Disparities in fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) monitoring capacity in eastern Canada.

An earlier study of an add-on Yoga therapy for Schizophrenia in India in 2012 indicated several barriers. Of the 857 patients screened, 392 (45.7%) were found eligible for the study. Among them, 223 (56.8%) declined to take part in the trial. The reasons for declining included the need to attend supervised Yoga sessions regularly for extended periods, distance from the center, lack of a person to accompany them for training, a busy work schedule, and unwillingness to participate in Yoga therapy, among others.[] In the last decade, the introduction of Yoga as a complementary or alternative treatment to psychiatric disorders in India has been considered feasible and acceptable in persons with psychiatric disorders.[] Yoga improves psychopathology, quality of life, depression, acute stress, and anxiety in cases of psychiatric disorders.[] The present study is a part of a larger open-label comparative study assessing the efficacy of in-person versus virtual Yoga in Common Mental Disorders (CMDs). Initially, the study was designed as randomized study and later shifted to convenience sampling. In this study, patients with the following diagnoses were included: Anxiety disorders, phobic anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, dissociative (conversion) disorders, somatoform disorders, and mild-to-moderate depressive episodes (ICD-10). They belonged to both sexes and were aged between 18 and 60 years. Their illness severity on clinical global impression was ≤4. They had to have access to the internet and web-camera facility to enable participation in virtual yoga sessions, and the ability to read, write, and a working knowledge of English/Kannada. The data were collected using a convenience sampling method among patients visiting the psychiatry outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in the southern part of India.