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The emergency remote teaching caused by the covid-19 pandemic has potentiated the learning gaps of several students in Brazilian education, especially in the K-12 settings. Amidst the many challenges imposed by the pandemic, the adoption of digital tools in the school context has provided the generation of educational data, which can be collected and analyzed in order to provide evidence-based decision making, taking into account all the stakeholders in the teaching and learning process. Such decisions can provide for the personalization of learning, which aims to provide the student with educational resources that promote the building of weakened skills caused by learning gaps. The present thesis plan aims to present the work plan for the development of a Learning Analytics Dashboard tool for teachers in a basic education school in order to support data-driven pedagogical decision-making and to enable personalized monitoring of learning. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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With the advancement of globalization, economies are increasingly interconnected in such a way that large disruptive events, which would have had a limited global impact in the past, have become more frequent and widespread. Just to name a few, financial and economic crises (such as the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and the subsequent worldwide recession), natural disasters (such as the 2011 Japan earthquake), and epidemics (like the one caused by SARS in 2003), have all occurred over the last twenty years. The impact of such events varies. Some have caused massive reductions of demand (demand shock);others have led to a change in supply conditions, forcing firms to suspend or reduce their output (supply shock);and others have presented both characteristics. Financial crises, particularly, may cause a "deep deterioration of conditions in financial markets, leading to a severe credit crunch" (Colombo et al., 2016, p. 648). © Hamid Etemad 2022. All rights reserved.
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Background: For patients with cancer, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased morbidity and mortality due to their bigger susceptibility to infection and to the discontinuity of treatment. In this context, telemedicine has become an invaluable tool for cancer care. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of telemedicine in the care of cancer patients from a Latin American public institution. Methods: Retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study of cancer patients who received medical care through telemedicine from the Department of Medical Oncology of the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas (INEN) during the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 to February 2021. Data collection was performed in real time by medical oncologists. Impact was mesuared with a comparison between the amount of cancer care during the COVID 19 pandemic vs the previous year. A modified version of the University of Kansas Cancer Center telephone satisfaction survey was conducted. Variables included the process of requesting an appointment by telemedicine, satisfaction with telemedicine service and distribution of drugs. Results: 16 456 telemedicine visits were carried out in one year time, 96.1% were conducted by telephone and only 3.9% used a video communication platform. 73% of patients were female and 62% were in the age group from 31 to 60 years old. 43% corresponded to solid tumors where breast cancer was the most frequent diagnosis. Patients in active treatment represented 70% (n = 11587), with 64% of patients being treated with curative intent and 36% within the palliative setting. Regarding the result of telemedicine visits, 62% (n = 10,281) had a medical prescription (40% corresponded to hormonal therapy;and 19%, to intravenous or subcutaneous systemic treatment). Overall, 8% (n = 56) of cases required an in-person visit. In the annual comparative analysis (against in-person visits during the previous year), the gap was 23% (60%, 20%, 8% and 13% during the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively). According to the type of medical care, telemedicine accounted for the 27.6% of the total medical care employed during in the year. The maximum level of usage was in May 2020 with 52% and in February 2021 with 48%, coinciding with the first and second waves of COVID in Peru. The satisfaction survey was applied to 5765 randomly chosen patients from July to October 2020. The mean scores for the 3 variables studied were: 4.6 / 5 points for the process of requesting an appointment, 4.58 / 5 points for telemedicine service and 4.33 / 5 points for the distribution of medicines and orders. Conclusions: Telemedicine is key to guarantee the continuity of care for cancer patients with an adequate level of satisfaction. If the Telemedicine service had not been implemented, the number of medical consultations would have dropped to 40% in comparison to the previous year.
