Tackling the COVID-19 infodemic among Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Development and evaluation of the "Wikaytek" tool.

Objective: The COVID-19 infodemic has been a global public health challenge, especially affecting vulnerable populations such as Syrian refugees with limited internet access and functional, health, digital, and media literacies. To address this problem, we developed , a software to diffuse reliable COVID-19 information using WhatsApp, the preferred communication channel among Syrian refugees. In this paper, we describe the systematic development of the tool.

Failure of Israeli pediatric residency curricula to cover child development and special education issues: results of a national survey on levels of knowledge.

Background: There is an increasing prevalence of developmental difficulties among Israeli children. We aimed to assess whether pediatricians are equipped to diagnose and manage them.

Methods: We assessed the knowledge of basic child development issues and availability of services and content of special education systems among a randomly selected national sample of residents and senior Israeli pediatricians.

Spatial prevalence and associations among respiratory diseases in Maine.

Chronic respiratory diseases rank among the leading global disease burdens. Maine's respiratory disease prevalence exceeds the US average, despite limited urbanization/industrialization. To provide insight into potential etiologic factors among this unique, rural population, we analyzed the spatial distributions of, and potential associations among asthma, COPD, pneumonia, and URI adult outpatient data (n=47,099) from all outpatient transactions (n=5,052,900) in 2009 for Maine hospitals and affiliate clinics, using spatial scan statistic, geographic weighted regression (GWR), and a Delaunay graph algorithm.

Informed consent for biobanking research: cancer patient recruitment from rural communities in Maine.

Biobanking research seeks to improve the diversity, availability, and quality of human specimens critical for translational research, including biospecimen collections from disadvantaged minorities. American rural whites are seldom represented in such initiatives as geographic isolation makes obtaining informed consent challenging. We report a case series of 83 newly diagnosed cancer patients, attending a rural community medical center, who consented to participate in cancer research.

Spatial and temporal distributions of lung cancer histopathology in the state of Maine.

Maine has among the highest rates of lung cancer in the United States (US). Maine serves as a geographical representation of US rural communities, and their associated health disparities. As the key risks of tobacco use decrease and radon abatement increases, previously obscured environmental exposures may measurably contribute to the attributable risk fraction of lung cancer.

Analyzing spatial and temporal (222)Rn trends in Maine.

Prolonged radon exposure has been linked to lung cancer. Cancer registry data indicates excess risk for age-adjusted lung cancer in Maine. Maine's mean residential radon activity exceeds the EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL).