bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The role of zinc in the pathogenesis and treatment of COVID-19: A review
Authors: Rezazadeh Arezoo , Sadeghzadeh Sara , Namakin Kosar , Tamimi Atena , Khanjani Zahra
Published: November 2021

Destructive outcomes of coronavirus pandemic call for medical research which can report all of the influential agents not only for the treatment of the disease but also preventing its severe impacts on the societal health in the most efficient manner. Zinc plays an integral role in the function of cellular enzymes and transcription factors. Owing to its anti-inflammatory and cellular immunity regulation activity, zinc is regarded to be effective on strengthening the immune system. Its crucial antiviral effects have long been established as well. Studies suggest that low serum zinc level predisposes the patient to severe COVID-19 infection, which makes patient’s zinc profile a potential determinant of prognosis and severity of this disease. Furthermore, zinc supplementation has indicated promising outcomes of coronavirus infection management. Zinc modulates cell-mediated immunity and participates in the killing of microorganisms in cytotoxic immune cells. Zn2+ has anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting IL-6 production. Although there is still not enough evidence, it seems that zinc could be a promising supplementary treatment for COVID-19 especially in zinc-deficient patients. The aim of this review is to clarify the role of zinc in pathogenesis and therapy of COVID-19 in detail.
Encoding Health Records into Pathway Representations for Deep Learning
Authors: Sbodio Marco Luca , Mulligan Natasha , Speichert Stefanie , Lopez Vanessa , Bettencourt-Silva Joao
Published: November 2021

There is a growing trend in building deep learning patient representations from health records to obtain a comprehensive view of a patient’s data for machine learning tasks. This paper proposes a reproducible approach to generate patient pathways from health records and to transform them into a machine-processable image-like structure useful for deep learning tasks. Based on this approach, we generated over a million pathways from FAIR synthetic health records and used them to train a convolutional neural network. Our initial experiments show the accuracy of the CNN on a prediction task is comparable or better than other autoencoders trained on the same data, while requiring significantly less computational resources for training. We also assess the impact of the size of the training dataset on autoencoders performances. The source code for generating pathways from health records is provided as open source.
Extraction of Temporal Structures for Clinical Events in Unlabeled Free-Text Electronic Health Records in Russian
Authors: Funkner Anastasia A. , Zhurman Dmitrii A. , Kovalchuk Sergey V.
Published: November 2021

The important information about a patient is often stored in a free-form text to describe the events in the patient’s medical history. In this work, we propose and evaluate a hybrid approach based on rules and syntactical analysis to normalise temporal expressions and assess uncertainty depending on the remoteness of the event. A dataset of 500 sentences was manually labelled to measure the accuracy. On this dataset, the accuracy of extracting temporal expressions is 95,5%, and the accuracy of normalization is 94%. The event extraction accuracy is 74.80%. The essential advantage of this work is the implementation of the considered approach for the non-English language where NLP tools are limited.
Beyond the FAIRness of COVID-19 Data: What about Quality?
Authors: Pecoraro Fabrizio , Luzi Daniela
Published: November 2021

Different datasets have been deployed at national level to share data on COVID-19 already at the beginning of the epidemic spread in early 2020. They distribute daily updated information aggregated at local, gender and age levels. To facilitate the reuse of such data, FAIR principles should be applied to optimally find, access, understand and exchange them, to define intra- and inter-country analyses for different purposes, such as statistical. However, another aspect to be considered when analyzing these datasets is data quality. In this paper we link these two perspectives to analyze to what extent datasets published by national institutions to monitor diffusion of COVID-19 are reusable for scientific purposes, such as tracing the spread of the virus.
Improving the FAIRness of Health Studies in Germany: The German Central Health Study Hub COVID-19
Authors: Darms Johannes ,   NFDI4Health Task Force COVID-19, Henke Jörg , Hu Xioaming , Schmidt Carsten Oliver , Golebiewski Martin , Fluck Juliane
Published: November 2021

The German Central Health Study Hub COVID-19 is an online service that offers bundled access to COVID-19 related studies conducted in Germany. It combines metadata and other information of epidemiologic, public health and clinical studies into a single data repository for FAIR data access. In addition to study characteristics the system also allows easy access to study documents, as well as instruments for data collection. Study metadata and survey instruments are decomposed into individual data items and semantically enriched to ease the findability. Data from existing clinical trial registries (DRKS, clinicaltrails.gov and WHO ICTRP) are merged with epidemiological and public health studies manually collected and entered. More than 850 studies are listed as of September 2021.
A Methodology for an Auto-Generated and Auto-Maintained HL7 FHIR OWL Ontology for Health Data Management
Authors: Kilintzis Vassilis , Alexandropoulos Vasileios C. , Beredimas Nikolaos , Maglaveras Nicos
Published: November 2021

