Gender, age and nationality differences in chronic kidney disease prevalence in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

AIM: We aimed to better understand the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where a very diverse ethnic population lives, each with their own risk profile. METHODS: Data were analysed on all patients who were tested for serum creatinine in December 2019 for 4 years within our healthcare network. We analysed data for kidney disease by age, gender and nationality to study differences in prevalence and risk. RESULTS: The entire cohort (EC) consisted 1 925 672 samples from 703 122 patients. 24% of patients had GFR < 90 mL/min/1.73 m2 (CKD2-5), 4% had more severe kidney dysfunction (CKD3-5) and 2% had UACR >3 mg/mmol and with GFR > 90 (CKD1). The long follow-up (LFU) group comprised 45.6% of patients who had eGFR on at least two occasions more than 90 days apart, and of these 19.5% had sustained eGFR <90, and 5.2% had CKD3-5. Males had lower eGFR than females in the EC (RR 1.68) and the LFU group (RR 1.76). Emirati Females had the lowest prevalence in the EC (2.9%) and expatriate females in the LFU (3.5%) groups. The relative risks of CKD in expatriate males were highest in the EC (2.14) and the LFU (2.39) groups. When we looked at the age distribution by nationality there were highly significant differences in some populations being highly represented at younger ages. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of kidney disease in Abu Dhabi has a male predominance, with younger expatriates highly represented. A targeted strategy to identify those at high risk may identify early CKD to prevent progression to end-stage kidney disease.

The Influence of Joe Wicks on Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Thematic, Location, and Social Network Analysis of X Data.

BACKGROUND:  Social media (SM) was essential in promoting physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among people confined to their homes. Joe Wicks, a fitness coach, became particularly popular on SM during this time, posting daily workouts that millions of people worldwide followed. OBJECTIVE:  This study aims to investigate the influence of Joe Wicks on SM and the impact of his content on physical activity levels among the public. METHODS:  We used NodeXL Pro (Social Media Research Foundation) to collect data from X (formerly Twitter) over 54 days (March 23, 2020, to May 15, 2020), corresponding to the strictest lockdowns in the United Kingdom. We collected 290,649 posts, which we analyzed using social network analysis, thematic analysis, time-series analysis, and location analysis. RESULTS:  We found that there was significant engagement with content generated by Wicks, including reposts, likes, and comments. The most common types of posts were those that contained images, videos, and text of young people (school-aged children) undertaking physical activity by watching content created by Joe Wicks and posts from schools encouraging pupils to engage with the content. Other shared posts included those that encouraged others to join the fitness classes run by Wicks and those that contained general commentary. We also found that Wicks' network of influence was extensive and complex. It contained numerous subcommunities and resembled a broadcast network shape. Other influencers added to engagement with Wicks via their networks. Our results show that influencers can create networks of influence that are exhibited in distinctive ways. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that Joe Wicks was a highly influential figure on SM during the COVID-19 pandemic and that his content positively impacted physical activity levels among the public. Our findings suggest that influencers can play an important role in promoting public health and that government officials should consider working with influencers to communicate health messages and promote healthy behaviors. Our study has broader implications beyond the status of fitness influencers. Recognizing the critical role of individuals such as Joe Wicks in terms of health capital should be a critical area of inquiry for governments, public health authorities, and policy makers and mirrors the growing interest in health capital as part of embodied and digital experiences in everyday life.

Traumatic bilateral neck of femur fracture in paediatric age: A case report and review of literature.

Bilateral femoral neck fractures are rare, and only a few cases have been reported following major trauma in children. An 8-year-old male patient presented with pain both hips and inability to bear weight on his lower limbs, four days after he fell through a roof while playing. The anteroposterior pelvic radiograph showed a displaced transcervical fracture of the right femoral neck and an undisplaced transcervical fracture of the left femoral neck. Operative fixation of both hips with cannulated cancellous screws done on the 5th day of injury led to a successful outcome. This case is presented due to its rarity and successful outcome despite a late presentation.

