Risk Factors for HIV Transmission and HIV Testing Among Medical Students

Risky behavior in students is not infrequent. The prevalence of HIV in Ukraine is one of the highest in Europe. The aim of this study was to investigate risk factors of HIV transmission and prevalence of HIV testing in medical students from Ukraine. Medical students were invited to answer questions concerning individual risk factors of HIV transmission and HIV testing. Answers were received from 861 4th and 6th year students. Data from 20 received questionnaires was considered invalid and therefore excluded from further analysis. Answers from 841 students were analyzed. 36.94% had undergone HIV testing and only 14.84% were tested more than once. Unprotected vaginal sexual contacts with casual partners including forced contacts were reported by 27.23%. Intravenous drug use was reported by 1.66%. Male students reported higher prevalence of sex-related risky behavior and more frequent HIV testing. Professional injuries with exposed needles were reported by 29.13% of students. It is important to more actively popularize HIV testing in students, explain risk factors of HIV transmission, and to a organize needlestick injury prevention and control program

Quality of life of school and university students with acne

Acne may have severe negative impact on different aspects of patient health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Prevalence of acne in university and school students is high, and the HRQoL of students with acne from different countries was studied. There is a lack of studies on direct comparison of HRQoL impairment of university and school students with acne. The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) was used to assess the HRQOL in university and school students with self-assessed acne. The CADI results from 159 university and 99 school students with self-reported acne were obtained. Mean age of university and school students was 20.99±1.47 (mean ± Standard Deviation) and 14.10±0.51 years, respectively. Reported impact on QoL of university students was significantly higher (3.33±2.26 and 2.76±2.42, P&lt;0.05). Total CADI scores negatively correlated with the age of university students (r=-0.16; P&lt;0.05). Analysis of gender differences of university students showed that negative correlation of HRQoL with age was present in women (r=-0.22; P&lt;0.05) but absent in male students (r=0.05; P=0.77). Female university students reported more severe impact of acne on their life (2.55±2.31 in male and 3.59±2.20 in female students, P&lt;0.01). Our results showed that university students experience higher impact of acne on their life than school students. The highest is the impact on young female university students. We recommend paying more attention to the psychological aspects of young female students with acne during consultations. </p

Quality of life of school and university students with acne

Acne may have severe negative impact on different aspects of patient health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Prevalence of acne in university and school students is high, and the HRQoL of students with acne from different countries was studied. There is a lack of studies on direct comparison of HRQoL impairment of university and school students with acne. The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) was used to assess the HRQOL in university and school students with self-assessed acne. The CADI results from 159 university and 99 school students with self-reported acne were obtained. Mean age of university and school students was 20.99±1.47 (mean ± Standard Deviation) and 14.10±0.51 years, respectively. Reported impact on QoL of university students was significantly higher (3.33±2.26 and 2.76±2.42, P&lt;0.05). Total CADI scores negatively correlated with the age of university students (r=-0.16; P&lt;0.05). Analysis of gender differences of university students showed that negative correlation of HRQoL with age was present in women (r=-0.22; P&lt;0.05) but absent in male students (r=0.05; P=0.77). Female university students reported more severe impact of acne on their life (2.55±2.31 in male and 3.59±2.20 in female students, P&lt;0.01). Our results showed that university students experience higher impact of acne on their life than school students. The highest is the impact on young female university students. We recommend paying more attention to the psychological aspects of young female students with acne during consultations. </p

Aeroacoustics of the impeller in hovering mode

The main role in reducing the noise generation of unmanned aerial vehicles is played by aeroacoustic improvement of their power plant. To identify the acoustic field generated by the rotation of the impeller, which is used on an unmanned aerial vehicle of a quadcopter type, numerical modeling was carried out with the identification of the turbulent structure of the flow using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES). To calculate the noise, the Fox Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) integral method was applied, which makes it possible to determine the aeroacoustic characteristics in the far flow field. Using this technique, the noise level at various points was determined, a spectral analysis of the noise was carried out, and the directional pattern of acoustic radiation was plotted for various speeds of rotation of the propeller in hovering mode

Large eddy simulation of acoustic characteristics of a subsonic jet outflowing from conical nozzle

