ABSTRACT
Background: Smartphones, PC, tablets, and TV have become integral parts of our lives. The smartphone in particular is the lifeline of everyone, regardless of their age group. Overuse of smartphones is increasing, resulting in a great deal of physical and psychological effects. It is found to negatively impact health and increase the risk of stress, depression, and anxiety. In addition to this, sleep disorders, restlessness, and fatigue are also being reported which can lead to cognitive impairment. The reaction time (RT) is the interval between the application of a stimulus and the response. It is an indication of neural processing between a stimulus and the response which is expressed in milliseconds. Aims and Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to estimate screen time, auditory and visual RTs, and the association between screen time and RT (visual reaction time [VRT] and auditory reaction time [ART]). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 232 1st year MBBS students in the age group of 18–23 years. Average screen time was noted from their respective gadgets. RT for the targeted stimulus, yellow light for the VRT and beep sound for the ART, was determined using the Biochart application system by Biostar Health care (Computer software) on the laptop. The task was to press the space bar as soon as the stimulus was presented. Average RT for both the stimuli (ART and VRT) were calculated using ten readings for each. Data obtained were analyzed. Results: Our study shows that ART is faster than VRT for both males and females. Screen time with VRT has a moderate positive significant relationship (P < 0.001), while for the ART, it has a weak positive relation. Conclusion: Based on our findings, it can be concluded that there is a positive correlation between screen time and RT. Screen time alone has a 21% effect on the RT as per our study. It also suggests that ART is faster than VRT. The females have a higher RT than the males in a similar age group.
ABSTRACT
Background: Non-communicable diseases are affecting millions of people worldwide. These diseases are linked to the lifestyle of the population. Hence, lifestyle modification may help reduce the disease burden. Due to work-life misbalance, many doctors are vulnerable to lifestyle-related disorders. Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study was to find the obesity parameters and lifestyle pattern and to find if any correlation exists between the obesity parameters and lifestyle score. Materials and Methods: We conducted this study in a tertiary care teaching hospital situated in Southern Odisha, India. The doctors attached to the teaching hospital were taken as a convenience sample. The anthropometric parameters were measured in the departmental research laboratory and the lifestyle score was obtained by the FANTASTIC lifestyle assessment instrument. The correlation between the FANTASTIC score and body fatness variables was tested. Results: A total of 152 doctors with a mean of 40.09 ± 9.92 years of age participated in this study. We found a significant negative correlation coefficient of FANTASTIC score with body mass index (BMI) (r = ?0.36, P < 0.0001), body fat % (r = ?0.25, P = 0.002), and visceral fat % (r = ?0.28, P < 0.0001). The age, waist circumference, and fat-free mass did not show any significant correlation. Conclusion: Some of the obesity parameters such as BMI, body fat, and visceral fat are negatively correlated with lifestyle scores. Hence, doctors with the lower lifestyle scores may tend to show a higher tendency toward obesity and vice versa. The doctors and the stakeholders should take care of healthy lifestyle promotion.
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Background: Handgrip strength (HGS) is an important parameter to assess the upper extremity muscular strength. Aims and Objectives: Aim of the study is to record HGS in healthy young males and to compare with fat mass (FM), fat-free mass, fat-free mass index, and to find out which is better correlated. Materials and Methods: A total of one hundred and fourteen first year male medical students of age between 17 and 22 years were taken as sample. Results: The correlation between fat free mass, fat free mass index with HGS was found to be extremely significant whereas correlation between FAT%, FM with HGS was not significant. Conclusion: Increase in lean body mass increases muscular strength as fat-free mass and fat-free mass index positively and significantly correlated with HGS.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Variation of doses due to positional uncertainties of applicators based on orthogonal radiograph has been evaluated by several researchers. The present study has analyzed the various possibilities of special alterations of applicator placements in intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) and its impact on the dose to target volume, rectum, and bladder. An innovative approach has been suggested to quantify and utilize the special coordinates for reproducibility of applicator based on the pelvic bone landmark. Materials and Methods: A total of 27 fractions of 9 (n = 9) cancer cervix patients treated with external beam radiotherapy followed by ICBT have been evaluated retrospectively. The first fraction of each patient was planned as per the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements report 38 guidelines and was considered reference for consecutive fractions regarding dwell positions, dose to target volume, bladder, and rectum points. For each fraction, positioning of applicators regarding their spatial orientations with respect to pelvic bone landmarks and their correlation with dose to bladder and rectum was recorded and analyzed. Results: It was found that mean angulations between (1) the two applicator points with respect to tip of central tandem (α), (2) the two applicator points with junction point situated on the sacrum bone (β) and (3) the angle between the line joining applicator points and a point defined on pelvic bone (γ) is 62.20° ± 5.74°, 37.13° ± 5.64° and 105.51° ± 6.58°, respectively. Bladder dose increased with increment in α but decreased with increase of β and γ. Dose to rectum remained unaffected for γ. Mean distance from couch top to tip of central tandem and two ovoids is, respectively, 11.17 cm and 8.70 cm. Conclusion: Optimal plans even with orthogonal radiographs may be generated by verifying the application based on the parameters mentioned in the present study and computed tomography-based plans could be utilized more effectively instead of doing automatic or manual optimization. Whereever orthogonal radiograph based or template based ICBT practices is performed this study may create a dataset to have an optimal treatment plan even without three-dimensional images
ABSTRACT
HELLP syndrome is described as a special group of severe preeclampsia characterized by haemolysis (H), elevated liver enzymes (EL) and low platelets (PL), whereas preeclampsia is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by hypertension and proteinuria after the 20th week of gestation. The objective of the study was to evaluate the level of hepcidin in the serum of the patient suffering from HELLP syndrome and preeclampsia. It was done by competitive sandwich ELISA which assesses the serum level of hepcidin in the forty patients suffering from preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome (as cases) and forty healthy individuals (as control). The results of our study showed that serum hepcidin levels were significantly increased among the cases (P =0.00171) in comparison to control (P <0.05) and transferrin saturation levels were significantly decreased (P <0.05) among the cases (P =0.001) in comparison to controls. The decrease in transferrin saturation indicates that there is low serum iron level among the cases. It was concluded that increased hepcidin level may be the cause of anemia among the cases.