Prevalence of impaired upper extremity neural mobility among smart device users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Both the development of various countries and people's health were impacted by the unforeseen global COVID-19 outbreak. Many countries prefer to do their daily business online. Although it was incredibly useful at the time, it still had a problem that was not properly addressed, especially among the student population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of upper extremity neural mobility among students who were using smart devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: 458 students who had previously taken home-based online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic and used a smart device for more than six hours were included in this study. The study was conducted in three phases. After being examined in the first two stages of the study, a total of 72 people were chosen for the final phase. Peripheral nerve mobility tests were performed on these 72 subjects. RESULTS: This study observed that 15.72% of smart device users have been affected by forward neck posture and impaired peripheral nerve mobility in the cervical spine. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that forward neck posture is associated with impaired peripheral nerve mobility among smart device users who were in home-based online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Hence, we suggest an appropriate treatment strategy focusing on preventing the forward neck posture through timely analysis and self-care therapies.

Improving work life balance among female educationists during the COVID-19 lockdown.

BACKGROUND: The entire education industry switched from offline to online modes as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Numerous teachers who were diagnosed with musculoskeletal, psychological, and other neurodegenerative diseases have reported increased exhaustion, lack of sleep, a decline in quality of life (QoL), a decrease in physical activity, and excessive stress from online classes during the COVID-19 lockdown, especially women. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of three-modal exercise on fatigue, sleep, QoL as well as to determine the relationship between age, disease severity, disease stage and working years with women diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 44 female educators in stages I-II with PD who were between the ages of 40 and 60 volunteered. For a total of 36 sessions over the course of six weeks, Group A received a three-modal fitness program through online video sessions, whereas Group B received Nordic walking. The outcome measures included the Fatigue Severity Scale, Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale, and Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire-39. RESULTS: Age, Hoehn and Yahr scale, working years, and PD in years did not correlate with each other (p > 0.50). The three-modal exercise experimental Group A showed statistically significant improvement in QoL (p 0.001), sleep (p 0.001), and fatigue (p 0.001). CONCLUSION: Women in the field of education who participated in a three-modal exercise programme for PD reported a significant improvement in their level of exhaustion, sleep patterns, and quality of life.

Pelvic floor dysfunction and its impact on quality of life among female health care employees.

BACKGROUND: In today's fast-paced world, both men and women have to be equally competent to handle their responsibilities in order to look after their family members and children. In this pace of competency women tend to forget to take care of their own health and face many health issues, including pelvic floor dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyse the prevalence rate of pelvic floor dysfunction among the working women in regards to their age and body mass index as well as their quality of life. METHODS: One hundred sixty one post-partum working female participants from the medical fraternity were involved in this study after their consent was obtained. Pelvic floor muscle strength was assessed and their quality of life measured using King's health questionnaire. RESULTS: There was a strong correlation between the pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and its impact on the quality of life among the females with increasing age. Significant statistical significant difference of P(<0.0001) was noted. CONCLUSION: Pelvic floor dysfunction among females has a direct impact on their quality of life.

Efficacy of physiotherapy management on burnout syndrome amongst IT professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress. Burnout weakens the energy of an individual which reduces productivity and leaves this individual helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Thus, an early diagnosis of this syndrome has to be done and ways to prevent the level of progression and complication of burnout syndrome has to be planned. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of self-supervised Jacobson's relaxation technique along with Bhastrika Pranayama in reducing the level of burnout among the work-from-home IT professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Thirty participants with burnout syndrome were randomly divided into two groups (15 participants in each group) using random allocation. The experimental group received Jacobson's relaxation technique along with Bhastrika Pranayama, whereas the control group received diaphragmatic breathing exercises and chest expansion exercises. Pre-test and post-test values using Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to interpret the results. RESULTS: Data collected were analyzed statistically by the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. It shows that there is a significant reduction in the level of burnout in the experimental group when compared to the control group at a p-value of 0.001. CONCLUSION: From the results, it is concluded that Jacobson's relaxation technique along with diaphragmatic breathing exercises showed significant improvement in the reduction of burnout levels.

