Objective:The aim of this study is to assess the dental esthetics awareness among dental students in a private university in Chennai as none is available in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.Materials and Methods:The dental esthetics awareness questionnaire consisting of a battery of 19 questions under five aspects that is, physical, functional, social, knowledge, and psychological aspects was administered to a sample of 100 dental college students aged between 18 and 27 years in a private college in Chennai, India. Gender variations on the responses of their effects and the impact on dental esthetics awareness had been analyzed using a Chi-square test.Results:With respect to physical aspects, pigmentation shows more significance as students want to get treated for their pigmentation of lips and gums. With respect to functional aspects, eating shows more significance as students have difficulty while eating. In social aspects, habits show more significance as it affects their esthetics. With respect to psychological aspects, mental depression shows more significance as students feel more deprived due to their unesthetic appearance.Conclusion:This study shows a high level of self-consciousness and the findings of the studies prove that even the slightest of variations have a greater impact on the above-mentioned dimensions in particular to psychological, functional, and physical aspects.

Introduction: The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic during early 2020 forced the people to make drastic changes in their lifestyle. The people’s response to preventive measures initiated by the Government to control COVID-19 is the focus of the study. Aim: To assess the knowledge for prevention and adoption of safety measures against COVID-19 by the tribal masses. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study, covering 300 selected tribal families, was conducted in a tribal belt during the period September 2020 to December 2020. The questionnaire covered socio-demographic profile, knowledge aspects and adoption pattern regarding preventive measures of COVID-19. The head of the family or in his/her absence any available adult family member has been the respondent to provide the required information. Based on maximum score of 15 for correct knowledge, the families were categorised as poor (≤5), average (6-10) and good (11-15). With a maximum score of 24 for correct adoption, the categorisation was made as poor (≤8), average (9-16) and good (17-24). The association of socio-demographic factors with knowledge and practice level was tested through Chi-square test and correlation coefficient between knowledge and adoption scores. Results: Among the 300 families studied, the nuclear type tribal families dominated in the study area 204 (68%) and the average age of respondents was 61 years. The mean knowledge score was 7.6 (50.67%) and adoption score was 11.22 (46.75%). The percentage shares of respondents in poor, average and good categories were 31.33%, 35.33% and 33.33% for knowledge and 32.66%, 34.66% and 32.66%, respectively for adoption scores. The education level, income of the family and access to media sources were found to have significant association between knowledge and adoption scores. Conclusion: The highest education level of family members, family income and access to media sources were significantly associated with knowledge as well as practice. The positive correlation between knowledge and adoption scores indicated that the adoption level can be improved by enhancing knowledge to the socially backwards tribal communities. Socially visible practices like mask wearing were well adopted by tribals whereas the adoption level of invisible components like immunity building was relatively low.

Introduction: Despite all efforts, there is a gap in the demand and supply of blood donation in India. Medical students play a crucial role in promoting and mobilizing blood donation among potential youth. The present study attempted to ascertain the knowledge, attitude, and practice as well as factors associated with actual blood donation among medical students at various stages of their studies. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted during May-June 2021using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire through Google form among 346 medical students representing first, second and third-year MBBS. The aggregate scores for knowledge and attitude worked out for each student and analyzed for gender effect, actual practice, a correlation between knowledge and attitude score, and factors contributing to it using z- test, correlation coefficient test, and chi-square test respectively. Results: The blood donation by students was found significantly associated with sex, age, and phases of the MBBS curriculum (p<0.05). The mean attitude score of female students (6.90) was higher compared to male students (6.60). There was a significant correlation (r=0.371) between the overall knowledge and attitude score of students towards blood donation. Conclusions: The gender, age, and phase of study of medical students are significant factors contributing to actual blood donation. The higher attitude of female students could not be transformed into the actual practice of blood donation.  Special efforts are required to enthuse medical students in general and female students in particular towards blood donation.