scholarly journals Do University Students Adhere to WHO Guidelines on Proper Use of Face Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic?—Analysis and Comparison of Medical and Non-Medical Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4536
Author(s):  
Marta Szepietowska ◽  
Piotr K. Krajewski ◽  
Łukasz Matusiak ◽  
Rafał Białynicki-Birula ◽  
Jacek C. Szepietowski

Covering the mouth and nose has become the common standard for protection from human-to-human virus transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to investigate whether students at universities (medical and non-medical students) do adhere to WHO recommendations on the proper use of face protection. The study was based on the survey created with Google® Forms regarding data on demographics and self-reported skin conditions. The main questions addressed the WHO guideline on the correct use of face masks. Responses were obtained from 1173 students. Compliance with all WHO criteria among the whole group of respondents was very low at less than 1% with no significant difference between medical and non-medical students. Covering of the nose and mouth with the face mask was the criterion most commonly complied with (81.2%); contact avoidance of touching the mask with hands appeared to be the most difficult criterion to comply with (2.8%). Medical students were significantly more compliant with three out of seven criteria. In general, compliance with the WHO guidelines on the proper use of face masks was dramatically low among all the students. Education campaigns should be introduced to increase the awareness of the correct use of face coverings during the viral pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Catching ◽  
Sara Capponi ◽  
Ming Te Yeh ◽  
Simone Bianco ◽  
Raul Andino

AbstractCOVID-19’s high virus transmission rates have caused a pandemic that is exacerbated by the high rates of asymptomatic and presymptomatic infections. These factors suggest that face masks and social distance could be paramount in containing the pandemic. We examined the efficacy of each measure and the combination of both measures using an agent-based model within a closed space that approximated real-life interactions. By explicitly considering different fractions of asymptomatic individuals, as well as a realistic hypothesis of face masks protection during inhaling and exhaling, our simulations demonstrate that a synergistic use of face masks and social distancing is the most effective intervention to curb the infection spread. To control the pandemic, our models suggest that high adherence to social distance is necessary to curb the spread of the disease, and that wearing face masks provides optimal protection even if only a small portion of the population comply with social distance. Finally, the face mask effectiveness in curbing the viral spread is not reduced if a large fraction of population is asymptomatic. Our findings have important implications for policies that dictate the reopening of social gatherings.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasem Seresirikachorn ◽  
Paisan Ruamviboonsuk ◽  
Ngamphol Soonthornworasiri ◽  
Panisa Singhanetr ◽  
Natsuda Kaothanthong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: COVID-19 has created health and socioeconomic damage worldwide, and face masks are a low-cost but effective method of preventing transmission of this disease. Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted systems can come into play to help visualize the public’s awareness of mask wearing and gain a better picture of whether there is adequate practice of protection during the outbreak. We reported the rate of face mask wearing by the general public using the artificial intelligence-assisted face mask detector, AiMASK.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January 23 and April 22, 2021 in over 32 districts in Bangkok, Thailand. After the introduction of AiMASK, development and internal validation were performed, and average accuracy of 97.8% was found. Data were classified into a protected group (correct face mask wearing) and an unprotected group (incorrect or non-mask wearing). We analyzed the association between factors affecting the unprotected group using univariate logistic regression analysis.Results: No significant difference was found between results from human graders and those of AiMASK using two proportion Z test (p=0.74). AiMASK detected a total of 1,124,524 people, the majority of whom were in the protected group (95.98%). The unprotected group consisted of 2.06% who practised incorrect mask-wearing, and the other 1.96% were those who did not wear masks. A moderate negative correlation was found between the number of COVID-19 patients and the proportion of unprotected people (r= -0.507, p<0.001). People were 1.15 times more likely to be in the unprotected group during the holidays and in the evening than on working days and in the morning (OR=1.15, 95% CI 1.13-1.17, p<0.001). Districts in the city center were 1.31 times more likely to have higher proportions of unprotected individuals than suburban districts (OR=1.31, 95% CI 1.28-1.34, p<0.001). Conclusions: AiMASK was as effective as human graders in detecting face mask wearing. The prevailing number of COVID-19 infections affected people’s mask-wearing behavior, and half of the unprotected group were those who wore masks incorrectly. Public policies should communicate the importance of wearing masks consistently throughout the day and during holidays as well as providing instructions for effective mask wearing to prevent virus transmission.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Swaidatul Masluhiya AF ◽  
Hasminar Rachman Fidiastuti

