A comparison of sleep-wake patterns among school-age children and adolescents in Hong Kong before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of this study was to compare anthropometric measures of obesity and sleep qualities in individuals with/without social jetlag (SJL). In addition, it was aimed to compare the energy, macronutrient intake and diet qualities of individuals with/without SJL during school and non-school days. This study comprised 710 university students with mean age 21.58 ± 1.41 years. The presence of SJL was acknowledged if there was a difference of more than 1 hour between the middle of sleep time on school day and on non-school day. While the physical activity levels (PALs) of the individuals were determined with a 24-hour physical activity record, measurements such as waist circumference, neck circumference and body mass index were recorded for anthropometric measurements. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to determine the sleep quality of the individuals. Energy, macronutrients intake, and diet quality were calculated from the 24-h dietary recall of the individuals, and recorded for the school days and non-school days. In this study, 76% of the individuals (n = 542) were determined as exposed to SJL. Although there was no significant difference in their PALs, individuals with SJL had a higher waist (p < .05) and neck (p < .05) circumference, as well as higher body mass index (p < .05). Individuals with SJL were found to have significantly poor sleep quality (OR:1.109, p < .031) and sleep latency (OR:1.130, p < .001) after adjustment for confounding factors. When compared to school days, in the individuals with SJL, energy (p < .001), fat (p < .001), saturated fatty acids (SFA) (p < .001), and mono unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (p < .001) were significantly increased; however, fiber intake (p < .001) was significantly reduced on non-school days. Although there was no significant difference in the diet quality scores between the groups on the school days, the diet quality of the individuals without SJL on non-school days was increased significantly (p < .05). In conclusion, SJL was associated with sleep loss, increased body mass index, and lowered diet quality in university students.

BackgroundSchool schedules play a central role in shaping how children and adolescents organize their daily life. As children grow, particularly during adolescence, their internal biological clocks naturally shifts to favour later sleep and wake times. These disruptions have serious implications for student's health, well-being and academic performance. In this study, we map patterns of social jetlag across age groups, gender and school schedule to better understand how school timing impacts students’ lives.MethodsThe sample includes 180 students (6 to 16 years of age; mean age is 12), enrolled. This is an ongoing longitudinal study, here we present the first wave of data collection that happened between 2023 and 2025 in primary schools or secondary (high) schools in the province of Valencia (Spain). We used the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to assess the sleep-awake behavior on school and non-school days. The MCTQ asks about what time the individual goes to bed; what time he/she decides to sleep; how long it takes to fall asleep, to wake up, to get out of bed, and if an alarm clock was used. Additionally provides SJL (calculated by the difference between the midpoint of sleep in free and schooldays), chronotype (retrieved by the midpoint of sleep in free days sleep corrected) and the sleep dept.ResultsOur preliminary results show an average chronotype of 4.9, a social jetlag of 2.4, average sleep duration 8.4 (SD 1.4), average sleep loss is 2.6 hours (SD 2.4). We found no differences between sexes for social jetlag nor sleep loss nor chronotype.ConclusionsSchool schedules are the main source of desynchronization for students. Social jet lag increases with age as students chronotypes delays and school entry times remain early or even advance in later ages where SJL is larger. For Spain problem may be even larger due to the misalignment between solar time and school time.Key messages• Delay school entry times to improve students’ health and performance.• Schools should synchronize to their local solar time.