Prevalence of burnout syndrome among Work-From-Home IT professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Many countries adopted a complete or partial lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and various professions started to work-from-home. People who work-from-home experience constant stress which leads to burnout syndrome. Burnout can be defined as a chronic stress-induced occupational syndrome resulting in fatigue, decreased job productivity, and poor motivation towards the job. OBJECTIVE: This research work primarily focuses on exploring the prevalence of burnout syndrome among IT professionals who work-from-home and to determine the impact of burnout in different gender and age-groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Using snowball sampling method 934 IT professionals were selected based on selection criteria, explained about the study processes, and instructed to submit an online survey consist of Maslach Burnout Inventory scale (MBI) through mail, social media, or through a researcher by direct interview. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics were used to interpret the data. In 25-30 years age-group, men were affected (93%) less than women (94%) and also in 31-35 years age-group, men were affected (96%) less than women (98%). Overall burnout scores of men were 94% and women were 96%. Results indicate female IT professionals were more prone experience burnout syndrome than Male population. CONCLUSIONS: From the results, it is concluded that 95% of the IT professionals are suffering from burnout, where women are more prevalent to burnout when compared to male. It is also suggested that an early, routine and frequent assessment of physical status, mental status and burnout syndrome is essential to maintain mental health.

Impact of COVID-19 online classes on morningness-eveningness personality among adult college students: A survey study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 emerged as a serious pandemic in 2019 and billions of people were infected. Various precautionary methods were taken to contain the spread of virus such as social distancing, public lockdown, sanitation, and closure of schools and colleges. Many colleges started online classes to resume their syllabus and to complete the course curriculum. These evening online sessions resulted in late night sleep, long term mobile/computer exposure, and disturbed sleep pattern. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 online classes on morningness- eveningness personality and to compare it with different age groups, gender, and body mass index. METHODS: The cluster sampling method was used to collect the subjects from the total of 1153 adult college students, 897 subjects were selected based on the selection criteria and instructed to submit an online survey consists of the Morningness-eveningness Questionnaire and demographic and anthropometric data through mail, social media, or through a researcher by direct interview. RESULTS: The mean score for the 897 participants is 56.7, indicating intermediate morningness-eveningness personality type. On comparing the different groups, the youngest group (18-20 years) scored 4.23%(mean = 46.7), female subjects scored 6.13%(mean = 58.1), the underweight 2.67%(mean = 59.2) and overweight groups scored 2.89%(mean = 59.7) indicating definite eveningness. Among the 897 collected samples of the population 8.13%of the subjects experienced definite eveningness, 14.93%has moderate eveningness, 17.38%are under intermediate category, 22.4%have moderate morningness, and 37.11%have definite morningness. CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with eveningness personality have high risk of developing mental illness, thus it's important to determine the eveningness personality among student population to avoid serious complications in later age.

Sphingolipids as Modulators of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic with severe consequences for afflicted individuals and the society as a whole. The biology and infectivity of the virus has been intensively studied in order to gain a better understanding of the molecular basis of virus-host cell interactions during infection. It is known that SARS-CoV-2 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) via its spike protein. Priming of the virus by specific proteases leads to viral entry via endocytosis and to the subsequent steps in the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. Sphingosine and ceramide belong to the sphingolipid family and are abundantly present in cell membranes. These lipids were recently shown to interfere with the uptake of virus particles of SARS-CoV-2 into epithelial cell lines and primary human nasal cells in culture. The mechanisms of action were partly different, as sphingosine blocked, whilst ceramide facilitated viral entry. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is vital for the generation of ceramide and functional inhibition of ASM by drugs like amitriptyline reduced SARS-CoV-2 entry into the epithelial cells. Recent data indicates that serum level of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a prognostic factor for COVID-2 severity. Further, stimulation of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) might also constrain the hyper-inflammatory conditions linked to SARS-CoV-2. Here, we review recent exciting findings regarding sphingolipids in the uptake of SARS-CoV-2 and in the course of COVID-19 disease. More studies are required on the mechanisms of action and the potential use of antidepressant drugs and sphingolipid modifiers in SARS-CoV-2 infections and in the treatment of the more serious and fatal consequences of the disease.