Introduction: Adolescence is the period characterized not only by physical and sexual maturation but also by developmental changes towards attaining social and economic independence. A large number of adolescents who are unable to cope with stress caused by these changes develop mental health problems, especially depression. Adolescent depression has serious impact on their socialization, family relations and performance at school and is also a risk factor for committing suicide. Objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of depression among adolescents in a rural population. (2) To identify the socio-demographic, behavioral and health-related factors associated with depression. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among the adolescents (10-19 years) residing in the Pillayarkuppam village in the Villiannur Commune of Puducherry.The calculated sample size was 300 and so all the 302 adolescents residing in the study village were studied using standardized Beck Depression Inventory Scale Questionnaire. The overall prevalence of depression among adolescents was 32% of which 29% had mild to moderate depression and 2.6% had severe depression

Background: India’s older population will increase dramatically over the next four decades. WHO suggested that by 2015 death from chronic diseases will increase 17% that is; from 35 million to 41 million. Ageing is mainly associated with social isolation, poverty, apparent reduction in family support, inadequate housing, impairment of cognitive functioning, mental illness, widowhood, bereavement, limited options for living arrangement and dependency towards end of life. Objectives: To study the Socio Demographic status, Medico Social problems and attitude towards life of study subjects. Methodology: A cross-sectional study carried out from March to May 2015 in Old Aged Home of Indore. A total of 79 out of 80 Elderly people of Ashram, aged 60 years and above were included. Detailed clinical history was recorded and relevant physical examination was also carried out. A detailed interview was conducted followed by medical examination. Result: Maximum study subjects were in age group of 70 - 80 years, gender distribution was: males were (58.2%) and females (41.8%). Majority of population living in ashram were alone (83.5%). Around 79.7% of respondents felt that old age had affected their day-to-day life. Majority of respondents (86.1%) felt sad mainly because of his/her own Illness, the most common being Hypertension, Musculo-skeletal disorder and Depression. Conclusion: Study revealed that a major proportion of the elderly were partially or totally dependent on others, and suffering from health problems with the sense of neglect by their family members. It needs further qualitative research to explore their problems.

Introduction: An outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus, in march 2009, spread rapidly through the world, leading to the declaration of an influenza pandemic by WHO on 11th June 2009. Objective: To assess the knowledge about swine flu among first-year MBBS students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among first-year MBBS students of Mamata Medical College, Khammam, Telangana, during April 2015. Data were collected by using pilot-tested, self-administered questionnaire and results were analyzed by using SPSS version 19. Results: Majority 110 (96.5%) of the students are having correct knowledge regarding symptoms of swine flu. Around 58 (50.9%) students are having knowledge regarding spread/ mode of transmission of swine flu. Majority 74 (64.9%) of the students are having knowledge regarding availability of medication for swine flu. Conclusion: The awareness regarding H1N1 infection was adequate among the students who participated in this study and this can be attributed to the immediate training given to these students as well as to the mass media campaign which is important in epidemic situations to avoid its spread and complication.

Introduction: In this study we focused on the knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the attendees of ICTC associated with SMSmedical college, Jaipur which included multiple types of high risk behavior people and also general population which will help for measures to be taken for primary prevention of HIV infection. In thisstudy, 177 attendees were included for knowledge assessment from April 2015 to September 2015. Aim and Objectives: To determine the knowledge of ICTC attendees about HIV/AIDS and to correlate with socio-demographic profile of attendees. Observations: All participants have heard about HIV/AIDS (100%). Television was most common source of information (77.97%). Regarding modes of transmission, 80.23% had knowledge about transmission by blood transfusion, sexual route (77.4%), contaminated surgical needles (73.45%) and from pregnant mother to newborn (71%). Use of condom, avoidance of sharing of injection needles, restricting sexual activity to a faithful partner, abstinence from any sexual intercourse and avoidance of visits to female sex workers were known preventive methods in 81.36%, 67.23%, 61.02%, 58.19% and 45.76% respondents respectively. Transmission of HIV by kissing, mosquito bite, drinking contaminated water, hugging/shaking hands,sharing toilet and sharingmeal were common myths among 33.9%, 32.2%, 31.64%, 18.64%, 15.82%, and 13.56% respondentsrespectively.53.15%males, 53.73% singles, 55.21% Hindus, 58.46% OBC, 55.84% urban residents, 64.1% 20-29 year age group respondents, 59.32% respondents of jointfamily, 63.64% socio-economic class 1participants, 58.82% voluntary attendees and 83.33% post graduates were having good knowledge about HIV/ AIDS. Socio-economic classification (p<0.05) and literacy (p<0.05)wasfoundsignificantly associated with knowledge. Literacy was found significant independent predictor of knowledge score by stepwise multivariate regression analysis-Knowledge score = 17.4329 + 1.5452 (Literacy). Conclusion: Knowledge in general population about HIV/ AIDS is still poor and myths are prevailing yet. Literacy and socio-economic status are most efficient weapons to break this barrier and to mitigate future HIV/AIDS burden.

