Health Sciences

Along with environmental pollutions, urban planning has been connected to public health. The research indicates that the quality of built environments plays an important role in reducing mental disorders and overall health. The structure and shape of the city are considered as one of the factors influencing happiness and health in urban communities and the type of the daily activities of citizens. The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in the main structure of the city via urban (...) design in a way that the main form and morphology of the city can encourage citizens to move around and have physical activity within the city. Functional, physical, cultural- social, and perceptual-visual features are regarded as the most important and effective criteria in increasing physical activities in urban spaces based on literature review. The environmental quality of urban spaces and their role in the physical activities of citizens in urban spaces were assessed by using the questionnaire tool and analytical network process (ANP) of structural equation modeling. Further, the space syntax method was utilized to evaluate the role of the spatial integration of urban spaces on improving physical activities. Based on the results, the consideration of functional diversity, spatial flexibility and integration, security, and the aesthetic and visual quality of urban spaces plays an important role in improving the physical health of citizens in urban spaces. Further, more physical activities, including motivation for walking and consequently, the sense of public health and happiness, were observed in the streets having higher linkage and space syntax indexes with their surrounding texture. (shrink)

Phenomenology has been adapted for use in qualitative health research, where it’s often used as a method for conducting interviews and analyzing interview data. But how can phenomenologists study subjects who cannot accurately reflect upon or report their own experiences, for instance, because of a psychiatric or neurological disorder? For conditions like these, qualitative researchers may gain more insight by conducting observational studies in lieu of, or in conjunction with, interviews. In this article, we introduce a phenomenological approach to conducting (...) this kind of observational research. The approach relies on conceptual grounding to focus a study on specific aspects of the participants’ experiences. Moreover, the approach maintains the openness to novel discoveries that qualitative research requires while also providing a structured framework for data collection and analysis. To illustrate its practical application, we use examples of hemispatial neglect—a neurologic disorder in which patients characteristically lack awareness of their own illness and bodily capacities. However, the approach that we describe can be applied more broadly to the study of complex illness experiences and other experiential alterations. (shrink)

This study analyzed the monitoring and evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, Nigeria. The study considered different levels of care/support and tested for locational variations in the monitoring/evaluation of HIV/AIDs prevention programs. A descriptive survey research design was utilized. This study covered 596 public health employees (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory employees) in the study area. A sample of 239 respondents was chosen using the proportional stratified random sampling procedure. Data was collected using (...) a questionnaire constructed by the researchers and validated by specialists. Data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated that HIV/AIDs programs have been successfully monitored/evaluated to a high extent. High rates of success in the monitoring/evaluation of HIV/AIDs prevention programs are attributable to high rates of care/support provided to people living with HIV/AIDs. There was a significant variation in the monitoring/evaluation of HIV/AIDs prevention programs based on the location of health facilities, with higher rates recorded for urban areas. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the monitoring/evaluation of HIV/AIDs prevention programs in the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State had recorded a significant level of success. The study recommended, among others, that there should be even distribution of medical facilities, resources and personnel to both urban and rural areas to promote equity and access to materials needed to contain or mitigate the spread of the pandemic across all locations. (shrink)

Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 4, Page 469-471, May 2022.

In this paper, we consider the role of conversations in contributing to healthcare quality improvement. More specifically, we suggest that conversations can be important in responding to what we call ‘normative complexity’. As well as reflecting on the value of conversations, the aim is to introduce the dimension of normative complexity as something that requires theoretical and practical attention alongside the more recognised challenges of complex systems, which we label, for short, as ‘explanatory complexity’. In brief, normative complexity relates to (...) the inherent difficulty of deciding what kinds of changes are ‘improvements’ or, more broadly, what is valuable in healthcare. We suggest that explanatory and normative complexity intersect and that anyone interested in healthcare improvement needs to be sensitive to both. After briefly introducing the idea of normative complexity, we consider some contrasting examples of conversations, reflecting on how they do and might contribute to healthcare quality. We discuss both conversations that are deliberately organised and facilitated and more informally occurring and routine conversations. In the first half of the paper, we draw on some examples of orchestrated and routine conversations to open up these issues. In the second half of the paper, we bring some more theoretical lenses to bear on both conversations and normative complexity, summarise what we take to be the value of conversations and draw together some of the implications of our discussion. In summary, we argue that conversations can play a crucial role in negotiating the normative complexity of healthcare quality improvement because of their capacity to hold together a plurality of perspectives, to contribute and respond to emergence and to help underpin institutional conditions for empathy and imagination. (shrink)

In this critical notice, I review and critique ‘Psychiatric Casualties’ (2021) by Mark C. Russell and Charles Figley. In so doing, I analyze a natural experiment from WWII, which has previously only been misinterpreted. The natural experiment leads me to conclude that predisposition results in some individuals being far more likely than others to develop war stress disorders such as PTSD. This point puts me in disagreement with Russell and Figley, though I endorse the general message of their book: that (...) the military has failed in its responsibility to properly care for psychiatric casualties, and that there are steps which could be taken to improve the situation. (shrink)

