Kodak (Israel)

Background: Use of tobacco constitutes the single largest source of preventable deaths worldwide, accounting for over 7 million deaths on a yearly basis. The economic impact of tobacco consumption is enormous, yet tobacco remains the most widely available and legally purchasable addictive substance. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among households aged 15 and above who are staying at Kodagu district. Results: Majority of the study population are between the age group of 26-35 years. 26% of the study populations are daily smokers, around 24% of the study population used smokeless tobacco daily and television was the major source of information of dangers of smoking cigarettes. 87% of study population noticed health warnings on cigarette packages. Conclusion: Tobacco use in India is clearly a big burden in terms of its magnitude and use in different forms. The higher prevalence of tobacco use was noticed among males and the uneducated people. As these people even lack the resources to combat the morbidity associated with tobacco use. Recommendations: Investment in tobacco control media campaigns needs to be enhanced and implementation of the tobacco-free film and television policy needs to be further strengthened and continued. Efforts should be made to make the warning labels more impact full by providing information leaflets about diseases caused by tobacco, including cancer, stroke, heart disease, lung disease etc.

Two hundred and fifteen children aged 4 months 6 years with acute otitis media (AOM) were randomized to be treated either by a single i.m. injection of ceftriaxone, 50 mg/kg, with a second dose in the event of unsatisfactory response after 48 h or a history of recurrent AOM (109 patients) or amoxicillin clavulanate 12.5 mg tid (106 patients). The failure rate was similar in children treated by ceftriaxone and amoxicillin clavulanate, 4.6% and 4.7%, respectively (standard error for intergroup difference -2.87%, 95% confidence interval -5.62% to 5.87%). No significant differences between the groups were found in the dynamics of the resolution of the acute symptomatology, otoscopy findings, relapse rate at 30 days or tympanographic evidence of middle ear effusion at the scheduled visits on days 30, 60 and 90. Recurrence of AOM between days 31 and 90 was observed significantly in more children treated with amoxicillin clavulanate than with ceftriaxone--25 out of 84 (29.4%) versus 11 out of 81 (13.6%) (P = 0.012). Ceftriaxone injection(s) is as efficient at least as 10-day oral amoxicillin clavulanate for treatment of acute otitis media in children. Although not recommended as routine, ceftriaxone can be considered in the management of acute otitis media under special circumstances, particularly in cases when the ability to tolerate or absorb oral drugs is compromised, in children refusing or unable to take oral therapy or when the compliance is questionable.