ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic with the characteristics of asymptomatic condition, long incubation period and poor treatment has influenced the entire globe. Coronaviruses are important emergent pathogens, specifically, the recently emerged sever acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the causative virus of the current COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate the virus and curtail the infection risk, vaccines are the most hopeful solution. The protein structure and genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 were processed and provided in record time;providing feasibility to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. In an unprecedented scientific and technological effort, vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been developed in less than one year. This review addresses the approaches adopted for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development and the effectiveness of the currently approved vaccines.Copyright © 2023, Finlay Ediciones. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Saudi Arabia with a higher mortality rate in comparison to other more advanced countries. This study aims to judge the effectiveness of awareness campaigns by assessing the improvement in knowledge regarding breast cancer and attitude towards screening after attending breast cancer awareness campaign, in addition to exploring areas of defective knowledge. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study is a community-based pre-post study. A precampaign questionnaire was distributed among 119 females to assess their knowledge about cancer of breast and attitude towards its screening methods from September 2020 to September 2021. After which an online awareness campaign was conducted due to Covid-19 restriction to educate the participants on breast cancer and its screening methods. This was followed by the distribution of a post-campaign questionnaire to assess improvement in knowledge and attitude. The collected data was then analyzed using Microsoft Excel software and IBM SPSS. Results and Conclusion: A significant increase was observed in the total scores of all participants (p=0.00) along with number of correct answers for knowledge and misconception related questions (p=0.003, p=0.021) after attending the awareness programs. There was a smaller increase in participant percentage with an encouraging attitude towards mammograms than towards BSE after the awareness campaign was conducted. Recommendations: More effective awareness campaigns should be conducted across the Kingdom and females need to be reassured regarding their concerns about mammograms.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is the predominant technique for aortic valve replacements. The COVID19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to hospital procedural and surgical volume and revenue, which could affect patients with aortic stenosis. Hypothesis: The COVID-19 pandemic may have decreased the volume of TAVRs in the United States. Methods: The National Readmission Database (NRD) was reviewed for all adults from 2012 to 2017 who underwent a TAVR procedure based on ICD 9 and 10 coding. A linear regression based on year and quarter was used to project the trend of volume and cost through the end of 2020. Institutional TAVR volume was compared from 2020 to 2019 to generate an estimate of COVID's effect on volume. This trend effect was utilized for the 2020 projections to create national estimates of changes in volume and hospital costs. The NRD weights were used to generate national estimates, charge-cost ratios were used to convert hospital charges to hospital costs, and all monetary values were adjusted to 2020 dollars via the GDP. Results: A total of 172,546 TAVR procedures were performed. TAVR volume has been increasing since 2012 with an estimated 21,516 cases in the last quarter of 2020 (Figure 1A). The linear regression was well fit with a R of 0.995. Similarly, hospital costs of TAVR have been increasing since 2012 with a projected 4.18 billion dollars in 2020 (Figure 1B). The linear regression was also well fit with a R of 0.968. There were two quarters in which hospital volume outperformed predicted values and two in which it underperformed (Figure 1C). Throughout the pandemic, there was a net increase of 1,918 TAVR procedures and an associated increase of 114 million dollars in hospital costs. Conclusions: TAVR volumes have been steadily increasing, with commensurate escalation in hospital hosts. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused minimal derailment to this trend, with an actual increase in volume and hospital costs during this time.