Journal of Ideas in Health
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knowledge and attitude of Iraqi women in reproductive age group about risk factors in pregnancy
Get PDFImproved knowledge among women about maternal risk factors significantly reduced the likelihood of adverse events in pregnancy and childbirth. This study aimed to explore Iraqi women\u27s knowledge and attitudes about maternal risk factors in pregnancy. A multicenter cross-sectional survey was conducted from 01 January to 31 March 2019 among women of the reproductive age (15-49 years). A convenient sampling technique using a semi-structured questionnaire was recruited to interview the sample. SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test) were used to present data with the significance level considered at <0.05. Data of 250 women underwent final analysis. The mean age of respondents was 27.76 (±6.3 years). Most of the respondents (79.9%) correctly knew the maternal risk factors in pregnancy. A large percentage of women knew that poor nutrition, anemia (95.6%), smoking and passive smoke (95.6%), and obesity (85.2%) during pregnancy are risk factors affecting the fetus’ health. However, about 40.0% of women thought there was no harm during pregnancy, and therefore there was no need for medical check-ups regularly. In bivariate analysis, there was a significant association between knowledge and level of education. The higher the level of education, the greater the women\u27s knowledge about risk factors such as malnutrition and anemia (P=<0.001), obesity (P=0.04), diabetes (P=0.002), repeated urinary tract infection (P=0.017), Rh incompatibility (<0.001), history of previous cesarean section (P=0.010), smoking and passive smoking (P=0.014) and evidence of bleeding (P=0.001). In conclusion, Iraqi pregnant women demonstrated a good level of knowledge about the risk factors during the pregnancy
Evaluation of the knowledge, attitudes, vaccine hesitancy, and behaviors of anesthesia technicians on adult vaccination
Get PDFBackground: Anesthesia technicians work in places with a high risk of infectious diseases. Vaccination is one of the most essential methods that protect society and healthcare workers against infectious diseases. This study aims to determine anesthesia technicians\u27 knowledge, behavior, attitude, and vaccine hesitancy.
Methods: A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted between October 2021 and February 2022 at the Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Turkiye. A semi-structured and self-reported online survey was recruited to collect data from the Turkish anesthesia technicians’ community. Data of 1600 participants have undergone descriptive and univariate analyses to evaluate the differences in mean scores on knowledge, attitudes, and vaccine hesitancy.
Results: The mean age of respondents was 24 years (±6.15). More than two-thirds (79.2%) were females, single (84.9%), aged less than 30 years (88.4%), and unemployed (61.1%); however, 12.4% had chronic diseases. The mean knowledge, attitude, and vaccine hesitancy score were 13.24± 3.22 (range: 0-21), 11.19 ± 3.19 (range: 0-15), and 28.67± 6.64, range: 12–60), respectively. Most respondents had information (1458, 91.1%) about COVID-19 vaccines, and 1247(77.9%) had been vaccinated. However, 240 (16.3%) did not receive vaccines at all compared to 59 (3.7%) who completed the thirteen recommended vaccines in Turkiye. The mean of vaccine hesitancy was significantly higher among females (P=0.001), unemployed (P=0.007), residents in Southeast Anatolia (P=0.001), and those who did not use medication continuously (P=0.016). However, participants aged 40 years and above (P=0.013) showed the lowest mean of vaccine hesitancy than the other age groups.
Conclusion: Appropriate training and guidance might increase the vaccination information and enhance the vaccination rates among anesthesia technicians
Calculation of 95% confidence interval of the median lethal dose determined by the up-and-down procedure: a letter to editor
Get PDFAcute toxicity of chemicals can be determined by the up-and-down procedure (UDP) to measure the median lethal dose (LD50) in laboratory animals. An improved UPD was introduced to calculate the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for LD50 values:
95% confidence interval = LD50 + the standard error (SE)
SE = SD x √2/N (SD= standard deviation of all dosages in N trials in animals).
However, not all studies using the UDP report the 95% CI. Using the above mentioned equations, it is possible to calculate the 95% CI of LD50 determined by using the table of Dixon for UDP- section of the standard error 0.61. For demonstration, recalculations were done on selected LD50 values with standard deviation, standard error and 95% CI from published literature by using the above mentioned equations. These included the LD50 values of propofol and diazinon in chicks, as well as cadmium and tetramisole in mice.
Prevalence of text neck syndrome among Iraqi medical students: a cross-sectional study
Get PDFBackground: Excessive use of portable electronic devices causes neck flexion and the emergence of text neck syndrome (TNS). This study aims to explore the prevalence of TNS among medical students during the COVID-19 lockdown in Iraq.
Methods: A prospective cross-sectional web-based study was conducted from 1st to 20th March 2021 at the faculty of medicine, Diyala University, Iraq. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the medical students using Google Form through social media (WhatsApp group). The semi-structured questionnaire included the sociodemographic, the valid smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV), and the neck disability index (NDI). Univariate, bivariate, and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the data. SPSS version 16. The statistical significance is considered at less than 0.05.
Results: Out of 273 medical students included in the study, 59.3% were males, unmarried (88.3%), and from the 1st year (21.6%). The mean age of students was 21.27 ± 1.74 years. The prevalence of text neck syndrome was 64.5%. About two-thirds (61.5%) of students were addicted to their smartphones and used them more than five h/daily (63.7%). Factors associated with neck disability were the students who did not warm up neck muscles before using the smartphone (OR = 8.796, 95% CI: 1.724 to 24.884), addicted to the smartphone (OR = 6.803, 95% CI: 3.455 to 13.397), experienced increase in daily hours using the smartphone during the COVID-19 related quarantine (OR = 5.370, 95% CI: 2.523 to 11.427), maintained smartphone use five hours and more daily (OR = 2.818, 95% CI: 1.422 to 5.587), had neck pain (OR = 2.876, 95% CI: 1.356 to 6.098), the female gender (OR = 2.756, 95% CI: 1.221 to 6.221), and those who did not have a frequent break when using the smartphone (OR = 2.693, 95% CI: 1.329 to 5.454).
Conclusion: In conclusion, the prevalence of neck disability was high among the surveyed medical students. Addiction and excessive smartphone use with a lack of attention to warm up the neck muscles before usage was the most prominent predictors of neck disability
A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of remdesivir in COVID-19 patients
Get PDFBackground: This systematic review compares the efficacy and safety of remdesivir between its recipient and non-recipient COVID-19 patients from the recently published randomized controlled trials (RCT).
Methods: For eligible trials comparing the above outcomes, a literature search took place in the PubMed database. The reviewed trials data were abstracted and critically appraised using the Cochrane tool. Then, a random-effect meta-analysis followed to compare the risk between the compared interventions in risk ratio (RR). By plying the I2 and Chi2 statistics, the heterogeneity estimation happened. A sensitivity analysis iterated the preliminary meta-analysis using a fixed-effect model.
Results: Two eligible RCTs included in this review sourced data from about 833 COVID-19 patients from 115 hospitals in Asia, Europe, and the US. The risk of bias was primarily low. Random-effect meta-analysis suggested a clinical improvement (RR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.16; P=0.02; I2: 0%) and decrease in the risk of any serious side effects (RR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.43, 0.94; P<0.001; I2: 0%) in the remdesivir treated COVID-19 patients. The rest of the outcomes did not vary between the juxtaposed interventions.
Conclusion: Evidence-based on early RCTs suggest that remdesivir is a clinically useful and safe drug to treat COVID-19 patients
Children’s online learning during COVID-19 pandemic: experiences and satisfaction encountered by Indian parents
Get PDFBackground: Online learning by children is pressure for children as well as parents. The Covid-19 lockdown was ended up putting much stress on parents in India. The current study aimed to assess the parental experience and satisfaction on online learning for their children during Covid -19 pandemic lockdown.
Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among 300 parents of children who attended online learning during the COVID -19 pandemic lockdown. The data was collected using the snowball sampling technique. The survey tool consists of a sociodemographic questionnaire, self-report scales on parent\u27s satisfaction and experiences. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean, frequency, percentage, and inferential statistics such as the Chi-square test.
Results: Out of 300 parents surveyed, 72% were mothers, 65.6% of children who attended online classes were from primary class, through zoom platform (52.2%) using an android mobile phone (71.1%) for a mean duration of 180±30 minutes. 80.4% of parents preferred the traditional learning method comparing to online classes for their children. More than half (52.2%) of parents reported that they were partially satisfied with children\u27s online learning, whereas 26% were not satisfied. More than half of the parents (61.1%) experienced a great challenge and burden of online learning.
