Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: FY 21. Finance Tables. NCES 2023-301

This set of tables introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2021. Specifically, these tables include the following school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals;(2) revenues by source;(3) expenditures by function and object;(4) current expenditures;(5) revenues and current expenditures per pupil;(6) expenditures from Title I funds;and (7) revenues and expenditures from COVID-19 Federal Assistance Funds. The tables chosen for this report demonstrate the range of information available when using the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS). [For "Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: FY 20. Finance Tables. NCES 2022-301," see ED619372.]

Comparing telehealth to traditional office visits for patient management in the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study in a respiratory assessment clinic.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to examine whether telehealth is as safe and effective as traditional office visits in assessing and treating patients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the primary outcome was any 14-day related healthcare follow-up event(s). Secondary outcomes were the type of 14-day related follow-up event including hospital admission, emergency department visit, office visit, telehealth visit and/or multiple follow-up visits. Individual visit types were identified due to the significant difference between a hospital admission and an office visit. Logistic regressions were done using the predictors of visit type, age, gender and comorbidities and the primary outcome variable of a related follow-up visit and then by follow-up type: hospital admission, emergency department visit or office visit. RESULTS: Of 1305 visits, median age was 42.3 years and 65.8% were female. Traditional office visits accounted for 741 (56.8%) of initial visits, while 564 (43.2%) visits occurred via telehealth. One hundred and forty-six (25.9%) of the telehealth visits resulted in a 14-day related healthcare follow-up visit versus 161 (21.7%) of the office visits (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.22, 95% CI 0.94-1.58). DISCUSSION: There was no significant difference in related follow-ups of initial telehealth visits compared to initial office visits including no significant difference in hospital admission or emergency department visits. These findings suggest that based on follow up healthcare utilization, telehealth may be a safe and effective option in assessing and treating patients with respiratory symptoms as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Legislative: Justice for All: The Next Big Breakthrough in Cancer Care

Over the past 24 months, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has poured across the globe, infecting more than 267 million people worldwide. A staggering 50 million people in the U.S. have been infected, accounting for more than 18% of the world's known cases and exposing critical gaps in the U.S. healthcare infrastructure. The pandemic and ensuing response have cast a floodlight on many inequities ingrained in the U.S. healthcare system, and cancer care is no exception © 2022,Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. All Rights Reserved.

Individual differences in reactions to work location decisions

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to apply reciprocity theory to understand how hypothetical work location decision outcomes and individual differences affect employees' trust in their employer and willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Design/methodology/approach: Three vignettes were used to manipulate work location decision outcomes and hypotheses were tested using Hayes' (2008) PROCESS in a sample of 378 adults who worked in the USA during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Participants reported greater OCB intentions through higher trust in the employer when given their hypothetical choice of work location compared to being assigned one, and when assigned to their preferred compared to nonpreferred location. External work locus of control (EWLC) moderated the effects of work location on trust in the employer. The relationship between trust and OCB intentions was weakened when employees perceived greater difficulty in leaving their jobs. Originality/value: This study examined the roles of felt reciprocity, individual differences, choice and hypothetically receiving one's preferred work location, on trust in the employer and willingness to engage in OCBs during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Mee Sook Kim, Kaumudi Misra and Jean M. Phillips.

Simulating Changes in Aircraft Noise at Heathrow Airport during the 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown

Global restrictions on domestic and international travel introduced in March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a significant reduction in air traffic movements around the world. This paper presents the findings of research carried out at London Heathrow Airport exploring the day-by-day changes in aircraft noise exposure and event levels over the period March 2020 to June 2020. The research was carried out using validated modelling of aircraft procedures and noise profiles alongside radar data obtained from the airport. This allowed trends in metrics such as LAeq, N65, and overflight to be considered in the form of contours, and at community locations. This was facilitated using geospatial databases and interactive dynamic reporting toolkits. The research has allowed estimates to be made of the point where aircraft noise at Heathrow Airport reached a minimum. It also provides some helpful insight as to the potential of generating daily noise exposure data and the advantages, and disadvantages of modelling using radar data. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Effect of Donepezil on Mortality Among Alzheimer's Disease Patients With and Without COVID-19 Infection

