Food insecurity and related coping strategies among undergraduate students at the Univeristy of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Background: As a country, South Africa could be viewed as food secure. However, a substantial number of households in the country are food insecure. Education is commonly viewed as an opportunity for improving human and social resources. However, at 15% per annum, the South African university graduation rate is globally one of the lowest. As a significant number of South African students enrolling in tertiary education come from previously disadvantaged households characterised by social and economic adversity, the relationship between the latter and low university throughout rates cannot be overlooked. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate food insecurity and related coping strategies among undergraduate students enrolled at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was chosen. Setting: Main, life science and commerce campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus were used as setting for the study. Subjects: Subjects included for this study were registered undergraduate students on financial aid and non-recipients of financial aid (N=800). Methods: Data collection was conducted by means of a questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study in addition to a modified version of the HFIAS as well as an adapted version of the Coping Strategy Index. Results: The mean age of the study sample was 20.5± 2.0 years. The gender distribution was 41.1% males and 58.9% females. The mean BMI of the study sample was 24.3(±4.8) kg/m2 with 35.8% of the study sample being overweight and obese. Female students had a higher prevalence of overweight (25.1%) and obesity (19.5%) when compared to males, who had a 16.1% prevalence of overweight and 7.0% obesity rate. Over half (54.3%) of participants were non-recipients of financial aid, while 45.8% students were on financial aid. Of the latter, 72.1% were sponsored by NSFAS. During term, 41.6% students lived at student residence, followed by who 32.5% resided at off campus accommodations and 25.9% living at home. Nearly two thirds (60.0%) of students were trying to find a part time job while studying of which 17.3% found employment. Three quarters (75.9%) received an additional source of income of which, 69.4% were not on financial aid and 30.6% were on financial aid. It was reported that 17.6% of students were assisting their families/friends/partner financially. Of the latter sub-sample, 87.2% were on financial aid. Students’ weekly food expense was R132.96. More than half (57.9%) the students were found being the hungriest at the end of the semester and close to/during exam time and at midday or mid-afternoon, with a higher prevalence of these reports coming from students on financial aid (28.0%). More than four out of ten (43.4%) students reported not having enough money for food of which, 55.0% were on financial aid. It was reported that 77.0% of the students were not able to eat a variety of food due to the lack of financial resources with 54.2% of students reporting this shortage occurring at every month end. As far as students who resided in student residence were concerned, 73.0% had their food stolen. The most frequently consumed foods included starchy food (bread, rice, maize-meal, samp, potato and pasta), fats (cooking oil, margarine and mayonnaise), tea, coffee, breakfast cereals and porridge, chicken, eggs and salty snacks. The frequency of consuming fruit was higher than that of vegetables, despite the consumption of both fruits and vegetables being low. More than seven out of ten (72.4%) students were facing food insecurity. While those on financial aid were more likely to be food insecure when compared to non-recipients of financial aid, 77.6% of the study sample limited the variety of their food consumed. The three most severe conditions of food insecurity (running out of food, going to bed hungry because there is no food and, going the whole day and night without food), were experienced by 12.5% of the students. In order to cope with food insecurity and lack of food, the three most frequently used coping strategies were borrowing money (66.5%), borrowing food (34.5%) and selling assets (19.3%). Significantly more students on financial aid adopted coping strategies when compared to those who were not on financial aid. Conclusion: Overweight and obesity was more prevalent among food insecure females than males. There was a lack of dietary diversity among the study sample; especially students on financial aid who faced a high prevalence of food insecurity. Food insecurity and the concomitant coping strategies adopted by students affect their physical and emotional well-being and this may hinder their academic performance. Hence, sustainable remedial measures should be implemented to address food security among undergraduate students registered for study at the Pietermaritzburg campus of University of KwaZulu-Natal

Effects of Age on Optical Coherence Tomography Measurements of Healthy Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer, Macula, and Optic Nerve Head

