Depression and aggressiveness in the context of COVID-19: impact of the pandemic on university students

Mental health in people is essential to be able to have an optimal life, however, after the pandemic, there have been evidences of crisis states in depression and violence that have increased today. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between aggression and depression in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was descriptive, correlational with a cross-sectional design using the hypothetical deductive method. The sample consisted of 95 university students. The instruments used to collect the data were the Buss and Perry aggressiveness questionnaire;likewise Beck's Depression Inventory - II that was adapted by Espinosa. It was submitted, for its validation under the criterion of content validity, to the evaluation by expert judgment;and to measure reliability, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was used. To contrast the general hypothesis, the non-parametric Spearman's Rho statistic was applied and a score of .437 was obtained between aggressiveness and depression. The correlation between physical aggressiveness and depression was .298, between verbal aggressiveness and depression it was .298, between anger and depression it was .437 and finally between hostility and depression it was .440. It was concluded that aggression and its dimensions are significantly and weakly related to depression.

Analysis of the Online Home Consumption Database Based on Data Mining

In current times where there are smart devices for households, and that apart from having different functions that are helpful in daily household chores, such as being able to maintain a full pantry, and to generate errand lists, in the market these devices have a high cost for this reason is that it is proposed to create a low cost smart device, in this document an analysis is made using data mining, with tensor flow, of the purchases generated by the users, derived from the current situation by the pandemic of the COVID-19, generated an increase in online shopping, this analysis is intended to be a support for online errand shopping to visualize classification and prediction in the comparisons of users. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Epidemiology and Clinical Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Pediatric Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Single-Center Case Experience

Background. The impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among pediatric solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients remains unclear. We sought to characterize the clinical epidemiology and outcomes following SARS-CoV-2 infection among pediatric SOT recipients in Dallas, TX. Methods. Retrospective review of all SOT recipients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infection from March 1, 2020 -March 31, 2021. Demographic, clinical, and outcome data were stratified by transplant type and disease severity. Fischer's exact test and Kruskall-Wallis test were used to evaluate risk factors for more severe disease among hospitalized children. Results. Twenty-six SOT recipients with a median age of 14 years were included in the study. Fifteen (58%) were female, eighteen (69%) were Hispanic and thirteen (50%) were overweight/obese. Median time post-transplant was 3.6 years (1311 days, interquartile range (IQR) 394-2881). Fourteen patients were liver recipients, seven kidney, three heart, and two multiorgan. The majority of patients (65%) had a known community exposure and presented with fever (50%), cough (38%) and GI symptoms (19%). Half of all cases were hospitalized (n=13), with 2 requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission, but no patients required positive pressure ventilation. Median hospital stay was 3 days. Five of the thirteen hospitalized patients were categorized as having moderate disease. No patients developed severe disease and there were no deaths. Older children, as well as children with multiple co-morbidities were noted on univariate analysis to be at higher risk for moderate, as compared to mild, disease. Conclusion. SARS-CoV-2 infection among pediatric SOT recipients are at increased risk for hospital admission but demonstrate an overall mild /moderate disease course. Larger studies are required to elucidate the risk of morbidity between pediatric SOT recipients and immunocompetent children with SARS-CoV-2.

[Correlation between ultrasonography and thorax portable radiography in patients with COVID-19]

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, portable chest radiography (portable CRx) and lung ultrasonography (LUS) have been widely used to follow up hospitalized patients. Yet, it is scarce the information about the relation between the signs observed by means of each method in patients with COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To assess the correlation between concurrent images acquired by LUS and portable CRx during the follow-up of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed 113 LUS and 113 corresponding CRx during the follow-up of 44 patients (30 men/14 women, 30-85 years old) with COVID-19 (RT-qPCR). Images were stored in a picture communication system and were revised by two specialists of each imaging method independently. Statistical analysis was performed using Gamma correlation and t test (significance level of 0.05). RESULTS: The most frequent LUS sign was confluent B lines, and it was related to the most frequent portable CRx signs (ground-glass opacities and consolidations). An inverse relationship was observed between A lines (gas in the lungs) and B7 lines (suggestive of interstitial edema). Confluent B lines also showed a strong inverse correlation with A lines (more frequent confluent B lines were related to low frequent A lines), a moderate inverse correlation with B7 lines, and a mild inverse correlation with B3 lines. CONCLUSION: During the follow-up of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, LUS and portable CRx may complement each other to provide information about lung damage.

Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Infection Among Children with Cancer: A Single-Center Experience

[Formula presented] Background Outcomes of COVID-19 infection among children with underlying malignancy remain unclear, with limited data available to date. Here we report clinical characteristics and outcomes following COVID-19 infection among children with underlying malignancy or a history of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) during the first year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, in Dallas, TX. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed children with a history of malignancy or prior HSCT and positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result between March 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021. Demographic, clinical, and outcome data were reviewed, and analyzed according to underlying condition and disease severity. Results: Forty-six patients with underlying malignancy or HSCT met inclusion criteria. Median age was 9 years, with twenty (43%) female, and twenty-seven (59%) of Hispanic ethnicity. Underlying conditions included Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (67%), Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (9%), HSCT (11%), sarcoma (9%), solid tumors (9%), and Hodgkin's lymphoma (2%). Fifteen subjects (33%) were asymptomatic, with twenty-four children (52%) classified as having mild, five (11%) with severe, and two (4%) with critical COVID-19 disease. The most common symptoms at presentation were fever (46%), cough (39%), and gastroenteritis (19%). Thirty-four children (74%) were hospitalized, with seven (15%) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) care. 17% of patients were admitted for treatment of COVID-19 alone, with other indications including neutropenic fever, relapse, and chemotherapy. Six (13%) patients required non-invasive ventilation, and two patients (4%) required invasive mechanical ventilation. Median length of stay was 9 days (IQR 4.5-24.5), with median ICU stay of 3.5 days (IQR 2-26.7). Seven children (15%) received COVID-19 targeted therapy including steroids, remdesivir or convalescent plasma. Among severe and critically ill children, six (86%) had underlying hematologic malignancies (5 HR ALL, 1 AML), and two (28%) a prior history of HSCT. Two children (4%) died. Thirty-six patients (78%) achieved documented clearance of SARS-CoV-2 by PCR, at median of 43.5 days (IQR 28.7-65.2). Conclusion: Among children with underlying malignancy or a history of HSCT, COVID-19 results in a spectrum of illness ranging from asymptomatic disease to death. Rates of hospitalization are high compared to the general pediatric population, and illness may be complicated by additional factors including co-infection, neutropenic fever, relapse of malignancy and need for chemotherapy. Children with hematologic malignancy or a history of HSCT may be at increased risk for severe disease. Additional studies are urgently needed to elucidate risk factors for severe/critical COVID-19 disease among children with underlying malignancy. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Design of Mobile Application for a Smart Home Nutrition System (SmartNS)

Every day there are more devices or objects that connect to the internet, these devices are found in different areas in the home, health, industry and others, this project is implemented in the internet of things for homes, it is a module called “nutrition”, the which allows you to have a record of diets provided by a nutritionist, this allows reducing costs and food waste because with the mobile application called: Mobile application for smart appliances (EInt), you can obtain the products directly from a preferred provider. Given the situation current due to the COVID-19 pandemic, exits to non-essential situations have been reduced, this prototype pretends to be a support for users when making errand purchases and avoid going out as little as possible. The analysis and design of the device contains several agents, this article describes the nutrition agent, the food ontology, its semantic network. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Multiagent System for Home Appliances on Internet of Things (MAS-HAIoT)

Currently, there are various smart devices for homes, which have different functions that support domestic tasks such as keeping the pantry always full, accessing recipes, and creating shopping list. These devices have a high cost, for this reason, it arises in creating a low-cost smart device, which contains the options described above. In addition to having a module called “nutrition”, with which you can keep a record of meal plans and a diet provided by a nutritionist at a cost minor, for this, a mobile application was created called: Mobile application for smart appliances (MoASa) given the current situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has resulted in many people taking shelter in their homes and taking care measures such as avoiding going out to non-essential situations, this pretends to be a support to carry out grocery shopping and avoid going out as little as possible. The analysis and design of the device contain several agents, this article described the nutrition agent, the food ontology, its semantic network, hardware, and software for communication with multiple applications that support the user. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Quinacrine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 virus infection.

A novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a current outbreak of infection termed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 is currently a global pandemic that may cause close to half a billion deaths around the world. Until now, there is no effective treatment for COVID-19. Quinacrine (Qx) has been used since the 1930s as preventive antimalarial compound. It is a recognized small molecule inhibitor of RNA virus replication, with known anti-prion activity, and identified as a potent Ebola virus inhibitor both in vitro and in vivo. Recently, Qx has showed anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Herein, we review the potential mechanisms associated with quinacrine as an antiviral compound.

New interaction modalities between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians

Due to sanitary restrictions secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic, various interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians have changed. One of them has been the method for promoting medicinal products through academic meetings around diseases of financial interest. A recent modality has been unilateral promotion by the pharmaceutical industry through academic events with the invitation of so-called “experts” for the promotion of a specific drug;these meetings are often biased not towards optimal care of a disease, but rather towards commercial promotion of a specific drug, which may or may not be the best option, without considering associated therapeutic alternatives. The Committee of Ethics and Transparency in the Physician-Industry Relationship, of the National Academy of Medicine, analyzes this new circumstance and proposes some considerations to the medical community.