Background. Dementia has been identified as an independent risk factor for increased severity of COVID-19 infection. Donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor approved for Alzheimer's disease (AD), has anti-inflammatory properties. Previous studies have found that donepezil reduced all-cause mortality for people living with AD. The anti-inflammatory effects of donepezil have not been studied in patients with COVID-19 and AD. Here, we compare mortality rates of patients with AD to assess the impact of donepezil on the severity of COVID-19 infections. Survival following SARS-CoV2-2 test, stratified by result and Donepezil Kaplan-Meier curves of all-cause mortality for Veterans with Alzheimer's Disease taking donepezil (black) compared to those who were not taking donepezil (grey), further stratified by those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test (solid lines) or no evidence of a COVID-19 infection during the study period (dashed lines). While donepezil has a positive effect on survival, the adjusted survival odds ratio is not greater among those with vs. without a COVID-19 infection. Methods. Using administrative data from the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA), we conducted a national retrospective cohort study of Veterans with AD who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 in the VHA. Among these patients, we assessed all-cause 30-day mortality stratified by COVID-19 infection and donepezil use and considered the interaction of these two factors. For Veterans with a positive test, the date of first positive test was used to assess mortality;for Veterans without a COVID-19 diagnosis or positive test, date of first negative test was used. Results. During the study period, 582 Veterans with Alzheimer's disease were positive for COVID-19 and 14430 had no test or diagnosis indicating COVID-19 infection. Among people with AD and COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 29% (47/163) for people taking donepezil compared to 38% (159/419) for those who were not. Among people with AD without COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 5% (189/4189) for people taking donepezil compared to 7% (712/10241) for those who were not. In a multivariable logistic regression, the decrease in mortality associated with donepezil did not differ between people with and without COVID-19 (OR (95% CI) = 0.71 (0.47, 1.07) vs. OR (95% CI) = 0.68 (0.57, 0.80), interaction P = 0.818). Conclusion. While all-cause mortality was lower for patients taking donepezil compared to those not taking donepezil, the protective effect of donepezil was not increased in AD patients with COVID-19 over those without COVID-19. The population differences and inflammatory biomarkers of AD patients treated with and without donepezil merit further study.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices towards the flu (influenza) vaccine and COVID-19 vaccines amongst University Staff and Students in Trinidad and Tobago

Objective: Vaccine hesitancy is a major hindrance in attaining herd immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the knowledge, attitudes and practices of University staff and students towards the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. Design and Methods: A convenience sample was electronically accessed, by issuing a 29 question survey to staff and students at The UWI, St. Augustine, via the Marketing and Communication Office. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 27. Descriptive statistics were reported and Chi-squared tests sought to detect significant association between demographics and measured variables. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Result(s): Among 357 respondents, 84.7% thought vaccines provided protection, 98.6% were previously vaccinated against a disease and 71.1% favored compulsory vaccinations. Only 43.7% thought vaccines were safe and 56.9% were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. More students (59.5%) were vaccinated against influenza. Participants aged 18-24 had significantly higher incidence of vaccinations (X2(2, N = 356) = 9.342, p = 0.009). Participants aged 45 and older showed greater knowledge on the number of deaths prevented by vaccination (X

Implementation of a Virtual Job Shadowing Experience for STEM Students Participating in a Corporate-STEM Connection Program

This evidence-based paper investigated the impact of a virtual job shadowing program on first-year university students' retention in STEM majors, knowledge of STEM careers, and motivation to continue in STEM majors. Research shows that most students enter STEM majors with little knowledge of what a career in their specified major does. In order to address this problem, this study provided first-year students the opportunity to job shadow a near peer mentor who was participating in a cooperative education program. As a result of the impact of Covid-19 on intervention activities, the development of a virtual job shadowing experience for first-year students was designed and implemented. This paper outlines the details of implementation of such a virtual experience, the challenges encountered, and students' overall experience with the virtual program. The virtual shadowing experiences consisted of virtual meetings between the first-year student and a near peer mentor. During the meeting, the mentor and first-year student conversed about the company where the co-op student was working, major-specific coursework, career-related information, skills required by the profession, goal-setting strategies, and how to overcome challenges. The main questions investigated include: (1) what learning experiences were provided to first-year students?;(2) to what extent were students satisfied with their virtual shadowing experience?;(3) what strengths were identified to ensure implementation fidelity? and (4) what areas for improvement were identified to ensure the quality of the virtual learning experiences? During the 2020-2021 year, 34 students participated in at least one virtual shadowing experience at one of 25 companies who participated in the program. Data collection included a survey completed by students before and after they had experienced the program, post program surveys by student mentors, and focus group interviews with first-year students. Results show overall positive experiences from the virtual program. Of those who responded to the survey regarding the virtual shadowing experience (n=28), 93% somewhat or strongly agreed that the experience met their expectations, 96% somewhat or strongly agreed that the experience allowed them to learn about industry, and 92% somewhat or strongly agreed that they would recommend the experience to others. In addition, 83% responded that they enjoyed their experience “a lot”. Results from the student survey also show 85% of students stated that the job shadowing experience makes them want to continue in their major. This paper addresses how the implementation can be improved and what services may need to be added for future virtual job shadowing experiences to improve students' learning experiences in a virtual job shadowing program. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022

