Predominancyof Coping Styles in Patients with Type II Diabetes in Low Socio Economic Status Groups

Background: Coping style is a person’s characteristic strategies used in response to life problems or traumas. Coping serves a protective function .This study aims to examine the impact of coping styles predominance in the training programme given to patients with type II diabetes of low socioeconomic status group.30 patients with type II diabetes of low socioeconomic status group were selected using purposive sampling from the diabetic clinic for the assessment of coping style. Coping style was assessed using “Coping styles of adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes” by Karlsen and Bru (1998). Paired t-test was used to assess the effectiveness of coping styles enhancement training programme for patients with type II diabetes. The study revealed that there is significant increase in the level of coping styles of patients with type II diabetes due to coping styles enhancement training programme.

Knowledge and Adoption of Commercial Vegetable Growers in District Budgam, J&K

The study was conducted on 250 vegetable growers selected from ten villages of Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. The basic objective of the study was to ascertain the knowledge possessed and adoption level of growers as well as the economic status of vegetable growers. The result revealed that 50.80 per cent of the respondents had medium level of knowledge, 48.40 per cent of respondents belonged to medium adoption category and majority of 60.80 per cent of the vegetable growers belong to the middle economic status group.

Second-look arthroscopic cartilage status is related to intermediate-term outcomes after medial opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy

Aims To determine the relationship between articular cartilage status and clinical outcomes after medial opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOHTO) for medial compartmental knee osteoarthritis at intermediate follow-up. Methods We reviewed 155 patients (155 knees) who underwent MOHTO from January 2008 to December 2016 followed by second-look arthroscopy with a mean 5.3-year follow-up (2.0 to 11.7). Arthroscopic findings were assessed according to the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) Cartilage Repair Assessment (CRA) grading system. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of normal or nearly normal quality cartilage in the medial femoral condyle: good (second-look arthroscopic) status (ICRS grade I or II; n = 70), and poor (second-look arthroscopic) status (ICRS grade III or IV; n = 85) groups at the time of second-look arthroscopy. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and 36-Item Short Form survey. Results Significant improvements in all clinical outcome categories were found between the preoperative and second-look arthroscopic assessments in both groups (p < 0.001). At the latest follow-up, the mean IKDC and WOMAC scores in the good status group further improved compared with those at the time of second-look arthroscopic surgery (p < 0.001), which was not shown in the poor status group. The mean IKDC (good status, 72.8 (SD 12.5); poor status, 64.7 (SD 12.1); p = 0.002) and mean WOMAC scores (good status, 15.7 (SD 10.8); poor status, 21.8 (SD 13.6); p = 0.004) significantly differed between both groups at the latest follow-up. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between ICRS CRA grades and IKDC scores (negative correlation; p < 0.001) and WOMAC scores (positive correlation; p < 0.001) at the latest follow-up. Good cartilage status was found more frequently in knees with the desired range of 2° to 6° valgus correction than in those with corrections outside this range (p = 0.019). Conclusion Second-look arthroscopic cartilage status correlated with clinical outcomes after MOHTO at intermediate-term follow-up, despite the relatively small clinical differences between groups. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2021;103-B(11):1686–1694.

Stool Antigen Test is Effective and Sensitive for Detecting Helicobacter Pylori Infection in Bangladeshi Peptic Ulcer Patients

Aims: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the primary causative agent of peptic ulcer in multiple developing countries, including Bangladesh. This study was designed to investigate the diagnostic value of a rapid immunochromatography-based H. Pylori stool antigen (HpSAg) test to screen H. pylori infection in Bangladeshi population. Methodology and results: A total of 140 suspected peptic ulcer patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at Chittagong Medical College and Hospital, Chattogram, Bangladesh, were included in the study. Histopathology, Rapid Urease Test (RUT), and Microscopic examination of the stained smears were conducted to define H. pylori positive cases. Later, stool antigen detection test was done in H. pylori positive status group, H. pylori negative status group, indeterminate status group, and healthy controls. Out of 140 peptic ulcer suspected patients, 75 (53.6%) patients were confirmed to have peptic ulcer or erosions. Although the proportion of antral erosion was 57.4% in patients who were below 40 years, the proportion decreased to 23.4% in patients over 40 years. Patients over 40 years were mostly suffering from Prepyloric erosion (42.9%). All peptic ulcer patients were also positive on histopathological analysis. However, micorscopic grading of curved bacilli and RUT found 93.3% (70/75) and 89.3% (67/75) patients positive, respectively. High sensitivity (95%), specificity (80%), and diagnostic accuracy (91%) scores for HpSAg assay was obtained in our study. Conclusions, significance and impact of studies: The HpSAg test, for a comparatively less sophisticated assay, can be efficient in detecting the presence of H. pylori pre-and post-therapy and provide more valid test results than other invasive test methods.

