The Government Medical College, Jammu also known as GMC Jammu is a medical college located in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. It was established in 1973. The college and hospital are approved and recognized by the Medical Council of India since the year of inception of college.
Background: Prolonged exposure to high decibel sounds is one of the leading causes of hearing loss and has been related with use of personal music players by youngsters. Aim: to assess the use of personal listening devices (PLDs) among young adults and the association between intensity and duration of sound exposure from personal listening devices to hearing loss. Materials and Methods: 150 young healthy subjects (68 male, 82 female) were asked about usage of PLDs and complaints of Tinnitus and/or hearing loss. Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) was performed in all subjects to find the pattern of hearing loss. Results: Mild hearing loss in the form of bilateral Sensory-neural Hearing Loss (SNHL) was observed in 23.3% of subjects. Self-reported volume and duration of PLD use were significantly associated with hearing loss. All cases of bilateral SNHL always experienced tinnitus after PLD use while “Frequently experiencing tinnitus” was reported by 2.7%. Conclusion: PLD use seems to be associated with SNHL and the risk depends on loudness, duration and frequency of noise exposure. Key words: personal listening devices, noise-induced hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus
Woodhouse-Sakati syndrome (WSS) is a rare autosomal recessive neuroendocrine disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the DDB1- and CUL4-associated factor 17 (DCAF17) gene. The c.321+1G>A splice-site mutation is an extremely rare variant with limited reports in the literature. Identification of such ultra-rare variants contributes to strengthening genotype-phenotype correlations. We describe a 33-year-old Kashmiri woman with classical features of WSS, including hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, diffuse alopecia, diabetes mellitus, characteristic facies, and intellectual disability. Whole-exome sequencing revealed a homozygous DCAF17 c.321+1G>A variant. This case represents a rare occurrence of this mutation and provides additional evidence supporting its pathogenic role in WSS.
Background: Diabetes is a deadly disease, which is known to affect the multiple organs, and its long-term effects extend beyond the commonly recognized complications. Changes involving peripheral nerves, sensation and eventually motor control may interfere with hand movements, making everyday tasks more difficult. Whether these changes become more evident with increasing duration of diabetes remains an area of interest. The present study examines differences in dominant and non-dominant hand dexterity across varying durations of diabetes and determines the relationship between disease duration and hand performance. Material and Methods: The data of 240 adult patients with DM were collected and analysed retrospectively from January 2024 to December 2025. The Nine-Hole Peg Test was used to assess dexterity and the time taken to complete the task was recorded in seconds for each hand. Based on disease duration, patients were grouped into <5 years (n=72), 5–10 years (n=68), 11–15 years (n=54), and >15 years (n=46). One way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc were used to determine differences between groups. To investigate the relationship between diabetes duration and dexterity time, the Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis was used. Results: We observed that completion times increased significantly and steadily as the disease duration increased. For the dominant hand, the mean dexterity time rose from 18.9 ± 2.8 seconds in patients with diabetes duration below 5 years to 25.4 ± 4.1 seconds among those with duration above15 years (F=41.62, p<0.001). Non-dominant hand performance followed a similar pattern, increasing from 20.1 ± 3.0 seconds to 28.2 ± 4.5 seconds (F=53.84, p<0.001). All pair-wise comparisons for disease duration revealed a significant. Diabetes duration correlated positively with dexterity time for both the dominant (r=0.584, p<0.001) and non-dominant hands (r=0.669, p<0.001). Conclusion: Hand dexterity worsened with increasing duration of diabetes and the association was stronger for the non-dominant hand, indicating greater impairment with longstanding disease. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, disease duration, hand dexterity, Nine-Hole Peg Test, dominant hand, non-dominant hand
