Background: Understanding the intention of receiving COVID-19 vaccines is important to inform effective vaccination strategies. This study aimed to investigate such intention, identify the key influencing factors, and determine the most important intention predictors using a theoretically principled model. Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey method was implemented in Macao in May 2021. People aged 18 years or above and residing in Macao for 12 months prior to the study were recruited through social media. Intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines and the main constructs of the protection motivation theory and the health belief model were the main measures.Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis.Results: A total of 552 valid responses were received. Among the respondents, 79.5% aged between 25 and 54 years old, 59.4% were female, and 88% had a bachelor degree or above; 62.3% of the respondents indicated their intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination while 19.2% were hesitant and 18.5% did not have any intention. While 67.0% believed COVID-19 infection was life-threatening, only 19.0% thought they were at risk of getting infected. Control variables such as age, gender, education level, and having travel plans were significantly correlated with intention. Significant associations between intention with perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, maladaptive response reward, self-efficacy, response-efficacy, response cost, social attitude, social norm, past experience and information seeking behaviorwere identified (p<0.05). The most important positive predictors of intention were “being able to make arrangement to receive the vaccine” (β=0.333, P<0.001), “a sense of social responsibility” (β = 0.326, P<0.001), and “time off from work after vaccination” (β = 0.169, P<0.001), whereas “concerns over vaccine safety” (β = - 0.124, P < 0.001) and“relying on online resources for vaccine information” (β = -0.065, P <0.05)were negative predictors. Perceived severity was not a predictor of intention.Conclusion: Multi-component strategies to enhance health literacy that supports well-informed decision-making, increase vaccination convenience, promote social responsibility, and provide time-off incentivesareamong the key considerations in designing and improve vaccination campaigns in Macao.
Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a common inflammatory intestinal disease. Astragali Radix (AR) is one of the traditional Chinese medicines used in clinic for UC treatment. In our previous study, the whole ingredient extract (WIE) from AR have been proved to possess better immunomodulatory effects on immunosuppressed mice compared with the conventional water extraction (WAE). In the present study, we further evaluated the therapeutic effects of WIE against dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced UC in mice through systemic immune regulation. Methods:Gradient solvent extraction has been used to prepare the WIE of AR. The HPLC-MS analysis approach has been employed to analyze and compare the chemical differences between WAE and WIE. UC model was reproduced in 3% DSS-induced C57BL/6 mice for 6 days. Flow cytometric analysis for splenic lymphocyte subset. ELISA kits were used to determine the cytokines in the serum and colon tissues. The histopathological characteristics of colon were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry. Results:The chemical compositions and the contents of main active ingredients were more abundant and higher in WIE than those in WAE. The WIE treatment altered a better action on reducing colitis disease activity index (DAI) and histological scores, as well as the recovered body weight and increased colon length in mice compared to the WAE group. Additionally, WIE showed better effects in recovering the levels of peripheral white blood cells in blood and cytokines (IL-2, IL-6 and MCP-1) in serum or colon tissues, improving the percentage of CD3 + and the ratio of CD4 + / CD8 + in the spleen, and inhibiting the spleen enlargement in DSS-induced UC mice. Conclusions: WIE has a more complete chemical composition than WAE. Meanwhile, WIE possesses better therapeutic effects on UC through resuming dysfunctional immunity in mice.
Artemisinin and its derivatives (ARTs), due to their potent antimalarial activities, are widely used as frontline antimalarials across the world. Although the large-scale deployment of ARTs has significantly contributed to a substantial decline in malaria deaths, the global malaria burden is still high. New antimalarial treatments need to be developed to manage the growing artemisinin resistance. Understanding the status of ART development is crucial for developing strategies for new alternatives and identifying opportunities to develop ART-based treatments. This study sampled ART clinical trials from the past two decades to gain an overview of the global ART-development landscape. A total of 768 trials were collected to analyze the disease focuses, activity trends, development status, geographic distribution, and combination treatment profiles of ART trials. The findings highlighted the constant focus of ARTs on malaria, the evolving combination research focus, the distinctions between ART development preferences across global regions, the urgent demands for treatments for artemisinin-resistant malaria, and the unavoidable need to consider ART combinations in the development of new antimalarials.
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