Practices of Personal Protective Measures against SARS-Cov-2 among Undergraduate Medical Students in South India

Introduction: The use of personal protective measures holds relevance despite mass immunization coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in the population. This is because vaccination only gives protection from severe COVID-19 and does not prevent the risk of infection. Medical students can be vital in training people in infection control practices. The study aimed to assess the practices of undergraduate medical students regarding personal protective measures against COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among first to final-year students at a private medical college in Mangalore. Data were collected using a Microsoft form. Results: The mean age of the 302 participants was 21.2±1.6 years. The majority of them were females [179 (59.3%)]. Face mask was worn by 295(97.7%) participants. Non-recommended types of face masks like using cloth masks [108 (36.6%)] and handkerchiefs [7 (2.4%)] were reported by participants. 35 (11.9%) of them wore the face mask incorrectly. Periodicity of replacement of disposable type masks was not done every day by 181(61.4%) participants. 142(48.1%) of them did not dispose of masks whenever they became moist on every occasion. Only 79 (26.8%) always practiced proper disposal of face masks. Hand sanitizer to disinfect hands was always used by 102 (33.8%) participants. Only 42 (13.9%) participants practiced correct practice of hygiene hand wash always. Only 58 (19.2%) participants had a good level of practice. Practice level was significantly poorer among males and first-year students. Conclusion: Several gaps in preventive practices against COVID-19 were identified, particularly among males and first-year students. These issues need to be addressed among medical students in future training programs

SYSTEM TO ENABLE CONTRACT-LESS/AGREEMENT-LESS ROAMING ACROSS MOBILE OPERATORS

Mobile roaming is a service that allows mobile users to continue to use their mobile phones or other mobile devices to make and receive voice calls and text messages, browse the internet, and send and receive emails while visiting another geography where a home network connection does not exist. However, issues may arise for scenarios in which a visited network may not have a roaming agreement with a user\u27s home network in a given country and/or an agreement may be cost prohibitive for the user to utilize. Presented herein are techniques to facilitate agreement-free or contract-less roaming across network operators using a priority list of predetermined Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) based rules that can be defined through home operator preferences

Applying an Epidemiological Model to Evaluate the Propagation of Toxicity related to COVID-19 on Twitter

The prevalence of social media has increased the propagation of toxic behavior among users. Toxicity can have detrimental effects on users’ emotion and insight and disrupt beneficial discourse. Evaluating the propagation of toxic content on social networks such as Twitter can provide the opportunity to understand the characteristics of this harmful phenomena. Identifying a mathematical model that can describe the propagation of toxic content on social networks is a valuable approach to this evaluation. In this paper, we utilized the SEIZ (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Skeptic) epidemiological model to find a proper mathematical model for the propagation of toxic content related to COVID-19 topics on Twitter. We collected Twitter data based on specific hashtags related to different COVID-19 topics such as Covid, Mask, Vaccine, and Lockdown. The findings demonstrate that the SEIZ model can properly model the propagation of toxicity on a social network with relatively low error. Determining an efficient mathematical model can increase the understanding of the dynamics of the propagation of toxicity on a social network such as Twitter. This understanding can help researchers and policy-makers to develop methods to limit the propagation of toxic content on social networks

Prevalence and predictors of metabolic syndrome in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a study from Southern India

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MBS) is a common disorder and is thought to be highly prevalent in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). The objectives were to find out the prevalence and predictors of metabolic syndrome in women with PCOS.Methods: Forty five women diagnosed with PCOS, underwent clinical and laboratory assessments for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, as per modified National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III criteria).Results: Twenty four (53.3%) subjects had metabolic syndrome. The prevalence of individual components of the metabolic syndrome among PCOS patients were: waist circumference ≥80 cm in 36 (86.6%), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL-C) less than 50 mg/dl in 42 (93.3%), triglycerides ≥150 mg/dl in 17 (37.8%), blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg in 7 (15.6%), and fasting plasma glucose ≥100 mg/dl in 13 (28.8%). Subjects with MBS had significantly higher BMI compared to those without (P = 0.039). However, fasting insulin and free testosterone levels did not differ significantly between subjects with and without MBS.Conclusions: The metabolic syndrome and its individual components, waist circumference ≥80 cm in particular were found to be common among PCOS patients in this study. This along with high BMI being significantly associated with MBS suggests immediate need of interventions like lifestyle changes for prevention of MBS and other cardiovascular diseases. Also, as dyslipidemia was more common than impaired fasting glucose among PCOS patients, finding of one risk factor should prompt the clinician to search for other risk factors

Awareness of consequences of obesity on reproductive health problems among women in an urban area in South India

Background: Obesity is a well-known risk factor for number of non-communicable diseases. There is paucity of data however with regard to awareness of its consequences on reproductive health hazards.Methods: Data was collected from 208 women aged ≥18 years from households chosen by systematic random sampling in an urban area.Results: The mean age of participants was 41.4±14.2 years. Majority of them completed their graduation [109(52.4%)] and were housewives [80(38.5%)]. Most of them were married [167(80.3%)]. Out of 208 study participants, 166(79.8%) knew that obesity adversely affects reproductive health causing problems like PIH [156(75.0%)], GDM [150(72.1%)], menstrual irregularities [130(62.5%)], infertility [117(56.2%)], decreased efficacy of hormonal contraception [84(40.4%)], premature delivery [67(32.2%)], miscarriages [66(31.7%)] and fetal malformations [55(26.4%)] during pregnancy. Difficulties during delivery [137(65.9%)], higher chances of caesarean section [130(62.4%)], infections [36(17.3%)] and PPH [33(15.9%)] in the intra and post natal period were also known to participants. Majority of women [158(76%)] had average awareness level regarding consequences of obesity on their reproductive health. Only 21(10.1%) had good awareness. Source of information among majority of participants was media [116(55.8%)]. Good awareness level was significantly more among those aged ≤ 25 years (p=0.03), with higher level of education (p=0.038), nulligravida (p=0.037) and professionals (p=0.02).Conclusions: Awareness generation on consequences of obesity on reproductive health is required to bring about behavioral change regarding obesity prevention among women in the setting.