Bedanta Roy

Awareness of breast cancer warning signs and screening methods among female residents of Pokhara valley, Nepal.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and by far the most frequent cancer among women. OBJECTIVE The present study was undertaken to assess the awareness of breast cancer warning signs and screening methods among the women of Pokhara valley, Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out in a community setting with the female population. The questionnaire was administered in face-to-face interviews by trained research assistants. RESULTS Nepalese women demonstrated poor awareness of warning signs like a breast lump, lump under the armpit, bleeding or discharge from the nipple, pulling of the nipple, changes in the position of the nipple, nipple rash, redness of the breast skin, changes in the size of the breast or nipple, changes in the shape of the breast or nipple, pain in the breast or armpit, and dimpling of the breast skin. While 100% of nurses were aware about breast self- examination (BSE), mammography and warning signs of breast cancer. Levels of knowledge were significantly poorer in women with other occupations. Graduates were more aware about BSE, mammogram and warning signs of breast cancer compared to those with other educational levels. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicated that the level of awareness of breast cancer, including knowledge of warning signs and BSE, is sub-optimal among Nepalese women.

Self-medication practice among preclinical university students in a medical school from the city of Pokhara, Nepal.

Background: In developing countries like Nepal medicines can be acquired from the chemists without of a prescription which sometime may have many drawbacks due to intake of excessive drugs without a proper diagnosis. The primary objective of the study was to find out the pattern of self-medication practice among the preclinical medical students at Manipal College of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study carried out using structured questionnaire at Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal between November 2012- July 2014. Results: The overall response rate of this study was 95.31%. 81.35% of the students were practicing self-medication in this institution. Most common group of drugs that were consumed were antipyretics 31%, antibiotics 26.2%, analgesics 18.89%, antihistaminics 10.1% respectively. Paracetamol was the most common drug used for self-medication 31%, followed by Azithromycin 17.6% and combination of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen 15.6%, Cetirizine 8.6%, Amoxicillin 6.5%, Omeprazole 6.3%, Albendazole 3.3%, Mefenemic acid 2.8%, Cefpodoxime2% respectively. Conclusion: Medical student should be educated through awareness programme regarding pros and cons of self-medication practice and they should be motivated regarding the rationale use of antibiotics. .

Pharmacotherapy of Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Hospital based Study from Sub Himalayan Valley of Nepal.

INTRODUCTION In Bipolar disorder the mood of the patients fluctuates between depression and mania. The main objective of the study was to find out the commonest mood stabilizers used for the treatment of Bipolar affective disorders in Western Nepal in hospitalized patients in an actual clinical set up. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study which was conducted between October 2009 and September 2010 at Psychiatric ward at Manipal teaching hospital, Pokhara, Nepal, a tertiary care hospital situated in Western Nepal. The diagnosis of the disease was based on ICD-10 (Tenth revision) Classification of mental and Behavioural disorders, Diagnostic Criteria for Research. We calculated odds ratio and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). p< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS 62.1% of the patients were less than 40 yrs, 56.3% were male, 72.4% were unemployed and 75.9% of the patients were having monthly income <10,000/month. As far as ethnicity is concerned 37.9% of the cases were Brahmin and by occupation 29.9% of the patients were students followed by housewife 25.3%, labour 17.2%, retired 13.8% respectively. Drugs and Psychotherapy [OR 1.4, 95% (CI 0.575, 3.4017)] was prescribed in age <40 years as compared to age>40 yrs. Male patients [OR 7.22, 95% (CI 0.862, 60.499)] and [OR 2.353, 95% (CI 0.857, 6.455)] received drugs by trade names and drugs not from the national drug list of Nepal as compared to females. Monthly income <10,000/month and [OR 2.8, 95% (CI 0.742, 10.56)] tendency of receiving drugs by trade names. Among the mood elevators Sodium valproate was the commonest drug to be prescribed in 51/87(58.6%) patients followed by Lithium in 30/87 (34.5%) cases and Carbamazepine in 6/87 (6.9%) cases. Sodium valproate was prescribed at 1,000 mg/day, Lithium was prescribed at 900 mg/day in and Carbamazepine was prescribed at 800 mg/day. CONCLUSION Among all the mood elevators Sodium valproate is the commonest drug prescribed for the treatment of bipolar affective disorder, recommended that there is a trend of using newer drugs like sodium valproate rather than the conventional mood stabilizers like Lithium for bipolar affective disorder in Western Development region of Nepal.

