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Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online lectures are becoming more common in higher education. Specifically, asynchronous online classes have become increasingly popular because of their flexibility. Asynchronous online courses, however, may negatively impact students' academic performance and social development due to the diminished sense of social presence. To explore ways to enhance social presence among students in asynchronous online classes, this paper used a co-design methodology that involved 12 undergraduate students as primary stakeholders. As a result, we developed a design framework for designing in-class interaction to promote social presence in asynchronous online lectures. This framework consists of four high-level elements and sub-categories: interaction topic (direct or peripheral topics related to learning), interaction size (small or entire group), interaction mode (anonymity, synchronicity, instructor involvement), and interaction motivator (lightweightness and entertainment). Our design framework may serve as a guide to future technology for improving asynchronous online classes. © 2023 Owner/Author.
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With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, existing face-to-face activities, especially social activities, have been incorporated as part of online services in the pandemic era. Therefore, the digital divide that continues to change with the development of technology has also become a serious social problem in the aftermath of COVID-19. This study aims to illuminate how the divide in a more digitized society and changes in Internet use caused by COVID-19 affect satisfaction with social participation activities. The analysis revealed that the motivation to use digital devices has a static effect on satisfaction with social participation activities. The variance in Internet social participation due to COVID-19 showed a significant mediating effect between digital motivation and social participation satisfaction. Furthermore, mobile usage skills were found to have static moderating effects between digital motivation and variance in Internet social participation, digital motivation, and satisfaction with social participation. These results suggest that there is a clear gap in social participation according to individual digital capabilities in the spread of information and communication technology services after COVID-19. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Although there have been numerous studies investigating the relationship between religiosity and mental health, research related to religiosity through the Internet and mental health outcomes during the pandemic is still scarce. This study aimed to explore the relationships among online religious activities and interactions of stress, anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea. The results showed that Korean males' religious activities and interactions were important predictors of their mental health and life satisfaction levels, however, the same was not observed for Korean females. The findings suggest implications for future research to improve mental health and facilitate happiness in Korean men and women. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Even as the world continues to be rocked by new COVID-19 variants, everyday life is slowly returning to normal. The crazy stockpiling of groceries and the stay at home mandates seemed to have occurred a lifetime ago, revealing how quickly we have moved on. We muddle through the uncertainty, but by moving on too quickly, we slip back into old ways. By taking our everyday freedoms for granted, we overlook the opportunity to forge new paths. To linger in the suffering evoked by uncertainty, however, is to harness the power of change to craft a more timeless and expansive path. © 2023 SAGE Publications.
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Purpose: Regularly analyzing the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is important to inform policies and strategies for proper management. The present study aimed to esti-mate trends in ASD prevalence according to age and time in Korean children. Methods: We monitored the annual prevalence of ASD in children aged 2 to 18 years based on information from Statistics Korea and the Korean National Health Insurance Service. We estimated changes in prevalence between 2011 and 2021 after stratifying partici-pants into three age groups. Furthermore, we analyzed the prevalence of ASD by birth year. Results: The highest level of prevalence appeared in children aged 6 years, and thereafter, it declined with age. The prevalence of ASD in children aged 2 to 18 years increased from 0.05% in 2011 to 0.12% in 2021. During the same time, the prevalence in preschool children (2 to 5 years) remarkably increased from 0.04% in 2011 to 0.12% in 2021, while the prevalence in adolescents (13 to 18 years) increased from 0.05% in 2011 to 0.09% in 2021. The prevalence of ASD notably increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (2020 to 2021). Among children born between 2011 and 2015, the prevalence of ASD was higher for children with recent birth years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The overall ASD prevalence in children and adolescents in Korea seems to be increasing, especially in preschool children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early and more effec-tive interventions are necessary for Korean children. © 2023 Korean Child Neurology Society.
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The palatine tonsils (hereinafter referred to as "tonsils") serve as a reservoir for viral infections and play roles in the immune system's first line of defense. The aims of this study were to establish tonsil epithelial cell-derived organoids and examine their feasibility as an ex vivo model for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The tonsil organoids successfully recapitulated the key characteristics of the tonsil epithelium, including cellular composition, histologic properties, and biomarker distribution. Notably, the basal layer cells of the organoids express molecules essential for SARS-CoV-2 entry, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and furin, being susceptible to the viral infection. Changes in the gene expression profile in tonsil organoids revealed that 395 genes associated with oncostatin M signaling and lipid metabolism were highly upregulated within 72 h after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Notably, remdesivir suppressed the viral RNA copy number in organoid culture supernatants and intracellular viral protein levels in a dosedependent manner. Here, we suggest that tonsil epithelial organoids could provide a preclinical and translational research platform for investigating SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and transmissibility or for evaluating antiviral candidates.