Social media ambassadors and collaboration with OncoAlert: a European Network of Young Gynae Oncologists study of comparative Twitter analysis of #ESGO2021 and #ESGO2022.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to reveal the impact of social media ambassadors and the collaboration between the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) and the OncoAlert Network on Twitter during the ESGO 2022 Congress by comparing it with the ESGO 2021 Congress. We also aimed to share our experience on how to organize a social media ambassador program and evaluate the potential benefits for the society and the ambassadors. METHODS: We defined the impact as promoting the congress, sharing the knowledge, change in follower count, and change in tweet, retweet, and reply counts. We used the Academic Track Twitter Application Programming Interface to retrieve data from ESGO 2021 and ESGO 2022. We used the keywords of ESGO2021 and ESGO2022 to retrieve data for each of the conferences. The time range in our study captured interactions from before, during, and after conferences. We collected the ambassadors', ESGO's, and the European Network of Young Gynae Oncologists' (ENYGO's) follower data on Twitter from November 2021 to November 2022 for comparative analysis. RESULTS: There was a 7.23-fold increase in the use of the official congress hashtag in 2022 compared with 2021. Compared with #ESGO2021 data, the main interventions of the Social Media Ambassadors and OncoAlert partnership determined 7.79-, 17.36-, 5.50-, 10.58-, and 8.50-fold increases with #ESGO2022 data in the mentions, mentions in retweet, tweet, retweet, and replies, respectively. Similarly, all other most commonly used hashtags in the top 10 list indicated a range from 2.56- to 7.00-fold increase. Compared to the ESGO 2021 congress month, ESGO and the majority (83.3%, n=5) of ambassadors gained more followers during ESGO 2022 congress month. CONCLUSIONS: An official social media ambassadors program and collaboration with influential accounts in the field of interest are beneficial for congress-related engagement on a social media platform (Twitter). Individuals participating in the program can also benefit from gaining higher visibility among specific audience.

Analyzing Discussions Around Rural Health on Twitter During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data.

Background: Individuals from rural areas are increasingly using social media as a means of communication, receiving information, or actively complaining of inequalities and injustices. Objective: The aim of our study is to analyze conversations about rural health taking place on Twitter during a particular phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study captured 57 days' worth of Twitter data related to rural health from June to August 2021, using English-language keywords. The study used social network analysis and natural language processing to analyze the data. Results: It was found that Twitter served as a fruitful platform to raise awareness of problems faced by users living in rural areas. Overall, Twitter was used in rural areas to express complaints, debate, and share information. Conclusions: Twitter could be leveraged as a powerful social listening tool for individuals and organizations that want to gain insight into popular narratives around rural health.

Twitter's Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Tweets.

BACKGROUND: The popularity of the magnetic vaccine conspiracy theory and other conspiracy theories of a similar nature creates challenges to promoting vaccines and disseminating accurate health information. OBJECTIVE: Health conspiracy theories are gaining in popularity. This study's objective was to evaluate the Twitter social media network related to the magnetic vaccine conspiracy theory and apply social capital theory to analyze the unique social structures of influential users. As a strategy for web-based public health surveillance, we conducted a social network analysis to identify the important opinion leaders sharing the conspiracy, the key websites, and the narratives. METHODS: A total of 18,706 tweets were retrieved and analyzed by using social network analysis. Data were retrieved from June 1 to June 13, 2021, using the keyword vaccine magnetic. Tweets were retrieved via a dedicated Twitter application programming interface. More specifically, the Academic Track application programming interface was used, and the data were analyzed by using NodeXL Pro (Social Media Research Foundation) and Gephi. RESULTS: There were a total of 22,762 connections between Twitter users within the data set. This study found that the most influential user within the network consisted of a news account that was reporting on the magnetic vaccine conspiracy. There were also several other users that became influential, such as an epidemiologist, a health economist, and a retired sports athlete who exerted their social capital within the network. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that influential users were effective broadcasters against the conspiracy, and their reach extended beyond their own networks of Twitter followers. We emphasize the need for trust in influential users with regard to health information, particularly in the context of the widespread social uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, when public sentiment on social media may be unpredictable. This study highlights the potential of influential users to disrupt information flows of conspiracy theories via their unique social capital.

How to Use the Six-Step Digital Ethnography Framework to Develop Buyer Personas: The Case of Fan Fit.

