Awareness, Practice and Intention to Practice Testicular Self-Examination among Professional Working Males in Ghana

Background: The aetiology of Testicular Cancer (TC) is still unknown to researchers but many of the associated risk factors have been identified. These include family history, age, racial origin, cryptorchidism, urogenital malformations, testicular atrophy, and infertility. Given the lack of scientific data on the causes of the disease, it has been asserted in previous studies that the promotion of awareness and early detection are prerequisites to mitigating risks of metastasis as well as improving survival. This study is to assess the awareness, practice, and intention to practice testicular self-examination among professional working males in Accra. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional design with a structured research instrument was used to collect data from respondants. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to collect data from 300 men at Accra in Ghana. The study was conducted at two (2) Universities and a Senior High school at Accra in Ghana. The data was then analysed using descriptive statistics, logistic regression, multiple linear regression, and structural equation modeling. Results: From the study findings, 37% of male participants rated their knowledge of testicular self-examination and related symptoms as good, 28% of participants practised testicular self-examination monthly, while 65% of respondents expressed their intention to practice monthly testicular self-examination. The findings from logistic regression demonstrated that level of education, age, and marital status of participants had a significant influence on testicular self-examination. Additionally, the multiple linear regression results revealed knowledge and self-efficacy significantly predict testicular self-examination intention. The path coefficient results from the structural equation model are consistent with results from the regression models. Conclusion: This research is the first to investigate testicular self-examination among men in Ghana. The findings revealed awareness and practice of TSE are low among participants. Therefore, the research findings would improve the expertise of physicians and nurses in providing counsel, intervention, and support for patients at risk of testicular cancer.

Building Warships and Nurturing Technical Talent at the Foochow Navy Yard during the Self-Strengthening Movement

In 1866, after the Opium Wars, the Chinese official Zuo Zongtang established the Foochow Navy Yard, which aimed to facilitate the independent construction of modern warships. French advisers, engineers, teachers, and craftsmen were hired, and a series of French schools for naval construction, drawing, and apprenticeship were set up. Previous studies have nearly exhausted the historical material on the Foochow Navy Yard, but few of them give an exact evaluation on its shipbuilding and educational levels. This paper traces the French sources on the shipbuilding technology and educational system at the Foochow Navy Yard and conducts a comparative study. With the guidance and assistance of foreigners, the Foochow Navy Yard gained the ability to assemble ships and imitate engines, while it remained necessary to import design drawings and structural components. The most outstanding students that the navy yard nurtured may have reached the level of école Polytechnique graduates, but the quality of students was hard to maintain. The backwardness of its conceptualization and the lack of financial and political support also contributed to its decline.

Breast Self-Examination (BSE): Association between “Belief in BSE” and “Awareness of BSE” among University Female Students in Uganda

Background: Regular breast self-examination (BSE) has been known to effectively detect breast cancer occurrence early. Are Women who consider BSE effective in detecting breast cancer more likely to be aware of BSE, or vice versa? The present study was an attempt to answer this question. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed for 259 female University students in Kampala, Uganda. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out. Results: The majority (64.1%) were aware of the BSE technique. Women considering BSE to be effective for early cancer detection were significantly more likely to be aware of the BSE technique. Conclusions: University students who believed in the benefits of BSE were more likely to be aware of BSE than those who did not. More emphasis should be placed on health education for women of younger ages to increase the knowledge of the practice of BSE.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Breast Self-Examination amongst Women in Two Communities of Cameroon

Breast cancer is a major health problem in the world. It is the most common cancer in women and is equally the leading cause of cancer death in women. Though in controversy Breast self-examination (BSE) remains a useful tool in early diagnosis of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of BSE amongst women in Yaoundé and Monatele. We carried out a cross sectional study in two communities of Cameron over a period of eight months, targeting females older than 15 years. After obtaining authorization, we randomly interviewed 402 consenting participants, using a pretested questionnaire. Data were entered using CS Pro 7.3 and analysed using SPSS 23. Of a total of 402 participants, 256 (63.7%) in Monatele and 146 (36.3%) in Yaoundé VI, the mean age was 26.55 ± 9.57 years. Exactly 50% (201) had earlier heard of BSE. Health personnel and media represented the main sources of information on BSE. Of the total, 46 (11.4%) knew BSE should be done monthly. Fifty-three percent had poor knowledge and 51.0% had a generally low attitude towards BSE. Out of 402 participants, 65.2% reported not practicing BSE. For those practicing, 71.6% had poor practices. The main reason for not practicing was lack of knowledge. Poor knowledge increased poor practice. In conclusion half of the women had heard about BSE even though the majority had a poor knowledge on BSE and very low overall attitude and practice. Health personnel and media played a key role in passing of information. Increasing the number of health campaigns, multiplying TV shows and health talks about breast self-examination will improve knowledge and hence attitude and practice.

