Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic flavivirus. The epidemiology of this emergent hitherto neglected disease has become a poignant interest in the context of the recent outbreaks in South America. The severe impact of which led World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a Public Health Emergency (PHE) of International concern. Interestingly, two recognized and potential vectors of this virus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, have been prevalent in most of the habitable continents in the world including the Indian sub-continent. In accordance to the earlier apprehension, several cases of ZIKV were reported in 2017 and 2018 from the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in Western India. Studies indicated that the emerging arboviral infections generally stemmed from an animal reservoir, but there is inadequate information on the natural history of several arboviruses, like ZIKV, specially their methods of survival during the inter-epidemic period. Hence, a sustained vector-virus and vertebrate-host surveillance is an imperative necessity in Zika endemic and non-endemic regions to formulate strategies for the prevention offuture outbreak, if any. This review is an attempt to provide an understanding of the interplay of Zika virus and its vector/s and vertebrate host/s in reference to today's changing environment.
Background:The challenge of recognizing ward-based patients at risk of deterioration is discussed
frequently within the relevant literature. Nurses in particular hold the prime position to identify problems at
an early stage using systematic patient assessment. However, general ward nurses' perceived knowledge,
attitudes, and practice related to assessment of the risk of deterioration are not well understood. Failures to
recognize or act upon the deterioration of general ward patients has sometimes resulted in the implementation
of early warning scoring systems and Critical Care Outreach teams.
Aim: The study aim to explore general ward nurses' perceived knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in
assessing patients at risk of deteriorating in general wards.
Method: ACross-sectional study design with Modified Early Warning Score questionnaire for general ward
nurses was done in one tertiary hospital in Malaysia in 2013 and 2014.
Results: General ward nurses perceived that they struggled with knowledge and attitude, but they feel they
performed good practice in assessing patients at risk for deterioration. Nevertheless, the study finding shows
otherwise. Only one respondent achieved 'grade B' (85%) and the remainder scored in the band 'grade F'
(very poor). The respondents' attitude was measured by their perception of their levels of confidence and
concern. The mean confidence level was greater than six out of 10 for all categories. The attitudes mean score
± SD was set at 42.02 ±7.76. The data showed that 51% (N=50) scored below mean core of 42.02. However,
participants' overall mean score ±SD for perceptions of practice (risk of deterioration assessment) was 90.27
± 21.87 (6.94+/-1.683). The majority of participants awarded themselves a score between eight and nine,
which is in the 'good' range for the scale (0-2 weak; 3-5 moderate; 6-8 good; 9-10 excellent). Those who
scored above it were classified as having a good attitude.
Conclusion: A need exists for general ward nurses to gain a knowledge foundation in detecting abnormality
to address lack of confidence, poor attitude and alertness, and concern.
Meta-analysis is a subset of systematic review; a technique for systematically combining pertinent qualitative
and quantitative study data from numerous selected studies to broaden a single conclusion that has more
statistical power. This inference is statistically stronger than the analysis of any single study, due to increase
numbers of topics, greater variety amongst subjects, or collected effects and outcomes. The aim of this review
article is to highlight the definition, history, purpose, characteristics, use, advantage, disadvantage, validity,
and steps in conducting meta-analysis.
Background: Technological diversity management in the manufacturing of advanced medical devices is
essential. The manufacturing industries of medical devices should act in accordance with the technical
guidelines and regulations in order to ensure best practices with the use of devices in hospitals
Aim: To explore safety hazards, cost implications, and social and ethical standards to be considered during
the manufacturing of advanced medical devices
Subject and Methods: Aqualitative descriptive study was used. There was no targeted sample in the current
study whereby secondary data were used to explore the research topic. Secondary sources were obtained
from databases including EBSCOHOST, PubMed, ProQuest, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. Peerreviewed
articles, journals, books, conference proceedings, and other web publications were used to gather
relevant data.
Results: The current study indicated that the technological diversity management of advanced medical
devices is associated with safety hazards like security threats, integrity problems, and medical errors. The
study also showed that high cost of standardizations, supply, and purchase of advanced medical devices is a
huge burden faced by the manufacturers andusers. The study showed that the regulation of the medical
devices, certification, and post-market surveillanceare essential social and ethical considerations during the
manufacturing process of the new medical devices.
Conclusion: The current study explored the technological diversity of advanced medical devices. It is
evident in the current study that technology diversity of medical devices is associated with safety hazards
and cost implications. The study disclosed that taking into account social and ethical issues aid in
manufacturing safe and high quality medical devices.
Dengue is endemic in Kolkata, India. Outbreaks of dengue cases often occur regularly at short intervals. This
retrospective seroepidemiological surveillance was conducted longitudinally. Dengue cases were diagnosed
in the laboratories from suspected patients by dengue specific IgG, IgM antibodies and NS1 antigen, from
suspected persons to investigate, analyze and categorize the cases who were actually suffering from dengue to
diagnose a dengue patient in the laboratory practice along with the status of the patient related to the detection
of disease and duration of primary and secondary infection for effective monitoring of the patient. Age and
Sex of the dengue patients were determined. Detection of dengue in unsuspected fever cases in unfavorable
transmission season was evaluated. The transmission of dengue infection in the non-transmission season is
not remarkable and often remains submerged. Proper measure at this stage may prevent the epidemic
outbreak in the transmission season. This sort of experience will help to enrich the effective control and case
management of the menace.