Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread globally, forcing countries to apply lockdowns and strict social distancing measures. The aim of this study was to assess eating habits and lifestyle behaviours among residents of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the lockdown. A cross-sectional study among adult residents of the MENA region was conducted using an online questionnaire designed on Google Forms during April 2020. A total of 2970 participants from eighteen countries participated in the present study. During the pandemic, over 30 % reported weight gain, 6·2 % consumed five or more meals per d compared with 2·2 % before the pandemic (P < 0·001) and 48·8 % did not consume fruits on a daily basis. Moreover, 39·1 % did not engage in physical activity, and over 35 % spent more than 5 h/d on screens. A significant association between the frequency of training during the pandemic and the reported change in weight was found (P < 0·001). A significantly higher percentage of participants reported physical and emotional exhaustion, irritability and tension either all the time or a large part of the time during the pandemic (P < 0·001). Although a high percentage of participants reported sleeping more hours per night during the pandemic, 63 % had sleep disturbances. The study highlights that the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a variety of lifestyle changes, physical inactivity and psychological problems among adults in the MENA region.

The DSM-IV criteria recognize the existence of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) with poor insight. However, there is paucity of literature on the clinical correlates and treatment response in poor and good insight OCD. In this study, insight is measured by using the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale (BABS) developed specifically to assess insight. One hundred subjects with DSM-IV OCD were ascertained from the OCD clinic of a large psychiatric hospital in India. All subjects were evaluated extensively by using structured instruments and established measures of psychopathology. The subjects were treated with adequate doses of drugs for adequate period. The results showed that 25% of the subjects had poor insight. Poor insight was associated with earlier age-at-onset, longer duration of illness, more number of obsessive–compulsive symptoms, more severe illness and higher comorbidity rate, particularly major depression. Of the subjects who were treated adequately (N = 73), 44 (60%) were treatment responders. Poor insight was associated with poor response to drug treatment. In the step-wise logistic regression analysis, baseline BABS score was highly predictive of poor treatment response. Poor insight appears to be associated with specific clinical correlates and poor response to drug treatment. Further studies are needed in larger samples to replicate our findings.

This paper presents the concept of using cylindrical pins as short protuberances for trajectory control of a blunted cone in the supersonic and hypersonic regimes. Supersonic and hypersonic flow interactions for cylindrical protuberances, installed on a blunt cone are studied for their aerodynamic effects. The utility of these protuberances for aerodynamic control and trajectory shaping of a re-entry cone are explored. Static aerodynamic coefficients in the Mach range of 2–9·7 at various incidences are computed. The pressure distribution along the vehicle longitudinal axis in the presence of the pin-protuberance is studied using CFD analysis. With the altered pressure distribution, a net increase in the aerodynamic force is obtained which can be actively utilised for flight control and maneuvering of the vehicle during re-entry. After quantifying the aerodynamic effects of the protuberance, it is modelled and used as an effective actuation mechanism for flight feedback control. It is shown that this can work as an effective control device for Mach numbers less than five. An actuator design for insertion/retraction of the protuberance is presented and modelled, and a robust controller is synthesised which can in real time govern the position of the protuberance to control the flight attitude angle to achieve a desired trajectory. The controller takes in measurements of the vehicle’s pitch angle and actuates the pin height continuously to control the pitch angle to a desired value. The control performance is demonstrated on a high fidelity six degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) nonlinear flight simulation.

Los criterios del DSM-IV reconocen la existencia del trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo (TOC) con poca conciencia de enfermedad. Sin embargo, hay una escasez de publicaciones sobre los correlatos clínicos y la respuesta al tratamiento en TOC con poca conciencia de enfermedad y con buena conciencia de enfermedad. En este estudio, la conciencia de enfermedad se mide utilizando la Escala de Evaluación de las Creencias de Brown (BABS) desarrollada específicamente para evaluar la conciencia de enfermedad. Se comprobó a cien sujetos con TOC del DSM-IV de la clínica de TOC de un gran hospital psiquiátrico en India. Todos los sujetos recibieron una evaluación arnplia utilizando instrumentos estructurados y medidas establecidas de trastornos psicopatológicos. Se trató a los sujetos con dosis adecuadas de fármacos durante un periodo adecuado. Los resultados mostraron que el 25% de los sujetos tenían poca conciencia de enfermedad. La poca conciencia de enfermedad se asociaba con edad anterior en el comienzo, duración más larga de la enfermedad, mayor número de síntomas obsesivo-compulsivos, enfermedad más grave y tasa más alta de comorbilidad, particularmente de depresión mayor. De los sujetos que recibieron tratamiento adecuado (n = 73), 44 (el 60%) respondieron al tratamiento. La poca conciencia de enfermedad se asociaba con mala respuesta al tratamiento farmacológico. En el análisis de regresión logística paso a paso, la puntuación de la BABS en la línea de base predecía muy bien la mala respuesta al tratamiento. La poca conciencia de enfermedad parece asociarse con correlatos clínicos específicos y mala respuesta al tratamiento farmacológico. Se necesitan más estudios en muestras mayores para replicar nuestros hallazgos.

The majority of high-efficiency space solar cells being produced today are based on multi-junction devices of lattice-matched III-V materials. An alternative which has been receiving an increasing amount of attention is the lattice mis-matched or metamorphic approach to multi-junction cell development. In the metamorphic triple junction cell under development by ERI and its partners, the InGaAs junction (bottom cell) of the three-cell stack is the current limiting entity, due to the current matching which must be maintained through the device. This limitation may be addressed through the incorporation of InAs quantum dot array into the depletion region of an InGaAs cell. The InAs quantum dots in the InGaAs cell will provide sub-gap absorption and thus improve its short circuit current. This cell could then be integrated into the three-cell stack to achieve a space solar cell whose efficiency exceeds current state-of-the-art standards. A theoretical estimate predicts that a InGaAlP(1.95eV)/InGaAsP(1.35 eV)/InGaAs(1.2 eV) triple junction cell incorporating quantum dots to improve the bottom cell current would have an efficiency exceeding 40%. In addition, theoretical estimates have demonstrated that the use of quantum dot structures may also hold other cell benefits such as improved temperature coefficients and better radiation tolerance, which are especially important for utilization in space. As a first step towards achieving that goal, we have initiated the development of InAs quantum dots on lattice-mismatched InGaAs (1.2 eV bandgap) grown epitaxially on GaAs by metallorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). These quantum dots have been characterized via photoluminescence (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A correlation exists between the quantum dot size and resulting optical band structure and can be controlled via the synthesis parameters. Quantum dots were incorporated into prototype InGaAs devices. A comparison of the resulting photovoltaic efficiency under simulated 1 sun intensity and air mass zero (AM0) illumination and spectral response demonstrated that an improvement in the long-wavelength photoconversion efficiency was achieved through the incorporation of the InAs quantum dots.