Analyzing COVID-19 Vaccination Sentiments in Nigerian Cyberspace: Insights from a Manually Annotated Twitter Dataset (preprint)

Numerous successes have been achieved in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, initially using various precautionary measures like lockdowns, social distancing, and the use of face masks. More recently, various vaccinations have been developed to aid in the prevention or reduction of the severity of the COVID-19 infection. Despite the effectiveness of the precautionary measures and the vaccines, there are several controversies that are massively shared on social media platforms like Twitter. In this paper, we explore the use of state-of-the-art transformer-based language models to study people's acceptance of vaccines in Nigeria. We developed a novel dataset by crawling multi-lingual tweets using relevant hashtags and keywords. Our analysis and visualizations revealed that most tweets expressed neutral sentiments about COVID-19 vaccines, with some individuals expressing positive views, and there was no strong preference for specific vaccine types, although Moderna received slightly more positive sentiment. We also found out that fine-tuning a pre-trained LLM with an appropriate dataset can yield competitive results, even if the LLM was not initially pre-trained on the specific language of that dataset.

Determinants of transmission COVID-19 in South Sulawesi

Background: Corona Virus (COVID-19) is a new respiratory viral infectious disease that can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome. Subsequently, as of May 31, 2022, the government of South Sulawesi reported 143,276 confirmed cases, 2,463 deaths, and 140,395 recovered patients. Purpose: To analyze the impact of behavior, travel history, and comorbidities on the incidence of COVID-19 in South Sulawesi. Methods: This is observational research with a cross-sectional study design and was conducted from January-April 2022 in 7 districts of South Sulawesi Province. A population of 650 respondents with a total sample of 161 patients confirmed positive and 189 suspected of having COVID-19. The Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Results: There was a relationship between travel history (p 0.00;OR 2.19), knowledge (p 0.03;OR 1.74), and actions (p 0.00;OR 0.18) on the incidence of COVID-19. Additionally, no relationship was reported between comorbidities (p 0.85), attitudes (p 0.90), and level of knowledge (p 0.08 > (0.05)) on the incidence of COVID-19. The most influential variable in the rapid spread was travel history, with an exp(B) value of 2.19 CI (95%) (LL=1.26;UL=3.80). Conclusion: The results showed that travel history, knowledge, and actions made a major contribution to the spread of COVID-19 in South Sulawesi Province.

Workplace violence and turnover intention among the Bangladeshi female nurses after a year of pandemic: An exploratory cross-sectional study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace violence was widespread against healthcare personnel. Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses exhilarates their turnover intention (TI). The objective of this study was to investigate the association between workplace violence and turnover intention and also identify other factors associated with TI among Bangladeshi female nurses. An exploratory cross-sectional study was carried out among 881 female nurses between April 26 and July 10, 2021. The TI of the female nurses was the outcome variable of this study. The primary exposure variable was WPV faced by the nurses. Workplace Violence Scale (WPVS) was used to measure the WPV, and Turnover Intention Scale-6 (TIS-6) was used to measure the TI of the nurses. Multiple linear regression model was fitted to find the adjusted association of TI with WPV and other study variables. A stratified analysis by type of job (government vs. private) was also performed. The majority of the nurses (74.46%) faced low to high levels of WPV. The overall mean score of TIS was found 16.33 (± 4.72). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that compared to government jobholders, the mean score of TIS (15.81 vs. 17.20) was found significantly higher among the private jobholders (p < 0.001). Nurses exposed to the intermediate and high level of WPV had a significantly higher TI score (β = 4.35, 95% CI: 3.36, 5.34) than the non-exposures. The TI of private jobholders was found significantly higher (β = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.09, 3.00) than the government jobholders. Compared to diploma degree holders, significantly higher TI was observed among the B.Sc. degree holders (β = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.22, 1.55) and M.Sc. degree holders (β = 1.46, 95% CI: 0.58, 2.34). Besides, the nurses who did not get timely salaries scored higher TI (β = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.12, 2.22). Moreover, the nurses who did not receive any training against WPV scored significantly higher TI (β = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.03, 2.74). The stratified analysis by type of job also revealed significant factors of TI in government and private settings. This study found a high prevalence of WPV and a high rate of TI among Bangladeshi female nurses. Moreover, this study explored an association between WPV and TI. The study findings could help policymakers facilitate a comfortable working environment by preventing WPV and addressing the factors to reduce nurses' frequent TI.

