Guillain-Barre Syndrome Secondary to COVID-19: A case report and short review of other published cases: GBS COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 related Guillain-Barré syndrome has a broad spectrum of presentation. In most reported cases, respiratory symptoms preceded by neurological deficits by one to two weeks, suggesting that the clinical course is mostly post-infectious. In this case report, we present a para-infectious case of GBS with COVID-19. Case presentation: A 37-year-old male patient presented with fever, chills, myalgia, cough, and anosmia. COVID-19 test came positive. He was managed conservatively. On the 7th day of follow-up, he recovered except for a persistent loss of smell and taste. Two weeks after his initial presentation, he reported low back pain and bilateral lower extremity weakness and had a repeat COVID-19 test, which returned positive. His history, physical exam, CSF analysis, nerve conduction, and electromyography test revealed Guillain-Barre Syndrome. We managed GBS with supportive treatment in the hospital, and on follow-up of three months, he recovered fully. Conclusion: In our case, we report a para-infectious case of GBS with C0VID-19, and we managed this case without intravenous immunoglobulin or plasmapheresis. The decision to treat a COVID-19 related GBS case with a traditional GBS treatment option (intravenous immunoglobulin or plasmapheresis) should be taken in conjunction with co-morbidities and a tailored case of case basis

An atypical manifestation of lateral medullary syndrome

Lateral medullary syndrome is a common brainstem stroke associated with a classical triad of Horner's Syndrome, ipsilateral ataxia and hypalgesia and thermoanasthesia of ipsilateral face.We report a case of a 49-year-old diabetic, non-hypertensive, postmenopausal female who presented with symptoms involving the left dorsal medulla along with right sided hemiparesis and left UMN-type facial palsy. Contralateral hemiparesis was explained by caudal extension of infarct involving the pyramids before decussation at the medulla, known as Babinski-Nageotte Syndrome. UMN-type facial palsy was attributed to involvement of hypothetical supranuclear aberrant corticobulbar fibres of facial nerve which descend down in the contralateral ventromedial medulla, decussate at level of upper medulla and then ascend in the dorsolateral medulla to reach the facial nerve nucleus. Association of these two entities with Wallenberg's Syndrome have been reported separately in literature, but not together as in this case. © The Author(s) 2019

Perspectives of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community members regarding mental health services : a qualitative analysis

What Is Known about the Subject?: Immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker populations worldwide are at high risk of mental health issues National mental health policies call for recognising Australian society's multicultural characteristics to ensure adequate mental health services to CALD communities Several barriers exist for people from CALD communities in Victoria to access and utilise mental health services Improving mental health professionals' knowledge of mental health service provision and cultural responsiveness can enhance CALD community access to services. What Does this Paper Add to Existing Knowledge?: We analysed the perspectives of people from CALD communities in Victoria regarding their needs and experiences with mental health services. Participants reported diverse perceptions and understanding of mental health issues and services Various challenges were identified regarding health service utilisation for the CALD community in Victoria, including language barriers, stigma towards mental health issues, mental health illiteracy, distrust and lack of familiarity with mainstream mental health services. These challenges were acknowledged by community members even after a long residence in Australia The data generated on the beliefs about mental health issues and consequent help-seeking behaviours highlight the importance of culturally sensitive targeted prevention and early intervention strategies and ongoing commitment to building mental health literacy in the wider community. What Are the Implications for Practice?: The information from the study can be adapted for quality improvement and culturally responsive practices The strategies for effective service delivery drawn by this paper can be a comprehensive resource tool for mental health professionals, organisations and policymakers The findings imply that CALD mental health service users and their families will likely benefit from improved service assessment and quality of mental health care and equity when MHNs undertake cultural competence training and bring that into their practice. Abstract: Introduction: Victoria is one of the most multicultural states in Australia. Many CALD communities in Victoria may have encountered complicated migration journeys and complex life stressors during their initial settlement, leading to adverse mental health concerns. This diversity necessitates public policy settings to ensure equity and access in health services planning and delivery. While the MH policies and services take cultural diversity into account, there needs to be more implementation of those components of MH policies that relate to the particular needs of various CALD communities in Victoria. Even though mental health services prevent and address mental health issues, many barriers can impair CALD community access and utilisation of mental health services. Furthermore, the recent Royal Commission inquiry into the Victorian Mental Health system drives a renewed policy imperative to ensure meaningful engagement and cultural safety of all people accessing and utilising mental health services (Department of Health, 2023). Aim: This study focused on the perspectives of people from CALD communities in Victoria regarding their mental health service needs, understandings of and experiences with mental health services to prepare an education package for mental health nurses as part of a larger multi-method research project. Method: A qualitative descriptive design was used to collect and analyse the perspectives of 21 participants in Victoria, using telephone interviews, followed by thematic analysis. Results: The themes and sub-themes identified were: Settling issues; Perceptions of understanding of mental health issues (help-seeking attitudes toward mental health issues; the need for CALD community education); perceived barriers to accessing and utilising mental health services in Victoria (socio-cultural and language barriers; stigma, labelling and discrimination; knowledge and experience of accessing health facilities); experience with mental health servi es and professionals. Discussion: Community participation, mental health professional education and robust research regarding the mental health needs of CALD people are some of the recommended strategies to improve access and utilisation of mental health services in Victoria. Implications for practice: The current study can contribute to the existing knowledge, understanding, practice and quality improvement as it vividly portrays the issues of various CALD communities in Victoria. The findings of this study imply that CALD MH service users and their families are likely to benefit in terms of improved service assessment and quality of MH care and equity when MHNs undertake CC training and bring that into their practice. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Willingness, preferred ways and potential barriers to use pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in China

