ABSTRACT
The covid-19 pandemic accelerated many digital transformations in Brazil and the world, and one of them was online shopping, which already had an upward trend in revenue and grew even more from 2020 onwards due to the social isolation actions as a way as how to contain the spread of coronavirus. This above-expected increase directly impacted the value and time delivery of online purchases. It is relevant, in this moment of advanced vaccination and return of presidential economic activities, to study whether the dynamics of online shopping tend to remain constant. To characterize the online purchase behavior of Brazilian consumers throughout the pandemic and their intentions of online shopping in the post-pandemic future, as well as their perceptions about the shipping prices and delivery time, questionnaires, were applied to e-shoppers from Brazil. Information was collected regarding the profile of the sample, the isolation situation in the face of the pandemic, the online purchase behavior during the period, and their perceptions about the freight changes. The results indicate that part of the changes in online shopping that occurred during the period of the covid-19 pandemic should remain in the post-pandemic scenario. They also indicate that there is a perception that the shipping prices has increased and that the delivery time has decreased during this period. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
As long as the COVID-19 pandemic is still active in most countries worldwide, rapid diagnostic continues to be crucial to mitigate the impact of seasonal infection waves. Commercialized rapid antigen self-tests proved they cannot handle the most demanding periods, lacking availability and leading to cost rises. Thus, developing a non-invasive, costless, and more decentralized technology capable of giving people feedback about the COVID-19 infection probability would fill these gaps. This paper explores a sound-based analysis of vocal and respiratory audio data to achieve that objective. This work presents a modular data-centric Machine Learning pipeline for COVID-19 identification from voice and respiratory audio samples. Signals are processed to extract and classify relevant segments that contain informative events, such as coughing or breathing. Temporal, amplitude, spectral, cepstral, and phonetic features are extracted from audio along with available metadata for COVID-19 identification. Audio augmentation and data balancing techniques are used to mitigate class disproportionality. The open-access Coswara and COVID-19 Sounds datasets were used to test the performance of the proposed architecture. Obtained sensitivity scores ranged from 60.00% to 80.00% in Coswara and from 51.43% to 77.14% in COVID-19 Sounds. Although previous works report higher accuracy on COVID-19 detection, this research focused on a data-centric approach by validating the quality of the samples, segmenting the speech events, and exploring interpretable features with physiological meaning. As the pandemic evolves, its lessons must endure, and pipelines such as the proposed one will help prepare new stages where quick and easy disease identification is essential.
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 pandemic motivated a reorganization of healthcare institutions, which may have led to a negative impact on cancer patients' treatment. This study compared the pathological response (PR) rate to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in breast cancer (BC) patients who underwent treatment before (BCv) and during (DCv) the COVID-19 pandemic at our institution.
ABSTRACT
The dynamics of COVID-19 contagion investigated in Sao Luis-MA, Brazil, is based on the SIR model. Sao Luis was the first city in Brazil to implement the lockdown to control the disease. The SIR model's definition and properties are presented in addition to the ways of estimating its parameters. The estimation of their values is due to a database released on the Maranhao State Health Department website during the period March 20 to July 2, 2020. The analysis of the proliferation of the disease shows the evolution of the COVID-19 in the city. The graphs illustrate that result.
ABSTRACT
Since December 2019, the world has been fighting the SARS-CoV2 virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Little is known about vaccines and forms of treatment at this point. However, the importance of preventing transmission is very clear, and one of the main measures is social isolation. Major sports tournaments, including soccer championships, have been suspended or cancelled due to COVID-19, on the grounds of our understanding of the importance of social isolation. Accordingly, large clubs have handed over their stadiums for the construction of field hospitals, and have encouraged health care by providing guidance on hygiene and social distancing. The involvement of soccer in the prevention of this pandemic is due to the fact that its managers understand the importance of this sport in the process, and its influence on fans and players. Over the years, soccer has incorporated scientific and technological knowledge into the game, which has frequently served as a role model for other types of sport and for the population. Therefore, in these extreme times of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no reason to believe it would be any different, and standpoints taken by soccer teams serve as an example and reiterate their role in the educational commitment to society and respect for government authorities. As a result, a protocol was drawn up for the resumption of training, in which all recommendations to be followed by players, managers/backroom staff and employees are in accordance with official health agencies of the national and international government. In other words, the resumption of training is subject to the authorization of government authorities. Level of evidence III;Descriptive study. © 2020, Redprint Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to adapt and verify the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, from the data collection conducted with professionals who work directly in the fight against COVID-19 in Brazil. A total of 232 professionals participated (Mage = 32.9;SD = 7.6), most of them female (68.1%), who answered the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale instruments and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The adaptation process allowed identifying the content validity of the Brazilian versions and exploratory factorial analyses, followed by correlation studies showing evidence of internal structure validity and in relation to other (convergent) Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale variables, which presented equally satisfactory reliability rates. Thus, the Brazilian versions of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale scales were made available with satisfactory psychometric qualities for use in the research and assessment of psychological aspects of health professionals. © 2022, Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Campinas. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To describe the recommendations, physical characteristics, disinfection methods and efficacy of the use of homemade face masks to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, SciELO, and Google Scholar, in addition to the official recommendations for the use of masks. Results: Thirty-one references were included. Fabric filtration efficiency ranged from 5% to 98%. The filtration efficacy of three layered 100% cotton fabric face masks ranged from 70% and 99% in vitro studies. Homemade, surgical, and respirator masks showed breathability between 2.2 and 3.0 Pascal. The capacity to reduce the spread of microorganisms by people wearing homemade face masks was three times lower when compared to those wearing surgical masks, although this capacity was higher when compared to those who did not wear masks. Conclusion: The breathability of homemade masks proved to be adequate, while the filtration ability seemed to be lower than that of surgical masks, but it was better than not wearing any masks at all. There is no evidence to support the efficacy and effectiveness of homemade masks.