Kalam Institute of Health Technology

Apart from the well-known presentations of anovulation, infertility, hirsutism, acne, and hyperandrogenism, women with PCOS are not only at risk for metabolic complications but may have comorbidities such as thyroid disorders and sleep disturbances, especially obstructive sleep apnea. The incidence of hypothyroidism, especially subclinical hypothyroidism, is common in PCOS, which may interfere with the treatment outcomes, especially for anovulation. Similarly, obstructive sleep apnea is also more common and may be responsible for the worsening of the associated metabolic disorders and interferes with treatment for inducing ovulation. Therefore, in the management of PCOS, one must be aware of the potential comorbidities, which must be identified in a timely manner and properly managed.

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Background: Health-seeking behavior is an important factor in health management, but this is often ignored while providing health facilities to people. The main aim of the study was to understand health-seeking behavior and to find out their perceptions of better healthcare delivery. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 attendees of a tertiary care hospital in Visakhapatnam by systematic random sampling from August to September 2021. The predesigned; pretested questionnaire was administered among them after obtaining their valid informed consent. Results: More than half of them were between 20-30 years age group and females, >3/4th were married, Hindus were dominating and belonged to socio-economic class IV and V. 83.25% of participants living in nuclear families.62% thought that they are having better health currently. 47.5% preferred government health facilities for their illness. Only 14.8% of the attendees visited the health facility immediately on the day of onset. Half of them used their personal funds/savings for treatment. More than 1/4th had health insurance to cover their health expenditure and their income was affected by sickness. Conclusion: It is essential to carry out health awareness measures to reduce disease burden and to reduce the time gap between the onset of symptoms and utilizing health care services

Background: The covid pandemic in India had put health-care workers (HCW) working in the frontline on the challenging end as they were facing the COVID-19 crisis diligently from the beginning of the pandemic in different positions and calibre. The present study was carried out to evaluate the mental health status of health care workers (HCWs) involved in the management of COVID-19 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the mental health status of the health care workers (HCWs) and quantify the magnitude of Insomnia, anxiety, depression and stress. Methodology: An online cross-sectional study using google forms was conducted among 166 health care workers including doctors and nurses involved in the management of COVID-19 patients at four different covid care centres out of 13 covid care centres in Visakhapatnamselected by random sampling method. Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) were used to assess the mental health disorders. Results: Prevalence of Insomnia was noted among 24.10% of the study and anxiety was estimated to be 19.3%. Mild depression was noted in 17.5%, while moderate, moderately severe and severe depression was noted in 11.4%, 6.6% and 2.4% of the study participants respectively. High perceived stress was noted in 3.6%, while 70.5% had moderate stress and 25.9% had low stress among the study participants. Conclusion: These findings emphasize the need to identify health-care workers who were at risk in order to provide them with comprehensive support and coping strategies to deal with them at an early stage during the pandemic situations.

Introduction : Health technology innovation encompasses many areas, such as medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, digital health solutions, telemedicine, health informatics, and more. These innovations aim to enhance healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes, increase access to services, reduce costs, and advance medical research. Methodology : We have analyzed health technology innovations reported between January 2011 and December 2022. Regulatory approval for the innovative products was determined based solely on official open-access websites of health agencies, disregarding information from company websites or third-party sources. The search process utilized identified innovation agencies and sources like Primary Health Care (Innovations were thoroughly examined from these sources, focusing on health technologies, and success was gauged through regulatory approval. Results : The WHO Compendium includes 200 health innovations primarily intended for low-resource settings, with the USA accounting for the highest number, followed by India, the only low- and middle-income country (LMIC) with significant innovations. However, 58% of the listed innovations did not obtain regulatory clearance. Medical devices dominated the listed innovations, while scalable assistive technologies were limited. Global innovation agencies, particularly Grand Challenges, supported many innovations, but the regulatory approval rate remained low. In India, BIRAC supported 92% of the mapped innovations, with a similar trend of low regulatory approval rates. Conclusion: The study observed the highest number of innovations during 2015-2017, with medical devices being the most prominent category. However, most innovations from both global and domestic agencies were unapproved, raising concerns about regulatory clearance for these health technologies. Manuscript Highlights: The manuscript presents several important highlights concerning health technology innovation and regulatory approval. It highlights the evaluation of health innovations from 2015 to 2022, focusing on their success rate based on health agency approval. It reveals an uneven distribution of innovations from different countries and emphasizes the need for critical interventions to improve the process. This study emphasizes the significance of innovations in achieving healthcare equity and sustainable development goals.

Fracture nonunion remains a great challenge for orthopedic surgeons. Some bone fractures don't heal promptly, resulting in delayed unions and nonunions, and there is a need for an additional surgical procedure. Previous research has shown that teriparatide, a type of synthetic parathyroid hormone, can promote the formation of callus and lead to healing in individuals with delayed or non-healing bone fractures. Limited systematic reviews exist that examine the use of teriparatide in cases of delayed healing or non-healing bone fractures, which have their limitations. In this review, we overcome those limitations by including prospective studies, retrospective studies, case reports, and case series together. A systematic search of theliterature was conducted in both PubMed and Google Scholar up to September of the year 2022. The studies included in our research included adult patients (over the age of 16) diagnosed with delayed union or nonunion of any bone in the body (flat bone, long bone, short bone, or irregular bone). The studies were limited to those written in English. The outcomes that were tracked and recorded include the healing of the fracture and any negative side effects or adverse events. The initial search yielded 504 abstracts and titles. After reviewing these, 32 articles were selected for further analysis, which included 19 case reports, five case series, two retrospective studies, and six prospective studies. Studies included daily (20 micrograms) or weekly (56.5 micrograms) subcutaneous administration of teriparatide. The duration of follow-up for these studies varied from three to 24 months. Based on the available research, it appears that administering teriparatide subcutaneously is a safe treatment option for delayed healing and non-healing bone fractures, with very few to no reported negative side effects. Using teriparatide for induction of callus formation and treating delayed and nonunions is highly safe and effective.