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The lockdown of museums and schools during the COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to find alternative ways to bring culture to students. This was the case of an English for tourism course at a Portuguese higher education institution. To prepare students for the course content centred around tour guiding, a Google Arts & Culture themed exhibition was implemented. Students had the opportunity to curate their own art exhibition based on a topic of interest to them. This case study aimed to investigate the benefits of utilising art found online during a pandemic to teach English as a foreign language to tourism undergraduate students. Results indicated that the overall project developed students' English language skills in a creative and meaningful way. © Peter Lang GmbH. International Academic Publishers Berlin 2023. All rights reserved.
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Objective. The objective was to know the coping strategies adopted by health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method. This was an exploratory research. The participants were 155 health professionals (female 68.2, male 31.8) from northeastern Brazil, mostly from Piaui (39.1%) and Ceara (22.5%), and a mean age of 33.26 years (SD = 7.94). Results. Through a Descending Hierarchical Classification (CHD), the main corpus was divided into two branches: Class 1: Socio-emotional support and spirituality, and Class 2: Entertainment activities, showing that professionals used coping strategies with a focus on the problem and emotion. They pointed out the importance of social contact, spirituality, and entertainment for emotional well-being.
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The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has generated an increase in the consumption of personal protective equipment focused on reducing the risk of contagion and respiratory affectations, being the masks the fundamental article to combat the spread according to the World Health Organization, where the surgical mask is the most used worldwide, made entirely of polypropylene, taking 400 years to disintegrate being 90% of these masks end their useful life in streets, landfills or even in the ocean. To decrease contamination sugarcane bagasse due to its availability and percentage of cellulose has important characteristics to be used as a biodegradable filter media as the first step to incorporate it into a cloth mask. Three cellulose extraction methodologies were stipulated based on acid hydrolysis using H2SO4 and alkaline hydrolysis using NaOH, in acid routes there is a rupture of the β 1-4 glycosidic bonds generating glucose affecting the % of cellulose, giving reason to the use of alkaline hydrolysis at 5% w/v with a yield of 32.00 %, 80.39 % in its extraction and taking advantage of the black liquor generated in the alkaline hydrolysis towards cogeneration. Finally, as the filter media is an organic nonwoven, its disintegration time is shorter compared to the polypropylene nonwoven, evidenced in a qualitative study of vermicomposting by implementing Californian earthworm, governed by EN-13432, with 18°C, moisture above 50%, pH of roughly 9 and a C/N ratio of 25:1 are taken into account, resulting in a total disintegration of the filter media in 26 days compared with dry leaves, both sources of carbon. Copyright © 2022, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.
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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Telemedicine has been increasingly utilized in the management of urologic patients since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Overactive bladder (OAB) is a condition that may ideally suited for the use of telemedicine as initial treatment options are behavioral modification and pharmacotherapy. We sought to evaluate if there was an overall difference in patient follow up rates between telemedicine visits and in-person visits. METHODS: New patients presenting to our clinic with OAB from 7/2020 to 2/2021 were randomized into 2 follow-up groups, telemedicine and in-person visits. After each visit, patients were prompted to complete a survey regarding their visit experience. A prospective database was maintained to compare follow-up rates, satisfaction rates, and time commitment in each group. RESULTS: A total of 46 patients were randomized, 24 to the telemedicine group and 22 to the in-person group. There were no significant differences in baseline demographics, Urogenital Distress Inventory-6/Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 scores, or history of telemedicine experience. There was no significant difference in followup rates between the telemedicine and in-person follow-up groups at 30-days (33% vs. 27%, p=0.66), or 60-days (63% vs. 50% p=0.39). Satisfaction rates were extremely high and there was no significant difference between the groups. There was a significant difference between the average telemedicine visit time and in-person visit time (10.88 mins vs. 21.84 mins, p=0.004). For in-person visits, the average travel time was 48 minutes (range 10-90 mins) and average miles traveled was 21 miles (range 5-35 miles). Patients in the telemedicine group reported technical difficulties in 12% of follow-up appointments (N=2). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in followup or satisfaction rates between telemedicine and in-person visits. Inperson visits took half the length of time compared to in-person visits. On average patients in the telemedicine group saved approximately 1 hour per follow-up visit. Telemedicine visits save both the provider and patient significant amounts of time without sacrificing patient satisfaction and follow-up rates.
