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In view of the failure of cytology screening programmes for cervical cancer in developing countries, the World Health Organization suggested unaided visual inspection of the cervix after an application of acetic acid (VIA) and Lugol's iodine (VILI) as alternative screening methods. Our study evaluates the effectiveness of VIA and VILI compared to Pap smear as screening methods for carcinoma of the cervix in a low-resource setting. Three hundred and twenty-eight women were subjected to a Pap smear test, VIA, VILI and colposcopy. The results were as follows: Pap smear test (20.83%, specificity 98.38%), VIA (55.5%, 71.39%) and VILI (86.84%, 48.93%). Although VIA and VILI are less specific in comparison to the Pap smear test, they are more sensitive in detecting pre-invasive lesions. Hence VIA and VILI can be used as cervical cancer screening tools in low-resource settings.

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The present study was conducted to investigate the oxidant-antioxidant status in iron deficient pregnant anemic women. One hundred thirty pregnant women with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) were divided into three groups, namely mild (50), moderate (50) and severe (30) anemic along with pregnant healthy women as controls (50). The complete blood count, plasma lipid peroxidation products, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were measured according to respective protocols. The levels of complete blood count, iron, ferritin along with antioxidant enzymes namely catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and reduced glutathione were significantly reduced in all IDA groups. However, the level of oxidized glutathione, lipid peroxides, protein carbonyls, conjugated dienes were found significantly increased in all anemic patients. Antioxidant vitamins, namely C, E and A were also found significantly decreased in IDA patients. On the basis of our results, it may be concluded that IDA tends to increase the pro-oxidant components, which may result in various complications including peroxidation of vital body molecules resulting in increased risk for pregnant women as well as fetus.

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