Educators Learning Lessons From Multilingual Family Engagement Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

We report on a project to support teachers and district administrators working with multilingual learners as they deepened relationships and understandings with multilingual families in five Oregon school districts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which radically shifted the ways educators engaged with students' families, we repurposed this ongoing research to answer the question: How did teachers' and supporting administrators' conceptions of and actions to promote multilingual family engagement shift in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Further influenced by the concurrent national protests for racial justice, we consider how teachers and administrators engaged in liberatory work as they questioned structures that had previously seemed inevitable or unproblematic. Framed using Harro's cycle of liberation, we discuss lessons learned based on systematic data collected from both teachers and administrators from multiple districts and multiple time points before and during pandemic-impacted schooling.

Telmisartan Nanosuspension for Inhaled Therapy of COVID-19 Lung Disease and Other Respiratory Infections.

Vaccine hesitancy and the occurrence of elusive variants necessitate further treatment options for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Accumulated evidence indicates that clinically used hypertensive drugs, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), may benefit patients by mitigating disease severity and/or viral propagation. However, current clinical formulations administered orally pose systemic safety concerns and likely require a very high dose to achieve the desired therapeutic window in the lung. To address these limitations, we have developed a nanosuspension formulation of an ARB, entirely based on clinically approved materials, for inhaled treatment of COVID-19. We confirmed in vitro that our formulation exhibits physiological stability, inherent drug activity, and inhibitory effect against SARV-CoV-2 replication. Our formulation also demonstrates excellent lung pharmacokinetics and acceptable tolerability in rodents and/or nonhuman primates following direct administration into the lung. Thus, we are currently pursuing clinical development of our formulation for its uses in patients with COVID-19 or other respiratory infections.

COVID 19 – to visit or not to visit in a hospice setting?

IntroductionWhen COVID-19 arrived in the UK, hospitals and many hospices closed their doors to visiting. Our Hospice maintained visiting throughout the pandemic, although in a restricted fashion with strict personal protective equipment (PPE) use and other mitigating measures in place. The aim of this analysis was to determine if visiting can be safely maintained in a hospice setting during a pandemic. Patients had COVID-19 tests when clinically indicated and additionally from May 2020 were routinely screened on admission.MethodA retrospective analysis of Electronic Care Records for hospice inpatients between 27th February 2020 (first COVID-19 case in Northern Ireland) and 1st September 2021 (18 months). Key demographics, length of stay and number of COVID-19 swabs per patient, along with the result, were analysed and compared with visiting restrictions at the time to identify any trends.Results484 patient’s records were reviewed with 465 included in the final analysis. 52% were female with average age 68 (range 17- 97). The majority had an oncological diagnosis and 31% received end of life care. 650 COVID-19 swabs were performed over this period (range 0–8). A total of 7 swabs were positive (0.01%), however 4 of these were on admission i.e. COVID-19 contracted prior to admission. Two of the 3 positive results during admission were during the first month of the pandemic, prior to many restrictions. Overall, patients who acquired COVID-19 in the hospice was less than 1% (0.65%). There were no staff outbreaks during the period.ConclusionPatients were not put at significantly increased risk of COVID-19 by maintaining visiting and the benefits of doing this are likely to be substantial for both patients and their families. This has great relevance going forward as COVID-19 remains an ongoing issue and perhaps the greatest intervention is maintaining the strict use of PPE.

A Recombinant Subunit Vaccine Induces a Potent, Broadly Neutralizing, and Durable Antibody Response in Macaques against the SARS-CoV-2 P.1 (Gamma) Variant.

FDA-approved and emergency use-authorized vaccines using new mRNA and viral-vector technology are highly effective in preventing moderate to severe disease; however, information on their long-term efficacy and protective breadth against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants of concern (VOCs) is currently scarce. Here, we describe the durability and broad-spectrum VOC immunity of a prefusion-stabilized spike (S) protein adjuvanted with liquid or lyophilized CoVaccine HT in cynomolgus macaques. This recombinant subunit vaccine is highly immunogenic and induces robust spike-specific and broadly neutralizing antibody responses effective against circulating VOCs (B.1.351 [Beta], P.1 [Gamma], and B.1.617 [Delta]) for at least three months after the final boost. Protective efficacy and postexposure immunity were evaluated using a heterologous P.1 challenge nearly three months after the last immunization. Our results indicate that while immunization with both high and low S doses shorten and reduce viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tract, a higher antigen dose is required to provide durable protection against disease as vaccine immunity wanes. Histologically, P.1 infection causes similar COVID-19-like lung pathology as seen with early pandemic isolates. Postchallenge IgG concentrations were restored to peak immunity levels, and vaccine-matched and cross-variant neutralizing antibodies were significantly elevated in immunized macaques indicating an efficient anamnestic response. Only low levels of P.1-specific neutralizing antibodies with limited breadth were observed in control (nonvaccinated but challenged) macaques, suggesting that natural infection may not prevent reinfection by other VOCs. Overall, these results demonstrate that a properly dosed and adjuvanted recombinant subunit vaccine can provide protective immunity against circulating VOCs for at least three months.

Evaluation of an Intergenerational and Technological Intervention for Loneliness: Protocol for a Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Social integration and mental health are vital aspects of healthy aging. However, close to half of Canadians older than 80 years report feeling socially isolated. Research has shown that social isolation leads to increased mortality and morbidity, and various interventions have been studied to alleviate loneliness among older adults. This proposal presents an evaluation of an intervention that provides one-on-one coaching, is intergenerational, provides both educational and socialization experiences, and increases technology literacy of older adults to overcome loneliness. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the protocol of a randomized, mixed-methods study that will take place in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if an intergenerational technology literacy program can reduce social isolation and depression in older adults via quantitative and qualitative outcome measures. METHODS: This study is a randomized, mixed-methods, feasibility trial with 2 conditions. Older adults in the intervention condition will receive 1 hour of weekly technological assistance to send an email to a family member, for 8 weeks, with the assistance of a volunteer. Participants in the control condition will not receive any intervention. The primary outcomes are loneliness, measured using the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and depression, measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, both of which are measured weekly. Secondary outcomes are quality of life, as assessed using the Older People's Quality of Life-Brief version, and technological literacy, evaluated using the Computer Proficiency Questionnaire-12, both of which will be administered before and after the intervention. Semistructured interviews will be completed before and after the intervention to assess participants' social connectedness, familiarity with technology, and their experience with the intervention. The study will be completed in a long-term care facility in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Significance was set at P<.05. RESULTS: This study was funded in April 2019 and ethical approval was obtained in August 2019. Recruitment for the study started in November 2019. The intervention began in February 2020 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trial will be restarted when safe. As of March 2020, 8 participants were recruited. CONCLUSIONS: Information and communication technology interventions have shown varying results in reducing loneliness and improving mental health among older adults. Few studies have examined the role of one-on-one coaching for older adults in addition to technology education in such interventions. Data from this study may have the potential to provide evidence for other groups to disseminate similar interventions in their respective communities. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/23767.