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Objectives: COVID 19 and increasing unmet needs of health technology had accelerated an adoption of digital health globally and the major categories are mobile-health, health information technology, telemedicine. Digital health interventions have various benefit on clinical efficacy, quality of care and reducing healthcare costs. The objective of the study is to identify new reimbursement policy trend of digital health medical devices in South Korea. Method(s): Official announcements published in national bodies and supplementary secondary research were used to capture policies, frameworks and currently approved products since 2019. Result(s): With policy development, several digital health devices and AI software have been introduced as non-reimbursement by utilizing new Health Technology Assessment (nHTA) pathway including grace period of nHTA and innovative medical devices integrated assessment pathway. AI based cardiac arrest risk management software (DeepCARS) and electroceutical device for major depressive disorders (MINDD STIM) have been approved as non-reimbursement use for about 3 years. Two digital therapeutics for insomnia and AI software for diagnosis of cerebral infarction were approved as the first innovative medical devices under new integrated assessment system, and they could be treated in the market. In addition, there is remote patient monitoring (RPM) reimbursement service fee. Continuous glucose monitoring devices have been reimbursed for type 1 diabetes patients by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) since January 2019. Homecare RPM service for peritoneal dialysis patients with cloud platform (Sharesource) has been reimbursed since December 2019, and long-term continuous ECG monitoring service fee for wearable ECG monitoring devices (ATpatch, MEMO) became reimbursement since January 2022. Conclusion(s): Although Korean government has been developed guidelines for digital health actively, only few products had been reimbursed. To introduce new technologies for improved patient centric treatment, novel value-based assessment and new pricing guideline of digital health medical devices are quite required.Copyright © 2023
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The retirement of old workers increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and health concerns are considered to be a critical factor. To understand the effect of pure health concerns during the pandemic, we analyze the impact of the aggregate health shock on retirement decisions using a life cycle model. The aggregate health shock changes the economy from the normal state to the pandemic state, where the probability of adverse idiosyncratic health shock increases, especially if agents are working. Simulation results suggest that the shock accelerates the retirement of agents aged over 60. The increase in retirement is significant even though the shock is expected to be temporary. Also, the effect hinges on the assumption that working poses a greater risk of receiving a negative health shock than retiring. Even accounting for the large income and wealth changes that US households experienced in 2020, a counterfactual experiment suggests that the aggregate health shock plays a prominent role in increasing retirement.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of key decision-making attributes on consumers' choice of accommodation among and between hotels and Airbnb. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a choice-based conjoint approach using 21 key decision-making factors that impact consumers' choice of accommodation across five segments ranging from economy to luxury. Latent class estimation was used to identify segments of respondents who tend to have similar preferences for accommodation. Findings: The results showed the presence of a consistent pattern of decision-making across the five accommodation segments, culminating in a hierarchy of importance in accommodation choice. The 21 key decision-making attributes comprised three tiers in order of decreasing importance: quality and service, amenities, and accessibility and safety. Further, latent class analysis indicated the presence of a hotel group and an Airbnb group of customers, which allowed us to identify how both types of providers might maximize the value of their offers to encourage customer switch. Research limitations/implications: The accommodation landscape is extremely dynamic (particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds) and complex. The present study cannot capture all of its intricacies but provides an invaluable foundation for future research on the topic of consumer choice in an evolving and competitive accommodation market. Originality/value: Extant research on accommodation choice has focused on hotels or Airbnb only. Moreover, research that has considered both types of accommodation simultaneously is limited in its conceptual and methodological scope. The present study synthesizes the fragmented literature on consumers' accommodation choices and offers a holistic and coherent schematic - the hierarchy of importance in accommodation choice - that can be used by future researchers and practitioners alike.
