Aesthetic Office Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan.

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has served as a call-to-arms in preparing practices for the next disaster whether it is another infectious disease or a flood, hurricane, earthquake, a sustained power outage, or something else. A group of predominantly core aesthetic physicians discussed the various aspects of their office procedures that warrant consideration in a proactive approach to the next pandemic/disaster-related event. This guide does not set a standard of practice but contains recommendations that may avoid some of the "lessons learned" with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, the board-certified core aesthetic physicians classified these recommendations into four generalized areas: Practice Management; Supplies and Inventory; Office Staffing Considerations and Protocols; and Patient Management Strategies. Proactive strategies are provided in each of these categories that, if implemented, may alleviate the processes involved with an efficient office closure and reopening process including, in the case of COVID-19, methods to reduce the risk of transmission to doctors, staff, and patients. These strategies also include being prepared for emergency-related notifications of employees and patients; the acquisition of necessary equipment and supplies such as personal protective equipment; and the maintenance and accessibility of essential data and contact information for patients, vendors, financial advisors, and other pertinent entities.J Drugs Dermatol. 2021;20(1):10-16. doi:10.36849/JDD.5803.

Covid Contact Tracing Integrated with Blockchain Technology

The product to be developed in this project is concerned to be a Mobile Application for route tracing based on user's location history. Each user is tracked using the application using GPS location. If a person tests positive for covid-19 then all person in contact with that person will be notified. User can register to this app using his/her Aadhar Card number. A unique id is generated for each user's while registering in this app. So, that with this unique id only, each person is identified and their information is updated. Here blockchain is used for storing user's data. When a person registers to the system their information will be stored in blockchain. Each person will get unique QR code so that when this person enters a store or organization they can scan QR code and get information about the user. The information about the containment Zone will be updated and if the person is coming from containment zone, organization can know about that. A machine learning tool is implemented to detect covid-19 from user's chest CT-scan image. User can upload image and check whether they have covid-19. Resnext network will be used for machine learning. Resnext is the neural network architecture for image classification. © 2022 IEEE.

Comparison of Long-Term Complications of COVID-19 Illness among a Diverse Sample of Children by MIS-C Status.

Most pediatric COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic; however, a small number of children are diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but severe condition that is associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Persistent symptoms of COVID-19 illness in children diagnosed with/without MIS-C is largely unknown. A retrospective EHR review of patients with COVID-19 illness from one pediatric healthcare system to assess the presence of acute (<30 days) and chronic (≥30, 60-120, and >120 days) long-term COVID symptoms was conducted. Patients/caregivers completed a follow-up survey from March 2021 to January 2022 to assess the presence of long COVID. Results showed that non-MIS-C children (n = 286; 54.49% Hispanic; 19.23% non-Hispanic Black; 5.77% other ethnicity; 79.49% government insurance) were younger (mean age 6.43 years [SD 5.95]) versus MIS-C (n = 26) children (mean age 9.08 years, [SD 4.86]) (p = 0.032). A share of 11.5% of children with MIS-C and 37.8% without MIS-C reported acute long COVID while 26.9% and 15.3% reported chronic long COVID, respectively. Females were almost twice as likely to report long symptoms versus males and those with private insurance were 66% less likely to report long symptoms versus those with government insurance. In conclusion, a substantial proportion of ethnically diverse children from low resource backgrounds with severe COVID illness are reporting long-term impacts. Findings can inform pediatric professionals about this vulnerable population in post-COVID-19 recovery efforts.

Additional Dose of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Increases Neutralization Capacity in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

Purpose: Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) develop weak antibody responses after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Published data on neutralizing activity of plasma, a better measure of protection, in SOTR following an additional dose of SARSCoV- 2 vaccine is limited. Method(s): Plasma was longitudinally collected from SOTR following initial COVID- 19 vaccination. Neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 was assessed using the cPass Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit (GenScript, Biotech). ELISAs were performed against SARS-CoV-2 proteins (S1, N, RBD), CMV (glycoprotein B), Influenza A H1N1 (nucleoprotein), HSV-1, EBV glycoprotein (gp350), and tetanus toxoid for comparison. Result(s): Demographic and clinical characteristics are summarized in table 1. No participants had evidence of COVID-19 infection as IgG titers to SARS-CoV-2 N protein were low. Neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 RBD was observed in 39.6% of individuals (N=21/53) ~93 days after initial vaccination. Participants with neutralizing activity were more likely to have received a liver transplant (47.6% vs 6.25%, p=0.001), and less likely to be on an anti-metabolite (52.4% vs. 87.5%, p=0.009) or triple immunosuppression (14.3% vs. 53.1%, p=0.008). After an additional vaccine dose, 78.1% (N=25/32) of participants developed neutralizing activity with significant increases in viral neutralization (figure 1, median 36.8% [95%CI 18.9-64.6] to 97.2% [95%CI 74.0-98.9], p<0.0001). Participants with low neutralizing activity demonstrated adequate antibody titers to other microbial antigens (figure 2). Conclusion(s): An additional dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine increased the number of SOTR with neutralizing activity and the magnitude of the seroresponse. SOTR with low neutralizing activity maintain humoral responses to other microbial antigens suggesting the diminished seroresponse might be related to inhibition of new B cell responses.

