ABSTRACT
Background: Despite the major developments in the vaccination, world health organization due to sudden rise in vaccine-preventable diseases has identified vaccine hesitancy as a major threat. Vaccine hesitancy gets stimulated by the health-related information acquired from various sources, hence is a major problem for health care authorities. Objectives: The main objective of the study was to assess the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and its predictors along with the attitude towards these vaccines by the public of Pakistan. Method: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from Jan-March 2022 in Pakistan. The survey from the current study was adopted from a previously conducted research. Male and female participants over the age of 18 were included for the current survey. Participants who declined to participate and providing incomplete details were excluded from the study. Institutional ethical approval for the research was obtained. Chi square test was conducted to assess association between the variable while descriptive statistics were used in form of frequencies. Results: From a total of 1194 participants, there were 232 (19.4%) males and 962 (80.6%) females. When enquired regarding finding vaccines to be safe, 69% of females and 75% of the males both agreed. In response to finding single dose of vaccine better than the multiple dose most of the females (38.5%) and males (47.4%) disagreed. Likewise, majority of females (81%) and males (84.5%) agreed that immunisation will protect against corona virus. In response to pharmaceutical companies being able to develop efficient COVID-19 vaccine, majority of the study participants agreed. When enquired about getting worried on hearing news of side effects, 61% females and 56% males stated not getting worried. Conclusion: An efficient and safe vaccine against COVID-19 is a vital factor in managing and bringing an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, wide acceptability of the vaccine is necessary. Public health policy developers must address the wide misinformation spreading regarding the COVID-19 vaccines. Moreover, government should aim to disseminate adequate information about the efficacy and safety of vaccine that will increase the trust of general public on government and will be beneficial in future.
ABSTRACT
In light of the COVID 19 sweeping the world, there is an urgent need for the speed and accuracy of diagnosing infected cases. The CT scan is imaging method for assessing the extent of virus penetration into the patient's lungs. Therefore, in this paper, we present a new method for enhancement CT images of COVID 19 patients. We propose and applied a new modified unsharp masking method for enhancing CT images of the COVID-19 patients. The main objective of using this technique is to add edge information back to the original image as well as to emphasize edges and discontinuities to obtain higher contrast in the enhanced images. We recruited 30 samples of CT scan image from (male and female). A new scale of contrast enhancement has been supported quantitative improvement using two assessment metrics EME (Measure of Enhancement) and AME (Absolute Measure of Enhancement). These scales control and help to get closer to a better appearance of the resulting image compared to the original image. The quality of output images of proposed technique outperforms traditional unsharp masking technique with 6.725% and 23.73% based on EME and AME evaluations. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
IntroductionThere remains significant variation in treatment of COVID-19 associated respiratory failure. Although Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) has shown to improve outcome in single centre studies, inclusion criteria for commencement of CPAP varies significantly (Ashish et al., 2020;Nightingale et al., 2020). This respiratory-led ward-level dedicated CPAP unit provided CPAP to COVID-19 patients through the ‘second wave’. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and appropriateness of CPAP for COVID-19 management in an elderly population.MethodsThis retrospective observational study included all patients aged 75 and over who received CPAP for COVID-19 infection, admitted to a district general hospital between 1 October 2020 and 16 February 2021. Fifty-seven patients were included. Data were collected from computerised clinical notes for analysis.ResultsOf 57 patients (39 male and mean age 80), 47 (82.5%) patients died during admission or within 5 days of discharge. 10 (17.5%) patients survived to discharge. Non-survivors had a median CFS of 4;IQR 3–5, as did survivors (median CFS 4;IQR 3–4). Non-survivors had a median of 3 (IQR 2–4) significant comorbidities, and survivors had 2.5 (IQR 2–3.8). Median P/F (PaO2/FiO2) ratio prior to commencing CPAP was 10.5 (IQR 8.4–12.6) for non-survivors and 14.4 (IQR 12.9–18.8) for survivors. The odds of death were 6.8 (p value <0.01) in those with a severe P/F ratio (<13.3).ConclusionThis evidence indicates that CPAP used in patients aged 75 and over, particularly those with a severe P/F ratio prior to commencing CPAP, does not improve mortality. These findings can inform future decision-making and CPAP protocol development to potentially limit its use in this group. Further study of less invasive alternative management options, such as nasal high flow oxygen, is recommended.