Repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing education: Scoping Review

Objetivo: mapear o conhecimento produzido sobre as repercussoes da pandemia COVID-19 na formacao em Enfermagem. Metodo: trata-se de uma scoping review, guiada pelas recomendacoes da Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer's Manual realizada em 15 bases de dados eletronicas e repositorios de teses e dissertacoes. O protocolo desta revisao foi registrado em Open Science Framework. Os dados foram analisados e sintetizados em duas categorias de analise estabelecidas: aspectos positivos e negativos e estatistica descritiva. Resultados: 33 publicacoes identificadas, os aspectos positivos mais citados foram o desenvolvimento de novas estrategias de ensino adaptadas ao meio virtual e a capacitacao dos futuros profissionais na pratica clinica do contexto de crise sanitaria. Os aspectos negativos estao relacionados as questoes psicologicas, como aumento de casos de ansiedade, estresse e solidao entre os estudantes. Conclusao: as evidencias sugerem que o ensino remoto foi uma saida emergencial oportuna para a continuidade da formacao academica, contudo, esta modalidade educacional apresentou aspectos positivos e negativos que precisam ser repensados para uma melhor sistematizacao do ensino-aprendizagem em outros contextos que se assemelhem ao da pandemia da COVID-19.

Incidence of COVID-19 in Para?ba and sociodemographic factors: an ecological and spatial study

Introduction: COVID-19 notification has been growing continuously in Brazil and the study of all related aspects is necessary. Objective: To determine the incidence rate of coronavirus, analyze the spatial autocorrelation of reported cases and determine the correlation between the incidence of the disease and sociodemographic variables in the state of Paraiba, in 2020. Method: An observational, ecological research was carried out and data were obtained from notifications from cities in Paraiba to the Coronavirus Panel. The outcome variable was the disease incidence rate, and the explanatory variables referred to sociodemographic data, testing the hypotheses using Spearman's correlation. Spatial autocorrelation was verified using Moran's I and Geary's C statistic, using choropleth maps, by means of the R software, at a significance level of 5%. Results: Increasing values of incidence rates were observed as the months progressed. There was a statistical correlation for population density, income, and Municipal Human Development Index in most months. In addition, the Alto-Alto pattern was observed in the state capital at the beginning of the pandemic and, soon after, a migration of this spatial pattern to the interior cities. Conclusions: It was observed, therefore, that the high incidence rates and its spatial behavior negatively impact people's lives and signal the need for a more intense intervention of governmental policies.

Forced digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to an unprecedented threat from COVID-19, the World Health Organization recommended the introduction of physical distancing measures, such as quarantine and social isolation. These measures have severely affected some sectors of the economy, hampering the development of many economic activities, especially retail. In this context, this article investigated strategies for the dissemination, commercialisation and distribution of goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly related to small companies that were not yet fully integrated with digital technologies. We perceived a forced digital transformation, disclosure on social networks, negotiating sales through text messaging applications, electronic payments and motorcycle and bicycle delivery service. The combination of different technologies has supported small businesses in times of pandemic, since commercialisation in digital media has been one of the main solutions for the prevention of bankruptcy, particularly for physical companies. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Early childhood education and covid-19 pandemic: actions of middle-level bureaucrats in the Baixada Fluminense

The current article is a research clipping aimed at mapping actions associated with early childhood education that were taken by ten municipalities in Baixada Fluminense during the covid-19 pandemic, based on conversations with mid-level bureaucrats accounting for managing municipal education institutions. The adopted methodology comprised virtual meetings and questionnaire application. Remote teaching was adopted by these municipalities as temporary alternative to maintain the school year running, although there were many contradictions about the adopted pedagogical approach. This option has disregarded the fact that many children lived in social vulnerability contexts and that their families were concerned with material issues associated with subsistence, as well as with poor access to technological devices and services. Results have pointed towards disarticulation among federated entities, a fact that has hindered coordinators' actions. Thus, it is essential thinking about the place of these professionals in State's bureaucracy. © 2023,Revista Brasileira de Educacao.All Rights Reserved.

