Background The burden of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension is increasing worldwide including low-and middle-income countries. Good knowledge of such diseases among young people will make them adopt a healthy lifestyle from an early age, which will, in turn, prevent them from developing such non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of rural and urban school students regarding diabetes and hypertension. We also aimed to see the differences in the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students from rural vs. urban communities. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 1 2021 to June 30, 2021, in four schools in Nepal (1 from a metropolitan city, 2 from an urban municipality, and 1 from a rural municipality). The study was conducted among the secondary-level students of classes 9 and 10 in each school. The data were collected from the participants via pre-tested questionnaires and analyzed in the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine the determinants of knowledge and attitude regarding diabetes and hypertension. Results Of 380 respondents, 35.5% were residents of metropolitan city, 37.4% were from the urban municipality and 27.1% were from the rural municipality. The mean age of respondents was 15.61±0.99 years and 51.1% were male. Respondents having a family history of diabetes and hypertension were 21.1% and 37.9% respectively. Respondents from the metropolitan city had significantly higher mean knowledge scores than the respondents from the urban and rural municipality (p<0.001) while there was no significant difference in mean attitude scores. There was significantly higher daily consumption of fruits and vegetables among the participants from rural municipality (p<0.01) while no significant difference was seen in salt consumption and time spent on physical activity. In univariate regression analysis, place of residence, family occupation, parental education, and family history of diabetes and hypertension were significantly associated with good knowledge level. In multivariate analysis, only a higher grade of study (grade 10 in comparison to grade 9) was an independent predictor of a student’s good attitude level. Conclusion In general, there was a good attitude towards diabetes and hypertension despite poor knowledge. The mean knowledge scores were lower in urban municipality and rural municipality compared to metropolitan city. Low knowledge scores on diabetes and hypertension among the students show an urgent need for school-based interventional programs focusing on non-communicable diseases and lifestyle modification with more emphasis on rural communities.

Background: First phase of COVID-19 vaccination was initiated in Nepal in January 2021 tar­geting the frontline health care workers. Vaccine side effects have a significant role in public confidence regarding the vaccine and its uptake. We aimed to determine the acceptability and explore the side effects of first dose of ChAdOx1 nCOV-19 (Covishield) vaccine among the health care workers of Chitwan Medical College. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among the health care workers at Chitwan Medi­cal College. Total enumeration sampling technique was used and a self-constructed questionnaire was circulated among the health care workers to self-report their socio-demographic information and vaccination experience. Chi square test was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sci­ences version 20 for statistical analysis and p-value<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 589 respondents, 537 (91.2%) had received the first dose of Covishield vaccine among which, 424 (78.9%) reported one or more side effects. Majority of them had very mild systemic side effects (55.9%) and injection site related side effects (25.2%). The side effects were more prevalent in <30 years age group than >30 years age group. Conclusions: Most of the vaccine recipients had very mild side effects which showed that Cov­ishield vaccine has a good safety profile.

Background: Acute glomerulonephritis is a common pediatric kidney disease which places a huge burden in developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate causes, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings and complications of acute glomerulonephritis in children presented to a tertiary care center of Nepal. Methods: This was a retrospective review of records of children admitted with acute glomerulonephritis at Chitwan Medical College from April 2018 to February 2021. Socio-demographic data, clinic-laboratory profile and outcomes were obtained from medical records and descriptive analysis was carried out. Results: Among 48 recruited children with acute glomerulonephritis, 60.4% were male and the mean age was 9.5 ± 3.7 years. Post infectious glomerulonephritis including post streptococcal glomerulonephritis (48%) was the main cause of acute glomerulonephritis. The major clinical features were edema (81.3%), hypertension (72.9%), dyspnea (29.2%) and hematuria (25%). ASO titer was positive in 45.8%. The complications noted were acute kidney injury (6.3%), hypertensive emergency (6.3%) and congestive cardiac failure (2.1%). Conclusions: Most of the patients were above 5 years of age and presented most commonly during autumn and summer season.  The complications of acute glomerulonephritis were acute kidney injury, hypertensive emergency and congestive cardiac failure.

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Caffey disease is a rare, self limiting condition which usually presents in early infancy. The clinical features include fever, irritability, inflammatory swelling of soft tissue due to acute inflammation of the periosteum and subperiosteal new bone formation. Possible differential diagnoses are osteomyelitis, hypervitaminosis A, scurvy, bone tumours, prolonged use of Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and child abuse. Although self-limiting, it can cause diagnostic dilemma leading to delayed diagnosis and unnecessary investigations. Here, we report a case of two month old male infant presenting with painful left scapular mass.