scholarly journals Can Worried Parents Predict Effects of Video Games on Their Children? A Case-Control Study of Cognitive Abilities, Addiction Indicators and Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Lieberoth ◽  
Anne Fiskaali

Many parents worry over their children’s gaming habits, but to what extent do such worries match any detrimental effects of excessive gaming? We attempted to answer this question by comparing children of highly concerned parents with other adolescents of the same age. A cohort of parents who identified as highly concerned over their children’s video game habits were recruited for a public study in collaboration with a national television network. Using an online experimental platform in conjunction with surveys of parents’ beliefs and attitudes, we compared their children to age-matched peers in an exploratory case-control study. The scores of children with highly concerned parents on tests of cognitive control (cued task-switching and Iowa Gambling Task) and psychological wellbeing (WHO-5) were statistically similar to controls, suggesting no selective cognitive or psychological detriments from gaming or otherwise in the cases with concerned parents. The case group, however, did spend more time gaming, and scored higher than controls on problem gaming indicators (Gaming Addiction Scale), which also correlated negatively with wellbeing. Within the case group, wellbeing effects seemed mainly to consist in issues of relaxation and sleep, and related to gaming addiction indicators of playing to forget real-world problems, and the feeling of neglecting non-gaming activities. Where most results of research staged for TV never get published, making it difficult to interpret both methods and results, this paper describes findings and participant recruitment in detail. The relationship between parental concern and children’s gaming is discussed, as is the merits and challenges of research conducted with media, such as TV programs and their recruited on-screen participants.

2021 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansour Karajibani ◽  
Farzaneh Montazerifar ◽  
Razieh Hosseini ◽  
Fatemeh Suni ◽  
Ali Reza Dashipour ◽  
...  

Background: Malnutrition causes nutritional, metabolism, and biochemical disorders and finally leads to mortality. Several studies have highlighted that serum liver enzymes are increased in patients with malnutrition. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between malnutrition and liver enzymes in hospitalized children in Zahedan. Methods: This case-control study was conducted among 145 hospitalized children under six years old, including 74 cases and 71 controls. The case group was diagnosed with malnutrition according to weight for age indices (Z-Score < -2SD), and controls were determined based on the following indices (Z-Score > -2SD) of classification of WHO 2006 growth standards. Serum was isolated after taking blood from the samples. Then liver enzymes, including AST, ALP, and ALT, were measured by spectrophotometric method. Results: A total of 145 subjects were enrolled that consisted of 74 cases and 71 controls. No significant difference was observed in serum liver markers, including AST, ALT, and ALP between the two groups, However, the level of AST, ALT, and ALP was higher than the standard level. There was a significant correlation between AST with ALT (r = 0.74, P < 0.001), and ALP (r = 0.27, P = 0.03). Conclusions: The findings indicated that there was no significant alteration in enzyme markers in the two groups. However, AST and ALT levels increased, and ALP levels decreased compared with the control. Different degrees of malnutrition, including mild, moderate, and severe, can probably change the levels of hepatic enzymes in under-nourished children. Alteration of these liver enzymes could be due to the metabolic modification, which can be the result of protein deficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yu Fan ◽  
Xuyu Gu ◽  
Huiwen Pan ◽  
Zhe Dai ◽  
Chen Zou ◽  
...  

