The prevalence of self-medication among medical students is high, facilitated by the easy availability of drugs and information from textbooks or seniors. A significant number of students are unaware of the adverse effects of the medication that they themselves take and suggest to others. Therefore, potential problems of self-medication should be emphasised to the students.

Background and Objective:Depression among medical students is an area of increasing concern worldwide. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and its associated factors among medical students.Materials and Methods:A stratified random sample of 400 students was assessed using Beck Depression Inventory by investigators. Associations between depression and class of studying, social factors like alcohol use, drug addiction, family problems, family history of depression, and staying away from home were analyzed by univariate analysis.Results:The overall prevalence of depression was found to be 71.25%. Among those with depression, a majority (80%) had mild and moderate degree of depression. The study showed that 46.3% (132) of the depressed were females and 53.7% (153) were males. According to cut-off scores, 115 students (29.8%) scored as normal (0-9), 111 (27.8%) as mild (10-18), 117 (29.3%) as moderate (19-29), 30 (7.5%) as severe (30-40), and 27 (6.7%) as very severe (>40) depression. The prevalence of depression was comparatively less among 1st and 2nd year medical students (57% and 50%, respectively) and the difference between the grade of depression and year of studying was found to be significant (χ2=122, P<0.001). The prevalence was significantly more among those with family problems and family history of depression.Conclusion:Depression is highly prevalent among medical students in this area. Our findings point to the importance of broad screening and psychiatric counseling of this vulnerable population.

There is a high prevalence of bronchial asthma among children with a higher prevalence among boys than girls. There were significant inverse linear association with increasing age and also with family history of asthma. Efforts should be directed towards screening and early detection among the children, especially those of parents with history of asthma to enable treatment and reduce morbidity.

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AIMTo investigate management of patients who develop ipilimumab-mediated enterocolitis, including association of endoscopic findings with steroid-refractory symptoms and utility of infliximab as second-line therapy.METHODSWe retrospectively reviewed all patients at our center with metastatic melanoma who were treated with ipilimumab between March 2011 and May 2014. All patients received a standard regimen of intravenous ipilimumab 3 mg/kg every 3 wk for four doses or until therapy was stopped due to toxicity or disease progression. Basic demographic and clinical data were collected on all patients. For patients who developed grade 2 or worse diarrhea (increase of 4 bowel movements per day), additional data were collected regarding details of gastrointestinal symptoms, endoscopic findings and treatment course. Descriptive statistics were used.RESULTSA total of 114 patients were treated with ipilimumab during the study period and all were included. Sixteen patients (14%) developed ≥ grade 2 diarrhea. All patients were treated with high-dose corticosteroids (1-2 mg/kg prednisone daily or equivalent). Nine of 16 patients (56%) had ongoing diarrhea despite high-dose steroids. Steroid-refractory patients received one dose of intravenous infliximab at 5 mg/kg, and all but one had brisk resolution of diarrhea. Fourteen of the patients underwent either colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy with variable endoscopic findings, ranging from mild erythema to colonic ulcers. Among 8 patients with ulcers demonstrated by sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, 7 patients (88%) developed steroid-refractory symptoms requiring infliximab. With a median follow-up of 264 d, no major adverse events associated with prednisone or infliximab were reported.CONCLUSIONIn patients with ipilimumab-mediated enterocolitis, the presence of colonic ulcers on endoscopy was associated with a steroid-refractory course.

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Background and Aims:We conducted a cohort study on the impact of obesity on disease activity and patient reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) measures in the IBD Partners cohort.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal study within IBD Partners, an internet-based cohort of >15,000 patients living with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). We included adult patients with IBD, with recorded body mass index (BMI), with at least 6 months of follow-up, excluding patients with BMI<18.5kg/m 2 . We evaluated the independent effect of World Health Organization classes of obesity on risk of clinical relapse or persistent

Major complications associated with PCMS placement include migration and cholecystitis. Their management includes endoscopic revision, cholecystectomy, and gallbladder drainage. Further improvements in the structure and composition of PCMS may prevent these complications.