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OBJECTIVE: The study of the evolution of certain biomarkers in patients with persistent detection of SARS-CoV-2 could determine the profile of the pathology that these patients may suffer. The objective of this study was to describe the evolution of different laboratory markers in patients with persistent detection of SARS-CoV-2, and determining these parameters were into reference values. METHODS: Patients were divided into two groups: the control group (G0) included patients with a positive direct test for SARS-CoV-2 followed by 2 negative, while the problem group (G1) included patients with at least 3 consecutive positive tests. The time between consecutive samples was five to twenty days, and only patients with negative serology were included. Demographic data, comorbidities, symptoms, radiology and hospitalization were collected, as well as data from analytic and blood gases. The comparison between the study groups was realized using the t-student and U Mann-Whitney test for quantitative variables, and the chi2 test for qualitative variables. Results with p<0.05 were taken as significant. RESULTS: Ninety patients were included, thirty-eight in G0 and fifty-two in G1. D-dimer decreased 10.20 times more in G0 patients, and normal levels of this parameter at t1 were 1.46 times more frequent in these patients. The percentage of lymphocytes increased sixteen times more in G0, and the normal values in t1 were 10.40 times more common in these patients. C-reactive protein decreased significantly in both groups, and lactate increased more in G1 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that some biomarkers evolve differently in patients with persistent detection of SARS-CoV-2, which may have significant clinical impact. This information could help to determine the main organs or systems affected, allowing to anticipate socio-sanitary measures to prevent or compensate these alterations.
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The pandemic caused by COVID-19 meant an important change in the approach to teaching-learning strategies at all educational levels, since the face-to-face model had to be forcedly adapted to other hybrid or online models. Different national and international reports advocated carrying out this transformation for the benefit of all students, regardless of health measures. This research aims to analyze the variability of teaching methodologies of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate teachers in face-to-face format with the didactic actions undertaken for the development of online activities during the confinement period of the 2019-2020 academic year in centers of the Community of Madrid. For this, a questionnaire was designed that, online, was sent to all the centers in which the students of the Master's Degree in Teacher Training (UCM) carried out their curricular practices, obtaining a total of 226 responses. For data analysis, a descriptive analytical model was carried out, using a cross-sectional design to determine differences between the members of the sample. The conclusions show that the low use of digital resources in the classroom on a regular basis is related to the increase in difficulties and discomfort of teachers in facing virtual teaching situations. In turn, the difficulties and discomfort of the younger teachers is similar to that of the older teachers, so some years of experience in the educational center are necessary to implement virtual teaching. © 2023, AUFOP. All rights reserved.
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Objective: to analyse the time of permanence andmain causes for removal of midline (20 cm) and mini-midline (10 cm) catheters in hospitalized patients, and to study the differences in patients with COVID-19. Method: a descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study conducted with data from clinical records in the Hospital Universitario Vall d´Hebron (Barcelona, Spain). The study includedcatheters insertedby the Infusion andVascular Access Nursing (IVAN) Team in patients hospitalized during 2020. Results: the study included 357 catheters in 305 patients (28.9% with COVID-19). The latter presented a higher rate of obesity (21.6% vs. 9.2%;p= 0.003). The median duration of catheters inserted was 11-12 days, without any difference by type of catheter or having COVID-19 (p= 0.88). The main cause for removal in both groups was the end of the treatment, and it was higher in patients without COVID-19 (65.7% vs. 53.1%;p= 0.031), followedby exitus in patients withCOVID-19 (22.9% vs. 8.9%;p= 0.001), and catheter occlusion in the rest (17.3% vs. 8.33%;p= 0.035). There were n= 4 cases of catheter infection and n= 31 suspected cases, without difference by diagnosis or type of catheter. There was no variation in the cause for removal according to the venous access selected. Conclusions: there are no differences in terms of duration of catheters according to their length, vein of insertion or COVID-19 diagnosis. Ultrasound-guided venipuncture, sterile technique and selection of type of catheter by a member of the IVAN team seem to reduce the complications associated. © 2022 DAE Editorial, Grupo Paradigma. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has shattered health and brought about economic and social havoc to many countries. Spain is one of the hardest affected European countries in both the number of sick or deceased people and the ongoing socioeconomic consequences. Experts think that the current COVID-19 disaster will change our perception of the world and human relationships and lead us to a new reality for which we are likely not fully prepared. The main aim of this paper is to observe, describe and analyze Spanish people's perception of the post-COVID-19 reality. In order to approach the sample's perception of the new reality, a thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis of the available lexicon produced by a sample of 220 university students is carried out. The lexical association tests used in the available lexicon research allow access to the shared prototypic categorization. In this paper we specifically intend to analyze the perception the informants have-after the first months in the context of the so-called ʼnew normality'-on the following centers of interest presented as stimuli: society, city, countryside and environment. We will work with a sample with variations in sex, age and place of confinement. The global results show that the most central words in the categories of city and countryside seem conflicting, providing a more positive vision in the first case. Regarding the comparisons between groups according to the pre-stratification variables, certain differences are perceived not so much at the quantitative level as at the qualitative level. It will serve to design intervention strategies from both educational and preventative-health and administrative fields to provide society with the necessary tools to face future crises and recover from the worst possible consequences of the current situation. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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This article collects the experience and evaluation of the first two editions (2020 and 2021) of an innovative open networked learning project for teacher training that emerged in the context of Covid-19: a continuing education course on innovative networked teaching, SPOC format (#Dienlinea), organized as part of the strategy and social function of a Spanish public university, the International University of Andalusia (UNIA).As a quantitative and descriptive research, we analyze, through surveys, on the one hand, initial expectations and motivation and, on the other hand, the evaluation of the experience by its participants, while the results of the completion rate are collected as a complement. With all this, we present the main strengths and aspects that can be improved in the teaching-learning experience, thus contributing to the transfer of good practices and improvement of future activities.
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Background: Some patients present persistent ground glass opacities (GGO) and/or consolidations after an acute episode of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia (COVID19). Risk factors for persistent pneumonitis (PPN) and potential response to corticosteroids remain unclear. Objective(s): To evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with PPN, as well as to detect possible risk factors and the role of corticosteroids. Method(s): We conducted a prospective, controlled, multicenter analysis of patients hospitalized because of COVID19 with (n=152) or without (n=140) PPN. PPN was defined by the persistence of pulmonary opacities in a chest CT scan >14 days after admission. Characteristics of participants were obtained from their medical records. A CT score was used to quantify parenchymal abnormalities when PPN was suspected. Result(s): Compared to controls, patients with PPN were older and suffered more comorbidities, also D-dimer and Creactive protein levels were higher. The most frequent features observed in CT scans were GGO (97%), consolidation (95%), bronchial dilatation (93%) and reticular pattern (92%) with a CT score of 16.12+/-4.26. Multivariate logistic regression identified age and C-reactive protein levels on admission as independent risk factors for PPN. No significant differences were observed in thoracic CT scan one-month after discharge in patients treated with higher corticosteroids doses (>50 mg/day after discharge) compared to lower doses. Conclusion(s): Age and raised C-reactive protein levels on admission are significant risk factors of PPN after COVID19. Treatment with high doses of corticosteroids does not seem to add benefit.
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Music listening choices are considered to be a factor capable of measuring people's emotions. Thanks to the explosion of streaming music applications in recent years, it is possible to describe listening trends of the global population based on emotional features. In this paper we have analysed the most popular songs from 52 countries on Spotify through their features of danceability, positivity and intensity. This analysis allows exploring how these song features reflect mood trends along with other contextual factors that may affect the population's listening behaviour, such as the weather or the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, we have proposed a multivariate time series model to predict the preferred type of music in those countries based on their previous music listening patterns and the contextual factors. The results show some relevant behavioural changes in these patterns due to the effect of the pandemic. Furthermore, the resulting prediction model enables forecasting the type of music listened to in three different groups of countries in the next 4 months with an error around 1%. These results may help to better understand streaming music consumption in businesses related to the music and marketing industry. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.
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This chapter examines cultural geography as a lens by which to inform and support prospective English teachers as they transition from college students to classroom teachers during and after COVID-19. The authors-a prospective teacher and a teacher educator-begin by articulating the theoretical foundations that inform how conceptions of place, space, and identity shape teachers’ and students’ understandings of their learning environments. Drawing on a qualitative study examining teachers’ and students’ adaptation to the pandemic’s changes in education, the authors consider how a cultural geographic approach to English teacher education can both support and care for prospective teachers as they adapt to new learning environments, situations, and students post-COVID. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Melanie Shoffner and Angela W. Webb;individual chapters, the contributors.
