Multi-Joint Unit Network for COVID-19 Diagnosis using X-Ray and CT Images

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused a health crisis globally. Automated diagnostic methods can control the spread of the pandemic, as well as assists physicians to tackle high workload conditions through the quick treatment of affected patients. Owing to the scarcity of medical images and from different resources, the present image heterogeneity has raised challenges for achieving effective approaches to network training and effectively learning robust features. We propose a multi-joint unit network for the diagnosis of COVID-19 using the joint unit module, which leverages the receptive fields from multiple resolutions for learning rich representations. Existing approaches usually employ a large number of layers to learn the features, which consequently requires more computational power and increases the network complexity. To compensate, our joint unit module extracts low-, same-, and high-resolution feature maps simultaneously using different phases. Later, these learned feature maps are fused and utilized for classification layers. We observed that our model helps to learn sufficient information for classification without a performance loss and with faster convergence. We used three public benchmark datasets to demonstrate the performance of our network. Our proposed network consistently outperforms existing state-of-the-art approaches by demonstrating better accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and F1-score across all datasets. © 2022 ACM.

Electronic Vaping Product Use Among Adolescents in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Updated Scientific Review for Clinicians

INTRODUCTION: In light of increased rates of hospitalizations among adolescents diagnosed with severe symptoms of COVID-19, as well as the prevalence of electronic vaping product (EVP) use among this population, this review highlights the public health and clinical implications of EVP use during an ongoing respiratory disease pandemic. OBJECTIVES: This review assesses evidence of pulmonary effects of EVP use from pathophysiological and epidemiological research and explores EVP use as a risk factor for COVID-19. METHODS: An updated, yet concise, literature review of recent scientific evidence examining trends of EVP use among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. Included in this review are studies examining the pulmonary effects of EVP use and scope of the problem relating to its use among adolescents within the context of COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Preclinical and theoretical models establish pulmonary harm associated with EVPs. Based on the limited epidemiological studies, the contribution of EVP use to the risk of contracting COVID-19 is mixed. EVP-associated lung injury could present as a diagnostic challenge for clinicians during COVID-19 and requires greater attention. Clinicians should effectively screen for and discourage EVP use among adolescents.

Experiences of participants of a dietary intervention trial for African Americans with hypertension and CKD

Background: African Americans are disproportionately affected by hypertension (HTN) and CKD and evidence suggests dietary modifications towards a more Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-accordant diet could improve outcomes for this population. We aimed to explicate barriers and facilitators of healthy eating, and the perceived benefits of the intervention among completed participants of a dietary intervention trial for African Americans with HTN and CKD. Participants were randomized to one of two groups: 1) Self-Shopping DASH (S-DASH) diet group with $30/week grocery allowance for 4 mo. but no specific guidance on purchases, followed by no food allowance for 8 mo.;or 2) Coaching DASH (C-DASH) diet advice group with a $30/week food allowance and assistance in purchasing foods for 4 mo., followed by intermittent coaching without food allowance for 8 mo. Methods: We performed a content analysis of transcripts from semi-structured interviews with participants who completed the trial (13 C-DASH;12 S-DASH were randomly selected). Thematic analyses followed 5 stages: 1) reading and rereading all transcripts and utilizing audio recordings as needed for clarity;2) three coders reading two of the same transcripts, coding them, and comparing codes which were then used to create the initial coding framework;3) defining codes, coding additional transcripts, discussing/ revising the coding framework;4) formulating initial themes and 5) diagramming relationships among initial themes to merge overlapping themes. Results: Participants were a mean age of 62 ± 9.3 years, 36% were male. Key themes included healthy diet facilitators (food tracking, motivation, social support, and perception of healthy foods);barriers (transportation, past eating habits, stress and COVID mitigation);and impact of the trial on knowledge and health. Conclusions: Participants of a dietary intervention trial for African Americans with HTN and CKD identified several facilitators and barriers to healthy eating that could inform future efforts to address disease burden in this population.