Asha Kamath

Prasanna School of Public Health Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Background and objectives The tobacco industry (TI) has undermined tobacco control policy for decades. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3 implementation guidelines provide guidance for preventing TI interference. Government officials responsible for policy implementation must understand these guidelines to manage TI tactics...

Introduction: The study aimed to propose a framework for identifying patient clusters in medical intensive care units (MICUs) based on the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care II (MIMIC-II) database. The suggested framework makes use of the survival outcomes and physiological information available in the dataset and is hence called a semi-su...

Introduction: In India there is insufficient knowledge of the risks associated with tobacco use. Increasing awareness of these risks is critical, with pictorial warnings on tobacco packs a cost-effective way to communicate this information. We explored perceptions of the current warning, 'Tobacco causes cancer', displayed on packs in India and fou...

Introduction: The relationship between occurrence of sepsis and Body Mass Index (BMI) has been studied by treating BMI as a categorical variable based on the standard categories developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This technique masks the actual form of the relationship that exist between BMI and sepsis. Aim: To determine the shape of...

Background: In outcome-based education, the components of the curriculum must facilitate the students to attain expected outcomes. Hence, it is imperative to evaluate the components of the curriculum. Objective: The study aimed to develop and validate a comprehensive questionnaire, Manipal Inventory for Curriculum Evaluation (MICE) to evaluate the...

Background: Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control necessitates the governments to take measures to protect health policy from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry (TI). Considering the vast geographical area and diversity between states within India, it is necessary to e...

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the predictors of adherence among elderly on antihypertensives and to examine the difference in adherence among males and females. Patients and methods: Cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The data were collected from 800 patients of age 60 years and above using demographic proform...

Malaria, dengue and leptospirosis are three tropical infectious diseases that present with severe hematological derangement causing significant morbidity and mortality, especially during the seasonal monsoons. During the course of these infectious diseases, circulating red blood cells are imperiled to the direct ill-effects of the infectious pathog...

Background: Globally, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death and disability. Elevated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and more specifically, elevation of its small, dense phenotype (sdLDL-C) has been regarded as the key modifiable risk factors associated with atherogenesis. This study aimed to determine the assoc...

The repeated occurrence of the same event in a process is commonly observed in many domains. Such events are referred to as recurrent events. The time to occurrence of these repeated events varies from unit to unit with a possibility of events not occurring among some of the units. Invariably such data are dealt with using some of the techniques in...

Introduction

Introduction: Educators, academicians, and teachers are responsible for the development of the nation's human capital. Teacher coping methods are becoming more widely recognized as a key factor in determining teacher effectiveness. The aim of this study was to identify the various coping strategies adopted by high school teachers in Southern India...

Collection of data on several variables, specially in the field of medicine results in the problem of measurement errors. The presence of such measurement errors may influence the outcomes or estimates of the parameter ROC in the model. In classification scenario, the summary measures will get contaminated. In the context of Receiver Operating Char...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a systemic disease, impacting multiple organs in the human body. But COVID-19 also impacts other diseases of relevance to public and planetary health. To understand and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we need an intersectional conceptual lens and systems thinking. For example, the strain on health care syste...

Introduction: In India, the retail prices of bidis and cigarettes varied between the two Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS) conducted in 2009-2010 and 2016-2017. The relationship between the retail price of smoked tobacco products and their use is unclear for India. Our study thus aimed to use available datasets to investigate the association bet...

Introduction Although most of the disease burden is due to tobacco smoking, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use contributed to an estimated 76,000 deaths in 2017. We have studied the potential risk factors for SLT use among adolescents in South India. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of all students in grades 6 to 8 in schools in the Udupi d...

Background Understanding the progression of kidney disease is of great interest among clinicians. The multi-state model is an adequate tool to model the effects of covariates that influence the onset, progression, and regression of kidney function. Objective The goal of the present study is to propose a stochastic model for kidney disease progress...