Zip to Industry: A First-Year Corporate-STEM Connection Program

The purpose of this project was to investigate the influence of a job-shadowing program on first year students' retention in STEM majors. Many students enter STEM majors with little knowledge about what a career in their fields entail and may be discouraged from persisting in those majors if they face obstacles in their first-year STEM classes. This NSF-funded IUSE project developed an intervention to address this issue by pairing first-year STEM students with a near-peer mentor currently enrolled in a co-operative education program and allowing them to job shadow the mentor at their place of employment. The goal of the job-shadowing was to allow first-year students to increase their knowledge about careers in STEM fields, and their self-efficacy to succeed in STEM majors. The program was implemented for three years, with three cohorts of first year students, with 136 total students participating across the three years. Results of three years of implementation of this intervention will be discussed, as well as the lessons learned from shifting the intervention from face-to-face activities (touring the company, observing hands-on activities, participating in company events), to a virtual shadowing program during the covid-19 pandemic. Findings indicate that students who participated in the job shadowing program were retained at a higher rate than a comparison group with similar demographics and academic profile. Students found the program to be valuable to learn about STEM industries and reported that participating in job shadowing increased their interest in remaining in their majors. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Chlamydial and Gonococcal Infections: Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are increasing in the United States. Because most infections are asymptomatic, screening is key to preventing complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility and decreasing community and vertical neonatal transmission. All sexually active people with a cervix who are younger than 25 years and older people with a cervix who have risk factors should be screened annually for chlamydial and gonococcal infections. Sexually active men who have sex with men should be screened at least annually. Physicians should obtain a sexual history free from assumptions about sex partners or practices. Acceptable specimen types for testing include vaginal, endocervical, rectal, pharyngeal, and urethral swabs, and first-stream urine samples. Uncomplicated gonococcal infection should be treated with a single 500-mg dose of intramuscular ceftriaxone in people weighing less than 331 lb (150 kg). Preferred chlamydia treatment is a seven-day course of doxycycline, 100 mg taken by mouth twice per day. All nonpregnant people should be tested for reinfection approximately three months after treatment or at the first visit in the 12 months after treatment. Pregnant patients diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea should have a test of cure four weeks after treatment.

The impact of the pandemic on probation: lessons for the future

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which probation services responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and to consider what this means for the future of probation. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a literature review approach. Published research about the impact of the pandemic on probation services around the world was identified. Key findings around the main ways in which probation services were affected are identified. Findings The key themes identified in the published research are the strengths and weaknesses of remote communication, the role of probation in efforts to reduce the prison population, the importance of social support and marginalisation and the impact on staff. These findings are then examined through McNeill's (2018) argument that systems of community punishment should be parsimonious, productive and proportionate. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to synthesise international research on the impact of the pandemic on probation and thus serves as a useful starting point for future work on how probation services might learn from the pandemic.

Phase transitions may explain why SARS-CoV-2 spreads so fast and why new variants are spreading faster.

The novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2 responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and SARS CoV-1 responsible for the SARS epidemic of 2002-2003 share an ancestor yet evolved to have much different transmissibility and global impact 1. A previously developed thermodynamic model of protein conformations hypothesized that SARS CoV-2 is very close to a new thermodynamic critical point, which makes it highly infectious but also easily displaced by a spike-based vaccine because there is a tradeoff between transmissibility and robustness 2. The model identified a small cluster of four key mutations of SARS CoV-2 that predicts much stronger viral attachment and viral spreading compared to SARS CoV-1. Here we apply the model to the SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2)3 and predict, using no free parameters, how the new mutations will not diminish the effectiveness of current spike based vaccines and may even further enhance infectiousness by augmenting the binding ability of the virus.