Clinical characteristics and factors associated with COVID-19-related mortality and hospital admission during the first two epidemic waves in 5 rural provinces in Indonesia: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Data on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) clinical characteristics and severity from resource-limited settings are limited. This study examined clinical characteristics and factors associated with COVID-19 mortality and hospitalisation in rural settings of Indonesia, from 1 January to 31 July, 2021. METHODS: This retrospective cohort included individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 based on polymerase chain reaction or rapid antigen diagnostic test, from five rural provinces in Indonesia. We extracted demographic and clinical data, including hospitalisation and mortality from a new piloted COVID-19 information system named Sistem Informasi Surveilans Epidemiologi (SISUGI). We used mixed-effect logistic regression to examine factors associated with COVID-19-related mortality and hospitalisation. RESULTS: Of 6,583 confirmed cases, 205 (3.1%) died and 1,727 (26.2%) were hospitalised. The median age was 37 years (Interquartile range 26-51), with 825 (12.6%) under 20 years, and 3,371 (51.2%) females. Most cases were symptomatic (4,533; 68.9%); 319 (4.9%) had a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia and 945 (14.3%) presented with at least one pre-existing comorbidity. Age-specific mortality rates were 0.9% (2/215) for 0-4 years; 0% (0/112) for 5-9 years; 0% (1/498) for 10-19 years; 0.8% (11/1,385) for 20-29 years; 0.9% (12/1,382) for 30-39 years; 2.1% (23/1,095) for 40-49 years; 5.4% (57/1,064) for 50-59 years; 10.8% (62/576) for 60-69 years; 15.9% (37/232) for ≥70 years. Older age, pre-existing diabetes, chronic kidney disease, liver diseases, malignancy, and pneumonia were associated with higher risk of mortality and hospitalisation. Pre-existing hypertension, cardiac diseases, COPD, and immunocompromised condition were associated with risk of hospitalisation but not with mortality. There was no association between province-level density of healthcare workers with mortality and hospitalisation. CONCLUSION: The risk of COVID-19-related mortality and hospitalisation was associated with higher age, pre-existing chronic comorbidities, and clinical pneumonia. The findings highlight the need for prioritising enhanced context-specific public health action to reduce mortality and hospitalisation risk among older and comorbid rural populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic and health workforce brain drain in Nigeria.

Over the years, the Nigerian healthcare workforce, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have always been known to emigrate to developed countries to practice. However, the recent dramatic increase in this trend is worrisome. There has been a mass emigration of Nigerian healthcare workers to developed countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the push factors have been found to include the inadequate provision of personal protective equipment, low monthly hazard allowance, and inconsistent payment of COVID-19 inducement allowance on top of worsening insecurity, the pull factors are higher salaries as well as a safe and healthy working environment. We also discuss how healthcare workers can be retained in Nigeria through increment in remunerations and prompt payment of allowances, and how the brain drain can be turned into a brain gain via the use of electronic data collection tools for Nigerian health workers abroad, implementation of the Bhagwati's tax system, and establishment of a global skill partnership with developed countries.

Daily activities and training experience of urology residents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: A nationwide survey.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the training experience of urology residents in Indonesia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a web-based questionnaire (SurveyMonkey) involved all registered urology residents in Indonesia. The questionnaire was structured in Bahasa Indonesia, consisted of 28 questions, and divided into three sections: Demographic characteristics, current daily activities, and opinions regarding training experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak. The survey was distributed to all respondents via chief of residents in each urology center from May 26, 2020 to Jun 2, 2020. RESULTS: Of the total 247 registered urology residents, 243 were eligible for the study. The response and completeness rate for this study were 243/243 (100%). The median age of respondents was 30 (24-38) years old, and 92.2% of them were male. Among them, 6 (2.5%) respondents were confirmed as COVID-19 positive. A decrease in residents' involvement in clinical and surgical activities was distinguishable in endourological and open procedures. Most educational activities were switched to web-based video conferences (WVC), while others opted for the in-person method. Smart learning methods, such as joining a national/international speaker webinar or watching a recorded video, were used by 93.8% and 80.7% of the respondents, respectively. The respondents thought that educational activities using WVC and smart learning methods were effective methods of learning. Overall, the respondents felt unsure whether training experience during the COVID-19 pandemic was comparable to before the respective period. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected urology residents' training experience. However, it also opened up new possibilities for incorporating new learning methodologies in the future.