BACKGROUND: One of the key features of digital marketing is customer centricity, which can be applied to the domain of health. This is expressed through the ability to target specific customer segments with relevant content using appropriate channels and having data to track and understand each interaction. In order to do this, marketers create buyer personas based on a wide spectrum of quantitative and qualitative data. Digital ethnography is another established method for studying web-based communities. However, for practitioners, the complexity, rigor, and time associated with ethnographical work are sometimes out of reach. OBJECTIVE: This paper responds to the gaps in the practically focused method of using social media for digital ethnography to develop buyer personas. This paper aims to demonstrate how digital ethnography can be used as a way to create and refine buyer personas. METHODS: Using a case study of the Fan Fit smartphone app, which aimed to increase physical activity, a digital ethnography was applied to create a better understanding of customers and to create and refine buyer personas. RESULTS: We propose two buyer personas, and we develop a 6-step digital ethnography framework designed for the development of buyer personas. CONCLUSIONS: The key contribution of this work is the proposal of a 6-step digital ethnography framework designed for the development of buyer personas. We highlight that the 6-step digital ethnography could be a robust tool for practitioners and academicians to analyze digital communications for the process of creating and updating data-driven buyer personas to create deeper insights into digital and health marketing efforts.

Ecosystem Services: A Social and Semantic Network Analysis of Public Opinion on Twitter.

Social media data reveal patterns of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of users on a range of topics. This study analysed 4398 tweets gathered between 17 January 2022 and 3 February 2022 related to ecosystem services, using the keyword and hashtag "ecosystem services". The Microsoft Excel plugin, NodeXL was used for social and semantic network analysis. The results reveal a loosely dense network in which information is conveyed slowly, with homogeneous, medium-sized subgroups typical of the community cluster structure. Citizens, NGOs, and governmental administrations emerged as the main gatekeepers of information in the network. Various semantic themes emerged such as the protection of natural capital for the sustainable production of ecosystem services; nature-based solutions to protect human structures and wellbeing against natural hazards; socio-ecological systems as the interaction between human beings and the environment; focus on specific services such as the storage of atmospheric CO2 and the provision of food. In conclusion, the perception of social users of the role of ecosystem services can help policymakers and forest managers to outline and implement efficient forest management strategies and plans.

Outcomes of operative management in the delayed presenting neck of femur fractures in children: A case series.

Introduction: Fracture neck of femur in pediatric age group occurs due to high energy trauma and is an uncommon entity with high complication rate. No uniform guidelines are present to manage these fractures, especially in delayed presentation of fracture neck of femur as a smaller number of such cases were reported. Cases: Eight children (nine hips), five boys and three girls of age <15 years, were operated on. The mean delay in surgery time was 8.6 days (range: 5-22 days). The mean union time was 13.44 weeks. The mean follow-up was 20.88 months (range: 12-36 months). All the cases were managed with closed or open reduction followed by internal fixation with or without hip spica application and resulted in satisfactory outcomes in most of the cases. Conclusion: Anatomical reduction (open or closed) and fixation reduce the risk of complications even in delayed presentation if the orthopedic surgeon is familiar with the management.

A Retrospective Cohort Analysis of Limb Salvage Surgery Using Mega Prosthesis in Bone Tumours at a Tertiary Care Centre in Eastern India.

Background The method known as "limb salvage surgery" (LSS) aids in the removal of extremity tumours, and reconstruction is completed with satisfactory oncologic, functional, and cosmetic outcomes. Oncologic clearance is given first priority, followed by functional outcomes. Worldwide, the trend has already shifted away from amputations and toward limb salvage surgery for eligible patients due to efficient chemotherapy regimens, improved imaging techniques, precise administration of enhanced radiation, better reconstructive choices, and developments in bio-engineering. The purpose of the present study was to determine the clinicopathological characteristics, surgical techniques, functional outcome, and prognostic factors of limb salvage surgery performed using mega prosthesis in primary malignant or benign resectable tumours. Methods Our retrospective cohort study was carried out over a period of two years and included 28 patients who received care for bone tumours. The data gathered comprised the demographic profile, clinical characteristics, histological characteristics, treatments given, functional results, and survival. LSS was performed on all patients by orthopaedics oncologists trained in the surgical oncology department. Following surgery, during the first two years, patients were examined at every three-month interval, then every six months until the fifth year, and then once a year after that. The Kaplan-Meier method was utilized to determine the median follow-up and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results In our study, the mean age of study subjects was 30.0±10.9 years. Almost all of the subjects included in the study had lower limb bone tumours (96.4%). The most common site for the tumour was the distal femur (57.1%) followed by the proximal femur (32.2%). The most common type of benign tumour was giant cell tumour (GCT) (53.6%), including recurrences of giant cell tumour (GCT), and among malignant tumours, osteosarcoma was the most common (25.0%). The mean surgical resection of bone in limb salvage surgery was 125.2±24.2 mm. The most common post-operative complication was leg length discrepancy (LLD) among 25.0% of subjects, which was managed by shoe raise. The overall mean musculoskeletal tumour society (MTSS) score after LSS was 25.0±4.3. Using the Kaplan-Meier method analysis, we found that relapse-free survival was 83.7% among enrolled subjects at a median follow-up period of 80 months. Conclusion It can be difficult to surgically treat patients who have malignant bone tumours. In limb-sparing surgery for bone tumours, the modular segmental-replacement system prosthesis that we preferred produced satisfactory results in terms of tumour control and limb function. To get good long-term results, the case selection must be appropriate.

