Displaying publications 2281 - 2300 of 7301 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Ahmed W, Ali S, Waqas H, Asghar M, Erum N
    Glob Soc Welf, 2023 Feb 22.
    PMID: 36846516 DOI: 10.1007/s40609-023-00268-9
    The governments have been facing the challenges to develop tailored strategies to decrease COVID vaccine hesitancy (CVH) and refusal and increase the acceptability and uptake to ensure the protection of public health. In Pakistan, it has been a great challenge for the government to increase the acceptability of the COVID vaccine. CVH has been a great hurdle to achieving this objective. The authors found it imperative to identify and evaluate the factors of CVH in Pakistan. For this purpose, the authors used an integrated multicriteria decision analysis method (MCDM) by combining Delphi and DEMATEL methods. The factors of CVH have been identified and finalized using the Delphi method. The experts' opinions were obtained to evaluate the factors. The DEMATEL method was used to find out the most critical factor(s) of CVH. Moreover, the cause/effect relationship was also developed to have a better understating of factors and their relationships. The analysis revealed "ineffective public awareness strategies" as the most critical factor of CVH followed by "misinformation and disinformation, conspiracy theories", and "acquired knowledge". The study also examined the cause-and-effect relationship between the prioritized factors. The government in Pakistan introduced successful efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the government could do more to increase vaccine acceptance. For this purpose to serve effective scientific and evidence-based public awareness strategies are needed to increase the acquired knowledge and deal with misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories to increase vaccine acceptance. The government could sue the media, especially social media to increase vaccination. The findings of the study provide a detailed understanding of the CVH in Pakistan and develop a comprehensive public health strategy to deal with any health-related potential issues in the future.
  2. Bhutto MY, Khan MA, Sun C, Hashim S, Khan HT
    PLoS One, 2023;18(3):e0281527.
    PMID: 36961791 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281527
    Organic food has gained much importance due to consumers' rising environmental and health concerns. Purchase intention of organic food has been explored widely, but the repurchase intention of organic food has gained little attention among researchers. So, it has become important to explore repurchase intention among generation Z; a generation considered more educated and aware of rising environmental concerns. Generation Z is more tech-savvy and brand conscious, so its impact on repurchase intention through consumer satisfaction has been explored. The data in this paper was collected from 400 respondents through a structured questionnaire in Islamabad, Pakistan. We used the PLS-SEM approach for data analysis and results; we found that social media influence and brand purchase impact brand awareness and positively impact brand awareness on consumer satisfaction. Moreover, it is also found that consumer satisfaction positively impacts the repurchase intention of organic food. Our study found that Generation Z has a strong social media influence, so marketers' managers must consider and address the issues when consumers consider social media for their concerns and suggestion.
  3. Shafie MH, Antony Dass M, Ahmad Shaberi HS, Zafarina Z
    PMID: 36647397 DOI: 10.1186/s43088-023-00342-3
    BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 is a pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection that emerged in late 2019 and has activated an ongoing international public health emergency. SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and rapidly spread to other cities and countries. Currently, SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests have relied heavily on detecting viral genes, antigens, and human antibodies. Hence, this review discusses and analyses the existing screening and confirmation tests for SARS-CoV-2, including the real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

    MAIN BODY: The illustrations of each testing were presented to provide the readers with an understanding of the scientific principles behind the testing methods. The comparison was made by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each testing. ELISA is ideal for performing the maximum population screening to determine immunological capacity, although its inability to provide reliable results on the status of the infection. Recently, LFIA has been approved as a quicker way of determining whether a patient is infected at the analysis time without using particular instruments and non-laboratory settings. RT-PCR is the gold-standard approach in terms of sensitivity and specificity.

    CONCLUSION: However, the combination of LFIA or ELISA with RT-PCR is also proposed in this review to obtain an adequate level of sensitivity and specificity.

  4. Hasnul MA, Ab Aziz NA, Abd Aziz A
    Arab J Sci Eng, 2023 Jan 11.
    PMID: 36685996 DOI: 10.1007/s13369-022-07585-9
    A physiological-based emotion recognition system (ERS) with a unimodal approach such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) is not as popular compared to a multimodal approach. However, a single modality has the advantage of lower development and computational cost. Therefore, this study focuses on a unimodal ECG-based ERS. The ECG-based ERS has the potential to become the next mass-adopted consumer application due to the wide availability of wearable and mobile ECG devices in the market. Currently, ECG-inclusive affective datasets are limited, and many of the existing datasets have small sample sizes. Hence, ECG-based ERS studies are stunted by the lack of quality data. A novel multi-filtering augmentation technique is proposed here to increase the sample size of the ECG data. This technique augments the ECG signals by cleaning the data in different ways. Three small ECG datasets labelled according to emotion state are used in this study. The benefit of the proposed augmentation techniques is measured using the classification accuracy of five machine learning algorithms; k-nearest neighbours (KNN), support vector machine, decision tree, random forest and multilayer perceptron. The results show that with the proposed technique, there is a significant improvement in performance for all the datasets and classifiers. KNN classifier improved the most with the augmented data and the reported classification accuracies of over 90%.
