Implications of practical activities in the Skills and Simulation Laboratory on students' motivation and feelings

Objective: to verify the implications of practical activities in the Skills and Simulation Laboratory on the motivation and feelings expressed by undergraduate students when returning to face-to-face activities after the social isolation caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Method: a quasi -experimental study, with a single group and of the pre-and post-test type, carried out through an educational intervention based on skills training on medication administration and venipuncture, with medical students from a Brazilian public university. The sample was comprised by 47 students. The instruments of students' characterization and self-perceived feelings and the Situational Motivation Scale were used for data collection. Results: in the sample, 98% mentioned the lack of practical activities during the pandemic. The most frequently described feeling was anxiety. After carrying out the activity, there was a change in the frequency of expressed feelings, although there was no significant change in motivational levels. External Regulation (5.1 -5.6), Identified Regulation (6.1 -6.4) and Intrinsic Motivation (5.6 -6.0) presented high results, showing similarity to the feelings reported by the learners. Conclusion: motivation is essential for effective learning and the use of active methodologies reinforces skills built in an affective way in the students facing the learning process.

Paradigms of immunization management: the use of quantitative methods as decision support in times of Covid-19 in the state of Rio de Janeiro

The state of Rio de Janeiro has come to be considered the state with the highest lethality rate, with one death for every 20 infected by the "new virus", according to bulletins from the Ministry of Health (BRASIL, 2021). The first phase of the vaccination campaign against the disease in the state had only 488,320 doses of the immunizer. Given the scarcity of resources, public managers had the challenge of prioritizing the distribution of vaccines among age groups in order to minimize the impacts of mortality. Therefore, it became imperative to identify to which age group the initial vaccine supply should have been prioritized in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The objective of the research is to provide information to support the problems encountered by the public administration regarding the management of immunizers. The study area is the state of Rio de Janeiro, where data from the main epidemiological observatory sites in the state of Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic were used, using statistical techniques such as tabular and parametric description, measures of central tendency, percentages, and the linear interpolation method to calculate the population estimate by age. The distribution of the first batch of vaccines was simulated proportionally across the respective age groups. The study variables were lives saved and years saved, and simulations of 81 scenarios were performed, distributing the vaccines among the 10 possible age groups. The results obtained showed that by concentrating the application of available vaccines in the older population, a greater number of lives saved are obtained, regardless of the effectiveness of the immunization. As for the variable years saved, it can be seen that the population between 70 and 79 years old is the one that presents the best result in relation to the other age groups. It is suggested that further studies be carried out to empirically estimate the efficacy against death of available vaccines, due to the existence of an increasingly robust database.

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a European Portuguese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale

The novelty and uncertainty of the pandemic nourished a gener-alized fear of the COVID-19, which seems to have exacerbated the pan-demic's negative impact. It is thus relevant to monitor fear of COVID-19 and its association with individuals' mental health, well-being, and behav-iors. Valid and reliable measures of fear of COVID-19 are necessary for that purpose. This study aimed at assessing the psychometric properties of a European Portuguese version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S-P). A secondary aim was to assess FCV-19S-P's multigroup measurement invariance (female vs. male). A sample of 572 Portuguese adults (72 % fe-male) completed the FCV-19S-P and measures of depression, anxiety, and stress. The study results supported this version validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .84;Composite Reliability = .83), and a factorial struc-ture similar to the original version. Fear of COVID-19 was positively asso-ciated (.23 < r < .31) with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results of the multigroup invariance analysis supported the FCV-19S-P total scalar invar-iance and its partial residual invariance, suggesting that this measure may be used to reach valid conclusions in respect to gender comparisons in samples of Portuguese adults in regard to group observed composite means. © 2023, Universidad de Murcia Servicio de Publicaciones. All rights reserved.

Bibliometric Analysis of The Ecotoxicological Effects of Ivermectin

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic used in human medicine and veterinary medicine. Moreover, its use intensified in Brazil during the pandemic as an early treatment for COVID-19. Bearing in mind that drugs enter the environment via different pathways, ecotoxicological studies are essential to understanding the effects of these compounds on biota. The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the ecotoxicological effects of ivermectin. Searches were conducted using different English, Portuguese and Spanish descriptors in different databases within the 2010-2021 time window. The papers found were subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria and subsequently studied. Fourteen publications, with records going all the way back to 2012, were assessed. According to their type, most papers were classified as original studies and revealed that the predominant test organisms were flies. In terms of subject areas, the studies fell within the fields of Environmental Science, Toxicology, Molecular Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacy and Multidisciplinary Chemistry. In all of the papers studied, there was a case of association of researchers from different countries as well as a predominance of English manuscripts. Word cloud analysis based on the keywords highlighted a concern with the impacts of this antiparasitic on the biota present in manure. As a result of the survey conducted, environmental monitoring of this substance and the performance of experiments that contemplate the current situation of occurrence of this drug in different environmental matrices are recommended.

