Quality of life and its health and occupational determinants among hospital-based nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Nurses worldwide were exposed to increased levels of occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic which could have hindered their level of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). OBJECTIVES: This project investigated HRQoL level in nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and its health and occupational predictors. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was adopted and targeted full-time nurses in Jordan. Study collected data included demographics, 12-item Short Form health survey (SF-12) to measure HRQoL, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), nurses' evaluation of work conditions during COVID-19, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21). Data was analyzed descriptively to summarize main outcome measures and using multiple linear regression model to identify factors significantly associated with HRQoL. RESULTS: In total 245 nurses successfully completed the survey, 39.6% were males with a mean age of 35±6 years. Participant SF-12 scores were 65.94±17.85 for physical component and 50.09±19.36 mental component. The statistical model significantly explained 53.2% of variance in HRQoL (r2 = 0.534, F = 57.849, p < 0.001). Better sleep quality self-evaluation was significantly associated with higher HRQoL levels, while increased levels of depression, musculoskeletal pain, and financial burden on family were significantly associated with worse HRQoL level. CONCLUSION: Jordanian nurses' HRQoL level was relatively low during COVID-19. Sleep quality, mental health status, musculoskeletal health status, and financial status were identified as factors possibly influenced HRQoL among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses' quality of life along with their mental and physical health should be considered by healthcare administrators in the remaining period of COVID-19 and in future similar emergencies.

Evaluation of elements in hair samples of children with developmental language disorder (DLD).

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have highlighted a role for trace elements and toxic metals across neurodevelopmental disorders, including developmental stuttering, Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, these environmental influences have yet to be explored in relation to Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). METHODS: Elemental hair composition of seven elements; zinc (64Zn), magnesium (26Mg), iron (57Fe), potassium (39K), aluminum (27Al), lead (208Pb), and barium (138Ba) were analyzed in hair samples from 35 children affected by DLD and 35 controls with typical language development (TLD) using both inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and inductive coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). RESULTS: The concentration of 64Zn was significantly lower in the hair of DLD group compared to the TLD control group. All other elements showed similar levels between cases and controls. This pilot study demonstrates the utility of trace elements and toxic metals screening in relation to language disorders and the use of hair samples in such investigations. CONCLUSION: The finding that zinc levels differed between cases and controls could represent a clinically relevant result and should be replicated in larger sample size across time. A wider battery of related elements will help to better understand the role of trace elements and toxic metals in DLD.

Knowledge and Practice of Hearing Screening and Hearing Loss Management among Ear, Nose, and Throat Physicians in Jordan.

Introduction One of the main factors that affect the early diagnosis and intervention of hearing loss is inadequate knowledge by the health care workers. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists are the main source of information about hearing loss and its management in most developing countries, such as Jordan. Objective The purpose of the present study is to explore the level of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children among ENT physicians in Jordan as an example of health care providers in developing countries of the Middle East. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, adapting a questionnaire of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children. The questionnaire consisted of 2 sections with 20 questions. A total of 40 ENT physicians completed the questionnaire. Results The majority of the respondents acknowledged the importance of hearing screening for children; however, there was limited knowledge regarding hearing loss management and testing. Only 10 of the ENT physicians believed that a referral to an audiologist is warranted, and the majority of the respondents were not aware that a child with a confirmed permanent hearing loss should be referred to a speech pathologist or to a rehabilitation center. Managing unilateral and mild sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was another area about which ENT physicians have limited knowledge. Conclusion There is a strong need for professional intervention programs, providing the latest updates and standardizations in the field of audiology and pediatric rehabilitation for ENT physicians.

Phonetic complexity and stuttering in Turkish-speaking children who stutter.

The relationship between stuttering and phonetic complexity for words spoken by Turkish children who stutter was investigated. The research questions were: (1) Do Turkish-speaking children stutter more on unbound content words than on unbound function words? (2) Do Turkish-speaking children stutter more on words with higher phonetic complexity scores? Twenty-one monolingual children aged 6-11 years who had a clinical diagnosis of stuttering participated. Speech samples were transcribed and lexical categories determined. Phonetic complexity was assessed by an adaptation of Index of Phonetic Complexity (IPC) for Turkish. Results revealed that the mean rank of unbound content words differed significantly from the mean rank of unbound function words and that stuttering frequency for unbound content words was significantly higher than for unbound function words.