The process of maintenance of an underlying semantic model that supports data management and addresses the interoperability challenges in the domain of telemedicine and integrated care is not a trivial task when performed manually. We present a methodology that leverages the provided serializations of the Health Level Seven International (HL7) Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) specification to generate a fully functional OWL ontology along with the semantic provisions for maintaining functionality upon future changes of the standard. The developed software makes a complete conversion of the HL7 FHIR Resources along with their properties and their semantics and restrictions. It covers all FHIR data types (primitive and complex) along with all defined resource types. It can operate to build an ontology from scratch or to update an existing ontology, providing the semantics that are needed, to preserve information described using previous versions of the standard. All the results based on the latest version of HL7 FHIR as a Web Ontology Language (OWL-DL) ontology are publicly available for reuse and extension.
Packet loss rate monitoring model of IoT based on differential evolution algorithm
Authors: Feng Yinghua , Yang Wei
Published: November 2021

In order to overcome the problems of high energy consumption and low execution efficiency of traditional Internet of things (IoT) packet loss rate monitoring model, a new packet loss rate monitoring model based on differential evolution algorithm is proposed. The similarity between each data point in the data space of the Internet of things is set as the data gravity. On the basis of the data gravity, combined with the law of gravity in the data space, the gravity of different data is calculated. At the same time, the size of the data gravity is compared, and the data are classified. Through the classification results, the packet loss rate monitoring model of the Internet of things is established. Differential evolution algorithm is used to solve the model to obtain the best monitoring scheme to ensure the security of network data transmission. The experimental results show that the proposed model can effectively reduce the data acquisition overhead and energy consumption, and improve the execution efficiency of the model. The maximum monitoring efficiency is 99.74%.
U-Net: A valuable encoder-decoder architecture for liver tumors segmentation in CT images
Authors: Sahli Hanene , Ben Slama Amine , Labidi Salam
Published: November 2021

This study proposes a new predictive segmentation method for liver tumors detection using computed tomography (CT) liver images. In the medical imaging field, the exact localization of metastasis lesions after acquisition faces persistent problems both for diagnostic aid and treatment effectiveness. Therefore, the improvement in the diagnostic process is substantially crucial in order to increase the success chance of the management and the therapeutic follow-up. The proposed procedure highlights a computerized approach based on an encoder–decoder structure in order to provide volumetric analysis of pathologic tumors. Specifically, we developed an automatic algorithm for the liver tumors defect segmentation through the Seg-Net and U-Net architectures from metastasis CT images. In this study, we collected a dataset of 200 pathologically confirmed metastasis cancer cases. A total of 8,297 CT image slices of these cases were used developing and optimizing the proposed segmentation architecture. The model was trained and validated using 170 and 30 cases or 85% and 15% of the CT image data, respectively. Study results demonstrate the strength of the proposed approach that reveals the superlative segmentation performance as evaluated using following indices including F1-score = 0.9573, Recall = 0.9520, IOU = 0.9654, Binary cross entropy = 0.0032 and p-value <0.05, respectively. In comparison to state-of-the-art techniques, the proposed method yields a higher precision rate by specifying metastasis tumor position.
Characteristics of an elderly patient with cognitive impairments in outpatient practice
Authors:   I.I. Mechnikov North-Western State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Turusheva A.V. , Bogdanova T.A. ,   I.I. Mechnikov North-Western State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Frolova E.V. ,   I.I. Mechnikov North-Western State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Logunov D.L. ,   City Outpatient Clinic No. 78, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Published: November 2021

Aim: to study the prevalence of cognitive impairments (CI) in patients over 65 y.o., determine concomitant diseases and factors affecting cognitive functions (CF). Patients and Methods: a single-stage cross-sectional study of a continuous sample of patients (over 65 y.o. who applied for outpatient care from 24.10.2019 to 15.12.2019) in St. Petersburg was conducted. The study methods included: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), blood pressure (BP) test, the study of outpatient medical histories, assessment of pharmacological treatment, laboratory studies (clinical blood count, lipid profile, hormonal studies, blood glucose level, transaminases and creatinine level). Results: the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among the study subjects was 62.9% (95% CI 5670), severe cognitive impairment (SCI) — 8.2%. After covariate adjustment, hypertension, acute cerebrovascular accident (ACVA), complaints of poor sleep quality, subjective cognitive complaints, and depression symptoms were associated with a decrease in CF. The male sex was associated with a decrease in memory function (p=0.03), hypertension — with a decrease in total CF, memory function (p=0.03) and constructive praxis (p=0.01), depression — with a decrease in total CF and indicators of attention mechanism (p<0.01), diabetes mellitus (DM) — with a decrease in thinking function (p=0.01), reduced hemoglobin level — with a decrease in total CF and memory function (p<0.01), β-blockers intake — with a decrease in total CF, the function of verbal fluency (p=0.01), thinking (p<0.01) and memory (p<0.01). Conclusion: the high prevalence of CI was revealed among elderly and senile patients who sought outpatient care. The association of hypertension, anemia, DM, depression symptoms and β-blockers intake with CF deterioration in the elderly and senile age was determined. KEYWORDS: elderly and senile age, cognitive disorders, dementia, risk factors, screening for cognitive impairment, MoCA. FOR CITATION: Turusheva A.V., Bogdanova T.A., Frolova E.V., Logunov D.L. Characteristics of an elderly patient with cognitive impairments in outpatient practice. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(10):618–622 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-10-618-622.
Novel therapeutic modalities for children with spasticity
Authors:   St. Petersburg Institute of the Advanced Training of Experts, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Krasavina D.A. ,   St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Ivanov Yu.I. ,   St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Published: November 2021

