Displaying publications 161 - 180 of 240 in total

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  1. Ding J, Qiao P, Wang J, Huang H
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:1052273.
    PMID: 36544788 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1052273
    Food safety has received unprecedented attention since the COVID-19 outbreak. Exploring food safety regulatory mechanisms in the context of cluster public crises is critical for COVID-19 prevention and control. As a result, using data from a food safety regulation survey in the Bei-jing-Tianjin-Hebei urban cluster, this paper investigates the impact of food safety regulation on the prevention and control of COVID-19. The study found that food safety regulation and cluster public crisis prevention and control have a significant positive relationship, with the ability to integrate regulatory resources acting as a mediator between the two. Second, industry groups argue that the relationship between regulatory efficiency and regulatory resource integration should be moderated in a positive manner. Finally, industry association support positively moderates the mediating role of regulatory re-source integration capacity between food safety regulatory efficiency and cluster public crises, and there is a mediating effect of being moderated. Our findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying the roles of regulatory efficiency, resource integration capacity, and industry association support in food safety, and they serve as a useful benchmark for further improving food safety regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak.
  2. Kanwal N, Isha ASN
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:805733.
    PMID: 35372179 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.805733
    BACKGROUND: Social media activities affect every aspect of human life, be it personal, social or professional. Previous studies have confirmed the role of social media in affecting health in terms of releasing stress and providing social support. Increased occupational health disorders and increased time spent on social media activities motivate us to investigate this phenomenon in the context of occupational health. Therefore, the objective of this study is to measure the effects of social media activities related to personal and social life as well as work-life on health and wellbeing of office employees, on their job efforts and job rewards, and in moderating the effect of effort-reward imbalance on health and wellbeing.

    METHODS: Initially, to develop constructs related to social media activities, web-based structured interviews were conducted with five office employees working in the oil and gas industry for the last 5 years. Then, using an online questionnaire survey, data was collected from 424 office employees working in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia. Using statistical software for social science (SPSS) and Smart PLS, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to identify reliability and validity (discriminant validity, convergent validity and composite validity) of the constructs. Following this, path analysis was conducted and the moderating effects were identified.

    RESULTS: Social media activities related to work-life decrease health and wellbeing by 11% and weaken the negative effect of effort-reward-imbalance on health and wellbeing by 17.6% at a 1% level of significance. The results of social media activities related to personal and social life strengthen the negative effect of effort-reward imbalance on health and wellbeing by 12% and negatively affects health and wellbeing and job rewards by 13, 55%, respectively. The direct effect of effort-reward imbalance and job efforts is significantly negative on health and wellbeing by 59 and 10%, respectively.

    CONCLUSION: It is concluded that social media activities of the office employees significantly moderate the effect of effort-reward imbalance on health and wellbeing and intervene in job rewards in the organizations. Hence, the effect of social media activities reduces the health and wellbeing of office employees.

  3. Hossain MJ, Ahmmed F, Sarker MMR, Sarwar S, Bari MS, Khan MR, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:807474.
    PMID: 35223762 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.807474
    Severe session jam phobia (SJP), the extent of underprivileged online education, and subsequent mental health disorders among students have emerged as distinguished global problems due to the overwhelming effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of extended COVID-19 lockdown and its mediating factors on current e-Learning activities, the prevalence of severe SJP and psychological distress among university students in Bangladesh. A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assemble responses through Google Form by applying a simple snowball sampling technique among university students aged 18 years or above in Bangladesh. All ethical considerations were maintained, and univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were employed to analyze the acquired data set. Among the total analyzed data (n = 1,122), the male and female ratio was almost 1:1, and a remarkable segment (63.7%) was aged between 21-24 years. Alarmingly, around 50-60% of the students were suffering from severe SJP, prevailing underprivileged education in the e-Learning platform, and severe mental distress. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the students from public universities, lower- and mid-income families, lower-aged, and junior years education groups were significantly (p < 0.05) more underprivileged than their counter groups. Besides, the monthly family income and university type significantly influenced the extent of severe SJP. Finally, the students who were female, rustic, come from low-income families (below 25,000 BDT), who had academic uncertainty, job insecurity, online exam phobia, and dissatisfaction with e-Learning education, were significantly suffering from moderate to severe mental distress. The current evidence demonstrates that a substantial number of Bangladeshi university students are struggling with extreme session jam phobia, underprivileged e-Learning education, and subsequent psychological distress, which need to be immediately addressed through concerted efforts by the government, parents, and university authorities.
  4. Sun Y, Zhong Y, Sun W, Chu L, Long J, Fan XW
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1167234.
    PMID: 37521991 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1167234
    BACKGROUND: Adolescent depression has become a leading problem around the world, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has remained prevalent and heavily influenced people's mental health. While gender difference has always been a topic in the field of psychiatry, there are cultural differences across the world that must be taken into account. The current study is examining gender differences in symptoms of Chinese adolescents with depression.

