Introduction: Fast food is processed and prepared in an industrial fashion. Vitamins, minerals, fibre and amino acids are low or lacking in fast food but has high energy (calories).The present study was done to assess the knowledge and practice of fast food consumption among Pre-University College students. Materials and methods: The study design adopted was cross-sectional. Semi-structured self-administered questionnaire were used to collect the data. Time bound enumeration was used to recruit the participants and total 160 Pre-University students were included in the study. Result: About 51(31.87%) of the participants had inadequate knowledge, 67(41.88%) of the participants had moderate knowledge and 42(26.25%) of the participants had adequate knowledge about the effect of fast food consumption. The majority of the respondents 116 (72.5%) reported that the main reason for their consumption is a delicious taste of fast food. Conclusion: Though fast foods are tasty they have low nutritive value and high calories. Nutrition counselling regarding the significance of a balanced diet and harmful effects of fast foods may help to curb the fast food addiction.

INTRODUCTIONHypertension, the -silent killer‖ -is a modern day's epidemic and is an increasingly important medical and global public health issue due to its role in causation of coronary heart disease, stroke and other vascular complications.1 It is defined as systolic blood pressure measuring more than or equal to 140 mm of mercury and diastolic blood pressure measuring more than or equal to 90 mm of mercury recorded in an individual according to JNC 7.2 The global prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 18 years and over was around 22% in 2014. 3 Approximately 9.4 million deaths and 7% of disease burden as measured in DALYs (disability -adjusted life years) are caused by raised blood pressure in 2010. Higher the blood pressure, higher the risk of both stroke and coronary events. 4 Overall prevalence for hypertension in India was found to be 29.8%. About 33% urban and 25% rural Indians have hypertension. 5ABSTRACT Background: Hypertension, the -silent killer‖ -is a modern day's epidemic and is becoming a public health emergency worldwide, especially in the developing countries. Sedentary life-style and stress are important risk factors for hypertension. The job of bank employees is both sedentary in nature and accompanies high levels of mental stress, thereby at a higher risk of developing hypertension. Hence the present study was conducted to study the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among the bank employees in Western Maharashtra. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during January 2014 to December 2015 to assess the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among the bank employees in Western Maharashtra. By using multistage sampling method, total 340 bank employees from 40 branches were included in the study after fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After all ethical considerations, the data were collected by using pre-designed, pre-tested and semistructured questionnaire and then analysed using MS Excel, SPSS-22 and Primer of Biostatistics. Results: Overall prevalence of hypertension was 39.7% and that of pre-hypertension was 41.8% among the study population. Socio-demographic factors like age, male gender, family history of hypertension, mode of travel, physical activity, overweight, years of service, intake of coffee and smoking had shown significant association with hypertension. Conclusions: Prevalence of hypertension was found as significantly higher in bank employees than the general population of India. Among the non-hypertensives large part was pre-hypertensives which are also at high risk of developing hypertension in the future.

Context:India is currently becoming capital for diabetes mellitus. This significantly increasing incidence of diabetes putting an additional burden on health care in India. Unfortunately, half of diabetic individuals are unknown about their diabetic status. Hence, there is an emergent need of effective screening instrument to identify “diabetes risk” individuals.Aims:The aim is to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) and Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC).Settings and Design:This is retrospective, record-based study of diabetes detection camp organized by a teaching hospital. Out of 780 people attended this camp voluntarily only 763 fulfilled inclusion criteria of the study.Subjects and Methods:In this camp, pro forma included the World Health Organization STEP guidelines for surveillance of noncommunicable diseases. Included primary sociodemographic characters, physical measurements, and clinical examination. After that followed the random blood glucose estimation of each individual.Statistical Analysis Used:Diagnostic accuracy of IDRS and FINDRISC compared by using receiver operative characteristic curve (ROC). Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio, positive predictive and negative predictive values were compared. Clinical utility index (CUI) of each score also compared. SPSS version 22, Stata 13, R3.2.9 used.Results:Out of 763 individuals, 38 were new diabetics. By IDRS 347 and by FINDRISC 96 people were included in high-risk category for diabetes. Odds ratio for high-risk people in FINDRISC for getting affected by diabetes was 10.70. Similarly, it was 4.79 for IDRS. Area under curves of ROCs of both scores were indifferent (P = 0.98). Sensitivity and specificity of IDRS was 78.95% and 56.14%; whereas for FINDRISC it was 55.26% and 89.66%, respectively. CUI was excellent (0.86) for FINDRISC while IDRS it was “satisfactory” (0.54). Bland-Altman plot and Cohen's Kappa suggested fair agreement between these score in measuring diabetes risk.Conclusions:Diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of FINDRISC is fairly good than IDRS.

Background Violence against women [VAW] is an urgent public health issue and health care providers [HCPs] are in a unique position to respond to such violence within a multi-sectoral health system response. In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) published clinical and policy guidelines (henceforth – the Guidelines) for responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women. In this practical implementation report, we describe the adaptation of the Guidelines to train HCPs to respond to violence against women in tertiary health facilities in Maharashtra, India. Methods We describe the strategies employed to adapt and implement the Guidelines, including participatory methods to identify and address HCPs’ motivations and the barriers they face in providing care for women subjected to violence. The adaptation is built on querying health-systems level enablers and obstacles, as well as individual HCPs’ perspectives on content and delivery of training and service delivery. Results The training component of the intervention was delivered in a manner that included creating ownership among health managers who became champions for other health care providers; joint training across cadres to have clear roles, responsibilities and division of labour; and generating critical reflections about how gender power dynamics influence women's experience of violence and their health. The health systems strengthening activities included establishment of standard operating procedures [SOPs] for management of VAW and strengthening referrals to other services. Conclusions In this intervention, standard training delivery was enhanced through participatory, joint and reflexive methods to generate critical reflection about gender, power and its influence on health outcomes. Training was combined with health system readiness activities to create an enabling environment. The lessons learned from this case study can be utilized to scale-up response in other levels of health facilities and states in India, as well as other LMIC contexts. Plain language summary Violence against women affects millions of women globally. Health care providers may be able to support women in various ways, and finding ways to train and support health care providers in low and middle-income countries to provide high-quality care to women affected by violence is an urgent need. The WHO developed Clinical and Policy Guidelines in 2013, which provide guidance on how to improve health systems response to violence against women. We developed and implemented a series of interventions, including training of health care providers and innovations in service delivery, to implement the WHO guidelines for responding to violence against women in 3 tertiary hospitals of Maharashtra, India. The nascent published literature on health systems approaches to addressing violence against women in low and middle-income countries focuses on the impact of these interventions. This practical implementation report focuses on the interventions themselves, describes the processes of developing and adapting the intervention, and thus provides important insights for donors, policy-makers and researchers.