IMPACT OF PERSISTENT COVID-19 SYMPTOMS ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CARDIORESPIRATORY PERFORMANCE IN VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

SESSION TITLE: Late Breaking Chest Infections Posters SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Posters PRESENTED ON: 10/18/2022 01:30 pm - 02:30 pm PURPOSE: The science continues to develop in terms of the epidemiology of persistent, or long COVID, especially in the pediatric population. The impact of persistent COVID-19 on cardiorespiratory fitness in the form of physical activity and athletic performance among children/adolescents is not well described, especially among vulnerable populations. METHODS: A retrospective electronic health record review identified children/adolescents with previously diagnosed COVID (N=312, 52.9% male, mean age at diagnosis 6.6 [SD 5.9] years, 20.5% non-Hispanic White [NHW], 19.2% non-Hispanic Black [NHB], and 54.5% Hispanic, 85.26% hospitalized due to COVID-19 illness) from one pediatric healthcare system that serves predominantly Medicaid-dependent families. Patients or caregivers completed a follow-up telephone survey from March 2021- February 2022 to estimate the prevalence of persistent COVID symptoms, defined as the presence of symptoms lasting ≥ 30 days. Multiple logistic regression models explored the association between physical activity and the presence of long COVID. RESULTS: 71 (22.8%) patients reported long COVID and the most prevalent symptoms included tiredness (21 [6.7%]), shortness of breath (18 [5.8%]), cough (16 [5.1%]), headache (14 [4.5%]), difficulty with thinking/concentration (14 [4.5%]), disrupted sleep (14 [4.5%]), other symptoms (12 [3.8%]), anxiety (11 [3.5%]), body aches (11 [3.5%]), joint pain (10 [3.2%]) chest pain (9 [2.9%]), intermittent fever (6 [1.9%]), and loss taste/smell (5 [1.6%]). Almost a third (32%, N = 24) of patients who participated in any athletics or physical activity in or outside of school reported a negative impact on physical or athletic performance, and 66.7% reported it was directly related to COVID-19 illness. Specific complaints when returning to physical activity post-COVID illness included tiredness (7 [36.8%]) and shortness of breath (2 [10.5%]). The odds of a decline in physical activity performance was over twice that (OR 2.17, 95% CI 0.54-8.71, p = 0.28) among children with long COVID versus those reporting no long COVID after adjusting for demographics. There was no difference by age (mean 9.8 vs. 9.7 years, p = 0.93), sex (50% girls vs. 50% boys, p =0.71), or race/ethnicity (25% NHW vs. 25% NHB vs. 37.5% Hispanic, p = 0.25) in terms of decline in physical activity performance. Two children were recommended to delay re-entry into physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of ethnically diverse children from low resource backgrounds who had severe COVID illness are reporting long-term impacts on physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness. Findings can inform pediatricians about this vulnerable population in post-COVID-19 recovery efforts. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Pediatric pulmonologists and other sub-specialists should screen and monitor patients who have had previous severe COVID-19 illness for persistent cardiorespiratory impacts. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Kubra Melike Bozkanat No relevant relationships by Jackson Francis No relevant relationships by Weiheng He No relevant relationships by Alejandra Lozano No relevant relationships by Matthew Mathew No relevant relationships by Sarah Messiah No relevant relationships by Angela Rabl No relevant relationships by Sumbul shaikH No relevant relationships by Nimisha Srikanth No relevant relationships by Apurva Veeraswamy No relevant relationships by Sitara Weerakoon No relevant relationships by Luyu Xie

Changes in body weight, health behaviors, and mental health in adults with obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between body weight changes, health behaviors, and mental health in adults with obesity during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Between March 1, 2021, and November 30, 2021, adults from three obesity practices completed an online survey. The primary outcomes were ≥ 5% of body weight change since March 2020 and associated health behaviors and mental health factors. RESULTS: The sample (n = 404) was 82.6% female (mean age 52.5 years, mean BMI 43.3 kg/m2 ). Mean weight change was + 4.3%. Weight gain ≥ 5% was reported by 30% of the sample, whereas 19% reported ≥ 5% body weight loss. The degree of both weight gain and weight loss correlated positively with baseline BMI. Eighty percent of the sample reported difficulties with body weight regulation. Those who gained ≥ 5% versus those who lost ≥ 5% body weight were more likely to report higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression; less sleep and exercise; less healthy eating and home-cooked meals; and more takeout foods, comfort foods, fast foods, overeating, and binge eating. CONCLUSIONS: Weight gain in adults with obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with higher baseline BMI, deteriorations in mental health, maladaptive eating behaviors, and less physical activity and sleep. Further research is needed to identify effective interventions for healthier minds, behaviors, and body weight as the pandemic continues.

