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ntroduction: Stigma and discrimination within the healthcare sector in general may impact transgender people’s desire and ability to access appropriate medical treatment. The transgender community have specific healthcare needs which may go untreated leading to increased disease burden in the community. In India there is a gap in understanding the factors affecting utilisation of health services by transgender community. Aim: To determine the factors affecting presence of social, hospital phobia and anxiety among transgender individuals at a Transgender community centre in south India, and to understand the perspective of the community members on using healthcare services. Materials and Methods: The present quantitative component embedded within a qualitative study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital (DSMCH) (Community Centre), Siruvachur, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, India for two days, during the month of August 2022 among 24 transgender adults. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the group for the qualitative part of the study during two consecutive days in August 2022, and quantitative part was analysed within the same group using three questionnaires for social phobia, hospital phobia and hospital anxiety. Age-wise and genderwise distribution of scores in social phobia, hospital phobia and hospital anxiety were analysed using Mann-Whitney U tests as the data was not normally distributed. Results: Out of the 24 participants, 20 (83.33%) were in the age-group of 18-35 years and 18 (75%) identified themselves as transfemales. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview found prevalence of gender based discrimination and mistreatment at hospitals faced by transgender individuals leading to fear of hospitals. Out of 24, nine participants had hospital related anxiety score more than four out of nine. Social phobia score out of 36 was given and the highest score was 27, with a mean score of 11.416±8.445. Hospital phobia score out of 32 was given and mean score was 13±6.041. Conclusion: Transgender individuals feel hesitant to approach hospitals due to the discrimination they have faced and continue to face at hospitals. There is a need to make our hospitals a more inclusive space for them.

Introduction and Aim: Transgender healthcare has emerged as an area of medicine that has been in the blind spot of most physicians for the last century. Medical professionals in India have been equally unaware of the health needs of the transgender community. The aim of the present study was to assess the competency and awareness regarding transgender health and related issues among medical professionals.   Methodology: A questionnaire was framed to assess awareness on social and medical issues faced by the transgender community containing 40 questions in yes or no format. 126 doctors filled the questionnaires and 58 of the respondents later attended a conference on Transgender health. Similar questionnaire was used to assess the improvement in knowledge after the conference.   Results: The result of the questionnaire score was analysed in percentage. The average percentage score of the initial 126 respondents was 51.58. Pre-conference percentage score was 51.33 and the post-conference was 61.67 among the 58 conference attendees, showing a significant increase in awareness after being exposed to an educational session.    Conclusion: There is a need for large-scale awareness programs and the implementation of trans-inclusive medical curriculum to improve the competency of medical professionals.

Objectives: Ovarian hormones not only regulate reproductive functions but also are implicated in emotional and cognitive processing. But, menstrual cycle studies do not provide convincing evidences. However, evidence supports a link between estrogen depletion and risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Physical exercise has shown to improve a person’s attentiveness and cognitive skills. Since both exercise and ovarian hormones may affect cognition, the present study intends to determine the effect of acute bout of moderate exercise on cognitive processing in young women in early proliferative phase and mid-luteal phase. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional, observational study conducted on young, normally menstruating women of 18-35 years (n = 20). Each participant attended two laboratory sessions, early follicular phase (initial 3 days post-menstruation) and mid luteal phase (days 21-24). The participants filled up Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ) and their basal central, brachial blood pressures and P300 Event Related Potential (ERP) were recorded. Then, the subjects performed step test till they achieved 60-80% of their maximum heart rate. Afterwards, their central and brachial blood pressure and heart rate were recorded. The participants then filled up Borg perceived exertion scale questionnaire. Post exercise P300 ERP was recorded after 15 min of exercise. Results: Significant changes in all cardiovascular parameters in post-exercise session were observed in both phases of menstrual cycle. The amplitude and latencies of P300 ERP showed no significant difference at resting state (pre-exercise) during both phases. P300 ERP latency showed significant decrease in post-exercise session when recorded at Cz (P = 0.024, P = 0.05) and Pz position (P = 0.03, P = 0.003) in both phases except in Fz position. But there was no significant change in amplitude. MANCOVA analysis revealed that only amplitude of P300 ERP (P = 0.023) in post-exercise session during mid-luteal phase was affected by basal activity level significantly. Conclusion: The present study documented that an acute bout of moderate exercise caused significant decrease in latency of P300 ERP in the participants during both phases of menstrual cycle. Therefore, it can be stated that even acute bout of moderate exercise significantly enhances attention allocation, working memory in the participants; thereby it enhances cognitive functioning of the individual.

Introduction: Transgender health is a comparatively new area of medicine that has not been explored until the past few decades. In India, the doctors still do not have much knowledge in this area. This highly influences the quality of medical services available for the transgender population. The undergraduate medical curriculum does not include enough information regarding transgender health care. Methodology: 214 participants were included in the study. A questionnaire containing 39 questions was provided to them in order to assess their knowledge regarding the medical and social problems related to transgender health. The questions were in yes or no format and scores were given to each answer. Questions were in 3 sections: general social awareness, medical experience, and knowledge and perception of issues.Result: The median score was 22 out of 39, with a maximum score of 35. Chi-square test showed better scores on general awareness and perception of issues while poorer scores in medical knowledge of transgender health among medical students. Conclusion: The study shows that there is a huge deficit in medical knowledge on transgender health among medical students even though they may be aware of the social aspects and issues in the area. There is a need for improvement of undergraduate medical curriculum to include topics of transgender health so as to better prepare the medical students to care for trans patients.