Evaluating Polarity Trend Amidst the Coronavirus Crisis in Peoples’ Attitudes toward the Vaccination Drive

It has been more than a year since the coronavirus (COVID-19) engulfed the whole world, disturbing the daily routine, bringing down the economies, and killing two million people across the globe at the time of writing. The pandemic brought the world together to a joint effort to find a cure and work toward developing a vaccine. Much to the anticipation, the first batch of vaccines started rolling out by the end of 2020, and many countries began the vaccination drive early on while others still waiting in anticipation for a successful trial. Social media, meanwhile, was bombarded with all sorts of both positive and negative stories of the development and the evolving coronavirus situation. Many people were looking forward to the vaccines, while others were cautious about the side-effects and the conspiracy theories resulting in mixed emotions. This study explores users’ tweets concerning the COVID-19 vaccine and the sentiments expressed on Twitter. It tries to evaluate the polarity trend and a shift since the start of the coronavirus to the vaccination drive across six countries. The findings suggest that people of neighboring countries have shown quite a similar attitude regarding the vaccination in contrast to their different reactions to the coronavirus outbreak.

ROLE OF COMBINED KETOCONAZOLE AND TAMSULOSIN IN SUCCESSFUL TRIAL OF VOIDING WITHOUT CATHETER (TWOC) IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE URINARY RETENTION DUE TO BENIGN PROSTATIC OBSTRUCTION

Objective: To compare the frequency of patients with successful Trial of voiding without catheter (TWOC) after acute urinary retention secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia in patients taking ketoconazole and tamsulosin vs tamsulosin alone. Study Design: A randomized controlled trial. Place and Duration: The current study was conducted at Urology Ward, Liaquat National Hospital, Pakistan for a period of six months. Methodology: A total of 162 patients presenting with acute urinary retention were divided into two groups. Group A received tamsulosin 0.4mg OD and ketoconazole 200mg while Group B received tamsulosin and placebo. Trial of voiding without a catheter was induced after one week of medication. SPSS version 20 was used for data compilation and analysis. Results: In Group-A, 85.2% of patients were able to void as compared to group B, where only 74.1% of patients were able to void (p<0.05). Successful trial of voiding without catheter was observed in 79.0% and 60.5% in patients of Group-A and Group-B respectively. The association of successful TWOC with the two study groups was found significant (p=0.010). Conclusion: TWOC in men catheterized for AUR due to BPH was significantly more successful if treated in a combination of ketoconazole and tamsulosin as compared to tamsulosin only.

An analysis of the effectiveness and use by the New Zealand Police of the TASER from 2009 to 2017

A number of police agencies around the world have introduced conductive energy devices such as the TASER as a less-than-lethal weapon to restrain physically violent subjects. Despite the increase in TASER use, there is a limited amount of literature available that examines its use and effectiveness. The New Zealand Police introduced the TASER in 2009 following a successful trial of the device. This research examines the use and effectiveness of the TASER by the New Zealand Police for the period 2010 to 2017 and shows that the use of the device has increased year-on-year. The analysis also found that while use of the device has increased at violent events, the form of that use has changed. Over the period of analysis, use of the discharge mode has increased compared with the show mode and as the use of the TASER increased, injuries sustained by subjects and officers also increased. The research also highlights the limitations of the methodology adopted to measure the effectiveness of TASER use and discusses options that could assist future research in examining use of the TASER by police agencies.