Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a common nutritional disorder that has assumed epidemic proportion. One of the major reasons for the worldwide spread of this disorder has been deficient awareness about the importance of vitamin D, its benefits on health, and prevention of deficiency state across different populations. Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is widely prevalent in this part of the country (Kashmir valley, India), the prevalence being higher in females. This study was conducted to assess the awareness of female medical students regarding the importance of vitamin D and the prevention of its deficiency among them.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 113 female medical students. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of two parts was used to collect data. The first part was for identifying socio-demographic characters and the second half was a 12-question, multiple-choice survey focussing on vitamin D. Data was entered and analysed using computer software MS Excel.Results: The results of the study showed that the participants had good knowledge regarding some aspects while knowledge for other aspects was poor. The majority of participants had adequate knowledge about main source/dietary source of vitamin D, the site of synthesis, effect of vitamin D on bone health, main effects of deficiency on bone health, identification of high-risk groups and importance of supplements in management of deficiency. However, majority had inadequate knowledge about the epidemic state of VDD, RDA, time/duration of sun exposure and other effects of deficiency.Conclusions: The present study showed that there are some gaps in awareness about vitamin D, its benefits, and management of deficiency among female medical students.

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, which may impair health. Body mass index is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used in classifying overweight and obesity in adult population and individuals. Sleep deficiency and sleep related disorders are colossal among the general population. Sleep deficiency and irregularity in sleep patterns has also been a common occurrence among doctors, as well as medical students for many years now. The aim of the study was to know the prevalence of overweight and obesity its association with sleep pattern and duration among medical students. Material and Methods: The present study was conducted on the 320 subjects, 160 males and 160 females, using a pretested questionnaire and measuring their body mass index. Result: This study showed a negative correlation between sleep duration and BMI and a positive correlation of sleep pattern, as measured by PSQI, was observed with BMI in medical students. Conclusion: This study showed that sleep duration and sleep pattern are significantly correlated to increase in BMI of the medical students.

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Nutritional anthropometry is a widely accepted and commonly used technique to determine health risks associated with malnutrition. However the uses of anthropometry in large epidemiological studies have certain limitations such as some degree of measurement error, lack of trained manpower and laborious measurement process. Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) is recognized as an alternative tool to anthropometry and extensively studied its suitability to measure the nutritional status of the individuals in field settings. Hence, a cross sectional study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of college going adolescent girls (18+ years of age) by using Bioelectrical Impedance Analyzer. Total of one hundred ninety three in-house students were selected for this study based on random sampling method. Socioeconomic background of the selected participants were collected through personal interview. KaradaScan Body Composition Monitor with Scale (Model HBF-362, Omron Healthcare Company Limited, Kyoto, Japan) was used to determine the body composition of the participants. The results showed that majority of the participants were Hindu (>90%), belong to Backward and Scheduled Caste community, father work as a coolie and earn Rs. 25,000-50,000/- per annum. Based on Body Mass Index (BMI) cut off point, 50% of the participants were normal (BMI 18.5 – 24.9 kg/m2), 40% of them were underweight (BMI<18.5 kg/m2) and the remaining were overweight (BMI 25.0–30.0 kg/m2). Body composition analysis revealed that skeletal muscle and body fat content were 26.16±1.38 (ranged from 20 to 30%) and 29.02±3.56 % (ranged between 20 and 38%) of the total body weight respectively. Visceral and subcutaneous fat content were 2.70±1.65 and 22.38±4.38% of total body fat respectively. The findings indicate that the prevalence of undernutrition is higher among college going adolescent girls than over nutrition due to poor economic situation, faulty diet habits, peer pressure on body image, mental stress, lack of physical activity etc.

Background: The way that students learn and the caliber of their learning results are both influenced by their judgments about their learning modes. The clinical portion of undergraduate medical courses is conducted in a setting intended more for clinical service than for instruction. When these two activities fight for resources, tension results. A projected rise in the number of medical students prompted us to evaluate the learning environment in order to make future plans. Objective was to evaluate students’ attitude towards different modalities of teaching in the medical curriculum of the faculty of physiology, SKIMS medical college, Bemina. Methods: 200 SKIMS medical college students between the ages of 19 and 25 participated in a questionnaire-based study starting in October 2022. The phrasing of the question is repeated below. Each teaching method- lectures, handouts, textbooks, media sites (video-recorded lectures), simulation, PBL (problem-based learning), TBL (team-based learning), and ICM (introduction to clinical medicine, physical examination) practicals- was the subject of five questions. Answers were on a 5-step Likert scale. Results: It was a descriptive type of research in nature. The data has been collected with the help of a structured questionnaire based on the Likert scale. Conclusions: The study’s overall conclusions demonstrated that there had been significant changes in attitudes regarding professional development, team experiences, and peer evaluation.