Aging is a natural and universal process. Old age is considered as the last stage of human life span. In the words of Seneca, ‘Old age is an incurable disease’. The geriatric population is defined as population constituted by people of age 60 years and above. WHO defines Health as a complete state of physical, psychological and social aspects. Mental Health is considered to be a good state of well-being. In modern India, as the population of the elders is increasing at an alarming rate, they suffer from a lot of social problems which affects the mental health status to a great extent. A study was conducted to understand the social problems affecting the mental health status of the geriatric population. The descriptive and exploratory research design was adapted to carry out the study, interview schedule and observation techniques adopted as a tool to elicit data from the 60 elderly respondents living in families in Mysuru district of Karnataka state, who were selected for the study. Chi-square statistical test was used to analyze the data by using SPSS Package. The study reveals that changes in the structure and function of family system, changes in social roles and responsibilities, and changes in social relationship and interaction affect the mental health status of the geriatric population living in a family to a great extent in the modern period. Application of social work methods such as Case work, Group work and Social work researches can be conducted for focusing on the unraveled areas of the issues of elders, which is helpful in redressing the poor mental health conditions of geriatric population,and in turn resulting in social well-being.

Discontinuing education has major social, economic and health implications. Parents who drop out from school are often unable to motivate their children to continue their schooling. Thus school dropout becomes a vicious intergenerational issue. Hence a study was undertaken to examine the reasons for school dropout across two generations with the objective to determine the reasons for school dropout among school age children and their parents in an urban slum. Results: It was found that 40.3% (N=118) of adult males (fathers) were dropouts and 43.7% of (N=128) adult females (mothers) were dropouts. The reasons varied widely between the genders. (p<0.05). A major reason for school dropout which persists across the generations is the lack of interest in studies. This indirectly suggests that there is a lack of motivation to continue education which is persisting across generation. Generating interest in continuing schooling needs efforts from parents as well as authorities to break the intergenerational cycle of school dropout.

Introduction: Globalization has strengthened women’s position across the world fostering the country’s economy by women’s participation in various job markets.Today women are seen as potential catalyst of social development inside and outside the four walls of their homes. However, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women is still an under achieved target set in “Millennium Development Goals” by United Nations. Present study tried to address these issues by interviewing young working men to get the holistic visualization of their attitudes towards gender bias and especially towards gender discrepancy at work. Methods: The study was being conducted on young working men in and around Ahmedabad city. Study was a cross sectional interview based descriptive study with pre-designed, pretested and validated self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaires included tenitem personality inventory (TIPI), questions to measure Attitude and perception towards females, gender stereotyping and attitude towards crime against women. Results: Thisstudy is on-going. A total of 213 young male workers with age 20.6 ± 6.9 years, education of 4.2 ± 2.3 years, BMI 19.4 ± 2.8 with 42 % reporting substance abuse in the form of tobacco or alcohol. The total attitude score of 84.1 ± 8.1 (range 61 to 105), the crime against women score of 40.3 ± 5.5 (range 16 to 47), TIPI score of 44.1 ± 5.4 (range 29 to 60). Discussion: The study endeavoured to collect information about the attitude developed by young working men towards females. As young age is age of learning and acceptance of new ideas, it is important to understand whether the developed mentality is positive or negative. The present paper reports the preliminary findings of the study. The early results indicate presence of negative attitude of young working men towards females however concluding interpretations can be made after completion of the study.