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Plastic is one of the most widely used materials in industries including packaging, building, and construction due to its lightweight, low cost, durability, and versatility. However, the mass production of plastics has exacerbated plastic pollution. Globally, plastic waste is predominantly incinerated, landfilled, or released into the environment;only 5-6% is recycled in the United States. Although conventional management protocols such as incineration and landfilling are evidently effective for plastic waste disposal, they are associated with significant environmental and societal challenges. In addition, most recycled plastic is downcycled, and thus does not provide sufficient incentive to use recycled materials instead of virgin materials. This review discusses thermo-chemical upcycling processes such as (catalytic) pyrolysis and heterogeneous catalysis. Furthermore, we present the recent progress in the thermo-chemical upgrading of single-type plastic waste, heterogeneous plastic mixtures, and post-consumer plastic waste obtained from different locations and, finally, suggest future research directions.
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Prejudice and hate directed toward Asian individuals has increased in prevalence and salience during the COVID-19 pandemic, with notable rises in physical violence. Concurrently, as many governments enacted stay-at-home mandates, the spread of anti-Asian content increased in online spaces, including social media. In the present study, we investigated temporal and geographical patterns in social media content relevant to anti-Asian prejudice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Twitter Data Collection API, we queried over 13 million tweets posted between January 30, 2020, and April 30, 2021, for both negative (e.g., #kungflu) and positive (e.g., #stopAAPIhate) hashtags and keywords related to anti-Asian prejudice. In a series of descriptive analyses, we found differences in the frequency of negative and positive keywords based on geographic location. Using burst detection, we also identified distinct increases in negative and positive content in relation to key political tweets and events. These largely exploratory analyses shed light on the role of social media in the expression and proliferation of prejudice as well as positive responses online. © 2022 IEEE.
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Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on children and adolescents with migraine. Method(s): This longitudinal cohort study enrolled children and adolescents with migraine from the Department of Pediatric Neurology at our hospital from January 2017 to June 2021. Self-re-ported data from individual headache diaries were used. The patients were questioned about their headache frequency and intensity, stress, physical activity, changes in mood and sleep, and their school and home lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment (Ped-MIDAS) scoring system was applied to assess headache-related disability. Result(s): In total, 325 pediatric migraine patients (mean age 12.8+/-5.6 years, 62.5% female) were included in this study. The average monthly frequency of migraine headaches was 2.17+/-1.32 and 4.62+/-3.29 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (P<0.001), respectively. The Ped-MIDAS score was obtained for 207 patients both before and during the pandemic, and the total score slightly increased from 13.8 to 14.7 points (P=0.295). Sixty patients (18.5%) showed significantly worsening migraine headaches. Younger age (P=0.017), mood deterioration (P<0.001), sleep problems (P<0.001), increased acute medication use (P=0.010), and larger changes in the Ped-MIDAS score (P=0.002) were significantly associated with worsening headache in the logis-tic regression analysis. Conclusion(s): Headache attacks in children and adolescents with migraine were more frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic than before it. Worsening headaches could be independently at-tributed to younger age, mood deterioration, and poor sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic.Copyright © 2022 Korean Child Neurology Society.
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Since the global shock caused by COVID-19, interest in immune-enhancing materials is rapidly increasing, therefore, the development of novel materials is necessary from the industrial and health perspectives. In this study, we selected Nelumbo nucifera Gaertner Seed Extract (NSE) and evaluated immune enhancement effect by using RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. NSE significantly up-regulated production of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species without affecting cell viability in RAW 264.7 cells. Additionally, NSE exhibited an increase of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expression in RAW 264.7 cells. The enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay results showed that NSE-treatment significantly enhanced production of interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor-α in RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, we observed that NSE significantly up-regulated phosphorylation of p65, I kappa B kinase α/β, and I kappa B (IκB) α as well as down-regulation of IκB α expression in RAW 264.7 cells. Our findings indicate that NSE could be the potential health-functional food material with capacity of improving immunity via Nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway. © 2023, Korean Society for Applied Biological Chemistry. All rights reserved.