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Purpose: COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant (KT) recipients is characterized by an unpredictable course and can be life-threatening. Prompt adjustment of immunosuppression and hospitalization when decompensated are potential strategies to increase survival. Our objective is to determine if advanced practice nurse (APN)-driven COVID-19 monitoring would result in better health outcomes for KT recipients. Method(s): We performed a retrospective study on KT patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between 4/1/2020 and 11/30/2021. The patients were stratified into two groups: (1) a control group who initially presented to the emergency department (ED) with COVID-19 symptoms, (2) an intervention group where patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 outside of the ED and followed by the APN team. The APNs monitored this group daily via telephone and/or video call for symptom assessment, immunosuppression adjustment, health counseling, and emotional support. If the patients were distressed, the APNs arranged admission to the nearest hospital or transplant center. Data were analyzed using Pearson Chi-squared for comparisons and linear or logistic regression modeling with adjustment for age, ethnicity, diabetes, and obesity Results: In our cohort, there were 102 KT patients that were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The majority were Hispanic ethnicity and male gender who presented with fever and flu like symptoms. Fourty-four patients required oxygen therapy. Immunosuppression was adjusted earlier in the intervention group . When the APNs recommended hospitalization, those patients experienced less acute kidney injury (AKI), shorter duration of illness, lower readmission rates, and greater survival than the control group. Conclusion(s): In this single transplant center study, KT recipients diagnosed with COVID-19 had better clinical outcomes when intervention occurred in a timely manner by the APN team. Possible explanations include earlier withdrawal of antimetabolites, prompt triage for hospitalization, and enforcing of nursing practices (dietary educations, blood pressure/glucose management, emotional support). Interpretation and generalization of these findings should be cautious due to a small sample size. As more treatment options for COVID-19 emerge, earlier interventions and close monitoring as demonstrated in our APN-driven model has the potential to achieve better health outcomes.
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The COVID-19 pandemic caused physical classes to suddenly transition to online learning all over the globe two years ago, resulting in students becoming more active in online email communication. The emails sent by the students were observed to contain students' concerns and needs for teacher support during the early stages of worldwide online classes due to COVID-19. As such, this study was interested in those email contents that were explored and analyzed through topic modeling, network analysis, and grounded theory. Six hundred twenty-three emails sent by seventy students in physics and math classes were analyzed using InfraNodus. This tool can perform topic modeling and visualize network graphs of verbal text data such as emails. By topic modeling and network graphical analysis, the findings revealed that the main topic clusters of the student emails corpus pertain to class assessments – questions and tests. Moreover, the influential keywords in the network graphs were coded, and the emails representing those keywords were further categorized using grounded theory. Doing so led to the finding that students needed teacher support on the content and supportive pedagogy. Supportive pedagogy needs may include test goals, schedule, content, and procedures, reviewing the test solutions and answers, and providing necessary test accommodations. Further study on teacher support in the online physics class and the effect of delivering teacher support on the student’s performance can be a topic of future research. © 2022 by the authors;licensee Modestum. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has the merit of contributing to regional economic development in tandem with infrastructure investment along economic and transport corridors. However, the issue of its sustainability has been raised due to enormous capital requirements and low profitability. Moreover, the outbreak of the COVID-19 has caused incomparable economic damage and supply chain disruptions worldwide in the form of entry bans, quarantines, trade blockades, and global protectionism, which are barriers to international trade and work against the development of the global value chain (GVC). This paper aims to quantitatively estimate the impact of COVID-19 on GVC adjustment by region and industry and derives policy implications based on the decomposition of value added (VA) and vertical specialisation (VS) trade. It is estimated that the GVC will shrink by 4.8%-20.2% in terms of VS trade depending on various scenarios.
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Medical expenses can aggravate the debt burden of households and in severe cases also lead to household bankruptcy. Using longitudinal data, this study identified various characteristics of medical expenses that could lead to household debt burden. In particular, we investigated whether household debt burden varied according to the beneficiary of medical expenses based on mental accounting. Data of 5007 households (number of observations = 34,071) from 2010 (13th wave) to 2018 (21st wave) surveys of the Korean Labor Panel were analysed using descriptive statistics and a random effect logistic regression model. Descriptive statistics showed that 8.3% of households began to feel debt burden during the survey period. The results of the random effects model revealed that the size of medical expense and debt impacted the probability of debt burden. Although medical expense support for parents or children living separately did not affect the household debt burden significantly, medical expense support for the spouse's parents increased the debt burden probability. The results showed that the household conducted mental accounting and it was driven by the subject with whom the household had a relationship. These results imply the necessity of expanding the medical insurance coverage to reduce the burden of medical expenses, and policies to supplement the gap or decrease in income caused by the occurrence of a medical event.