Background Exploring the cultural context of intergenerational continuity of warm and harsh parenting informs parents motivations to adopt specific parenting behaviours. Objective Parents’ perceptions of being parented in the past and their current parenting as well as adolescents’ perceptions of current parenting were explored applying a multi-me...

Purpose: To examine whether a structured neonatal physical therapy program (SNP) improves neurobehavior and general movements in moderate to late preterm (MLP) infants. Methods: Sixty MLP infants participated in this clinical trial. After baseline assessment using the Neurobehavioral Assessment of Preterm Infant (NAPI) and Prechtl General Moveme...

Physiological and biochemical changes occur in pregnancy to nurture the developing fetus. Pregnancy-related experience is unique to every woman. Pregnancy symptoms and complications can range from mild to severe. Many women can lower their risk by performing different therapies. In this context, the present study targets to evaluate the efficacy of...

Introduction Steroid-induced diabetes (SID) can be defined as the occurrence of hyperglycemic state in non-diabetic individuals following steroid therapy. The traditional risk factors for type 2 DM, such as age, abdominal obesity, family history, and physical activity, have been incorporated in the Indian diabetes risk score (IDRS). We conducted th...

Background Exposure to tobacco imagery in films causes young people to start smoking. Popular Indian films contain high levels of tobacco imagery, but those that do are required by law to display onscreen health warnings when smoking imagery occurs and to include other health promotion messaging before and during the film. We report a prospective c...

Expenditure on diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide and is determined by multiple factors and knowledge about these factors may help to improve patient management and reduce health-care cost. The present study aims to determine the factors influencing the expenditure incurred by patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A cross-sectional...

Background Cholera, an acute diarrheal disease is a major public health problem in many developing countries. Several rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) are available for the detection of cholera, but their efficacies are not compared in an endemic setting. In this study, we have compared the specificity and sensitivity of three RDT kits for the detectio...

Objectives: The present study aimed at assessing high school teachers’ mental health literacy (MHL) and predictors related to study outcomes.Design: Cross-sectional studyMethods: We employed 460 high school teachers who engaged with adolescents for at least six hours per week with a minimum of five years of teaching experience in southern India. Se...

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the major public health problems worldwide and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in India. This study was undertaken to assess the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), and the factors affecting it among patients diagnosed with COPD and to study their healthcare seeking be...

Objective: Research on Mental Health Literacy (MHL) has not been gained ample focus from policymakers and researchers particularly in developing countries. SDG 3.4 by 2030, associated with lowering the prevalence of non-communicable diseases including mental health problems through effective interventions. This study aims to initiate an insight int...

Background: Tobacco use not only increases mortality, but also causes enormous burden to the Nation’s health and economy. The WHO -Framework Convention on Tobacco Control implemented “MPOWER”, comprising of an important entity of ‘offering help to tobacco users’ to quit. Quitline provides evidence-based treatment services to tobacco users and adver...

Background India is currently facing a rising epidemic of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Identification of modifiable risk factors is of paramount importance to curb this menace. Fishermen are one of the most vulnerable occupational groups with unique characteristics that make them prone to acquire NCDs, as a significant share of their life is s...

BACKGROUND: The preschool children hardly complain about their vision problems. It is of paramount importance to screen them with an objective tool and compare with the gold standard technique. AIM: To compare the values obtained with Plusoptix A09 and cycloplegic refraction in 3–6 years children and agreement to detect refractive amblyogenic risk...

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death and disability across the world. Dyslipidemia, and more specifically, elevated LDL-C has been historically attributed to be one of the key modifiable risk factors associated with atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine LDL-C and sdLDL-C, for establishment of the...

Background: Well-being is increasingly emerging as an important determinant of teacher effectiveness. Aim and objective: To assess the predictors of psychological well-being in Southern India. Settings and design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 high school teachers from government and private schools in Udupi district. Methods and...

