Assessment of Attitudes and Intentions towards COVID-19 Vaccines and Associated Factors among General Populations of Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of public health in combatting COVID-19 is to increase herd immunity. However, vaccine reluctance makes attaining herd immunity a worldwide challenge. This investigation aimed to identify negative and positive attitudes and intentions about COVID-19 vaccinations. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted once free COVID-19 vaccines became available in Pakistan in 2021. 4392 Pakistanis aged 18 and older were surveyed from seven administrative units between 1 July and 30 August 2021. Online structured questionnaires were utilized to collect data using a simple sampling procedure. The questionnaires were divided into three major sections: sociodemographic, health factors, and attitudes toward COVID-19. RESULTS: The survey link was shared with approximately 4500 participants. 97.6%(4392) completed the survey once begun. Frequency, percentage and Chi-square tests were used to analyze statistical data. Most of the participants in the research were men (2703 (61.54%)), 3277 (74.61%) were aged 18-29 years, and 1824 (41.53%) were residents of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (18.69%) Respondents expressed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, whereas 36.66% of participants liked getting the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines and (35.84%) of participants preferred the Pfizer vaccine. A significant number of participants (38.05%) were concerned about the vaccine's unexpected side effects Thus, it is essential to realize that many participants were concerned about the vaccine's unexpected side effects. CONCLUSIONS: The overall high level of concern about the unforeseen side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as widespread vaccine hesitancy among Pakistani populations and its predictors, should be taken into account if public health intervention campaigns in Pakistan are changing negative attitudes and improving compliance with regard to COVID-19 vaccines.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception of Cancer Patients towards COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Cancer patients, being immunocompromised, are at higher risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The current study determines cancer patients' knowledge, attitude, perception, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Pakistan from 1 April 2020 to 1 May 2020. The study respondents were cancer patients with ages equal to or greater than 18 years. Following a request for participation, the URL for the survey was distributed on numerous channels. Other social media platforms, including WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, and LinkedIn, were used to increase cancer patient interaction. The questionnaire comprised five different sections such as: (1) sociodemographic information, (2) knowledge, (3) attitude, (4) perception, and (5) impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients. Descriptive medical statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to illustrate the demographic characteristics of the study participants. To compare mean knowledge scores with selected demographic variables, independent sample t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used, which are also practical methods in epidemiological, public health and medical research. The cut-off point for statistical significance was set at a p-value of 0.05. Results: More than 300 cancer patients were invited, of which 208 agreed to take part. The response rate was 69.33% (208/300). Gender, marital status, and employment status had a significant association with knowledge scores. Of the total recruited participants, 96% (n = 200) (p < 0.01) knew about COVID-19, and 90% were aware of general symptoms of COVID-19 disease, such as route of transmission and preventive measurements. In total, 94.5% (n = 197) (p < 0.01) were willing to accept isolation if they were infected with COVID-19, and 98% (n = 204) (p < 0.01) had reduced their use of public transportation. More than 90% (n = 188) (p < 0.01) of cancer patients were found to be practicing preventative measures such as using a face mask, keeping social distance, and avoiding handshaking and hugging. Around 94.4% (n = 196) (p < 0.01) of cancer patients had been impacted by, stopped or had changed cancer treatment during this pandemic, resulting in COVID-related anxiety and depression. Conclusion: The included cancer patients exhibited a good level of COVID-19 knowledge, awareness, positive attitude, and perception. Large-scale studies and efforts are needed to raise COVID-19 awareness among less educated and high-risk populations. The present survey indicates that mass-level effective health education initiatives are required for developing countries to improve and reduce the gap between KAP and COVID-19.

Social Media Improves Students' Academic Performance: Exploring the Role of Social Media Adoption in the Open Learning Environment among International Medical Students in China.

