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Background: Clinical studies suggest that warmer climates slow the spread of viral infections. In addition, exposure to cold weakens human immunity. Aim: This study describes the relationship between meteorological indicators, the number of cases, and mortality in patients with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. Adult patients who presented to the emergency department with confirmed COVID-19 were included in the study. Meteorological data [mean temperature, minimum (min) temperature, maximum (max) temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed] for the city of Istanbul were collected from the Istanbul Meteorology 1st Regional Directorate. Results: The study population consisted of 169,058 patients. The highest number of patients were admitted in December (n = 21,610) and the highest number of deaths (n = 46) occurred in November. In a correlation analysis, a statistically significant, negative correlation was found between the number of COVID-19 patients and mean temperature (rho = -0.734, P < 0.001), max temperature (rho = -0.696, P < 0.001) or min temperature (rho = -0.748, P < 0.001). Besides, the total number of patients correlated significantly and positively with the mean relative humidity (rho = 0.399 and P = 0.012). The correlation analysis also showed a significant negative relationship between the mean, maximum, and min temperatures and the number of deaths and mortality. Conclusion: Our results indicate an increased number of COVID-19 cases during the 39-week study period when the mean, max, and min temperatures were consistently low and the mean relative humidity was consistently high.
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COVID-19 , Adult , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Meteorological Concepts , Temperature , Retrospective Studies , Cold TemperatureABSTRACT
The sudden implementation of a fully-online education has caught learners in many countries flat-footed, bringing about more responsibilities for self-regulated learning. However, self-regulation seems to be an outstanding challenge facing learner-readiness, satisfaction and achievement in online education during the pandemic period. Nowadays, higher education students fail at effectively self-regulating their online learning experience. Therefore, it is worth identifying whether the situation in this sense has deteriorated or ameliorated during the pandemic process. Thus, this study aimed to understand to what extent higher education students self-regulated their online learning, and what kind of a relationship their self-regulation had with such variables as academic achievement, gender, preferred online learning environment, and attitudes towards the online course (English in this instance). The study also aimed to conduct the validity and reliability analyses of the Turkish version of the scale Self-Regulated Online Learning Questionnaire (SOL-Q). The findings of the study provide educational policy-makers with critical insights into the current situation of fully online education practices in higher education. © 2022 Children Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
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Introduciton: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease with B-cell dysregulation playing an essential role in pathogenesis. As B-cells are also responsible for antibody production, their disfunction could also affect the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Aim(s): To compare the immune response after messenger RNA (mRNA) BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) and inactivated Coronavac vaccines in newly diagnosed treatment-naive MS (tnMS) patients and healthy controls (HC). Method(s): A single-center cross-sectional study evaluating antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 vaccines (inactivated vs mRNA) in HC and newly diagnosed and treatment-naive MS patients. Serum samples were collected at least two weeks after the second dose of the vaccine. The cutoff level of seropositivity is >= 50 antibody unit (AU)/ml. Result(s): 46 participants had two doses of inactivated Coronavac (35 HC and 11 tnMS), and 103 (57 HC and 46 tnMS) had two doses of mRNA. There was no significant difference in antibody response between HC and tnMS in the inactivated vaccine group. In the mRNA group, the antibody titers were significantly higher in HC (p=0.009), though no difference in the seropositivity rates was observed. Conclusion(s): Although MS is an autoimmune inflammatory disease, it does not affect immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in treatment-naive patients.
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Introduction: Disease-modifying therapy (DMT) may decrease the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines, and the antibody response against SARS- CoV-2 is still not fully explored in people with multiple sclerosis(pwMS). Aim(s): To evaluate the immune response after messenger RNA (mRNA) BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) and inactivated Coronavac vaccines in pwMS treated with a DMT compared to healthy controls(HC). Method(s): Patients who came to our MS unit for treatment or routine control were included in the study. Serum samples were collected at least two weeks after the second dose of the vaccine. The cutoff level or seropositivity is >= 50 antibody units (AU)/ml. The antibody titers were compared between HC and each treatment group. Result(s): 815 pwMS treated with DMT, 90 untreated MS patients and 92 healthy controls were enrolled in this single-center crosssectional study. In total, 500 (50.2%) participants received two doses of inactivated Coronavac, and 497(49.8%) received two doses of BNT162b2. In HC group, only one patient who had mRNA vaccine was seronegative. All patients on cladribine (n =14, 100%)and azathioprine (n=5) treatment have seropositive results in both vaccine types. Among treatment groups, fingolimod and ocrelizumab were associated with lower antibody titers (p<0.005). Only in fingolimod group, seropositivity rate was higher for mRNA vaccine compared to inactivated vaccine. The SARS CoV-2 antibody titer was significantly associated with mRNA vaccine [beta= 0.739 (0.067) 95%CI= 0.607;-0.870 p<0.001], EDSS [beta= -0.061 (0.024) 95%CI= -0.108;-0.013 p<0.012], time between second vaccine dose and sample collection dates [beta=-0.002 (0.001) 95%CI= -0.003;-0.001 p<0.001] and relapsing MS type [beta= -0.395 (0.136) 95%CI= -0.662;-0.127 p<0.004] Conclusion(s): Fingolimod and ocrelizumab therapy are associated with decreased immunity after SARS CoV2 vaccines. mRNA type of vaccine is the preferable choice in pwMS.
