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Introduction: Long COVID is now being encountered by many individuals during this pandemic. It is best diagnosed by a history consistent with acute COVID-19 followed by a prolonged recovery. Aim: This study was undertaken to detect new-onset diabetes mellitus among COVID cohorts and their associated factors. Materials and Methods: A total of 152 COVID-19 patients admitted at ESIC medical college and hospital without a known history of diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Data were collected about sociodemographic variables, their symptoms at presentation, lifestyle determinants, and measurement of blood sugar by HbA1C for a period of 6 months follow-up with three readings (baseline, third month, and sixth month) using a predesigned and pre-tested questionnaire schedule. Results: Mean HbA1c was found to be 7.28±2.09 at the third reading with new-onset diabetes mellitus development among 38 (25%). There was a positive correlation between age and mean HbA1c measurement on follow-up. Significant risk factors were the presence of comorbidities OR = 15.23 (4.42–22.46), sedentary lifestyle 6.14 (1.39–9.11), tobacco usage 6.80 (2.63–14.55), symptomatic COVID-19 presentation 2.43 (1.11–5.41), alcohol usage 2.11 (0.99–4.49) and extra physical activity 1.72 (0.66–2.32). Conclusions: There was a quarter of patients with new-onset diabetes mellitus in the present study. This will help us to identify the risk factors of this sequela at the earliest for initiating preventive strategies at the primary care level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background-Acupressure is a complementary treatment that uses fingers and other acupressure tools to stimulate acupoints and maintains the balance of energy. There are several trails have reported its effectiveness in relieving pain. Purpose-This systematic review is to critically assess the effect of acupressure on knee osteoarthritis and its symptoms. Methods-Databases of the Cochrane library, PubMed/MEDLINE, and google scholar were searched from their establishment until September 30, 2022. All the Randomized Controlled Trials [RCTs] that had compared the use of acupressure with either placebo or nonintervention for relieving the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis were included in the study. Results-The meta-analysis showed that acupressure has equivalent effects in reducing pain [p = 0.46] and physical function [p =0.005], as compared to control group. Conclusion-Acupressure could provide significant clinical benefits to osteoarthritis of knee for a short-term by pain reduction improvement in physical function and also reduction in stiffness as an added benefits on reduction in psychological illness such as anxiety, depression, and stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Information on the existing morbidity pattern and health seeking behaviour is essential to provide need-based health care delivery to any population. This information is rarely available. Mainly hospital data are available for morbidity pattern. Community based study can only reflect the true picture of morbidity pattern in given community and what are their preferences in seeking health. Objective: To Assess Morbidity Profile and Health Seeking Behaviour of Women in the Reproductive Age Group in Urban and Rural Areas Methods: Community based cross sectional study using interview technique was conducted in rural area (Bonthapally) and urban area shahpur and suraram respectively. 179 subjects were interviewed in that urban subjects were 101 and rural subjects were 78. Data was collected in pre designed and semi structured questionnaire. Results: Near about 69% were having illness in the past one year in urban area and 71% were having illness in rural area. It was observed that majority of the study subjects suffered from fever 15.8% (urban) and 12.8% (rural) followed by diarrheal diseases 13.9% (urban) and 6.4% (rural), musculoskeletal 8.9% (urban) and 10.3% (rural), RTI 4.9% in urban area and 5.1% in rural areas. From both the areas, people preferred private health care facility compared to government health facilities. Conclusion: From health seeking behaviour point of view people from both the urban and rural areas preferred private health care facilities compared to government health facility. Both urban and rural dwellers complained of some or the other illness in the last one year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There exists a complex interaction between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), infection and immune function, with a dominant effect of HIV infection on nutritional status. The influence of nutrition on immune function generally shows that suboptimal nutrition results in immunological deficiencies. Nutrient deficiencies cause immune suppression and increase susceptibility to infections with a resultant loss of immune cell function which allows intrusion by several different infectious agents. The result is reduction of the ability of the body to fight disease and subsequent acquisition of opportunistic infections. Nutrients that play a big role in immune function include protein, total energy, lipids, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Optional nutrition alters immunological function and therefore disease states. This interaction affects the body's immune status predisposing one to infections. Proteins play roles as structural components of tissues and also antibodies, cytokines, acute-phase proteins, components of the complement pathways, transcription factors and enzymes. Deficiency of protein could lead to immunologically important changes in enzyme-dependent activation, antioxidant protection, complement activation, antibody-mediated virus neutralization and intercellular communication via cytokines. Therefore the study was carried out with the aim of exploring the nutrition interventional effect of the patients suffering from HIV/AIDS at a care center in India. Material and Methods: The present study comprised of 