RESUMEN

The menace of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections among low- and middle-income countries with no access to a free HPV vaccine is a public health concern. HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Nigeria, while the most known types of HPV genotypes being transmitted are the high-risk HPV-16 and 18 genotypes. In this study, we explored the predictors of self-reported HPV infections and HPV genital warts infection among a population of students, non-academic staff, and academic staff of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) University located in Lapai, Nigeria. We also assessed their knowledge about HPV infections and genotypes, and sexual behaviors. An online cross-sectional study was conducted by setting up a structured questionnaire on Google Forms and it was distributed to the university community via Facebook and other social media platforms of the university. The form captured questions on HPV infection, and knowledge about HPV infection and genotypes, as well as the sexual health of the participants. All variables were described using frequencies and percentage distribution; chi-squared test statistics were used to explore the association between HPV infection (medical records of HPV infection) and the participants' profile, and a logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the factors associated with HPV genital warts infection among the population. This study reveals those participants between the ages of 26-40 years (81.3%) and those currently not in a sexually active relationship-single/divorced (26.4%)-who have self-reported having the HPV-16 and -18 genotypes. Moreover, participants between 26-40 years of age (OR: 0.45, 95%CI: 0.22-0.89) reported themselves to be carriers of HPV genital warts. Therefore, this study reveals the factors associated with HPV infection and genital warts peculiar to IBB university students and staff. Hence, we suggest the need for HPV awareness programs and free HPV vaccine availability at IBB university.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Epidemic diseases and media campaigns are closely associated with each other. Considering most epidemics have multiple pathogenic strains, in this paper, we take the lead in proposing two multi-strain SIS epidemic models in heterogeneous networks incorporating awareness programs due to media. For the first model, we assume that the transmission rates for strain 1 and strain 2 depend on the level of awareness campaigns. For the second one, we further suppose that awareness divides susceptible population into two different subclasses. After defining the basic reproductive numbers for the whole model and each strain, we obtain the analytical conditions that determine the extinction, coexistence and absolute dominance of two strains. Moreover, we also formulate its optimal control problem and identify an optimal implementation pair of awareness campaigns using optimal control theory. Given the complexity of the second model, we use the numerical simulations to visualize its different types of dynamical behaviors. Through theoretical and numerical analysis of these two models, we discover some new phenomena. For example, during the persistence analysis of the first model, we find that the characteristic polynomials of two boundary equilibria may have a pair of pure imaginary roots, implying that Hopf bifurcation and periodic solutions may appear. Most strikingly, multistability occurs in the second model and the growth rate of awareness programs (triggered by the infection prevalence) has a multistage impact on the final size of two strains. The numerical results suggest that the spread of a two-strain epidemic can be controlled (even be eradicated) by taking the measures of enhancing awareness transmission, reducing memory fading of aware individuals and ensuring high-level influx and rapid growth of awareness programs appropriately.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

T2 diabetes is a silent killer and serious public health issue across the world, though awareness of diabetes allows understanding of the causes and prevention of the disease. With this inspiration, we formulate a deterministic model by incorporating awareness and saturated treatment function of the T2 diabetes model to study the dynamics of the disease. We have carried out thoroughly analysis of the model system, including positivity of solutions, boundedness, equilibrium, and stability analysis. Again, we consider the deterministic model system as an optimal control problem by taking awareness (M) and treatment (u) as time-depended control parameters. The sufficient conditions for optimal control for T2 diabetes are obtained utilizing the Pontryagin's maximum principle in time-dependent controls to find optimal strategies for disease control. We intended to assess the efficacy and costs of several strategies to determine which is the best cost-effective strategy with the limited resources for treatment. The parameters incident rate ( ß ), awareness coefficient (p), media (M), and treatment (u) highly influence the dynamics of T2 diabetes. Numerical simulations suggest that both awareness and treatment controls have a significant impact on the optimal system and are economically feasible to reduce the prevalence of T2 diabetes.