Introduction In September 2014, the Government of India introduced legislation requiring all tobacco packaging to display a health warning covering 85% (60% pictorial, 25% text) of the principal display area of the pack, of at least 4 cm in height and 3.5 cm width, with legible text in a white font on a black background and in English and / or the...

Unexplained pneumonia appeared in Wuhan was soon determined to be a novel coronavirus disease, referred to as COVID-19. On March 11, 2020, WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic and the virus has been recognized as a global threat. A plethora of studies is being carried out using various statistical and mathematical models to predict the probable...

Background Unexplained pneumonia appeared in Wuhan was soon determined to be a novel coronavirus disease, referred to as COVID-19. On March 11, 2020, WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. A plethora of studies on this pandemic is being carried out using various statistical and mathematical models. Though most of them are focusing on building pr...

Longer survival due to use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has made human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV-) infected individuals prone to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Metabolic syndrome (MS), a constellation of risk factors which increase chances of the cardiovascular disease and diabetes, can inc...

Background: Stress is a major contributor to the physiology of hypertension (HTN) and is linked closely to mental well-being and overall quality of life (QoL). Health issues pertaining to women's health have usually focused on reproduction, while mental well-being has largely been neglected. Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess t...

Background: Exposure to smoking in films is a recognised cause of smoking uptake among children. In India, in an attempt to protect children, films containing smoking are required to include tobacco control messaging including audiovisual disclaimers, on-screen health warnings when tobacco imagery is displayed and antitobacco 'health spots' before...

Derangements in bilirubin metabolism and/or dysfunctions in the hepato-biliary system lead to the unhealthy buildup of bilirubin in blood, resulting in jaundice. During the course of this disorder, circulating red cells are invariably subjected to toxic effects of serum bilirubin and an array of inflammatory compounds. This study aimed to investiga...

Objective: To study the usefulness of glycosylated hemoglobin in early pregnancy to predict gestational diabetes mellitus. Material and Methods: We conducted this prospective hospital-based observational study over 30 months. After obtaining university ethics committee clearance, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test was performed during the booking...

Background and Aims: A variety of risk factors have been reported for the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). But, limited review on the role of antenatal perceived stress, necessitated the design of the present study to evaluate the association between GDM and perceived stress during pregnancy. Methods: A prospective case-control s...

The preclinical phase of the undergraduate medical curriculum has to embed clinically relevant learning experience to bridge basic sciences with clinical disciplines. Student-centric educational methods like the readiness assurance process of team-based learning promote active learning. In this study, we report our implementation of the case-based...

The use of biomass fuel is associated with the deterioration of human health and women are more likely to develop health conditions due to their exposure to indoor air pollution during cooking. This study was conducted to assess the pattern of fuel used for cooking in households as well as to determine the association between the types of fuel used...

The manuscript used in the original version of this article was outdated. In this connection, the following errors were encountered.

Background Identification of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk factors is pertinent, for it can be an effective intervention for its prevention. As previous information regarding GDM risk factors from India were mostly descriptive and scarce from coastal Karnataka, a current prospective case-control study was designed to identify GDM risk fa...

Adolescents experience myriad emotions which occur in relation to their immediate social space which may shape their perceptions of members within the microsystem. The photovoice method uniquely provides participants with the means to capture their life through the lens of a camera while also enabling them to express emotions and meanings they atta...

Background Steroid-induced diabetes (SID) may be due to either insulin resistance (IR) or beta cell dysfunction or combination of both. Several studies have established that these effects of steroids may be mediated by an osteoblast-derived protein called osteocalcin (OC). However, this effect has been described only in diabetic patients and has no...

Introduction: Adolescent behavioural problems are a growing public health concern. The authors in this study investigated paternal and maternal reports of parenting attitudes and dimensions as predictors of adolescent behavioural problems in the Indian context. Materials and methods: Using stratified sampling at the community level, 640 parents...

Objective: To explore the experiences of parents and their adolescent children, specifically the dimension of parental involvement in the lives of their adolescent children and how adolescents perceived it. Methods: Following informed consent, a total of nine families with 22 participants took part in the study including nine adolescents, aged b...

