Overweight and obesity are excessive fat accumulations linked with many health problems, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Multiple studies have demonstrated that beliefs about overweight, obesity and self-efficacy play essential roles in the success of interventions for obesity management.

This study aimed to identify the perceptions of university students of overweight and obesity using the health belief model (HBM) and to analyse their association with the body mass index (BMI) categories of the students.

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study and a multistage sampling technique were used to ensure the recruitment of students from selected colleges of Jazan University—Saudi Arabia.

Six colleges of Jazan University were randomly selected to ensure equal representation of health sciences, sciences and humanities colleges.

A total of 579 students completed an online survey between January and April 2023.

The primary outcome measures were demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. Secondary outcome measures were behavioural intentions relating to obesity management.

This study demonstrated that gender and self-reported family history of obesity were significantly correlated with the BMI categories of the students (p

This study underscores the need for tailored health promotion strategies that consider the perceptions and beliefs of people about the management of obesity.

Telemedicine, a method of healthcare service delivery bridging geographic distances between patients and providers, has gained prominence. This modality is particularly advantageous for outpatient consultations, addressing inherent barriers of travel time and cost.

We aim to describe economical outcomes towards the implementation of a multidisciplinary telemedicine service in a high-complexity hospital in Latin America, from the perspective of patients.

A cross-sectional study was conducted, analysing the institutional data obtained over a period of 9 months, between April 2020 and December 2020.

A high-complexity teaching hospital located in Cali, Colombia.

Individuals who received care via telemedicine. The population was categorised into three groups based on their place of residence: Cali, Valle del Cauca excluding Cali and Outside of Valle del Cauca.

Travel distance, time, fuel and public round-trip cost savings, and potential loss of productivity were estimated from the patient’s perspective.

A total of 62 258 teleconsultations were analysed. Telemedicine led to a total distance savings of 4 514 903 km, and 132 886 hours. The estimated cost savings were US$680 822 for private transportation and US$1 087 821 for public transportation. Patients in the Outside of Valle del Cauca group experienced an estimated average time savings of 21.2 hours, translating to an average fuel savings of US$149.02 or an average savings of US$156.62 in public transportation costs. Areas with exclusive air access achieved a mean cost savings of US$362.9 per teleconsultation, specifically related to transportation costs.

Telemedicine emerges as a powerful tool for achieving substantial travel savings for patients, especially in regions confronting geographical and socioeconomic obstacles. These findings underscore the potential of telemedicine to bridge healthcare accessibility gaps in low-income and middle-income countries, calling for further investment and expansion of telemedicine services in such areas.

The pandemic has ensued challenges across all sections of the human population such as livelihood and educational changes, which involve the abrupt shift to online learning, immensely affecting the students’ well-being. Negative health consequences of e-learning among students stem from the increased demand for new technological skills, productivity, information overload and restriction of students to spend time with their peers.

To explore the experiences of the students from the University of Santo Tomas—College of Rehabilitation Sciences (UST-CRS) who participated in the online well-being programme.

A phenomenological design will be used to determine the participants’ perceptions and experiences. Purposive sampling will be used to recruit 8–10 undergraduate students from UST-CRS ages 18–22 years, who participated in the well-being programme, and completed the study’s quantitative counterpart. Semistructured, in-depth questions will be used to conduct a focus group discussion. The transcripts will be analysed using thematic analysis via the NVivo V.12 software.

The study protocol is approved by the UST-CRS Ethical Review Committee (Protocol Number: SI-2022–034 (V.4)). It will be implemented in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the National Ethical Guidelines for Health and Health-Related Research, and Data Privacy Act. Findings will be published in accredited journals and presented in related scientific fora.

PHRR230214-005419; Philippine Health Research Registry.

Healthcare workers were prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria. Administration of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria was challenging because of a lack of trust in vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness among healthcare workers, who are expected to provide reliable information about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases in the communities. Hence, their acceptance and attitudes towards COVID-19 preventive practices could influence the acceptance of the vaccine by the local population. This cross-sectional study assessed the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Katsina State. We predicted the variables that increased the vaccine acceptance using logistic regression analysis.