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This study experimentally measured the ventilation efficiency in road vehicles. Two air circulation methods, air conditioning and opening windows, were considered and their ventilation efficiencies were measured for a sedan and a cutaway bus. The ventilation efficiencies have been evaluated by measuring the aerosol concentration parameter at different locations inside the vehicle. For both vehicles, any of the ventilation scenarios significantly increased the air exchange rate. The best performance was shown when all windows were open in a moving vehicle. As an illustration of using the obtained measurements, respiratory infection probability was calculated using the Wells-Riley model. Any of the ventilation cases significantly decreased the infection risk. The ventilation efficiency and infection probability were highly dependent on the air circulation method and vehicle type. © 2023 The Author(s)
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In accordance with global economic prosperity, the frequencies of food delivery and takeout orders have been increasing. The pandemic life, specifically arising from COVID-19, rapidly expanded the food delivery service. Thus, the massive generation of disposable plastic food containers has become significant environmental problems. Establishing a sustainable disposal platform for plastic packaging waste (PPW) of food delivery containers has intrigued particular interest. To comprise this grand challenge, a reliable thermal disposable platform has been suggested in this study. From the pyrolysis process, a heterogeneous plastic mixture of PPW was converted into syngas and value-added hydrocarbons (HCs). PPW collected from five different restaurants consisted of polypropylene (36.9 wt%), polyethylene (10.5 wt%), polyethylene terephthalate (18.1 wt%), polystyrene (13.5 wt%), polyvinyl chloride (4.2 wt%), and other composites (16.8 wt%). Due to these compositional complexities, pyrolysis of PPW led to formations of a variety of benzene derivatives and aliphatic HCs. Adapting multi-stage pyrolysis, the different chemicals were converted into industrial chemicals (benzene, toluene, styrene, etc.). To selectively convert HCs into syngas (H2 and CO), catalytic pyrolysis was adapted using supported Ni catalyst (5 wt% Ni/SiO2). Over Ni catalyst, H2 was produced as a main product due to C[sbnd]H bond scission of HCs. When CO2 was used as a co-reactant, HCs were further transformed to H2 and CO through the chemical reactions of CO2 with gas phase HCs. CO2-assisted catalytic pyrolysis also retarded catalyst deactivation inhibiting coke deposition on Ni catalyst. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.
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Nanoscale plasmonic hotspots play a critical role in the enhancement of molecular Raman signals, enabling the sensitive and reliable trace analysis of biomedical molecules via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). However, effective and label-free SERS diagnoses in practical fields remain challenging because of clinical samples' random adsorption and size mismatch with the nanoscale hotspots. Herein, we suggest a novel SERS strategy for interior hotspots templated with protein@Au core-shell nanostructures prepared via electrochemical one-pot Au deposition. The cytochrome c and lysates of SARS-CoV-2 (SLs) embedded in the interior hotspots were successfully functionalized to confine the electric fields and generate their optical fingerprint signals, respectively. Highly linear quantitative sensitivity was observed with the limit-of-detection value of 10-1 PFU/ mL. The feasibility of detecting the targets in a bodily fluidic environment was also confirmed using the proposed templates with SLs in human saliva and nasopharyngeal swabs. These interior hotspots templated with the target analytes are highly desirable for early and on-site SERS diagnoses of infectious diseases without any labeling processes.
ABSTRACT
In recent decades, biomedical sensors based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which reveals unique spectral features corresponding to individual molecular vibrational states, have attracted intensive attention. However, the lack of a system for precisely guiding biomolecules to active hotspot regions has impeded the broad application of SERS techniques. Herein, we demonstrate the irreversible active engineering of three-dimensional (3D) interior organo-hotspots via electrochemical (EC) deposition onto metal nanodimple (ECOMD) platforms with viral lysates. This approach enables organic seed-programmable Au growth and the spontaneous bottom-up formation of 3D interior organo-hotspots simultaneously. Because of the net charge effect on the participation rate of viral lysates, the number of interior organo-hotspots in the ECOMDs increases with increasingly positive polarity. The viral lysates embedded in the ECOMDs function as both a dielectric medium for field confinement and an analyte, enabling the highly specific and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 lysates (SLs) at concentrations as low as 10-2 plaque forming unit/mL. The ECOMD platform was used to trace and detect the SLs in human saliva and diagnose of the delta-type SARS-CoV-2 in clinical environments;the results indicate that the proposed platform can provide point-of-care diagnoses of infectious diseases.
