ABSTRACT
Due to the appearance of COVID-19, the newly emerged situation has provoked numerous reactions in the field of education, both in the world and in Serbia. Prompted by this problem, the authors of this paper conducted a survey to determine students' behavioural intention, as well as their readiness to use e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. E-learning has integrated technology and education and has proven to be a powerful tool that enables the education system to respond to the challenges of modern society. In this research, an online questionnaire was distributed to the students of the University of Belgrade. To process the results, the SEM methodology was employed, which enabled the testing of the proposed hypotheses. The obtained results showed the students' behavioural intention can be directly and indirectly predicted by the joint influence of the role of authority, innovative orientation, user-friendly learning, expected performance, and quality of e-learning. This knowledge enabled a comprehensive analysis that encompassed the e-learning experiences students gained during a state of emergency. © 2023, FACTEACHEREDUCATION. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose: Effects of COVID-19 in pregnancy are controversial.1-3 Some studies have found that a high viral load (VL) yields more symptoms,3,4 while others have found no significant differences.5 Some studies have shown pregnant women are not more likely to have a serious illness,2,6,7 while others say pregnancy is at risk for severe disease. 8,9 The purpose of our study is to compare VL values of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests between COVID-19 positive pregnant and nonpregnant women. Our secondary aim is to compare the asymptomatic rates among these two groups. Method(s): This case-control study identified women with COVID-19 confirmed by PCR between April-November, 2020. Cycle threshold (Ct), the number of cycles run on PCR to detect COVID-19, is inversely proportional to VL. Each pregnant woman was matched, by BMI and age, to two nonpregnant controls. Statistical analyses included Independent T-Test, Cochran's Q test and repeated measures ANOVA. Result(s): Sixty-four pregnant women were matched to 128 nonpregnant female controls. Race did not differ between the two groups. Ct in asymptomatic cases (Ct=24.1, SD=5.9) was higher (lower viral load) than symptomatic cases (Ct=12.5, SD=7.3) (p<0.001). Ct did not differ between pregnant and non-pregnant females, regardless of symptoms. Symptomatic infection among pregnant women was 54% compared to 87.7% in nonpregnant women (p<0.001). Fever, cough and fatigue were less common in pregnancy, at rates of 20.3% vs 40.7% (p=0.03), 39.1% vs 61.7% (p=0.02), and 4.7% vs 19.6% (p=0.02), respectively. Rates of shortness of breath, loss of taste and/or smell were similar in the two groups. Conclusion(s): Pregnancy did not yield higher viral load than nonpregnancy. VL is higher in symptomatic women than asymptomatic women, which holds true in pregnancy as well. Of all hospital admissions, pregnant women were less symptomatic than nonpregnant women. Correlation between VL and severity of disease needs further investigation.
ABSTRACT
Background The health and development of school-age children is a contemporary topic of various health policies and programs, which has become even more of a focus in critical situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to assess the prevalence of school-age children's participation in fights and bullying in Serbia, and to examine the relevance of students’ socio-demographic characteristics and perceptions of school and relations with other students and professors for participation in fights and bullying. Methods A secondary analysis of the original data of the 2017 HBSC study is performed on 3267 students in a nationally representative sample of primary and high schools in Serbia. Predictors of taking part in fights and taking part in bullying were examined by using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results The main results show that 50.8% of boys and 17.1% of girls have taken part in fights, while 17.7% boys and 10.4% of girls have taken part in bullying. Students who felt a large and very large burden of school obligations were 1.43 times more likely to participate in bullying at least once, while they were 1.38 and 2.12 times more likely to participate in multiple fights and 4.04, 1.24, and 2.78 times more likely to participate multiple times in bullying. Fights among school-age children are significantly positively associated with living with relatives/legal guardians and poor quality of life. Conclusions The prevalence of participating in at least one fight/bullying is higher than in multiple fights/bullying. These associations suggest a necessity to enhance the monitoring and control of peer behavior among school-age children. The findings of the study imply key enablers of protection, such as building relationships based on team spirit and work, friendly behavior, empathy, and help, which should be included in the value system of school and family activities in programs to combat fights and bullying in school-age children. Key messages • In Serbia, every second boy and every fifth girl participated in fights, while less than every fifth boy and every tenth girl participated in bullying. • Study results can inform school and healthcare actors’ efforts to improve school-age children’s development and health capacity for life.
ABSTRACT
One of the industries that has been hit the most by the Covid-19 is the film industry. Practitioners and experts in the field are in need to better understand the changed consumers and their new behaviour so that they can adequately communicate with them. The population segment which attracts the most attention are the Millennials due to the fact they have a high level of self-interest, they mix streaming services, and their purchase intention building is much slower compared to other generations. This study aimed to propose a segmentation approach in the film industry based on genre preference. To verify the proposed approach, an online survey on consumer habits and attitudes towards different elements of film marketing mix was conducted at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown in Serbia. Upon that, biclustering algorithm was employed to segment the respondents. Finally, similarities and differences between retained segments were explored, which provided insights on which elements of film (elements of product, Word of Mouth, Frequency of consumption, and elements of promotion) respondents pay attention to based on their genre preference. The observed similarities and differences led to the creation of tailored communication strategies for each segment, which could improve the effectiveness of marketing activities in the film industry during the Covid-19 era, and could be extended in the post-Covid era. © 2022, Kauno Technologijos Universitetas.
ABSTRACT
Introduction/Objective Coagulopathy induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection (SARS-CoV-2) can be an underlying cause of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a less common type of stroke with a variable clinical presentation and high mortality rate. The objective of the paper is to present a series of CVST cases associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods This retrospective study evaluated clinical, laboratory and radiological presentations, risk factors, barriers to diagnosis, treatment and outcome of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced CVST. Results The study comprised six patients diagnosed with COVID-19-induced CVST during an 18-month period. The majority (66.7%) had no significant risk factors for developing CVST. The median time from the initial COVID-19 diagnosis to the onset of neurologic deficit was seven days (interquartile range 0.5–7 days). Clinical presentation comprised non specific neurological symptoms: headache (83.3%) and decreased consciousness (33.3%), together with elevated levels of D-dimer and inflammatory biomark-ers. The transverse (n = 4, or 66.7%), superior sagittal sinuses (n = 3, or 50%) and sigmoid sinus (n = 2, or 33.3%) were most commonly affected. Five patients (83.3%) had minimal to no symptoms at discharge (mRS ≤ 2). In-hospital mortality in our current series was relatively high (16.7%). Conclusion The high mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2-associated CVST urges clinicians to suspect CVST in patients with a history of COVID-19 infection presenting with non-specific neurological symptoms in order to provide proper treatment and prevent complications. © 2021, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved.