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Objective: To analyze the use of social networks to promote critical thinking in students of a higher education institution in Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Method: The research is exploratory and descriptive with a qualitative-quantitative approach, using the survey to collect information. It is part of the active students for the 2021-2 academic period during the social confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Students use social networks between 5 and 10 hours per week on average, the most frequented being WhatsApp (32%), Instagram (75%) and Facebook (66%);50% of them acknowledge that they use them mainly for entertainment and social exchange purposes. Discussion and Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of social networks, causing substantial distractions in the development of classes. Its use is not affected by socioeconomic level, reducing the participation gaps that other scenarios of society usually have. Teachers can use them as a novel resource in the teaching and learning processes avoiding wishful thinking, pursuing the development of critical thinking based on the objectivity of knowledge linked to research, creativity, innovation and transformation. © 2023 The authors.
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Introduction: When the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cuba, a training setting had already been designed for students of all the majors in the field of medical sciences who, as part of their training, should internalize the responsibilities that medicine implies, which is not only limited to the acquisition of scientific and academic knowledge. Objective: To determine the medical sciences students from Camagüey's knowledge for performing active COVID-19 screening. Methods: An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in September 2021. The study universe was 2573 students, belonging to all the majors in the field of medical sciences who were involved in active COVID-19 screening within the Camagüey Municipality. A sample of 416 students was selected in eight health areas of this municipality, by using nonprobabilistic convenience sampling. A descriptive, qualitative, individual survey containing open and closed questions was elaborated and validated. Results: The sample was represented by the female sex in a 70.7 %, while the highest percentage belonged to the medical school (73 %). 55 % responded that they had a good training for carrying out active COVID-19 screening and 79.8 % recognized television as the most significant way for knowledge acquisition. 93.3 % considered that the clinical and epidemiological methods were significant to develop the activity. Conclusions: In the present research, the female sex predominated. Likewise, television was recognized as the best way for knowledge acquisition and most of the participants expressed the value of the clinical-epidemiological method for acquiring knowledge. It was considered that students should be provided with the tools for self-training to exploit the virtual setting and the active platforms even more. © 2023, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
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We aimed to identify the factors associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 from the hospitalization service of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital, Piura, Peru, from May to June 2020. A prospective study was conducted in hospitalized patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 through serological and/or molecular reactive testing. The dependent variable was death due to COVID-19, and the independent variables were the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patient. The chi-square test and the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test were used, with a significance level of 5%. Of 301 patients with COVID-19, the majority of them were male (66.1%), and the mean age was 58.63 years. Of the patients analyzed, 41.3% of them died, 40.2% of them were obese and 59.8% of them had hepatic steatosis. The three most frequent signs/symptoms were dyspnea (90.03%), fatigue (90.03%) and a cough (84.72%). Being an older adult (p = 0.011), being hospitalized in the ICU (p = 0.001), overweight (p = 0.016), obese (p = 0.021) and having compromised consciousness (p = 0.039) and thrombocytopenia (p = 0.024) were associated with mortality due to COVID-19. Overall, the mortality rate due to COVID-19 was 41.3%. Having an older age, being hospitalized in the ICU, overweight, obese and having compromised consciousness and thrombocytopenia were positively associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19. These findings highlight the need to establish an adequate system of surveillance and epidemiological education in hospitals and communities in the event of new outbreaks, especially in rural and northern Peru. © 2023 by the authors.
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The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become widespread due to the technology development and the COVID-19 pandemic;consequently, internet use has increased and impacted different social areas, like communication, education, and the way people relate. Therefore, increasing the cases of bullying and cyberbullying in children and teenagers. In addition, instructional tools, such as microlearning, have emerged in education, allowing for compressing and massifying educational content from different areas of knowledge. This tool aims to reduce learning time and can be deployed on any platform without using traditional means of learning. This paper presents an overview of a method for creating learning capsules in the domain of bullying and cyberbullying named LeCCMe. This method is based on the ADDIE instructional model and incorporates a diffusion phase to reach the largest possible population. Finally, a case study is presented, in which a learning capsule has been created to prevent bullying and cyberbullying. © 2022 IEEE.
