"Vem pra rua” ou "fica em casa”?

This article addresses the use of public spaces by organized movements that led thousands of people to the streets between March 2015 and March 2016 and culminated in the President Dilma Rousseff impeachment. It starts from the premise that although the organization of these manifestations occurred through social networks, it was in the appropriation of public space by respective groups that they took place. In a timider way, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protesters returned to the streets in 2020. For the research, we used the theoretical contribution of urban space structuration and its symbolic dimension, followed by the compilation of information regarding protests published at major newspapers in circulation. The balance shows that the location of social manifestations followed the symbolic logic of urban space structuration, where the group opposed to the impeachment had its space of demonstration associated with the main center of cities and the groups that demanded the withdrawal of President Roussef occupied the spaces identified with the reproduction of financial capital and/or elite housing. This logic was maintained during the demonstrations that took place in 2020. © 2022 Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.

"Come to streets" or "stay home"?

This article addresses the use of public spaces by organized movements that led thousands of people to the streets between March 2015 and March 2016 and culminated in the President Dilma Rousseff impeachment. It starts from the premise that although the organization of these manifestations occurred through social networks, it was in the appropriation of public space by respective groups that they took place. In a timider way, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protesters returned to the streets in 2020. For the research, we used the theoretical contribution of urban space structuration and its symbolic dimension, followed by the compilation of information regarding protests published at major newspapers in circulation. The balance shows that the location of social manifestations followed the symbolic logic of urban space structuration, where the group opposed to the impeachment had its space of demonstration associated with the main center of cities and the groups that demanded the withdrawal of President Roussef occupied the spaces identified with the reproduction of financial capital and/or elite housing. This logic was maintained during the demonstrations that took place in 2020.

Pacientes Adultos Oncohematologicos Hospitalizados Por Covid-19

Introducao: Portadores oncohematologicos sao suscetiveis a infeccoes graves e potencialmente fatais devido a imunossupressao relacionada as doencas de base e seus tratamentos. Em Marco de 2020, a OMS declarou a COVID-19 uma pandemia e pouco se sabia do comportamento da infeccao nesses pacientes. Objetivos: Avaliar caracteristicas de pacientes adultos oncohematologicos hospitalizados por COVID-19;identificar variaveis na admissao preditoras de obito;e comparar os pacientes durante as duas primeiras ondas e a terceira onda da pandemia. Materiais e Metodos: Estudo observacional, retrospectivo, multicentrico, que incluiu pacientes acima de 18 anos com neoplasias hematologicas hospitalizados por COVID-19. Foram avaliadas variaveis demograficas, relacionadas a doenca de base e a infeccao, medicacoes, admissao em UTI e necessidade de ventilacao mecanica. Os grupos de sobreviventes e nao sobreviventes foram comparados utilizando o teste X2 ou o teste de Fisher para variaveis categoricas e o teste de Mann-Whitney para variaveis numericas. Variaveis com p-valor<0,1 foram consideradas para analise multivariada atraves de regressao logistica. Os grupos da 1/2 onda e 3 onda foram comparados utilizando os mesmos testes. A analise estatistica foi realizada no software R versao 3.6.3. Resultados: Foram avaliados 126 pacientes, com uma idade mediana de 57 anos. 66 pacientes (52%) eram do sexo masculino e os linfomas foram o grupo de doenca mais frequente (41%). 57 pacientes (45%) faleceram na internacao. Na analise bivariada, variaveis associadas a obito foram doenca de base ativa, OS >= 2, dispneia, anemia, trombocitopenia, PCR, D-Dimero e TGO elevados, baixa sO2 e vidro fosco na TC de Torax. Na analise multivariada, hemoglobina baixa, PCR-t elevada e dispneia mantiveram relacao com obito na internacao. Dos 126 pacientes, apenas 18 (14%) foram admitidos na 3 onda. A letalidade nesse grupo foi de 33% versus 47% no grupo da 1/2 onda (p = 0,4). As principais diferencas entre os grupos foram que 97% dos pacientes da 3 onda receberam ao menos 1 dose de vacina, tiveram menos dispneia (22% x 49%;p = 0,04), maior sO2 (mediana 98% x 94%;p = 0,02), DDimero mais baixo (mediana 714 x 1563;p = 0,03), foram menos anticoagulados (0 x 21%;p = 0,04) e tiveram menos admissoes em UTI (11% x 38%;p = 0.03) e necessidade de ventilacao mecanica (11% x 37%;p = 0,03). Discussao: Nesse estudo, quase metade (45%) dos pacientes oncohematologicos hospitalizados por COVID-19 faleceu durante a internacao, evidenciando alta letalidade dos quadros moderados ou graves da infeccao. As variaveis na admissao associadas a maior mortalidade foram a hemoglobina, PCR-t e a presenca de dispneia. Apesar da alta infectividade da variante Omicron, responsavel pela 3 onda da pandemia, apenas 18 pacientes internaram nesse periodo. Quase todos (97%) haviam recebido ao menos 1 dose de vacina. Esses pacientes apresentaram quadros menos graves e menos complicacoes, necessidade de suporte ventilatorio invasivo e admissao em CTI, apontando para um provavel efeito benefico da vacina em reduzir a gravidade da infeccao. A letalidade nesse grupo foi menor que na 1/2 onda, porem sem significancia estatistica. Conclusao: Pacientes oncohematologicos hospitalizados por COVID-19 apresentam alta letalidade relacionada a infeccao, mas a comparacao entre as 2 primeiras e a 3 onda aponta para um efeito benefico da vacina na reducao da necessidade de internacao e da gravidade da infeccao nos pacientes que internam. Copyright © 2022

