Uncovering strain- and age- dependent differences in innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in nasal epithelia using combined short and long-read scRNA-seq (preprint)

Assessing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on host immune systems is crucial with the continuous arrival of novel variants. However, there is a lack of reported studies utilizing single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) to elucidate the age-dependent host-viral interactions with different SARS-CoV-2 strains. Therefore, we employed Full-Length Transcriptome Sequencing (FLT-Seq) combining Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) with 10X 3-prime single cell sequencing to investigate host transcriptomic changes during wild-type (WT) and Alpha-strain SARS-CoV-2 infections within air-liquid-interface (ALI)-cultured human nasal epithelial cells from adults and adolescents. The results revealed increased innate immune responses in cells with lower viral loads which were lacking in cells with higher viral load. Alpha-infections showed heightened expression of genes related to interferon (IFN)-responses and protein-folding compared with WT, implying the increased immune response and endoplasmic reticulum stress with the variant of a higher transmission rate. ACE2 expression was elevated in infected populations of secretory and goblet cells with high IFN-stimulation and a subpopulation of ciliated cells but was lacking in bystander cells and other infected-cell types, despite detectable IFN-stimulation and regardless of strain. We used long-read sequencing to identify differential transcript usage (DTU) of IFN-response and translational genes, including IFI27, RPL4 and RPL15 (padj < 0.05) in infected cells compared with control, and consistent DTU of RPL15 and MX1 between Alpha and WT strain-infected cells in various cell-types. Together, these results reveal the dynamic transcriptional/translational/post-translational activity upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, which appeared to be age and strain-dependent. Overall, this study highlights the complexity of cell-type, age and viral-strain-dependent host epithelial responses to SARS-CoV-2.

Estudo De Descontinuacao De Fase I/Ii De Imatinibe Apos Pioglitazona (Edi-Pio) Em Pacientes Com Leucemia Mieloide Cronica Em Resposta Molecular Profunda Sustentada - Analise De 5 Anos De Seguimento

