Dinesh Kumar Singh

Awareness of Medical Students Towards Medicolegal Autopsy in Barabanki, U.P.

Autopsy implies examination of the dead body with a view to searching primarily for the cause of death. It is divided into Medico-legal autopsy and Academic autopsies. The autopsy can make an important contribution to medical education. Present study is carried out to determine the awareness of medical students towards autopsy. Two hundred sixteen medical students of 2and 3rd year MBBS were randomly selected for the study. The students were asked to respond anonymously to a set of 12 questions. 85.2% of the students agreed that autopsy is necessary in medical education. (92.6%) respondents suggested that medical students should actively participate in performing autopsies. The majority of the students (202, 93.5%) felt that autopsy should not be scrapped from the medical curriculum. 56.5% of students do not want to specialise in forensic medicine. The study showed that exposure of students to autopsy is important to their medical education.

Anemia in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children and its relation to disease stages

Background: Anemia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children is associated with more rapid disease progression and a poorer prognosis if not treated appropriately. Objective: This study aimed at determining the severity of anemia among HIV-infected children and its relation with the World Health Organization (WHO) clinical and immunological HIV infection staging among HIV-infected children. Materials and Methods: The children who were HIV positive (confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for HIV-1 and HIV-2), and attending the outpatient department of ART Centre and SN Children Hospital, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, during period of 1 year. The study population consisted of 47 patients, belonged to both sexes and age of 18 months to 18 years. Written and informed consent was taken from parents/guardian. Detailed history was taken and full clinical examination was done in all cases. Blood sample for complete blood count and CD4 was collected. Result: Of 47 studied children, anemia (Hb < 11.5 g/dL) was present in 39 (82.98%) cases. Mild anemia was present in 25 (53.19%). Severe anemia was only found in the WHO clinical and immunological stages 3 and 4. Conclusion: Most of the HIV-infected children usually present with mild anemia. Mild and moderate anemia had no correlation with disease stages but severe anemia was present mostly in stages 3 and 4.