The #VaccinesWork Hashtag on Twitter in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Network Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions for the prevention of COVID-19. Toward the end of April 2021, UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), alongside other organizations, were promoting the hashtag #VaccinesWork. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to analyze the #VaccinesWork hashtag on Twitter in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing the main messages shared and the organizations involved. METHODS: The data set used in this study consists of 11,085 tweets containing the #VaccinesWork hashtag from the 29th to the 30th of April 2021. The data set includes tweets that may not have the hashtag but were replies or mentions in those tweets. The data were retrieved using NodeXL, and the network graph was laid out using the Harel-Koren fast multiscale layout algorithm. RESULTS: The study found that organizations such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Gavi were the key opinion leaders and had a big influence on the spread of information among users. Furthermore, the most shared URLs belonged to academic journals with a high impact factor. Provaccination users had other vaccination-promoting hashtags in common, not only in the COVID-19 scenario. CONCLUSIONS: This study investigated the discussions surrounding the #VaccinesWork hashtag. Social media networks containing conspiracy theories tend to contain dubious accounts leading the discussions and are often linked to unverified information. This kind of analysis can be useful to detect the optimal moment for launching health campaigns on Twitter.

A Retrospective Audit of Demography and Different Surgical Modalities Adopted for Giant Cell Tumor of Bone in Eastern India.

Background and objective There is scarce data on demography and different surgical treatment modalities for giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) from eastern India. In light of this, the present study aimed to examine the demographic characteristics, different surgical treatment modalities, and recurrence rate of GCTB at a tertiary care institute in Bihar. Materials and methods A retrospective audit of 52 GCTB patients who were treated at the center from January 2016 to December 2020 was conducted. The minimum follow-up period was one year. GCTB patients underwent surgical procedures ranging from extended intralesional curettage with bone graft or bone cement with or without fixation to wide local excision to resection with or without reconstruction or amputation depending on the stage and site of the tumors. Results The mean age of patients was 31.86 years (range: 13-67 years). The distal femur (20 patients, 38.46%) and proximal tibia (11 patients, 21.15%) were the most common sites of the tumor. Sixty-eight confirmed cases (male: 32, female: 36) of GCTB were operated on, with a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.125. Sixteen patients (four males and 12 females) were lost to follow-up. So, the final study consisted of 52 patients with a median age of 28 years (first quartile: 24 years, third quartile: 38 years). The majority of patients (32 patients, 61.53%) were in the third and fourth decades of life. Conclusion Based on this retrospective audit, it is concluded that the knee region is the most common site of GCTB. Surgery is the mainstay of management. Most of the patients came under Campanacci Grade 3 with low compliance with follow-up and adherence to the treatment. Hence, educational programs, the establishment of early detection centers, and timely referral to expert treatment are necessary.

Football Fandom as a Platform for Digital Health Promotion and Behaviour Change: A Mobile App Case Study.

Background: The last decade has seen a dramatic shift toward the study of fitness surveillance, thanks in part to the emergence of mobile health (mHealth) apps that allow users to track their health through a variety of data-driven insights. This study examines the adoption trends and community mediation of the mobile fitness application 'FanFit', a platform aimed at promoting physical activity among sports fans by creating a fitness app branded to their favourite team for health promotion. Objective: Our study looked at the impact of a specially designed mobile app (FanFit) as a digital health intervention for initiating and maintaining physical activity as part of football club membership. Our analysis indicates that app users will adopt healthier behaviours as a result of the app's sense of fan community and behaviour change. Methods: The findings reported here are based on an implementation of the FanFit app and, in particular, on those who participated in a more in-depth study (n = 30). These participants were Rangers FC supporters with a mix of genders (n = 19 males and n = 11 females). Focus groups and interviews were conducted with participants to ascertain users' perspectives on the most effective methods for nudging users toward adopting and maintaining a pattern of fitness behaviours. Results: The findings show that the user community was interested in fitness and wanted to live a 'healthy lifestyle,' which was augmented and fuelled by the app's competitive architecture design. Furthermore, the data reveal a new fan-health discourse about a person's developing wants, talents, and identities as embodied beings. Conclusions: We have developed and presented valid links between the use of sports club apps and health programmes. The app could be useful for sports programmes and club providers looking for mHealth applications that provide community support through fan discourse with opportunities for both male and female fans.

A Social Network Analysis of Tweets Related to Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination in Poland.

Poland's efforts to combat COVID-19 were hindered by endemic vaccination hesitancy and the prevalence of opponents to pandemic restrictions. In this environment, the policy of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate faces strong resistance in the public debate. Exploring the discourse around this resistance could help uncover the motives and develop an understanding of vaccination hesitancy in Poland. This paper aims to conduct a social network analysis and content analysis of Twitter discussions around the intention of the Polish Ministry of Health to introduce mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19. Twitter was chosen as a platform to study because of the critical role it played during the global health crisis. Twitter data were retrieved from 26 July to 9 December 2021 through the API v2 for Academic Research, and analysed using NodeXL and Gephi. When conducting social network analysis, nodes were ranked by their betweenness centrality. Clustering analysis with the Clauset-Newman-Moore algorithm revealed two important groups of users: advocates and opponents of mandatory vaccination. The temporal trends of tweets, the most used hashtags, the sentiment expressed in the most popular tweets, and correlations with epidemiological data were also studied. The results reveal a substantial degree of polarisation, a high intensity of the discussion, and a high degree of involvement of Twitter users. Vaccination mandate advocates were consistently more numerous, but less engaged and less mobilised to "preach" their own stances. Vaccination mandate opponents were vocal and more mobilised to participate: either as original authors or as information diffusers. Our research leads to the conclusion that systematic monitoring of the public debate on vaccines is essential not only in counteracting misinformation, but also in crafting evidence-based as well as emotionally motivating narratives.

A Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data Related to Blood Clots and Vaccines.

After the first weeks of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, several cases of acute thrombosis were reported. These news reports began to be shared frequently across social media platforms. The aim of this study was to conduct an analysis of Twitter data related to the overall discussion. The data were retrieved from 14 March to 14 April 2021 using the keyword 'blood clots'. A dataset with n = 266,677 tweets was retrieved, and a systematic random sample of 5% of tweets (n = 13,334) was entered into NodeXL for further analysis. Social network analysis was used to analyse the data by drawing upon the Clauset-Newman-Moore algorithm. Influential users were identified by drawing upon the betweenness centrality measure. Text analysis was applied to identify the key hashtags and websites used at this time. More than half of the network comprised retweets, and the largest groups within the network were broadcast clusters in which a number of key users were retweeted. The most popular narratives involved highlighting the low risk of obtaining a blood clot from a vaccine and highlighting that a number of commonly consumed medicine have higher blood clot risks. A wide variety of users drove the discussion on Twitter, including writers, physicians, the general public, academics, celebrities, and journalists. Twitter was used to highlight the low potential of developing a blood clot from vaccines, and users on Twitter encouraged vaccinations among the public.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection and ABO Blood Groups in a Hemodialysis Cohort in the United Arab Emirates.