Application effect of safety hazard self-examination mode in nursing risk management in hepatobiliary surgery

Objective:To explore the application effect of safety hazard self-examination mode in nursing risk management in hepatobiliary surgery.Methods:Sixty patients underwent hepatobiliary surgery in two tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province from May 2021 to October 2021.According to the different implementation time,they were divided into 30 cases in the observation group and 30 cases in the control group.The control group adopts routine risk assessment,and the observation group adopts the self-examination mode of potential safety hazards on the basis of routine risk assessment to compare the incidence of nursing risk between the two groups.Results:The observation group had a significantly lower incidence of safety hazards in terms of missing surgical instruments,lack of aseptic operation,and postoperative pressure injuries than the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:The appropriate hazard self-examination mode in the hepatobiliary operation room is of positive significance to improve the safety awareness of operating staff and the comprehensive ability of operating room nurses.

Knowledge and Practice of Breast Self-Examination among Female Undergraduates in South-Eastern Nigeria

Breast disease often presents as palpable masses (lumps), inflammatory lesions, nipple secretion, or mammography abnormalities;and this can be easily treated when discovered early. Breast Self-Examination (BSE) is the quickest and cheapest means of early breast cancer detection. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination among female undergraduates in Owerri, south eastern Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling design was used to select participants. Interview using structured questionnaire was conducted on randomly selected respondents in six faculties from each tertiary institution. Questionnaire was prepared in English and was self-administered. Permission to conduct the survey was requested and obtained from the university ethical review board. Informed verbal and written consent was obtained from participants. Confidentiality of information was maintained throughout the study. Knowledge and practice of BSE was examined among 720 randomly selected female undergraduates aged 16 to 28 years. It was found that 98.9 percent have heard of BSE but only 32.5 percent of them performed this examination accurately and monthly as required. There is a statistically significant relationship between knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer and practice of BSE (χ2 = 31.17, P χ2 = 86.75, P χ2 = 75.94, P < 0.001). These female undergraduates had a poor knowledge of the right procedure and practice of BSE;therefore there is need for awareness creation on the risks of breast cancer and benefits of early detection among female undergraduates through breast self-examination.

Relationships between Demographic Variables and Breast Self-Examination among Women in a Rural Community South East of Nigeria

This study examined the relationships between demographic variables of women in a rural community, South East of Nigeria and their practice of Breast Self-Examination (BSE). A descriptive survey design was adopted. The study population of 349 was drawn using system atichousehold sampling technique. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The instruments used for data collection were validated structured questionnaire which was interview administered. Demographic information of the women such was also obtained for the study. The result indicated significant correlation between respondents’ educational level and BSE. There was however no significance difference between age, parity and BSE. There was need for community health nurses to reinforce home visits in order to enhance the awareness of breast cancer and needed skill for BSE among the rural populace while liberal education irrespective of age should be instituted by the Government.

Women’s Performance of Breast Cancer Screening (Breast Self-Examination, Clinical Breast Exam and Mammography)

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women in Saudi Arabia. Despite the availability of early detection methods to diagnose breast cancer, a huge number of women are still unaware about these methods. This study was conducted to identify the attitude of women in Medina toward breast cancer screening methods, including breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography. Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional survey has been conducted on 124 women aged from 39 and older, who attended Taibah Medical Center for cancer screening either by doctor’s recommendation, family or friends advice, or by herself. Face to face questionnaire was used to collect data. All data were analyzed by statistical analysis system software. Results: The results showed only 35.5%, 27.4% and 37.8% of participants reported that they practiced BSE, CBE and annual mammography, respectively. Only 27.3% of women practiced BSE once per month, and 8.8% visited doctor annually for CBE. Both educational level (p = 0.004) and family history (p = 0.01) were significantly related to BSE. 57.7% of the participants who had positive family history practiced BSE, and 56.0% of the participants who practiced BSE were highly educated. Lacking awareness about BSE is the most important barrier in not practicing BSE, while not having a breast lump was the reason for not undergoing either clinical breast examination (38.7%) or periodic mammography (54.9%). Conclusion: This study emphasized the need for massive health education program to increase awareness, and improve the attitude of women toward breast cancer screening methods.

