Mass Screening Research Articles

Leishman-giemsa cocktail, effective stain in air dried smear- An institutional study

FNAC is an outpatient procedure and has gained importance in mass screening programs. Staining procedure like MGG and Pap is time-consuming and needs trained persons. So there is a need for a staining procedure that is quick and easy to do. In this regard, LG cocktail has been suggested in many kinds of literature. LG cocktail is a combination of both Leishman and Giemsa stains, which has the advantage of both stains. This is a prospective study at department of pathology, VSSIMSAR Burla. A total of 153 cases were studied from the cytology section. The slides were simultaneously stained with MGG and LG cocktail. The slides were viewed and scored independently by different pathologists. Quality Index (QI) was calculated by dividing this score by the maximum score possible. Quality index of LG cocktail stain is 0.77 compared to MGG Quality Index 0.61. LG cocktail is better than MGG Stain overall staining quality, cytoplasmic and nuclear staining, and staining of background material. LG cocktail has better QI than MGG stain. Thus the use of LG cocktail in cytological staining may increase the overall efficacy by saving time and decreasing the manpower need. These two advantages can help us in mass screening programs and its use in the crowded out-patient department.

Medical and exercise consultation use for low back and knee pain among cardiovascular mass screening population: A cross-sectional study

Low back and knee pain, as major symptoms and early signs of osteoarthritis, have restricted healthy life expectancy, and numerous guidelines have recommended therapeutic exercise as the first-line treatment for chronic pain. Proportions of medical and exercise consultation use for those pain have been unclear, and these may change in the future. We performed a cross-sectional study of 2,954 persons aged over 30 years in 2017 as a part of the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study. A generalized linear model with logit link and 11-year age-group moving averages were used to estimate sex- and age-specific average proportions of lifetime pain, chronic pain, and dysfunctional chronic pain of the low back and knee, and history of medical and exercise consultation use. The medical consultation use increased in the order of lifetime pain, chronic pain, and dysfunctional chronic pain, reaching 69.1 % [65.2, 72.8] in women and 74.9 % [70.3, 79.0] in men for chronic low back pain, and 70.3 % [66.1, 74.2] in women and 55.6 % [49.3, 61.7] in men for chronic knee pain. On the other hand, the exercise consultation use accounted for 36.5 % [32.6, 40.6] in women and 28.8 % [24.4, 33.5] in men for chronic low back pain, and 40.8 % [36.5, 45.2] in women and 20.6 % [16.0, 26.0] in men for chronic knee pain. This survey revealed the differences in the multilayer proportions of medical and exercise consultation use for low back and knee pain in the cardiovascular mass screening, suggesting exercise consultation was less often provided compared to medical consultation.

Prevalence, incidence, and trends of epilepsy among children and adolescents in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundEpilepsy contributes to a significant disease burden in children and adolescents worldwide. The incidence of childhood epilepsy is threefold higher in low and middle income countries compared in high-income countries. Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition associated with stigma and discrimination, an impaired quality of life, and other mental health related problems.ObjectiveThis study is aimed to synthesize existing evidence and estimate the pooled prevalence and incidence of epilepsy in children and adolescents in Africa.MethodsA comprehensive and systematic search of relevant databases was conducted. The quality of each study was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale adapted for meta-analysis. Two reviewers screened retrieved articles, conducted critical appraisals, and extracted the data. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed by visual inspection of forest plots and statistically using Cochran’s Q statistics and the I2 test. Publication bias was checked by visual inspection of funnel plots as well as statistically using Egger’s correlation and Begg’s regression tests. Finally, the pooled prevalence and incidence of childhood epilepsy were computed with 95% confidence intervals.ResultIn this review and meta-analysis 42 studies with 56 findings were included to compute the pooled prevalence of childhood epilepsy. On the other hand, 6 studies were included to estimate the combined incidence. The pooled prevalence of cumulative epilepsy was 17.3 per 1000 children. Whereas the pooled prevalence of active and lifetime epilepsy was 6.8 and 18.6 per 1000 children respectively. The pooled incidence of childhood epilepsy was 2.5 per 1000 children.ConclusionNearly 1 in 50 children are suffering from epilepsy in Africa. However, little attention has been paid to the prevention and treatment of childhood epilepsy. Mass epilepsy screening, scaling up treatment coverage, and designing strict treatment follow up and monitoring mechanisms are recommended.

On the impact of mass screening for SARS-CoV-2 through self-testing in Greece.

Screening programs that pre-emptively and routinely test population groups for disease at a massive scale were first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in a handful of countries. One of these countries was Greece, which implemented a mass self-testing program during 2021. In contrast to most other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), mass self-testing programs are particularly attractive for their relatively small financial and social burden, and it is therefore important to understand their effectiveness to inform policy makers and public health officials responding to future pandemics. This study aimed to estimate the number of deaths and hospitalizations averted by the program implemented in Greece and evaluate the impact of several operational decisions. Granular data from the mass self-testing program deployed by the Greek government between April and December 2021 were obtained. The data were used to fit a novel compartmental model that was developed to describe the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece in the presence of self-testing. The fitted model provided estimates on the effectiveness of the program in averting deaths and hospitalizations. Sensitivity analyses were used to evaluate the impact of operational decisions, including the scale of the program, targeting of sub-populations, and sensitivity (i.e., true positive rate) of tests. Conservative estimates show that the program reduced the reproduction number by 4%, hospitalizations by 25%, and deaths by 20%, translating into approximately 20,000 averted hospitalizations and 2,000 averted deaths in Greece between April and December 2021. Mass self-testing programs are efficient NPIs with minimal social and financial burden; therefore, they are invaluable tools to be considered in pandemic preparedness and response.

The association between interdigital pilonidal sinus and animal groomers is a historical narrative correlation and not a true occupational hazard

IntroductionPilonidal sinus (PNS) is a small hole or “tunnel” in the skin that frequently occurs in the sacrococcygeal region. Nevertheless, PNS has been reported to occur between the fingers (interdigital) in barbers, hairdressers, and animal groomers. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of interdigital PNS among animal handlers in Bahrain and to treat any patients encountered.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study with convenience sampling from November 2020 to October 2021. The study participants were animal handlers from stables, veterinary, and pet shops in Bahrain. There were 43 males and 7 females with direct animal contact. 86% of the study population were handling horses, and 15% were handling different types of animals.ResultsNo positive cases of interdigital PNS among participants were found, this might reflect the positive impact of good personal hygiene among our study population. Our study shows that groomers in Bahrain frequently wash their hands after handling animals, and 98% have a daily habit of bathing after work. It was also estimated that 60% of the participants use gloves to handle animals themselves or their waste.DiscussionThis could be the first study looking at the prevalence of interdigital PNS in animal groomers worldwide. The absence of any case report of interdigital PNS among animal groomers in the recent literature strengthens our assumption that the association between interdigital PNS and hair grooming could be a narrative coincidence rather than a true occupational hazard. The present work may help in better understanding of occupation-disease association, and highlights the importance of mass screening of animal handlers for occupation-dependent health problems.

Development of Automatic Assessment Framework for Spine Deformity Using Freehand 3-D Ultrasound Imaging System.

A 3-D ultrasound (US) imaging technique has been studied to facilitate the diagnosis of spinal deformity without radiation. The objective of this article is to propose an assessment framework to automatically estimate spinal deformity in US spine images. The proposed framework comprises four major components, a US spine image generator, a novel transformer-based lightweight spine detector network, an angle evaluator, and a 3-D modeler. The principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminative scale space tracking (DSST) method are first adopted to generate the US spine images. The proposed detector is equipped with a redundancy queries removal (RQR) module and a regularization item to realize accurate and unique detection of spine images. Two clinical datasets, a total of 273 images from adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis, are used for the investigation of the proposed framework. The curvature is estimated by the angle evaluator, and the 3-D mesh model is established by the parametric modeling technique. The accuracy rate (AR) of the proposed detector can be achieved at 99.5%, with a minimal redundancy rate (RR) of 1.5%. The correlations between automatic curve measurements on US spine images from two datasets and manual measurements on radiographs are 0.91 and 0.88, respectively. The mean absolute difference (MAD) and standard deviation (SD) are 2.72° ± 2.14° and 2.91° ± 2.36° , respectively. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework to advance the application of the 3-D US imaging technique in clinical practice for scoliosis mass screening and monitoring.

