Quantum Journal of Medical and Health Sciences

MENTAL FATIGUE AMONG JAMAICAN: POST COVID-19

2023-04-30T21:28:16+00:00

Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state resulting from prolonged, demanding cognitive work that causes a subjective sense of exhaustion, diminished cognitive function, and altered brain activation. Mental fatigue can develop after a limited amount of cognitive exertion and increase the possibility of mistakes. The objective study is to determine if COVID-19 affects mental fatigue in the elderly, fifty-five years and older in Jamaica. Researchers used stratified multi-stage probability sampling to collect data from respondents across the 14 parishes in Jamaica. Researchers collected the data from Lars Rönnbäck and Birgitta Johansson’s Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS). The data collection occurred between October to November, 2022; from 1122 respondents. Researchers performed descriptive analyses on the collected data. Sixty per cent of the respondents (n=672) were classified as not experiencing mental fatigue at the time of this study (i.e., 3 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old). However, 40% were classified as having different levels of mental fatigue (i.e., 2 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old; 67.3% of those 85+ years old, 44.1% of those 75-84 years old, 38.4% of those 65-74 years old, and 34.4% of those 55-64 years old), with 10% having serious mental fatigue (i.e., 1 in every 10 Jamaicans 55+ years old). The findings revealed that more of the female-sampled respondents had a higher level of mental fatigue (43.9%, n=258) compared to the male (35.6%, n=188). Most elderly 55 years and older did not experience Mental Fatigue during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Jamaica.

SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION EXPERIENCED BY JAMAICAN ADULT MALE: POST COVID-19

2023-04-30T21:52:05+00:00

This study was conducted to determine sexual dysfunctions among Jamaican adult male during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative research design was utilized to gather data among 1067 respondents aged 18 years and above sampled from a population of 1,242,775 Jamaican male living across the 14 parishes. The data collection was done by using a standardized web-based survey. That Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data retrieved from the participating respondents. Of the sampled group, the largest percentage of respondents (25.6% or 273), were aged 18 to 28 years of age, 31.2% or 333 of the participants in this research were confident that they could not only achieve an erection but also maintain it. 24.6% stated that they were able to achieve an erection and 24.7% said that this achieved erection was hard enough for penetration. 29.1% of respondents reported very high sex drives, 32.6% high sex drives, 27.1% moderate sex drives, and 6.3% low sex drives. It can be concluded from the findings of this research that, while the mental health of Jamaican men has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, their sexual desires and functioning were not.

SUBSTANCE USE AND ABUSE AMONG JAMAICAN MALE DURING THE POST COVID-19 ERA

2023-04-30T22:08:52+00:00

Substance use and abuse among Jamaican males is a public issue that has been swept under the rug as it is portrayed as custom usage in society. There is no literature on Jamaican males about the issues they face due to using substances, how it affects their bodies, and how the use/abuse of substances affects their families and friends. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use and abuse of substances among Jamaican males who are 18 years and older during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used primary cross-sectional web-based survey data collection on males 18 years and older from the Fourteen parishes of Jamaica. The survey commenced on October 4, 2022, and ended on November 30, 2022. By the use of a systematic random sampling technique of every fifth male within the population, 1089 surveys were collected. The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) was self-administered among 1,089 Jamaican males. Using the DAST-20, 3 in every 4 male respondents (75%) were classified as using drugs during the past 12 months. One in every 10 male respondents was at least a substantial drug abuser and 12% were intermittent drug users, with 53 in every 100 being low drug users. The male respondents who are most likely to be severe drug users (or abusers) are those ages 43-47 years old (10.7%) followed by those ages 38-42 years old (5.0%). Males are experiencing various degrees of psychological challenges during the post-COVID-19 era and programmes must be implemented that can effectively allow them to manage their situations.

IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMUTAGENIC ACTIVITY OF CURCUMIN AGAINST POTENT CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENT DOXORUBICIN

2023-04-16T15:08:27+00:00

The chemopreventive activity of several plants derived materials have been well studied in the recent years. Among them, Curcumin, the mostly investigated dietary phyto constituents have been shown the protective effect in cardiac, renal and hepatic toxicity induced by doxorubicin in human. The protective activity of any phytochemicals mainly depends on their antioxidant property. Thus, the present study was conducted to examine the antioxidant property of laboratory extracted and pure commercial curcumin and antimutagenic action of extracted and pure curcumin against the doxorubicin induced mutagenesis in human leukocyte. To analyze the mutagenicity, parameter like micronucleus assay was conducted in peripheral human leukocytes and to evaluate the antioxidant property, parameter like DPPH free radical scavenging activity was performed. The study results demonstrated that, both the extracted and pure form of curcumin (20µg/ml) induces micronucleus in human leukocytes in an insignificant manner when compared with negative control. Doxorubicin induces significant amount of micronucleus at two variable concentrations (0.50µg/ml and 0.25µg/ml). The micronucleus induction was reduced in human leukocytes pretreated by curcumin for 48 hours in both the concentrations of doxorubucin. Pure as well as extracted Curcumin has been shown strong free radical scavenging activity in a similar pattern as concentration dependant manner. The study reveals that curcumin has antimutagenic potential against chemotherapeutic agent like doxorubicin induced micronucleus in human leukocytes. In addition, it showed strong free radical scavenging activity by DPPH method by both extracted and pure form.