COVID-19, Microbiota, and Probiotics

Coronavirus 2, universally known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), was identified only a year ago as the causative agent of a new acute respiratory disease: the "coronavirus disease 2019" (COVID-19). The pathognomonic symptoms of COVID-19 are cough, fever, and dyspnea. To date, only two studies have been published to assess whether there are differences between the respiratory microbiota of healthy people and those with COVID-19, and in both cases the sample size was small. This chapter details these two studies. In any case, COVID-19 contains numerous aspects that constitute clear targets for the application of probiotics: the presence of diarrhea and other digestive symptoms in a high percentage of cases;modulation of the immune and inflammatory response to the virus;and so on. © 2023 John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Published 2023 by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Perspective and experience of university students during Covid-19

After the huge and sudden change in the teaching-learning methodology at the University that the pandemic generated, we thought it necessary to study the perspective of the students on this experience. We carried out an exploratory survey from a qualitative approach, following an inductive logic of construction of categories from the data, with a sample of 67 students. Categories: personal sphere, positioning with respect to the institution, the teaching staff and ICT. For such analysis, we used the software Atlas.ti (Version 8.4). In conclusion, to improve similar situations, it is essential to include accompaniment and emotional support, in addition to reinforcing their resources and technological skills.

Implementation of mobile devices in higher education: Cases of good teaching practices

Mobile devices have become very prominent in education in recent years. Moreover, their use has intensified in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this sense, given the multitude of educational experiences, it is necessary to discern between a good use of the mobile device to carry out teaching practice. The purpose of this paper was to analyse learning strategies using mobile devices to provide models of good teaching practice. To this end, a cross-sectional study design was applied based on the distribution of an online survey including a standardised scale and an open-ended questionnaire. A total of 14 teachers, aged between 28 and 64 years (M = 48.42, SD = 10.67), participated in the study. The results obtained show that socio-demographic factors did not influence the development of good teaching practices with mobile devices. On the other hand, only five teachers identified themselves as agents of good teaching practices and the experience carried out in the classroom was collected. Finally, good teaching practices are a topic of interest in order to have practical models that can serve as a reference for other teachers and can be implemented at the University.

Systemic Corticosteroids in Patients with Bronchial Asthma: A Real-Life Study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the present study was to determine the use of systemic corti-costeroids (SCs) in patients with bronchial asthma using big data analysis. METHODS: We performed an observational, retrospective, noninterventional study based on secondary data captured from free text in the electronic health records. This study was per-formed based on data from the regional health service of Castille-La Mancha (SESCAM), Spain. We performed the analysis using big data and artificial intelligence via Savana® Manager version 3.0. RESULTS: During the study period, 103 667 patients were diagnosed with and treated for asthma at different care levels. The search was restricted to patients aged 10 to 90 years (mean age, 43.5 [95%CI, 43.4-43.7] years). Of these, 59.8% were women. SCs were taken for treatment of asthma by 58 745 patients at some point during the study period. These patients were older, with a higher prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, ob-esity, depression, and hiatus hernia. SCs are used frequently in the general population with asthma (31.4% in 2015 and 39.6% in 2019). SCs were prescribed mainly in primary care (59%), allergy (13%) and pulmonology (20%). The frequency of prescription of SCs had a direct impact on the main associated adverse effects. CONCLUSION: In clinical practice, SCs are frequently prescribed to patients with asthma, especially in primary care. Use of SCs is associated with a greater number of adverse events. It is necessary to implement measures to reduce prescription of SCs to patients with asthma, especially in primary care.

Analysis of remote learning (ARDE) in basic education students in Colombia

The students of the educational institutions of basic and secondary education in Colombia and in the world, had to face new realities and situations of their academic process, due to the 2020 health crisis due to the COVID 19 virus, which has prevented around of 1,370 million students do not attend school under traditional education conditions, in Latin America more than 156 million children and young people, according to UNESCO, and in Colombia more than 9.4 million children in initial, basic and secondary education according to figures of the MEN Colombia. © GKA Ediciones, authors.

