Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Medical Students before their Final Examinations at a Private Medical College of Tamil Nadu, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Due to their susceptibility to mental health problems, medical students should have their prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression checked before their final examinations. Aim: To assess the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression among medical students at a private medical college in Tamil Nadu, India, four weeks before their final examinations. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a private medical college, Tamil Nadu, India, including 297 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students, using Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire in December 2022 The survey was completed independently by the students with verbal agreement obtained; the response rate was 68.2%. The short form and history of usage of the DASS-21 in comparable medical student research led to its selection. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 20.48±1.23 years. The DASS-21 revealed prevalence rates of 60.9% for depression, 72.7% for anxiety, and 40.4% for stress among 297 first- to third-year medical students. There was no discernible effect of gender on these rates. With a depression frequency of 69% and significantly higher rates of severe depression (18.6%), first-year students demonstrated the highest scores, which were statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: The study highlights the need for preventative actions, such as professional counselling, early detection of mental health problems, and educational programs on healthy coping mechanisms. To support medical students from the start of their academic journey and ultimately promote their resilience and mental health, these interventions should be specially designed

Power law enhancement of neutrino mixing angles in extra dimensions

We study the renormalization of the $llHH$-type Majorana neutrino mass operator in a scenario where there is a compactified extra dimension and the fields involved correspond to only the standard model particles and their Kaluza-Klein excitations. We observe that in a two flavour scenario, where one of the neutrinos is necessarily $\nu_\tau$, it is indeed possible to generate a large mixing at $\sim$ 100 GeV starting from a very small mixing near the ultra-violet cutoff $\sim$ 30 TeV. {\em En passant}, we also derive the Higgs mass upper and lower limits from perturbative unitarity and stability of the potential, respectively.Comment: Latex, 6 pages, one pslatex figure; v2: clarifying remarks added, minor typos corrected, references updated, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

RR-parity-Violating Supersymmetric Yukawa Couplings: A Mini-review

I review the bounds on the $R$-parity-violating supersymmetric Yukawa couplings from the considerations of proton stability, $n$--$\bar{n}$ oscillation, $\nu_e$-Majorana mass, neutrino-less double $\beta$ decay, charged-current universality, $e$--$\mu$--$\tau$ universality, $\nu_\mu$--$e$ scattering, atomic parity violation, $\nu_\mu$ deep-inelastic scattering, $K^{+}$-decays, $\tau$-decays, $D$-decays and from the precision LEP electroweak observables. I also mention about the sparticle bounds at colliders when the assumption of $R$-parity-conservation is relaxed. Finally, I mention how $R$-parity-violating models have been invoked in an attempt to explain the reported excess in ALEPH 4-jet events.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, no figures; uses espcrc2.sty; Talk given at the 4th International Conference on Supersymmetry (SUSY 96), College Park, University of Maryland, 29 May -- 1 June, 1996. Revised version: Minor modifications, reference adde

Common Fixed Point Results on Generalized Weak Compatible Mapping in Quasi-Partial b-Metric Space

[EN] The focus of this paper is to acquaint with generalized condition (B) in a quasi-partial b-metric space and to establish coincidence and common fixed point theorems for weakly compatible pairs of mapping. Additionally, with the background of quasi-partial b-metric space, the outcomes obtained are exemplified to prove the existence and uniqueness of fixed point.Gautam, P.; Sánchez Ruiz, LM.; Verma, S.; Gupta, G. (2021). Common Fixed Point Results on Generalized Weak Compatible Mapping in Quasi-Partial b-Metric Space. Journal of Mathematics. 2021:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5526801S110202

Fourth-Generation Leptons at LEP2

From non-observation at LEP1, a lower mass limit of 45 GeV has been established on any additional sequential fermion beyond the three generations. Precision measurements have further constrained the number of such additional generations, either degenerate or nearly so, to be at most one. LEP2, an energy-upgraded version of LEP1, would provide greater mass-reach in the search for such particles. We study the pair-production of fourth-generation leptons for various LEP2 energy options. We find that in most cases such particles could be discovered/ruled out up to the kinematic limit.Comment: LaTeX; 12 pages, 7 figures (uuencoded compressed postscript files submitted through figures option

Evaluation of pro-vitamin A enriched maize hybrids for fighting hidden hunger in Nepal

Prevailing vitamin A deficiency is a malnutrition repercussing retarded growth, weak immune system and night-blindness in human beings. Pro-vitamin A enriched maize hybrids could be a strategy for combating vitamin A deficiency, mostly prevailing in children and women of Nepal. With the objective to investigate superior pro-vitamin A enriched ‘bio-fortified’ maize cultivars, twice replicated experiments were laid out in α-lattice design over two consecutive growing seasons of 2019 and 2019/20 at the National Maize Research Program (NMRP), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. The results revealed that the difference among tested hybrids was glaring for all agro-morphological, yield, and yield components traits. Among the evaluated traits, days to 50% anthesis and silking, plant and ear height, numbers of kernel rows per cob, grains per row, and grain yield varied significantly among the tested maize hybrids. Effect of planting season was significant for grain yield where winter maize produced 32% higher grain yield than spring maize. HPO16-2, HPO49-3, HPO49-5, and HPO49-2 were the 38-61% high yielding ‘bio-fortified’ maize genotypes than normal hybrid check. Therefore, these hybrids might be the potential higher-yielding future pro-vitamin A enriched maize hybrids to resolve food insecurity, malnutrition, trade deficit on maize grains and specially to combat vitamin A deficiency in Nepal

Correlated enhancements in Ds→ℓνD_s \to \ell\nu, (g−2)(g-2) of muon, and lepton flavor violating τ\tau decays with two R-parity violating couplings

With just two R-parity violating couplings, $\lambda'_{223}$ and $\lambda'_{323}$, we correlate several channels, namely, $D_s \to \ell \nu$ ($\ell = \mu, \tau$), $(g-2)_\mu$, and some lepton flavor violating $\tau$ decays. For $\lambda'_{223} = \lambda'_{323} \sim 0.3$ and for a common superpartner mass of 300 GeV, which explain the recently observed excesses in the above $D_s$ decay channels, we predict the following R-parity violating contributions: ${\rm Br} (\tau \to \mu \gamma) \sim 4.5 \cdot 10^{-8}$, ${\rm Br} (\tau \to \mu\mu\mu) \sim 1.2 \cdot 10^{-8}$, ${\rm Br} (\tau \to \mu\eta/\eta') \sim 4 \cdot 10^{-10}$, and $(g_\mu-2)/2 \sim 4 \cdot 10^{-11}$. We exhibit our results through observable versus observable correlation plots.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures: v2: An equation and a few comments and references added, version to appear in Nucl Phys