O Novo Normal E O Comportamento Dos Doadores De Sangue No Periodo Pos-Pandemia - Gsh Banco De Sangue Serum Centro Rj

Objetivo: Tracar perfil epidemiologico dos candidatos a doacao de sangue do GSH Banco de Sangue de Serum RJ realizando um comparativo com o primeiro semestre de 2019 (pre pandemia) e o primeiro semestre de 2022 (pos pandemia COVID-19) com o retorno as atividades (o novo normal). Metodo: Realizada analise retrospectiva transversal para obtencao do perfil epidemiologico dos candidatos a doacao de sangue, com obtencao dos dados extraidos da base de dados do sistema informatizado utilizado na instituicao. Foram analisados os dados dos primeiros semestres de 2019 e de 2022. Resultados: Na analise do perfil dos candidatos a doacao de sangue no primeiro semestre de 2019 ficou evidenciado um total de 8.362 cadastros realizados. Quanto a inaptidao clinica e sorologica destes 21% ficaram impedidos de doarem. Referente ao perfil dos doadores 74,5% foram candidatos de 1vez;19,4% candidatos fidelizados, de repeticao e 6,1% candidatos esporadicos. Por fim, observando quanto ao genero, 63% candidatos do sexo masculino, e quanto a faixa etaria a predominancia dos candidatos se mostra 34% jovens entre 18 e 29 anos;seguidos por 28% de candidatos entre 30 e 39 anos;20% entre 40 e 49 anos;14% entre 50 e 59 anos e 4% com 60 anos ou mais. As principais causas de inaptidao clinica neste periodo foram de 1% casos com hipertensao, 0,50% dos casos com risco para DST, 0,20% com visitas para regioes malarigenas;0,18% dos casos com hipotensao.Ao avaliar o perfil dos candidatos no primeiro semestre de 2022, ficou evidenciado um total de 11.376 cadastros foram realizados, sendo considerados na Triagem 13 % inaptos. Quanto ao perfil, total de 50,7% doadores de 1vez;22,6% doadores de repeticao e 26,7% esporadicos. Ao analisar o perfil dos candidatos por genero, o resultado foi de 60% correspondente ao sexo masculino. Na analise da faixa etaria, a predominancia do perfil dos candidatos foi de jovens na faixa etaria entre 18 e 29 anos, totalizando 31%;27 % doadores entre 30 e 39 anos;23% entre 40 e 49 anos;14% entre 50 e 59 anos e 5% com 60 anos ou mais. As principais causas de inaptidao identificadas no periodo na triagem clinica foram de hipertensao com 0,83%;anemia com 0,82%;casos de visitas a regioes malarigenas com 0,78%;risco de DST com 0,50%;uso de drogas com 0,17%. Conclusao: O perfil epidemiologico dos candidatos a doacao de sangue que compareceram ao GSH Banco de Sangue SERUM no Centro do Rio de Janeiro no periodo pos pandemia ficou evidenciado um aumento no numero de candidatos para doacao de forma geral, com um crescimento na unidade de (3.100) 36%. Tambem foi possivel identificar nesta mudanca de cenario que o numero de doadores de 1vez sofreu uma reducao de 458 candidatos, os de repeticao apresentaram timido crescimento de 950 candidatos e o resultado de crescimento mais expressivo se mostrou nos candidatos esporadicos com aumento de 2520 candidatos.As variacoes quanto a genero nao foram expressivas, assim como quanto ao perfil de faixa etaria. A inaptidao por parametros relacionados a sindrome gripal (COVID-19) nao foi significativa, caracteristica que pode estar associada com a divulgacao de campanhas direcionadas para populacao, orientacoes e conscientizacao sobre a pandemia global. Conhecer e analisar o perfil epidemiologico dos candidatos a doacao de sangue e importante para o desenvolvimento de estrategias, eficientes e sustentaveis, direcionadas para acoes de conscientizacao e captacao de doadores. Copyright © 2022

Bibliometric Analysis: Nanotechnology and COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 pandemic information is critical to study it further, but the virus has still not been confined. In addition, even if there is no longer any threat, more knowledge may be gathered from these resources. Methods: The data used in this study was gathered from several scientific areas and the links between them. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has not been fully contained, and additional information can be gleaned from these references, bibliometric analysis of it is important. Results: A total of 155 publications on the topic of "COVID-19" and the keyword "nanotechnology" was identified in the Scopus database between 2020 and 2021 in a network visualization map. Conclusion: As a result, our analysis was conducted appropriately to provide a comprehensive understanding of COVID-19 and nanotechnology and prospective research directions for medicinal chemistry.

PMD-Track: Portable Medical Devices' Real-time Inventory and Tracking

The recent COVID pandemic challenged healthcare systems worldwide and highlighted not only a lack of sufficient resources in some cases, but also an overall inefficiency in managing available PMDs (Portable Medical Devices). Hospitals typically provide their staff with smartphones to facilitate internal communication and access to hospital services. The key contribution of PMD-Track lies in the use of smartphones replacing expensive stationary gateways scattered across a hospital, acting as mobile gateways associated with a front-end that allows staff to quickly find PMDs. Thus, employees walking nearby tagged PMDs - as they perform daily activities - constantly help to automatically update these PMDs' locations in a live inventory tracker allowing to retrieve up-to-date information.PMDs equipped with traditional Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tags will update a backend service with the location of recently spotted tags and display information concerning their position in real-time. Different PMD types can issue alerts according to the type of their mobility (i.e., considering that portable devices can be more or less 'dynamic'). Thus, it is expected that PMD-Track will enable hospitals to make efficient use of their PMDs in emergency situations, such as a pandemic or eventual natural disasters, where a sudden increase in demand can now be foreseen. © 2022 IFIP.

Organising pneumonia due to COVID-19 and its impact on prognosis

Introduction: Organising pneumonia (OP) diagnosis is histological, however may be inferred by CT pattern [1, 2]. OP due to COVID-19 has been reported but its role remains unknown. Methods: A single-centre, ethical commission approved, retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary university hospital. Data was collected from patients admitted to ICU with severe COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2021. OP was defined according to CT chest findings. OP patients were treated with 1 mg/kg/day methylprednisolone as per our protocol. Data was analysed using STATA 15.1. Results: We included 338 patients admitted due to COVID-19 pneumonia, mainly male (68%) with mean age 65.0 ± 13.1 years, 71% underwent invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) for a median time of 13 days and 84% received corticosteroid treatment, 107 dexamethasone only, the remainder methylprednisolone. 126 patients (37%) featured CT compatible with OP. There were no differences between OP and non- OP regarding age, gender, SAPSII or comorbidities. Although patients with OP more frequently underwent IMV (p < 0.01), time from symptoms until IMV was longer (10.1 ± 6.1 in C vs 11.9 ± 6.1 days, p = 0.02). Interestingly, duration of IMV and length of stay (LOS) were increased in the OP group (24.5 ± 20.7 vs 14.2 ± 13.9 days, p < 0.001;LOS: 28.2 ± 27.6 vs 14.4 ± 15.6 p < 0.001), although no difference in ICU (30% vs 29% in OP) or hospital mortality ( 42% vs 53% in OP, p = 0.126) was observed. Not surprisingly, delirium (22 vs 36%, p = 0.01), ICU acquired weakness (20 vs 43%, p < 0.01) and nosocomial infections (41vs 69%, p < 0.01) were more frequent in OP patients. Of note, 87% versus 45% of C patients were still on corticosteroids at the time of ICU discharge. Conclusions: High prevalence of OP was demonstrated in this severe COVID cohort associated with longer IMV time but not a significant increase in mortality. More data is required to determine adequate treatment and impact on prognosis.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vehicle emissions in Brazil from January to May 2020