This study aimed to determine the effect of using natural masks to moisturize dry skin. This natural mask was made of ingredients that are safe to use and based on special formulations which include; bengkoang powder (2 grams), chocolate powder (1 gram), black cumin oil (0.6 ml), and honey (5 ml). This formulation was made so that the resultied mask formed paste stucture that can be directly applied. Masks were given to ten probandal women who have dry skin types and are 30-40 years old. Masks were used twice / week for six weeks (12 times usage). The instrument used to measure the moisture level of facial skin was a skin analyzer (HL-611) by directly attaching it to the face area and the results can be seen after 4-5 seconds. The data were analysed using ANOVA test 95% confidence interval and significance test using SPSS 15 for windows. The results showed that skin moisture values increased around 3.9% within 6 weeks of use, with a 0.8% increase at week 2, at week 4 there was an increase of 1.65% and at week 6 there was an increase in skin moisture by 1.4%. The moisture value of the skin on the face area (forehead, nose, chin, cheeks) showed no significant difference with almost the same value of humidity. It is recommended for dry skin types to use a face mask that contains oil as a skin lubricant and to protect water evaporation from the skin. It is necessary to do further testing on this natural mask so that safety on the skin can be guaranteed. It needs to be done so that the final product obtained meets the face mask safety quality standards set by the government. Keywords: Bengkuang; cocoa; black cumin; honey; natural mask.


Author(s):  
Oren Izenberg

This book offers a new way to understand the divisions that organize twentieth-century poetry. It argues that the most important conflict is not between styles or aesthetic politics, but between poets who seek to preserve or produce the incommensurable particularity of experience by making powerful objects, and poets whose radical commitment to abstract personhood seems altogether incompatible with experience—and with poems. Reading across the apparent gulf that separates traditional and avant-garde poets, the book reveals the common philosophical urgency that lies behind diverse forms of poetic difficulty—from William Butler Yeats's esoteric symbolism and George Oppen's minimalism and silence to Frank O'Hara's joyful slightness and the Language poets' rejection of traditional aesthetic satisfactions. For these poets, what begins as a practical question about the conduct of literary life—what distinguishes a poet or group of poets?—ends up as an ontological inquiry about social life: What is a person and how is a community possible? In the face of the violence and dislocation of the twentieth century, these poets resist their will to mastery, shy away from the sensual richness of their strongest work, and undermine the particularity of their imaginative and moral visions—all in an effort to allow personhood itself to emerge as an undeniable fact making an unrefusable claim.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-192
Author(s):  
Toan Dao Thanh ◽  
Vo Thien Linh

In this article, a system to detect driver drowsiness and distraction based on image sensing technique is created. With a camera used to observe the face of driver, the image processing system embedded in the Raspberry Pi 3 Kit will generate a warning sound when the driver shows drowsiness based on the eye-closed state or a yawn. To detect the closed eye state, we use the ratio of the distance between the eyelids and the ratio of the distance between the upper lip and the lower lip when yawning. A trained data set to extract 68 facial features and “frontal face detectors” in Dlib are utilized to determine the eyes and mouth positions needed to carry out identification. Experimental data from the tests of the system on Vietnamese volunteers in our University laboratory show that the system can detect at realtime the common driver states of “Normal”, “Close eyes”, “Yawn” or “Distraction”


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1240-1243
Author(s):  
Pradyuman Singh Rajput ◽  
Asish Kumar Saha ◽  
Insiya Gangardiwala ◽  
Anand Vijayakumar Palur Ramakrishnan

The COVID-19 pandemic initially started from the Wuhan capital city of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China had now led to a severe public health hazard across the globe, the recorded death is approximately 958 thousand globally and counting. With the enormous amount of spread of the disease, a severe crisis for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is being noticed across the globe. Face masks being the first line of defence for all the healthcare workers as well for the common public. It became mandatory to wear face masks before entering the patient care area. The countries who are not manufacturing it locally had to depend on other countries for the procurement. As there is a severe supply chain disruption due to the lockdown measures taken by all the countries to contain the disease, so it had become difficult to procure the face masks from the manufacturing countries. The price for these PPEs is also rising at an alarming rate with the increase in the COVID-19 cases and the huge rate of consumption by the healthcare and other sectors. Therefore, with limited resources, the hospital has to run its services. The CDC, WHO and ICMR have released several guidelines from time to time for sterilization and reuse of face masks. This article will discuss the various methods that can be utilized to sterilize the face masks and reuse of it.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer S Mascaro ◽  
Sean Kelley ◽  
Alana Darcher ◽  
Lobsang Negi ◽  
Carol Worthman ◽  
...  

Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychologicaldemands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physiciancompetence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion inways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To addressthis issue, the current study was designed to (1) investigate the feasibility of cognitively-basedcompassion training (CBCT) for second-year medical students, and (2) test whether CBCT decreasesdepression, enhances compassion, and improves daily functioning in medical students. Comparedto the wait-list group, students randomized to CBCT reported increased compassion, and decreasedloneliness and depression. Changes in compassion were most robust in individuals reporting highlevels of depression at baseline, suggesting that CBCT may benefit those most in need by breakingthe link between personal suffering and a concomitant drop in compassion


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-69
Author(s):  
Mao Nguyen Van ◽  
Dong Tran Nam