To analyze and describe the status and characteristics of using electronic screens of primary and middle school students in China from 2016 to 2017. From 2016 to 2017, 275 monitoring points were selected from 31 provinces in China, and 280 primary and middle school students were selected from each monitoring point to complete the survey. Using the suggestion from "Healthy China Initiative(2019-2030)"of which the screen time of primary and middle school students should be less than one hour per day as the standard. A total of 74 314 primary and secondary school students(except grade 9 and grade 12) were included in this study. Among them, there were 37 147 boys(50.0%) and 37 167 girls(50.0%); 44 612 pupils(60.0%), 14 858 junior school students(20.0%), and 14 844 senior high school students(20.0%); 38 995(52.5%) rural students and 35 319(47.5%) urban students; 53 287 boarding students(71.7%) and 20 537 day students(27.6%). From 2016 to 2017, the average daily screen time of Chinese primary school students was 1.45 hours, M(P25, P75) was 1.14(0.57, 1.93) h. That of junior high school students was 1.92 hours, M(P25, P75) was 1.43(0.71, 2.48) h. That of senior high school students was 2.37 hours, M(P25, P75) was 1.71(0.90, 3.02) h. The average daily screen time qualified rates of primary school, junior high and senior high school students were 46.1%, 37.1% and 27.7%, respectively. From 2016 to 2017, the most used electronic screen products of primary school students in China were TV/videos(62%), followed by mobile phones(21%). Junior high school students spent 38% and 37% of the total time watching TV/videos and playing mobile phones, respectively. High school students spend the longest time using mobile phones(49%) of the total time, followed by watching TV/videos(26%). With the increasing of grade, screen time became longer, and screen time qualified rate dropped. Moreover, the most used electronic screens were mobile phones and TV/videos.

Association between Covid-19 and Pulmonary Embolism (AC-19-PE study)

To get a better knowledge of the current situation of screen time among primary and secondary school students in all provinces of China from 2016 to 2017. Data was from the China National Nutrition and Health Surveillance of Children and Lactating Women(2016-2017).275 monitoring points were selected from 31 provinces of China by multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling. A total of 280 primary and secondary school students from 2 primary schools, 2 junior middle schools and 1 senior high school were randomly selected from each monitoring point to complete the survey.73629 primary and secondary school students(except grade 9 and grade 12) were included in this study. From 2016 to 2017, the average daily screen time of Chinese primary and secondary school students was(1.65±1.54) hours, M(P25, P75) was 1.29(0.58, 2.21) h. In terms of provinces, the average daily electronic screen time of primary and secondary school students in Beijing, Tianjin, Jilin, Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan is more than 2 hours. In terms of rural and urban areas, the screen time of students in Beijing&apos;s rural and urban areas, Tianjin&apos;s rural areas, Hebei&apos;s urban areas, Liaoning&apos;s rural areas, Jilin&apos;s rural areas, Fujian&apos;s urban areas, Guangdong&apos;s urban areas, Guangxi&apos;s urban areas, Hainan&apos;s rural and urban areas, and Xinjiang&apos;s urban areas all exceeds 2 hours/day. Besides, screen times of rural primary and secondary school students in Beijing(Z=2.62, P&lt;0.01), Tianjin(Z=5.94, P&lt;0.01), Liaoning(Z=11.56, P&lt;0.01), Jilin(Z=-7.59, P&lt;0.01), Shanghai(Z=3.19, P&lt;0.01), Jiangsu(Z=12.00, P&lt;0.01), Zhejiang(Z=-4.80, P&lt;0.01), Anhui(Z=-4.67, P&lt;0.01), Jiangxi(Z=-3.29, P=0.01), and Sichuan(Z=-4.53, P&lt;0.01) are longer than that of urban students. There are urban-rural differences in the average daily electronic screen time and different types of electronic screen time of primary and secondary school students in China&apos;s provinces from 2016 to 2017.

Depression is a serious and prevalent disease among adolescents. Identifying possible factors involved with its genesis and presentation is an important task for researchers and clinical practitioners. The individual’s chronotype and social jetlag have been associated with depression in different populations. However, information on this is lacking among adolescents. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between chronotype (midpoint of sleep) and social jetlag with the presence of depression symptoms in young students. We assessed 351 students aged 12–21 years old. They answered a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Demographic characteristics (age, sex and classes’ schedule) and circadian rhythmic variables for school and free days (sunlight exposure, sleep duration, midpoint of sleep and social jetlag) were taken as factors and the presence of at least mild depression symptoms as outcome. In univariate analysis, girls (χ2 = 5.01, p ≤ 0.05) and evening students (χ2 = 6.63, p ≤ 0.05) were more frequently present among the depressed. Also, the depression group was significantly delayed for both midpoints of sleep during school (t = 2.84, p ≤ 0.01) and free days (t = 2.20, p ≤ 0.05). The two groups did not differ in relation to their social jetlag hours (t = −0.68, p = 0.501) neither subjects with two or more hours of social jetlag were more frequent among the depressed (χ2 = 1.00, p = 0.317). In multivariate analysis, the model that best explained our outcome (R2 = 0.058, F = 2.318, p ≤ 0.05) included sex (β = −0.12, p ≤ 0.05) and the midpoint of sleep on school days (β = −0.21, p ≤ 0.001) as significant predictor variables. A sleep phase delay (later midpoints of sleep for school and free days) was associated with higher levels of depression. However, we were not able to detect similar relationship with the social jetlag hours. This could be attributed to the fact that our sample showed a smaller amount of social jetlag, possibly because even during free days a social routine, this time parents’ rules, limited the observation from what could be a natural tendency to sleep later and over. Yet, even when considering the group with more social jetlag, we did not find an association. Perhaps, this variable will only manifest its effect if it is maintained for longer periods throughout life. Additionally, when considering all the variables together, the midpoint of sleep on school days was pointed as the predictor of greatest weight for depression, together with the factor sex. Young girls, possibly earlier types, who are required to study in the evening have more chances of presenting depression symptoms. This study explicit some peculiar characteristics of the assessment of chronobiological variables in the young, such as the presence of an imposed social routine also during free days. Therefore, the expression of chronotype under the influence of the weekly social schedule (midpoint of sleep on school days) could be a more useful marker to measure the stress produced from the mismatch between external and inner rhythms rather than social jetlag. This also reinforces the importance of reconsidering the weekly routine imposed on young people.

With the growing use of electronic communication among children and adolescents, the Internet has become an important tool for their socialization and has opened up new perspectives for network and community building opportunities. However, the Internet and electronic communication tools can be used either positively or negatively and the spread of its use in these recent years has led to online risky behaviours and harm. This questionnaire survey was completed in five primary schools and seven lower secondary schools in the South of France. It sets out to assess the digital uses, risk taking and negative experiences online among primary and secondary school students in France (N = 4200). Findings show that primary school students are pretty well involved in digital communication since they spend an average of 150 min per day online vs. 190 for secondary school participants. Social networking is also part of their lives with 17 % of primary school children and 50 % secondary school students who use Facebook. In terms of risk taking, only 49 % of primary students and 39 % of secondary school students report they personally know all their online friends. Cyberbullying figures show that quite a few respondents have been affected with negative experiences among which some were repeatedly victimized (14 % in primary schools and 5 % in secondary schools). These findings highlight the necessity to take the issue of educating towards a positive and safe use of the Internet seriously and that primary school children also need to be provided with proper guidance towards a safer Internet.

To analyze the influencing factors of health-related behaviors for schistosomiasis prevention and control among primary and secondary school students in Sichuan Province using a multilevel and multivariate logistic model, so as to provide the theoretical evidence for developing the schistosomiasis prevention and control strategy among primary and secondary school students in Sichuan Province. A multi-stage sampling was conducted among 63 schistosomiasis-endemic counties (districts) in Sichuan Province. Five endemic townships were sampled from each county (district), and 100 Grade 4 to 6 students in each primary school and 100 Grade 1 to 3 students in each secondary school were sampled from each township as the study subjects. The health-related behaviors for schistosomiasis prevention and control were investigated using a questionnaire survey, and factors affecting infested water contact behaviors were identified using univariate and multilevel logistic analyses. Among the 62 200 questionnaires distributed, there were 59 134 recovered, and 56 510 were qualified. The qualified 56 510 respondents included 22 955 secondary school students and 33 555 primary school students, and 28 297 male students and 28 213 females. A higher proportion of infested water contacts was seen in male students than in females (P < 0.001), and the students living in heavily endemic areas had a higher proportion of infested water contacts than those in mildly endemic areas (P < 0.001). In addition, there was no significant difference in the proportion of infested water contacts between primary and secondary school students (P >0.05). Multilevel and multivariate logistic analyses revealed a lower proportion of infested water contacts with the increase of knowledge, belief and self-efficacy levels (P < 0.001), and there was a cluster of infested water contacts among students at a county scale (P < 0.001). There is a cluster of infested-water contact behaviors among primary and secondary school students at a county scale in Sichuan Province. Individual and environmental factors should be considered during the formulation of health education strategy and interventions for schistosomiasis among primary and secondary school students.