Ethnic Variations in Perception of Human Papillomavirus and its Vaccination among Young Women in Nepal

Background: The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is strongly associated with cervical and other cancers. In women, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer. HPV infection can be largely prevented through vaccination of (adolescent) girls. At the same time, Nepal is a low-income country experiencing a cultural change in attitudes towards sex and sexual behaviour. However, in the adolescent population knowledge about HPV, factors associated with an increased risk of HPV and the existence of the vaccination is often low. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with female students enrolled in health and non-health science courses in Pokhara, Nepal. The questionnaire included demographic details, knowledge and attitude questions related to HPV, associated risk behaviour and its vaccination. Descriptive statistics, including Chi-Square test, were used to identify statistically significant relationships. Ethical approval was granted by the relevant authority in Nepal. Results: Hindu religion (75.0 %; 95% CI: 70.9, 78.6) and Newari caste (75.5%; CI: 61.1, 86.7) were more aware about HPV, HPV vaccination. Hindus religion (55.6%; 95% CI: 51.2, 60.0) and Dalit caste (61.6%, 95% CI: 53.3, 69.4) more willing to be vaccinated than other religions and other castes, respectively. Not unsurprisingly, students on health-related courses had a greater awareness of HPV, HPV vaccination and were more willing to be vaccinated than students on other courses. Similar patterns of association arose for knowledge related to those sexually active at an early age; HPV risk and multiple sex partners; and fact that condoms cannot fully prevent the transmission of HPV. Conclusion: Knowledge about the link between HPV and (a) early sexual initiation, (b) having multiple sexual partners, and (c) the limited protection of condoms and other birth control measures was poor in our study compared to similar research conducted in other parts of the world. One key implication is the need for education campaigns in Nepal to educate young women and their parents about HPV, its risk factors and the benefits of vaccination. .

Grant Writing for Innovative Medical Research: Time to Rethink

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.29387/ms.2017.4.3.332-333 Millions of people and billions of dollars are involved in health and medical research across the globe, but it could be argued that all this investment has not transformed health care or reduced the key health problems [1, 2]. Expenditure of life science research in 2010 was US

Medications for Anxiety: A Drug utilization study in Psychiatry Inpatients from a Tertiary Care Centre of Western Nepal

240 billions with United States of America as the largest funder (US

Medical Students View about the Integrated MBBS Course: A Questionnaire Based Cross-sectional Survey from a Medical College of Kathmandu Valley

70 billion in commercial and US

Depression and its cure: a drug utilization study from a tertiary care centre of western Nepal

40 billions in governmental and nonprofit) [3-4]. Chalmers and Glasziou reported that US

Blood Group Distribution and Its Relationship with Bleeding Time and Clotting Time: A Medical School Based Observational Study among Nepali, Indian and Sri Lankan Students

200 billion was wasted in 2010 out of the US

Attitude of Basic Science Medical Students towards Post Graduation in Medicine and Surgery: A Questionnaire based Cross-sectional Study from Western Region of Nepal

240 billions, as research finding were unusable and reports inaccessible [5]. It is not exactly clear who is the blame, the scientists, funding agencies, governments, politicians, commercial medical companies, medical journals, editors, reviewers or institutional/government ethics committees or health-care managers. Regardless of the reasons for this waste of research funding as researchers we need to write the best possible grant application. Therefore, highlight some important steps, which should be considered in the grant writing process from our experience of obtaining grants. At the same time the average grant application in the medical field has a low chance of 1:8 to 1:12 of getting funded.