Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Gambling

Introduction. Gambling is a well-known social issue, which seems to address immediate needs of a large portion of population in the entire world. Throughout various periods of curfews enacted by the medical authorities, the society experiences various challenges, a fact that puts a great amount of psychological pressure on gamblers and their families, that is rather difficult to he asssessed. Aim. The presentation seeks to assess the effects of anti-pandemic social measures, especially those imposed after March 2020, on mental wellfare and behaviour of bettors. By assessing the intentions and measures related to sport competitions in the near future, we tried to identify the overall impact on pending routines and lifestyle from any available data. Materials and method. The paper found sources in the psychological and medical literature in order to identify spending routines of bettors and pathological behaviours, as expressed in DSM-5. The paper also discusses the factors introduced into society by coronavirus and the restrictions that accompanied the phenomenon of gambling. Sources from the international media are used to assess the intended measures upon gambling industry and the possible general impact on the mental health of the Romanian population. Results. The changes of some social routines, imposed upon population in the context of coronavirus, are simply supposed to be accompanied by increases in depression and anxiety. The new economic and societal challenges bring with them the risk of increasing mental health disturbances among the gamblers. Conclusion. Worldwide gambling spending has decreased during the pandemic. Various attempts of assessing whether this is a bad phenomenon or not should take into consideration the amount of money left in the economy by these measures, the unpaid taxes from a reduced activity in gambling, the psychiatric impact upon diagnosed gamblers. New lockdowns imposed on the population are possible in the near future, so better ways to deal with the impact upon gamblers are necessary.

Ethanol Dependence in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Comparative Study between January-March 2019-2021

In Romania, alcohol is the most used substance of abuse and at the same time the most culturally acceptable, the abusive consumption of ethanol by individuals has a significant role in increasing the number of presentations in psychiatric services. The objective of this paper is to establish a comparison in the dynamics of presentations of chronic alcohol users at the 'Elisabeta Doamna' Psychiatric Hospital in Galati, from January 1 to March 30, 2019-1 to Jarman, 30, March 2021. The retrospective study consists ire comparing the group of patients presented between January 1, 2019 and March 30, 2019 with the group of patients presented between January 1, 2021 and Man.h 30, 2021 in the 'Elisabeta Doamna' Psychiatriy Hospital in Galati. The inclusion criteria were: county, gender, age, date of presentation, time of presentation, environment of origin, disorders related to alcohol consumption (F10.0-F10.9). All patients with psychiatric diagnoses who did not have akohol-related disorders were excluded. The data was processed statistically ruing Microsoft Qflice-Excel, SOFA - Statistics Open For All version 1.5.4. Between January and March 2019 there were 671 presentations due to alcohol-related disorders, of which 222 (33.1%) patients from rural areas and 449 (66.9%) from urban areas, compared to the period January-Marl 2021, when the total number of presentations due to alcohol-related disorders was 660, of which 204 (31%) patients were from rural areas, and 456 (69%) came from urban areas.

Outcomes of patients with cancer infected with SARS-CoV-2: results from the Ion Chiricuta Oncology Institute series.

BACKGROUND: The evolution of COVID-19 is a controversial topic in cancer patients. They have been designated by international organizations as a vulnerable population at greater risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2 and having a more severe clinical outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Active screening at our institution became routine early in the pandemic. We have examined the clinical data of 341 cancer patients, with a positive RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 test between April 2020 and February 2021, in the prevaccination era. RESULTS: During the infection, 40.5% remained asymptomatic, 27.6% developed a mild form, 20.5% had a moderate form, and 11.4% a severe/critical form of COVID-19 that led to death in 7.6% of cases. Treatment was adapted to disease severity according to national guidelines. In our series, the incidence of COVID-19 infection was lower in cancer patients compared with the general population (P < 0.001), however, the mortality rate was higher in cancer patients in comparison with the general population (7.6% versus 2.9%, P < 0.001). The prognostic factors were assessed by three distinct univariate and multivariate analyses: (i) evolution to a moderate or severe/critical clinical manifestation, (ii) clinical worsening (severe/critical form or death), and (iii) overall survival. In the multivariate analysis, the prognostic factors associated with the evolution to a moderate or severe/critical clinical manifestation were: performance status (PS) (P < 0.0001) and no active treatment in the previous 3 months (P = 0.031). Factors associated with clinical worsening were: PS (P < 0.0001), peripheral arterial disease (P = 0.03), and chronic liver disease (P = 0.04). Factors associated with impaired overall survival were PS (P < 0.0001), ischemic cardiac disease (P = 0.0126), chronic liver disease (P = 0.001), and radiotherapy (P = 0.0027). CONCLUSION: Our series confirms a more severe evolution for COVID-19 infection in cancer patients, with PS as the most prominent prognostic factor in all three multivariate analyses. By active screening, efforts should be in place to keep cancer units as coronavirus-free sanctuaries.

