency scale and skepticism about medical care scale has also been explained. The dependency scale measures the degree of dependence on others for management of sickness and the skepticism scale highlights the degree of reliance on other systems of medicine than modern medical care for treatment of sickness in a person (Edward Suchman1995). This study is based on 273 households drawn from three villages of Beri Block in Rohtak District. Out of the 34 villages in block, one village named as PHC village was selected having institutional facility of primary health center and from it 10 percent of the total households were drawn on simple random sampling basis. The two other villages named as non PHC villages were drawn form those villages which were around 10-15 kilometers away from any health facility and out of these villages 50 percent of the households were selected. Information from all householders were collected through interview schedules. An attempt has also been made to establish a pattern of seeking medical care in terms of the socio-economic classification of villagers as well as its caste structur

Evaluation of the effect of presence of blood in the stomach on endoscopic diagnostic tests for Helicobacter pylori infection

Introduction: Presence of blood in the stomach has been thought to affect the performance of diagnostic tests used in detecting Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the stomach. This study evaluated the effect of blood on the efficacy of rapid urease test (RUT) and microscopic appearance of the biopsy after staining with Giemsa stain. Materials and Methods: Patients with bleeding oesophageal varices who met the inclusion criteria were tested for H. pylori by RUT and microscopic examination of the biopsy. A repeat endoscopy, RUT and histology were done one month following initial presentation. The performance of the diagnostic tests was evaluated with and without the presence of intraluminal blood. A combined result of the two tests, RUT and histology, carried out in presence or absence of blood for the diagnosis of H. pylori, when considered together was considered as the gold standard. Results: Thirty six patients included in the study were in the ages ranging between 15-60 years (mean age = 44.14 years ±2.1). The combination of tests at both visits showed 20/36 (55.6%) patients were positive for H. pylori. The decrease in H. pylori positivity in the presence of blood was significant for RUT (8.3% vs. 38.9%; P=0.005) and combined test (19.4% vs. 47.2%; P=0.02) but the decrease in positivity for histology (11.1% vs 30.6%) was not significant (P=0.08). In the presence of blood, the sensitivity of RUT, histology and combined tests were 15%, 20% and 35%, respectively. In the absence of blood, the sensitivity of RUT, histology and combination of tests was 70%, 55% and 85%, respectively. Conclusion: Blood in the stomach significantly decreased the sensitivity of RUT, histology and the combination of both. Negative results of these tests in acute upper gastro intestinal (GI) bleeding should therefore be interpreted carefully

Health seeking behavior of the mothers for the special care new-born unit discharged children: A comparative study

Establishment of special care new-born units (SCNU) in hospitals not only serves to provide the intensive care to sick neonates, but presents with opportunities to enhance knowledge and modify attitude and practices of their parents through behavior change communication (BCC). A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dibrugarh District, Assam from January to June, 2011 to assess differences in health-care seeking behavior of these mothers from mothers of newborns who were born at home and mothers who had normal uneventful institutional deliveries. Mothers of 29 SCNU discharged, 34 institutions delivered and 26 home delivered children were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule and a knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey tool. Mothers of children admitted to SCNU scored better in questions related to vaccination, contraception, protection of child from infections and cold and perceptions about traditional healers, but overall KAP scores in the three groups were not found significantly different

Cherubism: Report of a regressed nonfamilial grade 1 case

Cherubism is a rare non-neoplastic fibro-osseous disorder characterized by clinically evident bilateral painless enlargement of the jaws that usually gives a cherubic appearance. Major complications may occur along with the presence of facial deformities. The facial deformities may frequently be associated with dental malformations. Bilateral swelling of the jaws usually appears between the age of 2 and 7 years, after which, the lesions proliferate and increase in size until puberty. These lesions subsequently begin to regress, fill with bone and remodel until the age of 30 years. Following this, the lesions frequently become undetectable clinically, due to which, many affected adults have a normal facial appearance. Here, we report a case of a 22-year-old female patient suffering from cherub-like appearance with regressed features

Retiform hemangioendothelioma: A rare case report

Retiform hemangioendothelioma is described as a rare variant of low-grade angiosarcoma, characterized by indolent clinical behavior and closely related to Dabska's tumor (DT). Clinically, patients often present with an asymptomatic slow-growing solitary nodular or plaque-like lesion with rare oral involvement. Here, we report a case of a 50-year-old female patient with retiform variety of hemangioendothelioma having maxillary localization with various clinical, radiographical, histopathological, and immunohistological features