Background Despite the fact that cervical cancer is preventable and curable in the early stages, it still remains to be a major public health problem in India. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and awareness regarding the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination among health care professionals working in a tertiary care hospital in urban India. Methods To this aim, we conducted a cross-sectional study among 318 health care professionals working in tertiary hospitals across Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Our research group designed a structured questionnaire with 31 items to assess the knowledge and attitudes on cervical cancer, its prevention, and HPV vaccination. Results Among the 318 respondents, 90.6% were aware of cervical cancer, 83.3% were aware that PAP (Papanicolaou) smear test detects cervical cancer, and 86.2% of the respondents knew that HPV causes cervical cancer. 29.2% of the eligible respondents underwent the screening against cervical cancer, and 19.8% of the study participants were vaccinated for HPV. Only 34.9% know that the HPV vaccine could be given to boys. The most common reason for not being vaccinated against HPV was the lack of awareness. In our study, 77.2% of the respondents were willing to be vaccinated and recommend HPV vaccination to their family members. Conclusion From this study, it was evident that there is a lack of awareness about HPV vaccination and its importance in preventing cervical cancer among healthcare professionals. Our finding clearly establishes the need to devise intervention programs to promote vaccination against HPV and periodical screening for cervical cancer among healthcare professionals.

Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) is a common healthcare-related infection occurring in patients admitted for various ailments. Approximately 80% of hospital acquired Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are catheter associated. The purpose of the current research was to find out the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on prevention of CAUTI among healthcare professionals working in tertiary care hospital. A descriptive study was done among 95 health care working in tertiary care hospital in Chennai. The researchers administered standard questionnaire and statistically explored the knowledge, attitude, and practice levels about prevention of CAUTI among the participants. Among 95 participants, 28.4% and 71.6% of the individuals had moderately adequate knowledge and adequate knowledge about CAUTI. About 4.2% of the participants had unfavourable, 88.4% had moderately favourable and 7.4% had favourable attitude towards prevention of CAUTI. About 4.2% of the individuals had moderately adequate and 95.8% had adequate practice towards the prevention of CAUTI. There was significant correlation between attitude and practice. The professional experience of the participants showed statistically significant association with the level of practice among the demographic variables. In our present study, we found out that health care professionals had adequate knowledge, attitude, and practice on prevention of CAUTI. Medical education programs, frequent auditing with a checklist about catheter care must be conducted to maintain the achieved knowledge and practice levels.

<abstract><sec> <title>Background</title> <p>Fall is the most common patient safety incident in health care organizations. This study was initiated to obtain information regarding knowledge &amp; attitude on falls and awareness of fall risk factors among nurses to device evidence-based and multidisciplinary educational and training programs to improve patient safety and thereby reduce morbidity and mortality associated with falls.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Methods</title> <p>A descriptive cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 339 registered nurses working in Tertiary care hospitals across Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A modified version of the previously validated standard questionnaire was administered by the investigators through an online survey method to explore the level of knowledge &amp; attitude on falls and awareness of inpatient fall risk factors among Nurses.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Results</title> <p>In this study, 15.6% of participants had adequate knowledge of falls, 57.2% had a favorable attitude towards falls and 38.3% had adequate awareness of fall risk factors. Years of experience in nursing has a statistically significant association with the level of knowledge on fall. The participant's attitude towards falls had a statistically significant relationship with age, education, experience in nursing, and previous patient fall experience. The correlation between fall knowledge, the attitude toward falls, and awareness of fall risk factors were highly significant. The majority of the participants expressed their favorable attitude toward the need for fall preventive education.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>In our study, it is evident that there is a void that has to be filled to improve the knowledge, attitude, and awareness of falls and their risk factors. There is a need for extensive education and holistic, multifactorial, and interdisciplinary training program to be undertaken through various health care organizations.</p> </sec></abstract>

Back ground: Fall is the most common patient safety incident in health care organization. This study was initiated to obtain information regarding knowledge & attitude on fall and awareness of fall risk factors among nurses to device evidence based and multidisciplinary educational and training programme to improve patient safety and thereby reducing morbidity and mortality associated with fall. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional survey study was conducted among 339 registered nurses working in Tertiary care hospitals across Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Modified version of previously validated standard questionnaire was administered by the investigators through online survey method to explore the level of knowledge &attitude on fall and awareness of inpatient fall risk factors among Nurses. Results: In this study, 15.6% of participants had adequate knowledge on fall, 57.2% had favorable attitude towards fall and 38.3% adequate awareness on fall risk factors. Years of experience in nursing has statistical significant association with level of knowledge on fall. The participant’s attitude towards fall had statistical significant relationship with age, education, experience in nursing and previous patient fall experience. The correlation between fall knowledge, attitude of fall and awareness of fall risk factors were highly significant. Majority of the participants expressed their favorable attitude towards need for fall preventive education. Conclusion: In our study, it is evident that there is a void which has to be filled to improve the knowledge, attitude and awareness on fall and its risk factors .There is a need for extensive education and holistic, multifactorial and interdisciplinary training program to be undertaken through various health care organizations.

Background: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men. The disease varies widely in its clinical aggressiveness. Ballota nigra Linn (Black horehound) is a three-foot, perennial herb of the family Lamiaceae and it has been shown to have various pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, hypoglycemic, neuro-sedative, antibacterial, insecticidal and anticholinesterase activities. However, the elucidation of B.nigra for its anticancer activity in prostate cancer has not been studied so far. Methodology: Prostate cancer PC3 cells were treated with different concentrations of B.nigra (50, 100, 200 & 400µg/ml) for the analysis of Bcl-2, Phosphorylation of Bcl2 (p-Bcl2) and tumor suppressor protein p53, Case pase-3 and caspase-9 in PC3 cells. Results: The B.nigra ethanolic leaf extract reduced the levels of anti apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2, p-Bcl2) and increased the level of tumor suppressor protein p53, caspase-3 and 9 significantly (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results of the study show that B.nigra has potential anticancer activity by modulating intrinsic activity of apoptotic signaling in PC-3 cells. Thus, B.nigra may have a potential therapeutic option for the treatment of prostate cancer.