Objetivos: avaliar a eficacia e seguranca da pioglitazona utilizada concomitante ao imatinibe antes da descontinuacao do tratamento. Metodos: EDI-PIO (do Estudo de Descontinuacao de Imatinibe em Portugues apos Pioglitazona) e um estudo prospectivo, aberto, de braco unico, fase I/II de descontinuacao. Criterios de inclusao: LMC em fase cronica, tratada com imatinibe por pelo menos 3 anos, com MR 4.5 (Escala Internacional) por 2 anos. Os pacientes receberam pioglitazona 30 mg/dia por via oral por tres meses antes da descontinuacao do imatinibe. Apos a descontinuacao, os niveis de BCR-ABL foram medidos por PCR quantitativo em tempo real mensalmente por 12 meses, a cada dois meses no segundo ano e depois a cada tres meses. O tratamento com imatinibe foi reiniciado na recidiva molecular (amostra unica com valor de PCR >0,1% ou duas amostras consecutivas >0,01%). A sobrevida livre de terapia (SLT) foi calculada a partir da descontinuacao do imatinibe ate a recaida molecular, progressao ou morte por causas relacionadas a LMC. A sobrevida global (SG) foi calculada a partir da descontinuacao do imatinibe ate a ultima consulta ou data de obito por qualquer causa. Registro: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02852486. Resultados: Entre junho/2016 e janeiro/2019, foram incluidos 32 pacientes com LMC, com idade mediana de 54 anos (29-77), tratados com imatinibe por um tempo mediano de 9,5 anos (3-16). A duracao mediana de MR4 e MR4.5 foi de 106 e 93 meses, respectivamente. A data de corte desta analise foi 1de julho de 2022. Um paciente deixou o estudo antes da descontinuacao do imatinibe e nao foi analisado para SLT e SG. Nao houve eventos adversos de grau 3 ou 4 relacionados a pioglitazona. A mediana de seguimento dos 31 pacientes que descontinuaram a terapia foi de 61 meses (37-69). 15/31(48%) pacientes apresentaram sintomas relacionados a sindrome de retirada da medicacao. Doze pacientes apresentaram recidiva molecular apos uma mediana de 5 meses (2-30). Nove recaidas ocorreram nos primeiros seis meses e tres em 7, 13 e 30 meses apos a interrupcao do imatinibe. Todos os pacientes com recaida alcancaram resposta molecular maior numa mediana de 3 meses (1,8-4,1). Um paciente desenvolveu um adenocarcinoma do canal anal no terceiro ano apos a descontinuacao e foi tratado com cirurgia e quimioterapia. A SLT foi 71%, 67%, 61% e 61% aos 6,12, 30 e 60 meses, respectivamente. A SG aos 60 meses foi de 95% (IC 95%: 85-100%). Houve 5 casos de COVID-19 entre os 19 pacientes em descontinuacao (26%) e dois suspeitos. Quatro casos foram leves e um paciente em MR4.5 morreu devido a COVID-19 grave. O escore de Sokal baixo risco e a duracao do MR4.5 foram fatores significativos para SLT prolongada (P = 0,032 e 0,012, respectivamente). Discussao: A descontinuacao do tratamento com ITQ na LMC e bem-sucedida em aproximadamente 40-60% dos pacientes que atingem uma resposta molecular profunda e sustentada. Recaidas podem ocorrer devido a persistencia de celulas-tronco leucemicas quiescentes (CTL). A pioglitazona, um medicamento usado no tratamento do diabetes, e um agonista de PPAR gama e reduz a atividade de STAT5, e seus alvos a jusante, HIF2alpha e CITED2, principais guardioes das CTL quiescente. As CLT residuais podem ser gradualmente purgadas dos nichos da medula ossea pela pioglitazona, sendo o racional para a associacao da pioglitazona nesse estudo. Conclusoes: a combinacao de pioglitazona e imatinibe foi segura, sem eventos adversos graves. O seguimento a longo prazo de 5 anos demonstrou respostas moleculares duradouras e estaveis. Financiamento: CAPES (bolsa de mestrado ABPL). Copyright © 2022

Indonesia Covid-19 Pandemic Social Media Analysis With Text Mining

This research aimed to analyze public opinion regarding Indonesia's situation in facing community restrictions (PPKM) during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research used the text mining approach to classify public opinion into two classes of the Pro and Cons classes regarding the policies, along with comparing the accuracy, precision, and recall values using two text classification methods of Naive Bayes and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The data collected were 217 tweets from Indonesia in November 2020. The Naive Bayes method showed 64% accuracy, 72% precision, and 53% recall, while the SVM method showed 63% accuracy, 70% precision, and 53 % recall. Based on these classification text methods results, researchers concluded that SVM's accuracy, precision, and recall values were not higher than Naive Bayes. © 2022 IEEE.

Learning styles and performance in nursing students from a peruvian university during COVID-19

Introduction: The current pandemic caused changes in higher education. The establishment of the virtual modality for the Nursing major at the University of Sciences and Humanities led to the presumption that academic performance could be affected. Before the onset of the pandemic, the academic performance of students was highly heterogeneous. Learning styles could be one of the factors influencing academic performance. Objective: To identify the relationship between learning styles and academic performance in virtual education of Nursing students in their fourth, fifth and seventh cycles from the University of Sciences and Humanities. Methods: A quantitative approach was used, with a nonexperimental, descriptive-correlational, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective design. A sample of thirty Nursing students from the University of Sciences and Humanities was evaluated. The instrument used to determine the learning style of each of the students was the David Kolb's learning style inventory, while a data collection form was used to determine academic performance. Results: Most of the students were of female sex (93 %) and aged between 18 and 29 years old (73 %). Regarding the relationship between learning styles and academic performance, a chi-square of 9.7305 (P=0.365) was obtained. The most frequent learning style was the assimilative style (37 %), followed by the convergent style (27 %). The most frequent academic performance level was the category good (80 %), followed by fair (16.67 %). Conclusions: The relationship between learning styles and academic performance is not statistically significant. © 2022, Katherine Luisa Contreras Gala et al.

