One of the most key determinant of a person’s nutritional condition, health, illness, and death is their socioeconomic level. When conducting community-based studies, it is vital to determine the socio-economic level of the study participants, as this determines the incidence and prevalence of numerous health disorders. Modified BG Prasad socioeconomic classification is most widely used scale to determine the socioeconomic status of study subjects in health studies in India. This scale is based on the per capita income of an individual and has to be constantly updated by taking into account the inflation and depreciation of rupee, because the rupee’s value will depreciate owing to inflation, and economic variables will lose their significance. It is calculated by using the consumer price index (CPI) for industrial workers (IW). The monthly updated values of Consumer Price Index are available at the Labour Bureau of India website on the last day of every month.

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INTRODUCTION: Children born today see a totally changed world. They are well experienced and exposed to technology. They have a lot of dependencies and needs on the Internet and technology in the form of educational help, recreational, or even entertainment. This kind of predisposition to digital screens has recently increased with lockdown all over the world, leading to many complications in different spheres of health like mental, physical, social, and others. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. The data collection was done using an online questionnaire, which was pretested in a pilot study and then later was done through Google forms. The parents of children using mobile phones and having access to the Internet were contacted and included in the study population. Statistical analysis was performed by using SPPS version 20. RESULTS: Approximately 307 parents participated in the study. Positive association was seen between increase screen time and children having personal device (P = 0.001), with increase of age (P = 0.000), where parents felt that the child was addicted (P = 0.032), with children having impact on physical heath (P = 0.000), maximum screen time allowed without causing health concern (P = 0.000), and preference of online educational app (P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: Though the digital medium can be beneficial in many ways, providing access to quality education even during these unclear times, however increased exposure to the screen can be harmful to a child’s health in many ways.

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CONTEXT: India is one of the top three tobacco burden countries in the world. Tobacco intake causes loss of health, environment and increases financial burden of an individual. AIMS: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and distribution of tobacco intake among individuals of more than 15 years of age in union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: District wise data from National Health Survey-5, Ministry of Health and Family welfare 2019–2020 was analyzed and measuredSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Mean, median and mode. RESULTS: Out of all the 20 districts in J&K, prevalence of tobacco smoking was highest in Kupwara district (56.6%) and lowest in Jammu district (26.6%). CONCLUSIONS: People should be made more aware about the ill effects of tobacco usage. Although, the Government of India enacted various legislations to control tobacco use, its reduction lies in our hands and same should be discussed with general masses my making them aware about the menace of tobacco on mental, environmental and health of individual.

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BACKGROUND: The interaction between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry through their sales representatives influences physicians’ attitudes and prescribing behaviors. In this regard, physicians’ attitudes towards pharmaceutical promotions and their trustworthiness towards pharmaceutical representatives’ information on new drugs were explored in this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was an analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 183 physicians with different job and education designations and from various clinical settings in Erbil-Iraqi Kurdistan in July 2018. The physicians were invited from the public sector, comprising a general, emergency, and pediatric hospital. The information was collected through a standardized anonymous, self-administered close-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire included exposure to marketing activities, motivations to contact pharmaceutical representatives, attitudes towards promotional practices, and trustworthiness of the pharmaceutical representatives’ information on new drugs. RESULTS: The majority of the physicians reported that the information provided by pharmaceutical representatives assisted them in staying up to date or learning about new products (76.5%), but 55.7% of them trusted their medical information. In addition, most of them reported that pharmaceutical representatives prioritized the promotion of their products over patients’ benefits (70.5%). They reported that receiving promotional material and participating in promotional practices affect doctors’ behaviors to prescribe a new drug, including promotional materials (55.2%); medical samples (67.8%); funding of registration costs to conferences (60.1%); participation in industry-funded researches (69.9%); and continuing medical education (69.4%). Receiving promotional materials and participating in promotional activities were considered to be ethical. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that doctors approved that receiving promotional material and participating in promotional practices affect doctors’ behaviors to prescribe a new drug. The present study showed that most of the physicians reported the role of promotional materials and activities on physicians’ behaviors to prescribe new drugs.

