ABSTRACT
The abrupt transition to distance learning during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an urgent need for online resources at higher education institutes (HIEs). Creating analogues of traditional full-time courses demanded for competencies and time resources. In this case ready-made massive open online courses (MOOCs) were supposed to be the most obvious and fastest solution for HIEs. However, analytics demonstrated that educational institutions did not consider MOOC a promising option. This contradiction served as an incentive to conduct this research, which includes the analysis of both non-reactive (MOOCs platform analytics) and reactive (online survey and interviews with instructors) data. Based on our research, we can conclude that the reasons for not integrating MOOCs at Russian HIEs during the COVID-19 pandemic are the following: the peculiarities of MOOCs format, low motivation of instructors, administrative risks, and the uncertainty of HIEs' and national policies on MOOCs integration. This article will be useful for those who determine educational policy in Russia, university administrators, methodologists responsible for the development of digital educational technologies in HIEs, as well as researchers of higher education. © 2023 Moscow Polytechnic University. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on many aspects of life, including sexual behaviours and preferences. In this longitudinal study, the authors used attachment theory to investigate changes in an individual's sexual desire for their partner as well as changes in their sexual desire for someone other than their primary romantic partner (extradyadic desire) over the first wave of the pandemic in Canada. Based on past research that has shown that avoidant individuals tend to avoid intimacy, the authors reasoned that increased contact with their romantic partner due to physical distancing guidelines and lockdown rules would contribute to avoidant individuals' experiencing less sexual desire for their partner and greater extradyadic desire over time. In contrast, individuals high on attachment anxiety tend to seek proximity, especially during times of stress. The authors predicted that individuals' sexual desire for their partner would increase and their extradyadic desire would decrease. They tested these hypotheses using a cohabiting, dyadic sample (N = 308 individuals);study participants were contacted at 1-month intervals for three successive months and asked to complete an online survey. Our hypotheses were partially supported. As predicted, individuals high on attachment avoidance experienced higher levels of extradyadic desire, and individuals high on attachment anxiety reported lower extradyadic desire over time. Contrary to predictions, however, neither attachment pattern was associated with changes in sexual desire for the partner. The authors examine the theoretical implications of these findings, highlighting the need for a more fine-grained assessment of stress and the interaction between stress and attachment orientations in future research.Copyright © Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, 2023.
ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a major health crisis affecting several nations. Such widespread outbreaks are associated with adverse mental health consequences. Objective(s): To conduct a survey-based assessment of mental health among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aimed at identifying severity levels of depression and anxiety, stressors related to the pandemic, and barriers students experienced in handling the pandemic-related stress. Method(s): An analytical cross-sectional study was chosen as the study design for this research to study the association between demographic social and mental health among medical students during the pandemic COVID-19. Result(s): The results of this study were collected by respondents through questionnaires as the respondents were needed to answer about 16 questions and the main question was asked mostly about their mental health condition during the pandemic COVID-19. 101 respondents participated in the study. Discussion(s): the impact of COVID-19 on mental health among medical students has been studied. Due to the long-lasting pandemic situation and numerous measures such as lockdown and stay-at-home orders, COVID-19 brings negative impacts on higher education of medical students, self and social isolation, disconnection from friends and teachers resulting in more medical students than ever experiencing feelings of helplessness, isolation, grief, anxiety and depression. The issue of mental health is not only relevant but crucial. Demand for health support services has increased exponentially as a result. Conclusion(s): In this study, severity levels of depression and anxiety, stressors related to the pandemic, and barriers students experienced in handling the pandemic-related stress have increased due to many factors such as social isolation, own health and the health of loved ones, financial difficulties, suicidal thoughts, depressive thoughts, class workload, changes in living environment, eating patterns and sleeping habits.Copyright © RJPT. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of COVID-19 caused human activities to be affected in one way or another. As a result, measures were put in place by various national governments to reduce the spread of the virus. This paper examines adherence to COVID-19 guidelines in Nigeria among itinerant traders, using a total of 40 eligible participants from selected local governments in Enugu state, Nigeria. The study adapted purposive sampling techniques to identify eligible participants;while in-depth interview was the method used for data collection. Among other findings, result shows that the control measures rolled out by government were seriously undermined. Nomadic traders, driven by economic gains, played covert role in the spread of the virus. This signalled a weak link in the efforts to curb the spread of the virus in Nigeria. The study contributes to a more exact diagnosis of the weak link in the efforts to contain the spread of the virus and how the quest for economic gains drove the abuse of COVID-19 mitigation protocols with its attendant health implications. It therefore recommends that government should strengthen the institutional capacity for detection and control, and provide the critical infrastructural facilities that will make for intensified surveillance in future epidemic or pandemic outbreak. Economic incentives and the effective monitoring of protocol enforcers saddled with the responsibility of enforcing government directives are also encouraged in order to curb compromise. © 2023, Fudan University.