Characterization of the dietary profile of the old adults in Ibero-american during of pandemic by COVID 19

Objective: To characterize the food profile of the Older People of Ibero-America in times of the COVID 19 pandemic. Material and methods: Multicenter study in 12 Ibero-American countries, an online survey was applied that included sociodemographic questions and a Food Intake questionnaire that included the frequency of consumption for vegetables, sugary drinks, legumes, dairy products and portion of food. Results: The sample was made up of 624 participants, 72.1% (n= 450) of women. 54.7% of women do not consume sugary drinks, while in men 54% consume at least one glass a day (p=0.012). 35.6% of men consumed >= 3 legumes per week versus 23% of women (p=0.020). 37.3% of women consume >= 2 daily servings of dairy products, in men only 28.1% (p= 0.030). Women have a higher consumption of vegetables (44.7%, n= 201) compared to men (28.7%), (p=0.001). 17.4% of the total sample increased the size of the food portion, being higher in women (p=0.005). Conclusion: Women have healthier eating habits than men based on fruits, vegetables, on the other hand, the variation in size increases, especially in women.

Dietary Patterns and Dietary Recommendations Achievement From Latin American College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

This study aimed to compare the diet quality of different dietary patterns among college students from Latin American countries, including vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study was conducted including a non- probabilistic sample of university students from 10 countries. University students were invited to participate in the study through social network platforms. Participants were self-reported to have followed a specific dietary pattern;either the Prudent diet, Western diet, Ovo-dairy-vegetarian diet, Fish-vegetarian diet, Strict vegetarian diet (vegan) or other. The last three patterns (vegetarians and vegans) were grouped as following a plant-based diet. A self-assessment survey was used to evaluate healthy eating habits using a questionnaire with values between 1 (do not consume) and 5 (consume) for a total of 9–45 points (higher values represent better eating habits). Unhealthy habits were assessed with nine questions. A total of 4,809 students filled out the questionnaire, and the majority of them were females (73.7%). A high percentage have been in lockdown for more than 5 months and were in lockdown when the survey was released. 74.3% were self-reported to follow a prudent diet, while 11.4% reported following a western dietary pattern and 8.8% a plant-based diet. When compliance with healthy and unhealthy dietary habits was analyzed, although all groups had low compliance, the plant-based diet group (56.09 ± 6.11) performed better than the Western diet group (48.03 ± 5.99). The total diet quality score was significantly higher for plant-based diet followers, who also tended to better achieve the recommendations than omnivorous students, especially the ones following a western diet. These results present evidence that young adults such as college-aged students have unhealthy dietary habits. However, the ones who follow a plant-based diet such as vegetarians and vegans exhibit better scores and healthier dietary conducts. Copyright © 2022 Murillo, Gómez, Durán-Agüero, Parra-Soto, Araneda, Morales, Ríos-Castillo, Carpio-Arias, Cavagnari, Nava-González, Bejarano-Roncancio, Núñez-Martínez, Cordón-Arrivillaga, Meza-Miranda, Mauricio-Alza and Landaeta-Díaz.

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during the covid-19 pandemic in twelve ibero-american countries: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To evaluate the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) during confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its relationship with sociodemographic and dietary factors. Material and Methods: Multicenter study. Citizens residing in 12 countries were invited to participate (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Panama, and Uruguay) to whom an online survey on food consumption and sociodemographic indicators was applied. Results: 10,573 questionnaires were analyzed. Regarding the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, 78.0% of women had low consumption versus 69.2% of men. Frequency of SSB consumption was similar according to age group. For education, 13.4% of people with a university-level education reported excessive consumption versus 23.1% of people with a primary or basic education level (p<0.001). The frequency of SSB consumption was similar by urban versus rural residence. According to self-report, 19.0% of weight gain was due to excessive consumption of SSB compared to 10.4% of those who lost weight (p<0.001). Similar figures were found in self-reported portion size change, 19.3% who increased their portion consumed SSB in excess versus 10.0% who decreased portion size. Finally, in a re-gression model: being a man, being between 40 and 59 years old, primary academic level, weight gain, and presenting changes in diet, increased the probability of having a high level of SSB consumption. Conclusion: The consumption of SSB, in general, is low but excessively relevant in some groups of the study variables, in addition, there is a relationship between the consumption of SSB and the variables studied.

Long-Read RNA Sequencing Identifies Polyadenylation Elongation and Differential Transcript Usage of Host Transcripts During SARS-CoV-2 In Vitro Infection.

Better methods to interrogate host-pathogen interactions during Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections are imperative to help understand and prevent this disease. Here we implemented RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) long-reads to measure differential host gene expression, transcript polyadenylation and isoform usage within various epithelial cell lines permissive and non-permissive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2-infected and mock-infected Vero (African green monkey kidney epithelial cells), Calu-3 (human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells), Caco-2 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma epithelial cells) and A549 (human lung carcinoma epithelial cells) were analyzed over time (0, 2, 24, 48 hours). Differential polyadenylation was found to occur in both infected Calu-3 and Vero cells during a late time point (48 hpi), with Gene Ontology (GO) terms such as viral transcription and translation shown to be significantly enriched in Calu-3 data. Poly(A) tails showed increased lengths in the majority of the differentially polyadenylated transcripts in Calu-3 and Vero cell lines (up to ~101 nt in mean poly(A) length, padj = 0.029). Of these genes, ribosomal protein genes such as RPS4X and RPS6 also showed downregulation in expression levels, suggesting the importance of ribosomal protein genes during infection. Furthermore, differential transcript usage was identified in Caco-2, Calu-3 and Vero cells, including transcripts of genes such as GSDMB and KPNA2, which have previously been implicated in SARS-CoV-2 infections. Overall, these results highlight the potential role of differential polyadenylation and transcript usage in host immune response or viral manipulation of host mechanisms during infection, and therefore, showcase the value of long-read sequencing in identifying less-explored host responses to disease.

Mayflower & The Seven Seas: Sonification of The Ocean

Created in conjunction with the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth, the intention of this project was to use data transmitted by the on-board sensors of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS), to manipulate specially created pieces of music, based on sea shanties and folk ballads. Technical issues and Covid delays forced a late change, and the project was switched to using data from the university’s weather stations. This paper will illustrate how the music was produced and recorded, and the software configured to make the musical pieces vary and evolve in real-time, according to the changing sea conditions, so that the public will be able to view the current conditions and listen to the music evolve in real-time. © 151st Audio Engineering Society Convention 2021.

Changes in healthy habits regarding physical activity and sedentary lifestyle during a national lockdown due to COVID-19

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a lockdown in Spain due to COVID-19 on the levels of physical activity, exercise and sedentary lifestyle. After declaring state of alarm in Spain, a questionnaire was distributed via social networks with demographic questions, academic and/or employment status, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle. Subsequently, another questionnaire was sent by email in relation to the new lockdown measures. 474 participants replied to both questionnaires. An increase in weight and body mass index was recorded during lockdown (p <0.001). The number of days in which physical activity was practiced during leisure time increased (p <0.001), but the total time of weekly practice stayed the same. The time of physical activity during academic and the time spent walking was reduced, as well as was the time spent walking (p <0.001). Longer sleep, naps and sitting time was also recorded (p <0.01). The present study shows the need to create effective strategies aimed to increase the practice of physical activity and promote a healthy lifestyle during the current humanitarian crisis and possible future ones.