Comprehensive Inherited Risk Estimation for Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening in Women.

Family history (FH) and pathogenic variants (PVs) are used for guiding risk surveillance in selected high-risk women but little is known about their impact for breast cancer screening on population level. In addition, polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been shown to efficiently stratify breast cancer risk through combining information about common genetic factors into one measure. In longitudinal real-life data, we evaluate PRS, FH, and PVs for stratified screening. Using FinnGen (N = 117,252), linked to the Mass Screening Registry for breast cancer (1992-2019; nationwide organized biennial screening for age 50-69 years), we assessed the screening performance of a breast cancer PRS and compared its performance with FH of breast cancer and PVs in moderate- (CHEK2)- to high-risk (PALB2) susceptibility genes. Effect sizes for FH, PVs, and high PRS (>90th percentile) were comparable in screening-aged women, with similar implications for shifting age at screening onset. A high PRS identified women more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer after a positive screening finding (positive predictive value [PPV], 39.5% [95% CI, 37.6 to 41.5]). Combinations of risk factors increased the PPVs up to 45% to 50%. A high PRS conferred an elevated risk of interval breast cancer (hazard ratio [HR], 2.78 [95% CI, 2.00 to 3.86] at age 50 years; HR, 2.48 [95% CI, 1.67 to 3.70] at age 60 years), and women with a low PRS (<10th percentile) had a low risk for both interval- and screen-detected breast cancers. Using real-life screening data, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of a breast cancer PRS for risk stratification, alone and combined with FH and PVs. Further research is required to evaluate their impact in a prospective risk-stratified screening program, including cost-effectiveness.

Effectiveness of Ophtascan Screening in Lubumbashi. Pilot Study on Screening for Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes

Purpose: Screening and early treatment are the best strategy for controlling cancer and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Based on artificial intelligence, new software Ophtascan allows the early detection of the following cancers: cervix, endometrium, breast, prostate, lung as well as type 2 diabetes, from the image of the eyes. The objectives of this study were to test the reliability of the test in the detection of type 2 diabetes and to present the prevalence of oncological pathologies detected.&#x0D; Methodology: screening was carried out in two stages: a technical test of the program and mass screening at the University Clinics of Lubumbashi and the Sendwe Hospital of Lubumbashi among volunteers from April 2023 to July 2023.&#x0D; Findings: Of the 98 volunteers screened including 32 men and 66 women, the risk of the following cancers was detected by Ophtascan: in men, 12.5%, 28% and 6% respectively for the prostate, lung (pre-cancer) and lung while in women we had 1.5%, 6%, 3%, 4.5% and 3% respectively for cervix (pre-cancer), cervical cancer, endometrial, breast (pre- cancer) and breast. This cancer screening trial was not accompanied by clinical confirmation of detected diseases due high cost and practical problems. T2DM trial was accompanied by lab blood test for confirmation of results. Proved sensitiviy of Ophtascan for T2DM achieved 91% within blind clinical trial and 100% within technical trial, and 72% of screened people did not suspect they had this disease, detected by Ophtascan.&#x0D; Unique Contribution to theory, Policy and Practice: Ophtascan is feasible in our environment and seems to have high reliability for the detection of type 2 diabetes as screening tool. Ophtascan certainly detected most of the targeted cancers, but the low number of cases does not allow solid conclusions to be drawn. The difficulty of validation for all types of cancer mentioned above due to its high cost for patients, we propose to carry out a new pilot research project which will focus on cervical cancer, for which early treatment is possible at a low cost in our environment.

Revolution of Helicobacter pylori treatment.

Helicobacter pylori infection is a major global health concern, and its management has witnessed a revolutionary shift with the emergence of antibiotic resistance. In this review, I explore the mechanisms of H.pylori antibiotic resistance and highlight the critical need for susceptibility-based eradication treatments. The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains requires innovative approaches to combat this resilient pathogen. I also delve into the importance of mass screening as a preventive strategy for early detection and intervention, describing my experience in Bhutan. Additionally, I explore promising alternatives, such as vaccination. The aim of this review is to provide insight into the evolving landscape of H.pylori treatment and highlight the need for a paradigm shift in the approach to combating this persistent bacterial infection.

Training and Active Case Detection to Prevent Leprosy: Effect on Knowledge, Attitude and Skills of Health Workers on Early Diagnosis of Leprosy in a Leprosy Hotspot District in Ethiopia.

Despite all of the efforts, leprosy continues to affect hundreds of thousands of people every year, including children, showing the ongoing transmission of the disease within the population. The transmission of leprosy can be interrupted through an integrated approach that includes active case-finding, contact tracing and capacity building of health workers. A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the knowledge, attitudes and skills of health workers in the screening and diagnosis of leprosy. One hundred and eighty-one and eighty-eight health care workers participated in the pre-and post-assessment surveys, respectively. Data were collected through interviews and an observational checklist. Frequency tables and graphs were used to describe the study variables, and statistical significance between pre- and post-assessment surveys was declared at p-value < 0.5. The percentages of healthcare workers with good knowledge, positive attitudes and skills were 61.2%, 55.6% and 51.7% in the pre-assessment survey and 77.3%, 56.3% and 75.0%, respectively, in the post-assessment survey. There was a significant improvement in the knowledge and skill scores of participants in the post-assessment survey (p < 0.01). During the campaign, 3780 index contacts were screened; 570 (15.1%) were diagnosed with skin diseases, and 17 new leprosy cases were diagnosed (case detection rate of 45 per 10,000 contacts). Training improved the knowledge and skills of healthcare workers, and a large number of skin diseases were detected through mass screening and active case findings. Providing training for frontline healthcare workers contributed to the detection of more cases and facilitated early detection of leprosy cases.

Prevalence of hepatitis B and C infection and linkage to care among patients with Non-Communicable Diseases in three ruralRwandan districts: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Rwanda's Hepatitis C elimination campaign has relied on mass screening campaigns. An alternative "micro-elimination" strategy focused on specific populations, such as non-communicable disease (NCD) patients, could be a more efficient approach to identifying patients and linking them to care. This retrospective cross-sectional study used routine data collected during a targeted screening campaign among NCD patients in Kirehe, Kayonza, and Burera districts of Rwanda and patients receiving oncology services from the Butaro District Hospital. The campaign used rapid diagnostic tests to screen for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and Hepatitis C antibody (anti-HCV). We reported prevalences and 95% confidence intervals for HBsAg and anti-HCV, assessed for associations between patients' clinical programs and hepatitis B and C, and reported cascade of care for the two diseases. Out of 7,603 NCD patients, 3398 (45.9%) self-reported a prior hepatitis screening. Prevalence of HBsAg was 2.0% (95% CI: 1.7%-2.3%) and anti-HCV was 6.7% (95% CI: 6.2%-7.3%). The prevalence of HBsAg was significantly higher among patients < 40years (2.4%). Increased age was significantly associated with anti-HCV (12.0% among patients ≥ 70years). Of the 148 individuals who screened positive for HbsAg, 123 had viral load results returned, 101 had detectable viral loads (median viral load: 451 UI/mL), and 12 were linked to care. Of the 507 individuals who screened positive for anti-HCV, 468 had their viral load results returned (median viral load: 1,130,000 UI/mL), 304 had detectable viral loads, and 230 were linked to care. Anti-HCV prevalence among Rwandan patients with NCD was high, likely due to their older age. NCD-HCV co-infected patients had high HCV viral loads and may be at risk of poor outcomes from hepatitis C. Hepatitis C micro-elimination campaigns among NCD patients are a feasible and acceptable strategy to enhance case detection in this high-prevalence population with elevated viral loads and may support linkage to care for hepatitis C among elderly populations.

Dual view deep learning for enhanced breast cancer screening using mammography

Breast cancer has the highest incidence rate among women in Ethiopia compared to other types of cancer. Unfortunately, many cases are detected at a stage where a cure is delayed or not possible. To address this issue, mammography-based screening is widely accepted as an effective technique for early detection. However, the interpretation of mammography images requires experienced radiologists in breast imaging, a resource that is limited in Ethiopia. In this research, we have developed a model to assist radiologists in mass screening for breast abnormalities and prioritizing patients. Our approach combines an ensemble of EfficientNet-based classifiers with YOLOv5, a suspicious mass detection method, to identify abnormalities. The inclusion of YOLOv5 detection is crucial in providing explanations for classifier predictions and improving sensitivity, particularly when the classifier fails to detect abnormalities. To further enhance the screening process, we have also incorporated an abnormality detection model. The classifier model achieves an F1-score of 0.87 and a sensitivity of 0.82. With the addition of suspicious mass detection, sensitivity increases to 0.89, albeit at the expense of a slightly lower F1-score of 0.79.

Expert opinions on the prevalence, diagnosis and treatment choice for osteoarthritis management in Indian settings

Studies have reported the capability of bisphosphonates to delay the progression of structural deterioration associated with osteoarthritis (OA). Limited studies exist regarding OA management in India and the determinants influencing patients' decisions regarding surgical interventions. So, this study aimed to assess the prevalence, diagnostic practices, and treatment options available for OA management in Indian clinical practice with a special focus on alendronate, a bisphosphonate medication for OA pain management. The cross-sectional, multiple-response questionnaire-based study collected a survey response using a 25-item questionnaire from 276 clinicians across India. Additionally, the survey focused on determining the diagnostic practices helpful in determining osteoporosis and the preference of treatment options for OA management. Based on the responses of 276 participants, 43% indicated that the diagnosis of OA was predominant in both genders. Moreover, about 51% of the respondents suggested that mass screening for osteoporosis in Indian patients should be conducted using the one-minute risk test developed by the International Osteoporosis Foundation. Additionally, 47% of the respondents highlighted hip fractures as the most common type of bone fracture observed in these patients. Furthermore, around 51% of the study participants emphasized that adequate calcium consumption during childhood can potentially reduce the incidence of osteoporosis. For the effective management of OA, alendronate was preferred by 49% of respondents over the other bisphosphonates.As per the expert consensus,patients who have osteoporosis risk factors and osteopenia without fragility fractures were recommended to adhere to dietary and lifestyle modifications, coupled with calcium and vitamin D supplementation, and bisphosphonate therapy. Alendronate was preferred over other bisphosphonates for the effective management of OA.

COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING “LITERATURE REVIEW”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), screening consists of presumptively identifying, using tests appliedin a systematic and standardized manner, subjects suffering from a previously past disease or abnormality. unnoticed.Screening tests must make it possible to divide people who are apparently healthy but who are probably suffering from agiven disease or abnormality from those who are probably free from it, Four controlled population studies were carriedout in Europe to test the feasibility and effectiveness of mass screening for colorectal cancer: Nottingham (Great Britain),Funen (Denmark), Burgundy (France) and Gothenburg (Sweden). . The first three studies included subjects aged 45 or50 to 74 years old. The Hemoccult test was offered every 2 years to half of the target population, the other half served asa control. The Swedish study, involving subjects aged 60 to 64, is of limited interest because the screening test was onlycarried out twice with simple follow-up afterwards

Automatic Assessment of Ultrasound Curvature Angle for Scoliosis Detection Using 3-D Ultrasound Volume Projection Imaging

Scoliosis is a spinal deformation in which the spine takes a lateral curvature, generating an angle in the coronal plane. The conventional method for detecting scoliosis is measurement of the Cobb angle in spine images obtained by anterior X-ray scanning. Ultrasound imaging of the spine is found to be less ionising than traditional radiographic modalities. For posterior ultrasound scanning, alternate indices of the spinous process angle (SPA) and ultrasound curve angle (UCA) were developed and have proven comparable to those of the traditional Cobb angle. In SPA, the measurements are made using the spinous processes as an anatomical reference, leading to an underestimation of the traditionally used Cobb angles. Alternatively, in UCA, more lateral features of the spine are employed for measurement of the main thoracic and thoracolumbar angles; however, clear identification of bony features is required. The current practice of UCA angle measurement is manual. This research attempts to automate the process so that the errors related to human intervention can be avoided and the scalability of ultrasound scoliosis diagnosis can be improved. The key objective is to develop an automatic scoliosis diagnosis system using 3-D ultrasound imaging. The novel diagnosis system is a three-step process: (i) finding the ultrasound spine image with the most visible lateral features using the convolutional RankNet algorithm; (ii) segmenting the bony features from the noisy ultrasound images using joint spine segmentation and noise removal; and (iii) calculating the UCA automatically using a newly developed centroid pairing and inscribed rectangle slope method. The proposed method was evaluated on 109 patients with scoliosis of different severity. The results obtained had a good correlation with manually measured UCAs (R2=0.9784 for the main thoracic angle andR2=0.9671 for the thoracolumbar angle) and a clinically acceptable mean absolute difference of the main thoracic angle (2.82 ± 2.67°) and thoracolumbar angle (3.34 ± 2.83°). The proposed method establishes a very promising approach for enabling the applications of economic 3-D ultrasound volume projection imaging for mass screening of scoliosis.

Automated mass screening and association rules analysis for comorbidities of psoriasis: A population-based case-control study.

Patients with psoriasis frequently have comorbidities, which are linked to higher mortality rates. An in-depth investigation of comorbidities and their effects on health can help improve the management of patients with psoriasis. We conducted a comprehensive and unbiased investigation of comorbidities in patients with psoriasis and explored the pattern of association between comorbidities. A nationwide population-based study included 384 914 patients with psoriasis and 384 914 matched controls between 2011 and 2021. We used automated mass screening of all diagnostic codes to identify psoriasis-associated comorbidities and applied association rule analysis to explore the patterns of comorbidity associations in patients with psoriasis. Patients with psoriasis had an increased risk of autoimmunity-related diseases such as inflammatory arthritis, Crohn's disease, type 1 diabetes, and acute myocardial infarction. The comorbidities of patients with psoriasis with a history of cardiovascular events demonstrated strong interrelationships with other cardiovascular risk factors including type 2 diabetes mellitus, essential hypertension, and dyslipidemia. We also found comorbidities, such as malignant skin tumors and kidney and liver diseases, which could have adverse effects of anti-psoriasis therapy. In contrast, patients with psoriasis showed a decreased association with upper respiratory tract infection. Our results imply that comorbidities in patients with psoriasis are associated with the systemic inflammation of psoriasis and the detrimental effects of its treatment. Furthermore, we found patterns of associations between the cardiovascular risk factors and psoriasis. Mass screening and association analyses using large-scale databases can be used to investigate impartially the comorbidities of psoriasis and other diseases.

Implementation of Integrated People-Centered Eye Care at Sub-District Level in Barru

Purpose: Integrated People-Centered Eye Care (IPCEC) was initiated by the World Health Organization as a global strategy in community-centred and integrated health services. In Indonesia, the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness survey showed the largest number of moderate and severe visual impairment was found in South Sulawesi, particularly uncorrected refractive error (33.8%). The results of this study are expected to initiate and introduce IPCEC-based eye health services and promotion at the sub-district level.&#x0D; Methods: The program started with advocacy of eye health programs at the sub-district level to policy makers. In schools, education and training for visual acuity examination were given to teachers. All children who failed the screening or have ocular abnormalities are referred to eye care center. Mass counseling and examination were also carried out at the health center simultaneously with screening for mass cataract surgery at the Barru District Hospital.&#x0D; Results: Implementation of IPCEC was welcomed by Barru District government. School eye health program conducted by the teachers in 5 schools screened 1263 students with 90.74% of the students had normal visual acuity. Mass screening at the Pekkae and Pancana Public Health Centers found that most participants had cataracts (58%) followed by refractive error (38%).&#x0D; Conclusion: Visual acuity examination among school-age children by the teacher will improve early detection of refractive errors. Screening by eye health worker at public health center needs to be carried out to identify blindness causes often found in the community, and proceed with prescribing drugs, eyeglasses, and mass cataract surgery as definitive step in eradicating blindness.

