Paediatric Tuberculosis in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India: DOTS, Diagnosis, and Determinants

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s largest public health challenges, and it has a disproportionate impact on India. In children, TB is a serious but understudied illness due to the complexity of case-notification and relative lack of public health importance. This study took place over the course of one month in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. In a mixed method study consisting of 53 quantitative patient interviews and qualitative interviews with healthcare providers, social determinants of TB in this setting were investigated as well as challenges faced at all stages of healthcare delivery. Malnutrition and housing were the most severe determinants of paediatric TB, though socioeconomic status, age, and household contacts also played a role. Diagnosis continues to be a challenge for healthcare providers. Overall, DOTS and the RNTCP is an effective public health program to address paediatric TB, but to reduce incidence interventions on determinants need to be prioritized

COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter: the role of deceptive support

2022 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Social media platforms like Twitter are a major dissemination point for information and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. But not all of the information comes from reliable sources, which raises doubts about their validity. In social media posts, writers reference news articles to gain credibility by leveraging the trust readers have in reputable news outlets. However, there is not always a positive correlation between the cited article and the social media posting. Targeting the Twitter platform, this study presents a novel pipeline to determine whether a Tweet is indeed supported by the news article it refers to. The approach follows two general objectives: to develop a model capable of detecting Tweets containing claims that are worthy of fact-checking and then, to assess whether the claims made in a given Tweet are supported by the news article it cites. In the event that a Tweet is found to be trustworthy, we extract its claim via a sequence labeling approach. In doing so, we seek to reduce the noise and highlight the informative parts of a Tweet. Instead of detecting erroneous and invalid information by analyzing the propagation patterns or ensuing examination of Tweets against already proven statements, this study aims to identify reliable support (or lack thereof) before misinformation spreads. Our research reveals that 14.5% of the Tweets are not factual and therefore not worth checking. An effective filter like this is especially useful when looking at a platform such as Twitter, where hundreds of thousands of posts are created every day. Further, our analysis indicates that among the Tweets which refer to a news article as evidence of a factual claim, at least 1% of those Tweets are not substantiated by the article, and therefore mislead the reader

Ethnicity : UK colorectal cancer screening pilot : final report

27. In summary, the overall evaluation of the UK Pilot has demonstrated that key parameters of test and programme performance observed in randomised studies of FOBt screening can be repeated in population-based pilot programmes. However, our study provides strong evidence of very low CRC screening uptake for ethnic groups in the Pilot area. This is coupled with a very low uptake of colonoscopy for individuals from ethnic groups with a positive FOBt result. 28. It has long been acknowledged that a diverse population may require diverse responses. Following the implementation of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, there has been a statutory duty laid upon all NHS agencies to ‘have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination’, and to make explicit consideration of the implications for racial equality of every action or policy. 29. Because the observed overall outcomes in the UK Pilot generally compare favourably with the results of previous randomised trials of FOBt screening, the main Evaluation Group has concluded that benefits observed in the trials should be repeatable in a national roll-out. 30. However, our study indicates that any national colorectal cancer screening programme would need to very carefully consider the implications of ethnicity for roll-out, and develop a strategic plan on how best to accommodate this at both a national and local level. Based on our findings, consideration will clearly need to be given to improved access and screening service provision for ethnic minorities. 31. In order to ensure adequate CRC screening provision for a diverse UK population, and to address the explicit implications for racial equality highlighted by our findings, interventions now urgently need to be evaluated to improve access for ethnic minorities. This work should be undertaken as part of the second round of CRC screening currently underway in the English Pilot