Associations Between Academic Stress, Mental Distress, Academic Self-Disclosure to Parents and School Engagement in Hong Kong

Numerous studies have indicated that academic stress is associated with various detrimental personal physical and emotional outcomes; however, relatively few studies have explored how academic stress affects adolescents' interactions with their significant others in families and schools, which are two important social systems for school-age adolescents. In addition, there are also few studies examining how academic stress influences adolescents' self-disclosure to parents and school engagement in East Asian districts particularly in Hong Kong, where the level of academic stress among adolescents is high. This study examines how academic stress affects mental distress, academic self-disclosure to parents and school engagement and explores gender differences in the risk for the outcomes of academic stress. One thousand and eight hundred and four students from eight secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results indicate that academic stress has a significant association with all three outcomes, but the correlation with school engagement is positive, which is contrary to the findings of most previous studies. The possible reasons for such positive association are discussed. In addition, the model can be applied to both genders, but females are more susceptible to the detrimental outcomes of academic stress by suffering a higher level of mental distress. This study suggests that academic stress should be an important entry point to tackle adolescents' mental distress while interventions should be targeted at females who are experiencing a higher level of mental distress. In addition, in view of the significant associations between academic stress and self-disclosure to parents, as well as between academic stress and school engagement, suggestions are provided to families and schools on how to proactively provide support to those students who are experiencing academic stress

Clinical features and surgical effect of vireoretinal diseases with contralateral blindness

AIM: To investigate the clinical characteristics and surgical results of vireoretinal diseases in 68 patients with contralateral blindness(solitary eye). <p>METHODS: A total of 68 patients(68 eyes)with contralateral blindness were enrolled in this retrospective consecutive study. The clinical characteristics, surgical procedures and temponade materials chosen, preoperative and postoperative visual acuity, complications and prognosis were analyzed. The follow-up ranged from 4 months to 5 years, with an average of(11.30±9.57)months. At the last follow-up, the surgical effects were evaluated.<p>RESULTS:After operation, visual acuity increased significantly. The number of eyes with vision of 0.05 or better increased from 22 eyes(32.4%)preoperative to 60 eyes(88.2%)postoperative, and that of 0.3 or better from 3 eyes(4.4%)to 37 eyes(54.4%). The best-corrected visual acuity before and after surgery also differed significantly(<i>t</i>=8.986, <i>P<</i>0.01). <p>CONCLUSION: With vitreoretinal surgery, visual impairment or loss due to vitreoretinal diseases can be avoided in most patients with contralateral blindness

Unilateral massive hydrothorax in a gynecologic patient with pseudo-Meigs' syndrome -A case report-

Pseudo-Meigs' syndrome is characterized by the presence of a benign ovarian tumor associated with ascites and a right-sided hydrothorax. The major problem associated with pseudo-Meigs' syndrome is the respiratory distress caused by a giant mass in the peritoneal space, massive ascites and pleural effusion. Even if there are no respiratory problems prior to surgery, potential respiratory dysfunction can occur during the peri-anesthetic period, leading to hypoxia, hypercapnea and respiratory acidosis. We report a case of hypoxia during recovery from anesthesia in a gynecological patient with pseudo-Meigs' syndrome

Effects of endogenous dopamine induced by low concentration atropine eye drops on choroidal neovascularization in high myopia mice

AIM: To evaluate effects of endogenous dopamine induced by low concentration atropine eye drops on choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in high myopia mice. METHODS: The C57BL/6J mice were deprived of the right eye for 4wk, and the high myopia was diagnosed by optometry, the diopter was less than -6.00 D, and CNV was induced by 532 nm laser. The changes of dopamine D1 receptor (DRD1), dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2), and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) were detected by Western blot technology at 0.5, 1, 2h, and 7d after 0.01%, 0.05%, and 0.1% atropine eye drops, respectively, the area of CNV was measured. RESULTS: Significant increases were observed on the expression of DRD2 in mouse high myopia model at 0.5, 1, 2h, 7d with 0.05% and 0.1% atropine eye drops (P<0.05). Significant decreases were observed on the expression of DRD1 and VEGFA in mouse high myopia model at 0.5, 1, 2h, 7d with 0.05% and 0.1% atropine eye drops (P<0.05). The area of CNV induced by laser in the drug-treated group was significantly smaller than that in the control group, and the higher the concentration, the more significant the inhibitory effect (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1% atropine eye drops can decrease the level of VEGFA and inhibit high myopia CNV indirectly by up-regulating the level of DRD2 and down-regulating the level of DRD1, and the effect of 0.05% and 0.1% atropine eye drops is more significant

An empirical parameterization of subsurface entrainment temperature for improved SST anomaly simulations in an intermediate ocean model

An empirical model for the temperature of subsurface water entrained into the ocean mixed layer (Te) is presented and evaluated to improve sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) simulations in an intermediate ocean model (IOM) of the tropical Pacific. An inverse modeling approach is adopted to estimate Te from an SSTA equation using observed SST and simulated upper-ocean currents. A relationship between Te and sea surface height (SSH) anomalies is then obtained by utilizing a singular value decomposition (SVD) of their covariance. This empirical scheme is able to better parameterize Te anomalies than other local schemes and quite realistically depicts interannual variability of Te, including a nonlocal phase lag relation of Te variations relative to SSH anomalies over the central equatorial Pacific. An improved Te parameterization naturally leads to better depiction of the subsurface effect on SST variability by the mean upwelling of subsurface temperature anomalies. As a result, SSTA simulations are significantly improved in the equatorial Pacific; a comparison with other schemes indicates that systematic errors of the simulated SSTAs are significantly small—apparently due to the optimized empirical Teparameterization. Cross validation and comparisons with other model simulations are made to illustrate the robustness and effectiveness of the scheme. In particular it is demonstrated that the empirical Te model constructed from one historical period can be successfully used to improve SSTA simulations in another

Active RIS-Assisted MIMO-OFDM System: Analyses and Prototype Measurements

In this study, we develop an active reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) prototype compliant with the 5G New Radio standard at 3.5 GHz. The experimental results clearly indicate that active RIS plays a vital role in enhancing MIMO performance, surpassing passive RIS. Furthermore, when considering factors such as complexity, energy consumption, and performance, the comparative evaluation between passive RIS and active RIS reinforces the critical role of active RIS in MIMO systems. These findings underscore the practical significance of active RIS in improving MIMO gain in 5G scenarios.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl