Behavioural determinants of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among healthcare workers: a rapid review.

OBJECTIVES: Vaccinating healthcare workers (HCWs) against COVID-19 has been a public health priority since rollout began in late 2020. Promoting COVID-19 vaccination among HCWs would benefit from identifying modifiable behavioural determinants. We sought to identify and categorize studies looking at COVID-19 vaccination acceptance to identify modifiable factors to increase uptake in HCWs. STUDY DESIGN: Rapid evidence review. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE and Cochrane databases until May 2021 and conducted a grey literature search to identify cross-sectional, cohort, and qualitative studies. Key barriers to, and enablers of, vaccine acceptance were categorized using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), a comprehensive theoretical framework comprising 14 behavioural domains. RESULTS: From 19,591 records, 74 studies were included. Almost two-thirds of responding HCWs were willing to accept a COVID-19 vaccine (median = 64%, interquartile range = 50-78%). Twenty key barriers and enablers were identified and categorized into eight TDF domains. The most frequently identified barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were as follows: concerns about vaccine safety, efficacy, and speed of development (TDF domain: Beliefs about consequences); individuals in certain HCW roles (Social/professional role and identity); and mistrust in state/public health response to COVID-19 (Social influences). Routinely being vaccinated for seasonal influenza (Reinforcement), concerns about contracting COVID-19 (Beliefs about consequences) and working directly with COVID-19 patients (Social/professional role and identity) were key enablers of COVID-19 vaccination among HCWs. DISCUSSION: Our review identified eight (of a possible 14) behavioural determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among HCWs that, if targeted, could help design tailored vaccination messaging, policy, campaigns, and programs to support HCWs vaccination uptake.

Irradiation dose does not affect male reproductive organ size, sperm storage, and female remating propensity in Ceratitis capitata.

The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata is a globally invasive pest, often controlled with the sterile insect technique (SIT). For the SIT, mass-rearing of the target insect followed by irradiation are imperatives. Sterile males are often less able to inhibit female remating and transfer less number of sperm, and even irradiation could affect male reproductive organs, with consequences for their ability to inhibit female remating. On the other hand, male age could affect their ability to modulate female response after mating. Here, we evaluated the quality of the genetic sexing strain Vienna-8-tsl mass-reared in Bioplanta San Juan, Argentina, under laboratory conditions, with regard to: (i) the ability of sterile males irradiated at 100 or 140 Gy to inhibit female remating, in the same day and at 24 h of first copulation; (ii) the ability of 3, 4 or 5 day-old sterile males to inhibit female remating at 24 h of first copulation, and (iii) the effect of a reduction in irradiation doses on the number of sperm stored by females and reproductive organ size in virgin males. Sterile males were better able than wild males to inhibit female remating in the same day of first copulation and as able as wild males 1 day after first copulation. Male age did not affect their ability to inhibit female receptivity. Number of sperm stored by females, testes size and ectodermal accessory glands size were not affected by male identity, while sterile 100 Gy males had larger mesodermal accessory glands than control lab males. A reduction in irradiation dose does not impact any variable measured, except for percentage of sperm-depleted females: females mated with sterile 100 Gy males had lower probabilities to store sperm. The results showed here are very encouraging for tsl Vienna 8 strain reared in Argentina and are discussed in comparison with previous studies in C. capitata female remating with dissimilar results.

Little red riding hood in the social forest. Online grooming as a public health issue: a narrative review.

INTRODUCTION: Online grooming is a manipulative process through which an adult attempts to arrange a sexual interaction with a minor using internet. Children are constantly exposed to the online world, posing online grooming as a public health issue. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this narrative review is to describe the state of online grooming preventive strategies in recent literature through an overview of online grooming phenomenon. METHODS: Our literature review included research articles and reviews published between January 2014 and March 2019, as well as reference lists of included studies. RESULTS: The analysis provides a picture of online grooming phenomenon, identify recurrent features of perpetrators and victims. Several preventive strategies have been implemented, but they lack any kind of efficacy evaluation and miss a theory driven approach. Fragmentation of preventive initiatives is a critical issue, in contrast with the need of an institutional public health strategy. CONCLUSIONS: While the attention around online grooming is growing, there is still the need of further sensitizing the involved stakeholders and developing evidence based preventive strategies under an institutional guidance.