Diselenide as a Dual Functional Mechanophore Capable of Stress Self-Reporting and Self-Strengthening in Polyurethane Elastomers

Unlike biological materials that can sense mechanical force and actively remodel locally,synthetic polymers typically break down under stress.Molecular-level responses to damage with both stress-reporting and self-strengthening functions are significant yet difficult to realize for synthetic polymers.To overcome this challenge,chemo-mechanical coupling into polymers that can simultaneously ameliorate mechanical,optical,or other functional properties of a polymer combined with mechanical treatment will offer a new principle for materials design.Here,we report a kind of elastomer in which destructive forces are channelled into productive and bond-forming reactions by using diselenide(Se–Se)as a mechanophore.Polyurethane has been functionalized with labile Se–Se bonds,whosemechanical activation generates seleno radicals that trigger radical transfer and cross-linking reactions in situ.These reactions are activated efficiently in a mechanical way by compression in bulk materials.The resulting covalent networks possess turn-on mechano-fluorescence and increased moduli,which provide the functions of stress reporting,mechano-healing,and mechano-remodeling for the deformed film.This study not only illuminates themechano-responsive nature of Se–Se bonds in the bulk state but also paves the way for the development of new stress-responsive materials.

Knowledge and Awareness of Breast Cancer among Young Women in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It carries poor prognosis when detected late. Patients usually present at late stages due to lack of awareness of various aspects of breast cancer. Aim: The objective of this study is to gain insight into the level of knowledge of breast cancer among young adult females in UAE. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among females aged 25 to 45. A total of 492 females were selected using a convenience sampling method. Data were collected through an interview-based questionnaire. Frequency distributions and percentages were used to describe the knowledge tested within the questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.5 years. Almost 27% of our participants received a high school degree. The average total knowledge of our population was 51%. The majority (89%) knew that breast cancer is common and 45% knew that it affects ages above forty. The knowledge of signs and symptoms was 53%, and more than half (57%) knew that the most common presenting sign is a breast lump. The knowledge of risk factors was 43%. Almost 94% knew that cancer can be detected early, and 93% knew that early diagnosis improves outcome. The total knowledge of screening methods was 67%. Conclusion: The study revealed that respondents’ knowledge of breast cancer is less than expected. The increased burden of the disease should be accompanied by powerful means of spreading awareness by implementing campaigns that would improve knowledge deficits.

The self-strengthening mechanism in the development of a resource-based economy： with a case study

A resource-based economy is an economic system driven by the exploitation of mineral resources and dominated by the energy, mineral and other resource sectors. In resource- rich areas, there is often an investment bias toward the resource sector because of the existence of a threshold for investment in human capital in the manufacturing sector. Once the resource sector is dominant, it has a particular atwaction effect on the economic factors; its expansion and spread have a viscosity effect on industry families;, and the sunk costs and path dependence that emerge as industrialization evolves have a lock-in effect on the role of resources. This may give rise to development path dependence and the trap of resource advantage, resulting in a self-strengthening mechanism in resource-based economies. The key to escaping this trap is to break down the resource sector＇s original self-perpetuating mechanism and path dependence, introduce learning and innovation, adjust mechanisms far the distribution of resource benefits and realize industry coordination and transformational economic development.

Returned Diplomats,French Engineers,and the Qingxi Ironworks:Self-Strengthening and Self-Representation in the Late Qing

This article explores the history of the Qingxi Ironworks in late Qing Guizhou.Instead of focusing on state-centered industrialization or technology transfer and scientific knowledge in Qing mining and coal enterprises,this study focuses on the individual ambitions and identity construction of two returned diplomats——Chen Jitong and Chen Mingyuan—who sought to claim authority over a mining interest in China's southwest interior.By leveraging their knowledge of the West to serve as intermediaries between state and foreign commercial interests,these cosmopolitan yet marginalized elites sought to convert their foreign expertise and avowed commitment to "selCstrengthening" into new forms of social and political capital.An examination of the personal networks and written accounts surrounding their entrepreneurial ventures sheds light on the opportunities and challenges experienced by a generation of "foreign affkirs" experts in repositioning themselves within the transforming Qing polity through participation in industrialization projects.

A Self-Strengthening Epidermis-Like Smart Coating Enabled by Dynamic Iron Sequestration

Living organisms rely on materials sequestration from the environment to strengthen their bodies.Such constant activity provides necessary supplies for critical biological functions,which is difficult by man-made structures due to the lack of a dynamic sequestration mechanism.In this study,it is shown that an epidermis-like smart coating can respond to changes in salinity to allow a spontaneous and progressive strengthening when supported by steel as a sustained iron source.The self-strengthening is enabled by reaction-coupled diffusion,which makes possible the dynamic sequestration of iron from the in situ rusted steel,partially mimicking the iron accumulation process in a mussel.The emergence of iron-phenolic coordination bonds continuously improves modulus,hardness,and adhesion,achieving a strengthening efficiency comparable to mussel byssus.Interestingly,the bilayer design ensures long-term self-healing performance even during strengthening and a mechanically robust anticorrosion coating with an autonomic protection mechanism and gradually enhanced barrier properties during prolonged service.Our results provide a new venue for the design of stimuli-responsive smart materials characteristic of an open biological system and may serve as the basis for creating highly intelligent devices with sophisticated functionality.