Stress is a state of an individual that results from the interaction of the individual with the environment that is perceived as threatening to the well-being1 . It is an external constraint which upsets an individual both mentally and physically. Individual in a stressful situation is influenced by his or her mental ability to carry out ongoing tasks2,3 . Medical education is highly challenging and often places heavy demands on the mental health of the students. Compared to other fields of education; medical education is evidenced by high prevalence of stress 4 . Educational process exerts an inadvertent negative effect on student’s mental health with a high frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students5-8 . Students exposed to work overload and examinations in a competitive environment with constant pressure of assessment brings various changes in their daily habits such as lack of sleep and irregular diet

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is rising in India at an alarming rate. One of the most significant challenging issues that world has ever had to tackle. Young people, who are idealistic and motivated, have incomplete knowledge, casual attitudes, and risky practices which are enormous barrierin preventing the spread of HIV. 1 There has been an increase in the HIV infection among the young population due to their casual attitudes towards premarital sex, influence of mass media on the perception of sex, and the degradation of traditional value. If these youngsters lack adequate information regarding

NFHS-3 stated that 54.9% of rural population in M.P. used contraceptive methods (any methods).Water supply and sanitation were added to the national agenda during the 1st five year plan during (1951- 56).The primary responsibility for providing drinking water and sanitation facilities in the country rests with the state government and more specifically the local bodies in the urban areas. According to NFHS III, only 51% women had at least 3 antenatal checkups, and only 41% women had institutional deliveries and 49% deliveries were assisted by health professional. Vaccination coverage was 44%. These figures stated that in spite of various health schemes in our country the statistics remained discouraging due to poor utilization of these services. 1 This study had the objectives of assessing the health seeking behavior and awareness of MCH and water hygiene practices of villagers.

Introduction: Transgender persons are those who exhibit gender variant behavior, appearance and roles in the society. They are the most visible and exploited sexualminorities in India. The current study is an effort to explore their perception of social support from their family members, friends and significant others. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in a Metropolitan city of southern part of India. 60 Male-to-female transgender persons were selected for the study by using consecutive sampling method. The respondents were contacted through the local NGOs working for this community. Results: Transgender persons are mostly separated from their families and migrated to urban areas and half of them are migrated from other states. They stay in urban slum areas and hammams along with other transgender community members. They perceive no support from their parents, friends and significant others. Sex work and begging are the sources of their livelihood. They spend all their earnings mostly on substances and other day-to-day commodities and have no practice of saving fortheirfuture. Those who are educated in high school and above and those who are staying in their family of origin have expressed better perception of social support compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Transgender persons are stigmatized and minimally understood by the wider part of the society. Hence, there is an urgent need to bring about awareness among the society and mainstreamthis population. In this regard, the social workers have a major role to play in terms of bringing change in their life.

Objectives: a) To study and focus on feminization of urban poverty; b) To analyze the vulnerabilities of the urban poor women; c) To analyze the gender discrimination and patriarchal values of the society towards the poor women; d) To study the discriminations against women in house, workplace and market; e) To analyze whether urbanization and neoliberal reforms a boon or bane for the poor women; and f) To assess and analyze the magnitude and intensity of the poverty burden on women Results: The complex nature of relationship between urban poverty and gender discrimination is a critical issue to be focused on. On the one hand, urbanization offers opportunities for women, on the other hand increases the vulnerabilities of the poor women. Neoliberal macroeconomic policies have accentuated inequality and poverty on urban women as paid, unpaid and underpaid workers. As home makers, women have shouldered the burden of globalization due to the commercialization of day-to-day needs. There is an urgent need for affirmative action by democratic institutions of the nation states and for evolving new strategies to address the vicious circle of poverty, discrimination and gender. Conclusions: Without progress towards gender equality and empowerment of the women none of the millennium development goals will be achieved and without protecting the rights of the women, globalization cannot have a human face.

Introduction: The experience in intensive care unit (ICU) has created an intense emotional situation both to patients and their family members. Objectives: To understand the needs of critically ill patients’ families. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 family members of patients admitted in a medical ICU. A face to face interview was conducted and a selfreported questionnaire of the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) was used. Descriptive statistics and comparison of proportions were used. Statistical analysis was done on SPSS version 18. Observations: CCFNI’ sfive sub-attributes that ranked from highest to lowest included: Reassurance (mean 3.10 ± 0.37); Information (mean 2.60 ± 0.61); Proximity (mean 2.46 ± 0.58); Support (mean 2.44 ± 0.34) and Comfort (mean 1.90 ± 0.26). Conclusion: The resultssuggest that familymembers perceived reassurance and information as the most crucial need. Comfort need was viewed as least important. Although this study was conducted in a tertiary hospital, the findings could still provide insight for health care providers to improve the delivery of care to patients and family members.

