Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries imposed lockdowns on their citizens in an attempt to contain the disease. Pakistan is one of these countries. A government mandated lockdown can have mitigating psychological effects on young adults, out of which a large fraction is made up of students. This study aims to investigate the correlations between changes in sleep pattern, perception of time, and digital media usage. Furthermore, it explores the impact of these changes on the mental health of students of different educational levels. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted via a web-based questionnaire, from March 24 to April 26, 2020. The survey was targeted at students and 251 responses were obtained. It was a 5-section long questionnaire. The first section inquired about demographics of participants. Each of the other 4 section were devoted to changes in sleep pattern, perception of time flow, digital media usage and mental health status of students. Close ended questions with multiple choice responses, dichotomous, interval and 4-point Likert scales were used in the construction of the survey questionnaire. Chi square, T-tests multinomial and binary logistic regression were used as primary statistical tests. All data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Out of 251 adolescents that participated in our study, the majority (70.2%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 19.40+/- 1.62 years. Two-thirds of the respondents did not have much trouble falling asleep (66.5%). The analysis found no significant association between longer sleep periods and procrastination level (p = 0.054). Nearly three-fourths (72.9%) of our participants felt that getting through quarantine would have been more difficult if they did not have any electronic gadgets. Of these, a majority (85.8%) had a general feeling of tiredness and lacked motivation (p = 0.023). Additionally, a large number of students (69.7%) had reported that time is seemingly moving faster. A significant relationship between increased usage of electronic items and longer sleep periods was also noted (p = 0.005). With respect to the level of education statistically significant values were noted for alarm use both before and after quarantine began (p = 0.021 and p = 0.004, respectively). Further analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the median difference of time spent on social media before the outbreak (3.0+/-32.46) and time spent on social media after the outbreak (6.0+/-3.52) in a single day (p=0.000). Conclusions: Our research has revealed that due to the lockdown imposed by the government in response to COVID-19, the sleeping patterns of the students was affected the most. Our findings show that the increase in use of social media applications led to a widespread increase in the length of sleep, worsening of sleep habits (people sleeping at much later hours than usual), and a general feeling ...
The impact of Social Networking Sites (SNS), especially, Facebook in marital relationships is increasing in Pakistan. A model based on negative-effect hypothesis about SNS use was designed to test the effect of Facebook use intensity on marital satisfaction among married Facebook users. Sample comprised of 302 married Facebook users from capital city of Pakistan. Data were conveniently collected through using Urdu versions of Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance Scale (Tokunaga, 2011), Trust in Close Relationships Scale (Rempel, Holmes, & Zanna, 1985), Facebook Jealousy Scale (Muise, Christofides, & Desmarais, 2009), Comprehensive Marital Satisfaction Scale (Blum & Mehrabian, 1999), and six items for Facebook Use Intensity. Marital satisfaction as assumed was found to have significant positive relationship with trust in relationship and significant negative relationship with Facebook related jealousy and online surveillance. Findings revealed a process whereby Facebook related jealousy and online surveillance were the mediators for the trust and Facebook use intensity as predictors in predicting marital satisfaction. Men were found to be more satisfied and have more trust on their wives as compared to women. Women possessed more jealous feelings and indulged in more surveillance of their spouses on Facebook as compared to male counterparts. This conceptualization showed the causal relationship between intensity of Facebook usage and marital satisfaction that can help in studying the impact of growing technology upon marital relationships in Pakistani context.
Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is correlated with poor patient outcomes. The study evaluated the association of patients' clinical and sociodemographic characteristics with the incidence of atrial fibrillation, postoperatively. Methodology A longitudinal study was performed in the cardiology department of a tertiary care unit, Sindh, Pakistan between October 2019 and November 2020. All patients who underwent CABG surgery irrespective of gender aged 30 to 75 years were included in the study. Patients with a history of atrial fibrillation or severe left ventricular dysfunction were excluded from the study. The incidence of atrial fibrillation was determined by observing an irregular pattern on electrocardiography (ECG) with no definite P-wave and irregular R-R interval. The patients were monitored for seven postoperative days. The final outcome was measured on the seventh postoperative day. Results A total of 247 patients with a mean age of 63.43 ± 9.72 were enrolled in the study. Out of the 247 patients, 9.7% developed new-onset atrial fibrillation, postoperatively. Age above 65 years was associated with the occurrence of AF but it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Similarly, patients who developed AF were more likely to have a left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) of less than 35% than those without AF (66.67% vs 43.95%; p=0.033). Conclusion A high rate of AF was observed in the study. Older age and impaired ventricular function were significantly associated with atrial fibrillation. It is recommended that hospitals should devise guidelines and protocols for the prevention and management of atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgeries in order to minimize patient mortality and improve patient outcomes.
IntroductionElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a functional treatment for a significant mental illness that involves a momentary application of electrical stimulation to induce generalized seizures. The use of right unilateral (RUL) and bilateral (BL) ECT has been controversial. Thus, the study aimed at comparing the effectiveness of RUL ECT and BL ECT in treating depression. MethodologyA longitudinal study was conducted between September 2016 and January 2021 at a tertiary care hospital in Sindh, Pakistan. All patients over the age of 18 with clinically diagnosed depression in the last month were included in the study. Baseline depression scores and post-treatment scores were determined using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). All patients were assigned to each treatment group. Group A was administered right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy, while group B was administered bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Adverse effects were documented right after treatment, at four hours, and then one day after therapy. Depression severity was determined after each ECT session using the HDRS scale. Electroconvulsive therapy was discontinued when an HDRS score of 10 was achieved. ResultsThe mean HDRS score at baseline in the bilateral ECT group was 24.99 ± 3.938, which lowered to 17.56 ± 2.65 by the 3rd session, 12.45 ± 3.76 by the 6th session, and to 11.86 ± 2.3 by the end of treatment (p<0.0001). Similarly, the right unilateral ECT was equally effective in improving the depressive symptoms (p<0.0001). There was no significant difference between the efficacy of bilateral and unilateral placements of electrodes in electroconvulsive therapy (p=0.116).
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