Effectiveness of virtual reality-supported exercise therapy in improving upper extremity function and activities of daily living among patients after stroke: a systematic review of randomized control trials.

BACKGROUND: This systematic review describes the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR)-supported exercise therapy on upper limb motor function and activities of daily living after stroke. METHODS: Studies published through January 24, 2022, were identified using CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science. Randomized control trials comparing VR treatment with conventional therapy (CT) for upper extremity rehabilitation after stroke were included. Methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. RESULTS: Of 9 included studies, 5 concluded that the VR group outperformed control participants, 1 indicated the superiority of VR-supported exercises alone over CT, and 3 found VR comparable to CT in promoting upper limb motor function. Five studies analyzed independence in daily living, with 4 reporting no significant difference between VR and CT groups. No strong evidence indicated long-term benefits of VR-assisted exercise. All included studies demonstrated low risk of bias concerning random sequence generation, allocation concealment, outcome assessment blinding, incomplete outcome data, and selective reporting bias. However, a high risk of bias was observed regarding participant blinding due to the nature of the intervention. CONCLUSION: Most studies suggested that VR, used alongside CT, can improve motor function following stroke. However, the evidence was insufficient to conclude that VR outperforms conventional approaches.

Impact of social media on mental health of the general population during Covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people are using social media more than usual routine because they rely on online sources to seek health information for themselves and their loved ones. The spread of inaccurate and misleading information via social media has a number of detrimental psychological effects on members of society. The aim of this systematic review was to describe the impact of social media on the mental health of the general population. An extensive systematic search was done till the last month of 2021 for collecting the evidence using the PRISMA technique. The search was mainly focused on the article leading with keywords and search engines used during the course of the study were Pubmed, Semantic Scholar, Mendeley, and Science direct. Articles for this study were selected based on the predetermined eligibility criteria and performed quality assessment by using the NHLBI quality assessment tool. Most of the studies included in this review are found fair (score between 9 and 12) quality. Out of 866 publications, 533 articles were included in the initial screening, after duplication removal 46 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility and 14 studies were selected for systematic review. In most of the studies, maximum participants used social media as a primary source of information. Relatively high rates of symptoms of depression (14.14% to 48.3%), anxiety (7.4% to 47.82%), and prevalence of stress increased to 37.67% are reported after exposure to social media for coverage of COVID-19 news in the general population. Risk factors of psychological distress are associated with female gender, younger age group, marital status, staying alone, and duration of exposure to mass media. Increased exposure to COVID-19 information through mass/social media is associated with highly significant levels of psychological health issues; mitigating the hazardous effect of social media exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of the general population is an international public health priority.

Funding opportunities for higher learning, medical and nursing research in India: An overview.

Medical research is an important aspect of medical education and is required to maintain quality. Funding can assist a researcher in doing extensive research in a certain area by boosting study variables, sample size and use of sophisticated state-of-the-art equipments. India's funding for health research is limited, and only a small percentage of that is used for public health research. Many health professionals have a lot of great ideas for health-related research but do not know where to start looking for financing. A review was created to help medical and nursing professionals to find the correct funding source for their research. There are many governments' organisations in India, which provide funds for research, grants and higher learning research fellowships. We tried to give an overview of some organisations with their benefits. This review includes the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India Alliance, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Health Research (DHR), Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI), and the Nursing Research Society of India (NRSI). This review makes aware health professionals to the funding agency as well as the time of funding and fellowship application.