ABSTRACT
Exposure to right-wing media has been shown to be related to lower perceived threat from COVID-19, lower compliance with prophylactic measures against it, and higher incidence of infection and death. What features of right-wing media messages may account for these effects? In a preregistered cross-sectional study (N = 554), we tested a model that differentiates perceived consequences of two CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations - washing hands and staying home - for basic human values. People who consumed more right-wing media perceived these behaviors as less beneficial for their personal security, for the well-being of close ones, and the well-being of society at large. Perceived consequences of following the CDC recommendations mediated the relationship between media consumption and compliance with recommendations. Implications for public health messaging are discussed.
ABSTRACT
The article offers a view at relevant issues of contemporary trends in employing remote learning technologies in academic environment, and transformation of higher education based on the example of the North-Caucasus Federal University, including through the given epidemic situation due to COVID-19 in the Russian Federation. The aim of the study is to analyze the implementation of the educational content developed in 2018 at the North-Caucasus Federal University in order to teach Mathematics via distance learning technologies (DLT), as well as to evaluate the experience of using the said remote model within the new academic paradigm, which is due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is a view at a modified distance learning model involving mixed learning, which has been introduced into the educational process and tested. Its implementation has relied on LMS Moodle (LMS—Learning Management System;Moodle—Modular Object-Oriented Distance Learning Environment). There is also a review of the virtual academic environment, the model of structure, its major principles and specific of its functioning and management, as well as a statistical analysis of the outcomes obtained through introducing the model in education. The article focuses on the main differences between the concepts of “distance learning” and “modified distance learning model”, analyzes their strong and weak points, defines the major benefits of using the latter in the educational environment. The issue in question is view of from the stance of relevance and possible introduction of the said methodology for employing the potential contained in the distance learning technology. There is a special individual view offered at the issue mentioned above, as well as a possible way to resolve that. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, emerged in late 2019, and was declared a global pandemic on March 11th 2020. With over 50 million cases and 1.2 million deaths around the world, to date, this pandemic represents the gravest global health crisis of our times. Thus, the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is an urgent global imperative. At the time of writing, there are over 165 vaccine candidates being developed, with 33 in various stages of clinical testing. In this review, we discuss emerging insights about the human immune response to SARS-CoV-2, and their implications for vaccine design. We then review emerging knowledge of the immunogenicity of the numerous vaccine candidates that are currently being tested in the clinic and discuss the range of immune defense mechanisms that can be harnessed to develop novel vaccines that confer durable protection against SARS-CoV-2. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the potential role of a systems vaccinology approach in accelerating the clinical testing of vaccines, to meet the urgent needs posed by the pandemic.