ABSTRACT
Facing the difficulties and the new challenges that COVID-19 has created for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the future needs to analyse and reflect on this crisis. Considering the increasing value of international mobility in Portuguese HEIs in the last decades, this research aims to study the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the flow of student and faculty mobility. Since international students, as well as teaching staff mobility, are an asset for many HEIs, this study will be applied to the Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB), an institution located in the interior of Portugal where the weight of international students is quite significant. The paper provides an overview of the mobility flows between the period 2004/2005 and the 2020/2021 academic year. According to the findings obtained, the restrictions on international physical mobility are observed as the biggest challenges that occurred in IPB during the COVID-19. From the results presented, a sharp growth in international mobility flows is evident until the 2018/2019 academic year, as a consequence of the investment made by the IPB's presidency, in which one of the pillars of the institution's growth is based on the internationalisation strategy. Afterwards, in the last two academic years, there has been a sharp decline;both in terms of student mobility, on average, there was a decrease of around 26.0%, and faculty mobility, on average, there was a decrease of approximately 55%. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
The use of distance education using digital tools in higher education has increased over the last decade, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in schools shutting down all across the world. This paper aims to present a brief summary of the Digitools Project and a multicultural analysis of the use of e-learning during Covid-19 in six countries. The methodology used was a survey by questionnaire involving teachers, librarians and students. The analysis of the questionnaire results allowed us to identify which dimensions to assess the sustainability of eLearning namely the organizational, socio-cultural and technological context. It also made it possible to assess the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, intention to use, actual use and perceived satisfaction. Furthermore, personal, technological and organizational dimensions are also valued for e-learning usage. After reviewing the state of the art, there was a need to define a strategic training plan for the acquisition of basic and advanced skills for eLearning's implementation and usage. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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The number of tourists who visited Portugal in 2019 reached historic highs, a trend that was eventually interrupted by the emergence of the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Several experts point out that tourism was one of the first sectors to suffer the impacts of the pandemic and one of the hardest to be hit. Tourism recovery is desirable and what needs to be clarified with this study is how the digital transition so present, for example, in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) can help to rescue this upward trend of visitors/tourists. The present research work intends to emphasize how digital can be decisive in the resumption of tourism in Portugal, taking into account the measures announced for this sector. The results are discussed in the light of the literature and future work is identified with a view to enhancing tourism, smart tourism and smart destinations. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This work regards the simulation of the spread of the COVID-19 disease in a community by applying the deterministic and stochastic Susceptible-allows to realistically simulate the spread of COVID-19 in a medium-sized community and to study the effect of preventive measures such as quarantine and vaccination. The results of the simulations are compared with the deterministic version of the SEIR model. The comparison makes it possible to conclude that the epidemic outbreak can be prevented even though the basic reproduction number is greater than one.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: People with chronic respiratory diseases, asthma included, may be at increased risk for severe COVID-19. However, published studies so far have reported inconsistent results regarding the prevalence of asthma. Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: Retrospective observational study with analysis of hospitalized patients between March 1st and June 30rd. Results: This study included 237 patients, with asthma being reported in 16 patients (6,8%). Asthmatic patients tended to be younger (70 years vs 80 years, p=0.027) and to have less comorbidities (1 vs 2 p=0.014) compared with non-asthmatic patients. Regarding the therapeutic approach, asthmatic patients required more inhaled corticosteroid therapy as well hydroxychloroquine, but the ceiling of treatment was less stablished (50% vs 21.7%, p=0.027;75% vs 48.9%, p=0.044;6.3% vs 38%, p=0.011, respectively). The mortality rate was lower compared with that of non-asthmatic patients (12.5% vs 37.1%, p=0.047). The severity of asthma did not seem to influence analysed outcomes. Conclusion: In this study, asthma did not appear to contribute to the more severe COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Backgroung: COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) has affected an increasing number of people worldwide, with death rates higher than previous viral epidemics. It is possible that NK cells, known to have great cytokine secreting potential are competent at the onset of the condition and that in some individuals, the viral load is able to exhaust them. Balance between tolerant (CD27- CD11b-), secretory (CD27+ CD11b-/ CD27+ CD11b+) and cytotoxic (CD27- CD11b+) NK cells involved in the inflammatory response and their anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity are still not well established. Strategies that can restore function of NK cells against the virus are worth investigating. Here, we aimed to characterize NK cells frequency, functional subtypes and maturation in early phase of COVID-19 patients, by Multiparametric Flow Cytometry (MFC). Methods: Peripheral blood from 15 COVID-19 patients in early stage of infection (day 1-14, confirmed by RT-PCR), categorized according comorbidities in: G1 (not oncologic;n = 6), G2 (oncologic;n = 3), G3 (hematologic neoplasms;n = 3) and G4 (without comorbidities;n = 3), and 10 healthy samples enrolled the study. Clinical and laboratorial data were collected from electronic medical records. Samples were stained with CD45, CD19, CD3, CD56, CD11b, CD27, acquired on a FACS Canto II (BD Biosciences) and data analyzed with FlowJo V10 software. Results: A lower frequency of lymphocytes was observed in the disease when compared to controls (P < 0.0001) and frequency of NK cells were similar in both groups (P = 0.6605). Although frequency of CD27- CD11b- NK cells was lower in the disease (P = 0.0109), there was a significantly higher frequency of CD27+ CD11b- NK cells in COVID-19 samples when compared to controls (P < 0.0001), featuring a mostly immature profile in the disease. On the other hand, no statistical significance was observed regarding the frequencies of CD27+ CD11b+ (P = 0.1370) and CD27- CD11b+ NK cells with a more mature profile (P = 0.3094). Amongst disease groups, no statistical significance was found regarding frequency of NK cells and G1 showed lower frequency of CD27- CD11b- NK cells (P = 0.0226), while G3 group had an increased frequency of CD27+ CD11b- NK cells (P = 0.0238) when compared to the other groups and controls. Finally, no statistical significance was found in the frequency of CD27+ CD11b+ (P = 0.6691) and CD27- CD11b+ (P = 0.6270) NK cells between disease groups and controls. Conclusion: Although the frequency of NK cells did not show a significant difference between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls, our findings showed a possible change in their maturation profile, which seems to be inversely proportional to normal, with the frequency of CD27+ CD11b- NK cells considerably higher in the disease. This phenotype is directly associated with secretory function of a more immature NK cell and is responsible for triggering inflammatory responses that could lead to severe respiratory failure, what seems to be consistent with COVID-19 profile. A high frequency of cytotoxic cells was observed, which seemed to be similar to what we found in normal heathy samples. Even though unregulated maturation might be associated to a dysfunctional mature NK cell, additional studies of cytotoxicity and activation of NK cells in COVID-19 are required to affirm whether there is functional exhaustion or hyperactivation of the cytotoxic subtypes of these cells.
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This research illustrates that socio-academic insecurities directly impacted the performance of the task of Brazilian researchers in training during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. This conclusion is based on data obtained through the application of a survey of 1.459 stricto sensu graduate students enrolled in all areas of knowledge classified by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). For the construction of empirical evidence, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used, calculated from the partial least squares. The results indicate that the insecurities in the development of academic activities, financial maintenance, interpersonal and psychological academic relationships configure the concerns of the participants and affect the performance of the task in terms of scientific writing, research activities, self-assessment and scientific reading and discussion. These results can be used as drivers of possible interference from educational institutions regarding social support for students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as the mental health and performance of these individuals are related to their insecurities. In addition, it can be configured as an advisory material that contributes to the structuring of socio-academic spaces in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The relationship between communication management, denialism and authoritarianism is very important for reflecting on the consequences of a public health communication policy. Based on the Brazilian context in which the country's highest authority has denied evidence of the seriousness of the pandemic, this article analyzes the Covid-19 risk communication (RC) developed by the federal government itself through the Ministry of Health. We created four CR variables: transparency, risks, adequacy and temporality to analyze the content of the 24 pieces that were part of the communication campaigns of the Ministry of Health, between March and September 2020. The results show the predominance of institutional communication, almost 50% of the pieces were to make the government aware, to the detriment of actions that could alert the population about the risks of the new coronavirus.
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Marine litter is a global problem which has been negatively affecting the environment. Plastic materials are the most commonly found marine debris, with potential biological (not only for aquatic organisms but also for humans) as well as socio-economic impacts. Considering that it is an anthropogenic problem, society could play an important role to minimize it. Although a considerable amount of research has addressed the biological effects of plastics (micro(nano)plastics) on biota, few studies have addressed how scientific information is being transmitted to the public and the potential role of citizen environmental education. The current paper discusses known effects, researched topics and how scientific knowledge is currently being transmitted to the public. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.