Understanding noise stress-induced cognitive impairment in healthy adults and its implications for schizophrenia

Noise stress (NS) is detrimental to many aspects of human health and behavior. Understanding the effect of noise stressors on human cognitive function is a growing area of research and is crucial to helping clinical populations, such as those with schizophrenia, which are particularly sensitive to stressors. A review of electronic databases for studies assessing the effect of acute NS on cognitive functions in healthy adults revealed 31 relevant studies. The review revealed (1) NS exerts a clear negative effect on attention, working memory and episodic recall, and (2) personality characteristics, in particular neuroticism, and sleep influence the impact of noise stressors on performance in interaction with task complexity. Previous findings of consistent impairment in NS-relevant cognitive domains, heightened sensitivity to stressors, elevated neuroticism and sleep disturbances in schizophrenia, taken together with the findings of this review, highlight the need for empirical studies to elucidate whether NS, a common aspect of urban environments, exacerbates cognitive deficits and other symptoms in schizophrenia and related clinical populations

Effect of triple drug antiretroviral therapy on CD4+ count in pregnant women with HIV and prevention of parent to child transmission

Background: India has moved from single drug Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in 2002 to triple drug ART in 2013 to prevent parent to child transmission of HIV. The aim of the study was to know the effects of triple drug ART on maternal CD4+ count and prevention of HIV transmission to baby along with its adherence, side effects and pregnancy outcome.Methods: A prospective study wsas done in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi on 40 HIV positive pregnant women who received single dose combination of triple drug ART. CD4+ count, LFT and KFT were done before beginning of ART and repeated after 6 months of ART. The infants received nevirapine prophylaxis and HIV status was determined by DBS PCR at 6 weeks.Results: The median CD4+ count was 317 and 397 pre and post ART for 6 months respectively (p value<0.001. Low birth weight (LBW) was seen in 43.59% which was statistically significant but confounded as 76.4% of these babies were preterm. 23.08% of babies had an APGAR of < 7 at 1 minute, out of which 77.7% were preterm. Nine out of 39 infants (one had abortion) needed NICU admission. Only one baby (2.56%) was HIV positive who died at 4 months of age due to pneumonia. There was no defaulter and no statistically significant changes in LFT and KFT after 6 months of ART.Conclusions: Triple drug ART offers greater convenience improves fetomaternal outcome and minimize the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child

Controlled Sleep Deprivation as an Experimental Medicine Model of Schizophrenia: An Update

© 2020 The Authors. In recent years there has been a surge of interest and corresponding accumulation of knowledge about the role of sleep disturbance in schizophrenia. In this review, we provide an update on the current status of experimentally controlled sleep deprivation (SD) as an experimental medicine model of psychosis, and also consider, given the complexity and heterogeneity of schizophrenia, whether this (state) model can be usefully combined with other state or trait model systems to more powerfully model the pathophysiology of psychosis. We present evidence of dose-dependent aberrations that qualitatively resemble positive, negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia as well as deficits in a range of translational biomarkers for schizophrenia, including prepulse inhibition, smooth pursuit and antisaccades, following experimentally controlled SD, relative to standard sleep, in healthy volunteers. Studies examining the combination of SD and schizotypy, a trait model of schizophrenia, revealed only occasional, task-dependent superiority of the combination model, relative to either of the two models alone. Overall, we argue that experimentally controlled SD is a valuable experimental medicine model of schizophrenia to advance our understanding of the pathophysiology of the clinical disorder and discovery of more effective or novel treatments. Future studies are needed to test its utility in combination with other, especially state, model systems of psychosis such as ketamine.The Humboldt Foundatio

