Navin Kumar

Karunya University | KITS · Department of Chemistry

Social media platforms, particularly Telegram, play a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions and opinions on global and national issues. Unlike traditional news media, Telegram allows for the proliferation of user-generated content with minimal oversight, making it a significant venue for the spread of controversial and misinformative content....

Recent developments in natural language processing have demonstrated the potential of large language models (LLMs) to improve a range of educational and learning outcomes. Of recent chatbots based on LLMs, ChatGPT and Bard have made it clear that artificial intelligence (AI) technology will have significant implications on the way we obtain and sea...

The proliferation of discussion about fatherhood in Singapore attests to its significance, indicating the need for an exploration of how fatherhood is framed, aiding policy-making around fatherhood in Singapore. Sound and holistic policy around fatherhood in Singapore may reduce stigma and apprehension around being a parent, critical to improving t...

Machine learning algorithms can sometimes exacerbate health disparities based on ethnicity, gender, and other factors. There has been limited work at exploring potential biases within algorithms deployed on a small scale, and/or within minoritized communities. Understanding the nature of potential biases may improve the prediction of various health...

In recent years, the concept of "misogynistic extremism" has emerged as a subject of interest among scholars, governments, law enforcement personnel, and the media. Yet a consistent understanding of how misogynistic extremism is defined and conceptualized has not yet emerged. Varying epistemological orientations may contribute to the current concep...

We investigate how representations of Syrian refugees (2011-2021) differ across US partisan news outlets. We analyze 47,388 articles from the online US media about Syrian refugees to detail differences in reporting between left- and right-leaning media. We use various NLP techniques to understand these differences. Our polarization and question ans...

The Russian disinformation campaign uses pro-Russia memes to polarize Americans, and increase support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thus, it is critical for governments and similar stakeholders to identify pro-Russia memes, countering them with evidence-based information. Identifying broad meme themes is crucial for developing a targeted and...

In this paper, we investigate how vaping is framed differently (2008–2021) between US news and social media. We analyze 15,711 news articles and 1,231,379 Facebook posts about vaping to study the differences in framing between media varieties. We use word embeddings to provide two-dimensional visualizations of the semantic changes around vaping for...

In this paper, we provide a descriptive overview of how vaping is framed differently between various online plat- forms (Wikipedia, Quora, Medium, Reddit, Stack Exchange, wikiHow, Facebook, online news media). We provide an overview of >1M posts and news articles about vaping to study the differences in framing between online platforms. Findings in...

The spread of information through social media platforms can create environments possibly hostile to vulnerable communities and silence certain groups in society. To mitigate such instances, several models have been developed to detect hate and offensive speech. Since detecting hate and offensive speech in social media platforms could incorrectly e...

Background The impact of misinformation about vapes’ relative harms compared with smoking may lead to increased tobacco-related burden of disease. To date, no systematic efforts have been made to chart interventions that mitigate vaping-related misinformation. We plan to conduct a scoping review that seeks to fill gaps in the current knowledge of i...

Studying how vaping is framed on various knowledge dissemination platforms (e.g., Quora, Reddit, Wikipedia) is central to understanding the process of knowledge dissemination around vaping. Such understanding can help us craft tools specific to each platform, to dispel vaping misperceptions and reinforce evidence-based information. We analyze 1,888...

The spread of information through social media platforms can create environments possibly hostile to vulnerable communities and silence certain groups in society. To mitigate such instances, several models have been developed to detect hate and offensive speech. Since detecting hate and offensive speech in social media platforms could incorrectly e...

We investigate how representations of Syrian refugees (2011-2021) differ across US partisan news outlets. We analyze 47,388 articles from the online US media about Syrian refugees to detail differences in reporting between left- and right-leaning media. We use various NLP techniques to understand these differences. Our polarization and question ans...

We analyze 1,888 articles and 1,119,453 vaping posts to study how vaping is framed across multiple knowledge dissemination platforms (Wikipedia, Quora, Medium, Reddit, Stack Exchange, wikiHow). We use various NLP techniques to understand these differences. For example, n-grams, emotion recognition, and question answering results indicate that Mediu...