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Background: Patients with COVID-19 have a high incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI), which is associated with mortality. The objetive of our study is to know the factors associated with AKI, to manage the level of care and health resources according to risk. Method(s): We design an observational retrospective cohort study in 2 hospitals in Bogota, Colombia. Adults hospitalized for > 48 hours between March 2020 and March 2021, with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The main outcome was incidence of AKI during the first 28 days from admission. A descriptive analysis of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the study population was performed. Univariate and bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression model was conducted for the outcome AKI. Result(s): We included 1584 patients, 60.4% male, 46.8% older than 65 years. The incidence of AKI was 46.5%, stage 1 in 60.7%, Stage 2 in 15.7%, and stage 3 in 23.6%. Renal replacement therapy was performed in 11.1% of patients with AKI. Table 1 summarizes cohort characteristics and the bivariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, sex, age, hypertension, CKD, treatment with oral antidiabetics, diuretics, statins, qSOFA, platelet count, CRP, D-dimer, treatment with vancomycin, piperacillin tazobactam, requirement of vasopressor support were realated with AKI. The interactions antihypertensive /diuretics, PAFI /Requirement of invasive mechanical ventilation, Hypertension /antihypertensives, were associated with AKI (P value <0.5). Hospital crude mortality for AKI was 45.5% versus 11.7% without AKI (p<0.0001) Conclusion(s): AKI is frequent in patients hospitalized with COVID 19, conventional risk factors are the rule, we denote other known markers of severity for COVID-19 in association with AKI. These results allowed us to manage the hospital resource.
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Objective: Describe and compare dwell time and the causes of removal of midline and mini-midline catheters in two cohorts: COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. Method(s): Observational, retrospective and cohort study conducted in the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, consulting the medical records of patients from March 1 to May 15, 2020 by the venous access nursing team. Result(s): 344 Catheters were inserted in 305 patients. In the Covid-19 cohort there were 88 patients and 96 catheters were placed, of which 84 were mini-midline and 12 midline. In the non-Covid-19 cohort, 248 catheters were placed in 217 patients, of which 217 were mini-midline and 31 midline. The mean duration of catheters inserted in the Covid-19 patient cohort was 12 days for mini-midline and midline and 11 days for mini-midline and 12 days for midline in the noncovid group. The main cause of removal in both groups was the end of treatment, significantly higher in non-Covid-19 patients. The second was decease in the Covid patient cohort and catheter occlusion in the non-Covid group, both with a statistically significant difference. Conclusion(s): Correct maintenance and care with adequate nursing staff rates might be keys to better preserve midline and mini-midline despite patient related characteristics.
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In recent years and due to COVID-19 pandemic, drug repurposing or repositioning has been placed in the spotlight. Giving new therapeutic uses to already existing drugs, this discipline allows to streamline the drug discovery process, reducing the costs and risks inherent to de novo development. Computational approaches have gained momentum, and emerging techniques from the machine learning domain have proved themselves as highly exploitable means for repurposing prediction. Against this backdrop, one can find that biomedical data can be represented in terms of graphs, which allow depicting in a very expressive manner the underlying structure of the information. Combining these graph data structures with deep learning models enhances the prediction of new links, such as potential disease-drug connections. In this paper, we present a new model named REDIRECTION, which aims to predict new disease-drug links in the context of drug repurposing. It has been trained with a part of the DISNET biomedical graph, formed by diseases, symptoms, drugs, and their relationships. The reserved testing graph for the evaluation has yielded to an AUROC of 0.93 and an AUPRC of 0.90. We have performed a secondary validation of REDIRECTION using RepoDB data as the testing set, which has led to an AUROC of 0.87 and a AUPRC of 0.83. In the light of these results, we believe that REDIRECTION can be a meaningful and promising tool to generate drug repurposing hypotheses. © 2022 IEEE.
