BackgroundPrimary health care facilities frequently manage dengue cases on an ambulatory basis for the duration of the patient’s illness. There is a great opportunity for specific messaging, aimed to reduce dengue virus (DENV) transmission in and around the home, to be directly targeted toward this high-risk ambulatory patient group, as part of an integrated approach to dengue management. The extent however, to which physicians understand, and can themselves effectively communicate strategies to stop focal DENV transmission around an ambulatory dengue case is unknown; the matter of patient comprehension and recollection then ensues. In addition, the effectiveness of N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET)-based insect repellent in protecting dengue patients from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes’ bites has not been investigated.MethodologyA knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey, focusing on the mechanisms of DENV transmission and prevention, was performed using semi-structured questionnaires. This survey was targeted towards the patients and family members providing supportive care, and physicians routinely involved in dengue patient management in Southern Vietnam. An additional clinical observational study was conducted to measure the efficacy of a widely-used 13% DEET-based insect repellent to repel Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from the forearms of dengue cases and matched healthy controls.Principal FindingsAmong both the physician (n = 50) and patient (n = 49) groups there were several respondents lacking a coherent understanding of DENV transmission, leading to some inappropriate attitudes and inadequate acute preventive practices in the household. The application of insect repellent to protect patients and their relatives from mosquito bites was frequently recommended by majority of physicians (78%) participating in the survey. Nevertheless, our tested topical application of 13% DEET conferred only ~1hr median protection time from Ae. aegypti landing. This is notably shorter than that advertised on the manufacturer’s label. No differences in landing time between febrile dengue cases or matched healthy controls (n = 19 experiments) were observed.Conclusion/SignificanceOur study identifies missed opportunities for primary care physicians to improve public health through communication of strategies that could prevent focal dengue transmission in and around a case household. We advocate better access to more efficient communication methods for physicians and auxilliary health workers, supporting to educate those at high risk of DENV transmission. Our empirical testing of a widely-available 13% DEET-based repellent was limited in its protective efficacy against Ae. aegypti mosquito bites, and therefore DENV transmission, suggesting more frequent application is necessary to be beneficial.
Accurate and incipient fault detection of air conditioning systems is highly demanded in a car to prevent energy waste and high maintenance cost. However, most fault detection techniques require experiences of drivers which are usually unavailable. In this study, a novel hybrid method is proposed to detect faults for AC systems in car. Two typical faults in AC system are adopted to investigate. An AC fault detection and diagnosis framework is introduced by combining the RBFNN model and the EWMA. The results show that the proposing algorithm detects typical air conditioning faults in a car with high accuracy.
In this article, the authors present the results of a survey on perceptions of inclusive, integrated and specialized teachers (N = 3221) about climate change and how to respond to climate change, at educational institutions of 6 provinces\cities of Vietnam. The survey results showed that the majority of teachers surveyed had the correct awareness of climate change and how to respond to climate change. However, there is still a significant portion of misconceptions. This study generalizes the current status picture of teachers' perceptions of climate change, and at the same time points out a number of factors that affect teachers' perceptions. The results of this survey provide reliable information, which is very useful for policy development, supporting the development of educational programs and training on climate change for teachers in the future. The study also mentions some limitations and directions for further research.
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