Search

Background: Prior research has highlighted the adverse effects of extensive Internet usage among adolescents and college students. However, these concerns have not been thoroughly examined through cross-sectional studies focusing on Indian higher secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: The present investigation aimed to assess the prevalence of Internet addiction among students at both secondary and university levels in India. Materials & Methods: In this research, a total of 128 students were involved, comprising 47 from higher secondary, 50 undergraduates and 31 postgraduate students. A self-administered measure consisting of two parts assessed sociodemographic variables and the levels of internet usage. The Internet addiction test (IAT) was administered to assess internet addiction levels. Descriptive analysis, one-way analysis of variance and chi-square test were employed for data analyses. Results: In our study, the Mean±SD age of the participants was 20.50±1.20 years (min=16, max=23 years). Approximately, 67.2% of the participants surpassed the established normal scores for the IAT. Specifically, 32.80%, 47.7%, 18% and 1.56% of participants fell into categories indicating normal, mild, moderate, and severe levels of Internet addiction according to the IAT. Internet addiction was significantly higher among urban-dwelling students (70%) compared to 30% of normal Internet users. About 69.70% of males were Internet addicts compared to 30.20% of males belonging to regular Internet users. Conclusion: The study revealed a significant prevalence of internet addiction among Indian higher secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Internet addiction was notably higher among students living in cities and men than ordinary Internet users. These findings suggest that there is an urgent need for targeted interventions and preventative measures to combat Internet addiction in educational institutions, particularly among male and urban students.

This paper processes numerically and analytically the magnetohydrodynamic flow among two porous solid plate intersections at an angle or through non-parallel porous walls, which can be interpreted as a mix of Jeffery Hamel fluid flow additives from suction-injection parameters. In fluid mechanics, the equations of governing, which are transferred to the non-linear ordinary differential equation of third order, are modeled instead of the conventional Navier-Stokes equations by Maxwell's electromagnetism. Results obtained from the DTM and the numerical method BVP4c are compared to those resulting from the optimal methods (ODTM), which consist of the collocation differential transform method (CDTM), the sub-domain differential transform method (SDTM), the least squares differential transform method (LSDTM), and the Galerkin differential transform method (GDTM). A comparison is made between the approximate analytical and numerical solutions for different parameters like open angles (ε), Reynolds numbers (Re), injection parameters (S), and Hartmann numbers (Ha). The results demonstrate that the two approaches are very similar.

COVID-19 is a severe global pandemic that has caught the whole world unprepared. In the absence of a clear timeline for this pandemic to end, it is need of the hour to investigate the effect of this pandemic on both previous and anticipated investments. Global economic unrest has hindered the ramping deployment of Renewable energy projects. The most quick actions that may be taken to mitigate the effects and to up-rise the investment portfolio policies are a very critical tool in hands of government for a very immediate effect have also been made without keeping the context of COVID-19 into account. New variants of diff rent nature are being discovered and every now and then new lock downs are happening. In this context different policies have to be evaluated under the pandemic scenario. A case study of a large scale renewable energy project for a higher education institute in Pakistan is being used to measure the difference during COVID and pre COVID times. This paper provides a framework to investigate the impact of COVID on renewable energy system projects under current net-metering, net-billing and self-consumption policies. A recent investment in a photovoltaic system is assessed based on previously projected financial benefits versus the pandemic effected ones. This research concludes that investing in photovoltaic systems are still a viable option even in an extreme pandemic situation with less than 0.5 years increase in payback period, and the government can still provide a stimulus for investing in green energy by implementing net-metering policies on a larger scale.