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Background: Due to COVID-19, team has piloted new service of volunteers supporting patients/relatives isolated home using telephone and videocalls, with global good response to this initiative. The literature review shows no robust studies associating palliative care (PC) volunteering with new technologies (NT). Aims: The main goal is implementing and evaluating volunteer training programme in the use of NT (specifically smartphones and tablets) to support patients facing life-threatening illness and relatives. Specific objectives are: 1. Explore need and usefulness of NT from point of view of patients/relatives, volunteers and health care professionals (HCP) in PC and describe technological profile. 2. Design techvolunteer curriculum and implement techvolunteer training programme. 3. Implement techvolunteer programme within PC home care service and Inpatient unit and assess impact on care provided. Methods: Pilot study: 20 volunteers and 70 patients/relatives. Mix-methods design allows combining quantitative measures of implementation with in-depth qualitative data to provide detailed understanding intervention functioning on small scale. Pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial to test efficacy (unit of randomization is the volunteer and unit of analysis is patient/relative). Before-after design to test effectiveness (volunteers and HCP satisfaction with intervention and its implementation). Cost-utility study. Interviews (individuals and groupal) with HPC, volunteers and key informants of patients/relatives to test the beginning need and usefulness of NT, and during implementation process to test changes and experiences. Intention to treat analysis. Conclusion: This study will bring real evidence toward NT integration as useful tool not only to facilitate communication between volunteers and patients/relatives, but also to turn NT into instruments support daily living and enhance care, when in the hands of trained tech-volunteers.
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Background: GC represents a worldwide problem;radical surgery remaining the gold standard of curative treatment. In the West, even with peri-operative chemotherapy, 5-year survival rate is approximately 40%. GC is a heterogeneous disease, well characterized by different molecular classifications, all having in common the role of the immune system and a T-cell inflamed phenotype across all subtypes. The anti-PD-L1 Av antibody has demonstrated efficacy in GC with response rates of around 10% in the refractory setting. The addition of other immune checkpoint inhibitors to chemotherapy have demonstrated efficacy in the metastatic setting. The combination of Av to perioperative chemotherapy may increase pathological responses by a synergistic effect, and then improving the survival (OS). Methods: The MONEO is an open-label, non-randomized, multicentric, phase II study that explores the combination of Av plus peri-operative FLOT (docetaxel, oxaliplatin, fluorouracil/leucovorin) in resectable GC pts. EudraCT 2019-000782-21;ClinicalTrials NCT03979131. Main inclusion criteria require pts with histologically proven GC, stage Ib (T1N1 only) - IIIC (7th AJCC Ed), available paraffin block from diagnosis and surgery, evaluable disease (RECIST 1.1) amenable to radical surgery. Significant comorbidities and active autoimmune diseases are excluded. Treatment consists of surgery with 4 peri-operatory cycles of FLOT + Av, followed by Av up to one year. The primary objective is the pathological complete response (pCR) rate, compared to historical data. Secondary objectives include OS, disease-free survival, R0 resection rate, tolerability and biomarker analysis. Key point is the comprehensive biomarker analysis from tissue and blood samples (pathological immune response, TCR clonality, immune contexture characterization, immunodynamic monitoring). Statistics for an estimated 33% pCR (historical 16%), 82% power, 0.1 one-side type I error. 37 pts will be recruited from 10 Spanish centers. The sponsor is Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), principal investigators Dr. Melero and Dr. Alsina. In compliance with the Helsinki Declaration. At a data cut-off day of 5 of February 2021, 38 patients have been enrolled, 27 of them have had the surgery. Although the difficulties during the COVID19 pandemia, only two patients had been withdrawn from the study.
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Background: Patient reported outcomes measures (PROMs) represent a tool to objectively assess the health of cancer patients. PROMs may complement oncological evaluations by adding patients' perspectives on their care priorities. Aim: to address more accurately the management of tumor related symptoms or drug related toxicities to bring he therapies more accurately to bring patients the best quality of life diarrhea, dyspnea, vomiting and nausea. These symptoms were graded according to their severity using the Common Toxicity Criteria v5.0. Results: 49 patients admitted to Medical Oncology Hospitalization were included from July of 2020 to January 2021, 80% in advanced disease. Median age 63yo, 32% above 70 yo. Baseline data showed that 27% patients (19% stage IV) had fever at admission, decreasing at 48h to 4%. Patients who had vomiting at admission were 33% (28% stage IV) median grade 2 becoming 20% and grade 1 at 48h. Nausea was present in 49% patients (35% stage IV) at the time of admission with a median grade 1.5, and it decreased to 16% at 48h with a median grade 2. Diarrhea was reported in 12% patients (6% stage IV) median grade 2 at baseline and it was reduced to 10% median grade 1 at 48h. The median severity of diarrhea at admission was 2 and only 1 at 48h. At admission, 33% (all stage IV) of patients presented dyspnea with a median grade 3, while at 48h it was present in 26% of patients and reduced to median grade 2. Conclusions: By systematically measuring symptoms, patients achieved better control of diarrhea, dyspnea, vomiting and nausea after admission. It should be noted that nausea was the variable that decreased the most at 48h, followed by fever, vomiting, dyspnea and diarrhea. All patients with stage IV disease had dyspnea and most of them had nausea and vomiting. These results reflect that these symptoms are more usual in patients with advanced disease compared to those with localized disease. PROMS also help us educate patients by teaching them how to manage treatments, thus improving therapeutic adherence.