AWARENESS OF CLINICAL RESEARCH INCREASES AMONG UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

When initially surveyed between April and July of 2021, more respondents reported that they heard of clinical research studies looking for volunteers in the last six months compared to previous studies. Among all survey respondents, a significant increase in awareness of clinical research studies seeking volunteers was reported (63%) compared to 2019 (54%). Awareness of clinical research studies looking for volunteers was significantly higher among both Black (69%) and Hispanic (71%) respondents (Figure 1), as compared to those identifying as white (62%) or Non-Hispanic (61%). When asked how they became aware of clinical research studies looking for volunteers, top-cited sources for both Hispanic and Black respondents included: social media sites (38%, 40%);traditional advertisements (e.g., on TV, newspaper, radio;37%, 37%);and online advertisements (31%, 35%).

Importance of meaningful engagement: how and why older adults volunteer in uncertain times

PurposeMany older adults engage in volunteer activities, drawing meaning and purpose through such efforts. Social distancing restrictions, put in place during Covid-19 surges to reduce the risk of transmission, disrupted older adult volunteers' lives and volunteer experiences. Social distancing measures provide a unique opportunity to explore what happened when the choices around pausing or stopping volunteering were not entirely within the control of older adults. This paper aims to explore the experiences of older adult volunteers as they navigated uncertainties and made difficult decisions around balancing their safety and their desire to continue volunteering.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted interviews with 26 community-dwelling older adults, age 50+, who had engaged in volunteer activities for at least 1 h a week prior to the start of the pandemic. The interviews were conducted on the phone or via Zoom. The authors used thematic analysis to help us analyze the data and identify patterns from participants' experiences.FindingsDespite the risk presented by Covid-19, most participants volunteered during the pandemic. They continued some or all of their previous activities with safety-related adjustments, with some seeking new or different opportunities. Participants' discussions highlight the challenges of volunteering during the pandemic and the importance of engagement to their resiliency and subjective well-being.Originality/valueThis paper provides original contributions to understanding how and why older adults volunteered during the Covid-19 pandemic. The social distancing measures provide a novel opportunity to enrich our understanding of the meaningfulness and value of volunteerism to older adults' lives and subjective well-being.

Effective training practices for non-specialist providers to promote high-quality mental health intervention delivery: A narrative review with four case studies from Kenya, Ethiopia, and the United States

Mental health needs and disparities are widespread and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the greatest burden being on marginalized individuals worldwide. The World Health Organization developed the Mental Health Gap Action Programme to address growing global mental health needs by promoting task sharing in the delivery of psychosocial and psychological interventions. However, little is known about the training needed for non-specialists to deliver these interventions with high levels of competence and fidelity. This article provides a brief conceptual overview of the evidence concerning the training of non-specialists carrying out task-sharing psychosocial and psychological interventions while utilizing illustrative case studies from Kenya, Ethiopia, and the United States to highlight findings from the literature. In this article, the authors discuss the importance of tailoring training to the skills and needs of the non-specialist providers and their roles in the delivery of an intervention. This narrative review with four case studies advocates for training that recognizes the expertise that non-specialist providers bring to intervention delivery, including how they promote culturally responsive care within their communities.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

The effect of the social support on PTSD and PTG about university student volunteers in the prevention and controlling of coronavirus: with coping style as the intermediary.

To investigate the relationship among post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic growth (PTG), social support, and coping style of university student volunteers in the prevention and control of the coronavirus in 2020, a total of 2,990 university student volunteers (students who are enrolled in a university and involved in volunteer activities) from 20 universities in Sichuan Province participated in the prevention and control of the epidemic were investigated when March 20-31, 2020 when the coronavirus first occurred using the post-traumatic stress disorder questionnaire, posttraumatic growth questionnaire, university student social support questionnaire and coping style questionnaire. The results showed that (1) 7.06% of university student volunteers had some degree of PTSD symptoms (the total PCL-C score was 38-49), and 2.88% had obvious PTSD symptoms, (2) PTSD level of university student volunteers was significantly positively correlated with negative coping style, and significantly negatively correlated with social support and positive coping style; on the contrary, the PTG level is significantly positively correlated with social support and positive coping styles, and (3) Positive coping style plays a partial mediating role in the influence of social support on PTG; in the influence of social support on PTSD, the mediating effect of positive or negative coping style was not significant. These results show that in the prevention and control of the coronavirus, the positive coping style and social support of university student volunteers can positively predict the PTG level of them, while the negative coping style can positively predict the severity of their PTSD symptoms. Among them, a positive coping style plays a partial mediating role in the influence of social support on the PTG level.

