Background:Social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends and meet other people based on shared interests. An exponential rise in usage of Social Networking Sites have been seen within the last few years. Their ease of use and immediate gratification effect on users has changed the way people in general and students in particular spend their time. Young adults, particularly teenagers tended to be unaware of just how much time they really spent on social networking sites. Negative correlates of Social Networking Sites usage include the decrease in real life social community participation and academic achievement, as well as relationship problems, each of which may be indicative of potential addiction.Aims:the aim of the study was to find out whether teenagers, specially those living in cities spend too much time on social networking websites.Materials and Methods:200 subjects, both boys and girls were included in the cross sectional study who were given a 20 item Young's internet addiction test modified for social networking sites. The responses were analyzed using chi square test and Fisher's exact test.Results:24.74% of the students were having occasional or ‘frequency’ problems while 2.02% of them were experiencing severe problems due to excessive time spent using social networking sites.Conclusion:With the ever increasing popularity of social media, teenagers are devoting significant time to social networking on websites and are prone to get ‘addicted’ to such form of online social interaction.

No abstract

Background:Persons with schizophrenia are reported to be more likely to die from cardiovascular illness than those in the general population, and are at a greater risk of developing obesity, diabetes type 2, hypertension and dyslipidemias. Antipsychotic drugs used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses can induce weight gain, with some agents having a greater propensity to do so than others. These adverse effects associated with second-generation antipsychotics are also part of the metabolic syndrome.Aims:The aim of this study was to evaluate the emergence of metabolic syndrome due to second-generation antipsychotics as compared with conventional (typical) antipsychotics.Settings and Design:A prospective interventional study was conducted at the Psychiatric Centre, Jaipur. The study included 120 patients, both indoor and outdoor, suffering from schizophrenia diagnosed using the ICD-10 criteria. The patients were grouped into four categories, i.e. control group and three study groups, each group having 30 patients.Materials and Methods:Thirty patients were given conventional antipsychotics and 90 were given second-generation antipsychotics, including risperidone, olanzapine and clozapine. Metabolic parameters were taken before onset of drug treatment therapy and after 4 months. The changes in metabolic parameters were compared using appropriate statistical tools.Statistical Analysis:Chi square chart and Unpaired t-test were used for statistical analysis using a computer.Results:11.66% of the patients developed metabolic syndrome after 4 months of antipsychotic medication.Conclusions:Second-generation antipsychotics cause significantly more changes in the metabolic parameters, increasing the chances of developing metabolic syndrome and associated disorders like diabetes mellitus type-II and cerebrovascular accidents. Olanzapine is the antipsychotic drug that has the maximum potential to cause metabolic syndrome.

No abstract

No abstract