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Due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19, each government invests many human resources and money in screening tests. The spread of the virus has led to the development of robots that track the location of specimen collection or drive directly through master-slave devices by installing special equipment on patients' noses to reduce the physical burden on medical staff and prevent infection during screening tests. Sampling robots proposed in previous studies have a rather complicated specimen collection process or make it impossible to collect specimens when the patient cannot wear special equipment. Therefore, we propose a deep learning-based model that predicts the nasopharyngeal specimen sampling path without additional equipment. The test bench for the collection of learning datasets was configured, and the nasopharyngeal specimen sampling path was expressed using an augmented reality marker to learn the estimated value. In addition, we add weight factors to the proposed model to compare the root mean square error of the direction vector. © 2022 ICROS.
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Immunosuppressed patients like patients with leukemia or lymphoma, but also patients afer autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation are at particular risk for an infection with Covid-19. Since stem cell transplantation units are especially sensitive care units for particularly vulnerable patients, it is therefore understandable that in the current climate fear of a Covid-19 outbreak is ever-present. We describe a Covid-19 outbreak on our leukemia and stem cell transplantation unit (LSCT-Unit) originating from a 59-year-old female patient who was newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In hindsight, she had been infected by a close contact person more than three weeks before hospitalization and became severely ill in neutropenia while receiving induction chemotherapy. At that time there were not many individuals tested positive by PCR in the area, and regional healthcare authorities had a structured overview of all individuals who had tested positive. We outline the probable path of infection in our clinic, the experiences we made and the successful management of disease control during ongoing clinical business. We describe the characteristics of the 36 contacts among the medical team, the results of their PCR and antibody tests and clinical aspects and features of infected employees. Of these 36 close contacts, 9 employees of the LSCT-Unit appear to have been infected and were tested positive by PCR and/or antibody-testing. 8/9 of them were symptomatic, 3/9 with stronger, 5/9 with mild symptoms and one person without symptoms. A notable aspect here is that with a combination of stringent hygienic measures and repeated testing no other patients were infected despite being cared for by the same personnel and ongoing clinical business. Moreover, we describe that incubation period and clinical course of a Covid-19 infection in an immunosuppressed patient could be unusual compared to that of immunocompetent patients. In conclusion, outbreaks of Covid-19 in hospital units with immunosup-pressed patients, including hematological and transplant units, might become increasingly more common. In leukemia patients, these infections can possibly take a course different from that in immunocompetent individuals. However, the implementation of rigorous hygiene measures and continuously improved testing in the future might be the key to controlling an outbreak and help to save patients with severe hematological malignancies.
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The purpose of this study was to assess the research performance during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among nursing researchers. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted for Korean Society of Adult Nursing where 103 subjects participated from April 15 to May 14, 2021. The survey tool developed by researchers had 32 items including difficulties in performing research activities, perception of the impact of COVID-19 on research validity, and three open-ended questions. Results: In the research planning phase, 88 subjects (90.7%) reported difficulties in the recruitment plan and 83 subjects (89.3%) reported difficulties selecting a research design. In the recruitment and data collection phase, 85 subjects (88.6%) had difficulties accessing data collection site and 78 subjects (85.7%) had difficulties in face-to-face data collection. In the provision of intervention phase (for experimental study), 26 subjects (66.7%) reported that they should have changed the method of delivery of intervention. In research administration and manpower management, 62 subjects (75.6%) reported difficulties in face-to-face meeting. In research outcome management, 65 subjects (85.5%) reported that they should have changed the way of research-related events. Lastly, 80 subjects (81.6%) perceived that difficulties caused by COVID-19 impacted research validity. Conclusion: Majority of participants perceived that the difficulties in research activities may decrease research validity. To ensure research quality during COVID-19 pandemic, we should recognize potential threats to research validity and actively pursue adaptable innovations of research designs and data collection methods. © 2021,Korean Journal of Adult Nursing. All Rights Reserved.
