BACKGROUND AND AIM: Higher prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) has been reported in south Indian population, which cannot be accounted for by the traditional risk factors like hyperlipidemia. Identification of new risk factors may help in treatment and prevention of CHD in this part of the world. In an attempt to investigate the causes of increased incidence of CHD in this part of the world, we intended to look for oxidative stress in our patients as a possible risk factor. As an initial step in this perspective, a case- control study was conducted to find out the serum antioxidant levels and their association with CHD in south Indian population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A tertiary care hospital; Case - control study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred thirty nine angiographically proven CHD patients (aged 29-75 years) were studied against 59 population based healthy controls (aged 29-72 years) free of CHD. Fasting serum cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, erythrocyte and plasma glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were estimated on automated clinical chemistry analyzer. LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol were calculated. Vitamins A and E were estimated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Unpaired t test was used to compare means. Binary logistic regression was done to find out the association between dependent and independent variables. RESULTS: Significantly higher levels of Total Cholesterol/HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio and lower HDL cholesterol levels were observed in patients when compared to controls. No significant difference of plasma and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity was observed between patients and controls. Significantly lower levels of vitamin E in patients than in controls was observed (P<0.001). Serum vitamin E was inversely associated with coronary heart disease even after controlling for age and other coronary risk factors (Odds ratio 0.898, 95% CI 0.826-0.976 P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results of present study suggest that deficiency of vitamin E may be an independent risk factor of CHD. This study brings out the need for long- term monitoring of vitamin E supplementation as a preventive measure for CHD in the population studied.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B is a major public health problem, which has now been controlled to some extent by vaccination especially with the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, which has been proven to be safe and efficacious since its introduction in the 1990s. But problems of unsafe injection practices still persist. Now newer delivery devices like uniject are available for making vaccination very safe. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of the Hepatitis-B (Shanvac-B) vaccine in Uniject pre-filled device administered to healthy adults and infants at 0, 1, 2 months schedule. METHODS: A total of 122 healthy subjects (62 adults and 60 infants) were administered three doses of the recombinant Hepatitis-B vaccine using Uniject pre-filled device. Blood samples for antibody titer estimation were taken before vaccination and 4-6 weeks after third dose. Subjects, parents or guardians were given diary cards to record any adverse reactions. RESULTS: Protective immune responses to the vaccine were seen in 96.4% of adults and 100% of infants who completed the study. The Geometric Mean Titers (GMT) in adults and infants were 518.5 and 385.41 mIU/ml respectively. Mild fever, itching, and swelling at injection site were the most common side effects observed. CONCLUSION: The safety and immunogenicity of the Hepatitis B Vaccine in the novel pre-filled device Uniject was effectively demonstrated in the present study.

BACKGROUND: Despite a liberal Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) act and awareness of family planning, maternal mortality attributable to induced abortion is high. AIMS: Assess attitude, behavior, practices and utilization of services by rural women for induced abortion and concurrent acceptance of contraception. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Cross sectional survey of eligible married women in 13 states in India over one year. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 1851 women who had an induced abortion during the previous 3 years were interviewed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Includes proportions, rates and chi-square test. RESULTS: The main reason for seeking abortion was "don't need any more children" (42%), and in 12.4 per cent they specifically mentioned that they "don't need any more daughters". Around 46% of women accessed abortion services from private clinics as compared to government hospital (37.1%) and Primary Health Centre/Community Health Centre (14.0%). The decision to terminate the pregnancy and place of abortion was made by the husband in 42.8% and 52.5% respectively. Regret for abortion was expressed by 29.6% of the women. However, only 7.2% said they would not advice others for induced abortion. Nearly one half of the women undergoing abortion accepted a family planning method concurrently; of these Intra Uterine Device/oral contraceptives and a permanent method was adopted by 37.2% and 49.1% respectively. Acceptance of vasectomy by male partner was found to be low (1.3%). "Husband objected" (32.3%) was the main reason for not accepting post abortal contraception. Majority of the acceptors said they would recommend to others the same place where they had undergone abortion, thus indicating their satisfaction with the source and services received. CONCLUSIONS: Counselling for post-abortal contraceptive should be provided to the couple so that they can make an informed choice.