INTRODUCTIONThere is a growing awareness that learners' views of their educational experiences are valuable in assessing the effectiveness of course content and teaching methods. Student feedback is a critical component of the teacherlearner cycle.1 In many medical colleges, instruction of students in pharmacology remains formal and may be inadequate. Pharmacology is one of the most important subjects that form the backbone of rational therapeutics. The primary objective of teaching-learning pharmacology is to enable medical students to take rational therapeutic decisions in clinical practice.2 Pharmacology is often perceived as dry and volatile by most second-year MBBS students. Due to content overload, students also find it difficult to remember and recall pharmacological terms, concepts and drug names in the subject. Many attempts have been made by various colleges all over India and abroad to make the teaching-learning of pharmacology more interesting and relevant.3 It is generally agreed that reviewing the teaching program at regular intervals and modifications in the content and methodologies of imparting basic knowledge about drugs and drug therapies is a must. 4 Questionnaires offer an objective means of collecting information about the student's attitude, belief, behaviour and knowledge. However, questionnaires should be validated, reliable and standardized. Understanding current perceptions held by future medical practitioners regarding pharmacology for its role in application of basic concepts to clinical practice may be helpful for introducing appropriate changes into the curricula where and when necessary. ABSTRACT Background:In order to ensure a successful and sustainable curriculum, regular feedback from students about their views of teaching and learning experience is a must. The purpose of this study was to assess whether course content and teaching-learning aids are actually supporting the curriculum goals and what reforms can be implemented for the betterment of teaching pharmacology for medical students. Methods: After Institutional Review Board approval (IRB), a total of 120 second-year medical students of the Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (KAMSRC), L.B Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis of data and the results were expressed as percentage (%). Results: Pharmacology was considered a useful subject by 51% of second-year-MBBS students. They found cardiovascular system (34%) followed by chemotherapy (21%) as the most interesting topics. 25% students liked didactic lectures followed by MCQs (19%). A whopping 50% suggested the lectures should be clinically-oriented. 35% students studied from a combination of lecture notes and text books. According to them, the pharmacology teacher should be knowledgeable and student-friendly. About 77% students think that pharmacology teachers have those qualities. Conclusions: This study revealed that the medical students wish to learn pharmacology...

Background: Traditional Siddha medicine literature claims that the Amaranthus spinosus Linn. Whole plant possesses diuretic property. The aim of the present study is to investigate the diuretic activity of aqueous extract of amaranthus spinosus linn on rats.Methods: The rats were randomly divided into four groups of six animals each and deprived of food for 18 hours before the experiments. Control (Group I) rats were treated with Normal saline (5ml/Kg,) and Standard (Group II) rats were administered furosemide 15mg/Kg, I.P. Group III and IV were treated with Aqueous extract of Amaranthus spinosus Linn (AEAS) 250 and 500 mg/kg in normal saline respectively, The urine was collected after 5 and 24 hours. The urine volume and the total concentration of Na+, K+, and Cl- in the urine were estimated. The data were presented as mean ± standard deviation and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Student's "t"-test. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Conventional windows software was used for statistical analysis.Results: Urine analysis showed that Na+, K+, and Cl- levels were significantly (p<0.05) increased with AEAS 250 and 500 mg/kg as rats treated with furosemide 15mg/kg. Urine volume is significantly (p<0.05) increased in rats treated with drugs (AEAS 500 mg/kg and furosemide 15mg/kg) compared to normal saline 25ml/Kg, treated rats at 5 and 24 hours.Conclusions: These data suggest that AEAS has produced notable diuretic effect which appeared to be comparable to that produced by the standard diuretic furosemide.

