During summer 2016 in the District of Palermo, Italy, the rapid succession of four cases of invasive meningococcal disease among young adults, with one death, have had an extraordinary emphasis by Local and National mass media. The resultant “epidemic of panic” among general population overloaded vaccination Units of the Palermo District during following months. Strategies implemented by Sicilian and Local Public Health Authorities to counteract “meningitis fear” were: a) extension of active and free of charge anti-meningococcal tetravalent vaccination from age class 12–18 to 12–30 years old; b) implementation of vaccination units usual opening hours and rooms tailored for vaccine administration; c) development of informative institutional tools and timely communications throughout local mass media to reassure general population. In 2016, was observed an increase of anti-meningococcal coverage in Palermo District (+18% for 16th y.o. and + 14% for 18th y.o. cohorts) and at Regional Level (+11.2% and +13.5% respectively). Concurrent catch-up of other recommended vaccination for age (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-poliomyelitis and papillomavirus), resulted in further increase of doses administered. The fear for meningitis, managed by Sicilian Public Health Authorities, had positive reverberations in terms of prevention. In particular, informative strategies adopted sensibly contributed to get Sicilian young adults closer to vaccination issues.

In the context of the H1N1 pandemic and the Pandemrix vaccination campaign, an increased number of narcolepsy cases were noted in several countries. In Sweden, this phenomenon was attributed to the effect of the Pandemrix vaccination in the first place. Interestingly, Denmark, a neighboring country, also had an increased incidence during this period, despite a low vaccination rate. Additionally, studies from China indicated that narcolepsy could occur as a consequence of the H1N1 infection itself. Against these background factors, and due to the clinical impression that narcolepsy patients who were vaccinated tend to dominate in the Swedish narcolepsy polyclinic, we performed an analysis of the increase with a specific interest in age and sex distribution. We also aimed to validate the origin of the excess cases, post hoc. Materials & Methods: The data for narcolepsy patients (ICD code G 47.4) distributed by sex and age at 5-year intervals, annually between 2005 and 2017, was retrieved from the National Patient Register. Information on the total population was collected from the Swedish Population Register and was used for calculations of the narcolepsy prevalence. Results: The number of narcolepsy cases increased markedly from 2009 to 2014 compared to the period before 2009. A particular increase in 2011 among children and teenagers was observed, which resulted in increased cases among the age group 20-39 years in the following years. The sex ratio did not change significantly during the study period. The excess cases found in our study exceeded the number of patients who so far (December 2023) received economic compensation for vaccine side effects (n=450). Conclusions: Our results confirm an association between the increased prevalence of narcolepsy cases and the Pandemrix vaccination. Consequently, the effect of the virus itself cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor. The delayed timing in diagnostics is crucial when determining the number of cases with onset during the pandemic.

In our country, the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is still very high (35.7-39.6%), especially in youths. We aimed to determine the efficacy of awareness campaigns to prevent DKA on multiple outcomes and identify success predictors. The review included studies that focused on children under 18 years old, and outcomes were measured by comparing before and after implementing the campaigns in the same area and between areas where interventions took place or not. Of 177 records identified, 15 were eligible for analysis. The pooled difference in DKA frequency after a campaign implementation was between 1% and 65.5%. A decrease in the rate of acute complications, such as cerebral edema, was reported. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) at onset showed a mean reduction of 0.7%- 5.1%; C-peptide increased in patients without DKA at diagnosis, and length of hospitalization decreased. Campaign costs were lower than costs of treating subjects with DKA. This review demonstrated that DKA awareness campaigns effectively reduce DKA incidence and improve other parameters, such as acute complications, HbA1c and C-peptide levels, length of hospitalization, and costs, among youths with T1D. To be effective, campaigns must follow specific principles of target population, modality, and minimal duration, reported in this review.

Early treatment is the mainstay of sepsis therapy. We suspected that early recognition of sepsis by prehospital healthcare providers may shorten time to antibiotic administration in the Emergency Department. We retrospectively evaluated all patients above 18 years of age that were diagnosed with sepsis or severe infection in our Emergency Department between 2018 and 2020. We recorded the suspected diagnosis at time of presentation, type of referring healthcare provider and time until initiation of antibiotic treatment. Differences between groups were calculated using Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test. Of the 277 patients that were diagnosed with severe infection or sepsis in the emergency department, an infection was suspected in 124 (44.8%) patients and sepsis was suspected in 31 (11.2%) patients by referring healthcare providers. Time to initiation of antibiotic treatment was shorter in patients where sepsis or infection had been suspected prior to arrival for both patients with severe infections (p = 0.022) and sepsis (p = 0.004). Given the well described outcome benefits to early sepsis therapy, recognition of sepsis needs to be improved. Appropriate scores should be used as part of routine patient assessment to reduce time to antibiotic administration and improve patient outcomes.

This paper attempts to alter a prevailing assumption that buildings use energy to an understanding that in fact, people use energy. Therefore, to successfully accelerate the transition to a low-carbon society and economy more emphasis should be on motivating people and increasing their awareness by making them energy conscious building users and therefore active players in the energy transition process. In this context, this paper provides insights from the Horizon 2020 MOBISTYLE project. It demonstrates research and development approaches, highlights the main project objectives, and presents findings of an ethnographic (qualitative) study of users’ habits, practices, and needs. The aim of the project is to motivate behavioural change by raising consumer awareness through the provision of attractive personalized information on user’s energy use, indoor environment and health, all enabled by an integrated information and communication technology (ICT) service. In this context, the anthropological people-centred approach is integrated into the MOBISTYLE approach putting users at the centre of the ICT tools development process. The main quantitative objective of the project is a reduction of energy use for at least 16 % prompted by the provision of combined information and feedback systems on energy, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and health. The most relevant motivational factors and key performance indicators (KPIs) for encouraging a more energy conscious and healthy lifestyle were defined by means of a people-centred approach, adopting anthropological inquiries in different settings. Information about users’ lifestyles and their needs was collected in focus groups with potential users in five case studies, located in different European Union (EU) countries. Behaviour change is achieved through awareness campaigns, which encourage users to be pro-active about their energy consumption and to simultaneously improve health and well-being.

Malaria is a critical fevered illness caused by Plasmodium parasites transmitted among people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Public awareness about the disease is important for the control of disease. This article proposes a mathematical model to study the dynamics of malaria disease transmission with the influence of awareness-based control interventions. We found two equilibria of the model, namely the disease-free and endemic equilibrium. Disease-free equilibrium is stable globally if basic reproduction number (R0) is less than unity (R0<1). Some basic mathematical properties of the proposed model, such as nonnegativity and boundedness of solutions, the feasibility of the equilibrium points and their stability properties, have been studied. Finally, we adopted optimal control to minimize the cost of disease control and solve the problem by formulating Hamiltonian functional. The optimal use of insecticides for controlling the mosquito population is determined. Numerical simulations have been provided for the confirmation of the analytical results. We conclude that media awareness with optimal control approach is best for cost-effective malaria disease management.

The article addresses the function of (post)colonial nostalgia in a context of multidirectional memory (Rothberg 2009) in contemporary Europe. How can different cultural memories of the Second Word War be put into respectful dialogue with each other? The text is based on a contrapuntal reading (Said 1994) of British and Egyptian popular narratives, using a qualitative content analysis of 10 British tv documentary films about the North Africa Campaign, and data from qualitative interviews collected during ethnographic fieldwork in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, during visits 2013--2015. The study highlights considerable differences between the British and Egyptian narratives, but also significant similarities regarding the use and function of nostalgia. In addition, the Egyptian narrative expresses a profound cosmopolitan nostalgia and a longing for what is regarded as Egypt’s lost, modern Golden Age, identified as the decades before the nation’s fundamental change from western-oriented monarchy to Nasser’s Arab nationalist military state. The common elements between the two national narratives indicate a possibly fruitful way to open up for a shared popular memory culture about the war years, including postcolonial aspects.

Many measles endemic countries with suboptimal coverage levels still rely on vaccination campaigns to fill immunity gaps and boost control efforts. Depending on local epidemiological patterns, national or targeted campaigns are implemented, following which post-campaign coverage surveys (PCCSs) are conducted to evaluate their performance, particularly in terms of reaching previously unvaccinated children. Due to limited resources, PCCS surveys are designed to be representative at coarse spatial scales, often masking important heterogeneities in coverage that could enhance the identification of areas of poor performance for follow up via routine immunization strategies. Here, we undertake geospatial analyses of the 2021 measles PCCS in Nigeria to map indicators of coverage measuring the individual and combined performance of the campaign and routine immunization (RI) at 1x1 km resolution and the ward and district levels in 13 states. Using additional geospatial data sets, we also produced estimates of numbers of unvaccinated children during the campaign and numbers of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) zero-dose children before and after the campaign at these levels and within health facility catchment areas. Our study revealed that although the campaign reduced the numbers of MCV zero-dose children in all the districts, areas of suboptimal campaign and RI performance with considerable numbers of zero-dose children remained. Our analyses further identified wards and health facility catchment areas with higher numbers of unvaccinated children within these areas. Our outputs provide a robust evidence base to plan and implement follow-up RI strategies and to guide future campaigns at flexible and operationally relevant spatial scales.

