Medical education transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic in a national hospital

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has generated important transformations in society. In higher education, especially in those institutions and tertiary care centers with training programs for medical specialists, the con-finement measures generated significant challenges for the continuity of their internal processes and, particularly, in the teaching-teaching processes, and new strategies to preserve medical education were created. Objective: To analyze the perception of graduate stu- dents about educational transformations based on the organizational changes that were implemented for virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care hospital. Method: Study with a mixed, quantitative and qualitative design, which included 100 medical specialists in training from the National Institute of Cardiology "Igna-cio Chávez”. A survey with 151 items was developed, which was applied to the total sample. In addition, 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 13 questions were conducted. Qualitative data was analyzed through the MAXQDA version 18 program and quantitative data was analyzed using the R version 3.6.0 program. Results: A type of radical-adaptive change is shown, which materialized with the emergence of new practices and forms of organization linked to information and com-munication technologies (ICT) in the teaching-learning processes. Conclusions: Due to the pandemic, the implementation of strategies linked to the use of ICT allowed the continuity of the training processes in the specialists. In addition, a type of learning will be presented that allows enriching educational processes, both pedagogical and organi-zational. © 2023, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. All rights reserved.

Unequal literacy development and access to online education in public versus private Panamanian schools during COVID-19 pandemic

National and international tests have yielded low reading comprehension results for education in Panama, although there is limited information regarding literacy development and performance. There are wide gaps in social inequality, access to technology, and public versus private school achievement. Considering this, after a year off from regular face-to-face classes and a partial transition to online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study utilizes existing data to carry out a pre-post comparison of the reading performance of fourth (n = 167) and sixth (n = 164) grade students in the province of Panama employing a subsample stratified by educational system for comparability (Mann–Whitney U test, α = 0.05). The pre-post comparison was also carried out independently in both the public (n = 235) and private (n = 106) systems, as well as an additional comparison of the average weekly hours of online academic engagement in both systems during the pandemic in fourth (n = 117) and sixth grade (n = 109). The results support a significant decrease in reading performance. Based on the comparative analysis, findings indicate that public school students interacted online with their teachers significantly less than their private schools' counterparts;and that, in the same sample, only the public-school students exhibited a significant decrease in reading speed by phonological and lexical route with a medium effect size compared to pre-pandemic standards, greater than those reported in other contexts. This highlights the need to develop effective strategies to narrow the existing educational gaps in the country, which seem to have widened due to the pandemic, with particular emphasis on reading performance in primary school. Copyright © 2023 Cubilla-Bonnetier, Grajales-Barrios, Ortega-Espinosa, Puertas and De León Sautú.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in neonates associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a different entity?

BACKGROUND: Multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a novel disease that is associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). MIS-C usually affects children older than 5 years of age and adolescents, with a median of 8-years and an interquartile range of 3 to 11 years. A multisystemic inflammatory disease has been described in neonates and named MIS-N (multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in Neonates). We report three cases of Mexican newborns with MIS-N presenting with multiorgan compromise and a positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG who developed Kawasaki disease (KD)-like cardiac features and discuss the current dilemma regarding diagnosis and treatment in these patients.

COVIUAM: A mobile app to get information about COVID-19 cases

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, its rapid spread and its death rate caused governments to make drastic decisions such as closing borders, establishing curfews, closing businesses, etc. in order to break the chains of infections. In many countries mobile apps were developed to have information on possible contagions and prevent their spread. This paper describes COVIUAM, a mobile app that collects information on suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in members of the Metropolitan Autonomous University. Through the data collected by COVIUAM app, patterns can be identified in the information, for example in symptomatology data. The article highlights the design and architecture of COVIUAM app and presents two evaluations, one quantitative and one qualitative of the information collected and the use of the application. © 2021 IEEE.

Mental health and COVID-19 in a general population cohort in Spain (COVICAT study).

PURPOSE: Mental health conditions may affect outcome of COVID-19 disease, while exposure to stressors during the pandemic may impact mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine these factors in relation to ocurrence of depression and anxiety after the first outbreak in Spain. METHODS: We contacted 9515 participants from a population-based cohort study in Catalonia between May and October 2020. We drew blood samples to establish infection to the virus. Pre-pandemic mental health conditions were confirmed through Electronic Health Registries. We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to assess severe depression and anxiety post-pandemic. Exposure to proximal, financial and wider environment stressors during the lockdown were collected. We calculated Relative Risks (RR), adjusting for individual- and contextual covariates. RESULTS: Pre-pandemic mental health disorders were not associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection , but were associated with severity of COVID-19 disease. People with pre-existing mental health disorders showed higher prevalence of severe depression (25.4%) and anxiety (37.8%) than those without prior mental disorders (4.9% and 10.1%). Living alone was a strong predictor of severe depression among mental health patients (RR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.2). Among those without prior mental health disorders, post-lockdown depression and anxiety were associated with household interpersonal conflicts (RR = 2.6, 95% CI 2.1-3.1; RR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.9-2.4) and financial instability (RR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.8-2.9; 1.9, 95% CI 1.6-2.2). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown were associated with increased post-lockdown depression and anxiety. Patients with pre-existing mental health conditions are a vulnerable group for severe COVID-19 disease.

Classification of Pulmonary Diseases from X-ray Images Using a Convolutional Neural Network

In this work, the classification of current diseases in population that can be detected from X-ray radiographs is proposed;the diseases are COVID-19 that threaten life and health, also tuberculosis, which continues to be a global health problem, and viral and bacterial cases of pneumonia that present initial symptoms similar to COVID-19 and Tuberculosis. For the classification, a convolutional neural network (CNN) of its own and the ResNet-50 were proposed, which has had good results in other investigations. The results obtained regarding the Accuracy metric for ResNet-50 is 0.72%, while for the proposed model, it is 0.87%. Therefore, this proposal has better correct predictions. However, it is noted that there is a lot of confusion between viral pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia, as they have very similar symptoms and characteristics. The radiographs without diseases are also not classified adequately since, although they do not present any disease of those classified, that does not guarantee that they do not have a problem of another type. These two problems were evident in both models. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Tell me what you are like and I will tell you what you believe in: Social representations of COVID-19 in the Americas, Europe and Asia

This study analyzes the range and content of Social Representations (SRs) about the COVID-19 pandemic in 21 geographical zones from 17 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia (N = 4430). Based on Social Representations Theory, as well as the psychosocial consequences of pandemics and crises, we evaluate the perceptions of severity and risks, the agreement with different SRs, and participants' Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). Different sets of beliefs are discussed as SRs, together with their prevalence and association with contextual variables. Results show that severity and risk perceptions were associated with different SRs of the pandemic. Specifically, those focused on Emerging Externalizing zoonotic and ecological factors (the virus is due to Chinese unhygienic habits and the overexploitation of the planet), Polemic Conspiracies (the virus is a weapon), views of Elite and Mass Villains (the elites deceive us and profit with the pandemic), and Personal Responsibility (the neglectful deserves contagion) during the pandemic. Furthermore, most of the SRs are anchored in SDO and, more strongly, in RWA orientations. Additional meta-analyses and multi-level regressions show that the effects are replicated in most geographical areas and that risk perception was a consistent explanatory variable, even after controlling for demographics and `real risk' (i.e., actual numbers of contagion and death). Results suggest that, while coping with and making sense of the pandemic, authoritarian subjects agree with SR that feed a sense of social control and legitimize outgroup derogation, and support punishment of ingroup low-status deviants.