The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2020) reported that the prevalence of obesity (≥19 years old) was 31.4% in 2011, but it increased to 33.8% in 2019 and 38.3% in 2020, which confirmed that it increased rapidly after the outbreak of COVID-19. Obesity increases not only the risk of infection with COVID-19 but also severity and fatality rate after being infected with COVID-19 compared to people with normal weight or underweight. Therefore, identifying the difference in potential factors for (...) obesity before and after the pandemic is an important issue in health science. This study identified the keywords and topics that were formed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the South Korean society and how they had been changing by conducting a web crawling of South Korea's news big data using “obesity” as a keyword. (shrink)

The diabetic foot is a global threat to public health because it can result in infection and amputation, as well as cause the patient to experience considerable pain and incur financial costs. The condition of patients with diabetic foot in North China is distinguished by more severe local ulcers, a worse prognosis, and a longer duration of disease than that of patients with diabetic foot in the south. Through appropriate preventive measures, the diabetic foot can be effectively avoided. This study (...) assesses the existing knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with diabetic foot prevention among adults with diabetes living in rural areas of North China. (shrink)

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate is being introduced for health and social care workers in England, and those refusing to comply will either be redeployed or have their employment terminated. We argue th...

In the global fight against the rapid spread of COVID-19, a variety of unprecedented preventive measures have been implemented across the globe, as well as in Vietnam. How Vietnamese people respond to threats to their health and life remains unclear. For this reason, the current study aims to examine Vietnamese people’s protective behavior and its factors. Based on 1,798 online survey respondents’ data collected on the last three days of the nationwide social distancing campaign in mid-April, it is found that (...) gender, knowledge of COVID-19 and preventive measures, and attitudes towards the COVID-19 prevention policies are the three main factors of participants’ protective behaviors. We also find that males are less likely than females to adopt precautionary measures. People who are knowledgeable about COVID-19 may have inappropriate practices towards it. Further research is needed to examine other determinants of protective behaviors to provide more useful information for authorities, public health policy-makers, and healthcare workers to deliver the best practices to control COVID-19 in our country. (shrink)

Objectives: This study aimed to fill the gap between Vietnamese diabetic patients' needs and care through a qualitative study asking about their experiences with diabetes and quality of care. -/- Methods: Interviews with five diabetic patients were conducted at a tertiary general hospital located in southern Vietnam. The transcribed data were first subjected to quantitative text analysis using KH Coder to identify major categories of frequently used words, followed by a qualitative analysis of selected cases using the Steps for Coding (...) and Theorization (SCAT) method. -/- Results: The major categories of frequently used words were chronic health conditions, services, facilities, insurance, patient-doctor communication, and medication. SCAT analysis of three selected cases identified six themes: “Disregarding the disease at the early stage,” “Fear of complications,” “Satisfaction with hospital services and medical staff,” “Insurance-related problems,” “Long waiting times,” and “Communication barriers between patients and doctors.” Patients were satisfied with improved hospital facilities and services; however, the overloading of one hospital led to long waiting times and communication difficulties with doctors. Difficulties with health insurance were also observed, and patients were rather passive in disease management and needed to be empowered through improved communication with doctors and other care providers. -/- Conclusion: These findings from our trial of introducing a qualitative study into service evaluation suggest that listening to patients can help health providers learn their perspectives and be more responsive to their needs. (shrink)

Ambient assisted living technologies are increasingly presented and sold as essential smart additions to daily life and home environments that will radically transform the healthcare and wellness markets of the future. An ethical approach and a thorough understanding of all ethics in surveillance/monitoring architectures are therefore pressing. AAL poses many ethical challenges raising questions that will affect immediate acceptance and long-term usage. Furthermore, ethical issues emerge from social inequalities and their potential exacerbation by AAL, accentuating the existing access gap between (...) high-income countries and low and middle-income countries. Legal aspects mainly refer to the adherence to existing legal frameworks and cover issues related to product safety, data protection, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and access to data by public, private, and government bodies. Successful privacy-friendly AAL applications are needed, as the pressure to bring Internet of Things devices and ones equipped with artificial intelligence quickly to market cannot overlook the fact that the environments in which AAL will operate are mostly private. The social issues focus on the impact of AAL technologies before and after their adoption. Future AAL technologies need to consider all aspects of equality such as gender, race, age and social disadvantages and avoid increasing loneliness and isolation among, e.g. older and frail people. Finally, the current power asymmetries between the target and general populations should not be underestimated nor should the discrepant needs and motivations of the target group and those developing and deploying AAL systems. Whilst AAL technologies provide promising solutions for the health and social care challenges, they are not exempt from ethical, legal and social issues. A set of ELSI guidelines is needed to integrate these factors at the research and development stage. (shrink)

