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Background: Italy, France and New York City have reported an increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of our study was to assess the effect of COVID-19 on OHCA cases in Chicago. Method(s): Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) database was used. Bivariate analysis was conducted to assess changes in demographic and other characteristics. We excluded the cases that occurred in a healthcare facility or a nursing home. We compared the cases reported in 2020 to 2019 (and prior years). ArcGIS was used to geocode incident addresses and to show the temporal distribution by community areas. Bivariate analysis was done using chi-square tests. Result(s): A total of 3221 OHCA cases were reported in Chicago in 2020, which is 31.5% higher than those reported in 2019 (n=2450 cases). This increase was higher than what has been noticed historically (for instance, the increase from 2018 to 2019 was only 17%). There was an increase in Hispanic OHCA cases (17.3% in 2020 vs. 13.5% in 2019, p<0.01) but a decrease in White cases (20.5% vs. 23.1%). The cases in 2020 were less likely to be reported at public location (22% vs. 26%, p<0.001) or have shockable rhythm (10% vs. 13%, p=0.0002). There was a marked increase in those that were declared dead in the field in 2020 (37% vs. 27%, p<0.001). However, there were no statistically significant differences in age distribution, gender, witnessed arrest (49% vs. 51%, p=0.07) or bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BCPR) (23% vs. 22%, p=0.3). Conclusion(s): A better understanding of the causes of the excess cardiac arrest numbers will be important to help plan and better prepare for future public health interventions. The effect of COVID19 on OHCA survival needs to be examined further in future studies.
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This study explores the discourse on the Facebook page of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States and discusses how the ROK Embassy constructs its public diplomacy by highlighting its international role and its ROK-U.S. relationship. This research conducted a simple content analysis and a discourse analysis to study 182 posts published on the Embassy's Facebook page in Korean, English or both between October 25, 2019, and October 25, 2020. Results indicate that different languages can be strategically used to communicate with different audiences, though sometimes such communication was exclusionary. Importantly, the activities of the ambassador showcased the areas where the host country draws its strongest relations. History and global challenges such as COVID-19 play critical roles in understanding the ROK-U.S. relationship and their shared interests as strategic partners. This research shows that use of social media, in this case Facebook, requires various considerations in terms of strategic communication to boost relationships with strategic partners and the global reputation of a country. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
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An ongoing outbreak of pneumonia caused by the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) started in December 2009 in Wuhan, China, and was gradually spread around the world. This is the third coronavirus infection in two decades, after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). It was officially named Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO), in February 2020. Since then, the virus has become widespread, turning into a pandemic, in March 2020. Currently, the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide has crossed the five million mark, causing more than 300,000 deaths. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.
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BACKGROUND AND AIM: COVID-19 affects children less seriously than adults;however, severe cases and deaths are documented. This study objective is to determine sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory indicators associated with severe pediatric COVID-19 and mortality at hospital entrance. METHOD(S): A multicenter, retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed in 13 tertiary hospitals in Bolivia. Clinical records were collected retrospectively from patients less than 18 years of age and positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. All variables were measured at hospital entrance;outcomes of interest were ICU admission and death. A score for disease severity was developed using a logistic regression model. RESULT(S): 209 patients were included in the analysis. By the end of the study, 43 (20.6%) of children were admitted to the Intensive care unit (ICU), and 17 (8.1%) died. Five indicators were independently predictive of COVID-19 severity: age below 10 years OR: 3.3 (CI95%: 1.1 - 10.4), days with symptoms to medical care OR: 2.8 (CI95%: 1.2 - 6.5), breathing difficulty OR: 3.4 (CI95%: 1.4 - 8.2), vomiting OR: 3.3 (CI95%: 1.4 - 7.4), cutaneous lesions OR: 5.6 (CI95%: 1.9 - 16.6). Presence of three or more of these risk factors at hospital entrance predicted severe disease in COVID-19 positive children. Age, presence of underlying illness, male sex, breathing difficulty, and dehydration were predictive of death in COVID-19 children. CONCLUSION(S): Our study identifies several predictors of severe pediatric COVID-19 and death. Incorporating these predictors, we developed a tool that clinicians can use to identify children at high risk of severe COVID-19 in limited resource settings.
