No abstract

A case control study was done to find out the effects of simple yogic exercise programs (asanas and pranayamas) on selected pulmonary function tests of forty elderly individuals of both sexes, between 50 and 70 years of age, with no active medical disorders. The study was conducted at a selected yoga centre in Siliguri town of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV 1) and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) were measured, once initially and again after six weeks of yoga training under supervision of a certified yoga instructor. Two instruments were used: a) A Vitalograpgh Gold Standard Spirometer; b) A Wright's Peak Flow meter. There was definite improvement of ventilatory functions as revealed by significant increase in FVC, FEV 1 and PEFR that was measured after 6 weeks.

Introduction:Depression is common in adolescents and especially in high school students and is one of the most frequent mental disorders among teenagers. Depression in adolescents is an under recognized mental health problem because they remain indecisive to disclose their feelings and seldom seek psychiatric help. One of the factors that make depression so difficult to diagnose in adolescents is the common behavioural changes that are normally associated with the hormonal changes of this period. It has only been in recent years that the medical community has acknowledged childhood depression and viewed it as a condition which requires intervention.Materials and Methods:Aschool based cross-sectional study among adolescents was conducted by using self-administered structured "Patient Health Questionnaire-9 modified for Adolescents (PHQ-A) questionnaire" in rural field practice area of A.J.Instituteof Medical Sciences & Research Center, Mangaluru.Results:Total 284 students participated in the study and prevalence of depression was 49%. Prevalence of depression increased with age (p-value:0.001) and was higher among females (p-value:0.02).Discussion:Prevalence of depression in this study matched with other studies conducted in India. Majority of the students suffered from mild depression which indicates early diagnosis is crucial in prevention of progression to moderate and severe forms of depression.Conclusion:Prevalence of depression among adolescents is high. There is an urgent need for incorporation of simple screening methods for depression in school health program.

Background: Injection is considered as one of the key procedures of drug delivery all over the world. Unsafe injection practices are very common in countries like India. This study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of injection safety in a tertiary care hospital of Tripura. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 participants including staff nurses, operation theater (OT) assistants and laboratory technicians of Tripura Medical College and Dr. BRAM Teaching Hospital, Hapania; who were primarily involved in routine injection practices related to patient care from January 15th to February 14th 2018. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Majority (77%) of the participants in this study belonged to 18 to 25 years age group and were females (71.3%); mostly were nurses (88%), followed by OT assistants (6.3%) and laboratory technicians (5.7%) respectively. Good injection safety practices were reported by majority of the participants (67.3%). Higher mean age with knowledge of injection safety, nurses as compared to others and probational work experience than permanent were found to have significant association with safe injection practices of the participants. Conclusions: Even though study findings showed good practice related to injection safety among the health care personnel like similar other studies in this country, still improvement is required to fulfil the gap in knowledge and attitude of the health care providers to keep unsafe injection to the minimum level.

Introduction:- Infection prevention and control is an integral component of health care delivery in any setting to reduce risks for morbidity and mortality in patients and care givers at all levels. The practice of hand hygiene by health care workers, through the use of either soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, is widely considered to be the most important and effective means of preventing health care – associated infections. Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices of health care providers regarding hand washing.  Materials and methods:- An institutional based cross sectional study was carried out in outdoor patient, indoor ward among 193 health care providers (doctors, nursing staffs, OT assistants, laboratory technicians, ward boys and ward girls) in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Tripura from September – October 2017. A pre-tested questionnaire was used as study tool to collect information on knowledge, attitude and practices about hand washing. Result:- Majority (73.6%) of the populations was among 18-25 years age group with a female predominance (70.5% females) and most of them were Hindu (94.5%). Most of them (97.5%) know about the importance of hand washing. Around (48.3%) wash hand with soap followed by liquid hand wash (44%) that showed (91%) washed hands with soap and water. Conclusion:-The current study revealed the knowledge, attitude and absence of sufficient practice of hand washing among health care providers. Future studies in this context are recommended to further determine the factors responsible for these lacunae. Also there is a need to educate the health care workers about hand washing practices and to periodically train them about the six steps of hand washing.