    METHODS: The sample was obtained from a total of 574 adolescent patients (172 males and 402 females) diagnosed with depression following the DSM-IV/ICD-10 diagnostic criteria; patients who also had other severe mental or physical illnesses were excluded. The ages of participants ranged from 10 to 19 years. Additionally, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to examine differences in symptoms between different gender and age groups. The LPA was used to examine whether females and males were having different patterns of symptoms.

    RESULTS: Our analysis showed that compared to males, females exhibited higher rates of depression and more severe depressive symptoms across age groups. Likewise, the analysis also revealed an earlier onset of depression among Chinese adolescents compared to that in Western countries in previous studies. Finally, the LPA showed that mild to moderate depression was predominant in male patients, while severe depression was predominant in female patients.

    CONCLUSION: This study highlights the gender differences in the prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. The current study highlighted the importance of gender equality and developing gender-friendly interventions in maintaining the overall mental health of adolescents in China.

  5. Zhao H, Song T, Rafik-Galea S, Dong J, Fitriana M, Ji Y, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1202741.
    PMID: 37521981 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1202741
    BACKGROUND: Previous cross-sectional studies have shown that meaning in life (MIL) is closely associated with college students' smartphone addiction (SA), but the causal relationship between MIL and college students' SA is uncertain. Therefore, conducting a longitudinal study to explore their relationship is very necessary. Furthermore, some studies have implied possible gender differences in the relationship between MIL and SA and the relationship between SA and MIL. Therefore, it is necessary to further examine whether there are gender differences in the above relationships.

    METHODS: The present study constructed a three-wave cross-lag panel model to explore the relationships between MIL and college students' SA. Three waves of data were collected from 705 college students (male: 338; female: 367) in China for three consecutive years, and the interval of data collection was 1 year. These college students completed the same online questionnaire regarding MIL and SA.

    RESULTS: (1) The MIL of male college students was significantly stronger than that of female college students at time 1, time 2, and time 3, (2) Female college students' SA at time 1, time 2, and time 3 was more serious than that of male college students, (3) There were reciprocal relationships between MIL and college students' SA, (4) The influence of MIL on female college students' SA was significantly stronger than that of male college students, and (5) The influence of SA on female college students' MIL was significantly stronger than that of male college students.

    CONCLUSION: This study showed reciprocal relationships between MIL and SA among male college students and female college students. The findings further deepen our understanding of the relationship between MIL and SA and provide a gender perspective for preventing or intervening with college students' SA.