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Task 1.1D1.1 Determine the effects of neurotrophic factors on skeletal muscle development and acetylcholine receptor AChR cluster preformation on the bioprinted muscle construct 35 completion during this reporting period, 80 total completion a. Establishing the optimal conditions of agrin treatment to efficiently induceAChR cluster pre-formation on human muscle progenitor cells hMPCs in the bioprinted muscle construct b. Optimizing the bioink composition for 3D bioprinting of muscle constructs with hMPCsc. Determining the viability and differentiation efficiency of hMPCs with agrin treatments in bioprinted constructs d. Establishing the effect of neurotrophic factors ciliary neurotrophic factorCNTF and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor GDNF on the hMPC viability and proliferation in the bioprinted muscle construct e. Optimizing the protocol to fabricate PLGA poly-lactic-co-glycolic-acid microspheres as a vehicle for controlled release of neurotrophic factors in the bioprinted muscle constructs f. Evaluating the kinetics of neurotrophic factor release from PLGA microspheres in the bioprinted muscle construct.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe damage to the global tourism industry. However, there is hope that the industry will recover in the near future. This study investigates how the pandemic has affected the peoples' traveling intention and provide implications for accelerating the recovery of the industry. A PLS-SEM analysis of 382 samples confirms the significant effect of COVID-19 risk perception on travel intention while also highlighting the mediating role of perceived effectiveness of COVID-19 protective measures. The study also concludes that there is a significant difference in the perceived protective measure effectiveness-travel intention relation based on accommodation preference.
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Online health communities (OHCs) are spaces where people gather for informational and emotional support around specific medical conditions and concerns. Although OHCs are an active and exciting research area that continuously attracts a wide range of approaches and methodologies, the focus has been mostly on a limited selection of OHCs or medical conditions. At the same time, there are novel challenges that OHCs face, including changes to the medical system resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, increased medical misinformation propagating online, and additional focus on personalized medical advice that is less attainable in traditional medical systems. This workshop will bring together researchers to discuss and produce generalizable lessons about membership, structure, and support in OHCs in the context of these novel changes, generating research agendas for future exploration and design of OHCs. © 2021 ACM.
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Background: Patients receiving procedure sedation in prone position pose significant challenges for anaesthesia providers. While it is important to maintain adequate sedation, constant monitoring of oxygen saturation and end-tidal CO2 are necessary due to the risk of apnoea. A simple combined nasal mask-face tent provided continuous nasal oxygenation and reduced aerosol/ droplet spread during RSI, intubation, and extubation in a COVID-19 positive patient.1-2 It also avoided desaturation and reduced aerosol/droplet spread during difficult intubation/extubation in a morbidly obese patient.1,3 We used it to maintain spontaneous nasal CPAP ventilation/oxygenation in an obese patient with multiple sclerosis (MS) during sacral neuromodulator revision. Case Report: A 66-year-old obese wheel-chair bound female, BMI 32.5kg/m2, former smoker with severe MS, bilateral lower extremity weakness and urinary retention presented for sacral neuromodulator revision under sedation. She had a Mallampati Class III airway and baseline SpO2 of 96%. Several providers were required to place her in the prone position. A modified infant facemask was then secured over her nose with elastic head-straps and connected to the anaesthesia machine/ circuit delivering 4-6 cmH2O CPAP with 4LO2/min (Fig. 1). A face tent covered her face/mouth to reduce aerosol/droplet spread (Fig. 2). She was sedated with 100 mg lidocaine, 50 mg propofol and propofol infusion (50 mcg/kg/min) with fentanyl (25 mcgx4). She maintained spontaneous nasal ventilation and 99-100% SpO2 throughout the 2.5-hour procedure without complication. Discussion: The simple combined nasal mask-face tent maintained spontaneous nasal CPAP ventilation/ oxygenation in a sedated obese MS patient during sacral neuromodulator revision in prone position. It also reduced aerosol/droplet spread amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It may improve patient safety and provide additional provider protection at a low cost. (Figure Presented).