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Introduction. The use of e-cigarettes has been increasing globally especially among the youth population due to rigorous advertisement, marketing, and promotion which has become a significant public health concern. Hence, this study is aimed at identifying the prevalence, correlates, and perception of e-cigarettes among undergraduate students of Kathmandu city. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 405 undergraduates of capital city of Nepal from April 2022 to December 2022. A two-stage systematic random sampling was used to select the respondents. An anonymous, semistructured, self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. A descriptive, bivariable, and multivariable analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Results. The prevalence of ever use and current use of e-cigarettes was 21.2% and 5.9%, respectively. Number of close friends (AOR = 5.23 , CI: 1.26, 16.39), number of friends using e-cigarettes (AOR = 7.23 , CI: 0.93, 22.82), male sex (AOR = 2.88 , CI: 2.15, 10.35), and age (COR = 5.07 , CI: 0.93, 8.19) were the major predictors of current e-cigarette usage. Similarly, number of friends using e-cigarettes (AOR = 5.90 , CI: 2.15, 10.35), male sex (AOR = 3.53 , CI: 2.15, 10.35), age (COR = 4.56 , CI: 0.98, 6.24), and place of residence (COR: 5.19, CI: 0.83, 8.02) were the major predictors of ever e-cigarette usage. The prevalence of e-cigarette consumption was higher in males than females (5.4% vs. 0.5%). Approximately, 34.8% respondents had perceived e-cigarettes as a means to help in smoking cessation. 56.5% adults knew that e-cigarettes promoted conventional smoking. Majority (64.7%) of the undergraduate students had presumed e-cigarettes as less harmful to conventional smoking. Conclusion. Ever use, current use, and misconception on e-cigarettes were widespread among the undergraduate students. Age, male sex, number of close friends, number of peers using e-cigarette, and place of residence were the major predictors for e-cigarette usage. To deal with the increased e-cigarette consumption state, awareness on the harmful addictive properties of e-cigarettes along with its adverse health consequences must be propagated and an appropriate intervention must be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butchers have a huge role in prevention of meat-borne diseases and illness. Hence, this study was conducted to ascertain factors associated with meat hygiene among the butchers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among goat and poultry butchers. None of the butchers fall into "adequate" knowledge and "good" practice category. Butchers who had no side job other than butchering (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.04, CI = 1.11-8.33), had secondary or higher education (aOR = 3.17, CI = 2.60-14.72), greater workload (aOR = 5.45, CI = 1.01-29.57), and whose shop were closed shop (aOR = 3.33, CI = 1.10-10.38) were more likely to have fair knowledge. Butchers whose shop were temporarily constructed close shop (aOR = 3.07, CI = 1.04-9.06), permanently constructed close shop (aOR = 23.56, CI = 1.91-291.11), and whose ethnicity was Brahmin/Chhetri (aOR = 3.39, CI = 1.10-10.46) were more likely to have satisfactory practices. Despite regular handling of meat, butchers had lack of knowledge and practice on meat hygiene.