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Background: Children with hearing impairment (CHI) have special accessibility issues to meet their health care needs. Their oral health status is deprived and has wide ranging treatment needs to attend.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral health status and treatment needs of CHI attending a special school in Bhimavaram Town, India.Study Design: The study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in November 2012 at SVS special school for deaf, Bhimavaram, India. This study involved 180 CHI of both genders, aged 6-16 years, divided into Group-I (6-8 years), Group-II (9-12 years), and Group-III (13-16 years). Oral health status and treatment needs were recorded using methods and standards recommended by the WHO for Oral Health Surveys, 1997. Dental caries prevalence (decayed, missing, and filled teeth [DMFT/dmft]), gingivitis levels (Lφe, Silness Gingival Index), plaque levels (Silness, Lφe Plaque index), and treatment needs were the parameters recorded and analyzed.Statistical Analysis: Z-test for proportion, one-way analysis of variance, and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data.Results: Prevalence of dental caries in the sample was found to be 65% with a mean level of caries prevalence (DMFT) of 1.6 ± 1.3 in Group-I, 1.9 ± 1.2 in Group-II, and 2.2 ± 1.2 in Group-III. About 91.7% of the total children examined needs treatment. The mean plaque and gingivitis scores of the sample were 1.70 ± 0.61 and 1.59 ± 0.58, respectively.Conclusion: These findings imply the overwhelming situation of CHI in oral health perspective. Hence, prevention-based educational and motivational programs should be targeted to this vital group to achieve adequate oral hygiene levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS) is a marker for cerebrovascular disease, coronary atherosclerosis, and death., Aim: To investigate the prevalence of ACAS in the Indian population, and to correlate ACAS with other vascular risk factors., Materials and Methods: We prospectively recruited 1500 individuals who were older than 40 years and asymptomatic for cerebrovascular disease between June 2003 and December 2014. Evaluation of vascular risk factors was done for all the participants. Color Doppler of bilateral carotid arteries was performed for all the participants. Carotid stenosis of 1-49% and ≥50% was considered to be mild and significant stenosis, respectively., Results: There were 1016 (67.7%) men, with a mean age of 58.1 ± 10.6 years (age range: 40-98 years). The prevalence of significant carotid stenosis was 5.2%. After adjustment using multiple regression analysis, age >70 years (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.48-2.74), hypertension (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.11-2.96), diabetes (OR: 2.3; 95%CI: 1.45-3.89), smoking (OR: 3.6; 95% CI: 2.18-6.03), dyslipidemia (OR: 4.0; 95% CI: 2.52-6.63), history of migraine (OR: 3.6; 95% CI: 2.54-9.13), history of periodontitis (OR: 3.2; 95% CI: 1.90-5.68), and family history of stroke (OR: 7.1; 95% CI: 4.20-12.2) were significantly associated with >50% stenosis. Duration (>15 years) of hypertension (OR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.33-6.43), diabetes (OR: 6.2; 95% CI: 3.41-11.3), and smoking (OR: 5.2; 95% CI: 2.20-12.1) markedly worsened the risk. During the 8-year follow up, 14 participants (1.4%) with mild stenosis and 3 participants (4.7%) with significant stenosis developed stroke., Conclusions: Our study suggests that 5.2% of asymptomatic individuals > 40 years of age harbor significant extracranial carotid artery disease. Presence of multiple vascular risk factors markedly increases the risk of carotid stenosis.

Water contamination, at source and during household storage, is a major cause of enterically transmitted infections in developing countries. This study assessed contamination of the municipal water in a south Indian town, which obtains its water intermittently from a surface lake and by pumping subsurface water from a dry river bed, and monitored microbial contamination during household storage. All samples of the 'treated' municipal water were contaminated when freshly pumped, and on household storage, 25/37 (67%) showed increased contamination during storage periods from 1 to 9 days. Household storage in brass, but not in containers of other materials significantly decreased contamination of water (p = 0.04). This was confirmed in the laboratory by testing water seeded with 10(3) to 10(5) Escherichia coli per 100 ml stored in containers of different materials (p < 0.01). Despite the requirements for provision of safe drinking water in municipal areas, in practice the water supplied in Vellore is contaminated and current household storage practices increase the level of contamination in at least two-thirds of households. The implementation of locally appropriate point-of-use disinfection and safe household storage practices in developing countries is an urgent need to ensure a safe, reliable year-round supply in areas where clean water is not available.