Computer vision syndrome among computer office workers in a developing country: an evaluation of prevalence and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is a group of visual symptoms experienced in relation to the use of computers. Nearly 60 million people suffer from CVS globally, resulting in reduced productivity at work and reduced quality of life of the computer worker. The present study aims to describe the prevalence of CVS and its associated factors among a nationally-representative sample of Sri Lankan computer workers. METHODS: Two thousand five hundred computer office workers were invited for the study from all nine provinces of Sri Lanka between May and December 2009. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data, symptoms of CVS and its associated factors. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed in all patients with 'presence of CVS' as the dichotomous dependent variable and age, gender, duration of occupation, daily computer usage, pre-existing eye disease, not using a visual display terminal (VDT) filter, adjusting brightness of screen, use of contact lenses, angle of gaze and ergonomic practices knowledge as the continuous/dichotomous independent variables. A similar binary logistic regression analysis was performed in all patients with 'severity of CVS' as the dichotomous dependent variable and other continuous/dichotomous independent variables. RESULTS: Sample size was 2210 (response rate-88.4%). Mean age was 30.8 ± 8.1 years and 50.8% of the sample were males. The 1-year prevalence of CVS in the study population was 67.4%. Female gender (OR: 1.28), duration of occupation (OR: 1.07), daily computer usage (1.10), pre-existing eye disease (OR: 4.49), not using a VDT filter (OR: 1.02), use of contact lenses (OR: 3.21) and ergonomics practices knowledge (OR: 1.24) all were associated with significantly presence of CVS. The duration of occupation (OR: 1.04) and presence of pre-existing eye disease (OR: 1.54) were significantly associated with the presence of 'severe CVS'. CONCLUSIONS: Sri Lankan computer workers had a high prevalence of CVS. Female gender, longer duration of occupation, higher daily computer usage, pre-existing eye disease, not using a VDT filter, use of contact lenses and higher ergonomics practices knowledge all were associated with significantly with the presence of CVS. The factors associated with the severity of CVS were the duration of occupation and presence of pre-existing eye disease.

The process and costs of publishing medical journals in Sri Lanka: an economic evaluation.

Objectives Medical journals have contributed to the advancement of medicine by helping to disseminate scientific knowledge and providing a forum for medical communities to debate issues in depth. To the authors' knowledge, there are no studies examining the process of medical journal publication in developing Asian countries. The authors analysed the process and costs of publishing medical journals in Sri Lanka, a developing country in South Asia. Methods Data were collected by interviewing the editors and perusing the records at the editorial offices of the respective medical journals. Articles published in 2009 (or 2008 for journals not published in 2009) were analysed by perusing the respective journals. Results A total of 44 medical journals were published in Sri Lanka's history, of which only 28 journals remained in publication after 2007. A majority (54%) of the journals published after 2007 were published once per year. Seventeen journals in publication after 2007 were published in paper version only, and 11 journals were also available online. The mean cost of printing one issue was Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR) 97 720 (US$888) (range LKR 28 000-270 000). The cost of distribution ranged from LKR 2000 to 140 000 (US$18-1273). The mean cost of publishing one article was LKR 6646 (US$60). A total of 456 articles were published in 2009 (/2008). The total number of pages published was 1723. Conclusion The infrastructure for medical journal publishing in Sri Lanka has many good qualities such as free access, minimum charges for authors and potential for online availability. The journals are solely academic (non-profit), but the costs remain high.

Immunological and purine enzyme studies on hyperuricaemic and normouricaemic patients with Down's syndrome.

Hyperuricaemia in Down's syndrome is unreleated to the activity of phosphoribosylamidotransfrease, which catalyses the activity of the first specific step on the purine biosynthetic pathway, and to the activity of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase and phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase, abnormalities of which are known to be associated with hyperuricaemia. Immunological studies involving serum immunoglobulins, natural E. coli antibodies, test immunization with pneumococcal polysaccharide type III (PnPS), in vitro lymphocyte transformation to mitogens, and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) induced immunoglobulin production showed no difference between hyperuricaemic or normouricaemic Down's patients and institutionalized controls. The Down's patients had higher serum IgA, IgG and IgE, and some also produced more immunoglobulin in PWM-stimulated lymphocyte cultures when compared to normal healthy controls. However, both patients with Down's syndrome and the institutionalized controls had significantly lower responses to PnPs than normal healthy controls. The only deficiency confined to the Down's patients was a signficant depression in delayed hypersensitivity to dinitrochlorobenzene. These findings indicate that the in vivo abnormality of depressed cellular and humoral immunity in Down's patients is not paralleled by in vitro function as measured by PHA lymphocyte transformation and immunoglobulin production by PWM-stimulated lymphocytes. There is also no apparent link between a putative defect in purine metabolism in Down's patients and any immunological abnormalities.