ABSTRACT
This book seeks to better understand the meaning and implications of the UKs calamitous encounter with the COVID-19 global pandemic for the future of British neoliberalism. Construing COVID-19 as a political pandemic and mobilising a novel applied political philosophy approach, the authors cultivate fresh intellectual resources, both analytical and normative, to better understand why the UK failed the COVID-19 test and how it might ‘fail forward' so as to strengthen its resilience. COVID-19 they argue, has intercepted the UK government's decades-long experimentation with neoliberalism at what appears to be a threshold moment in this model's life course. Neoliberalism has served as a key progenitor of the country's vulnerability: the pandemic has cruelly unveiled the failings of neoliberal logics and legacies which have placed the country at elevated risk and hampered its response. The pandemic in turn has attenuated underlying systemic maladies inherent in British neoliberalism and served as a great disruptor and potential accelerant of history;a consequential episode in the tumultuous life of this politico-economic model. To meaningfully ‘build back better', a true renaissance of social democracy is needed. Drawing upon the neorepublican tradition of political philosophy, the authors confront neoliberalism's hegemonic but parochial concept of human freedom as non-interference and place the neorepublican idea of freedom as non-domination in the service of building a new UK social contract. This book will be of interest to political philosophers, political geographers, medical sociologists, public-health scholars, and epidemiologists, to stakeholders engaged in the public inquiry processes now gathering momentum globally and to architects of build back better programmes, especially in western advanced capitalist economies. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic we developed an activity that encourages engagement with scientific reading and helps students to improve their reading skills as a complement to the glycobiology section of an undergraduate course of biological chemistry. Using Genially, an online platform for gamification and self-taught learning, we designed the activity named "Discovering a glycoprotein: The case of the H,K-ATPase” based on the characterization of the β-subunit of the gastric H,K-ATPase, a glycoprotein discovered in the 1960s. While testing users' knowledge in glycobiology, the game invites them to follow the research steps throughout four missions, where the experimental details and their results are presented. After solving the missions, participants were invited to answer a questionnaire through Google forms. Our results showed that the game is useful for students as it introduces an innovative way of analyzing a scientific article different from the conventional activities that students typically face without teacher assistance and in many cases do not complete. We expect that our pilot-study will be an additional boost for the implementation of gamification in the science classroom, and in turn, serve as an example of the importance of gamification in future teacher training as an assisting tool to traditional education methods. © 2022 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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Background: In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) the need for intervention increases with disease severity and a risk prediction model that incorporates biomarkers would be beneficial for identifying patients for treatment escalation. Aim(s): To investigate biomarkers changes associated with disease severity and outcomes (mortality, thrombosis). Method(s): COVID-19 patients were sampled between April 15 and May 31 2020. Disease severity was assessed by World Health Organization (WHO) ordinal scale. 132 systemic biomarkers were investigated by routine and multiplex assays and statistical analysis performed to characterise the biomarker profile of COVID-19 patients associated with disease severity, duration, survival and thrombosis. Result(s): The study enrolled 150 COVID-19 positive adults and 16 healthy volunteers. The average age was 64 years, 59% were male, 85% had co-morbidities, 33% had a thrombotic event, and 13% died. A cross comparative analysis of biomarkers identified 13 biomarkers common to severity, mortality and thrombosis with significant correlation;including endothelial dysfunction (VWF, tPA, TFPI), hypercatabolism (low albumin, Hb, FXIII) and inflammatory response (IL-8, Osteopontin). Similarly, 14 biomarkers associated with severity and mortality included pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors (sTNFRII, STNFRI, sIL2a, IL6, MIP1a), neutrophils (elevated WBC, Neutrophils, TIMP1) and tissue remodelling (SCGF, EG3A). Nine biomarkers common across severity and thrombosis were angiogenesis (VEGF, LYVE1, Follistatin), acute phase response (SAP, AGP) and clot formation (Fibrinogen and PAPs). Conclusion(s): The biomarker profile associated with poorer outcomes indicates an inflammatory response, endothelial cell disruption, hypercoagulability and hypercatabolism. This study has identified several biomarkers that may be useful indicators of disease severity and progression. Further work is needed to determine how these may be used to direct clinical management. (Figure Presented).