Focused Ultrasonography in COVID-19: A Prospective Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires adaptation of the care delivery process. Since the point of care ultrasonography (USG) is an essential diagnostic tool that aids in making clinical management decisions in a short time, wider adoption of USG by general health practitioners dealing with COVID-19 patients across the country could improve the care delivery process in a pandemic scenario. A simple diagnostic algorithm of USG limited to two echo views was proposed for ease of training and broader adoption of the technique. The study analysed the efficacy of focused USG in COVID-19 using this approach for diagnosing and managing critically ill COVID-19 patients. Aim: To determine the concordance between ultrasonographic diagnosis based on a focused algorithm and clinical diagnosis in COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 58 COVID-19 positive patients admitted to the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a tertiary care hospital, in Kerala, India from October 2020 to March 2021. The inclusion criteria were age 18 years or above, hypoxaemia (SpO(2)<94%) and hypotension (systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg). Apical four chamber and subcostal views were captured using a phased array probe (1.7-4 Hz). The cause of hypoxaemia or hypotension was diagnosed based on an algorithm constructed with Echocardiographic (ECHO) findings in COVID-19. A clinical diagnosis was made, laboratory data, and chest radiograph. Agreement between ultrasonographic and clinical diagnosis was assessed using the Cohen's Kappa inter-rater coefficient. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used for the statistical analysis. Results: Mean age of the population was 65.6 +/- 17.3 years, and the male to female ratio was 1.5:1. Clinical diagnoses were categorised into six groups. The agreement between the ultrasonographic and the clinical diagnoses was substantial (95.1%), with Kappa 0.905 (0.851-0.959). The median time taken for image acquisition was 30 seconds (IQR 30, 60). Additional views performed for lungs and vessels did not change the clinical diagnosis or management. Conclusion: The proposed technique is simple yet effective for clinical management decisions. It has the potential for improving patient care delivery on a larger scale, since it reduces the time lag in instituting therapy.

E-Quarantine: Remote Real Time Monitoring of COVID-19 Patients

It's been more than a year since the world is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Mutation of the virus leads to a new wave of infection in a lot of countries. The virus has a very high spreading rate, so all the infected patients won't be able to treat in the hospitals and chances of it spreading among healthcare workers is also high. So we propose a system to monitor COVID-19 patients undergoing quarantine from their own homes during the pandemic, so as to save the hospital bed spaces for the patients with a critical health condition, who need immediate medical attention. The proposed system helps us to avoid overcrowding in hospitals and thereby avoiding the spreading of the virus from highly infected patients to the unaffected individuals. The methodology utilizes LSTM model which is a recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture used in the field of deep learning. © 2021 IEEE.

Pediatric Telehealth Expansion in Response to COVID-19.

Introduction: Telehealth utilization has been steadily increasing for the past two decades and has been recognized for its ability to access rural and underserved populations. The advent of COVID-19 in March 2020 limited the feasibility of in-person healthcare visits which in turn increased telehealth demand and use. However, the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the telehealth sector of the healthcare industry, and particularly on pediatric healthcare volume demand and subsequent expansion, are yet to be determined. Objective and Methods: To understand the impact of COVID-19 on telehealth utilization, volume demand, and expansion in one large pediatric healthcare system serving greater Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, data on telehealth clinic visits by month, pre-COVID and post/current-COVID were compared. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design analysis compared telehealth visit counts from 54 ambulatory pediatric health specialties. Pre-post new patient counts were also analyzed via chi square. Results: Total telehealth visit counts significantly increased between March-October 2019 (2,033 visits) compared to March-October 2020 (54,276 visits). Mean monthly telehealth visits increased by 6,530 visits, or 2,569.75% over the same time period (p < 0.0001). In October 2020, total telehealth visits were still 1,194.78% above 2019 levels (345 visits in 2019 vs. 4467 visits in 2020). Discussion: Results here show a substantial volume increase in telehealth-delivered pediatric healthcare and resource utilization as a response to COVID-19. This provides a template for permanent adoption of pediatric telehealth delivery post pandemic. Further investigation is needed to determine impacts upon resource allocation, processes, and general models and standard of care to assist facilities and programs to better address the needs of the pediatric populations they serve in the post-COVID era.