Superior Cerebellar Artery Dissection in a Patient Diagnosed with Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome: A Case Report

Arterial dissection is an uncommon complication of reversible cerebral vasocon-striction syndrome (RCVS). We describe the case of a 35-year-old woman with a migraine history who presented with recurrent thunderclap headache and focal neurological signs, including right hemiataxia. She had been diagnosed with COVID-19 disease two weeks earlier. Neuroimaging revealed multifocal stenosis of the posterior circulation arteries and dissection of the right superior cerebellar artery. She improved significantly throughout her one-week hospitalization and maintained only mild ataxia. The interplay between COVID-19 disease, RCVS, and arterial dissection requires further investigation.Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) and Sinapse 2022.

Early childhood education and covid-19 pandemic: actions of middle-level bureaucrats in the Baixada Fluminense

The current article is a research clipping aimed at mapping actions associated with early childhood education that were taken by ten municipalities in Baixada Fluminense during the covid-19 pandemic, based on conversations with mid-level bureaucrats accounting for managing municipal education institutions. The adopted methodology comprised virtual meetings and questionnaire application. Remote teaching was adopted by these municipalities as temporary alternative to maintain the school year running, although there were many contradictions about the adopted pedagogical approach. This option has disregarded the fact that many children lived in social vulnerability contexts and that their families were concerned with material issues associated with subsistence, as well as with poor access to technological devices and services. Results have pointed towards disarticulation among federated entities, a fact that has hindered coordinators' actions. Thus, it is essential thinking about the place of these professionals in State's bureaucracy. © 2023,Revista Brasileira de Educacao.All Rights Reserved.

Exploring the direct and indirect effect of trust in leadership and perceived organisational support on turnover intentions

Currently, employee retention is a critical aspect of people management, especially in the context of pandemics or post-pandemics, where job insecurity and job destruction challenge workers' trust in leadership and organisational support. Using survey data treated with structural equation models, this study explores, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the direct and indirect effects on turnover intentions of trust in leadership and perceived organisational support, using the mediating effect of job satisfaction. The results reveal that job satisfaction and perceived organisational support have a negative impact on turnover intention, but less that what was expected. The results obtained in the context of COVID-19 delivers important insights related to changes of employees' perceptions, their relations with the organisation and its impact in the turnover intention. © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The spatial distribution of Airbnb providers in Brussels: different drivers for different types of hosts?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the spatial distribution of different types of Airbnb hosts – based on a novel typology – and to investigate their association with neighbourhood characteristics in Brussels. Design/methodology/approach: This study describes the location of Airbnb dwellings across the types of hosts and use spatial tests to compare their distributions to the traditional hospitality industry. With regression models, this study examines the relationship between the provision of Airbnb listings and neighbourhood indicators. Findings: While different types of hosts offer their listings in the same urban space, they also cover different areas and exhibit different clustering processes. Their locations are associated with structural, socio-economic and demographic neighbourhood characteristics that vary across the types and provide support for the new typology. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on the type of Airbnb hosts and their listings in one year, 2019. It would be worthwhile to apply the typology to other cities and to observe how the distributions change over time, including the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to suggest a finer typology of Airbnb hosts than the regular distinction into professional and non-professional types and reveals how hosts differ in the location of their Airbnbs. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Exploring the direct and indirect effect of trust in leadership and perceived organisational support on turnover intentions

Currently, employee retention is a critical aspect of people management, especially in the context of pandemics or post-pandemics, where job insecurity and job destruction challenge workers' trust in leadership and organisational support. Using survey data treated with structural equation models, this study explores, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the direct and indirect effects on turnover intentions of trust in leadership and perceived organisational support, using the mediating effect of job satisfaction. The results reveal that job satisfaction and perceived organisational support have a negative impact on turnover intention, but less that what was expected. The results obtained in the context of COVID-19 delivers important insights related to changes of employees' perceptions, their relations with the organisation and its impact in the turnover intention.