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BACKGROUND: Infant mortality rate is the best indicator of effectiveness of maternal and child health services in general. Seventy percent of total infant deaths fall in neonatal period that is the neonatal mortality rate. The neonatal mortality is not uniform across the country. Substantial variations are observed in survival rates between the states and between districts within states. Focusing on local changes using local data can lead to improved outcomes. Health facility-based interventions can reduce neonatal mortality by 23%–50% in different settings. OBJECTIVES: This research article provides an overview of the causes of neonatal mortality and the relative public health importance of different causes that will help in reorganization and strengthening of neonatal services in our setup. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a record-based observational study of all the neonatal deaths in the neonatal unit over a period of 2 months from November 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Details of each neonatal death were analyzed. RESULTS: Most common cause of death was prematurity (56.44%) followed by neonatal sepsis (37.62%), birth anoxia (30%), and respiratory distress syndrome (26.73%). Seventy percent (71.29%) of deaths were inborn, whereas 24.75% and 3.96% were outborn and home-delivered, respectively. Sixty-seven percent (67.32%) were less than 2.5 kg among which 36.63% were less than 1.5 kg. Median weight was 2 kg. Fifty-seven (57%) of deaths occurred within 48 h after birth and median age at admission was 2 h and median hospital stay was 1.5 days. CONCLUSIONS: Improvement in female literacy rate, nutritional status of mother, providing good and essential antenatal care will reduce endogenous factors (prematurity and birth injuries) of neonatal mortality. Improving level 2 special newborn care and level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds, upgrading and operationalizing the newborn stabilization unit beds along with quality improvement and a functional back-referral system will substantially bring down neonatal mortality

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In both industrialized and developing nations, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, causing a variety of medical disorders that raise the risk of morbidity and hasten mortality. Obesity is a serious public health issue and is a complex disorder involving biological, developmental, environmental, behavioral, and hereditary components. Numerous research investigations have been carried out to determine what linkages and risk factors enhance the likelihood that a kid may present with obesity as a result of the rise in the incidence of obesity among youngsters. The integration of diet, workouts, biological changes, and psychological variables is important in the control and prevention of childhood obesity; therefore, all researchers concur that prevention is the key strategy for controlling the current problem. However, a comprehensive view of all the health conditions linked to obesity remains a mystery. This strategy could backfire because of the psychological problems with bodily habitus that may come along with puberty. Bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and night-eating syndrome are all conditions that can develop in teens as a result of unhealthful eating behaviors. Others who overshoot their objective of “being healthy” and limit their food may develop anorexia nervosa.

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Meningiomas are a benign type of intracranial tumor. Age and the site of the tumor are the two deciding factors for the prognosis. The majority of meningiomas are non-malignant, but these tumors can grow slowly and may have a progressive complicated stage, which if left untreated can be life-threatening. Presently, surgical excision is the commonest use treatment modality; radiotherapy is also used in some cases where complete surgical excision is not possible. A craniotomy is required for proper excision of the tumor and it has its own disadvantages, if not done properly can be severely disabling and may even endanger life. The cost of the surgery is also one of the limiting factors in poor and developing countries. Therefore, surgical options mostly opt for large meningiomas. This article gives detail of a case of meningioma in the left parasellar region extending medially and superiorly, displacing the pituitary stalk and indenting left orbital nerve;treated successfully with Ayurvedic treatment modalities including Virechana (~therapeutic purgation) and Nasya (~nasal instillation) therapies with a total duration of treatment was one month. CT Brain contrast imaging was the diagnostic and assessment tool used to ascertain the outcome of the treatment.

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BACKGROUND: India announced its first incidence of corona virus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the state of Kerala on January 30, 2020. The severe acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus-2 (SARs-CoV-2) pandemic was also unavoidably pounding on the doors of the state of Himachal Pradesh (HP), with enormous regional discrepancies necessitating remarkable insight. SETTINGS: On February 5, 2020, HP’s health authority took its first reaction step and followed it with a swift, adequate, and innovative response subsequently. Assuming R₀ of 2.28 at the early stages of an epidemic, the outbreak threshold (T₀ = 1/Log R₀) is estimated to be mere 2.7 infections. However, with the emergence of only two positive cases, the state acted conscientiously vigilant to announce a lockdown at an opportune moment. METHODS: Department of Information and Technology developed a “CORONA Mukht (free) App” for keeping a digital record of all home-quarantined persons on the administration vigil list. During the active house-to-house case-finding campaign, an exercise involving 16,000 healthcare workforces, around 10,000 individuals with influenza-like illness (ILI) were screened. The ambulances were modified innovatively as “mobile sample collection kiosks” for sample collections throughout. The state added additional categories in the sampling protocol to keep a vigil for any community transmission. The protocol included samples from Flu clinics, ILI patients from the community, and occupants with ILI from migrant relief camps. DISCUSSION: On April 20, 2020, there were 23 incident cases in the state and declined to 10 on April 27, 2020. On May 3, 2020, out of 40 positive cases reported, there was only one active case under treatment. Subsequently, with effective containment measures, the state succeeded in keeping the test positivity rate below 2% from May to August 2020. Effectively during the specified period, cumulative deaths reported were 33 only in the state, with a case fatality rate of 0.56% at the end of August 2020, lower than the national average of 2.1%. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that HP’s initial response to SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was exceptional and emphatic.