Time to Play in Javanese Preschool Children-An Examination of Screen Time and Playtime before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This comparative-descriptive multi-national research examined the screen time and playtime of preschool children aged 1-6 years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents reported on the play and screen habits of preschool-aged children on the weekday and weekends using a questionnaire on the lifestyle habits of their children. Results indicated a significant difference in screen time and playtime on the weekday and weekend before the pandemic (screen time: 1.91 ± 2.40 vs. 2.16 ± 2.60 h; playtime: 3.55 ± 2.49 vs. 4.11 ± 2.58 h, both p < 0.05), but during the COVID-19 pandemic, only the weekday-weekend difference in screen time was significantly different (screen time: 2.87 ± 3.15 vs. 3.26 ± 3.18 h, p < 0.05; playtime: 3.25 ± 3.41 vs. 3.48 ± 2.41, p > 0.05). Before- and during-COVID-19 comparisons showed that the average daily screen time increased by 150% from 2.04 h to 3.06 h (p < 0.05), while the average play time decreased by 12.3% (3.83 to 3.36 h, p < 0.05). Based upon international guidelines for movement behaviours of young children, special attention and actions are needed to manage the excessive daily screen time and preserve the average daily playtime of Javanese preschool children. These results present useful benchmarking data for parents, teachers, and health authorities to initiate ameliorative interventions to better balance children's screen time and playtime as Indonesia emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic to a COVID-19 endemic.

Portable Smart Energy Meter for Low Voltage Customer of Power 53 -197 KVA

Covid-19 outbreak had changed the people behavior toward electricity usage. This pandemic has fasten the transformation of PLN business process, from supply driven into demand driven business. PLN UP3 Lhokseumawe challenged to improve their services and energy transaction. In order to achieve the goals, it is suggested to improve services of new installment for 3-phase energy meter without expansion. Previously the task can only be done with at least 3 days of works. It was mainly due to many steps required to assemble the metering box. This paper proposed the usage of portable smart energy meter that can replace the metering box during assembly phase. The device can also accommodate several power options that can adjust with the customer's current plan. Thus, by implementing the portable box, customers can enjoy the electricity by the same day instead of previous 3 days. The result from energy meter showed that based on Ibase, with load of 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% resulted in 0.0538%, 0.0619%, 0.0139% and 0.0335% respectively. The result from CT Ratio error with 100/5, 150/5, 200/5, 250/5 and 300/5 showed as -0.26%, -0.32%, -0.23%, 0.15% and -0.17% respectively. The result was in range which mean that smart energy meter portable was tested on good condition. The use of this device can shorten the service delivery time, especially on new installment for 3-phase energy meter without expansion of power between 53 to 197 kVA. This solution is advantageous both for PLN customers and the corporation itself. © 2022 IEEE.

Association Between Serum D-dimer Levels and COVID-19 Severity Among Vaccinated and Non-vaccinated Individuals

Introduction: Coagulopathy is commonly seen with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Abnormal coagulation parameters are important to determine the prognosis and severity of the disease. There is scant evidence of coagulation in the Omicron variant of COVID-19. This study aimed to analyse the correlation between D-dimer level and clinical severity among 284 hospitalised patients with COVID in Jakarta, Indonesia. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among 284 patients with COVID-19 admitted to Wisma Atlet Kemayoran COVID-19 Emergency Hospital between August 2021 and January 2022. D-dimer levels were determined on I-Chroma cs2100 and x-rays were taken with a Rotanode E7239X. p<0.05 was defined as statistically significant. The analytics were calculated using SPSS ver. 21. Results: Elevated D-dimer was discovered in 175 patients with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 (61.61%). Radiological signs of pneumonia were found in 38 patients (13.3%). Only one patient (0.35% severity rate) was diagnosed with a severe clinical case. A correlation was identified between an elevated D-dimer level and radiological signs of pneumonia in the Omicron variant of COVID-19 (p=0.045). Conclusion: The Omicron variant of COVID-19 tends to generate milder symptoms and less severe cases. Elevated D-dimer can be one of the signs of severity in the Omicron variant of COVID-19 due to its correlation with radiological signs of pneumonia. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.

