ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has paused many ongoing research projects and unified researchers' attention to focus on COVID-19 related issues. Our project traces 712,294 scientists' publications related to COVID-19 for two years, from January 2020 to December 2021, in order to detect the dynamic evolution patterns of COVID-19 collaboration network over time. By studying the collaboration network of COVID-19 scientists, we observe how a new scientific community has been built in preparation for a sudden shock. The number of newcomers grows incrementally, and the connectivity of the collaboration network shifts from loose to tight promptly. Even though every scientist has an equal opportunity to start a study, collaboration disparity still exists. Following the scale-free distribution, only a few top authors are highly connected with other authors. These top authors are more likely to attract newcomers and work with each other. As the collaboration network evolves, the increase rate in the probability of attracting newcomers for authors with higher degree increases, whereas the increase rates in the probability of forming new links among authors with higher degree decreases. This highlights the interesting trend that COVID pandemic alters the research collaboration trends that star scientists are starting to collaborate more with newcomers, but less with existing collaborators, which, in certain way, reduces the collaboration disparity. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has paused many ongoing research projects and unified researchers' attention to focus on COVID-19 related issues. Our project traces 712,294 scientists' publications related to COVID-19 for two years, from January 2020 to December 2021, in order to detect the dynamic evolution patterns of COVID-19 collaboration network over time. By studying the collaboration network of COVID-19 scientists, we observe how a new scientific community has been built in preparation for a sudden shock. The number of newcomers grows incrementally, and the connectivity of the collaboration network shifts from loose to tight promptly. Even though every scientist has an equal opportunity to start a study, collaboration disparity still exists. Following the scale-free distribution, only a few top authors are highly connected with other authors. These top authors are more likely to attract newcomers and work with each other. As the collaboration network evolves, the increase rate in the probability of attracting newcomers for authors with higher degree increases, whereas the increase rates in the probability of forming new links among authors with higher degree decreases. This highlights the interesting trend that COVID pandemic alters the research collaboration trends that star scientists are starting to collaborate more with newcomers, but less with existing collaborators, which, in certain way, reduces the collaboration disparity. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Hyponatremia occurs in about 30% of patients with pneumonia, including those with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. Hyponatremia predicts a worse outcome in several pathologic conditions and in COVID-19 has been associated with a higher risk of non-invasive ventilation, ICU transfer and death. The main objective of this study was to determine whether early hyponatremia is also a predictor of long-term sequelae at follow-up. METHODS: In this observational study, we collected 6-month follow-up data from 189 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients previously admitted to a University Hospital. About 25% of the patients (n = 47) had hyponatremia at the time of hospital admission. RESULTS: Serum [Na+] was significantly increased in the whole group of 189 patients at 6 months, compared to the value at hospital admission (141.4 ± 2.2 vs 137 ± 3.5 mEq/L, p < 0.001). In addition, IL-6 levels decreased and the PaO2/FiO2 increased. Accordingly, pulmonary involvement, evaluated at the chest X-ray by the RALE score, decreased. However, in patients with hyponatremia at hospital admission, higher levels of LDH, fibrinogen, troponin T and NT-ProBNP were detected at follow-up, compared to patients with normonatremia at admission. In addition, hyponatremia at admission was associated with worse echocardiography parameters related to right ventricular function, together with a higher RALE score. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that early hyponatremia in COVID-19 patients is associated with the presence of laboratory and imaging parameters indicating a greater pulmonary and right-sided heart involvement at follow-up.