The popular-solidarity microcredit in the province of Santa Elena, descriptive study of the cooperative segment 1

Introduction/objective: The popular and supportive microcredit is a dynamic element of economic development. Its validity and growth are vital for developing territories, such as the one considered in this work, province of Santa Elena in the Republic of Ecuador. It empowers the generation of sources of employment, availability of sustenance to cover the needs of segments of the population with insufficient income. Methodology: The research is quantitative with a descriptive scope with a non -experi-mental design. It is based on secondary data corresponding to placements of popular and solidarity microcredit of segment 1. Results: The growth of popular and solidarity microcredit placements in the province of Santa Elena has been discreet, even during periods of unfavorable externalities such as the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which its positive interannual variation was maintained. Conclusions: Popular and solidarity microcredit has placed resources in productive agents so that, based on principles of social, environmental, and solidarity responsibility, a distribution of resources is generated in disadvantaged agents, generating evidence of a model that generates economic development.

Biochemical parameters and blood count of patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 in intensive care at a basic hospital in Ecuador

COVID-19 infection occurs mainly in mild and severe forms, the latter requiring hospitalization and respiratory support due to complications such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the clinical course of which has been widely described;however, the alteration of laboratory profiles has not been precisely established. A retrospective study was carried out to determine biochemical parameters and blood counts in 32 patients with moderate and severe COVID-19, confined at the "Raul Maldonado Mejia" Basic Hospital in Cayambe, Ecuador, and to evaluate their usefulness as indicators of severity. Medical records were reviewed., obtaining clinical, biochemical and hematometric data. A higher proportion of moderate and severe COVID cases was observed in men, and the severe form in both genders, with an average age between 45-73 years. The most frequent comorbidities were: arterial hypertension (HTA), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), congestive heart failure (CHF) and obesity. The biochemical and blood count parameters with the worst prognosis for severity were: elevation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, prothrombin time (PT) prolonged, total leukocyte count, ne index utrophil/lymphocyte (INL) and decreased lymphocytes. Biochemical parameters (LDH, CRP, ALT, AST), coagulation (PT) and blood counts (leukocyte count, lymphocytes and INL) can be useful indicators of severity in patients with COVID-19, allowing early identification of patients with moderate disease and avoid the development of the most severe form of the disease and its complications.

Coping strategies used by health-care workers during the SARS-COV2 crisis. A real-world analysis

The aim of this paper is to analyze the main coping strategies used by frontline teams during the first days of the COVID pandemic confinement in Spain. This information could be necessary in order to carry out training programs that allow a better handling of future emergency situations, as well as acting more effectively and with less negative emotional impact. A questionnaire was used to identify different psychological profiles for coping, and in turn, other relevant variables were analyzed. The most used strategies by health professionals were problem solving, desiderative thinking and social support. Emotional expression and social support were used more by women. Significantly different behaviors were found in desiderative thinking (lower in people of 35-50 years old, and social support, higher in people 35 years old). The symptoms most commonly experienced by medical personnel were: sleep disorders, anxiety, tension, depressive symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms and general somatic muscular symptoms. A relationship could be determined between the age/gender of the workers and the participants' overall assessment of their ability to cope with the COVID-19 stress situation they had experienced (men 50 years old and women between 35 and 50 years old, who felt able or very able to cope with the stress caused by the health emergency. However, women <35 years old and >50 years old believed they were able to cope poorly with the circumstances. The advantage of specific training plans in order to help with some stress symptoms could be suggested, aimed at the acquisition of tools based on problem solving, and emotional management in stressful and emergency situations.

Following the Trail of Fake News Spreaders in Social Media: A Deep Learning Model

Even though the Internet and social media are usually safe and enjoyable, communication through social media also bears risks. For more than ten years, there have been concerns regarding the manipulation of public opinion through the social Web. In particular, misinformation spreading has proven effective in influencing people, their beliefs and behaviors, from swaying opinions on elections to having direct consequences on health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most techniques in the literature focus on identifying the individual pieces of misinformation or fake news based on a set of stylistic, content-derived features, user profiles or sharing statistics. Recently, those methods have been extended to identify spreaders. However, they are not enough to effectively detect either fake content or the users spreading it. In this context, this paper presents an initial proof of concept of a deep learning model for identifying fake news spreaders in social media, focusing not only on the characteristics of the shared content but also on user interactions and the resulting content propagation tree structures. Although preliminary, an experimental evaluation over COVID-related data showed promising results, significantly outperforming other alternatives in the literature. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Practice, training, and teaching competence in the exercise of the virtual academic modality