This hospital-based study was conducted at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria.

A total of 793 healthcare workers were included in this study. Of these, 65.4% (n=519) were male.

To assess acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine measures, and factors increasing acceptance among healthcare workers.

Of the healthcare workers, 80% (638) were tested for the SARS-CoV-2, of whom 10.8% (n=65) tested positive. Approximately 97% (n=765) of them believed that the COVID-19 vaccine was safe, and 90% (n=714) received the first dose of the vaccine. Healthcare workers between 30 and 39 years were more likely to accept the vaccine (aOR: 7.06; 95% CI 2.36 to 21.07; p

Our findings showed that the age and prior COVID-19 testing were the main factors influencing the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine. There was high acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Katsina State, Nigeria. Future studies should focus on the completion of doses and serological testing for immunity.

To summarise evidence on the effectiveness of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) gel and Leucocyte and Platelet Rich Fibrin (L-PRF) gel as agents promoting ulcer healing compared with the standard wound dressing techniques alone.

Systematic review.

Individual patient randomised controlled trials on skin ulcers of all types excluding traumatic lesions.

Intervention group: treatment with topical application of L-PRF gel or PRP gel to the wound surface.

Control group: treatment with standard skin ulcer care using normal saline, normgel or hydrogel dressings.

Medline (Ovid), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Web of Science and manual search of studies from previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The papers published from 1946 to 2022 with no restriction on geography and language were included. The last date of the search was performed on 29 August 2022.

Independent reviewers identified eligible studies, extracted data, assessed risk of bias using V.2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials tool and assessed certainty of evidence by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

Time to complete healing, proportion healed at a given time and rate of healing.

Seven studies met the inclusion criteria, five using PRP gel and two using L-PRF gel. One study showed a better proportion of complete healing, three reported reduced meantime to complete healing and five showed improved rate of healing per unit of time in the intervention group. The risk of bias was high across all studies with one exception and the GRADE showed very low certainty of evidence.

The findings show potential for better outcomes in the intervention; however, the evidence remains inconclusive highlighting a large research gap in ulcer treatment and warrant better-designed clinical trials.

CRD42022352418.

Chemsex is defined as drug use to enhance sexual pleasure. Global literature illustrated the pervasiveness of chemsex among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (hijra) for prolonging anal intercourse, reducing pain and intensifying pleasure, oftentimes without condoms. Global literature highlighted the association between chemsex and unsafe sexual behaviours. These circumstances warrant targeted chemsex research to explore the chemsex situation. The study aims to explore the overall dynamics of chemsex among MSM, male sex workers (MSW) and hijra in Dhaka, Bangladesh and formulate culturally relevant, context-specific, gender-sensitive and evidence-based recommendations for chemsex interventions.

This will be a sequential, exploratory, mixed-methods study. Data will be collected at four drop-in centres in Dhaka in three phases. To explore issues related to chemsex, the formative phase (phase 1) will generate evidence on the overall dynamics of chemsex through a literature review and qualitative interviews. Qualitative data will be manually analysed using thematic analysis. In phase 2, a cross-sectional survey will be conducted among 458 MSM, male sex workers and hijra to measure the prevalence, reasons and sexual risk behaviour associated with chemsex. In phase 3, qualitative interviews will be conducted with the participants involved in chemsex, service providers and relevant stakeholders to add qualitative depth to survey responses. In this phase, service provision will also be investigated for people engaging in chemsex. Moreover, based on the findings of phases 1 and 2, and qualitative interviews of phase 3, a preliminary chemsex intervention model will be developed through a series of intervention design workshops.

Ethical approval has been attained from the Ethical Review Committee of icddr,b. Informed consent will be obtained from the participants, and confidentiality will be maintained during data collection and storage. Findings will be disseminated via several platforms including dissemination seminars, scientific articles and study report.