Journal of Ideas in Health (JIDHealth)
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The community knowledge, awareness, and practices influencing transmission of toxoplasmosis in Mbeya District, Tanzania
Get PDFBackground: Toxoplasmosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii is an important but neglected zoonotic disease of global distribution. The study aimed at evaluating community knowledge, awareness, and practices linked to transmission and control of the disease among the residents of urban and peri-urban areas of Mbeya District, Tanzania.
Methods: A cross-section study was conducted from January 2022 to March 2022 in the Mbeya district. A semi-structured questionnaire was self-administered to gather information on social demographic characteristics, knowledge, and risk behaviors related to toxoplasma infection, chi squire was employed to test the difference where p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 100 respondents were recruited. The majority (38.0%) of the respondents were aged 26 - 35 years and (49.0%) had attained primary education. The average mean age was 35.6 (+ 11.5 SD), 57% were male while 43.0% were female. Only 22 percent of the respondents were aware of toxoplasmosis and among them, 10 percent were aware of the clinical manifestations of the disease and 20 percent knew the mode of the disease transmission. Identified risk practices include lack of deworming in cats (81.0%), outdoor cats management (60.0%), disposal of cats\u27 faces in gardens (36.0%), use of cats in controlling rodents (41.0%), and not wearing gloves during gardening (77.0%). Children are noted to be at the highest risk of contracting the disease as they are greatly involved in caring for cats. (49.0%). The knowledge of the disease was found to be associated with sex (males) p value= of 0.041, occupation (medical employees) p-value =0.002, and high level of education of the respondents\u27 p value =0.000.\.
Conclusion: The study revealed a low level of knowledge of the participants and practiced risky behaviors for disease transmission. Thus, we recommend to relevant authorities to offer education to the community concerning Toxoplasmosis
Investigation of the effects of kinesiophobia level on physical activity and quality of life in university students
Get PDFBackground: Kinesiophobia, which is called activity avoidance, is a condition that may cause university students to stay away from physical activity more. This study aimed to understand how physical activity and quality of life levels of university students with different levels of kinesiophobia are affected.
Methods: Our study included 395 students who were studying at Ankara Medipol University in the 2022-2023 academic year and were accepted to participate in our study. The kinesiophobia, physical activity, and quality of life levels of the students were evaluated with questionnaires. The Demographic Characteristics of Students were analyzed using Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney U tests. Spearman correlation analysis was used for the correlation between the scores of the scales, and Mann-Whitney U was used for comparing physical activity levels and quality of life according to kinesiophobia levels. Statistical significance was set as p<0.05.
Results: Among the students who participated in our study, 226 (57.22%) students had high kinesiophobia levels and 169 (42.78%) had low kinesiophobia levels. While 74.3% of people with high kinesiophobia levels were women, 67.5% of participants with low kinesiophobia levels were women. The age and BMI levels of the participants in both groups were similar (p>0.05). In our study, while all parameters of WHOQOL and TKS were correlated with each other, only physical and psychosocial sub-parameters of WHOQOL and IPAQ were correlated (p<0.05). According to the results obtained from the study, the physical activity amount and quality of life scores of the students with lower kinesiophobia levels were found to be higher (p<0.05).
Conclusion: As a result, different levels of kinesiophobia in university students can affect the amount of physical activity and quality of life of students. It is essential to keep students away from the vicious circle of kinesiophobia and lack of physical activity and to direct them to physical activities
A case report on generalized pemphigus vulgaris treated with rituximaba
Get PDFBackground: Pemphigus vulgaris has an obscure etiology; the presence of autoantibodies is coherent with an autoimmune disease. Rituximab a monoclonal antibody that specifically targets the CD20 antigen of B lymphocytes, has arisen as a novel treatment approach for pemphigus vulgaris.
Case presentation: A 39-year-old male patient presented with a three-month history of mouth ulcers, poor oral hygiene accompanied with heavy tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. He was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris. The disease gradually progressed to involve other body parts. The patient had shown partial improvement after conventional therapy (oral cefuroxime, oral prednisolone with azathioprine) and was later on successfully treated with rituximab. After 90 days of follow-up, no future recurrence was observed.
Conclusion: With this case, the authors would like to aware other clinicians of the potential use of rituximab in treating pemphigus vulgaris, especially when the conventional therapy fails
Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Iraq
Get PDFBackground: In the absence of effective treatment, coronavirus disease (Covid-19) poses severe risks to public health. This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers.
Methods: An online approach was adopted to conduct a cross-sectional study from 1st to 31st October 2020 among Iraqi healthcare workers in Anbar Province, west of Iraq. A semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire was recruited to collect the data. The study tool contains four parts sociodemographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice assessment. Multiple Linear regression was performed to test the association between the dependent and the independent variables. SPSS version 16 was used to analyze the data, and the statistical significance level was considered at less than 0.05 p-values.
