Evaluation of Knowledge and Belief on False Reports and Misinformation from Social Media in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web Based Cross-Sectional Survey in Karachi, Pakistan

COVID-19 has become a global pandemic declared by World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. This has put drastic impact on the world and many lives have been affected globally. As the cases of COVID-19 infected are increasing, the spread of fake news related to treatment and its prevention have led to a very difficult situation in controlling and containing the COVID-19 infection. It seems that general public tend to belief in rumors and share them on social media platforms that lead to misinformation which go viral and has created chaos among the general masses. The study evaluated the role of social media in false reporting and spreading misinformation in COVID-19 pandemic. Study also evaluated the knowledge, belief and awareness among general population of the Karachi city to provide insights and to enable ministries and policy makers to take suitable measures. This is a cross sectional study which was conducted from June to July 2020 in Karachi, Pakistan. A self-structured questionnaire was administered through Facebook and Whatsapp due to lockdown and increase risk of exposure from COVID-19 to the research assistants. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of frequency counts, and percentages of quantitative variables and Chi square for the inferential variable at 0.05 level of significance. A total of 267 participants were sampled for the study. The study indicates that majority of the participants believed in the myths and false reports circulated on social media and usually share and forward such news without authentic references

Medical Students’ Perception and preferences on Methods of Anatomy Teaching- A survey between public and private institutes of Karachi, Pakistan

Anatomy is an essential and basic subject in the field of human sciences. The reforms and new teaching methodologies has been revolutionizing the world and helping the student in better understanding the anatomical landmarks and specific details in an interactive way. The present study evaluated the mode of anatomy teaching in public and private medical institutes of Karachi along with the opinion of students on the best teaching tool of anatomy. A total of 347 participants from private and public medical colleges of Karachi participated in the study. The data was collected by rotating questionnaires in the classrooms. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The mean age ± SD of our sample was 19.10 ± 0.77 years. In this study, majority of students from private sector institute were satisfied (58%) with the teaching methodology implemented for teaching Anatomy whereas, about (74%) participants from public sector institutes were not satisfied with the teaching methodology of teaching Anatomy. Students recommended that the use of Anatomy models may help in their better understanding of Anatomy. The present study indicates that public and private medical institutes were still using old multimedia based teaching methods of anatomy and the students were not very satisfied with the mode of teaching in their institutes. Amendments and reforms shall be implemented and efficacious teaching techniques should be applied taking into consideration the opinion of the students to bring out the best understaning in the field of Anatomy

Ragging: A Harmless Tradition or Menace? Perspective of Newly Admitted Medical Students of Karachi, Pakistan

Ragging is a disruptive behavior mostly observed among senior students of many institutes towards their junior sub-ordinates. The following study evaluated the perception of newly admitted students about ragging in one of the public medical college of Karachi, Pakistan i.e., Karachi Medical and Dental College. Out of 140 newly admitted students of first year MBBS, 102 participants were enrolled in this study. The data was collected in two steps, i.e., Questionnaire A was distributed among the students on the orientation day whereas, Questionnaire B was distributed one week after the orientation to the same students who had filled the Questionnaire A. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Majority of participants were aware about ragging. Data of Questionnaire B revealed that about half of participants 52 (50.9%) got ragged on the orientation day, while most of the students faced mild to moderate intensity ragging. Males were found to be more frequent victim of ragging as compared to females. The present study indicates that ragging may have a negative impact on the morale and self-confidence of many students; moreover, the study suggested that serious actions shall be taken against ragging. Formation of an anti-ragging committee can provide great aid to the newly admitted students on their first day, promoting an anti-ragging environment within the institute and ensuring prevalence of such environment in order to prevent negative impacts of ragging

Revival of the heterologous prime‐boost technique in COVID‐19: An outlook from the history of outbreaks

