Context:Adolescent well-being is a priority area for health-care interventions in the 21st century. Yoga-nidra is an ancient Indian method of enabling individuals to attain a positive state of deep physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. The practice produces a state of simultaneous relaxation and detachment resulting in inner awareness and release of stress on all planes of one's being.Aim:This mixed method study was carried out in adolescent students aged 13–15 years with an aim to assess effects of Yoga-nidra on various dimensions of well-being.Materials and Methods:Thirty-six students received Yoga-nidra sessions 30 min daily for 3 days in a week for 1 month. Primary outcome measures were happiness, perceived stress, overall quality of life, and psychological general well-being. These and other experiential dimensions of well-being comprising of enthusiasm, alertness, quietude, clarity of thought, control over anger, self-confidence, and self-awareness were evaluated before and after intervention. Qualitative observations were recorded from participants, their teachers, and parents. Results of quantitative and qualitative methods were analyzed and compared.Results:Yoga-nidra intervention resulted in significant improvement in all primary outcome measures. Participants reported significant improvement in the feelings of happiness, enthusiasm, quietude, being more inspired and alert, active, having clarity of thought, control over anger, and self-confidence at the end of the study period. Mixed method design of the study provided cross-validation and convergence of results obtained from quantitative and qualitative assessment tools.Conclusion:Yoga-nidra is beneficial in improving multiple dimensions of adolescent well-being.

Objective:Several tools have been introduced to evaluate the quality of prescribing. The aim of this study was to determine the quality of prescribing in hypertension and bronchial asthma in tertiary health care (THC) setting using the new Prescription Quality Index (PQI) tool and to assess the reliability of this tool.Methods:A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out for 2 months in order to assess the quality of prescribing of antihypertensive and antiasthmatic drugs using recently described PQI at THC facility. Patients with hypertension and bronchial asthma, attending out-patient departments of internal medicine and pulmonary medicine respectively for at least 3 months were included. Complete medical history and prescriptions received were noted. Total and criteria wise PQI scores were derived for each prescription. Prescriptions were categorized as poor, medium and high quality based on total PQI scores.Results:A total of 222 patients were included. Mean age was 56 ± 15.1 years (range 4-87 years) with 67 (30.2%) patients above 65 years of age. Mean total PQI score was 32.1 ± 5.1. Of 222 prescriptions, 103 (46.4%) prescriptions were of high quality with PQI score ≥34. Quality of prescribing did not differ between hypertension and bronchial asthma (P > 0.05). The value of Cronbach's α for the entire 22 criteria of PQI was 0.71.Conclusion:As evaluated by PQI tool, the quality of prescribing for hypertension and bronchial asthma is good in about 47% of prescriptions at THC facility. PQI is valid for measuring prescribing quality in these chronic diseases in Indian setting.

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A male with human immunodeficiency virus infection presented with febrile encephalopathy followed by seizures and left hemiparesis. Initial imaging with contrast computerized tomography (CT) scan brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination were normal. Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging brain revealed bilateral parieto-occipital infarcts with bleed. He did not improve on treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, anti-tubercular drugs, and antifungals. He finally succumbed to the disease. His CSF culture grew Aspergillus after 2 weeks. Central nervous system (CNS) aspergillosis can present with variable presentations, and initial CT scan and CSF examination can be normal, especially in the immunosuppressed. High index of suspicion is required for the diagnosis of invasive CNS Aspergillus in the immunosuppressed.