Background: In India, substance abuse has infiltrated all socio-cultural and economic strata causing loss of productivity. Prevention of relapse is crucial for its control. Objectives: To find out the pattern of substance use, relapse rate, its association with various socio-demographic factors and treatment related issues. Methods: An observational study with cross-sectional design during April 2009-March 2010 at a de addiction centre was conducted among consecutive 284 clients admitted with relapse. They were detoxified earlier in the same centre. Data were collected by interviewing clients with schedule and clinical examination. Results: Brown sugar (an adulterated form of Heroin) was primary drug of abuse in urban area contrary to alcohol in rural area. Commonest age of initiation was between 15-20 years. Polydrug abusers (59.1%) were common. Only 31.3% of the relapse cases took regular follow up. Common psychiatric illnesses were anxiety (44.7%) and depression (30.6%). Peer pressure (77.8%) was commonest cause of relapse. Significantly higher relapse episodes were present with increasing age, Muslim religion, ever marriage, poor literacy, current unemployment, living in nuclear rather than joint family, early age of initiation, longer duration of abuse and no follow up. Conclusion: Regular follow up with family, peer and social support are essential along with vocational rehabilitation to prevent relapse.

SUMMARYBackground: Geriatric population and chronic diseases are increasing throughout the world especially in developing countries like India. Because of social change and urbanization, disability is also a problem in India. As the major reasons for geriatric disabilities are chronic diseases, a study was undertaken. Objectives: To find out the prevalence of different chronic diseases and disability among the geriatric population in a rural community of India and to determine the association between chronic diseases and disability of the geriatric population. Method: A cross-sectional, observational community based study was conducted in a rural area of West Bengal, India through house to house visit for Clinical examination, observation and interview with a predesigned pre-tested proforma Results: Out of 495 study population, 80 (16.16%) were found to be functionally disabled as per ADL scale and more than half (56.2%) of them had 3 or more chronic conditions. 92.5% of study populations had one or more chronic conditions Conclusion: Association between different risk factors and disability was found with age, sex, anaemia, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases(C.O.P.D), scabies, hypertrophy of prostate, ischaemic heart disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and acid peptic disorder were the risk factors of disability. These data suggest the significant chronic conditions and risk factors associated with disability. Measures to reduce such chronic conditions and impairment would be the useful approach for the prevention of disability.

Parental education, socioeconomic background, and number of living issues were the main predictors for gender preference. Awareness regarding gender preference and related law and parental counselling to avoid gender preference with adoption of small family norm is recommended.

Abstract:Background: In developing countries acute pesticide poisoning remains an important issue and according to WHO (1999)

Background:The undergraduate medical training period is a stressful period. In the recent years, due to growing competitiveness and aspiration for achievement the pressure on the students has increased manyfolds and makes the medical students more vulnerable for developing mental distress and thus contributes to poor academic performance and substance use. So an observational, cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate students in a medical college to study the prevalence of mental distress among the undergraduate students of Medical College, Kolkata, India and to find out the correlation between mental distress and explanatory variables among the study population. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional, observational study among the undergraduate students in a medical college, Kolkata, India and used SRQ-20 for the assessment of mental distress. Result: The prevalence of mental distress was 14.5%. Present occupancy, parent's occupation, attempt in MBBS entrance examination, students who could not cope with the situation, socioeconomic status, and place of residence were found as risk factors of mental distress. A total of 78% of the explanatory variables could be explained by binary logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Considering these risk factors, preventive measures should be undertaken to reduce the mental distress and its consequences.