Some epidemiological data have implicated blood groups in susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. We were interested to see if there was any apparent effect of different ABO blood groups on susceptibility to COVID-19 infection in unvaccinated hemodialysis (HD) patients, as they had a high rate of mortality from this infection. Blood group O has been suggested to be protective against COVID-19 infection; however, since the ABO frequency is affected by ethnicity, we looked at infection frequency and blood group and corrected the expected frequency for the ethnicity of our cohort. We examined 249 HD patients presenting with a positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction regarding their ABO blood group and compared the ABO frequencies with published data for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as international and historical ABO data on dialysis frequency. Although there was an apparent protective effect of blood group O when we compared blood group frequencies with the UAE data, this disappeared when corrected for ethnicity. We concluded that any association of the ABO blood group with COVID-19 infection is unlikely to be of major importance and should not be used to reassure patients that they are mildly protected against COVID-19 without vaccination.

Exploring nurses' online perspectives and social networks during a global pandemic COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: Examine the online interactions, social networks, and perspectives of nursing actors on COVID-19 from conversations on Twitter to understand how the profession responded to this global pandemic. DESIGN: Mixed methods. SAMPLE: Ten-thousand five-hundred and seventy-four tweets by 2790 individuals and organizations. MEASUREMENTS: NodeXL software was used for social network analysis to produce a network visualization. The betweenness centrality algorithm identified key users who were influential in COVID-19 related conversations on Twitter. Inductive content analysis enabled exploration of tweet content. A communicative figurations framework guided the study. RESULTS: Nursing actors formed different social groupings, and communicated with one another across groups. Tweets covered four themes; (1) outbreak and clinical management of the infectious disease, (2) education and information sharing, (3) social, economic, and political context, and (4) working together and supporting each other. CONCLUSION: In addition to spreading knowledge, nurses tried to reach out through social media to political and healthcare leaders to advocate for improvements needed to address COVID-19. However, they primarily conversed within their own professional community. Action is needed to better understand how social media is and can be used by nurses for health communication, and to improve their preparedness to be influential on social media beyond the nursing community.

An analysis of antibody responses and clinical sequalae of the Sinopharm HB02 COVID19 vaccine in dialysis patients in the United Arab Emirates.

AIM: To establish the responses to the Sinopharm HB02 COVID-19 vaccination in the dialysis population, which are not well established. We examined the humoral responses to the Sinopharm COVID vaccine in haemodialysis patients. METHODS: Standard vaccinations (two doses at interval of ~21 days) were given to all consenting haemodialysis patients on dialysis (n = 1296). We measured the antibody responses at 14-21 days after the second vaccine to define the development of anti-spike antibodies >15 AU/ml after vaccination and observed the clinical effects of vaccination. RESULTS: Vaccination was very well tolerated with few side-effects. In those who consented to antibody measurements, (n = 446) baseline sampling showed 77 had positive antibodies, yet received full vaccination without any apparent adverse events. Positive anti-spike antibodies developed in 50% of the 270 baseline negative patients who had full sampling, compared with 78.1% in the general population. COVID infection continues to occur in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, but in the whole group vaccination appears to have been associated with a reduction in the case fatality rate. CONCLUSION: The humoral immune responses to standard HB02 vaccination schedules are attenuated in a haemodialysis cohort, but likely the vaccine saves lives. We suggest that an enhanced HB02 vaccination course or antibody checking may be prudent to protect this vulnerable group of patients. We suggest a booster dose of this vaccine at 3 months should be given to all dialysis patients, on the grounds that it is well tolerated even in those with good antibody levels and there may be a survival advantage.

Development and validation of a novel corpus of 269 verb pictures in Kannada based on an argument structure taxonomy.

Pictorial stimuli are crucial in psycholinguistic research and clinical practice. The development of culturally and linguistically appropriate, standardized picture corpora is a tedious and meticulous process. Yet, such readily accessible picture sets are useful for researchers and clinicians alike. The current study introduces a novel set of 269 verb pictures for an Indian language - Kannada. The included verbs were selected from a published database of 100,000 words along with their frequency scores in this language, and were subsequently categorized based on an argument structure taxonomy. Each picture is developed based on an exemplar sentence that depicts a scenario rather than a mere action. Norms are provided for verb name and argument agreement, image agreement, concept familiarity, and visual complexity, along with the orthographic frequency. Correlations between these measures are also described. The complete set of pictures are freely downloadable from https://osf.io/uk2af/?view_only=ecffbd92f48546a484c869b3f0b8ec94 for academic, research, and clinical usage in the future.