30 HIV positive cases (age 20 - 60 years, both male and female) who were admitted to the institution. They were provided with a standard regular nutrition guide and followed up with their CD4 count post intervention; till their discharge from the sanatorium. Patients were explained the process of the study. A written informed consent was taken from all the patients. A diet chart was prepared based on their health condition. Balanced diet rich in protein (ragi malt) and immune boosters (like wheat grass juice, citrus juice, honey, coconut milk and seasonal fruits) were provided to the patients. The patients were advised to follow the daily regimen. If any deterioration was reported, the patient was taken out of the study. The entire schedule was followed strictly for a period of minimum 3 months (to check the changes in CD4 count). Pre and post intervention changes in baseline and the CD4 count was noted. Pre and post intervention of BMI was done by using the Chi square test; to evaluate the changes in number of people in the different categories. Mean weight was compared using either the paired t-test. SPSS (22.0) (IBM Analytics, New York, U.S.A) was used for carrying out the statistical analysis. Results: Their mean duration of stay was 94.13±3.49 days at the sanatorium (range-90-105days). The overall mean age of the participants was 37.4±10.64. There was no significant difference between the mean ages of the male and the female participants in this study. There was a significant rise in the weight from 40.34kg to 44.5 kg post intervention. When the overall BMI was compared for post intervention changes; the difference was not found to be statistically significant; even though values were slightly increased. There was a significant increase in the CD4 scores in post intervention among the study participants from 315.87 to 485.63 (p=00000001). There was also a mean increase in the weight of the participants post our intervention. Conclusion: It could be concluded that healthy diet regimen has found to be beneficial, since the increased pattern of CD4 scores and weight gain was observed among the patients. Thus, it is a preliminary study; the duration should be increased up to some extent in order to study the role of nutritious food and its mechanism of action in immune suppressed patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction- Headache is a very common complains of almost every individual. There is a high prevalence of headache disorders, including migraine, tension-type headache, and medication-over use headache affecting quality of life, productivity and cost of treatment. It may be a cause of any other associated condition or it may be an effect of any other co-morbidity. The effectiveness of Rajyoga meditation on severity, frequency and duration of chronic tension headache was assessed in the present review. Methods-Databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus and Cochrane were systematically searched for current evidence of randomized controlled trials on Rajyoga meditation. Studies related to chronic tension headache were included of the past 20 years. The entire study was carried out from Feb 2022 to April 2022. Results- Two studies were included in the final study. Rajyoga meditation group patients showed a highly significant reduction in headache variables as compare to those who received medication. There was significant change in severity of headache, frequency and duration of headache in Rajyoga meditation group. It also showed the significant effect on anxiety and depression score. Conclusion- Rajyoga meditation was effective in reducing headache and associated symptoms in chronic headache patients. However large samples RCTs are required to confirm this conclusion. Keywords -Chronic tension headache, Rajyoga, Meditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral lesions are a cue for decreased immunity among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive patients. There is no cumulative data available related to the prevalence of oral soft tissue lesions among the HIV positive patients. Hence, the present review was carried out to assess the various oral lesions reported among adult HIV patients across India. Two search engines were used— Google Scholar and PubMed, with key words of HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Symdrome(AIDS), soft tissue, oral cavity, India, and adults for searching the articles from January 1990 to December 2020. After initial review, 21 articles that fulfilled the criteria were included in the review. We used 9 parameters to access the quality of the reports. Most common lesion reported was that of oral candidiasis. Not all articles reported about sample size determination or of sampling design and technique. Other lesions like hyperpigmentation, gingivitis, and periodontitis were also found to be highly prevalent. Most reports were from South India. Further epidemiological data are required from different regions for using it to develop planning and execution related to oral health care for the HIV positive patients in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune, India has been running a course for training young adults to become professional therapists. Hence this paper is one such detailed attempt to explore the course outcome and its long term impact over 2 years; once the student passed out with the degree. Material and methods: A detailed in –depth interview was conducted on 20 participants (10 males and 10 females) who provided consent to participate in the study. The interview guide was prepared and approved from experts in qualitative research. The areas focused upon were- course work and any changes needed for the coming batches; job profile and satisfaction based on the training obtained; development in the overall personality and social skills of the student. Results: All the participants agreed that the training was job oriented. It was not difficult for them to procure a placement and the training gave them enough hands-on experience to adjust to any related job profile. It