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Background: Middle age is a link between adulthood and old age, which requires special attention. During middle age among females, changes like menopause occur, which is responsible for causing various physical, vasomotor, psychological, and social changes, which may affect overall well-being and positive mental health status. Hence, the present study has been planned to assess the prevalence of menopausal symptoms among middle-aged females. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study carried out in rural and urban areas of district Dehradun among 400 females. A stratified systematic random sampling technique method was used. All the females fulfilling the inclusion criteria and aged 40–60 years were included in the study. The Menopause-Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of menopausal symptoms. Results: A total of 400 women were recruited in the study, 200 from rural and urban areas each. The mean age of the total study participants was 50.00 ± 0.32 years. Among 400 middle-aged women, 189 were premenopausal and 211 were postmenopausal. The frequencies of occurrence of menopausal symptoms were explored in 189 premenopausal and 211 postmenopausal women. The mean age of premenopausal women was 44.21 ± 2.35 and postmenopausal was 54.39 ± 4.21. Females experienced varying grades of MENQOL symptoms. Conclusions: It was found that majority of the females' quality of life were found to be affected with different grades of menopausal symptoms. With increasing age, symptoms also increase and are significantly high among postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary health care is a comprehensive care with a wide range of essential services for people living in the rural and hard-to-reach areas. However, the primary healthcare delivery system in India is still in its initial stages and lacks human resources. With the COVID-19 pandemic around the corner, there has been a diversion of resources for controlling corona pandemic leading to undermining availability and accessibility of health services. This article highlights a few case scenarios and the multidimensional impact of lockdown on primary healthcare services. The article suggests certain appropriate measures that can be implemented as the lockdown simply cannot stop the transmission with no definite treatment and vaccine. There should be a multipronged strategy for breaking the chain of transmission and for future preparedness in case of such situations and to strengthen our primary healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Herd immunity is a key factor for epidemic control. According to it only a proportion of entire population needs to be immune either via natural infection or vaccination. The idea of herd immunity via natural infection rather than vaccination is a bit controversial, as it is not clear how long will the antibodies last, and whether re-infection or re-activation of the virus can occur after the antibodies starts weaning from the body. It has been suggested that coronavirus will likely become similar to a seasonal flu once the herd immunity is attained. Till then, it will continue causing outbreaks year-round and there could be multiple waves of virus transmission before achieving herd immunity. Therefore, the public needs to learn to live with it, and continue practising the best prevention measures, including wearing of masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and avoidance of gathering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) risks the affected mother-child duos not only with respect to adverse perinatal outcomes but also for chronic diseases later in life. Therefore, in 2014, the Government of India (GoI) mandated universal GDM screening for all pregnant women as a part of essential obstetric care within the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme. Later in 2018, the domain experts from GoI envisaged pan India implementation of GDM screening services within its RCH framework by 2023. As Uttarakhand—a hilly, EAG state of north India—would also be part of this nation-wide drive; prior identification of RCH services coverage in the State assumes paramount importance, as it reflects probable executability of GDM screening services within its delivery platform. Therefore, the present review aims to assess the readiness of Uttarakhand maternal health functionary system in view of GDM national guidelines implementation at both state and district levels. In this regard, freely accessible, full-text GoI documents pertaining to GDM implementation guidelines and maternal health program of India and Uttarakhand available in public domain in English language were reviewed. The present review favors the pilot implementation in district Dehradun prior to implementing in all districts of the state. It may, however, require overall improvement in maternal health programmatic services in all parts of the State for much efficient service delivery. Effective implementation of GDM guidelines requires urgent correction in the background performance of RCH program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction- In India, Disability remains about the able-bodied. The disabled person frequently describes limitations in their activities of daily living (ADL). Although few studies have discussed about ADL among disabled but in rural setting it is still unexplored. Thus the objective of the study was to assess the dependency of disabled persons according to ADL. And to find the association between each ADL item with the socio-demographic findings. Methodology- A cross-sectional study compromising of 2600 study participants aged 5-59 years were recruited through multi-stage random sampling technique in a rural area of district Dehradun. Chi-square and Fischer exact test analysis was used to analyse the association among activities of daily living (ADL) with socio-demographic variables. Result- The overall prevalence of disability among both male and females was 2.3 %. 20-39 years age-group was mostly affected. Among ADL most of the disabled were fully dependent on others for grooming & bathing. Age, religion, education and occupation were statistically significant with the ADL. Conclusion- Better health policies, Training of family members to provide support to disabled persons and Promotion of home-based occupations should be executed. To improve ADL and QOL of disabled people education, employment, non-discrimination, vocational training and rehabilitative services should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are major public health concerns exerting a huge burden on the health system. According to WHO, 1.2 million people lose their lives every year owing to RTAs. Objective: To find out the pattern of injuries among patients of RTAs presenting to a tertiary care hospital of Uttarakhand and to find the association between RTAs and various factors. Method: All the eligible patients or their care takers attending the emergency department were interviewed after taking informed consent over a period of one year. Results: Overall 717 respondents were interviewed. The mean age of the victims was 34.0 years ±15.093. Significantly more accidents took place between 6:00 PM and midnight (41.6%) and on the highways (69.2%). Two wheelers were responsible for majority (60.1%) of the accidents. Head injuries (25.6%) were most common, closely followed by lower limb injuries/fractures (23.8%). Head injuries were significantly more in 2-wheeler riders, who did not wear helmets. Conclusion: RTA is preventable non-communicable disease which is on rise due to ignorance and non-compliance of traffic rules as well as bad conditions of roads. Stringent road and traffic policies are required which are to be followed with strict compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Empathy is the ability to understand others' experiences and emotional states from their perspective. It is considered as a part and parcel of healthy doctor-patient relationship. The assessment of empathy among undergraduate medical students is an important step towards yielding a better fruitage from medical education in the form of empathetic doctors. Objectives of the study were to assess the empathy level and its determinants among undergraduate medical students. Methodology: This study was conducted among 351 undergraduate medical students studying at Dehradun by using the "Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student Version (JSPE-S)" and analyzed by SPSS-22. Results: The arithmetic mean (±SD) of empathy scores was 98.89±12.9. Compared with male students, empathy scores were significantly higher in female students (p<0.05 by Independent sample t test). One way ANOVA followed by Post Hoc test revealed a peculiar finding that empathy is more on initial clinical exposure but decreases as the clinical experience increases. The variation in empathy scores according to the future specialty plans was inconclusive. Conclusion: This study showed a slightly low mean empathy score as compared to similar studies. Gender and clinical experience were found to be associated with empathy. Further studies are recommended to explore other determinants of empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]