In this paper, we investigate how vaping is framed differently (2008-2021) between US news and social media. We analyze 15,711 news articles and 1,231,379 Facebook posts about vaping to study the differences in framing between media varieties. We use word embeddings to provide two-dimensional visualizations of the semantic changes around vaping for...

Background: Community solidarity is increasingly important in public health. However, few studies have examined solidarity in relation to health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a psychometric tool to measure solidarity among Chinese men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) and assess whether community solidarity relates to differences in...

Background The duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic depends in a large part on individual and societal actions which is influenced by the quality and salience of the information to which they are exposed. Unfortunately, COVID-19 misinformation has proliferated. To date, no systematic efforts have been made to evaluate interventions that mit...

Background Despite the growing morbidity and mortality rates associated with opioid use disorder, a large gap still exists between treatment need and capacity. Low-threshold clinics utilizing medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment can increase treatment access but are understudied, and little is known about how patient demographic char...

Objective News coverage around vaping-related events may have furthered misconceptions regarding the relative harms of vapes. Such information may influence the decisions of individuals who smoke, around switching to vaping, potentially affecting the overall tobacco mortality burden. Thus, it is prudent to study how news events (e.g., 2019 vaping i...

Background Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions early in the vaccine timeline. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements, in the initial phases of the vaccine timeline. Methods We collected all posts on Reddit (reddit.com) from Jan...

The impact of misinformation about vapes' relative harms compared with smoking may lead to increased tobacco-related burden of disease and youth vaping. Unfortunately, vaping misinformation has proliferated. Despite growing attempts to mitigate vaping misinformation, there is still considerable ambiguity regarding the ability to effectively curb th...

Background There is limited evidence to date about changes to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) during the initial wave of COVID-19 disease. To address this gap, our team organized a multi-country, cross-sectional online survey as part of a global consortium. Methods Consortium research teams conducted online surveys in 30 countries. Sampling m...

The duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic depends largely on individual and societal actions which are influenced by the quality and salience of the information to which they are exposed. Unfortunately, COVID-19 misinformation has proliferated. Despite growing attempts to mitigate COVID-19 misinformation, there is still uncertainty regarding...

Background: Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions early in the vaccine timeline. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements, in the initial phases of the vaccine timeline. Methods: We collected all posts on Reddit from January 1 2020...

Background We conducted a scoping review focused on various forms of substance use amid the pandemic, looking at both the impact of substance use on COVID-19 infection, severity, and vaccine uptake, as well as the impact that COVID-19 has had on substance use treatment and rates. Methods A scoping review, compiling both peer-reviewed and grey lite...

Background There are limited studies on blocking and men who have sex with men (MSM) health outcomes. We need such data in China, to better understand the relationship between Chinese MSM gay app use and health outcomes, thus providing insight on risky sexual behaviors and HIV transmission among Chinese MSM - one of the world’s largest MSM communit...

Background: Vaping-related news coverage may have furthered misconceptions around the relative harms of vapes. Also, some positive opinions around vaping may be derived from misinformation, perhaps creating inimical health outcomes. Thus, we need to study how vaping-related news events (e.g. 2019 vaping illness epidemic, COVID-19) are associated wi...

Objective News coverage around vaping-related events may have furthered misconceptions regarding the relative harms of vapes. Such information may influence the decisions of individuals who smoke, around switching to vaping, potentially affecting the overall tobacco mortality burden. Thus, it is prudent to study how news events (e.g., 2019 vaping i...

Background: To better understand sexual and reproductive health (SRH) during the initial COVID-19 wave, we organized a multi-country cross-sectional survey. Methods: Consortium research teams conducted online surveys in 30 countries. Primary outcomes included sexual behaviors, partner violence, and SRH service utilization, and we compared three mon...

We assessed if same-sex sexual behavior disclosure of index men who have sex with men (MSM) was related to number of HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits requested by index participants, and number of test results successfully uploaded by alters in a network-based HIVST intervention. Index participants are men who accessed and distributed HIVST kits and a...

Objectives: As COVID-19 vaccinations accelerate in many countries, narratives skeptical of vaccination have also spread through social media. Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions over time. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements....

Background: The duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic depends in a large part on individual and societal actions which is influenced by the quality and salience of the information to which they are exposed. Unfortunately, COVID-19 misinformation has proliferated. To date, no systematic efforts have been made to evaluate interventions that mi...