Background: early treatment using botulinum toxin type A (BTA) postpones or even prevents contractures and osteoarticular deformations and, therefore, surgical interventions in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Expansion of age groups and conditions to prescribe BTA is the primary trend of current studies. Aim: to assess the safety and efficacy of Relatox® in children aged 2–6 years with spastic CP. Patients and Methods: this simple blind randomized comparative study (2018–2019) enrolled 100 children aged 2–6 years with spastic CP. According to the study protocol, Relatox® (n=51) or reference preparation (n=49) was injected into spastic muscles. Each group included two subgroups (predominant involvement of the muscles of the upper or lower extremities). Topical and systemic reactions were evaluated immediately after injection. Over the follow-up (after 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after injections), muscle tonus using Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and pain severity using a 10-point visual analogue scale were assessed. Results: maximum total doses of botulinum toxin per injection session for both preparations were 60 to 200 units. The efficacy of both preparations was similar (p>0.05). Single self-limited mild and moderate topical and systemic adverse reactions typical for botulinum toxin were reported in both groups. Conclusions: the safety and efficacy of Relatox® are similar to these of reference preparation. Antispastic effect for muscles of the upper extremities was demonstrated, thereby allowing for expanding indications for Relatox®. Inclusion of the maximum number of spastic muscles in the protocol of injection session provided a full motor habilitation/rehabilitation of children. KEYWORDS: botulinum toxin type A, cerebral palsy, spasticity, efficacy, safety. FOR CITATION: Krasavina D.A., Ivanov Yu.I. Novel therapeutic modalities for children with spasticity. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(10):630–635 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-10-630-635.
Asthenic and cognitive disorders after the COVID-19 infection
Authors:   Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russian Federation, Kamchatnov P.R. , Solov’eva E.Yu. ,   Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russian Federation, Khasanova D.R. ,   Kazan State Medical University, Kazan, Russian Federation, Fateeva V.V. ,   I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russian Federation
Published: November 2021

Asthenic disorders are one of the most critical and challenging issues in various medical disciplines. Postinfectious asthenia is relatively common. Its major presentations are a significant long-lasting physical and intellectual fatigue. The COVID-19 infection results in numerous emotional, cognitive, and vegetative disorders, drastically reducing the quality of life and preventing rehabilitation and returning to baseline everyday activity. The rationale for introducing the term "post-COVID syndrome" is accounted for by the high prevalence of asthenic, cognitive, and vegetative disorders after the COVID-19 infection and their higher rate compared to other infections and a significant reduction in the quality of life. This paper discusses clinical presentations of the post-COVID syndrome and analyzes the findings on the pathogenesis of this condition. The authors declare that all patients after the COVID-19 infection should undergo the assessment of cognitive functions and asthenic syndrome followed by adequate treatment prescription. The paper describes treatment modalities for the post-COVID syndrome, e.g., the perspective use of Prospecta®, which demonstrated the efficacy for acute and chronic disorders of brain circulation. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, post-COVID syndrome, asthenic disorders, cognitive disorders, Prospecta. FOR CITATION: Kamchatnov P.R., Solov’eva E.Yu., Khasanova D.R., Fateeva V.V. Asthenic and cognitive disorders after the COVID-19 infection. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(10):636–641 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-10-636-641.
Recurrent seizures in patients with focal epilepsy
Authors:   M.F. Vladimirskiy Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Sandu E.A. , Firsov K.V. ,   M.F. Vladimirskiy Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Frolova V.M. ,   M.F. Vladimirskiy Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Kotov A.S. ,   M.F. Vladimirskiy Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation
Published: November 2021

Epilepsy is a chronic non-communicable disease of the brain that affects people of all ages. It is diagnosed in 2.4 million people annually. Epilepsy includes focal seizures that are more common than generalized ones. The incidence of focal epilepsy in the population reaches 0.5– 0.8%. Resistant types account for approximately 30% of all epilepsy forms, especially in patients with focal seizures. Thereby, the main task of epilepsy treatment is to control seizures. Patients with a newly diagnosed focal epilepsy in 55–68% of cases achieve long-term remission of seizures. Adding that, there is a spontaneous remission of untreated epilepsy considered a common event. The article gives the following negative prognostic factors: onset with seizure clusters, high disease duration, multiple treatment attempts, high frequency of seizures and incompetence, cognitive impairment. The article also presents the following treatment efficacy predictors of focal epilepsy: low frequency of seizures, short disease duration, pathological activity absence on the EEG, isolated generalized seizures. Predictors of recurrent seizures include pathological changes on the EEG, family history of seizures, established etiology of seizures and nocturnal seizures. KEYWORDS: epilepsy, relapses, predictors, factors, prognosis, remission, treatment, efficacy. FOR CITATION: Sandu E.A., Firsov K.V., Frolova V.M., Kotov A.S. Recurrent seizures in patients with focal epilepsy. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(10):654–658 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-10-654-658.
Assessment of peroral intake of nitrates with drinking water for different sections of the population of Zhytomyr region
Authors:   Polissia National University, Zhytomyr, Valerko R.A. , Herasymchuk L.O. ,   Polissia National University, Zhytomyr
Published: November 2021

Objective: We assessed the degree of risk to the health of the rural population of different ages with constant peroral intake of nitrates with drinking water. Materials and methods: The study was conducted within the rural residential areas of Zhytomyr region and it is a part of the research "Ecological and social assessment of the state of rural residential areas in the context of sustainable development." Drinking water samples were taken from public and private sources of decentralized water supply: wells, bore-wells and natural sources. A total 549 water samples were taken. In the study, we used general scientific methods: analytical, field, laboratory and statistical ones. Results: Among the studied areas, the largest excess of the average content of nitrates was recorded in drinking water of rural settlements of Berdychiv district. The risk assessment showed that the children aged 0-10 years were the most sensitive population to nitrates, and the women were more vulnerable to nitrates than the men among the adult population. The significant correlations between an excess of nitrate content in drinking water and cancer among adults and children in Berdychiv district have been proven. Conclusions: It has been proven that with a constant oral intake of nitrates with drinking water, harmful effects on the health of the rural population are observed, which, according to their sensitivity to their action, were distributed as follows: children 0-10 years old> adult women> adult men> adolescents.Taking into account the results obtained, it is necessary to monitor constantly the quality of drinking water sources of decentralized water supply in rural areas and to inform the rural population about water quality and the impact of its impurities on human health.
KOMUNIKASI ADVOKASI KLARIFIKASI FAKTA PEMBERITAAN HOAKS PADA INSTAGRAM @JALAHOAKS
Authors: Nugroho Danang Wiryawan , Riyantini Rini , Handayani Lusia
Published: November 2021

Problems regarding the widespread spread of hoax news often occur through social media. The massive circulation of hoaxes that occurs is due to the low level of digital literacy in the community in filtering information that can potentially disturb the public and disrupt public order. Government public bodies are considered to have the responsibility to eradicate social problems related to the circulation of hoax news that occurs in the community. This prompted the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government of Communication, Information and Statistics to create the Jakarta Lawan Hoaks (Jalahoaks) channel to carry out advocacy activities. This study aims to analyze the advocacy communication process for truth clarification on hoax news on Instagram @Jalahoaks. This research uses a qualitative approach with exploratory research and case study methods. The theory used in this research is advocacy communication. The results of this study indicate that the advocacy communication process carried out on Instagram @Jalahoaks can be successful and run effectively, based on analysis, strategy, mobilization, action, evaluation, and sustainability. The use and maximization of Instagram social media as a means to clarify the facts of hoax news can support and facilitate the advocacy communication process carried out by Jalahoaks.
Incomplete Partition type I: Radiological Evaluation of the Temporal Bone
Authors: Parlak Safak , Akgoz Karaosmanoglu Ayca , Arslan Sevtap , Sennaroglu Levent
Published: November 2021

Objective: Incomplete partition type I is an uncommon congenital anomaly of the inner ear, characterized by typical cystic cochleovestibular appearance. Incomplete partition type I was firstly defined as cystic cochlea and vestibule without large vestibular aqueduct; however, large vestibular aqueduct and/or enlarged endolymphatic duct could rarely be seen in incomplete partition type I anomaly. Correct diagnosis of the type of cochlear malformation and differentiation of incomplete partition type I is necessary for patient management and surgical approach. Our aim was to document the temporal bone imaging findings in a series of patients with incomplete partition type I.

Materials and Methods: CT (n=85) and/or MRI (n=80) examinations of 99 ears in 59 incomplete partition type I patients were retrospectively evaluated. All structures of the otic capsule were retrospectively assessed. The appearances of cochlea and vestibule, vestibular aqueduct/endolymphatic duct, semicircular canals were qualitatively evaluated by an experienced neuroradiologist. The vertical dimension of vestibular aqueduct and/or endolymphatic duct (from the point where the duct arises from the vestibule) was measured on CT/MRI. Anterior-posterior diameter of the internal acoustic canal and the diameter of cochlear aperture were measured on CT. The cochleovestibular nerves were evaluated on sagittal-oblique high T2-weighted imaging.

Results: All 99 ears had defective partition with unpartitioned cochlear basal turn and absent interscalar septae, separated but cystic cochlea. The vestibule was enlarged in all ears except one. Semicircular canals were usually dysplastic (92.9%). A total of 35 incomplete partition type I ears (35.3%) had large vestibular aqueduct and/or enlarged endolymphatic duct. Internal acoustic canal was wide in 21% of ears. Cochlear aperture was wide in 5.9% of ears. Cochlear nerve was either hypoplastic or aplastic in about a quarter of incomplete partition type I ears.

Conclusion: In up to one-third of incomplete partition type I patients, an associated large vestibular aqueduct /endolymphatic duct could be seen accompanying typical inner ear findings. Although the cochlear nerves are normal in the majority of cases, auditory brainstem implantation may be necessary in certain cases of incomplete partition type I anomaly.
ГЕНЕЗИС ЦІЛЕЙ І ЗАВДАНЬ ВИБУХОВОГО ШТАМПУВАННЯ (ДО 70-РІЧЧЯ ОДНІЄЇ З НАУКОВИХ ШКІЛ ХАІ)
Authors: Taranenko M. , Dragobezkii V.
Published: November 2021

The paper is devoted to development of one of the scientific schools Kharkiv Aviation Institute (Now National Aerospace University named after M. E. Zhukovsky “KhAI”). This school was born after World War II quite hard after period of National economy restoration and now it continues to develop during last 70 years. The article deals with the origins and genesis of objectives and tasks formulated for think tank and followers during dozens of years. Influence of the world geopolitics on development of mentioned scientific school and reached results is shown. From relatively primitive goals and tasks formulated by R. V. Pikhtovnikov in 1949 up to complicated problems of controlling of impulse energy flows to get high-precision large-dimensional sheet articles. From development of simple manufacturing process conducted in field conditions up to creation of up-to-date manufacturing complexes with correspondent buildings, equipment and technological jigs.Paper draws attention that successful development of scientific school and international expansion of labor market were stipulated by governmental support, both financial and organization ones. Paper shows results of technological systems development. Defefinite analogy with development of biological systems can be observed, i.e. evolution from the simplest to more complicated under influence of external factors.One has to note that paper deals with development of only one direction of scientific school, i.e. sheet articles forming. Research and development of such two other directions as impulse forming by impact of solid and impulse volumetric forming are waiting for their researchers. Authors of the paper tried to escape of conventional approaches of scientific schools description and concentrated on studying of objectives and tasks occurred in frames of considered scientific school. Therefore, the paper doesn’t mention many names of scientific advisors of different directions, titles of exact studies and topics, which involve crucial contribution in achievements of mentioned scientific school.
Resilience and Intercultural Interactions of Italian Erasmus Students
Authors: Dolce Valentina , Ghislieri Chiara
Published: November 2021

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) have been examined in the literature, nevertheless yet few studies have combined situational and personal aspects to enhance the comprehension of this construct, and none have considered resilience. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of international Erasmus students’ resilience, the length of the experience and the intercultural interactions of Italian Erasmus students in the relationship with CQ. Data were collected from 791 outgoing Italian Erasmus students using a self-report questionnaire. The findings suggested the existence of a significant relationship between resilience and all dimensions of CQ, showing, with the exception of the behavioural dimension, large betas. Forming friendships with international students was positively and moderately related to motivational and metacognitive CQ. Establishing relationships with locals was only positively and weakly related to cognitive CQ.  The time of sojourn was only positively weakly associated with the metacognitive CQ. Developments in international academic mobility policies are discussed.
Study of Chinese Students’ Application to UK Universities in Uncertain Times
Authors: Yang Ying , Lomer Sylvie , Lim Miguel Antonio
Published: November 2021

