ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although positive and negative views of aging and older adults exist, how undergraduate dental students imagine their lives to be as they grow older remains to be fully explored. This study aimed at determining the self-perceived views of being 65, 75, or 85 y of age, as expressed by undergraduate dental students at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. METHODS: A 14-y cross-sectional study design was utilized involving third-year undergraduate dental students at UBC's Faculty of Dentistry. Brief individual essays (150 words) encompassing students' self-perceived views were gathered as part of a dental geriatric course from 2009 to 2022; however, essays were not mandatory. Saldaña's inductive coding and thematic analysis of textual data were used. Themes and categories of information were identified and matched with their excerpts while aiming for data saturation. RESULTS: Over the 14-y period, 657 students were enrolled in UBC's undergraduate dental geriatric course, and 561 essays were collected. Inductive coding and thematic analysis identified 5 main themes and 11 categories. While themes included "oral health, general health, and the mind" and "me, myself, and familial relationships," the categories focused on "(un)able bodies" and "general health." Positive views about the aging process were shared, while less optimistic ideas-and even ageism-were apparent when students saw themselves as not employable or living in isolation. Positive and negative views were not bound by the students' academic year but might have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: Although the number of older adults already surpasses the number of children in many countries, ageism appears to have permeated through students' views of 3 older ages. More positive yet realistic views of growing older were also shared. Follow-up studies are needed to explore the impact of dental education on decreasing ageism. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER STATEMENT: As the proportion of older adults in the global population steadily grows, it is important to educate heath care providers about normal and pathologic aging to avoid ageism-stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination against older adults. This cross-sectional study involved 14 cohorts of undergraduate dental students exploring their self-perceived views of growing older. Although positive and negative views of aging were shared, dental education must focus on decreasing ageism.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global reality for over two years. Heart disease patients and transplant recipients are vulnerable groups to the aggravation of the disease, considering, also, that the infection can cause or worsen conditions such as myocarditis and heart failure. Although not all patients infected by Sars-Cov-2 develop IgG antibodies, it is known that serological studies have great importance for the comprehension of the virus's behavior in a specific population, as it can suggest the status of the epidemic in a community. This study aims to analyze the serological profile for COVID-19 in patients before and after pediatric heart transplant. A cross-sectional cohort was performed in children and adults with heart disease, before and after heart transplant. Serologies for IgG and IgM antibodies for Sars-CoV-2 were collected in patients of the Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Diseases unit of a Brazilian hospital between January and August 2022. In total, 174 patients were recruited: 28 on waiting list and 146 recipients. Information such as demographics (age, sex, state of origin), type of heart disease (congenital or acquired) and time after transplant were analyzed. : 21 pre-transplant and 123 post-transplant. 60 patients had positive IgG (41,67%), and 21, positive IgM (14,58%). In the post-transplant group, 50 patients had positive IgG (40,65%) and 21, positive IgM (17,07%);in the pre-transplant group, 10 patients had positive IgG (47,62%) and there was no positive IgM. In total, 76 patients had no positive results for either antibodies (52,78%): 11 being pre-transplant (52,38%) and 65, post-transplant (52,85%). The study made it possible to identify antibodies in heart disease patients before and after heart transplant in approximately half of the population studied. This study reinforces the need for multidisciplinary orientation of patients and families on COVID-19 prevention and complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Heart & Lung Transplantation is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 misinformation became accessible and profitable through social media platforms, such as YouTube. Here we investigate if Brazilian YouTube channels previously identified as vaccine misinformation spreaders would also misinform their audience about COVID-19. Our analysis sample consists of 6 months of content (3,318 videos) from 50 Brazilian YouTube channels. We establish a protocol to classify the types of COVID-19 misinformation spread by the content creators, describing how the channels evade content moderation-disguising, replicating, and dispersing misinformation-and what tactics the content creators use to profit. Our analysis shows that these channels exploited COVID-19 misinformation to promote themselves, profiting in the process.