A cross-sectional study on the analysis of the current situation of depression and anxiety among primary and secondary school students in Urumqi City in 2021: A case study of S district

The current study examined patient and provider differences in use of phone, video, and in-person mental health (MH) services. Participants included patients who completed ≥ 1 MH appointment within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from 10/1/17-7/10/20 and providers who completed ≥ 100 VA MH appointments from 10/1/17-7/10/20. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) are reported of patients and providers: (a) completing ≥1 video MH appointment in the pre-COVID (10/1/17-3/10/20) and COVID (3/11/20-7/10/20) periods; and (b) completing the majority of MH visits via phone, video, or in-person during COVID. The sample included 2,480,119 patients/31,971 providers in the pre-COVID period, and 1,054,670 patients/23,712 providers in the COVID period. During the pre-COVID and COVID periods, older patients had lower odds of completing ≥ 1 video visit (aORs < .65). During the COVID period, older age and low socioeconomic status predicted lower odds of having ≥ 50% of visits via video versus in-person or phone (aORs < .68); schizophrenia and MH hospitalization history predicted lower odds of having ≥ 50% of visits via video or phone versus in-person (aORs < . 64). During the pre-COVID and COVID periods, nonpsychologists (e.g., psychiatrists) had lower odds of completing video visits (aORs < . 44). Older providers had lower odds of completing ≥ 50% of visits via video during COVID (aORs <. 69). Findings demonstrate a digital divide, such that older and lower income patients, and older providers, engaged in less video care. Nonpsychologists also had lower video use. Barriers to use must be identified and strategies must be implemented to ensure equitable access to video MH services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Since the enactment of Dakar Program in 2000, all of the countries have taken a series of measures to achieve the aim of universal education. China, the country with the largest population in the world, also makes every effort to popularize the universal education and to achieve the equity of education. After contact work for many years, China’s education has got a quite great development, especially in the aspect of popularizing the universal education, China have taken great achievements, just like the quite huge and great developments in the economic field. According to the Progress of China in Implementing the Millennium Development Goals (2000–2015) which was issued jointly by the government of China and UN agencies in China, China has achieved the goal of universal primary education by 2015 ahead of schedule: when the Chinese Government has progressed towards free compulsory education in a phased and planned way, the Chinese also has achieve the targets of universal 9-year compulsory education and basic elimination of illiteracy among the adolescents, and illiteracy rate among the adolescents has been below 1.0 %, and the net enrollment rate of primary-school-age children has increased to 99.8 %. In the aspect of eliminating gender disparity, the difference in net enrollment rate between boys and girls has been eliminated, and the gap between boys and girls in the years of education they received was narrowed from 1.3 years in 2000 to 0.8 years in 2014. In 2014, there were 32.458 million girl students in secondary schools, accounting for 47.84 % of the total number of students there, and 43.7196 million girl students in primary schools, accounting for 46.26 % of the total number of students there. The ratio of boy to girl students in primary and secondary schools is basically consistent with the ratio of school-age children between boys and girls. These glorious data remarked that Chinese education has attained the aim of “equity” and “popularization” in some extrinsic data and indexes, but these glorious outside data cannot hide the deep conflicts in the Chinese educational equity. In addition, with a decade of development, these extrinsic conflicts have become more internal. Due to their concealment, these internal conflicts of equity will be tough to solve. These internal conflicts can be summarized in three basic facts: quality, freedom, and equity. The relationship among them also becomes critical influences on China’s education today. 1. Educational equity and quality of education: how to ensure students in the poverty-stricken areas can enjoy high-quality education? Quality of education is the finally direction of the educational equity, and the quality of education in the poverty-stricken areas in China is still severe from the point of view of students’ scholastic achievement and the state of teaching staff. College entrance examination is the largest academic test in China, students get the qualification to enter the college through this text. For the students in poverty-stricken areas, college entrance examination is the only way for them to change their fate. However, according to a study published in the Social Science in China, the probability of rural students entering the college is getting smaller, and it will be increasing difficult for them to enter the college. In addition, the rate of rural students in the Chinese top universities is declining obviously. (Li 2012). On the other side, teachers in rural areas are not optimistic too. The Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

