The Pandemic and the Future of Museums: Constraints, Opportunities and Current Approaches to Participation*

Covid-19 pandemic, which changed the entire functioning of life on a global scale, also deeply affected participation in cultural life. Accordingly, museums as an important part of cultural life have also developed new strategies appropriate to pandemic precautions that necessitate physical and social distance measures. These strategies have also brought up many discussions on the structural transformation and future of museums. ICOM determined 2021-year theme as " The Future of Museums: Healing and Re-imagining" and organized webinar series. In these webinars, topics such as the sustainability of museums, redesign of digital environments, participation models during the pandemic, health and safety of employees and visitors were discussed. The theme for International Museum Day in 2022 is "The Power of Museums". In addition, many museums continued to interact with other museums and professional organizations involved in arts and cultural life at the global and local level. While trying to preserve their existence in cultural life and to keep in touch with their stakeholders, museums carried their activities to different environments. This article discusses the audience development/building strategies and new participation methods implemented by the Pera, Sakip Sabanci and Istanbul Modern Art Museums during the pandemic. Moreover, the effects of new audience development strategies and participation methods on the sustainability of the museums are reviewed.

Can PNI and CONUT Scores Predict One-year Survival Both in Older and Younger Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19?

Objective: This study aimed to find out the prognostic effect of the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score for 1-year mortality prediction in older (≥65 years) and younger (<65 years) hospitalized Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients, separately. Materials and Methods: This retrospective and the observational study included 368 patients who were admitted to a single tertiary care university hospital due to COVID-19 disease with positive severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to predict 1-year mortality prediction for the older and younger groups. Results: Among 368 patients, 112 (30.4%) patients were 65 years and older. There were 45 (12.2%) deaths at the end of the 1-year follow-up. The 1-year mortality rate was higher in the older group (23.2% vs 7.4%). When all patients were analyzed (n=368), PNI [hazard ratio (HR)=0.924, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.877-0.974, p=0.003] and CONUT (HR=1.423, 95% CI=1.194-1.696, p<0.001) scores were significantly associated with 1-year mortality in multivariable model. When older and younger groups were assessed separately;PNI and CONUT scores failed to estimate 1-year mortality in the older group. On the other hand, the independent estimating capacities of PNI (HR=0.899, 95% CI=0.836-0.966, p=0.004) and CONUT (HR=1.944, 95% CI=1.478-2.557, p<0.001) scores increased when the only younger group was taken into analysis. Conclusion: PNI and CONUT scores as indicators of nutritional and immune status, predicted 1-year mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. However, their prognostic effects in older patients with COVID-19 may be less prominent. Future, large sample studies are needed to provide data about geriatric COVID-19 patients. © Copyright 2022 by the Academic Geriatrics Society / European Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology published by Galenos Publishing House.

The Prevalence and the Effect of COVID-19 Infection in Older Patients with Dementia: A Single-center Experience in the Light of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Objective: Patients diagnosed with dementia are at increased risk for Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection since they are unable to perform hygiene and social distance due to difficulties recalling or their dependency on another person. Also, there is a strong correlation between mortality of COVID-19 and dementia. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the prevalence of COVID-19 in patients with dementia and their cognitive decline during a pandemic. Materials and Methods: A total of 210 patients diagnosed with dementia and followed up in the outpatient clinics of geriatrics in our university hospital were included in the study. These records were obtained from the hospital information system. Demographic data, comprehensive geriatric assessments, cognitive changes, COVID-19 infection status, and the dates of death were recorded. Results: Patients were divided into three groups: Mild, moderate, and severe dementia. COVID-19 prevalence was 11.9% in our study population. When we compared patients according to the history of COVID-19 infection status, there were no differences between the type and the stage of dementia between the COVID-19 infection negative and positive groups (p>0.05). Age and sex distribution were similar between these two groups (p>0.05). The prevalence of geriatric syndromes was similar in COVID-19 infection positive and negative groups. Furthermore, more than half of the patients in every stage of dementia had cognitive decline during the pandemic course. However cognitive decline rates were not different between COVID-19 positive and negative groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: One in every ten patients with dementia had COVID-19 infection to our results. According to our findings, there is no increase in the frequency of COVID-19 between stages of dementia, the restrictions due to the pandemic cause a decline in cognitive functions. During the pandemic, interventions to protect cognitive functions and periodic health control should not be interrupted for patients with dementia. © Copyright 2022 by the Academic Geriatrics Society / European Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology published by Galenos Publishing House.

An Overview Of South Korea’S K-12 Education During Covid-19 Pandemic

Although the human history has witnessed different pandemics before, the countries were still unprepared for COVID-19. As a high-developed country;South Korea was no exception. While the government is fighting against COVID- 19, there has been a sudden shift to online classes as a new method of education. In this study, the researchers implemented qualitative content analysis method in cooperation with archival research technique to portray K-12 education in South Korea during COVID-19, from the first implementation of online education practices to the reopening of schools. The results were grouped intofive categories;(i) emergency policies, (ii) government guidelines for online learning, (iii) hardware and software preparation for online learning, (iv) teachers’ competence enhancement for online learning, and (v) efforts to return to offline education. The results showed that South Korea has shifted K-12 education to online relatively easier than many other countries due to its citizens’ high ICT knowledge, skills and abilities, robust Internet infrastructure and high ICT device ownership. South Korea has also loaned ICT devices and supported Internet expenses for the disadvantaged students, and made mobile internet free for visiting governmental education websites offering instructional contents. This paper suggests that similar immediate actions should be granted by other countries to provide the continuity of education and the sustainability of digital learning solutions. © 2020, Milli Egitim. All Rights Reserved.