Assessment of health-related behaviors among medical students: A cross-sectional study.

Background and Aim: Students sometimes participate in harmful activities that adversely influence their behaviors and well-being throughout college, which is one of the sensitive phases in an individual's life. Aim: To assess the health-related behaviors of university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study that includes systematic randomly selected 383 students from various colleges of Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University (RAKMHSU), Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, United Arab Emirates. A self-reported questionnaire included students' demographic traits and behaviors, including safety, medication intake, cigarette smoking, nutrition, physical activity, and health-related topics. Results: Most participants were females (69.7%), 13.3% were obese while 28.2% were overweight. The data revealed a significant difference between male and female students regarding medication intake without prescription, nutrition, physical activity, and health-related topics. The data also revealed that the majority of the students were attempting to lose weight, and the former male smokers had fewer trials to quit the use of all tobacco products than females. Conclusion: More than a quarter of participants were overweight, and the majority of students did not adhere to the guidelines for safety and nutritious eating. This study recognized significant health promotion opportunities for university students that can be carried out to establish a healthier youth for society.

The epidemiology, diagnosis and management of scrub typhus disease in China.

Thirty-nine years ago, scrub typhus (ST), a disease, was not among the China's notifiable diseases. However, ST has reemerged to become a growing public health issue in the southwest part of China. The major factors contributing to an increased incidence and prevalence of this disease include rapid globalization, urbanization, expansion of humans into previously uninhabited areas, and climate change. The clinical manifestation of ST also consists of high fever, headache, weakness, myalgia, rash, and an eschar. In severe cases, complications (e.g. multi-organ failure, jaundice, acute renal failure, pneumonitis, myocarditis, and even death) can occur. The diagnosis of ST is mainly based on serological identification by indirect immunofluorescence assay and other molecular methods. Furthermore, several groups of antibiotics (e.g. tetracycline, chloramphenicol, macrolides, and rifampicin) are currently effective in treating this disease. This fact suggests the need for robust early diagnostic techniques, increased surveillance, and prompt treatment, and develop future vaccine.

Importance of brucellosis control programs of livestock on the improvement of one health.

Brucellosis not only represents an important health restraint on livestock but also causes high economic losses in many developing countries worldwide. Despite considerable efforts made for the control of brucellosis, the disease is still spreading in many regions (such as the Middle East) where it represents one of the most important health hazards impacting both animals and humans. The present review aims to investigate the efficacy of veterinary control programs regarding brucellosis, with a special focus on current prevention, control, and eradication approaches. The reasons for unsuccessful control programs such as the absence of highly effective vaccines and non-certified bulls are also debated, to understand why the prevalence of brucellosis in livestock is not decreasing in many areas despite considerable efforts taken to date. The importance of governmental and regional investment in brucellosis control remains one of the main limiting factors owing to the limited budget allocated to tackle this disease. In this context, one health concept has generated novel comprehensive approaches with multiple economic implications across the livestock industry and public health. However, the implementation of such global preventive strategies appears to be a key issue for many endemic and low-income countries. According to the collected data, epidemiological contexts including management and trade systems along with well-defined agro-ecological zones should be evaluated in brucellosis endemic countries to improve milk production and to enhance the sustainability of the livestock sector at both national and regional levels.

Advances in therapeutic and managemental approaches of bovine mastitis: a comprehensive review.

Mastitis (intramammary inflammation) caused by infectious pathogens is still considered a devastating condition of dairy animals affecting animal welfare as well as economically incurring huge losses to the dairy industry by means of decreased production performance and increased culling rates. Bovine mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary glands/udder of bovines, caused by bacterial pathogens, in most cases. Routine diagnosis is based on clinical and subclinical forms of the disease. This underlines the significance of early and rapid identification/detection of etiological agents at the farm level, for which several diagnostic techniques have been developed. Therapeutic regimens such as antibiotics, immunotherapy, bacteriocins, bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, probiotics, stem cell therapy, native secretory factors, nutritional, dry cow and lactation therapy, genetic selection, herbs, and nanoparticle technology-based therapy have been evaluated for their efficacy in the treatment of mastitis. Even though several strategies have been developed over the years for the purpose of managing both clinical and subclinical forms of mastitis, all of them lacked the efficacy to eliminate the associated etiological agent when used as a monotherapy. Further, research has to be directed towards the development of new therapeutic agents/techniques that can both replace conventional techniques and also solve the problem of emerging antibiotic resistance. The objective of the present review is to describe the etiological agents, pathogenesis, and diagnosis in brief along with an extensive discussion on the advances in the treatment and management of mastitis, which would help safeguard the health of dairy animals.

Assessment of implementation and compliance of (COTPA) Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (2003) in open places of Delhi.

BACKGROUND: The use of tobacco in modern life leads to major epidemic disease resulting in social, financial, and environmental problems. In 1975, the first anti-tobacco legislation was passed which was incompetent; however, in 2003 "Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Bill" was passed which represents effectiveness in tobacco control. Thus, the aim was to assess the implementation of various sections of COTPA like Sections 4, 5, 6-a, and 6-b, and 7, 8, and 9 in public places of Delhi. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in open places of Delhi in which 376 public places were visited for observing the compliance of Section 4 of COTPA, 350 places for observing the compliance of Section 5 of COTPA, and 70 educational institutions for observing the compliance of Section 6(a) and 6(b) of COTPA, and data were recorded through direct observation. RESULTS: From a total of 376 places visited, smoking was seen in 59.28% of the places visited in Delhi which is against Section 4 of COTPA. For the compliance of Section 5, 97.42% were as per the COTPA specification; however, the compliance of Section 6-a was 68.57% and Section 6-b was 52.85%. In Delhi, 100% compliance of Sections 7, 8, and 9 has been observed. CONCLUSION: The finding of our study suggests that after years of implementation of the COTPA Act 2003, it is executed only to a certain degree in Delhi. For effective implementation of act, various health policy makers, institutions, media, NGOs, and so on can help in minimizing the usage.