Coronavirus is a viral irresistible sickness brought about by SARS- COV2. Its clinical signs and side effects are on an expansive range going from asymptomatic to serious confusions like multi-organ disappointment, thromboembolism, and extreme pneumonia with respiratory disappointment. More awful results and higher death rates have been accounted for in the old, individuals with co-morbidities, and malnourished people. Sustenance is central to acceptable wellbeing and safe capacity. It frames an essential segment of therapy modalities for different intense and persistent infections, (...) particularly where a causative therapy isn't yet perceived. Despite the fact that reviews tending to the part of explicit supplements in COVID-19 are still at a beginning phase, accessible proof recommends that addressing the necessities of a variety of large scale and miniature supplements (energy, proteins, fats, nutrients A, D, E, C, B nutrients, iron, selenium, zinc, and so forth) Additionally, supplements are Immune System Might Promote Recovery for Mild COVID-19 Patients Impact of Coronavirus on Education in India Review 466 determinants of the sythesis of the gut microbiota that thusly impacts the attributes of safe reactions in the body. (shrink)

Introduction: Agricultural workers perform intense labor outside in direct sunlight and in humid environmental conditions exposing them to a high risk of heat-related illness (HRI). To implement effective cooling interventions in occupational settings, it is important to consider workers’ perceptions. To date, an analysis of agricultural workers’ experience and perception of cooling devices used in the field while working has not been published. -/- Methods: Qualitatively data from 61 agricultural workers provided details of their perceptions and experiences with cooling interventions. (...) -/- Results: The participants in the bandana group reported the bandana was practical to use at work and did not interfere with their work routine. Cooling vest group participants agreed that the vest was effective at cooling them, but the practicality of using the vest at work was met with mixed reviews. -/- Conclusion: The findings of this qualitative study support and extend existing research regarding personal cooling and heat prevention research interventions with vulnerable occupational groups. Personal cooling gear was well received and utilized by the agricultural workers. Sustainable heat prevention studies and governmental protection strategies for occupational heat stress are urgently needed to reduce the risk of heat-related morbidity, mortality, and projected climate change health impacts on outdoor workers. (shrink)

The public discussion on artificial intelligence for public health often revolves around future applications like drug discovery or personalized medicine. But already deployed artificial intelligence for content recommendation, especially on social networks, arguably plays a far greater role. After all, such algorithms are used on a daily basis by billions of users worldwide. In this paper, we argue that, left unchecked, this enormous influence of recommendation algorithms poses serious risks for public health, e.g., in terms of misinformation and mental health. (...) But more importantly, we argue that this enormous influence also yields a fabulous opportunity to provide quality information and to encourage healthier habits at scale. We also discuss the philosophical, technical and socio-economical challenges to seize this immense opportunity, and sketch the outlines of potential solutions. In particular, we argue that it would be extremely helpful if public and private institutions could publicly take a stand, as this may then generate the necessary social, economical and political pressure to massively invest in the research, development and deployment of the potential solutions. (shrink)

Highlights: -/- • Breastfeeding and breastfeeding support can contribute to mitigating climate change. • Achieving global nutrition targets will save more emissions than fuel-switching. • Breastfeeding support programmes support a just transition. • This work can support the expansion of mitigation options in energy system models. -/- Abstract: -/- Renewable gas has been proposed as a solution to decarbonise industrial processes, specifically heat demand. As part of this effort, the breast-milk substitutes industry is proposing to use renewable gas as a (...) substitute for fossil natural gas. However, decarbonising the industrial processing of breast-milk substitutes can increase social license for these products, potentially undermining breastfeeding. World Health Organisation nutrition targets aim to increase exclusive breastfeeding to at least 50% globally by 2025 to improve maternal, infant, and young child health and nutrition. This target will have implications for the energy transition. A weakness of existing energy models is that demands for end-use products such as breast-milk substitutes are typically not considered explicitly. This paper develops an analytical framework for explicitly representing infant feeding methods in energy systems models. We compare the emissions saved in Ireland from decarbonising the industrial processing of breast-milk substitutes with renewable gas with the emissions saved by an increase in exclusive breastfeeding to 50% in both Ireland and a key export market, China. We demonstrate that the emissions saved from achieving the minimum global breastfeeding target are greater than when renewable gas is used to displace natural gas in the production of breast-milk substitutes in Ireland. We discuss the decarbonisation of breast-milk substitutes in relation to the principle of justice as non-maleficence, a principle based on the commitment to avoid harm, a novel application of a principle of justice. We conclude that breastfeeding support can be considered a demand-side measure for mitigating climate change by reducing the demand for energy services to produce breast-milk substitutes. A key recommendation is to position breastfeeding support as both a public health and a climate justice issue that is relevant for a just transition. The framework developed for this paper could be applied to support the inclusion of a wider range of mitigation options with social justice outcomes in energy system models. [Open access]. (shrink)

The book consists of articles in various fields written by graduate students. The articles were selected among many which applied to the "International Student's Work Competition". Then divided into two categories and published a two-volume "The World After the Pandemic" book series. Articles in this volume are related to "Life Sciences and Medicine", "Lifestyle and Urban Planning", "Technology" and "Education" regarding the world after the COVID-19 pandemic.