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BACKGROUND: Limited research has examined mobile phone-based platforms for survey recruitment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Our objective was to investigate the feasibility and representativeness of mobile phone-based advertisement during a preliminary study about COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Brazil. Moreover, we evaluate whether the older population can be reached through mobile phone-based platforms of the survey. METHODS: We conducted a study in December 2021 based on a preliminary survey about the COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Assis, Brazil, Sao Paulo state. From a list of the adult population hesitant about the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, we sent a mobile phone-based advertisement inviting the participants to answer the survey for one week. The respondent's data were collected in a Google form platform. The comparison between the target population and the respondents was made using the Chi-squared test and the Welch's test, using a P-value of 0.05 as significative. RESULTS: The response rate was 9.99% after one week. The mean age of the respondent group was 33.97 (SD 14.99) and 35.05 (SD 14.19) of the population, with a P-value of 0.192 and a Cohen's d coefficient of 0.0754, corresponding to a small effect size between groups. We demonstrate that the mobile phone-based survey is a feasible and representative strategy during the pandemics in Brazil. Moreover, the older population respondent was representative. CONCLUSION: We achieved a representative sample of respondents using the mobile phone-based survey in Brazil. Furthermore, it was representative of all sociodemographic and health characteristics assessed. Finally, these findings suggest that the method is a highly feasible and economical means of recruiting for survey research.
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COVID-19 , Cell Phone , Text Messaging , Adult , Brazil/epidemiology , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19 Vaccines , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Pandemics/prevention & controlABSTRACT
Purpose: Inmate oncologic patients' rates increased drastically worldwide. Elderly, limited exercise, unhealthy diet, hepatitis, HIV + status, tobacco and alcohol use, constitute the main cancer risk factors. We present an outline of practical oncological management and ethical thinking, in the specific environment of a detention facility. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Database of Controlled Trials, SCOPUS and grey literature were extensively searched up to October 2021. Incarcerated oncologic patients experience various everyday challenges:their confinement in high security facilities, the lack of access to critical care and related ethical dilemmas inherent to the context of a correctional facility. Results: The detention facilities may be inadequate in providing early cancer diagnosis and appropriate care mainly due to a lack of specialized personnel, b) in-house or in external specialized cancer hospitals, care variability (e.g. admissions in small local or regional hospitals), c) delays in providing access and d) gatekeeper systems. There is a paucity of administration of a)systemic therapy (chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy etc),b)radiotherapy, c) palliative care, and d)enrollment in clinical trials. Conclusions: Correctional facilities must encourage teamwork between healthcare and correctional professionals in order to improve the provided anticancer care.
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The pandemic of COVID-19 forced all countries to establish quarantine protocols. Educational institutions around the world have had to adapt to some form of remote learning. In the study presented here, all students at a higher education institution specializing in business courses in São Paulo/Brazil were moved to the synchronous remote teaching modality. This movement generated several impacts on the assessment process, particularly on final averages and passed rates and attendance. These impacts were uneven depending on the type of content of each subject. This study used databases of grades and absences, as well as interviews with professors and course coordinators. This article seeks to integrate with other national studies on the impact of the pandemic on education, bringing quantitative data, taking as an example a Brazilian higher education institution. © 2021 IEEE.
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The Coronavirus outbreak has imposed different levels of stay-at-home orders worldwide to help contain the disease spread, thus promoting severe impacts over the global economy. The World Bank expects 90% of the world economy to go into recession, being this the most severe global economic crisis since the second world war. Consequently, electricity consumption has fallen sharply in many countries, so as in Brazil, what provoked critical effects over many electricity sector stakeholders. In this context, this article discusses the main consequences of COVID-19s outbreak over the Brazilian electricity sector and some measures taken by the government and the regulator to address such issues. Further, this work proposes a long-term electricity demand forecast methodology, taking into consideration bottom-up technics for general demand growth and top-down technics for the expansion of distributed generation in Brazil. The model uses as input economic forecasts from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Brazilian market consolidated expectations disclosed by the Brazilian Central Bank. The model proves to be useful to long-term demand forecast by producing results adherent to official forecasts published by Brazilian governmental institutions. © 2003-2012 IEEE.