The calculation of noise generated by a jet of viscous compressible gas flowing out from a conical nozzle is considered. The calculations used the implicit version of the LES (Implicit LES, ILES), in which the role of the subgrid turbulence model performs numerical dissipation used finite-difference scheme. The distributions of the gas-dynamic and acoustic characteristics of the jet upon changing the conditions of its outflow are discussed. The analysis of the modal composition of the received noise is carried out and the correspondence between the features of the received directionality of the noise is determined by its various components and sources. The numerical simulation results are compared with the available experimental and calculated data

An International Multi-center Study on Self-assessed and Family Quality of Life in Children with Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common childhood chronic inflammatory skin condition that greatly affects the quality of life (QoL) of affected children and their families. The aim of our study was to assess QoL and family QoL of children with AD from 4 different countries and then compare the data, evaluating the effects of AD severity and age of children. Data on the Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI) and the Dermatitis Family Impact (DFI) questionnaires and the SCORAD index of 167 AD children 5-16 years old from Ukraine, Czech Republic, Singapore, and Italy was used for the study. SCORAD correlated with the CDLQI in all 4 countries and with DFI in all countries except Singapore. Only in Czech children did the CDLQI correlate with their age. No significant correlations between age and DFI results were found. AD symptoms and expenditures related to AD were highly scored in all countries. Impact of AD on friendship and relations between family members were among the lower scored items, and family problems did not increase proportionately with duration of AD in any of the four countries. Self-assessed health-related QoL of children with AD in our study correlated better in most cases with disease severity than family QoL results. Parents of school children with AD were generally less stressed, tired, and exhausted than parents of preschool children. These data together with results showing that duration of AD in children does not affect relations between parents and other family members is optimistic news for families with children with AD who did not recover until adolescence.</p

Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Knowledge, Prevalence, Risk Factors, and HPV Detection in 18-26 and 27-45-year-old Men and Women

The US Food and Drug Administration approved a supple- mental application for HPV 9-valent vaccine for 27-45-year-old women and men. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices did not recommend catch-up vaccination of adults aged 27-45 years, but rec- ognized that some adults who were not previously vaccinated may be at risk for new HPV infection and might benefit from vaccination in this age range. We decided to compare HPV vaccination knowledge, preva- lence, risk factors, and history of HPV detection in cohorts with ages of 18-26 and 27-45 years. Men and women aged 18-45 years were asked to complete an anonymous internet survey about HPV infection and vaccination. Valid answers were received from 524 respondents. HPV vaccination rates were low (from 0.00 to 5.56%). All women aged 27-45 years bought the vaccine at their own cost and were vaccinated after sexual debut. Knowledge on existence of the HPV vaccine was better in women (P<0.01). The overall number of sexual partners was signifi- cantly higher in men and in persons aged 27-45 (P<0.05). Women aged 27-45 reported higher prevalence of unprotected vaginal and anal sex, a higher number of sexual partners, and lower HPV-related cancer awareness. Our study showed that better knowledge on HPV vaccina- tion and HPV-related cancer awareness did not lead to higher HPV vac- cination rates. A substantial number of individuals aged 27-45 years may benefit from HPV vaccination, and information on HPV vaccina- tion should be actively disseminated by physicians and mass media

Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Knowledge, Prevalence, Risk Factors, and HPV Detection in 18-26 and 27-45-year-old Men and Women

The US Food and Drug Administration approved a supple- mental application for HPV 9-valent vaccine for 27-45-year-old women and men. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices did not recommend catch-up vaccination of adults aged 27-45 years, but rec- ognized that some adults who were not previously vaccinated may be at risk for new HPV infection and might benefit from vaccination in this age range. We decided to compare HPV vaccination knowledge, preva- lence, risk factors, and history of HPV detection in cohorts with ages of 18-26 and 27-45 years. Men and women aged 18-45 years were asked to complete an anonymous internet survey about HPV infection and vaccination. Valid answers were received from 524 respondents. HPV vaccination rates were low (from 0.00 to 5.56%). All women aged 27-45 years bought the vaccine at their own cost and were vaccinated after sexual debut. Knowledge on existence of the HPV vaccine was better in women (P<0.01). The overall number of sexual partners was signifi- cantly higher in men and in persons aged 27-45 (P<0.05). Women aged 27-45 reported higher prevalence of unprotected vaginal and anal sex, a higher number of sexual partners, and lower HPV-related cancer awareness. Our study showed that better knowledge on HPV vaccina- tion and HPV-related cancer awareness did not lead to higher HPV vac- cination rates. A substantial number of individuals aged 27-45 years may benefit from HPV vaccination, and information on HPV vaccina- tion should be actively disseminated by physicians and mass media

