Conspiracy beliefs and distrust of science predicts reluctance of vaccine uptake of politically right-wing citizens.

It is not uncommon for conspiracy theories to have a political agenda, some conspiracies are more endorsed by the political left-wing than the political right-wing and vice-versa. Conspiracy theories quickly flourished as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and this may have been an underlying factor in a reluctance by some in following public health policies such as the wearing of face masks. In the present study, we surveyed a community sample of 1358 adults just prior to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our first aim was to determine whether one's political orientation, whether they are politically left- or right-wing, would be predictive of an individual's belief in conspiracy theories and determine whether this relationship can be exacerbated by a distrust in science. The second aim was to determine how such a relationship could explain an individual's vaccine hesitancy. Our results supported that indeed those that identify as right-wing tended to have higher hesitancy associated with taking the COVID-19 vaccine. However, we demonstrated that this association, in part, can be explained by a corresponding belief in COVID-19 related conspiracies. Interestingly, such a relationship only emerged in the presence of a general distrust in science. In other words, if a right-wing individual has at least a moderate trust in science, they demonstrated similarly low endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies as their left-wing counterparts. Mitigating the right-wing endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracies then aligned with a reduction in vaccine hesitancy. Our findings indicated that public interventions seeking to increase trust in science may mitigate right-wing endorsement of conspiracy theories and thus lead to a more unified and positive response to public health behaviours such as vaccination.

Building on existing tools to improve chronic disease prevention and screening in public health: a cluster randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: The BETTER (Building on Existing Tools to Improve Chronic Disease Prevention and Screening in Primary Care) intervention was designed to integrate the approach to chronic disease prevention and screening in primary care and demonstrated effective in a previous randomized trial. METHODS: We tested the effectiveness of the BETTER HEALTH intervention, a public health adaptation of BETTER, at improving participation in chronic disease prevention and screening actions for residents of low-income neighbourhoods in a cluster randomized trial, with ten low-income neighbourhoods in Durham Region Ontario randomized to immediate intervention vs. wait-list. The unit of analysis was the individual, and eligible participants were adults age 40-64 years residing in the neighbourhoods. Public health nurses trained as "prevention practitioners" held one prevention-focused visit with each participant. They provided participants with a tailored prevention prescription and supported them to set health-related goals. The primary outcome was a composite index: the number of evidence-based actions achieved at six months as a proportion of those for which participants were eligible at baseline. RESULTS: Of 126 participants (60 in immediate arm; 66 in wait-list arm), 125 were included in analyses (1 participant withdrew consent). In both arms, participants were eligible for a mean of 8.6 actions at baseline. At follow-up, participants in the immediate intervention arm met 64.5% of actions for which they were eligible versus 42.1% in the wait-list arm (rate ratio 1.53 [95% confidence interval 1.22-1.84]). CONCLUSION: Public health nurses using the BETTER HEALTH intervention led to a higher proportion of identified evidence-based prevention and screening actions achieved at six months for people living with socioeconomic disadvantage. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03052959 , registered February 10, 2017.

An unusual case of multiple self-inflicted punctures to the precordium.

Sewing needles, albeit a rare case of penetrating cardiac injury, are potentially life-threatening. We report a case of successful intra-cardiac needle removal from a 32 year old who inserted multiple needles into the chest and abdomen.

Use of a geographic information system to map cases of measles in real-time during an outbreak in Dublin, Ireland, 2011.

In 2011, there was a large measles outbreak in Dublin. Nationally 285 cases were notified to the end of December 2011, and 250 (88%) were located in the Dublin region. After the first case was notified in week 6, numbers gradually increased, with 25 notified in June and a peak of 53 cases in August. Following public health intervention including a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination campaign, no cases were reported in the Dublin region in December 2011. Most cases (82%) were children aged between 6 months and 14 years, and 46 cases (18%) were under 12 months-old. This is the first outbreak in Dublin to utilise a geographic information system for plotting measles cases on a digital map in real time. This approach, in combination with the analysis of case notifications, assisted the department of public health in demonstrating the extent of the outbreak. The digital mapping documented the evolution of two distinct clusters of 87 (35%) cases. These measles cases were infected with genotype D4-Manchester recently associated with large outbreaks across Europe. The two clusters occurred in socio-economically disadvantaged areas and were attributable to inadequate measles vaccination coverage due in part to the interruption of a school-based MMR2 vaccination programme.

A lacticin 3147 enriched food ingredient reduces Streptococcus mutans isolated from the human oral cavity in saliva.

AIMS: To isolate and characterise Streptococcus mutans from Irish saliva samples and to assess their sensitivity to a food-grade preparation of the lantibiotic, lacticin 3147, produced by Lactococcus lactis DPC3147. METHODS AND RESULTS: Saliva samples collected from children with varying oral health status were screened on Mitis Salivarius agar for the presence of pathogenic streptococci. Following selective plating, 16S rDNA sequencing and Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), 15 distinct strains of Strep. mutans were identified. These were grouped according to their relative sensitivity to lacticin 3147 which ranged from 0.78 to 6.25%; relative to a sensitive indicator strain, Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis HP. Inhibition of indicator Strep. mutans strains from sensitive, intermediate and tolerant groupings were assessed in microtitre plate assays with increasing concentrations of lacticin 3147. The concentration of lacticin 3147 required to give 50% growth inhibition correlated with their relative sensitivities (as assayed by well diffusion methodology) and ranged from 1280 to 5120 AU ml(-1). Concentrated preparations of lacticin 3147 caused a rapid killing of Strep. mutans strains in broth. Moreover, in human saliva deliberately spiked with Strep. mutans, the pathogen was eliminated (initial inoculum of 10(5)) in the presence of 40,000 AU ml(-1) of lacticin 3147. Furthermore, a food-grade lacticin 3147 spray dried powder ingredient was assessed for the inhibition of Strep. mutans in human saliva, spiked with a strain of intermediate sensitivity, resulting in up to a 4-log reduction in counts after 20 min. CONCLUSION: A food grade preparation of lacticin 3147 was effective in the inhibition of oral Strep. mutans. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The inhibition of oral streptococci by food grade preparations of lacticin 3147 may offer novel opportunities for the development of lacticin 3147 as an anti-cariogenic agent particularly in the area of functional foods for the improvement of oral health.