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We moved places and places moved us, until force majeure detained us on the spot. Signed-up to be hyper-mobile Ph.D.-candidates, we became hyper-reflective pandemic intimates. We moved together into a space that felt safe, OUR safe space. Suspended. Did the pandemic open this door, or had this space always existed, even back in the old days? Probably the latter, although we were not sensitive enough to perceive it, too busy to push the door, too lonesome to CARE. Not attentive to its possibilities, not imaginative of its POWER, too confident to be capable of succeeding alone. Even if we might have secretly wished for this space to exist. The present piece of work, and JOY, might be described by others as a "side-step," a "hobby project," a "shadow activity." For us, it is a recollection of shocks and wonders, a sentience of precious, ephemeral instances that last. We are a group of eight early career researchers who study global mobility and labor migration from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. With prior international mobility experience, we left our previous countries of residence in 2018 to join an EU-funded research project, whilst being located in different European cities. One could classify us, for example, as highly qualified, privileged migrants. The present paper is the outcome of a collaborative, auto-ethnographic study, conducted in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we suddenly were forced not to travel anymore. We got together online every week to "refaire le monde," and we conducted virtual, dialogical self-interrogations and group reflections. Based on an emic approach, in line with Chang et al. (2013), we applied an iterative process of data collection and analysis. Our weekly conversations naturally emerged as a safe space for exchange and understanding, as we were facing similar situations, despite staying at different places. Suddenly, as the privilege of "always being on the move," "always socializing and networking" disappeared due to closed borders and pandemic threats, we experienced anxieties and isolation and had to re-evaluate our perceptions on life, work, and international mobility. The very purpose and meaning of our broader research endeavors and employment perspectives suddenly faded away. We realized more than ever before, what it means to us to be allowed to move, to travel freely across continents.
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This paper presents a research developed from the training course in Dialogic Learning carried out during the period of social distance and in a remote way, which sought to promote the training of several educational agents. The research was carried out by means of an electronic form filled out by the course participants after the end of the activity so that we could understand how and if the Dialogic Pedagogical Training impacted aspects of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we highlight the centrality in the instrumental dimension of the knowledge covered throughout the course, the possibility of virtual dialogue and the organization of studies as transforming elements for coping with social distance. We hope with this article to contribute to the field of teacher education through Dialogic Learning as a powerful tool for a liberating education based on scientific evidence in relation to the most relevant educational theories and research in the current scenario.
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Background/Case Studies: COVID-19 Convalescent plasma (CCP) has been used for therapy in severely symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Pathogen reduction (PR) has been proposed to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infectious agents. We investigate the impact of A/UVA on nAbs and anti-NP (IgM, IgG and IgA) PR treatment of CCP units. Study Design/Methods: Plasmapheresis CCP units (600 mL) were collected from a cohort of previously confirmed male RT-PCR positive [+ve] COVID-19 mild/ moderate convalescent patients, all first-time and nonremunerated volunteers, with >14 days after full recovery of symptoms. CCP units were treated with INTERCEPT Blood System (Cerus Corporation, Concord, USA) according to manufacturer's instructions, either individually or pooled two by two. After treatment, units were separated into 200 mL doses. Pre- and post-PR treatment samples were harvested and kept at 4oC for 3-5 days prior to testing for nAb titers using a CPE-based virus neutralization assay (GenBank: MT MT350282), and specific IgM, IgG and IgA anti-NP antibodies by ELISA. Results/Findings: A total of 16 individual and 94 pooled units were treated (n =110 CCP donations), rendering 330 x 200 mL treated CCP therapeutic doses. There were no statistical differences in samples harvested before versus after A/UVA treatment (all p>0.05, Wilcoxon test) for nAb titers or IgM, IgG and IgA anti-NP absorbance levels, as shown in the table. Conclusions: Anti-NP IgM, IgG, IgA, and nAbs are not adversely impacted by A/UVA treatment, suggesting this PR technology can be employed to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections after collection of CCP donors, who are often first time blood donors. With most CCP units destined to treat older, immunosuppressed patients with several comorbidities, the use of A/UVA PR treatment is not only safe and recommended, while preserving anti-SARSCoV- 2 antibodies in CCP units.
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This brief article discusses the ICU admission and discharge criteria, and among the priorities listed for admission, are: (1) Patients in need of life support interventions, with high probability of recovery and no limitation of therapeutic support;and (2) Patients who need intensive monitoring, due to the high risk of need for immediate intervention, and without any limitation of therapeutic support.
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The older population has been the most vulnerable to severe forms of the disease and progression to death, especially frail older adults, those with comorbidities, and residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Mortality increases linearly with age, being 3.6% in the 60-69 age group, 8% in the 70-79 age group, and 14.8% in those over 80 years old. This article describes guidelines and recommendations for the development of institutional action plans to prevent and contain the dissemination of COVID-19 in LTCFs.