ABSTRACT
Simulating real-world experiences in a safe environment has made virtual human medical simulations a common use case for research and interpersonal communication training. Despite the benefits virtual human medical simulations provide, previous work suggests that users struggle to notice when virtual humans make potentially life-threatening verbal communication mistakes inside virtual human medical simulations. In this work, we performed a 2x2 mixed design user study that had learners (n = 80) attempt to identify verbal communication mistakes made by a virtual human acting as a nurse in a virtual desktop environment. A virtual desktop environment was used instead of a head-mounted virtual reality environment due to Covid-19 limitations. The virtual desktop environment experience allowed us to explore how frequently learners identify verbal communication mistakes in virtual human medical simulations and how perceptions of credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness in the virtual human affect learner error recognition rates. We found that learners struggle to identify infrequent virtual human verbal communication mistakes. Additionally, learners with lower initial trustworthiness ratings are more likely to overlook potentially life-threatening mistakes, and virtual human mistakes temporarily lower learner credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness ratings of virtual humans. From these findings, we provide insights on improving virtual human medical simulation design. Developers can use these insights to design virtual simulations for error identification training using virtual humans.
ABSTRACT
The new zoonotic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was detected in China in late 2019 and, since then, it has spread rapidly, culminating in the pandemic. Studies show that symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 can eliminate the virus through feces and urine, making it possible to detect viral RNA in excreta and, consequently, in wastewater. One Health is the inseparable union of animal, human and environmental health and within this concept, it is possible to use an environmental sample (wastewater) to monitor the circulation of the new coronavirus in a population, whether in companies, schools, neighborhoods, and municipalities. In this context, the present study aimed to demonstrate the successful use of WBE through a contingency plan model adopted in a company (Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant -IHPP) located in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. Thus, statistical analysis and modeling were applied, using the results of weekly monitoring, between June/2020 and September/2021, of 10 representative points of each sector of the IHPP. During 65 monitored weeks, 500 mL of samples were sent conditioned on ice to the Federal University of ABC for detection and quantification of RNA fragments of the new coronavirus by reverse transcription technique followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). An occurrence variation of 7.7 and 2.6 log10 copies of RNA.L-1 was observed, and it is possible to correlate with the tendency of an increase in the number of cases in the IHPP and in the city of Foz. The results demonstrated the viability of the WBE approach in monitoring the new coronavirus, being a useful tool for decision-makers with the epidemiological surveillance and the health department. This approach may also be useful in detecting outbreaks caused by other waterborne pathogens not only in the human population but also in the companion animal population.
ABSTRACT
This work aims to evaluate the possible relations between the confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 and the environmental parameters for the Cuiaba-Varzea Grande conurbation in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The data sets used to cover the rainy-dry periods, from January to December 2020, were achieved from a database of government institutions, and processed through the Spearman correlation test. Our results showed that atmospheric pressure and fire radiative power has a significant positive correlation, suggesting that these parameters favor the transmission of COVID-19. On the other hand, the relative humidity of the air and the total column of water vapor showed a significant negative correlation with the number of confirmed daily cases of COVID-19, which indicates that the water vapor present in the atmosphere acts in the regulation of virus transmission. Thus, taking into account the results obtained, there is a need for collaborative policies and measures among the three spheres of executive power in Brazil, to act in the surveillance of fire cases, which can favor the transmission of COVID-19. In addition, prevention and protection measures aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus continue to be indispensable.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To identify the prevalence of occupational stress among nursing professionals working in palliative care during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and associated sociodemographic and occupational factors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, conducted in an exclusive oncologic palliative care unit of a public oncology hospital of national reference. Data collection was performed between April and May of 2020, using two instruments. The Poisson regression model with robust variance was used for data analysis. Results: The sample was composed of 71 professionals, working with patients suspected of or with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The medium/high level of stress outcome was prevalent in 42.2% of professionals, with higher prevalence among nurses (65.0%), who worked during the day shift (55.2%) and who had worked for more than eight years in palliative care (45.1%). Only the variables "position" and "living alone" showed a significant association with medium/high stress. Conclusion: According the results, institutions must develop psychological and occupational interventions that can reduce the mental impact generated by nursing work during COVID-19.Increased stress was found among nurses, as they are involved in care and bureaucratic issues, which adds to their responsibility to the team, and among professionals who lived alone, due to impact generated by isolation and lack of close family support.