GIS based mapping of zoanthids along Saurashtra coast, Gujarat, India

Zooxanthellate zoanthids (or. Zoantharia) are the third largest order of Hexacorallia and are an integral part of the coral reef ecosystem. Worldwide coral reefs will continue to suffer under the synergistic effect of anthropogenic agent and climate change, thereby shifting towards more adaptive and resilient species. Zoanthids are looked upon as adaptive species under the current dynamics of climate change. Zoanthids are also studied for their biochemical properties like extraction of zoanthamine, Oxytoxic agent, Green Fluorensce Proteins (GFP). Hence understanding the ecology and spatial distribution patterns of zoanthids is important in formulating conservational and management policies pertaining to marine ecosystems. The present study encompasses the spatial distribution pattern of zoanthids along the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat, India. Nineteen stations have been selected from Okha to Bhavnagar and spatial distribution patterns of eight zoanthid species have been studied using modified belt transact method, GIS and IDW interpolation technique. The results indicated Palythoa mutuki as the most common and abundant species along the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat followed by Zoanthus sansibaricus and Palythoa tuberculosa. While species such as Zoanthus gigantus and Palythoa heliodiscus, been the rarest species along this coast. The study is first of its kind and attempt has been made to incorporate the modern tools which overcome the constraints of spatial variation in the distribution over traditional methods of biodiversity studies. The study also forms baseline study to monitor zoanthid progression in the future and developing georeferenced database along the Saurashtra coast of India for long term permanent transect monitoring and policy framework development

Distribution pattern and community structure of zoanthids (Zoantharia) along the coast of Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Coral reef environments support a great diversity of benthic organisms, of which zoanthids form an integral part. Studies have been carried out regarding the degradation of coral reefs and changes in community structure under the present dynamics of climatic change. Zoanthids are dominant among the observed fauna in these degrading reef ecosystems. Zoanthids are observed at mid and lower intertidal zones beyond 20 m from highest high tide level. In the present study, distribution patterns of zoanthid species along three coastal villages of Saurashtra coast, Gujarat were studied. Line intercept transect method was performed to assess the zoanthid coverage. A total of seven species of zoanthids were recorded during the survey. Palythoa mutuki formed the abundant species in the area with 45.99% coverage, followed by Zoanthus sansibaricus with 33.67% and Zoanthus cf. sansibaricus with 12.26% coverage. Abiotic parameters (sea surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH) and nutrient data (ammonia, phosphate, total suspended solids and nitrate) were also recorded during sampling to determine their influence on zoanthid colonies. Higher levels of DO were found to favour the growth of Palythoa mutuki and Isaurus tuberculatus, whereas increased SST was tolerated by Palythoa tuberculosa only. Ammonia and phosphate were negatively impacting the growth of Palythoa mutuki and Zoanthus spp. The study provides new information on quantitative zoanthid distribution and the dynamic changes exhibited by zoanthids in relation to various environmental parameters. Zoanthids could be looked upon as an adaptive species which may support reef resurgence in degraded reefs under stress from climate change effects

Mixed-layer characteristics as related to the monsoon climate of New Delhi, India

Annual variations of mixed-layer characteristics at New Delhi, India have been studied for a weak monsoon (1987) and a strong monsoon (1988) year. In the weak monsoon year (1987), the maximum mixing depthh max was found to have a value of around 3000 m during the pre-monsoon, less than 2000 m during the summer monsoon, around 2000 m during the post-monsoon, and less than 1000 m in the winter season. For the strong monsoon year (1988),h max values were less than 1987 values for comparable periods throughout the year. The seasonal and yearly differences ofh max were explained by the surface energy balance and potential temperature gradient γ at a time close to sunrise. According to the spatial patterns of γ obtained by an objective analysis of the 850 to 700 hPa layers. mixed-layer characteristics obtained at New Delhi are representative of the north and central regions of India

Positive schizotypy and Motor Impulsivity correlate with response aberrations in ventral attention network during inhibitory control

