Social Disturbances Research Articles

Genetic Algorithms-Based Optimum PV Site Selection Minimizing Visual Disturbance

In this paper, an integrated methodology is developed to determine optimum areas for Photovoltaic (PV) installations that minimize the relevant visual disturbance and satisfy spatial constraints associated with land use, as well as environmental and techno-economic siting factors. The visual disturbance due to PV installations is quantified by introducing and calculating the “Social Disturbance” (SDIS) indicator, whereas optimum locations are determined for predefined values of two siting preferences (maximum allowable PV locations—grid station distance and minimum allowable total coverage area of PV installations). Thematic maps of appropriate selected exclusion criteria are produced, followed by a cumulative weighted viewshed analysis, where the SDIS indicator is calculated. Optimum solutions are then determined by developing and employing a Genetic Algorithms (GAs) optimization process. The methodology is applied for the municipality of La Palma Del Condado in Spain for 100 different combinations of the two siting preferences. The optimization results are also employed to create a flexible and easy-to-use web-GIS application, facilitating policy-makers to choose the set of solutions that better fulfils their preferences. The GAs algorithm offers the ability to determine distinguishable, but compact, regions of optimum locations in the region, whereas the results indicate the strong dependence of the optimum areas upon the two siting preferences.

Individual to collective adaptation through incremental change in Colorado groundwater governance

Designing adaptive institutions for achieving sustainable groundwater use is a central challenge to local and state governments. This challenge is exacerbated by the growing impacts and uncertainty of climate change on water resources. Calls to reform water governance systems are often made in the context of these challenges, and reform efforts increasingly emphasize the need for solutions that are locally designed and administered. Such reforms often require fundamental institutional change that is difficult to achieve amid the myriad forces that stabilize and reproduce existing institutional structures and functions. In practice, governance change is instead overwhelmingly incremental and tends to be punctuated by periods of adjustment in response to social or environmental shocks and disturbances. We present a comparative study of four major Colorado river basins and examine how each has evolved distinct arrangements of groundwater governance in response to regulatory and drought disturbances over the past century. We interrogate concepts of path-dependence and apply a historical lens to understand why locally designed institutions for self-regulation emerge in some Colorado groundwater basins but not in others. We uncover a pattern of collective action by groundwater users that first seeks to oppose state regulation, followed by acceptance and efforts to comply, and eventual attempts to get ahead of state regulation by enacting local institutions for self-regulation. We report these findings and discuss the insights they offer for understanding how adaptive natural resources institutions are shaped through time by the constraints and opportunities of path-dependence and local contexts.

GYNECOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY IN ADOLESCENT GIRLS

Background: There has been an increase in childhood and adolescent obesity worldwide, which affects the girls resulting low self-esteem and depression and diminishes health- related quality of life. The overweight and obese teenage girls are more likely to have gynaecologic and obstetric complications during adolescence and later in life. Objective: To determine gynaecological and psychosocial risk factors associated with obesity in adolescent girls. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at schools and colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi with a sample size of n=99. The participants were divided into two groups of which n=25 were obese adolescents (cases) and n=74 were non-obese adolescents (controls). The Data collection was done based on self-structured questionnaire from adolescent females aged 10 to 19 years in cases with BMI >27.5kg/m2 in controls 18.5 to 23kg/m2. The study duration was 6 months from (October- 2020 to March- 2021). Study was conducted in various school and colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. To determine the association odds ratio (OR) was calculated. Results: The mean age of the cases was 16.2±2.10 years and 14.78±1.82 years for controls. The BMI of cases was 29.38±1.97 kg/m2 and a control was 18.06±2.88 kg/m2. In gynaecological risk factors cases are more at risk to have excessive acne/pimple on face (Odds ratio: 3.484, p= 0.008), more likely to experience amenorrhea (OR: 4.504, p= 0.007) and more likely to have excessive facial/abdominal hair growth (OR: 3.600, p=0.014). For psychosocial risk factors the cases presented with a greater need/referral of a psychological evaluation (OR: 4.063, p=0.008) and feel social limitation or emotional disturbance (OR: 2.561, p=0.044). Conclusion: It was concluded that certain gynaecological and psychosocial determinants could be influenced by adolescent obesity leading to many complications and negative consequences on present and future health outcomes. Key words: adolescents, females, gynaecologic, obesity, overweight, quality of life

