Cognitive facet and paradigm of the caregivers of children with developmental problems in Eastern India.

Background: The role of caregivers in grooming the neuro-developmental outcome of high-risk newborns and developmental challenges in children needs to be explored.

Objectives: To find the knowledge and perception among parents regarding the neuro-developmental outcome of high-risk newborns, methods adopted to address these problems, and to identify areas on which awareness generation needs to focus.

Materials And Methods: A questionnaire-based awareness survey was conducted to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practices of families of children with developmental challenges.

Knowledge and perception regarding adverse drug reactions among undergraduate medical students of Bihar, Eastern India.

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have national and international monitoring and are part of teaching-learning of undergraduate medical course and curriculum.

Objectives: To find the knowledge and perception of ADRs among undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care teaching institute in eastern India.

Materials And Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted among the MBBS medical students by administration of pre-designed, pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaires.

Blood-based biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and severity prediction of COVID-19: Opportunities and challenges.

The reasons for high morbidity and mortality with Corona virus disease (COVID-19) disease remain unanswered with extremes of manifestation and uncertainty of modes of transmission for which biomarkers are urgently needed for early prediction of severity and prompt treatment. We have reviewed publications from PubMed (years 2019-2021) analysing the biochemical, immune-inflammatory, nucleic acid, and cellular biomarkers that predict infection, disease progression in COVID-19 with emphasis on organ-specific damage. Our analysis of 65 biomarkers assessing the impact of SCoV-2 infection on five organs (lung, liver, cardiac, kidney, and neural) reported that increased levels of CRP, TNF-α, ferritin, IL-6, D-dimer, Procalcitonin, Fibrinogen to Albumin Ratio (FAR), and decrease platelet count (PC), lymphocyte count, leukocyte count, and CD4/CD8 ratio shows promising association in the early diagnosis, prediction of prognosis and severity disease and also correlates with cytokine storm a cardinal feature of COVID-19 progression.

Correlates of depression among school going adolescents in the urban area of Patna in eastern India.

Background: Depression is a hidden pandemic among adolescents with multi-factorial causal risk and risk correlates.

Objectives: To find the prevalence of depression and risk factors among school-going adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 838 adolescents enrolled in 6-11 standards (age: 11-19 years) in 15 urban schools in Patna city by using the modified Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); binary logistic regression was applied to find significant risk correlates.

Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: A construct during Covid-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates were reported to have declined in healthcare settings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Needless to mention that HAI is of paramount interest and relevance to a primary care physician who need to care from womb to tomb inside pandemic.

Objectives: This study was conducted to find the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the four parameters of HAIs, namely, catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and surgical site infections (SSIs) with hand hygiene compliance rates among healthcare workers.

Exploratory study on the operational issues faced in collection, transportation, and laboratory testing related to COVID-19 in remote areas of selected EAG states of North East and East India.

Background: COVID-19 ongoing pandemic has proved beyond doubt that all countries in the world from high income to low- and middle-income countries were unprepared with under-diagnosed and underreported losses of precious human lives on already overstretched healthcare delivery infrastructure. Thus, the urgent need of the hour is to understand and identify the operational issues and challenges encountered in the sample collection process and also at the testing labs in order to respond at the earliest. This early and effective response will help not only to address the identified issues in the whole chain of sample collecting to test result communication but also it will help to improve the functioning of the entire system involved in this process.

COVID-19 pandemic and safety of taxi services: Looking beyond primary care.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a lifetime experience of 'Living within a pandemic' for the vast majority world over. Public health principles based on equity should be at the core of world's response to it. Service professionals such as taxi/cab drivers are no exception.

Safe drinking water and toilet facility in public places in India: What we need to do!

There is abundant literature on domestic safe water supply and hygienic sanitation. Yet, there is a paucity of research studies on adequate supply of safe drinking water and toilet facilities in places of population movement and congregation in India. This study stresses on the importance of availability of safe water and sanitation facilities in all the places of human congregation and movement in India.

Safer Roads to School.

Any and all advances made by medical science cannot solve the problem of road traffic injuries (RTIs) in school-going children, especially if the only concerned people are those of the medical fraternity. Children are a vulnerable part of the traveling population and thus have been persistent due to the callous nature of the citizens and policy makers toward road safety and injury prevention. In our multicultural and multilingual country, there is a need for multistakeholder initiative with a countrywide presence if we are to stem the rise of mortality and morbidity due to these accidents.

Cognition, autonomic function, and intellectual outcomes of the paramedical health-care personnel in the hospital settings.

Background: In the dedicated intensive care settings, health-care providers need to have higher temporal cognition and sympathovagal balance to optimally deliver critical care interventions.

Objective: The objective of the study was to estimate the parameters of the temporal cognition and autonomic function of paramedical staffs in acute health-care settings.

Materials And Methods: In this study on 81 healthy adult paramedical personnel, temporal cognition was assessed using auditory reaction time (ART), visual reaction time (VRT), critical flicker fusion frequency (CFFF), Stroop test (ST), and digits forward test (DFT); Autonomic functions were assessed by heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) variability, and all these outcomes were analyzed with their academic performance.

