Seasonal community acquired respiratory viruses (CARV) are associated with a high burden of disease in patients with malignancies - preliminary data of the OncoReVir registry

Background: Community acquired respiratory viruses (CARVs) may cause severe respiratory infections in patients (pts) with cancer. To collect epidemiological and clinical data of CARV-infections the multicentric registry OncoReVir was established. Here, we present a preliminary analysis of pts with cancer infected with CARVs. Method(s): A total of 1,142 pts with cancer and CARV-infection were enrolled between Nov2018 and Jan2022. Most cases were documented for season 17/18 and 18/19. Data on demographics, comorbidities, cancer, CARVs and infection course were collected. Pre-defined endpoints were pneumonia, admission to ICU and mortality. The relationship between cancer-specific factors and outcome was evaluated by bivariate logistic regression. Result(s): The median age was 60 (IQR 50-67) years, 42% of pts were female. Solid tumors were present in < 10%, leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma in 36.5%, 27% and 23%, respectively. 50% had active cancer, 40% had received chemotherapy within the last 3 months. Targeted therapy was reported in 11.5%, high-dose steroids in 16% of pts, 56% were SCTrecipients. Commonly detected CARVs were influenza (39.5%), parainfluenza (18%), respiratory syncytial virus (15%), rhinovirus (14.5%), human metapneumovirus (hMPV, 5.5%), endemic coronavirus (5.5%) and SARSCoV- 2 (2%). Among all CARVs, frequent symptoms were cough, fever, dyspnea and rhinitis. Rates of pneumonia were highest in hMPV (33%) and SARS-CoV-2 (32%), lowest in endemic coronavirus (16%, p=0.334). 8.5% required intensive care, most of them due to COVID-19 (p=0.084). Infection-associated mortality but not rate of pneumonia showed significant differences comparing CARVs. In regression analysis, active cancer was associated with all endpoints: infection-related mortality (4.02 [1.63- 9.88], p=0.002), ICU admission (1.75 [1.07-2.88], p= 0.027) and pneumonia (1.47 [1.1-1.96], 0.009). Conclusion(s): In our cohort, all CARVs could potentially lead to severe disease. Active cancer was an independent risk factor for adverse outcome in pts with cancer and CARV-infection.

Slack Intern Curriculum Supports Intern Preparedness and Bridges Curriculum Gaps due to COVID-19 Slack Intern Curriculum

"Objectives: Assess the effectiveness of social media implementation of an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestone-based curriculum during the spring 2020 U.S. COVID-19 surge. The hypothesis is that pre-interns will report improvements in PP regarding multiple ACGME milestone topics. Background(s): Transitioning to residency involves translation of academic knowledge into clinical acumen, and is complicated by variable medical school experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a new challenge by displacing students from clinical rotations. Virtual educational modalities such as the Slack Intern Curriculum (SIC) have increased newly-matched ""pre-intern"" perceived preparedness (PP) for residency in prior years, but the SIC had never been implemented or evaluated in a pandemic with disrupted medical education. Method(s): The SIC was constructed using topics from 8 ACGME milestones in emergency medicine (EM), incorporated into 8 clinical scenarios. Residency recruitment occurred via national EM listservs;of 276 programs, 27 enrolled. Curricular implementation was on Slack workspaces. Cases included stimulus images and clinical questions. Ample discussion time, answers, and resources were provided. Trends in PP were calculated with descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Result(s): Of 311 total pre-interns contacted, 289 (92.9%) completed a presurvey in April/May 2020, and 240 (77.2%) completed a post-survey in June/July 2020, for an 83.9% follow-through rate. Pre-interns reported statistically significant increases in PP both overall and regarding 14 of 21 milestones. See Table 1. Conclusion(s): Amidst the educational disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-interns participating in the SIC reported statistically significant increases in PP. Limitations include absence of control or pre-pandemic data. Future directions include adapting the SIC to other specialties' ACGME milestones for generalizability across all fields. (Table Presented) ."