"We Are Teaching and Learning with Each Other": Improving mentoring in higher education through ongoing training

This article examined ongoing mentoring training. This qualitative study analyzed interview responses from 20 mentors from 13 international locations in a global higher education initiative to determine how ongoing training affects mentors' abilities to assist higher education students in achieving their educational goals. The study results showed the benefits from ongoing mentoring training, including mentors better understanding their roles and responsibilities, mentors gaining knowledge, and mentors receiving ongoing support. Results also showed the importance in ongoing mentoring training of volunteer mentoring needs and mentoring training creativity. Furthermore, the study showed that ongoing training positively impacted mentors, that it identified contributing mentor volunteers, and that ongoing training advanced effective mentoring practices. The study also contributed findings to the literature including that mentors themselves contributed to best training practices, volunteer mentors may need more mentoring training, and ongoing mentoring training showed global transferability. As institutions of higher education take greater initiative and demonstrate innovation in providing structured ongoing training for mentors, mentors can be more knowledgeable and confident in their mentoring skills and students will have increased opportunities for success. Implications for practice or policy: COVID-19 highlighted the need for effective mentoring in higher education. There is potential for transferability of mentoring training practices in global organizations by higher education leaders. The study recommended identifying opportunities for developing creative and improved best practices in mentoring, such as mentorto- mentor training sessions and just-in-time WhatsApp training. Volunteer mentors may have unique needs to consider in mentoring programs. Best practices will also include strengthening mentor confidence, understanding roles and responsibilities, and providing answers to mentor questions. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

SARS-CoV-2 COLLECTIVE IMMUNITY AMONG THE POPULATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a substantial global health crisis, unparalleled in world history. Infection dynamics can have specific characteristics in different countries due to social, economic, climatic, or geographic factors. Aim(s): to study features of SARS-CoV-2 collective immunity among the Armenian population. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional, randomized study of collective immunity was carried out according to a program developed by Rospotrebnadzor and the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, taking into account WHO recommendations. The study was approved by the ethics committees of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (Armenia) and the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute (Russia). A volunteer cohort was formed (N = 6057), randomized by age and region. The study's analysis included: shares and distributions of antibodies (Abs) to nucleocapsid (Nc) antigen (Ag) and receptor binding domain (RBD) S-1 Ag in the cohort;and quantitative determination of these Abs by ELISA. During the survey, a history of vaccination was indicated by 4395 people. Results. Overall seropositivity formed in the whole cohort (by April 14, 2022) was 98.6% (95% CI: 98.1-98.7). It did not depend on age, place of residence, or occupation. When quantifying Nc and RBD Abs, the proportions of volunteers with Nc Ab levels of 1-17 BAU/ml and RBD Ab levels of 22.6-220 BAU/ml were the smallest, amounting to 6.9% (95% CI: 6.2-7.5) and 20.4% (95% CI: 19.4-21.4), respectively. With increasing serum concentrations (Nc > 667 BAU/ml, RBD > 450 BAU/ml), the proportions of individuals with the corresponding levels were 20.2% for Nc (95% CI: 19.2-21.3) and 54.2% for RBD (95% CI: 52.9-55.5). Vaccination coverage was 72.6% (95% CI: 71.5-73.7). The most frequently used were Sinopharm/BIBP (32.4%), AZD1222 (22.3%), and Gam-COVID-Vac (21%). The remaining vaccines (CoronaVac, mRNA-1273, BNT162b2, CoviVac) were used by 24.3% of vaccinated individuals. When summing vaccines by platform, it was found that: vector vaccines were used in 40.34% (95% CI: 33.57-42.39) of cases;whole-virion vaccines were used in 26.83% (95% CI: 24.76-32.20);and mRNA vaccines were used in 6.33% (95% CI: 4.84-8.91). Conclusion. The epidemic situation in Armenia by April 2022 was characterized by a high level of collective immunity, independent of age or regional factors. Vector and whole-virion vaccines have been used most widely.Copyright © Popova A.Yu. et al., 2023.