The necessary social isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving virtual education as the only safe alternative to maintain academic activity in universities and not stop the training of future professionals. The main objective is to assess the competence for teaching in the virtual modality in professors of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the National University of Chimborazo and the Faculty of Education of the University of Granada. The methodology applied was quantitative, non-experimental, correlational, and cross-sectional. The population consisted of 114 teachers from these higher education contexts. The Online Tutor Functions and Competencies Scale was the instrument used for data collection. The most substantial results are that 58.77% of the teachers belonged to the female gender and the mean age was 42.87 years. There was a significant association between teaching category and time of experience in the university teaching profession (Rho=0.372;p=0.000). A total of 74.56% considered that the practical activities achieved the proposed objectives. 59.65% stated that they preferred the face-to-face teaching modality. Finally, the most relevant conclusion is that most of the professors involved in the research obtained a score that classified them as possessing the specific competences assessed, as well as the global competence for teaching in the virtual modality, which was significantly correlated with the teaching modality preferred by the members of the study population. © 2022, AUFOP. All rights reserved.

Digitalisation of the University by Covid-19: Impact on Students' Learning and Psychosocial Factors

The academic sphere has been particularly affected by Covid-19 due to the limitations of mobility and social distancing facilitated by the increase in contagions during the various waves that have occurred in Spain, which has led to the digitalisation of teaching in most Spanish universities. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of Covid-19 on the learning of university students in Andalusia, and how psychosocial (fear of Covid-19, life satisfaction, stress, uncertainty), learning (learning strategies, motivation, study time and habits, facilitating conditions, self-regulation) and socio-demographic factors (gender, age, course, address, scholarship, future employment, mobility, dropout) have been influenced. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study design was applied based on the distribution of an online survey. A total of 1873 university students, aged between 17 and 59 years (M = 22.42, SD = 4.45) participated in the study. The results revealed that: 1) the pandemic has affected students differently depending on the population strata to which they belong;2) there has been an increase in the levels of stress and uncertainty affecting students' mental health;3) academic dropout is a factor that has been and is present during the incidence of the pandemic;4) learning has been affected by the pandemic due to fear and uncertainty which has had a significant impact on students' motivation and self-regulation. Finally, the future lines of research of this work are discussed, highlighting the richness of the data obtained to advance knowledge on the impact of Covid-19 on university learning.

Sexting in times of confinement. An analysis of sending online sexual content before and during COVID-19 pandemic amongst university students

Sexting is a common practice among young adults that consists of sending material with sexual content to other people. During the COVID-19 pandemic containment situation, the main means of exploring sexuality have been through digital devices. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the practice of sexting before and during confinement due to COVID-19 amongst Spanish university students. A longitudinal design was adopted from the application of an online survey based on three standardized and internationally used instruments on a sample of university students (n = 499) before and during confinement. The results indicated that the practice of sexting was slightly higher during confinement. At the same time, the use of dating applications was a conditioning factor in sexting. Furthermore, it was noted that sexting had a significant influence on college students’ levels of self-control, depression, anxiety, and stress during confinement. Finally, the main conclusions of this study are discussed where the situation of confinement has had an impact on the lives of students and their habits of digital consumption and expression of sexuality. © The Author(s) 2022.

INTENTION of PARTICIPATING in E-LEARNING UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS for SENIOR CITIZENS. PROFILE IDENTIFICATION USING SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS

The University Programmes for Older Adults (PUM) provide organised spaces for training, interaction and social relations. The international emergency situation caused by the COVID19 pandemic has meant the almost total closure of this type of programme, limiting contact and personal relations in face-to-face conditions. This situation, together with a powerful and increasingly accessible technological scenario, leads to the assessment of new areas of online training and learning, also for older people. This study aims to explore the intention to participate in a university programme for older people in an online format. This intention can be predicted on the basis of certain socio-demographic and contextual factors or variables. A total of 1633 older adults with an average age of 68.2 years participated in the study, all of them attending 17 PUM sites in the Community of Castilla y León. The non-parametric technique of classification trees was used to process the data. Three criterion variables were considered (<<Intention to participate in e-PUM>>;<<Attitude towards TD>>;and <<Frequency of technological use>>) around which profiles of subjects are configured according to a series of individual sociodemographic, psychographic and behavioural characteristics, all of them considered as predictor variables. The results offer keys to understanding why the elderly accept (or do not accept) this form of participation, identifying profiles or traits that characterise each of the profiles or subgroups of subjects with a greater or lesser predisposition to this type of socio-educational participation, which can serve as a basis for making social and/or educational policy decisions. © 2015 SIPS. Licencia Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (by-nc) Spain 3.0