Paraxial optical fields whose intensity pattern skeletons are stable caustics.

We construct exact solutions to the paraxial wave equation in free space characterized by stable caustics. First, we show that any solution of the paraxial wave equation can be written as the superposition of plane waves determined by both the Hamilton-Jacobi and Laplace equations in free space. Then using the five elementary stable catastrophes, we construct solutions of the Hamilton-Jacobi and Laplace equations, and the corresponding exact solutions of the paraxial wave equation. Therefore, the evolution of the intensity patterns is governed by the paraxial wave equation and that of the corresponding caustic by the Hamilton-Jacobi equation.

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of eight pediatric PROMIS® item banks into Spanish and German.

PURPOSE: The Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded initiative to develop reliable, valid, and normed item banks to measure health. We describe the first large-scale translation and cross-cultural adaptation effort to German and Spanish of eight pediatric PROMIS item banks: Physical activity (PAC), subjective well-being (SWB), experiences of stress (EOS), and family relations (FAM). METHODS: We utilized methods outlined in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) PRO Translation Task Force recommendations. Ten professional translators performed a translatability assessment and generated forward translations. Forward Translations were compared within a country and cross-culturally to identify problems and to produce a consensus-derived version, which was then back translated, evaluated, and revised where necessary. Reconciled versions were evaluated in cognitive interviews with 126 children before finalization. RESULTS: Eight resulting pediatric PROMIS® item banks were translated: Two PAC banks (22 total items), three SWB banks (125 total items), two EOS banks (45 total items), and one FAM bank (47 total items). Up to 92% of all items raised no or only minor translation difficulties, 0-5.6% were difficult to translate. Up to 20% item revisions were necessary to ensure conceptual equivalence and comprehensibility. Cognitive interviews indicated that 91-94% of the final items were appropriate for children (8-17 years). CONCLUSIONS: German and Spanish translations of eight PROMIS Pediatric item banks were created for clinical trials and routine pediatric health care. Initial translatability assessment and rigorous translation methodology helped to ensure conceptual equivalence and comprehensibility. Next steps include cross-cultural validation and adaptation studies.

Correction to: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of eight pediatric PROMIS® item banks into Spanish and German.

In the original publication of the article, two of the author names "L. A. Schröder, F. Metzner" and email address of the authors "J. Devine, J. Moon, A. C. Haller" were missed out. The correct author group with affiliations are provided in this correction.

Phototoxic reaction to a combined oral contraceptive (levonorgestrel/ethinylestradiol).

We present the case of a phototoxic skin reaction due to the regular intake of a combined oral contraceptive (levonorgestrel/ethinylestradiol). Upon spectrophotometer testing, we demonstrated high absorption in the UV-B region of the solar spectrum of the combined product (Ovoplex®), especially for the estrogen compound (ethinylestradiol).

Dietary levels of protein and free amino acids affect pancreatic proteases activities, amino acids transporters expression and serum amino acid concentrations in starter pigs.

The dietary contents of crude protein and free amino acids (AA) may affect the protein digestion and AA absorption in pigs. Trypsin and chymotrypsin activities, AA serum concentrations and expression of AA transporters in the small intestine of pigs fed a low protein, AA-supplemented (19.2%, LPAA) or a high protein (28.1%, HP), wheat-soybean meal diet were measured in two 14-d trials. The LPAA diet contained free L-Lys, L-Thr, DL-Met, L-Leu, L-Ile, L-Val, L-His, L-Trp and L-Phe. All pigs were fed the same amount of feed (890 and 800 g/d for trial 1 and 2 respectively). In trial 1, samples of mucosa (duodenum, jejunum and ileum) and digesta (duodenum and jejunum) were collected from 14 pigs (17.2 ± 0.4 kg); in trial 2, blood samples were collected from 12 pigs (12.7 ± 0.3 kg). The trypsin and chymotrypsin activities in both intestinal segments were higher in pigs fed the HP diet (p < 0.01). Trypsin activity was higher in jejunum than in duodenum regardless the dietary treatment (p < 0.05). Pigs fed the LPAA diet expressed more b0,+ AT in duodenum, B0 AT1 in ileum (p < 0.05), and tended to express more y+ LAT1 in duodenum (p = 0.10). In pigs fed the LPAA diet, the expression of b0,+ AT was higher in duodenum than in jejunum and ileum (p < 0.01), but no difference was observed in pigs fed the HP diet. Ileum had the lowest b0,+ AT expression regardless the diet. The serum concentrations of Lys, Thr and Met were higher in LPAA pigs while serum Arg was higher in HP pigs (p < 0.05). Serum concentrations of AA appear to reflect the AA absorption. In conclusion, these data indicate that the dietary protein contents affect the extent of protein digestion and that supplemental free AA may influence the intestinal site of AA release and absorption, which may impact their availability for growth of young pigs.

Determinants associated with chronic and incident depression in Mexican older adults. / Determinantes asociados a depresión crónica e incidente en adultos mayores mexicanos.

Objective: To describe the association among socio-demographic, environmental, psychosocial and health determinants in Mexican elders with chronic and incident depression from a 3-year follow-up study. Methods: Data from a cohort study of 1512 Mexicans, 65 and more years old was analyzed. We used a multinomial regression model in order to analyze the associations between determinants of interest with chronic and incident depression conditions, taking as reference a group without depression. In addition, the risk profiles were identified and stratified by sex; and finally, the determinant´s were estimated individually and combined. Results: 43.1% of the whole sample did not present depression during the follow-up, 41.9% had chronic depression and 15% incident depression. Chronic depression had more associations with determinants, than incident depression; the latter was associated with poverty and loneliness. The risk profiles for the three depression´s conditions stratified by sex, showed notorious differences. Conclusion: Chronic and incident depressions in the elderly are distinct phenomena, the evaluation of the determinant´s contribution to these entities, will allow to identify associated conditions to chronic and incident depression, and the sex differential effect, which will contribute to identify populations and risk factors, to implement objective interventions.

Etravirine concentrations in seminal plasma in HIV-infected patients.

OBJECTIVES: To determine etravirine concentrations and the HIV-1 viral load (VL) in blood plasma (BP) and seminal plasma (SP) of HIV-infected patients. METHODS: Ten adult antiretroviral-experienced HIV-1 patients receiving an etravirine-containing regimen for at least 1 month were enrolled. Semen and blood samples were collected ~12 or 24 h after the last etravirine dose, depending on twice-daily or once-daily dosing, respectively. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used to determine etravirine concentrations and HIV-1 VL was determined by real-time PCR (detection limit 40 copies/mL). Results are presented as the median (range) unless otherwise indicated. RESULTS: Ten blood and 20 semen samples were collected. The CD4 count was 502 (252-817) cells/mm(3) and the BP VL was <40 (<40-362) copies/mL. The time on etravirine was 52 (12-124) weeks. The BP etravirine concentration was 452.5 (258-751) ng/mL. The SP etravirine concentration was 62.9 (31.2-166.0) ng/mL and values were above the IC(50) range (0.39-2.4 ng/mL) in all cases. The median etravirine SP:BP ratio was 0.16 (0.07-0.26). The SP VL was <40 copies/mL in all patients, whereas the BP VL was detectable in one patient with poor adherence to treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Etravirine concentrations in male genital secretions are modest, reaching only 16% of the BP concentration. Nevertheless, they are more than 10 times greater than the wild-type IC(50) range (not adjusted for protein binding).