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Background: Public health emergencies are known to affect mental health and well-being at the individual (anxiety, loneliness) and societal level (income loss, reduced access to services). The socioeconomic and health-care impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented with worldwide economic loss, closure of business activities, travel restrictions, social distancing, quarantine and isolation, fear of shortage of basic needs, and rapid spread of mental health problems. Materials and Methods: Qualitative phenomenological research with the overall aim to explore the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in India was undertaken in a selected tertiary care hospital, in India. Qualitative in-depth interview was conducted to elucidate the mental health issues and problems of healthcare workers as experienced by them. We used phenomenological methodology to conduct in-depth face-to-face interview to focus on individual versions of experience combined with thematic analysis techniques for analyzing and framing the research data. Thematic analysis was carried out on data collected from 29 healthcare workers from different disciplines such as doctors, nurses, laboratory technician, paramedics, and operation theatre technicians. Results: Health-care workers reported various psychosocial issues and problems that they have experienced from the onset of COVID-19. From the analysis, we have generated three overarching themes, each with five subthemes. Conclusion: The study concludes that the health-care workers exposed to pandemic situation are vulnerable for a range of mental health issues from distress to sleep disturbances, fear and anxiety to social isolation and stigma, and loss of hope to helplessness.

Aim: Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a major public health problem around the world. The objective of this systematic review is to determine the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in India. Materials and Methods: This review was conducted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We identified relevant studies through a search of literature published from 2010 to January 2021 in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest, CINHAL, and PEDro databases. We searched for cross-sectional studies involving India that were published in English. Results: There was a total of 1631 hits in the initial search and out of which 60 studies were selected for full-text review. Twelve studies were selected for qualitative analysis. Excluded studies were 48 with reasons: 20 studies had included other diseases such as knee arthritis, celiac diseases, diabetes mellitus, and kidney diseases. Eleven studies included premenopausal women, young adults, and men. Ten studies outcomes were different, and seven studies were excluded as they have done retrospective analysis and were commentaries. The pooled prevalence of osteoporosis at the lumbar spine region was 29%, the hip region was 6% and the femoral neck region was 29% whereas the pooled prevalence of osteopenia at the lumbar spine region was 37%, the hip was 6%, and femoral neck region was 37%. Conclusion: This systematic review found that postmenopausal women are at significant risk of developing low bone mineral density, and the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia was high in the lumbar area.

Objectives: Osteoporosis is one of the major public health problems worldwide among postmenopausal osteoporotic women. Lifestyle modification interventions along with pharmacotherapy help to revert bone loss and prevent complications. Methods: A randomised controlled trial was conducted at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from January 2019 to December 2021 among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The postmenopausal women who attended the osteoporosis clinic and were within the age group of 45-65 years, could speak and understand English or Kannada and whose bone mineral density (BMD) score was between -1 and -3 were included in the study. The total sample size of the study was 120 with 60 in each of the experimental and control groups. After obtaining informed consent, a stratified block randomisation method was used to allocate the participants to intervention and control groups. The BMD was monitored by the portable ultrasound densitometer by a technician at the outpatient departments. The baseline information was collected by a structured demographic questionnaire. Intervention group participants received a lifestyle modification intervention program (LMIP) whereas the control group received standard regular care from the physician. Follow-up was done at three and six months. Results: The results revealed that the increase in the BMD median score among the experimental group was from -2.2 (-2.5- -1.8) to -1.5 (-1.8- -0.65) whereas in the control group, it was from -2.3 (-2.6- -1.9) to -2.0 (-2.4- -1.5). The results of the Mann Whitey U test showed a statistical significance between the intervention and control groups in the post-test after six months (U = 505.5; P <0.05). Wilcoxon signed rank test showed a significant change in both the intervention and control groups from pre-test to post-test I (3 months) and post-test II (6 months; P <0.001). Conclusion: The lifestyle modification intervention was found to be effective in improving the bone health status of postmenopausal women. Hence it is very important to integrate it into regular therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem worldwide. While exercise and physical activity have been shown to improve the bone strength and quality of life of osteoporosis patients, there is still no clarity about the quantum, frequency, and pattern of