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After the huge and sudden change in the teaching-learning methodology at the University that the pandemic generated, we thought it necessary to study the perspective of the students on this experience. We carried out an exploratory survey from a qualitative approach, following an inductive logic of construction of categories from the data, with a sample of 67 students. Categories: personal sphere, positioning with respect to the institution, the teaching staff and ICT. For such analysis, we used the software Atlas.ti (Version 8.4). In conclusion, to improve similar situations, it is essential to include accompaniment and emotional support, in addition to reinforcing their resources and technological skills.
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Attention to the problem of climate change in economic, social and cultural processes is recognized as a necessity for the island states and is thus established in the State Plan for confronting climate change in Cuba (Task Life). The systematization of positive experiences and good practices related to the successive implementations of editions of the course "Education for climate change”, designed for education professionals and updated as a research task of different research projects associated with national programs of the Ministry of Education;They allow valid generalizations to be made based on the creation of capacities for local development in prioritized municipalities in the province of Villa Clara. The present work has as objectives: to offer useful theoretical considerations for education for climate change in the creation of capacities for local development, to suggest contents that become learning challenges and to socialize the main results and impacts of a distance course that, as a response to the measures to counteract the risk of infection by COVID-19, constitutes a modest contribution to local development, from a socio-cultural perspective, and to the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. © 2023, University of Cienfuegos, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez. All rights reserved.
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Background. Patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection are at high risk of complications due to the intensive care unit stay. Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are one of the most common complication and cause of death in this group of patients, it is important to know the epidemiology and microbiology of this hospital-acquired infections in order to begin to the patients a proper empirical treatment. We describe the epidemiologic and microbiologic characteristics of HAI in patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at intensive care unit (ICU) in a tertiary level private hospital in Mexico City. Methods. From April to December 2020, data from all HAIs in patients with severe pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection with mechanical ventilation at ICU were obtained. The type of infection, microorganisms and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were determined. Results. A total of 61 episodes of HAIs were obtained, the most common was ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in 52.4% (n=32) followed by urinary tract infection (UTI) 34.4%(n=21) and bloodstream infection (BSI) 9.84% (n=6). Only two episodes corresponded to C. difficile associated diarrhea. We identified 82 different microorganisms, the most frequent cause of VAP was P. aeruginosa 22% (10/45) followed by K. pneumoniae 20% (9/45);for UTI, E. coli 28.5% (6/21), and S. marcescens 19% (4/21);for BSI the most frequent microorganism was S. aureus 28.5 (2/7). Regarding the antimicrobial susceptibility patters the most common were Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) Gram-negative rods followed by Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion. In patients with severe COVID-19 hospitalized in the ICU the most frequent HAIs were VAP and UTI caused by P. aeruginosa and E. coli respectively. ESBL enterobacteriaceae was the most common resistant pattern identifed in the bacterial isolations in our series.
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The neurobiological processing of eating behavior is transmitted to the cortical and subcortical nuclei where multisensory stimuli are integrated, such as olfactory ones, associated with emotion, learning and memory. With this review, the implications between emotional memory and olfactory stimuli, and neurobiological basis are analyzed and described. Also, the main cognitive processes involved in the preference for hypo and hypercaloric foods and their relationship with eating disorders such as obesity are indicated, a condition that converges with a negative effect during the COVID-19 disease. It requires the application of neuropsychological methods that include the measurement of the effect of multisensory stimuli to assess food preference. Since olfactory stimuli and emotional memory participate in food choices, promoting or not the development of eating disorders. Adapting the paradigms of neuropsychology such as the alimentary Stroop would underpin the generation of strategies for the prevention of the development of eating disorders such as obesity.
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Purpose: The confluence of seasonal influenza and COVID-19 disease during Fall 2020 will give rise to considerable morbidity and mortality, likely stressing the U.S. healthcare system. Firefighter/paramedic first responders are at risk of being exposed to pathogens such as coronavirus and the avian flu, that can be transmitted between the patients they serve. We estimate influenza vaccination rates by coronavirus infection status in one large metropolitan Florida career fire department. Methods: We used a cross-sectional study design to estimate flu vaccination prevalence among all frontline firefighter/paramedic workers from a fire department participating in a seroprevalence study. Participants initially provided consent and completed a 76-item web-based survey. Seasonal influenza vaccination was assessed in the 12-months prior to coronavirus testing. Off- and on-duty firefighters/paramedics were subsequently tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using a rapid immunoglobulin (Ig)M-IgG combined lateral flow immunoassay during April/May 2020. Results: Among the 1,555 participating firefighters/paramedics, 8.5% reported receipt of the seasonal flu vaccine, and 4.1% tested SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive. None of the antibody-positive firefighters/paramedics reported receipt of the seasonal influenza vaccine compared to those who tested negative (0.0% vs. 8.5%;p=0.012). After controlling for potential confounders, firefighters/paramedics who were Hispanic/Latino vs non-Hispanic/Latino (Adjusted Odds Ratio, AOR, 0.33 [95% confidence interval=0.20–0.55]), former smokers vs never smokers (AOR:0.47 [0.24-0.93]), and had one or more chronic conditions vs no chronic diseases(AOR:0.33 [0.15-0.75]) were significantly less likely to report seasonal influenza vaccine receipt. Conclusion: Influenza vaccination rates were very low among frontline firefighters/paramedics in a large Florida fire department. Acknowledgements: Research reported in this publication was supported in part by a grant award from the Florida Blue Foundation (PI Caban-Martinez) and by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30CA240139. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Florida Blue Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida nor the National Institutes of Health.
