Background: Oral hygiene is one of etiologies which determine the morbidity due to oral conditions like periodontitis, dental caries, etc. It might be often neglected in a district with low literacy rate like the one in which this study was conducted. Aims: To assess oral hygiene status and its socio-demographic determinants among children and adolescents below 19 yrs in a large school of a district. Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted by Department of Community Medicine and Department of Dentistry of a Govt. Medical College in a large purposively selected school. All the school children from classes first to twelfth were enrolled and screened during the year 2012-13. Clinical data were collected on self-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured schedules by conducting dental examinations by a dentist. The socio-demographic data of the students were collected from their school records with the help of respective teachers. Proportions, chi square test, with and without Yate’s correction, and t test were used as statistical tools for the analysis. Results and Conclusions: Oral hygiene index-Simplified (OHI-S) was estimated to be poor, fair, and good among 210/1118 (18.8%), 441/1118 (39.4%), and 467/1118 (41.8%) study participants respectively. Children with poor OHI-S need be focused and targeted for oral hygiene education programs.

Background: Hypertension,the silent killer, is one ofthemajorrisk factor of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases which is currently responsible for 2/3rd of global mortality. Obesity is a good predictor of hypertension and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Objective: To find out the prevalence of hypertension and obesity among high school students of Mysore, Karnataka. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted from June 2014 to July 2014. Multistage samplingmethod was adopted to select 3000 students. The required sample size was collected from 8 th , 9 th , and 10th standard students equally after doing gender stratification in each class. Anthropometrics measurements and blood pressure was measured according to WHO guidelines. Results: In our study most of the children belong to the age group of 13-14 years, mostly were boys and were studying in 10th standard, belonged to Hindu religion and nuclear family. In our study, we found that 22.4% of children had a family history of hypertension and 13.7% of children had a family history of obesity. In our study, we found that the prevalence of overweight was 4.97%, obesity was 1.47% and prevalence of hypertension was 0.3%. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension was 0.3% and obesity was 1.47%.

Background: The World Health Organization defines adolescents as those belonging to the age group of 10-19 years old. Nevertheless, adolescence should be considered a phase rather than a fixed age group, with physical, social, psychological and cultural dimensions. This is indeed a transition period between childhood and adulthood where special attention is required. Due to unawareness, peer pressure and misinformation they become confuse and indulge in high risk behaviors. Theobjective of this study isto determine the knowledge and perception of sexual behavior and sexuality education among adolescents and also to determine the association between knowledge regarding HIV/ AIDS and selected variables. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 420 students of class X-XII from fourschools of Imphal and undergraduate 1st year MBBS, BDS and Nursing students of RIMS, Imphal, Manipur during 3rd - 24th April 2014. Data was collected through self administered questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version-16. Descriptive statistics like mean, percentages were used. Chi-square test was used for analysis where P-value of <0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Out of 420 undergraduate MBBS, BDS, Nursing and Class X-XII school students, 221 (52.6%) were males and mean age was 16±1.6 years. Only 23.8% of the respondents had adequate knowledge about HIV/ AIDS. There was significant increase in the knowledge with increase in age (P=0.00). Significant increase in knowledge was found among the undergraduate MBBS, BDS, Nursing students as compared to school students(P=0.00). 18 (4.3%) respondents had experienced sexual intercourse. Conclusion: More than 2/3rd of the students had inadequate knowledge about HIV/ AIDS. Higher age and education of the students were significantly associated with knowledge about HIV/ AIDS.

Background: Child and adolescent mental health is an essential component of overall health. Mental health problems among adolescents are fairly common. Collaboration between families, schools, communities & health care institutions can improve not only the mental health of adolescents but also their access to mental health services. Study was carried out to assess the mental health status of school going adolescents as part of introducing life skills education. Methods: Cross sectional study was carried out among adolescent students (10-19 years) in rural schools of Anand district of Gujarat, using a pre-tested and validated self reported ‘Strengths & Difficulties’ Questionnaire (SDQ) in Gujarati language. Results: 605 (62.6%) boys and 361 (37.4%) girls participated in the study. The mean age was 14.2 years (Standard deviation: 1.46). Majority of students 820 (84.9%) attended day schools (9am-5pm). 171 (17%) students attended tuitions also. Only about 37% had normal self reported SDQ scores. 30% had borderline and 33% had abnormal scores. Highest level of abnormal score was seen in peer problem score (45.9%) and least in pro-social behavior score (1.1%). The abnormal SDQ score were statistically more among girls, Muslim students, students in primary school, those with problematic families and those attending morning schools. Conclusions: The SDQ can be easily administrated in rural Indian setting by trained non professional personnel including teachers. The high prevalence of abnormal SDQ scores calls for integrating mental health issues and Life skill education in the existing school health programs.

Background: Bullying and being bullied causes adverse psychological and sociological effects on the health of young adolescents. Understanding the parenting and relationship adolescents share with their parents is thus important as it helps us identify the origin of the behavior and also to verify if there is any connection at all. This study considers parents’ viewpoint in understanding how they perceive this relationship as. Aim: The current study explores the nature of parent-adolescents relationship among early adolescents characterizing bullying and victim behavior Methods: Qualitative research design method was utilized. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 12 Indian parentsresiding in Bangalorewhose children characterize bullying and victim behavior [6-Group A parents (bullying) and 6-Group B parents (victim)]. A semi-structured interview schedule was created to assessthe nature ofthisrelationship. The interviewsweretape-recorded.The interview transcripts were analyzed using deductive content analysis process. Six dimensions of this relationship were studied thoroughly. Those are, Communication, Involvement, Discipline, Attachment, Encouragement and Psychological Autonomy. Results: The data revealed interesting findings which are also supported by the previous studies. Preference in using punitive methodsfor discipline, inability to express warmth and love to the child, conversationsrevolvingmostly around study related or behaviormodificationtopics,and lessfreedom given to take decisions was observed in the case of Group A (parents of bullying adolescent), whereas in the case ofGroup B (parents of victimadolescents) parental over protectiveness was predominant. Low level of awareness and knowledge about adolescent’s day-to-day activities and ‘Lack of understanding’ of his/ her emotional needs, bordering on emotional deprivationwere commonacross these two groups.