Psychiatric Morbidity in Psoriasis and Vitiligo in Two Tertiary Hospitals in Bangladesh

Background: Many of the established skin diseases give rise to psychiatric disorders notably psoriasis and vitiligo. In Bangladesh, no study has yet been reported on psychiatric morbidity among psoriasis and vitiligo patients. Objectives: The objective of the study was to see the psychiatric morbidities in two chronic skin diseases, psoriasis and vitiligo, in Bangladesh. Methods: This was a cross sectional, analytical and comparative study. It was conducted to see whether psychiatric morbidity was higher among patients with psoriasis than that of vitiligo. Specific types of psychiatric disorders were identified by consultant psychiatrist assigned as per criteria of (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental and Behavioural Disorders-Fourth Edition)DSM-IV among 50 patients with psoriasis and same number of patients with vitiligo and were compared. Study places were the Departments of Dermatology and Venereology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in Dhaka city. Results: Among the two dermatological conditions, psychiatric disorders were found 25 (50%) in psoriatic patients and 12 (24%) that in vitiligo patients. The proportion of major depressive disorders (MDD) was higher among psoriasis patients 15(30.0%) compared to vitiligo patients 04(8.0%). However, no statistical difference was found between two groups of patients in terms of anxiety disorders (8% in psoriasis and 12% in vitiligo patients). In patients with psoriasis, MDD was found highest (30.0%) followed by anxiety disorders (8.0%), adjustment disorder (4.0%) and somatoform disorder not otherwise specified (2.0%). Whereas, among the vitiligo patients, anxiety disorder was found highest (12.0%) followed by MDD (8.0%). The Present study showed significant association of psychiatric morbidities in these two dermatological diseases (psoriasis and vitiligo) with the variables of the study population. Conclusion: It has been found in Bangladesh that the psychiatric morbidity is higher among the patients with psoriasis than vitiligo. Key words: Psoriasis; Vitiligo; Psychiatric morbidity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bsmmuj.v4i2.8636 BSMMU J 2011; 4(2):88-9

Prolidase activity in adult bipolar disorder patient: a case - control study

Background: Bipolar disorder is one of the major neuropsychiatric illnesses. It is responsible for 6.8% of disability-adjusted life years among all mental disorders. Few studies have evaluated the biochemical basis of bipolar disorder. Prolidase is an enzyme that degrade extracellular matrix into proline. In stress condition, prolidase by releasing proline maintain ATP generation, redox state, apoptosis and cell proliferation. The relationship between serum prolidase with bipolar disorder was investigated in this study. Method: A case - control study was conducted at the Department of Laboratory Medicine in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka from March 2021 to February 2022. Thirty-five patients with bipolar disorder type I consisting of 15 euthymic and 20 manic patients were enrolled in the study according to the availability of patients as cases. Thirty-five age - and sex-matched healthy individuals were recruited from the Department of Laboratory Medicine as controls. Serum prolidase level was measured in cases and controls using venous blood. Result: Serum prolidase level was significantly higher in cases than controls (P=0.021). There was no significant differences between euthymic and manic patients (P=0.629). Significant positive correlation was found between Young Mania Rating Scale severity score and serum prolidase level (P=0.001). Conclusion: Serum prolidase activity may be associated with bipolar disorder. This needs further corroboration because our sample size was small. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Journal 2023;16(2): 96-100

A Framework for Identifying Influential People by Analyzing Social Media Data

In this paper, we introduce a new framework for identifying the most influential people from social sensor networks. Selecting influential people from social networks is a complicated task as it depends on many metrics like the network of friends, followers, reactions, comments, shares, etc. (e.g., friends-of-a-friend, friends-of-a-friend-of-a-friend). Data on social media are increasing day-by-day at an enormous rate. It is also a challenge to store and process these data. Towards this goal, we use Hadoop to store data and Apache Spark for the fast computation of the data. To select influential people, we apply the mechanisms of skyline query and top-k query. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to apply the Apache Spark framework to identify influential people on social sensor network, such as online social media. Our proposed mechanism can find influential people very quickly and efficiently on the data pattern of Facebook

Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, ventilation management, and outcomes in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome: a pooled analysis of four observational studies

Background: Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, the practice of ventilation, and outcome in invasively ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remain unexplored. In this analysis we aim to address these gaps using individual patient data of four large observational studies. Methods: In this pooled analysis we harmonised individual patient data from the ERICC, LUNG SAFE, PRoVENT, and PRoVENT-iMiC prospective observational studies, which were conducted from June, 2011, to December, 2018, in 534 ICUs in 54 countries. We used the 2016 World Bank classification to define two geoeconomic regions: middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs). ARDS was defined according to the Berlin criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patients in MICs versus HICs. The primary outcome was the use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) for the first 3 days of mechanical ventilation. Secondary outcomes were key ventilation parameters (tidal volume size, positive end-expiratory pressure, fraction of inspired oxygen, peak pressure, plateau pressure, driving pressure, and respiratory rate), patient characteristics, the risk for and actual development of acute respiratory distress syndrome after the first day of ventilation, duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay, and ICU mortality. Findings: Of the 7608 patients included in the original studies, this analysis included 3852 patients without ARDS, of whom 2345 were from MICs and 1507 were from HICs. Patients in MICs were younger, shorter and with a slightly lower body-mass index, more often had diabetes and active cancer, but less often chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure than patients from HICs. Sequential organ failure assessment scores were similar in MICs and HICs. Use of LTVV in MICs and HICs was comparable (42·4% vs 44·2%; absolute difference -1·69 [-9·58 to 6·11] p=0·67; data available in 3174 [82%] of 3852 patients). The median applied positive end expiratory pressure was lower in MICs than in HICs (5 [IQR 5-8] vs 6 [5-8] cm H2O; p=0·0011). ICU mortality was higher in MICs than in HICs (30·5% vs 19·9%; p=0·0004; adjusted effect 16·41% [95% CI 9·52-23·52]; p<0·0001) and was inversely associated with gross domestic product (adjusted odds ratio for a US$10 000 increase per capita 0·80 [95% CI 0·75-0·86]; p<0·0001). Interpretation: Despite similar disease severity and ventilation management, ICU mortality in patients without ARDS is higher in MICs than in HICs, with a strong association with country-level economic status