BACKGROUND: The current novel coronavirus pandemic started as a simple outbreak in December 2019 from Wuhan, China, and it has now become a global threat. The governments from most of the countries including India have already taken strict precautionary measures to reduce the coronavirus spread such as social distancing, closure of schools, colleges, airports, restaurants, shopping malls, and other places where the people might gather. An increase in the levels of anxiety, aggression, depression, forgetfulness, and hallucinations are possible psychological effects of isolation. Too little is understood of the social impact of the pandemic. AIM: To study the social impact of post-COVID-19 lockdown in Kerala from a community perspective. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 700 families (50 families from each district) from all the 14 districts of Kerala from during April-May 2020 using respondent-driven sampling. The data were analyzed and the categorical variables have been presented as percentages and proportions. RESULTS: Anxiety (44%) and fear (44.3%) were reported by many of the study participants. The survey also picked up an increase in the prevalence of domestic violence (13.7%) during the period. The most common social change brought about by the lockdown was an improvement in the hygiene practices among the study population. CONCLUSION: The present study highlights the positive social changes brought about as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Further studies need to be conducted on a larger scale to assess the psycho-behavioural impact of COVID-19 on the wider population.

Considerable progress has been made towards lessening under-five mortality. The number of under-five deaths ABSTRACT Background: More than 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 18 percent of under five deaths worldwide. Childhood ARI is a significant public health problem in India, although robust epidemiological data are not available on its incidence. In recent years, the burden posed by ARI in underdeveloped and developing countries has stimulated global concern. The objective of the study was to study the occurrence of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children under the age of five years in Nellanad Panchayat, Trivandrum district and to study the factors associated with ARI in children under five years of age. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 375 children below the age of five years. Results: Occurrence of ARI was found to be 52%. A significant association was found between ARI and undernutrition, low birth weight, poor breast feeding practices, poor parental education, exposure to passive smoking and inadequate indoor ventilation. Conclusions:The study points towards the importance of basic health promotional measures like good antenatal care, proper breast feeding practices, proper nutrition of the child and socio-economic improvement in prevention and control of ARI.

Background: Cyber-crime is described as any unlawful activity which is committed using any computing devices, like computer/smartphone and which is a part of internet. There are different methods by which cyber-crime is committed which include 1) attacks on computer systems, 2) cyber-bullying, 3) email spam, 4) phishing, 5) identity theft. Breaches in cyber security have become a severe danger to world security and the economy, compromising essential infrastructure and wreaking havoc on company performance, resulting in significant cognitive property loss. It is a sad reality that cybercrime cases have witnessed a steady spike. India has witnessed a significant increase in cases of cyber fraud and various cyber-related incidents in the last three years. The present study was done to assess the prevailing cyber practices among adults from Thiruvalla, Kerala.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 340 adults in Thiruvalla, Kerala from January to June, and 2022. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the study participants after obtaining consent. The quantitative data collected was analysed using the software statistical package for social sciences. The results have been presented as tables and charts showing frequencies and percentages.Results: 133 out of the 350 study participants (38%) believed that it was important to be aware of cyber security risks in general while 52% (182) of the study participants considered cyber security awareness to be the only solution to the existing online scams.Conclusions: Widespread awareness campaigns are necessary to improve the cyber awareness of the community and thereby improve their cyber practices.

Background: Technology in Communication has developed drastically in recent years and the introduction of smartphone is a crucial milestone in history. The constant involvement of people with their smartphone has led to the surfacing of a new kind of psychological disorder called as the phantom syndrome, comprising of phantom vibration syndrome (PVS) and phantom ringing syndrome (PRS), characterized by a recurrent false sensation of vibration and ringing from their smartphones.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among Four hundred eighty seven medical students in Thiruvalla Taluk of Pathanamthitta District, Kerala to estimate prevalence of such sensations among medical students and their association with perceived stress levels and smartphone addiction. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire for details about the phantom vibration/phantom ringing sensations over the last 1-month, perceived stress scale (PSS), smartphone addiction scale short version (SAS SV). Chi-square test and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval were used to evaluate statistical significance of association.Results: 59.1% have a sensation of phantom vibration and 61% experienced phantom ringing syndrome. 73.5% students perceived stress and 67.6% had smartphone addiction. Phantom vibration and phantom ringing were significantly associated to perceived stress and smartphone addiction.Conclusions: This study throws light on the stress levels and excessive smartphone use among medical students, and the association of smartphone phantom sensations with smartphone addiction and stress level.

Introduction: Empathy is a social skill that exerts influence on the quality of social relationships. An empathetic person is able to understand the emotions of others, accurately express their feelings, comprehend other’s situations and act appropriately. Added to the volatile nature of the age, the youth face challenges from social exclusion, gender based violence and the lack of access to rights and opportunities. Aim: To measure empathy levels among college students aged 18-28 years in Kerala and to find out the factors associated with individual variations in Empathy levels among them. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 610 college students of both gender randomly selected from Pathamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, and Trivandrum districts in South Central Kerala, India. Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), short version of Malach-Pines (2005) and Burnout Measure was used for collecting information from study participants. Data was analysed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 (Chicago, USA). Results were expressed as percentages and proportions. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 21±1.6 years. The mean empathy score and burnout score of study participants were 58±11.9 and 41.03±12.3, respectively. The empathy score among study participants was found to be significantly associated with age of study participants and burnout. Conclusion: The present study revealed a good prevalence of empathy and humanistic values among college students in Kerala. However, certain factors like burnout that can affect total individual empathy scores need to be addressed.