exercises. This review of ongoing trials on exercise and physical activity among postmenopausal osteoporosis was conducted using the World Health Organization International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (WHO-ICTRP). "Postmenopausal osteoporosis" and "Exercise" were the keywords used for the review. The objective of this review was to identify the ongoing trials in exercise and physical activity for postmenopausal osteoporosis. The results revealed that there were 102 trials registered wherein 17 of them met the inclusion criteria. Four trials registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry were from Australia. Three trials were from India registered at the Clinical Trial Registry of India. China and Germany each had two trials registered. One trail each has been registered in Istanbul, Serbia, Israel, Brazil, and Japan respectively. In the context of the comprehensive management of osteoporosis, there have been quite a few studies that have been registered across the globe for evidence on the impact of exercises. More studies need to focus on the type, duration, and frequency of exercises and physical activity for postmenopausal osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to present the current status of T-Scan III and overall view of the system including components, history of system, advantages and disadvantages and which also focuses mainly on the T-Scan III latest version 10. Even though determining a correct occlusion is a challenging task, T-Scan has been widely used in dentistry nowadays and claims to correct the occlusion. Continuous modifications and upgrades in the hardware and software from T-Scan I to T-scan III version 10 claim to overcome many problems encountered earlier. T-Scan provides a very accurate way-of determining and evaluating the time sequence and force magnitude of occlusal contacts by converting qualitative data into quantitative parameters and displaying them digitally. Using the system, multiple corrections of imbalanced forces can be performed for every segment of the dentition. The system is a useful clinical method that removes a leaning subjective evaluation of the articulating and occlusal relations on the part of an operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID 19 is an unexpected pandemic of this century. It has brought unprecedented changes in everyone's life, especially among the older adults and those who come for regular follow-ups in the hospitals for chronic diseases. This review was undertaken to understand the current available evidence on home management of osteoporosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. An extensive search was carried out in the PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest, and Web of Science databases till November 2020. The search strategy was developed using "keywords" and "Mesh terms" of Osteoporosis and COVID 19. Out of 1515 initial hits, 15 were considered for a final appraisal. There were only six original articles, including one case-control study, one retrospective survey, and four cross-sectional surveys. The remaining nine articles were reviews, literature reviews, viewpoints, short communication, and perspectives. Results were categorized under the headings of exercise and physical activity, sunlight, diet, hospital visit, bone mineral density test, fall prevention, and drugs. This scoping review can further help develop the guidelines for the homecare management of patients with osteoporosis. More complete research studies are required in the area of COVID 19 and osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-informed policymaking integrates the best available evidence on programme outcomes to guide decisions at all stages of the policy process and its importance becomes more pronounced in resource-constrained settings. In this paper, we have reviewed the use of systematic review evidence in framing National Health Programme (NHP) guidelines in India. We searched official websites of the different NHPs, linked to the main website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), in December 2020 and January 2021. NHP guideline documents with systematic review evidence were identified and information on the use of this evidence was extracted. We classified the identified systematic review evidence according to its use in the guideline documents and analysed the data to provide information on the different factors and patterns linked to the use of systematic review evidence in these documents. Systematic reviews were mostly visible in guideline documents addressing maternal and newborn health, communicable diseases and immunization. These systematic reviews were cited in the guidelines to justify the need for action, to justify recommendations for action and opportunities for local adaptation, and to highlight implementation challenges and justify implementation strategies. Guideline documents addressing implementation cited systematic reviews about the problems and policy options more often than citing systematic reviews about implementation. Systematic reviews were linked directly to support statements in few guideline documents, and sometimes the reviews were not appropriately cited. Most of the systematic reviews providing information on the nature and scale of the policy problem included Indian data. It was seen that since 2014, India has been increasingly using systematic review evidence for public health policymaking, particularly for some of its high-priority NHPs. This complements the increasing investment in research synthesis centres and procedures to support evidence-informed decision making, demonstrating the continued evolution of India's evidence policy system., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.)