Second-generation antipsychotic olanzapine attenuates behavioral and prefrontal cortex synaptic plasticity deficits in a neurodevelopmental schizophrenia-related rat model

Second-generation antipsychotics are the drugs of choice for the treatment of neurodevelopmental-related mental diseases such as schizophrenia. Despite the effectiveness of these drugs to ameliorate some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, specifically the positive ones, the mechanisms beyond their antipsychotic effect are still poorly understood. Second-generation antipsychotics are reported to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroplastic properties. Using the neonatal ventral hippocampus lesion (nVHL) in the rat, an accepted schizophrenia-related model, we evaluated the effect of the second-generation antipsychotic olanzapine (OLZ) in the behavioral, neuroplastic, and neuroinflammatory alterations exhibited in the nVHL animals. OLZ corrected the hyperlocomotion and impaired working memory of the nVHL rats but failed to enhance social behavior disturbances of these animals. In the prefrontal cortex (PFC), OLZ restored the pyramidal cell structural plasticity in the nVHL rats, enhancing the dendritic arbor length, the spinogenesis and the proportion of mature spines. Moreover, OLZ attenuated astrogliosis as well as some pro-inflammatory, oxidative stress, and apoptosis-related molecules in the PFC. These findings reinforce the evidence of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neurotrophic mechanisms of second-generation antipsychotics in the nVHL schizophrenia-related model, which allows for the possibility of developing more specific drugs for this disorder and thus avoiding the side effects of current schizophrenia treatments.

Knowledge and Attitude Towards Autism Among the General Public in Malaysia

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a range of neurodevelopmental disorders predominantly characterized by impaired social functioning and communication disturbances. Symptoms of autistic children may include repetitive movements, intense focus on one item, severe tantrum or self-abusive like behavior. In Malaysia, autism is still not clear and the public seems to lack good information or experience with people with ASD. Therefore, this study was investigated to describe the level of knowledge and attitude on ASD among public in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was conducted and Google link questionnaires containing demographic data, level of knowledge and attitude was distributed online via social media. Of 385 respondents, only 296 that meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Collected data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013 and IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The findings suggested that public in Malaysia have a moderate level of knowledge (72%) and low level of positive attitude (57%) towards ASD. Even there are many Malaysian people have heard about autism but still many of them do not really understand the nature of children with autism. Some of them even cannot recognize the physical appearance of autistic children. We can conclude that lack of knowledge can lead to the negative attitudes towards autistic individuals and families. Further awareness strategy and giving the right information of the autism via social media and educational campaign can decrease the discrimination and stigmatization on ASD among public.

The association between cannabis use and facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia, siblings, and healthy controls: Results from the EUGEI study

Schizophrenia is frequently accompanied with social cognitive disturbances. Cannabis represents one established environmental factor associated with the onset and progression of schizophrenia. The present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association of facial emotion recognition (FER) performance with cannabis use in 2039 patients with schizophrenia, 2141 siblings, and 2049 healthy controls (HC). FER performance was measured using the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR). Better FER performance as indicated by higher DFAR-total scores was associated with lifetime regular cannabis use in schizophrenia (B = 1.36, 95% CI 0.02 to 2.69), siblings (B = 2.17, 95% CI 0.79 to 3.56), and HC (B = 3.10, 95% CI 1.14 to 5.06). No associations were found between DFAR-total and current cannabis use. Patients with schizophrenia who started to use cannabis after the age of 16 showed better FER performance than patients who started earlier (B = 2.50, 95% CI 0.15 to 4.84) and non-users (B = 3.72, 95 CI 1.96 to 5.49). Better FER performance was found also in siblings who started to use cannabis after 16 compared to non-users (B = 2.37, 95% CI 0.58 to 4.16), while HC using cannabis performed better than non-users at DFAR-total regardless of the age at onset. Our findings suggest that lifetime regular cannabis use may be associated with better FER regardless of the psychosis risk, but that FER might be moderated by age at first use in people with higher genetic risk. Longitudinal studies may clarify whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between cannabis use and FER performance in psychotic and non-psychotic samples.