The CCP after the Zero-Covid Fail

China has two repressive systems that exist simultaneously: the highly coercive and surveilled system in Xinjiang, and the trust-based model of everyday repression prevalent throughout the rest of the country. The trust-based model has undergirded grassroots governance in China and facilitated the routine implementation of Zero-Covid. Drawing on a protest event dataset, I analyze the key characteristics of the covid protests erupted in November and December of 2022, before situating them in the larger context of China's political future under Xi Jinping's rule. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has responded to the protests with a combination of concession and repression. But neither the carrot nor the stick is able to fundamentally address the deep-rooted social problems or halt the tide of dissent. Coupled with structural economic challenges, these protests could be the harbinger of a new era of contentious state-society relations in China, the seeds of which were sown years ago–only precipitated and underscored by the CCP's covid debacle.

Event satisfaction and interdependent happiness in sports volunteers: focused-on a triathlon event during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sports volunteers play an important role in sports event management. There are various motivations for the participants of sports volunteer activities. In particular, the occurrence of sports events has significantly decreased due to the impacts of COVID-19. At the same time, consideration should be given as to whether it is possible to find value and reward from volunteer activities or not. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between event satisfaction and interdependent happiness in sports volunteers. This research focused on sports volunteers of the 2021 Asia Triathlon Championships Hatsukaichi. The data was collected from 163 participants, with a significant response rate of 48.9%. The average respondent age was 54.0 years old, 123 respondents were male (75.5%), and 40 respondents were female (24.5%). The result of multiple regression was significant (F = 3.28, p < .01) and it accounted for 20% of the interdependent happiness. The predictors of socio-demographics were not deemed significant. On the other hand, event satisfaction was significant (p < .01) with regard to independent happiness. This research utilized the relationship between event satisfaction and independent happiness through structural equation modeling. The result of Structural Equation Modeling was significant at the .10% level. In sum, event satisfaction was significant in regard to independent happiness. This result shows a possibility to help understand the value of sports volunteers. Additionally, sports events in the community are expected to have not only an economic impact, but also, contribute to the sustainable social developments of the community.

To Write in Unwellness: Documenting A/P/A Voices

In this collectively written essay, we write as volunteers with A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project to share and hold space for this archive's stories, images, sounds, and silences. A/P/A Voices first emerged in Spring 2020 when a group of public-facing scholars, activists, and cultural workers converging at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU recognized the critical need to document the myriad experiences of Asian Americans, Asian immigrants, and Pacific Islanders during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past year and a half, A/P/A Voices volunteers have conducted over seventy-five oral histories with community organizers, mutual aid workers, healthcare workers, and cultural workers across the country, and over seventy-five artifacts (artwork, videos, other ephemera) have been donated by participants. Through a collective form of writing we describe as dwelling in unwellness, we consider how the A/P/A Voices project and its improvised form of curation—informed by interruption, relational co-laboring, listening, and slowness—is necessitated by prolonged crisis. We ourselves are not outside of the pandemic;rather, as scholars, cultural workers, activists, and caregivers who navigate different levels of precarity, we are entangled within and beyond its folds. Thus, our writing with, rather than about, this project begins with the following questions: How do we connect our experiences of crisis to A/P/A Voices and to one another? How is our work enacted in solidarity with other communities of color devastated by racism and carceral violence, as well as disproportionate economic violence and the uneven effects of an ongoing public health crisis? What does it mean to engage a memory project from a place of unwellness?

What Makes NPOs Sustainable in an Emergency? Examining the Effect of Person-Organization Fit and Generation on Volunteer Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: Despite the unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) continued providing services, thereby contributing to overcoming the pandemic. What enabled NPOs to sustain their service provision during this global emergency? This study attempts to answer this question by focusing on one of the essential pillars supporting the operation of NPOs: volunteers. More specifically, we aim to investigate how person-organization (P-O) fit and generation, particularly the Millennial generation, are related to engagement in voluntary activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We collected data through an online survey conducted in March 2021. This US national survey was completed by 2307 respondents, yielding the US Census balanced data regarding gender, age, race, education, and income. To analyze the data, we employed the two-stage Heckman selection model. Results: Relying on P-O fit theory and generational theory, the study identifies what led existing volunteers to continue engaging in volunteer activities at their NPO during the COVID-19 pandemic despite the risks. We found that P-O fit mattered in volunteers' decision to continue engaging. In addition, our study uncovered that when existing volunteers were Millennials, the relationship between P-O fit and engagement in voluntary activities strengthened during the pandemic. Conclusion: This study contributes to expanding the explanatory power of the P-O fit theory by testing it in an emergency and extends the generational theory by clarifying under what conditions Millennials (aka Generation Me) transform themselves into Generation We. In addition, linking NPO management and emergency management, this study provides NPO managers with practical implications for securing reliable volunteers who will sustain the capacity of the NPO in a crisis.