  5. Bhuiyan MA, Zhang Q, Xuan W, Rahman MK, Khare V
    SN Bus Econ, 2023;3(1):33.
    PMID: 36684689 DOI: 10.1007/s43546-022-00408-x
    This paper aims to analyze the articles regarding the role of good governance in sustainable tourism for China. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature review approach has been conducted in this paper. A total number of 100 peer-reviewed journal papers have been critically evaluated. Our review analysis shows that taking necessary steps under good governance can promote sustainable tourism development in China. Few policy recommendations and future research aspects have also been included in the paper.

    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43546-022-00408-x.

  6. Bajuri MY, Kim J, Yu Y, Shahul Hameed MS
    Gels, 2023 Jan 13;9(1).
    PMID: 36661832 DOI: 10.3390/gels9010066
    Adipose tissue is an abundant source of extracellular substances that support the tissue repair process. This pilot study was carried out to determine the efficacy of 3D-bioprinted autologous adipose tissue grafts on diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), with fibrin gel used to stabilise the graft. This was a single-arm pilot study in a tertiary hospital that provides diabetic wound care services. A total of 10 patients with a DFU were enrolled, and the primary endpoint was complete healing within 12 weeks. The secondary endpoints were wound size reduction, time to healing, and adverse events. Seven out of ten patients showed complete healing of their DFU within 12 weeks (at 2, 4, 5, 10, and 12 weeks, respectively). The wound size reduction rate was significantly and progressively reduced over time. According to our data, autologous adipose tissue grafting using a 3D bioprinter, with the addition of fibrin gel that acts as a scaffold, promotes wound healing with high-quality skin reconstruction. Throughout this study period, no adverse events were observed.
  7. Flesia L, Adeeb M, Waseem A, Helmy M, Monaro M
    Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ, 2023 Jan 03;13(1):67-80.
    PMID: 36661755 DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe13010005
    The COVID-19 outbreak and the worldwide lockdown measures had an impact on the global mental health and psychological well-being of the general population. Several studies attempted to investigate the protective and risk factors for psychological distress related to the pandemic. However, to date, little is known about the role of hope in this context. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between hope and psychological distress related to the COVID-19 outbreak in the general population. The sample consisted of 504 Pakistani people who completed cross-sectionally the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) and the Adult Hope Scale (AHS). Bivariate Pearson correlation analysis was run to measure the relationship between hope and psychological distress; hierarchical regression analysis was run to investigate the association between demographics and hope with psychological distress. Higher levels of hope predicted lower levels of psychological distress. Being female, being older, lower level of education, urban residence, being married and living in nuclear family systems were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. The study highlights the protective role of hope on psychological distress related to COVID-19, contributing to knowledge on factors promoting positive mental health during emergency times and providing useful information for implementing effective public health policies and programmes.
  8. Akhtar N, Khan N, Qayyum S, Qureshi MI, Hishan SS
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:869793.
    PMID: 36187628 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.869793
    The use of technology in the healthcare sector and its medical practices, from patient record maintenance to diagnostics, has significantly improved the health care emergency management system. At that backdrop, it is crucial to explore the role and challenges of these technologies in the healthcare sector. Therefore, this study provides a systematic review of the literature on technological developments in the healthcare sector and deduces its pros and cons. We curate the published studies from the Web of Science and Scopus databases by using PRISMA 2015 guidelines. After mining the data, we selected only 55 studies for the systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. The study explores four significant classifications of technological development in healthcare: (a) digital technologies, (b) artificial intelligence, (c) blockchain, and (d) the Internet of Things. The novel contribution of current study indicate that digital technologies have significantly influenced the healthcare services such as the beginning of electronic health record, a new era of digital healthcare, while robotic surgeries and machine learning algorithms may replace practitioners as future technologies. However, a considerable number of studies have criticized these technologies in the health sector based on trust, security, privacy, and accuracy. The study suggests that future studies, on technological development in healthcare services, may take into account these issues for sustainable development of the healthcare sector.
  9. Khan MA, Alias N, Khan I, Salama FM, Eldin SM
    Sci Rep, 2023 Jan 27;13(1):1549.
    PMID: 36707653 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28741-7
    In this article, we developed a new higher-order implicit finite difference iterative scheme (FDIS) for the solution of the two dimension (2-D) time fractional Cable equation (FCE). In the new proposed FDIS, the time fractional and space derivatives are discretized using the Caputo fractional derivative and fourth-order implicit scheme, respectively. Moreover, the proposed scheme theoretical analysis (convergence and stability) is also discussed using the Fourier analysis method. Finally, some numerical test problems are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
  10. Yang Q, Al Mamun A, Jingzu G, Siyu L, Masud MM
    Front Psychol, 2023;14:1123198.
    PMID: 36860787 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1123198
    Under the premise of the value-belief-norm (VBN) model, this study examined the influence of values, beliefs and norms on social entrepreneurial intention of working adults in China. The cross-sectional design was employed, and an online survey, which involved 1,075 working adults, was conducted. All data were analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The obtained results showed the significant and positive influence of self-enhancement, openness to change, and self-transcendence on the sense of meaning and purpose. Moreover, the sense of meaning and purpose exhibited significant and positive influence on problem awareness, and problem awareness was found to have positive effect on outcome efficacy. Besides that, the sense of meaning and purpose, problem awareness, outcome efficacy, and injunctive social norms were found to exhibit significant and positive on personal norms. Finally, personal norms and injunctive social norms exhibited statistically significant and positive influence on social entrepreneurial intention. The results of effect size confirmed the considerable influence of personal norms and injunctive social norms on social entrepreneurial intention. Therefore, policy development aimed at promoting socioeconomic and environmental sustainability through social entrepreneurship should comprehensively consider the influence of personal norms and injunctive social norms. Increasing the sense of meaning and purpose of the working population, prompting an increased problem consequence and outcome self-efficacy, as well as instilling personal norms and injunctive social norms through various social and environmental incentives are recommended.
  11. Shahrudin MS, Mohamed-Yassin MS, Nik Mohd Nasir NM
    Am J Case Rep, 2023 Jan 18;24:e938667.
    PMID: 36650730 DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.938667
    BACKGROUND Herpes zoster is a condition in which there is reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV), which is usually seen in the elderly and those with immunocompromised states. Recently, however, there have been many reports of herpes zoster after administration of COVID-19 vaccines, although initial trials showed that these vaccines have good safety and immunogenicity profiles. At the time of writing, about 5 billion people worldwide had received their full course of COVID-19 vaccination. This case report describes an elderly man who developed herpes zoster after receiving a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) vaccine, with no adverse effects after the first and second dose. CASE REPORT An 82-year-old man with underlying type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and cerebrovascular disease presented with left-sided chest and upper back pain. The pain was intermittent, burning in nature, and disturbed his sleep. A week prior to his presentation, he received a COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) booster dose. Examination revealed multiple vesicles along his anterior and posterior T3 dermatome. He was diagnosed with herpes zoster and treated with a course of oral acyclovir. Upon review 7 days later, he had recovered well, with resolution of his vesicles and pain. CONCLUSIONS COVID-19 vaccination remains an important measure to prevent transmission of infection and to reduce the mortality and morbidity caused by it. However, healthcare practitioners should be aware of the possible association between COVID-19 vaccination and herpes zoster. Appropriate explanation and safety advice on the possible adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination, including herpes zoster infection, should be given to patients. This will facilitate early recognition and treatment of this condition.
  12. Razali MR, Mohd Faudzi AA, Shamsudin AU, Mohamaddan S
    Front Robot AI, 2022;9:1087371.
    PMID: 36714801 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2022.1087371
    Due to the complexity of autonomous mobile robot's requirement and drastic technological changes, the safe and efficient path tracking development is becoming complex and requires intensive knowledge and information, thus the demand for advanced algorithm has rapidly increased. Analyzing unstructured gain data has been a growing interest among researchers, resulting in valuable information in many fields such as path planning and motion control. Among those, motion control is a vital part of a fast, secure operation. Yet, current approaches face problems in managing unstructured gain data and producing accurate local planning due to the lack of formulation in the knowledge on the gain optimization. Therefore, this research aims to design a new gain optimization approach to assist researcher in identifying the value of the gain's product with a qualitative comparative study of the up-to-date controllers. Gains optimization in this context is to classify the near perfect value of the gain's product and processes. For this, a domain controller will be developed based on the attributes of the Fuzzy-PID parameters. The development of the Fuzzy Logic Controller requires information on the PID controller parameters that will be fuzzified and defuzzied based on the resulting 49 fuzzy rules. Furthermore, this fuzzy inference will be optimized for its usability by a genetic algorithm (GA). It is expected that the domain controller will give a positive impact to the path planning position and angular PID controller algorithm that meet the autonomous demand.