Conclusion: Parents were worried that prolonged exposure to screen devices in online learning might affect child health\u27s visual, physical, and psychological aspects
The use of mHealth solutions in active and healthy ageing promotion: an explorative scoping review
Get PDFThe global population aged 60 years and over is expected to almost double between 2015 and 2050 from 12.0% to 22.0%, which will directly impact countries\u27 labor market composition and increase the economic pressure on their healthcare systems. One way to address these challenges is to promote Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) using mobile Health (mHealth). This research aims to provide an initial overview of the width and the depth of contemporary preventive mHealth solutions that promote AHA among healthy, independent older adults (individuals aged 60 years and over). To do so, an explorative scoping review was applied to search online databases for recent studies (March 2015 - March 2020) addressing the promotion of mHealth solutions targeting healthy and independent older adults. We identified 31 publications that met the inclusion criteria. Most of them utilized either mobile (n=25) and/or wearable (n=11) devices. mHealth solutions mostly promoted AHA by targeting older adults’ active lifestyles or independence. Most of the studies (n=27) did not apply a theoretical framework on which the mHealth promotion was based. User-experience was positive (n=12) when the solution was easy to use but negative (n=11) when the participants were resistant or faced challenges using the device and/or technology. The review concludes that mHealth offers the opportunity to combat the issues faced by an unhealthy and dependent aging population by promoting AHA through focusing on older adults’ Lifestyle, Daily functioning, and Participation. Future research should use multidisciplinary integrated approaches and strong theoretical and methodological foundations to investigate mHealth solutions\u27 impact on AHA behavioral change
ACE2 enzymatic role in the SARS-CoV-2 activation: a perspective through the evolutionary promiscuity and substrate diversity of enzymes
Get PDFThe SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA B type β-coronavirus that distinguishes itself from previous coronaviruses by its high infectivity and mortality rates. The mechanism of viral entry into the host cell via ACE2 is currently under research. Several proteases have been nominated to activate the virus but identifying the exact enzyme/enzymes is missing. Moreover, recent work suggests that TMPRSS2 cannot be the enzyme to cleave the SARS-CoV-2 spike or that multiple proteases contribute to SARS-CoV-2 activation. The multitude of proteases that have been nominated to activate the virus suggests that the consensual identification of the precise, key enzyme is still missing. In this context, we synthesize the current controversies regarding the putative enzymes involved in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and analyze whether ACE2 could have unexpected enzymatic roles in this process, besides its acknowledged receptor role. We hypothesize that ACE2 plays an enzymatic role as well in SARS-CoV-2 activation. Understanding the exact roles of ACE2 in COVID-19 is capital for the future design of specific, efficient therapies and deserves dedicated research. Our conviction is therefore not "if", “but” "when" will the researchers start to wonder about what is hidden behind the apparent only role of ACE2 as a receptor for SARS-CoV-2
A systematic review of tobacco smoking cessation services in Africa: Practices and challenges faced by healthcare workers
Get PDFBackground: Tobacco smoking is a global public health challenge, resulting in an estimated loss of 1.4 trillion United States Dollars (USD), a preventable risk that can be achieved through tobacco cessation services. The study, therefore, aimed to review the most frequently used methods employed by healthcare workers (HCWs) in providing tobacco cessation services and reported challenges in Africa.
Methods: A systematic review was conducted using five electronic databases (PubMed, Base, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, and African Journal Online) for published studies on HCW’s practices and challenges on tobacco cessation in Africa. We adopted a three-stage methodology to conduct the study, which identified articles using pre-defined key terms, screened articles to remove duplicates, and excluded irrelevant articles after reading the manuscripts’ titles and abstracts.
Results: We reviewed articles and found that 35.0% to 83.0% of HCWs frequently asked their patients to quit smoking. Also, 14.9% of HCWs assisted smoking cessation among their patients, among whom 3.9% prescribed oral depressants and 2.8% prescribed Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). Further, 17.0% of HCWs had guidelines to help patients to cease smoking. Challenges were lack of efficacy and training, lack of system support, low sense of responsibility by some physicians to incorporate the smoking cessation therapy to their patients, lack of attractive educational resources on smoking cessation, limited knowledge on effective intervention strategies, lack of guidelines, lack of specialists for smoking cessation, and unavailability of NRT.
Conclusion: Follow-up should be commenced and intensified by HCWs for smoking cessation among tobacco smokers
Social media and the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Nigeria
Get PDFBackground: Amidst the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there seems to be an avalanche of conspiracy theories that abound on social media platforms, and this subject attracted a lot of research interest. This study aimed to examine the "social media and the spread Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Nigeria" in light of the above.
Methods: The study adopted a qualitative design in order to explore the subject matter thoroughly. Thirty-five participants were conveniently sampled, and interviews were conducted to retrieved data from the participants.
Results: Findings of this study revealed that there is a prevalence of conspiracy theories that have saturated social media ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also found that ignorance, religious fanaticism, lack of censorship, and insufficient counter information on social media platforms are some of the possible factors that aided the spread of Covid-19 conspiracy theories among Nigerian social media users.
Conclusion: This study recommends, among other things, that there is a swift need to curtail the spread of conspiracy theories through consistent dissemination of counter-information by both individuals and agencies like the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Nigerian Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC)