Introduction: Rapid technological advances and information overload in the medical field calls for a redesigning of the medical curriculum especially in basic sciences. To incorpate change in the curriculum would require experts' opinion in the area. At the same time, students' opinion also forms an important basis for any modification. The present study is small one but it is an important step for this field. We have addressed this issue by evaluating students' perspective of the physiology curriculum with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Aims & Objectives: This study was designed to • Obtain the views of students regarding the curriculum of physiology. • Invite suggestions for improvements. Materials & Methods: The study was conducted at Gian Sagar Medical College, Ram Nagar, Patiala, India using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was given to 2 nd professional MBBS students, were exposed to of basic science for further training. Results & Discussion: Our study has revealed students' opinion about certain aspects of the existing physiology curriculum. The students emphasized that they wanted to learn only the clinical application oriented subject content and they the preferred interactive teaching methods. Most students felt the need to reemphasize these subjects in later clinical years. Their assessment is the crucial factor on how they would organize their learning. There is a need for modification in the existing curriculum though similar studies over longer duration of time should be conducted in other medical colleges to recommend changes.

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Background: Literature suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in poor sleep quality, especially among the infected population. However, literature regarding the effect of COVID-19 pandemic and SARS-CoV-2 infection on occurrence of insomnia, restless legs syndrome and dream enactment behavior is either scarce or unavailable. Methods: This study was planned to assess the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the occurrence of insomnia, restless legs syndrome (RLS) and dream enactment behavior (DEB). For this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire comprising of items related to demographic details, past medical history, and information related to SARS-CoV-2 infection was distributed through social media. Insomnia was diagnosed using clinical criteria. RLS, DEB, sleep quality, depression and anxiety were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Information regarding the use of hypnotic medications was also gathered. Results: Of the 1596 respondents, 37.2% reported disturbed sleep while insomnia was reported by 22.6% respondents. 27.3% of respondents reported RLS and 17.4% suffered DEB. The odds of insomnia were greater among males (OR = 1.27; 95% CI: 1.03–1.58; P < 0.02) and among those who had SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR = 1.76; 95% CI = 1.42–2.19; P < 0.001). Similarly, SARS-CoV-2 infection was also associated with increased odds of RLS (OR = 2.48; 95% CI = 1.98–3.11; P < 0.001) and DEB (OR = 1.58; 95%CI = 1.21–2.06; P < 0.001). Insomnia, RLS and DEB were more frequent among respondents who required oxygen therapy, those who experienced loss of taste and/or smell, depression and anxiety. Prevalence of insomnia, DEB and RLS was higher than said prevalence among respondents with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but lower than that of those with positive history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. 5.3% of respondents reported taking hypnotic medications before infection, 7% during infection and 5.3% after infection. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2-infection-related factors in association with environmental factors have increased the prevalence of insomnia, DEB and RLS among subjects having infection. SARS-CoV-2-associated immunological changes, hypoxia and neurotropism may play a role in occurrence of insomnia, DEB and RLS.

Introduction:The purpose of the present study was to determine the factors that affect the outcome of strabismus surgery in terms of improvement in stereopsis and binocularity. Methods: Data were collected prospectively from patients with childhood-onset, concomitant, constant strabismus greater than 30 prism diopters (PD) with postoperative alignment within 10 PD. Pre-and postoperative stereopsis and binocularity testing were performed using the Titmus fly test, random dot test, Bagolini striated glass test, and Worth four dot test at one, four, and 12 weeks postoperatively.Results: A total of 73 patients (55% males and 45% females) who underwent surgery at our center were studied. The mean age at the time of surgery was 16 ± 7.7 years (range: 5-35 years). We found that factors such as age of strabismus onset, type of deviation, and amblyopia had a statistically significant influence on the postoperative surgical outcome. A statistically insignificant relationship was noted with gender, refractive error, and duration of strabismus. Patients who had strabismus after six months of age noticed a significant improvement in stereopsis (p-value = 0.000) than those who had strabismus before six months of age (p-value = 0.660). Further, there was a statistically significant improvement in patients having exotropia (p-value = 0.018) or combined horizontal and vertical deviations (p-value = 0.000), but there was no significant improvement in patients with esotropia (p-value = 0.180). Moreover, non-amblyopes had a significantly better postoperative stereopsis than amblyopes (p-value = 0.006). Although there was no association between preoperative deviation and improvement in stereopsis (p-value = 0.081), patients having preoperative deviation in the range of 31-45 PD had a statistically significant improvement in stereopsis (p-value = 0.000). There was no significant difference between postoperative residual deviation and final stereopsis (p-value > 0.05). All the results were the same for both the Titmus test and the random dot test. Binocular fusion was observed in 34 subjects, and uniocular suppression was noted in 38 subjects preoperatively. It was observed that only one patient gained binocular single vision postoperatively. Conclusion:The presence of amblyopia, esotropia, early onset of strabismus (within six months of age), and a larger preoperative deviation (>45 PD) were associated with poorer stereopsis. In patients with horizontal strabismus, the coexistence of vertical deviation had a positive impact on the postoperative stereopsis. Gender, refractive error, and duration of strabismus did not influence the final stereopsis in our study.

Circadian rhythms synchronize human physiological changes with the day and night cycle. However, with the invention of artificial lighting, the consequences of disrupted rhythm also started showing in various areas of human health including vital parameters such as blood pressure. It is one of the strictly regulated variables in the cardiovascular system and thus understanding its variability is significant. The normal circadian variation in blood pressure is characterized by a 10%–20% reduction in the night recordings and the individuals with this decrease in the night-time blood pressure are termed “dippers,” a blunted decline in night-time blood pressure is seen in “nondippers.” Evidence suggests a relatively increased risk of cardiac and extracardiac morbidity in individuals with nondipping blood pressure patterns. The purpose of this review was to summarize the literature regarding various factors contributing to circadian variations in blood pressure and explore the role of chronotherapy in hypertension. We found that there is conflicting evidence to suggest the role of night time administration of antihypertensive drugs, but the understanding of these mechanisms can be utilized for strategic management of hypertension and suggests that if drugs are aligned with the circadian rhythm then may be useful in not only controlling hypertension but also improving cardiovascular outcomes.