Browsing by Author "Shukla, Samarth A."

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    Carotid and femoral intima-media thickness in adults with sickle cell disease
    (Medip Academy, 2019-01) Kadam, Nakul B.; Bansal, Nikhil O.; Acharya, Sourya P.; Shukla, Samarth A.
    Background: This study was conducted to evaluate Carotid Intima Media Thickness (CIMT) and Femoral Intima Media Thickness (FIMT) in adults with SCD.Methods: The present prospective cross-sectional study with control group was carried out in Department of Medicine at Acharya Vinoba Bhave rural hospital over a period of 6months from January to June 2018. A total of 100 (50 cases of SCD, 50 normal subjects) were studied. In the SCD group, 35 cases were patients regular follow up cases and 15 patients were in sickle cell crisis. CIMT of both left and right carotids were taken and the mean of the two values were recorded. The IMT was also measured in the right common femoral artery (RCFA) and left common femoral artery.Results: SCD patients in steady state had significantly decreased Hb%, increased WBC counts and platelet counts as compared to healthy controls. The mean right FIMT, left FIMT, right CIMT and left CIMT the patients with SCD with crisis were significantly higher than that of the patients without SCD (P<0.001). One way showed that there were significant differences in duration of disease in mean level of Hb%, WBC count, platelet count of the patients in the three groups (p<0.01).Conclusions: CIMT and FIMT can pick up the macrovascular involvement early and can be utilized as screening tools to predict vascular injury so that at risk individuals would be subjected to proper treatment protocols, especially hydroxyurea therapy early on.
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    Smart phones for medical undergraduates: friend or foe?
    (Medip Academy, 2019-01) Mathew, Christina M.; Wanjari, Anil K.; Varghese, Betty; Singh, Uday; Acharya, Sourya P.; Shukla, Samarth A.
    Background: Smart phones are truly a boon for us in all aspects of our life. It helps mankind to lead a faster and easier life, but the same devices used to get things done are now the gatekeepers of an infinite number of distractions and sources of instant gratification. Even though, there is an ocean full of information a click away, we fail to utilize it for something resourceful. Increased media consumption, multi screening and social media usage reduce the ability to focus on tasks and duties which have a much higher priority.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted with a validated questionnaire among 200 undergraduate MBBS students of a deemed to be medical university.Results: Among the ninety-eight per cent of the students who own a smartphone, all have access to the internet. Seventy-seven per cent of the students use these gadgets on a very regular basis throughout the day and among them only forty-six per cent were found to be using it for academic purposes.Conclusions: Through this study, it has become more discernible that smart phones have paved its way for a reckless future, though if used wisely it would become a blessing in disguise. The ever-changing medical fraternity could really benefit from this discovery but alas, a tool made to make our lives easier is weighing us down with its addictive and time-consuming features.