The estimated emissions of greenhouse gases (CO(2)eq), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter (PM), aldehyde (RCHO) and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) from vehicles licensed in the first five months of 2020 in Brazil were calculated in the present study, and the results compared with vehicular emissions from the licensed fleet in the same period of the year 2019, in order to verify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these permits, emissions and, consequently, air quality in the country. The results showed a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, with a decrease observed for all vehicles, except for semi heavy trucks, which had a 12.8% increase in GHG emissions. The other pollutants also decreased, being 12.5% for CO, 29.6% for NOx, 24.1% for PM, 21.5% for RCHO, and 16.3% for NMHC. Finally, in relation to the total accumulated pollutants, among all vehicles analyzed, the only ones that had a 2.1% increase in emissions in relation to 2019 were the motorcycles with flexfuel technology, which are preferably fueled with hydrated ethanol. Thus, it was concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic, through the measures of restriction and social isolation adopted in the country to curb the transmission of the disease, had a positive impact on air quality in Brazil during the analyzed period.

WeTrace: A Privacy-preserving Tracing Approach

For the protection of people and society against harm and health threats - especially in case of the COVID-19 pandemic - a variety of different disciplines needs to be involved. The data collection of basic and health-related data of individuals in today's highly mobile society does help to plan, protect, and identify next steps health authorities and governments can, shall, or need to plan for or even implement. Thus, every individual, human, and inhabitant of the world is the key player - very different from many past crises'. And since all individuals are involved his/her (a) health and (b) privacy shall be considered in a very carefully crafted balance, not overruling one aspect with another one. Privacy remains key. The solution of the current pandemic's data collection can be based on a fully privacy-preserving application, which can be used by individuals on their mobile devices, such as smartphones, while maintaining at the same time their privacy. Additionally, respective data collected in such a fully distributed setting does help to confine the pandemic and can be achieved in a democratic and very open, but still and especially privacy-protecting manner. Therefore, the WeTrace approach and application designed utilizes the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication channel, many modern mobile devices offer, where public-key cryptography is being applied to allow for deciphering of messages for that destination it had been intended for. Since literally every other potential participant only listens to random data, even a brute force attack will not succeed. WeTrace and its Open Source implementation ensure that any receiver of a message knows that this is for him/her, without being able to identify the original sender.

Development of an Australian drug-induced liver injury network

Background and Aim: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) can involve serious adverse reactions to many drug classes, causing a wide clinical and biochemical spectrum of liver injury. Despite a rise in prevalence and it being the most common cause of acute liver failure in the Western world, it is often unrecognized. There are limited recent data on the common causes of DILI in Australia. Fourteen liver units in Australia agreed to collaborate. We present here the interim results from the first center. Methods: A prospective clinical audit was done of patients with reported DILI between June 2018 and April 2021, inclusive. Results: The interim results for the first 93 patients are shown in Table 1. Only seven patients (7.5%) had underlying liver disease. Thirty patients (32%) had some form of treatment, although 12 (13%) were already using corticosteroids for pre-existing illnesses. The liver injury became chronic (lasted >6 months) in 10% of cases. Five of 17 patients (29%) prescribed remdesivir for coronavirus disease 2019 developed DILI, despite four (80%) concurrently receiving dexamethasone. Conclusion: DILI remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, with new agents like remdesivir and old agents like antibiotics comprising the main causes.

