ABSTRACT
Introduction: Covid-19 pandemic has had severe impact on mental health and well-being of people around the globe. The uncountable loss of life, disruption of face-to-face health services and the uncertainty that followed raised concerns over mental health of all people. The impact was much worse in hospitalised covid-19 individuals. Most of the studies done on Covid-19 and mental health were focused on general population and health care workers. In our clinical practise, we observed an increased level of anxiety, stress and depression among hospitalised covid-19 individuals. Hence, we aim to assess the prevalence of psychological distress in these patients and there by validate our observation. Aims and Objectives: To assess the psychological impact of mild to moderate covid-19 disease in hospitalised patients. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients admitted to the tertiary care centre. A total of 501 patients filled 2 questionnaires - Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21(DASS-21) and Psycho-Social Assessment scale (PSA), a self-structured questionnaire. Result(s): In the depression subscale of DASS-21, 141(28.1%) had mild depression, 101(20.2%) had moderate depression, and 8 (1.6%) had severe depression. In the anxiety subscale, 105(20.9%) had mild anxiety, 198 (39.5%) had moderate anxiety, 35 (7.0%) had severe anxiety and 3 (0.6%) had extremely severe anxiety. In the stress subscale, 132(26.4 %) had mild stress, 161(32.1%) had moderate stress and 51 (10.2%) had severe stress. Patients above 30 years of age had moderate anxiety and stress, with stress being statistically significant among all age groups and gender. There were about 70% prevalence rate in all subgroups in PSA scale with anxiety being highest with 78%. Conclusion(s): The present study is a frontrunner in exploring the spectrum of psychological distress in hospitalised individuals due to Covid-19 disease. The uncertainty that the pandemic has inflicted upon us and its associated social stigma and economic recession has led to widespread increase in stress, anxiety and depression on people, including youngsters. Government, policy-makers and treating physicians should continue to provide mental health evaluation as an essential health service in all covid-19 affected individuals for early risk stratification and prevention of any unfavourable outcome. Copyright © 2022 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The impact of COVID-19 has caused a recession in economies all over the world. In this context, the current study aims to analyze the prevailing economic scenario using a machine learning approach and suggest sustainable measures to recover the global economy taking the case of Make in India (MII) initiative of developing the economy as a base for the study. Design/methodology/approach: A well-known topic modeling technique – Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) algorithm has been employed to extract useful information characterizing the existing state of selected sectors under the MII initiative alongside catalytic policies that have been implemented for the same. The textual data acts as the base of the study upon which suggestions are provided. Findings: The findings obtained suggest that digital transformation will play a key role in concerned sectors to optimize the performance of manufacturing organizations. Additionally, inter-relationship between Key Performance Indicators for the economy's revival is crucial for effective utilization of foreign direct investment resources. Practical implications: The novel efforts to utilize MII initiative as a case present crucial information which can be used by policy makers and various other stakeholders across the globe to enhance decision-making and draft legislation across different sectors to empower the economy. Originality/value: The study presents a novel approach to utilize the MII initiative by identifying important measures for crucial sectors and associated policies that have been presented by employing a text mining approach which in itself makes it unique in its contribution to research literature. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Aim: To identify the prevalence of bacterial and viral conjunctivitis. Study design: Prospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Ophthalmology, Pakistan Railways Hospital, Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi from 1st April 2021 to 30th September 2021. Methodology: Fifty conjunctivitis patients enrolled within age of 14-29 years. Clinical examination, slit lamp test and lab testing separated cases as viral or bacterial conjunctivitis. Polymerase chain reaction post culturing was sued in viral conjunctivitis cases while Kirby-Baur disc diffusion assay was sued in bacterial conjunctivitis confirmation. Results: There were 91.17% patients with viral conjunctivitis in age of 24-29 years and 62.5% patients with bacterial conjunctivitis within 14-18 years. The odds ratio value between the male and female gender showed a significant difference between both genders with 95% confidence interval with higher female frequency in both. Coronavirus cases were highest with 52.9% while cases of Micrococciwere highest as 37.5% with conjunctivitis. Conclusion: Viral conjunctivitis was more common in general cases due to recent covid-19 infection followed by Micrococci bacterial conjunctivitis.