Objective To explore willingness and preferred ways to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), factors associated with willingness, and potential barriers to PrEP use among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Changsha, China. Design A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 25 June to 31 August 2019. Two hundred and fifty-five MSM were recruited from three community-based organisations (CBOs) in Changsha City. Willingness and potential barriers to use PrEP were examined using researcher-created scales. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse the factors associated with willingness to use PrEP. P values <0.05 were considered significant. Setting Three MSM inclusive CBOs in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Participants 255 HIV-negative MSM were recruited through their CBOs with snowball sampling. Results Less than half of the participants (43.1%) had heard of PrEP and 15.3% were willing to use PrEP. The participants reported higher willingness to use event-driven PrEP (3.70±0.07) than daily PrEP (2.65±0.07). Higher self-rated risk and fear of contracting HIV (OR: 14.47, 95% CI 2.19 to 95.53), awareness of PrEP (OR: 4.20, 95% CI 1.64 to 10.73), sharing one's own sexual orientation with parents or siblings (OR: 2.52, 95% CI 1.54 to 7.20) and having a university education or above (OR:0.29, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.72) were associated with willingness to use PrEP. Only 12.2% of the sample was concerned about potential barriers to PrEP use. Conclusion Efforts to improve awareness and knowledge of PrEP, teach self-evaluation of HIV infection risk and provide social and emotional support for MSM are needed to scale up PrEP implementation in China. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Wendy Cross, Louisa Lam and Bixwajit Banik” is provided in this record*

Condom use consistency and associated factors among college student men who have sex with men from seven colleges in Changsha city : a cross-sectional survey

Background: College student men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV infection due to multiple social and behavioral factors. Consistent condom use is nationally advocated for HIV prevention. This study explored the sexual behaviors and factors associated with condom use consistency in the past six months among college student MSM from seven colleges in Hunan Province, China. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 2017 to March 2018. Condom use consistency, sexual behaviors, HIV testing performance, substance use, and alcohol consumption were examined using researcher-created questionnaires. Condom use self-efficacy and HIV-related knowledge were assessed using the Condom Use Self-Efficacy Scale and the unified National AIDS Sentinel Surveillance Questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used. P <0.05 was considered significant. Results: In the 214 respondents, the rate of consistent condom use was 56% (n = 119) during the past six months. Participants who were studying at first-tier universities (odds ratio [OR]: 2.522, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.255–5.067) and had higher scores for condom use self-efficacy (OR: 2.617, 95% CI: 1.462–4.685) were more likely to report consistent condom use than the others. The risk factor was having suspicious symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases (OR: 0.357, 95% CI: 0.163–0.780). Conclusion: Numerous students were at high risk of HIV infection with inconsistent condom use. Comprehensive and specific topics about safe sex education from parents and peers should be offered on campuses in China. © 2021 Wang et al