Health home-monitoring system based on IoT

The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that there is a lot of work to do regarding the integration of digital technologies in healthcare. Actual trending offers the possibility to patients to have permanent knowledge about their health status and not to go to have a general check when some symptoms appear. Internet of Things (IoT) has also reached the medical area and can offer high quality solutions. After this step is taken the data collected and stored locally or remote in the cloud cand be easily reached, analyzed and health monitoring for each patient is much improved. © 2021 IEEE.

THE EFFECTS OF VIRTUAL WORLD CAPTIVITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In recent decades, access to digital technology has increased, and labor productivity has required the acquisition of digital knowledge, so that the same skills used to meet hedonic tendencies, have led to the initiation and amplification of harmful behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted normal activities globally, generating multiple challenges for people's physical and mental health. The adaptation to the new lifestyle, imposed by this pandemic, has increased the use of digital technology, which has led to the development of addictive behavior in some users. The purpose of this work is to bring to the attention of specialists, how the effects of virtual addictions, during the pandemic, act on mental health and unexpectedly change the normal rhythm of life. This work is a synthesis of possible addictive behaviors and mental disorders triggered by the use of digital devices, classified according to: the field in which the addictive behavior is installed, predisposed age groups and the association with pre-existing mental disorders. Changing people's behavior, associated with other stressors, can lead to a multitude of ailments, ranging from mental disorders to changes in compliance in organic diseases. Consequently, addictive behaviors have different intensities, occupy variable durations, have a fluctuating mental consumption. They generate a gradual social dysfunction, to which pre-existing mental suffering is added, and people involved develop disorders requiring the intervention of a specialist in the field of mental health.

Teaching by Practice the Basis of Consensus for Multi-Agent Systems

This paper provides in depth feedback on a new course on consensus for multi-agent systems developed for graduate students. The considered pedagogic approach gives a simple theoretical basis to the students through very few lectures while putting a strong effort into practice and applications. The paper describes how the transition to full remote teaching has been achieved due to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially regarding practical work sessions. Initially planed with aerial robots, practical work sessions have been modified to use a remote online platform for multi-robot experiments, Robotarium from Georgia Tech. To keep lectures and practical work sessions attractive to the students, especially in this remote learning context, a motivating example has been proposed to students, mixing arts and sciences, and consisting in re-creating a choreography from a kite contest video with a multi-robot system. Copyright (C) 2021 The Authors.

Decrease of oncological patients' hospital visits during Covid-19 pandemic;the experience of a tertiary Romanian centre

Purpose: The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has changed the provision of medical services worldwide. We assessed the impact of the pandemic on the oncological patients' visits to a tertiary cancer centre. Methods: We analysed registrations from the administrative data system of in- and outpatients in all of the departments of the Cluj-Napoca Oncology Institute, during March-October 2020, and compared to the same 7-month period of the previous year. Results: The decrease during March-October 2020 was 40.2% for new referrals overall (with the most significant drop in April, of 80%), 52.5% for medical oncology inpatients, 39% for paediatric oncology department inpatients, 69% for radiotherapy inpatients, 34.9% for surgical interventions and 31% decrease of issued pathology reports. The decrease was less important for outpatients: only 10% for medical oncology outpatient department, 33% for radiotherapy and 27% for breast cancer unit outpatients. Imaging investigations were only slightly influenced by the pandemic (reduction of 5% for MRI scans, 19% for mammograms,whereas performed CT scans were even more after the outbreak of COVID-19). Conclusions: Our results show a decrease in the number of patients during the period after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, more for inpatients and less significant for outpatient departments, probably because of the internal circuits reorganization but also because of health care measures taken nationally and locally to limit the spread of the pandemic.