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Purpose: The pandemic has enhanced the global phenomenon of disinformation. This paper aims to study the false news concerning COVID-19, spread through social media in Spain, by using the LatamChequea database for a duration from 01/22/2020, when the first false information has been detected, up to 03/09/2021. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative analysis has been conducted with regard to the correlation between fake news stories and the pandemic state, the motive to share them, their dissemination in other countries and the effectiveness of fact checking. This study is complemented by a qualitative method: a focus group conducted with representatives of different groups within the society. Findings: Fake news has been primarily disseminated through several social networks at the same time, with two peaks taking place in over a half of the said false stories. The first took place from March to April of 2020 during complete lockdown, and we were informed of prevention measures, the country's situation and the origin of the virus, whereas the second was related to news revolving around the coming vaccines, which occurred between October and November. The audience tends to neither cross-check the information received nor report fake news to competent authorities, and fact-checking methods fail to stop their spread. Further awareness and digital literacy campaigns are thus required in addition to more involvement from governments and technological platforms. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of the research is the fact that it was only possible to conduct a focus group of five individuals who do not belong to generation Z due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, although a clear contribution to the analysis of the impact of fake news on social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain can be seen from the privileged experiences in each of the fields of work that were identified. In this sense, the results of the study are not generalizable to a larger population. On the other hand, and with a view to future research, it would be advisable to carry out a more specific study of how fake news affects generation Z. Originality/value: This research is original in nature, and the findings of this study are valuable for business practitioners and scholars, brand marketers, social media platform owners, opinion leaders and policymakers. © 2023, María Teresa Macarrón Máñez, Antonia Moreno Cano and Fernando Díez.
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Although no age group is safe from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the burden is higher and severe for persons aged 70 years and over, with documented mortality rates of more than 20% among octogenarians. It is clear that the COVID-19-susceptible population involves older people and people with certain underlying medical conditions (such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, respiratory diseases), which requires more attention and care. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.
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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of clinical practice in oncology, particularly regarding early cancer diagnosis, sparking public health concerns that possible delays could increase the proportion of patients diagnosed at advanced stages. In 2009, a cancer fast-track program (CFP) was implemented at the Clinico-Malvarrosa Health Department in Valencia, Spain with the aim of shortening waiting times between suspected cancer symptoms, diagnosis and therapy initiation. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our cancer diagnosis fast-track program. METHODS: The program workflow (patients included and time periods) was analysed from the beginning of the state of alarm on March 16th, 2020 until March 15th, 2021. Data was compared with data from the same period of time from the year before (2019). RESULTS: During the pandemic year, 975 suspected cancer cases were submitted to the CFP. The number of submissions only decreased during times of highest COVID-19 incidence and stricter lockdown, and overall, referrals were slightly higher than in the previous 2 years. Cancer diagnosis was confirmed in 197 (24.1%) cases, among which 33% were urological, 23% breast, 16% gastrointestinal and 9% lung cancer. The median time from referral to specialist appointment was 13 days and diagnosis was reached at a median of 18 days. In confirmed cancer cases, treatment was started at around 30 days from time of diagnosis. In total, 61% of cancer disease was detected at early stage, 20% at locally advanced stage, and 19% at advanced stage, displaying time frames and case proportions similar to pre-pandemic years. CONCLUSIONS: Our program has been able to maintain normal flow and efficacy despite the challenges of the current pandemic, and has proven a reliable tool to help primary care physicians referring suspected cancer patients.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Lung Neoplasms , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Pandemics , Communicable Disease Control , Referral and Consultation , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosisABSTRACT
Introduction: Gastrointestinal symptomatology in SARS-CoV-2 infection is a common clinical presentation, reported in up to 61% in those affected, being the presence of acute diarrhea one of the most common symptoms, reported in up to 33.7%. There are multiple theories about physiopathological mechanisms of diarrhea associated with SARS-CoV2 infection, but there is not enough evidence to attribute this symptom only to the infection without the influence of host and environment factors. Objective: Determine the associated factors with acute diarrhea in Mexican population with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: A case-control cross-sectional study was performed to analyze the factors associated with acute diarrhea in patients with SARS-CoV-2. This research was carried out during the 2020-2021 in five states of Mexico. An online survey was applied to 784 patients, selected by randomized sampling of whom sociodemographic data, medical history, and symptoms related to SARSCoV- 2 infection were collected. A univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed applying a χ2 test with 95% confidence intervals to determinate the association of acute diarrhea in SARS-CoV-2 infection with other symptomatology and possible nonhost contributing factors for its presentation. Results: A total of 784 patients were analyzed with a mean age of 29 ± 8 years, predominantly female with 75.4% (591). The most frequently described symptom was fatigue in 75% (588) followed by anosmia and myalgias with 67% (525) and 65.5% (514) respectively. Acute diarrhea was present in 28.6% (321) of our population during the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most used drugs were acetaminophen (79.2%) and azithromycin (29.7%). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant association between acute diarrhea and the use of macrolides, mainly with clarithromycin with an OR of 2.96 (95% CI of 1.26-6.95, p = 0.001) followed by azithromycin with an OR of 1.47 (95% CI 1.035-2.091, p = 0.031). In this same analysis, there was no significant association of acute diarrhea with the rest of SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms. Discussion: This study demonstrates the association of acute diarrhea in SARS-CoV-2 infection with the concomitant use of macrolides, without finding any association with described SARS-CoV-2 viral symptoms. According to the previously mentioned, we propose that a proportion of acute diarrhea associated with SARSCoV- 2 infection may be secondary to inappropriate macrolide prescription and not due to the viral disease itself.
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INTRODUCTION: Botulism is a potentially fatal neuroparalytic syndrome caused by Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin. The 25% are food-borne botulism cases. CASE REPORT: We describe a confirmed case of botulism attended in our hospital in September 2020, together with a second case in a patient's relative, suspected but not confirmed by laboratory tests. Clinical presentation consisted on general weakness, bilateral cranial palsy, mydriasis, and rapidly progressive tetraparesis in case 1, involving respiratory and swallowing function so she required hospitalization and support treatment. Non specific and transient symptoms occurred in case 2. SARS-CoV-2 infection was initially suspected in both cases due to pandemic situation in our country, ruled out by negative PCR. When B neurotoxin was detected in stool sample of patient 1 we confirmed the diagnosis of food-borne botulism probably linked to home-made conserved beans. CONCLUSION: Early clinical suspicion, together with laboratory and electromyography findings, and support treatment provided at hospital were crucial for favourable outcome. Being aware of this rare syndrom might contribute to its better management.
TITLE: Botulismo alimentario durante la pandemia por el SARS-CoV-2. Descripción de un caso y de un posible brote familiar en Barcelona.Introducción. El botulismo es un síndrome neuroparalítico hoy en día infrecuente, potencialmente fatal, causado por neurotoxinas de Clostridium botulinum. El origen es alimentario en el 25% de los casos. Caso clínico. Describimos el caso confirmado de botulismo alimentario en una paciente atendida en nuestro hospital en septiembre de 2020 y la sospecha de un segundo caso en un familiar de la paciente, no confirmado éste por las pruebas de laboratorio. La instauración en pocos días de una afectación bilateral de pares craneales, incluyendo disfagia, disnea y disartria, junto con midriasis y tetraparesia graves, precedida de diarrea, constituyó la presentación clínica en el primer caso; mientras que en su familiar cursó con síntomas inespecíficos y transitorios. Constatamos disautonomía consistente en hipotensión arterial en ambos casos. Teniendo en cuenta la situación pandémica en aquel momento, se descartó repetidamente la infección por SARS-CoV-2 antes de plantear alternativas diagnósticas. La neurotoxina B de C. botulinum fue detectada en las heces de la paciente, confirmando el diagnóstico de botulismo, que relacionamos con la ingesta de una conserva casera de alubias. Se completó el diagnóstico diferencial del cuadro descartando otras posibles etiologías. Conclusión. La sospecha clínica temprana, confirmada con los hallazgos de laboratorio y neurofisiológicos y que llevaron al manejo específico de la paciente, fueron cruciales para la evolución favorable. No fue necesario aplicar medidas de salud pública, a excepción de la notificación a sus allegados de la contaminación detectada. Conocer la existencia de esta patología puede contribuir a su pronóstico.