COVID-19 in Lung-Transplant Recipients: A Descriptive Study

Purpose Transplant recipients are more susceptible to infection, however the medical literature lacks sufficient data regarding COVID-19 post transplantation, especially in lung-transplant recipients. This population appears to be at higher risk for critical illness due to comorbidities and chronic immunosuppressive state Methods This was a single-center, retrospective study of 7 lung-transplant recipients who were symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19 between Feb 2020 and Oct 2020. Demographics, including single vs double lung transplantation, time from transplant were included. Laboratory data on admission, immunosuppressive regimen and adjustment during hospitalization, oxygen requirements and outcomes were also collected Results To date, 7 out of 227 post-lung transplant patients followed at our center became symptomatic with COVID-19 infection. The average age was 60.5 years and 70% were female. All patients had double lung transplantation performed between Apr 2010 and Nov 2019. The average body mass index was 27.0 kg/m2. 85% required hospitalization, three had to be admitted to the intensive care unit, two required invasive mechanical ventilation. Two patients died (one due to acute kidney injury and refractory shock and one refused intubation). One patient on mechanical ventilation required VV ECMO 3 days after admission as a bridge to recovery. All patients were on standard triple immunosuppressive regimen [tacrolimus, mycophenolate, and prednisone]. Mycophenolate was stopped for all patients at the time of the infection, and those who required oxygen supplementation (n=5) received dexamethasone and convalescent plasma. Two of them were not eligible for Remdesivir. Elevated d-dimer (0.78 - 5.57 mg/L), LDH (253 - 985 U/L) and the degree of hypoxemia on admission correlated to worse outcomes Conclusion COVID-19 infection in lung transplant patients has a variable course. In our study, d-dimer, LDH and the degree of hypoxemia on admission had a linear correlation with unfavorable outcome, similar to what has been reported for non lung-transplant patients with COVID-19. Intubation and mechanical ventilation portend a poor prognosis. In our cohort reduction in net immunosuppression (stopping anti-metabolite) and supportive treatment was utilized. Prevention remains the best intervention for COVID-19

Hepatitis C management via a regional nurse-led telehealth initiative: A cascade of care from referral to cure in Victoria

Background and Aim: Regional and rural populations with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remain undertreated due to low primary care uptake, combined with limited access to specialist care and follow-up. Telehealth (TH) addresses many barriers to treatment access, has previously proven successful for HCV management in rural and prison settings, and has been proposed as an alternative for patients who remain geographically and socioeconomically disadvantaged, particularly in the coronavirus 2019 era. We aimed to report the clinical outcomes and the cascade of care of a novel nurse-led HCV TH clinic set in regional Victoria. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of all patients referred to a regional HCV TH service between 1 April 2017 and 10 June 2020. Data were collated from outpatient and electronic medical records, as well as prospectively collected qualitative patient surveys. Results: A total of 55 patients were booked into the HCV TH clinic, and the outcomes are shown in Figure 1. Twenty-five patients (54%) had a history of alcohol use disorder, 24 (52%) had psychiatric comorbidity, and five (11%) had obesity. Thirteen of the 14 (93%) who received treatment achieved sustained virological response. We additionally demonstrated successful TH-driven hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance among the subgroup of patients with cirrhosis. An average of 46.48 km of travel, 54.64 min, and A$30.67 was saved per patient for each visit. Overall patient satisfaction gathered via Likert scale surveys was positive, with observed benefits including increased medical engagement, adherence to treatment, and improvement in long-term health outcomes at a personal and cohort level. Conclusion: Nurse-led HCV management via TH has allowed access for a marginalized regional population with high levels of substance misuse and psychiatric comorbidity. Clinical outcomes were comparable to those previously reported from tertiary and community-based cohorts, with additional cost benefit, efficiency gains, and carbon footprint reduction among a previously unreported regional Victorian population with HCV.

Analysis of Stablecoins during the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

One of the major concerns with cryptocurrencies is their price instability, driven by market speculation, underlying technology, and applications. Stablecoins were introduced to address volatility and to provide means for an electronic payment and a value store remaining stable, often being supported by physical assets or fiat currency (e.g., gold or US dollars, respectively). However, different collateralization mechanisms exist and different assets are pegged with the coin that can affect their stability in different ways. This work overviews stablecoin stability mechanisms, the current stablecoin market landscape, and the performance of major stablecoins during the 2020 financial market crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from this analysis indicate that stablecoins' performance during the financial crisis and, in particular, the market crash present a direct relation with their specific behavior attributed to different design aspects, including their popularity. © 2020 IEEE.