Tropical infections as occupational diseases among young volunteers in social projects.

PURPOSE: The trend of volunteering overseas has increased tremendously over the last decade. Volunteers often go to regions where they are exposed to the risk of tropical infections like malaria, dengue, typhoid fever and schistosomiasis. Health assessments have shown a high occurrence of tropical infections among young volunteers. Such tropical infections are notifiable in Germany, as they are covered by a separate branch of the social insurance system. However, there is still limited data on systematical improvement of medical prevention and health care for volunteers. METHODS: This retrospective study included 457 cases with a diagnosis for a tropical infection or typhoid fever from January 2016 to December 2019. Data sets were anonymised and then analysed with descriptive statistics first. Cases of volunteers sent abroad by "Weltwärts" were compared to cases of aid workers sent to non-industrial countries. RESULTS: A high occurrence of tropical infections as occupational diseases has been shown for volunteers compared to other (mostly older) aid workers being sent to tropical regions. The risk of acquiring a tropical infection was significantly higher in Africa compared to other tropical regions. Cases of malaria were reported significantly more often among the group of volunteers than among aid workers during the period under review. Medical check-ups after travel were rare among volunteers. CONCLUSIONS: Data imply a disproportionate risk for malaria in Africa with a higher risk of acquiring malaria tropica in Sub-Saharan regions. Region-specific risks need to be addressed in training seminars in order to raise awareness among young volunteers before travel. Medical examinations after travel should be mandatory and specific to a particular region.

Prediction of effective humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in healthy subjects by cortical thickness of post-vaccination reactive lymphadenopathy.

PURPOSE: To study the association between ultrasound cortical thickness in reactive post-vaccination lymph nodes and the elicited humoral response and to evaluate the performance of cortical thickness as a predictor of vaccine effectiveness in patients with and without a previous history of COVID-19 infection. METHODS: A total of 156 healthy volunteers were recruited and followed prospectively after receiving two COVID-19 vaccination doses using different protocols. Within a week after receiving the second dose, an axillary ultrasound of the ipsilateral vaccinated arm was performed, and serial post-vaccination serologic tests (PVST) were collected. Maximum cortical thickness was chosen as a nodal feature to analyze association with humoral immunity. Total antibodies quantified during consecutive PVST in previously-infected patients and in coronavirus-naïve volunteers were compared (Mann-Whitney U test). The association between hyperplastic-reactive lymph nodes and effective humoral response was studied (odds ratio). The performance of cortical thickness in detecting vaccination effectiveness was evaluated (area under the ROC curve). RESULTS: Significantly higher values for total antibodies were observed in volunteers with a previous history of COVID-19 infection (p < 0.001). The odds ratio associating immunized coronavirus-naïve volunteers after 90 and 180 days of the second dose with a cortical thickness ≥ 3 mm was statistically significant (95% CI 1.52-6.97 and 95% CI 1.47-7.29, respectively). The best AUC result was obtained comparing antibody secretion of coronavirus-naïve volunteers at 180 days (0.738). CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound cortical thickness of reactive lymph nodes in coronavirus-naïve patients may reflect antibody production and a long-term effective humoral response elicited by vaccination. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: In coronavirus-naïve patients, ultrasound cortical thickness of post-vaccination reactive lymphadenopathy shows a positive association with protective antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2, especially in the long term, providing new insights into previous publications. KEY POINTS: • Hyperplastic lymphadenopathy was frequently observed after COVID-19 vaccination. • Ultrasound cortical thickness of reactive post-vaccine lymph nodes may reflect a long-term effective humoral response in coronavirus-naïve patients.

The Cultural Politics of National Tragedies and Personal Sacrifice

While the rest of the world is still battling the latest wave of COVID-19 and implementing lockdown measures to combat the spread of the virus, China has been celebrating its ‘victory' over the pandemic since the end of February 2020, with Xinhua (2020) announcing a book praising the country's success in disease control to be published in six languages. COVID-themed news reports, award ceremonies, documentaries, and TV series singing the praises of ‘everyday heroes' in controlling the virus have become a daily occurrence in the Chinese media. [...]the glorification of ‘sacrificial' and ‘grateful' citizens in these stories tantalises human desires to encourage citizens' willing compliance with the Party-State's transformation of a national tragedy into its narrative of victory. Expressions of the Party's leadership role are loud and clear in each episode, be it through the authoritative voices of CCTV News broadcasting the national deployment of resources in supporting Wuhan, or the parade of trucks and buses shipping supplies into the city.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the popularity of protected areas for mountain biking and hiking in Australia: insights from volunteered geographic information. (Special Issue: Covid-19 and outdoor recreation.)

