A needs assessment of hospital management and leadership training among Indian medical undergraduates.

Background: Medical undergraduate students are often unaware of the managerial aspects of operating a healthcare facility. This leads to confusion and a sense of being lost when they assume administrative roles, highlighting the need for hospital management and leadership training. This prompted us to evaluate the needs of medical undergraduates concerning these crucial aspects.

Perspectives of undergraduate medical students regarding competency-based curriculum.

Background The competency-based undergraduate medical curriculum has a number of new elements. Few authors have attempted to understand the students' viewpoints on the curriculum. We assessed undergraduate students perspectives and ratings about various elements after 2 years of implementation of the curriculum.

Indian Academy of Pediatrics Revised Guidelines on Evaluation, Prevention and Management of Childhood Obesity.

Justification: The last guidelines for pediatric obesity were released in 2004 by Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP). Since then, there has been an alarming increase in prevalence and a significant shift in our understanding in the pathogenesis, risk factors, evaluation, and management of pediatric obesity and its complications. Thus, it was decided to revise and update the previous recommendations.

Safety and immunogenicity of a new formulation of a pentavalent DTwP-HepB-Hib vaccine in healthy Indian infants-A randomized study.

Background: Pentavalent vaccines (DTP-HepB-Hib) have been introduced in many countries in their routine public immunization programmes to protect against diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P), hepatitis B (Hep B) and Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) diseases. This study compared the safety and immunogenicity of a new formulation of a whole-cell Bordetella pertussis (wP) based pentavalent vaccine (DTwP-HepB-Hib). The new formulation was developed using well-characterized hepatitis B and pertussis whole cell vaccine components.

Stages of Concern of Medical Faculty toward Adoption of Competency-based Medical Education in India: A Multicentric Survey.

Context: Currently, a major curricular reform in the form of competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum is being rolled out across all medical colleges in India. However, it is important to find out and address the concerns of faculty regarding various aspects of this new curriculum.

Aim: To analyze the concerns of the faculty members of medical colleges in India in response to the changes emerging from the adoption and implementation of the new curriculum through the concerns-based adoption model by applying the stages of concern (SoC) questionnaire.

A phase 4 study of the safety of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children 6 to 17 years of age in India.

Purpose: The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was recently approved in India for the prevention of pneumococcal disease in children aged 6 to 17 years based on global data as well as immunogenicity and safety findings from a phase 3 study. The current phase 4 study in India further evaluated the safety profile of PCV13 in this age group to support the positive benefit-risk profile of PCV13.

Methods: Healthy male and female children aged 6 to 17 years in India were administered a single intramuscular injection of PCV13.

Immunogenicity and safety of an intramuscular split-virion quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in individuals aged ≥ 6 months in India.

A quadrivalent split-virion inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV4; Fluzone® Quadrivalent, Sanofi Pasteur) has been available in the US since 2013 for individuals aged ≥ 6 months. Here, we describe the results of an open-label, multicenter trial (WHO Universal Trial Number U1111-1143-8370) evaluating the immunogenicity and safety of IIV4 in Indian children aged 6-35 months and 3-8 years, adolescents aged 9-17 years, and adults aged ≥ 18 years (n = 100 per group). Post-vaccination hemagglutination inhibition titers for all strains in all age groups were ≥ 8 fold higher than at baseline (range, 8-51).

Effect of prophylactic or therapeutic administration of paracetamol on immune response to DTwP-HepB-Hib combination vaccine in Indian infants.

Background: Vaccination is considered as the most cost effective method for preventing infectious diseases. Low grade fever is a known adverse effect of vaccination. In India, it is a common clinical practice to prescribe paracetamol either prophylactically or therapeutically to manage fever.

Immunogenicity and Safety of a Liquid Hexavalent Vaccine in Indian Infants.

Objective: To evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a fully liquid, hexavalent diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-inactivated poliovirus-hepatitis B-Haemophilus influenzae type b (DTaP-IPV- HB-PRP~T) vaccine in Indian infants.

Design: Phase III, single-arm study.

Setting: Two tertiary care hospitals.

Allergic rhinitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema: prevalence and associated factors in children.

Objective: We aim to describe the data collected from India during phase 3 of the International study of asthma and allergy in childhood (ISAAC) study. Prevalence, severity, and population characteristics associated with rhinitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema were assessed.

Methods: Children from two age groups (6-7 and 13-14 years) were included in the study as per the ISAAC protocol.

Teaching and Assessing Communication Skills in Medical Undergraduate Training.

Good communication skills are essential for an optimal doctor-patient relationship, and also contribute to improved health outcomes. Although the need for training in communication skills is stated as a requirement in the 1997 Graduate Medical Education Regulations of the Medical Council of India, formal training in these skills has been fragmentary and non-uniform in most Indian curricula. The Vision 2015 document of the Medical Council of India reaffirms the need to include training in communication skills in the MBBS curriculum.

