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This paper discusses the bearing of the primordial institutions of caste and patriarchy on the emerging women's leadership in panchayats in Karnataka. The Karnataka state which had the reputation of introducing reservation for the women in panchayats for the first time in the country has also made similar provisions in the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993 following the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act. This has enabled larger participation of women and deprived sections of our society in the grass root level governance. However, the caste and patriarchy have larger implications in the emergence and performance of women leaders at the grass root level. The paper reveals that the women leaders who hail from the lower stratum of the society are more democratic and people-centred, whereas those from the upper castes are more conservative and family-centred. The lower caste women leaders outnumber their male counterparts in the panchayats which provides an explanation for the presence of more than onethird women elected members in panchayats. The paper is based on the field work carried out in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka during 2004.

Introduction: Patient care in the emergency department (ED) is often complicated by the inability to obtain an accurate prior history even when the patient is able to communicate with the ED staff. Personal health records (PHR) can mitigate the impact of such information gaps. This study assesses ED patients' willingness to adopt a PHR and the treating physicians' willingness to use that information. Methods: This cross-sectional study was answered by 184 patients from 219 (84%) surveys distributed in an academic ED. The patient surveys collected data about demographics, willingness and barriers to adopt a PHR, and the patient's perceived severity of disease on a 5-point scale. Each patient survey was linked to a treating physician survey of which 210 of 219 (96%) responded. Results: Of 184 surveys completed, 78% of respondents wanted to have their PHR uploaded onto the Internet, and 83% of providers felt they would access it. Less than 10% wanted a software company, an insurance company, or the government to control their health information, while over 50% wanted a hospital to control that information. The patients for whom these providers would not have used a PHR had a statistically significant lower severity score of illness as determined by the treating physician from those that they would have used a PHR (1.5 vs 2.4, P, 0.01). Fifty-seven percent of physicians would only use a PHR if it took less than 5 minutes to access. Conclusion: The majority of patients and physicians in the ED are willing to adopt PHRs, especially if the hospital participates. ED physicians are more likely to check the PHRs of more severely ill patients. Speed of access is important to ED physicians. [West J Emerg Med. 2012;13(2):172–175.]