A Study on Proteolytic Enzyme Activity in the Erythrocytes of Diabetic Patients

The present study demonstrates the possibility of increased proteolytic activities in diabetic individuals. Proteolytic activity was measured by the amount of amino group released by the erythrocyte lysate of the diabetic individual using phenylhydrazine treated hemoglobin as substrate. The proteolytic activity in erythrocyte lysates against oxidatively damaged hemoglobin was significantly increased in diabetic individuals compared to controls (p<0.001).The result of this study indicates that in diabetic individuals, proteolytic enzymes degrade many oxidatively altered proteins preventing the accumulation of altered and damaged proteins in the cell

A Pilot Study for Enhancing Postpartum Discharge Instructions for Incision Care: Assessment of Comprehension

Literacy and Health Care • 14.5% of United States is illiterate 1 • Reading level of most medical forms is 10th grade 2 Improving Outcomes with a Visual Aid • Cesarean Surgical Site Infection (SSI) rate is 5% 3 • A patient with a SSI can be 2 times as expensive 4 • Visual aids improve information recall 8 and confidence in wound care 5 Study Objectives 1. To evaluate the readability of the cesarean wound care discharge instructions relative to the patient population’s reading level 2. To conduct a pilot Randomized Control Trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of a visual aid on improving comprehension of the cesarean wound care instructionshttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1034/thumbnail.jp

Effect of use of socially marketed faucet fitted earthen vessel/sodium hypochlorite solution on diarrhea prevention at household level in rural India

Objective: To evaluate the effect of socially marketed faucet fitted to earthen vessel / sodium hypochlorite solution on diarrhea prevention at rural household level as a social intervention for diarrhea prevention under ‘Community Led Initiatives for Child Survival (CLICS) program. Methods: Unmatched case-control study was carried out in 10 villages of Primary Health Centre, Anji, located in rural central India. During the study period, 144 households used either faucet fitted earthen vessel to store drinking water or used sodium hypochlorite solution (SH) for keeping drinking water safe. These served as case households for the present study. 213 neighborhood control households from same locality who used neither of the methods were also selected. Results: Odds ratio for households who used faucets fitted to earthen vessel was 0.49 (95% CI= 0.25 – 0.95). Odds ratio for households who used sodium hypochlorite solution was 0.55 (95% CI= 0.31 – 0.98). Use of these methods by the community, would prevent about 27 percent and 22 percent cases of the diarrhea (Population attributable risk proportion = 0.25 by faucets fitted to earthen vessels and 0.22 by use of sodium hypochlorite solution) respectively. Conclusion: To ensure safe drinking water at household level, the effective and cheap methods like fitting faucet to traditionally used earthen vessel and/or use of sodium hypochlorite solution must be promoted through community participation at household level for cost and culture sensitive rural people in Indi

Formative exploration of students’ perception about Community Medicine teaching at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram, India

Objective: The objectives of the present formative research were to explore the medical undergraduates’ study problems and their perceptions about various teaching approaches in currently practiced teaching curriculum of Community Medicine. Material and Methods: The present formative research was undertaken at Dr. Sushila Nayar School of Public Health incorporating Department of Community Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram. The respondents were 17 (26.5%) conveniently selected final year exam appearing medical undergraduates from 2004 regular batch of 64 students. A triangulation of qualitative research methods like free listing, pile sort exercise and a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were used. A two dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis was completed with the pile sort data. The data was analyzed by using software Anthropac 4.98.1/X software. Results: The medical undergraduates could understand the topics like Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood (IMNCI), Primary Health Care (PHC), cold chain system for vaccines, immunization and health education, dietary survey and cluster survey method taught in the community based camp approaches. Students found it difficult to comprehend the core of subject from the scattered lecture series over a long teaching period, especially using lengthy over head projector/liquid crystal display presentations. The major problems encountered in studying the subject of Community Medicine were difficulty in understanding the concepts of biostatistics, confusions due to apparently similar text in National Health Programs and difficulty to recall disease statistics due to vast syllabus. Conclusions: Students perceived the community based camp approach of teaching as a best method to understand the subject, which is an integration of task oriented assignments, integration of social sciences within medical domain and active community involvement. Hence, the community based camp approach can be scaled up as a best Community Medicine teaching approach. The active learning methods could be used to improve the lectures and the clinics which should be more concentrated in final year of teachin

Health Needs of Ashram Schools in Rural Wardha

Objective: To assess the health needs for health promoting Ashram schools in rural Wardha. Methods: It was a cross sectional study undertaken in 10 Ashram schools, using qualitative (SWOT analysis, Transect walks and Semi-structured interviews of teachers) and quantitative (Survey) methods. Hemoglobin examination of all children was done by using WHO hemoglobin color scale. Anthropometric measurements such as height and weight of each child were obtained. Physical activity score for each child was calculated. The manual content analysis of qualitative data was done and the quantitative data was entered and analyzed using Epi_info (version 6.04d) software package. Results: Out of 1287 children examined, 724 (56.3%) were boys and 563 (43.7%) were girls. About 576 (44.8%), 213 (16.6%), 760 (59.1%) children had untrimmed nails, dirty clothes and unclean teeth respectively. More girls had (31.6%) lice infestation than boys (18.2%). Eighty six (6.7%), 75 (5.8%) and 110 (8.6%) children had scabies, fungal infection and multiple boils on their skin respectively and 158 (12.3%), 136 (10.6%) and 66 (18.3%) children had dental caries, wax in ears and worm infestation respectively. Notably, 988 (76.8%) children had iron deficiency anemia which was significantly more among girls (81.9%) than boys (72.8%). About 506 (39.3%) children consumed any tobacco product in last one month. About 746 (57.9%) children were classified to have sedentary physical activity. Among 774 children (>12 years), 183 (23.6%) and 34 (4.4%) children felt lonely ‘sometime’ and ‘most of the times’ respectively. About 398 (94.3%) boys and 342 (97.2%) girls did not know the modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: In conclusion, there was high prevalence of risk factors for both communicable and non-communicable diseases in Ashram school environment. This dictates the urgent need for teacher driven, needs based and school based intervention that can screen and identify potentially preventable health conditions among underprivileged Ashram school children

An Approach to Monitor and Initiate Community Led Actions for Antenatal Care in Rural India – A Pilot Study

Background and Objective: Utilization of antenatal care in rural India is far from universal. It requires monitoring and identification of specific needs at field level for timely corrective actions. To pilot test the triangulation of rapid quantitative (Lot Quality Assurance Sampling) and qualitative (Focus Group Discussion) monitoring tools for ensuring antenatal care in a community based program. Methods: The present study was undertaken in surrounding 23 villages of Kasturba Rural Health Training Centre (KRHTC), Anji, which is also a field practice area of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sewagram. The monthly monitoring and action system of the study was based on the rapid quantitative monitoring tool (Lot Quality Assurance Sampling, LQAS)to find out poor performing supervision areas and overall antenatal service coverage and the qualitative methods (Focus group discussions (FGDs), and free listing) for exploring ongoing operational constraints in the processes for timely decision making at program and community level. A trained program supervisor paid house visit to 95 randomly selected pregnant women from 5 supervision areas by using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. For poor performing indicators, semi structured FGDs and free listing exercise were undertaken to identify unmet service needs and reasons for its poor performance. Results: Registration of pregnancy within 12 weeks improved from 22.8% to 29.6%. The consumption of 100 or more IFA tablets during pregnancy significantly improved from 6.3% to 17.3%. There was significant improvement in awareness among pregnant women regarding danger signs and symptoms during pregnancy. Over three months period, the overall antenatal registration improved from 253 (67%) to 327 (86.7%). Conclusion: The present field based monitoring and action approach constructively identified the reasons for failures and directed specific collective actions to achieve the targets

The use of happiness research for public policy

Research on happiness tends to follow a "benevolent dictator" approach where politicians pursue people's happiness. This paper takes an antithetic approach based on the insights of public choice theory. First, we inquire how the results of happiness research may be used to improve the choice of institutions. Second, we show that the policy approach matters for the choice of research questions and the kind of knowledge happiness research aims to provide. Third, we emphasize that there is no shortcut to an optimal policy maximizing some happiness indicator or social welfare function since governments have an incentive to manipulate this indicator

Increasing IPE Awareness through Social Media and Leveraging Visual Content

Background: Social networking is the most popular online activity and increasingly where students, health professionals, and patients get information[i]. In a 2015 student survey at an urban health sciences university, social media was the second most preferred method of communication. Furthermore, content with images gets 94% more total views[ii] and can say more about a program than a long description. This shift is a challenge in healthcare where patient confidentiality is paramount. Description of Intervention or Program: We created a Twitter account in August 2015. Our goals were to: Promote awareness of internal and external IPE programs Drive student attendance at IPE programs Encourage continuous interprofessional learning and innovation Recognizing the effectiveness of visual content, we subscribed to an online service for creating infographics and other images. Results: We have amassed 186 followers, with a daily average of 316 impressions (number of times users saw a tweet on Twitter). We share ideas within the IPE community and support internal partners. In 2016, our tweets with images have had 52% higher engagement from followers; tweets with videos had 72% higher engagement. Conclusion: Social media spreads awareness of IPE initiatives and helps to connect with the internal and external IPE communities. Visual content increases engagement. Social media platforms with more student traffic, such as Facebook and Instagram, could help increase followership among students in particular. Relevance to interprofessional education or practice: As IPE is an increasing priority for educators and providers, it is important these individuals know about the IPE resources and campus network. A well-managed social media account can increase such awareness. 2-3 measureable learning objectives relevant to conference goals: Explain the importance of leveraging social media to increase awareness of IPE among students, faculty, and clinicians Leverage visual content to maximize engagement with audience and support marketing needs of IPE faculty and staff [i] Richter, F. (2013). Social Networking Is the No. 1 Online Activity in the U.S. https://www.statista.com/chart/1238/digital-media-use-in-the-us/ [ii] Bullas, J., & Mawhinney, J. (2016). 37 Visual Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know in 2016. http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy#sm.00001kbk5bfyecddivn7nnbuchdn

Wireless Handheld Computers in the Preclinical Undergraduate Curriculum

This report presents the results of a pilot project using wireless PDAs as teaching tools in an undergraduate medical curriculum. This technology was used to foster a transition from a passive to an interactive learning environment in the classroom and provided a solution for the implementation of computer-based exams for a large class. Wayne State Medical School recently provided model e570 Toshiba PocketPCs® (personal digital assistants or PDAs), network interface cards, and application software developed by CampusMobility® to 20 sophomore medical students. The pilot group of preclinical students used the PDAs to access web-based course content, for communication, scheduling, to participate in interactive teaching sessions, and to complete course evaluations. Another part of this pilot has been to utilize the PDAs for computer-based exams in a wireless environment. Server authentication that restricted access during the exams and a proctoring console to monitor and record the PDA screens will be described in this report. Results of a student satisfaction survey will be present