ABSTRACT
The actual, global pandemic situation has dramatically involved every aspect of our lives. This also greatly affected the cruise ship industry. At first, cruise companies tried to face the problem by adapting existing ships at the situation, with no time to rethink completely their project. The opinion of scientists, architects and field experts highlighted the need to devise a new way to design cruise ships, considering passenger management, marketing and medical aspects. Particular attention must be paid to public areas, where individuals would be most vulnerable to airborne transmission. The sanitizing operations have now to follow even stricter operational protocols than in the past. A constant update monitoring of the passenger flows through the so-called smart technologies would allow, when dealing with a suspected case, to trace a timeline of its activities on board and, therefore, to avoid the rise of an outbreak. An implementation of the overall efficiency of vertical connections (which helps the management of potentially contaminated waste) and on-board medical spaces such as the hospital and the pharmacy shall be advised. From an anthropological point of view, it is essential to consider in more depth issues such as social distancing and the possibility of permanently decreasing the number of passengers, in favour of safety and on-board liveability. In the post COVID-19 era, the cruise ship can become a 'health bubble', a microcosm where people can enjoy an even more rewarding and safe experience. © 2022 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
But this coronavirus has forced us into a new framework, within which we move without any ease: everything has new ways, everything appears as never seen, it's like finding yourself in an uncharted territory.. ' (G. Arma, 2020) With these words Gennaro Arma, Captain of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, describes the very first moments following the detection of what would become the first recorded outbreak of Covid-19 outside of China. It occurred during a roundtrip cruise which departed from Yokohama port, in Japan, on 20 January 2020. Among the 3,700 people on board, more than 700 tested positive for the virus, 14 of whom died during hospitalization. A situation which was faced without the support of emergency protocols that contemplated a modus operandi to follow. The ship constituted a confined control volume which allowed to analyze the main routes of virus propagation that mainly occur through direct contact between individuals, indirect one via contaminated objects and surfaces (also referred to as fomites) and airborne transmission. This has greatly affected the overall design paradigm, especially concerning the safety levels to be assured on board. The paper is going to analyze these focal points, starting from a possible implementation of HVAC system. It comes after an extensive study of the air flow circulation, as well as the application of filtering and purifications solutions, considering ship age and ventilation type, assessing the possibility of isolating those sectors of the plant acting on some areas dedicated to the management of emergency situations. Synoptically, there will be an extensive analysis related to the different surface types present on board and possible design interventions (i.e. smart materials). The Diamond Princess experience represents the prime mover aimed at the world of scientific research at the formulation of design guidelines applicable to the world of cruise ships and, consequently, in the civil architecture field. The outcome results have helped to build a transversal, holistic know-how, thanks to which it will be possible to control the occurrence of future pandemic episodes. © 2022 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
We analytically identify two mechanisms that explain why a later arrival time for a pandemic-ending vaccine has an ambiguous effect on optimal social-distancing policy. We assess the net effect of these channels using a quantitative model solved for over a thousand parameter combinations. Optimal policy and welfare comparisons are both highly sensitive to beliefs about vaccine arrival. A policy of moving quickly to herd immunity by requiring social distancing for only the most vulnerable might be loosely justified for expected vaccine arrivals over 2 years, but becomes catastrophic if the expected arrival is within a year.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (MIILE) provides better outcomes than open techniques, particularly in terms of post-operative recovery and pulmonary complications. However, in addition to requiring advanced technical skills, thoracoscopic access makes it hard to perform esophagogastric anastomosis safely, and the reported rates of anastomotic leak vary from 5 to 16%. Several minimally invasive esophago-gastric anastomotic techniques have been described, but to date strong evidence to support one technique over the others is still lacking. We herein report the technical details and preliminary results of a new robot-assisted hand-sewn esophago-gastric anastomosis technique. METHODS: From January 2018 to December 2020, 12 cases of laparoscopic/thoracoscopic Ivor Lewis esophagectomy with robot-assisted hand-sewn esophago-gastric anastomosis were performed. The gastric conduit was prepared and tailored taking care of vascularization with a complete resection of the gastric fundus. The anastomosis consisted of a robot-assisted, hand-sewn four layers of absorbable monofilament running barbed suture (V-lock). The posterior outer layer incorporated the gastric and esophageal staple lines. RESULTS: The post-operative course was uneventful in nine cases. Two patients developed chyloperitoneum, one patient a Sars-Cov-2 infection, and one patient a late anastomotic stricture. In all cases, there were no anastomotic leaks or delayed gastric conduit emptying. The median post-operative stay was 13 days (min 7, max 37 days); the longest in-hospital stay was recorded in patients who developed chyloperitoneum. CONCLUSION: Despite the small series, we believe that our technique looks to be promising, safe, and reproducible. Some key points may be useful to guarantee a low complications rate after MIILE, particularly regarding anastomotic leaks and delayed emptying: the resection of the gastric fundus, the use of robot assistance, the incorporation of the staple lines in the posterior aspect of the anastomosis, and the use of barbed suture. Further cases are needed to validate the preliminary, but very encouraging, results.