Role of immunoglobulin g (igg) against n-protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov2) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) clinical outcomes

RATIONALE: The Nucleocapsid Protein (N Protein) of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) is located in the viral core. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) targeting N protein is detectable in the serum of infected patients. The effect of high titers of IgG against N-protein on clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV2 disease has not been described. METHODS: We studied 400 RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV2 patients to determine independent factors associated with poor outcomes, including MICU admission, prolonged MICU stay, and hospital admissions, and in-hospital mortality. We also measured serum IgG against the N protein and correlated its concentrations with clinical outcomes. RESULTS: We found that several factors, including Charlson comorbidity Index (CCI), high levels of IL6, and presentation with dyspnea were associated with poor clinical outcomes. It was shown that higher CCI and higher IL6 levels were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Anti-N protein IgG was detected in the serum of 55 (55%) patients at the time of admission. A high concentration of antibodies, defined as signal to cut off ratio (S/Co)> 1.5 (75 percentile of all measurements), was found in 25 (25%) patients. The multivariable logistic regression models showed that between being an African American, higher CCI, lymphocyte counts, and S/Co ratio> 1.5, only S/Co ratio were independently associated with MICU admission and longer length of stay in hospital. (Figure 1) CONCLUSION: This study recommends that titers of IgG targeting N-protein of SARS-CoV2 at admission is a prognostic factor for the clinical course of disease and should be measured in all patients with SARS-CoV2 infection.

Substance Use, Mental Health, and Weight-Related Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Patients.

PURPOSE: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioral issues among those who have completed bariatric surgery (BS) is not well described in ethnically diverse populations. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of COVID-19 lockdown orders and after lockdown orders were lifted on substance use, mental health, and weight-related behaviors among a sample of post-BS adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective medical chart review identified BS patients from one university-based obesity medicine clinic and two BS practices. An online non-anonymous survey was implemented in two phases: during lockdown (April 1-May 31, 2020) and after lockdown orders were lifted (June 1, 2020-September 30, 2020) to obtain information about the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on BS patients. RESULTS: A total of 189 (during lockdown=39, post-lockdown=150) participants (90.4% female, mean age 52.4 years, SD 11.1, 49.8% non-Hispanic White, 30.6% non-Hispanic Black, 16.1% Hispanic) participated. Lockdown participants were more likely to have sleep problems (74.3% vs. 56.1%, P=.039) and feel anxious (82.0% vs. 63.0%, P=.024) versus post-lockdown participants. A majority (83.4%) reported depression in both lockdown/post-lockdown. Post-lockdown participants were more than 20 times more likely to report substance use compared those in lockdown (aOR 20.56, 95% CI 2.66-158.4). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The COVID-19 pandemic is having a substantial negative impact on substance use, mental health, and weight-related health behaviors in diverse BS patients. These findings have important implications for post-BS patient care teams and may suggest the integration of screening tools to identify those at high risk for behavioral health issues.

Covid-19 awareness among healthcare workers-a questionnaire based survey

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present study is to determine the knowledge of healthcare workers on COVID-19 MATERIALS AND METHODS: Self designed questionnaire was prepared to collect information pertaining to the study. The questionnaire consists of different types of basic multiple choice questions which were used to determine awareness. It was distributed to healthcare workers of different practicing age groups. RESULTS: Healthcare professionals and students showed adequate, satisfactory awareness of COVID-19 in the healthcare setting with an overall percentage of 76.5% correct answers. CONCLUSION: Although theoretically participants’ awareness was satisfactory, practically this study shows that periodic educational interventions and infection control training practices for COVID-19 among all healthcare professionals should be conducted. © 2021, Universitatea de Vest Vasile Goldis din Arad. All rights reserved.

Telehealth utilization among multi-ethnic patients with obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The science of telemedicine has shown great advances over the past decade. However, the field needs to better understand if a change in care delivery from in-person to telehealth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will yield durable patient engagement and health outcomes for patients with obesity. The objective of this study was to examine the association of mode of healthcare utilization (telehealth versus in-person) and sociodemographic factors among patients with obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A retrospective medical chart review identified patients with obesity from a university outpatient obesity medicine clinic and a community bariatric surgery practice. Patients completed an online survey (1 June 2020-24 September 2020) to assess changes in healthcare utilization modality during subsequent changes in infection rates in the geographic area. Logistic regression analysis examined the association of mode of healthcare utilization and key sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 583 patients (87% female, mean age 51.2 years (standard deviation 13.0), mean body mass index 40.2 (standard deviation 6.7), 49.2% non-Hispanic white, 28.7% non-Hispanic black, 16.4% Hispanic, 7% other ethnicity, 33.1% completed bariatric surgery) were included. Adjusted logistic regression models showed older age was inversely associated with telehealth use (adjusted odds ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval 0.34-0.98) and non-Hispanic black were more likely to use telehealth compared to non-Hispanic white (adjusted odds ratio = 1.72, 95% confidence interval 1.05-2.81). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting access to healthcare among patients with obesity. Telehealth is an emerging modality that can maintain healthcare access during the pandemic, but utilization varies by age and ethnicity in this high-risk population.