The Ntan1 gene is expressed in perineural glia and neurons of adult Drosophila

The Drosophila Ntan1 gene encodes an N-terminal asparagine amidohydrolase that we show is highly conserved throughout evolution. Protein isoforms share more than 72% of similarity with their human counterparts. At the cellular level, this gene regulates the type of glial cell growth in Drosophila larvae by its different expression levels. The Drosophila Ntan1 gene has 4 transcripts that encode 2 protein isoforms. Here we describe that although this gene is expressed at all developmental stages and adult organs tested (eye, antennae and brain) there are some transcript-dependent specificities. Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative cues could account for gene function. However, widespread developmental stage and organ-dependent expression could be masking cell-specific constraints that can be explored in Drosophila by using Gal4 drivers. We report a new genetic driver within this gene, Mz317-Gal4, that recapitulates the Ntan1 gene expression pattern in adults. It shows specific expression for perineural glia in the olfactory organs but mixed expression with some neurons in the adult brain. Memory and social behavior disturbances in mice and cancer and schizophrenia in humans have been linked to the Ntan1 gene. Therefore, these new tools in Drosophila may contribute to our understanding of the cellular basis of these alterations.

Characterization of social behavior in young and middle-aged ChAT-IRES-Cre mouse.

The cholinergic system is an important modulator of brain processes. It contributes to the regulation of several cognitive functions and emotional states, hence altering behaviors. Previous works showed that cholinergic (nicotinic) receptors of the prefrontal cortex are needed for adapted social behaviors. However, these data were obtained in mutant mice that also present alterations of several neurotransmitter systems, in addition to the cholinergic system. ChAT-IRES-Cre mice, that express the Cre recombinase specifically in cholinergic neurons, are useful tools to investigate the role of the cholinergic circuits in behavior. However, their own behavioral phenotype has not yet been fully characterized, in particular social behavior. In addition, the consequences of aging on the cholinergic system of ChAT-IRES-Cre mice has never been studied, despite the fact that aging is known to compromise the cholinergic system efficiency. The aim of the current study was thus to characterize the social phenotype of ChAT-IRES-Cre mice both at young (2–3 months) and middle (10–11 months) ages. Our results reveal an alteration of the cholinergic system, evidenced by a decrease of ChAT, CHT and VAChT gene expression in the striatum of the mice, that was accompanied by mild social disturbances and a tendency towards anxiety. Aging decreased social dominance, without being amplified by the cholinergic alterations. Altogether, this study shows that ChAT-IRES-Cre mice are useful models for studying the cholinergic system‘s role in social behavior using appropriate modulating technics (optogenetic or DREADD).

Pharmacological interventions for social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia: A protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BackgroundSocial cognitive impairments adversely affect social functioning (e.g., employment status) in patients with schizophrenia. Although pharmacological interventions have been suggested to provide some benefits on social cognition, little information is available on the comparative efficacy of pharmacotherapy. Thus, the aim of this planned systematic review and network meta-analysis is to perform a quantitative comparison of the effects of various psychotropic drugs, including supplements, on social cognition disturbances of schizophrenia.MethodsThe literature search will be carried out using the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, ClinicalTrials.gov, and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform databases from inception onward. Randomized controlled trials that examined the efficacy of drugs in social cognitive disturbances will be included, based on the most recent studies and the broader literature than previously searched. This protocol defines a priori the methods that will be used for study selection, data collection, quality assessment, and statistical syntheses.DiscussionThe findings this work are expected to help promote the development of better therapeutics of social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia and related psychiatric conditions.Systematic Review Registration[www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero], identifier [CRD42021293224].

