1. The influence of anxiety and fear of COVID‑19 on vaccination hesitancy among postsecondary studentsAndrej Šorgo, Nuša Crnkovič, Katarina Cesar, Špela Selak, Mitja Vrdelja, Branko Gabrovec, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: The aim of the present study was to explore the infuence of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 on vaccination hesitancy among Slovenian postsecondary students. A cross-sectional study using a set of previously tested instruments and ad hoc questions created by the authors was chosen as the method to gain insight into various health and sociodemographic aspects of Slovenian postsecondary students afected by the COVID-19-induced closures and suspensions of educational activities at tertiary educational institutions (N= 5999). Overall, 39.7% of participating students expressed an intention to get vaccinated at the frst possible opportunity, whereas 29.2% expressed no intent to do so. The highest vaccine hesitancy was observed among prospective teachers (50.3%) and the lowest among prospective physicians (5,7%). When examining the role of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 on the Slovenian postsecondary students' intentions to get vaccinated the results of logistic regression showed that only fear of COVID-19 played a mild and signifcant role.
Keywords: vaccination, health care, health occupations, medical research, risk factors, signs and symptoms, students
Published in DKUM: 05.07.2024; Views: 111; Downloads: 7
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2. Safety culture and the positive association of being a primary care training practice during COVID-19 : the results of the multi-country European PRICOV-19 studyBianca Silva, Zlata Ožvačić Adžić, Pierre Vanden Bussche, Esther Van Poel, Bohumil Seifert, Cindy Heaster, Claire Collins, Canan Tuz Yilmaz, Felicity Knights, Zalika Klemenc-Ketiš, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: The day-to-day work of primary care (PC) was substantially changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching practices needed to adapt both clinical work and teaching in a way that enabled the teaching process to continue, while maintaining safe and high-quality care. Our study aims to investigate the effect of being a training practice on a number of different outcomes related to the safety culture of PC practices. PRICOV-19 is a multi-country cross-sectional study that researches how PC practices were organized in 38 countries during the pandemic. Data was collected from November 2020 to December 2021. We categorized practices into training and non-training and selected outcomes relating to safety culture: safe practice management, community outreach, professional well-being and adherence to protocols. Mixed-effects regression models were built to analyze the effect of being a training practice for each of the outcomes, while controlling for relevant confounders. Of the participating practices, 2886 (56%) were non-training practices and 2272 (44%) were training practices. Being a training practice was significantly associated with a lower risk for adverse mental health events (OR: 0.83; CI: 0.70-0.99), a higher number of safety measures related to patient flow (Beta: 0.17; CI: 0.07-0.28), a higher number of safety incidents reported (RR: 1.12; CI: 1.06-1.19) and more protected time for meetings (Beta: 0.08; CI: 0.01-0.15). No significant associations were found for outreach initiatives, availability of triage information, use of a phone protocol or infection prevention measures and equipment availability. Training practices were found to have a stronger safety culture than non-training practices. These results have important policy implications, since involving more PC practices in education may be an effective way to improve quality and safety in general practice.
Keywords: safety culture, patient safety, quality of care, primary health care, COVID-19, medical education, vocational training, PRICOV-19, infectious disease, multi-country, general practice
Published in DKUM: 04.07.2024; Views: 128; Downloads: 11
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3. Extending the protection ability and life cycle of medical masks through the washing processJulija Volmajer Valh, Tanja Pušić, Mirjana Čurlin, Ana Knežević, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: The reuse of decontaminated disposable medical face masks can contribute to reducing the environmental burden of discarded masks. This research is focused on the effect of household and laboratory washing at 50 °C on the quality and functionality of the nonwoven structure of polypropylene medical masks by varying the washing procedure, bath composition, disinfectant agent, and number of washing cycles as a basis for reusability. The barrier properties of the medical mask were analyzed before and after the first and fifth washing cycle indirectly by measuring the contact angle of the liquid droplets with the front and back surface of the mask, further by measuring air permeability and determining antimicrobial resistance. Additional analysis included FTIR, pH of the material surface and aqueous extract, as well as the determination of residual substances—surfactants—in the aqueous extract of washed versus unwashed medical masks, while their aesthetic aspect was examined by measuring their spectral characteristics. The results showed that household washing had a stronger impact on the change of some functional properties, primarily air permeability, than laboratory washing. The addition of the disinfectant agent, didecyldimethylammonium chloride, contributes to the protective ability and supports the idea that washing of medical masks under controlled conditions can preserve barrier properties and enable reusability.
Keywords: medical masks, washing, detergent, didecyldimethylammonium chloride, air permeability, antimicrobial activity, residuals
Published in DKUM: 15.03.2024; Views: 333; Downloads: 19
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4. A VAN-Based Multi-Scale Cross-Attention Mechanism for Skin Lesion Segmentation NetworkShuang Liu, Zeng Zhuang, Yanfeng Zheng, Simon Kolmanič, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: With the rise of deep learning technology, the field of medical image segmentation has undergone rapid development. In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have brought many achievements and become the consensus in medical image segmentation tasks. Although many neural networks based on U-shaped structures and methods, such as skip connections have achieved excellent results in medical image segmentation tasks, the properties of convolutional operations limit their ability to effectively learn local and global features. To address this problem, the Transformer from the field of natural language processing (NLP) was introduced to the image segmentation field. Various Transformer-based networks have shown significant performance advantages over mainstream neural networks in different visual tasks, demonstrating the huge potential of Transformers in the field of image segmentation. However, Transformers were originally designed for NLP and ignore the multidimensional nature of images. In the process of operation, they may destroy the 2D structure of the image and cannot effectively capture low-level features. Therefore, we propose a new multi-scale cross-attention method called M-VAN Unet, which is designed based on the Visual Attention Network (VAN) and can effectively learn local and global features. We propose two attention mechanisms, namely MSC-Attention and LKA-Cross-Attention, for capturing low-level features and promoting global information interaction. MSC-Attention is designed for multi-scale channel attention, while LKA-Cross-Attention is a cross-attention mechanism based on the large kernel attention (LKA). Extensive experiments show that our method outperforms current mainstream methods in evaluation metrics such as Dice coefficient and Hausdorff 95 coefficient.
Keywords: CNNs, deep learning, medical image processing, NLP, semantic segmentation
Published in DKUM: 14.03.2024; Views: 496; Downloads: 306
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5. Most prominent topics in wellness tourism research : topic modelling analysisMila Zečević, Milica Rančić Demir, 2022, independent scientific component part or a chapter in a monograph Abstract: This paper presents a brief overview of the development of the wellness tourism literature. In addition, an analysis and presentation of the topics that appear within this literature field are given. The purpose of this research was to point out the relevant topics that have attracted research efforts over time. In order to detect these topics, we have selected wellness tourism literature articles from Web of Science. Our analysis used topic modelling tools using a machine learning algorithm in Python. The results imply the distinction between two main research topics within wellness tourism literature – wellness and health and medical research. Such differentiation also matches the development of the wellness tourism research field itself.
Keywords: wellness tourism, literature, topic modelling, health, medical
Published in DKUM: 17.01.2024; Views: 252; Downloads: 7
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7. Amoxicillin doped hyaluronic acid/fucoidan multifunctional coatings for medical grade stainless steel orthopedic implantsMatej Bračič, Sanja Potrč, Matjaž Finšgar, Lidija Gradišnik, Uroš Maver, Hanna Budasheva, Dorota Korte, Mladen Franko, Lidija Fras Zemljič, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: This work investigated the potential of amoxicillin-doped hyaluronic acid/fucoidan multifunctional coatings on medical grade stainless steel as biocompatible, osteointegration enhancing, antimicrobial, and bacterial biofilm inhibiting coatings for orthopedic implants. The coatings were prepared by layer-by-layer spin coating and confirmed by optical contact angle goniometry and infrared spectroscopy. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry showed a homogeneous distribution of the individual layers. In contrast, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity measurements by photothermal beam deflection spectrometry showed diffusion of the amoxicillin into the hyaluronic acid and fucoidan layers. In vitro release of amoxicillin showed complete release within one hour, as reflected by the formation of inhibition zones against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Synergistic effects were observed between the hyaluronic acid and amoxicillin in inhibiting S.Aureus biofilm, and between the fucoidan and amoxicillin in improving the antioxidant properties by an ABTS radical scavenging assay. Biocompatibility was determined with human osteoblasts, confirming the potential of such multifunc- tional coatings to enhance the bioactivity of steel-based orthop edic implants.
Keywords: orthopedic implant, medical grade stainless steel, amoxicillin, hyaluronic acid, fucoidan, multifunctional coating
Published in DKUM: 18.08.2023; Views: 588; Downloads: 91
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9. THE USE OF MEDICAL ACRONYMS AND INITIALISMS IN THE AMERICAN TV SERIES HOUSE MDSantina Raner, 2017, master's thesis Abstract: The present thesis is based on the use of medical acronyms and initialisms in the American TV series House MD as compared to that of medical doctors in Slovenia. The main aim is to determine which medical acronyms are most frequently used in the series and whether they coincide with the acronyms that Slovene doctors use in their work.
The second aim is to establish the prevalent language of origin for medical acronyms and initialisms. The theoretical part of the thesis begins with a brief history of acronyms and initialisms, followed by a list of word-formation processes, pronunciation issues and the use of articles with acronyms.
The practical part is divided into two sections. The first section covers the transcriptions of the second season of House MD with its twenty-four episodes, where every episode is accompanied by a short data analysis that presents all the medical acronyms featured in the episode. The analysis also includes information as to whether the acronyms are explained in the course of the show, and who uses them (medical or non-medical staff).
The second section features four interviews with Slovene doctors from various medical fields (from emergency doctors, physiatrist to veterinarian). The interviews were conducted in Slovene, but the English translations are provided as well for foreign readers. The main focus of the thesis is on determining which medical acronyms are most commonly used, which are loanwords, and the impact of social status on the use of acronyms in speech.
Keywords: medical acronyms, initialisms, loanwords
Published in DKUM: 14.04.2022; Views: 845; Downloads: 39
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