Although the popularity of protected areas for recreation has been increasing, short term changes in visitation occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine how volunteer geographic information data can be used to monitor such often rapid changes in visitation across multiple locations, data from online fitness platforms for mountain biking (Trailforks) and remote area hiking (Wikiloc) were analysed before (2019) and during (2020-2021) the COVID-19 pandemic for 40 protected areas in Queensland, Australia. Mountain biking was popular with a total of 93,311 routes on Trailforks, with 26,936 routes in 2019, increasing to 37,406 in 2020, and then decreasing to 28,969 in 2021. Approximately 66% of all the routes were from just three urban protected areas out of the 12 with route data. There were 4367 routes for remote area hiking on Wikiloc across 36 protected areas, which increased slightly from 1081 in 2019, to 1421 in 2020 and to 1865 in 2021. Across 18 factors, distance from urban areas and networks of mountain biking trails best predicted popularity for mountain biking based on Generalised Linear Models. In contrast, average slope and large networks of hiking trails best predicted hiking, with similar results for each year. The two sources of online data were correlated with trail counter data, although not consistently. The results highlight how external factors affect visitation, but also how the same types of protected areas remained popular, and that the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on visitation in South-East Queensland protected areas was less dramatic than for other regions. This study further highlights how volunteered geographic information can be used to assess the popularity of protected areas, including in rapidly changing conditions. Management implications Rapid changes in visitation can be challenging to monitor and manage, as occurred with the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mountain biking and hiking and factors predicting protected area popularity were examined across different parks. Visitation increased at different stages of the pandemic, with mountain bikers' preferring urban parks with networks of mountain bike trails while some hikers preferred more remote large parks. Managers can expand on traditional methods of visitor monitoring by using volunteered geographic information to monitor rapid and longer-term trends of visitation to protected areas.

From nuisance to helpful assistants: A qualitative thematic analysis of medical volunteers' experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran

Background & Aim: Volunteers' perceptions may affect their future decisions to participate in crisis intervention. Few studies in Iran have been conducted to examine the experiences of medical personnel who volunteered during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study describes the experiences of medical volunteers during COVID-19 in Iran. Methods & Materials: A total 17 healthcare volunteers who worked in COVID-19 hospital wards were recruited using purposive sampling. All participants were recruited in the current study from the hospitals affiliated with the Tehran University of Medical Sciences if they expressed their willingness to participate and had at least two months experience of working as healthcare volunteers in COVID-19 wads. In-depth video-call semi-structured interviews were conducted from August to November 2020. The data were analyzed using the qualitative thematic analysis method. Results: One main theme "from nuisance to helpful assistants” and four sub-themes including the "feeling of inefficiency”, "negligent managing”, "situation orientation”, and "transformation for integrity” emerged from the data. Conclusion: Despite experiencing challenges, the volunteers and hospital staff tried to change their approaches to joint collaboration by improving their capabilities for situation awareness and creating integrity. These findings provide policymakers with a better understanding of health volunteers' challenges in hospitals during crises. © 2023 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Engagement of Healthcare Professionals in Voluntary Activities During COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The coming various disasters, especially probable pandemics, will need a large number of volunteers with different capabilities. Motivation of volunteers, as a driving force, will be very important for future pandemic disaster planning. The aim of this study was to determine the enablers and barriers to the engagement of healthcare professionals in voluntary activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the General Internal Medicine Departments of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran, Iran. A 44-item questionnaire was designed based on the Literature Review and Experts Panel. Items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from "strongly disagree (1)” to "strongly agree (5)”. Content validity and face validity of the questionnaire were checked by 10 experts and 10 respondents, respectively. Cronbach's alpha of the items of stimulating and inhibitory factors' section was calculated 0.83 and 0.92, respectively. A self-administrated paper-based questionnaire has been distributed among healthcare team members. Results: Out of 105 health care professionals, 80 (76.2%) were female and 41 (39%) were married. The most significant demographic predictor of willingness to volunteering was having no child (p-value=0.001). History of infection, admission, or death of family members or friends in the current pandemic was an important factor to reduce the desire to voluntary activities significantly (p-value=0.019). Depressive disorders and using antidepressants had no relation with the attraction to volunteering, but anxiety disorders had a significant relation with the willingness to be a volunteer (p-value=0.04). Conclusion: The most important demographic variables influencing the unwillingness to participate in voluntary activities during the COVID-19 crisis are parenting role, history of anxiety disorders, and history of hospitalization or death of relatives or friends. Furthermore, the voluntary participation of healthcare professionals is influenced by facilitating factors such as giving rewards, reducing the period of obligatory military service, having a sense of altruism, and helping others. Copyright © 2023, Journal of Iranian Medical Council. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Health Sciences students' experience of COVID-19 case management and contact tracing in Cape Town, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has challenged health and higher education systems globally. Managing the epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa (SA), required partnerships with universities and setting up of de novo systems for mass case and contact tracing (C&CT). Health sciences, predominantly medical students, as well as social work and psychology students formed the core of this telephone-based work over the 18 months when SARS-CoV-2 caused severe disease. METHODS: This qualitative study aimed to elicit students' motivations for becoming involved in C&CT, their experiences, and recommendations for C&CT and curricula. After Cape Town's first COVID-19 wave, six on-line focus groups comprising 23 students were conducted, and a further four were conducted with 13 students after the second wave. As the researchers were predominantly educators previously involved in undergraduate health sciences education, the study's purpose was to reflect on students' experiences to make educational and health system recommendations. RESULTS: Students were largely motivated to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on society and support people affected by COVID-19, as well as hone their professional skills. While these motivations were realised, students also needed to learn new skills - to autonomously work remotely, using novel communication strategies to engage those affected and use virtual groups to connect with colleagues. They managed responsibilities within the healthcare systems that did not always work smoothly, distressed cases who were financially insecure, difficult employers, and language barriers. They were prepared through training, and supported by virtual, yet effective teamwork and debriefing opportunities. Although the work was sometimes physically and emotionally exhausting, students found the work personally meaningful. They embraced public health's role to protect population and individuals' health. CONCLUSION: New teaching and learning practices adopted due to Covid-19 lockdowns enabled this digital C&CT project. It facilitated students to become confident, work autonomously and navigate challenges they will encounter as young professionals. The programme demonstrated that novel opportunities for rich student learning, such as in telehealth, can be embedded into public health and clinical functions of health services in contexts such as in SA, deepening partnerships between the health services and universities, to mutual benefit.

