BACKGROUND Globally, there is a negative attitude toward psychiatry among medical students. So there is a need to assess the impact of psychiatry training and their intention to pursue psychiatry as a career among medical students. Aims and objectives-The primary aim of the study is to compare the attitude toward psychiatry among final year medical students and interns of a tertiary care hospital. The secondary aim is to assess preferred future career choice after graduation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care hospital of North Kerala. Participants consisted of two groups, one group was of final year medical students who were yet to start the clinical internship and other group was of interns, who had completed their compulsory 2 weeks clinical internship in psychiatry. Participants were individually administered a questionnaire which included sociodemographic data, preference for future career choice and Attitude Towards Psychiatry (Balon et al.'s ATP-29) questionnaire. Data analysis (Standard descriptive statistics, Chi-square test) was done using SPSS version 20. RESULTS A total of 95 participants formed the study sample, out of which final year medical students and interns were 42 and 53, respectively. There was a positive attitude towards psychiatry by interns in comparison to final year medical students in most of the areas. Overall, in both groups, positive attitude towards psychiatry was reflected. Regarding the choice of career, 20% chose Internal medicine followed by 18.9% choosing Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Only 1.1% preferred psychiatry and 17.9% of them were yet to decide regarding their career choice. CONCLUSION Findings suggest that both groups do not have a negative attitude towards psychiatry in general and they have a good perception of psychiatry, though they didn't show a significant change in their intention to pursue psychiatry as a prospective career.

BACKGROUND Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a heterogeneous group of clinical phenomena experienced during the course of dementia which are either subjectively reported by the patient or observed by the clinician. BPSD include agitation, aberrant motor behaviour, anxiety, elation, irritability, depression, apathy, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, and sleep or appetite changes. We wanted to determine the frequency of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type attending the Psychiatry Department in a tertiary care centre of north Kerala and to address the degree of caregiver distress. METHODS This is a hospital based cross sectional study. A consecutive sample of 72 patients of either gender of age group > 55 years who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia using DSM 4 - TR criteria attending Department of Psychiatry of GMC Kannur during the period March 2019 to February 2020 were included in the study. The primary caregivers were interviewed to obtain the sociodemographic profile of the patients and BEHAVE AD scale was administered to assess the BPSD in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Descriptive statistical tools like frequency and percentage were used. RESULTS The most common BPSD identified were diurnal rhythm disturbances or day-night disturbances observed in 79.2 % (N = 57) of the sample. This was followed by affective disturbances, paranoid and delusional ideations, anxieties, hallucinations and aggressiveness. The least reported was activity disturbances. CONCLUSIONS The frequency of BPSD is very high in dementia of Alzheimer’s type and the most frequent BPSD reported was diurnal rhythm disturbances. BPSD would impact negatively on the health of the individual and their respective caregivers. KEYWORDS Alzheimer’s Dementia, Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia

BACKGROUND Patients on antipsychotics frequently report sexual dysfunction as a side effect. Antipsychotics from the second generation are favoured since they are less likely to induce negative effects, second-generation antipsychotics such as risperidone and olanzapine, on the other hand, have a sexual side effect that affects treatment compliance and leads to marked distress and interpersonal problems. A pleasurable sexual encounter is an essential component of all human life. A normal sexual function provides a sense of psychological, bodily, and social well-being. The sexual difficulty has an impact on one's mood, self-esteem, interpersonal functioning, treatment adherence, and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to see if the second-generation antipsychotics risperidone and olanzapine were linked to sexual dysfunction. METHODS This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study of 70 male schizophrenia remitted patients treated with risperidone or olanzapine who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were seen in the outpatient department. The patients were assessed with socio-demographic proforma, brief psychiatric rating scale was used to assess clinical stability, clinical information sheet and ICD- 10 DCR were used to make a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale was used to assess the sexual dysfunction. The statistical analysis was carried out with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequency (%) and mean + / - SD were used to express categorical and quantitative values, respectively. The chi-square test was employed to determine whether categorical variables were related. RESULTS Among the 70 male patients, 35 were on treatment with risperidone and 35 were on treatment with olanzapine. 71.4 % of risperidone treated patients and 45.7 % of olanzapine treated patients’ experienced sexual dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS This study concluded that sexual dysfunction is common in male schizophrenia remitted patients treated with risperidone and olanzapine and it is highest with risperidone (71.4 %), while in olanzapine (45.7 %) had dysfunction. Clinicians should ask and systematically evaluate the sexual side effect associated with these antipsychotics and address it or else it may lead to noncompliance with treatment. KEY WORDS Sexual Dysfunction in Atypical Antipsychotics, Risperidone, Olanzapine, ASEX.