scholarly journals The Impact of Short-term Integrated Yoga practice on Psychological wellbeing in special educators of individual with special needs

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (04) ◽  
pp. 68-72
Author(s):  
Vijayakumar PS ◽  
Sahana AU ◽  
Anusha Rajanna

Background: Special educators face unprecedented work conditions and expectations that affect their psychological wellbeing and professional outcome as well. This study examines the growing evidence that even a short-term Integrated yoga practice enhance psychological wellbeing among special educators by reducing their stress, anxiety and depression levels. Materials and Methods: Special educators were recruited based on inclusion and exclusion criteria (n=20) age ranging between 25-50 years (Mean35±6.3) for a single group interventional pre-post study design: Integrated yoga module (included postures, breathing practices, relaxation and mediation) was given for a period of 8 weeks. The subjects were assessed on day 1 pre and post intervention on day 60 on perceived stress scale (PSS), Beck’s depression inventory (BDI-II) and Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Results: After 8 weeks of Integrated yoga practice there was asignificant reduction in anxiety scores (P less than 0.000), depression scores (P less than 0.000) and perceived stress levels (P less than 0.000) respectively compared to baseline by wilcoxon signed rank test. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that even a short-term integrated yoga intervention that can enhance psychological wellbeing of the special educators.

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie J. Fischer

This study examined a short-term, low-cost walking intervention developed and implemented at a small, private university in the upper Midwest. Results showed a significant decrease in perceived stress (pre-intervention PSQ mean = 0.41 ± 0.16 versus post-intervention PSQ mean = 0.30 ± 0.14, p <0.001), and a significant increase in daily steps (pre-intervention mean = 6,810 ± 2,544 versus post-intervention mean = 9,352 ± 2,825, p < 0.001). These results provide support for the effectiveness of a short-term walking intervention to increase daily steps and decrease perceived stress for university employees.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089719002110282
Author(s):  
Karan Raja ◽  
Nicole Daniel ◽  
Susan Morrison ◽  
Ruben Patel ◽  
Jessica Gerges ◽  
...  

Background: Tocilizumab is an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist hypothesized to blunt the uncontrolled immune response, cytokine release syndrome, in severe COVID-19 and prevent attributable morbidity and mortality. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of tocilizumab on clinical outcomes in COVID-19-associated cytokine release syndrome. Methods: Single-center, retrospective cohort study assessing sixty-nine adult patients receiving tocilizumab for suspected COVID-19 cytokine release syndrome. The primary outcome was change in WHO clinical status scale on day seven post-dose analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Secondary outcomes assessed impact of timing of administration on clinical outcome. Safety analyses included development of neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, transaminitis, and sepsis within 7 days post-dose. Statistical analyses were conducted using Microsoft Excel. Results: No aggregate clinical change was found between day 0 and day 7. Eleven patients improved, twenty-seven worsened, and thirty-one showed no change. Clinical outcomes were weakly correlated with time from symptom onset (rs = 0.21; p = 0.08) or hospital admission (rs = -0.08; p = 0.49) to dose. In-hospital mortality was 63%. Sepsis was diagnosed in 21 patients, five of which were post-dose. Transaminitis, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia occurred in seven, one, and six patients, respectively. Conclusion: Tocilizumab did not appear to influence clinical outcomes in our study population, irrespective of timing of administration. Adverse events were not considered drug-related.


2008 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Sim ◽  
A H Jardine ◽  
E J Beckenham

AbstractA number of authors have suggested that surgery for suspected perilymph fistula is effective in preventing deterioration of hearing and in improving hearing in some cases in the short term. We present long-term hearing outcome data from 35 children who underwent exploration for presumed perilymph fistula at The Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia, between 1985 and 1992.Methods:The pre-operative audiological data (mean of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz results) were compared with the most recently available data (range two to 15 years) and the six-month post-operative data.Results:The short-term results showed no significant change in hearing at six months, with a subsequent, statistically significant progression of hearing loss in both operated and non-operated ears (Wilcoxon signed rank test: operated ear, p < 0.017; non-operated ear, p < 0.009).Conclusion:In this case series, exploratory surgery for correction of suspected perilymph fistula did not prevent progression of long-term hearing loss.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-195
Author(s):  
S. C. Meribe ◽  
E. Harausz ◽  
I. Lawal ◽  
A. Ogundeji ◽  
C. Mbanefo ◽  
...  

Background: To improve rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) case detection and treatment, the Nigerian Ministry of Defense Health Implementation Program and the US Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa/Nigeria introduced a HIV standard of care (SOC) package. Given the integration of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV programs and evolving policies, we evaluated the impact of this strategy on TB program indicators.Methods: Routine, de-identified program data from 27 Nigerian military hospitals were analyzed. Using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, bivariate analyses were performed to compare data from 12 months before and after implementation of the SOC package.Results: Our data showed improvements post-implementation as follows: the number of individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) screened for TB increased from 14 530 to 29 467 (P < 0.001); the number of individuals with presumptive TB identified increased from 803 to 1800 (P < 0.001); the number of ART clients bacteriologically tested for TB increased from 746 to 1717 (P < 0.001); and the number of ART clients treated for TB increased from 152 to 282 (P < 0.001). Newly registered or relapsed TB cases increased from 436 to 906 (P < 0.001), the number of TB cases with known HIV status increased from 437 to 837 (P < 0.001), the number of TB-HIV co-infected cases increased from 182 to 301 (P = 0.006), and the number of TB-HIV co-infected clients who started ART increased from 101 to 176 (P = 0.003).Conclusion: The implementation of the updated HIV SOC package led to the improvement in key TB diagnosis and treatment indicators. When emulated, this could help improve the performance of other TB programs in countries other than Nigeria.


Author(s):  
Einat Shneor ◽  
Ravid Doron ◽  
Jonathan Levine ◽  
Deena Rachel Zimmerman ◽  
Julia S. Benoit ◽  
...  

Studies using questionnaires report that COVID-19 restrictions resulted in children spending significantly less time outdoors. This study used objective measures to assess the impact of pandemic-related restrictions on children’s behavior. A total of 19 healthy 8–12-year-old boys were observed before and during social restriction periods. Of these, 11 boys were reassessed after restrictions were lifted. For each session, Actiwatches were dispensed for measures of time outdoors, activity, and sleep. Changes overall and by school status were assessed using signed-rank test and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. During restrictions, children spent significantly less time outdoors (p = 0.001), were less active (p = 0.001), and spent less time engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (p = 0.004). Sleep duration was not significantly different between sessions (p > 0.99), but bedtime and wake time shifted to a later time during restrictions (p < 0.05 for both). Time outdoors and activity returned close to pre-pandemic levels after restrictions were lifted (p > 0.05 for both). Children’s behaviors significantly changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reduction in outdoor light exposure is of importance due to the role of light in the etiology of myopia and vitamin D production. The reduction in physical activity may have negative health effects in terms of obesity and depression, although further research is required to ascertain the long-term effects.


ReCALL ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aysel Saricaoglu

AbstractEven though current technologies allow for automated feedback, evaluating content and generating discourse-specific feedback is still a challenge for automated systems, which explains the gap in research investigating the effect of such feedback. This study explores the impact of automated formative feedback on the improvement of English as a second language (ESL) learners’ written causal explanations within two cause-and-effect essays and across pre- and post-tests. Pre- and post-test drafts, feedback reports for first and revised drafts from the automated writing evaluation system, and screen-capturing videos collected from 31 students enrolled in two sections of an advanced-low-level academic writing class were analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Findings revealed statistically significant changes in learners’ causal explanations within one cause-and-effect essay while no significant improvement was observed across pre- and post-tests. The findings of this study offer not only insights into how to further improve automated discourse-specific feedback but also pedagogical implications for better learning outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.R. Purnima ◽  
N. Sriraam ◽  
U. Krishnaswamy ◽  
K. Radhika

Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals derived from polysomnography recordings play an important role in assessing the physiological and behavioral changes during onset of sleep. This paper suggests a spike rhythmicity based feature for discriminating the wake and sleep state. The polysomnography recordings are segmented into 1 second EEG patterns to ensure stationarity of the signal and four windowing scheme overlaps (0%, 50%, 60% and 75%)of EEG pattern are introduced to study the influence of the pre-processing procedure. The application of spike rhythmicity feature helps to estimate the number of spikes from the given pattern with a threshold of 25%.Then non parametric statistical analysis using Wilcoxon signed rank test is introduced to evaluate the impact of statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation, p-value and box-plot analysis under various conditions .The statistical test shows significant difference between wake and sleep with p<0.005 for the applied feature, thus demonstrating the efficiency of simple thresholding in distinguishing sleep and wake stage .