Safety, immune lot-to-lot consistency and non-inferiority of a fully liquid pentavalent DTwp-HepB-Hib vaccine in healthy Indian toddlers and infants.

Pentavalent combination vaccines are important tools to strengthen the immunization programs in numerous countries throughout the world. A large number of countries have recognized the value of combination vaccines and have introduced whole cell pentavalent vaccines into their immunization programs. A phase III, multi-center, randomized, single blinded study of a fully liquid pentavalent DTwP-HepB-Hib investigational vaccine (Shan5™) was conducted across India in 2 cohorts: 15 toddlers were evaluated for safety and immunogenicity following a single booster dose (Cohort 1) followed by 1085 infants (Cohort 2) evaluated for immunogenicity and safety following 3-dose primary immunization of the investigational vaccine or a locally licensed comparator vaccine (Pentavac SD).

Immunogenicity and safety of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy adults in India: A randomized, observer-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is endemic in India. We evaluated the immunogenicity and safety of recombinant, live-attenuated, tetravalent dengue vaccine (CYD-TDV) in Indian adults. In this observer-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase II study, adults aged 18-45 years were randomized 2:1 to receive CYD-TDV or placebo at 0, 6 and 12 months in sub-cutaneous administration.

Randomized, open-label study of the impact of age on booster responses to the 10-valent pneumococcal nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine in children in India.

In this phase III, open-label, multicenter, and descriptive study in India, children primed with 3 doses (at ages 6, 10, and 14 weeks) of the 10-valent pneumococcal nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) were randomized (1:1) to receive a booster dose at 9 to 12 (early booster) or 15 to 18 months old (late booster) in order to evaluate impact of age at booster. We also evaluated a 2-dose catch-up vaccination plus an experimental booster dose in unprimed children age 12 to 18 months. The early booster, late booster, and catch-up vaccinations were administered to 74, 95, and 87 children, respectively; 66, 71, and 81 children, respectively, were included in the immunogenicity according-to-protocol cohort.

Growth and sexual maturity pattern of girls with mental retardation.

Background: Growth of mentally retarded children differs from that of normal children. However, the adolescent growth and development of Indian mentally retarded children has not been studied.

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the physical growth and sexual development of adolescent mentally retarded girls in North Indian population and to compare it with that of normal girls of same age group.

Immunogenicity and safety of a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in healthy infants and toddlers given with routine vaccines in India.

Background: The childhood burden of disease attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae is particularly high in India. The immunogenicity and safety of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) were compared with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in a randomized, active-controlled, double-blind trial conducted at 12 sites in India.

Methods: Healthy infants received PCV13 or PCV7 at 6, 10, and 14 weeks of age (infant series) and at 12 months of age (toddler dose), along with routine pediatric vaccinations.

Immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity of the 10-valent pneumococcal non-typeable Hemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) when co-administered with the DTPw-HBV/Hib vaccine in Indian infants: a single-blind, randomized, controlled study.

In India, pneumococcal diseases are major causes of child mortality, and effective vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae are needed. This single-blind, randomized study assessed the immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of the 10-valent pneumococcal non-typeable Hemophilus influenzae (NTHi) protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) co-administered with DTPw-HBV/Hib in Indian infants as 3-dose primary vaccination course. A total of 360 infants were randomized (2:1) to receive either PHiD-CV co-administered with DTPw-HBV/Hib (PHiD-CV group) or a Hib vaccine co-administered with DTPw-HBV (control group) at 6, 10, and 14 weeks of age.

Online role-playing for faculty development.

Background: There has been a rapid growth of online teaching in the past few years, yet the implementation of role-play for formal educational activities in an online setting is growing more slowly. The use of online role-playing for the development of health professions educators is virtually un-documented in the literature.

Innovation: In the project reported here we use role-playing as a method to motivate and increase active participation in an online web-based discussion on community-based medical education (CBME).

Utility of Indian adaptation of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) algorithm.

Objective: To evaluate the utility of Indian adaptation of IMCI algorithm.

Methods: Children presenting to outpatient department (n=169) or casualty (n=140) among 309 cases were assessed and classified as per IMCI algorithm, the final diagnosis made after detailed evaluation and relevant investigations, served as the gold standard. The diagnostic and therapeutic agreements between the gold standard, IMCI and vertical (on the basis of primary presenting complaint) algorithms were computed.

Obesity among pre-adolescent and adolescents of a developing country (India).

There are very few reports from the developing world on the prevalence of obesity among children even though in developed countries it has reached epidemic proportions. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity in pre-adolescent and adolescent children in a developing country (India) using WHO guidelines for defining obesity and overweight. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 2008 school-children aged 9-15 years.