Background: The impact of misinformation about vapes’ relative harms compared with smoking may lead to increased tobacco-related burden of disease. To date, no systematic efforts have been made to chart interventions that mitigate vaping-related misinformation. We plan to conduct a scoping review that seeks to fill gaps in the current knowledge of...

Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health disparities, including disparities in sexual health and well-being. While there have been several reviews published on COVID-19 and population health disparities generally—including some with attention to HIV—none has focused on sexual health (ie, STI car...

Background: While studies on blocking, a behavior on dating apps, and men who have sex with men (MSM) health outcomes have been conducted in other nations, albeit limited and mostly using qualitative techniques, no such study has been conducted in China, de-spite its large MSM population and relationship between Chinese MSM gay app use and health o...

Background Social connections can lead to contagion of healthy behaviors. Successful treatment of patients with opioid use disorder may lay in rebuilding social networks. Strong social networks of support can reinforce the benefits of medication treatments that are the current standard of care and the most effective tool physicians have to fight th...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe issues for healthcare and broad social structures, exposing societal vulnerabilities. Among the populations affected by COVID-19 are people engaged in substance use, such as people who smoke; vape (e-cigarette use); use opioids, cannabis, alcohol, or psychoactive prescription drugs; or have a subs...

Background Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health inequities that disproportionately affect the sexual health and well-being of many populations, including people of color, ethnic minority groups, women, and sexual and gender minority populations. Although there have been several rev...

Background The COVID-19 outbreak was designated a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The relationship between vaping and contracting COVID-19 is unclear, and information on the internet is conflicting. There is some scientific evidence that vaping cannabidiol (CBD), an active ingredient in cannabis that is obtained from the hemp plant, or other sub...

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe issues for healthcare and broad social structures, exposing societal vulnerabilities. Among the marginalized populations affected by COVID-19 are those engaged in substance use, such as those who smoke, vape (e-cigarette use), use opioids, cannabis, alcohol, psychoactive prescription dru...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe issues for healthcare and broad social structures, exposing societal vulnerabilities. Among the populations affected by COVID-19 are people engaged in substance use, such as people who smoke, vape (e-cigarette use), use opioids, cannabis, alcohol, psychoactive prescription drugs, or have a substa...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe issues for healthcare and broad social structures, exposing societal vulnerabilities. Among the populations affected by COVID-19 are people engaged in substance use, such as people who smoke, vape (e-cigarette use), use opioids, cannabis, alcohol, psychoactive prescription drugs or have a substan...

Background: Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health inequities that disproportionately affect the sexual health and well-being of many populations, including people of color, ethnic minority groups, women, and sexual and gender minority populations. Although there have been several re...

Background: Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health inequities that disproportionately affect the sexual health and well-being of many populations, including people of color, ethnic minority groups, women, and sexual and gender minority populations. Although there have been several re...

Objective The growing prevalence of tobacco use in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) and the hurdles of conducting tobacco cessation in that context necessitates a focus on the scope of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in LMICs to guide tobacco cessation in this environment. We conducted a scoping review to identify LMIC tobacco cessation...

Background. Despite the possible influence of social network support on medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment, there has been no systematic evaluation of the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of social network support on MOUD. Methods. We searched electronic research databases, specialist journals and grey literature till Febru...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

BACKGROUND The spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is becoming unstoppable and has become a global pandemic as of March 11 2020. The relationship between vaping and contracting Covid-19 is unclear, with conflicting information online. There is some scientific evidence that vaping, cannabidiol (CBD - an active ingredient in cannabis from th...

Purpose The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has been broadly successful but less so in the Global South. This paper aims to effectively design interventions that to mitigate tobacco-related harms in the Global South, further understanding of interventions in this environment will be helpful, in line with FCTC recommendations. The fir...

Cannabis users who are also tobacco smokers are more likely to exhibit cannabis dependence and psychosocial problems. However, there has been minimal research around various cannabis and tobacco mixing (spliff usage) behaviours and likeliness to smoke the first joint within an hour of waking, known colloquially as wake and bake. The time of first j...