Analysis of MRI as a screening tool for the diagnosis of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a clinical disorder that affects 0.01% of the world population. It affects people in late teen hood or early maturity resulting in lifelong social and mental disturbance. At present, there is no cure, but this can be diagnosed and treated. Classification of SCZ imposes great challenges even for the most experienced neurologists. A non-intrusive technique like MRI is taken for diagnosing various diseases which are used as a base for our tool. Many researchers used large datasets of SCZ and normal for analyzing SCZ using various parameters like Grey matter, white matter, voxel-based morphometry, etc., This work proposes a simpler but effective approach to classify the same. This paper determined statistical and complexity features from 32 SCZ and 18 normal MRI images. Totally 9 features are determined out of these, novel features Hausdorff dimension and Euclidean distance played an important role in classification. Hausdorff dimension is selected as the most significant feature by student’s t-test with p<0.001. The back propagation neural network receives substantial information from the t-test as input. Our promising approach, with a minimal dataset, classified the subjects with 100% sensitivity, 88.9% specificity, and 94.4% accuracy.

Reduced childhood social attention in autism model marmosets predicts impaired social skills and inflexible behavior in adulthood.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social and communication impairments and restricted and repetitive behavior. Although there is currently no established cure for ASD, early interventions for deficits of attention to other individuals are expected to reduce the progression of ASD symptoms in later life. To confirm this hypothesis and improve early therapeutic interventions, it is desirable to develop an animal model of ASD in which social attention is impaired in childhood and ASD-like social behavior is observed in adulthood. However, rodent models of ASD have difficulty in recapitulating the deficit of gaze-based social attention. In this study, we examined the direction of gaze toward other conspecifics during childhood and puberty in a three-chamber test setting using an ASD marmoset model produced by maternal exposure to valproic acid (VPA). We also conducted a reversal learning test in adult VPA-exposed marmosets as an indicator of perseveration, a core symptom of ASD that has not previously been investigated in this model. The results showed that time spent gazing at other conspecifics was reduced in VPA-exposed marmosets in childhood, and that mature animals persisted with previous strategies that required long days for acquisition to pass the test. In a longitudinal study using the same animals, deficits in social attention in childhood correlated well with ASD-like social disturbance (inequity aversion and third-party reciprocity) and inflexible behavior in adulthood. Since VPA-exposed marmosets exhibit these diverse ASD-like behaviors that are consistent from childhood to adulthood, VPA-exposed marmosets will provide a valuable means of elucidating mechanisms for early intervention and contribute to the development of early therapies.

Evidence to Inform Resilience Policy in the SADC: Current Limitations and Future Research Areas

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member countries are potentially vulnerable to external disturbances, including environmental, economic, and social shocks. Regional policy emphasizes interventions to ensure long-term growth and development in the face of potential disturbance. Current emphasis is placed on mitigating the impact of climate change, including the creation of the SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. However, the need for long-term adaptation and associated policy is evident to reduce regional vulnerabilities. Research is an important source of evidence to support policymaking, with specific importance to institutions in developing regions such as the SADC and during times of global change and disruption. SADC development policy related to resilience outcomes ought to be informed by research. This paper investigates the extent to which existing research supports regional resilience policymaking. Objectives include investigating available research on resilience in the SADC, identifying potential limitations, and delineating areas of future research to be considered by researchers that contribute to knowledge and evidence creation. A bibliometric review and selective content review of existing research were utilized. Relevant publications for the aforesaid analysis were delineated using the source concepts “resilience”, “adaptation”, “adaptability”, and “Southern African Development Community” (or “SADC”). Using the SCOPUS database, bibliometric data of 65 publications were imported into the VOSviewer application (v.1.6.17). Keyword occurrences and network and overlay visualizations were applied to identify the research themes underlying current research. The findings, which were supported by the selective content review, indicate that existing research focuses primarily on environmental and social disturbances, while the applicable regional planning scale and development policy are considered to a limited extent. Areas of future research ought to create evidence that is thematically relevant to policy areas and applicable to policy interventions, which necessitates increased research on economic disturbances, a broadening of existing themes to the appropriate regional planning scale, and consideration of explicit regional development objectives and policy. Transdisciplinarity ought to be central to future research on the diverse disturbances facing the region, while researchers ought to leverage knowledge-creation opportunities catalyzed by SDG implementation.