  6. Irasanti SN, Respati T, Januarita R, Yuniarti Y, Chen HWJ, Marzo RR
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1157837.
    PMID: 37529438 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1157837
    The COVID-19 outbreak demonstrates how unprepared the world is for a different type of crisis, especially non-physical calamities. Revitalizing community involvement in disaster management is essential for making a community resilient. Due to differing sociocultural contexts, the resilience perceptions of communities in different parts of the world may vary. This study aims to understand community resilience factors after the COVID-19 disaster in Indonesia and Malaysia. Data from 2034 questionnaires using 5-interrelated domains in the Communities Advancing Resilience (CART) Toolkit Survey were collected. This study was conducted across Indonesia and Malaysia from March to April 2022. A quantitative-based cross-sectional study design and convenience sampling were applied. Respondents for this study were Indonesian and Malaysian citizens above 18 years of age who met the inclusion criteria. A total of 2034 respondents, 715 from Indonesia and 1,315 from Malaysia responded to the survey. The results suggest that Indonesian and Malaysian communities' Transformative Potential and Informative-Communication domains differ significantly. Indonesian communities demonstrated a higher mean value on Transformative Potential domains than Malaysian communities did, while Malaysian communities indicated a higher mean value on Informative-Communication domains. This study concludes that compared to Malaysian communities, Indonesian communities have a more significant potential for transformation because they can frame collective experiences, gather, and analyze pertinent data, evaluate community performance, and develop resilience-building abilities. On the other hand, Malaysian communities are more resilient in providing information and communication. We found the need to develop a community resilience model that incorporates specific cultural and local requirements. Cooperation between the two countries would open many possibilities to emphasize the capability to bounce back sooner after a catastrophe such as the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
  7. Ababneh BF, Ong SC, Alsaloumi L, Hussain R
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1144466.
    PMID: 37601205 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1144466
    INTRODUCTION: Community pharmacists' roles have expanded and undergone a significant transition over the last few years. Consequently, new and different pharmacy services, such as drive-thru pharmacy services, have emerged. Drive-thru pharmacy services began three decades ago and continued even during outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients' perceptions are essential to the successful implementation and satisfaction with any new service. This study examines the reliability and validity of the assessment tool of public perceptions toward drive-thru community pharmacy services in Malaysia during COVID-19.

    METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted. The developed tool consists of 28 items to evaluate believed advantages toward drive-thru community pharmacy services, believed disadvantages toward drive-thru community pharmacy services, differences between drive-thru community pharmacy services and instore drug refill services, perceptions toward drive-thru community pharmacy services and feelings regarding how the introduction of drive-thru pharmacy services may affect the image of community pharmacists. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to identify the factors of the developed tool, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) evaluated the model fitness.

    RESULTS: The EFA identified five elements and 25 items for the tool, and through CFA results, the observed model of the 25 items structure of the tool was verified as an excellent fit for the data [χ2 (265, N = 565) = 819.586, p < 0.001, IFI = 0.931, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.064]. The results of the CFA indicated a good model fit between the observed model and the proposed model. The internal reliability of the entire tool and each factor was very satisfactory as Cronbach's Alpha for the whole structured tool was 0.843 and for each factor was as follows, first factor (believed advantages) = 0.909, second factor (believed disadvantages) = 0.921, third factor (differences between drive-thru and instore refill) = 0.647, fourth factor (perceptions) = 0.926, and fifth factor (feelings) = 0.681.

    CONCLUSION: The developed and validated tool would be valuable for assessing the public's perceptions of the drive-thru community pharmacy service during COVID-19 and future pandemics.

  8. Onyinyechi OM, Mohd Nazan AIN, Ismail S
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1217052.
    PMID: 37601202 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1217052
    INTRODUCTION: Malaria health education intervention is a community-directed approach that has long been considered important in preventing malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. However, its effectiveness is being questioned due to a lack of strong evidence. We aim to synthesize the evidence of the impact of health education on malaria knowledge and insecticide-treated nets (ITN) usage. Specifically, we analyzed the odds of correctly answering malaria-related questions and the odds of using ITN between the intervention and control groups.

    METHODS: Experimental and observational studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2021 which had quantitatively evaluated the impact of health education interventions on malaria knowledge and ITN usage were included in the review.

    RESULTS: A total of 11 studies (20,523 participants) were included. Four studies used educational interventions to teach appropriate ITN strategies and promote ITN usage. Two others focused on improving knowledge of malaria transmission, prevention, treatment, and its signs and symptoms. The remaining five studies assessed both ITN use and malaria knowledge. Of these, 10 were eligible for meta-analysis. On average, the odds of a person in the intervention group reporting better malaria knowledge (odds ratio 1.30, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.70, p = 0.05) and higher ITN usage (odds ratio 1.53, 95% CI: 1.02 to 2.29, p = 0.004) increased significantly after receiving health education interventions compared to those in the control group. The odds of ITN usage also substantially increased when the interventions were based on a theory or model (odds ratio 5.27, 95% CI: 3.24 to 8.58, p = 0.05).

    DISCUSSION: Our review highlights sub-Saharan Africa's various health education strategies to curb malaria over the past two decades. Meta-analysis findings show that health education interventions are moderately effective in improving malaria knowledge and ITN usage and have contributed to the effort of global malaria strategy.

  9. Abd ElHafeez S, Gebreal A, Khalil MA, Youssef N, Sallam M, Elshabrawy A, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1192542.
    PMID: 37575128 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1192542
    BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The recent monkeypox (Mpox) outbreak confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores the importance of evaluating the knowledge and attitude of medical students toward emerging diseases, given their potential roles as healthcare professionals and sources of public information during outbreaks. This study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge and attitude about Mpox and to identify factors affecting their level of knowledge and attitude in low-income and high-income countries.

    METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 11,919 medical students from 27 countries. A newly-developed validated questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge (14 items), attitude (12 items), and baseline criteria. The relationship between a range of factors with knowledge and attitude was studied using univariate and multivariate analyses.

    RESULTS: 46% of the study participants were males; 10.7% were in their sixth year; 54.6% knew about smallpox; 84% received the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine; and 12.5% had training on Mpox. 55.3% had good knowledge of Mpox and 51.7% had a positive attitude towards it. Medical students in their third, fifth, or sixth year high- income countries who obtained information on Mpox from friends, research articles, social media and scientific websites were positive predictors for good knowledge. Conversely, being male or coming from high-income countries showed a negative relation with good knowledge about Mpox. Additionally, a positive attitude was directly influenced by residing in urban areas, being in the fifth year of medical education, having knowledge about smallpox and a history of receiving the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. Receiving information about Mpox from social media or scientific websites and possessing good knowledge about Mpox were also predictors of a positive attitude. On the other hand, being male, employed, or receiving a training program about Mpox were inversely predicting positive attitude about Mpox.

    CONCLUSION: There were differences in knowledge and attitude towards Mpox between medical students in low and high-income countries, emphasizing the need for incorporating epidemiology of re-emerging diseases like Mpox into the medical curriculum to improve disease prevention and control.

  10. Selvavinayagam ST, Yong YK, Joseph N, Hemashree K, Tan HY, Zhang Y, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:1018399.
    PMID: 36211690 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1018399
    The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the global population is indicative of the development of selective advantages in emerging virus strains. Here, we performed a case-control investigation of the clinical and demographic characteristics, clinical history, and virological markers to predict disease progression in hospitalized adults for COVID-19 between December 2021 and January 2022 in Chennai, India. COVID-19 diagnosis was made by a commercial TaqPath COVID-19 RT-PCR, and WGS was performed with the Ion Torrent Next Generation Sequencing System. High-quality (<5% of N) complete sequences of 73 Omicron B.1.1.529 variants were randomly selected for phylogenetic analysis. SARS-CoV-2 viral load, number of comorbidities, and severe disease presentation were independently associated with a shorter time-to-death. Strikingly, this was observed among individuals infected with Omicron BA.2 but not among those with the BA.1.1.529, BA.1.1, or the Delta B.1.617.2 variants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed severe cases predominantly clustering under the BA.2 lineage. Sequence analyses showed 30 mutation sites in BA.1.1.529 and 33 in BA.1.1. The mutations unique to BA.2 were T19I, L24S, P25del, P26del, A27S, V213G, T376A, D405N and R408S. Low SARS-CoV-2 viral load among vaccinated individuals infected with Delta B.1.617.2 and the Omicron BA.1.1.529 variant but not with Omicron BA.1.1 or BA.2 suggests that the newer strains are largely immune escape variants. The number of vaccine doses received was independently associated with increased odds of developing asymptomatic disease or recovery. We propose that the novel mutations reported herein could likely bear a significant impact on the clinical characteristics, disease progression, and epidemiological aspects of COVID-19. Surging rates of mutations and the emergence of eclectic variants of SARS-CoV-2 appear to impact disease dynamics.
  11. Upadhyaya AM, Hasan MK, Abdel-Khalek S, Hassan R, Srivastava MC, Sharan P, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:759032.
    PMID: 34926383 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.759032
    This study presented an overview of current developments in optical micro-electromechanical systems in biomedical applications. Optical micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) is a particular class of MEMS technology. It combines micro-optics, mechanical elements, and electronics, called the micro-opto electromechanical system (MOEMS). Optical MEMS comprises sensing and influencing optical signals on micron-level by incorporating mechanical, electrical, and optical systems. Optical MEMS devices are widely used in inertial navigation, accelerometers, gyroscope application, and many industrial and biomedical applications. Due to its miniaturised size, insensitivity to electromagnetic interference, affordability, and lightweight characteristic, it can be easily integrated into the human body with a suitable design. This study presented a comprehensive review of 140 research articles published on photonic MEMS in biomedical applications that used the qualitative method to find the recent advancement, challenges, and issues. The paper also identified the critical success factors applied to design the optimum photonic MEMS devices in biomedical applications. With the systematic literature review approach, the results showed that the key design factors could significantly impact design, application, and future scope of work. The literature of this paper suggested that due to the flexibility, accuracy, design factors efficiency of the Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, the demand has been increasing for various photonic devices. Except for FBG sensing devices, other sensing systems such as optical ring resonator, Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), and photonic crystals are used, which still show experimental stages in the application of biosensing. Due to the requirement of sophisticated fabrication facilities and integrated systems, it is a tough choice to consider the other photonic system. Miniaturisation of complete FBG device for biomedical applications is the future scope of work. Even though there is a lot of experimental work considered with an FBG sensing system, commercialisation of the final FBG device for a specific application has not been seen noticeable progress in the past.
  12. Md Iderus NH, Singh SSL, Ghazali SM, Zulkifli AA, Ghazali NAM, Lim MC, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1213514.
    PMID: 37693699 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1213514
    BACKGROUND: Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the transmission dynamics and distribution of dengue. Therefore, this study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the geographic and demographic distribution of dengue incidence in Malaysia.