Numerous studies have examined the role of social media as an open-learning (OL) tool in the field of education, but the empirical evidence necessary to validate such OL tools is scant, specifically in terms of student academic performance (AP). In today's digital age, social media platforms are most popular among the student community, and they provide opportunities for OL where they can easily communicate, interact, and collaborate with each other. The authors of this study aimed to minimize the literature gap among student communities who adopt social media for OL, which has positive impacts on their AP in Chinese higher education. We adopted social constructivism theory (SCT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) to formulate a conceptual framework. Primary data containing 233 questionnaires of international medical students in China were collected in January 2021 through the survey method. The gathered data were analyzed through structural equation modeling techniques with SmartPLS 3. The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and interactions with peers have positive and significant influence on OL. In addition, OL was found to have positive and significant influence on students' AP and engagement. Lastly, engagement showed a positive impact on students' AP. Thus, this study shows that social media serves as a dynamic tool to expedite the development of OL settings by encouraging collaboration, group discussion, and the exchange of ideas between students that reinforce their learning behavior and performance.

Correction: SERS-based nanostrategy for rapid anemia diagnosis.

Correction for 'SERS-based nanostrategy for rapid anemia diagnosis' by Pir Muhammad et al., Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 1948-1957, DOI: 10.1039/C9NR09152A.

Assessment of General Populations Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceptions Toward the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): A Cross-Sectional Study From Pakistan.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health threat and caused a universal psychosocial impact on the general population. Therefore, the knowledge, attitude, and perceptions (KAPs) of the general population are critical for the development and effective implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP) to contain the contagion and minimize the losses. Therefore, the current study was conducted to understand and evaluate the KAPs of Pakistani populations toward the COVID-19. Methods: An online cross-sectional study was carried out among participants from 1 May to 30 July 2020 in different areas of Pakistan. The respondents of the study were the general population with age ≥ 18 years. The poll URL was posted on several channels after a call for participation. Other social media platforms such as WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, and LinkedIn were engaged to maximize general population engagement. The questionnaire included details about sociodemographic, knowledge about COVID-19, perceptions toward universal safety precautions of COVID-19, and beliefs attitude toward the COVID-19. The obtained data were exported into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and SPSS software version 21 for windows. The descriptive statistics values were presented in frequencies and percentages. Binary logistic regression, Chi-square test, and one-way ANOVA were applied to analyze the participants' socio-demographic characteristics and variables related to KAPs. P-value < 0.05 was recorded as significant. Results: A total of 1,000 participants were invited of which 734 participated in this study. The response rate was 73.4% (734/1,000). The gender, marital status, education, and residence showed a significant association with the knowledge score. The majority of the study participants were thinking that COVID-19 may be more dangerous in elderly individuals 94.5% (n = 700), and individuals with chronic diseases or severe complications 96.7% (n = 710) (p = 0.00). More than half of the participants 52.5% (n = 385) showed their concern that either they or their family members might get the infection. More than 98% (n = 703), (P-value = 0.00) of the participants held that COVID-19 would be successfully controlled in Pakistan by following the standard SOPs and government guidelines. Conclusion: This study showed that the general population of Pakistan has good awareness and reasonable attitudes and perceptions toward the full features of the COVID-19. The current study suggests that mass-level effective health education programs are necessary for developing countries to improve and limit the gap between KAP toward COVID-19.

SERS-based nanostrategy for rapid anemia diagnosis.

Iron detection is one of the critical markers to diagnose multiple blood-related disorders that correspond to various biological dysfunctions. The currently available anemia detection approach can be used only for pre-treated blood samples that interfere with the actual iron level in blood. Real-time detection approaches with higher sensitivity and specificity are certainly needed to cope with the commercial level clinical analyses. Herein, we presented a novel strategy to determine the blood iron that can be easily practiced at commercial levels. The blend of well-known iron-cyanide chemistry with nanotechnology is advantageous with ultrahigh sensitivity in whole blood analysis without any pre-treatments. This approach is a combined detection system of the conventional assay (UV-visible spectroscopy) with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Organic cyanide modified silver nanoparticles (cAgNPs) can selectively respond to Fe3+ ions and Hb protein with a detection limit of 10 fM and 0.46 µg mL-1, respectively, without being affected by matrix interfering species in the complex biological fluid. We confirmed the clinical potential of our new cAgNPs by assessing iron-status in multiple anemia patients and normal controls. Our SERS-based iron quantitation approach is highly affordable for bulk-samples, cheap, quick, flexible, and useful for real-time clinical assays. Such a method for metal-chelation has extendable features of therapeutics molecular tracking within more complex living systems at cellular levels.