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Background: Substance abuse is an important problem in today's world as it causes considerable physical and mental suffering. In India, adolescents are considered as a pillar of the nation as they are responsible for its future progress. Therefore, substance abuse control among this age group becomes even more important. Objectives: To find the prevalence, patterns and gender association of substance abuse among adolescents in urban areas of district Ghaziabad. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the schools of urban areas of district Ghaziabad. 750 adolescents including equal number of boys and girls were selected randomly from the co-education schools. A questionnaire was administered to assess the baseline information. MS Excel 2020 and SPSS were used to arrive at statistical conclusions. Results: Addicting substance was abused by 64.8% males and 33.9% females and this difference in proportions was statistically significant (p-value =0.001). The maximum number of study participants got encouragement to start the usage of addictive substances from their peers (33.0%). Four-fifths (80.3%), of the substance abusers had the desire to quit. Conclusion: In the present study, 33% of the participants started abusing addictive substances under peer pressure. School-based awareness, health education and motivation among the adolescents is the need of the hour. Role of student counsellors may prove fruitful and bring about the desired behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A novel coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The pandemic brought all people closer to internet to access information about the disease and its prevention. However, this intention of gaining knowledge is a spinal reaction to an adverse situation and once that has passed, the same knowledge and practices decline. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the apprehension regarding COVID-19 along with its demographic correlates in the post-pandemic era. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in district Ghaziabad using a predesigned, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire regarding the awareness and knowledge levels of COVID-19. Regression analysis was performed to determine the factors significantly associated with the knowledge of the study participants. Results: In this study, 277 (69.25%) were males and 123(30.75%) were females. The mean knowledge score was 25.09 ± 6.85 (range 4-41). Knowledge regarding various aspects of COVID-19 was better among the study participants with higher education levels. Conclusion: Even after the pandemic had passed, good knowledge levels were retained. Participants had a huge disparity in the individual levels of information. Overall higher levels of education, younger age group and nuclear family were associated with better knowledge regarding the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated mucormycosis (CAM) has emerged as a formidable infection in patients with COVID-19. The aggressive management of CAM affects quality of life (QOL); thus, this study was designed to assess the QOL in patients with CAM at a tertiary healthcare institution. Methods: This cross-sectional study of 57 patients with CAM was conducted over 6 months using a semi-structured standard questionnaire (the abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire [WHO-BREF]) and a self-rated improvement (SRI) scale ranging from 0 to 9. Cut-off values of =52 and <7 were considered to indicate poor QOL and poor improvement, respectively. The correlations of QOL and SRI scores were evaluated using Spearman rho values. Results: In total, 27 patients (47.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 34.9%-60.1%) and 26 patients (45.6%; 95% CI, 33.4%-58.4%) had poor QOL and poor SRI scores, respectively. The overall median (interquartile range) QOL score was 52 (41-63). Headache (adjusted B, -12.3), localized facial puffiness (adjusted B, -16.4), facial discoloration (adjusted B, -23.4), loosening of teeth (adjusted B, -18.7), and facial palsy (adjusted B, -38.5) wer e significantly associated with the QOL score in patients with CAM. Conclusion: Approximately 1 in 2 patients with CAM had poor QOL and poor improvement. Various CAM symptoms were associated with QOL in these patients. Early recognition is the key to optimal treatment, improved outcomes, and improved QOL in patients with CAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has the highest burden of Tuberculosis in the world, having about one-fourth of the total global incident cases of the disease in 2017. The RNTCP program started many newer initiatives in 2015 to improve compliance and treatment outcomes, reduce the incidence of resistance and control the TB-HIV co-infection. Objectives: To assess the improvement in patient compliance, to find out and compare the improvement in nutritional status of the patients after initiation of treatment and Direct Benefit Transfer and to compare the treatment outcomes of the enrolled subjects in the two areas. Material and Method: Data was collected from the DOTS centers under CHC, Muradnagar and TB and Chest Hospital Karawal Nagar, between January 2019 to September 2019. Details of the enrolled patients were taken from the centers and these patients were contacted individually. Of the registered patients, 59 patients from Muradnagar, Ghaziabad and 70 from Karawal Nagar, Delhi had completed treatment at the time of data collection and they were further evaluated for different parameters. Results: 62% of the registered patients at DOTS centre, Muradnagar, had completed treatment, 35.1% were cured, 1.7% died during treatment while only 1.2% of the patients did not show good compliance. 54% of the registered patients at DOTS centre of Karawalnagar, East Delhi, had completed treatment, 25.5% were cured, 2.7% of the patients had died during treatment while only 2.7% of the total patients did not show good compliance. More number of patients registered at Ghaziabad had either completed the treatment or were cured (97.1%) as compared to Delhi (79.5%). The mean gain in weight was 5.39 kg and 5.04 kg for Ghaziabad and Delhi respectively. This gain in weight had no relationship with Direct Benefit Transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has 8.6% elderly population which is going to increase to 12% by 2025. Government of India is providing for the elderly through various social security and welfare schemes as well as legislations. But various studies, mostly in rural areas have shown that the awareness regarding these schemes was poor and incomplete. Utilization of schemes by the beneficiaries was even poorer. Very few studies have assessed the same in urban areas. Aims & Objectives: To assess the awareness and utilization of geriatric welfare schemes and factors associated with them among urban elderly. Material & Methods: The study was conducted in urban field practice area of Dept of Community Medicine, SMS&R, Greater Noida. 402 elderly living in slums of Bhangel, Noida, were interviewed using semi structured questionnaire assuming 50% awareness levels in the urban area with 10% relative precision and 95% confidence interval. Results: Awareness regarding any one scheme was 31.6%, of whom only one fourth subjects knew about more than one scheme. Among those who knew about the schemes, only 40% were utilizing them. The awareness as well as utilization was found to be significantly associated with religion, caste and educational status of the subject. Conclusion: The study shows poor awareness and even poorer utilization of geriatric welfare schemes among elderly people of urban slums. Further studies are required for judging the influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Road accidents are associated with numerous problems each of which needs to be addressed separately [1]. Accidents, therefore, can be studied in terms of agent, host and environmental factors and epidemiologically classified into time, place and person distribution [2]. Objectives: 1.To assess the prevalence of RTAs coming to hospital and 2.To know the epidemiological factors related to RTAs and associated prevalence in hospital based study. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at SMSR, Gr Noida, in 2012. The study group consisted of all the RTA victims reporting to casualty in the last one year. The victims of the accidents were interviewed on a pretested semi structured performa. Results: In that one year period total number of reported accident cases was 144. The age groups of the study subjects were between 13-65 years. Out of total study subjects, only 16 were female. Again out of the total accident cases 45% were attended by police and of all injured, 45.8% were driver by occupation (7% without driving license). Among these drivers, 11% were not attentive during driving because of various reasons. Ambulance services had reached in 46.5% cases. Fracture was the most common type (60%) of injury among all types of injuries. Among the applicable population only 33% wore helmet or seat belts. Conclusions: Only half of the total accident cases were attended by police and again only half of them received ambulance services. One third injuries were because of not wearing seat belt and helmets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]