    METHODS: This study analyzed dengue cases from January 2014 to December 2021 and COVID-19 confirmed cases from January 2020 to December 2021 which was divided into the pre (2014 to 2019) and during COVID-19 pandemic (2020 to 2021) phases. The average annual dengue case incidence for geographical and demographic subgroups were calculated and compared between the pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic phases. In addition, Spearman rank correlation was performed to determine the correlation between weekly dengue and COVID-19 cases during the COVID-19 pandemic phase.

    RESULTS: Dengue trends in Malaysia showed a 4-year cyclical trend with dengue case incidence peaking in 2015 and 2019 and subsequently decreasing in the following years. Reductions of 44.0% in average dengue cases during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic phase was observed at the national level. Higher dengue cases were reported among males, individuals aged 20-34 years, and Malaysians across both phases. Weekly dengue cases were significantly correlated (ρ = -0.901) with COVID-19 cases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    CONCLUSION: There was a reduction in dengue incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic phase. Significant reductions were observed across all demographic groups except for the older population (>75 years) across the two phases.

  13. Syafrawati S, Machmud R, Aljunid SM, Semiarty R
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1147709.
    PMID: 37663851 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1147709
    OBJECTIVE: To identify the incidence of moral hazards among health care providers and its determinant factors in the implementation of national health insurance in Indonesia.

    METHODS: Data were derived from 360 inpatient medical records from six types C public and private hospitals in an Indonesian rural province. These data were accumulated from inpatient medical records from four major disciplines: medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. The dependent variable was provider moral hazards, which included indicators of up-coding, readmission, and unnecessary admission. The independent variables are Physicians' characteristics (age, gender, and specialization), coders' characteristics (age, gender, education level, number of training, and length of service), and patients' characteristics (age, birth weight, length of stay, the discharge status, and the severity of patient's illness). We use logistic regression to investigate the determinants of moral hazard.

    RESULTS: We found that the incidences of possible unnecessary admissions, up-coding, and readmissions were 17.8%, 11.9%, and 2.8%, respectively. Senior physicians, medical specialists, coders with shorter lengths of service, and patients with longer lengths of stay had a significant relationship with the incidence of moral hazard.

    CONCLUSION: Unnecessary admission is the most common form of a provider's moral hazard. The characteristics of physicians and coders significantly contribute to the incidence of moral hazard. Hospitals should implement reward and punishment systems for doctors and coders in order to control moral hazards among the providers.

