Objectives: To study the catch up growth among low birth weight infants in relation to the normal birth weight counterparts in first six months of age. Methods: A longitudinal community based study was done in 2004 -05 in an urban slum of Chetla, Kolkata among 126 singleton live born babies. Growth pattern of these babies was followed up at 15±5 days interval by house visit till six months of age. Results: The incidence of low birth weight babies was 28.6%. 86.1% LBW infants caught up in length at 3 ^rd month, 63.9% in chest circumference at 4 ^th month, 66.7% in head circumference at 5 ^th month, while 72.2% in weight at 6 ^th month. Regular growth monitoring is essential for LBW babies to detect signs of growth faltering at the earliest.

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Objective: To study the prevalence of Beta thalassaemia trait (βTT) in Sindhi community of Nagpur City and to study association between βTT and some epidemiological factors like age at menarche in females, past history of diagnosis and treatment of anaemia and the current haemoglobin concentration. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was undertaken among 446, young, apparently healthy, unrelated (by blood) Sindhi individuals before marriage or before reproduction. Blood samples were processed for Beta thalassaemia trait (βTT) using two stage approaches. Two screening tests namely Naked Eye Single Tube Red Cell Osmotic Fragility Test (NESTROFT) and RBC indices including Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) were performed on all samples and those positive for either one or both screening tests were further investigated for HbA ₂ level estimation by Haemoglobin electrophoresis on Cellulose acetate paper. HbA ₂ level of > 4.5 % was taken as confirmatory of βTT. Results: The prevalence of βTT in Sindhis of Nagpur was found to be 16.81 %. No significant association was found between βTT & a delayed age at menarche, however a significantly higher number of trait carrier females had past history of diagnosis and treatment of anaemia while a significantly higher number of both male and female trait carriers had current haemoglobin concentration in anaemic range. Conclusion: The present study confirmed high prevalence of βTT in Sindhis.

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A cross-sectional study was conducted during August 2003- July 2004 to assess the prevalence of hypertension among a tea garden population in a district of Assam and to ascertain the identified risk factors. 510 labourers aged 20-59 years were studied. Overall prevalence of hypertension was 33.3% with no significant sex difference. 30.2 % had history of smoking and 76.7% of tobacco chewing; 78.4% consumed alcohol (regular and occasional), 5.7% were overweight and 14.3% underweight. Waist hip ratio was normal in 89.2% subjects. The association between increasing age and hypertension could be established in univariate analysis. On multiple logistic regression analysis regular alcohol intake was also found to be significantly associated factor with hypertension.

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Under graduate medical education aims at producing doctors who are competent in preventive, promotive and curative knowledge and skills. The community medicine curriculum in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi has been designed with this objective in view. Students are given community oriented training in urban and rural settings whereby students are taught to carry out various activities under the guidance of faculty members. This curriculum has evolved over many years and provides ample exposure to the students to understand the health problems, and health system of the country especially at the primary and secondary level. There is a sequential teaching of community medicine, which starts from fourth semester through internship. Successful training in community medicine lies outside the walls of the department and the involvement of other partners like the community, health systems etc contribute largely.

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An effective cold chain maintenance system is the backbone of success of any immunization program. This study compares the state of cold chain maintenance during intensive pulse polio immunization campaign in union territory of Chandigarh in the year 2001 with that of 2006. The study was conducted during pulse polio rounds of December 2001 and January 2002 and another in April and May 2006 by Department of Community Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Chandigarh. Data was collected from different levels of cold chain maintenance; OPV vials were also collected and sent for potency testing at Central Research Institute, Kasauli in all the rounds. Cold chain sickness rate has decreased from 9.8% in year 2001 to 6% in year 2006. Icepacks were neatly stacked in all the deep freezers (DF) and ice-lined refrigerators (ILR). 94.71% DF's & ILR's were defrosted periodically, 95.36% temperature charts were up-to-date and signed by supervisors and no day carriers were being used in 2006 round. Whereas in 2001, the periodicity of defrosting ILR & DFs was 76.9%, vaccines were stacked neatly in only 38.46% and day carriers were being used. All the randomly selected vaccine samples were reported potent.

