Nationwide impact of COVID-19 pandemic on postgraduate medical teaching, research, and mental stress: A cross-sectional online questionnaire-based survey.

Background and Aims: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected postgraduate medical education, training, and ongoing research work across specialties. Our survey aimed to analyze the effect of COVID-19 on challenges in pursuing research and academics and ascertain the stressors on residents across medical specialties. Material and Methods: The questionnaire was validated by 10 experts and following ethical approval, this google form-based survey was circulated to postgraduates across specialties across the country through social media platforms over 1 month (22 August 2020 to 21 September 2020). On clicking the link, the participants received brief information regarding the survey followed by the questionnaire. Weekly reminders were sent to the nonresponders till the desired sample size was attained, after which the survey was closed, and responses were analyzed. Results: Four hundred and nineteen of 900 residents completed the survey (46.6% response rate). Majority (88.8%) admitted that the inability to conduct the thesis and break in academics caused a significant amount of mental stress upon them. Though classes had resumed through online platforms for most residents (75.4%), the residents reported that lack of bedside learning (65.4%), inadequate progress tests (26.4%), and delay in thesis topic allotment (84.6% among those not allotted thesis) correlated with increased stress. Fear of extension of the course (53%; P = 0.019) and getting infected with COVID-19 (46.6%; P = 0.019) were most cited reasons for significant stress in most of the residents. Many residents (26%) were unable to sleep properly and 22.1% were unable to concentrate on academics. Majority believed that extension of the submission deadline, reduction in sample size, and change in topic would help to complete thesis. Conclusion: The present survey revealed that there is a major impediment to research and academics of medical postgraduates during COVID-19 pandemic which has markedly increased their stress levels.

Cortical thickness and gyrification index measuring cognition in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Cortical dynamics is driven by cortico-cortical connectivity and it characterizes cortical morphological features. These brain surface features complement volumetric changes and may offer improved understanding of disease pathophysiology. Hence, present study aims to investigate surface features; cortical thickness (CT) and gyrification index (GI) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients of normal cognition (PD-CN), cognitively impaired patients with PD (PD-CI) in comparison with cognitively normal healthy controls (HC) to better elucidate cognition linked features in PD. METHOD: Anatomical MRI (3DT1) was carried out in 30 HC (56.53 ± 8.42 years), 30 PD-CN (58.8 ± 6.07 years), and 30 PD-CI (60.3 ± 6.43 years) subjects. Whole brain ROI based parcellation using Desikan-Killiany (DK-40) atlas followed by regional CT and GI differentiation [with 'age' and 'total intracranial volume' (TIV) correction], multiple linear regression (with 'age', 'TIV', and 'education' correction) with clinical variables, ROC analysis, and CT-GI correlation across the groups was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Widespread cortical thinning with regional GI reduction was evident in PD-CI with respect to other two groups (HC and PD-CN), and with absence of such alterations in PD-CN compared to HC. Frontal, parietal, and temporal CT/GI significantly correlated with cognition and presented classification abilities for cognitive state in PD. Mean regional CT and GI were found negatively correlated across groups with heterogeneous regions. CONCLUSION: Fronto-parietal and temporal regions suffer cognition associated cortical thinning and GI reduction. CT may serve better discriminator properties and may be more consistent than GI in studying cognition in PD. Heterogeneous surface dynamics across the groups may signify neuro-developmental alterations in PD.

Domain specific cognitive impairment in Parkinson's patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects nearly 20-50% patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). It may be the prodromal stage of dementia and impacts quality of life of the patient and caregiver. Characterizing PD cognition at the stage of MCI may help in understanding of cognitive pathophysiology. This study assessed and compared cognition in patients with PD and mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI, n = 32, age = 61.09 ± 5.97 years), PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC, n = 32, age = 58.81 ± 6.15 years) and healthy controls (HC, n = 38, age = 57.39 ± 7.14 years). Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA) was used for categorization of subjects. Cognitive assessment of five domains: executive function, attention, visuospatial function, memory and language (using two tests in each domain) were performed. The effect of PD clinical scores on cognition and cognitive domain specificity in diagnosing PD-MCI were assessed by correlation and receiver operating curve (ROC) analyses, respectively. All the analyses followed removal of potential confounds (age, education and clinical scores). Attention, memory, executive and visuospatial functions were impaired in PD-MCI on comparison with HC and PD-NC groups. Performance in digit span forward and trail making tests for attention and memory (immediate recall) were comparable in both the PD groups. Both the PD groups revealed impairment in attention, memory and language with respect to HC, suggesting the fronto-striatal and posterior cortical syndrome in PD. Highly significant Visual-N-back correlation with UPDRS-III may implicate the shared motor-visuospatial neural pathways. Visual-N-back/PGI delayed recall domains are promising in characterizing PD-MCI stage.

A descriptive study of disability in patients presenting with medically unexplained physical symptoms in a medical OPD setting.

INTRODUCTION: Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are quite common in the primary care setting. These unexplained symptoms lead to physical, psychological, and functional disability increasing patient and caregiver distress. METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 100 patients attending medicine outpatient department. The data on sociodemographic profile and detailed clinical history were collected. Disability was assessed using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 instrument. Association between qualitative measures was measured by Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test and for qualitative measure t-test or Wilcoxon test was used. RESULTS: Most of the patients were young, from urban settings and belonging to lower socioeconomic strata. A mean of 6.54 symptoms per patient was presented with headache as the most common symptom. Average gross disability score in each domain was 1.6 with a major impact on the social and lifestyle-related domain. CONCLUSION: Patients with MUPS have significant disability especially in the domain of mobility and lifestyle-related activities. The disability is more in females, population dwelling in urban settlements, and population belonging to lower socioeconomic status.

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire Assessing Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices about Obesity among Obese Individuals.

AIM: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) questionnaire about obesity among obese individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire was developed following a standardized protocol that consisted of literature review, focused group discussions, and expert opinion. A cross-sectional survey on 100 obese individuals was carried out to validate the tool. Exploratory factor analysis was performed, using principal component with varimax rotation, to establish the construct validity of the questionnaire. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach's α coefficient. RESULTS: KAP questionnaire with 42 items categorized under three domains knowledge, attitude, and practices was developed. The KAP sections have 14, 15, and 13 items, respectively. Independent Cronbach's α for KAP domains were 0.75, 0.75, and 0.63, respectively, indicating good internal consistency. CONCLUSION: The developed questionnaire will be helpful in achieving better understanding of the patients' KAP about obesity. It has satisfactory validity and good internal consistency.