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Coronary heart disease (CHD) is common in India and, recently, an increase in the incidence of CHD was reported from the South Indian state of Kerala. The traditional Indian diet is low in fat content. The high incidence of CHD in Indians is, therefore, in contrast to western studies that have correlated high Fat, saturated fat and cholesterol intake to CHD. Consumption of coconut and coconut oil that contain high amounts of saturated fat and are thought to be strongly atherogenic, are believed to be one of the main reasons for the high incidence of CHD in Kerala. To explore this presumed link, we studied 32 CHD patients and 16 age and sex matched healthy controls. Consumption of coconut and coconut oil was found to be similar in both groups. The groups did not differ in the fat, saturated fat and cholesterol consumption. The results imply no specific role for coconut or coconut oil in the causation of CHD in the present set of Indian patients from Kerala. The exact reason for the high and increasing incidence of CHD among Indians is still unknown.

Introduction Enhanced auditory perception in musicians is likely to result from auditory perceptual learning during several years of training and practice. Many studies have focused on biological processing of auditory stimuli among musicians. However, there is a lack of literature on temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skills in vocal musicians. Objective The aim of the present study is to assess temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skill in vocal musicians. Method The study participants included 15 vocal musicians with a minimum professional experience of 5 years of music exposure, within the age range of 20 to 30 years old, as the experimental group, while 15 age-matched non-musicians served as the control group. We used duration discrimination using pure-tones, pulse-train duration discrimination, and gap detection threshold tasks to assess temporal processing skills in both groups. Similarly, we assessed active auditory discrimination skill in both groups using Differential Limen of Frequency (DLF). All tasks were done using MATLab software installed in a personal computer at 40dBSL with maximum likelihood procedure. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (version 17.0). Result Descriptive statistics showed better threshold for vocal musicians compared with non-musicians for all tasks. Further, independent t-test showed that vocal musicians performed significantly better compared with non-musicians on duration discrimination using pure tone, pulse train duration discrimination, gap detection threshold, and differential limen of frequency. Conclusion The present study showed enhanced temporal resolution ability and better (lower) active discrimination threshold in vocal musicians in comparison to non-musicians.

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Background: Hearing impairment in children constitutes a particularly serious obstacle to their optimal development. Early detection of hearing impairment is vital since early intervention including hearing aids and speech therapy can be initiated at the earliest and will help them to enjoy equal opportunities in society alongside all other children. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with hearing impairment among newborns delivered in a tertiary care centre using a two staged OAE test.Methods: This study was a prospective descriptive study done in Govt. T.D. medical college, Alappuzha over a period of 12 months. All newborns (4359) were included in the study. They were carefully evaluated for presence of risk factors and OAE was done before discharge from the hospital. If found abnormal OAE was repeated at 6 weeks, failing which BERA was performed.Results: Out of 4268 newborns screened, 275 failed OAE (6.4%) and 44 failed second OAE (1.03%) also. BERA was done in 40 newborns out of whom 6 failed (prevalence of 1.3 per 1000 population). Risk factors studied were prematurity, perinatal asphyxia, hyperbilirubinemea requiring phototherapy, congenital infection, family history of deafness, NICU admission more than 5 days, culture positive sepsis and newborns receiving ototoxic medications.Conclusions: Hearing impairment was more among those with risk factors. But hearing evaluation is important in all newborns irrespective of presence of risk factors to avoid missing hearing impairment in otherwise normal newborn.

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