ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic definitely changed the management of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This study followed the modalities of treatments in patients with BPH associated with SARS-CoV-2 attending the Urology Clinic of "Sf. Ioan" Emergency Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania. Material and methods:The present study included 81 patients (mean age 63.2 years, age range 55-87 years) with SARS-CoV-2 and BPH who were admitted to our Urology Department between January 2021 and January 2022. The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 was based on the PCR test and that of BPH by using the diagnostic triad consisting of digital rectal examination, PSA, free PSA and ultrasound examination. It should be noted that some of the hospitalized patients were following treatment with alpha blockers and/or 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors at the time of admission. Results:Out of the 81 hospitalized cases, 13 required emergency endoscopic intervention under spinal anaesthesia (TURP or TURisP) for haemostasis because those patients presented with persistent haematuria which did not respond to conservative treatment. A number of 17 cases showed acute urinary retention during hospitalization and a urethrovesical catheter was fitted and will be re-evaluated urologically after the COVID episode. Of the remaining 51 subjects with BPH, 17 already had chronic urinary retention on admission, with urethrovesical probe present, 13 cases began during hospitalization with alpha-blocker treatment associated with 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors; meanwhile, there were no urological interventions to modify the treatment regimen in the remaining 21 patients, who were strictly managed on the side of COVID-19 infection. Conclusion:There was no clear influence of the evolution of patients with BPH due to SARS-CoV-2 pathology, and the general management trend was to delay chronic cases until the time of viral infection remission.
ABSTRACT
In the last few years, but even more so given the context the COVID-19 pandemic, a large series of global and local changes have occurred in all areas of life, including the way food is perceived and procured. The orientation towards local food as a preferred choice has gained more followers which are interested in economic, social and environmental effects of the way the world uses all kinds of resources to meet its nutritional needs. Local food involves a special kind of food systems approach in terms of determining factors and resulting implications for all actors involved. The paper deals with emphasizing different aspects of local food systems, including both agri-food producers and consumer's drivers together with the effects of rethinking the way people choose to procure their food. The link to sustainable development is clearly highlighted using the multiple implications of this agri-food system upon different sectors and dimensions.
ABSTRACT
Limiting autopsies in deaths caused by COVID-19 reduced our ability to gain knowledge regarding many aspects of this lethal disease and also to answer potential medico-legal issues. Accordingly, it upraised the importance of the careful analysis of the clinical and biochemical determinants of the fatal evolution in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Maintenance dialysis patients, associating many comorbid conditions and an immunosuppressed status, are prone to a severe outcome of this disease. Since we were designated as a hospital dedicated exclusively to moderate/severe COVID-19 infections, we conducted an observational, single-center study in the Nephrology and Dialysis Department, aiming the analysis of mortality risk factors and determinants in maintenance hemodialysis patients admitted for this infection, which we discuss along with a focused review of the similar experiences in the last year's literature.
ABSTRACT
Research published on COVID-19 pandemic offers the unexpected opportunity to overcome some of the challenges for both the altmetrics and the bibliometrics indicators with respect to the heterogeneity of the data under evaluation and it presents us with a case study for investigating the correlation amoSng altmetrics and scientific impact indicators. There is extensive early research on COVID-19, some of them highly cited and classified as hot papers in Web of Science. In this study 126 journal articles on early COVID-19 research, indexed in Web of Science were analyzed to determine if the altmetrics are related to the scientific impact of the paper, measured by peer assessment and bibliometric indicators. Relationships and underlying dimensions of the traditional measurements and altmetrics are investigated through principal component analysis, factor analysis and correlations. Overall, the results show that Mendeley counts (reads) indicate their potential use for predicting WoS citations, the Altmetric attention score, shows a relatively low correlation with the later WoS citations, while Google Scholar, while used with caution, can be used as a predictor of future citations counts in WoS.