Online educational program for parents of adolescents on human papillomavirus vaccination during COVID pandemic: A feasibility check.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for adolescents helps in the prevention of preventable cancers caused due to HPV infection. However, many adolescents are not vaccinated due to lack of knowledge among parents. Objective: This study aimed to compare the level of knowledge and attitude of parents on HPV vaccination before and after the online educational intervention. Methods: Across-sectional pilot study was conducted among a sample of 45 parents of adolescents studying in class 7th-9th. The parents were selected two-stage simple random sampling and assigned randomly to three groups with three different methods of education - online lecture with PowerPoint presentation, online short film with discussion, and self-learning online booklet. Pre- and postintervention knowledge was assessed with a structured questionnaire and attitude with modified Likert scale administered online. Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to find the statistical significance in the study. Results: Only 36% of samples stated that they have not heard about HPV vaccination, while others had heard from health-care workers, family members, friends, or television, but their knowledge was inadequate. In all the three groups, there was significant improvement in level of knowledge, but there was no significant difference in attitude. The posttest knowledge scores of parents educated with short film were significantly more than the other two interventions. Conclusion: Online educational programs were found to be effective in improving the knowledge of parents on HPV vaccination and of the three methods; short film was more effective than the other two methods.

Pre-packing of cost effective antibiotic cement beads for the treatment of traumatic osteomyelitis in the developing world - an in-vitro study based in Cambodia.

The developing world often lacks the resources to effectively treat the most serious injuries including osteomyelitis following open fractures or surgical fracture treatment. Antibiotic cement beads are a widely accepted method of delivering antibiotics locally to the infected area following trauma. This study is based in Cambodia, a low income country struggling to recover from a recent genocide. The study aims to test the effectiveness of locally made antibiotic beads and analyse their effectiveness after being gas sterilised, packaged and kept in storage Different antibiotic beads were manufactured locally using bone cement and tested against MRSA bacteria grown from a case of osteomyelitis. Each antibiotic was tested before and after a process of gas sterilisation as well as later being tested after storage in packaging up to 42 days. The gentamicin, vancomycin, amikacin and ceftriaxone beads all inhibited growth of the MRSA on the TSB and agar plates, both before and after gas sterilisation. All four antibiotics continued to show similar zones of inhibition after 42 days of storage. The results show significant promise to produce beads with locally obtainable ingredients in an austere environment and improve cost effectiveness by storing them in a sterilised condition.

Strong pressure dependence of the magnetic penetration depth in single crystals of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 studied by muon spin rotation.

In the tetragonal heavy fermion system CeCoIn(5) the unconventional superconducting state is probed by means of muon spin rotation. The pressure dependence (0-1 GPa) of the basal-plane magnetic penetration depth (λ(a)), the penetration depth anisotropy (γ = λ(c)/λ(a)) and the temperature dependence of 1/λ(i)(2) (i = a, c) were studied in single crystals. A strong decrease of λ(a) with pressure was observed, while γ and λ(i)(2)(0)/λ(i)(2)(T) are pressure independent. A linear relationship between 1/λ(a)(2)(270 mK) and T(c) was also found. The large decrease of λ(a) with pressure is the signature of an increase of the number of superconducting quasiparticles by a factor of about 2.