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This is study is focused on Spanish cooperatives. The data span thirteen years (2008-2020). It includes the Great Recession, the upturn years that came after it, and the worst year of the COVID-19 crisis to date. The aim is to evaluate cooperatives' performance from the financial crisis to 2020. This aim is broken down into three specific objectives: i) To analyse the effects of the health crisis on the number of cooperatives and on employment within them. ii) To analyse changes in cooperatives' economic performance, represented by economic and financial profitability ratios. iii) To assess whether belonging to a given activity sector affects cooperatives' profitability. The results indicate that the 2008 crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic increased the pro-cyclical behaviour of cooperatives' employment. However, self-employment was less elastic than salaried employment. The profitability results show that the COVID-19 crisis did not consistently affect cooperatives' economic and financial ratios. Agri-food sector withstood the Great Recession and displayed a counter-cyclical behaviour in the pandemic year. © 2022 Universidad Complutense de Madrid. All rights reserved.
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The objective is to determine if Resilience and stress coping strategies significantly influence each other in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A prospective and cross-sectional quantitative design study, 128 students from the National Intercultural University of the Amazon, Peru were selected: 96 men (75.0%) and 32 women (25.0%), mean age 18.3 years (SD = 2.3). The Adapted Resilience Scale of Peru (ERAPE) and the Coping Mode (COPE) were used. Resilience had a significant effect at a moderate level, and coping strategies focused on problems and emotions, with planning, active coping, and lack of emotional support dominating. Effects on proportional inverse correlation can be identified through avoidance strategies: mental and behavioral withdrawal, denial, and substance use. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
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This is study is focused on Spanish cooperatives. The data span thirteen years (2008-2020). It includes the Great Recession, the upturn years that came after it, and the worst year of the COVID-19 crisis to date. The aim is to evaluate cooperatives' performance from the financial crisis to 2020. This aim is broken down into three specific objectives: i) To analyse the effects of the health crisis on the number of cooperatives and on employment within them. ii) To analyse changes in cooperatives' economic performance, represented by economic and financial profitability ratios. iii) To assess whether belonging to a given activity sector affects cooperatives' profitability. The results indicate that the 2008 crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic increased the pro-cyclical behaviour of cooperatives' employment. However, self-employment was less elastic than salaried employment. The profitability results show that the COVID-19 crisis did not consistently affect cooperatives' economic and financial ratios. Agri-food sector withstood the Great Recession and displayed a counter-cyclical behaviour in the pandemic year.
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Background: Patients with COVID-19 have a high incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI), which is associated with mortality. The objetive of our study is to know the factors associated with AKI, to manage the level of care and health resources according to risk. Method(s): We design an observational retrospective cohort study in 2 hospitals in Bogota, Colombia. Adults hospitalized for > 48 hours between March 2020 and March 2021, with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The main outcome was incidence of AKI during the first 28 days from admission. A descriptive analysis of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the study population was performed. Univariate and bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression model was conducted for the outcome AKI. Result(s): We included 1584 patients, 60.4% male, 46.8% older than 65 years. The incidence of AKI was 46.5%, stage 1 in 60.7%, Stage 2 in 15.7%, and stage 3 in 23.6%. Renal replacement therapy was performed in 11.1% of patients with AKI. Table 1 summarizes cohort characteristics and the bivariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, sex, age, hypertension, CKD, treatment with oral antidiabetics, diuretics, statins, qSOFA, platelet count, CRP, D-dimer, treatment with vancomycin, piperacillin tazobactam, requirement of vasopressor support were realated with AKI. The interactions antihypertensive /diuretics, PAFI /Requirement of invasive mechanical ventilation, Hypertension /antihypertensives, were associated with AKI (P value <0.5). Hospital crude mortality for AKI was 45.5% versus 11.7% without AKI (p<0.0001) Conclusion(s): AKI is frequent in patients hospitalized with COVID 19, conventional risk factors are the rule, we denote other known markers of severity for COVID-19 in association with AKI. These results allowed us to manage the hospital resource.
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The health crisis caused by COVID-19 generated the application of social distancing and confinement measures for a long time, undermining participation in community activism and promoting the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the control and prevention of the disease;however, there is a wide gap between those who have access to the internet and those who do not, and the spread of COVID-19 has only deepened this gap. A descriptive and correlational study was carried out in order to determine the relationship between the digital divide and ICTs for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 119 users who attend a telecenter in the Peruvian Amazon. A questionnaire made up of 37 items related to the digital divide and ICTs, evaluated using a Likert scale, was applied. Likewise, an instrument with 15 items was applied to evaluate the search for information about COVID-19. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Differences were found between what is known and what should be known about COVID-19, generating an information gap about the disease;In addition, a correlation between the digital divide and ICT was obtained. The implementation of digital inclusion programs, policies for digital access and connectivity, establishment of other telecenters and development of adequate infrastructure are required, which reduce the digital divide and promote the control and prevention of COVID-19.