Subject(s)
Botulism , COVID-19 , Clostridium botulinum , Botulism/diagnosis , Botulism/epidemiology , Botulism/etiology , Disease Outbreaks , Female , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of clinical practice in oncology, particularly in making timely cancer diagnosis. Our public health system has been concerned about potential delays leading to a higher proportion of patients with advanced stages. Our cancer diagnosis fast-track program (CFP) in the Clinic-Malvarrosa Health department in Valencia (Spain) is connecting primary care (PC) with different specialists to speed cancer diagnosis and treatment upon well founded suspicion. A 10-year evaluation of our CFP has recently been published. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the CFP. Methods: We analysed the programme flow during the state of emergency starting on March 16, 2020 for one year. Results: During that year, 975 suspected cancer cases were submitted to the CFP. The submissions only decreased during the times of highest COVID-19 incidence and stricter lockdown (March, April and October 2020). However, referrals were slightly higher than in the two previous years (average 877). Of those 975 patients, 817 were seen by the corresponding specialist. A cancer diagnosis was confirmed in 197 (24.1%) with 33% urological, 23% breast, 16% gastrointestinal and 9% lung cancer. Median time from referral to the specialist visit was 13 (interquartile range, 8 to 22 days) days and a diagnosis was reached in a median of 18 days (interquartile range, 10 to 30 days). In cancer patients, treatment was started in around 30 days (interquartile range, 13.5 to 51 days) from the time of diagnosis. Sixty-one percent of cancers were found in an early stage, 20% in a locally advanced stage, and 19% in an advanced stage. These intervals and proportions were similar to the previous years. Conclusions: Our programme has proven to be a reliable tool to help PC physicians referring patients with cancer suspicion cancer, maintaining its normal flow and efficacy despite the current pandemic. Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
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Objective. To analyze the relationship between chronic exposures to air pollution with Covid-19 death rate in Mexican cities. Materials and methods. Ecological study in 25 Mexican cities using the report of daily Covid-19 deaths (from February to June 2020) and validated data of air pollutants, considering average concentrations in each city for the last year. Poisson regression models using generalized additive models with adjustment variables (GAM) were used. Results. A significant increase of 3.5% (95% CI 2.3-4.7) was found in Covid-19 death rate for each 1 mu g/m(3) in annual concentration of NO2. The association with PM2.5 was not significant, with an increase of 1.8% for each 1 mu g/m(3). Conclusions. Results suggest an association between Covid-19 mortality and chronic exposure to NO2. This first approximation of the risk associated with air pollution requires a more precise analysis, but is consistent with what was observed in other studies.
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Current efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic are limited by the lack of a fast, accurate and low-cost diagnostic test to determine if an individual is infected and contagious. We have developed a capillary-flow immunoassay capable of detecting anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein antibodies in a 5-µL sample down to 10 ng/mL. The low-cost capillary-flow assay is made of transparency film and adhesive and automatically provides sequential delivery of reagents to a detection zone integrating a screen-printed carbon electrode. Using a portable potentiostat, diagnostic results are obtained within 25 min. © 2020 CBMS-0001
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An at-home serological test for SARS-CoV2 antibodies was developed that automatically performs sequential reagent delivery and washing for enzyme amplified colorimetric detection. The device that houses the assay enables improved sensitivity and selectivity without sacrificing simplicity for untrained end-users. The microfluidic device was made by laminating transparency sheets and double-sided adhesive and requires only two user steps to operate. Once flow is initiated in the microfluidic channels, reagents are sequentially delivered to and washed from a detection zone, where a colored line indicates the presence of antibodies. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein has been detected from whole blood at clinically relevant concentrations. © 2020 CBMS-0001