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Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients are particularly prone to developing loss of muscle strength and worsening of physical performance due to decreased physical activity1. The lifestyle changes imposed by the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak have increased the incidence of sarcopenia in at-risk individuals2. However, the literature is scarce on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on muscle strength and physical performance of SSc patients. Objectives: (1) To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on muscle strength and physical performance of SSc patients and (2) to verify the associations of muscle strength and physical performance with infammatory markers in a cohort study. Methods: SSc patients who met the ACR/EULAR 2013 classifcation criteria were included. Patients followed between 2019 and 2021. Muscle strength was measured by handgrip strength (kg) and sit and stand (SST, seconds) tests. Physical performance was measured by timed up and go (TUG, seconds) and short physical performance battery (SPPB, points). Infammatory markers were measured by C-reactive protein (CRP). T test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney U test of independent samples and Spearman's correlation coef-fcients were explored. The signifcance level was set at p ≤ 0.05 for all analyses. Results: Forty SSc patients concluded this study. At baseline, the mean age was 59 ± 11. 1 years old and the median disease duration was 13.1 (6.4-19.2) years. Patients had a median of 4.5 clinic visits (3.0-6.0) over the 2 years. The majority of patients were women (37, 92.5%). Te n patients (25%) had diffuse cutaneous disease, 30 patients (75%) non-diffuse cutaneous disease [25 patients (62.5%) had limited cutaneous disease, and 5 (12.5%) had sine scleroderma SSc]. The median of CRP was 2.9 (1.2-5.3). The median of handgrip strength was 20.0 (10.3-25.8) kg to the right hand and 19.0 (12.0-22.8) kg to the left hand. The median of SST was 14.4 (11.9-18.7) seconds. The median of TUG was 8.6 (7.7-9.5) seconds and the median of SPPB was 9.8 (9.0-11.0) points. The CRP was positively associated with SST (r=0.3, p=0.047) and TUG (r=0.3, p=0.029), and negatively with SPPB (r=-0.4, p=0.016). After 2 years of follow-up, the patients showed improvement in the left handgrip strength test (p=0.049) and SST (p=0.001). In physical performance, they showed improvement in the TUG test (p=0.005) and SPPB (p=0.001). The CRP was associated positively with TUG (r=0.4, p=0.033), no other associations were found. Conclusion: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed, in this population of patients with SSc, we did not detect any worsening in muscle strength and physical performance. Some of these parameters of muscle strength and physical performance were associated with the infammatory marker CRP. More investigations are needed to assess the actual impact and possible associations.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health crisis. Most patients were affected on their active treatment, patients with acute leukemia are particularly vulnerable to any change in their curative therapy. It has been almost a year since the first reported case of COVID-19 in Peru. Our country had the highest mortality rates per one million population during the first wave. Since January 2021 we are on the second wave with the total excess deaths higher than the first wave. Aims: The aim of this study was to report the management and mortality of acute leukemias during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact in relapse or survival of leukemia patients. Methods: We included prospectively patients aged 14 years or older with the diagnosis of acute leukemia on active treatment and treated at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Peru since March 8th, 2020 to June 20th, 2020. The first result was reported as part of a multicenter study in the ASH 2020 annual meeting, now we are reporting a follow-up after 8 months of the last recorded case. We compared the leukemia status between the first cohort and the last cohort using chi-square test. Results: 126 patients were evaluated during the first 100 days of started the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru (cut point June 20th 2020), the median age was 32 (range 15-70). 52% were male. 65% of patients had highrisk factors. 53% of patients were Ph negative Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph- ALL), both Ph + ALL and Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were 18.2% each one of them. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) were 10.3% (n=13). 83.3% were on complete response. 