Representation and Anti-Racist Policymaking in U.S. Cities during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare deep-rooted racial and gender disparities in the United States. The lack of national policy produced an uneven patchwork of local policies. We quantitatively evaluate how descriptive representation translated to substantive representation in 500 cities’ efforts to declare racism as a public health crisis and enact eviction moratoria. We find that representation shapes explicitly anti-racist resolutions on racism, not implicitly anti-racist eviction moratoria, suggesting the descriptive-substantive representation connection is more powerful for explicitly anti-racist policies. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Representation is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Long-read RNA sequencing identifies polyadenylation elongation and differential transcript usage of host transcripts during SARS-CoV-2 in vitro infection (preprint)

Better methods to interrogate host-pathogen interactions during Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections are imperative to help understand and prevent this disease. Here we implemented RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) combined with the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) long-reads to measure differential host gene expression, transcript polyadenylation and isoform usage within various epithelial cell lines permissive and non-permissive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2-infected and mock-infected Vero (African green monkey kidney epithelial cells), Calu-3 (human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells), Caco-2 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma epithelial cells) and A549 (human lung carcinoma epithelial cells) were analysed over time (0, 2, 24, 48 hours). Differential polyadenylation was found to occur in both infected Calu-3 and Vero cells during a late time point (48 hpi), with Gene Ontology (GO) terms such as viral transcription and translation shown to be significantly enriched in Calu-3 data. Poly(A) tails showed increased lengths in the majority of the differentially polyadenylated transcripts in Calu-3 and Vero cell lines (up to ~136 nt in mean poly(A) length, padj = 0.029). Of these genes, ribosomal protein genes such as RPS4X and RPS6 also showed downregulation in expression levels, suggesting the importance of ribosomal protein genes during infection. Furthermore, differential transcript usage was identified in Caco-2, Calu-3 and Vero cells, including transcripts of genes such as GSDMB and KPNA2, which have previously been implicated in SARS-CoV-2 infections. Overall, these results highlight the potential role of differential polyadenylation and transcript usage in host immune response or viral manipulation of host mechanisms during infection, and therefore, showcase the value of long-read sequencing in identifying less-explored host responses to disease.

'It's not just about the dinner; it's about everything else that we do': A qualitative study exploring how Meals on Wheels meet the needs of self-isolating adults during COVID-19.

Meals on Wheels (MoWs), a service offered by local authorities in England, deliver meals to older, housebound and/or vulnerable adults, who might otherwise not be able to acquire and prepare their own meals. Research suggests that MoWs provide benefits beyond nutrition. Little is known about the actual interactions between service providers and clients, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this small-scale, formative study was to explore MoWs service providers' experiences and their perceptions around the benefits and challenges faced by the service, and understand how these experiences changed during the first UK national lockdown. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in September 2020 with 18 service providers of MoWs (drivers who deliver the meals, service coordinators and managers) in two local authorities in England, and analysed thematically. Participants indicated that benefits of the service encompassed those to clients (e.g. welfare checks, encouraging independence and identifying and addressing isolation and loneliness), employees (e.g. sense of pride, rewarding relationships with clients) and the wider community (e.g. reducing pressures on families), and described MoWs as the 'fourth emergency service' (e.g. being the first responders to emergency situations). Participants identified several challenges faced by the MoWs service, including organisational challenges (e.g. funding cuts and closures, lack of appropriate publicity to raise awareness of the service) and restrictions on time spent with clients. The pandemic and lockdown resulted in increased demand on resources, concerns about client and staff wellbeing and uncertainty about how the service will cope if lockdowns continue. These findings provide important insights regarding the wide benefits of MoWs and the challenges the service faces, which can be used as the formative research base to guide future interventions and policies to protect vulnerable adults, not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but beyond.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus vaccine based on a propagation-defective RNA replicon elicited sterilizing immunity in mice.