Purpose—To determine the effects of age on global and sectoral peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), macular thicknesses and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters in healthy subjects using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Design—Retrospective, cross-sectional observational study. Participants—226 eyes from 124 healthy subjects were included. Methods—Healthy subjects were scanned using the Fast RNFL, Fast Macula, and Fast ONH scan patterns on a Stratus OCT. All global and sectoral RNFL and macular parameters and global ONH parameters were modeled in terms of age using linear mixed effects models. Normalized slopes were also calculated by dividing the slopes by the mean value of the OCT parameter for inter-parameter comparison. Main Outcome Measures—Slope of each OCT parameter across age. Results—All global and sectoral RNFL thickness parameters statistically significantly decreased with increasing age, except for the temporal quadrant and clock hours 8-10, which were not statistically different from a slope of zero. Highest absolute slopes were in the inferior and superior quadrant RNFL and clock hour 1 (superior nasal). Normalized slopes showed similar rate in all sectors except for the temporal clock hours (8-10). All macular thickness parameters statistically significantly decreased with increasing age, except for the central fovea sector, which had a slight positive slope that was not statistically significant. The nasal outer sector had the greatest absolute slope. Normalized macular slope in the outer ring was similar to the normalized slopes in the RNFL. Normalized inner ring had shallower slope than the outer ring with similar rate in all quadrants. Disc area remained nearly constant across the ages, but cup area increased and rim area decreased with age, both of which were statistically significant. Conclusions—Global and regional changes due to the effects of age on RNFL, macula and ONH OCT measurements should be considered when assessing eyes over time.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01-EY13178-09)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01-EY11289-23)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (P30-EY008098

Comparison of OCT and HRT Findings Among Normal, Normal Tension Glaucoma, and High Tension Glaucoma

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between optic disc and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurements obtained with the optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the Heidelberg retina topography (HRT) in normal, normal tension glaucoma (NTG), and high tension glaucoma (HTG). Methods: Normal, NTG and HTG subjects who met inclusion and exclusion criteria were evaluated retrospectively. One hundred seventy eyes of 170 patients (30 normal, 40 NTG, and 100 HTG) were enrolled. Complete ophthalmologic examination, HRT, OCT, and automated perimetry were evaluated. Results: Disc area, cup area and cup/disc area ratio measured with HRT were significantly different between NTG and HTG (all p0.05). Mean deviation and corrected pattern standard deviation measured by automated perimetry was significantly correlated with mean and inferior RNFL thickness in both NTG and HTG (Pearson`s r, p<0.05). Mean RNFL thickness/disc area ratio was significantly larger in HTG than NTG (35.21±18.92 vs. 31.30±10.91, p=0.004). Conclusions: These findings suggest that optic disc and RNFL damage pattern in NTG may be different from those of HTGope

Integration and fusion of standard automated perimetry and optical coherence tomography data for improved automated glaucoma diagnostics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The performance of glaucoma diagnostic systems could be conceivably improved by the integration of functional and structural test measurements that provide relevant and complementary information for reaching a diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of data fusion methods and techniques for simple combination of Standard Automated Perimetry (SAP) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) data for the diagnosis of glaucoma using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Humphrey 24-2 SITA standard SAP and StratusOCT tests were prospectively collected from a randomly selected population of 125 healthy persons and 135 patients with glaucomatous optic nerve heads and used as input for the ANNs. We tested commercially available standard parameters as well as novel ones (fused OCT and SAP data) that exploit the spatial relationship between visual field areas and sectors of the OCT peripapillary scan circle. We evaluated the performance of these SAP and OCT derived parameters both separately and in combination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The diagnostic accuracy from a combination of fused SAP and OCT data (95.39%) was higher than that of the best conventional parameters of either instrument, i.e. SAP Glaucoma Hemifield Test (p < 0.001) and OCT Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness ≥ 1 quadrant (p = 0.031). Fused OCT and combined fused OCT and SAP data provided similar Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AROC) values of 0.978 that were significantly larger (p = 0.047) compared to ANNs using SAP parameters alone (AROC = 0.945). On the other hand, ANNs based on the OCT parameters (AROC = 0.970) did not perform significantly worse than the ANNs based on the fused or combined forms of input data. The use of fused input increased the number of tests that were correctly classified by both SAP and OCT based ANNs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compared to the use of SAP parameters, input from the combination of fused OCT and SAP parameters, and from fused OCT data, significantly increased the performance of ANNs. Integrating parameters by including a priori relevant information through data fusion may improve ANN classification accuracy compared to currently available methods.</p

