Browsing by Author "Silvanus, Vinutha"
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Publication Psychoactive Substance Use among Second-Year and Third-Year Medical Students of a Medical College: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study Authors(Nepal Medical Association, 2021) Sapkota, Alisha; Silvanus, Vinutha; Shah, Priyanka; Gautam, Sanjeev Chandra; Chhetri, AnjeelAbstract: Introduction: Psychoactive substance use among medical students is common. This may not only pose a threat to their health and academic performance but may have medico-legal and ethical ramifications. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of six psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, benzodiazepines, opioids) among second year and third year medical students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done in a medical college. Whole sampling was done and ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference Number: 54-074/075). The study was conducted from May 2018 to June 2018. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire modified and adapted from World Health Organization's guidelines for student substance use survey was used to collect data from second year and third year medical students. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16.0 was used for analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of 226 total respondents, 95 (42.0%) (35.55- 48.45 at 95% Confidence Interval) reported current use of one or more psychoactive substances. Most frequently used substance was alcohol with current use prevalence of 87 (38.5%), followed by smoking 39 (17.3%) and cannabis 27 (11.9%). Cocaine, benzodiazepines and opioids were the least consumed substances with current use prevalence of 2 (0.9%) each. Conclusions: Almost half of the students were currently using one or more psychoactive substances which is concerning, and therefore strategies must be adopted to alleviate such use.Publication Transient Effect of Acute Mental Stress on Corrected QT Interval among Healthy Male Students(Institute of Medicine, 2022) Manandhar, Seerina Adhikari; Pramanik, Tapas; Amatya, Mrigendra; Silvanus, VinuthaABSTRACT Introduction: The time taken for depolarization and repolarization of the ventricles is represented by the QT interval. Psychological factors such as active mental stress may influence the action potentials developed in the heart and may alter QT interval of an individual. Therefore, our study was targeted to find the transient effect of acute mental stress on corrected QT interval among the healthy male students. Methods: An experimental study was conducted among 55 male first year undergraduates, studying medical and dental courses in Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital (NMCTH). The study was executed in the Electrocardiography (ECG) lab of Department of Physiology of NMCTH from September 2022 – November 2022. ECG was obtained before and after the application of active/acute mental stress using standard mental arithmetic test (MAT) for 1 minute. Results: In comparison to rest state, a statistically significant decreased RR interval and increased heart rate (p<0.001) was observed after MAT. A statistically significant decrease in QT interval [0.35±0.05 sec Vs 0.32±0.05 sec] (p<0.001) and QTc interval [0.41±0.05 sec Vs 0.39±0.05 sec] (p<0.001) was observed after MAT. Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant change in QRS duration after the MAT (p=0.16). Conclusion: Acute mental stress causes shortening of the QTc interval in young healthy males. Keywords: Acute mental stress, mental arithmetic test, QT interval, QTc interval