ABSTRACT
The conditions of health-care professionals including dental fraternity have been extremely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dental care workers have suspended all routine dental activities with the fear of transmission of the virus from aerosol-generating dental procedures. They have also stood with medical care professionals as frontline warriors because of the exponentially overburdened of the COVID-19-positive patients worldwide. With the available literature, the aim of this article is to address the trajectories of the life of oral health workers during the outbreak of COVID-19 as well as to analyze what measures shall be taken to improve their overall physical, mental, social, and economic health and precautions while working in dental environment.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Among ICU patients with COVID-19, it is largely unknown how the overall outcome and resource use have changed with time, different genetic variants, and vaccination status. METHODS: For all Danish ICU patients with COVID-19 from March 10, 2020 to March 31, 2022, we manually retrieved data on demographics, comorbidities, vaccination status, use of life support, length of stay, and vital status from medical records. We compared patients based on the period of admittance and vaccination status and described changes in epidemiology related to the Omicron variant. RESULTS: Among all 2167 ICU patients with COVID-19, 327 were admitted during the first (March 10-19, 2020), 1053 during the second (May 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021) and 787 during the third wave (July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022). We observed changes over the three waves in age (median 72 vs. 68 vs. 65 years), use of invasive mechanical ventilation (81% vs. 58% vs. 51%), renal replacement therapy (26% vs. 13% vs. 12%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (7% vs. 3% vs. 2%), duration of invasive mechanical ventilation (median 13 vs. 13 vs. 9 days) and ICU length of stay (median 13 vs. 10 vs. 7 days). Despite these changes, 90-day mortality remained constant (36% vs. 35% vs. 33%). Vaccination rates among ICU patients were 42% as compared to 80% in society. Unvaccinated versus vaccinated patients were younger (median 57 vs. 73 years), had less comorbidity (50% vs. 78%), and had lower 90-day mortality (29% vs. 51%). Patient characteristics changed significantly after the Omicron variant became dominant including a decrease in the use of COVID-specific pharmacological agents from 95% to 69%. CONCLUSIONS: In Danish ICUs, the use of life support declined, while mortality seemed unchanged throughout the three waves of COVID-19. Vaccination rates were lower among ICU patients than in society, but the selected group of vaccinated patients admitted to the ICU still had very severe disease courses. When the Omicron variant became dominant a lower fraction of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients received COVID treatment indicating other causes for ICU admission.
ABSTRACT
Social media platforms have become a vital source of information during the outbreak of the pandemic (COVID-19). The phenomena of fake information or news spread through social media have become increasingly prevalent and a powerful tool for information proliferation. Detecting fake news is crucial for the betterment of society. Existing fake news detection models focus on increasing the performance which leads to overfitting and lag generalizability. Hence, these models require training for various datasets of the same domain with significant variations in the distribution. In our work, we have addressed this overfitting issue by designing a robust distribution generalization of transformers-based generative adversarial network (RDGT-GAN) architecture, which can generalize the model for COVID-19 fake news datasets with different distributions without retraining. Based on our experimental findings, it is evident that the proposed model outperforms the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) models in terms of performance.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The positive diagnosis of COVID-19 in paucisymptomatic patients is a priority to minimize the spread of the disease. The absence of respiratory manifestations makes diagnosis difficult and facilitates the spread. Given this situation, it is necessary to adopt technical solutions that allow diagnosis in this type of patient. Objective: Describe rheumatological and dermatological image processing software in the diagnosis of paucisymptomatic patients with COVID-19.Methods: A software based on the algorithm for the diagnostic approach of COVID-19 in paucisymptomatic patients was designed and developed. The procedure consisted of three stages;the first one was related to image processing and all its related elements;the second stage was oriented towards the identification of questions as a medical anamnesis. The third stage focused on the identification and analysis of laboratory test results and the definition of final recommendations based on the final result.Results: A software was designed based on an algorithm that includes three stages and is based on coincidence percentages, guiding the user in the behavior to follow depending on the coincidence percentage. It begins with the capture of an image and is followed by clinical, epidemiological and laboratory aspects of COVID-19. Conclusions: The algorithm for the diagnostic approach to COVID-19 is easy to use, low cost of use, and easy to implement, making it a technological tool at the service of human health to stop the spread of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Background We described the demographic/clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcome of patients with COVID-19 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) during the first wave to inform evidence-based responses during subsequent waves in Africa. Methodology We conducted retrospective cohort analyses of adult patients ≥18 years with PCR or GeneXpert-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Data was extracted from patients' medical records from 1st May to 30th September 2020. Based on disease severity, patients were either hospitalized (82) or managed at home (90). Logistic regression and cox-proportional hazard models were used to determine predictors of severe COVID-19 disease and in-hospital mortality, respectively. Results Of 172 cases, 113 (65.7%) were males, and the mean age was 45 ± 19 years. The majority were urban dwellers (72.1%), 19.8% had a positive history of contact with a confirmed/suspected case, 15.7% were healthcare workers while 68 (39.5%) had co-morbidities. Symptomatic patients comprised 73.3% of cases. Fever (p=0.02) and breathlessness (p=0.03) were commoner in males while diarrhoea (p<0.01) was predominant in females. On multivariate analysis, severe COVID-19 was predicted by the presence of co-morbidity (AOR= 14.44, 95% C.I= 4.79-43.58, p <0.001)and prior antibiotic/antimalarial use (AOR= 6.35, 95% C.I= 2.24-18.05, p =0.001) while being a non-healthcare worker (AOR= 0.18, 95% C.I= 0.04-0.78, p=0.02) was protective. However, none of the variables assessed predicted in-hospital mortality. Conclusion Our findings underscore the contributions of demographic variables in COVID-19 transmission and gender differences in clinical presentation. Underlying comorbidity likewise prior antimicrobial use increased the likelihood of severe COVID-19. The absence of mortality predictors in our study may be related to the relatively small number of deaths. Further studies are recommended to unravel the predominance of severe disease in healthcare workers. © 2023 Kamuzu University of Health Sciences.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic which has claimed millions of lives since its outbreak in year 2019. While mass immunization is crucial to get the pandemic under control, it continues to confront challenges which include public hesitation about the new vaccines. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, practices and concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccines among patients in Sibu Hospital. Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire, self-administered by the patients and caregivers who visited Outpatient, Inpatient or Drive Through Pharmacy, Sibu Hospital during office hours from December 2021 to January 2022. Data were collected using convenient sampling method and analysed using simple descriptive analyses. Result(s): 465 participants who completed the survey were included in the final analysis. 53.0%, 45.9% and 61.8% of participants understood that pregnant ladies, lactating mothers and chronic diseases patients were eligible to be vaccinated respectively. Perception regarding COVID-19 vaccination was mostly influenced by social media platforms (45.9%) and healthcare providers (40.8%). Participants felt motivated to receive COVID-19 vaccine as it was available for free (89.0%). More than half (61.3%) were concerned about COVID-19 vaccine as it was rapidly developed and approved. COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer was the most preferred choice (57.5%) followed by Sinovac (36.5%). Conclusion(s): This study provided insights on different drivers and barriers of the population from Sibu Hospital towards COVID-19 vaccination. Multifaceted approaches to empower the public to reduce the knowledge, attitude, practices and concerns gaps on COVID-19 vaccination are needed to get the pandemic under control.
ABSTRACT
According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is the fastest spreading and most contagious disease that has ever plagued humanity. Recently, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control officially announced through its website that the Delta variant as well as the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus are in Nigeria and have killed scores of people. Scholarly works on the novel COVID-19 have flooded the internet, especially to create awareness in the urban centres. The rural areas use traditional town criers on radio. Therefore, this paper focuses on the role and effectiveness of traditional town criers using the indigenous Yoruba language in creating awareness of COVID-19 on radio among the rural residents in Lagos who are mostly illiterate in English. Studies have shown that rural Africa has a long history of failing in its health campaigns where planners have not considered the basic elements underlying traditional communication systems such as the town crier in the dissemination of information. Technological determinism was the theoretical framework utilized in this study, and observation was used as a method for data collection. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Phillip Mpofu, Israel A. Fadipe, and Thulani Tshabangu;individual chapters, the contributors.
ABSTRACT
Aim: COVID-19 has the potential to affect many systems and organs, resulting in serious clinical symptoms that necessitate admission to the intensive care unit. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between CAR, other laboratory findings, comorbidities, and mortality in patients infected with the original SARSCoV-2 or other variants.Materials and Methods: The data of 368 patients admitted to the intensive care unit with COVID-19 pneumonia between March 2020 and July 2021 were analyzed. These patients were divided into two groups. The first group included [(OC) Original SARSCoV-2 ] COVID-19 infected patients in the first period of the pandemic. The second group [(OV) Other Variants] included patients with COVID-19 infection due to other variants.Results: The mean age (Mean +/- SD) in the OC group was 69.79 +/- 11.77 years. The mean age of the patients in OC was higher than in the OV group (p=0.001). The most common comorbid disease in both groups was Hypertension (54.1%, 48.8%), followed by diabetes mellitus (DM) (30.2%, 31.6%). The mean age of the survivors in the OC and OV groups was lower (64.53 +/- 13.04, 57.85 +/- 16.78, p=0.001, p=0.001, respectively). It was observed that albumin and lymphocyte counts were lower in the deceased, while LDH, CRP, Neutrophil, procalcitonin, NLR and CAR were higher (p<0.05). Discussion: In critically ill COVID-19 patients, high CAR and NLR are good predictors of mortality. In the period when the variants were dominant, the mean age of the patients and the length of stay in the intensive care unit were lower.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the economy, particularly the downsizing of operations and retrenchment, which affected various sectors. Post-pandemic prompted a shift in the perspective;rather than waiting for jobs, it seems that individuals needed to become job creators. In this regard, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is believed to be a prominent field of study that could facilitate graduates to become job creators. Nevertheless, some of graduates would not consider owning businesses after graduation, indicating the difficulty of becoming job creators. Therefore, this study emphasising TVET program built and validated a Talent Management Module (MTM) involving creation (Job Creator) based on the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory. It comprised both quantitative and qualitative phases. First, a series of interviews were carried out to explore the perceptions of talent management (TM) among seven experts. Second, a quantitative study involving data interpretation analysis based on the validity of the module content was obtained using the interview technique. Third, the module content validation process involved seven experts comprising academics and Malaysian career academy entrepreneurs whose backgrounds included entrepreneurship and TVET. The results showed that nine variables were involved, namely 1) Communication, 2) Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills, 3) Teamwork Skills, 4) Continuous Learning and Information Management, 5) Entrepreneurial Skills, 6) Leadership Skills, 7) Professional Ethics and Moral, 8) Career Adaptability, and 9) Digital technology. Overall, MTM that was built in this study was consented to by the appointed experts. The development of this module might better be considered to encourage graduates to create prospective job creation that could reduce the unemployment rate. Therefore, the proposed MTM might be an appropriate solution to address unemployment through the identified important components in the implementation and empowerment of career programmes across TVET graduates.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Considering the classical vaccine development processes, COVID-19 vaccines were developed in a concise period. However, safety cannot be compromised for the rapid development of vaccines. Therefore, we aimed to in-vestigate and compare the incidence of acute adverse events between vaccine doses and vaccine types in patients who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 and those who were not.Method: The study was conducted prospectively between July 1, 2021, and October 31, 2021. Participants who were vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and the Sinovac inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac) were recruited in the cohort study. The cohort was divided into two vaccine categories and sub-branches: those with COVID-19 in each vaccine category and those without. Eight days after the vaccination, all participants in the cohort were provided with an assessment questionnaire regarding the adverse events they experienced.Results: A total of 1607 vaccine doses were followed in the study, 18.7% (n=301) of which were the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and 81.3% (n=1306) were the BNT162b2 vaccine. According to the statistics, the risk of developing adverse events with the BNT162b2 vaccine was shown to be 5.8 times higher than the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (OR: 5.83;95% CI: 4.34-7.84). In addition, the risk of suffering such adverse events was 1.6 times higher in patients who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 (OR: 1.61;95% CI: 1.29-2.00) as opposed to patients who were not.Conclusion: Based on the results, we can conclude that acute adverse events were more prevalent after vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine than the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Furthermore, compared to those who did not have COVID-19, it was evident that patients who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 were prone to experience mild, temporary, and manageable adverse events.
ABSTRACT
The world is being threatened by severe humanitarian crisis due to COVID Pandemic. The human civilisation is desperately searching for vaccine or antibiotics which will act as the saviour of mankind. But the discovery of vaccine is not the end of the story but it would open up the curtain for a new set of challenges particularly in the developing countries like India. The country needs to develop strategies how best and how fast the vaccine could be administered among the elephantine population. This paper has attempted to deliberate strategic options to eradicate the COVID Captive India effectively and efficiently.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the economy, particularly the downsizing of operations and retrenchment, which affected various sectors. Post-pandemic prompted a shift in the perspective;rather than waiting for jobs, it seems that individuals needed to become job creators. In this regard, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is believed to be a prominent field of study that could facilitate graduates to become job creators. Nevertheless, some of graduates would not consider owning businesses after graduation, indicating the difficulty of becoming job creators. Therefore, this study emphasising TVET program built and validated a Talent Management Module (MTM) involving creation (Job Creator) based on the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory. It comprised both quantitative and qualitative phases. First, a series of interviews were carried out to explore the perceptions of talent management (TM) among seven experts. Second, a quantitative study involving data interpretation analysis based on the validity of the module content was obtained using the interview technique. Third, the module content validation process involved seven experts comprising academics and Malaysian career academy entrepreneurs whose backgrounds included entrepreneurship and TVET. The results showed that nine variables were involved, namely 1) Communication, 2) Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills, 3) Teamwork Skills, 4) Continuous Learning and Information Management, 5) Entrepreneurial Skills, 6) Leadership Skills, 7) Professional Ethics and Moral, 8) Career Adaptability, and 9) Digital technology. Overall, MTM that was built in this study was consented to by the appointed experts. The development of this module might better be considered to encourage graduates to create prospective job creation that could reduce the unemployment rate. Therefore, the proposed MTM might be an appropriate solution to address unemployment through the identified important components in the implementation and empowerment of career programmes across TVET graduates. © Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Publisher's Office.
ABSTRACT
Sumatra Island is the third largest island with the second largest population in Indonesia which has the following eight provinces: Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Bengkulu and Lampung. The connectivity of these eight provinces in the economic field is very strong. This encourages high mobility between these provinces. During this Covid-19 pandemic, the high mobility between provinces affects the level of spread of Covid-19 on the island of Sumatra. The central government ordered local governments to implement a community activity restriction program called PPKM. In this article, a study is conducted on the impact of the PKKM program on the spread of Covid 19 on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The spread of Covid-19 is modeled using the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Death (SIRD) model which considers the mobility factor of the population. The model parameters were estimated using Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC). The results of the study using this model show that the application of PKKM in several provinces in Sumatra can reduce the level of spread of COVID-19. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, the most common serious clinical manifestation of the coronavirus infection being pneumo-nia. Unfortunately, the optimal treatment approach is still uncertain. However, many studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of several medications in the treatment of COVID-19 infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) + favipiravir (FAV) treatment regimen and HCQ alone by comparing the patient's clinical response and laboratory results on the fifth day of treatment in patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection. Patients and Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in Malatya Training and Research Hospital between March 2020 and July 2020. The study included 69 patients with confirmed COVID-19 with pneumonia. The patients were divided into 2 groups, those receiving HCQ alone and those receiving the HCQ + FAV combination. Result(s): A total of 69 patients were included in the study, and the mean age was 60.09+/-15.56 years. A statistically significant decrease was observed in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, at the end of the fifth day, in patients who received HCQ + FAV treatment (p=0.002), whereas there was no decrease in CRP levels in patients who received HCQ treatment alone. In addition, an increase in lymphocyte count and a better fever response was observed at the end of the fifth day in patients who received HCQ + FAV (p=0.008). However, there was no statistical difference between both treatment regimens in terms of hospital stay and treatment results (p=0.008, p=0.744, p=0.517). Conclusion(s): Although the combination of HCQ + FAV treatment was observed to be effective on CRP levels and fever response in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, there was no difference in terms of hospital stay and discharge.Copyright © 2022, Dr. Mladen Stojanovic University Hospital. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of pneumothorax (PX), a rare complication of COVID-19, on mortality. Method(s): All patients admitted to our hospital with the diagnosis of COVID-19 were screened, and patients who developed PX were included in the study. Patient demographics data, number of days of hospitalization for comorbidities, day and duration of thorax tube insertion, and laboratory findings during hospitalization were recorded by scanning the hospital automation system and patient records. Result(s): For our study, 7485 patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of COVID-19 were screened in intensive care unit. PX was detected in 32 (0.296%) of the patients. About 59.4% of these patients included in the study were male. DM was the most common comorbid condition at 56.3%. In these patients, the mortality rate was found to be 90.6%. Conclusion(s): The data obtained indicate that PX, a COVID-19 complication, leads to a serious increase in mortality. We believe that using protective ventilation methods to avoid the development of pneumotarax will help to reduce mortality.© Copyright 2022 by The Cardiovascular Thoracic Anaesthesia and Intensive Care - Available online at www.gkdaybd.org.