Performance and correlation of ten commercial immunoassays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Accurate immunoassays with a good correlation to neutralizing antibodies are required to support SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, management, vaccine deployment, and epidemiological investigation. We conducted a study to evaluate the performance and correlation of the surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) and other commercial immunoassays. We tested 107 sera of COVID-19 confirmed cases from three different time points, 58 confirmed non-COVID-19 sera, and 52 sera collected before the pandemic with two sVNTs, seven chemiluminescent assays, and one fluorescein assay. All assays achieved excellent sensitivity (95%-100%, ≥15 days after onset of illness), specificity (95.5%-100%), and showed moderate to high correlation with GenScript sVNT (r = 0.58 to r = 0.98), except Roche total antibodies (r = 0.48). Vazyme sVNT and Siemens total antibodies showed the highest correlation with GenScript sVNT (r = 0.98 and 0.88, respectively). Median indexes that may be used to estimate sera with the highest ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and ACE-2 receptor attachment (GenScript sVNT inhibition 90%-100%) were 6.9 S/C (Abbott IgG), 161.9 COI (FREND™ IgG), 16.8 AU/ml (Snibe IgG), 40.1 S/CO (Beckman IgG), 281.9 U/ml (Mindray IgG), 712.2 U/ml (Mindray total antibodies), >10 index (Siemens total antibodies), and 95.3% inhibition (Vazyme sVNT). All ten commercial COVID-19 serology assays, with different targeting antigens, demonstrated a reliable performance, supporting the utility of those assays in clinical and research settings. However, further studies using more samples are needed to refine the results of evaluating the performances of these marketed serological assays. Reliable serological assays would be useful for clinicians, researchers and epidemiologists in confirming SARS-CoV-2 infections, observing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and immune response post infection and vaccination, leading to better management and control of the disease.

A case of aseptic bilateral cavernous sinus thrombosis following a recent inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

This case report aims to describe the first report of bilateral aseptic cavernous sinus thrombosis (CST) with a recent history of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination. A 50-year-old woman presented with bilateral proptosis, decreased vision, and ophthalmoplegia 16 days following CoronaVac® vaccine. The visual acuity of the left eye was 20/150, while the right eye was no light perception with a hyperemic optic nerve head. She had a history of hyperthyroidism and currently on warfarin consumption. Laboratory results depicted elevated free T4, free T3, international normalized ratio, and low protein S and C. Magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral CST, and high-dose methylprednisolone along with fondaparinux was given. The symptoms were significantly resolved, with the visual acuity of the left eye being improved to 20/20 but not the right eye. Bilateral CST has not been previously reported following inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The underlying systemic conditions should be taken into consideration for the possibility of the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related event.

Social factors influence on anxiety, depression level and psychological trauma of obstetrics and gynecology residents during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background and aim: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has enforced obstetrics and gynecology (ObGyn) residency training process to undergo wide changes including lessons modifications, yet their mental health were not evaluated. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of social factors on anxiety, depression level, and psychological trauma of ObGyn residents during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the impact of COVID-19 to residency training program. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three institutions in Indonesia: the University of Indonesia, the University of Lambung Mangkurat, and the University of Syiah Kuala. A total of 169 ObGyn residents agreed to participate and were enrolled in this study. Results: Total 169 residents were eligible with a mean age of 26-42 years. 76.9% of the residents were exposed to COVID-19 patients during clinical rotation. Approximately half of them (52.6%) thought COVID-19 has brought negative effects. Long-distance learning was considered of good quality by 40.2% of participants. The majority experienced enough resting periods, nearly half of them (45.5%) were concerned about the impact of being a less competent specialist. Conclusion: Overall, no significant statistical relationship were revealed between social factors and depression, anxiety and psychological trauma in ObGyn residents during COVID-19 pandemic.