Psychological Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Mothers' Conflict Resolution Styles: The Mediating Role of Well-Being

The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) brought considerable changes to families' routines, with the implementation of social isolation and quarantine measures, possible financial insecurity, and care overload. Since all these changes represent potential stressors for family dynamics, this study aimed to assess the relationship between the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict resolution styles that mothers use with their children, both directly and indirectly via mothers' well-being. A sample of 316 Brazilian mothers participated in the study, through an online survey. Mediation models of mothers' well-being were tested on the relationship between the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict resolution styles with their children. Results indicated that mothers' well-being mediates the relation between the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance styles. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Federated Learning for Physical Violence Detection in Videos

Domestic violence has increased globally as the COVID-19 pandemic combines with economic and social stresses. Some works have used traditional feature extractors to identify body positions to detect physical violence. Besides, the use of Machine Learning is limited by the trade-off between collecting more data while keeping users' privacy. Federated Learning (FL) is a technique that allows the creation of client-server networks, in which anonymized training data can be uploaded to a central model, responsible for aggregating and keeping the model up to date, and then distributing the updated model to the clients' nodes. This paper proposed an FL approach to the violence detection problem in video. The framework was evaluated on AIRTLab Dataset, in which frames were extracted. It used pretrained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to address the image classification problem. Inception v3, MobileNet v2, ResNet-152 v2, and VGG-16 architectures were evaluated, with the MobileNet architecture presenting the best performance, in terms of accuracy (99.4%), with a loss of 0.5% when compared to the non-FL setting. © 2022 IEEE.

A crystallographic snapshot of SARS-CoV-2 main protease maturation process

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. The dimeric form of the viral Mpro is responsible for the cleavage of the viral polyprotein in 11 sites, including its own N- and C-terminus. The lack of structural information for intermediary forms of Mpro is a setback for the understanding its self-maturation process. Herein, we used X-ray crystallography combined with biochemical data to characterize multiple forms of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. For the immature form, we show that extra N-terminal residues caused conformational changes in the positioning of domainthree over the active site, hampering the dimerization and diminishing its activity. We propose that this form preludes the cis and trans-cleavage of N-terminal residues. Using fragment screening, we probe new cavities in this form which can be used to guide therapeutic development. Furthermore, we characterized a serine site-directed mutant of the Mpro bound to its endogenous Nand C-terminal residues during dimeric association stage of the maturation process. We suggest this form is a transitional state during the C-terminal trans-cleavage. This data sheds light in the structural modifications of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease during its self-maturation process.

Insights for Alzheimer's disease pharmacotherapy and current clinical trials.

Over the years, the scientific community has sought improvements in the life quality of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Synaptic loss and neuronal death observed in the regions responsible for cognitive functions represent an irreversible progressive disease that is clinically characterized by impaired cognitive and functional abilities, along with behavioral symptoms. Currently, image and body fluid biomarkers can provide early dementia diagnostic, being it the best way to slow the disease's progression. The first signs of AD development are still complex, the existence of individual genetic and phenotypic characteristics about the disease makes it difficult to standardize studies on the subject. The answer seems to be related between Aß and tau proteins. Aß deposition in the medial parietal cortex appears to be the initial stage of AD, but it does not have a strong correlation with neurodegeneration. The strongest link between symptoms occurs with tau aggregation, which antecede Aß deposits in the medial temporal lobe, however, the protein can be found in cognitively healthy older people. The answer to the question may lie in some catalytic effect between both proteins. Amid so many doubts, Aducanumab was approved, which raised controversies and results intense debate in the scientific field. Abnormal singling of some blood biomarkers produced by adipocytes under high lipogenesis, such as TNFα, leptin, and interleukin-6, demonstrate to be linked to neuroinflammation worsens, diabetes, and also severe cases of COVID-19, howsoever, under higher lipolysis, seem to have therapeutic anti-inflammatory effects in the brain, which has increasingly contributed to the understanding of AD. In addition, the relationship of severe clinical complications caused by Sars-CoV-2 viral infection and AD, go beyond the term "risk group" and may be related to the development of dementia long-term. Thus, this review summarized the current emerging pharmacotherapies, alternative treatments, and nanotechnology applied in clinical trials, discussing relevant points that may contribute to a more accurate look.

A Critical Analysis of Covid-19 with Special Emphasis on Air Quality and its Consequences during Lockdown

SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) has taken over the world. The deadly virus causes serious respiratory infections in humans. A number of research are ongoing to contain the spread of the virus. The aim of this review is to assess the impact of air pollution and environmental factors which may influence the transmission of the disease. The utilization of indigenous natural sources as remedial measures has also been explored. The studies cited in the review have been sourced from journals, books and digital media reports. The research papers indexed in databases such as PUBMED, SCOPUS and MEDLINE, etc., have been included. Evidence has suggested that the spike in air pollution may exacerbate the number of infections and the improved air quality during the lockdown period may influence the faster recovery rate. Environmental factors, like temperature, humidity and air pollution have been explored as contributing factors for the facilitated spread of the infection, or atleast in making people more vulnerable to it which makes it an issue of considerable attention in developing countries, like India, due to the high air pollution levels in megacities. © 2022 - Kalpana Corporation.

AVALIAÇÃO DA DOSAGEM DO D-DÍMERO EM PACIENTES GRAVES COM COVID-19, INTERNADOS EM UNIDADES DE TERAPIA INTENSIVA, EM HOSPITAL PÚBLICO TERCIÁRIO DA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE PERNAMBUCO

Materiais e métodos: Foi feito um estudo de corte transversal com 52 pacientes da UTI-COVID do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (HC-UFPE), no período de abril a junho de 2020, para a avaliação do D-dímero como um marcador de agravamento do quadro clínico dos indivíduos afetados pela doença. Dados foram obtidos a partir dos registros médicos dos pacientes. A mediana dos valores entre os grupos foi usada para encontrar a significância estatística que justificasse o desfecho da doença, relacionado ao óbito (p < 0,05). Resultados: Ao serem comparados aos pacientes que receberam alta, os que evoluíram ao óbito apresentaram maiores valores de D-Dímero (2800 ng/mL versus 1800 ng/mL, p = 0,21). Também não houve relevância estatística entre pacientes do sexo feminino e masculino que evoluíram ao óbito ou alta da UTI. DISCUSSÃO: Visto que ainda se sabe pouco sobre a etiopatogenia do SARS-CoV-2, algumas pesquisas citam a importância de marcadores vasculares devido aos achados relacionados à coagulopatia intravascular disseminada (CIVD) em pacientes graves, principalmente com comprometimento pulmonar consequente a altas taxas de tromboembolismo venoso, explicando a razão pela qual o D-dímero se mantém cerca de 3 (três) vezes mais elevado. Conclusões: Assim, pode-se concluir que o valor do D-dímero para pacientes que receberam alta da UTI-COVID é inferior (1800 ng/mL) aos que foram a óbito (2800 ng/mL), demonstrando que altos níveis desse marcador podem indicar necessidade de cuidados intensivos em relação ao tratamento com fármacos anti-trombóticos evitando possíveis complicações disseminadas que podem levar o paciente ao óbito. Além disso, esse estudo mostra a importância de testes com esse marcador no acompanhamento do infectado para observar a necessidade de novas terapias que minimizem a formação de trombos devido à alta deposição de fibrina nos vasos.