In this paper, the author intends to throw light upon “Surrogacy”, which is an emerging concept which is having its repercussion throughout the world, to which India is not an exception. Surrogacy has been defined under the garb of Reproduction Rights in 2000 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as ‘The basic rights of couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children, to have the information and means to do so; and to have the right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence’ 1 . Family is a bond of relationship, for many couples infertility carries a stigma with serious personal and social ramification. Infertility couples face a serious rejection from the members of their family and friends, since there is a loss of lifelong dream of rearing children. The psychological trauma associated with infertility has created a great demand for a solution and the medical industry has responded with eagerness .Surrogacy is when another woman carries and gives birth to a baby for the couple who want to have a child. Infertility couples in America spend millions of dollars on medical treatments, including vitro fertilization, surrogate pregnancy, egg donation and a myriad of infertility drugs are now on the market. The outlines of this paper sprout out from the Historical aspects of surrogacy, International perspective on surrogacy (comparative analysis of various countries), Internationalsurrogacy arrangements, Legal issues regarding surrogacy across the world, Legitimacy of child with groundbreaking rulings of the concerned courts, India and surrogacy with special reference to The draft Assisted Reproductive bill-its present scenario, Commercial surrogacy and fertility tourism in India, Legalisation of Surrogacy in India-Indian Council for medical research guidelines ,success stories about surrogate mothers, surrogacy and its implications, restraints in implementation of surrogacy laws ,covering recent trends with a through suggestion/ evaluations.

Human hair processing is a discrete business in India. One of the main reason for this is the wide availability of virgin human hair owing to the country’s rich religious and spiritual practises. The custom of sacrificing human hair to Gods as an act of sacrifice, thanks giving, supplication and worship is much prevalent in our country. These practises provide huge source of raw material available for human hair processing. The different sources for this industry is temple hair, village hair and barber hair. Templehair being the major contribution-because of its length and quality. Care is taken to make sure the hair is shaved with the cuticles in the same direction so it can be sold in bulk. The hair is auctioned off in bulk with yearly bidsstarting at millions of dollars

Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of women and men, as well as girls and boys (United Nations Women, 2012) 1 . Women in India have suffered gender disparities since ages; although addressed at all fronts (social, political) for last few decades yet we can find scars here and there in the form of gender violence, honor-killing, rape, and social policing. Changes toward equitable gender roles and relations in the community as well as household are a prerequisite to gender equality1 Promotion of gender equality and empowering of women is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to which India is a signatory. Gender equality and women‘s empowerment are two sides of the same coin: progress toward gender equality requires women‘s empowerment and women‘s empowerment requires increases in gender equality 2 evident by pairing of them in MDG.

Background: Prolonged fever is a common clinical problem in HIV infected patients, especially in those with advanced HIV. In India where ART is provided on the basis of CD4 count and WHO clinical stage and not all eligible HIV patients are on ART or cotrimoxazole prophylaxis and vast majority of medical centers lack laboratory facilities to perform invasive and specialized diagnostic tests, clinicians need an alternative approach. In this study we propose use the diagnostic algorithm for prolonged fever developed and validated by CMC Vellore in a resource poor setting and determine its utility to identify causes of prolonged fever among HIV infected patients in a hospital setting and correlate with CD4 count, WHO staging and ART status. Objectives: a) To identify the causes of prolonged fever among HIV infected patients using the CMC algorithm; b) To correlate causes of fever in relation to CD4 count, WHO staging and ART status; and c) To assess the utility of the algorithm developed by CMC Vellore for evaluation of prolonged fever in a resource poor setting Methods: Prospective longitudinal observational study conducted on convenient sample of 90 consecutive HIV infected patients presenting with prolonged fever at a secondary care hospital for specialized care of HIV disease. Results: Ninety patients were included and in 82 (91.1%) patients causes of fever were able to be diagnosed by CMC algorithm. TB meningitis was the most common cause of fever accounting for 23.3% followed by Bacterial pneumonia, Pulmonary TB and Pneumocystis jirevoci pneumonia accounting for 13.3%, 11.1% and 13.3% respectively. Cryptococcal meningitis and various forms of extra pulmonary tuberculosis were the third common cause in 7.7% and 11% patients. Paradoxical IRIS-TBM was causing fever in 3 patients and pyomyositis in 2 patients. Protozoan infections Amebic colitis and cryptosporidiasis, Cryptococcal pneumonia, Neurosyphilis, Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Toxoplasmosis and Urinary tract infection were the cause of fever in one each of patients. Tuberculosis continues to be the most common cause of prolonged fever(58.8%) in this cohort of Indian patients infected with HIV although the prevalence rates seems to be decreased compared to the Pre-HAART era studies from India(71%,10 69%7 ). Extra pulmonary TB continues to be the predominant form of TB and in this study the most common form was TB meningitis. Pneumocystis pneumonia, Cryptococcal meningitis and toxoplasmosis continues to be prevalent in same proportion as in previous studies underlining the late diagnosis of HIV infection among the general population and initiation of ART at lower CD4 counts among diagnosed people. CD4 count and WHO staging were found to be the statistically significant factors in determining the cause of fever and ART status was not statistically significant.

Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. Psychoactive substance use can lead to dependence syndrome-a cluster of behavioral, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state (WHO). In this study the researcher focussed on the psychological and social problems faced by tribal children and the risk factors around them that led to substance abuse especially tobacco chewing. The objective of the study was to analyze the pattern of tobacco chewing, to identify the risk factors and psycho social problems faced by them which indirectly lead to substance abuse. The researcher adopted a descriptive research design. The universe of the study was paniya tribal settlement at valaramkkunu, wayanad district. Survey method was adopted for study tool for data collection. The participants were observed and subjected to interview schedule from a sample size of 50 families in paniya tribe. Major findings of the study were as follows most of the tribal children in paniya tribal settlement were addicted to tobacco chewing. It has become part of their life style. They pattern of usage is thrice in a day and sometimes even more if they were not going to school. The ratio of male and female consuming tobacco was equal. The main reason behind tobacco chewing was their custom. The parents prepared these tobacco packets and served it to their children instead of meals so that the child would not ask for food for long time. Many of them were aware about the harmful effects but unwilling to stop the usage due to peer pressure as well as it part of their culture. The researcher concluded the study by suggesting that treatment and preventive measures should be administered for the current children and assertive skilltraining should be imparted for the upcoming children to protect them from the risk factors of substance abuse.

Suicide is difficult to predict and prevent and remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Although soldiers historically have had a suicide rate well below that of the general population, Indian Army, being the largest among the three forces, witnessed the highest number of suicides has increased markedly over the past several years. As many as 116 army personnel committed suicide in 2010. The figure offers some respite for the army top brass and the Indian government as the number of suicidal deaths witnessed a decrease with 86 suicides reported in 2013. From an all-time high of 129 in 2006, the number of suicides by armed personnel had dipped to 86 in 2013 and rose again to 108 in 2014.

Background: Yoga means union of body and mind. Yoga is a therapy for promoting total health and harmonizing body and soul. Mental stress plays a very important role on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). An imbalance in ANS will virtually lead to many diseases. Yoga which teaches holistic life style with good food habits regulates ANS and acts as preventive medicine for most of the diseases helping healthy aging. Aim: To study the physical and psychological conditions of elderly people who practice yoga and who don’t practice yoga. Methodology: Data was collected from 73 people, male-40; female-33 (39 who practice yoga (from two yoga centers in Rajajinagar, Bangalore and 34 not practicing yoga from Rajajinagar, Bangalore). The survey questioners were readout and their answers were noted. Random blood sugar was recorded using ONETOUCH select simple from Johnson & Johnson, and blood pressure (BP) was recorded using standard mercury sphygmomanometer during the survey. The survey questioner covered age, years of yoga practice, whether diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) or diabetes (two most common diseases among aging Indians), number of visits to the physician per year, BP, blood sugar as per their previous records, type of yoga posture normally performed and duration of practice. Result: The average age of people surveyed is 52.7 years. 87.2% of people who are practicing yoga for more than 10 years are found to have normal BP, blood sugar, don’t suffer from CVDs or diabetes, and visit to a physician is less than 1.72 times/year. It is found that 9% of people started practicing yoga after being diagnosed with CVDs or diabetes but claim that their BP and blood sugar are under control due to yoga practice. It was also found that 3.8% of people are suffering from hypertension and diabetes in spite of practicing yoga. The yoga posture practiced by people are simple breathing techniques (pranayama), warm ups (jathis and suryanamaskar), breath body movement coordination practices (kriyas), static stretching postures (asana), relaxation and chanting. 28.35% of people who don’t practice yoga were diabetic, 17.5% had CVDs, 21% suffer from hypertension and 65.3% accept mental stress. The average visit to doctor/year is 7.6. Conclusion: Study shows people practicing yoga stay healthy and stress free and lead their life to happy and healthy aging.