Cervical Cancer Prevention: The Role of the Nurse and Medical Care in Primary and Secondary Cancer Prevention

Objective: Although these days the priority is to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is not to be neglected. Mechanism: Cervical cancer is caused mainly by a chronic infection with one or more of the high-risk subtypes of HPV -most commonly a sexually transmitted disease acquired early in life. Most HPV infections go away on their own, but some can lead to a precancerous state that, if left untreated, can undergo complete neoplastic transformation. Findings in Brief: There is a hope that in the future the combination of screening tests with vaccinations against oncogenic strains of HPV will allow reductions in the percentage of those contracting cervical cancer. Conclusion(s): The importance of educational activities should be emphasized in developmental gynecology in the context of oncological prevention. The roles of both doctors and nurses are important here. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, these kinds of activities are not to be abandoned. In addition, efforts should be made to develop more practical and workable HPV and cervical screening strategies for use during a pandemic.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.

Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer - the importance of educational activities in gynecology of developmental age in the context of oncological prophylaxis. The role of nursing and medical care

Early prevention of HPV infections is part of the primary prevention of cervical cancer. Vaccines are available to prevent long-term infection with oncogenic HPV serotypes. Also in the aspect of gynecology of developmental age, it is important that the doctor fulfills his tasks in the entire team of other doctors and the medical service, and the nursing staff is of particular importance in this team and in this field. This significance is expressed not only in providing care according to medical recommendations and performing typical nursing activities, but also in taking actions significant in the promotion of health and disease prevention, in pro-health education and in the context of sexual education not only of patients in developmental age, but also of their parents, caregivers. It is hoped that in the future the combination of screening tests and vaccination of anti-oncogenic HPV strains will reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. These activities are related to the holistic care of girls and women, which is always of particular importance, and during the covid 19 pandemic it has a special dimension.

Holistic woman care in the COVID-19 pandemic - the importance of cooperation of a gynecologist and family doctor

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of holistic care for women, the cooperation of a gynecologist with a family doctor is particularly important. Deterioration of health, including sexual health, is observed, which may have a potentially long-term negative multidimensional impact on the functioning of women, secondary cycle disorders, also dermatological or dermatological problems. In addition, many women face additional burdens during a pandemic, such as supervising their children while studying at home and working remotely at the same time. During a pandemic, the practice of a family doctor and gynecologist is observed in female sexual dysfunction, depressive symptoms and fear. Prolonged blockage greatly increases women's sense of loneliness. It is important for physicians to pay special attention to such problems as family physicians, gynecologists, sexologists and mental health counselors, as well as violent and abusive partnerships. Any action aimed at developing preventive and intervention measures to mitigate any negative effects of a pandemic is important.

External Validation of the 4C Mortality Score and the qSOFA for Different Variants of Concerns of SARS-CoV-2 Using Data of the NAPKON Cross-Sectoral Cohort Platform (SUEP)

Background. Numerous predictive clinical scores with varying discriminatory performance have been developed in the context of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To support clinical application, we test the transferability of the frequently applied 4C mortality score (4C score) to the German prospective Cross-Sectoral Platform (SUEP) of the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON) compared to the non COVID-19 specific quick sequential organ failure assessment score (qSOFA). Our project aims to externally validate these two scores, stratified for the most prevalent variants of concerns (VOCs) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Germany. Methods. A total of 685 adults with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection were included from NAPKON-SUEP. Patients were recruited from 11/2020 to 03/2022 at 34 university and non-university hospitals across Germany. Missing values were complemented using multiple imputation. Predictive performance for in-hospital mortality at day of baseline visit was determined by area under the curve (AUC) with 95%-confidence interval (CI) stratified by VOCs of SARS-CoV-2 (alpha, delta, omicron) (Figure 1). Figure 1: Study flow chart with inclusion criteria and methodological workflow. Results. Preliminary results suggest a high predictive performance of the 4C score for in-hospital mortality (Table 1). This applies for the overall cohort (AUC 0.813 (95%CI 0.738-0.888)) as well as the VOC-strata (alpha: AUC 0.859 (95%CI 0.748-0.970);delta: AUC 0.769 (95%CI 0.657-0.882);omicron: AUC 0.866 (95%CI 0.724-1.000)). The overall mortality rates across the defined 4C score risk groups are 0.3% (low), 3.2% (intermediate), 11.6% (high), and 49.5% (very high). The 4C score performs significantly better than the qSOFA (Chi2-test: p=0.001) and the qSOFA does not seem to be a suitable tool in this context. Table 1: Discriminatory performance of the 4C Mortality Score and the qSOFA score within the validation cohort NAPKON-SUEP stratified by the Variant of Concerns of SARS-CoV- 2. Conclusion. Despite its development in the early phase of the pandemic and improved treatment, external validation of the 4C score in NAPKON-SUEP indicates a high predictive performance for in-hospital mortality across all VOCs. However, since the qSOFA was not specifically designed for this predictive issue, it shows low discriminatory performance, as in other validation studies. Any interpretations regarding the omicron stratum are limited due to the sample size.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Follow-up Refusal Rate in a Surgical Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Refusal to follow-up may affect the course of the ongoing randomized controlled trials (RCT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on follow-up refusal rate in an ongoing surgical RCT. Method(s): The study group comprised 107 participants enrolled in an ongoing surgical RCT designed to compare mass with layered closure of transverse abdominal incisions with respect to incisional hernias. Study group was divided into patients who were scheduled to have follow-up visit before (pre-COVID) and after (post-COVID) April 1st 2020. Follow-up refusal rate was compared in both groups. Result(s): Follow-up refusal rate in pre-COVID group was 18.52% (10 out of 55 patients), whereas in post-COVID group it was 50% (26 out of 52 patients;p=0.0004). Median value of age during scheduled follow-up day was 60 years and the distance from patients place of living was 151 km. The pandemic particularly increased refusal rate in patients living >151km from hospital (p <0.0001), patients older than 60 years (p=0.006), and in female patients (p=0.005). Conclusion(s): COVID-19 pandemic leads to remarkable increase in follow-up refusal rate among participants enrolled in RCT's, particularly in females, older patients, and in those living in a long-distance from the centre. Copyright © 2022

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON THE TV COMMERCIALS CONTENT IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic has strongly affected different issues of everyday life. The pandemic has changed consumer attitudes and behavior. Consequently, during COVID-19, businesses had to decide how to organize the advertising campaigns and what content should be addressed to consumers. Considering the limited number of articles concerning these issues, it seems important to evaluate the impact of the global health crisis on advertising messages in different countries. The main objective of this paper is to assess TV commercial campaigns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the specific epidemic situation in the selected countries. The research methodology was based on the observation, a qualitative method of collecting data obtained through monitoring the content of TV commercials aired during the afternoon, before or after the main news service. The research was conducted in May 2020 and in May 2021 in five selected European countries affected to varying degrees by the coronavirus pandemic. The research results allowed evaluation of the advertising messages in terms of their content and values exposed. The findings indicate that the number of COVID-related TV commercials is not correlated with the number of patients and deaths from COVID-19. The themes appearing the most often in the TV commercials in the studied period were the #StayAtHome idea, family and friends, the aspect of safety during the crisis, and brands' special offers. The tone of the advertisements was usualy uplifting and hopeful, trying to cheer the stressed societies. From a theoretical perspective, the research results show the advertising strategy issues in specific conditions in different European countries. These findings concerning TV commercial strategy during a pandemic crisis could provide references for other countries, especially in Europe. The research results could be useful for marketing managers in developing strategies concerning the successful planning of TV commercials in crisis periods in European countries.

Pre-endoscopy SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy during COVID-19 pandemic: the care must go on.

BACKGROUND: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, endoscopic societies initially recommended reduction of endoscopic procedures. In particular non-urgent endoscopies should be postponed. However, this might lead to unnecessary delay in diagnosing gastrointestinal conditions. METHODS: Retrospectively we analysed the gastrointestinal endoscopies performed at the Central Endoscopy Unit of Saarland University Medical Center during seven weeks from 23 March to 10 May 2020 and present our real-world single-centre experience with an individualized rtPCR-based pre-endoscopy SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy. We also present our experience with this strategy in 2021. RESULTS: Altogether 359 gastrointestinal endoscopies were performed in the initial period. The testing strategy enabled us to conservatively handle endoscopy programme reduction (44% reduction as compared 2019) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of COVID-19 rtPCR from nasopharyngeal swabs were available in 89% of patients prior to endoscopies. Apart from six patients with known COVID-19, all other tested patients were negative. The frequencies of endoscopic therapies and clinically significant findings did not differ between patients with or without SARS-CoV-2 tests. In 2021 we were able to unrestrictedly perform all requested endoscopic procedures (> 5000 procedures) by applying the rtPCR-based pre-endoscopy SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy, regardless of next waves of COVID-19. Only two out-patients (1893 out-patient procedures) were tested positive in the year 2021. CONCLUSION: A structured pre-endoscopy SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy is feasible in the clinical routine of an endoscopy unit. rtPCR-based pre-endoscopy SARS-CoV-2 testing safely allowed unrestricted continuation of endoscopic procedures even in the presence of high incidence rates of COVID-19. Given the low frequency of positive tests, the absolute effect of pre-endoscopy testing on viral transmission may be low when FFP-2 masks are regularly used.

The agency of refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case of the Nakivale settlement (Uganda)

The lives of refugees are burdened with challenges, which have been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Referring to Anthony Giddens' structuring theory, this article attempts to analyse the threats faced by refugees during the public health crisis. In an attempt to find an answer to the question of how the agency of refugees manifested itself during the COVID-19 pandemic, special emphasis has been placed on the relationship between the subject and structure on the example of the Nakivale (Uganda) settlement, whose inhabitants live in a prolonged state of “protraction”. The article uses narratives, information and data provided by representatives of the Nakivale Researchers Network;a research network located in the Nakivale camp. The methodology of this work is based on the concept of co-presence, the use of the so-called “Technology of life”, combined with the results of the field interview carried out in Nakivale before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze. All rights reserved.

Home advantage revisited. did COVID level the playing fields?

The COVID-19 pandemic swept fans out of the stadiums, but matches continued to be played in most major leagues. We make use of this natural experiment to investigate if homefield advantage disappears when the home team is not supported by the audience. Focusing on four top European soccer leagues, we find such an effect in the Bundesliga only. We propose this singularity may be related to the special role that the fan associations play in German football.