Objective-To determine the prevalence, pattern and predictors of PMS and PMDD among college girls of South India. To identify the knowledge and attitude of college girls with PMS and PMDD. Methodology-A cross sectional questionnaire study based on Premenstrual Syndrome Screening Tool was conducted among the college student of Madurai, Tamilnadu. Results-The prevalence of moderate to severe PMS was 14.3% and PMDD was 3.7%. The commonest premenstrual symptom among college girls was fatigue/lack of energy, in the moderate to severe PMS category was anger and in the PMDD category was anxiety. Impairment of college efficiency or productivity was seen in 82.66% and 100% of students with moderate to severe PMS and PMDD respectively. The prevalence of moderate to severe PMS and PMDD correlated significantly with the mean age, education, heavy menstrual flow, dysmenorrhoea and family history of PMS and 85.6% college students with moderate to severe PMS and PMDD didn't perceived their symptoms as abnormal and only 16.4% had a physician consultation. Conclusion-PMS and PMDD are prevalent among substantial proportion of college girls with a significant negative influence on academic performance, emotional well being and behaviour. Strategies should be adopted in the college health program for timely recognition and management of PMS and PMDD in college girls.

Introduction:Diagnosis of HIV infection in infants is difficult due to the presence of maternal antibodies; only nucleic acid assays are very helpful in early detection. Filter papers are especially useful for blood collection in resource-poor settings with limited access to diagnostic facilities.Materials & Methods:DBS samples were collected from the infants born to HIV seropositive mothers who had received single dose nevirapine at onset of labor. The samples were directly spotted onto the Whatman 903 cards from heel, big toe or finger prick depending on the age of the infants. A total of 766 infant samples were collected on dried blood spots (DBS) and transported to the Department of Experimental Medicine (DEM), Chennai, for testing from different government hospitals of rural and urban parts of Tamil Nadu, South India. According to National AIDS Control Organization's (NACO) protocol DNA was extracted from all these DBS and PCR was performed using the Roche kit version 1.5.Results:Fifteen infants were found to be HIV positive and 751 were HIV negative; all these 15 positive infants and 49 negative infants who were in the age group between 10 and 18 months were repeated with another DBS and compared with whole blood. The DBS results were concordant with the whole blood method and the sensitivity and specificity were 100%.

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IntroductionMenopause is the point at which a woman's menstrual periods come to a stop. When a woman goes 12 months without having her period, menopause is diagnosed. Menopause is one stage of midlife that a woman could find simple or challenging to get through. We conducted this study to assess the attitude of women aged over 40 concerning menopause and the determinants of menopausal symptoms. MethodologyThe community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the villages of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, for six months. We selected four villages and 100 samples using the multistage sampling procedure. Each hamlet had 25 households registered, and we collected the data using the face-to-face interview method. The study included all female participants between the ages of 40 and 60. Those women who had unnatural menopause and women who were on anti-depressant medication and hormone replacement therapy for the past six months were excluded. ResultsThe study's participants had an average age of 52.3 years, and 74% of them had experienced menopause. The menopausal rating scale revealed that around 81.1% of women had somatic symptoms, 70.3% had psychological problems, and 45.9% had urogenital symptoms. People who lived in urban areas, had class 1 socioeconomic status, and had sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with somatic symptoms. Those who lived in urban areas, were professionals by occupation, and did sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with psychological symptoms. The respondents who lived in urban areas had a statistically significant association with urogenital symptoms. We observed a statistically significant correlation between young age and psychological problems. There was a statistically significant correlation between symptoms in all three domains and increased weight. ConclusionMiddle-aged women have relatively little understanding of menopause. Somatic symptoms are more common in middle-aged women than psychological or urogenital symptoms. Menopausal symptoms are present in almost half of the respondents.