Self-amplifying RNA replicons are promising platforms for vaccine generation. Their defects in one or more essential functions for viral replication, particle assembly, or dissemination make them highly safe as vaccines. We previously showed that the deletion of the envelope (E) gene from the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) produces a replication-competent propagation-defective RNA replicon (MERS-CoV-ΔE). Evaluation of this replicon in mice expressing human dipeptidyl peptidase 4, the virus receptor, showed that the single deletion of the E gene generated an attenuated mutant. The combined deletion of the E gene with accessory open reading frames (ORFs) 3, 4a, 4b, and 5 resulted in a highly attenuated propagation-defective RNA replicon (MERS-CoV-Δ[3,4a,4b,5,E]). This RNA replicon induced sterilizing immunity in mice after challenge with a lethal dose of a virulent MERS-CoV, as no histopathological damage or infectious virus was detected in the lungs of challenged mice. The four mutants lacking the E gene were genetically stable, did not recombine with the E gene provided in trans during their passage in cell culture, and showed a propagation-defective phenotype in vivo. In addition, immunization with MERS-CoV-Δ[3,4a,4b,5,E] induced significant levels of neutralizing antibodies, indicating that MERS-CoV RNA replicons are highly safe and promising vaccine candidates.

'away from the hug, close to the heart': Virtual visits in COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brings sudden changes in health care. During the period of social distance and restricted contact, it was necessary to restore the communication between inpatients and their relatives in the oncology setting. Even though we did not find publications about psychosocial virtual visits (VVs) in this context, these video interactions have emerged as an innovative and necessary alternative to support advanced cancer care patients (ACCP). Aim: Identify and describe the implementation of psychosocial virtual visits used in an Oncology Institute. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, exploratory study Research question: What are the characteristics of virtual visits made with advanced cancer care patients? Data Collection: a retrospective, consultation of clinical files, March to December 2020. Non-probabilistic sample, random type. Participants: ACCP over 18 years old. Data analysis: Descriptive statistics software. This study complied with the ethical norms. Results: The psychosocial VVs directly benefited 707 persons, 145 patients (average age 70) and 562 (with emphasis on 519 relatives and 43 significant others). All visits were carried out by a psychosocial support team. The majority of VVs happened in the oncology service and in the PC services. Of all the patients who were integrated into VVs, 49 were PC service inpatient and 37 of whom died. The VVs allowed us to keep providing holistic care in an advanced disease context. Two brochures were developed related to good practices in VVs, which were disseminated nationwide. Conclusion: The pandemic was a powerful motivator for systemic change and made professionals search for new ways to provide care and connection between patients and their relatives. Although technology does not replace face-to-face visits, it can offer meaningful interactions and contribute to the wellbeing of everyone involved. In the field of advanced disease, we continue to provide PCs to those who need them.

Acceptability of Telemedicine for Early Surgical Site Infection Diagnosis after Cesarean Section

Introduction: While telemedicine is a plausible tool for scaling up access to healthcare, such innovations must be feasible and acceptable for real-world application. This qualitative study describes the acceptability of a telemedicine intervention which used photos of surgical incisions taken by community health workers (CHWs) to detect surgical site infections (SSIs) among women after cesarean section in rural Rwanda. Methods: Twenty-five semi-structured interviews (13 patients, 12 CHWs) were conducted in the local dialect (Kinyarwanda) among women who participated in the telemedicine intervention. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and translated into English, and parallel inductive coding processes were done to create English and Kinyarwanda codebooks. Results from the 2 methodologies were merged to create a master codebook for the final coding process. Results: The overwhelming majority of participants reported that this photo-based telemedicine was acceptable, with only 1 patient concerned about the reliability of photos to detect SSIs. Faster healing, improved access to home-based postoperative care, and saving out-of-pocket expenditures were reported perceived advantages of the intervention. Trust in CHWs was reported by all as essential to the acceptance of this intervention. All but 1 of the CHWs believed that it was acceptable to implement this intervention during the COVID-19 period. Conclusion: Photo-based telemedicine procedures were feasible and acceptable by the majority of patients and CHWs, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trust in CHWs was described as a key factor in patients' acceptance of this program. Given this, local CHWs should be involved early in the development and implementation of such interventions.

