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This paper reports the results of a study to determine whether the emotional impact of online education during the pandemic affected male and female students differently. We see these results as an important contribution to the redesign of courses either for online classes generally or for more urgent applications should a similar event occur. In general, we found that females were more likely to be prone to detrimental emotions than males – stress, negative feelings about the online learning experience, and the need to vent their frustrations. Males on the other hand were more positive about the online learning experience and less likely to vent. © (2022) by Association for Information Systems (AIS) All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The course of SARS-CoV-2 disease has a clinical spectrum ranging from mild upper respiratory tract infection to fulminant pneumonia. The use of corticosteroids is recommended in the treatment of severe COVID-19 pneumonia. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of high-dose methylprednisolone and dexamethasone treatment in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Material(s) and Method(s): The participants were divided into Group M, receiving >=250 mg intravenous methylprednisolone therapy, and Group D receiving 6 mg intravenous dexamethasone therapy. The efficacy of treatments, length of hospital stays, ventilator requirements, anti-cytokine treatment requirements, and mortality rates were evaluated in both groups. Result(s): Two hundred eighty-eight (69.1%) patients received dexamethasone and 129 (30.9%) received methylprednisolone. While overall mortality in the study was 11%, this rate was 10.4% in Group D and 12.4% in Group M (p> 0.05). The rate of patients requiring intensive care was 15.8% in total, with a rate of 14.6% in Group D and 18.6% in Group M (p> 0.05). However, the total length of hospital stay was nine (7-39) days in Group M and 13 (7-29) days in Group D (p= 0.009). Anticytokines were required in 14.4% of the patients during treatment [40 in Group D, 20 in Group M (p> 0.05)]. Conclusion(s): In this study, it was determined that early methylprednisolone treatment shortened the hospital stay. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between Group M and Group D in terms of mechanical ventilation requirement, which showed an additional positive effect. However, mortality rates in patients receiving dexamethasone were found to be lower than in those receiving methylprednisolone, yet this difference did not reach statistical significance.Copyright © 2023 Bilimsel Tip Yayinevi. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: COVID-19 turned into a pandemic in a short time. Healthcare workers are at risk of infection due to their contact with both patients and the society. The aim of this study is to examine the demographic structures of a hospital's employees diagnosed with COVID-19, to examine the use of antiviral treatment and the factors affecting it, and to compare the case number curves of the hospital and the province. Methods: Healthcare workers who had been infected with the COVID-19 virus between 01.06.2020 and 28.02.2021 were included in the study. It is a cross-sectional, retrospective study. The patients were evaluated demographically and epidemiologically, and compliance treatment was examined in healthcare professionals who recommended antiviral drugs. Results: 390 (56.3%) of the 693 healthcare workers were males. Mean age of the patients was 33,54±9,41. 140 (20.2%) of them had chronic diseases. 173 (25%) were cigarette smokers. 161 (23.2%) individuals stated the source of infection as hospital. 509 (73.4%) had symptoms at the time of diagnosis while symptoms occurred later in 116 (16.7%). The most commonly observed symptoms included fatigue (48%), myalgia (47.5%) and headaches (46.9%). Of 693 patients, 164 (23.7%) did not use antiviral treatment. The distribution of the number of cases by months was similar when examined on the basis of hospitals and provinces. In the logistic regression analysis, those with symptoms at the time of diagnosis used antiviral treatment 1.779 times and those with chronic diseases 1.804 times more. Conclusion: The similarity of the case distribution in the society and among healthcare workers supports the effect of the use of personal protection equipment. In our study, it was observed that healthcare workers with risk factors for severe COVID-19 had higher adherence to antiviral treatment. Along with the vaccination activities and mutations, the clinical course and prognosis of the COVID-19 might change in time. Therefore, surveillance data should be collected from healthcare workers and evaluations should be made through interim analyses. Information about antiviral treatments should be given. © 2023. All Rights Reserved. Amaç: 2019 yılında tanımlanan COVID-19, kısa sürede pandemiye dönüşmüştür. Sağlık çalışanları hem hastaları hem de toplumsal temasları sebebiyle risk altındadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bir hastanenin COVID-19 tanısı alan çalışanlarının demografik yapılarını, antiviral tedavi kullanımlarını ve etkileyen faktörleri incelemek;ayrıca hastane çalışanları ve ilimizin vaka sayısı eğrilerini karşılaştırmaktır. Yöntem: Çalışmaya, 01.06.2020-28.02.2021 tarihleriarasında COVID-19 geçirmiş olan sağlık çalışanları dahil edilmiştir. Kesitsel, retrospektif bir çalışmadır. Hastalar demografik ve epidemiyolojik açıdan değerlendirilmiş, antiviral ilaç önerilen sağlık çalışanlarında tedavi uyumu irdelenmiştir. Bulgular: 693 sağlık çalışanının 390 (%56,3)'ı erkekti. Yaş ortalaması 33,54±9,41 idi. 140 kişinin (%20,2) kronik hastalığı vardı. Hastalardan 173 kişi (%25,0) sigara kullanıyordu. Bulaş kaynağını 161 kişi (%23,2) hastane olarak belirtti. Tanı anında semptomu olanların sayısı 509 (%73,4) idi ve 116 kişiye (%16,7) tanı sonrası semptom eklenmişti. En sık görülen semptomlar halsizlik (%48), myalji(%47,5) ve