The deliberate assortment of information on cancer growth was performed by different populace-based disease vaults (population-based cancer registries [PBCRs]) and clinic-based cancer growth libraries (hospital-based cancer registries [HBCRs]) across India under the National Cancer Registry Program–National Center for Disease Informatics and Research of Indian Council of Medical Research since 1982. This survey analyzed the malignant growth occurrence, designs, patterns, projections, and mortality from 28 PBCRs and furthermore the stage at introduction and kind of therapy of patients with disease from 58 HBCRs (n=667,666) from the pooled investigation for the composite time frame 2012–2016. Time patterns in cancer growth rate were created as yearly percent change from 16 PBCRs (those with at least 10 years of consistent great information accessible) utilizing Joinpoint relapse. Aizawl locale (269.4) and Papumpare region (219.8) had the most elevated age changed occurrence rates among guys and females, separately. The extended number of patients with disease in India is 1,392,179 for the year 2020, and the basic five driving destinations are cancer, lung, mouth, cervix uteri, and tongue. Patterns in disease frequency rate showed an expansion on the whole locales of cancer in both genders and were high in Kamrup Metropolitan (yearly percent change, 3.8%; p<0.05). Most of the patients with cancer were analyzed at the privately progressed stage for cancer (57.0%), cervix uteri (60.0%), head and neck (66.6%), and stomach (50.8%) disease, while in cellular breakdown in the lungs, far off metastasis was dominating among guys (44.0%) and females (47.6%). This audit gives a system to surveying the status and patterns of cancer growth in India. It will manage proper help for activity to fortify endeavors to improve cancer growth avoidance and control to accomplish the public non-communicable illness targets and the reasonable advancement objectives.

Background: Antibiotic resistance has emerged as a serious global problem. Irrational prescribing of antibiotics is one of the key factors responsible for the development of antibiotic resistance. As today’s medical students will be the future prescribers their awareness regarding antibiotic resistance and rational prescribing of antibiotics is very much important. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of the medical students towards antibiotic use.Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted involving the medical students from all the semesters. A predesigned questionnaire was used to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of the respondents. The response options were ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for some questions, and a 5 point Likert scale used to assess some questions. The data was analyzed using MS office Excel.Results: A total of 457 fully completed questionnaires from the respondents were evaluated. Majority of the respondents (70%) were females, and 91% of the respondents were aware of antibiotic resistance as a global problem. On analysis of score of questions assessing knowledge, 91% of respondents had attained a score in the range of 5-7. Majority (83%) of the respondents used antibiotics only on doctor’s prescription and 74% of the respondents had completed the prescribed course.Conclusions: The present study gives an insight on the knowledge, attitude and practices of medical students on antibiotic use, and can be used as a tool to plan educational strategies to improve the knowledge of the students regarding rational use of antibiotics.

Problem Based Learning is a Teaching-Learning Methodology, which has been employed fruitfully to enhance learning in diverse situations and at numerous levels around the world. It has been proved by some studies, it's worth as an effective learning technique in learning different courses including effective language skills in English. PBL can augment the learners' proficiency in effective professional communication skills and lessen their complications for communication. The purpose of the research is to identify if, Problem Based Learning can be applied, to enrich professional communication skills in English while concurrently nurturing the development of Content Knowledge, Problem-Solving, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Self-Directed learning skills. This paper reports some of the findings of the study conducted on the use of Problem Based Learning, in the PDBS class on enhancing Professional English Language Communication Skills at Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology an Engineering College. It was a descriptive study conducted in Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology college for the third year Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) students. The experimental group of the study includes 64 students of section-C of the third year ECE, involved in learning through PBL and 64 students of section-D students of the same third year ECE as the non-experimental group, here both the sections were taking the Personality Development & Behavioral Skills (PDBS) Course in English. The Data was collected through a questionnaire answered by the students of both the sections C&D of III-ECE. The study found that students were well aware of the methodology of PBL, further the students also enjoyed learning in the procedure implemented through Problem Based Learning. The study concluded with a comprehensive application of PBL in the use of this technique with the experimental group and its positive outcome in the development of effective communication skills, critical thinking and effective presentation of their ideas in comparison to the nonexperimental group where the students had an awareness of the PBL methodology of teaching and learning. The limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are offered at the end of the paper.