45% of patients were on consolidation, 33% on maintenance, 12.6% on reinduction and 8.7% on induction. Modification of treatment due to COVID-19 was made in 34.9%. The reasons for modification were mainly due to logistic issues (54.5%) followed by medical decision (45.5%). 3.9% of patients had COVID-19 infection, 80% of them were mild-moderate cases. Only 1 patient (25%) died from COVID-19 disease. On June 2020, 61% of patients were alive in CR and 20.6% were alive with leukemia, (total 103 patients alive). 23 patients (18.2%) died during the study period, 14.3% had leukemia-related death, 3.2% treatment- related death (on CR), and 0.8% COVID-related death. Up to February 28th, 2021 of the 103 patients alive in the first cohort 63 (61.1%) patients are alive in CR (previous 77 patients) being that 18% of patients relapsed. Of the 26 patients alive with leukemia (1 received intensive treatment and achieved CR). During this second cohort 9 (8.8%) patients died, 8 from leukemia-related death (7.8%) and 1 (0.9%) patient from treatment-related death. It is important to note of the 8 patients with leukemia-related death 6 (75%) were on CR. In the second cohort no COVID-19 infection was reported. From the initial 126 patients only 94 (74.5%) patients are alive. For the total cohort leukemia related death accounts for 20.6% (n=26), treatment-related death in 3.9 (n=5) and COVID-19 in one case. The difference between the leukemia status in both cohorts were compared with a statistically significant difference p<0.001. Summary/Conclusion: The modification on the treatment due to COVID-19 was mainly because logistic issues followed by medical decision. The mortality of patients with acute leukemia has increased in a short period of time, being that a quarter of them have died mainly due to leukemia-related death, followed by treatment-related death. Both COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 death were rare in our cohort. The difference in deaths and relapsed between both cohorts was statistically significant.
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The impact and the universality of the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 has caused the need to have information quickly and accessible for the benefit of decision-making among healthcare professionals. In 10 months the scientific production on this new coronavirus has exceeded the number of 66 thousand articles, according to the LitCovid database, created by the National Library of Medicine, doubling and tripling every few weeks. This same urgency has characterized some of the main features of this voluminous production, in addition to its continuous and exponential growth, such as greater dissemination in open access and preprint repositories, a certain acceleration in the manuscript review process by editorials and an abundance of opinion articles, recommendations or comments compared to a smaller number of original articles with clinical data from large groups of patients.
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RATIONALE: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has caused an ongoing pandemic, is diagnosed by realtime reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Computed tomography (CT) scans have shown typical changes of the disease but there is limited data comparing CT scan findings with COVID-19 clinical severity and illness duration. The study aims to determine the common chest CT findings of COVID-19 pneumonia in association with clinical severity and duration of symptoms.METHODS: This is a single-center, retrospective study including all adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, admitted from March 2020 to August 2020, with baseline RT-PCR and chest CT scan. Demographic data and CT scan findings were tabulated and analyzed using STATA 13.1.RESULTS: In this study of 304 patients, majority were above 60 years old (49%), male(62%), non-smokers (72.6%) with associated hypertension(56%) and diabetes mellitus(34%). Most common symptoms were cough (82%), dyspnea (76%) and fever (69%). Predominant chest CT patterns of COVID-19 pneumonia were ground glass opacity (GGO) (65%) and consolidation (39%) in bilateral, peripheral, and lower lobe distribution. Moderate group had higher GGO (72%, p0.047), unilateral (10%,p0.001) and peripheral distribution (68%,p0.001). Severe to critical groups had higher consolidation, number of lobes (>4 lobes), and diffuse involvement. Subjects with less than 14 days of symptoms, had more GGO. Those with more than 4 days of symptoms, had CT findings that were bilateral, more than 4 lobes, and extending to middle and upper lobes.CONCLUSION: Chest CT patterns typical of COVID-19 pneumonia and their extent of involvement were associated with clinical severity and illness duration. A simple Chest CT scan would help support physicians' decision making and prognostication.
