An observational study of 500 children (267 boys and 233 girls) was undertaken during 2008-2010 at primary health centres under the aegis of Katihar Medical College in Kosi region of Bihar to assess their nutritional status using mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) in Katihar district of Bihar. Children from remote villages in rural areas located approximately 30 km from Katihar district headquarters were observed. Information on age of the children were collected from their parents. Measurement was recorded in centimetres and was procured using the standard technique. Nutritional status was determined following the World Health Organization age and sex specific cut off points. Results revealed that mean MUAC among boys was higher than girls at all ages. Significant sex differences were observed at ages 3 (p<0.05), 4 (p<0.05) and 5(p <0.05) years. Overall under nutrition were similar in both sexes. This result implied that both the sexes were equally malnourished. An increasing trend in the rates of overall malnutrition from 3 to 5 years in both sexes was observed. Our study clearly indicated that the nutritional status of children of both sexes in this age group is a serious issue. It seems appropriate to expect much improvement in the form of enhanced supplementary nutrition than what is currently being offered by the ICDS scheme in Katihar district of Bihar.

BACKGROUND An elevated arterial pressure is probably the most important public health problem in developing & developed countries. Hypertension is the commonest cardiovascular disorder and one of the major risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was conducted in rural field practice area of the Department of Community medicine Katihar Medical College, Katihar. A sample of 500 families was selected by systematic sampling technique from all the families registered at Health Centre and all the persons aged 20 years and above residing in these families were selected for the purpose of the study. RESULTS In total 1680 study subjects, 602 persons (35.8%) aged 20 years & above were found to be hypertensive. It shows that hypertension increased with increasing age with peak in 60 + years category (65.6%). The prevalence was found to be 66.2% in persons with high salt intake and 31.2% and 20.3% respectively in average and low salt intake. The prevalence of hypertension was 40.3% in non-vegetarians and 34.7% among vegetarians. The prevalence was 48.4% in persons consuming saturated fats, 39.1% in those consuming unsaturated fats and 32.6% in both types of fat consumers. The prevalence of hypertension was 37.9% in those engaged in light physical activity while it was found to be 29.6% in moderate and 28.6% in heavy physical activity. It was found to be 91.2% in obese with while this was 23.4% and 18.9% respectively in normal and underweight. It showed that prevalence of hypertension was 38.3% in occasional, 40.0% in frequent and 73.1% in constant group and only 33.0% in group with no mental stress. CONCLUSION This study shows that the prevalence of hypertension was high in the subjects having low physical activity, High BMI and high saturated fat/salt intake and high level of mental stress.

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Introduction: Self-Medication is quite a prevalent public health problem and widely practiced in every part of the world, especially in developing countries like India. Self-Medication can be defined as the use of drugs to treat selfdiagnosed disorders or symptoms, or the intermittent or continued use of a prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptom, Medical students are in a unique position for wide practice of self-medication. The current study aimed to estimate the prevalence and practices of self-medication among the undergraduate medical students of Katihar Medical College,