Barriers in Social Distancing during Covid19 pandemic - Is a message for forced lockdown

The world currently faces the predicament of the fast-spreading COVID-19 which as of 21st April 2020 affects 210 countries over the globe. As the disease started spreading its shadow at an alarmingly rapid rate, new information about the novel coronavirus was extracted and it has been reported to be mainly transmitted directly from person-to-person, droplet spread by cough or sneezing or by fomites. Till an effective vaccine becomes available the most potent preventive measure that can be taken is for people to maintain distance and avoid gatherings. Importance of social distancing has been discussed on many forums and disseminated among the public but the problem arises when the practical implementation does not encompass the entirety of the theoretical concepts. Understanding the barriers that stand between applying social distance in community is imperative if authorities and public health sectors expect a substantial change in incident cases. It's imperative that measures should be taken to stop the spread of misinformation, and guide the masses regarding the importance of social distancing. Since the virus spreads by droplet transmission, so without these proper social distancing measures, the burden will increase and it will not be possible to put a stop to this pandemic

The descriptive study of imposter syndrome in medical students

Background: Imposter syndrome is characterized by chronic feelings of self-doubt and fear of being discovered as an intellectual fraud. Despite evidence of abilities, those suffering from imposter syndrome are unable to internalize a sense of accomplishment, competence, or skill. Overall, they believe themselves to be less intelligent and competent than others perceive them to be. IS has several potential implications for medical education. The current study was designed to find out the frequency of imposter syndrome among medical students college so that certain measures must be taken to improve the teaching and learning methodologies as well as the curriculum.Methods: A cross-sectional, psycho-social analysis was conducted from March to July, 2018 at Nishtar Medical College, Multan after taking informed consent from the students. Clance Imposter Phenomenon Sclae (CIPS) was used to assess the prevalence and degree of severity of Imposter syndrome among medical chosen on basis of random sampling. The data collected was entered and analysed on SPSS v.20.Results: Two hundred (200) students were selected for the study and were asked to return the completed 20 items questionnaire. One hundred and eighty-nine (189) students returned the questionnaires, so the response rate was 94.5%. Out of 189 students, 121(64.36%) were males and 68(35.97%) were females. According to Clance imposter phenomenon scoring, of the total 189 students the severity of imposter syndrome is as follows: mild, 5(2.64%), moderate,72(38.09%), severe,103(54.49%) and very severe, 09(4.76%). Moreover, third year students were found to have high prevalence and degree of severity of imposter syndrome.Conclusions: Imposter phenomenon exists in a significant percentage of medical students and appears to peak in the third year of medical school. Both genders are at equal risk of having imposter syndrome. It is associated with various psychological illnesses. Further discussion regarding medical education paradigms in light of high levels of imposter phenomenon is needed

Insomnia among medical students: a cross-sectional study

Background: Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, is the perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of the following conditions: difficulty in falling asleep, frequent waking up during the night with difficulty for returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or unrefreshing sleep. It is the most common sleep related complaint reported in the primary care setting. Medical students are specially at risk of developing insomnia and its consequences. This study evaluates the prevalence and severity of insomnia in medical students in relation to certain socio-demographic factors like age, sex and class of education.Methods: A questionnaire based study was done on 135 medical students of Nishtar Medical University, Multan chosen on basis of random sampling to test the prevalence of insomnia using Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Out of these students 75 were males and 60 were females. Students were interviewed to obtain information about age, sex and academic year of education.Results: According to Athens insomniac scale scoring, 55 (40.74%) students were found insomniac while 80 (59.25%) were non-insomniac. Out of 55 insomniac students, 23 (41.81%) were males while 32 (58.18%) were females. Likewise, out of 80 non-insomniac students, 52 (65%) were males while 28 (35%) were females. The prevalence of insomnia in medical students was found to be increased with the increasing age. It was found that the females have more insomnia prevalence as well as more severe signs and symptoms of insomnia. Moreover, final year students tend to show more prevalence and severity of insomnia than their juniors.Conclusions: According to this study, 2 out of every 5 students were insomniac. Demographic comparison showed that the prevalence and severity of insomnia was more in females and final year students. Also, it was increasing side by side with increasing age

RFCNN: Traffic Accident Severity Prediction Based on Decision Level Fusion of Machine and Deep Learning Model

Traffic accidents on highways are a leading cause of death despite the development of traffic safety measures. The burden of casualties and damage caused by road accidents is very high for developing countries. Many factors are associated with traffic accidents, some of which are more significant than others in determining the severity of accidents. Data mining techniques can help in predicting influential factors related to crash severity. In this study, significant factors that are strongly correlated with the accident severity on highways are identified by Random Forest. Top features affecting accidental severity include distance, temperature, wind_Chill, humidity, visibility, and wind direction. This study presents an ensemble of machine learning and deep learning models by combining Random Forest and Convolutional Neural Network called RFCNN for the prediction of road accident severity. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with several base learner classifiers. The data used in the analysis include accident records of the USA from February 2016 to June 2020. Obtained results demonstrate that the RFCNN enhanced the decision-making process and outperformed other models with 0.991 accuracy, 0.974 precision, 0.986 recall, and 0.980 F-score using the 20 most significant features in predicting the severity of accidents