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Purpose: The study aims to characterize the practice and migration of physical activity in active people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional observational study of a Latin American survey. Setting: An online survey in Google Forms format was applied between June and July 2020 through social networks. The survey consisted of general characteristics, characteristics of confinement, and characteristics related to physical activity. Subjects: 2134 people participated (33.6% male, the mean age was 30.7 +/- 9.2 years), 95.2% with higher education, 74% were normal weight, 60.8% in voluntary lockdown, and 39.2% mandatory lockdown. Results: Pre-pandemic men did 217.92 min/week, and women 199.78 min/week;post-pandemic men declined to 168.34 min/week, and women to 176.70 min/week. Men pre-pandemic, had a higher proportion of compliance the WHO recommendation (77.3% vs 64.9% p =0.001). Regarding, physical activity migrations, men decreased in outside activities, team sports and increase in home physical activity, in women decreased in outside activities, team sports and an increased in fitness classes, yoga and home physical activity. Finally, when associating compliance with physical activity during confinement, it is associated with being a woman and with long weeks of confinement. Conclusion: The physically active people, despite the confinements, remain like this in the four countries evaluated;only changes are observed in the type of physical activity and the frequency of weekly sessions, not affecting their physical condition levels according to self-report.
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Current medical guidelines consider pregnant women with COVID-19 to be a high-risk group. Since physiological gestation downregulates the immunological response to maintain "maternal-fetal tolerance", SARS-CoV-2 infection may constitute a potentially threatening condition to both the mother and the fetus. To establish the immune profile in pregnant COVID-19+ patients, a cross-sectional study was conducted. Pregnant women with COVID-19 (P-COVID-19+; n = 15) were analyzed and compared with nonpregnant women with COVID-19 (NP-COVID-19+; n = 15) or those with physiological pregnancy (P-COVID-19-; n = 13). Serological cytokine and chemokine concentrations, leucocyte immunophenotypes, and mononuclear leucocyte responses to polyclonal stimuli were analyzed in all groups. Higher concentrations of serological TNF-α, IL-6, MIP1b and IL-4 were observed within the P-COVID-19+ group, while cytokines and chemokines secreted by peripheral leucocytes in response to LPS, IL-6 or PMA-ionomicin were similar among the groups. Immunophenotype analysis showed a lower percentage of HLA-DR+ monocytes in P-COVID-19+ than in P-COVID-19- and a higher percentage of CD39+ monocytes in P-COVID-19+ than in NP-COVID-19+. After whole blood polyclonal stimulation, similar percentages of T cells and TNF+ monocytes between groups were observed. Our results suggest that P-COVID-19+ elicits a strong inflammatory response similar to NP-COVID19+ but also displays an anti-inflammatory response that controls the ATP/adenosine balance and prevents hyperinflammatory damage in COVID-19.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Monocytes , Apyrase/immunology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Cytokines , Female , Humans , Interleukin-6 , Pregnancy , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of the State of Emergency announced on March 17, 2020, caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19), changes have been made due to the strict measures established on the Ecuadorian territory. Also directly affecting the educational field. Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE located in the Sangolquí, Ecuador, South América, is one of the many universities in the country that had to adapt to the orders of Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología. (SENESCYT). This is due to the new situation that had to be faced, and it was indispensable to suspend academic and work activities. One of the consequences of this situation was the decrease in drinking water consumption in the Institution due to the absence of civil and administrative personnel. The objective of this research was to present the dynamic modeling of possible COVID-19 spread scenarios at the Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE - Headquarters and the impact it has caused on water consumption during January to July 2020, through official data obtained by the Institution, with the Vensim program. The reincorporation of 25% of the administrative and military personnel could be applied typically, without requiring other sources of supply;if 100% of the university population returned, there would be problems in the future with water resources © 2022. IJASEIT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
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Background: During the state of alarm and once the confinement decreed by the COVID-19 pandemic ended, a cross-sectorial study was carried out in Spain between May 4th and 22nd, 2020 by volunteers who completed a self-administered online survey. The objective of this study was to know how the confinement period affected the consumption of tobacco and other related products in the adult Spanish population.
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This research is a systematic review article on public policies and social determinants during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study has a qualitative approach, basic-descriptive type, with N=180 articles reviewed, of which N=160 excluded, remaining 20 articles selected. The reviewed studies correspond to 35% to the theme of social determinants, followed by 35% to the theme of the Covid19 pandemic and 30% to the theme of Health Policy, reflecting that at the global level the policies aimed at managing health have not advanced at the same pace as the challenges of the speed and diversity of society imposes, due to the weak and insufficient approach to inequities, determining factors of health. © 2022, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.