Impacts of COVID-19 Restrictions on Regional and Local Air Quality Across Selected West African Cities.

The emergence of COVID-19 brought with it panic and a sense of urgency causing governments to impose strict restrictions on human activities and vehicular movements. With anthropogenic emissions, especially waste management (domestic and municipal), traffic, and industrial activities, said to be a significant contributor to ambient air pollution, this study assessed the impacts of the imposed restrictions on the concentrations and size distribution of atmospheric aerosols and concentration of gaseous pollutants over West African subregion and seven major COVID-19 epicenters in the subregion. Satellite retrievals and reanalysis data sets were used to study the impact of the restrictions on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and atmospheric concentrations NO2, SO2, CO, and O3. The anomalies were computed for 2020 relative to 2017-2019 (the reference years). In 2020 relative to the reference years, for area-averaged AOD levels, there was a consequential mean percentage change between -6.7% ± 21.0% and 19.2% ± 27.9% in the epicenters and -10.1% ± 15.4% over the subregion. The levels of NO2 and SO2 also reduced substantially at the epicenters, especially during the periods when the restrictions were highly enforced. However, the atmospheric levels of CO and ozone increased slightly in 2020 compared to the reference years. This study shows that "a one cap fits all" policy cannot reduced the level of air pollutants and that traffic and industrial processes are not the predominant sources of CO in major cities in the subregion.

Is Tether a safe haven of safe haven amid COVID-19? An assessment against Bitcoin and oil using improved measures of risk.

Bitcoin is a new speculative investment with extremely volatile movement, thus possibly failing to act as a safe haven for crude oil when the price of this energy commodity plummeted following the global outbreak of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Tether is designed to behave similarly to the US dollar with stable fluctuation. In this study, we assessed their safe-haven properties in terms of risk reduction opportunities by proposing an improved version of Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES). Using vine copula-based AR-GJR-GARCH models, we demonstrated that Bitcoin exhibited inconsistent risk reduction capability for oil, particularly before COVID-19. When adding Tether into a portfolio containing oil and Bitcoin, the risk reduction was achieved for any portfolio allocation and was more pronounced amid the COVID-19 period. This suggests that Tether consistently served strong support for Bitcoin to protect oil investors against extreme risk and received a significant impact from the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the consistent safe-haven functionality of Tether was not as good as that of the US dollar in most cases, and this implied the vanishing of its stability. These results were robust when considering another asymmetric volatility model and another dependence model. Furthermore, the proposed improved VaR and ES forecasts outperformed their corresponding unimproved version in quantifying portfolio risk and therefore provided a more accurate assessment of safe-haven roles.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF PROJECTS: A STAKEHOLDER'S OUTLOOK IN THE WAKE OF CRISES

The uniqueness of projects presents trends linked to unexpected disruptions that threaten progress and timely achievement. The recent declaration of complete or partial lockdown across the globe subsequent to the spike of Covid 19 crises from 2020 have restricted movement of goods and people, which in most cases led to complete shutdown or postponement of projects across various sectors. This empirical study evaluates the criteria for the success or failure of projects amid crises in selected projects in the Eastern Cape Province. Using the post positivist approach, the study gathered data from respondents using closed-ended and opened-ended questionnaires. The sample consists of respondents from various projects in the Eastern Cape Province. The data were analyzed using the MoonStat Software. The findings of this study revealed that the most prominent impacts of crises are the deferment of projects and demotivation of team members. The findings highlighted some of the motives that lead to project failure, including lack of involvement of experts in the project team, lack of considering contingency measures in the planning stage, change in plan by project owners, incorrect cost estimation and movement restrictions caused by crises. The study also sheds light on the contemporary planning and control techniques that will allow project managers to ensure project success. It also sheds light on the consequences of unexpected crises, which include time overrun and cost overrun in addition to financial implications. Finally, the study recommends that project managers can improve motivation among their teams through good supervision, providing training, and incentivising hard work.

Customer-centric influence of entrepreneurial marketing on business performance of hotels in Nigeria during the COVID-19 crisis

The ravaging COVID-19 pandemic has forced hotels in developed countries to adopt entrepreneurial marketing (EM) practices as a resilience strategy. However, there are few studies in Nigeria on how EM practices have been used in the hotel industry for their survival and growth. The study examines the customer-centric influence of EM on business performance of hotels in Nigeria during the COVID-19 crisis. Using a cross-sectional survey design, we collected primary data from 578 owner-managers and top managers of 66 hotels in Lagos and Yola in Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Respondents were selected based on the purposive sampling technique. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Version 21). Three regression estimations are reported. The estimation in model 1 indicates that calculated risk-taking dimension has a significant positive influence on general performance, while the proactiveness, innovativeness, value creation, resource leveraging, opportunity to focus and customer intensity dimensions do not. The estimation in model 2 suggests that calculated risk-taking and customer intensity dimensions have a significant positive influence on revenue per room, while the other five EM dimensions do not. The estimation in model 3 indicates that calculated risk-taking dimension has a significant positive influence on market share, while the six EM dimensions do not. The owner-mangers and top managers of hotels should fortify and upscale the weak EM dimensions as a resilience strategy for recovery from the ravages of the COVID-19 crisis. We bridge the gaps in the literature by providing interesting insights into the potential value of the adoption of EM as a post-COVID-19 recovery strategy by the hotel segment of the hospitality industry in the developing context of Nigeria. We also validate the applicability of RBT in predicting the influence of EM dimensions on performance in the developing context.

EffEctiveness of Prophylactic fOam dressings in the prevention of saCral pressure injuries in at-risk hospitalised patients: The EEPOC Trial (preprint)

Background Prophylactic dressings are increasingly used to prevent pressure injuries in hospitalised patients. However, evidence regarding the effectiveness of these dressings is still emerging. This trial aims to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a prophylactic silicone foam border dressing in preventing sacral pressure injuries in medical-surgical patients.Methods This is a multicentre, pragmatic, parallel group, randomised controlled trial. A sample size of 1,320 was calculated to have > 90% power to detect a 5% difference in the primary outcome at an alpha of 0.05. Adult patients admitted to participating medical-surgical wards are screened for eligibility: ≥18 years; admitted to hospital within the previous 36 hours; expected length of stay of ≥ 24 hours and assessed high risk for hospital acquired pressure injury. Consenting participants are randomly allocated to either prophylactic silicone foam dressing intervention or usual care without any dressing as the control group via a web-based randomisation service independent of the trial. Patients are enrolled across three Australian hospitals. The primary outcome is the cumulative incidence of patients who develop a sacral pressure injury. Secondary outcomes include time to sacral pressure injury, incidence of severity (stage) of sacral pressure injury, cost-effectiveness of dressings, and process evaluation. Participant outcomes are assessed daily for up to 14 days by blinded independent outcome assessors using deidentified, digitally modified sacral photographs. Those who develop a sacral pressure injury are followed for an additional 14 days to estimate the costs of pressure injury treatment. Analysis of clinical outcomes will be based on intention-to-treat, per-protocol, and sensitivity analyses.Discussion This trial aims to provide definitive evidence on the effect prophylactic dressings have on development of hospital acquired sacral pressure injuries in medical-surgical patients. A parallel economic evaluation of pressure injury prevention and treatment will enable evidence-informed decisions and policy. The inclusion of a process evaluation will help to explain the contextual factors that may have a bearing on the results of the trial including acceptability of the dressings to patients and staff. The trial commenced 5 March 2020 but has been significantly delayed due to COVID-19.Trial registration: ANZCTR, prospectively registered 22 May 2019: ACTRN12619000763145

Impacts of COVID‐19 restrictions on regional and local air quality across selected West African cities