Objective. To investigate the relationship between polymorphism of TNFRSF11 gene rs9533156 and rs2277438 and susceptibility to gastric cancer. Methods. A case-control study was conducted to select 577 cases of primary gastric cancer and 678 cases of normal control. We extracted whole blood genomic DNA and amplified the target gene fragment by PCR. The genotyping and allele were tested through the snapshot method. Results. In this case-control study, we observed that there was a difference in the genotype distribution of TNFRSF11 gene rs9533156 between the case group and the control group. The frequency distribution of TC heterozygous mutation in the case group was higher than that in the control group. The smoking rate in the case group (34.49%) was higher than that in the control group (27.29%), and the difference in frequency distribution between the two groups was statistically significant (P=0.006). Our findings suggest that TNFRSF11 rs9533156 is associated with susceptibility to GC, which is more evident among elderly patients (>62 years), nonsmokers, and patients who do not consume alcohol. The analysis of the relationship between the TNFSF11 gene rs9533156 site variant and clinical factors of gastric cancer showed that, compared with the tumor size <2 cm group, patients with tumor size ≥2 cm and whom carrying rs9533156 site mutations had a higher frequency distribution, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.022). Compared with the nonhyperglycemic group, the frequency distribution of patients with rs9533156 site mutations in the diabetes group was higher, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion. This study shows that there is a correlation between smoking and the occurrence of gastric cancer. Based on our research, the functional SNP TNFRSF11 TC genotype may be an indicator of individual susceptibility to GC. The mutation at rs9533156 may be related to the size of gastric cancer. The mutation rate of rs9533156 of TNFSF11 gene is higher in diabetic gastric cancer patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farahnaz Haeri ◽  
Reza Ghiasvand ◽  
Awat Feizi ◽  
Amin Salehi Abargouei ◽  
laleh Dehghan Marvast ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: Reproductive disorders are a global health problem with high prevalence in all parts of the World. Their etiology can be attributed to several factors such as psychological, social, economical and physical. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between major dietary patterns with fertility status in Iranian men in Yazd province.Methods: In this case-control study, 400 infertile men were recruited into study during their fertility investigation in Yazd Reproductive sciences Institute by diagnosis an andrologist as the case group. The control group consisted of 604 healthy men without infertility history that selected from Shahedieh cohort study, recruitment phase from 2015 to 2016 (during one year),Yazd, Iran, according to the inclusion criteria. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between dietary patterns and infertility. All data of the major dietary patterns were analyzed using SPSS V. 22 software.Results: five dietary patterns were extracted. These dietary patterns were grouped as Western, Healthy, Traditional, Fat-based and Mixed. After adjusting for age and level of education, the third tertile of the mixed Dietary Pattern had the highest odds ratio (OR = 7.2; 95% CI, 4.4-11.7) for infertility. In Model 2, the second tertile of the traditional dietary pattern had the lowest Odds ratio (OR = 0.012;95%CI, 0.006-0.023) About infertility. In model 3, Third tertile of western (OR = 6.3; 95% CI, 3.3-12.1) and mix dietary patterns (OR = 2.9; 95% CI, 1.6-5.2) had the highest odds ratio for infertility. The first tertile of each dietary pattern was considered as the reference level.Conclusions: We concluded in this study that adherence to the Western dietary pattern in model 3, Mix and fat-based pattern in model 2 was associated with high risk for infertility. On the other hand, adherence to the traditional and healthy dietary pattern had a protective effect on male infertility. Further studies are needed to confirm the findings of this study.


Neonatology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Tobias Hengartner ◽  
Mark Adams ◽  
Riccardo E. Pfister ◽  
Diane Snyers ◽  
Jane McDougall ◽  
...  

<b><i>Aim:</i></b> The aim of this study is to examine possible associations between the transfusion of RBC or platelets (PLTs) and the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in infants. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This retrospective, national, case-control study included all live births in Switzerland between 2013 and 2018. We investigated preterm infants at a gestational age of &#x3c;28 weeks, who developed higher stage ROP (≥stage 2, <i>n</i> = 178). Each case infant was matched to another of the same sex who did not develop ROP (<i>n</i> = 178, control group). <b><i>Results:</i></b> When compared with the control group, we observed higher numbers of RBC transfusions per infant and higher percentages of infants receiving PLT transfusions in the case group. An adjusted logistic regression analysis revealed that both RBC (odds ratio [OR] 1.081, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.020–1.146) and PLT transfusions (OR = 2.502, 95% CI 1.566–3.998) numbers were associated with ROP development. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Multiple RBC and PLT transfusions are associated with higher stage ROP development. Prospective studies are required to determine their potential as risk factors.


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