Background: The current recommendation in India to commence first dose of measles immunization is at 9 months of age. The effectiveness of measles vaccination is greatly impacted by the level of maternal measles antibody (MMA) during infancy. Objectives: To find the prevalence of MMA and to study the maternal and infant factors associated with p...

Introduction: Thromboelastography (TEG) is a whole blood clotting assay largely used in major surgeries and trauma to monitor patients' in vivo hemostatic status. Standardization of kaolin-activated citrated whole blood thromboelastography is not done in the Indian population. This study primarily aims to derive reference ranges of kaolin-activate...

: Glanzmann's thrombasthenia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder characterized by the quantitative or qualitative defect of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor on platelets which leads to ineffective aggregation. Light transmittance aggregometry is considered as the gold standard for diagnosis of Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. Thromboelastography (TEG) i...

Background: Preschool vision screenings are considered to be cost-effective methods to identify children with vision disorders. The children of this age group are poor at communicating their symptoms and hence screening is mandated. This study is aimed at estimating the diagnostic accuracy and agreement of Lea, HOTV and E visual acuity charts for...

Eryptosis is the suicidal destruction-process of erythrocytes, much like apoptosis of nucleated cells, in the course of which the stressed red cell undergoes cell-shrinkage, vesiculation and externalization of membrane phosphatidylserine. Currently, there exist numerous methods to detect eryptosis, both morphometrically and biochemically. This stud...

We present the laboratory operations influencing the culture yield of pneumococci and suggest an alternate solution to the problem. Blood cultures of 136 adults and 19 pediatric patients were analyzed in two phases. In phase I, the laboratory operated only during weekdays but in phase II the laboratory provided 24-h services on all days. In phase I...

Effect of nutritional counselling to improve nutritional status of children

Background: Iodine deficiency is one of the most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies globally. Women in reproductive age group are vulnerable to develop iodine deficiency as there is an increase in demand for iodine, especially during pregnancy. Objectives: The objective is to assess the prevalence of goiter and its association with iodine stat...

Methyl malonic acid and branched-chain keto acids are important biomarkers for the diagnosis of cobalamin deficiencies and maple syrup urine disease. We report the development and validation of a HILIC-ESI-MS2 method for the quantification of these organic acids from neonatal urine. The samples were 100 times diluted and analyzed on a ZIC-HILIC col...

Introduction The Government of India has taken several steps to reduce tobacco use, including legislation in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) requiring health warnings on tobacco products. This study assessed compliance with the legislation on warnings, and awareness of these warnings and their perceived impact in preventing to...

Background: Melioidosis is gaining recognition as an emerging infectious disease with diverse clinical manifestations and high-case fatality rates worldwide. However, the molecular epidemiology of the disease outside the endemic regions such as northeast part of Thailand and northern Australia remains unclear. Methodology/principal findings: Cli...

Introduction There is a dearth of studies assessing the efficacy and immunological improvement in patients started on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in India. This study was undertaken to assess the 2-year treatment outcomes in HIV-positive patients initiated on ART in a tertiary-care hospital. Methods After approval from the Institutional Ethics Co...

Background Exposure to smoking in films causes smoking uptake among adolescents. Investigation of the extent to which tobacco imagery appears, or tobacco control laws are complied with in Indian films is limited, and especially so for films in regional languages. This study presents an analysis of tobacco content and compliance with tobacco control...

Background/Aims The medial longitudinal arch of the foot is supported by both active and passive systems. Focusing on the active system by strengthening the intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscles and its effect on the foot parameters in pregnant women has been underresearched. Methods A total of 86 primigravidae (women who were pregnant for the firs...

Background: Insufficient physical activity is a known risk factor for major non-communicable diseases. While the health benefits of physical activity are well established, women are known to have suboptimal levels of physical activity. Studying the perceived benefits and barriers to exercise can help to improve physical activity among women. Object...