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) globally have a high burden of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs). MSM do not frequently receive rectal STI testing because of several barriers, such as not being out (disclosure of sexual behavior). We evaluate whether Chinese MSM select an STI test (rectal vs urethral) appropriate for their...

Background: Tobacco consumption is the leading cause of preventable death globally. The global mortality burden of tobacco use lies predominantly in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). There is much evidence on the effectiveness of tobacco cessation RCTs in high-income nations. However, the evidence base in LMICs is far more limited. To effec...

Background WHO recommends that men who have sex with men (MSM) receive gonorrhoea and chlamydia testing, but many evidence-based preventive services are unaffordable. The pay-it-forward strategy offers an individual a gift (eg, a test for sexually transmitted diseases) and then asks whether they would like to give a gift (eg, a future test) to anot...

Background. To evaluate whether Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) select an STI test (rectal vs urethral) appropriate for their sexual behavior (insertive and/or receptive role in anal sex). Methods. We studied uptake of gonorrhea and chlamydia testing among Chinese MSM (N=431) in a multi-site RCT (December 2018 to January 2019). We collected...

Background: Gonorrhea and chlamydia are common among Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM), but testing rates are low. We developed a pay-it-forward program where men receive a free gonorrhea/chlamydia test and can then donate toward future participants' tests. This study aims to investigate drivers of testing uptake and donation using a mixed m...

Background. To evaluate whether Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) selectan STI test (rectal vs urethral) appropriate for their sexual behavior (insertive and/orreceptive).Methods. We studied uptake of gonorrhea and chlamydia testing among ChineseMSM (N=431) in a multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) (December 2018 toJanuary 2019). We c...

Introduction and aims: Large for-profit firms supply the majority of US state-legal cannabis stores and some firms have attempted to shape cannabis-related policies. Understanding firms' motivations for participation in the cannabis space is critical, given firms' possible links to cannabis usage patterns. Key decision-makers (KDM) in the cannabis...

Background Although medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) models are the most efficacious evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, there remains a high percentage of patients experiencing unfavorable treatment outcomes. Greater understanding of how social network support functions with respect to MOUD treatment outcomes may possibly i...

Background Although medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) models are the most efficacious evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, there remains a high percentage of patients experiencing unfavorable treatment outcomes. Greater understanding of how social network support functions with respect to MOUD treatment outcomes may possibly i...

Background: Gonorrhea and chlamydia testing rates are poor among Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM). A quasi-experimental study suggested that a pay-it-forward strategy increased dual gonorrhea/chlamydia testing among MSM. Pay-it-forward offers an individual a gift (e.g., a free test) and then asks the same person if they would like to give a...

Background Gonorrhea and chlamydia testing is poor among Chinese MSM with HIV risk. Furthermore, gonorrhea and chlamydia testing programs are poorly funded and unlinked to HIV testing services. Pay-it-forward offers an individual a gift (e.g. an STD test) and then asks whether they would like to give a gift to another person. This study assesses th...

In the United States (US), three in 10 cannabis users develop cannabis use disorder (CUD). Usage patterns in line with CUD may be associated with socio-economic disadvantage, and other negative effects. Thus, research on CUD is paramount. To provide understanding around CUD, it is necessary to detail granular cannabis usage preferences, as some ris...

In 2016, the European Medicines Agency approved the marketing of Truvada for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in European Union (EU) member states. As individual countries throughout the EU make decisions about whether to adopt PrEP and fund it via governmental insurance, it is vital to understand key populations’ knowledge of and attitudes t...

Male sex work (MSW) research has been generally limited to the examination of “social problems.” Although there have been studies on occupational aspects, pointed examinations of the occupational environment, detailing the contemporary nature of the field, are rare. Research on nuances of the occupational context of MSW, providing insight on the ra...

While male sex work (MSW) is a highly gendered practice involving the commodification of the male body, masculinity has rarely been examined to understand this new occupational environment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty male independent internet-based escorts in Brisbane, Australia. Masculinity was used as a conceptual tool...

This paper details a preliminary dataset of global male escort sites in order to give insight into the scale of the online market. We conducted a content analysis of 499 websites and also measured traffic to these sites. Our analysis examined the structural characteristics of escort services, geographical and regulatory contexts along with resilien...