The Outcome Analysis and Complication Rates of Tracheostomy Tube Insertion in Critically Ill Neurosurgical Patients; A Data Mining Study.

Objectives: To assess the impact, timing, the intra and early post-operative complications and the survival outcome of tracheostomy in critically ill neurosurgery patients.

Methods: This study was a retrospective data mining where data was collected from hospital records from 175 consecutive patients who underwent tracheostomy in the department of Neurosurgery at the Narayna Medical College Hospital, Nellore, India from Jan 2016 to April 2018. A proforma was used to note down the details on the patient status before and after tracheostomy: Glasgow coma scale (GCS), procedure and intra and post-operative complications, type of tracheostomy cannula, details of decannulation, respiration difficulties, and problems with wound, swallowing difficulties, and voice difficulties, stay in intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital and survival status of the patient.

Intervention on malaria awareness among 'Bedia' tribal community in West Bengal, India.

Background: Tribals have a vulnerable health status because of malarial morbidities, yet they ignore their illnesses and do not go to physicians during sickness for several reasons including poverty.

Objective: This qualitative research project attempted to create awareness among 'Bedia' tribal to initiate preventive and other personal protective measures against malaria.

Methods: Initially, efforts were made to create malaria awareness by literate 'Bedia' volunteers who were trained to do so; however, their tribal fellows were reluctant to receive awareness efforts from them.

Competency-based medical education: How far, how much.

Competency-based medical education inscribed in the Graduate Medical Education Regulations from Medical Council of India is cogently grounded by the Curriculum Implementation Support Programme throughout the country under the aegis of Medical Education Units and Curriculum Committees of the medical institutes. Global researchers on academic curriculum visualize paradigm of system based teaching-learning in evidence based medicine. This intermingled with participatory contribution from the learners in a non-threatening environment can inculcate philosophy of life-long learning mindset.

WACEM Consensus Paper on Deep Venous Thrombosis after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury.

The risk and outcome of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients who sustained spinal cord injury (SCI) remain a challenge. We aimed to assess the incidence, risk, burden, and prophylaxis of DVT after SCI. Thirty-nine studies were identified from among 250 relevant articles based on firstly, broad criterion of DVT among SCI cases.

Public health crisis of road traffic accidents in India: Risk factor assessment and recommendations on prevention on the behalf of the Academy of Family Physicians of India.

Roads are considered a sign of development bringing colossal benefits to community as socioeconomic and logistic facilitator. Yet, growth of road network has brought road crashes leading to civic pain from premature deaths of productive age group. In 2017, 16 citizens were killed and 53 injured every hour on Indian roads as per officially reported data, while a fair number go unreported.

Clinical presentation and outcome after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for degenerative cervical disc disease.

Background: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a well-described surgical approach for symptomatic degenerative cervical disc disease which does not respond to conservative management. In the present study, we assessed clinical presentation and outcomes of ACDF.

Materials And Methods: The present study was conducted from October 1, 2015, to October 31, 2017, in the Department of Neurosurgery, Narayana Medical College and Hospital, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, among 100 consecutive adult patients who underwent single- or two-level ACDF for degenerative cervical disc disease.

Impact of health education on knowledge, attitude, practices and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Effective health education consequently improves knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) leading to better glycemic control and is widely accepted as an integral part of comprehensive diabetes care for affected individuals and their families in primary care settings.

Aims: To assess the impact of health education on knowledge, attitude, practices, and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

Settings And Design: This case control study was conducted in the department of Medicine of a tertiary care teaching hospital.

India achieves WHO recommended doctor population ratio: A call for paradigm shift in public health discourse!

The Indian medical education system has been able to pull through a major turnaround and has been successfully able to double the numbers of MBBS graduate (modern medicine training) positions during recent decades. With more than 479 medical schools, India has reached the capacity of an annual intake of 67,218 MBBS students at medical colleges regulated by the Medical Council of India. Additionally, India produces medical graduates in the "traditional Indian system of medicine," regulated through Central Council for Indian Medicine.

International Classification of Diseases-Based Audit of the Injury Database to Understand the Injury Distribution in Patients Who have Sustained a Head Injury (International Classification of Diseases Codes: S00-S09).

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of mortality, morbidity, and disability globally. Methods for a reliable prediction of outcomes on the admission of TBI cases are of great clinical relevance to stakeholders.

Objectives: This study used the International Classification of Diseases-10 codes (S00-S09) for analysis of injury distribution of TBI patients and attempted to find the prognostic predictors of Glasgow coma scale (GCS) in the outcome from readily accessible parameters.

Magnitude and Spectrum of Injuries Sustained in Road Traffic Accidents Among Two Wheeler Riders and Correlation with Helmet Use.

Background: Helmet, as a protective gear to prevent fatal injuries while riding two-wheelers, needs to be evaluated by quality data. The aim of the study was to find out spectrum of injuries sustained with downstream outcomes in relation to acceptable ways of use of crash-proof helmet among motorized two-wheeler riders compared to nonuse following road traffic accidents.

Methods: The present study was an analytical cross-sectional multicentric study conducted at three dedicated trauma care centers of India: (a) Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Center, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, (b) King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and (c) Narayana Medical College and Hospital, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh.