bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Choice of Rotary Instrument Usage among Endodontists and General Practitioners—A Questionnaire Survey
Authors: Azeez Sazan M. 
Published: May 2024

Objectives:
The aim of this article is to evaluate attitude among dental practitioners in Erbil/Iraq toward the use of hand and rotary endodontic instruments and to evaluate whether there is any relation regarding the preference in using a specific type of instrument with the level of specialization and clinical practice when performing root canal treatments (RCTs).

Materials and Methods:
It was a cross-sectional questionnaire study conducted in Erbil, Iraq. A total of 111 dentists participated in this study; data regarding the information about demographic details of dental professionals, years of experience, and number of RCTs done per week by dental professionals were obtained. The use of rotary and hand instruments by dental professionals was inquired. Procedural problems with rotary instruments faced by dental professionals and reasons for not using the rotary instruments if any were also recorded. The data were submitted to descriptive analysis, and associations were tested with χ2 test and Fisher's exact test using SPSS software version 23. P-value was set as <0.05.

Results:
Forty-four (39.6%) of the total study samples used both rotary and hand instruments, whereas 25 (22.5%) of them used only rotary instruments for RCTs. Dentists who were using rotary instruments are facing the procedural problems of file fracture [74 (66.7%)] and those dental professionals using hand instruments are facing the procedural problems of ledge formations [55 (49.5%)]. There was no significant relationship between using a specific type of instrument and the level of specializations (P = 0.941).

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the results of this study showed that dentists preferred using both rotary and hand endodontic instruments for RCTs with no significant relation with the level of specialization regarding using specific types of instruments, and dentists experienced some procedure errors regarding both types of instruments while using them for RCTs.
Prevalence of Dysmenorrhea and its Impact on Daily Activities among Women in Babylon City
Authors: Hassan Shaimaa Alaa , Moussa Ban Amer 
Published: May 2024

Background:
Dysmenorrhea is an essentially menstruation-connected problem among menstruating women worldwide and it negatively affects the quality of life. It evaluates by means of prevalence determination. These factors are not scientifically evaluated yet. Statistical studies about prevalence of dysmenorrhea, symptoms, and relieving treatments are too scant in Iraq.

Objectives:
The main objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of dysmenorrhea among menstruating women in Babylon city, Iraq, to estimate the impact of dysmenorrhea on women’s lifestyle, and to examine the coping mechanisms based on the women’s experience to reduce dysmenorrhea’s density.

Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional study was carried out to select a random sample of 270 women in Babylon city. The mean age of the participants was 30.02 ± 8.29 years. Several questionnaires were designed to collect the data including sociodemographic characteristics, menstrual characteristics, habits and emotional factors, and relieving factors. Data were analyzed byusing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program, version 26.0 with P < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. All ethical procedures were taken into account.

Results:
The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 85.9% (n = 232) after considering that it defines as abdominal pain. The finding shows that dysmenorrhea was significantly associated with duration of menstruation (P = 0.05), dizziness (P = 0.046), nausea and vomiting (P = 0.015), and fatigue (P = 0.008), skipping breakfast (0.012), and mood change (0.006). Regarding the relieving factors, the significance was reported with mostly ignoring the pain (0.001), practicing self-medication (0.022), and using home remedies to reduce the pain (0.001). However, the association with effects on daily life (P = 0.150) was reported to be insignificant.

Conclusions:
The proportion of dysmenorrhea among Babylonian women is very high and attracts attention. Skipping breakfast, ignoring the pain, never caring for a medical consult, and lacking of regular physical exercise were specified as the most active predictors of dysmenorrhea. Increasing awareness among women regarding dysmenorrhea, associated symptoms, risk factors, and relieving mechanisms were highly recommended.
Puberty and Growth Parameters of Iraqi Type 1 Diabetic Adolescents
Authors: Abdoun Dawood S. , Alabedi Rihab F. , Al-Shuwailli Sajjad H. Kadhim 
Published: May 2024

Background:
Diabetes and other chronic diseases can affect linear growth and pubertal development. Poor glucose control, long duration, and younger age at onset negatively affect growth and pubertal development.

Objectives:
This study was designed to describe height, body mass index, and sexual maturation of Iraqi type 1 diabetic adolescents, and their relation to the age at diagnosis, duration of disease, and insulin dose.

Materials and Methods:
Seventy type 1 diabetic patients were involved in this cross-sectional study. Their ages ranged between 10 and 18 years with diabetes for more than 2 years. Height, weight, body mass index, and pubertal stage were assessed. Then they were correlated with insulin dose, age at diagnosis, and duration of diabetes.

Results:
There was no significant difference between male and female mean height Z score, whereas the mean body mass index Z score was significantly higher for females than for males. Most of the patients had normal height and body mass index, and only 14.3% and 4.3% were short and underweight, respectively, and there was a significant inverse correlation between duration of diabetes and height SD. Twenty-seven females had menarche. Its age ranged from 10 to 16 years, with a mean of 13.5 ± 1.44 years. Three males and three females (8.6%) had delayed puberty, and no patient had precocious, with a significant positive correlation between pubertal development and height SD.

Conclusion:
Although there is an improvement in growth parameters for Iraqi diabetic children, they are still abnormal, especially with long diabetes duration.
Analysis of Injury Impact among Peshmerga Forces during ISIS War in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Authors: Yousif Othman Sami , Mohammed Haval Faris , Alsheikh Dilshad D. 
Published: May 2024

Background:
War with ISIS (Daesh) is plaguing the Middle East region since 2014. It had a major regional and global impact on the lives of many. Peshmerga forces are the most active and effective ground force against ISIS. The major western forces and the international communities including the United Nations back up these forces. Although the war started 4 years, till now, little is known about the injuries these forces suffer from the explosive materials on the battlefield, and even less is known about the first aid and paramedic activities on the frontlines.

Material and Methods:
Reports estimate that 8,610 peshmerga were injured and 1,466 have died since the war with ISIS started. In this study, we randomly sampled the Medical records of 100 peshmerga injuries during the 3 years ISIS war(2014 o 2017) from Duhok Emergency Hospital.

Objectives:
This study aims to provide the descriptive analyses for the injuries suffered by Peshmerga forces in Duhok region, near Mosul, ISIS's largest captured city in Iraq where the heart of the Battlefield was located.

Results:
This study also provides the information about the management lines and the outcome of these injuries. The main focus of this study is on blast and explosion injuries. It sheds the light on the line of the medical management on the battlefield and also highlights the availability of medical staff/equipment both at the frontlines and also at Duhok Emergency hospital which took care of the injured Peshmerga forces near Mosul.

Conclusion:
This study assessed the medical services and the outcome performance of wounded Peshmerga from blast injuries during the ISIS war.
Effect of levothyroxine treatment on depression among newly diagnosed cases of hypothyroidism in adolescents at a tertiary care center
Authors: Bellamkonda Mamatha , Raj D. V. Anil , Thejas Saai Ram 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Background:
Depression in hypothyroidism has been studied in detail for the better part of two centuries now. The conditions share a lot of common symptoms and thus the term “brain hypothyroidism” has been used to understand the relationship better.

Objective:
The objective of this study was to study the effect of levothyroxine treatment on depression among newly diagnosed cases of hypothyroidism in adolescents.

Materials and Methods:
For this interventional study conducted between January 2021 and June 2022, cases were taken from the departments of general medicine, otorhinolaryngology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. Ninety-one individuals with diagnosed clinical hypothyroidism and no organomegaly with elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were taken and were asked to fill out the Hamilton Depression (HAM-D) Scale. The sample size came down to 64 after the initial assessment. They were treated with 25–50 μg of levothyroxine based on the body mass index and also given psychotherapy. The supplement of levothyroxine was weaned off after 12 weeks and the patients were asked to review after 4 weeks.

Results:
The average HAM-D score was found to be 21.81 before treatment and 9.71 after treatment. The average value of TSH before treatment was found to be 7.93 mIU/L and 4.32 mIU/L after treatment (P < 0.05). Depression associated with hypothyroidism in our study stood at 70.32%. After 12 weeks, the symptom score of HAM-D improved by 55.47%. In 41 out of 64 individuals, the signs of depression vanished.

Conclusion:
Depression is common in newly diagnosed cases of hypothyroidism and can be effectively managed without invasive medical intervention.
Role of point of care hemoglobin tests to get the diagnostic accuracy of anemia among the adolescent population of Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India
Authors: Singh Tej Pratap , Tomar Akanksha , Mishra Ranu Tiwari , Kasar Pradeep Kumar , Tiwari Rajesh 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Background:
Public health issues involving anemia affect people of all ages. To prevent incorrect diagnosis classification, point-of-care-tests (POCTs) that are accessible in community settings must be accurate.

Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to quantify the prevalence of anemia among teenagers and to assess the accuracy and reliability of two point-of-care assays, the World Health Organization hemoglobin color scale (HCS) and the Sahli’s Method.

Methodology:
In the Jabalpur district, 600 urban and rural teenagers participated in a community-based cross-sectional survey. Both Strip and Sahli’s approaches were administered to participants at the same time. After that, a venous sample was taken for autoanalyzer testing. Statistics for accuracy and reliability were computed. The level of agreement between the POCTs and the gold standard was determined using the Altmann Bland plot and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated revised cut-offs for the HCS approach.

Results:
The actual prevalence of anemia was found to be 20.5%. Sahli’s technique had the highest specificity, whereas HCS had the lowest sensitivity (52.0% and 72.9%, respectively) (86.4%). Despite the fact that the color scale is a cheap and portable approach for field studies, it has been determined that anemics are overreported. However, ROC analysis indicated specific cutoffs for various age groups that can be used for disease burden estimation studies in contexts with limited resources.

Conclusion:
For estimating hemoglobin, HCS is less effective than Sahli’s and autoanalyzer methods. We established that the HCS technique overreported anemia, while Sahli’s method had poorer levels of agreement.
A hospital-based retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 deaths in a tertiary care medical college hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka
Authors: Khargekar Vandana Chandrahas , Seeri Jayashree S. , Nirmala CJ , Rashmi R. , Swamy DM Narayana 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Background:
The outbreak of new SARS-CoV-2 infection has spread all over the world. Globally, there have been 624,235,272 confirmed cases of COVID-19 including 6,555,270 deaths as on October 24, 2022, as declared by World Health Organization. Unlike the countries earlier affected with this pandemic, which have undergone epidemiologic transition, India still faces the dual burden of infectious and chronic disease challenges.

Objectives:
The objective of this study was to study the demographic and clinical characteristics of deceased COVID-19 cases. To compare clinical parameters between deceased comorbid and noncomorbid COVID-19 cases and to perform a time audit of deceased COVID-19 cases from the onset of symptom to the time of hospitalization and death.

Materials and Methods:
A hospital-based retrospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care medical college hospital, Bengaluru. The study was conducted by review of clinical data of 142 COVID-19 deaths which occurred during the second COVID-19 wave. Details including age, gender, the period of the illness before to and/or during hospitalizations, symptoms, comorbidities, and reason of death were all noted.

Results:
According to the present study, 68.3% of deaths were with comorbidities and 31.7% were without comorbidities. Of the total deaths, 64.8% were males and 35.2% were females. Majority of the deceased were between 51 and 70 years. At the time of arrival to the hospital, 50.7% recorded SPO2 <88%. Around 60% of the deceased were severe cases and were directly admitted to a high dependency unit or intensive care unit. About 17.6% died within 24 h of admission.