Investigation of numerical approaches to modeling large-scale turbulent vortex flows in the mode of vertical take-off and landing of an aircraft

The study considers the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle in hovering mode over a flat landing platform. As a propulsion system, impellers are used, which are a system of a propeller rotating inside an air ring. The air ring is a body of revolution with an aerodynamic profile in cross section. The paper investigates the effect of unsteady interaction of vortex flows with the design of an aircraft by two alternative numerical methods, one of which is vortex-resolving. Numerical calculations are performed using the traditional turbulence modeling approach based on the averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS, Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes), where the turbulence is assumed to be isotropic, and the eddy-resolving Large Eddy Simulation method. The main feature of the latter is as follows: a turbulent flow is represented as the superposition of the motion of large-scale and small-scale turbulences. After discretizing the flow using a filtering operation, large-scale turbulence, which depends directly on the boundary conditions, is solved from the full Navier–Stokes equations. Small-scale turbulence has isotropic properties and is modeled similarly to semi-empirical RANS methods. The technique allows one to accurately calculate the vortex structure of any flow directly from the equations of motion using relatively low computing power, in contrast to the RANS models, which simulate the flow using a simplified mathematical model and can provide satisfactory accuracy only for a limited range of problems. The results indicate that eddy-resolving methods for modeling turbulence, in contrast to the methods based on averaged Navier–Stokes equations, make it possible to estimate the effect of aperiodic perturbations on the design of aircraft arising from the interaction of large eddies with each other and with the underlying surface. Such phenomena are accompanied by side impacts of a shock nature on the impeller rings, which can lead to loss of aircraft stability. Under conditions of a small propeller step, the use of an air ring results in a significant increase in the air flow passing through the rotor rotation loop, an increase in thrust due to the creation of flow circulation around the airfoil of the ring, and a decrease in the power on the propeller. Even though the effect of using an air ring disappears with a large incoming flow, this design is considered very promising for use on aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing. This mode of operation is the most energy-consuming and determines the greatest requirements for the lifting force of the power plant. The results of this work have demonstrated that numerical methods based on averaging the Navier–Stokes equations and the use of classical turbulence models of the k–ω or k–ε type, which are widely used in numerical modeling of propellers, in takeoff and landing modes fail to detect aperiodic unsteady phenomena associated with the interaction of large eddies, in contrast to eddy-resolving methods for modeling turbulence

Validation of the Wound-QoL-17 and the Wound-QoL-14 in a European sample of 305 patients with chronic wounds

The Wound-QoL assesses the impact of chronic wounds on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A 17-item and a shortened 14-item version are available. The Wound-QoL-17 has been validated for multiple languages. For the Wound-QoL-14, psychometric properties beyond internal consistency were lacking. We aimed to validate both Wound-QoL versions for international samples representing a broad range of European countries, including countries for which validation data had yet been pending. Patients with chronic wounds of any aetiology or location were recruited in Austria, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine. Psychometric properties were determined for both Wound-QoL versions for the overall sample and, if feasible, country-wise. We included 305 patients (age 68.5 years; 52.8% males). Internal consistency was high in both Wound-QoL-17 (Cronbach's α: 0.820–0.933) and Wound-QoL-14 (0.779–0.925). Test–retest reliability was moderate to good (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.618–0.808). For Wound-QoL-17 and Wound-QoL-14, convergent validity analyses showed highest correlations with global HRQoL rating (r = 0.765; r = 0.751) and DLQI total score (r = 0.684; r = 0.681). Regarding clinical data, correlations were largest with odour (r = −0.371; r = −0.388) and wound size (r = 0.381; r = 0.383). Country-wise results were similar. Both Wound-QoL versions are valid to assess HRQoL of patients with chronic wounds. Due to its psychometric properties and brevity, the Wound-QoL-14 might be preferrable in clinical practice where time is rare. The availability of various language versions allows for the use of this questionnaire in international studies and in clinical practice when foreign language patients are being treated.</p