Alpha 1-Acid Glycoprotein is Involved With Neutrophil Nets in COVID-19

Introduction: Orosomucoid also named Alpha-1 Acid Glycoprotein(AGP) is a major acute-phase protein and is increased in response to systemic injury and inflammation. AGP has been described as an inhibitor of neutrophil migration on sepsis, particularly its immunomodulation effects. The AGP biological functions are not understood in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Hypothesis: We hypothesize that plasmatic AGP is upregulated in severe Covid-19 patients and is involved in the regulation of netosis. Therefore, we sought to investigate the role of AGP in plasmatic from COVID-19 severe infection patients and neutrophils infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SarsCov-2). Method(s): Epidemiological data and AGP, interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (PCR), lactate, and other laboratorial parameters were measured in blood samples from 52 subjects hospitalized in the ICU with clinically SarsCov-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR. To evaluate the role of AGP in netosis in neutrophils, blood samples from health patients (n=13) were collected, and neutrophils were separated and infected with Sars-Cov-2 (Moi=1). Those neutrophils were treated with AGP (10mug/ml) or vehicle for 18 hours and netosis was analyzed by flow cytometry (n=10) and immunofluorescence (IF;n=10). Early and late netosis, respectively, were characterized by negative or positive FVS and positive Sytox. The neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were investigated by myeloperoxidase (MPO), neutrophil elastase (NE), and DAPI by IF and quantified Netquant/Matlab software. This study was approved by Ethics Committee -CAAE: 30816620.0.0000.5440. Result(s): AGP increased in severe Covid-19 patients (p<0.05). A positive correlation between AGP with IL-6 and C-reactive protein (respectively, p=0.005, p=0.002) and a negative correlation between AGP and lactate (p=0.004) were found it. Together, AGP treatment downregulated early (35,7%) and late (43,5%) netosis in neutrophils infected with SarsCov-2. Confocal analysis by MPO, NE e DAPI showed NETs released by neutrophils infected with Sar-Cov-2 decreased when neutrophils were treated with AGP (p<0.05). Conclusion(s): Our data showed increased AGP in COVID-19 infection and contributed to netosis regulation.

Health public crisis impact on non-life insurance: the case of COVID-19

The insurance industry plays a crucial role in developing a country’s economy, thus becoming one of the main focuses when studying the possible impacts of the current public health crisis. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to investigate the COVID-19 impact on non-life insurance profitability of the Portuguese insurance sector. This study also intends to assess the explaining factors of insurance companies’ profitability on the period between 2004/2020. The methodology implemented was a multiple linear regression, using a panel data model with random effects. The sample consists of a total of 238 observations from 14 non-life insurers over 17 years. The results revealed that COVID-19 positively impacted the profitability of the insurance companies presented. However, this impact was only significant on the return on assets. Furthermore, the results showed an inverse and meaningful relationship between the profitability ratios and the variables leverage and loss ratio. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Individual and country-level variables associated with the medicalization of birth : Céline Miani

Introduction According to the World Health Organization, the medicalisation of birth tends “to undermine the woman's own capability to give birth and negatively impacts her childbirth experience”. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted maternity care, with potential increase in the medicalisation of birth and in occurrences of disrespectful maternity care. We aim to investigate potential associations between individual and country-level factors and medicalisation of birth in 15 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We collected data through an online, anonymous survey for women who gave birth in 2020-2021. We ran multivariable, multi-level logistic regression models estimating associations between indicators of medicalisation (caesarean section (CS), instrumental vaginal birth (IVB), episiotomy, fundal pressure) and proxy variables related to care culture and contextual factors at the individual and country-level. Results Among 27173 women, 24.4% had a CS, and 8.8% an IVB. Among women with IVB, 41.9% reported receiving fundal pressure. Among women with spontaneous vaginal births, 22.3% had an episiotomy. Less respectful care, as perceived by the women, was associated with higher levels of medicalisation. For example, women who reported having CS, IVB and episiotomy reported not feeling treated with dignity more frequently than women who didn't have those interventions (respectively: OR: 1.37;OR: 1.61;OR: 1.51;all: p < 0.001). Country-level variables contributed to explaining some of the variance between countries. Conclusions We recommend a greater emphasis in health policies on the promotion of respectful and patient-centered care approaches to birth to enhance women's experiences of care, and the development of a European-level indicator to monitor the medicalisation of reproductive care. Speakers/Panellists Emanuelle Pessa Valente WHO Collaborating Centre, Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS, Trieste, Italy

Quality of facility-based maternal and newborn care around the time of childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic : Marzia Lazzerini

Background Multi-country studies assessing the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID19 pandemic, as defined by WHO Standards, are lacking. Methods Women who gave birth in 12 countries of the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020 - March 15, 2021 answered an online questionnaire, including 40 WHO Standard-based Quality Measures. Results 21,027 mothers were included in the analysis. Among those who experienced labour (N = 18,063), 41.8% (26.1%- 63.5%) experienced difficulties in accessing antenatal care, 62% (12.6%-99.0%) were not allowed a companion of choice, 31.1% (16.5%-56.9%) received inadequate breastfeeding support, 34.4% (5.2%-64.8%) reported that health workers were not always using protective personal equipment, and 31.8% (17.8%-53.1%) rated the health workers’ number as “insufficient”. Episiotomy was performed in 20.1% (6.1%-66.0%) of spontaneous vaginal births and fundal pressure applied in 41.2% (11.5% -100%) of instrumental vaginal births. In addition, 23.9% women felt they were not treated with dignity (12.8%-59.8%), 12.5% (7.0%-23.4%) suffered abuse, and 2.4% (0.1%-26.2%) made informal payments. Most findings were significantly worse among women with prelabour caesarean birth (N = 2,964). Multivariate analyses confirmed significant differences among countries, with Croatia, Romania, Serbia showing significantly lower QMNC Indexes and Luxemburg showing a significantly higher QMNC Index than the total sample. Younger women and those with operative births also reported significantly lower QMNC Indexes. Conclusions Mothers reports revealed large inequities in QMNC across countries of the WHO European Region. Quality improvement initiatives to reduce these inequities and promote evidence-based, patient-centred respectful care for all mothers and newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are urgently needed. Funding: The study was financially supported by the Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy.

Exclusive breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic in 17 WHO European Region countries : Ilana Chertok

Background Maternal experience of labour and delivery is multidimensional and is influenced by a variety of factors. Aim to report maternal childbirth experience as described by the women themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden using a WHO Standards-based tool adapted for an online survey (Quality of maternal and newborn care-QMNC). Methods Women ≥ 18 years of age who gave birth from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 were asked to give voluntary consent to participate in an online survey. The survey included 40 questions on four key domains: provision of care, experience of care, availability of human and physical resources and organisational changes due to COVID-19. Results 5003 women were included in the analysis. Among those who underwent labour (n = 4528), 46.7% perceived a reduction in QMNC due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 50.7% were not allowed a companion of choice, 62.5% reported that health workers were not always using protective personal equipment and 36.5% rated the number of health workers as “insufficient”. Fundal pressure was applied in 22.2% of instrumental vaginal births and 36.8% received inadequate breastfeeding support. In addition, 18.4% of women did not feel treated with dignity and 6.9% reported some form of abuse. In general, findings were significantly worse among women who did not undergo labour (n = 475). Conclusions Swedish mothers’ satisfaction of care provided during childbirth was strongly influenced by many variables. Actions to promote high-quality, evidence-based, patient-centered respectful care for all mothers and newborns are urgently needed.

Rural territories against Covid-19: knowledge, actions and reflections from popular health education

This article is founded on the systematization of Oscar Jara's experiences to rebuild the paths of Participatory Action Research in Health in rural communities based on experiences of prevention and health care in coping with Covid-19. Since June 2020, we have been developing popular education experiences in rural health guided by Paulo Freire's pedagogy in northern territories and in the coastal lowlands of the state of Rio de Janeiro, specifically in areas of agrarian reform linked to the Landless Workers Movemen (MST);a quilombola territory;and a women's collective connected to the Working Group of Women of the Serramar Articulation of Agroecology (GT Mulheres Serramar). The analysis of these experiences points towards pedagogical alternatives produced from academic and popular knowledge, seeking support in popular communication, in the protagonism of rural communities, especially with regard to women as producers of knowledge, care practices and resistance.

Evaluation of medical student's sleep quality in covid-19 pandemic

Introduction: Sleep quality is influenced by several aspects, including factors related to the environment as well as psychological causes. In this context, the pandemic caused by the new SARS-Cov2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) had a large influence on the population's mental health, increasing levels of anxiety and stress, consequently reflected on the sleep quality. This is so also true for medical students;as a result of the scenario generated by the pandemic, in-person classes were replaced by distance education, which, added to the chaotic situation of fear, anxiety, frustration and social isolation, is interfering negatively in students' lives, and in their sleep. Objective: To analyze the sleep quality of medical students at a medical school in the interior of São Paulo state during the covid-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a crosssectional study that invited 544 students from De six years of the course, from a medical school in the interior of the state of São Paulo, to answer the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a questionnaire on aspects that may influence sleep. The REDCap platform was used to send, via email, the link to the questionnaires, which were available from September 28th to October 5th, 2020. Results: Of the 544 students invited, 375 answered the questionnaires. The mean score of PSQI was 8.63 (SD=3.16), with 82.4% (309 out of 375) of students having a poor sleep quality (PSQI>5). We observed an association between the quality of sleep given by the PSQI and the student's perception of anxiety (P<0.001), stress (P<0.001) and adaptation to distance education (P<0.001). The results for the seven components of the PSQI were analyzed for three study groups (1-2-year student, 3-4-year student and 5-6-year student) and associations were observed between the three studied groups and sleep duration, with students in the last two years sleeping less (<5/5-6h) than the remaining students, and with daytime dysfunction, with students in the first two years showing the highest percentage (75.5%). Conclusion: Sleep quality is poor in medical students, being associated with student's perception of anxiety, stress and difficulties in adapting to distance education. Active interventions should be implemented to improve sleep hygiene in medical students.

SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a PortugueseTertiary Pediatric Hospital

Introduction: Being a recent disease, there are still unknown facts about coronavirus disease 2019, especially in children. Therefore, reports from centers worldwide are important to better understand this condition. This study aimed to describe all severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 positive cases admitted to a Portuguese tertiary pediatric hospital. Methods: All patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection confirmed by polymerase chain reaction test until January 31st, 2021, were included in this study. A descriptive analysis was conducted on demographic, epidemiological, clinical, and laboratorial characteristics, as well as patient management. Results: In total, 331 (3.8% of the total tested) patients were included in this study, 51.1% of whom were male, and the median age was 6 years (range 7 days-17 years), being the 1-5 years age group the more prevalent. Family / cohabitant contact was the main form of exposure to disease. Symptoms included fever (50.2%), cough (45%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (38.7%) (diarrhea in 13%). There were 10 patients with anosmia and eight with ageusia (all older than 5 years) and 14.8% of the children were asymptomatic. Excluding asymptomatic patients, hospitalization occurred in 17 (6.0%) cases, four of whom were adolescents (three obese, one with progressive cancer) and needed oxygen supplementation, and one patient was admitted to the intensive care unit. Discussion: In our center, pediatric infection rate was low, frequently with a mild clinical presentation and after a contact with an infected cohabitant / family member. Asymptomatic patients corresponded to 14.8% of the cases. Of the four patients with more severe disease, all were adolescents and three were obese. The outcome was overall good. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) and Portuguese Journal of Pediatrics 2022. R.

Impact of destination weddings in the tourism economy

Despite representing a recent world trend, wedding tourism felt a growth of 75% the past few years, which shows this market, specifically, the destination weddings niche, is proving to have an optimistic development and becoming a relevant topic in events tourism. The research objective analyses how the destination weddings have contributed for the development of events tourism in Portugal by examining what tactics are being utilised towards an international positioning. A quantitative method was used to achieve the objectives, being that two distinct surveys were elaborated, to foreign couples and another to vendors that take part in the industry. The data triangulation method was adopted with the goal of obtaining robust results by gathering a broader source of data. The results show that the destination weddings market contributes positively to the expansion of the events tourism in Portugal. Couples tend to choose Portugal for their climate, impressive sites and sense of intimacy, but the country needs to improve the transaction payments and present a wider range of advertisement. Regarding Covid-19, it had a negative influence mainly because most foreign couples decided to postpone or cancel the wedding. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Food and beverage industry in a pandemic context

The pandemic has been a serious concern since its arrival in early 2020 around the globe. The aim of this research is to study the decay of the food and beverage industry, facing the pandemic of Covid-19. Throughout this research we have studied the classification of our sample, the fears and discomforts of our respondents regarding the new reality faced and the routine alteration of inquiries and by extension the impacted in the industry. In order to respond to these questions, we have based our investigation in the conception of a survey we have distributed and analysed a predictive model and clustering analysis. The findings drawn in this study were meaningful and lead us to the confirmation of the biggest fears and discomfort reasons when attending restaurants in a pandemic context but also the causes that make individuals reconsider their attendance in restaurant establishments. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

A Tale of Two Doses: Model Identification and Optimal Vaccination for COVID-19

We address the model identification and the computation of optimal vaccination policies for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We consider a stochastic Susceptible- Infected-Removed (SIR) model that captures the effect of multiple vaccine treatments, each requiring a different number of doses and providing different levels of protection against the disease. We show that the inclusion of vaccination data enables the estimation of the state of the model and key model parameters that are otherwise not identifiable. This estimates can, in turn, be used to design strategic approaches to vaccination that aim at minimizing the number of deaths and the economic cost of the disease. We illustrate these results with numerical examples.