Conclusions:
The current study showed very high case fatality rate due to COVID-19 and was slightly higher in males.
Prevalence and lifestyle-related risk factors of obesity
Authors: Savani Nikita Maheshbhai , Chauhan Rajendra B. , Chudasama Rajesh K. 
Published: May 2024

Background:
Obesity is known to be the first wave of an outlined cluster of noncommunicable diseases called “New World Syndrome” creating a huge socioeconomic and public health burden in poorer countries. In India, obesity has emerged as a crucial health problem, specifically in urban areas, paradoxically coexisting with undernutrition imparting “Double Burden of Disease Obesity”.

Objective:
To study the prevalence and associated factors of obesity among nationalized and private sectors' bank employees.

Materials and Methods:
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. There were around 160 total branches of banks in Rajkot. After explaining the purpose of the study, regional head of 70 banks gave permission to conduct the study. Employees working in nationalized and private banks and those who gave consent to take participation were included in this study. Total 800 bank employees participated in the present study.

Results:
Out of all employees, 36.4% and 11.5% of employees were found to be overweight and obese, respectively. Among all, 23.4% of employees had addiction. Out of all, 88% of employees took homemade lunch, while 28.3% employees skip their lunch. Around 82.2% took junk food as snacks. More than half of the employees were not doing any type of exercise at the time of the present study.

Conclusion:
Marital status, education, source of lunch food, and exercise were found to be significantly associated with obesity.
Effect of steam inhalation therapy as add-on to standard treatment in COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms
Authors: Bandaru Rajiv Kumar , Mirza Mehdi Ali , Suravaram Swathi , Bala Sudha , Narsimhan Calambur , Muthiah Subramanian 
Published: May 2024

Background:
The different ambient temperatures of the upper and lower respiratory tract could influence the replication kinetics of the virus.

Objective:
This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of steam inhalation on clinical progression of COVID-19 and its subsequent impact on viral load that was evaluated in patients.

Materials and Methods:
A randomized control trial in mildly infected COVID-19 was undertaken. The participants were randomized either to standard treatment plus steam inhalation (test, n = 22) or standard treatment alone (control, n = 22). Steam inhalation was continued for 20 min thrice daily for 10 days. The first reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction swab was collected on day 1 before steam inhalation and the second swab was obtained after its completion on the fourth day. In the control group, the swabs were collected at the matched time-points. The clinical progression of disease and the need of oxygen therapy were observed for 10 days. Reductions in cycle-threshold levels were assessed at the completion of 4 days of steam treatment.

Results:
Only one patient from the test group and six patients from the control group progressed to moderate disease. No patient from the steam group required oxygen therapy, whereas three patients from the control group needed it. The median cycle-threshold levels pertaining to N-gene, E-gene, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, respectively, were nonsignificant. All the patients showed clinical recovery.

Conclusions:
The clinical trends support the use of steam therapy as add on over standard treatment in mildly infected COVID-19 patients.
A cross-sectional study of prehypertension among young adults residing in an urban area of South India
Authors: Sidenur Bhagyalaxmi , Shankar Gowri 
Published: May 2024

Background:
Early warning signs of prehypertension indicate a higher likelihood of developing hypertension later in life. Prehypertension was given a new classification in the Seventh Joint National Committee-7 report that distinguished it from hypertension that had already developed. Prehypertensive people were those with systolic blood pressure between 120-139 mmHg or diastolic between 80 and 89 mmHg.

Objectives:
The objective of this study is to study the prevalence of prehypertension and the factors associated with it.

Materials and Methods:
The current cross-sectional study was done in an urban field practice area of a medical college with a study population ranging from 20 to 40 years. The sample size was 420. The systematic random sampling method was used to select the subjects. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, waist, and hip circumference were recorded. Body mass index was categorized according to the South East Asian region (WHO). The institutional ethical board accepted the study protocol.