A large number of Chinese applicants use education agents to apply for overseas programmes. This research investigates agents’ practices with in-service Chinese applicants to UK universities in the context of information asymmetry. COVID-19 pandemic has generated severe challenges for the international higher education sector and on Chinese applicants’ plans to study overseas.This study reports on the findings from in-depth interviews with 16 Chinese agent consultants undertaken in nine cities across China in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic (May 2020). The findings indicate that education agents attempt to mitigate the information asymmetry and emotionally reassure applicants through a four-step information management process. Our contribution generates a new understanding of the role that education agents play in international students’ applications and mobility, voices that are often ignored but essential for international students’ decision-making processes and existing university recruitment services.
International Undergraduates’ Academic Performance During Onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic
Authors: Fass-Holmes Barry
Published: November 2021

How did international undergraduates perform academically during onset of the coronavirus pandemic’s educational disruptions? The present study addressed this question by testing the hypothesis that an American public university’s entire population of international undergraduates who were enrolled throughout academic year 2019–2020 would struggle academically (term grade point averages [GPA] below 2.0) to a greater extent in spring 2020 term (coinciding with the pandemic’s onset) than in fall 2019 and winter 2020 terms (pre-pandemic). Five different analyses of GPAs yielded disconfirmatory, counterintuitive evidence; for example, whereas the hypothesis leads to the prediction that the number and percentage who struggled academically should increase from fall 2019 and winter 2020 terms to spring 2020, the values instead decreased. This report’s results are consistent with these international undergraduates’ resilience and their institution’s beneficial support. Reasons for ruling out alternative explanations (widespread cheating, instructors’ leniency, and grade inflation) are discussed.
Attitude of Non-Mental Health Professionals Towards Mental Illness in a Tertiary Care Center
Authors: M. A. Nishad P. , B. Dilshana N. , Kakunje Anil , K. Ravichandra , Chisty Kamran
Published: November 2021

BACKGROUND Mental and behavioral disorders are major health problems. Stigma can prevent the care and treatment of the mentally ill. There is a gross underestimation of psychiatric comorbidities among patients by non-mental health professionals. A positive attitude of these health professionals has a crucial role in the treatment of patients suffering from psychiatric illness. The primary objective of the study is to study the attitude of various nonmental health professionals towards mental illness. METHODS It is a crosssectional descriptive study, conducted in a private medical college in Mangalore, Karnataka in India. The study had 76 participants consisting of doctors and nurses. Instruments used were a semi-structured demographic proforma and Mental illness: Clinicians Attitude Scale - Version 4 (MICA-4). MICA-4 is a 16- item scale used for assessing attitude towards mental illness. RESULTS The total number of subjects included was 76 among which doctors constituted 57 and nurses 19. As the experience and age of the participants increased, a shift to the positive attitude towards psychiatric illness was noted. Specialist doctors had a higher positive attitude compared to non-specialist medical graduates and nurses. CONCLUSIONS It is essential to have structured training in psychiatry for all health care professionals.
A protocol of a cross sectional study to assess depression in antenatal mothers
Authors:   SRMC &RI,Chennai, Kantipudi Suvarna Jyothi , Vishwanathan Sushma ,   SRMC &RI,Chennai, G K Kannan , Menon Jayakumar ,   SRMC &RI,Chennai, N Sathianathan ,   SRMC &RI,Chennai
Published: November 2021

Background: Maternal depression is associated with a number of adverse maternal outcomes such as preterm birth, maternal dysfunction, maternal suicide and perinatal outcomes such as low birth weight, lower rates of breastfeeding, increase in diarrheal disease, hospitalisations, poor emotional, social development, lower academic achievements in adolescence and future mental health problems for the children of the mothers. Maternal depression has rightly been identified as a priority mental health condition and large scale community interventions in low and middle income countries (including India) have been shown in RCTs to be effective in not only improving maternal depression but also improve the perinatal outcomes. Given the scale, severity of the problem and strength of evidence available for effective interventions in the Indian context, there is a great opportunity for implementation research in this area. As a first step there is a need to understand the prevalence of the problem and associated risk factors in our context. Aim: Aim of this study to understand the prevalence of maternal depression and associated risk factors among antenatal mothers attending Sri Ramachandra Medical College (SRMC) Obstetrics outpatient department. Methods: A cross-sectional design will be employed for determining the prevalence, while a case control framework will be used for the risk factor analysis. Antenatal mothers will be startified according to the trimester of the pregnancy. Semi-structured socio demographic proforma; Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9 Tamil version), Generalised Anxiety Scale (Tamil Version) and Brief COPE (Tamil version) questionnaire will be administered for antenatal mothers who offer informed consent. Those who score above 10 points on the PHQ scale will be interviewed using the MINI diagnostic interview schedule for clarifying diagnosis. Those who are diagnosed with depression will be referred to the SRMC psychiatry department for treatment & follow up. Analysis: Statistical analysis is to be done using computer software, to assess the prevalence of antenatal depression and the associated risk factors. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the sample. Mean, standard deviation and range will be employed to describe continuous variables, while frequency distributions will obtained for categorical variables. The chi square and fisher’s exact tests will be used to assess the significance of associations between categorical variables. Multivariate analysis will be performed using stepwise backward logistic regression models
The Socio-Demographic and Clinical Profile of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South India
Authors: M. Nithya H. , P. Kannan P. , S. Sudhakar , R. Srinivasan
Published: November 2021

BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an neuro-developmental disorder. There is a paucity of epidemiological data on ASD in India. This study is an attempt to understand the socio demographic and clinical characteristics of the individuals with ASD. METHODS The case records were perused to extract the datas. RESULTS The study revealed that two third of individuals with ASD also have Intellectual Disability, more than half the mothers of individuals with ASD did not breastfeed beyond 12 months, about one third of individuals with ASD have not availed any kind of services. It takes arounds 6 years of age for the parents/ individuals with ASD to seek treatment help. CONCLUSION Understanding the profile is essential for better treatment planning.
Diabetes and Hypertension among patients with psychiatric illnesses attending outpatient services in a tertiary mental health centre: A cross-sectional study from south India
Authors:   SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, Parvathy Ramakrishnan , Sugetha Balasankaralingam ,   SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, Ramachandran Padmavati ,   SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Published: November 2021

Background: High burden of comorbid physical non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is observed in patients with psychiatric illnesses. However, little attention is paid to physical illnesses of this patient population. This study evaluated the self-reported frequency of physical NCDs in patients with psychiatric illnesses, current involvement of psychiatrists in managing these NCDs and association of NCDs with socio-demographic and clinical factors. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in out-patient department of a tertiary mental health centre in southern India. Consecutive adult patients (N=450) fulfilling the study’s inclusion criteria were interviewed regarding comorbid physical NCDs including diabetes and hypertension, and aspects related to their diagnosis and treatment. Psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic treatment information was obtained from electronic patient records maintained at the centre. Results: Overall frequency of any physical NCD was 24.9%, with diabetes and hypertension reported by 15.8% and 8.7% of patients, respectively. Patients with diabetes or hypertension were more likely to be older, have a family history of diabetes/hypertension, or psychiatric illness for at least 5 years or longer. Less than 8% of patients with diabetes or hypertension were treated for their physical NCD by psychiatrists. Forty patients with elevated BP (≥140 and/or ≥90 mmHg) or at risk for hypertension were identified while conducting physical examination as part of the study. Conclusion: Diabetes and hypertension are common physical NCDs in patients with psychiatric illness. Therefore, it is important that psychiatrists be aware of and identify patients who are at risk for such NCDs.
An In-depth Exploration on the Praxis of Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS)
Authors: Olapane Elias C.
Published: November 2021

NVivo is a methodological tool in analyzing qualitative data. The software belongs to the genre of Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). This qualitative case study aimed to explore the practices of NVivo adopters within the West Visayas State University (WVSU) System, Academic Year 2019-2020. A researcher-made and foreshadowed Focus Group Discussion (FGD), in-depth interview, and observation protocols were utilized to gather data from the participants. The conceptual analysis was done using NVivo 12 Plus, while the researcher did the analytic analysis. The study revealed that the WVSU NVivo adopters are generally tech-savvy and stationed in the research office. Their speed of using the software varies. The adopters vary in terms of using NVivo- some were fast learners, while others were slow. They regularly ask questions from the researcher-resource speaker, though the NVivo manual of operation was distributed to them. Seven (7) themes have emerged that may optimize NVivo’s functionalities in qualitative data analysis. These themes are requirements for improved coding practices, the need for enhanced visualization skills; the importance of the knowledge on the NVivo research cycle; qualities of NVivo adopters; motivation in using NVivo; and practices for practical qualitative data analysis using NVivo. It is thus concluded that there is a need for WVSU administration to consider several mechanisms to improve the use of CAQDAS, specifically NVivo, in qualitative data analysis.
Institutionally Speaking, are Global Standards Adoptable in a Given Jurisdiction? A Critical Analysis of the IFRS's Use in Ukraine through the Lens of New Institutional Accounting
Authors: Pasko Oleh
Published: November 2021

This paper examines the consequences of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in Ukraine through the lens of New Institutional Accounting theory. IFRS adoption's effects on management's reporting incentives, enforcement and institutional complementarities are analysed. I find that adoption at a technical level is not enough to be called "adoption" as profound changes at the institutional level are also required. Adopted IFRS are subjected to the same type of institutional and market pressures that gave rise to the old set of standards and as a result, the practice of financial reporting is unchanged at its core while only new technical rules apply. Hence, jurisdictions should not pursue only technical adoption but should also try their best to align as close as possible all institutional aspects of this issue. The best advice for all jurisdictions with an institutional infrastructure similar to Ukraine's is to strengthen management's reporting incentives and enforcement mechanisms.
How can hospitals change practice to better implement smoking cessation interventions? A systematic review
Authors: Ugalde Anna , White Victoria , Rankin Nicole M. , Paul Christine , Segan Catherine , Aranda Sanchia , Wong Shee Anna , Hutchinson Alison M. , Livingston Patricia M.
Published: November 2021