Role of left atrial reservoir function in rheumatic mitral stenosis tolerance

Introduction Rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) is still frequent in low income countries. Unlike the other left sided valvular heart diseases, symptoms' occurrence is still not well understood. Previous attempts to correlate mitral valve area (MVA), pulmonary hypertension and even mitral valve stenosis severity scores with symptoms' severity have failed to establish any strong relationship. Recent advances in the characterization of the left atrium (LA) function by echocardiographic strain technique, yielded a new understanding of symptoms genesis in MS. Purpose To assess the correlation between LA reservoir function determined by two-dimensional (2D) Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE) and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional status in patients with MS. Methods We prospectively performed comprehensive 2D trans thoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with rheumatic MS. Echocardiographic parameters, such as indexed LA volume, trans mitral mean gradient, maximal trans tricuspid velocity (MTTV), valve area using planimetry and pressure half time (PHT) were recorded. All doppler parameters are expressed as a mean of at least three measurements. LA global strain curve and peak reservoir strain value were then obtained on a four-chamber view. NYHA functional status was assessed just before performing the echo procedure. Results We enrolled 186 patients with rheumatic MS, with a mean age of 50.55±12.07 years. 20 patients were excluded from the study because of the presence of impaired systolic LV function (n=12), severe mitral regurgitation (n=7) or severe aortic regurgitation (n=1). A total of 69.4% of our cohort were female (n=129), 56.2% (n=104) had a history of percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC), 59.9% had permanent atrial fibrillation (n=109). The mean MVA was 1.40±0.47 cm2, PHT derived Area was 1.47±0.52 cm2, mean gradient was 10.72±5.82 mmHg, mean indexed LA volume was 80.70±45.34 ml/m2 and mean MTTV was (3.09±0.62m/s). 75 patients (39.9%) were in NYHA III or IV functional class. Mean LA reservoir strain value was 11.08±7.76%. Comparing the group in NYHA III or IV functional class with the group NYHA I or II functional class, there was no statistically significant difference in mean MVA by planimetry or PHT, nor in mean gradient, MMTV or indexed LA volume. Interestingly, the NYHA III or IV functional status group had a significantly lower mean LA reservoir strain value compared to the NYHA I or II functional status group (8.94±5.57% vs 11.92±8.31%, p=0.011). Even in mild MS patients with a planimetry MVA ≥1.5cm2 (n=65), a significantly lower mean LA reservoir strain value was found in NYHA III or IV group compared to the NYHA I or II group (15.08±10.09% vs 9.76±4.35%, p=0.05). Conclusion LA reservoir function is highly correlated to the severity of symptoms in rheumatic MS. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Social Status Affects the Causal Relationship Between Prejudice, Discrimination, Personality, Subjective Well-Being, and Self-Esteem

People who repeatedly experience prejudice and discrimination are at greater risk for developing several negative consequences, such as low self-esteem (SE). However, scholars have not explored the role of social status as an important variable for this relationship, and its consequences. The current study is aimed at investigating the role of status on the relationship between self-perceived prejudice and discrimination (SPPD), subjective well-being (SWB), SE, and the Big-Five. In a Brazilian sample (N = 1,130), we found that social status affects the network structure among low- and high-status group members. We also found that not all causal relations are equal between groups, such that the influence of SPPD, SE, and neuroticism is different depending on participants’ social status. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for social status when crafting psychological interventions to mitigate the negative effects of prejudice and discrimination and dismantle systems of oppression for low-status group members.

FRIENDSHIP IS SKIN (COLOR) DEEP

Friendships between members of different ethnoracial groups can help to reduce prejudice and ease tensions across ethnoracial groups. A large body of literature has explored possible determinants for the formation of these friendships. One unexplored factor is the role of an individual’s skin color in influencing their opportunities to befriend members of other ethnoracial groups. This study seeks to answer two questions: For ethnoracial minorities, how is an individual’s skin color associated with the likelihood that they will engage in a cross-ethnoracial friendship? Does the role of skin color depend on the ethnoracial combination of the two groups that befriend one another? Using waves 1, 2, and 3 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen and a series of multinomial logit models, the results suggest that the role of skin color is a function of the relative levels of social status of the two ethnoracial groups that befriend one another. I argue that lighter-skinned members of lower status ethnoracial groups have a greater likelihood of having close friendships with members of higher status ethnoracial groups. There is also limited evidence that darker-skinned members of a higher status group, specifically Asians, have a greater likelihood of having close friends from a lower status group.

Inhibition and shifting across the weight status spectrum

Executive functioning is of major interest in the study of cognitive factors involved in obesity. Among executive functions, shifting is related to behavioral flexibility, and inhibition to the ability to refrain impulsive behavior. A deficit in those two functions could predict individual difficulties to reach and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Weak evidence of deficits in shifting and inhibition in individuals of higher Body Mass Index (BMI) have been observed. The objective of our study was to clarify the relationship between inhibition and shifting regarding weight status group differences as well as BMI, in healthy adults. Two neuropsychological tests from the Test of Attentional Performance (TAP) battery were used. Three groups of men and women (n=115) were studied: normal-weight (NW, n=38), overweight (OW, n=40) and obesity (OB, n=37). By controlling for age, sex, educational level and major diseases, weight status group differences (NW, OW, OB) in inhibition and shifting were analyzed as well as performance related to BMI alone. The results show that individuals with higher BMI have lower inhibition capacities and that classically used weight status categories (NW, OW, OB) might not capture cognitive variability. No differences in shifting between behavioral responses were observed in relation to weight status nor BMI. This paper provides new insights on cognitive factors in weight excess by presenting data from individuals with overweight, and data from individuals with obesity without major comorbidities. The results support that assessing inhibition capacities might be of interest in a clinical setting for patients with difficulties to lose weight.