Factors Associated with the Prevalence of Breast Cancer Risk: Perception of Northern Saudi Civic

Background: The incidence of breast cancer is increasing in Saudi Arabia, chiefly in distant provinces with cases assigning advanced stages of the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge towards external exposure related to breast cancer risk factors in Qurayyat, Northern Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This descriptive study included 724 Saudi volunteers living in the city of Qurayyat, Northern Saudi Arabia. For females, only those agreeing to participate in the breast self-examination workshop were included and were further investigated for the presence of breast lumps. Results: In comparison of females vs. males, as for the point “Do you know food increases or decreases the risk of BC”, 92 (15%) women stated “Yes (Some prevented BC)” vs. 24 (24%) of the men;78 (12.5%) women stated “Yes (Some caused BC)” vs. 25 (25%) of the men. Referring to the socket “Overweight or obesity increases the risk of BC”, 290 (46.5%) women stated “Yes” vs. 53 (53%) of the men. As for the inquiry “Viruses can increase the risk of BC”, 370 (60%) women stated “Yes” vs. 49 (49%) of the men. Conclusion: There is a lack of breast cancer awareness in Northern Saudi Arabia with the existence of many women with undetected breast lumps. BSE is cost-effective, and it can be implemented in such inaccessible areas.

Cement-inspired readily fabricated water-strengthened polymeric materials

Polymeric materials have penetrated all aspects of society and play an irreplaceable role.However,there is an inherent contradiction between their mechanical properties and processing behavior.Here,inspired by cement,a crucial construction material renowned for its excellent fabricating behavior and self-strengthening properties,we have developed dynamic crosslinked poly(oxime-urethane)(CPOU).The synthesized CPOU showed good self-healing ability and 3D printability owing to the dynamic dissociation and re-association of oxime-carbamate bonds.Simple objects printed through the fused deposition modeling technique were able to be readily assembled into complex architectures through intrinsic self-healing.Furthermore,the self-strengthening of CPOU was successfully realized through multiple-step tandem reactions.The dissociation of dynamic oxime-carbamate bonds produced–NCO groups,which reacted with the surrounding water to form polar urea bonds in the polymer network,leading to an increase in the tensile strength of CPOU from 11.95 to 19.37 MPa.This work not only develops the polymers with combined self-healing,facile fabricating,and self-strengthening properties but also provides a new molecular strategy to modulate the properties of polymers,which could be potentially applied in diverse areas.

Practice of breast self-examination among high risk Chinese women in Hong Kong

Background The incidence of breast cancer in Hong Kong is increasing and breast serf-examination (BSE)as a screening tool is becoming mere popular,especially among first-dsgree relatives (FDR) of breast cancer victims. BSE may be mere applicable to Chinese women as their breast size is smaller. This study explores the BSE practice in this group of women.Methods A cross sectional study was conducted by sending questionnaires to 330 FDR of breast cancer patients treated in the Department of Surgeory,Univeisity of Hong Kong. BSE behavior was studied with respect to its frequency,awareness,completeness and confidence of practice.Results 110 subjects returned the questionnaires with a response rate of 33%.The mean age of the respondent was 37 years. Only 57 women (52%)were practicers. The practicers have a stronger BSE awareness (p＜0.01) and a lower mean score on thought barriers (P=0.002) than the non-practicers.40% of the practicers gain their BSE knowledge through clinicians and their mean period of practica was 3.2 yeara. 68% of the practicers performed BSE completely.The overall confidence rate was 35%, but the rate was 43% among those who performled complete BSE.Thirteen factors possibly related to the completeness and rate of confidence of BSF examination were studied.The only factor that significantly deternined completenass was the time spent for each examination (P=0.002).The complete practicers required a longer time than the incomplete practicers(6.60 and 2.96 min,respectively).Women with a stronger BSE intention (P=0.001)and a lower mean score on thought barrers(P=0.001)performed the examination confidently.Conclusions Slightly over half of the FDR practice BSE.The majority perform a complete BSE but they are not confident in finding abnormalities. Women spending more time on BSE are associated with a higher rate of completeness. However,only those with a stronger DSE: intention and lesser thought barriers are more confident in their practice.