Evaluation of a Low-Fat Low-Calorie Meal on the Relative Bioavailability of Trametinib and Dabrafenib: Results From a Randomized, Open-Label, 2-Part Study in Healthy Participants.

In this randomized, open-label, 2-part, 2 × 2 crossover, phase 1 study, the effect of a low-fat low-calorie (LFLC) meal on the relative bioavailability of a trametinib 2-mg tablet or dabrafenib 150-mg capsule was evaluated in healthy participants. Trametinib adjusted geometric mean ratios (90%CI) of fed : fasted for area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) from time 0 to the last quantifiable concentration and AUC from time 0 extrapolated to infinity were 0.76 (0.71-0.82) and 0.82 (0.77-0.88), respectively. For dabrafenib, the adjusted geometric mean ratios of AUC from time 0 to the last quantifiable concentration and AUC from time 0 extrapolated to infinity (90%CI) for fed:fasted were 0.85 (0.79-0.91) and 0.86 (0.80-0.92), respectively. Consumption of an LFLC meal delayed trametinib and dabrafenib absorption, with an increase in time to maximum concentration of ≈15 and ≈30 minutes, respectively, compared to the fasted state. These findings indicate that consumption of an LFLC meal reduced the bioavailability and delayed the absorption of trametinib and dabrafenib, supporting current recommendations to administer both drugs in the fasting state; however, an occasional LFLC meal is unlikely to affect the pharmacokinetics of the drugs once steady state is reached and, by consequence, not likely to alter the overall intended efficacy.

END TB initiative - involving youth - challenges and solutions.

WHO has given a special call to involve youth in END TB initiative. Involvement of youth, especially in the medical fraternity, in the TB control activities can ensure we reach our goal of ending TB in India by 2025. This study was planned to recruit and monitor young volunteers from medical colleges of Andhra Pradesh. 183 volunteers were recruited from 15 medical colleges and were tasked to spread awareness among general public. Work of these volunteers was monitored via Whatsapp group chats and videoconferencing. 4 follow-up meetings were held via videoconferencing and various hurdles and challenges were discussed. Major challenges faced included lack of physical meetings due to COVID-19 pandemic, which adversely affected their motivation and monitoring activities. Increased involvement from medical colleges, regular telecommunication and meetings can improve the work and motivation of these volunteers.