helped them to maintain documents, handle certain administrative issues and also have more confidence when they worked in commercial spas. Conclusion: The responses obtained was encouraging and serves as a basis to continue the curriculum in the same pattern for the coming batches [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. India is home to many tribes which have an interesting and varied history of origins, customs and social practices. Oral health care in tribal areas is limited due to shortage of dental manpower, financial constraints and the lack of perceived need for dental care among tribal masses. Objective. To assess orthodontic treatment need among tribal children of Indore division, Central India. Methods. A cross-sectional house to house survey was carried out among 800 tribal children aged 5 to 15 years old in two major tribal districts of Indore division. Permissions and consent were obtained from local administrative authorities, ethical committee and parents respectively. A structured proforma was used to record demographic data. Examination for dentofacial anomalies was conducted according to WHO 1997 survey methods. Descriptive tables and analytical tests like ANOVA, post-hoc and chi-square test were employed. Results. The mean age was 9.75(±2.43) years. The mean DAI score among 12 to 15 years old children was 23.19±5.22. Female exhibited higher (24.51±5.34) mean DAI score compared to males (22.12±4.87) (p<0.05). The Patelia tribes (24.38±5.13) reported higher mean DAI score than Bhilala (23.02±5.69) and Bhil tribe (22.73±4.79) (p<0.005). Conclusion. The tribal children had minor malocclusion with no or slight treatment need. Categorization of orthodontic treatment need according to malocclusion severity is particularly important for the planning of corresponding public policies. The isolation of the villages, lack of transportation options imposes limitations on the availability of health professionals to provide dental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Ethics is a way to a disciplined practice. Though ethical rules for professional conduct have been in place in India since a long time, not many seem to be aware of the importance it holds and there is no adherence to the rules by and large. The present article was aimed to study the unethical practices by dentists of Raichur City. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 38 functioning dental clinics in Raichur city, to assess the violation of ethical norms by the practitioners. Results: It was observed that 37 (97.37%) of the dental clinics had violated the rules set by DCI. An overall 89.47% and 86.84% of the dental clinics had large and coloured sign boards respectively, while 52.63% had attractive pictures on their sign boards. A total of 13.16% of the dentists had mentioned additional qualifications apart from their academic qualifications and 26.32% of the dentists had mentioned additional captions on their sign board. Conclusion: This paper enumerates the background on the ethical rules of dental practice put forth by the DCI and the practical implications of it. Also there is a need felt, to amend old rules and help in adaptation and adherence to the newer changes as per the need of the hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dental caries is a universal disease. Untreated dental caries adds to the existing burden of diseases. It is necessary to have national data on the same, especially in HIV cases, to understand the epidemiological aspects and formulate a treatment plan for the population. Hence, a systematic review was carried out to collectively report the dental caries prevalence among this population. A systematic search for articles was done in PubMed and Google Scholar using the keywords: Dental Caries, India, HIV, AIDS and adults from January 1990 to December 2019. All freely available full-text articles were evaluated based on the inclusion criteria. Only four articles fulfilled the criteria based on qualitative analysis. Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth index was used to record dental caries. Risk factors related to the same were not specified by any of the authors. Studies were not from different regions of India. More epidemiological studies are needed to understand the prevalence rate and correlated to dental caries among HIV-positive population in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The rapid advancements in natural language processing have brought about the widespread use of large language models (LLMs) across various medical domains. However, their effectiveness in specialized fields, such as naturopathy, remains relatively unexplored. Objective The study aimed to assess the capability of freely available LLM chatbots in providing naturopathy consultations for various types of diseases and disorders. Methods Five free LLMs (viz., Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity) were used to converse with 20 clinical cases (simulation of real-world scenarios). Each case had the case details and questions pertinent to naturopathy. The responses were presented to three naturopathy doctors with > 5 years of practice. The answers were rated by them on a five-point Likert-like scale for language fluency, coherence, accuracy, and relevancy. The average of these four attributes is termed perfection in his study. Results The overall score of the LLMs were Gemini 3.81±0.23, Copilot 4.34±0.28, ChatGPT 4.43±0.2, Claude 3.8±0.26, and Perplexity 3.91±0.28 (ANOVA F [3.034, 57.64] = 33.47, P <0.0001. Together, they showed overall ~80% perfection in consultation. The average measure intraclass correlation coefficient among the LLMs for the overall score was 0.463 (95% CI = -0.028 to 0.76), P = 0.03. Conclusion Although the LLM chatbots could help in providing naturopathy and yoga treatment consultation with approximately an overall fair level of perfection, their solution to the user varies across different chatbots and there was very low reliability among them., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Mondal et al.)

Oral lesions are a cue for decreased immunity among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive patients. There is no cumulative data available related to the prevalence of oral soft tissue lesions among the HIV positive patients. Hence, the present review was carried out to assess the various oral lesions reported among adult HIV patients across India. Two search engines were used-Google Scholar and PubMed, with key words of HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Symdrome(AIDS), soft tissue, oral cavity, India, and adults for searching the articles from January 1990 to December 2020. After initial review, 21 articles that fulfilled the criteria were included in the review. We used 9 parameters to access the quality of the reports. Most common lesion reported was that of oral candidiasis. Not all articles reported about sample size determination or of sampling design and technique. Other lesions like hyperpigmentation, gingivitis, and periodontitis were also found to be highly prevalent. Most reports were from South India. Further epidemiological data are required from different regions for using it to develop planning and execution related to oral health care for the HIV positive patients in India., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.)

Introduction: The overall rehabilitation of women in sex work is unfortunately limited most of the time only to moving them to another profession, but it should be focused on including health as an important factor. Factors that restrict regular dental care include misconceptions, dental fear and expense of dental care, unpleasant dental experiences, and socioeconomic factors, but such a direct correlation cannot be made in the case of such women. Until now, no study has been conducted related to the complete dentition status and treatment needs of women in sex work., Aim: The aim of our survey was to evaluate the dentition status and treatment needs among the brothel-based women engaged in sex work., Materials and Methods: A pilot study was conducted on 30 women and the final sample size was estimated to be 350. All the women were above 18 years old. Systematic random sampling method was followed after line listing of the brothels. The dentition status and treatment needs were recorded using the World Health Organization assessment form, 1997. The data collected were tabulated and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 16.0. The Chi-squared test was carried out to check the association, and all p-values below 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant., Results: The mean number of decayed teeth per person was 5.05 (±4.81), missing teeth per person was 0.96 ± 2.71, filled teeth per person was 0.04 (±0.34), and the mean of decayed missing filled permanent teeth per person was 6.05 (±5.84). There was a significant association between dental caries and age, using finger to clean the teeth, and not visiting the dentist., Clinical Significance: Due to different risk factors, such as diet, improper oral hygiene maintenance, and substance abuse, the overall dental health was found to be compromised in this population. Economic burden is an important factor that influences their attitude toward oral health and is likely to be inherited by their next generation also.

Introduction: In countries where human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is widespread and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) medications are too expensive, or patients are failing HAART, oral disease management and risk remain an important issue., Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions and periodontitis among the HIV-positive adult patients and assess the association of these lesions with age, sex, duration of HIV, time on ART, dietary habits, and oral hygiene habits., Materials and Methods: Sample size was 170. Demographic data of the patients along with community periodontal index (CPI) and loss of attachment (LA) were recorded. Oral soft tissue lesions, such as ulcerations, sores, erosions, and fissures were also recorded. The study was carried out in Raichur Taluk, Karnataka, India. Convenience sampling design was followed. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 (Chicago, USA) was used for data analysis. Chi-square test was carried out; p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant., Results: There was no association between the oral mucosal conditions and the age and the adverse habits, such as tobacco and alcohol, CD4 count, and the time duration of HIV and ART among these patients. A higher percentage of people with 4 to 5 mm of pockets was seen with those who cleaned their teeth with a finger, which was statistically significant., Clinical Significance: The present study highlights the poor condition of the oral health of these patients and their unmet dental needs.