Granulomatous peritonitis in hydatid disease.

We report a rare case of persisting granulomatous inflammation within the peritoneal cavity due to previous leakage from a liver hydatid cyst, with the granulomata bearing hooklets originating from protosolices of Echinococcus granulosus. The patient was treated with a full three-month course of albendazole. We believe this represents a rare case of 'pseudotuberculous peritonitis'.

Testing the validity of erythema detection algorithms.

Dermatology has quantified skin color for monitoring progress of treatments. The most common and effective means of erythema detection is visual inspection of the skin. However, for people with darkly pigmented skin, erythema can be masked by melanin. Tissue Reflectance Spectroscopy (TRS) is a noninvasive method of quantifying skin color. Most commonly, TRS quantifies erythema caused by cosmetics, topical ointments, UV light, or other irritants. Recently, TRS has been used to characterize the presence of erythema due to reactive hyperemia or Stage I pressure ulcers. The objective of this study was to compare the reliability and validity of erythema detection algorithms by determining their sensitivity and specificity. Two algorithms, Diffey and Helen Hayes Hospital (HHH), had sensitivity exceeding 85% and specificity exceeding 75%, but most algorithms demonstrated adequate validity across all subjects. The validity of the HHH algorithm did not change with the skin pigmentation of the subject. The results of this comparison will be useful to researchers interested in using TRS to detect erythema in people with different skin pigment levels.

Clinical skin temperature measurement to predict incipient pressure ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate temperature differences between areas of erythema and surrounding healthy tissue to determine whether clinical temperature measurement of sites at risk for pressure ulcer development could be used to indicate tissue damage. To validate the temperature portion of the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel's new Stage I pressure ulcer definition. DESIGN: Repeated measures design. SETTING: Acute rehabilitation hospital. SUBJECTS: 65 outpatients and inpatients presenting with pressure-induced erythema at areas at risk for pressure ulcer development. The subjects were primarily non-ambulatory and exhibited a range of skin pigmentation and disabilities, including spinal injury, multiple sclerosis, and lower-limb amputations. MAIN RESULTS: The temperature and appearance of 80 pairs of erythematic and control sites were documented. Sites were considered to have equal temperatures if the difference was within plus or minus 1.0 degree F. Fifteen percent (n = 12) of the erythematic sites were the same temperature as the surrounding tissue, 23% (n = 18) of the erythematic sites were cooler than the control sites, and 63% (n = 50) were warmer. CONCLUSION: Both increased and decreased temperature differences can be used to indicate reactive hyperemia or a Stage I pressure ulcer, but a tissue integrity problem may still exist despite the absence of a temperature difference.

Cleidocranial dysplasia: radiological appearances on dental panoramic radiography.

OBJECTIVE: To report the effectiveness of dental panoramic radiography in identifying features pathognomonic for cleidocranial dysplasia. METHODS: Panoramic radiographs of nine male Caucasian patients with cleidocranial dysplasia are analysed. RESULTS: In addition to the established dental complications of failure of eruption of the permanent dentition and multiple supernumerary teeth, morphological abnormalities of the maxilla and mandible, particularly in the ascending ramus and coronoid process were present. CONCLUSION: Dental panoramic radiography is a valuable adjunct in confirming the diagnosis of cleidocranial dysplasia.

Using research to find the effects of process-oriented educational assessment in critical care nursing practice.

This 1-year study was undertaken in the southeast of England to investigate whether a process-oriented educational assessment procedure was sustainable, following research in a sample of five critical care environments. Data were derived from clinical practice supervisors and students in each of two consecutive post-registration cohorts, selected from the following areas: intensive and coronary care units; neonatal nursing; medical-surgical units; operating theatres; and accident and emergency departments. The existing measure and then a modified assessment measure for resuscitation ability, were used to evaluate the effect of educational assessment in clinical settings. Data were collected using questionnaires with cohort 1 before and cohort 2 after introduction of an assessment grid developed by the course team based on data from focus group discussions during the clinical supervisors' workshops. The findings indicated that the descriptors of levels of attainment generated by the students and supervisors were in accord with Benner's descriptors (this had increased by phase 2 of the research). Students and supervisors considered that the assessment process increased their critical thinking abilities, but that finding time for supervision and assessment was difficult. Future work will focus on the development of a generic grid with criteria that can be used to guide assessment of any practice experience.

Small bowel tumors: an overview.

Tumors of the small bowel, both benign and malignant, are relatively uncommon and often present a diagnostic challenge as their symptoms are often vague. This review article outlines the incidence, presentation, diagnosis, and management of small bowel tumors.