Badminton is a fast shuttle-racquet game, which requires adequate endurance and agility for hitting shots. For consistent and superior performances, players need to develop decent nutritional status and tremendous physical fitness. The present study concerns with the effect of anthropometric indices and nutritional profiles on arm strength for racquet gripping. Adolescent male (N=100) and female (N=100) badminton players aged 10 to 15 years were selected from Nagpur, India, and arm anthropometric indices and skeletal muscles of the players were determined by tape and bioelectrical impedance analyzer respectively. Muscle growing macronutrient (protein) and skeletal developing micronutrients (calcium and phosphorus) were calculated from dietary data for consecutive 3 days by the 24-hour dietary recall method. Arm strength was appraised from the hand grip strength test. Statistically, the assessed data were tested at 1% and 5% significance levels. Pearson correlation coefficients were derived. All the age groups possessed substantially shorter arm lengths (2.41-15.43%) than reference standards. Older groups appeared to have greater arm circumferences (1.00-3.92 cm) than younger groups. Overall, boys showed elevated skeletal muscles (6.69% and 8.29%) than girls. Dietary protein and phosphorus ingestion were significantly higher (45.42-90.88% and 16.18-40.62%) than recommended dietary allowances (RDAs). Calcium intake (23.26-28.48%) was below the RDA. Older male players performed under excellent grade (38%) in the hand grip strength test, depicting masculine supremacy. Positive correlations (r= 0.0710 to 0.5947) between arm anthropometry and nutrient intake with grip strength proved their affirmative effects on delivering various explosive shots, which can enhance the performance level of emerging young players.

Background: Varicella zoster (VZ) is a highly contagious exanthematous disease. The Indian VZ clade 5 has a high outbreak potential with attack rates of 90%, which thwarts all the infection control endeavors in hospital and institutional environments. Four VZ outbreaks occurring over four different years were investigated with military nursing students in a tertiary-care hospital in order to delineate infection control protocols. Methods: VZ outbreaks were investigated by hospital infection control committee utilizing standard definitions and protocols after establishing epidemiological linkage. A total of 114 nursing students were evaluated through a questionnaire developed to assess clinicodemographic, exposure, confinement and vaccination parameters. Outbreak control measures included isolation of patients; quarantined close-contacts and suspects; acyclovir treatment; immunization of susceptible candidates against VZ. Results: There were four different outbreaks comprising a total of 23 patients including five breakthrough patients with cumulative attack rate of 39%. Most patients had mild VZ. Most common sources were friends. Also, 25 students had no exposure to VZ or VZ vaccine, and were identified to be susceptible candidates and accordingly, were vaccinated. Conclusions: Outbreaks of VZ are emerging in the developing countries due to inadequate immunization coverage, primary failure to seroconvert, or failure to mount immune response despite seroconversion, or secondary failure due to waning immunity. Outbreaks of VZ may have variable epidemiological dynamics and may not be controlled with standard infection-control programs. There is a need to augment existing capabilities for optimizing outbreak management in institutional settings.

Objectives: With the introduction of antiretroviral treatment (ART), opportunistic infections (OIs) reduced a lot and most HIV-associated OIs are preventable and treatable with safe cost-effective interventions. But however, in order to prevent and early diagnosis, we need to have baseline estimation of OIs among HIV positive children and other factors associated, especially nutritional deficiencies. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out in pediatric outpatient department (OPD) of a large multicentric hospital among 106 children. Data were collected by means of pretested predesigned semi-structed questionnaire prepared on consultation with experts in the subjects and clinical assessment was done in day light to detect signs of nutritional disorders. Institutional ethical clearance was taken, and strict confidentiality was maintained. Results: Majority (39.6%) of the children belong to 5–9 years. Children were equitably distributed between orphanage and family care giver. Bitot’s spots, cheilosis, and gum bleeding were found to be more than twice as common in subjects living with family, as compared to those living in orphanage while aphthous ulcer, knock knee, bow leg were found to be more than twice as common in female subjects as compared males. The prevalence of Pneumonia, Mumps, Herpes zoster, Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Oral candidiasis, and recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) was found to be about twice as common in subjects living with family, as compared to those living in orphanage while males had more Chicken pox, Herpes zoster, Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Oral candidiasis, and Recurrent URTI as compared to those in females. Conclusion: Vitamin deficiencies and opportunistic infections were higher than the prevalence reported by the various studies done on normal children. All efforts to be made to improve adequate nutrition to HIV positive children and ensure protection against opportunistic infections especially for children in home-based care.

Context: Dengue, a mosquito-borne illness, is endemic over 100 countries around the world. Dengue cases have been on rise in India in the past decade. The present study was conducted to describe dengue cases of a ward in an urban area. Aims: To analyse the 5-year trend of cases of dengue fever, the 5-year trend of disease burden attributable to dengue as a proportion of all consultations, and the 5-year trend of mortality attributable to dengue as a proportion of all deaths in an urban area. Settings: The present study is a retrospective record-based study, carried out from January 2014 to December 2019. Material and Methods: Descriptive analysis was used to describe the cases. Standard statistical tools such as Chi square for linear trends were utilised for data analysis. Results: Except for a marginal dip in the year 2017, we observed that the trend of dengue significantly increased during the period of our study (Chi square for linear trend = 217.54; P = 0). We also observed a generally significantly increasing trend in burden of dengue as a disease, measured as a proportion of all consultations (Chi square for linear trend = 14302.72; P = 0). Mortality attributable to dengue measured as a ratio of deaths because of dengue and deaths because of all causes also shows a generally increasing trend with a slight decrease in 2018 (Chi square for linear trend = 371.24; P = 0). Conclusion: Dengue cases and the percentage of consultations attributable to dengue show an increasing trend over the past 5 years.

A very rare case of conjoined twins, incompatible with life. Craniothoraco omphalopagus terminated after second trimester anomalies scan. Only anecdotal case reports were available and their inheritance pattern remains a mystery. They were inoperable. Here we present such a case which was unbooked and unregistered and escaped detection till late second trimester due to non-availability of maternity services. These cases if they reached term had to be delivered always by classical caesarean due to obstructed labour and difficulty in delivery via LUS due to variety of difficulties and manoeuvrability by obstetrician. LSCS should not be attempted as it invariably leads to an inverted T scar on the uterus with increased blood loss. A classical caesarean section always leads to increased risk of future rupture and spoils the obstetric career of the woman. These cases if detected early can be delivered vaginally with ease by an experienced consultant.