Results: A total of 209 health workers were included in this study. Most of the respondents (54.5%) were Doctors (Physician, dentist, and pharmacist), males (60.8%), married (74.2%), aged less than 45 years (53.1%), urban region (64.6%), with a monthly income of USD 400 and above (61.7%) and 75.1% of them perceived their health good. The mean knowledge, attitude, and practice level of participants were 14.43 (± 2.01), 27.68 (± 2.74), and 4.33 (± 0.97), respectively. In the regression analysis, doctors (P-value = 0.000) aged 45 years and above (P-value=0.008) and urban residents (P-value=0.007) were significantly associated with upper knowledge scores. Female gender (P-value =0.022) was significantly related to positive attitude scores. While married (P-value = 0.038), those with experience of 10 years and above (P-value=0.041) showed better practice.
Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare workers in Anbar Province was adequate. However, with the expected new waves of pandemics, the policy of continuous training to update healthcare workers is inevitable to control and prevention of COVID-19
Why pandemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) hit different age groups of people in Southeast Asia? a case study in Bangladesh
Get PDFThe new catastrophe of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19s) with unstable symptoms has rapidly pulled danger to all age groups worldwide. We investigate possible causes of the different nature and demography of COVID-19. We collected and used secondary data from the IEDCR website and “Worldometer” from 1st April to 24th June for the statistical analyses, including multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM), topsis, advanced topsis, simple additive weighting (SAW) and weighting product method (WPM) and PCA. The total number of known COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh was 122,709 as of 24th June. Radical growth will be found with 4912 cases in one day on 16th July as per the time-series forecasting. The infection rate among the young (<30) was highest, i.e., 37.8%, while the elderly (>60) had the maximum death rate (≈39%). Both of India and Bangladesh, approximately one-third of total COVID-19 cases belong to the under 30 age group. Preliminary observation finds India and Bangladesh have a high risk for young people and the working class. PCA indicates the highest positive association among the youths and the highest negative association among the older. In this study, older age (>60) individuals are in danger with the fifth rank, and the young and working-age people are at comparatively lower risk with a third to the fourth rank in terms of infection rate as indicated by MCDM. 41-50 age group remains at lower risk with the first rank in all cases. The nature of activities of younger people and the poor immunity system of older people are the reason for the non-homogenous attitude toward the coronavirus among different age groups. In Bangladesh, drug addiction, gambling habits, uncontrolled lifestyle, and social obliquity have led the youth through danger, threatening the older age of family and society
Barriers to telepsychiatry in the geriatric Asian American population during COVID-19
Get PDFDue to the increase in anti-Asian discrimination during COVID-19, there has been a decline in mental health in the Asian community, particularly in the geriatric population. Although the current literature tends to focus on the underutilization of telemedicine in the Asian American population due to cultural barriers, our research found that the barrier to access heavily contributed to this inequity. In this study, we discuss the limited language options for the geriatric Asian American population on a few large telepsychiatry platforms, including “Teladoc and BetterHelp”, during COVID-19.
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Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on meat or equivalent consumption behavior among Sri Lankan adults: a cross-sectional study
Get PDFBackground: The COVID-19 lockdown severely affected dietary behaviors, particularly meat or equivalent consumption. This study aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 confinement on meat or equivalent consumption pattern among Sri Lankans.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 27th May to 2nd June 2021 as a national-level online survey in Sri Lanka using a self-administered questionnaire developed as Google forms. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to socio-demographics and dietary behaviors. Descriptive, univariate, and multinomial logistic regression was performed. The statistical significance is considered at less than 0.05.
Results: A total of 3600 respondents were included, with the majority being women (60.1%). A higher proportion of the participants increased their consumption of eggs (53.7%), dhal (47.0%), and dry fish and sprats (36.3%). A big trend was observed in cutting down the fish (41.1%) and other seafood (52.0%) consumption. Nearly half of the respondents did not change their consumption of meat other than chicken (54.5%), pulses (52.6%), soya meat (52.1%), dry fish and sprats (48.9%), canned fish (47.6%), sausages and meatballs (45.1%), and chicken (43.7%). The males (odds ratio (OR) 0.852; 95% CI: 0.738 to 0.984, P = 0.029) and Tamil (OR = 1.605, 95% CI: 1.150 to 2.239, P = 0.005) showed a significant likelihood to increase egg consumption. Respondents with a lower income <25,000 LKR (OR 2.220; 95% CI 1.672-2.947, P = 0.000) were more than twice likely to report increased dhal consumption. The same income group (< 25,000 LKR) (OR = 2.752; 95% CI: 2.024-3.741, P = 0.000) reported more than twice reduction in fish consumption. Respondents in municipal area (OR = 1.523; 95% CI: 1.186 to 3.292, P = 0.009) showed a significantly higher likelihood to reduction in other seafood consumption.