Moderating Effect of Perceived Threat of Breast Cancer on Relation between Knowledge and Breast Self Examination

Estimated at more than 2.2 million cases worldwide,most breast cancer cases and deaths from breast cancer occur in low and middle-income countries.In Cameroon,many studies have underlined the effect of knowledge of breast cancer on screening measures such as self-examination and,to a lesser extent,the perception of the threat of this disease.This research aims to assess according to the Health Belief Model(HBM),the moderating effect of perceived threat of breast cancer on the relation between knowledge and breast self-examination.A questionnaire survey was conducted among 517 Cameroonian women to assess their general knowledge about breast cancer(risk factors and screening measures),their level of the perceived threat of breast cancer through Perceived susceptibility and severity,and the prevalence of breast self-examination amongst them.A regression analysis using the Macro Process for moderation indicates the main effect of Perceived threat(b=0,29;t(517)=2,36;p=0,02)of breast cancer and knowledge(b=0,02;t(517)=4,29;p<0,001)on breast self-examination.Results also confirm that the perceived threat of breast cancer moderates the effect of knowledge on breast self-examination.While the low level of perceived threat highlights the effect of knowledge on breast self-examination(b=0,02;t(517)=3,49;p<0,001),the high level of perceived threat cancels that effect(b=0,01;t(517)=1,97;p=0,01).A woman who perceives severity and susceptibility to breast cancer is more inclined to perform breast self-examination.This result suggests the importance of taking into account,in a context where knowledge of breast cancer is limited,relevant factors of the health belief model in preventive measures against breast cancer in general and the practice of breast self-examination in particular.

Tensile Properties and Deformation Behaviors of a New Aluminum Alloy for High Pressure Die Casting

Effects of natural aging and test temperature on the tensile behaviors have been studied for a highperformance cast aluminum alloy Al–10Si–1.2Cu–0.7Mn. Based on self-strengthening mechanism and spheroidization microstructures, the alloy tested at room temperature（RT） exhibits higher 0.2% proof stress（YS） of 206 MPa, ultimate tensile strength（UTS） of 331 MPa and elongation of 10%. Increasing aging time improves the YS and UTS and reduces the ductility of the alloy. Further increasing aging time beyond72 h does not signi？cantly increase the tensile strengths. Increasing test temperature significantly decreases the tensile strengths and increases the ductility of the alloy. The UTS of the alloy can be estimated by using the hardness. The Portevin–Le Chatelier effect occurs at RT due to the interactions between solid solution atoms and dislocations. Similar behaviors occurring at 250℃ are attributed to dynamic strain aging mechanism. Increasing aging time leads to decrease in the strain-hardening exponent（n） value and increase in the strain-hardening coeficient（k） value. Increasing test temperature apparently decreases the n and k values. Eutectic phase particles cracking and debonding determine the fracture mechanism of the alloy. Final failure of the alloy mainly depends on the global instability（high temperature, necking） and local instability（RT, shearing）. Different tensile behaviors of the alloy are mainly attributed to different matrix strengths, phase particle strengths and damage rate.

Corrupted Infrastructure： Imperialism and Environmental Sovereignty in Shanghai, 1873-1911

The introduction of Western science in order to change physical and operational aspects of Shanghai＇s Huangpu River had been debated by Qing and Western officials since almost the beginning of its history as a Treaty Port. At stake in those debates was the perception of the river＇s proper use： as a natural barrier for military defense, or as a conduit for global trade. After the Western powers unified to militarily suppress the Boxer Uprising in 1900, they attained their long-awaited goal of the right to transform the river for global trade as part of Article 11 of the Boxer Protocol： the Junpuju （or Huangpu Conservancy Board） was created and authorized by the central government to make the Huangpu River navigable for shipping vessels. Although the Junpuju continued the ethos of earlier extra-bureaucratic organizations established during the Self-Strengthening Movement, after 1901 the organization bore the authority of the central government. During the era of the New Policies, Qing officials were intent on revising the original terms of river conservancy so that they would be more favorable to Chinese sovereignty. At the same time, imperialist rivalries among the Western powers ruptured the apparent unity of the earlier alliance during the suppression of the Boxer Uprising. Before long, Western corruption in the Huangpu River dredging was brought to the attention of Qing officials, who deftly used it to recover Qing control over certain parts of the body of the river.

FEEDBACK

I am a breast cancer survivor(June)I was diagnosed with breast cancer,stage1,in December 2017.Two months prior to the diagnosis.I had never practiced breast self-examination,and I had never had any medical examinations related to my breasts,such as[a]mammogram[or a]brsast ultrasound.