As biomedical citizen science initiatives become more prevalent, the unique ethical issues that they raise are attracting policy attention. One issue identified as a significant concern is the ethical oversight of bottom-up biomedical citizen science projects that are designed and executed primarily or solely by members of the public. That is because the federal rules that require ethical oversight of research by institutional review boards generally do not apply to such projects, creating what has been called an ethics gap. -/- (...) Working to close this gap, practitioners and scholars have considered new mechanisms of ethical oversight for biomedical citizen science. To date, however, participants’ attitudes about ethics and oversight preferences have not been systematically examined. This information is useful to efforts to develop ethical oversight mechanisms because it provides a basis for evaluating the likely effectiveness of specific features of such mechanisms and their acceptability from the perspective of biomedical citizen scientists. -/- Here, we report data from qualitative interviews with 35 stakeholders in bottom-up biomedical citizen science about their general ethics attitudes and preferences regarding ethical oversight. Interviewees described ten ethical priorities and endorsed oversight mechanisms that are voluntary, community-driven, and offer guidance. Conversely, interviewees rejected mechanisms that are mandatory, hierarchical, and inflexible. Applying these findings, we conclude that expert consultation and community review models appear to align well with ethical priorities and oversight preferences of many biomedical citizen scientists, although local conditions should guide the development and use of mechanisms in specific communities. (shrink)

What is it to be mentally healthy? In the ongoing movement to promote mental health, to reduce stigma, and to establish parity between mental and physical health, there is a clear enthusiasm about this concept and a recognition of its value in human life. However, it is often unclear what mental health means in all these efforts and whether there is a single concept underlying them. Sometimes, the initiatives for the sake of mental health are aimed just at reducing mental (...) illness, thus implicitly identifying mental health with the absence of diagnosable psychiatric disease. More ambitiously, there are high-profile proposals to adopt a positive definition, identifying mental health with psychic or even overall well-being. We argue against both: a definition of mental health as mere absence of mental illness is too thin, too undemanding, and too closely linked to psychiatric value judgments, while the definition in terms of well-being is too demanding and potentially oppressive. As a compromise, we sketch out a middle position. On this view, mental health is a primary good, that is, the psychological preconditions of pursuing any conception of the good life, including well-being, without being identical to well-being. (shrink)

Taiwan and Vietnam have taken successful measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 at the early stages. Many authors attributed the successful policies to the lessons learned by these countries during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic in 2002.(Ohara, 2004) This manuscript provides a summary of recent early-stage policies that were successful in mitigating the spread and creating resilience against the negative consequences of COVID-19 in Taiwan and Vietnam. Crucially, these policies go beyond and complement social isolation. As social (...) isolation is expected to have a negative socio-economic impact on the population and adherence is likely to decrease with time(Armitage and Nellums, 2020; Weems et al., 2020), it is important to consider a broad range of policies to promote a steady control of the COVID-19 spread. Initially, we provide a brief introduction to some general concepts related to COVID-19. Thereafter, we introduce a concise review of policies and their dates relative to the first detection case in Taiwan and Vietnam as well as doing a comparative analysis. (shrink)

Background: In the first few months of 2020, information and news reports about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were rapidly published and shared on social media and social networking sites. While the field of infodemiology has studied information patterns on the Web and in social media for at least 18 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to as the first social media infodemic. However, there is limited evidence about whether and how the social media infodemic has spread panic and affected (...) the mental health of social media users. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine how social media affects self-reported mental health and the spread of panic about COVID-19 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Methods: To carry out this study, an online questionnaire was prepared and conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a total of 516 social media users were sampled. This study deployed a content analysis method for data analysis. Correspondingly, data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Participants reported that social media has a significant impact on spreading fear and panic related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a potential negative influence on people’s mental health and psychological well-being. Facebook was the most used social media network for spreading panic about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraq. We found a significant positive statistical correlation between self-reported social media use and the spread of panic related to COVID-19 (R=.8701). Our results showed that the majority of youths aged 18-35 years are facing psychological anxiety. Conclusions: During lockdown, people are using social media platforms to gain information about COVID-19. The nature of the impact of social media panic among people varies depending on an individual's gender, age, and level of education. Social media has played a key role in spreading anxiety about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan. (shrink)

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women with cancer. Computer-aided diagnosis is an efficient method for assisting medical experts in early diagnosis, improving the chance of recovery. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical area is very crucial due to the sensitivity of this field. This means that the low accuracy of the classification methods used for cancer detection is a critical issue. This problem is accentuated when it comes to blurry mammogram images. In this paper, convolutional (...) neural networks (CNNs) are employed to present the traditional convolutional neural network (TCNN) and supported convolutional neural network (SCNN) approaches. The TCNN and SCNN approaches contribute by overcoming the shift and scaling problems included in blurry mammogram images. In addition, the flipped rotation-based approach (FRbA) is proposed to enhance the accuracy of the prediction process (classification of the type of cancerous mass) by taking into account the different directions of the cancerous mass to extract effective features to form the map of the tumour. The proposed approaches are implemented on the MIAS medical dataset using 200 mammogram breast images. Compared to similar approaches based on KNN and RF, the proposed approaches show better performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, spasticity, precision, recall, time of performance, and quality of image metrics. (shrink)

