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Background: During COVID 19 pandemic many countries implied nationwide lockdown which affected academic and educational activities of medical students. We evaluated the level of depression, anxiety and stress among first MBBS students of Government Medical College, Himachal Pradesh. Aims and Objective: To estimate the level of depression, anxiety and stress among first MBBS students during COVID-19 pandemic and study its relationship with gender. Materials and Methods: A standard questionnaire DASS 21 (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) was administered to 110 first MBBS of Government Medical College, Himachal Pradesh. The responses were collected via Google form and scores evaluated. Results: The overall score for depression was 10.44±5.1, 10.94±5 for anxiety and 12.29±5.3 for stress. About 58 % participants had depression, 74% had anxiety & 32 % had stress in various grades of severity. Depression, anxiety & stress was more among females as compared to males (p<0.05). There was strong correlation among the scores of Depression, Anxiety & Stress among the participants (r >0.8). Conclusion: During this COVID-19 pandemic higher scores of depression, anxiety & stress were recorded among the first year MBBS students; females having more scores than male students. This study highlights the importance of and need for routine screening of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students.

Background: Nationwide lockdown tremendously affected academic and educational activities of medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical students like all other faculties resorted to the e-learning modalities. This has helped the first MBBS students to continue learning during this period of lockdown. Hence studies about perception of medical students towards e-learning are relevant. Aims and Objectives: To assess the first MBBS student’s perception about e-learning and online classes. To evaluate feasibility of utilizing e-learning by assessing the acceptability, knowledge, attitude, skills and habits of first MBBS students. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire of 25 questions on various aspects of e-learning was administered to the first MBBS students at Government Medical College, Himachal Pradesh through google form (n=100). They were asked to mark appropriate responses and the data was analysed to get the percentage and proportion on various aspects of e-learning. Results: The first MBBS students widely used e-learning resources to learn anatomy, physiology as well as biochemistry during COVID 19 pandemic. E-learning has made a positive impact on overall learning of first-year subjects, especially anatomy. The responses did not have any association with gender (p>0.05). Conclusion: Distance learning can compensate for conventional teaching during pandemic, but cannot fully replace the traditional teaching in the medical institutes.

Around the world even the developed countries are stunned by this pandemic causing extensive pain. India is no exception and the Government has imposed a nation – wide lockdown to help restrain the virus. At the onset of the pandemic, medical students in the midst of the session were suddenly pulled out of their studies and same for 3rd and 4th years medical students clerkships were abruptly pulled out of clinical care. Faculty scrambled to adjust learning experiences by switching to online cases and remote activities to prepare students for required exams and to build clinical reasoning skills without the face to face patient encounter. In such a situation, where educational institutions across the country have been closed, both teaching and learning have affected millions of students. As per the orders from the.Government, Universities the colleges have started offering online classes to students. The objective of these online classes is to make sure that students do not lose out on any teaching and learning activities during the lockdown. This paper examines the impact of lockdown on students of medical institutions, the challenges they are facing due to lockdown.

Introduction: The effects of altitudinal variation on child growth and development have long been a center of attention for researcher. We believe that hereditary factor primarily affects on child growth and development however environment has secondary effect on it. The available literature on newborns in Himachal Pradesh establishes the fact that as altitude increases the crown heel length decreases. A comprehensive significant finding was also available in both the regions of Himachal Pradesh in terms of head length, foot length, nasal height etc. the comparison between the neonates of the two zones of Himachal Pradesh explains the difference in physical appearance of people of both zones. These features may be biological or behavioral in nature, genetic or developmental in origin. Most instances, a combination of factors are involved. Methods: The present study included 185 parents and their newborns from two zones (Lower zone and Middle zone) of Himachal Pradesh and separated as per the criteria. Measurement of newborn parameters was taken in 12-24 hours after birth by using digital vernier caliper. Ethical clearance from university and permission from Himachal Pradesh government was taken. All the newborns were separated as per criteria 1. Mother / Father from Lower Zone. (Zone category 1) 2. Mother / Father from Middle Zone. (Zone category 2) 3. Mother from Lower Zone / Father from Middle Zone. (Zone category 3) 4. Mother from Middle Zone / Father from Lower Zone. (Zone category 4) Results: Statistically significant difference was obtained in all the four categories. Different parameters were compared across different parent- zone categories by one way ANOVA. The results showed that four parameters shows significantly across groups, viz, Weight, Facial Length, Nasal Height and Philtrum width in all the Zone categories. Conclusions: The early historical studies mention that people living in Himachal Pradesh have migrated from different geographical locations hence their genetics, as well as culture is different from each other. This study clearly demonstrates the effects of environmental factors on child growth and development in Himachal Pradesh. KEY WORD: Anthropometry, Newborn, Himachal, Environment, Genetics.