Abstract Background The heterologous prime‐boost vaccination technique is not novel as it has a history of deployment in previous outbreaks. Aim Hence, this narrative review aims to provide critical insight for reviving the heterologous prime‐boost immunization strategy for SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccination relative to a brief positive outlook on the mix‐dose approach deployed in previous and existing outbreaks (ie, Ebola virus disease (EVD), malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, HIV and influenza virus). Methodology and Materials A Boolean search was carried out to find the literature in MEDLINE‐PubMed, Clinicaltrials, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases up till December 22, 2021, using the specific keywords that include “SARS‐CoV2”, “COVID‐19”, “Ebola,” “Malaria,” “Tuberculosis,” “Human Immunodeficiency Virus,” “Hepatitis B,” “Influenza,” “Mix and match,” “Heterologous prime‐boost,” with interposition of “OR” and “AND.” Full text of all the related articles in English language with supplementary appendix was retrieved. In addition, the full text of relevant cross‐references was also retrieved. Results Therefore, as generally evident by the primary outcomes, that is, safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity reported and updated by preclinical and clinical studies for addressing previous and existing outbreaks so far, including COVID‐19, it is understood that heterologous prime‐boost immunization has been proven successful for eliciting a more efficacious immune response as of yet in comparison to the traditional homologous prime‐boost immunization regimen. Discussion Accordingly, with increasing cases of COVID‐19, many countries such as Germany, Pakistan, Canada, Thailand, and the United Kingdom have started administering the heterologous vaccination as the technique aids to rationalize the usage of the available vaccines to aid in the global race to vaccinate majority to curb the spread of COVID‐19 efficiently. However, the article emphasizes the need for more large controlled trials considering demographic details of vaccine recipients, which would play an essential role in clearing the mistrust about safety concerns to pace up the acceptance of the technique across the globe. Conclusion Consequently, by combatting the back‐to‐back waves of COVID‐19 and other challenging variants of concerns, including Omicron, the discussed approach can also help in addressing the expected evolution of priority outbreaks as coined by WHO, that is, “Disease X” in 2018 with competency, which according to WHO can turn into the “next pandemic” or the “next public health emergency,” thus would eventually lead to eradicating the risk of “population crisis.

Recent Advances in Fuel Additives and Their Spray Characteristics for Diesel-Based Blends

The spray characteristics play a crucial role in determining the performance and emissions of compression ignition (CI) engines at the pre-combustion stage. With the advent of many types of alternative fuels and their blends with diesel, it is necessary to investigate the effect of fuel properties and various injection conditions to determine the penetration length, spray cone angle and spray area for a viable fuel with similar or better dispersion characteristics to diesel. Hence, this study reviews and summarizes the spray visualization techniques, along with in depth analysis of macroscopic spray properties of various fuel blends with diesel. It was found that higher injection pressures typically led to higher penetration lengths, better atomization with reduced Sauter mean diameter. Liquid properties such as viscosity, surface tension, and evaporation as well as structural properties play a crucial role in spray formation in fuel blends with various types of alcohols, ethers, biodiesel, aliphatic, aromatic, as well as nanoparticle additives. This review compares these fuel additives and their types to present a comparative study with diesel to determine the ideal conditions with minimal changes to the engine for replacing diesel with a sustainable fuel consisting of better combustion efficiency due to its enhanced spray characteristics

Recent Advances in Fuel Additives and Their Spray Characteristics for Diesel-Based Blends

The spray characteristics play a crucial role in determining the performance and emissions of compression ignition (CI) engines at the pre-combustion stage. With the advent of many types of alternative fuels and their blends with diesel, it is necessary to investigate the effect of fuel properties and various injection conditions to determine the penetration length, spray cone angle and spray area for a viable fuel with similar or better dispersion characteristics to diesel. Hence, this study reviews and summarizes the spray visualization techniques, along with in depth analysis of macroscopic spray properties of various fuel blends with diesel. It was found that higher injection pressures typically led to higher penetration lengths, better atomization with reduced Sauter mean diameter. Liquid properties such as viscosity, surface tension, and evaporation as well as structural properties play a crucial role in spray formation in fuel blends with various types of alcohols, ethers, biodiesel, aliphatic, aromatic, as well as nanoparticle additives. This review compares these fuel additives and their types to present a comparative study with diesel to determine the ideal conditions with minimal changes to the engine for replacing diesel with a sustainable fuel consisting of better combustion efficiency due to its enhanced spray characteristics

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate—Reasons of Willingness and Reluctance of Students against SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination—An International Experience

Despite the vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being reported to be safe and effective, the unwillingness to vaccinate and doubts are still common. The aim of this international study was to assess the major reasons for the unwillingness to vaccinate in a group of students from Poland (n = 1202), Bangladesh (n = 1586), India (n = 484), Mexico (n = 234), Egypt (n = 566), Philippines (n = 2076), Pakistan (n = 506), Vietnam (n = 98) and China (n = 503). We conducted an online cross-sectional study that aimed to assess (1) the percentage of vaccinated and unvaccinated students and (2) the reasons associated with willingness/unwillingness to the vaccine. The study included 7255 respondents from 9 countries with a mean age of 21.85 ± 3.66 years. Only 22.11% (n = 1604) of students were vaccinated. However, the majority (69.25%, n = 5025) expressed a willingness to be vaccinated. More willing to vaccinate were students in informal relationships who worked mentally, used psychological/psychiatric services before the pandemic, and studied medicine. There are cultural differences regarding the reasons associated with the unwillingness to vaccinate, but some ‘universal’ might be distinguished that apply to the whole group