The COVID -19 is one of the most contagious and fatal diseases known today, which had spread in communities very fast. This deadly virus affecting the lives of many people and causing fatalities. Besides the strong practice of praying and putting trust in Allah for the cure of disease, Islam also recommends taking medications and adopt sufficient precautions for the safety and well-being of the community. Before 1400 years ago, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) introduced the quarantining and (...) hygiene practice, at a time there was very little known to combat the contagious diseases. Currently, modern societies are emphasizing on hand hygiene, social distancing, quarantining, and social isolation to combat COVOD-19. Islam has superseded modern societies by establishing the idea of quarantines and hygienic practice for contagious and fatal diseases. The commandments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by worldwide public health organizations are almost in line with the teachings of Islam. (shrink)

This volume considers forms of information manipulation and restriction in contemporary society, paying special attention to contemporary paternalistic practices in big data and scientific research, as the way in which the flow of information or knowledge might be curtailed by the manipulations of a small body of experts or algorithms.

Aim Excellent organization of the internal processes is essential for a well-functioning health care system. Particularly, the process of treatment and interaction with the patients is important because the perception of treatment and interaction has a direct relation to the patients’ satisfaction. The latter has a strong influence on the recovery of the patients. The impact of the maturity level of the treatment and interaction process on patient orientation is investigated at the example of an extensive survey of hospital managers (...) in Ukraine. -/- Method The analysis is based on an empirical data collection conducted with hospital managers and their deputies in a large Ukrainian city, which is acknowledged as a ‘model city’ with regard to a comprehensive health care reform in the country. By means of the Business Process Maturity Model (BPMM) we have tested our hypothesis that a high level of process maturity leads to a high level of patient orientation. For this purpose, we have developed a scale for measuring the level of process maturity and have checked the method on validity and reliability. A total of 79 hospital managers and deputies, who represent all public health care facilities of the city (hospitals, primary care clinics, etc.), participated in the study. -/- Results The study reveals a clear relationship between the level of maturity of the treatment and interaction process and the level of patient orientation of the respective health care facility. The variance, which is explained by the independent variable process maturity level, is 16.3 %. All formative dimensions have a strong significant influence on the construct “patient orientation”. Likewise the maturity level of the treatment and interaction process shows a strong significant influence on patient orientation. -/- Conclusion For health care facilities it is of great importance to achieve a high maturity level of the treatment and interaction process to live up to the claim of being patient oriented. The maturity of the process can be tested using the questionnaire developed in the course of our study. (shrink)

Background The health care sector is experiencing a drastic transition all over the world. This has an impact not only on the way hospitals, clinics, special-care homes etc. are organized, but also on patients, personnel and other stakeholders involved. The consequences of changes for both physicians and patients are investigated using a comprehensive health care reform in Ukraine as an example. -/- Methods The analysis is based on empirical data collected from general physicians in 2 Ukrainian cities. Based on the (...) Job Demands-Resources Model, we developed a set of hypotheses and tested them using the structural equation modelling technique. A total of 178 general physicians (81% of the approached population) participated in the study. -/- Results Our investigation reveals a clear relationship between the organizational job demands (additional tasks, structural changes, new processes) and their psychological effects (e. g., burnout). The latter have a negative impact on cooperation of physicians in hospitals leading to lower patient satisfaction. -/- Discussion and Conclusions Change in health care is inevitable. The example of Ukraine shows that openness of hospitals towards change reduces the probability of physicians’ burnout and, eventually, increases patient satisfaction. We strongly suggest applying the process management approach in order to increase openness to change, especially in turbulent times. (shrink)

Les recherches scientifiques sur la COVID-19 sont à la fois menées et diffusées à une cadence effrénée. Bien qu’il soit inspirant de voir la communauté de la recherche répondre avec autant de vigueur à la crise causée par la pandémie, toute cette activité a par ailleurs engendré un chaos de mauvaises données, de résultats contradictoires et de manchettes exagérées. Alors que la polarisation, la déformation et la médiatisation des résultats scientifiques s’intensifient chaque jour, les inquiétudes se font de plus en (...) plus sentir quant à la perspective que la science pertinente soit présentée au public d’une manière qui puisse causer de la confusion, créer de fausses attentes et éroder la confiance du public. Dans cette note, nous explorons les principaux enjeux associés à la présentation de la science dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19. Plusieurs de ces enjeux ne sont pas nouveaux. Mais la pandémie de la COVID-19 a braqué les projecteurs sur le processus de la recherche biomédicale et a amplifié les ramifications néfastes des problèmes de communication publique. Nous devons faire mieux. À ce titre, nous conclurons ce rapport en formulant dix recommandations qui s’adressent aux acteurs clés qui interviennent dans la communication de la science sur la COVID-19, notamment les gouvernements, les bailleurs de fonds, les universités, les éditeurs, les médias et les communautés de recherche. (shrink)

COVID science is being both done and circulated at a furious pace. While it is inspiring to see the research community responding so vigorously to the pandemic crisis, all this activity has also created a churning sea of bad data, conflicting results, and exaggerated headlines. With representations of science becoming increasingly polarized, twisted and hyped, there is growing concern that the relevant science is being represented to the public in a manner that may cause confusion, inappropriate expectations, and the erosion (...) of public trust. Here we explore some of the key issues associated with the representations of science in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these issues are not new. But the COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on the biomedical research process and amplified the adverse ramifications of poor public communication. We need to do better. As such, we conclude with ten recommendations aimed at key actors involved in the communication of COVID-19 science, including government, funders, universities, publishers, media and the research communities. (shrink)

Background The purpose of this systematic review is to examine cooling intervention research in outdoor occupations, evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions, and offer recommendations for future studies. This review focuses on outdoor occupational studies conducted at worksites or simulated occupational tasks in climatic chambers. -/- Methods This systematic review was performed in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched to identify original research on intervention studies published (...) in peer‐reviewed journals that aimed at reducing heat stress or heat‐related illness from January 2000 to August 2020. -/- Results A systematic search yielded a total of 1042 articles, of which 21 met the inclusion criteria. Occupations with cooling intervention studies included agriculture (n = 5), construction (n = 5), industrial workers (n = 4), and firefighters (n = 7). The studies focused on multiple types of cooling interventions cooling gear (vest, bandanas, cooling shirts, or head‐cooling gel pack), enhanced heat dissipation clothing, forearm or lower body immersion in cold water, water dousing, ingestion of a crushed ice slush drink, electrolyte liquid hydration, and modified Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommendations of drinking water and resting in the shade. -/- Conclusion Current evidence indicates that using multiple cooling gears along with rest cycles may be the most effective method to reduce heat‐related illness. Occupational heat‐related illnesses and death may be mitigated by targeted cooling intervention and workplace controls among workers of vulnerable occupational groups and industries. (shrink)

Since the “last day” of 2019, a new virus emerged in Asia, which in Feb./2020 was called by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) as Coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Due to its fast transmission, after eight months since the first global official case, at 23:59 (GMT) on August 31, 2020, the world has accounted for about 25,620,737 new confirmed cases with 854,222 deaths and 17,921,063 recovered cases (WORLDOMETERS, 2020). The pandemic is the newest challenge for all nations, most of them eager (...) to learn from countries that are successful against the virus. However, until now, no methodology was developed to identify them by taking into account a holistic approach with international rankings concerned to health, innovation, sustainability, image, and competitiveness, as well as the estimated real number of fatal cases by one million population during the first 180 days of facing the pandemic. Thus, the main objective is to develop a holistic methodology to identify twenty benchmark countries that are saving people's lives against Covid-19. The research is applied, as its results and recommendations are useful for academy, government policymakers and authorities. It is descriptive, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, based on bibliographic and documentary research, involving the study of official sites, articles, reports, manuals, and other technical documents related to 13 international rankings. As a result, the fifteen phases of the methodology, far from perfect, shows that among 108 well-evaluated countries, the top six benchmark countries are from Asia (1) Vietnam; 2) Taiwan; 3) Thailand; 4) China; 5) Malaysia; 6) Singapore), which suffered from fatal cases from first SARS-CoV in 2002/2003, followed by 7) South Korea; 8) New Zealand; 9) Australia; 10) Japan; 11) Hong Kong; 12) Cyprus; 13) Greece; 14) Latvia; 15) Iceland; 16) the United Arab Emirates; 17) Czech; 18) Lithuania; 19) Norway, and 20) Estonia. (shrink)

This chapter presents a reflection on the main findings of the research performed for this thesis, and the conclusions drawn from the results. The research was guided by the following main research question: How can the complex field of mental health problems among adolescents in Vietnam be understood and addressed with sustainable and accessible developments at the secondary school level?

The main research question for this thesis is: How can the complex field of mental health problems among adolescents in Vietnam be understood and addressed with sustainable and accessible developments at the school-level?

