ABSTRACT
Background and purpose: Twitter presence in academia has been linked to greater research impact which influences career progression. The purpose of this study was to analyse Twitter activity of the radiotherapy community around ESTRO congresses with a focus on gender-related and geographic trends. Materials and methods: Tweets, re-tweets and replies, here designated as interactions, around the ESTRO congresses held in 2012-2021 were collected. Twitter activity was analysed temporally and, for the period 2016-2021, the geographical span of the ESTRO Twitter network was studied. Tweets and Twitter users collated during the 10 years analysed were ranked based on number of 'likes', 're-tweets' and followers, considered as indicators of leadership/influence. Gender representation was assessed for the top-end percentiles. Results: Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses was multiplied by 60 in 6 years growing from 150 interactions in 2012 to a peak of 9097 in 2018. In 2020, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, activity dropped by 60 % to reach 2945 interactions and recovered to half the pre-pandemic level in 2021. Europe, North America and Oceania were strongly connected and remained the main contributors. While overall, 58 % of accounts were owned by men, this proportion increased towards top liked/re-tweeted tweets and most-followed profiles to reach up to 84 % in the top-percentiles. Conclusion: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses substantially decreased. Men were over-represented on the platform and in most popular tweets and influential accounts. Given the increasing importance of social media presence in academia the gender-based biases observed may help in understanding the gender gap in career progression.
ABSTRACT
Despite the vaccination campaigns in most countries in the world, we see horrible numbers of contaminations and even deaths daily. According to the WHO, 181 521 067 confirmed cases including 3 937 437 deaths. As of 30 June 2021, a total of 2 915 585 482 vaccine doses have been administered. Although efforts to raise awareness of the severity of the corona virus, many people no longer respect the health protocol, which manifests through wearing a mask and respecting physical distancing. Research laboratories have spared no effort to find an effective vaccine. This will help minimize the effects of the virus and save the lives of those infected. On the other hand, COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals ensure permanent control of their health conditions and intervene at the right time. Saving the lives of these is a necessity, and we are all cooperating to bring life back to its normal pattern before pandemic, which took a toll on countries' economies. This research focuses on the development of an intelligent system based on the IOT for remotely control the covid-19 patient from a monitoring unit. This solution will be very useful for treating patients during COVID-19 outbreak. It is a question of exchanging clinical information between medical staff thanks to new technologies and of putting the patient under permanent control. The virtualized treatment guarantees a healthy environment for personnel. © 2022 IEEE.