Smoking cessation reduces the risk of death, improves recovery, and reduces the risk of hospital readmission. Evidence and policy support hospital admission as an ideal time to deliver smoking‐cessation interventions. However, this is not well implemented in practice. In this systematic review, the authors summarize the literature on smoking‐cessation implementation strategies and evaluate their success to guide the implementation of best‐practice smoking interventions into hospital settings. The CINAHL Complete, Embase, MEDLINE Complete, and PsycInfo databases were searched using terms associated with the following topics: smoking cessation, hospitals, and implementation. In total, 14,287 original records were identified and screened, resulting in 63 eligible articles from 56 studies. Data were extracted on the study characteristics, implementation strategies, and implementation outcomes. Implementation outcomes were guided by Proctor and colleagues' framework and included acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, cost, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability. The findings demonstrate that studies predominantly focused on the training of staff to achieve implementation. Brief implementation approaches using a small number of implementation strategies were less successful and poorly sustained compared with well resourced and multicomponent approaches. Although brief implementation approaches may be viewed as advantageous because they are less resource‐intensive, their capacity to change practice in a sustained way lacks evidence. Attempts to change clinician behavior or introduce new models of care are challenging in a short time frame, and implementation efforts should be designed for long‐term success. There is a need to embrace strategic, well planned implementation approaches to embed smoking‐cessation interventions into hospitals and to reap and sustain the benefits for people who smoke.
Seasonal Occurrence of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Horse (Equus Ferus Caballus) From Dhaka City Bangladesh
Authors: Khanum Hamida , Musa Sharmin , Zaman Rimi Farhana , Sarkar Fahmida , Mitu Rawshan Ara
Published: November 2021

The study was conducted to understand the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in horse during June, 2017 to April, 2018 from Bangladesh National Zoo, Puran Dhaka and Rajarbagh Police Line of Dhaka city. A total of 48 faecal samples were collected from horses and examined by Direct Smearing technique and Formol Ether Concentration technique. Out of 48 samples 47 found positive for gastrointestinal parasitic infection with an overall prevalence of 97.92 %. Highest prevalence was identified (77.1 %) in Parascaris equorum, followed by 70.8 % in Hymenolepis nana, 62.5 % in Isospora sp., 50 % in Ancylostoma duodenale, 39.6 % in Toxocara sp., 35.4 % in Entamoeba sp., 25 % in Trichuris sp., 20.8 % in Fasciola hepatica 16.67 % in Capillaria sp., 8.3 % in Taenia sp. and Opisthorchis sinensis, 4.2 % in Moniezia benedeni and Thysaniezia sp. Highest intensity (72.97± 46.32) was found for Isospora sp. The p value was 0.01, p < 0.05 so the prevalence rate was statistically significant.A significant difference was founded in prevalence between male and female horse where females were highly infected and also seasonal variation showed significant differences. Highest prevalence was recorded in winter and Rainy season (100 %) followed by summer (95 %). The intensity of parasites was highest in rainy season (63.38 ±79.94) followed by summer (55.47 ±29.73) and winter (49.5 ±28.58)
Bangladesh J. Zool. 49 (2): 301-319, 2021
Taxonomical Accounts of Protozoan Parasites of Climbing Perch, Anabas Testudineus in Bangladesh
Authors: Bhuiyan Md Aminul Islam , Parveen Rita , Jhinu Zannatun Nahar , Hawlader Abdul Jabber
Published: November 2021

The study was conducted to identify the protozoan parasites in a freshwater indigenous air breathing fish, Anabas testudineus. The host fish was collected during mid of the April 2018 to end of the March 2019 from freshwater bodies of Mymensingh, Kishoregonj, Faridpur, Jashore, Manikganj and Bogura districts of Bangladesh. Five species of phylum myxozoa namely Henneguya gigas, Henneguya mystusia, Henneguyaa cerinae, Henneguya periophthalmusi and Myxidium sp., three species of phylum ciliophora namely Amphileptus disciformis, Epistylisl woffi and Trichodina anabasi and one species of phylum mastigophora namely Trypanosoma anabasi were identified in A. testudineus. Myxozoans (97.55%) were clearly dominant group than chiliophorans (2.45%).
Bangladesh J. Zool. 49 (2): 331-345, 2021