1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (S2) ◽  
pp. S39-S39
Author(s):  
Juan March ◽  
Kathleen Dunn ◽  
Lawrence Brown ◽  
Johnny Farrow ◽  
Phillip Perkins

Purpose: The wide spread use of orotracheal intubation with rapid sequence induction has made it difficult for EMS professionals to gain experience in nasotracheal intubation (NTI) in a controlled supervised setting. The purpose of this study was to determine if a training session on NTI with a breathing manikin can be used to improve skill and comfort of EMS professionals.Methods: A prospective trial was conducted with a convenience sample of 16 emergency medical service professionals, previously trained in nasotracheal intubation techniques. For the training session a Laerdal airway manikin was modified by replacing the lungs with a bag-valve mask device, to simulate breathing with an inspiratory and expiratory phase. Following verbal instruction, and with direct supervision, each participant practiced NTI using the breathing manikin. Each participant completed a questionnaire, both before and after the training session, to determine self assessed comfort and skill level for both oral and nasal intubations (0 = lowest, 10 = highest). The pre and post intervention scores were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, £ = 0.01.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei Zhou ◽  
Zhifen He ◽  
Yidong Wu ◽  
Yiya Chen ◽  
Xiaoxin Chen ◽  
...  

Recent laboratory findings suggest that short-term patching of the amblyopic eye (i.e., inverse occlusion) results in a larger and more sustained improvement in the binocular balance compared with normal controls. In this study, we investigate the cumulative effects of the short-term inverse occlusion in adults and old children with amblyopia. This is a prospective cohort study of 18 amblyopes (10-35 years old; 2 with strabismus) who have been subjected to 2 hours/day of inverse occlusion for 2 months. Patients who required refractive correction or whose refractive correction needed updating were given a 2-month period of refractive adaptation. The primary outcome measure was the binocular balance which was measured using a phase combination task; the secondary outcome measures were the best-corrected visual acuity which was measured with a Tumbling E acuity chart and converted to logMAR units and the stereoacuity which was measured with the Random-dot preschool stereogram test. The average binocular gain was 0.11 in terms of the effective contrast ratio (z=−2.344, p=0.019, 2-tailed related samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test). The average acuity gain was 0.13 logMAR equivalent (t17=4.76, p<0.001, 2-tailed paired samples t-test). The average stereoacuity gain was 339 arc seconds (z=−2.533, p=0.011). Based on more recent research concerning adult ocular dominance plasticity, we conclude that inverse occlusion in adults and old children with amblyopia does produce long-term gains to binocular balance and that acuity and stereopsis can improve in some subjects.


Author(s):  
Chuck J. Biddle ◽  
Beverly George-Gay ◽  
Praveen Prasanna ◽  
Emily M. Hill ◽  
Thomas C. Davis ◽  
...  

Background. Anesthesia machines are known reservoirs of bacterial species, potentially contributing to healthcare associated infections (HAIs). An inexpensive, disposable, nonpermeable, transparent anesthesia machine wrap (AMW) may reduce microbial contamination of the anesthesia machine. This study quantified the density and diversity of bacterial species found on anesthesia machines after terminal cleaning and between cases during actual anesthesia care to assess the impact of the AMW. We hypothesized reduced bioburden with the use of the AMW. Methods. In a prospective, experimental research design, the AMW was used in 11 surgical cases (intervention group) and not used in 11 control surgical cases. Cases were consecutively assigned to general surgical operating rooms. Seven frequently touched and difficult to disinfect “hot spots” were cultured on each machine preceding and following each case. The density and diversity of cultured colony forming units (CFUs) between the covered and uncovered machines were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Student’s t-tests. Results. There was a statistically significant reduction in CFU density and diversity when the AMW was employed. Conclusion. The protective effect of the AMW during regular anesthetic care provides a reliable and low-cost method to minimize the transmission of pathogens across patients and potentially reduces HAIs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document