Ventilator Prototype Controlled and Monitored by an IoT Platform

The coronavirus pandemic caused a radical change in everyone’s life, the number of infected persons increases each day, in some hospitals in Mexico, especially in rural areas, artificial respirators are not available to treat this disease, since they are costly devices high. The prototype presented in this paper is built in order to reduce costs in all aspects. The structure was built with economical but resistant materials and the IoT platform reuses the existing infrastructure such as computers and cell phones to create a graphical interface that minimizes the use of components, in addition, the electronic system uses inexpensive devices that are easy to find in the market and even recyclable. The prototype has three automatic modes of operation with certain frequencies, which are for children, adolescents and adults. As well, a manual configuration was added to modify the frequency from the operating system. The structure of the ventilator has a cam system that allows the pressure to be changed in a medical resuscitator AMBU, modifying the level of oxygen that can be supplied to a patient. The prototype approved its functioning in terms of the mechanism, the frequency is changes depending on the age of the patient with its respective pressure for oxygen supply, but it is important to mention that the ventilator is still in the testing phase and has not yet been evaluated with a patient, since, authorization is required from the health sector and this stage is under development. © 2021, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Forecasting mental health and emotions based on social media expressions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for forecasting mental health conditions and emotions of a given population during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina based on social media contents. Design/methodology/approach: Mental health conditions and emotions are captured via markers, which link social media contents with lexicons. First, the authors build time series models that describe the evolution of markers and their correlation with crisis events. Second, the authors use the time series for forecasting markers and identifying high prevalence points for the estimated markers. Findings: The authors evaluated different forecasting strategies that yielded different performance and capabilities. In the best scenario, high prevalence periods of emotions and mental health issues can be satisfactorily predicted with a neural network strategy, even at early stages of a crisis (e.g. a training period of seven days). Practical implications: This work contributes to a better understanding of how psychological processes related to crises manifest in social media, and this is a valuable asset for the design, implementation and monitoring of health prevention and communication policies. Originality/value: Although there have been previous efforts to predict mental states of individuals, the analysis of mental health at the collective level has received scarce attention. The authors take a step forward by proposing a forecasting approach for analyzing the mental health of a given population at a larger scale. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Dissonances in the images transmitted by the media in epidemic outbreaks about of personal protective equipment (PPE)

Objectives:To underline how the images disseminated by the media to illustrate news on outbreaks, can contribute to confusion regarding the PPE to be used for the different activities and the way in which they are used. Material and Methods: Images that illustrate news about the coronavirus outbreak that appeared in different media are analyzed, and those that we have called dissonances in terms of the PPE used and how they are used are highlighted. Results and Discussion: Differences are observed in the PPE used and in the way they are placed in the referred images.This can contribute to the misunderstanding and insecurity of the health professionals who have to use them. Conclusions: It would be very useful to unify and standardize equipment for different tasks as well as placement and removal protocols, with the proper training of professionals. © 2020, Accion Medica S.A.. All rights reserved.

BURDEN OF DISEASE OF COVID-19 IN THE DEPARTMENT OF NARIÑO, COLOMBIA, 2020-2021

Objectives. To estimate the burden of disease of COVID-19 in the department of Nariño, Colombia, based on the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) between March 2020 and August 2021. Materials and methods. The description and characterization of COVID-19 cases reported between March 2020 and August 2021 was made according to age groups, sex, ethnicity, municipalities of residence and subregions of Nariño by using information from the national surveillance system SIVIGILA. Crude and cumulative mortality rates for COVID-19 were estimated for the previously described variables. Years lost due to premature death (YLL) and years lived with disability (YLD) were calculated. Total DALYs were estimated by adding YLL + YLD. These were calculated by sex, ethnicity, age group and subregions of Nariño. Relative risks were estimated from rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for the study variables. Results. The highest morbidity, mortality and DALY rates occurred between February and September 2021, in men, in those older than 70 years, in the Afro-des-cendant ethnic minority group and in the Central, Obando and Juanambú subregions. The burden of disease of COVID-19 in Nariño during the study period is attributed to the YLL, which explain more than 97% of it. Conclusions. This is one of the first studies on burden of disease at the regional level, carried out in Colombia, that employs a standardized methodology for COVID-19. This measurement would generate estimates that would allow targeting resources in an intersectoral manner, mitigating the damage to specific populations and geographic areas, especially the most vulnerable ones. © 2022, Instituto Nacional de Salud. All rights reserved.