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Background: Alveolar fibrin deposition and pulmonary microthrombi are pathophysiological features of COVID-19- induced respiratory failure. Nebulised thrombolysis offers locally targeted therapy with potentially lower bleed risk than systemic administration. Aim(s): To investigate the safety and potential for clinical efficacy of nebulised recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) for improving oxygenation in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 complicated by mild to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Method(s): Patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and a PaO2/ FiO2 (P/F) ratio of <300 (units), requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) or non-invasive respiratory support (NIRS) received 40-60 mg per day of rt-PA, dosed for <=14 days in a phase II, open-label, single-centre pilot study. Efficacy was assessed via improved oxygenation. Safety was assessed by treatment-related serious adverse event bleeding and reduction of fibrinogen to <1.0-1.5 g/L. Result(s): Nine (Cohort 1 [C1];6/9 IMV, 3/9 NIRS) and 26 adults (Cohort 2 [C2];12/26 IMV, 14/26 NIRS) received nebulised rt-PA alongside standard of care. Matched historical controls (HC) (n = 18) were used for comparison in C1. Mean P/F ratio increased in both C1 groups from baseline (BL) to end of study (EOS) (rt-PA;154.4 to 298.8 vs. HC;154.1 to 211.6);a linear mixed effect model confirmed higher P/F ratios in the rt-PA group. Among C2 groups, greater improvements in mean P/F ratio from BL to EOS were seen in the NIRS group (NIRS;125.5 to 239.4 vs. IMV;120.3 to 188.2). Four potentially treatment-related bleeds were reported;no clinically significant fibrinogen reductions were observed. Lower mortality was observed in the C1 rt-PA group (11.1%) vs. the HC group (55.6%) and in the C2 NIRS group (21.4%) vs. the IMV group (41.7%). Conclusion(s): Nebulised rt-PA is well-tolerated, improves oxygenation in patients with COVID-19- related ARDS, and merits a randomised controlled trial to confirm efficacy and potentially identify a subgroup of interest.
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Background: Increasing evidence suggests that endothelial activation and dysfunction contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis by altering vessel integrity, promoting pro-coagulative and inflammatory state. Aims: 1. Investigate changes in coagulation, inflammation and endothelium associated with the progression and severity of COVID-19, as well as their correlation to survival and/or occurrence of venous thromboembolic events (VTE). 2. Explore potential new biomarkers to predict COVID-19 severity. Methods: Samples were collected from COVID-19 patients after appropriate consent. Disease severity was assessed with WHO ordinal scale on day of sampling. In addition to routine haematology, biochemistry and coagulation analysis, additional analysis spanning coagulation, endothelium, platelet, inflammatory biomarkers by conventional assays and multiplex immuno-assays were undertaken. Results: Participants included 151 COVID-19 patients aged 18 years and greater, 16 healthy volunteers and 9 non-COVID-19 ICUcontrols. COVID-19 patients were categorised in 7 groups based on severity and time from symptom onset and the data also provides mortality and VTE rates (Table 1). The biomarker profile of hospitalised COVID-19 patients demonstrated an increase in plasma levels of cytokines, inflammatory, soluble endothelial cell markers and markers of coagulation activation when compared to the ambulatory group (Figure 1). Significantly higher levels of inflammatory markers (CRP, WBC, fibrinogen, serum amyloid P, alpha 1 acid glycoprotein) were observed in patients with VTE and in the non-survivors group. Interestingly, the same trend was seen for coagulation (FVIII, VWF) and fibrinolysis markers (D-dimer, TFPI, t-PA) with higher levels in the VTE and non-survivors group. In addition, higher plasma levels of endothelial markers (ICAM-1, angiopoietin, TIE-2, LYVE-1, syndecan) were observed in severe COVID-19 when compared to non-COVID-19 ICU-controls. (Figure Presented) Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of a strong, global inflammatory response in COVID-19 patients. The elevation of circulating markers suggests significant endothelial cell activation/dysfunction and a possible cause for the pro-coagulant phenotype observed in these patients.
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The objective of this research paper is to understand the mentality and preferences of E- sports players in the country. With a pandemic such as COVID-19 disrupting the entire market there were very few industries that actually boomed during this period and one such industry was the E-sports industry. With the imposition of lockdown in the country, it was noticed that a large number of people had started playing E-sports and the demand for E-sport related accessories has also seen a sudden surge. With such tremendous rise in the E-sports Industry there are a lot of aspects that needs to understand about the E-sports scenario in the country. The purpose of this research is to understand the taste and preferences of various E-sports players and what are the basic amenities that Indian players utilize. © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.