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The research was carried out in a state of emergency as a measure of the Peruvian government to avoid infection by the presence of Covid-19, in an research context, it is given from the Distance Program of Special Basic Education, establishes as a policy management, permanent communication with families considering respect for the characteristics of students with Special Educational Needs, thus the use of WhatsApp is constituted as one of the mediation tools between parents with children with disabilities and their teachers. The research proposed is the validity of an intervention model about educational performance that involves three key agents in education: teachers, parents and students with vulnerabilities or special abilities. The first step was the adaptation and homologation of an instrument with 3 factors and 12 polytomous items with graded response on the Likert scale, the selected factors respond to a theoretical construct related to the perception of digital technology, perceptions of teaching and learning. learning and perceived learning. For the creation of the investigative model, an exploratory analysis was started, which included a factorial analysis, secondly, a confirmatory analysis was carried out with the PLS-SEM methodology, which is a second generation multivariate method called Modeling of Structural Equations with Minimum Partial Squares. The sample consists of 30 parents with children with disabilities. It is concluded that the model about co-teaching and the use of WhatsApp as a mediation tool between parents with children with disabilities and their teachers is partially validated. The hypothesis that perceptions of digital technology positively influence perceptions of teaching and learning is tested. © 2021 IEEE.
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The pandemic, produced by covid-19, gave rise to a new normal, in which education is part of that change. In certain cases, the quality of education was affected, either by factors such as deficient online teaching material, teaching issues, attention, and adaptation problems on the part of students in their online courses. To help improve performance in online education, some educational institutions have chosen to use the virtual world of Second Life to implement it in their classes, offering features that benefit learning from home, making it more didactic and enjoyable for students. The objective of this article is to find and analyze the critical success factors for the implementation of Second Life in virtual classrooms, through the construction of fuzzy cognitive maps. The use of forms aimed at students is proposed, from which the results will be evaluated and the factors that influence a quality education will be determined, building a fuzzy cognitive map for their understanding. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) has forced many universities to abruptly change the delivery of courses from in-person to online. This change to remote learning requires creating new ways to deliver lectures, exams, and discussion groups through online meeting platforms. An often-overlooked challenge is performing lab courses that require access to specialized equipment and resources typically found in the undergraduate laboratory classrooms. Here we discuss some strategies for developing and implementing a full semester neuroscience laboratory course that allows students to fully participate in laboratory exercises at home or in their dorm rooms. Performing lab exercises remotely and independently was shown to significantly improve participant's self-efficacy and confidence that they can learn complex neuroscience material, when compared to participants who passively watch experiments online. We review best practices to ensure that lessons can be successfully demonstrated by the instructor and carried out by all students. Finally, we discuss the need to provide a level playing field such that all students may succeed, regardless of their current technology resources at home.
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OBJECTIVE: During the state of alarm and once the confinement decreed by the COVID-19 pandemic ended, a cross-sectorial study was carried out in Spain between May 4(th) and 22(nd), 2020 by volunteers who completed a self-administered online survey. The objective of this study was to know how the confinement period affected the consumption of tobacco and other related products in the adult Spanish population. METHODS: The survey consisted of 18 questions concerning sociodemographic characteristics, the consumption of tobacco and other related products, exposure to secondhand smoke and perception of COVID-19 risk associated with consumption. Questions about tobacco and other related products were posed in order to compare consumption prior to and during confinement. The survey was completed by 17,017 people. The analysis of association of variables was carried out with T-student. Variable frequency analysis was performed with χ(2). RESULTS: There was a reduction in the prevalence of daily tobacco smoking and no changes were observed in the products consumed in either period (6.73%). The prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke at home during confinement among non-smokers decreased (61.83%). Most of survey respondents reported that tobacco and e-cigarette consumption increased the risk of contracting COVID-19 and suffering severe complications (39.09% and 31.80% respectively). CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain, the tobacco consumption decreased. Also, secondhand smoke exposition reduces in Spain during this period.
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This paper presents, analyzes, and compares the main deontological recommendations published by various international institutions and organizations since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. A total of 10 codes were identified from the period between February and April 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic. Additionally, three general and transnational model deontological texts published before the crisis are included in the analysis. The methodology applied includes a content analysis based on four categories corresponding to the fundamental pillars of most of the deontological codes: truth, freedom, responsibility, and justice. Furthermore, the paper determines the most common ethical guidelines and criteria present in all of the analyzed texts, and with the goal of helping information and journalistic professionals, these guidelines are used as a reference point to outline recommendations for responsible coverage of the Covid-19 crisis.