Continuous-time quantum walks for MAX-CUT are hot

By exploiting the link between time-independent Hamiltonians and thermalisation, heuristic predictions on the performance of continuous-time quantum walks for MAX-CUT are made. The resulting predictions depend on the number of triangles in the underlying MAX-CUT graph. We extend these results to the time-dependent setting with multi-stage quantum walks and Floquet systems. The approach followed here provides a novel way of understanding the role of unitary dynamics in tackling combinatorial optimisation problems with continuous-time quantum algorithms.Comment: 25 pages, 29 figure

Developmental morphology of cover crop species exhibit contrasting behaviour to changes in soil bulk density, revealed by X-ray computed tomography

Plant roots growing through soil typically encounter considerable structural heterogeneity, and local variations in soil dry bulk density. The way the in situ architecture of root systems of different species respond to such heterogeneity is poorly understood due to challenges in visualising roots growing in soil. The objective of this study was to visualise and quantify the impact of abrupt changes in soil bulk density on the roots of three cover crop species with contrasting inherent root morphologies, viz. tillage radish (Raphanus sativus), vetch (Vicia sativa) and black oat (Avena strigosa). The species were grown in soil columns containing a two-layer compaction treatment featuring a 1.2 g cm-3 (uncompacted) zone overlaying a 1.4 g cm-3 (compacted) zone. Three-dimensional visualisations of the root architecture were generated via X-ray computed tomography, and an automated root-segmentation imaging algorithm. Three classes of behaviour were manifest as a result of roots encountering the compacted interface, directly related to the species. For radish, there was switch from a single tap-root to multiple perpendicular roots which penetrated the compacted zone, whilst for vetch primary roots were diverted more horizontally with limited lateral growth at less acute angles. Black oat roots penetrated the compacted zone with no apparent deviation. Smaller root volume, surface area and lateral growth were consistently observed in the compacted zone in comparison to the uncompacted zone across all species. The rapid transition in soil bulk density had a large effect on root morphology that differed greatly between species, with major implications for how these cover crops will modify and interact with soil structure

Pathogenic Mechanisms and Host Interactions in Staphylococcus epidermidis Device-Related Infection

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a permanent member of the normal human microbiota, commonly found on skin and mucous membranes. By adhering to tissue surface moieties of the host via specific adhesins, S. epidermidis is capable of establishing a lifelong commensal relationship with humans that begins early in life. In its role as a commensal organism, S. epidermidis is thought to provide benefits to human host, including out-competing more virulent pathogens. However, largely due to its capacity to form biofilm on implanted foreign bodies, S. epidermidis has emerged as an important opportunistic pathogen in patients receiving medical devices. S. epidermidis causes approximately 20% of all orthopedic device-related infections (ODRIs), increasing up to 50%in late-developing infections. Despite this prevalence, it remains underrepresented in the scientific literature, in particular lagging behind the study of the S. aureus. This review aims to provide an overview of the interactions of S. epidermidis with the human host, both as a commensal and as a pathogen. The mechanisms retained by S. epidermidis that enable colonization of human skin as well as invasive infection, will be described, with a particular focus upon biofilm formation. The host immune responses to these infections are also described, including how S. epidermidis seems to trigger low levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and high levels of interleukin-10, which may contribute to the sub-acute and persistent nature often associated with these infections. The adaptive immune response to S. epidermidis remains poorly described, and represents an area which may provide significant new discoveries in the coming years

Perceptions about Eclampsia, Birth Preparedness, and Complications Readiness among Antenatal Clients Attending a Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria

Background. Eclampsia is a reliable indicator of poor birth preparedness and complications readiness. We determined perceptions about eclampsia, birth preparedness, and complications readiness among antenatal clients in Kano, Nigeria. Materials and Method. A cross-sectional design was used to study 250 randomly selected antenatal clients. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Result. The mean age of the respondents was 26.1 ± 6.4 years. The majority perceived that eclampsia is preventable through good ANC (76.4%) and hospital delivery (70.8%). Overall, 66.8% had good perception about eclampsia. Having at least secondary school education and multigravidity were associated with good perception about eclampsia on multivariate analysis. About a third (39.6%) of the mothers was less prepared. On binary logistic regression, good perception about eclampsia and multigravidity were associated with being very prepared for birth. Up to 37.6% were not ready for complications. Half (50.4%) knew at least three danger signs of pregnancy, and 30.0% donated blood or identified suitable blood donor. On multivariate analysis, having at least secondary school education, being very prepared for birth, and multigravidity emerged as the only predictors of the respondents' readiness for complications. Conclusion and Recommendations. Health workers should emphasize the practicability of birth preparedness and complications readiness during ANC and in the communities, routinely review plans, and support clients meet-up challenging areas. The importance of girl-child education to at least secondary school should be buttressed