Inhibitory control (IC) aberrations are present in various psychopathologies, including schizophrenia spectrum and personality disorders, especially in association with antisocial or violent behaviour. We investigated behavioural and neural associations between IC and psychopathology-related traits of schizotypy [Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE)], psychopathy [Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM)], and impulsivity [Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11)], using a novel Go/No-Go Task (GNG) featuring human avatars in 78 healthy adults (25 males, 53 females; mean age = 25.96 years, SD = 9.85) and whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a separate sample of 22 right-handed healthy individuals (7 males, 15 females; mean age = 24.13 years, SD = 5.40). Behaviourally, O-LIFE Impulsive Nonconformity (impulsive, anti-social, and eccentric behaviour) significantly predicted 16 % of variance in false alarms (FAs). O-LIFE Unusual Experiences (positive schizotypy) and BIS-11 Motor Impulsivity predicted 15 % of d prime (d’) (sensitivity index) for the fastest (400 ms) GNG trials. When examined using fMRI, higher BIS-11 Motor Impulsivity uniquely, and also together with Unusual Experiences, was associated with lower activity in the left lingual gyrus during successful inhibition (correct No-Go over baseline). Additionally, higher Impulsive Nonconformity was associated with lower activity in the caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate during No-Go compared to Go stimuli reactions. Positive schizotypy, motor, and antisocial-schizotypal impulsivity correlate with some common but mostly distinct neural activation patterns during response inhibition in areas within or associated with the ventral attention network

A Study on Effect of Employee Diversity on Organizational Performance

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of employee diversity on organizational performance.   Theoretical framework: The study is based on the diversity-performance relationship theory, which suggests that a diverse workforce can lead to improved organizational performance.   Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a quantitative research design and utilizes survey data collected from employees and managers in multiple organizations. The data is analyzed using statistical methods to examine the relationship between employee diversity and organizational performance.   Findings: The findings indicate that organizations with a diverse workforce tend to have higher levels of organizational performance, as measured by factors such as productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.   Research, practical and social implications: The study has important implications for organizations, as it suggests that actively promoting diversity can lead to improved performance. Additionally, the findings have implications for society, as they suggest that promoting diversity in the workforce can lead to improved outcomes for organizations and their stakeholders.   Originality/value: This study adds to the existing literature by providing new evidence on the relationship between employee diversity and organizational performance, using a large and diverse sample of organizations

Antisaccade performance in schizophrenia: A neural model of decision making in the superior colliculus

Antisaccade performance deficits in schizophrenia are generally interpreted as an impaired top-down inhibitory signal failing to suppress the erroneous response. We recorded the antisaccade performance (error rates and latencies) of healthy and schizophrenia subjects performing the mirror antisaccade task. A neural rise-to-threshold model of antisaccade performance was developed to uncover the biophysical mechanisms giving rise to the observed deficits in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia patients displayed greater variability in the antisaccade and corrected antisaccade latency distributions, increased error rates and decreased corrected errors, relative to healthy participants. Our model showed that (1) increased variability is due to a more noisy accumulation of information by schizophrenia patients, but their confidence level required before making a decision is unaffected, and (2) competition between the correct and erroneous decision processes, and not a third top-down inhibitory signal suppressing the erroneous response, accounts for the antisaccade performance of healthy and schizophrenia subjects. Local competition further ensured that a correct antisaccade is never followed by an error prosaccade. © 2014 Cutsuridis, Kumari and Ettinger

Investigating The Prevalence and Management of Pain and Discomfort Associated with Prosthodontic Appliances

Background: This study investigates the prevalence and management of pain and discomfort associated with prosthodontic appliances, including dentures, crowns, bridges, and dental implants, among a diverse sample of 500 participants. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted, collecting data on demographic characteristics, prevalence, and severity of pain and discomfort, and management strategies. Statistical analysis, including chi-square tests and logistic regression, was used to explore associations. Results: Dentures had the highest prevalence of pain and discomfort (45%), followed by crowns (30%), bridges (22%), and dental implants (18%). Mean severity scores were highest for dental implants (4.5), followed by dentures (5.2), bridges (4.1), and crowns (3.8). Demographics, including age, gender, education level, and socioeconomic status, influenced these experiences. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for individualized care and patient education, especially for procedures associated with higher discomfort levels. It underscores the importance of considering patient expectations and tailoring treatment recommendations. Further research should explore factors contributing to pain and discomfort and the effectiveness of management strategies