Knowledge and Practice of Hearing Screening and Hearing Loss Management among Ear, Nose, and Throat Physicians in Jordan

Abstract Introduction One of the main factors that affect the early diagnosis and intervention of hearing loss is inadequate knowledge by the health care workers. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists are the main source of information about hearing loss and its management in most developing countries, such as Jordan. Objective The purpose of the present study is to explore the level of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children among ENT physicians in Jordan as an example of health care providers in developing countries of the Middle East. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, adapting a questionnaire of knowledge and the practice of hearing screening and hearing loss management for children. The questionnaire consisted of 2 sections with 20 questions. A total of 40 ENT physicians completed the questionnaire. Results The majority of the respondents acknowledged the importance of hearing screening for children; however, there was limited knowledge regarding hearing loss management and testing. Only 10 of the ENT physicians believed that a referral to an audiologist is warranted, and the majority of the respondents were not aware that a child with a confirmed permanent hearing loss should be referred to a speech pathologist or to a rehabilitation center. Managing unilateral and mild sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was another area about which ENT physicians have limited knowledge. Conclusion There is a strong need for professional intervention programs, providing the latest updates and standardizations in the field of audiology and pediatric rehabilitation for ENT physicians.

Voice onset time and formant onset frequencies in Arabic stuttered speech.

Neuromuscular models of stuttering consider that making transitions between phones results in inappropriate temporal arrangements of articulators in people who stutter (PWS). Using this framework, the current study examined the acoustic productions of two fine-grained phonetic features: voice onset time (VOT) and second formant (F2). The hypotheses were that PWS should differ from fluent persons (FP) in VOT duration and F2 onset frequency as a result of the transition deficit for environments with complex phonetic features such as Arabic emphatics. Ten adolescent PWS and 10 adolescent FPs participated in the study. They read and memorized four monosyllabic plain-emphatic words silently. Data were analyzed by Repeated Measures ANOVAs. The positive and negative VOT durations of/t/vs./tˁ/and/d/vs./dˁ/and F2 onset frequency were measured acoustically. Results showed that stuttering was significantly affected by emphatic consonants. PWS had atypical VOT durations and F2 values. Findings are consistent with the atypicality of VOT and F2 reported for English-speaking PWS. This atypicality is realized differently in Arabic depending on the articulatory complexity and cognitive load of the sound.

Phonetic complexity and stuttering in Arabic.

The current study investigated whether phonetic complexity affected stuttering rate in Jordanian Arabic speakers. Speakers were assigned to three age groups (6-11, 12-17 and 18+ years). An Arabic index of phonetic complexity (AIPC) was developed. Each word was given a score based on the number of complex phonetic properties out of a total of nine that it contained in the AIPC. The results showed that stuttering on function words for Jordanian Arabic did not correlate significantly with the AIPC score for any age group. The AIPC scores of content and function-content words correlated positively with stuttering rate for the 6-11 age group alone with the function-content words affecting fluency more severely than did the content words. The AIPC scores of stuttered function, content and stuttered function-content words were higher than those of fluent words. The non-stuttered words had lower AIPC scores than the stuttered corresponding classes. This showed that the higher the AIPC score on stuttered words, the greater the chance for these word categories to be stuttered. The AIPC factors that most affected fluency in Jordanian Arabic were place of articulation, manner of articulation, word length, word shape and consonant length. We conclude that Arabic is similar to other languages with regard to the loci of stuttering, their phonetic complexity and AIPC factors affecting stuttering most. The correlation between phonetic complexity and the order of the AIPC factors are different between Arabic and other languages.

A videofluoroscopic study of the emphatic consonants in Jordanian Arabic.

In order to identify the nature of the emphatic consonants and the articulatory features accompanying their production, 384 videofluoroscopic images of 2 male and 2 female Jordanian speakers were analyzed. Analysis focused on the differences between nonemphatic and emphatic consonants in the pharyngeal length and width, the hyoid bone elevation and larynx raising. Results show that males and females produce emphatics as pharyngealized sounds with the tongue root retracting into the oropharynx and the hyoid bone elevating and the larynx raising as a result.