Refractive errors in children with autism in a developing country

Background: In a resource.limited country visual problems of mentally challenged individuals are often neglected.Aim: The present study aims to study refractive errors in children diagnosed with autism in a developing country.Materials and Methods: Ophthalmic examination was carried out on children diagnosed with autism attending a school for the mentally  challenged in Enugu, Nigeria between December 2009 and May 2010. Visual acuity was assessed using Lea symbols. Anterior and posterior segments were examined. Cycloplegic refraction was performed. Datawas entered on the protocol prepared for the study and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 17 (Chicago IL, USA).Results: A total of 21 children with autism were enrolled in the school; 18 of whom were examined giving coverage of 85.7%. The age range was 5.15 years, with a mean of 10.28 years (standard deviation } 3.20). There were 13 boys and 5 girls. One child had bilateral temporal pallor of the disc and one had bilateral maculopathy with diffuse chorioretinal atrophy.  Refraction revealed 4 children (22.2%) had astigmatism and 2 children (11.1%) had hypermetropia.Conclusion: Significant refractive error mainly astigmatism was noted in the children with autism. Identifying refractive errors in these children early and providing appropriate corrective lenses may help optimize their visual functioning and impact their activities of daily life in a positive way.Key words: Autism, developing country, refractive erro

Functional status and its associated factors in Nigerian adolescents with bipolar disorder

Objective: This study assessed general functioning in Nigerian adolescents with bipolar disorder. It also determined the factors associated with functioning in these adolescents. Methods: Adolescents with bipolar disorder diagnosed over one year or more attending the outpatient unit of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Enugu (FNHE), Nigeria for follow-up visits were interviewed with a socio-demographic questionnaire and their functioning was rated with the Children Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) based on the clinical information obtained from the children and their care givers during a one year follow-up period. Further information such as history of sexual risk behavior, pre-morbid peer relationship, relationship with siblings, level of religion activities among others were also obtained through clinical interview. Results: A total of 46 adolescents with bipolar disorder were followed up. Minimal to moderate impairment in functioning in the past year was found in these adolescents. The mean score on C-GAS was 68.41 ± 16.63. Factors including co-morbidity, pre-morbid peer relationship, relationship with siblings, level of religion activities and history of sexual risk behavior were significantly associated with functioning (p = 0.000), while marital status of the parents showed a weak association with functioning in these adolescents (p = 0.068). Negative correlation was also found between mean number of hospital admissions in the past year during follow up and mean score on C-GAS (r = - 0.908, p = 0.000). Conclusion: Functional impairments complicate bipolar disorder in Nigerian adolescents. To ensure good overall outcome in these adolescents, attention needs to be focused on promoting those factors that help good functioning. Future longitudinal follow up studies that would assess long-term outcome and its correlates in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder in this environment are desirable.Key Words: Functioning; Children; Adolescent; Bipolar Disorder; Nigeri

Functional status and its associated factors in Nigerian adolescents with bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed general functioning in Nigerian adolescents with bipolar disorder. It also determined the factors associated with functioning in these adolescents. METHOD: Adolescents with bipolar disorder diagnosed over one year or more attending the outpatient unit of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Enugu (FNHE), Nigeria for follow-up visits were interviewed with a socio-demographic questionnaire and their functioning was rated with the Children Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) based on the clinical information obtained from the children and their care givers during a one year follow-up period. Further information such as history of sexual risk behavior, pre-morbid peer relationship, relationship with siblings, level of religion activities among others were also obtained through clinical interview. RESULTS: A total of 46 adolescents with bipolar disorder were followed up. Minimal to moderate impairment in functioning in the past year was found in these adolescents. The mean score on C-GAS was 68.41 ± 16.63. Factors including co-morbidity, pre-morbid peer relationship, relationship with siblings, level of religion activities and history of sexual risk behavior were significantly associated with functioning (p = 0.000), while marital status of the parents showed a weak association with functioning in these adolescents (p = 0.068). Negative correlation was also found between mean number of hospital admissions in the past year during follow up and mean score on C-GAS (r = - 0.908, p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Functional impairments complicate bipolar disorder in Nigerian adolescents. To ensure good overall outcome in these adolescents, attention needs to be focused on promoting those factors that help good functioning. Future longitudinal follow up studies that would assess long-term outcome and its correlates in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder in this environment are desirable

Validating the Nernst-Planck transport model under reaction-driven flow conditions using RetroPy v1.0

Reactive transport processes in natural environments often involve many ionic species. The diffusivities of ionic species vary. Since assigning different diffusivities in the advection-diffusion equation leads to charge imbalance, a single diffusivity is usually used for all species. In this work, we apply the Nernst-Planck equation, which resolves unequal diffusivities of the species in an electroneutral manner, to model reactive transport. To demonstrate the advantages of the Nernst-Planck model, we compare the simulation results of transport under reaction-driven flow conditions using the Nernst-Planck model with those of the commonly used single-diffusivity model. All simulations are also compared to well-defined experiments on the scale of centimeters. Our results show that the Nernst-Planck model is valid and particularly relevant for modeling reactive transport processes with an intricate interplay among diffusion, reaction, electromigration, and density-driven convection.ISSN:1991-9603ISSN:1991-959

Relating Darcy-Scale Chemical Reaction Order to Pore-Scale Spatial Heterogeneity

Due to spatial scaling effects, there is a discrepancy in mineral dissolution rates measured at different spatial scales. Many reasons for this spatial scaling effect can be given. We investigate one such reason, i.e., how pore-scale spatial heterogeneity in porous media affects overall mineral dissolution rates. Using the bundle-of-tubes model as an analogy for porous media, we show that the Darcy-scale reaction order increases as the statistical similarity between the pore sizes and the effective-surface-area ratio of the porous sample decreases. The analytical results quantify mineral spatial heterogeneity using the Darcy-scale reaction order and give a mechanistic explanation to the usage of reaction order in Darcy-scale modeling. The relation is used as a constitutive relation of reactive transport at the Darcy scale. We test the constitutive relation by simulating flow-through experiments. The proposed constitutive relation is able to model the solute breakthrough curve of the simulations. Our results imply that we can infer mineral spatial heterogeneity of a porous media using measured solute concentration over time in a flow-through dissolution experiment.ISSN:0169-3913ISSN:1573-163