Teacher education in times of pandemic covid-19-view of teachers from the public-school system in the federal district

This text discusses the course Production of teaching materials-social practices, design and methodological proposal, offered by the School for the Improvement of Teachers (EAPE-DF), with the background of remote work in a situation of Pandemic. Some considerations of the course teachers are brought up, examining the course of the course in visitation that focuses on four categories: duration, platform, content and applicability. We try to relate these categories to the situation proposed by the course of enabling teachers to acquire technological tools in the making of an activity-didactic material-following the principle of transversality within the proposal of inserting four challenges in a single activity. The study is based on Critical Theory and Historical-Critical Pedagogy. As a methodology we used the application of a questionnaire, through Google form sent via WhatsApp to coordinators and managers of public schools so that they could share with their groups of teachers. Some of the aspects revealed by the study are: for most professionals, the course does not restrict the autonomy of the teacher;the training time was not enough;the course did not contemplate the proposed objectives or the needs of teachers to perform remote care;did not satisfactorily meet the technological needs of course participants, although the majority stated that they had no difficulty in carrying out the final activity required by the course. © 2021 UNIVERSIDADE FEEVALE . All Rights Reserved.

Patients' Prioritization on Surgical Waiting Lists: A Decision Support System

Currently, in Chile, more than a quarter-million of patients are waiting for an elective surgical intervention. This is a worldwide reality, and it occurs as the demand for healthcare is vastly superior to the clinical resources in public systems. Moreover, this phenomenon has worsened due to the COVID-19 sanitary crisis. In order to reduce the impact of this situation, patients in the waiting lists are ranked according to a priority. However, the existing prioritization strategies are not necessarily systematized, and they usually respond only to clinical criteria, excluding other dimensions such as the personal and social context of patients. In this paper, we present a decision-support system designed for the prioritization of surgical waiting lists based on biopsychosocial criteria. The proposed system features three methodological contributions;first, an ad-hoc medical record form that captures the biopsychosocial condition of the patients;second, a dynamic scoring scheme that recognizes that patients' conditions evolve differently while waiting for the required elective surgery;and third, a methodology for prioritizing and selecting patients based on the corresponding dynamic scores and additional clinical criteria. The designed decision-support system was implemented in the otorhinolaryngology unit in the Hospital of Talca, Chile, in 2018. When compared to the previous prioritization methodology, the results obtained from the use of the system during 2018 and 2019 show that this new methodology outperforms the previous prioritization method quantitatively and qualitatively. As a matter of fact, the designed system allowed a decrease, from 2017 to 2019, in the average number of days in the waiting list from 462 to 282 days.

Model of e-teaching and e-evaluation methodology for mathematics during covid-19 pandemic in indonesia and pakistan

The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic through the world has also created a disruption in the field of education. Students are unable to go to schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Technologies, such as the Internet tare widely used to support online learning. The objective of this paper is to discuss the result of e-teaching for Mathematics in Indonesia and Pakistan. This study examines student’s performance in Mathematics in Indonesia and Pakistan. Data has been collected from a private university in Indonesia and Pakistan. They are Bina Nusantara (Binus) University and Riphah International University for the even semester 2019/2020. This study has examined the students’ performance in Calculus and Linear Algebra for Undergraduate students. This study has found that the students could adapt to learning method changes in Calculus and Linear Algebra, from Blended/Hybrid (e-learning) to fully Online (e-learning) during the Covid-19 pandemic. The e-learning method could be implemented in Mathematics if the e-learning system is equipped with complete features and a complete learning system. This study has revealed rubric for each discipline must be carefully constructed looking at the ground reality and it may differ from country to country. © 2020, Mathematics and Technology, LLC. All rights reserved.