Background: Pigmented tumour of the skin is one of the common tumour in human including the benign pigmented tumours (more common) called Nevi tumours and the malignant one called melanoma which was less frequent but the most poor in prognosis. In addition, the others not belonging to these group had the same clinical appearance, so the application of histopathology and immunohistochemistry for the definitive diagnosis was indespensible. Objectives: 1. To describe the macroscopic features of the pigmented tumoral-like lesions; 2. To classify the histopathologic types of the pigmented cell tumours and the other pigmented tumours of the skin. Materials and Method: Cross-sectional research on 55 patients diagnosed as pigmented tumoral lesions by clinician, then all definitively diagnosed by histopathology combining the immunohistochemistry in difficult cases. Results: There was no difference in gender, the disease was discovered most common in adult, especially with the age over 51 years old (58.1%). the most region located was in the face accounting for 60%, following the trunk and limbs (14.6%, 12.8% respectively). All 3 malignant melanomas happened in foot. The most common color of the lesions was black (65.4%), the other ones were rose, grey and blue. Histopathology and immunohisthochemistry showed that the true pigmented cell tumours were 52.6% encompassing benign ones (Nevi tumour) (41.8%), melanoma (5.4%) and lentigo (5.4%). 47.4% was not the true pigmented cell tumour including pigmented basocellular carcinoma (36.4%) and the others less common as histiofibromas, acanthoma and papilloma. Conclusion: the pigmented tumoral-like lesions of the skin could be the true pigmented cell tumours and the others, so the application of the histopathology and the immunohistochemistry after the clinical discovery helps to determine and classify the disease definitely and for the best orientation of treatment as well. Key words: skin tumour, benign pigmented tumour (Nevi), malignant pigmented tumour (melanoma), pigmented basocellular carcinoma


1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-246
Author(s):  
Mohammad A. Siddiqui

IntroductionCommunication today is increasingly seen as a process through whichthe exchange and sharing of meaning is made possible. Commtinication asa subject of scientific inquiry is not unique to the field of mass communication.Mathematicians, engineers, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists,anthropologists, and speech communicators have been taking an interest inthe study of communication. This is not surprising because communicationis the basic social process of human beings. Although communication hasgrown into a well developed field of study, Muslim scholars have rdrely hcusedon the study of communication. Thus, a brief introduction to the widely usedcommunication concepts and a framework for the study of communicationwithin the context of this paper is provided.In 1909, Charles Cooley defined communication from a sociologicalperspective as:The mechanism through which human relations exist and develop -all the symbols of mind, together with the means of conveyingthem through space and preserving them in time. It includes theexpression of the face, attitude and gesture, the tones of the voice,words, writing, printing, railways, telegraph, and whatever elsemay be the latest achievement in the conquest of space and time.In 1949, two engineers, Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, definedcommunication in a broader sense to include all procedures:By which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involvesnot only written and oral speeches, but also music, the pictorialarts, the theater, the ballet, and, in kct, all human behavior.Harold Lasswell, a political scientist, defines communication simply as:A convenient way to describe the act of communication is to answerthe following question: Who, says what, in which channel, towhom, with what effect?S.S. Stevens, a behavioral psychologist, defines the act of communication as:Communication occurs when some environmental disturbance (thestimulus) impinges on an organism and the organism doessomething about it (makes a discriminatory response) . . . Themessage that gets no response is not a commnication.Social psychologist Theodore Newcomb assumes that:In any communication situation, at least two persons will becommunicating about a common object or topic. A major functionof communication is to enable them to maintain simultaneousorientation toward one another and toward the common object ofcommunication.Wilbur Schramm, a pioneer in American mass communication research,provides this definition:When we communicate we are trying to share information, anidea, or an attitude. Communication always requires threeelements-the source, the message, and the destination (thereceiver).


Author(s):  
Dasari Tejaswini ◽  
Suhas Kulkarni ◽  
Dolar Doshi ◽  
Adepu Srilatha

AbstractBackgroundAesthetic alterations in the face can be self-perceived and can affect quality of life in young adults.ObjectiveTo assess the impact of malocclusion on self- perceived oro-facial behaviour among young adults.MethodsA Cross sectional study was conducted among 638 young adults (aged 18–21 years) of Hyderabad city. One college from each of the five zones of the Hyderabad city (five colleges) were selected by simple random sampling procedure. A 21-item Oro-facial investment scale (OFIS) questionnaire assessing self-perceived oral health knowledge, attitude, practice and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) assessing the severity of malocclusion was used. Data were analysed with standard statistical software (SPSS, Statistical package for the social sciences, version 20.0). p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsMales had higher mean scores for knowledge (2.90 ± 0.49) than females (2.73 ± 0.82) and was statistically significant (p = 0.002*). No statistically significant gender differences were found in relation to attitude and practice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a significant difference in all the three scores (knowledge, attitude, practice) with respect to age, with significantly high score for knowledge and practice among 18 year old subjects (p = 0.0001*; p = 0.0003* respectively) and attitude among 21 year old subjects (p = 0.0049*). No statistically significant age, gender differences were found in relation to DAI scores. Upon correlation, DAI significantly and positively correlated with knowledge (p = 0.03*) and attitude (p = 0.0001*).ConclusionThis study has shown significant impact of malocclusion on the self-perceived oro-facial behaviour.


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