From Pro, Anti to Informative and Hesitant: An Infoveillance study of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination discourse on Twitter

COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the world, and vaccination has been a key strategy to combat the disease. Since Twitter is one of the most widely used public microblogging platforms, researchers have analysed COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination Twitter discourse to explore the conversational dynamics around the topic. While contributing to the crisis informatics literature, we curate a large-scale geotagged Twitter dataset, GeoCovaxTweets Extended, and explore the discourse through multiple spatiotemporal analyses. This dataset covers a longer time span of 38 months, from the announcement of the first vaccine to the availability of booster doses. Results show that 43.4% of the collected tweets, although containing phrases and keywords related to vaccines and vaccinations, were unrelated to the COVID-19 context. In total, 23.1% of the discussions on vaccines and vaccinations were classified as Pro, 16% as Hesitant, 11.4% as Anti, and 6.1% as Informative. The trend shifted towards Pro and Informative tweets globally as vaccination programs progressed, indicating a change in the public's perception of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination. Furthermore, we explored the discourse based on account attributes, i.e., followers counts and tweet counts. Results show a significant pattern of discourse differences. Our findings highlight the potential of harnessing a large-scale geotagged Twitter dataset to understand global public health communication and to inform targeted interventions aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy

Formulation and Evaluation of Colon Targeted Oral Drug Delivery Systems for Metronidazole in Treatment of Amoebiasis

The aim of present study was to develop colon targeted system for metronidazole using guar gum and xanthan gum. Matrix formulations containing various proportions of guar gum and xanthan gum were prepared by wet granulation technique using 10% starch paste. Later on, multilayer tablets were prepared by using 50 mg and 100 mg of guar gum as release controlling layer on either side of (M5) guar gum matrix tablets of metronidazole. All the formulations were evaluated for in-process quality control tests. The in-vitro drug release study was undertaken at 37±0.5°C in 0.1N HCl for 2 h; followed by pH 7.4 phosphate buffer (3h) finally in, simulated colonic fluid pH 6.8 phosphate buffer containing 4%w/v rat ceacal content for 15 h. Results indicated that guar gum was alone failed to control drug release. M5 (GG: XG, 0:100) formulation seems to quiet promising for colonic drug delivery and only 12.3% drug is released in first 5h wherease, other matrix tablets released 12-33% of metronidazole in physiological environment of stomach and small intestine. When studies were continued in colonic fluids, matrix tablets released almost 100% drug. whereas, metronidazole multilayer formulations did not release drug in stomach and small intestine, but delivered drug to the colon resulting in slow absorption of the drug and making drug available for local action in the colon

Formulation and Evaluation of Colon Targeted Oral Drug Delivery Systems for Metronidazole in Treatment of Amoebiasis

The aim of present study was to develop colon targeted system for metronidazole using guar gum and xanthan gum. Matrix formulations containing various proportions of guar gum and xanthan gum were prepared by wet granulation technique using 10% starch paste. Later on, multilayer tablets were prepared by using 50 mg and 100 mg of guar gum as release controlling layer on either side of (M5) guar gum matrix tablets of metronidazole. All the formulations were evaluated for in-process quality control tests. The in-vitro drug release study was undertaken at 37±0.5°C in 0.1N HCl for 2 h; followed by pH 7.4 phosphate buffer (3h) finally in, simulated colonic fluid pH 6.8 phosphate buffer containing 4%w/v rat ceacal content for 15 h. Results indicated that guar gum was alone failed to control drug release. M5 (GG: XG, 0:100) formulation seems to quiet promising for colonic drug delivery and only 12.3% drug is released in first 5h wherease, other matrix tablets released 12-33% of metronidazole in physiological environment of stomach and small intestine. When studies were continued in colonic fluids, matrix tablets released almost 100% drug. whereas, metronidazole multilayer formulations did not release drug in stomach and small intestine, but delivered drug to the colon resulting in slow absorption of the drug and making drug available for local action in the colon

Fatness Predicts Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Profile Better than Fitness in Healthy Men A Discriminant Analysis Approach

Fitness is healthy and can help to reduce, but not eliminate, the negative effects of obesity. As a result,identifying variables for categorizing individuals into high-risk or low-risk groups is critical.The study’s goalwasto determine the relationship between fitness, fatness, and cardiovascular disease risk factors as well as to construct a discriminant model for categorizing individuals as high-risk or low-risk. A total of 120 in-service healthy armed forces personnel aged 25 to 49 years were randomly selected as subjects for this study and were measured for the selected fitness and fatness variables, namely cardio respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular leg and back strength, flexibility, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-hip ratio, body mass index, waist to height ratio, and fat percentage. The findings revealed that fitness variables contribute little to CVD risk factors than specific fatness characteristics, which appear to play a larger role.Based on selected fitness and fatness indicators, a discriminant model was developed to classify subjects into high and low cardiovascular disease risk groups. The group centroid was found to be 0.829. The model validity was determined to be 80.6 per cent based on the classification matrix. Finally, the findings of the study suggest that age and waist circumference play an important role in distinguishing individuals with high and low CVD ris

Assessment of household perceptions to climate adaptation for resilient rural development planning in India

376-382Enhancing resilience of rural communities to climate change requires a clear understanding of micro-level perceptions and adaptation issues and their integration with the rural developmental framework. We collected household level data to understand grass-root perspectives on climate variability, impacts and barriers to adaptation in two different districts; Moga, Punjab and Mahbubnagar, Telangana. Further the study uses meteorological data to validate farmers perceptions. The results show that change in the quantum and distribution of rainfall, rising temperature, ground water depletion, lower farm income, higher unemployment and rural migration are some of the major impacts of climate change. Moreover, farmers perceptions on climate variability were consistent with the observed climate trend. Against climatic variations farmers were making shift to crop varieties of suitable duration, curtailing expenditure, borrowing and participating in employment guarantee schemes. However, farmers responses were constrained by barriers like lack of accessibility to weather information, limited knowledge on the cost-benefit of adaptation, inaccessibility to climate smart technologies, inadequate financial resources and unawareness on welfare schemes. The study concludes there is a need to reorient the developmental programmes at the macro-level considering micro-level needs and constraints for climate resilient agriculture

Prematurity and Related Biochemical Outcomes: Study of Bone Mineralization and Renal Function Parameters in Preterm Infants

Preterm is defined as a baby with a gestation of less than 37 completed weeks. In this study, serum calcium, phosphorus, ALP, creatinine, and electrolytes were measured in preterm babies. The present study comprised of 75 preterm babies of which 25 were of 28–30 weeks, 25 were of 30–32 weeks, and remaining 25 were of 34–36 weeks (controls) of gestational age. Serum calcium and phosphorus levels were found to be significantly decreased, and serum ALP, creatinine, and electrolytes were found to be significantly increased (P < 0.001) at 28–30 weeks as compared to controls, but serum calcium and phosphorous levels were found to be insignificantly decreased, whereas serum ALP activities were found to be insignificantly increased at 28–30 weeks as compared to 30–32 weeks of gestational age in preterm babies. It can be concluded that high serum ALP activity and low serum calcium and phosphorus levels are associated with preterm babies. A significant difference in the mean values of these renal function parameters was also obtained, except for serum sodium and potassium