CovRelex-SE: Adding Semantic Information for Relation Search via Sequence Embedding

In recent years, COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of human life. As a result, numerous publications relating to this disease have been issued. Due to the massive volume of publications, some retrieval systems have been developed to provide researchers with useful information. In these systems, lexical searching methods are widely used, which raises many issues related to acronyms, synonyms, and rare keywrds. In this paper, we present a hybrid relation retrieval system, CovRelex-SE, based on embeddings to provide high-quality search results. Our system can be accessed through the following URL: https://www.jaist.ac.jp/is/labs/nguyen-lab/systems/covrelex-se/. © 2023 Association for Computational Linguistics.

Adapting and Scaling a Digital Health Intervention to Improve Maternal and Child Health Among Ethnic Minority Women in Vietnam Amid the COVID-19 Context: Protocol for the dMOM Project.

BACKGROUND: Due to interconnected structural determinants including low maternal health knowledge, economic marginalization, and remoteness from low-capacity health centers, ethnic minority women in remote areas of Vietnam face severe maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) inequities. As ethnic minorities represent 15% of the Vietnamese population, these disparities are significant. mMOM-a pilot mobile health (mHealth) intervention using SMS text messaging to improve MNCH outcomes among ethnic minority women in northern Vietnam-was implemented from 2013-2016 with promising results. Despite mMOM's findings, exacerbated MNCH inequities, and digital health becoming more salient amid COVID-19, mHealth has not yet been scaled to address MNCH among ethnic minority women in Vietnam. OBJECTIVE: We describe the protocol for adapting, expanding, and exponentially scaling the mMOM intervention qualitatively through adding COVID-19-related MNCH guidance and novel technological components (mobile app and artificial intelligence chatbots) and quantitatively through broadening the geographical area to reach exponentially more participants, within the evolving COVID-19 context. METHODS: dMOM will be conducted in 4 phases. (1) Drawing on a review of international literature and government guidelines on MNCH amid COVID-19, mMOM project components will be updated to respond to COVID-19 and expanded to include a mobile app and artificial intelligence chatbots to more deeply engage participants. (2) Using an intersectionality lens and participatory action research approach, a scoping study and rapid ethnographic fieldwork will explore ethnic minority women's unmet MNCH needs; acceptability and accessibility of digital health; technical capacity of commune health centers; gendered power dynamics and cultural, geographical, and social determinants impacting health outcomes; and multilevel impacts of COVID-19. Findings will be applied to further refine the intervention. (3) dMOM will be implemented and incrementally scaled across 71 project communes. (4) dMOM will be evaluated to assess whether SMS text messaging or mobile app delivery engenders better MNCH outcomes among ethnic minority women. The documentation of lessons learned and dMOM models will be shared with Vietnam's Ministry of Health for adoption and further scaling up. RESULTS: The dMOM study was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in November 2021, cofacilitated by the Ministry of Health, and is being coimplemented by provincial health departments in 2 mountainous provinces. Phase 1 was initiated in May 2022, and phase 2 is planned to begin in December 2022. The study is expected to be complete in June 2025. CONCLUSIONS: dMOM research outcomes will generate important empirical evidence on the effectiveness of leveraging digital health to address intractable MNCH inequities among ethnic minority women in low-resource settings in Vietnam and provide critical information on the processes of adapting mHealth interventions to respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics. Finally, dMOM activities, models, and findings will inform a national intervention led by the Ministry of Health. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/44720.

Rural Communication in the Covid-19 Pandemic: an Empirical Analysis from Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam

The world has witnessed the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. Mainstream and social media are playing an important role in Covid-19 pandemic prevention. This research explores awareness, communication channels and effectiveness of communication in the Covid-19 pandemic in rural areas of Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam. Primary information was collected from 181 respondents, who are farmers, non-farmers and students. Secondary information was collected from reports and statistical data. Television, word of mouth and local loudspeakers are the main channels of mainstream media while social media mentions the role of Facebook and Zalo to transfer Covid-19 pandemic information. Mainstream media is still the main channel of farmers and old people while non-farmers and young people tend to access information through social media. Communication has significantly contributed to improving awareness and action of rural people in the Covid-19 epidemic prevention. © 2022 World Association for Triple helix and Future strategy studies. All rights reserved.