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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic, one of the greatest public health challenges, has unleashed damage to human health as well as socioeconomic disruptions on an unprecedented scale. The study looked into the experiences of the people seeking essential healthcare services during COVID-19 and the short-term and long-term consequences of the denial of getting these services during the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This rapid assessment collected data from 2,483 randomly selected households having an average family size of 4.89 people residing in 16 districts of 8 divisions during the reference period of April 2020 to August 2020. RESULTS: A decline of around 10% in the recommended number of antenatal check-ups (4 or more) was observed. Fear of infection, economic fallout, and absence/redeployment of medical staff to pandemic management are the primary reasons many pregnant women avoided seeking necessary healthcare. Only 1 in 5 (21%) of surveyed households received the family planning services that they required. Around a quarter of all newborn children missed the BCG vaccination. More than half (56.3%) of the families with members having chronic diseases opted for self-exclusion from healthcare services. The healthcare cost increased while the average income decreased by a third of the pre-pandemic level. The inability to express problems adequately to a physician was the commonest difficulty faced by the respondents while using telemedicine—a useful tool during a health crisis. CONCLUSION: Measures need to be taken based on the assessment to mitigate any potential long-term impact on people surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Background and Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a significant impact on the mental well-being of the general population and the impact is reported to be more in people in isolation/quarantine facilities and frontline healthcare workers managing patients in such facilities. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is yet to be fully understood by family carers who attend to the patient for basic nursing care in hospital settings. We set out to bridge this gap by exploring the psychological impact on patients, carers, and frontline healthcare workers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a COVID-19 tertiary care treatment facility. Consecutive adult patients admitted for quarantine and isolation purposes, their immediate carers, and frontline workers were included in the study. Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety-Depression Scale was used to study the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: In the patient group, the prevalence of depression was 60.2% and the prevalence of anxiety was 53%. In the carer group, the prevalence of depression was 46.2% and the prevalence of anxiety was 49.2%. In the healthcare worker group, the prevalence of depression was 16.7% and the prevalence of anxiety was 33.3%. Interpretation and Conclusions: COVID-19 has led to an increasing reliance on home and hospital carers. Our study underlines an important finding that the psychological impact is significant not only on the patients who contract the infection but also on their carers.

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INTRODUCTION: Family is considered to be the first and the most important child development and socialization bond. Parental use of tobacco increases the likelihood that children will also engage in uptake of similar habit and hence this study was conducted with the aim to assess the relationship between parental bonding and tobacco-specific familial practices as predictors of tobacco usage in adults. AIM: To assess the familial contribution to intergenerational psychosocial transmission of tobacco use among outpatients visiting The Oxford Dental College, Bengaluru. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case–control study was conducted among 430 patients coming to the out-patient section in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology in a Dental College in Bengaluru, which included 215 tobacco users and 215 non-tobacco users. Study participants aged between 15 and 25 years and were age and gender matched in the ratio of 1:1. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information regarding their self-tobacco use, form of use, parental and grandparental tobacco use. Study participants‗ perception of the mother‗s and father‗s parenting behavior was assessed using modified version of the parental bonding instrument and assessment of the study participants nicotine dependency was done using the Parental Bonding Instrument(PBI). RESULTS: Among the 215 study participants in each group, the distributions of male and female participants were 212 (98.6%) and three (1.4%), respectively, with a mean age of 22.9 ± 3.05 years and the participants had high dependency with mean FTND score of 5.23 ± 2.77 and 5.57 ± 4.0 for the smoking and smokeless form, respectively. Results of the univariate logistic regression showed that study participants with paternal tobacco habit were 5.28 times more likely to adopt the tobacco habit compared to the study participants without paternal tobacco use (OR = 5.28, 95% CI: 2.70–10.30) and study participants with paternal grandfather tobacco use were 1.57 times (OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.47–2.74) more likely to develop the tobacco habit than the study participants without paternal grandfather tobacco use and both the association was found to be statistically highly significant (P < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the study participants who had higher maternal strictness were 0.077 less likely [OR= −0.077, 95% CI: −0.146–(−0.008)] to develop the tobacco habit compared to the study participants with lower maternal strictness which was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.030*) and participants with higher paternal warmth were 0.097 times less likely to adopt the tobacco habit compared to study participants with lower paternal warmth [OR= −0.097, 95% CI: −0.097 [−0.190–(−0.005)] which was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.040*). CONCLUSION: For an effective tobacco control program among tobacco users, counseling of participants‗ father and mother should be done simultaneously. Further, anti-tobacco activities should emphasize and make parents realize the importance the family plays in the development of tobacco behavior through implicit influences such as the level of parental control of their children‗s behavior and make the family members understand the way in which they deal with tobacco at home will have an impact on their child tobacco behavior.

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