The study aimed to know the degree of availability of integrated preparation criteria in the Arabic Teacher training Program in Syrian universities from the viewpoint of university students of the Educational qualification diploma, and the degree of availability of these standards in the outputs of the preparation program. To achieve the Goals of the study, a list of integrated preparation criteria was prepare comprising (110) indicators, distributed to (11) criteria. The list was applied to a randomly chosen sample of (45) educational qualification diploma students. The results of the study showed that the Standards for integrated preparation are provided in a medium degree overall in the program for preparing teachers of Arabic language. The results of the study showed the availability of standards for integrative preparation as a whole, with a medium degree in the Arabic language teacher’s preparation program. The criterion for the integrative acquisition of occupational traits and characteristics ranked first with a high degree of availability, at a rate of (79.16%). This is followed by the criterion of integration between the basic knowledge of effective teaching with a medium availability, at a rate of (59.85%), followed by the criterion of achieving integration between specialized knowledge and practical application with a medium availability rate, at a rate of (55.497%). Then the criterion for achieving integration between specialized knowledge and methods of teaching it with a moderate degree of availability, and at a rate of (54.92%). This was followed by the criterion of making the student-teacher evaluation integral with a medium availability degree, at a rate of (52,785%), followed by the criterion of linking linguistic and professional ability with a medium availability degree, at a rate of (52,663%).....

Background: Pseudoexfoliation syndrome is a common eye disorder that can affect different parts of the eye causing significant morbidity. Objective: To compare corneal endothelial changes between patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and normal age matched patients. Methods: Specular microscopy was used to measure central corneal thickness, average size of endothelial cells and coefficient of variation in cell area, endothelial cell density, as well as hexagonality of 238 eyes from 238 patients (120 eyes from patients with pseudo exfoliation syndrome and 118 eyes from normal age-matched patients). Results: Patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome had lower central corneal thickness (p value 0.049) compared to the control (491.6±28.86 vs 502.5±35.77 µm), lower endothelial cell density (p value 0.02) compared to control (2458.9±430.8 vs 2585.3±378.8 cell/mm2), lower hexagonality (P value 0.006) compared to control (48.25±18.76 vs 55.06±12,44), also a significantly higher coefficient of variation (p value 0.046) compared to control (36.15±7.381 vs 33.4±6.22). Conclusion: Pseudoexfoliation syndrome is associated with a significant change in the corneal endothelium, including reduction of endothelial cell density, increased variation of cells shape (pleomorphism) and increased variation of cells area (polymegathism). There was a significant change of central corneal thickness. Keywords: Corneal endothelium, specular microscopy, pseudoexfoliation syndrome, central corneal thickness Citation: Rasheed AM, Kadum DJ. Corneal changes in a sample of pseudoexfoliation Iraqi patients. Iraqi JMS. 2018; 16(3): 232-238. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.16.3.2

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable thermoplastic polyester. In 2010, PLA became the second highest consumed bioplastic in the world due to its wide application. Conventionally, PLA is produced by direct condensation of lactic acid monomer and ring opening polymerization of lactide, resulting in lower molecular weight and lesser strength of polymer. Furthermore, conventional methods of PLA production require a catalyst which makes it inappropriate for biomedical applications. Newer method utilizes metabolic engineering of microorganism for direct production of PLA through fermentation which produces good quality and high molecular weight and yield as compared to conventional methods. PLA is used as decomposing packaging material, sheet casting, medical implants in the form of screw, plate, and rod pin, etc. The main focus of the review is to highlight the synthesis of PLA by various polymerization methods that mainly include metabolic engineering fermentation as well as salient biomedical applications of PLA.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) is an incurable and inevitably fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Although CJD has a worldwide distribution, there are no official statistics on CJD in Thailand. A diagnosis of CJD is suspected when a patient develops rapidly progressive dementia with myoclonus. However, CJD may be mistaken for a variety of illnesses because its initial presentation frequently consists of non-specific symptoms. Here, we examined cases of sporadic CJD (sCJD) from Thammasat University Hospital (a tertiary care hospital in Thailand) between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2014. Three cases of probable and possible sCJD were collected. All cases presented with rapidly progressive cognitive dysfunction accompanied by spontaneous myoclonus. Classical electroencehalography changes and typical abnormal MRI features were observed. All of the cases died within a period of 8 months. None of the patients underwent brain biopsy. Our findings raise questions about the prevalence of CJD in Thailand, which needs further study.