Climate Security and Its Implications for East Asia

This study investigated the scientific progress of climate security studies through a literature review and discussed its risks in East Asia. Climate security refers to the protection of countries and societies from conflicts and riots caused by climate change. As climate change becomes more apparent, climate security has been vigorously debated in the international community. Climate security risks in East Asia, however, are not yet widely discussed. This literature review identified that climate change increases the risk of conflict not only through direct threats to people and societies from extreme weather events and natural disasters, but also indirectly through various pathways, such as shortages of water and other resources, outbreaks of climate migration, disruptions in food production, economic and social disturbances, and geopolitical changes. Considering the climate-conflict pathways identified by the literature review, East Asia may face (1) tensions caused by climate emigrants, (2) conflicts over loss of territories and fishery areas, (3) conflicts caused by water shortage, (4) instability caused by heavy rain and floods, and (5) geopolitical risks of rare earth sourcing, green industrial policies, and the Arctic. East Asian countries need to lower climate security risks in the region through cooperative international measures such as climate change mitigation, vulnerability reduction, and policy dialogue.

Riots and subways, a relationship moderated by the neighborhood’s income level

Social disturbances due to socioeconomic and political factors received media attention during 2019 in places like France, Hong Kong, Chile, Nigeria, Sudan, Haiti, and Lebanon. In October 2019, Chile saw massive demonstrations in the capital city of Santiago. The cost of damage to infrastructure during the first month of unrest was estimated at US$ 4.6 billion, and the cost to the Chilean economy was about US$ 3 billion, 1.1% of its Gross Domestic Product. This study analyzes how the topology of the public transport network affected the locations of the 2019 riots in Santiago. On average, we find a clear association between proximity to the subway network and riot density. This association is significant only in neighborhoods with residents in the highest and lowest income quartiles. As a result, when analyzing social unrest and the critical role of public transport, policymakers should also consider the crucial role of income.

Delving into the Genetic Causes of Language Impairment in a Case of Partial Deletion of NRXN1

Introduction: Copy-number variations (CNVs) impacting on small DNA stretches and associated with language deficits provide a unique window to the role played by specific genes in language function. Methods: We report in detail on the cognitive, language, and genetic features of a girl bearing a small deletion (0.186 Mb) in the 2p16.3 region, arr[hg19] 2p16.3(50761778_50947729)×1, affecting exons 3–7 of NRXN1, a neurexin-coding gene previously related to schizophrenia, autism (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mood disorder, and intellectual disability (ID). Results: The proband exhibits many of the features commonly found in subjects with deletions of NRXN1, like ASD-like traits (including ritualized behaviors, disordered sensory aspects, social disturbances, and impaired theory of mind), ADHD symptoms, moderate ID, and impaired speech and language. Regarding this latter aspect, we observed altered speech production, underdeveloped phonological awareness, minimal syntax, serious shortage of active vocabulary, impaired receptive language, and inappropriate pragmatic behavior (including lack of metapragmatic awareness and communicative use of gaze). Microarray analyses point to the dysregulation of several genes important for language function in the girl compared to her healthy parents. Discussion: Although some basic cognitive deficit – such as the impairment of executive function – might contribute to the language problems exhibited by the proband, molecular evidence suggests that they might result, to a great extent, from the abnormal expression of genes directly related to language.