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The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 has caused the infection of numerous people, resulting in the majority of them suffering from respiratory disease. There is a need for an in vitro lung model in which antiviral drugs can be tested reliably and quickly against the novel coronavirus. A physiologically relevant respiratory model provides a drug screening platform to study SARS-CoV-2 infection. We recapitulated the multi-layered human airway structure consisting of pulmonary endothelium, extracellular matrix, and airway epithelium through automated inkjet and microextrusion bioprinting. The 3D microarchitecture exhibits cell-cell junction and mucus secretion which are the major respiratory barrier to viral infection and also expressed ACE2 and TMPRSS2 which are known to be involved in SARS-CoV-2 cell entry. We investigated the response following infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the 3D airway model. The infection induced cytopathic effect and barrier destruction in the model over time. Virus replication was effectively inhibited when an infected 3D airway model was treated with remdesivir and molnupiravir, approved for the treatment of COVID-19. Then the EC50 was determined for each drug in the model. The 3D-printed airway model can be used as a tool for studying viral infection and validating the efficacy of therapeutics against other respiratory infection viruses as well as SARS-CoV-2 .
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This study empirically analyzes the effects of four lifestyles of office workers (work and life balance, you only live once (YOLO), minimal life, and staycation), which have been changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, on organizational effectiveness (measured by job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior). A questionnaire survey was conducted over four months through a global research firm. In total, 649 valid questionnaires were collected. A structural equation model analysis was performed on valid samples using SmartPLS statistics. The results were as follows: (1) Work and life balance, YOLO, and minimal life had a statistically significant positive effect on job satisfaction. (2) Minimal life had a statistically significant positive effect on organizational commitment. (3) Work and life balance, and staycation had statistically significant positive effects on organizational citizenship behavior. (4) Job satisfaction had a statistically significant positive effect on organizational commitment. (5) Job satisfaction and organizational commitment had a statistically significant positive effect on organizational citizenship behavior. This is the first empirical study to focus on four lifestyles (work-life balance, YOLO, minimal life, and staycation). The results show that job satisfaction was affected the most by YOLO,' that organizational commitment was affected the most by minimal life, and that organizational citizenship behavior was affected the most by work-life balance.
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Recently, COVID-19 has accelerated the non-contact culture. Many presentations, such as workshops and conferences, are conducted in an online and offline hybrid mode in a conference room. In presentations, a screen of the slide is particularly important. Therefore, we propose an algorithm that detects the screen in an image. Firstly, a screen region is extracted using a deep learning-based instance segmentation method. However, this extracted region has a noisy boundary. We designed an image processing algorithm composed of 7 main steps to solve this noise and detect the screen. To validate the proposed method, a real dataset was qualitatively evaluated, and the result images show that only meaningful screen regions in the test image can be extracted. © 2022 IEEE.
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Commercial sharing services (CSSs) provide consumers with temporary access to products or services. Consumers can use CSSs to communicate an identity by renting products from specific brands. Applying the theory of the extended self, we proposed an attachment-based account of CSS usage. Across four studies, we found consistent evidence that consumers were less likely to rent the products of their strongly attached brands via CSSs because these brands were regarded as part of their extended selves, and thus sharing these products with others would contaminate the self. However, this effect was mitigated when consumers' psychological ownership of the shared product was augmented. Our findings reveal that psychological ownership can replace the role of actual ownership in the sharing context, rendering profound implications for understanding the relationships among self, brand, and product in sharing services.