The impact of COVID 19 restrictions on Australian nurse academics attitudes to technology : a survey of technology readiness index 2.0

Aim: This study aimed to determine the attitude of Australian nursing lecturers to the use of technology applied to the teaching and learning of nursing students. Background: The use of technology in teaching was accelerated in reaction to the COVID-19 restrictions whereby measures, including social distancing and lockdowns, forced many higher education courses to transition online. Lecturers play a key role in the integration of technology in teaching, as it is the lecturer, not the technology, who facilitates the students’ learning experience. Design: A cross sectional survey design was used for this study, distributed from April to June of 2022. The purpose of the survey was to gather technology readiness data (via the TRI 2 questions) and descriptive data representative of the nursing academic population in Australia. Results: There was no statistically significant differences between participants based on demographic data (such as gender or age). There was an association between TRI 2 score and: the sum of elearning technologies engaged with; the frequency of engagement with technology and self-rated confidence with elearning. Of note were statistically significant differences of TRI between states/territories. Finally, there was an inverse relationship between the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and TRI 2 score. Conclusion: The study found that there was significant variation between states/territories and self-reported impact of TRI. Given that increased frequency and increased number of technologies engaged with are associated with technology readiness the variation between states/territories lockdowns which required engagement with technology, may have had an impact on the nursing academics attitude to technology. Importantly, this study found those who were highly technology ready found COVID-19 restrictions had less impact on them, suggesting that technology readiness may have assisted their transition to online learning. © 2023 The Author

Psychological distress, fear and coping strategies among hong kong people during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to potential adverse effects on the mental health status of a wide range of people. This study aimed to identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among general population in Hong Kong. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale; level of fear was evaluated using the Fear of COVID-19 scale; and coping strategies were assessed using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify key factors associated with these mental health variables. Of the 555 participants, 53.9% experienced moderate to very high levels of psychological distress, 31.2% experienced a high level of fear of COVID-19, and 58.6% showed moderate to high resilient coping. Multivariable logistic regression indicated that living with family members, current alcohol consumption, and higher level of fear were associated with higher levels of psychological distress; perceived stress due to a change in employment condition, being a frontline worker, experiencing ‘moderate to very high’ distress, and healthcare service use to overcome the COVID-19 related stress in past 6 months were associated with a higher level of fear; and perceived better mental health status was associated with a moderate to high resilient coping. This study identified key factors associated with distress, fear and coping strategies during the pandemic in Hong Kong. Mental health support strategies should be provided continuously to prevent the mental impact of the pandemic from turning into long-term illness. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

COVID-19 : factors associated with psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies among community members across 17 countries

Background: The current pandemic of COVID-19 impacted the psychological wellbeing of populations globally. Objectives: We aimed to examine the extent and identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study across 17 countries during Jun-2020 to Jan-2021. Levels of psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale), and coping (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) were assessed. Results: A total of 8,559 people participated; mean age (±SD) was 33(±13) years, 64% were females and 40% self-identified as frontline workers. More than two-thirds (69%) experienced moderate-to-very high levels of psychological distress, which was 46% in Thailand and 91% in Egypt. A quarter (24%) had high levels of fear of COVID-19, which was as low as 9% in Libya and as high as 38% in Bangladesh. More than half (57%) exhibited medium to high resilient coping; the lowest prevalence (3%) was reported in Australia and the highest (72%) in Syria. Being female (AOR 1.31 [95% CIs 1.09-1.57]), perceived distress due to change of employment status (1.56 [1.29-1.90]), comorbidity with mental health conditions (3.02 [1.20-7.60]) were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and fear. Doctors had higher psychological distress (1.43 [1.04-1.97]), but low levels of fear of COVID-19 (0.55 [0.41-0.76]); nurses had medium to high resilient coping (1.30 [1.03-1.65]). Conclusions: The extent of psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping varied by country; however, we identified few higher risk groups who were more vulnerable than others. There is an urgent need to prioritise health and well-being of those people through well-designed intervention that may need to be tailored to meet country specific requirements. © 2021, The Author(s). **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the Federation University Australia affiliates are named “Muhammad Aziz Rahman, Biswajit Banik, Masudus Salehin, Joseph Bindu, Louisa Lam, Mimmie Watts and Wendy Cross” are provided in this record*