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Background: Clinico-demographic profile, pre-anesthetic illness of patients, surgical procedure and anaesthetic technique, experience of surgeon and anaesthetist and duration of anaesthesia play a vital role in the development of peri-operative complications and subsequent admission to intensive care unit (ICU). Over 40% admissions in ICU are of postoperative patients. Aim: To study the clinical and demographic profile, reason for admission, course and outcome of postoperative patients, in our intensive care unit. Methods: Admission profile of 135 patients in the Intensive Care Units of SMHS and SSH hospital (Associated hospital of GMC Srinagar) was observed over a period of one and half year belonging to various surgical specialities, both elective and emergency admissions were included in the study. Evaluation was done under demographic and clinical parameters. Statistical Analysis: The recorded data was compiled and entered in a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel) and then exported to data editor of SPSS Version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). Continuous variables were expressed as Mean±SD and categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages. Graphically the data was presented by bar and pie diagrams. Chisquare test or Fisher's exact test, whichever appropriate, was applied for comparing categorical variables. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The age of study patients vary from 20 to 70 years with mean age of distribution was 47.2±20.97 years. Maximum numbers of study patients were between the age of 41 and 49 years. Highest numbers of patients (41.5%) were post-surgical with exploratory laparotomy followed by Craniotomy with tumor decompression (12.6%). 58.5% were emergency surgeries while as 41.5% were elective cases. Main reason for ICU admission was haemodynamic unstability (37.8%) followed by Metabolic acidosis with hemodynamic unstability (15.6%) among the study population. 52.6% of patients admitted to our ICU during study period belong to planned group, among which 80.4% were elective surgical patients and 19.6% emergency surgical patients, while as 47.4% of the ICU patients were unplanned, among which 19.6% were elective surgical patients and 67.1% were emergency surgical patients. Mortality in planned group was 35.2% (25/71) and in unplanned group it was 39.1% (25/64). The overall mortality rate was 37.0%. Conclusion: Thorough preoperative evaluation and preoperative optimization of patients whenever possible can reduce the incidence of unplanned admission to ICU. Early recognition of complications, timely intervention, and timely intensive care admission and monitoring are essential to improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Blood transfusion has become a specialized modality of patient management and every year saves the millions of lives. However, it is not always safe and may lead to many life threatening complications among which transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) such as hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are most significant and detrimental for the recipients. Hence, an integrated strategy for blood safety is required for the elimination of TTIs and or provision of safe and adequate blood transfusion services to the people. Aims and Objectives: To assess the seroprevalence of HIV infections among whole blood donors at Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based study carried in the postgraduate department of blood transfusion and immunohematology SKIMS, Soura, Srinagar over a period of 7 years from January 2015 to December 2021. All donor samples were screened for HIV by the ELISA method. Results: Overall, seroprevalence of HIV was found to be 0.013%. All the positive cases were male donors. Seroprevalence was the highest among replacement donors (0.011%) as compared to voluntary donors (0.001 %). Conclusion: It is very important to continue the screening of donated blood with highly sensitive and specific tests and to counsel donors who are reactive to any of the infectious diseases (like HIV, hepatitis B virus, HCV, syphilis, or malaria) and conduct extensive public awareness programs and measures to make transfusion of blood and blood components safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diverticular disease of the colon has a wide geographic variation and is a very common cause of hospital visits and admissions in the west. Contrary to this there is scarce data on colonoscopic prevalence of diverticular disease from our country. Aims and Objectives: To determine the prevalence of colonic diverticulosis and concomitant colonoscopic pathologies among patients undergoing colonoscopy in a tertiary care gastrointestinal endoscopy setting in Northern India. Materials and Methods: All adult patients who underwent colonoscopy for various indications and were diagnosed to have colonic diverticulosis from August 2016 to December 2019 in the Department of Gastroenterology, Shifa Medical centre, Srinagar, Kashmir, India were included in the study. Results: Out of a total of 4500 colonoscopic procedures, diverticulosis was seen in 190 cases with an overall prevalence of 4.2%. Fifty-six percent of these were males and 44% were females. In 77 (40.52%) patients diverticulosis was seen in left colon, in 72 (37.89 %) in right colon and in 41 (21.57 %) diverticulosis was noted in pancolonic distribution. Adenomatous polyps were seen in 27 % of the cases. Conclusion: Colonic diverticulosis has very low prevalence in this northern Indian state. Adenomatous polyps are commonly associated with this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has not only spawned a lot of stigma and discrimination towards its survivors but also to their corpses. We aimed to assess the magnitude and correlates of stigma in these survivors, on return to their communities. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, hospital-based, exploratory study conducted by the postgraduate department of psychiatry, in collaboration with the postgraduate department of chest medicine, Govt. medical college, Srinagar. The study was performed among COVID-19 survivors, who attended the outpatient department after their discharge from the hospital. Socio-demographic characteristics were recorded through semi-structured proforma. Stigma was measured by the stigma questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Results: A total of 91 survivors consented to participate in the study. Almost half (46.2%) of them were in the age group of 30–49 years and close to two-thirds (68.1%) were males. About three–fourths (74.7%) were from the urban background. The mean time from hospital discharge to study entry was 11.7±5.1 [Range(R) = 7–21] days. 98% of survivors provided at least one stigma endorsing response and the total mean stigma score was 28.5±7.1[R = 6–39]. The mean stigma sub-scores were highest for enacted stigma (7.6±1.8) [R = 2–9] and externalized stigma (15.0±4.1) [R = 1–20]. Enacted stigma was significantly high in males as compared to females. Enacted stigma and internalized stigma were both associated with education. Enacted stigma, externalized stigma, disclosure concerns, and total stigma was significantly associated with the occupation. Being unemployed and time since discharge were identified as independent predictors of total stigma. Conclusion: Our study results showed high levels of enacted and externalized stigma among COVID-19 survivors. Enacted stigma was more among males and in those who were highly educated. Survivor centered and community-driven anti-stigma programs are the need of the hour to promote the recovery and community re-integration of these survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]