The benefits of counting butterflies: recommendations for a successful citizen science project

Citizen science (CS) projects, being popular across many fields of science, have recently also become a popular tool to collect biodiversity data. Although the benefits of such projects for science and policy making are well understood, relatively little is known about the benefits participants get from these projects as well as their personal backgrounds and motivations. Furthermore, very little is known about their expectations. We here examine these aspects, with the citizen science project "German Butterfly Monitoring" as an example. A questionnaire was sent to all participants of the project and the responses to the questionnaire indicated the following: center dot Most transect walkers do not have a professional background in this field, though they do have a high educational level, and are close to retirement, with a high number of females;center dot An important motivation to join the project is to preserve the natural environment and to contribute to scientific knowledge;center dot Participants benefit by enhancing their knowledge about butterflies and especially their ability to identify different species (taxonomic knowledge);center dot Participants do not have specific expectations regarding the project beyond proper management and coordination, but have an intrinsic sense of working for a greater good. The willingness to join a project is higher if the project contributes to the solution of a problem discussed in the media (here, insect decline). Based on our findings from the analysis of the questionnaire we can derive a set of recommendations for establishing a successful CS project. These include the importance of good communication, e.g., by explaining what the (scientific) purpose of the project is and what problems are to be solved with the help of the data collected in the project. The motivation to join a CS project is mostly intrinsic and CS is a good tool to engage people during difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic, giving participants the feeling of doing something useful.

Slack intern curriculum supports intern preparedness and bridges curriculum gaps due to covid-19 pandemic

Learning Objectives: Assess the effectiveness of social media implementation of an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestone-based curriculum during the spring 2020 US COVID-19 surge. The hypothesis is that pre-interns will report improvements in PP regarding multiple ACGME milestone topics. Background: Transitioning to residency involves translation of academic knowledge into clinical acumen, and is complicated by variable medical school experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a new challenge by displacing students from clinical rotations. Virtual educational modalities such as the Slack Intern Curriculum (SIC) have increased newly-matched “pre-intern” perceived preparedness (PP) for residency in prior years, but the SIC had never been implemented or evaluated in a pandemic with disrupted medical education. Objective: Assess the effectiveness of social media implementation of an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestone-based curriculum during the spring 2020 U.S. COVID-19 surge. The hypothesis is that pre-interns will report improvements in PP regarding multiple ACGME milestone topics. Methods: The SIC was constructed using topics from 8 ACGME milestones in emergency medicine (EM), incorporated into 8 clinical scenarios. Residency recruitment occurred via national EM listservs;of 276 programs, 27 enrolled. Curricular implementation was on Slack workspaces. Cases included stimulus images and clinical questions. Ample discussion time, answers, and resources were provided. Trends in PP were calculated with descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Results: Of 311 total pre-interns contacted, 289 (92.9%) completed a presurvey in April/May 2020, and 240 (77.2%) completed a post-survey in June/July 2020, for an 83.9% followthrough rate. Pre-interns reported statistically significant increases in PP both overall and regarding 14 of 21 milestones. See Table 1. Conclusions: Amidst the educational disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-interns participating in the SIC reported statistically significant increases in PP. Limitations include absence of control or pre-pandemic data. Future directions include adapting the SIC to other specialties' ACGME milestones for generalizability across all fields.

Capabilities and Limitations of Telematics for Vehicle Emissions Inventories

Eastern Research Group, Inc. evaluated the current state of personal vehicle telematics data with respect to emission inventory development, identifying relative strengths and weaknesses, and how these data could align better with the needs of emission modelers. A market survey of telematics firms provided an overview of available data, and identified several candidate sources for location-based and engine-based telematics data on personal vehicles. Data were then purchased from three different vendors: StreetLight Data, Moonshadow Mobile, and Otonomo. These data were applied in case studies conducted in the Denver metro area, U.S., to assess strengths and weaknesses of telematics for developing emission inventories. Case studies included using telematics to estimate regional vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for annual emission inventories;tracking the VMT impacts of COVID shutdown;generating location- and time-specific vehicle activity inputs for project scale "hot spot" air quality analysis;and estimating the distribution of fuel fill level from real-world data, which is important for evaporative emissions. These case studies confirmed that telematics can serve a growing range of emission inventory use cases, and use of these data may help improve emission inventory accuracy. However, there are also several limitations of the data to consider in preparing emission inventories;for example, it can be difficult to assess the representativeness of telematics data because of a lack of vehicle information. The authors encourage telematics firms to cater data products more directly to the needs of emission inventory modelers, to better harness the enormous potential of these data for refining vehicle emission inventory estimates.