BACKGROUND One of the most common causes of thyroid dysfunction among women is autoimmunity, especially in fertile age group. Thyroid hormone disorders are associated with a number of biochemical abnormalities including dyslipidaemia, metabolic dysfunctions, spontaneous miscarriage, and preterm delivery. Dyslipidaemia is one of the most common metabolic abnormalities present in patients with thyroid disease. The purpose of this study was to find the association between anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) and dyslipidaemia in reproductive age group females from Central Kerala. METHODS A total of 200 asymptomatic women, all in reproductive age group, from a tertiary hospital in Kerala participated in this study. Demographic data and detailed medical history of the participants were collected. Anti-TPO and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured using chemiluminescence immunoassay system. Serum lipid profile was estimated using fully automated random-access clinical chemistry analyser EM - 360. Continuous variables were compared between the groups using Mann–Whitney U-test. P value lesser than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS The mean age of the subjects was 32.92 ± 11.82 years. A total of 47 participants (23.5 %) were anti-TPO positive. Abnormality in lipid profile was present in 72.34 % (N = 34) of the anti-TPO positive participants. In the anti-TPO positive group, 51.06 % of the participants had hypercholesterolemia. In the anti-TPO positive group, anti-TPO levels show a statistically significant correlation with total cholesterol and triglyceride levels (P = 0.07 and P < 0.01). A total of 9 % (N = 18) had thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values greater than normal range (0.34- 4.25 µIU/mL) suggesting presence of hypothyroidism. TSH values were also significantly associated with lipid profile in the anti-TPO positive group. Both thyroid autoimmunity and dyslipidaemia can affect fertility, pregnancy and other reproductive outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Women should be screened for autoimmune antibodies and associated biochemical abnormalities to estimate and reduce the risk of cardiovascular morbidity, negative pregnancy outcomes and infertility. KEY WORDS Thyroid Autoimmunity, Anti-TPO Antibody, Dyslipidaemia

Background: Air pollution leads to several health effects, the major systems affected were respiratory, dermatology, neurology and ophthalmology. This study is an attempt to find out various health effects of pollution, from a food factory to the nearby residents.Methods: A cross sectional comparative study was performed on 248 residents nearby a food factory, situated in rural area of Thrissur district and a comparative group of 266 participants taken 5km away from this factory.Results: Both the groups were comparable in socio-demographic profile except religion and occupation. There was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between the use of firewood in both the groups. The symptoms of major systems involved were respiratory (odds ratio 3.9, 95% CI 2.2 to 6.8), dermatological (odds ratio 18.3, 95% CI 8.3 to 40.7), neurological (odds ratio 13.5, 95% CI 4.1 to 44.7) and ophthalmological (odds ratio 5.9, 95% CI 2.6 to 13.6). The major symptoms complained by them were pruritus (32.7%), skin lesions (17.7%), breathlessness (16.9%), itching eye (13.3%) watering from eye (11.7%) and headache (11.3%). All these symptoms among the case group compared to control group were very high and these associations were highly statistically significant (p<0.001).Conclusions: This study showed an increased occurrence of adverse health effects among the individuals who were residing near the food factory. Therefore this study points out the possibility of environmental pollution (mainly air pollution) as a main factor for the increased prevalence of symptoms among those who reside nearby the factory.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B infection is a serious global public health problem and one among the transfusion transmitted infections (TTI). The prevalence of hepatitis varies across the world. There are several risk factors for HBV infection. We wanted to find out the prevalence of HBV infection among the blood donors and its relevant risk factors. METHODS This is a descriptive study conducted among healthy, voluntary and replacement blood donors. A total of 2400 blood donors were selected for the study by systemic random sampling method. Blood samples from these donors were tested for detection of HBsAg through enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to find out prevalence of infection. Various risk factors were compared among the blood donors for positive HBV infection. All statistical data were analysed using SPSS software version 16. RESULTS Total prevalence of HBV infection among the individuals of the study population was 0.45 %. When the risk factors for getting the HBV infection were analysed, unvaccinated blood donors gave a prevalence of 0.6 % (P value 0.001). Prevalence of HBV infection among blood donors with other risk factors were 0.63 % in first time donors (P value 0.04), 7.3 % in replacement blood donors (P value 0.01), 0.97 % in low socioeconomic status (0.03). Where as prevalence of infection among males was 0.49 % and females was 0.26 %. HBV infection among blood donors who were single was 0.34 % compared to married as 0.52 %. Hence the statistical analysis showed P value > 0.05, gender and marital status of the blood donors in the study is not significant for getting HBV infection. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of HBV infection among blood donors was markedly less compared to prevalence in south India which shows that donor selection criteria was satisfactory to screen the blood donors during donor selection itself. In the study HBV unvaccinated blood donors, first time donors, replacement donors, and donors from low socioeconomic status were found to be significant risk factor to get HBV infection. KEYWORDS Transfusion Transmitted Infection, Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay, HBsAg, Voluntary Blood Donors, Seroprevalence, HBV Vaccine

Background: The COVID vaccination programme in conjunction with other control measures, are needed to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The mass vaccination with COVID vaccines, will help to increase the herd immunity. This study is an attempt to assess the knowledge and attitude of the adult population of a panchayat area of Thrissur district of Kerala towards COVID-19 vaccination and socio-demographic determinants associated with it.Methods: We have done a cross-sectional study among 350 study participants selected by cluster sampling technique from a panchayat area of Thrissur district of Kerala and the data was collected, using a pretested semi structured questionnaire. The knowledge and attitude were assessed by proportion and association of socio-demographic determinants was found out using ‘t’ test and ‘ANOVA’ test.Results: The result obtained, showed 94.3% of persons responded that there is a vaccine for preventing COVID and 85.2% were aware that Covishield and Covaxin were the vaccine freely available. The 78.3% respondents knew that there should be 84 days between the doses of Covishield and 77.1% knew that 28 days for Covaxin. The 100% respondents had attitude to take the vaccine and 99.1% were ready to continue COVID prevention measures even after vaccination. As per this study, younger age (p=0.04) and religion (0.000) had an association with knowledge.Conclusions: The high level of knowledge and a100% attitude towards COVID vaccination may be due to high political will and accountability of the governments towards it. The places with low acceptance rate can be able to model on it.