In this work, we report an active respiration monitoring sensor based on a piezoelectric-transducer-gated thin-film transistor (PTGTFT) aiming to measure respiration-induced dynamic force in real time with high sensitivity and robustness. It differs from passive piezoelectric sensors in that the piezoelectric transducer signal is rectified and amplified by the PTGTFT. Thus, a detailed and easy-to-analyze respiration rhythm waveform can be collected with a sufficient time resolution. The respiration rate, three phases of respiration cycle, as well as phase patterns can be further extracted for prognosis and caution of potential apnea and other respiratory abnormalities, making the PTGTFT a great promise for application in long-term real-time respiration monitoring.

Subdural empyema is an uncommon clinical entity. The first case of Porphyromonas gingivalis subdural empyema is reported. We report a case of 34-year-old male who presented with subdural empyema and sinusitis. Through the utilization of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on subdural pus, we were able to confirm the diagnosis and institute appropriate treatment. Early surgical intervention and intravenous antibiotics meant that the patient recovered fully. Infections caused by P. gingivalis should be considered in differential diagnoses of central nervous system (CNS) abscesses or subdural empyema especially in patients with precedent periodontal diseases and sinusitis.

Cortex Mori Radicis (CMR) is enriched in various phenolics, this study aimed to estimate the antioxidant effect, enzyme (lipase, α-amylase, α-glucosidase and acetyl-cholinesterase) inhibition and the anti-proliferative effect of the phenolic compounds in CMR. However, the amount of these compounds obtained from CMR is highly dependent on the processing conditions. In this study, the processing parameters of extracting the phenolics from CMR using ultrasonic technique pooled with high-speed shearing extraction (UTPHSE) were optimized. Subsequently, the phenolics from Cortex Mori Radicis (PCMR) were purified using AB-8 macroporous resin, and their chemical analysis, antioxidant, enzyme inhibition, and antiproliferative activities were studied. Based on our findings, the optimal parameters of UTPHSE were: L/S ratio 25.8:1 (mL/g), voltage 81.0 V, ultrasonic temperature 51.8 ℃ and ultrasonic time 289 s. And under the optimal extraction conditions, the extraction rate of the PCMR was 0.531 ± 0.004%. Compared with PCMR, the contents of “total phenolics, flavonoids, flavonols, flavanols and phenolic acids” increased 2.30, 2.67, 2.59, 3.63 and 2.72 times in the purified phenolics from Cortex Mori Radicis (PPCMR), respectively. In addition, PPCMR depicted significant DPPH, ABTS+ and superoxide anion radicals’ scavenging capability, reducing power, ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and remarkable inhibitory activities on “lipase, alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, and the proliferation of HeLa, HepG2 and NCI-H460”. At the same time, the morphological changes of HeLa, HepG2 and NCI-H460 cells suggested that PPCMR could effectively inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells in vitro. Therefore, PPCMR have good potential as natural antioxidants, antilipidemic, hypoglycemic, and antineoplastic agents in functional foods and pharmaceuticals.

Objectives: Obesity as a consequence of high fat diet (HFD) has become an uprising major global health problem with multiorgan affection. Quercetin proved a unique ameliorative potential against hazards of HFD. Methods: Forty rats were divided into four groups. Group I: Control group (10% of energy from fat). Group II: (10% of energy from fat +50 mg/kg quercetin). Group III: (60% of energy from fat). Group IV: (60% of energy from fat +50 mg/kg quercetin). After12 weeks, all rats were sacrificed, kidney and pancreas were taken and processed for H&E, Mallory’s trichrome stains and immunohistochemical examination. Results: Both pancreatic and renal tissues showed histopathological degenerative and inflammatory changes in group III that was markedly improved in group IV treated with quercetin. Concerning the mean area percent of collagen fibers and Bcl-2 expression in both renal and pancreatic tissues that showed a highly significant difference in group III (p