Background: Fear of falling in elderly is a major cause of loss of independence, which has an effect on the physical function in elderly individuals. Depression is another important public health problem for older adults, because late life depression might have devastating consequences, such as an increase in mortality. QOL of older adults has become an important issue, because of demographic changes resulting from the ageing of the population. The goal of the study was to assess the depression and fear of fall which will provide further insights into the relationship between QOL, depression and fear of fall among elderly individuals in India.Methods: The sample consisted of 62 elderly people of age between 65 years to 75 years (mean=71.96, SD±5.92) were taken in the study. Depression was assessed using the 30-item geriatric depression scale (GDS), fear of falling was measured using falls efficacy scale (FES), QOL was assessed using the 26-item, World Health Organization Quality of Life, brief version (WHOQOL-BREF).Results: The data was analysed using Pearson co-efficient of correlation to examine the relationship between GDS, FES, and WHOQOL-BREF. The correlation co-efficient between GDS and FES was 0.5257 (p<0.05) and correlation coefficient between GDS and WHOQOL was 0.4372 (p<0.05).Conclusions: This study concluded that there was a significant association between the depression, fall efficacy, and QOL in the elderly people. This relationship has an important implication for the development of the rehabilitation programs that aim to improve the balance confidence and motivation will diminish its impact on QOL in elderly people.

Background:Depression is the most common mental health problem across all the age groups. Still diagnostic techniques and laboratory tests are awaited to confirm it. Some studies focus on P300 latency to aid in the diagnosis of depression. Hence, this study was conducted to know whether P300 latency is an indicator of major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods:This study was conducted both on patients admitted in the hospital and those attending outdoor clinic giving written informed consent and fulfilling inclusion/exclusion criteria from the Department of Psychiatry, S.N. Medical College and Hospital, Agra. The sample consisted of 30 consecutive patients suffering from MDD as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria and 30 subjects as normal control. Sociodemographic and clinical history proforma, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D), and P300 were administered on all 60 subjects. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t-test.Results:Significant difference (P < 0.0001) has been found in HAM-D mean scores of depressed and nondepressed control group subjects. The mean score of depressed group was significantly high (18.066) compared to nondepressed control group (4.833). Significant difference (P < 0.0001) between the mean of P300 latency in depressed and nondepressed control subjects was also found. Mean score of P300 latency in depressed group was significantly high (346.918 ± 19.515) compared to the nondepressed control subjects (303.741 ± 6.378). There was a significant difference in the mean of P300 latency between mild and severe (P < 0.0001), mild and very severe (P < 0.0003), as well as moderate and severe (P < 0.0001) level of depression.Conclusions:P300 latency may be used as an indicator of MDD and it is directly proportional to the severity of MDD.

BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter species are one of the most frequent nosocomial pathogen causing bacteremia, urinary tract infection, secondary meningitis, skin and soft tissue infections and in particular nosocomial pneumonia with high mortality rate. The infections due to these are often difficult to treat due to their high antibiotic resistance. AIMS: To Study the prevalence and resistance pattern of Acinetobacter species in hospitalized patients of Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital (ELMCH), Lucknow. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Total number of 1850 samples were taken from patients admitted in wards of different Departments of ELMCH from Sep 2012 to Sep 2013. Identification of isolates was done by colony characteristics and biochemical reactions. The resistance patterns of these isolates were studied using various antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test as per CLSI (Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute) guidelines. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: 46 isolates were identified as Acinetobacter species. High level of resistance was observed for most of the antibiotics tested. More than 80% of isolates were resistant to amikacin, gentamycin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. 30.43% of isolates were resistant to cefoperazone/sulbactum and resistance to imipenem and colistin was 23.91% and 19.56% respectively. Acinetobacter species has become a worldwide concern as a cause of serious nosocomial infections. The emergence of increasingly resistant strains causing such infections has become a public health problem. Their early detection is necessary for timely implementation of strict infection control practices and judicious treatment with susceptible antimicrobials.

Here, we are reporting a case of late onset mania in a 61 year old male secondary to dengue fever. The past and family history of the mood disorder was absent in the patient. Episode of mania had a temporal correlation with the dengue fever. Psychiatric co-morbidities are mentioned in the literature following dengue fever but the literature on the mania following dengue is sparse. The late onset mania in dengue fever is unreported in the literature.

Pharmacogenetics is the study of genetic basis in the individual response to drugs. A thorough knowledge of this will lead to a future where tailor-made drugs, suiting an individual, can be used. Scandinavian countries have been known for wide usage of pharmacogenetics and the most widely used application is for genotyping CYP2D6 in treating psychiatric illness. The CYP-450 enzyme, a super family of microsomal drug-metabolizing enzymes, is the most important of enzymes that catalyzes phase-I drug metabolism reaction. CYP2D6 is a member of this family and it has been most intensively studied and the best example of pharmacogenetics variation in drug metabolism. Neuro-transmitter and drug acting CNS viz. codeine, dextromethorphan, metoprolol and tryptyline etc. are well metabolized by this enzyme. Thus, CYP2D6 is one of the most important and responsible enzymes which regulates bioavailability and metabolism of drug. Presently 75 alleles of CYP2D6 have been described which are responsible for variance of metabolism and toxicity of drugs. Thus, by determining variance of CYP2D6 using molecular approaches viz., PCR, real-time PCR, DNA micro-array and molecular docking can determine the adverse effects, drug toxicity, bioavailability and therapeutic potential of new drug.