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The reality of the world changes with the new coronavirus. Until March 2020, the virus had spread to 203 countries and the pandemic status was officially declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). In a short period, social distancing became mandatory so that the speed of spread of the virus was minimized both to protect the entire population - especially the most vulnerable - and to avoid overload and the consequent collapse of health systems. Intending to flatten the curve of infections and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, the almost consensual speech for isolation and social distancing, despite being conflicting between the municipal, state, and federal spheres in Brazil, reverberated as the most potent prevention strategy during the pandemic, and that's how the world responded. Protective measures have been instituted, especially aimed at the group with the highest risk, older people with chronic diseases, but this relevant intervention has its potential deleterious effects. The reduction in the frequency of physical activities is an example of what was already foreseen;the increase in domestic violence, an example of the unexpected. Among these potential unintended damages, impacts on mental health, and barriers to following-up and managing chronic diseases have become two of the biggest problems for geriatricians and gerontology specialists. Advanced age, chronic diseases, and immunodeficiency are among the most important risk factors for death related to the disease mediated by the new coronavirus, COVID-19. Impactfully, all of these factors usually coexist in the same individual, which is why about 70% of deaths occur among the older population. Brazil, at the date of writing of this document, has the second-highest number of positive cases and deaths from COVID-19, with approximately 70% of the cases lethal among people over the age of 60 years. These statistics on the new disease imply even more complexity and difficulties to the already deficient Brazilian health system, including the overload of the hospital system as a significant barrier to the adequate management of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The last item is a top priority, as pointed out by the WHO, which in 2013 published a global action plan to prevent and control NCDs, as they are the cause of 36 million annual deaths worldwide and the impact of these conditions is expected to increase secondarily to population aging. It is the older population that concentrates a large part of the prevalence of these diseases, being, therefore, doubly vulnerable: for the viral disease itself and its potential impact on access to preventive measures and control of clinical and mental health morbidities. There are several potential mediators for failure to care for patients, starting for reasons of contingency in the health system related to the pandemic, home isolation, or simply fear of contamination when seeking assistance. Furthermore, there is an economic recession, a reduction in means of transport, and even greater social impacts. Three direct results can be seen. The closure of basic health units due to the reallocation of human resources and the structure to exclusively serve COVID-19;the restriction of outpatient care to cases with a high risk of clinical instability;retraction in the number of consultations, suspension, or postponement of treatments and elective procedures. For these reasons, there is a real fear of the consequences of neglecting the management of chronic diseases during the pandemic, especially the higher mortality from NCDs and the increased impact of these on physical and mental health and the quality of life of the older population. With this, a new phase is to come: the progression of preventable diseases and the death of chronic patients whose care was interrupted by the crisis of the new coronavirus, here called the late wave of deaths. In the hospital scenario, the sudden emptying of non-COVID-19 hospitalizations is noticeable in the last two months. Out of fear of contagion, many patients postponed emerg
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Older people are often cared for by caregivers and health care professionals. If these professionals present symptoms compatible with those of COVID-19, they should avoid contact with their patients and if there is any doubt about contagion, spare the visits. This article presents the most effective preventive measures to reduce the ability of the new coronavirus to spread: (1) Respiratory etiquette;(2) Frequent hand sanitizing with soap and water or 70% alcohol gel;(3) Identification and respiratory isolation of those affected by the virus;(4) Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by health professionals;(5) Clean hands frequently with soap and water (or 70% alcohol gel);(6) Perform social isolation, as recommended by government entities;(7) Leave home only in cases of extreme urgency and avoid crowds;(8) Avoid contact with people with respiratory symptoms (coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath);(9) Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands without washing them;(10) Avoid shaking hands, hugging and kissing when greeting people;and (11) When sneezing and coughing, cover your nose and mouth with a flexed elbow or paper tissue (then throw away the paper tissue and sanitise your hands).
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With social isolation recommended by health authorities as a measure to control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, home care for the elderly and people with chronic illnesses, groups with higher mortality rates when affected by COVID-19, are now an appropriate tool used by health care professionals (HCPs) to assess and monitor their patients. Measures are important to prevent infection by the new coronavirus for both medical professionals and patients. It is essential that healthcare professionals be able to provide advice to users during home care in relation to the prevention of spread, identify suspected COVID-19 cases, provide home care, or appoint hospital admission in necessary cases. The HCP that performs home care should take standard precautions to track respiratory symptoms in older adults when scheduling home visits. If the patient has respiratory symptoms and the care is not urgent, postpone the appointment until the condition is resolved.