Background:Tuberculosis continues to be a pressing health problem in India. The Revised National Tuberculosis Programme (RNTCP), an application of Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) in India, launched in 1997 needs continuous evaluation.Objective:To study the outcomes of treatment among the patients put on DOTS under RNTCP in Chandigarh, UT.Material & Methods:A Longitudinal study was conducted during 2004-2005 in 13 Microscopic centres (MC's) spread over 2 Tuberculosis Units (TU's) under District Tuberculosis Centre (DTC) in Union Territory (UT), Chandigarh. A sample of 265 respondents, selected by two-stage stratified random sampling technique, was recruited in the study cohort. Data analysis was done using SPSS-10 statistical software package.Results:For Category I and Category II patients, the Success rate was 98.6% and 90.4% respectively. The overall default rate was 1.1% and failure rate was 2.6%. For re-treatment cases, failure rate was higher i.e. 5.8%. The sputum conversion rate among the new smear positive cases was 93.8% at 3 months of treatment. For the re-treatment cases, spu-tum conversion rate at 3 months was 94.1%.Conclusion:The study concludes that RNTCP is running successfully in UT Chandigarh, having high success rate and low default rate. The reasons for high failure rate should be explored in depth.

Wide gaps exist between awareness and practices related with MCH due to non-adoption of knowledge into actual practice, except some selected components lacking in both knowledge as well as practice. Need for bridging the existing gaps avoiding socio-cultural barriers and misconceptions prevailing in the community and by promoting and protecting healthy MCH care practices.

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Background The aggressiveness of paediatric cholesteatoma has long been a matter of debate. While much of the evidence is substantiated by data from the Western world, it is further limited by the retrospective nature of most studies. Therefore, this paper presents a comparative analysis of various characteristics of cholesteatoma between paediatric and adult populations seen at our centre. Methods A total of 50 patients (25 adults and 25 paediatric) with clinical diagnosis of chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma underwent canal wall down mastoidectomy over a period of two years. The intra-operative findings were noted and patients were followed up for six months. Results There was more extensive spread and ossicular erosion in paediatric cases. However, complications such as facial canal dehiscence and lateral semicircular canal dehiscence were more common in adults. Conclusion Paediatric cholesteatoma is more aggressive and invasive than adult cholesteatoma, and the clinical behaviour is consistent with findings from other parts of the world.

Background: Biomedical waste (BMW) has recently emerged as an issue of major concern not only to hospitals and nursing homes, but also to the environmental and law enforcing agencies, media, and the general public. BMW forms approximately 1%-2% of the total municipal solid waste stream.

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