Bioterrorism - “My Role as a Dentist”.

Bioterrorism is the intentional use of micro-organisms and toxins to produce disease and death in humans, livestock and crops, their attraction in war and for use in terrorist attacks is attributed to various unique features. Biological weapons can be disseminated by aerosol sprays, explosives or food and water contamination. They can strike suddenly without any warning and inflict considerable mortality and morbidity that can continue for a long period, such attacks may create high level of panic, environment contamination and extreme pressures on emergency health services. Accurate and substantial information given to the public by credible public health and medical experts can do much to allay their fears and encourage their cooperation and participation in constructive, organized community response efforts. The dental profession could potentially play a significant role in the emergency response to a major bioterrorism attack.

Right to emergency care: Consumer court.

Indifference towards victims of accidents and those in emergency medical conditions and even women under labour who are about to deliver is not peculiar to India but is prevalent in other countries also. The SC of India as long back as 1989 observed in Parmanand Katara v. Union of India that when accidents occur and the victims are taken to hospitals or to a medical practitioner, they are not taken care of for giving emergency medical treatment on the ground that the case is a medico-legal case and the injured person should go to a Government Hospital. The SC emphasized the need for making it obligatory for hospitals and medical practitioners to provide emergency medical care. Delhi State Consumer Court first taken up for consideration the question of maintainability of award against the hospital in case of brought dead patient: This paper deals with critical review of recent judgment of State Consumer Court of Delhi on the issue of right to emergency care of common man and deficiency of service in Indian context.

Biological warfare, bioterrorism and biodefence.

Biological warfare is the intentional use of micro-organisms and toxins to produce disease and death in humans, livestock and crops, their attraction in war, and for use in terrorist attacks is attributed to various unique features. Biological weapons (BWs) can be disseminated by aerosol sprays, explosives or food and water contamination. Bws can strike suddenly without any warning and inflict considerable mortality and morbidity that can continue for a long period, such attacks may create high level of panic, environment contamination and extreme pressures on emergency health services. Bioterrorism is the use of bws in terrorism. Current concerns regarding the use of bws result from the increasing number of countries that are engaged in the proliferation of such weapons and their acquisition by terrorist organizations. The need of the hour is to develop biodefence by full international cooperation and to educate the likely target populations about precautions and protective measures to be taken in such attacks.

Pattern of non-fatal head injury in adult cases reported at J.N.M.C. Hospital, A.M U, Aligarh.

Head injury is one of the major public health problems and has already attained epidemic proportions in India. The incidence of head injuries is growing with greater mechanization in industry and an increase in high velocity mode of transport. The injuries could be caused by a penetrating or blunt force either by direct violence or indirectly. The Present study was conducted in cases admitted to Emergency section of J.N. Medical College Hospital, A.M.U. Aligarh. All the cases (2850) of head injury reported from 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2009 for treatment were included in the study. Most of the cases of head injury belong to younger age group (15-34 yrs) comprising of 56.61% with male preponderance of 85.68% with majority of the cases belonging to road traffic accident (55.02%).Scalp injury in 2365 cases where as 969 were cases of skull fractures and extradural hemorrhage(17.36%) was most common intracranial injury followed by subdural hemorrhage(7.6%).

Taser technology: medical, legal, ethical & social implications of introduction of taser gun in India.

A person struck by a taser gun experiences stimulation of his sensory and motor nerves, resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions. This may lead to physiological changes similar to a moderate intensity exercise. The mechanism of action of Taser gun is Electro-Muscular Disruption (EMD) technology. Though Tasers are considerably safe, some incidents of injury and deaths have been reported. The primary cause of such deaths is found to be influenced by some underlying pathology or some external factor, rather than Taser itself. Recent introduction Taser gun as weapon in Indian police has raised various medico legal, social and ethical issues regarding the safety of using taser guns. In this article we have reviewed all the medical, Legal, Ethical and Social aspects of introduction of taser gun in India as weapon. It has been concluded that Taser is a proportionate, low risk weapon can be used to resolving incidents where the public or officers face severe violence or the threat of such violence which cannot safely be dealt with by other means.

Decay in intact DNA recovery in blood samples kept at room temperature.

Blood Samples were kept at room temperature for a period of 3-6 months at room temperature to know the amount of quantitative DeoxyriboNucleic Acid [DNA] recovery from these samples. We are able to recover good amount of DNA for about first 3-6 weeks after which the DNA is decreased drastically and after two months there hardly any chance of intact DNA recovery from these samples. It has been concluded that blood samples recovered from scene of crime after about 1-2 months is a waste. The samples must be recovered as early as possible to recover intact DNA from them. The samples must be collected within 1-2 months from scene of crime until and unless the climate is cold enough to increases decay time. This study is very useful for the investigating authorities which can make errors while collecting blood samples for DNA analysis.