Context: Hypertension can be controlled by modifying lifestyle related risk factors and generating awareness about these risk factors among hypertensive patients. Aim: To assess the life style pattern, knowledge, attitude and practices related to hypertension among diagnosed patients of hypertension attending a tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods: Across sectional hospital based study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital during May and June 2014.102 diagnosed patients of hypertension attending the Medicine out-patient department were included in the study by convenience sampling. Apre-structured questionnaire was used and data related to demographic profile, history of hypertension, knowledge, attitude and practices regarding hypertension etc. were collected. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Results: Out of 102 participants, 55.9% were males and the mean age was 42.98 + 11.85. The mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure was 146.01 + 10.59 and 103.7 + 10.76 respectively. 50% of the patients led a sedentary life & only 13.7% were practicing fitness activities daily. 22.5% were current smokers, 12.7% were passive smokers and 8.8% were currently taking alcohol. About 26.5% patients were not concerned about their increased BP, 5.9% didn't know any of the risk factors of hypertension &7.8% were unaware of the symptoms of hypertension. Logistic regression showed that occurrence of uncontrolled hypertension is reduced by 0.06 times in patients having satisfactory knowledge. Conclusion: Intervention in the form of lifestyle education during hospital visits will be helpful to increase the awareness about modifiable risk factors, controlling blood pressure and preventing complications among these patients.

Although dentistry has been recognized as a stressful profession, majority of the dentists under study had a happiness score above the mean, and the level of satisfaction was influenced by various sociodemographic factors.

Background and Aims: Menstruation is a normal physiological process and a key sign of reproductive health in women in the reproductive age group. Poor menstrual hygiene affects the educational activities as well as the day to day activities of women. The objective of this study is to assess the practices of menstrual hygiene among women aged 15-49 years attending a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata and to assess their knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted among the women belonging to the age group of 15-49 years attending the outpatient department of Gynaecology. Predesigned, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used as a study tool. Interview method was used for data collection after obtaining informed consent from the participants. Data were analysed by SPSS 20v software. Association between variables was checked by Chi-square test & P < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Mean age of respondents was 28.03 ± 7.01 years. The cause of menstruation as a normal body function constituted maximum response (43.5%) whereas the reason was unknown to many (37%). Regarding restrictions during menstruation, it was mentioned that avoiding worshipping was the commonest restriction (90.2%), followed by restriction in diet (32.6%). Use of readymade absorbents was found in most of the subjects (91%) followed by homemade reusable (6.5%) and homemade disposable (2.2%). Around 77.2% of them packed the napkins and disposed in garbage. Those who were aware about menstrual hygiene were found to be practicing satisfactory perineal cleaning ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: Health education and awareness programme focusing on menstrual hygiene must be intensified. School curriculum can play a vital role in implementing health education.

Introduction: Amblyopia is the leading cause of preventable monocular vision loss in children. Refractive error is a common cause of amblyopia, other causes being anisometropia, ocular media opacities, strabismus or a combination of factors. Since amblyopia is avoidable and treatable, early screening and timely treatment are very important.Objectives: To assess the prevalence and types of amblyopia among 6-15 years old school going children in urban West Bengal, India.Method: A cross sectional study was conducted for one year among 3882 rural school children aged 6-15 years. A full ophthalmic examination, including refraction, fundoscopy and slit lamp examination was done in children having vision <6/12 without any organic lesion.Results: Amblyopia was found in 112 (2.9%) children. Common causes of amblyopia observed were anisometropia (33.9%), strabismus (29.5%), meridional amblyopia (14.3%) and combined (13.4%). Amblyopia was higher in males (3.2% vs 2.5%) and in the 11-15-year age group (3.1% vs 2.6%), though it was not statistically significant.Conclusions: Prevalence of amblyopia was 2.9% in our study population and anisometropia was the commonest (33.9%) type.