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The impact and the universality of the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 has caused the need to have information quickly and accessible for the benefit of decision-making among healthcare professionals. In 10 months the scientific production on this new coronavirus has exceeded the number of 66 thousand articles, according to the LitCovid database, created by the National Library of Medicine, doubling and tripling every few weeks. This same urgency has characterized some of the main features of this voluminous production, in addition to its continuous and exponential growth, such as greater dissemination in open access and preprint repositories, a certain acceleration in the manuscript review process by editorials and an abundance of opinion articles, recommendations or comments compared to a smaller number of original articles with clinical data from large groups of patients.
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Background and importance Cancer patients are a vulnerable population for SAR-CoV-2 infection. Aim and objectives The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiology and clinical course of patients with cancer infected with SARS-Cov-2, attending hospital. Material and methods A retrospective observational study was conducted in cancer patients attending a tertiary hospital for SARS-CoV-2 infection during the period 3 January 2020 to 31 May 2020. Demographic and clinical variables were analysed: comorbidities, tumour diagnosis, tumour stage and whether they had received anticancer treatment in the last month (active treatment). The clinical course was evaluated by hospital admission, pneumonia, oxygen therapy requirements, the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), admission to ICU, mortality rate and mortality rate <30 days from admission. Quantitative variables were expressed as means (SD). The association between dichotomous variables or proportions was compared using Fisher's exact test and between quantitative variables using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results 112 patients were included, 59.8% (67) were men, mean age 67±13.4 years. 94.6% (106) were Caucasian (4.4% (5) Latino). 61.6% (69) were non-smokers, 25% (28) exsmokers and 13.4% (15) current smokers;11.6% (13) had obesity. The most frequent comorbidities were: 57.1% (64) arterial hypertension, 34.8% (38) cardiovascular disease, 32.1% (36) diabetes mellitus and 21.4% (24) COPD. The most frequent cancer diagnosis were: 18.8% (21) breast cancer, 17.9% (20) lung cancer, 16.1% (18) colorectal cancer and 12.5% (14) prostate cancer. Tumour stage: 55.4% (62) metastatic disease, 25% (28) localised disease and 19.6% (22) locally advanced disease. 60.7% (68) of patients received active cancer treatment (42.7% chemotherapy, 32.3% hormonal treatment, 16.2% targeted therapy, 7% immunotherapy and 2.9% radiotherapy). At admission, 85.7% (96) of patients had pneumonia (78.1% bilateral), 59.9% (67) had lymphopenia (lymphocytes <1000/mL) and 31.3% (35) had p02 <90%. The variables for monitoring the clinical course are shown in table 1. Conclusion and relevance Mortality rate and mortality rate <30 days from admission were high. The clinical course in patients with active anticancer treatment was similar to that of all cancer patients. Larger series of patients are needed to continue studying outcomes of SARS-CoV2 infection in cancer patients. (Table Presented).
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4CPS-282 Table 1 Cancer patients (n=112) Cancer patients receiving anticancer therapy (n=68) Hospital admission rate 92.9% (104) 94.1% (64) Mean days of admission 16±17 16±19 Oxygen therapy requirements 29.8% (31) 20.6% (14) ARDS 28.9% (32) 17.7% (12) Admission to ICU 7.7% (8) 7.3% (5) Mortality rate 27.7% (31) 25% (17) Mortality rate <30 days since admission 77.4% (24) 70.6% (12) Second admission rate 7.7% (8) 5.9% (4) Second emergency visits rate 8.9% (10) 8.8% (6) Conclusion and relevanceMortality rate and mortality rate <30 days from admission were high. The clinical course in patients with active anticancer treatment was similar to that of all cancer patients. Larger series of patients are needed to continue studying outcomes of SARS-CoV2 infection in cancer patients.References and/or acknowledgementsConflict of interestNo conflict of interest