ABSTRACT
With the appearance of the COVID 19 pandemic, a suspension of face-to-face activities in the university educational field was established in Argentina in March 2020. The teaching-learning process (EA) in the basic area of dental careers became virtual. In this context of adaptation to the virtual EA process, a diversity of problems arose that conditioned its normal development. In addition to these difficulties for the students, there is scarce academic training for the new entrants of this year who have completed their secondary-level studies in 2020. The objective of this work was to identify, interpret, analyze and diagnose the integral situation of the student population in the context of a pandemic, to know the socio-demographic characteristics, academic backgrounds, different technological applications that they use, computer, technological and socio-affective problems;willingness to maintain virtuality;teacher performance. A descriptive, cross-sectional, observational, retrospective, and qualitative-quantitative study was developed. A mixed semi-structured survey using a Google form, 245 students studying Histology and Embryology, the first year of the Dentistry career of the UNR years 2020 and 2021, voluntary and anonymous, with multiple single answer options, with an expected non-response rate of less than 25%. It was available for 10 calendar days. The modality adopted was multiple choice of a single answer. An analytical comparison was made with a study carried out with similar characteristics for students in the 2020 cycle. The most obvious difficulties manifested in this analytical study are based on socio-demographic problems, with the majority of the students residing outside the city of Rosario. Socio-economically, their academic performance has seriously worsened, because in many situations they are family support. In the previous training of the middle school, it was evidenced that the virtuality of the closing of the cycle was deficient in the pre-university preparation. In relation to the socio-affective, a feeling of dissatisfaction and anguish prevails. Furthermore, technological inaccessibility in many situations acted unfavorably. In comparison, the problems maintain a similarity, but in 2021 there is a marked increase in the academic dropout rate, as well as a decrease in academic performance.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Identifying effective drugs for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is urgently needed. An efficient approach is to evaluate whether existing approved drugs have anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects. The antiviral properties of lithium salts have been studied for many years. Their anti-inflammatory and immune-potentiating effects result from the inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3. AIMS: To obtain pre-clinical evidence on the safety and therapeutic effects of lithium salts in the treatment of COVID-19. RESULTS: Six different concentrations of lithium, ranging 2-12 mmol/L, were evaluated. Lithium inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 4 mmol/L. Lithium-treated wells showed a significantly higher percentage of monolayer conservation than viral control, particularly at concentrations higher than 6 mmol/L, verified through microscopic observation, the neutral red assay, and the determination of N protein in the supernatants of treated wells. Hamsters treated with lithium showed less intense disease with fewer signs. No lithium-related mortality or overt signs of toxicity were observed during the experiment. A trend of decreasing viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs and lungs was observed in treated hamsters compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide pre-clinical evidence of the antiviral and immunotherapeutic effects of lithium against SARS-CoV-2, which supports an advance to clinical trials on COVID-19's patients.