Health-Seeking Behaviour and Its Determinants Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the change in behaviour of individuals towards any health issues they faced after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to compare the health-seeking behaviour of people who were infected by the virus and those who were not infected.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 participants visiting Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan, and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan. Data was collected through a pilot-tested questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0 (Released 2019; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States).

RESULTS

In 286 participants (71.6%), health-seeking behaviours were significantly altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, this research showed that COVID-19 was linked to poor health-seeking behaviour.

CONCLUSION

Most of the participants' health-seeking behaviours were significantly altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant change in how people behaved towards any health problem was reported. As a result, public awareness campaigns should focus on delivering more information about COVID-19 to promote their health-seeking behaviour.

Analysis of a self-propelling sheet with heat transfer through non-isothermal fluid in an inclined human cervical canal

The present theoretical analysis deals with biomechanics of the self-propulsion of a swimming sheet with heat transfer through non-isothermal fluid filling an inclined human cervical canal. Partial differential equations arising from the mathematical modeling of the proposed model are solved analytically. Flow variables like pressure gradient, propulsive velocity, fluid velocity, time mean flow rate, fluid temperature, and heat-transfer coefficients are analyzed for the pertinent parameters. Striking features of the pumping characteristics are explored. Propulsive velocity of the swimming sheet becomes faster for lower Froude number, higher Reynolds number, and for a vertical channel. Temperature and peak value of the heat-transfer coefficients below the swimming sheet showed an increase by the increment of Brinkmann number, inclination, pressure difference over wavelength, and Reynolds number whereas these quantities decrease with increasing Froude number. Aforesaid parameters have shown opposite effects on the peak value of the heat-transfer coefficients below and above the swimming sheet. Relevance of the current results to the spermatozoa transport with heat transfer through non-isothermal cervical mucus filling an inclined human cervical canal is also explored.

Influence of the narrow {111} planes on axial and planar ion channeling

We report channeling patterns where clearly resolved effects of the narrow {111} planes are observed in axial and planar alignments for 2 MeV protons passing through a 55 nm [001] silicon membrane. At certain axes, such as <213> and <314>, the offset in atomic rows forming the narrow {111} planes results in shielding from the large potential at the wide {111} planes, producing a region of shallow, asymmetric potential from which axial channeling patterns have no plane of symmetry. At small tilts from such axes, different behavior is observed from the wide and narrow {111} planes. At planar alignment, distinctive channeling effects due to the narrow planes are observed. As a consequence of the shallow potential well at the narrow planes, incident protons suffer dechanneled trajectories which are excluded from channeling within the wide planes, resulting in an anomalously large scattered beam at {111} alignment.

The effect of air mass origin on the ambient concentrations of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb in Islamabad, Pakistan

Concentration of radionuclides ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be, having half lives of 22.3 years and 53.29 days, respectively, in the surface air samples of Islamabad (33.38°N, 73.10°E and Altitude ∼536 m asl.) are measured. The non-destructive technique of gamma-spectrometry, with a high purity germanium HPGe detector, was employed for the analysis of all samples. The annual average concentrations of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be in the surface air samples were determined as 0.284 ± 0.15 and 3.171 ± 1.14 mBq m⁻³, respectively. Our results have shown a seasonal variation of the concentration of ⁷Be in air samples with high values for the spring season. High concentrations for ²¹⁰Pb are obtained when air masses originate from plain areas of Pothohar region, located in the South-West, West and North West of Islamabad. Our values of concentrations show a nice agreement with the relevant reported results.

Enhanced planar channeling of MeV protons through thin crystals

At certain tilt alignments between a MeV proton beam and a planar channeling direction, a single interface lattice rotation within a crystal can result in a lower rate of dechanneling than at planar alignment in a perfect crystal. Such planar channeling enhancement arises when the beam passes through a layer thickness which is a half-multiple of the oscillation wavelength and then encounters a small interface rotation which is matched to the beam tilt angle. The beam is projected into the center of the phase space ellipse below the interface, resulting in certain trajectories undergoing a reduction in their transverse energy, in a manner analogous to stochastic cooling or atom laser cooling.

Observation of many coherent oscillations for MeV protons transmitted through stacking faults

High spatial resolution, high-contrast transmission channeling images of stacking faults in silicon have been produced using a beam of 2 MeV protons focused to a spot size of 60 nm. Over a narrow range of beam tilts to the (011) planes, up to ten periodic intensity oscillations are observed, providing evidence of a long-range coherency of the planar channeled trajectories. This behavior is characterized using Monte Carlo computer simulations, and a phase-space model of planar channeled ion interactions with stacking faults is developed which incorporates all observed channeling and blocking phenomena.

Activation of carboxylesterases in root cortical parenchymal cells of Pisum sativum during xylem induction in vitro

A quantitative cytochemical study of naphthol AS-D esterase activity in explants from roots of Pisum sativum grown on basal medium for 3 or 6 days showed similar levels of activity to those seen in sections of cortex and stele from intact roots of similar ages. Explants grown in the presence of auxins or cytokinin alone showed a threefold or twofold increase in cortical parenchymal activity, respectively. On adding both hormones to initiate xylem element formation, there was also a threefold increase in activity in the cortex. In all three cases, the stimulated activity was totally inhibited by either 10(-4) M diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) or 10(-4) M diethyl p-nitrophenylphosphate (E600), indicating carboxylesterase activity. The low level of activity normally present in cortical cells was inhibitor resistant, so indicating acetylesterase activity. Thus, auxins and cytokinins appear to activate mainly similar carboxylesterases during the initiation of xylem elements from cortical parenchyma cells.

A quantitative cytochemical study of determination for xylem-element formation in response to wounding in roots of Pisum sativum L

Quantitative cytochemical studies of cortical parenchyma cells of roots of Pisum sativum in which the central vascular bundle is severed, showed esterase activity to be an early marker of the determination of cells to form a vascular bridge. Explantation, onto a basal culture medium, of wound segments taken from roots at different times after severing the stele showed the irreversibility of the esterase activity on removal from the inducing environment, so confirming this as a marker of cell determination. A general determination for the stele was shown to occur by 8-10 h after wounding, but information relating to tracheid secondary-cell-wall formation was not apparently available until 18-20 h after wounding. Determination appeared to occur well before mitosis. The timings of the differentiation steps indicate a simple diffusion model to explain the mechanism of arrival of the initiating molecules.

A quantitative cytochemical method for phosphofructokinase in plant tissues

A quantitative cytochemical method for the demonstration of phosphofructokinase has been successfully applied to a range of plant tissues. The findings indicate that this enzyme system may be assayed as an indicator of glycolytic activity in plant cells, and furthermore tha the very high endogenous phosphoenolpyruvate concentrations may not be rate limiting in vivo.