Conclusion: An overall change in meat or equivalent consumption behavior among Sri Lankan adults was evidenced. Furthermore, nutrition recommendations should be revised to avoid future long-term consequences. Fish and other seafood intake declined, while consumption of eggs, dhal, dry fish, and sprats increased
Predicting mortality using prognostic scores and electrocardiographic parameters in ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients undergoing thrombolysis
Get PDFBackground: The short- and long-term outcomes of thrombolysis has been predicted by various scores and models based on the electrocardiogram. This study aimed to compare various mortality predictors in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing thrombolysis.
Methods: A prospective, case-control, single-center study was performed at MGM Hospital, Warangal, India, between November 2019 and November 2021. A total of 100 STEMI patients were enrolled, out of which 50 were controls (patients who survived after seven days of thrombolysis) and 50 were cases (patients who died after seven days of thrombolysis). Aldrich score, TIMI risk index (TRI), Sclarovsky-Birnbaum Ischemia Grading (SB-IG) algorithm, presence of Q waves, total ST-segment deviation, and the number of leads with ST-segment elevation (STE) in anterior wall MI (AWMI) were calculated.
Results: The mean age of the case group was 55.3 ± 11.6 years, and that of the control group was 55.5 ± 10.1 years. Males comprised 46.0% and 66.0% of the case and control groups. The c-statistic of TRI was found to be the highest (c = 0.68; P = 0.001), followed by the SB-IG algorithm (c = 0.58; P = 0.021), the sum of R waves in AWMI (c = 0.5; P = 0.019), the number of leads with STE in AWMI (c = 0.47; P = 0.778), total ST-segment deviation (c = 0.47; P = 0.552), Aldrich score for AWMI (c = 0.43; P = 0.590), presence of Q waves (c = 0.40; P = 0.676), and Aldrich score for inferior wall MI (c = 0.32; P = 0.071).
Conclusion: TRI and SB-IG algorithms had moderate accuracy in predicting seven-day mortality in STEMI patients undergoing thrombolysis. Other scores and parameters viz. Aldrich score, presence of Q waves, total ST-segment deviation, and the number of leads with STE in AWMI had very poor accuracy in predicting in-hospital outcomes. More extensive studies with longer durations are required to validate our findings
Postpartum blues reviewed by the risk factors in Indonesia
Get PDFBackground: Postpartum blues are known as postpartum sadness that could initiate a more serious mental disorder. It causes a decrease in the mother\u27s interest in her baby, failure to breastfeed, to acts of hurting the baby and themself. Knowing the determinant factors of postpartum blues as a prevention effort is necessary. Therefore, this review aims to assess the factors contributing to postpartum blues, especially in Indonesian mothers.
Methods: A review of all peer-reviewed journal-published studies on postpartum blues and its risk factors among Indonesian mothers from 2012 - 2022. The following databases were searched; Google scholars; SpringerLink; and science direct on September 2022 using the keywords "postpartum blues", "maternal blues", "baby blues", "risk factors”, and “Indonesia”.
Results: Fifteen studies were included in this review. Risk factors that contribute to the occurrence of postpartum blues are age, salary, education, employment, breastfeeding process, health education after labor, type of labor, labor induction and labor complications, parity, pregnancy status, mother readiness, labor readiness, marriage satisfaction, husband support, and social support.
Conclusion: Women with low socioeconomic Status (SES) and primiparous births have a greater risk of suffering from postpartum blues. Therefore, it is necessary to provide psychological assistance to health workers to the mother after giving birth
Prevalence of occult hepatitis B infection in Diyala province, Iraq
Get PDFBackground: Occult HBV infection (OBI) is the absence of hepatitis surface antigens (HBsAg) that is not apparent during detection by serological tests despite the presence of virus DNA. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of OBI infection among various populations in Diyala province, Iraq.
Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st January to 30th September, 2021, at Ibn Sina Dialysis Center, Baquba Teaching Hospital, Iraq. Three hundred and sixty participants were equally involved (90 individuals for each) from the dialysis department, the thalassemia department, blood bank donation Centre, and the control group. Study populations were screened for HBV Ag, HBV c IgG, HBV c IgM, abusing the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test, and detecting HB core gene. Demographic data of the study group were recorded. Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS Version 25, and the P-value was considered significant wherever it was below 0.05.
Results: The positivity rate of serological markers of OBI among the study population was (6.7%) of the participants were HBs Ag positive. Whereas 22 (6.1%) were anti-HBc IgG positive and 3 (0.8%) were anti-HBc IgM positive. The detection rates of the PCR products of 76 participants after amplification using specific primers for (core-gene) have been presented to the gel electrophoresis, which showed none of the 76 participants were positive for the HBc gene.
Conclusion: The current study showed a medium percentage of anti-HBc IgG in the serum of the study groups without the presence of HBs Ag, which indicates the presence of a previous infection that was resolved or the occurrence of occult hepatitis B infection. The current study results also showed that the serum of any of the study groups was not positive for the core gene, which confirms the possibility of infection with OBI