An assessment of healthcare professionals' knowledge about and attitude towards influenza vaccination in Freetown Sierra Leone: A cross-sectional study

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Vaccinating healthcare professionals against influenza is considered an effective infection control measure. However, there is a low uptake of influenza vaccine among healthcare professionals around the globe. Currently, it is unknown whether healthcare professionals in Sierra Leone are aware of, and have been vaccinated against influenza. Also, there is a paucity of research evidence on their level of knowledge and attitude toward influenza vaccination. This study assessed healthcare professionals' current influenza vaccine uptake rate, reasons for not getting vaccinated as well as their awareness, knowledge of, and attitude towards influenza vaccination in Freetown Sierra Leone. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted between February and April 2016 among healthcare providers working in four public and two private health facilities in Freetown Sierra Leone. Linear regression analysis, one-way ANOVA and independent t-test were employed for data analysis. Results: Among 706 respondents that participated in the study more than half were females 378 (53.6%), nurses 425 (60.4%), and the majority were between the age group of 20-39 years 600 (85.3%). Only 46 (6.5%) were vaccinated against influenza. Key reasons for not vaccinated against influenza were less awareness about influenza vaccination among HCPs 580 (82.73%) with (β = 0.154; CI 0.058-0.163), the high cost of influenza vaccines and therefore not normally purchased 392 (55.92%) having (β = 0.150; CI 0.063-0.186). More than half believed that HCPs are less susceptible to influenza infections than other people. Also, majority 585 (84.3%) of HCPs thought that influenza disease could be transmitted after symptoms appear. In addition, 579 (83.2%) of HCPs felt that symptoms usually appear 8-10 days after exposure. Close to half 321 (46.0%) of HCPs were not aware of the influenza immunisation guidelines published by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and Centre for Disease Control. Conclusion: Influenza vaccine coverage among healthcare professionals in Freetown Sierra Leone was low. High cost, inadequate knowledge about influenza and its vaccine as well as the lack of awareness of vaccine availability were key barriers. Increasing access to influenza vaccine and the use of appropriate educational interventions to increase knowledge and awareness are required to improve influenza vaccination coverage among HCPs

Deciphering the structural and chemical composition of breast cancer using FTIR spectroscopy

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record A critical factor to favor a good prognosis in breast cancer (BC) patients is early detection. Offering prompt diagnosis, treatment, and delaying or stopping the progression of the disease are the key aspects of breast cancer management. The use of FTIR spectroscopy on ex vivo breast samples can elucidate important biochemical information associated with the presence and progression of breast cancer. In this study, tissue microarrays of breast cancer biopsy samples (n = 378), and normal breast (n = 134) were analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy, principal component analysis (PCA) for feature extraction, and validation employing linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The differentiation between normal breast and breast cancer was successfully achieved with a sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 86%. Lipids and proteins spectral bands were identified as the main differentiators between normal and breast cancer. FTIR results also highlighted that chemical structural changes formed an important part of breast cancer evolution. Regardless of the heterogeneity of breast cancer, the use of multivariate analysis and FTIR spectroscopy offers a suitable and reliable tool for BC monitoring and diagnosis. The integration of spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR in cancer diagnosis and monitoring could add useful information enabling the diagnosis and management of breast cancer patientsMexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT

Preliminary fabrication and characterization of electron beam melted Ti-6Al-4V customized dental implant

The current study was aimed to fabricate customized root form dental implant using additive manufacturing technique for the replacement of missing teeth. The root form dental implant was designed using Geomagic (TM) and Magics (TM), the designed implant was directly manufactured by layering technique using ARCAM A2 (TM) electron beam melting system by employing medical grade Ti- 6Al-4V alloy powder. Furthermore, the fabricated implant was characterized in terms of certain clinically important parameters such as surface microstructure, surface topography, chemical purity and internal porosity. Results confirmed that, fabrication of customized dental implants using additive rapid manufacturing technology offers an attractive method to produce extremely pure form of customized titanium dental implants, the rough and porous surface texture obtained is expected to provide better initial implant stabilization and superior osseointegration. (C) 2016 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University

Fear of COVID-19 and workplace phobia among Pakistani doctors: a survey study

Background: The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has seriously affected the lives of millions of people across the world. It has also heavily burdened healthcare professionals and the virus poses serious risks for their personal and professional lives. Therefore, the present study examined the associations between fear of COVID-19 and workplace phobia among doctors in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: An online survey was conducted among 421 doctors in Pakistan between April 10 and May 25, 2020. The Workplace Phobia Scale (WPS) and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) were the main psychometric instruments used in this study. Results: There was a significant positive relationship between fear of COVID-19 and workplace panic anxiety and workplace avoidance behavior. Significantly higher fear of COVID-19 was found among (i) females compared to males, (ii) doctors with 5 years or less of work experience compared to those with more than 5 years, and (iii) postgraduate trainees compared with other ranks. Two groups (doctors who were above 30 years old and postgraduate trainees) were found to have higher levels of workplace phobia compared to their counterparts. Doctors with severe levels of fear of COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of workplace panic anxiety and workplace avoidance behavior. Conclusions: Fear of COVID-19 was significantly associated with workplace phobia which may negatively affect doctors’ performance. Therefore, important steps are needed to protect doctors’ health by providing sufficient resources to allay their fears and anxieties which consequently help them in carrying out their frontline duties in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990-2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019.

BACKGROUND: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. METHODS: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). FINDINGS: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1-38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78-0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91-1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95-1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58-35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49-42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05-0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76-2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. INTERPRETATION: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. FUNDING: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

Dynamic Group Formation with Intelligent Tutor Collaborative Learning: A Novel Approach for Next Generation Collaboration

\ua9 2013 IEEE. Group Formation (GF) strongly influences the collaborative learning process in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Various factors affect GF that include personal characteristics, social, cultural, psychological, and cognitive diversity. Although different group formation methods aim to solve the group compatibility problem, an optimal solution for dynamic group formation is still not addressed. In addition, the research lacks to supplement collaborative group formation with a collaborative platform. In this study, the next level of collaboration in CSCL and Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) platforms is achieved. First, initial groups are formed based on students learning styles, and knowledge level, i.e. for knowledge level, an activity-based dynamic group formation technique is proposed. In this activity, swapping of students takes place on each permutation based on their knowledge level. Second, the formed heterogeneous balanced groups are used to augment the collaborative learning system. For this purpose, a hybrid framework of Intelligent Tutor Collaborative Learning (ITSCL) is used that provides a unique and real-time collaborative learning platform. Third, an experiment is conducted to evaluate the significance of the proposed study. Inferential and descriptive statistics of Paired T-Tests are applied for comprehensive analysis of recorded observations. The statistical results show that the proposed ITSCL framework positively impacts student learning and results in higher learning gains