  14. Godman B, Haque M, Leong T, Allocati E, Kumar S, Islam S, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:671961.
    PMID: 34249838 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.671961
    Background: Diabetes mellitus rates continue to rise, which coupled with increasing costs of associated complications has appreciably increased global expenditure in recent years. The risk of complications are enhanced by poor glycaemic control including hypoglycaemia. Long-acting insulin analogues were developed to reduce hypoglycaemia and improve adherence. Their considerably higher costs though have impacted their funding and use. Biosimilars can help reduce medicine costs. However, their introduction has been affected by a number of factors. These include the originator company dropping its price as well as promoting patented higher strength 300 IU/ml insulin glargine. There can also be concerns with different devices between the manufacturers. Objective: To assess current utilisation rates for insulins, especially long-acting insulin analogues, and the rationale for patterns seen, across multiple countries to inform strategies to enhance future utilisation of long-acting insulin analogue biosimilars to benefit all key stakeholders. Our approach: Multiple approaches including assessing the utilisation, expenditure and prices of insulins, including biosimilar insulin glargine, across multiple continents and countries. Results: There was considerable variation in the use of long-acting insulin analogues as a percentage of all insulins prescribed and dispensed across countries and continents. This ranged from limited use of long-acting insulin analogues among African countries compared to routine funding and use across Europe in view of their perceived benefits. Increasing use was also seen among Asian countries including Bangladesh and India for similar reasons. However, concerns with costs and value limited their use across Africa, Brazil and Pakistan. There was though limited use of biosimilar insulin glargine 100 IU/ml compared with other recent biosimilars especially among European countries and Korea. This was principally driven by small price differences in reality between the originator and biosimilars coupled with increasing use of the patented 300 IU/ml formulation. A number of activities were identified to enhance future biosimilar use. These included only reimbursing biosimilar long-acting insulin analogues, introducing prescribing targets and increasing competition among manufacturers including stimulating local production. Conclusions: There are concerns with the availability and use of insulin glargine biosimilars despite lower costs. This can be addressed by multiple activities.
  15. Ahmed A, Saqlain M, Umair MM, Hashmi FK, Saeed H, Amer M, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:745545.
    PMID: 34660521 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.745545
    Introduction: Anxiety and depression in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) can lead to non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), morbidity, and mortality. Therefore, assessing the stigma, social support, and other determinants of anxiety and depression in PLWHA are important for developing further interventions. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 505 PLWHA, approached through systematic sampling, who paid routine visits to the ART center, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad. Data was collected by pretested validated hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Version 26 of the SPSS was used to apply Logistic regression analysis to identify determinants, and the 95% confidence interval (CI) adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was calculated to assess the magnitude of the relationships. Results: In PLWHA, the prevalence of co-morbid depression and anxiety was 80%. Separately, 89.9% had depression, and 80.3% had anxiety. Use of illicit drugs [AOR = 1.87, 95% CI (1.01, 3.27)], low social support [AOR = 1.21, 95% CI (1.02, 2.25)], being male [AOR = 2.21, 95% CI (1.11, 5.49)], and HIV related stigma [AOR = 2.48, 95% CI (1.25, 6.02)] were significant predictors of depression. Having detectable viral load [AOR = 3.04, 95% CI (1.04, 8.86)], young age [AOR = 5.31, 95% CI (1.19, 29.39)], no formal education [AOR = 21.78, 95% CI (4.03, 117.62)], low [AOR = 1.70, 95% CI (1.12, 6.93)] or moderate [AOR = 2.20, 95% CI (1.79, 6.09)] social support, illicit drugs addiction [AOR = 1.17, 95% CI (1.03, 2.55)], and HIV stigma [AOR = 54.3, 95% CI (21.20, 139.32)] had a remarkable association with anxiety. Conclusions: Given the high prevalence of anxiety and depression among PLWHA, the Pakistan Ministry of Health should focus more on monitoring mental health, expanding mental health services, and developing interventions based on identified factors to treat depression and anxiety among PLWHA.
  16. Sun Y, Li Y, Wang Y, Jiang D, Liu X
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:723084.
    PMID: 34604162 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.723084
    The Covid-19 outbreak has spread over the world, limiting population and trade, causing job losses, and forcing businesses to close. The study's goal is to look at Covid-19's pandemic and consumer survival as a mediator for the future of running a business when FMCG companies are doing well. The researchers employed a basic random sampling strategy to do a layered transverse evaluation of samples. EFA, CFA, and SEM are used to choose data collection techniques for participants at Covid-19. According to the data, Malaysia has resulted in job losses, business growth, and customer satisfaction retention, as well as an increase in unemployment, company closures, and a drop in overall GDP. The impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on survival, production, and GDP has been demonstrated. Incorporating technology into all aspects of a company's working practices reveals the necessity and capacity of the organization to adapt to new scenarios.