Results:
About 51.6% of people had prehypertension. Prehypertension was most common in people between the ages of 35 and 40 (35.4%). Prehypertension was more common in males and was highest in class IV socioeconomic status (37.3%). When compared to sedentary employees, moderate workers have a higher frequency of prehypertension (68.6%).

Conclusion:
Our study shows that prehypertension is becoming more common among young individuals in the age range of 20–40 years (51.6%), indicating that it is not an age-related condition.
A population based epidemiological study in the Pune district of Western India to analyse knowledge, attitude, and practices relating to COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Basannar Dashrath , Goyal Ashish Kumar , Singh Pardal Maninder Pal 
Published: May 2024

Background:
There is evidence that the population's knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) influence the implementation of nonpharmacological therapies. Given the paucity of research in this area, we felt compelled to conduct an immediate study of public knowledge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Objective:
The objective is to estimate the level of KAP regarding COVID-19 among the general population.

Materials and Methods:
In the Western Indian District of Pune, a descriptive research was carried out. The study used a sample size of 400 people. Participants in the study were selected from residents of the study region who were at least 18 year old and willing to take part. A semi-structured, self-reported respondent-friendly questionnaire was used. Using the proper statistical tests, KAP scores according to various sociodemographic factors were compared. The confidentiality and anonymity of the study participants were maintained.

Results:
The participants' average age was 30.53 years (standard deviation [SD] 6.98). The average score for knowledge was 15.28 (SD 2.63), attitude was 111.26 (SD 13.2), and practice was 13.43 (SD 1.1). We found a statistically significant knowledge gap across a range of age and educational categories. With the participants' advancing age, there was a significant variation in attitude (P = 0.02). Statistics showed that there were significant differences in practices for different age groups and educational levels.

Conclusion:
According to the results of our study, it is frequently necessary to target vulnerable groups with information education and communication programs targeted at mobilizing and enhancing KAP relevant to COVID-19.
Knowledge, attitude, and practices related to reproductive and sexual health among adolescent girls in a rural community of Telangana
Authors: Soodi Reddy Arun Kiran Soodi , Varanasi Soumya , Ameer Shaik Riyaz , Paul Kalyan Kumar , Reddy Anantha Akhila 
Published: May 2024

Background:
The majority of adolescents lack basic knowledge about puberty, growth during puberty, safe sex, and hygiene. Unawareness about safe sex and protection and contraceptives may increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), unwanted pregnancies, etc.

Objective:
The objective of this study was to study knowledge, attitude, and practices related to reproductive and sexual health among adolescent girls in a rural community of Telangana.

Methods:
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in secondary schools which were located in the rural field practice area of a medical college. All schools in the village were included in the study. Study participants were 6th–10th standard adolescent school girls, with the age group of 10–19 years. A questionnaire regarding knowledge, attitude, and practices related to reproductive and sexual health was used.

Results:
The mean age was 13.6 ± 1.386 years. Eighty-four percentage were from nuclear families and only 10% were from below poverty line families, with a mean per capita income of 2626 ± 1708 international normalized ratio. Seventy-five percentage were aware about puberty; source of information was mothers (67%). Ninety percentage did not know how women become pregnant, STDs, and HIV/AIDS. Only 30% said that oral pills were effective against pregnancy and 95% did not know that condoms prevent STDs. Sixty percentage said their schools covered classes regarding normal anatomy, physiology, menstrual hygiene, and reproductive health, of which only 52% attended this topic. About 82.4% of the subjects felt that it is necessary to maintain cleanliness during menstruation. Seventy-five percentage were using sanitary napkins, and 80% were washing hands after changing sanitary napkins with soap and water. Twenty percentage were throwing directly into drainage or dustbin.

Conclusion:
Knowledge related to reproductive and sexual health among adolescent girls in these adolescent girls was poor and their attitude and practices were also poor.