Search

Background: The content and nature of media reports could influence suicide prevention measures. Aim: To evaluate contemporary online media reports' compliance with guidelines for responsible reporting of suicidal acts from Indian resources. Methods: We included English and Hindi articles for reports concerning suicide, published by local and national media sources for 30 consecutive days from the day of death of a celebrity by alleged suicide. The search was performed in Google News with predefined search queries and selection criteria. Two independent investigators did data extraction. Subsequently, each news report was assessed against guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide by the WHO and the Press Council of India. Results: We identified 295 articles (Hindi n = 172, English n = 123). Results showed more than 80% of the media reports deviated from at least one criterion of the recommendations. A maximum breach was seen in the news article's headlines, sensational reportage and detailed suicide methods description. Significant differences were seen in the quality of English and Hindi reporting and reporting celebrity and noncelebrity suicide. Additional items revealed were reporting suicide pacts, linking multiple suicides in a single news report, allowing user-generated threads and linking Religion and suicide. Conclusion: Measures are required to implement reporting recommendations in the framework of a national suicide prevention strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Media portrayal of mental illness may influence public stigma and service utilization. Aim: This study aims to explore the overall tone and content of the news articles on mental illnesses in India. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on online English and Hindi news portals for articles which made reference to mental illness, published by local and national media sources between September 2019 and August 2020. The search was performed using location and news-only filters in the "Google" search engine; we used predefined search queries and selection criteria. A previously published checklist was used for the content analysis; it was done by two independent investigators. Results: A total of 273 news reports met inclusion criteria (Hindi n = 164, English n = 109). Results showed that more than half (54.9%) had a positive tone. Nearly a third (30.8%) of these articles were stigmatizing in tone. Persons with mental illness were portrayed as violent, unreliable, and unpredictable. Uses of blanket terms (33.3%) such as mentally ill, mentally unstable, mentally retarded, and stigmatizing photographs (36.9%) were also common. Overall, Hindi media had a significantly better quality of reporting than the English language media. National media reports had a less negative and stigmatizing tone than local articles. Conclusion: There is a need for a concerted attempt to improve the quality of media reporting of mental illness in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims We conducted a cross-sectional survey to estimate the prevalence and clinical manifestation of disulfiram ethanol reaction (DER) and isopropanol toxicity (IT) in patients with alcohol use disorders, on disulfiram. Alcohol-based hand rub contains either ethanol or isopropanol or both. COVID-19 pandemic has led to wide scale usage of sanitizers. Patients with alcohol use disorders, on disulfiram, might experience disulfiram ethanol like reactions with alcohol-based sanitizers. Methods We telephonically contacted 339 patients, prescribed disulfiram between January 2014 and March 2020. The assessment pertained to the last 3 months (i.e. third week of March to third week of June 2020). Result The sample consisted of middle-aged men with a mean 16 years of alcohol dependence. Among the 82 (24%) patients adherent to disulfiram, 42 (12.3%) were using alcohol-based hand rubs. Out of these, a total of eight patients (19%; 95% CI 9–33) had features suggestive of DER; four of whom also had features indicative of IT. Five patients (62.5%) had mild and self-limiting symptoms. Severe systemic reactions were experienced by three (37.5%). Severe reactions were observed with exposure to sanitizers in greater amounts, on moist skin or through inhalation. Conclusion Patients on disulfiram should be advised to use alternate methods of hand hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: WHO addresses the infectious disease like Tuberculosis, and non- communicable disease like Diabetes among the top 10 causes of death worldwide, which collectively leads to increasing mortality and premature death especially in developing countries. Hence, the present study aims to assess the prevalence of diabetes and its associated risk factors among the tuberculosis patient of Morang, Eastern Nepal.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the 320 respondents undergoing tuberculosis treatment of Morang district. Respondents from eight randomly selected DOTS centers were selected purposively. The Fasting Blood Sugar and 2-h Post-Prandial Blood Sugar were assessed in the laboratory of respective DOTS center by the glucose oxidase method. An interview for socio-demographic and other variables was conducted using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire based on WHO-STEP Instrument for chronic disease and excerpt from DASS-21 was used for the variable stress.Results: The prevalence of diabetes, pre-diabetic and glucose intolerance among tuberculosis patient was 11.9, 17.2, and 17.8% respectively. Additionally, the univariate analysis reported, user of tobacco products, current alcohol consumers, family history of diabetes and stress level, to have positive association with diabetes, while the multivariate analysis reported, the current alcohol consumer as the significant predictor of diabetes among the tuberculosis patient.Conclusion: A significant portion of the respondents were diabetic, impaired glucose tolerance and pre-diabetic, which supports the fact of diabetes being comorbid with tuberculosis. Hence, it shifts the focus on the bidirectional screening of tuberculosis and diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]