Intention to Adopt E-Grocery Shopping Service in Vietnam During Covid-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that influence the intention to adopt e-grocery shopping service of Vietnamese consumers during Covid-19 Pandemic. The sample size includes 235 responses collected from e-grocery shoppers in Vietnam. The research methodology includes Cronbach's Alpha analysis, EFA analysis and multiple regression analysis. Data is analysed in SPSS 20 software. The results have identified four factors that directly affect the intention to adopt e-grocery shopping service which are social influence, perceived ease of use, brand image and perceived usefulness. Social influence is the most significant factor that impacting the intention to adopt e-grocery shopping service among consumers during Covid-19 Pandemic in Vietnam. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

BeCaked(+): An Explainable AI Model to Forecast Delta-Spreading Covid-19 Situations for Ho Chi Minh City

Covid-19 is a global disaster that needs computing power to analyze, predict and interpret. So far, there have been several models doing the job. With a huge amount of daily data, deep learning models can be trained to achieve highly accurate forecasts but theirmechanism lacks explainability. Epidemiological models, e.g. SIR, on the other hand, can provide insightful analyses, but they require appropriate parameter values, which might be complicated in certain locations. The fourth wave of the pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam in 2021, brought valuable lessons along with accurate and specific data. Hence, we introduce an explainableAI model, known as BeCaked(+), to predict and analyze the pandemic situation efficiently from the collected data. BeCaked(+) combined deep learning and epidemiological models enhanced by specific parameters related to the policies endorsed by the government. Such a combination makes BeCaked(+) so accurate and a tool that provides information for policymakers to respond appropriately. One take a try BeCaked(+) at http://www.cse.hcmut.edu.vn/BeCaked.

Healthcare resource utilization and costs associated with COVID-19 patients with preexisting type 2 diabetes and concurrent cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND: The impact of migr2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 (C-19) patients. However, the economic burden associated with these pre-existing comorbidities is not well understood. OBJECTIVE(S): This study aimed to compare the healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs among C-19 patients with pre-existing T2D + CVD, T2D only, or neither. METHOD(S): This retrospective study used administrative claims in the HealthCore Integrated Research Database from US commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans. Patients with C-19 were identified from March 1, 2020-May 31, 2021, and stratified by presence of T2D and CVD. HCRU and costs were identified during follow-up and presented on a per patient per month (PPPM) basis. Propensity score matching and multivariable analyses were performed to adjust for differences between the three groups. RESULT(S): A total of 321,232 C-19 patients were identified (21,651 T2D + CVD, 28,184 T2D only, and 271,397 neither) with a mean follow-up of 5.4 months. C-19 patients with T2D + CVD were significantly older and had a greater comorbidity burden than those with neither. The unadjusted analysis shows that PPPM costs during follow-up were $14,790, $5,717, and $1,891 for T2D + CVD, T2D only, and neither, respectively, with C-19 related costs contributing 78%, 75%, and 64% of the overall costs. The majority of costs occurred during the first month after C-19 infection. After matching, 6,967 patients were identified for each cohort. Hospitalization occurred in 34.2% (T2D + CVD), 26.0% (T2D only), and 21.2% (neither), with a mean length of stay of 9.5, 9.9, and 8.9 days. Emergency room visits were reported in 28.6%, 24.5% and 20.4%, respectively. In-person physician and telehealth visits followed a similar pattern, with the highest number of visits among C-19 patients with T2D + CVD. Multivariable models show that C-19 patients with T2D + CVD were 59% more likely to be hospitalized, incurring 54% greater costs than those with neither. Patients with T2D only were 28% more likely to be hospitalized with 21% greater costs than those with neither. CONCLUSION(S): C-19 patients with pre-existing T2D + CVD had the greatest economic burden even after accounting for baseline differences between groups. The magnitude of increased HCRU and costs suggests that more aggressive triage and management of C-19 patients with both T2D and CVD may favorably impact economic outcomes.

Panic Purchasing: Food Hoarding in a City under Lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This research aimed to investigate the determinants of panic purchasing to hoard food in Ho Chi Minh City during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pragma-tism and the deduction approach were used for the research. During the lockdown period in Ho Chi Minh City, the purposive sampling technique was the first method used to reach the popula- tion that needed to be measured. Then, simple sampling was the second technique to collect data in the city in July and August 2021. Data were collected from 584 participants-higher than the required minimum sample size-who fulfilled the essential criteria to be included in the sample's population. Multi-quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics, reliability tests for items, exploratory factor analysis, and linear regression analysis, were used to analyze the data obtained. The main findings are that perceived scarcity, susceptibility, severity, cues to action, and self -ef- ficacy impacted panic purchasing to hoard foods. The results of this study are compared to the literature review in order to discuss panic buying behaviour, and recommendations are offered to policymakers and researchers in the future.