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Introduction/Objectives: Immunity after two doses of inactivated and messenger RNA(mRNA) SARS-CoV 2 vaccines in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is influenced by the Disease-Modifying Therapy (DMT) and vaccine type used. Being lower in fingolimod, ocrelizumab, and inactivated vaccine groups. A booster dose could change this discrepancy. Aim(s): To compare the immunogenicity of a booster dose of mRNA BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) versus inactivated vaccine, performed after completing two doses of inactivated Coronavac in people with MS (pwMS). Method(s): pwMS and Healthy Controls (HC) who received a booster dose of SARS-CoV 2 mRNA or inactivated vaccine after completing two doses of inactivated Coronovac were enrolled in this single-center cross-sectional study. Serum samples were collected at least two weeks after the third dose of the vaccine. The antibody titers were compared between HC, MS, and each treatment group. Result(s): Each of 339 pwMS and 52 HC received three doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. 283 (72,3%) participants received a booster dose of mRNA, and 108 (27,7%) participants received a booster dose of inactivated Coronavac. In all comparisons, patients treated with ocrelizumab had the lowest antibody titer (p<0.005). In the fingolimod group, booster mRNA caused a higher antibody titer than the inactivated vaccine. In total, pwMS had a lower antibody titer than HC regardless of the vaccine type. In regression analyses having a booster mRNA [beta= -0.671 (0.133) 95%CI= -0.933 - -0.409, p<0.001] and lower disease duration [beta-0.019 (0.010)95%CI= -0.038 - 0.000, p=0.44] were two markers which significantly associated with higher antibody titer in pwMS. Conclusion(s): The study shows that a third dose vaccine is an effective strategy to boost antibody response in the MS population, and the mRNA SARS CoV-2 vaccine's booster is preferable to inactivated ones.
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The purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of Covid-19 fear on travel intention and to test the mediating effect of reliance on vaccine in the relationship between fear of Covid-19 and travel intention. In this context, a structural model was created to examine these three variables: the relationship among fear of Covid-19, travel intention and trust in the vaccine. The quantitative study was carried out through a structural model in order to verify the behavior of the three variables together using Ibm Amos 24 package. A case study based on data collected from 467 public employees across Turkey supported empirically the study. At the end of the analysis, it was found that the fear of Covid-19 significantly and negatively affected the travel intention, while the fear of covid-19 significantly and negatively affected the trust in the vaccine, and no significant relationship was found between the trust in the vaccine and the travel intention. In the model in which the mediation effect was tested, it was found that trust in vaccine did not have a mediating effect on the relationship between fear of Covid-19 and travel intention. Considering these results, suggestions were made for the decision makers of travel, tourism and hospitality industry to be able to recover after the pandemic to create plan for policy and strategies.
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Study Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine process affected people's -normal lives, nutritional types and habits, activities, and psychological/mental states. Due to the COVID-19 -pandemic and restriction decisions, healthcare professionals' workload and working hours have increased. To determine the change in the nutritional habits of healthcare professionals who play the most important role in the COVID-19 pandemic process and their perception of health. Methods: Doctors (specialists or practitioners n=193), nurses/midwives (n=147), medical secretaries and paramedics (n=63) working in state hospitals, university hospitals, family medicine centers, or private hospitals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the study. The perception of health scale and a questionnaire were applied to a totally of 403 participants. Comparisons among the changes in the nutritional habits of healthcare professionals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were performed using the paired t test for continuous variables, -McNemar-Bowker's test for categorical variables. Results: It was observed an increase in the working hours in a day of healthcare professionals. The frequency of having breakfast, having lunch, having dinner, and having snacks had decreased. An increase in the consumption of foods that boost the immune system has been observed. While healthcare professionals had unbalanced nutrition, they were aware of the importance of adequate nutrition. Conclusions: By reaching the number of healthcare professionals who can work adequately and effectively, the working hours of healthcare professionals can be reduced in the pandemic.
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Nowadays, with the increase of e-commerce sites, the cargo sector has been growing rapidly. Also, the pandemic process in consequence of COVID-19 virus in the world shows that cargo transportation is getting more important. In only Turkey, daily distance access reaches 5 million km and couriers visit 7.5 million addresses in one day averagely. In addition, cargo companies are competing to maximize their profits and make more deliveries. In this study, Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) has been focused on. This problem is about searching the optimum route containing lots of destinations. The route calculations in literature are implemented in various ways by using the machine learning algorithm. Mostly, genetic algorithms are encountered as solutions for TSP. In this study, in contrast to traditional genetic algorithms, a novel genetic algorithm supporting multi parameters towards the requirements of the cargo firms is proposed. Thus, six options in routing calculation have been determined and provided to address the needs of carriers. These selections are the only distance, only duration, both distance and duration, only distance and customer priority, only duration and customer priority, and all of distance, duration, and customer priority. According to the selection, genetic algorithm parameters are set to calculate routes. In this way, 'customer priority, if necessary, the fastest distribution or the most savings' can be provided. Moreover, it is defended that saving time, increasing the profitability rate of cargo companies, increasing the satisfaction of users and customers, furthermore, reduced carbon emissions indirectly can be provided accompanied by the study. © 2020 IEEE.