Post-mortem reproduction is a complex and contested matter attracting attention from a diverse group of scholars and resulting in various responses from a range of countries. Vietnam has been reluctant to deal directly with this matter and has, accordingly, permitted post-mortem reproduction implicitly. First, by analysing Vietnam’s post-mortem reproduction cases, this paper reflects on the manner in which Vietnamese authorities have handled each case in the context of the contemporary legal framework, and it reveals the moral questions arising therefrom. The (...) article then offers an account of Vietnamese social norms as an explanation for the tendency to conduct post-mortem reproduction. In arguing that a deeper and more thorough examination of the moral and ethical reasoning is required, the paper advocates in favour of supportive post-mortem reproduction regulation. In doing so, the paper seeks to reconcile the Vietnamese legal framework and post-mortem reproduction experiences of other countries. The article concludes that Vietnam and countries sharing the similar cultural traits should permit post-mortem reproduction explicitly. This would require full engagement with the ethical and legal issues arising, and careful promulgation of regulations and guidelines based on comparative experiences of a range of countries in handling this matter. (shrink)

The Global Burden of Disease Study is one of the largest-scale research collaborations in global health, producing critical data for researchers, policy-makers, and health workers about more than 350 diseases, injuries, and risk factors. Such an undertaking is, of course, extremely complex from an empirical perspective. But it also raises complex ethical and philosophical questions. In this volume, a group of leading philosophers, economists, epidemiologists, and policy scholars identify and discuss these philosophical questions. Better appreciating the philosophical dimensions of a (...) study like the GBD can make possible a more sophisticated interpretation of its results, and it can improve epidemiological studies in the future, so that they are better suited to produce results that help us to improve global health. (shrink)

Pressure and influences on school leaders as school policy makers during COVID-19 have made the task of interpreting, translating and implementing guidance more a complex and essential operation. School leaders need to prioritise and balance ever-changing government policy advice, against limitations of school buildings, the welfare of students and staff as well as the needs of the communities their schools serve. By surveying and interviewing headteachers, senior leaders and governors, this paper identifies the inputs school leaders have had to react (...) and respond to when creating policy in the context of COVID-19. The paper addresses the nature of, and factors affecting, pressures school leaders feel in authoring policy. The considerable challenges school-based policy makers face in implementing social distancing policy are non-trivial and increase tension to what is already highly stressful work. The report draws on data collected from a randomised, stratified sample of primary and secondary school leaders from across England in early June 2020, during the time of social distancing and school closure for most students. Findings suggest quality, quantity and frequency of top-down communication have contributed to school leader stress, while horizontal communication and collaboration between school leaders and across school communities helped to support leaders during rapid change. We recommend government and the education sector address communication, collaboration and change, to harness the challenges and opportunities identified by school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Background: All research has room for improvement, but authors do not always clearly acknowledge the limitations of their work. In this brief report, we sought to identify the prevalence of limitations statements in the medRxiv COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 dataset. Methods: We combined automated methods with manual review to analyse manuscripts for the presence, or absence, either of a defined limitations section in the text, or as part of the general discussion. Results: We identified a structured limitations statement in 28% of the (...) manuscripts, and overall 52% contained at least one mention of a study limitation. Over one-third of manuscripts contained none of the terms that might typically be associated with reporting of limitations. Overall our method performed with precision of 0.97 and recall of 0.91. Conclusion: The presence or absence of limitations statements can be identified with reasonable confidence using automated tools. We suggest that it might be beneficial to require a defined, structured statement about study limitations, either as part of the submission process, or clearly delineated within the manuscript. (shrink)

Catch up on the status of the more than 135 vaccines in development against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, ponder the biology and physics of free will and learn how scientists helped win the battle over evolution in US classrooms.

Health development is faced with a variety of important issues including health status disparities; double burden of disease; quality, equity and affordability of health services; community protection in the field of medicine and food; and clean and healthy life behavior. Methods: The method used in this short communication is descriptive-comparative where we review Safety Culture in Indonesian Health Services in five aspects, namely Health Services for the Poor, nutritional problems that are never complete, Extraordinary Events of Communicable Diseases, Poor health (...) in Disaster areas, and finally the number of health workers still lacking and comparing the problem of Human Resources Health problems in Indonesia according to WHO (2011) and the Indonesian Ministry of Health (2009). Results: The results obtained in this brief communication are that we get new information in the form of problems encountered in Safety Culture in Indonesian Health Services, examples of cases that occur, policies taken by the government in handling them and the results obtained after the implementation of the policy. All of these are reviewed in five aspects. Conclusion: The conclusion we can take in this brief communication is that health problems that occur in Indonesia have not been resolved even though the government has implemented policies related to these problems but has not been resolved to date. (shrink)

A recent study by Vietnamese social scientists looked into the initial success of Vietnam’s response to COVID-19.

Transhumanism is a movement that seeks to transcend certain limits inherent in the human condition as we know it. However, does it justify leaving aside the dignity of current human beings to fulfill the desire to increase human potential and improve the human being as such to obtain other human beings? Does it justify passing over the dignity of women in order to obtain new human beings through fertilization? To answer these questions we have made a sweep over the ideas (...) of transhumanism that drives this type of techniques, to later understand the vision that women have in the use of in vitro fertilization, the hidden discrimination under these procedures and the clarification of the true emancipation and restoration of women’s rights in rela- tion to the use of in vitro fertilization. -/- El transhumanismo es un movimiento que busca trascender ciertos límites inherentes a la condición humana como la conocemos. Sin embargo, ¿justifica dejar de lado la dignidad de los seres humanos actuales por cumplir el deseo de aumentar el potencial humano y mejorar al ser humano como tal para obtener otros seres humanos?, ¿justifica pasar por encima de la dignidad de una mujer para obtener nuevos seres humanos a través de la fertilización in vitro? Para responder a estas preguntas hemos hecho un barrido sobre las ideas del transhumanismo que impulsa este tipo de técnicas, para luego comprender la visión que se tiene de la mujer en el uso de la fertilización in vitro, la discriminación oculta bajo estos procedimientos y la aclaración de la verdadera emancipación y restablecimiento de los derechos de la mujer en relación con el uso de la fertilización in vitro. (shrink)

Being a parent advocate of the rights of children with autism, I have witnessed how the Vietnamese news media perpetuate misrepresentation, misinformation and disinformation about autism. As the first media study of its kind in Vietnam, this thesis set out to describe, interpret and explain the issue of misrepresentation, misinformation and disinformation about autism in the Vietnamese online news media between 2006 and 2016.

Using the metaphors body and voice and drawing on critical contributions on biopolitics, this article interrogates children’s participation rights in a knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’. With child welfare and protection practice as an empirical example, I analyse written assessment reports from a Swedish child welfare agency, all exemplifying how social workers evidence needs for protection and reasons for removing children from the home. I discuss how ‘evidencing’ equals a knowledge culture of seeing-believing and predicting-believing and the search for visibly damaged (...) bodies and underdeveloped minds. I furthermore problematise how such conceptualisation of evidencing foregrounds children’s ‘speaking’ bodies while silencing their voices. By showing these manifestations of evidencing, this critical contribution discusses some wider epistemic concerns for fields influenced by the knowledge cultures of ‘the evidence-based’. (shrink)

Introduction: Universal health coverage (UHC) was introduced in Iran in 2014. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usage rate of health services by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients after UHC implementation. Material and methods: In 2018, in a cross-sectional study, we evaluated the outpatients’ needs (within its previous month) and inpatients’ needs (within its previous 6 months) of HIV/AIDS patients in Isfahan province (the center of Iran). Concurrently, we estimated the essential health care services (...) that HIV/AIDS patients have to receive regularly, including vaccination for hepatitis B, measurement of CD4, tuberculosis (TB) assessments and TB treatment, anti-retroviral therapy, examination of viral load, treatment approach, and drug side effects counseling. Two checklists were used for assessing the utilization of health services and essential health cares for HIV/AIDS patients, validated by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran. Data were analyzed by χ2 test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and Spearman’s correlation test. Results: Two hundred and thirteen HIV/AIDS patients completed the questionnaires. The mean age of participants was 41.14 ± 9.23. The outpatient service utilization rate was 31.94% in the previous month and the rate of hospitalization was 126 per 1,000 HIV/AIDS patients in the previous 6 months. The majority of HIV/AIDS patients received essential health services more often than the national standard goals estimation. Conclusions: After UHC implementation, the utilization rate of outpatients and inpatients services in HIV/AIDS patients was more than similar indices in the general population. In addition, HIV/AIDS patients received essential health services adequately. (shrink)

This chapter suggests that descriptive epidemiological studies like the Global Burden of Disease Study can usefully be divided into four tasks: describing individuals’ health states over time, assessing their health states under a range of counterfactual scenarios, summarizing the information collected, and then packaging it for presentation. The authors show that each of these tasks raises important and challenging ethical questions. They comment on some of the philosophical issues involved in measuring health states, attributing causes to health outcomes, choosing the (...) counterfactual against which to assess causes, aggregating and summarizing complex information across multiple domains, discounting, age-weighting, handling fetal deaths, measuring health inequalities, representing uncertainty, and assessing personal responsibility for health outcomes. (shrink)

Objective: Patients' satisfaction is one of the most important goals in complete denture therapy, and there are many factors influencing this parameter. This study aimed to determine patient satisfaction with conventional removable complete denture made by clinical year students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Al Azhar University - Gaza. Methods: A sample of 85 patient who had conventional removable complete denture made by clinical year students at the Faculty of Dentistry Al Azhar University - Gaza filled a questionnaire two months (...) after denture insertion. The questionnaire involving four sections including personal information, history, denture evaluation in aspects of mastication, speech, aesthetics and retention, and patient comfort. Results: Of the 85 patient studied, 81% were males, and the mean age was 60.3 years SD+-9.64. The majority (n= 67, 79 %) lost their teeth because of bad oral hygiene. The overall satisfaction level was (92.1%), and patients were more satisfied with their upper denture. A significant association was found between the patient satisfaction and prior denture use experience (p=0.013). No significant correlation was established between the patient satisfaction and their gender (p=0.188), age group (p=0.640) and employment status (p=0.667).Conclusion: The patients have shown a high level of overall satisfaction. A significant association was found between the overall satisfaction level of patients and prior denture use experience. No statistically significant association was observed between the overall satisfaction level of patients and with each of age group, employment status and gender. (shrink)