CovRelex: A COVID-19 Retrieval System with Relation Extraction

This paper presents CovRelex, a scientific paper retrieval system targeting entities and relations via relation extraction on COVID-19 scientific papers. This work aims at building a system supporting users efficiently in acquiring knowledge across a huge number of COVID-19 scientific papers published rapidly. Our system can be accessed via https://www.jaist.ac.jp/is/labs/ nguyen-lab/systems/covrelex/.

Sars-Cov-2 Induces a Sjogren's Syndrome-Like Phenotype

Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration and the development of dry eyes and dry mouth due to the secretory dysfunction of the lacrimal and salivary glands. In recent years, infectious pathogens have been proved to be associated with SS, including Cytomegalovirus, Coxsackie, EBV, and lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1). Studies suggest that infections caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may trigger an autoimmune response, as evidenced by increased autoantibodies in patients diagnosed with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To investigate the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and SS, the study was performed by infecting humanized ACE2 mice with SARS-CoV-2. Mice infected with the virus showed a decreased saliva flow rate, elevated antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) and anti-SSB/La, and lymphocyte infiltration in the lacrimal and salivary glands. We detected the viral nucleocapsid protein in mice exocrine glands with significant apoptotic bodies by the acinar cells. Confirmed with clinical data, we also observed the elevation of SS-specific autoantibodies (ANA, anti-SSB/Ro52, and anti-SSA/La) and specific ANA patterns in sera from COVID-19 patients. One unique aspect of SS is the high degree of sexual dimorphism, with women being affected 10-20 times more than men. To determine whether COVID-19 patients exhibited an element of sexual dimorphism in the autoantibody response, we grouped the sera by sex. We found the male patients showed elevated anti-SSA/Ro52 compared to female patients (p=0.0029), and female patients had more diverse ANA patterns. Lastly, monoclonal antibodies isolated from recovered patients using singlecell antibody nanowells technology were shown to recognize the nuclear antigens. Overall, by observing SS-like phenotypes in mouse models and patients, our study confirms a direct pathogenic role of SARS-CoV-2 in SS.

Multi-class Sentiment Classification for Customers’ Reviews

The rise of e-commerce due to the Covid-19 situation is becoming more significant in 2021. It could lead to great demands to understand customers’ opinions usually shown in their reviews. An e-commerce platform with the ability to be aware of its users’ viewpoint can have a higher possibility of meeting customer expectations, attracting new users, and increasing sales. With the tremendous data in e-commerce platforms presently, sentiment analysis is a powerful tool to understand users. However, the sentiment in reviews data may contain more than two states, positive and negative, and then a binary sentiment classifier may not be helpful in practice. According to our knowledge, research on this subject is often restricted access. Therefore, this paper presents a multi-class sentiment analysis for Vietnamese reviews on a large-scale dataset, including 480,702 reviews. We collected these reviews from popular Vietnamese e-commerce websites and manually did the labeling process with three classes of sentiments (positive, negative, and neutral). To build a suitable classification model for the main problem, we propose a deep learning approach using different architectures (LSMT, GRU, TextCNN, LSTM + CNN, and GRU+CNN) and compare the performance among other ensemble techniques. The experimental results show the outperformance of the ensemble techniques on the multi-class sentiment classification problem, and the combination of chosen architectures using the attention mechanism could obtain the best F-1 score of 73.64 %. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A systematic review of structural equation modeling in augmented reality applications

The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive review of the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) in augmented reality (AR) studies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE Xplore Scopus, Wiley Online Library, Emerald Insight, and ScienceDirect are the main five data sources for data collection from Jan 2020 to May 2021. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach was used to conduct the analysis. At the final stage, 53 relevant publications were included for analysis. Variables such as the number of participants in the study, original or derived hypothesized model, latent variables, direct/indirect contact with users, country, limitation/suggestion, and keywords were extracted. The results showed that a variety of external factors were used to construct the SEM models rather than using the parsimonious ones. The reports showed a fair balance between the direct and indirect methods to contact participants. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, few publications addressed the issue of data collection and evaluation methods, whereas video demonstrations of the augmented reality (AR) apps were utilized. The current work influences new AR researchers who are searching for a theory-based research model in their studies. © 2022 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

UP IN SMOKE: PATTERNS OF THC USE AND CANNABINOID HYPEREMESIS SYNDROME AT AN ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER

Background/Aim The prevalence of marijuana use has increased in the United States as many states have legalized its use. Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is an adverse effect that 17-30% of chronic users of marijuana will experience. The impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on healthcare disruptions has been well established. The effect of the pandemic on vice-associated conditions has been described with increases in alcohol and substance related hospitalizations and mortality. Few studies have evaluated the effect of the COVID- 19 pandemic on CHS with regards to prevalence, admissions, readmissions, and healthcare burden. We sought to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CHS using admissions and readmissions as metrics to evaluate healthcare burden. Methods Using Slicer-Dicer, an electronic medical record based self-service query tool, all cases of CHS requiring hospital admissions and those resulting in readmissions were recorded at the university's 3 hospital centers and stratified by gender, age, and location. Data was separated into pre-COVID (August 5, 2018 to April 5, 2020) and post-COVID (April 6, 2020 to October 5, 2021). Additionally, all positive cases of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) tested were recorded and stratified by postal code. The primary outcome was identification of CHS cases requiring admission from the emergency department pre-COVID and post-COVID. The secondary outcome was identifying any differences in admission and readmission rates pre- COVID and post-COVID. Results A significant increase in total THC positive cases (p = <0.001) was seen with 2485 pre-COVID and 2936 post-COVID cases. 68 patients were diagnosed with CHS pre-COVID and 75 post-COVID. Cases requiring admission were 27.9% pre-COVID CHS and 30.7% post-COVID with a significant increase in admissions from one campus from 0% to 30.4% (p = 0.025). Pre-COVID CHS cases requiring readmission after an index admission was 31.6% and post-COVID was 26.1%. No significance was seen when stratifying the cohorts by gender and age. Discussion Our study shows a significant increase in CHS diagnoses and admissions with an associated significant increase in THC-positivity when comparing the pre-COVID and post-COVID cohorts. This is consistent with prior studies describing an increase in alcohol and substance use during the pandemic. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reveal a 30% increase in substance related deaths in 2020 when compared to 2019. Some suggest that factors related to the pandemic including social isolation stress, substance use in isolation, and decreased access to substance use treatment or programs are contributors. This study highlights the importance to identify this association to better understand and respond to pandemic-associated risk factors for substance use disorders to help alleviate its effect on healthcare burden.

5 Year review of ureteric stent on strings: Retrospective study at a high volume stone centre52

Introduction & Objectives: Double J ureteric stents are commonly used in acute and elective urology practice. Ureteric stents with external strings offer an alternative solution to extraction compared to the standard of requiring cystoscopy and stent removal at an additional cost. Our aim was to review the usage of double J stents on extraction strings in our institution and whether this was increasing over time and the potential cost savings. Methods: All ureteric stent insertions in Auckland Hospital between 2015 and 2019 (5 years) were reviewed from the hospital stent register. Results: A total of 4016 ureteric stents were inserted over 5 years. Of the total number of stents inserted 33.2% were stents on strings, with a significant increase in the trend towards stent on strings per year (Cochran-Armitage test p<0.0001). Procedures for stone disease were the most common indication for stent insertion making up 66% of all cases. 45% of stents inserted in management of stone disease were stents on strings. The number of stents on strings and total number of stents inserted for ureteric calculi increased each year. If a Covid test cost and subsequent flexible cystoscopy removal of ureteric stent was applied to stent on strings in our study period, a cost saving of $1.15 million would be seen, and is an important consideration for future practice worldwide. Conclusions: The use of stents on strings appears to be higher in our centre than previously reported in the literature. This is likely to be associated with reduced patient discomfort from stent removal and significantly reduced stent removal costs with implications for future planning and resource distribution in our centre. Potential risks associated with stents on strings - in particular stent dislodgement - need to be considered, and consideration given to case selection and patient counselling.

