Evaluation of internet addiction and mental health among medical sciences students in the southeast of Iran

Background: Today, the prevalence of Internet Addiction (IA) is increasing among college students and the mental health of students is reduced with the increasing severity of IA. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate IA and mental health among medical sciences students in the southeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 417 students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Southeast of Iran, during year 2016. The participants were recruited through a two-stage stratified sampling method. The data collection was done using Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT) and Goldberg General Health (GHQ) standard questionnaires. Data analysis were performed by ANOVA, Pearson correlation, chi-square, and logistic regression tests using SPSS software for Windows version 16. Results: The overall prevalence of IA in students was 27.56 (95 CI: 21.3 to 30.8). The prevalence of IA was 15.82 (95 CI: 11.3 to 19.7) in male and 11.74 (95 CI: 8.5 to 14.6) in female students. Mean mental health was 39.90 ± 1.34 and 48.17 ± 2.56 in normal and addicted users, respectively. There was a significant difference between IA and male gender (P = 0.001), major (P = 0.019), GPA (P = 0.001), college year (P = 0.013), time of using the Internet (P = 0.003), residency (P = 0.013), time (P = 0.011), location, and reason for using the Internet (P = 0.023). In addition, there was a positive correlation between IA and mental health (P = 0.02, r = 0.36). Conclusions: The overall prevalence of IA was high and effects the mental health of medical sciences students in the southeast Iran. Overuse of the Internet by students may cause depression, and decreased mental health and academic performance. Creating psychological support and the provision of various fun programs could reduce the willingness to overuse the Internet and may prevent from IA complications among students. © 2017, Shiraz E-Medical Journal

Evaluation of internet addiction and mental health among medical sciences students in the southeast of Iran

Background: Today, the prevalence of Internet Addiction (IA) is increasing among college students and the mental health of students is reduced with the increasing severity of IA. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate IA and mental health among medical sciences students in the southeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 417 students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Southeast of Iran, during year 2016. The participants were recruited through a two-stage stratified sampling method. The data collection was done using Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT) and Goldberg General Health (GHQ) standard questionnaires. Data analysis were performed by ANOVA, Pearson correlation, chi-square, and logistic regression tests using SPSS software for Windows version 16. Results: The overall prevalence of IA in students was 27.56 (95 CI: 21.3 to 30.8). The prevalence of IA was 15.82 (95 CI: 11.3 to 19.7) in male and 11.74 (95 CI: 8.5 to 14.6) in female students. Mean mental health was 39.90 ± 1.34 and 48.17 ± 2.56 in normal and addicted users, respectively. There was a significant difference between IA and male gender (P = 0.001), major (P = 0.019), GPA (P = 0.001), college year (P = 0.013), time of using the Internet (P = 0.003), residency (P = 0.013), time (P = 0.011), location, and reason for using the Internet (P = 0.023). In addition, there was a positive correlation between IA and mental health (P = 0.02, r = 0.36). Conclusions: The overall prevalence of IA was high and effects the mental health of medical sciences students in the southeast Iran. Overuse of the Internet by students may cause depression, and decreased mental health and academic performance. Creating psychological support and the provision of various fun programs could reduce the willingness to overuse the Internet and may prevent from IA complications among students. © 2017, Shiraz E-Medical Journal

Comprehensive 4D velocity mapping of the heart and great vessels by cardiovascular magnetic resonance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is able to measure all three directional components of the velocities of blood flow relative to the three spatial dimensions and the time course of the heart cycle. In this article, methods used for the acquisition, visualization, and quantification of such datasets are reviewed and illustrated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Currently, the acquisition of 3D cine (4D) phase contrast velocity data, synchronized relative to both cardiac and respiratory movements takes about ten minutes or more, even when using parallel imaging and optimized pulse sequence design. The large resulting datasets need appropriate post processing for the visualization of multidirectional flow, for example as vector fields, pathlines or streamlines, or for retrospective volumetric quantification.</p> <p>Applications</p> <p>Multidirectional velocity acquisitions have provided 3D visualization of large scale flow features of the healthy heart and great vessels, and have shown altered patterns of flow in abnormal chambers and vessels. Clinically relevant examples include retrograde streams in atheromatous descending aortas as potential thrombo-embolic pathways in patients with cryptogenic stroke and marked variations of flow visualized in common aortic pathologies. Compared to standard clinical tools, 4D velocity mapping offers the potential for retrospective quantification of flow and other hemodynamic parameters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Multidirectional, 3D cine velocity acquisitions are contributing to the understanding of normal and pathologically altered blood flow features. Although more rapid and user-friendly strategies for acquisition and analysis may be needed before 4D velocity acquisitions come to be adopted in routine clinical CMR, their capacity to measure multidirectional flows throughout a study volume has contributed novel insights into cardiovascular fluid dynamics in health and disease.</p

Effect of X-Ray Attenuation of Arterial Obstructions on Intravenous Thrombolysis and Outcome after Ischemic Stroke

<div><p>Objective</p><p>To assess whether the x-ray attenuation of intra-arterial obstruction measured on non-contrast CT in ischemic stroke can predict response to thrombolysis and subsequent functional outcome.</p><p>Methods</p><p>The Third International Stroke Trial (IST-3) was a multicenter randomized-controlled trial of intravenous thrombolysis (rt-PA) given within six hours of ischemic stroke. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained. In a subgroup of 109 IST-3 patients (38 men, median age 82 years), a single reader, masked to all clinical and other imaging data, manually measured x-ray attenuation (Hounsfield Units, HU) on non-contrast CT at the location of angiographically-proven intra-arterial obstructions, pre-randomization and at 24–48 hour follow-up. We calculated change in attenuation between scans. We assessed the impact of pre-randomization arterial obstruction attenuation on six-month functional outcome.</p><p>Results</p><p>Most arterial obstructions (64/109, 59%) were hyperattenuating (mean 51.0 HU). Compared with control, treatment with rt-PA was associated with a greater, but non-significant, reduction in obstruction attenuation at follow-up (-8.0 HU versus -1.4 HU in patients allocated control, p = 0.117). In multivariable ordinal regression analysis controlled for patient age, stroke severity, location and extent of obstruction, time from stroke onset to baseline scan and rt-PA treatment allocation, the attenuation of pre-randomization arterial obstruction was not independently associated with six-month outcome (odds ratio = 0.99, 95% confidence interval = 0.94–1.03, p = 0.516).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>In ischemic stroke, the x-ray attenuation of the arterial obstruction may decline more rapidly from baseline to 24–48 hours following treatment with thrombolysis but we found no evidence that baseline arterial obstruction attenuation predicts six-month outcome.</p></div