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Objective: To study immunogenicity and safety of Abhay M ^Tm and M-Vac ^Tm vaccines in prevention of measles in healthy infants. Methods: In a randomized, single blind, comparative, multi-centric phase III trial, a total of 600 healthy infants between 9 - 15 months of age were recruited in the study from seven participating sites during five months. The block randomization design was used for randomizing the subjects into 2 vaccine groups (Investigational Vaccine - Abhay M ^Tm and Control Vaccine - M-Vac ^Tm ) in the ratio 2:1. At base line (visit 1) a venous blood sample 1.5 ml was collected and subjects were then administered a single dose 0.5 ml of measles vaccine (Abhay M ^TM or M-Vac ^TM vaccine) subcutaneously according to randomization. Following administration of vaccine, subjects were observed closely for 30 - 60 minutes at the study hospitals for local reactions and systemic events. At visit 2 (follow up visit) another venous blood sample 1.5 ml was collected and the paired sera (both pre and post vaccination serum) were tested concurrently. Safety and immunogenicity were assessed through follow-up of adverse events and anti measles antibody response respectively. Results: Overall 95.7 % seroconversion was achieved in both the groups, 96% in Abhay M ^TM vaccine group and 95.1% in M-Vac ^TM vaccine group. There were no statistically significant differences in the observed seroconversion rates. In Abhay M ^TM vaccine group, the pre vaccination geometric mean titers (GMT) significantly increased from 35.5 mIU/ml to 486.9 mIU/ml after vaccination. The observed significant increase of GMT in M-Vac ^TM vaccine group was from 33.3 mIU/ml to 375.8 mIU/ml. Overall 459 (82.5%) out of 556 subjects were seroprotected after vaccination i.e. ? 200 mIU/ml (Protective levels). Of the 459 seroprotected, 315 (84.9%) subjects were in Abhay M ^TM vaccine group and 144 (77.8%) subjects were in M-Vac ^TM vaccine group. The frequencies of the reported local and general symptoms were similar between the Abhay M ^TM vaccine group and M-Vac ^TM vaccine group. Conclusion: Human Biologicals Institute's Abhay M ^TM vaccine is equally immunogenic and as safe as M-Vac ^TM vaccine when administered to healthy infants in single dose schedule.

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A record based retrospective study was conducted at the blood bank of SCB Medical College, Cuttack. All the donors who had donated blood from June to December 2005 were considered. 91.7%of the donors were males and majority belonged to 21-30 years age group. 1.98% of the donors were positive for hepatitis C, 1.13% for hepatitis B and 0.35% for HIV. For HBV infection, majority belonged to 31-40 years age group. But for HCV and HIV infection more were in the 21-30 year age group. Significantly more number of exchange donors was positive for HBV and HCV in comparison to voluntary donors in blood bank and camp. No voluntary donors from the camp were HIV positive.

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The concentration of Terramycin and Furazolidone residues in broiler meat following their subtherapeutic use in the ration of the birds were detected as 296 ng/g, 174 ng/g, 40 ng/g, 60 ng/g and 124 ng/ml in kidney, liver, thigh muscle, breast muscle and serum for Terramycin and 270 ng/g 160 ng/g and 88 ng/ml in kidney , liver and serum for Furazolidone. One week of withdrawal period from the antibiotic in feed/water was sufficient to render the meat free from residues.

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A hospital - record based study was conducted in Sundarban of West Bengal to explore the profile of mortality and morbidity pattern of acute accidental poisoning among children. Sundarban is an underdeveloped coastal region of West Bengal. Three years retrospective (1999 - 2001) data of childhood accidental poisoning cases were collected from the indoor admission registers and case history sheets of 11 Block Primary Health Centers (BPHC) of the region. A total of 1056 children with accidental poisoning were admitted during those three years of which 58% were males. Mean age of males was slightly higher than females in all the three years. Organophosphorus pesticide poisoning was the commonest.

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HIV/AIDS has emerged as a major public health problem since its recognition as an emerging disease a couple of decades ago. While detection of HIV/AIDS cases remains a problem, ascertainment of AIDS deaths has emerged as a bigger challenge and concern. Despite a plethora of literature focusing on the methods to estimate AIDS deaths, none seems to be fulfilling the requirements for universal acceptance. In this paper, we give a systematic review of various methods used by experts to have a reliable estimate of the number of deaths due to AIDS. Initial assessments were derived from morgue based estimates in Africa which showed that AIDS was a leading cause of death. Its impact on demography was noticed in some of the studies conducted wherein age and sex specific mortality rates, standardized mortality ratios, potential years of life lost and decrease in life expectancy were calculated. "Excess mortality factor" as observed in 1980s and 1990s also indicated the approximate number of AIDS deaths. Besides, orphan hood method and verbal autopsy technique too, emerged as reliable means to identify mortality due to AIDS. Some indirect methods like estimation of deaths due to opportunistic infections like tuberculosis could also be a good indicator. The paper reviews the merits and possible biases encountered with each of the methods.

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Toxoplasmosis is one of the important zoonoses of man and has been known to cause serious problems particularly in females. A study on seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was undertaken amongst the human population in Assam to determine the level of exposure of the population to the infection by using commercial ELISA kits. Of the 241 sera belonging to different age groups, sex and religion and having varying levels of exposure to the animals examined, 23 (9.54%) were positive for toxoplasmosis. No significant difference in the prevalence amongst males and females was observed. Some occupational groups like veterinarians, pet keepers and farmers were found to infect more frequently. Although the overall prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis was relatively low, higher prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis amongst the exposed groups warrants due care by these groups when they are handling the animals.

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