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The main objective of this study was to analyze the state of mind and the level of dependence on physical exercise of university students in the confinement stage, and their interrelationship between them, based on sex, whether they currently practice federated sports and the level of concern towards the problems created by COVID-19 worldwide. The study included 177 university students (133 men and 44 women) of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences from the Pontifical University of Salamanca with a mean age of 20.85 (+or- 2.83) years and a decrease in physical activity practice 73.5% in the first two weeks of confinement. The instruments used to assess these constructs were the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised (EDS-R) and the short version of the Profile Mood States (POMS). The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the level of dependence on physical exercise and Tension, Anger, Fatigue and Depressed State and a negative correlation with Vigor and Friendship. In conclusion, the importance of practicing physical activity for improving the mental health of university students is highlighted.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most universities have adapted their learning infrastructure to an increasing demand for online training modalities. However, this type of learning, usually through Learning Management Systems (LMSs), suffer from a lack of direct feedback between students and the educational staff. For that reason, the present work introduces the EMO-learning project, whose key goal is to capture the emotions of students. This is done by means of a deep learning approach, able to timely analyse the face expressions of the students during online lectures. The module has been tested with different students during the academic year 2020-21, showing quite promising results. © 2022 IEEE.
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The International Initiative on Thrombosis and Cancer is an independent academic working group of experts aimed at establishing global consensus for the treatment and prophylaxis of cancer-associated thrombosis. The 2013, 2016, and 2019 International Initiative on Thrombosis and Cancer clinical practice guidelines have been made available through a free, web-based mobile phone application. The 2022 clinical practice guidelines, which are based on a literature review up to Jan 1, 2022, include guidance for patients with cancer and with COVID-19. Key recommendations (grade 1A or 1B) include: (1) low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) for the initial (first 10 days) treatment and maintenance treatment of cancer-associated thrombosis;(2) direct oral anticoagulants for the initial treatment and maintenance treatment of cancer-associated thrombosis in patients who are not at high risk of gastrointestinal or genitourinary bleeding, in the absence of strong drug-drug interactions or of gastrointestinal absorption impairment;(3) LMWHs or direct oral anticoagulants for a minimum of 6 months to treat cancer-associated thrombosis;(4) extended prophylaxis (4 weeks) with LMWHs to prevent postoperative venous thromboembolism after major abdominopelvic surgery in patients not at high risk of bleeding;and (5) primary prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism with LMWHs or direct oral anticoagulants (rivaroxaban or apixaban) in ambulatory patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who are treated with anticancer therapy and have a low risk of bleeding.
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The COVID-19 pandemic generated an overload of the health system and mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion of workers. Previous studies have reported elevated levels of burnout syndrome in healthcare workers. The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of burnout syndrome in healthcare workers. A cross-sectional study was conducted through the administration of an email survey during the second wave of COVID-19 cases. Burnout was evaluated using the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire. The prevalence of burnout was estimated and the associated factors were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The 84% of the participants completed the survey (N = 133), 106 were physicians (80%), 11 administrators (8%), 9 respiratory physiologists (7%), and 7 nurses (5%). 62% were women. The prevalence of burnout was 38% (95% CI 30-47%) and it was different according to the occupation (p = < 0.001). Physicians and respiratory kinesiologists presented the highest values with a prevalence of 40% and 89% respectively. In the multivariate analysis, the variables that were independently associated with the burnout syndrome were: being a physician (OR = 8.9;95% CI: 1.1-71;p: 0.041) and being a respiratory kinesiologist (OR = 137.5;95% CI: 2-262;p 0.001). The prevalence of burnout syndrome in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic was high. Mainly in respiratory kinesiologists and physicians.
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Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries stand out as the most severe in sports such as soccer. This study presents the rehabilitation process of a professional soccer player who suffered a total ACL tear. It details the treatment performed after the surgical intervention and all the adaptations that had to be applied in the rehabilitation process due to the lockdown period established at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the period comprised between weeks 9 and 21 post-surgery, the rehabilitation treatment was carried out virtually, adapting the actions, work environment and equipment used. Despite the limitations it entailed, the virtual format and the adaptations in the treatment allowed the rehabilitation process to continue, fulfilling all the pre-established objectives and deadlines with a consequent satisfactory and safe return to competitive sport. After carrying out a bibliographic research, no clinical cases have been found regarding the adaptation of the rehabilitation process of an ACL reconstruction in a professional soccer player during the COVID-19 lockdown.