Using low-cost portable air quality (AQ) monitoring devices is a growing trend in personal exposure studies enabling a higher spatio-temporal resolution and identifying acute exposure to high concentrations. Comprehension of results by participants is not guaranteed in exposure studies. However, information on personal exposure is multiplex, which calls for participant involvement in information design to maximise communication output and comprehension. This study describes and proposes a model of a user centred design (UCD) approach for preparing a final report for participants involved in a multi-sensor personal exposure monitoring study performed in seven cities within the EU Horizon 2020 ICARUS project. Using a combination of human-centred design (HCD), human-information interaction (HII) and design thinking approaches, we iteratively included participants in the framing and design of the final report. User needs were mapped using a survey (n=82), and feedback on the draft report was obtained from a focus group (n=5). User requirements were assessed and validated using a post-campaign survey (n=31). The UCD research was conducted amongst participants in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the results report was distributed among the participating cities across Europe. The feedback received made it clear that the final report was well-received and helped participants better understand the influence of individual behaviours on personal exposure to air pollution.

The growth of social media has changed the face of many aspects of marketing such as online, digital, etc. It also has changed the way modern human communicates and connects with others. Moreover, the behavior on this platform could not and should not be justified with strategies of other marketing channels and media. Due to the nature of social media, they are rich in precise and lean data, but processing these data and extracting knowledge and insights from them are problematic. Evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing endeavor is also a task related to these data. The current research attempts to assess the effectiveness of an advertising campaign on Instagram via advertising cost and sentiment classification of audience opinion regarding the campaign. The methodology used in this research is the standard process of data mining, i.e., CRISP-DM. Furthermore, multiple machine learning models and approaches were studied to train a prediction model based on data. In order to find the most accurate algorithm, grid search was used among the trained models and different algorithms with different combinations of hyper-parameters. The obtained results revealed that although the number of not profitable advertising media was higher than the profitable media, the overall status of the campaign was profitable, both in the cost-effectiveness approach and sentiment analysis approach. The other valued outcome of this research was important general and specific insights which can be used to shape a better-performing and effective advertising campaign on Instagram.

The paper presents the measurement campaign carried out on a real-world motorway stretch of Hungary with the participation of both industrial and academic partners from Austria and Hungary. The measurement included vehicle based as well as infrastructure based sensor data. The obtained results will be extremely useful for future automotive R&D activities due to the available ground truth for static and dynamic content. The aim of the measurement campaign was twofold. On the one hand, road geometry was mapped with high precision in order to build Ultra High Definition (UHD) map of the test road. On the other hand, the vehicles - equipped with differential Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for ground truth localization - carried out special test scenarios while collecting detailed data using different sensors. All test runs were recorded by both vehicles and infrastructure. As a complementary task, the available 5G network was monitored and tested. The paper also showcases application examples based on the measurement campaign data, in which the added value of having access to the ground truth labeling and the created UHD map of the motorway section becomes apparent. In order to present our work transparently, a part of the measured data have been shared openly such that interested automotive as well as academic parties may use it for their own purposes.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of mortality due to cancer for woman both in Lithuania and worldwide. Chances of survival after diagnosis differ significantly depending on the stage of disease at the time of diagnosis and other factors. One way to estimate survival is to construct a Kaplan-Meier estimate for each factor value separately. However, in cases when it is impossible to observe a large number of patients (for example, in case of countries with lower numbers of inhabitants) dividing data into subsets, say, by stage at diagnosis may lead to results where some subsets contain too little data so that results of Kaplan Meier (or any other) method will become statistically incredible. The problem may become even more acute if the researcher would like to use more risk factors, such as stage at diagnosis, sex, place of living, treatment method, etc. Alternatively, Cox models are used to analyse survival data with covariates, and they don’t require dividing the data into subsets according to chosen risks factors (hazards).

Hispanics are disproportionately affected by low rates of physical activity and high rates of chronic diseases. Hispanics generally and Mexican Americans specifically are underrepresented in research on physical activity and its impact on mental well-being. Some community-based interventions have been effective in increasing physical activity among Hispanics. This study examined data from a sample of low-income Hispanic participants in free community exercise classes to characterize the association between self-reported frequency of exercise class attendance, intensity of physical activity, and participant well-being. As part of two cross-sectional samples recruited from a stratified random sample of community exercise classes, 302 participants completed a questionnaire consisting of a modified version of the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) and the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF). Adjusted binary logistic regression analyses indicated that those who achieve moderate and strenuous self-reported physical activity have 130% higher odds (p = 0.0422) of positive mental well-being after adjustment for age, attendance, and self-reported health. This study provides evidence that physical activity intensity and time are associated with flourishing mental health among Hispanics. The study provides insight into the planning and development of community-based physical activity programming tailored to low-income populations.