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Introduction: Absenteeism among medical undergraduate students during lecture classes is a worldwide problem in medical education. Their disengaged attitude towards attending lectures is associated with poor grades in examinations and contributes to poor professional socialisation. Aim: To identify the different factors responsible for absenteeism among medical undergraduate students during lecture classes and gather feedback that may help improve the content and delivery of these classes. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Department of Biochemistry, Bankura Sammilani Medical College, West Bengal, India. The study duration was six months, from October 2022 to March 2023. A total of 199 undergraduate medical students from phase-I voluntarily participated in the study out of a total of 200 students. A prevalidated questionnaire using the Likert scale was used as the study tool to determine the students' perspectives on poor attendance. Additionally, a focused group discussion was held to obtain the students' opinions on improving the presentation of lectures. The responses were recorded, and the Tastle and Wierman tests were conducted to derive a consensus opinion. Results: Among the participants, 169 (84.9%) strongly agreed and 125 (62.8%) agreed that access to multiple websites and a preference for self-study were factors leading to skipping lectures, respectively. There was a strong agreement, with a consensus score of 0.52, that factors such as the inability of the mental capacity to match the chosen course, poor content, and monotonous presentation were important contributors to absenteeism. A significant correlation was observed between internal assessment scores and lecture attendance (p-value <0.01, r-value=0.4). Approximately 44% of participants believed that a chalk and talk approach followed by small group discussions was the best teaching method. Conclusion: This cross-sectional survey identified multiple factors, such as access to various e-learning platforms, a preference for self/group study, and technical difficulties, as reasons for poor attendance in lecture classes. However, improvements in content, mode of presentation, and clinical relevance of topics may enhance students' attitudes towards attending regular lectures and improve their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the recent years, there is a huge paradigm shift of medical education in India from curriculum-based learning to learner-centered and time independent competencybased medical education. This paradigm shift was to rear and trains medical graduates to function as physician of first contact being globally acceptable. Due to this, the felt need of the hour was to find an assessment tool that is valid, reliable, devoid of subjective bias, and has the capabilities to assess the cognitive, psychomotor, and effective domain. Aims and Objectives: In this context, this study was done to assess the impression and impact of objective structured practical examination (OSPE) in comparison to conventional practical examination (CPE). Due to the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, there was some scope of organizing OSPE in virtual mode. Materials and Methods: The study involved of 250 Phase I medical undergraduates of Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College. The response stations included charts, clinical problems, graphs, pictures, and critical analysis of reports. Results: The mean scores in OSPE were higher than CPE. In our study, 51.3% strongly voiced that conducting OSPE was more scientific with uniformity in evaluation. Conclusion: OSPE was preferred by the students as an assessment tool. Moreover, OSPE had a scope to be organized in Virtual mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Gestational Diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases the risk of foetal morbidity and mortality heralding the future risk of development of type 2 diabetes in mother. GDM develops mainly due to insulin resistance along with interplay of risk factors like advancing maternal age, family history of diabetes, obesity, ethnicity, history of macrosomia. Aim: To detect whether estimation of serum ferritin, C-reactive protein and insulin in 1st trimester can predict the subsequent occurrence of GDM and whether susceptible mothers can be managed cautiously to prevent foeto-maternal complications. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based longitudinal study was done in Department of Gynaecology and obstetrics in collaboration with the Department of Biochemistry, Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, from January 2018 to June 2019. The study included 80 antenatal mothers attending the Antenatal Outpatient Department in first trimester. The blood samples were collected from them during first trimester and serum ferritin, C-reactive Protein (CRP) and insulin were estimated using different methods as specified later. The anthropometric measurements of the mother {Body Mass Index (BMI), skin fold thickness and waist hip ratio} were measured. These enrolled study participants have undergone Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) with 75 gm of anhydrous glucose at 24-28 weeks of gestation. The performance parameters like sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and likelihood ratio of ferritin and CRP was calculated. results: The mean age of participants who developed diabetes (n=12) 25.75±2.92 and who did not developed diabetes (n=68) 23.91±3.74 years. There was 15% prevelance of GDM in study population. The median concentration of serum ferritin and CRP was significantly higher in patients who developed GDM (n=12) among the study population (n=80). The sensitivity of serum ferritin {83.33% (95% confidence interval=51.59-97.91%)} was higher in comparison to C-reactive protein {31.82% (95% CI=13.86-54.87%)}. conclusion: There was a remarkable decline of insulin sensitivity with the advancement of pregnancy. This implies that latent insulin resistance may start from first trimester and screening in high risk ethnicity group like India should be a routine protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ovarian neoplasms are the second most common cause of gynecological malignancy both worldwide as well as in India. Innocuous clinical presentation and late diagnosis contribute to the mortality toll of this neoplasm. Thus, early diagnosis remains the cornerstone to increase the survival rate of ovarian neoplasms. Though, cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is a time-tested marker for ovarian neoplasm diagnosis yet its increment in benign gynecological conditions questions its own diagnostic specificity. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), the conventional marker for colorectal cancer detection, is found to be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer. Aims and Objectives: This study was aimed to find the efficacy of CEA along with CA-125 in the early detection of ovarian neoplasm and predicting the outcome. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based longitudinal study was conducted in the Biochemistry department of Bankura Sammilani Medical College. Established cases of ovarian neoplasm were recruited as study population using pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Serum CEA and CA-125 were estimated at the time of diagnosis, 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery. Results: There was no significant difference between the median concentration of CEA among the four phases of treatment. Serum CEA was positively correlated to CA-125 during all phases of treatment (P=0.653, P=0.000). The binary logistic regression revealed that CEA (odds ratio=1.2, 0.83-1.69) had higher chances to be associated with ovarian stages associated with cancers beyond Stage IC. CEA had a lower sensitivity and specificity in comparison to CA-125. Conclusion: This study suggested CEA, a theranostic marker, can supplement the present biochemical diagnostic modalities to improve diagnostic and prognostic efficacy cost-effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The reference interval guides the clinician in interpreting the clinical test reports and classifying the subjects as healthy or diseased. The reference values of the common laboratory analytes vary due to immense diversity in race, ethnicity, genetic pattern and food habits. Recommendations from international body's mandates for every laboratory to establish its own reference values for the population it serves for correct interpretation of test results. A series of recent research indicates the protective role of the antioxidant vitamin β-carotene against both exogenous and endogenous free radicals. These free radicals mediated damage to intracellular organelles and cell membrane lead to mutations, coronary artery disease, autoimmune diseases and malignancy. Aim: To determine the coverage interval of serum β-carotene in Bengali population and to compare them with the reference interval of other population. Materials and Methods: The present non-interventional, cross-sectional study was conducted in Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, from January 2012 to January 2013. Based on IUPAC clinical division technical report with 0.95 confidence interval, 0.95 coverage interval and coverage uncertainty of 0.049, 71 individuals were included in the study. Blood samples were collected from 71 (34 male and 37 female) healthy volunteers (postgraduate trainee students, DMLT students, nursing staff and undergraduate students) at random as per recommendation of IUPAC Clinical Chemistry Division for calculation of coverage interval. The β-carotene levels were measured by Bradley and Hornbeck (1973) method spectrophotometerically. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check for normal distribution. Results: The mean age and weight of the study population 28.49±9.49 years and 62.9±11.58 kg respectively. The mean concentration of serum β-carotene was found to be 140.12 μg/dL (2.62 μmol/L) which was much higher than other populations. Conclusion: The study conducted to determine the coverage interval of β-carotene, a replica of reference interval with small number of values, from the general healthy population. The reference values of Bengali population was found to be,much higher than Kuwaiti, European, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thailand populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference interval of all haematological and biological analytes should be measured for every population because of the huge diversity in genetic make-up, dietary habits. The coverage interval of antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C and α-tocopherol) in the plasma and serum of reference Bengali population was determined and compared with the reference intervals of antioxidant vitamins in the established literature. Adult healthy volunteers from 18 to 68 years of age underwent extensive clinical and investigational procedure and were included in the study. Vitamin C and α-tocopherol were estimated using simple Spectrophotometric method. Of the 71 healthy Bengali volunteers participated, 31 were males and 40 were females. The mean concentration of plasma vitamin C was found to be 0.65mg/dL. The mean α-tocopherol was found 6.35mg/L (14.74 Μmol/L) in the study population higher than the normal threshold value for α-tocopherol but lower than other populations. The study data enabled us to determine the gender nonspecific coverage interval of antioxidant vitamins, and the intervals were lower than the established reference interval in other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal involvement either interstitial nephritis or glomerulonephritis have been seldom noticed in isolated cases of primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS). In pSS, renal involvement is primarily due to a monolymphocytic tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) characterised by a predominance of T lymphocyte subsets and manifested by renal tubular dysfunction. In this instance, we describe a case of primary Sjogren's syndrome presenting with hypokalemia and renal tubular acidosis type I including relevant positive and negative history and laboratory evidence of renal dysfunction. This case shows that primary Sjogren's syndrome may present with systemic manifestations other than classical one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]