A cross-sectional study was conducted among police personnel (N = 1817) in Bankura District, West Bengal, India to estimate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM), impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and its correlates during July-November, 2011. Participants were enquired about their age, gender, physical activity, and predominant occupational activity. Diagnosis of DM, IFG, and IGT was based on a history, fasting, and 2-h post-load blood glucose estimation as per World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Body mass index, waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (BP) were estimated. Out of 1817 subjects, DM was found in 15%, 1.1% had IFG and 5.7% had IGT. Age >50 years, family history of diabetes, hypertension, and abdominal obesity were found to be significantly associated with DM and IGT, whereas IFG was significantly associated with the family history of diabetes and hypertension. High prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetic condition warrants early effective intervention to keep the police force healthy and agile.

Fluorosis is a major public health problem in India. This cross-sectional observational study has been conducted in the fluoride endemic zones of Bankura district to evaluate the effect of fluorosis on the liver enzymes. This study was carried out in the Simlapal block of Bankura, on 100 subjects by using simple random sampling in which 50 were cases. The serum samples were collected from the subjects and serum fluoride was estimated by Ion-Meter and serum ALT, AST, ALP and LDH levels were determined by auto-analyzer and were compared with age and sex matched controls. The serum fluoride was found to have a statistically significant relationship with AST and ALP and serum LDH has also statistically significant relationship with ALT and AST in the study group. The serum levels of fluoride, ALT, AST, ALP and LDH were higher in the study group compared to the comparison group.

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Background: Iron and thyroid hormone metabolism are closely related with each other. Iron plays an important role for both the synthesis as well as metabolism of thyroid hormones acting as a component of many enzymes including thyroid peroxidase (TPO). So, iron deficiency can lead to abnormal functioning of thyroid gland. Ferritin is storage form of iron in our body. Several studies in showed that nutritional iron deficiency can significantly decrease the circulating levels of both T4 and T3 and it can also reduce peripheral conversion of T4 to T3. So, the aim of the study is to find out whether there is any relationship between hypothyroidism and iron metabolism.Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Deben Mahata Government Medical College and Hospital, Purulia on 50 hypothyroid patients and 50 age and sex matched controls after imposing inclusion and exclusion criterias. Blood samples were collected and estimation of Serum TSH, fT4 and fT3, iron, ferritin and TIBC levels were done. Then the data obtained were analysed by proper statistical methods.Results: Out of 100 subjects 68 were male and rest were female. The mean serum TSH level in study population was significantly higher than that of comparison group. While serum fT3 and fT4 level in study group were lower than the control group and both were statistically significant. In the other hand, the mean serum ferritin and iron levels in cases were lower than that in controls and the mean TIBS was higher in study group and all the differences were statistically significant. There were significant correlation between Serum ferritin and serum iron (positive correlation), Serum ferritin and TSH (negative correlation), Serum TSH and fT4 (negative correlation) but there was no significant relationship between serum TSH and iron.Conclusions: The iron metabolism is disturbed in hypothyroidism reflected by low serum ferritin and iron.

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