This study examined the relationship between executive functions (EFs) and school performance in primary and secondary school students aged 8 to 13 years (N = 146, M = 10.4, 45.8% girls). EFs were evaluated using the Trail Making Test (TMT), Verbal Fluency (VF), and the Stroop Test. Students’ GPAs and teachers’ assessment of academic skills were used to measure school performance. To evaluate the students’ social behavior, participants were asked to rate all their classmates’ prosocial behavior and nominate three students with whom they preferred to do school activities; teachers also provided evaluations of students’ social skills. EF measures explained 41% (p = .003, f 2 = .694) of variability in school performance and 29% (p = .005, f 2 = .401) of variance in social behavior in primary school students. The predictive power of EFs was found to be lower for secondary school students, although the TMT showed significant prediction and explained 13% (p = .004, f 2 = .149) of variance in school performance and 15% (p = .008, f 2 = .176) in peer ratings of prosocial behavior. This paper discusses the relevance of EFs in the school environment and their different predictive power in primary and secondary school students.

BackgroundDuring the Covid-19 pandemic, non‐operative management for acute appendicitis (AA) was implemented in the UK. Aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and outcomes of conservative versus surgical management of AA during the pandemic.Materials & MethodsWe conducted an observational study in a tertiary referral centre. Data was collected from patients (≥16 years) with a diagnosis of AA between 1st November 2019 to 10th March 2020 (pre-COVID period) and 10th March 2020 to 5th July 2020 (COVID period).ResultsA total of 116 patients in the pre-COVID period were included versus 91 in the COVID period. 43.1% (n = 50) of patients pre-COVID were classified as ASA 2 compared to 26.4% (n = 24) during the COVID period (p-value=0.042). 72.5% (n = 66) of the patients during the COVID period scored as high risk using the Alvarado score compared to 24.1% (n = 28) in the pre-COVID period (p-value<0.001). We observed a significant increase in radiological evaluation, 69.8% versus 87.5% of patients had a CT in the pre-COVID and COVID periods respectively (p-value=0.008). 94.9% of patients were managed operatively in the pre-COVID period compared to 60.4% in the COVID period (p-value<0.001). We observed more open appendicectomies (37.3% versus 0.9%; p-value<0.001) during the COVID period compared to the pre-COVID period. More abscess formation and free fluid were found intraoperatively in the COVID period (p-value= 0.021 and 0.023 respectively). Re-attendance rate due to appendicitis-related issues was significantly higher in the COVID period (p = 0.027).ConclusionRadiological diagnosis of AA was more frequent during the COVID period. More conservative management for AA was employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for those managed operatively an open approach was preferred. Intra-operative findings were suggestive of delayed presentation during the COVID period without this affecting the length of hospital stay.

Acute appendicitis management during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective cohort study from a large UK centre

Covid-19 pandemic has affected all the parts of the society across the globe in different ways and magnitude. During the lock down period, the trading, investing, and stock market participation among the investors have been increased among the people across the globe. To take the benefit of liquidity of the market, listing of the shares of companies in the recognized stock exchanges in India have increased during this pandemic. To assess the impact of Covid on the performance of IPOs, five listing of IPOs of the pre Covid period and five listing of IPOs of during the covid period of construction and engineering sector have been considered. The average listing gain of the prices of the IPOs of Covid period accounted higher as compared to the average listing gains of the prices of the IPOs listed in the market in pre-Covid period. The average listing day gain of the prices of the IPOs of Covid period accounted also higher as compared to the average listing day gains of the prices of the IPOs listed in the market in pre- Covid period. Average 30 days’ return of the prices of IPOs listed in pre Covid period recorded higher as compared to the average 30 days’ return of the prices the IPOs listed in Covid period. The result of pair t test indicates that there is no significant difference of the listing gain of the prices of the IPOs listed before covid and the covid period.