ANÁLISE DE PADRÕES HEMATOLÓGICOS COMO FERRAMENTA PREDITIVA PARA AVALIAR O RISCO DE ÓBITO EM PACIENTES COM COVID-19

Objetivos: Desde sua ascensão no final de 2019, o SARS-CoV-2 infectou mais de 200 milhões de pessoas e causou mais de 4 milhões de mortes no mundo. Apesar das complicações no trato respiratório serem o principal sinal da infecção pelo vírus, alterações em outros sistemas corporais foram associadas à evolução da doença. Dentre elas, alterações hematológicas e imunológicas têm sido descritas e usadas para determinar o prognóstico da doença, pois achados como a linfopenia, plaquetopenia e neutrofilia parecem refletir na severidade dos pacientes. Materiais e métodos: Trata-se de um estudo transversal realizado a partir dos dados de 100 (cem) pacientes internados na UTI COVID do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (HC-UFPE). Foram coletados, a partir de arquivos medicos, os dados referentes aos valores de hemoglobina e das contagens absolutas dos leucócitos totais, linfócitos, neutrófilos e plaquetas. Os níveis desses parâmetros foram comparados entre os pacientes que receberam alta da UTI (n = 52) ou evoluíram para o óbito (n = 48). A mediana dos valores entre os grupos foi usada para encontrar a significância estatística que justificasse o desfecho da doença, relacionado ao óbito (p < 0,05). RESULTADOS: Ao serem comparados aos pacientes que receberam alta, o grupo que evoluiu a óbito obteve valores menores na dosagem da hemoglobina (9 g/dL contra 13 g/dL, p < 0,001), valores maiores de leucócitos totais (10.770/ mm3 contra 10.170/ mm3, p=0,05) e neutrófilos (8.645/mm3 contra 7.725/mm3, p = 0,03). Apesar do grupo que evolui a óbito também apresentar menores valores de plaquetas (220.000/mm3 contra 238.500/mm3, p = 0,09) e linfócitos (710/mm3 contra 950/mm3, p = 0,07) ao comparar-se ao grupo de alta, não se observou significância estatística. DISCUSSÃO: O presente estudo mostrou que, em pacientes com Covid-19 internados em UTI, altos valores de leucócitos totais e neutrófilos e baixos valores de hemoglobina estão significativamente relacionados ao óbito. O aumento de leucócitos e neutrófilos teria sido relacionado com a co-infecção com outros patógenos hospitalares, enquanto que a diminuição da hemoglobina pode ser causada pelo aumento da IL-6, visto que, essa encontra-se aumentada na doença promovendo a elevação da hepcidina, que inibe a absorção do ferro e afeta a síntese de hemácias. Embora não tenha sido observada significância entre os valores de linfócitos de pacientes que receberam alta ou morreram, é possível observar que os linfócitos estão abaixo ou no limite inferior do valor normal, podendo ser um fator associado à gravidade geral e não ao óbito nas UTIs. CONCLUSÕES: Observamos que pacientes com Covid-19 em estado grave têm marcadas alterações hematológicas. Dentre elas, os valores baixos de hemoglobina foram os mais preditivos em pacientes que progrediram para o óbito ou alta. Sendo assim, a hemoglobina deve ser considerada na avaliação de risco dos pacientes e investigada quanto a sua participação na doença.

Understanding COVID-19 in Brazil: Socioeconomic Impacts, Statistical Analysis and Future Challenges

In this chapter, we analyzed the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil, one of the most severely affected countries by the pandemic in the world. We discussed the overall characteristics of the pathogen (SARS-CoV-2) and its diffusion in Brazil over time and its main differences compared to other common infectious diseases in Brazil, such as Dengue and Zika. We then performed quantitative experiments to forecast the trend of confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 using a machine learning method for both country and state levels. We also estimated the instantaneous reproducing number over time for each Brazilian state and grouped them into clusters, aiming at identifying the heterogeneity between the Brazilian States. We also analyzed the magnitude of underreporting of COVID-19 cases in Brazil’s most affected states during the early stages of the pandemic. Moreover, we summarized the impacts of the pandemic on Brazil’s economic activities and social life, analyzing the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators, the effectiveness of the emergency financial assistance granted by the Brazilian government, and the relative level of adherence to social distancing in the Brazilian states since the beginning of lockdown measures. Finally, we presented the main challenges for Brazil after the pandemic fades away, focusing on the economic recovery and future public policies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Crystallographic Snapshot of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Maturation Process.

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. The dimeric form of the viral Mpro is responsible for the cleavage of the viral polyprotein in 11 sites, including its own N and C-terminus. The lack of structural information for intermediary forms of Mpro is a setback for the understanding its self-maturation process. Herein, we used X-ray crystallography combined with biochemical data to characterize multiple forms of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. For the immature form, we show that extra N-terminal residues caused conformational changes in the positioning of domain-three over the active site, hampering the dimerization and diminishing its activity. We propose that this form preludes the cis and trans-cleavage of N-terminal residues. Using fragment screening, we probe new cavities in this form which can be used to guide therapeutic development. Furthermore, we characterized a serine site-directed mutant of the Mpro bound to its endogenous N and C-terminal residues during dimeric association stage of the maturation process. We suggest this form is a transitional state during the C-terminal trans-cleavage. This data sheds light in the structural modifications of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease during its self-maturation process.

Pre-service teacher education in times of crisis

No doubt, this is a time of crisis. The impact of COVID-19 on people’s lives is tremendous. The pandemic affects human beings in different ways, depending on their place in society, but everybody is somehow affected: in finances, emotions, behaviors, to mention a few. The same is true about education. Institutions, teachers and learners are pushed to debates and changes never considered, which raise a number of uncertainties. Motivated by discussions the authors took part in as teacher educators, a documentary research was conducted, focusing on national and local documents published due to the pandemic. Based on the data collected, in this article we aim at discussing their possible implications for teacher education. © 2021, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Letras. All rights reserved.