Comparison of Near Point of Accommodation and Near Point of Convergence with Positive Fusional Vergence among Young Adults, Bengaluru

Background: When encountered with mass screening and increased walk-in patients in outpatient departments (OPD), evaluating complete binocular vision assessment becomes time-consuming. Consequently, there is a need to streamline the testing process. This study also aims to explore if there are any correlations between Near Point of Accommodation (NPA) and Near Point of Convergence (NPC) with Positive Fusional Vergence (PFV). Methodology: A retrospective study was carried out at Sankara Eye Hospital in Bangalore. Data from patients aged 18 to 35, who underwent binocular vision assessment between 2016 and 2020, were included. Out of 101,896 patients who visited the hospital during this period, 3,449 attended the vision therapy clinic. Among them, 1708 patients met the criteria for inclusion, while 1,741 were excluded. Results: Out of 1708 subjects, 759 are females and 949 are males. The relationship between Near Point of Accommodation (NPA), Near Point of Convergence (NPC), and Positive Fusional Vergence (PFV) blur and break values were analysed. A positive correlation was observed between NPA and PFV blur (Spearman's rho = 0.069, p=0.004) and a negative correlation between NPC and PFV break (Spearman's rho = -0.370, p&lt;0.001). There was a significant difference between NPA and PFV blur, as well as NPC and PFV break (p=0.000), emphasizing the importance of incorporating all three tests in a binocular vision assessment. Conclusion: These results emphasize the necessity for complete binocular vision assessment to effectively diagnose and manage binocular vision anomalies. By accounting for the various parameters involved in this investigation, clinicians can enhance the precision and quality of their assessments and plan for appropriate treatment strategies for patients with binocular vision anomalies.

The Cancer Mukt Jagrukta Abhiyan-Arunachal Pradesh

The Cancer Mukt Jagrukta Abhiyan-Arunachal Pradesh is a joint project by Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Mon Indigenous Culture &amp; Welfare Society, Chabbi Sahayog Foundation and Dev Desh Vaidyakiya Shaikshanik Samajik Pratishthan with the aim to create awareness about cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment among the residents of Arunachal Pradesh. The project will involve conducting awareness campaigns, providing training and education to healthcare professionals, and establishing cancer screening and treatment center's in the state. Cancer incidence and its related mortality has been a public health concern for Arunachal Pradesh in India. However, there is a lack of evidence about the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) for cancer risk factors, screening programme and preventive behavior – especially among indigenous tribal populations. A health camp based survey was conducted from 21st November 2023 to 28th November 2023 among an indigenous population of Tawang District Arunachal Pradesh. Snowball sampling was used to enroll 705 participants (233 were male and 472 were female). Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted using SPSS version 23 to test the hypothesis of KAP. (There is no difference in the level of knowledge / in the attitude / level of practice among study participants with respect to any independent (socio-demographic and other) factors.) The Papumpare Cancer Registry reported the highest cancer density among women and the second highest among men among all population-based cancer registries in India (Indian Council of Medical Research, Report of National Cancer Registry Programme, Bengaluru, India 2020). Knowledge about the cause of cancer and risk factors was poor among the respondents. Attitude towards screening was negative . Practice levels to prevent cancer were also low. More than 50% of the cases were treated outside the state and at private hospitals. Knowledge about cancer symptoms and risk factors was limited in the population. There is a need for more effective health promotion services in the state. Mass screening facilities and behavioral change activities are required and could be disseminated through social media platforms. Our analysis of a north-eastern region of India, which has unique geographical and cultural characteristics, informs future policy designs and other related studies for controlling cancer in the area

The association between the severity of diabetic retinopathy and cognitive impairment: a cross-sectional study.

To assess the correlation among cognitive impairment (CI) and the degree of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The current analytic cross-sectional study has been carried out on two hundred ten individuals having diabetes mellitus type 2. Individuals were split into 7 groups in order of severity of DR in the worse eye with 30 cases in each group. Cognition function has been determined utilizing mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) tests. Comparing the severity of CI using both MMSE and MoCA tests, statistically substantial differences have been discovered among individuals without DR, those having non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (p < 0.001). The greatest percentage of severe and moderate CI was seen in the PDR group. Regarding the severity of CI, there has been a statistically substantial difference among NPDR and PDR groups, as well as among no-DR and PDR groups (p < 0.001). Moreover, the severity of CI in the MMSE and MoCA tests had a negative connection with the grades of DR (r = -0.522, P < 0.001 and r = -0.540, P < 0.001, respectively). We discovered a negative connection between the grades of DR and the severity of CI that persisted as a significant finding, showing that patients with more severe DR tended to have higher levels of CI. These results might offer retinal examination or retinal photography as a promising strategy for mass screening of CI in diabetic patients, especially if it is combined with artificial intelligence and telemedicine.