  17. Israfil SMH, Sarker MMR, Rashid PT, Talukder AA, Kawsar KA, Khan F, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2020;8:567395.
    PMID: 33505949 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.567395
    Clinical characteristics are essential for the correct diagnosis of diseases. The current review aimed to summarize the global clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 patients systematically and identify their diagnostic challenges to help the medical practitioners properly diagnose and for better management of COVID-19 patients. We conducted a systematic search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases for original articles containing clinical information of COVID-19 published up to 7th May 2020. Two researchers independently searched the databases to extract eligible articles. A total of 34 studies from 8 different countries with 10889 case-patients were included for clinical characteristics. The most common clinical symptoms were cough 59.6, fever 46.9, fatigue 27.8, and dyspnea 20.23%. The prominent laboratory findings were lymphocytopenia 55.9, elevated levels of CRP 61.9, aspartate aminotransferase 53.3, LDH 40.8, ESR 72.99, serum ferritin 63, IL-6 52, and prothrombin time 35.47%, and decreased levels of platelets 17.26, eosinophils 59.0, hemoglobin 29, and albumin 38.4%. CT scan of the chest showed an abnormality in 93.50% cases with bilateral lungs 71.1%, ground-glass opacity 48%, lesion in lungs 78.3%, and enlargement of lymph node 50.7%. Common comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. The estimated median incubation period was 5.36 days, and the overall case fatality rate was 16.9% (Global case fatality outside China was 22.24%: USA 21.24%, Italy 25.61%, and others 0%; whereas the case fatality inside the Hubei Province of China was found to be 11.71%). Global features on the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 obtained from laboratory tests and CT scan results will provide useful information to the physicians to diagnose the disease and for better management of the patients as well as to address the diagnostic challenges to control the infection.
  18. Wong LP, Chiu CJ, Alias H, Lee TS, Hu Z, Lin Y
    Front Public Health, 2021;9:710508.
    PMID: 34497793 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.710508
    Background: The objectives of this study were to investigate risk perceptions and travel intention among the general public in Taiwan during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional online survey to collect data. The questionnaire was disseminated via the social media platform (LINE and Facebook) to the general public. Results: A total of 3,237 complete responses were received, of whom 5.8% (95% CI 5.1-6.7) of the participants reported intent to travel to overseas countries with an apparent community spread and 5.5% (95% CI 4.7-6.3) reported intent to travel to other overseas countries in the next 1 month. A relatively higher proportion (46.5%; 95% CI 44.7-48.2) reported intention for domestic travelling. Participants who viewed travelling to only be risky for older adults or those with medical conditions (OR = 2.19; 95% CI 1.38-3.47) and who perceived that one will not get infected if one takes recommended precautionary measures (OR = 3.12; 95% CI 1.85-5.27) reported higher travelling intention to overseas countries with an apparent community spread. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that risk perceptions were depicted as a strong influence of travel intentions.
  19. Mohd Fuad SH, Juliana N, Mohd Azmi NAS, Mohd Fahmi Teng NI, Azmani S, Abu IF, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:829013.
    PMID: 35392476 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.829013
    In several regions of the world, the recent Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak increased morbidity and mortality. The pandemic situation disrupted many workers' previously established lifestyles. The main aim of the present review was to describe the circadian disruption and occupational toxicant exposure affecting the immunity of shift workers during the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. We retrieved pertinent published literature from the Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus databases. In the present review, we discuss the circadian rhythm involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis at the molecular level, its disruption, occupational toxicant exposure causing immunomodulatory effects, and the role of immunity during the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. The severity of the progression of the viral infection depends on multiple factors affecting immunity. Hence, shift workers may need to be aware of those factors such as circadian rhythm disruption as well as occupational toxicant exposure. The timing of shift workers' energy intake is also important concerning the shift of the workers. The information in the present review may be important for all workers who are at risk during the pandemic. In the absence of any published literature related to association of circadian rhythm disruption with occupational toxicant exposure, the present review may have greater importance.
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