Frequency of Hypertension after 10 Years of Military Services in Bangladesh Army

Bangladesh army performs different activities in war and peace in all terrain so physical fitness is the prime requirement for military services. Though military personnel perform regular physical activities they are not immune from hypertension. Hypertension is a multivariate disease ranging from physical and psychological factors. In this study hypertension found among 16% of participants where some modifiable factors were found associated with development of early onset hypertension like lack of physical activities, increase mental stress, overweight, smoking, pattern of dietary habit, lack of awareness and abnormalities in lipid profile. Further study is required to establish these modifiable risk factors and their intervention to prevent early onset hypertension among military service personnel in Bangladesh. Which not only improve the health condition of military personnel but also increase the efficiency of Bangladesh Army as well as it will reduce the health expenditure related to hypertension.

Awareness and attitude towards smoking in public places among general population in Guntur city

Background: This study determined to know the awareness and attitude towards the state prohibition of smoking in public places law.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design. 400 consenting respondents recruited using a convenience sampling method were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire covering their smoking pattern, awareness and attitude towards the law of prohibition of smoking in public places in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh State. Data was analysed using descriptive, Chi-square and Pearson correlation.Results: About 95.3% of the participants agreed that they do not encourage smoking in public places and 99% of them supported the proposition that smoking in public places causes problems to others where 53.8% supports ban of tobacco and 92% of participants perceived that implementing laws can prevent smoking in public places. 83% of participants restrict a person smoking in public places and only 3.3% of participants are aware of the act done by the government. 74% of the participants stated that television is the prime source of information that is effective in preventing smoking in public places followed by radio (8.5%) and cinema halls (7.8%).Conclusions: There is poor awareness and attitude towards the law of prohibition of smoking in public places in Guntur. It is necessary to increase sensitization of the general public and enforcement of the COTPA act.

Smoking habits in Syria and the influence of war on cigarette and shisha smoking.

Backgrounds: Shisha smoking has become an epidemic since the nineties and it adds an additional burden over cigarette smoking as it is more harmful, smoked socially and is widely accepted in many countries. We aim to discuss shisha and cigarette smoking prevalence in the Syrian community and university students with their associated risk factors and the relationship with many war factors.Methods: Online surveys were used that contained demographic and war-related questions along with cigarette and shisha smoking pattern questions.Results: The sample contained 987 responders with a mean age of 24.69, 25.7% being males, 16.4% smoking cigarettes, and 29.3% smoking shisha. Cigarette and shisha smoking was more common in males with P<0.0001 (OR, 4.762; 95% CI 3.333-6.757) and P=0.047 (OR, 1.364; 95% CI 1.003-1.855) for cigarettes and shisha respectively. Males also smoked daily, for longer years, more packs and more shisha every week than females P<0.05. However, females were more social smokers. While cigarette smoking was more prevalent in older ages, shisha was so in younger ages. Having a job, certain types of work and students at certain faculties were correlated with smoking more P<0.05. Losing someone due to the war and being distressed from war noises were also correlated with smoking. Field of education affected smoking patters as medical field students smoked fewer cigarettes and shisha while social studies students smoked more. Being a labourer, working as a clerk or in a restaurant, or as a technician was more frequently associated with smoking. However, no associations were found with SES, marital status and changing place of living due to war.Conclusions: Males tend to smoke more, heavier, more consistent, and for longer periods than females while women smoked shisha more socially. War increases smoking patterns while SES did not affect smoking in Syria. Shisha smoking increased and cigarette smoking decreased compared to previous studies and cigarette smoking remains lower than other regional countries, but shisha smoking is higher when compared to many other countries.

Association between genetic polymorphism of XRCC7 (G6721T) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk

Background: One of the most important DNA double-strand break (DSBs) repair genes is XRCC7 involved in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). It is supposed that DNA repair gene malfunction is an important risk factor in various malignancies. The XRCC7 G6721T (rs7003908) polymorphism effect were investigated on the splicing regulation that cause mRNA instability. Objective: The aim of present hospital-based study was to investigate the association between the G6721T common genetic polymorphism of XRCC7 and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods: This case–control study was performed on 99 ALL patients versus 200 healthy blood donors (children), as the control group. Controls had no history of ALL, and they were frequent-matched by age with cases. The polymorphism of XRCC7 was determined using an RFLP-PCR method. Results: The GT (OR= 1.485, 95% CI: 0.765-2.334, P=0.243) and TT (OR= 1.655, 95% CI: 00.875-3.128, P=0.121) genotypes had no significant effect on risk of ALL, in comparison with the GG genotype. Hence, TT genotype (OR= 1.996, 95% CI: 1.033-3.858, P=0.04) after adjusting for parents smoking pattern showed a significant effect. Conclusion: The presence of the TT genotype may be increase the risk of ALL in children when facing with a Tobacco smoke.