Bounded Solidarity as an Asset for Public Health Care Intervention

The relationship between social capital and public health has been extensively analyzed. However, not much has been written about the formation of social capital among citizens and public health workers in times of a pandemic. Our aim is to analyze social capital development through the prism of bounded solidarity and seek its manifestations toward public health workers. A qualitative self-administered survey was used to analyze what actions, practices, attitudes, and reasons inspired citizens to behave as they did with respect to public health workers during the first weeks of lockdown under the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents, mostly from European countries, reveal that citizens aimed to prevent the collapse of the public health system through reinforcing trust toward institutions, legitimizing health care personnel expertise, practicing reciprocity and altruism, giving recognition to public health workers, and providing them with means. Finally, recommendations for public health communication on risks and crises are discussed.

Analysis of Factors That Influenced the Mental Health Status of Public Health Workers During the COVID-19 Epidemic Based on Bayesian Networks: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Public health workers are essential to responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, but research on anxiety and stress among public health workers during the epidemic is limited. This study aimed to evaluate related factors affecting mental health among public health workers during the epidemic.Methods: Between February 19 and 25, 2020, an online, cross-sectional study was conducted among public health workers in a city in China. Mental health status was assessed using the Chinese versions of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), both with a cutoff score of 5. Work-related variables, workloads and sacrifices, and personal perceptions were also assessed.Results: The prevalence of anxiety and depression were 49.2% and 45.7%, respectively, among public health workers. Three risk factors and one protective factor, namely, overcommitment (OR = 1.10∼1.20, p < 0.001), perceived troubles at work (OR = 1.14∼1.18, p < 0.001), perceived tension (OR = 1.11, p < 0.001) and the capability to persist for more than 1 month at the current work intensity (OR = 0.41∼0.42, p < 0.001) were found to be independently associated with anxiety and depression in the multivariable logistic regression analyses after propensity score matching. But the Bayesian networks analysis found that the last three factors directly affect anxiety and depression.Conclusion: Psychological responses to COVID-19 were dramatic among public health workers during the severe phase of the outbreak. To minimize the impact of the epidemic, working conditions should be improved, and easily accessible psychological support services should be implemented.

Management training for chiefs of medical organizations

The article is devoted to the management training of chiefs of medical organizations, in which a paradigm change has taken place: from the organizer of health care to the manager of health care. The author reveals topical problems and offers his own vision of their solution. The main aspects of this process are the formation of a manager's model, the creation of a system for training and formation of a personnel reserve, continuous training of these categories, as well as the introduction of an assessment of the quality and effectiveness of managers' activities. The author pays close attention to the technology and resource provision of managerial training for chiefs of medical organizations at the Postgraduate Institute for Public Health Workers

Proposed approaches for coronaviruses elimination from wastewater: Membrane techniques and nanotechnology solutions

Since the beginning of the third Millennium, specifically during the last 18 years, three outbreaks of diseases have been recorded caused by coronaviruses (CoVs). The latest outbreak of these diseases was Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. For this reason, current efforts of the environmental, epidemiology scientists, engineers, and water sector professionals are ongoing to detect CoV in environmental components, especially water, and assess the relative risk of exposure to these systems and any measures needed to protect the public health, workers, and public, in general. This review presents a brief overview of CoV in water, wastewater, and surface water based on a literature search providing different solutions to keep water protected from CoV. Membrane techniques are very attractive solutions for virus elimination in water. In addition, another essential solution is nanotechnology and its applications in the detection and protection of human and water systems.

Sleeping Disorders in Healthy Individuals with Different Dietary Patterns and BMI, Questionnaire Assessment

The COVID-19 pandemic and abiding restrictions have affected every life domain. Sleep disturbances are a major health issue that is linked with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and psychological burdens. Research of sleeping disorders among vegetarian and non-vegetarian subpopulations is limited. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of sleeping disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic among people with different dietary patterns. Using a web-based cross-sectional survey, data were collected from 1987 people. A total of 1956 respondents met all study conditions. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic information, assessment of dietary habits, and assessment of the prevalence of insomnia and sleepiness, based on the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). A total of 36.04% (n = 705) respondents declared that they noticed a change in the quality of their sleep during the last year. According to AIS and ESS, non-vegetarians suffered from insomnia or sleepiness more often than vegetarians. Insomnia and sleepiness were also more prevalent among those respondents who declared consumption of fruit and vegetables less often than once a day compared with those who consumed fruit and vegetables daily. Respondents with BMI within the recommended limit (18.5–24.99) suffered from insomnia less often when compared with underweight (BMI < 18.5) or obese (BMI ≥ 25) respondents. Those results may be useful for public health workers and medical professionals in terms of establishing new instruments that help treat sleeping disorders.

Collective violence

War and other forms of armed conflict cause many adverse effects on health and the environment, including morbidity and mortality due to weapons; damage to the health-supporting infrastructure of society; contamination of air, water, and soil; forced displacement; violation of international agreements and human rights; diversion of resources; and promotion of additional violence. While conventional weapons account for the vast majority of fatal and non-fatal injuries during war, weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear and radiological weapons, chemical weapons, and biological agents) as well as antipersonnel landmines and unexploded ordnance pose additional threats. Public health workers and other health professionals can help to minimize the health and environmental consequences of war and other forms of armed conflict and to help end war itself. Categories of preventive measures include documentation; education and awareness-raising; advocacy and support for policies and programmes to minimize the consequences of, and help to reduce the risks of, war and other forms of armed conflict; and provision of preventive services. Public health frameworks of prevention can be useful in identifying opportunities for prevention and designing, implementing, and improving policies and programmes. These frameworks include levels of prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary) and the host-agent-environment model.

Prediction of indoor Total Volatile Organic Compound in a university hostel using a Neural Network Model

The study predicted the concentration of indoor total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) concentration in a randomly selected room at the Umar Kabir male Hostel located at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Readings were taken using an active sampler to measure particulate matter, PM (1.0, 2.5 and 10), TVOC, Relative Humidity (RH), Temperature and Formaldehyde. Two network types namely; feedforward back propagation and the cascaded forward back propagation were adopted randomly to predict TVOC as an output variable using data set generated from six different parameters mentioned earlier. The best performing neural network was the cascaded feed forward with a coefficient of determination of 0.98 which exhibited the lowest mean square error of 0.000124 with a network structure of 6-15-1-1. The results show the ability of Artificial Neural Networks to map inputs and outputs in complex non-linear situations such as the existence of volatile compounds in the atmosphere. It can be adopted for monitoring environmental systems by engineers and public health workers, stakeholders can use such models for initiating environmental related policies aimed at safeguarding human health.