Antipsychotics for irritability in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

IntroductionAutism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by qualitative impairments in social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviors [1]. Despite of these symptoms, some patients present different manifestations of irritability. These can be expressed in different kinds of disruptive behaviors. Recent studies shown that, at least 20% of children with autism present irritability symptoms, which cause severe social and familiar disturbances [2].ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate short-term efficacy of aripiprazole in children in comparison with other antipsychotic. We include behaviors related to irritability as all kinds of aggressions, tantrums and self-injuries.Methods90 patients were recruited. 45 of the patients received aripiprazole and 45 received other antipsychotic. The initial doses of aripiprazole was 2,5 mg/day. Doses were increase related to symptoms. The range of the doses were from 2,5 to 15 mg/day.ResultsFrom these 45 patients 12 had a relapse (26,6%) during the next two years. From the second group, 20 (44.4%) of the patients had a relapse during the next two years. Five of the aripiprazole group (11,1%) abandon treatment. From the second group twelve patients (26.6%) also abandon treatment. Prolactin rates with aripiprazole were 28.2 ng/ml for males and 14.1 ng/ml for women.Conclusions In general, the result of our research indicated that Aripiprazole was effective and generally safe and well tolerated in the treatment of irritability associated with ASD. One of the limitations was that we do not use scales in order to measure the changes.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Impact of COVID19 on Agriculture Sector

Abstract: COVID-19 pandemic has brought the varied modification within the Indian agricultural system extensively throughout the year. Still, within the recent quarterly GDP estimates post-COVID state of affairs showcase their strengths and resilience in Indian agriculture, to register a positive growth of three.4% throughout the fiscal year 2020–21. The sole sector that accustomed get on the positive growth of five.8% witnessed the downfall by a pair of.5 % point. During this context, we tend to aim to synthesize the impact on the Indian agricultural system viz., production, selling and consumption followed by a collection of potential ways to recover and prosper post pandemic. There area unit several Survey findings indicate that the pandemic has affected production and selling through labour and provision constraints, whereas the negative financial gain shock restricted access to markets and enlarged costs of food commodities moving the consumption pattern. There area unit even the farmers facing the high % of loans and face major money downside. The pandemic wreaked a considerable physical, social, economic and emotional disturbance on all the stakeholders of Indian agricultural system. Seizing the crisis as a chance, the state declared a raft of measures and long-pending reforms. We tend to propose associate eight strategy starting from social safety nets, family farming, monetizing buffer stock, staggered acquisition to secondary agriculture to revive and prosper post-pandemic.

State of knowledge and challenges in the control and eradication of Onchocerciasis in Africa: a mini scoping review

Background: Onchocerciasis is a vector-borne neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus. Given the high morbidity and mortality, onchocerciasis control gained great attention from many stakeholders both nationally and internationally. However, there are still the need for further solidified commitments and compelling initiatives across concerned stakeholders including regional bodies in the fight toward controlling its burden and risks. Thus, this review briefly appraised the current understanding and dynamics in the control and eradication efforts of Onchocerciasis in Africa. Methods: A rapid scoping review was used for this paper. Key databases used for this study include Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar to identify a series of relevant peer-reviewed publications. The search contained just English-language articles. In addition, African government websites and specialized organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS, CDC, etc. were accessed and reviewed to gather important data on national and international control programs, related documentation and consultative expert reports. Results: In Africa, long-standing strides toward the control and elimination measures for onchocerciasis were conducted for several decades. Between 1974 to 2002, OCP had actively led the control and containment efforts for onchocerciasis in the context of 11 West Africa. However, endemic regions and states have switched their policies from controlling to eradication, with the ultimate objective of preventing their territories from parasite spread. Some key challenges are the insufficient identification of all endemic areas, high prevalence of both onchocerciasis and loiasis, potential development of resistance to ivermectin, inconsistent initiatives to address cross-border problems, disagreements and social disturbance. Various challenges, however, impede current efforts to eradicate African onchocerciasis. Conclusion: In the last decades, extensive measures have been taken with specialized state programs, largely efficient in high endemic nations, to manage and control onchocerciasis in African regions. The implications of these and other difficulties at country level control programs must therefore be identified and country-specific contextual remedies used to expedite the elimination of onchocerciasis.