  13. Ruiz Estrada MA, Koutronas E, Park D, Khan A, Tahir M
    Qual Quant, 2023;57(1):847-862.
    PMID: 35431342 DOI: 10.1007/s11135-022-01392-y
    This paper attempts to evaluate the impact of massive infectious and contagious diseases and its final impact on the economic performance anywhere and anytime. We are considering to evaluate the case of Wuhan, China. We are taking in consideration the case of COVID-19 to be evaluated under a domestic, national, and international level impact. In this paper, we also propose a new simulator to evaluate the impact of massive infections and contagious diseases on the economic performance subsequently. This simulator is entitled "The Impact of Pandemics on the Economic Performance Simulator (IPEP-Simulator)" Hence, this simulator tries to show a macro and micro analysis with different possible scenarios simultaneously. Finally, the IPEP-Simulator was applied to the case of Wuhan-China respectively.
  14. Hadi H, Wan Shuaib WMA, Raja Ali RA, Othman H
    Medicina (Kaunas), 2022 Jul 28;58(8).
    PMID: 36013482 DOI: 10.3390/medicina58081015
    Background and Objectives: We aim to compare the diagnostic performance of Protein induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA-II), a biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in differentiating HCC and non-malignant high-risk (NMHR) groups and to determine their cut-off values. Materials and Methods: A total of 163 patients, including 40 with HCC and 123 with NMHR (100 with liver cirrhosis and 23 with non-cirrhotic high-risk patients) were prospectively enrolled. The levels of AFP and PIVKA-II were measured, and their cut-off values were determined. We calculated and compared the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves of PIVKA-II, AFP, and their combination. Results: The levels of PIVKA-II and AFP were found to be significantly higher in the HCC compared to NMHR patients (p < 0.0001). For the differentiation of HCC from NMHR, the optimal cutoff values for PIVKA-II and AFP were 36.7 mAU/mL (90% sensitivity; 82.1% specificity) and 14.2 ng/mL (75% sensitivity; 93.5% specificity), respectively. The AUROC of PIVKA-II (0.905, p < 0.0001) was higher compared to AFP (0.869, p < 0.0001), but the combination of PIVKA−II and AFP gave the highest AUROC value (0.911, p < 0.0001). However, their differences were not statistically significant (AFP vs. PIVKA; p = 0.4775, AFP vs. Combination; p = 0.3808, PIVKA vs. Combination; p = 0.2268). Conclusions: PIVKA-II and AFP showed equal performance in detecting HCC in high-risk patients. AFP as a screening marker for HCC may be adequate, and replacing or adding the PIVKA-II test in current clinical practice may be of little value.
  15. Dai J, Alvarado R, Ali S, Ahmed Z, Meo MS
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Mar;30(14):40094-40106.
    PMID: 36607580 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-25100-3
    Attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is important to control the adverse impacts of climate change and achieve sustainable development. Among the 17 SDGs, target 13 emphasizes enhancing urgent actions to combat climate-related changes. This target is also dependent on target 7, which advocates enhancing access to cheap alternative sustainable energy. To accomplish these targets, it is vital to curb the transport CO2 emissions (TCO2) which increased by approximately 80% from 1990 to 2019. Thus, this study assesses the role of transport renewable energy consumption (TRN) in TCO2 by taking into consideration transport fossil fuel consumption (TTF) and road infrastructure (RF) from 1970 to 2019 for the United States (US) with the intention to suggest some suitable mitigation policies. Also, this study assessed the presence of transport environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) to assess the direction of transport-induced growth. The study used the Bayer-Hanck cointegration test which utilizes four different cointegration techniques to decide cointegration along with the Gradual Shift causality test which considers structural shift and fractional integration in time series data. The long-run findings of the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) test, which counters endogeneity and serial correlation, revealed that the transport renewable energy use mitigates as well as Granger causes TCO2. However, transport fossil fuel usage and road infrastructure enhance TCO2. Surprisingly, the transport EKC is invalid in the case of the US, and increased growth levels are harmful to the environment. The association between TCO2 and economic growth is similar to a U-shaped curve. The Spectral Causality test revealed the growth hypothesis regarding transport fossil fuel use and economic growth connection, which suggests that policymakers should be cautious while decreasing the usage of transport fossil fuels because it may hamper economic progress. These findings call for revisiting growth strategies and increasing green energy utilization in the transport sector to mitigate transport emissions.