Computational Electrostatics Predict Variations in SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Human ACE2 Interactions

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus that crossed over into humans in 2019 and declared a pandemic in early 2020. To understand how the virus infects a new host, we need to understand the mechanistic functions involved with the binding process. To address this need, we generate homology models of SARS-CoV-2 spikes as monomer and trimer to determine the feasibility of reduced computational requirements by using monomer structures. We further generate homology models of the conserved region of SARS-CoV-2 spike subunit s1 noted as the receptor binding domain (RBD) and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). To determine functional breadth of spike monomer, trimer and RBD in relation with ACE2, we apply Coulombs Law to determine an electric force between combinations with ACE2 across the range of pH from 3.0 to 9.0 in 0.1 increments. The results indicate that spike trimer should be used to determine mechanistic binding function and these data indicate that variations of spike sequence influence breadth of function. Our results also indicate the RBD has a broader range of function across pH compared to spike trimer, but is influenced by the range of function presented by the spike trimer. © 2021 IEEE.

American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel consensus statement on nursing's roles in ensuring universal palliative care access.

The purpose of this consensus paper was to convene leaders and scholars from eight Expert Panels of the American Academy of Nursing and provide recommendations to advance nursing's roles and responsibility to ensure universal access to palliative care. Part I of this consensus paper herein provides the rationale and background to support the policy, education, research, and clinical practice recommendations put forward in Part II. On behalf of the Academy, the evidence-based recommendations will guide nurses, policy makers, government representatives, professional associations, and interdisciplinary and community partners to integrate palliative nursing services across health and social care settings. The consensus paper's 43 authors represent eight countries (Australia, Canada, England, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, South Africa, United States of America) and extensive international health experience, thus providing a global context for the subject matter. The authors recommend greater investments in palliative nursing education and nurse-led research, nurse engagement in policy making, enhanced intersectoral partnerships with nursing, and an increased profile and visibility of palliative nurses worldwide. By enacting these recommendations, nurses working in all settings can assume leading roles in delivering high-quality palliative care globally, particularly for minoritized, marginalized, and other at-risk populations.

"Education as the practice of freedom?" - prison education and the pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a corner of society where the spotlight has not fallen - the black hole of prisons, confining predominantly poor, minoritised and often younger adults. Globally, during the pandemic, people detained in prison have been locked away in solitary, or near solitary, confinement for up to 23-hours a day. In the UK, this meant choosing between fresh air, exercise or a phone call to loved ones each day. There has been little mention of education. Those in custody endured over a year locked in a cell without access to basic education let alone Higher Education (HE). In examining the state's responsibility to provide "education for all", we demonstrate, through our collective participation in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme, the value and importance of prison education beyond the current focus on risk, responsibility and recidivism. We evidence the transformative and humanising potential of HE in prison through three key elements - the space and learning environment;the role of voice, recognition and agency;and the power of disruptive and transgressive teaching practice. We shine a light on education in prison during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 expose new and deeper forms of structural disadvantage that shape the educational experiences and journeys of people in custody. We consider how we can expedite "education as the practice of freedom" for those who are incarcerated during and beyond the pandemic. We conclude by reimagining HE in UK prisons, reflecting upon alternative, more positive, approaches to prison education.

A data-driven model for COVID-19 pandemic - Evolution of the attack rate and prognosis for Brazil.

We introduce a compartmental model SEIAHRV (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Asymptomatic, Hospitalized, Recovered, Vaccinated) with age structure for the spread of the SARAS-CoV virus. In order to model current different vaccines we use compartments for individuals vaccinated with one and two doses without vaccine failure and a compartment for vaccinated individual with vaccine failure. The model allows to consider any number of different vaccines with different efficacies and delays between doses. Contacts among age groups are modeled by a contact matrix and the contagion matrix is obtained from a probability of contagion pc per contact. The model uses known epidemiological parameters and the time dependent probability pc is obtained by fitting the model output to the series of deaths in each locality, and reflects non-pharmaceutical interventions. As a benchmark the output of the model is compared to two good quality serological surveys, and applied to study the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in the main Brazilian cities with a total population of more than one million. We also discuss with some detail the case of the city of Manaus which raised special attention due to a previous report of We also estimate the attack rate, the total proportion of cases (symptomatic and asymptomatic) with respect to the total population, for all Brazilian states since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the model present here is relevant to assessing present policies not only in Brazil but also in any place where good serological surveys are not available.