Binocular summation and other forms of non-dominant eye contribution in individuals with strabismic amblyopia during habitual viewing

YesAdults with amblyopia ('lazy eye'), long-standing strabismus (ocular misalignment) or both typically do not experience visual symptoms because the signal from weaker eye is given less weight than the signal from its fellow. Here we examine the contribution of the weaker eye of individuals with strabismus and amblyopia with both eyes open and with the deviating eye in its anomalous motor position. The task consisted of a blue-on-yellow detection task along a horizontal line across the central 50 degrees of the visual field. We compare the results obtained in ten individuals with strabismic amblyopia with ten visual normals. At each field location in each participant, we examined how the sensitivity exhibited under binocular conditions compared with sensitivity from four predictions, (i) a model of binocular summation, (ii) the average of the monocular sensitivities, (iii) dominant-eye sensitivity or (iv) non-dominant-eye sensitivity. The proportion of field locations for which the binocular summation model provided the best description of binocular sensitivity was similar in normals (50.6%) and amblyopes (48.2%). Average monocular sensitivity matched binocular sensitivity in 14.1% of amblyopes' field locations compared to 8.8% of normals'. Dominant-eye sensitivity explained sensitivity at 27.1% of field locations in amblyopes but 21.2% in normals. Non-dominant-eye sensitivity explained sensitivity at 10.6% of field locations in amblyopes but 19.4% in normals. Binocular summation provided the best description of the sensitivity profile in 6/10 amblyopes compared to 7/10 of normals. In three amblyopes, dominant-eye sensitivity most closely reflected binocular sensitivity (compared to two normals) and in the remaining amblyope, binocular sensitivity approximated to an average of the monocular sensitivities. Our results suggest a strong positive contribution in habitual viewing from the non-dominant eye in strabismic amblyopes. This is consistent with evidence from other sources that binocular mechanisms are frequently intact in strabismic and amblyopic individuals

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and cognitive ability in older people:the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study

BACKGROUND: This study aims to examine the relationship between the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness as measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and lifetime cognitive change in healthy older people. METHODS: In a narrow-age sample population from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 who were all aged approximately 72 years when tested, participants underwent RNFL measurements using OCT. General linear modeling was used to calculate the effect of RNFL thickness on three domains; general cognitive ability (g-factor), general processing speed (g-speed) and general memory ability (g-memory) using age at time of assessment and gender as co-variates. RESULTS: Of 105 participants, 96 completed OCT scans that were of suitable quality for assessment were analyzed. Using age and gender as covariates, we found only one significant association, between the inferior area RNFL thickness and g-speed (p = 0.049, η(2) = 0.045). Interestingly, when we included age 11 IQ as a covariate in addition to age and gender, there were several statistically significant associations (p = 0.029 to 0.048, η(2) = 0.00 to 0.059) in a negative direction; decreasing scores on measures of g-factor and g-speed were associated with increasing RNFL thickness (r = −0.229 to −0.243, p < 0.05). No significant associations were found between RNFL thickness and g-memory ability. When we considered the number of years of education as a covariate, we found no significant associations between the RNFL thickness and cognitive scores. CONCLUSIONS: In a community dwelling cohort of healthy older people, increased RNFL thickness appeared to be associated with lower general processing speed and lower general cognitive ability when age 11 IQ scores were included as a covariate