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Harmful algal blooms (HABs) can generate toxins that can be aerosolized and negatively impact human health through inhalation. HABs are often found in waterways near residences, therefore, aerosolized HAB toxins can potentially affect both indoor and outdoor air quality. Given that HABs are predicted to increase worldwide, effective mitigation strategies are needed to prevent the inhalation of aerosolized HAB toxins. In this work, we characterized both the particle filtration efficiency using particle sizing instruments as well as the mass concentration of different congeners of aerosolized microcystin (MC) toxins that penetrate through commercially available face masks and air conditioner (AC) filters. Particles were generated from cultures of the toxin-producing cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa. Hydrophobic congeners of microcystin including MC-LF and MC-LW were enriched in aerosols compared to water, with MC-LR being the most abundant, which has implications for the toxicity of inhalable particles generated from HAB-contaminated waters. Particle transmission efficiencies and toxin filtration efficiencies scaled with the manufacturer-provided filter performance ratings. Up to 80% of small, microcystin-containing aerosols were transmitted through AC filters with low filter performance ratings. In contrast, both face masks as well as AC filters with high filter performance ratings efficiently removed toxin-containing particles to below limits of quantification. Our findings suggest that face masks and commercially available AC filters with high filtration efficiency ratings are suitable mitigation strategies to avoid indoor and outdoor air exposure to aerosolized HAB toxins. This work also has relevance for reducing airborne exposure to other HAB toxins, non-HAB toxins, pathogens, and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Background: Spondyloarthropathy patients have reduced health-related quality of life (HRQL) compared to general population. Biological treatment strategies in real life aim to reduce patients' symptoms and different HRQL parameters would share the same behavior as patients' symptoms and disease activity. Objectives: We aim to assess the differences in HRQL reported by spondyloarthropathy patients during the first six months of biological therapy according to the treatment effectiveness. Methods: We performed a prospective observational study of six months of follow-up in spondyloarthropathy patients who are newly on biological therapy. A basal visit and 1, 3 and 6 months follow-up visits were conducted. We analyzed changes during follow-up in the HRQL parameters reported by patients through AsqoL and ASAS-health-index questionnaires. Moreover we measured functional disability through HAQ and BASFI index, disease activity by BASDAI, ASDAS-CRP and ASDAS-ESR index. Statistical analyses were achieved using R software, through multivariate linear regression models for continuous data and Bayesian mixed ordinal regression models with monotonic effect for ordinal data. The corresponding odd ratios (OR) were calculated with their confidence intervals (CI 95%). Results: We included 53 patients (71.77% male), the 73.58% diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the 26.42% with axial spondyloarthritis. Mean age at the beginning of treatment was 48.74 (11.21) years, mean age at diagnosis was 41.57 (11.97) and mean disease evolution was 7.19 (9.24) years. 60.42% of them exhibited HLAb27 positivity. 34 patients started biological therapy with TNF-α inhibitors and 19 with IL-17 inhibitors. The 81.13% of patients were under monotherapy, and the other 18.87% was treated with DMARDs. The 77.36% of the total number of patients was on the biological therapy at 6 months of follow-up, while the 22.64% discontinued at 6 months of follow-up (9 due to inefficacy and 3 due to adverse effects). 42 patients completed the follow-up at 6 months, and 3 patients achieved until visit 3 due to treatment failure. In 1 case visit 1 and in 7 cases visit 3 could not be performed due to COVID19 pandemic situation. We observed a significant correlation among AsqoL and ASAS-hi values with disease activity indexes (BASDAI, ASDAS-CRP, ASDAS-ESR) and functional disability (HAQ, BASFI). The statistical analyses showed a significant association where AsqoL and ASAS-hi values are significantly decreased in treatment failures compared to the successful treatment (, and in patients with previous biological therapy compared to naïve patients. No effect of years of disease evolution and the type of biological treatment in the AsqoL and ASAS-hi values was observed. (See Table 1) These results were consistent with the significant association found among the disease activity and functional disability with the biological therapy efficacy and the previous biological treatment. Conclusion: The AsqoL and ASAS-hi questionnaire results are correlated with disease activity and functional disability and showed the same behaviour as these parameters, being also associated to the biological therapy efficacy as well as to previous biological therapies. The HRQL variables would be additional clinical results that make it possible to achieve a better management of biological therapies in spondyloarthropathy patients.
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OBJECTIVES: Estimate the point prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among US firefighters and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used to administer an anonymous online survey to a national non-probabilistic sample of firefighter and EMS workers. RESULTS: Among the 3169 respondents, 48.2% expressed high acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, while 24.2% were unsure and 27.6% reported low acceptability. Using the "high COVID-19 vaccine acceptability" group as the reference category, the groups with greater odds of reporting low acceptability included those: 30 to 39 years of age (odds ratio = 3.62 [95% confidence interval = 2.00 to 6.55]), Black race (3.60 [1.12 to 11.53]), Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity (2.39 [1.45 to 3.92]), with some college education (2.06 [1.29 to 3.27]), married (1.65 [1.03 to 2.65]), of current rank firefighter/EMS (2.21 [1.60 to 3.08]). CONCLUSIONS: Over half of US firefighters and EMS workers were uncertain or reported low acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.