Prafulla Kumar Chinara

Study of incidence and prevalence of musculoskeletal anomalies in a tertiary care hospital of eastern India.

INTRODUCTION Congenital anomalies or malformations are anatomical. Structural or functional defects present at birth leads to physical and mental disabilities. With the advent of newer drugs, infectious diseases have taken the backseat and congenital defects have emerged as an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. In India, anomalies of musculoskeletal system have been most commonly reported. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES With this in view, the present study was carried out to find the incidence and types of musculoskeletal defects in a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India. Various maternal factors were also correlated and analyzed. The purpose of this communication is to report these defects so as to help doctors and parents to prevent unexpected fetal loss and better parental counseling. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was done in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in association with Department of Paediatrics of a tertiary care hospital in Odisha from for a period of 1 year. The newborns were examined within 1(st) three days of delivery for congenital malformations. The study group included all live borns along with still borns after 28 weeks of gestation or those dead babies whose weight was about 1kg. A thorough physical examination from head to toe was done to look for musculoskeletal defects within 24hrs of delivery. OBSERVATION AND RESULTS Out of total 7268 babies delivered, 116 babies were found to have anomalies. Thirty two of these had musculoskeletal defects. Talipes equinovarus was the commonest anomaly observed followed by polydactyly. The ratio of male babies with musculoskeletal defects to female babies was found to be 1.28:1.The malformed babies were mainly born to term mothers (77.6%), who were mostly unbooked (62.5%) and belonged to lower or middle class. But no significant relationship could be established between these factors and defects. Most mothers were in the age group of 20-35 years and there was no history of drug addiction, smoking, trauma or irradiation that could be related to the occurrence of congenital malformations. CONCLUSION It is concluded that better maternal care and improved standards of living have very little effect on the overall frequency of congenital malformations. For the better future of neonates an early recognition of correctable lesions is essential, which calls for a systematic approach to the study of musculoskeletal defects.

MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF PROXIMAL FEMUR AND ITS CORRELATION WITH BONE MINERAL DENSITY. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: Proximal femoral morphometries such as hip axis length (HAL), femoral neck (FN) axis length (FNAL), and FN shaft angle (FNSA) are important parameters for prediction of fracture risk. These parameters are affected by factors such as body habitus, age, sex, race, bone mineral density (BMD), and body mass index. Hence, the present study was designed to evaluate the relationship between proximal femoral morphometry and BMD.Methods: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study in 168 patients. The measurements of radiological parameters such as HAL, FNAL, and FNSA were taken using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. FN-BMD was measured using LUNAR XR scanner and expressed as gm/cm². The correlation between proximal femoral morphometry and FN-BMD has been studied using Karl Pearson correlation coefficient (r).Results: The mean age, height, weight, HAL, FNAL, FNSA, and FN-BMD of the study population were found to be 58.72 years, 160.15 cm, 64.38 kg, 104.14 mm, 103.51 mm, 128.51°, and 0.761 g/cm², respectively. FN-BMD had a negative correlation with HAL (r=−0.791), FNAL (r=−0.734), and FNSA (r=−0.713) where p=0.000.Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between FN-BMD and proximal femoral morphometry. This observation will be helpful in exploration of its clinical significance in proximal femoral fracture.

Burden of facebook addiction among the students of a health university in Eastern India

Background: In recent times, people are using a number of social sites to stay in touch with each other. Out of them, Facebook is one of the most popular sites. However, the students are using these sites too much which create an addiction in them. Aim: The present study aims to determine the burden of Facebook addiction among the students. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among the Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor in Dental Sciences (BDS), and Nursing students of a health university in Eastern India which included 399 students. Results: It is found that 7.2% of MBBS students, 8.5% of BDS students, and 5.1% of Nursing students are addicted to it and many others are at high risk. Conclusion: Excessive use of the social sites produces a definite addiction among the students as well as it affects their academic activity and personality badly.

A study of different parameters of human extremities and its relationship with human height in residents of eastern India

Introduction Height is defined as distance between vertex of head and surface. Reconstruction of the stature from various parameters is quite valuable for identification & for establishing the individuality of a person. Aims and Objectives The present study was done to determine the stature from parameters of upper limb & lower limb of individuals having age group of 17-25. Materials and Methods Authors have studied 213 male and 87 female, healthy subjects in Department of Anatomy, IMS & SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar. All individuals were measured for height and arm, forearm, hand & foot length. Observation and Results The data thus obtained has been tabulated & subjected to statistical computation to derive the regression equations. Conclusion The results concluded that height has a definite correlation with the parameters. This conclusion is of utmost importance to anthropologist and forensic experts for estimation of stature from mutilated, decomposed or fragmentary skeletal remains.

Split brain syndrome: One brain but two conscious minds?

The corpus callosum is the largest bundle of commissural fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres. The human brain actually functions as two individual brains capable of highly organized mental functions. The dominant hemisphere deals with speech, written language, mathematics, and grammar, whereas the non-dominant hemisphere deals with music, pictorial representation, spatial and temporal synthesis. When this connection is divided surgically, the patient shows what are known as disconnection syndromes which can be classified as acute and chronic. Based on the review of literature, we have tried to deal with the symptom complex of patients who have undergone commissurotomy as treatment for multifocal epilepsy. A selective literature search using the internet and e-library facilities was performed on the topic. The work of great neuropsychologists like Roger Sperry and M. S. Gazzaniga was studied and the differences in functions of the dominant and non-dominant hemispheres were compared. Based on this literature search, it was found that the corpus callosum helps in interhemispheric transfer of information and it is the co-ordination between the two hemispheres which allows us to perform activities smoothly and perfectly. If this connection is severed, actions performed by one hand cannot be understood by another. It was seen that speech, calculation, reasoning, personality, and intelligence are almost completely preserved after commissurotomy. However, cognitive impairment, abstract reasoning, short-term memory, and attention deficits have been reported. All the studies carried out in this field have suggested that the separation of the hemispheres creates two different spheres of consciousness within a single cranium. By using the split brain model, it can be concluded that a normal persons mind is the result of interaction between two separate states of consciousness.