RESUMEN

This paper is focused on the design of optimal control strategies for COVID-19 and the model containing susceptible individuals with awareness of protection and susceptible individuals without awareness of protection is established. The goal of this paper is to minimize the number of infected people and susceptible individuals without protection awareness, and to increase the willingness of susceptible individuals to take protection measures. We conduct a qualitative analysis of this mathematical model. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the optimal control method is proposed, namely personal protective measures, vaccination and awareness raising programs. It is found that combining the three methods can minimize the number of infected people. Moreover, the introduction of awareness raising program in society will greatly reduce the existence of susceptible individuals without protection awareness. To evaluate the most cost-effective strategy we performed a cost-effectiveness analysis using the ICER method.

RESUMEN

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), like any other disease, has created great worry in Afghanistan. The country's slew of issues has paved the way for HIV to spread and go unchecked. International groups have banded together to stop the virus's spread since the first case was confirmed in Afghanistan. The cumulative effects of international collaboration have aided in the reduction of cases and improved awareness. Because of their injection use, a large portion of the country's population has been classified as a vulnerable category for HIV infection. Awareness campaigns and international collaboration should be implemented to further limit the spread of HIV.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

La conciencia fonológica es un predictor importante del aprendizaje de la lectoescritura. Se han desarrollado y probado diferentes programas para su estimulación, sin embargo, el grado de variabilidad entre los métodos utilizados dificulta la comparación de resultados. Es necesaria una síntesis de la literatura para analizar la efectividad de programas de estimulación de la conciencia fonológica, que considere la variabilidad existente entre metodologías. Se planteó una revisión con los siguientes objetivos:1) sintetizar la literatura sobre estudios que investigan programas de estimulación de la conciencia fonológica en niños con desarrollo típico; 2) examinar la eficacia de dichos programas; 3) evaluar críticamente su metodología.Para esta investigación bibliográfica se utilizaron las siguientes bases de datos: Central, Medline, Pubmed, Scopus y Web of Knowledge. Diez artículos cumplieron con los criterios de elegibilidad establecidos y fueron incluidos en el presente estudio. En general, los resultados mostraron la efectividad de los programas de estimulación de conciencia fonológica utilizados. Sin embargo, la calidad metodológica es variable entre los estudios; esto incluye una falta de detalle en cuanto a los criterios de inclusión, capacitación limitada de los/las profesionales que llevaron a cabo los programas de CF, participación inconsistente de los padres y falta de seguimiento. Se discuten algunas pautas para futuras investigaciones con el objetivo de mejorar la calidad metodológica de los estudios y reducir el riesgo de sesgo.

Phonological awareness is a strong predictor of reading and writing skills development. Several programs have been developed and tested for the stimulation of phonological awareness, but the degree of variation among them makes it difficult to compare the different methods. A synthesis of the literature on phonological awareness stimulation programs is needed to examine the effectiveness of PA programs while considering the variability that exists between the methodologies used. This systematic review aimedto 1) synthesize the literature on PA stimulation programs in typically developing children; 2) examine the effectiveness of PA programs; 3) critically appraise the methodology of PA stimulation programs. Central, Medline, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Knowledge were used to conduct an extensive literature search. A total of 10 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the present study. Results showed that, in general, the phonological awareness stimulation programs carried out in the analyzed research were effective. However, the quality of the methodology varied significantly across studies, showing in some cases a lack of detail in the inclusion criteria, limited training of the professionals who carried out the PA programs, an inconsistency in parent involvement, and a lack of follow-up. Guidelines for future research are discussed to enhance the methodological quality of this line of research and reduce the risk of bias.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Information security has come to the forefront as an organizational priority since information systems are considered as some of the most important assets for achieving competitive advantages. Despite huge capital expenditures devoted to information security, the occurrence of security breaches is still very much on the rise. More studies are thus required to inform organizations with a better insight on how to adequately promote information security. To address this issue, this study investigates important factors influencing hospital staff's adherence to Information Security Policy (ISP). Deterrence theory is adopted as the theoretical underpinning, in which punishment severity and punishment certainty are recognized as the most significant predictors of ISP adherence. Further, this study attempts to identify the antecedents of punishment severity and punishment certainty by drawing from upper echelon theory and well-acknowledged international standards of IS security practices. A survey approach was used to collect 299 valid responses from a large Taiwanese healthcare system, and hypotheses were tested by applying partial least squares-based structural equation modeling. Our empirical results show that Security Education, Training, and Awareness (SETA) programs, combined with internal auditing effectiveness are significant predictors of punishment severity and punishment certainty, while top management support is not. Further, punishment severity and punishment certainty are significant predictors of hospital staff's ISP adherence intention. Our study highlights the importance of SETA programs and internal auditing for reinforcing hospital staff's perceptions on punishment concerning ISP violation, hospitals can thus propose better internal strategies to improve their staff's ISP compliance intention accordingly.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

CONTEXT: Blood transfusion is an essential medical procedure conducted with various purposes to provide patients with blood needed. The procedure saves patients' lives, as blood cannot be manufactured artificially and can only be obtained from human blood sources. AIMS: To assess the awareness of, perceptions of, motivations regarding, and barriers to blood donation among a sample of Jazan University students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate students of Jazan University. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stratified random sampling was used to collect information from 440 students, and a predesigned, structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the study variables. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Involved descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. SPSS was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of blood donation was 29.0% (95% CI, 25.0-33.3), significantly higher for males at 44.3% (95% CI, 38.3-50.4) than for females at 10.5% (95% CI, 7.3-16.0; P < 0.001), and with odds ratio (OR) = 6.8; [95% CI, 4.1-11.2] than females. Students' level of knowledge regarding blood donation was low. The main barriers to blood donation were identified as being unqualified for blood donation (57.5%) and risk of contracting infectious disease (48.7%) and the desire to donate in the future to a close friend (38.6%). The main motivations for donating blood were identified as religious reasons (77.5%), altruism (77.5%), and to serve the homeland and meet the call of need (77.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of blood donation was found to be low, and students' knowledge regarding blood donation appeared to be lacking. The development of awareness programs among the university's students will address students' misconceptions about blood donation and encourage them to join donation campaigns.

RESUMEN

Juvenile awareness programs, such as Scared Straight, remain in use despite the finding that these programs provoke rather than prevent delinquency. The aim of this study was to examine what program components are associated with program effectiveness, which is important for improving these programs. A three-level meta-analysis was conducted. A literature search yielded 13 independent studies (N = 1,536) from which 88 effect sizes could be extracted. A nonsignificant overall effect was found (d = 0.10), indicating that juvenile awareness programs have no effect on offending behavior and other outcomes that are related to delinquency. No significant moderator effects were found for program components. The moderator analyses revealed that juvenile awareness programs are effective in reducing antisocial attitudes (d = 0.46), which has not been meta-analytically studied before. Furthermore, larger effects were found as follow-up length increased. These results show a more nuanced view on the effectiveness of juvenile awareness programs is necessary.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Objective: The goal of this research was to assess the effectiveness of available concussion educational resources in Canada, the means used to disseminate this knowledge and the impact of these educational resources on players' concussion prevention knowledge. Methods: We assessed concussion knowledge before and after exposure to one or more of 19 resources introduced through a national program aimed to increase awareness and knowledge of concussion. The effectiveness of the mode of delivery was measured by changes in concussion knowledge scores (CKS) between pre and pro scores. Measures: Concussion knowledge scores (CKS) were calculated for pre- and post- exposure to concussion educational resources and used as a measure of both, the effectiveness of each resource as well as the effectiveness of the delivery method. The effectiveness of each educational resource was also measured by the respondents' rating of each concussion educational resource. Results: Respondents in post-survey had higher CKS than those in pre-survey. Two out of the 19 newly developed concussion educational resources were effective in improving the resource users' CKS. Linear regression showed that using more resources further increased CKS. Four out of six modes of delivery enhanced respondents' concussion knowledge. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that the newly developed Canadian concussion educational resources were effective at improving users' concussion knowledge. Our data demonstrates that using three or more resources further enhanced the users' concussion knowledge. Future research, however, is critical to assess whether concussion prevention knowledge is sufficient to reduce injuries and factors influencing it.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) in conjunction with hepatitis B virus (HBV) increases adult morbidity and mortality. A number of studies have performed cost-benefit analyses for HBV interventions, but they have ignored the impact of HDV on these outcomes. METHODS: Using a mathematical model of HBV-HDV epidemiology, we compare health benefits and cost outcomes of four interventions: testing with HBV adult vaccination (diagnosis), diagnosis with antiviral treatment for HBV infections (mono-infections), diagnosis with antiviral treatment for HBV-HDV infections (dual-infections), and awareness programs. The relationship between optimal levels and outcomes of each of these interventions and HDV prevalence in HBV infected individuals ranging from 0 to 50% is determined. RESULTS: Over a 50 year period under no intervention, HBV prevalence, per capita total cost and death toll increase by 2.25%, -$11 and 2.6-fold respectively in moderate HDV endemic regions compared to mono-infected regions; the corresponding values for high HDV endemic regions are 4.2%, -$21 and 3.9-fold. Optimal interventions can be strategized similarly in mono and dually endemic regions. Only implementation of all four interventions achieves a very low HBV prevalence of around 1.5% in a moderate HDV endemic region such as China, with 2.8 million fewer deaths compared to no intervention. Although the policy of implementation of all four interventions costs additional $382 billion compared to no intervention, it still remains cost-effective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $1400/QALY. Very high efficacy awareness programs achieve less prevalence with fewer deaths at a lower cost compared to treatment and/or vaccination programs. CONCLUSION: HDV substantially affects the performance of any HBV-related intervention. Its exclusion results in over-estimation of the effectiveness of HBV interventions.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the prostate is now the most commonly diagnosed male cancer worldwide. However, knowledge and perception of Nigerian men about the disease has not been fully investigated. AIM: To determine the level of awareness about prostate cancer among men 40 years and older in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. METHOD: Four focus group discussions were used to obtain information from 29 randomly- selected Nigerian men, aged 40 years and above, about their knowledge of the common causes of morbidity and mortality among men of their age group as well as prostatic diseases and their perceived causes. In-depth interviews were then conducted among 656 participants using questionnaires. RESULTS: Generally, the respondents and discussants were unaware of the prostate gland and its diseases; whilst relatively few knew about carcinoma of the prostate and most were ignorant of the symptoms of the disease. Among discussants and respondents who knew about the gland, most thought that benign and malignant prostatic diseases were long-term complications of promiscuity and sexually transmitted infections. All the participants were interested in receiving information about all aspects of carcinoma of the prostate. CONCLUSION: . These results indicate that a large proportion of adult Nigerian men are ignorant of the prostate gland and its diseases in general, and carcinoma of the prostate in particular. There is therefore the need for community awareness programs on prostatic diseases in our locality.

RESUMEN

In Asian culture, there is much stigmatization attached on having mental health problems and seeking help from a mental health expert. It is therefore, not surprising, that this stigmatization results in the refutation of the subsistence of a psychiatric problem in an individual and his family but also produces obstruction to help-seeking desires. To get a clear picture of the existence of psychiatric issues in the population, various research projects addressing psychiatric issues in children, women, and elderly are conducted both in Pakistan and India. A significant input has been taken from research conducted in India combating disaster management. In addition, public awareness programs are organized to provide information about common psychiatric disorders in children, adults, women, and the elderly.-Furthermore, psychiatric patients and their families are educated for the management of mental heath problems related to marriage, pregnancy, birth and hazards of smoking & substance abuse in young adults. Keeping in view the similarity in cultural background, treatment models, family structure, and psychosocial factors, collaborative research studies should be encouraged leading to improvement in psychiatric care of the patients both in India and Pakistan.