The emergence of COVID‐19 brought with it panic and a sense of urgency causing governments to impose strict restrictions on human activities and vehicular movements. With anthropogenic emissions, especially waste management (domestic and municipal), traffic and industrial activities, said to be a significant contributor to ambient air pollution, this study assessed the impacts of the imposed restrictions on the concentrations and size distribution of atmospheric aerosols and concentration of gaseous pollutants over West African sub‐region and seven major COVID‐19 epicenters in the sub‐region. Satellite retrievals and reanalysis datasets were used to study the impact of the restrictions on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and atmospheric concentrations NO2, SO2, CO and O3. The anomalies were computed for 2020 relative to 2017‐2019 (the reference years). In 2020 relative to the reference years, for area‐averaged AOD levels, there was a consequential mean percentage change of between ‐6.7 ± 21.0 % and 19.2 ± 27.9 % in the epicenters and ‐10.1 ± 15.4 % over the sub‐region. The levels of NO2 and SO2 also reduced substantially at the epicenters, especially during the periods when the restrictions were highly enforced. However, the atmospheric levels of CO and ozone increased slightly in 2020 compared to the reference years. This study shows that “a one cap fits all” policy cannot reduced the level of air pollutants and that traffic and industrial processes are not the predominant sources of CO in major cities in the sub‐region. Key Points There were marked decreases in the level of aerosols, SO2 and NO2 over COVID epicenters and sub‐region during the periods of lockdown During the same period, there was a slight increase in ozone and CO over most of the COVID epicenters and the sub‐region There was a shift in the size distribution of prevailing aerosol cluster towards the coarse fractions

DETERMINANTS OF TRANSMISSION COVID-19 IN SOUTH SULAWESI

Background: Corona Virus (COVID-19) is a new respiratory viral infectious disease that can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome. Subsequently, as of May 31, 2022, the government of South Sulawesi reported 143,276 confirmed cases, 2,463 deaths, and 140,395 recovered patients. Purpose: To analyze the impact of behavior, travel history, and comorbidities on the incidence of COVID-19 in South Sulawesi. Methods: This is observational research with a cross-sectional study design and was conducted from January-April 2022 in 7 districts of South Sulawesi Province. A population of 650 respondents with a total sample of 161 patients confirmed positive and 189 suspected of having COVID-19. The Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Results: There was a relationship between travel history (p0.00;OR 2.19), knowledge (p0.03;OR 1.74), and actions (p0.00;OR 0.18) on the incidence of COVID-19. Additionally, no relationship was reported between comorbidities (p0.85), attitudes (p0.90), and level of knowledge (p0.08>(0.05) on the incidence of COVID-19. The most influential variable in the rapid spread was travel history, with an exp(B) value of 2.19 CI (95%) (LL=1.26;UL=3.80). Conclusion: The results showed that travel history, knowledge, and actions made a major contribution to the spread of COVID-19 in South Sulawesi Province. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Latar Belakang: Virus Corona (COVID-19) adalah penyakit infeksi virus pernapasan baru yang dapat menyebabkan penyakit mulai dari flu biasa hingga sindrom pernapasan akut yang parah. Per tanggal 31 Mei 2022, Pemerintah Sulawesi Selatan melaporkan 143.276 kasus terkonfirmasi, 2.463 meninggal, dan 140.395 pasien sembuh. Tujuan: Menganalisis dampak perilaku, riwayat perjalanan, dan penyakit penyerta terhadap kejadian COVID-19 di Sulawesi Selatan. Metode: Penelitian observasional dengan desain cross-sectional yang dilakukan pada bulan Januari-April 2022 di tujuh kabupaten di Provinsi Sulawesi Selatan. Populasi penelitian sebanyak 650 responden dengan total sampel 161 pasien terkonfirmasi positif dan 189 suspek COVID-19. Analisis data menggunakan uji Chi-square dan regresi logistik berganda. Hasil: Terdapat hubungan antara riwayat perjalanan (p0,00;OR 2,19), pengetahuan (p0,03;OR 1,74), dan tindakan (p0,00;OR 0,18) terhadap kejadian COVID-19. Selain itu, tidak ada hubungan yang dilaporkan antara penyakit penyerta (p0.85), sikap (p0.90), dan tingkat pengetahuan (p0.08>(0.05) terhadap kejadian COVID-19. Variabel yang paling berpengaruh terhadap penyebaran cepat adalah riwayat perjalanan dengan nilai exp(B) 2,19 CI (95%) (LL=1,26;UL=3,80). Kesimpulan: Hasil menunjukkan bahwa riwayat perjalanan, pengetahuan, dan tindakan memberikan kontribusi besar terhadap penyebaran COVID-19 di provinsi Sulawesi Selatan. (Indonesian) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Jurnal Berkala Epidemiologi is the property of Universitas Airlangga and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)