  16. Zhang S, Anser MK, Yao-Ping Peng M, Chen C
    Resour Policy, 2023 Jan;80:103182.
    PMID: 36530833 DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.103182
    After the COVID-19 outbreak, this study examines the influence of modifications in China's Sustainable Growth Goals (SDGs) and economic development goals on Chinese enterprises' energy conservation and emissions reduction behavior. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 epidemic has erupted, displacing the flimsy traditional techniques. As a result, the post-COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the need for a long-term sustainable development method compatible with the local and regional environmental systems. The main objective of this study is used as a roadmap to steer the post-COVID-19 pandemic on a sustainable green path by emphasizing sustainable energy strategies to connect in SDG-related efforts. The investigation in this paper begins with examining significant impacts in the energy industry and their impact on progress toward sustainability. The empirical findings that the CO2 emissions reduction objectives in long-term development plans had a considerable impact on energy saving and emissions reduction, lowering energy consumption intensity by 3.33% and carbon emission intensity by 4.23% between 2010 and 2019. Besides, the results and long and short run techniques are built to describe the Sustainable Development Goals interface, with the result revealing that Sustainable Development Goals enhance the green economic recovery performance. Furthermore, this study recommends that the key natural resources and green economic recovery policies to overcome the climate change impacts by COVID-19 pandemic.
  17. Zahid E, Bhatti O, Zahid MA, Stubbs M
    Malays Fam Physician, 2022 Nov 30;17(3):9-21.
    PMID: 36606178 DOI: 10.51866/rv.37
    This article summarises common oral lesions that clinicians may face in everyday practice by categorising them by clinical presentation: ulcerated lesions, white or mixed white-red lesions, lumps and bumps, and pigmented lesions. The pathologies covered include recurrent aphthous stomatitis, herpes simplex virus, oral squamous cell carcinoma, geographic tongue, oral candidosis, oral lichen planus, pre-malignant disorders, pyogenic granuloma, mucocele and squamous cell papilloma, oral melanoma, hairy tongue and amalgam tattoo. The objective of this review is to improve clinician knowledge and confidence in assessing and managing common oral lesions presenting in the primary care setting.
  18. Francis AO, Kevin OS, Ahmad Zaini MA
    Int J Phytoremediation, 2023;25(12):1625-1635.
    PMID: 36823750 DOI: 10.1080/15226514.2023.2179013
    This study evaluated the characteristics of zinc chloride modified vitex doniana seed activated carbon (VDZnCl2) for the removal of methylene blue. VDZnCl2 was characterized for textural properties, surface morphology and surface chemistry. Batch adsorption of methylene blue by VDZnCl2 was evaluated for the effects of concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and solution pH. The surface area increased from 14 to 933 m2/g with porous texture to facilitate adsorption. The SEM micrograph showed varieties of pores with widened cavities. The FTIR spectra showed the characteristics of O-H and C=C groups commonly found in carbonaceous materials. The maximum methylene blue adsorption was recorded as 238 mg/g at concentration range of 1-800 mg/L and VDZnCl2 dosage of 50 mg. Sips isotherm fitted well with the equilibrium data, suggesting that the adsorption by VDZnCl2 was a physical process onto its heterogeneous surface, while the applicability of pseudo-first-order kinetics implies that external diffusion was the rate controlling mechanism. The performance put up by VDZnCl2 suggested that it is a potential adsorbent substitute for dye wastewater treatment.
  19. Aman-Ullah A, Ali A, Mehmood W, Fareed M, Aman-Ullah A
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Feb;30(8):22078-22088.
    PMID: 36282374 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23760-9
    The present study aims to identify the impact of corporate social responsibility on patients' intention to revisit the healthcare industry. Furthermore, mediating the role of patient satisfaction and patient loyalty along with serial mediation through corporate social responsibility =  > patient satisfaction =  > patient loyalty =  > intention to revisit was also tested. The present study is quantitative in nature, while the data for the study was collected using purposive sampling from 321 patients working in eight hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. For the data analysis, statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modeling through the partial least square approach (smart-PLS v 3.3.9) were employed. The study results show that corporate social responsibility forms a significantly positive relationship with patient satisfaction, patient loyalty, and patient intention to revisit. Study findings confirmed the mediating role of patient satisfaction and patient loyalty. Furthermore, serial mediation through patient satisfaction and patient loyalty was also confirmed. In the current competitive environment, understanding the direct and indirect effects of CSR activities on patient satisfaction, patient loyalty, and intentions to revisit is of the utmost importance for hospitals. These activities provide hospitals with the opportunity to take certain actions to improve patient satisfaction, and these actions increase their loyalty, which in turn encourages their intention to revisit.
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links