Evaluation of Spinal Alignment and Clinical Findings for the Efficacy of One-Stage Surgery in Tandem Spinal Stenosis.

IntroductionWe compared preoperative skeletal muscle, pre-and post-operative spinal alignment or clinical symptoms between tandem spinal stenosis (TSS) patients who underwent simultaneous cervical and lumbar decompression and lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients who underwent only lumbar decompression and the efficacy of one-stage surgery was examined.MethodsThis study included 82 patients, identifying 13 patients for the TSS group (mean age 77.2 years) and 69 patients for the LSS group (mean age 72.2 years). One-stage decompression surgery was performed on both groups. The spinal alignments were evaluated using Lumbar scoliosis (LS), Sagittal vertical axis (SVA), Lumbar lordosis (LL), Pelvic tilt (PT), Pelvic incidence (PI), and Sacral slope (SS). The clinical symptoms were evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) score for low back pain (LBP), the Japanese Orthopedic Association scoring system (JOA score), the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ), the Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI).ResultsThe amount of bleeding was not significantly different between the two groups (p > .05). SVA, LL, PT, and SS were significantly improved in the LSS group (p < 0.05). In the TSS group, SVA, LL, PT, and SS tended to improve, but without significant differences. The proportion of JOABPEQ gait dysfunction that was difficult to climb stairs was 83% in the TSS group, and social life disturbance that was difficult to engage in ordinary activities was 67% in the TSS group, which was significantly higher than that in the LSS group (p < .05). Although clinical symptoms improved by surgery in both groups (p < .05), there was no significant difference in the degree of clinical symptom improvement before and after surgery (p > .05).ConclusionsOne-stage surgery for TSS is effective because it has the same intraoperative bleeding volume as LSS alone and is minimally invasive. It also improves forward-leaning posture and clinical symptoms equivalent to LSS alone.

Smartphone addiction and associated risk factors amongst undergraduate medical students in a medical college of Assam: a cross-sectional study

Background: Use of smartphones is becoming increasingly indispensable in today’s world but increased usage creates addiction to it, which is associated with profound social and psychological disturbances. As such, this study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of smartphone addiction amongst undergraduate medical students and to assess their smartphone usage pattern.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 304 medical students. A pre-designed, pre-tested structured questionnaire containing the short-version of the smart phone addiction scale (SAS-SV) was used for data collection. Data is presented in percentages and association was tested using Chi-square and Fischer’s exact test.Results: Prevalence of smartphone addiction was found to be 44.07%. The most personally relevant smart phone function reported was social-media usage followed by watching videos followed by phone calls. Students using smartphones on an average of 3-4 hours/day and &gt;5 hours/day are 3.2 and 5.7 times more likely to be addicted to smartphones compared to the students’ using smartphones on an average of 11-60 mins/day [95% CI: 1.13-9.29, p=0.02 (3-4 hours/day) and 95% CI: 1.92-16.92, p=0.00 (&gt;5 hours/day)]. Students using smartphones on a frequency of 21-50 times/day and &gt;50 times/day are 6.7 times and 10.9 times more likely to be addicted to smartphones compared to the students’ using smartphones on a frequency of &lt;5 times/day respectively [95% CI: 1.8-24.87, p=0.00 (21-50 times/day) and 95% CI: 2.79-43.1, p=0.00 (&gt;50 times/day)].Conclusions: Prevalence of smartphone addiction was quite high amongst the medical students compared to previous studies. As such, awareness regarding this upcoming problem amongst students is of utmost importance.