baş ağrısı (%46,9) idi. 693 hastadan 164 kişi (%23,7) antiviral tedavi kullanmadı. Vaka sayılarının aylara göre dağılımı hastane ve il bazında incelendiğinde, benzerlik göstermekteydi. Lojistik regresyon analizinde tanı sırasında semptomu olanlar 1,779 kat, kronik hastalığı olanlar 1,804 kat daha fazla antiviral ilaç kullanmıştı. Sonuç: Toplumda ve sağlık çalışanlarında benzer vaka dağılımının görülmesi kişisel koruyucu ekipman kullanımının etkisiolarak değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmamızda, ağır COVID-19 açısından risk faktörleri olan kişilerin antiviral tedaviye uyumunun daha yüksek olduğu görülmüştür. Zaman içinde aşılama çalışmaları ve mutasyonlar nedeniyle COVID-19 klinik seyri ve prognoz değişebilir. Bu sebeple sağlık çalışanlarında sürveyans verileritoplanmalı ve ara analizler ile değerlendirmeler yapılmalıdır. Antiviral tedaviler ile ilgili bilgiler verilmelidir. © 2023. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is a pandemic that threatens public health worldwide. Dentists working at great risk play an essential role in protecting public health against coronavirus. This study aimed to evaluate the dental patients' attitudes and behaviors towards and knowledge and fear of COVID-19. We conducted a self-report questionnaire-based survey from 10.26.2020 to 01.12.2021 and included 1110 dental patients who applied at the Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology of Istanbul Medipol University Dental School. We divided the survey into four divisions: 1) Patient's knowledge about COVID-19, 2) attitudes, 3) behavior, 4) patient's fear of COVID-19. We calculated the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the reliability of the COVID-19 Fear scale and evaluated significance at the p <0.05 level. 84.6% of the participants believed that COVID-19 could be transmitted by aerosol. 94.1% of the participants considered COVID-19 a risk for their health and 93.3% that their social life was affected. 46.3% only wanted to have emergency dental treatment and postpone their dental care, and only 7% applied to the clinic for the aesthetic process. Women had a higher fear level of COVID-19 than men. We found the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the patients who applied to the dentomaxillofacial radiology positive towards COVID-19. Dental health professionals should take extra measures in dental clinics to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and more efforts should be made to improve public knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Copyright © 2022 Ondokuz Mayis Universitesi. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: Mucormycosis is an opportunistic filamentous fungal infection that can progress rapidly. Different clinical pictures may occur depending on tissue and organ where the involvement is seen. Rhinoserebral mucormycosis, is the most common clinical form. We aimed to examine the patients diagnosed with rhinocerebral mucormycosis followed in our hospital with literature. Materials and Methods: Patients treating in our hospital between August 2009 and November 2020 with microbiologically and / or histopathologically confirmed rhinocerebral mucormycosis were evaluated retrospectively. Results: 2 (25%) of the patients were female and 6 (75%) of them were male. The average age was 56.37 ± 9.318. All patients had at least one predisposing factor. Fever and headache symptoms were the most common. Surgical debridement and antifungal treatment were applied to all patients. 4 (50%) of the patients developed diffuse visual impairment and were discharged with sequelae. One (12.5%) of them was discharged with full recovery. 3 (37.5 %) of them died on the 12th day of hospitalization. Hemoglobin and Glaskow coma scores of patients with ex were significantly lower than the patients who were discharged, and SOFA scores were higher (p= 0.025, 0.031, 0.023, respectively). Conclusion: Nowadays, when the COVID-19 pandemic has not been controlled yet, most of the patients who receive immunosuppression due to COVID-19 also carry additional risk factors such as DM in terms of mucormycosis. Our article has contributed to raising awareness by drawing attention to risk factors, clinical signs and symptoms in mucormycosis. Training meetings should be organized for all medical doctors on this subject. In this way, mortality and sequelae rates can be improved with early diagnosis and treatment.
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OBJECTIVE: In this period when mutant strains are increasing all over the world, studies on how much humoral immunity will protect against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are quite limited. The aim of our study is to investigate the positivity and antibody levels of the COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 re-infection, and the protective antibody level against re-infection. METHODS: Patients who were positive for COVID-19 IgG antibody between 1 July and 31 August were included in our study. The COVID-19 RT-PCR test positivity, age, gender and comorbidities of these patients were recorded before this date. The COVID-19 RT-PCR test positivity of these patients was followed from the National COVID-19 Database between September 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. RESULTS: 1665 patients (female: male 683: 982, mean age 40.6+/-13.4 years). Among all patients, 14 patients had reinfection and the frequency of reinfection was 0.8%. It was observed that the frequency of reinfection was more frequent in patients with PCR negative (p<0.001). The IgG cut-off value causing reinfection was found to be 11.9 (AUC: 0.844, 79.2% sensitivity, 78.6% specificity) (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Humoral antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were protective against COVID-19 reinfection, 0.8% of the patients had reinfection and the resultant reinfection was mostly seen in PCR negative patients who were asymptomatic.