Background & Objectives: Primary tumors of central nervous system constitute less than 2% of overall human cancers in adults however; they constitute second most common frequently encountered tumors in children after leukaemia. Use of smear technique has been described for many years on specimens obtained with stereotactic devices, which allow multiple sampling for the diagnosis of deep seated lesions. Squash smear technique saves time and amount of tissue needed. METHODS: A total of 75 cases of intracranial space occupying lesions were studied. The squash smear technique was used to diagnose the brain Tumors and was compared with histopathological examination of same tumor. RESULTS: Out of 75 cases in 8 (10.7%) cases discordance was observed between squash smear diagnosis and histologic diagnosis. In 67 (89.3%) cases squash smear diagnosis was in accordance with the final histologic diagnosis. Thus the diagnostic accuracy of squash smear technique in this study is 89.3%. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Thus the value of squash smear technique in rapid preoperative diagnosis of neurosurgical biopsies is corroborated by above study and the accuracy of this study matched with the other studies done in the past on squash smear technique and it should be used regularly for rapid intra-operative diagnosis of intracranial space occupying lesion. KEY WORDS: squash smear technique, intracranial space occupying lesions, histopathological examination.

Indoor air pollution & occupation family size, have been known to play an important role in prevalence of ARI especially in developing countries like India. These factors alone contribute to 20-30% incidence of pneumonia in developing countries as opposed to 3-4% incidence in developed countries. MATERIAL & METHODS: A prospective one year longitudinal study was conducted among 3135 children of preschool age group belonging to rural field practice area of 'Rama Medical College & research center'. They constituted 14.94% of the total population. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: All children under 5 years of ages were examined for sign and symptoms and severity of ARI and no of average episodes. For every 5 children studied, 4 suffered from ARI. Children from families where wood was used as cooking fuel suffered 3.33 average episodes in contrast to children from families where gas was used suffered 2.40 average episodes. Respiratory episodes were highest 4.19 average episode in families with maximum family members. Although bacteria and viruses are the immediate causes of most acute respiratory infections, malnutrition, air pollution, smoking, and overcrowding are the underlying drivers of vulnerability. CONCLUSION: It was therefore concluded that type of fuel & occupation and family size played a key role in determining severity of ARI. A reduction in these risk factors can strategically lower the prevalence of ARI among rural community.

Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia. In majority of patients oral hypoglycemic drugs remain the primary agents in management of DM. Currently there are variety of new drugs are approved in management of DM of which safety is established in clinical trials but there surveillance is needed for reporting newer adverse effects which are not documented yet.Methods: 112 patients were screened with the help of a predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria for the study and followed up for three months. The drugs which are relatively new and have been in the market for around 5-7 years were taken as new drug. These include specifically the following drugs: DPP-IV Inhibitors, PPAR α/γ agonist, SGLT-2 inhibitors. They were screened and investigated suitably for any ADRs. The severity of the adverse drug reactions was graded according to the Hartwig’s Severity Assessment Scale and Naranjo Scale was used for causality assessment between the drug and suspected reaction.Results: Maximum ADRs reported belonged to gastro intestinal system (53%). DPP-IV inhibitors showed maximum number of ADRs i.e. 70.6%. Majority of ADRs reported were mild i.e. 52.9%. Overall 15.2% patients reported ADRs. Majority of ADRs reported (70.6%) belonged to category ‘possible’.Conclusions: All three class of newer oral hypoglycemics seems reasonably safe to be used in general practice. As the number of patients were small, we need larger study to substantiate the findings.

BACKGROUND:Obesity is a complex and incompletely understood disease.It is a population problem and should be tackled as such. OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of preobesity and obesity and nutritional profile of obese urban adult females. METHOD: A community based cross sectional study was carried out from Nov 2011 to May 2012 Total 553 adult females were enrolled. The data was analyzed by epi-info version. RESULTS: Prevalence of preobesity and obesity was found to be 17.18% and 6.5% respectively. CONCLUSION: As family is the first and most important of inculcating healthy habit and behavior, so particularly female should be made aware about causes and consequences of obesity from childhood level.