Assessing the Effects of Hormone Therapy on Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Transgender Adolescents

Purpose: Among U.S. high school students 2% identify as transgender. Adolescents (12-21 yo) with gender dysphoria may seek gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT). Previous studies have reported lower HDL among transgender youth before GAHT. The purpose of this study is to examine changes in lipids, glucose, blood pressure and BMI among transgender adolescents receiving GAHT for at least 2 years compared to baseline and normative values for adolescents. Methods: Chart review of 226 transgender adolescents (aged 12-24y) taking GAHT who received care at the Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Clinic (2012-2021). Results: Limited 2-year data was available for 27 transgender females and 61 transgender males. Of the available data, about twice as many transgender males compared to transgender females had at least one risk factor at baseline and 2 years. Most common risk factors were low HDL (<40mg/dL), elevated systolic blood pressure (>130mmHg) and BMI (>=30). Conclusions: Transgender males, compared to transgender females, have more risk factors at baseline and 2 years in our single-site study. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of transgender adolescents with ASCVD risk factors is likely even greater because of increased sedentary time leading to increased weight gain. We recommend providers screen for risk factors and encourage physical activity and decreased sedentary behavior. Sources of Support: University of Utah Department of Pediatrics;NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRS) institutional training grant (T35DK103596).

Safe and effective administration of multiple recombinant factors on VA-ECMO via post-oxygenator pigtail during acute massive pulmonary hemorrhage

Introduction: Massive bleeding on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is associated with multiple coagulation defects, including depletion of coagulation factors and development of acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS). The use of recombinant factors, in particular recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa, Novoseven), to treat severe refractory hemorrhage in ECMO has been described. However, the use of multiple recombinant factors has been avoided in large part due to concern for circuit complications and thrombosis. Here, we describe the safe and effective administration of rFVIIa and recombinant von Willebrand factor complex (vWF/ FVIII, Humate-P) via post-oxygenator pigtail catheter on VA-ECMO for the treatment of massive pulmonary hemorrhage. Case Description: A 21-month-old (13.4 kg) girl with a recent history of COVID-19 infection presented to an outside hospital with parainfluenza bronchiolitis resulting in acute refractory hypoxemic respiratory failure (oxygenation index 58), refractory septic shock, and myocardial dysfunction. She was cannulated to VA-ECMO and subsequently diagnosed with necrotizing pneumonia from Pseudomonas and herpes simplex infections. Her course was complicated by a large left-sided pneumatocele and bronchopleural fistula requiring multiple chest tubes. She also had right mainstem bronchus obstruction from necrotic airway debris and complete right lung atelectasis. She was noted to have prolonged episodes of mucosal and cutaneous bleeding (oropharynx, chest tube insertion sites, peripheral IV insertion sites) associated with absent high molecular weight von Willebrand multimers consistent with AVWS. Tranexamic acid infusion was initiated and bivalirudin anticoagulation was discontinued. VA-ECMO flows were escalated to 140-160 ml/kg/min to maintain circuit integrity and meet high patient metabolic demand in the absence of anticoagulation. On ECMO day 26, she underwent bronchoscopy to clear necrotic debris from her airway to assist with lung recruitment. The procedure was notable for mucosal bleeding requiring topical epinephrine and rFVIIa. Post-procedure, she developed acute hemorrhage from her right mainstem bronchus, resulting in significant hemothorax (estimated 950 ml) with mediastinal shift, increased venous pressures, desaturation and decreased ECMO blood flow rate, necessitating massive transfusion of 2,050 ml (150 ml/kg) of packed red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. An airway blocker was placed in the mid-trachea to control bleeding. In addition to transfusion of appropriate blood products and continuation of tranexamic acid infusion, she was given both rFVIIa (100mcg/kg) and vWF-FVIII (70 units vWF/kg loading dose on the day of hemorrhage, followed by 40 units vWF/kg every 12 hours for 3 additional doses). Both products were administered over 10 minutes through a post-oxygenator pigtail to allow the product to circulate throughout the patient prior to entering the ECMO circuit. The circuit was closely monitored during administration and no changes to circuit integrity were noted in the subsequent hours while hemostasis was achieved. The ECMO circuit remained without thrombosis for 9 days after the bleeding event. Discussion: Balancing anticoagulation and hemostasis is a central challenge in maintaining ECMO support, especially given the prevalence of acquired coagulopathies such as AVWS. For our patient, AVWS contributed to mucosal bleeding necessitating cessation of anticoagulation and utilization of a high ECMO blood flow strategy to minimize circuit clot burden. This was further complicated by absent native lung function and minimal myocardial function, resulting in complete dependence on ECMO. An acute massive pulmonary hemorrhage was treated with multiple recombinant factors (rFVIIa and vWF/FVIII), that are often avoided on ECMO. To minimize clotting risk to the circuit and to maximize transit of these factors to our patient, we added a post-oxygenator pigtail for administration. While this approach was the result of extreme circumstances, th use of a post-oxygenator pigtail for administration of recombinant factors may represent a viable strategy for refractory hemorrhage while on ECMO.