Principal Perspectives on School Staffing Struggles: Finding from the 2022 Learn Together Survey. American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A827-14

In this report, a nationally representative sample of kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) public school principals were asked about their experiences with covering classrooms and hiring staff. In the spring of the 2021-2022 school year, which coincided with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) omicron variant surge, most principals struggled to keep classrooms consistently staffed and many reported that hiring had become more challenging since the previous school year. Principals indicated that a lack of substitute teachers -- not an increase in open teaching positions -- was the main reason for classroom coverage shortages. In addition to day-to-day coverage issues, most principals reported that teacher vacancies were on the rise. Most of these principals believed that vacancies had grown more difficult to fill than in the prior school year, largely because of declining applicant counts. Principals' preferences when hiring teachers lend further insight into potential drivers of hiring challenges. A large majority of principals expressed strong preferences for like-minded teachers whose mindsets aligned with the vision and culture of the schools. Few principals prioritized the diversity of the educator workforce at their schools.

Retrospective analysis of clinical characteristics and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 critically ill patients with or without vascular calcification

Aim To analyze the differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) critically ill patients with or without vascular calcification. Methods COVID-19 critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in February 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. According to the chest CT findings, the patients were divided into vascular calcification group and non-vascular calcification group. The vascular calcification group was further divided into aortic calcification group, coronary calcification group and simultaneous calcification group (both aorta and coronary artery calcification). The clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients were compared in different groups. Results Compared with the non-vascular calcification group, the patients in the vascular calcification group were older and had a higher proportion of hypertension and coronary heart disease, which showed higher levels of leukocyte count, neutro-phil count, C-reactive protein, globulin, lactate dehydrogenase, international normalized ratio, D-dimer, creatinine, crea-tine kinase-MB, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin, myohemoglobin and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, lower levels of lymphocyte count, platelet count, albumin, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and higher risk of death. Compared with aortic calcification group, the outcomes of coronary calcification group and simultaneous calcification group were worse. Conclusion Vascular calcification, especially coronary artery calcification, may be a risk factor for poor prognosis in COVID-19 critically ill patients. © 2022, Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Arteriosclerosis. All rights reserved.

ICT Transformation in Education: Its Impact on Language Teachers' Professional Identities

Rapid and continuous changes in digital technologies have changed both classroom practices and teacher profiles in education. It can be argued that a new context of teaching may lead some teachers to develop a different teacher identity in order to meet the needs of the era. Within this perspective, this case study attempts to explore the impacts of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) revolution in education on teachers' professional identity through the lens of three English instructors from three different contexts in Turkey. The study particularly focuses on reflections of teachers during the pandemic. As a theoretical framework, the study adopts Wenger's (1997) social theory of learning and, within this framework, it discusses these teachers' professional identities in relation to their ICT usage. In particular, three modes of belonging, Engagement, Imagination and Alignment, are underlined. A qualitative approach is employed based on the written history documents of the participants and semi-structured interviews as data collection tools. The findings are gathered with a deductive thematic analysis, and they illustrate that teachers have some external and internal difficulties regarding their ICT usage, and they form a new shape of professional identity mainly through collaboration, community expertise and contributing new ideas in their school contexts. Although the use of new digital technologies mostly enables them to adopt a positive and modern teacher identity in their teaching contexts, it also leads some of them to sometimes question their teacher identity due to their limited ICT knowledge and competence. Thus, the study suggests some implications both for language teachers to invest in their digital identities, and for school administrations to create a friendly atmosphere where the community of expertise can be shared freely among teachers.

Examining perceived levels of stress, burnout, and job satisfaction among play therapists

Work-related stress and burnout have become a popular topic for research studies over the course of many years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of monitoring stress and well-being for workers in a variety of fields. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction among play therapists. We found a strong correlation between perceived stress and burnout among sample participants. We also found a strong negative relationship between these variables and job satisfaction. Based on our findings, we recommend several strategies that supervisors can implement when working with counselors-in-training in order to prevent stress and burnout for this specific therapist population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Myocardium damage and electrocardiogram characteristics of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Zhuhai

Aim To explore the myocardial damage, abnormal electrocardiogram characteristics of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Zhuhai. Methods 84 patients with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (Omicron variant group) admitted to the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 13 to March 20, 2022 were included, and 88 patients with non SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (non-Omicron variant group) from January 17 to February 17, 2020 were included. A retrospective study was conducted to compare myocardial damage, abnormal electrocardiogram and clinical characteristics between the two groups. Results The mean age of patients in Omicron variant group was smaller than that in non-Omicron variant group [(36. 6±15. 6) years vs. (49. 8±14. 3) years, P<0. 01], and the proportion of patients with body temperature, systolic blood pressure and fever at admission was lower than that of non-Omicron variant group (P<0. 05). The neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio [(2. 93 (3. 03, 5. 81) vs. 7. 06 (2. 32, 11. 27), P<0. 001], interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in Omicron variant group were significantly lower than those in non-Omicron variant group (P<0. 01). Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) was negative in Omicron variant group, and the concentrations of cTnI, creatine kinase-MB isozyme (CK-MB) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proB-NP) and the proportion of patients with elevated levels were significantly lower than those of non-Omicron variant group (P<0. 01). The incidence of abnormal electrocardiogram in Omicron variant group was also significantly lower than that in non-Omicron variant group (25. 0% vs. 42. 0%, P = 0. 001), sinus tachycardia, atrial premature beats and T wave changes were the main symptoms. Atrial premature beats, T wave changes, ST segment depression and bundle branch block were the main symptoms in non-Omicron variant group. Conclusions The patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Zhuhai may not have obvious myocardial damage because most of the patients have been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine. The incidence of abnormal electrocardiogram is also significantly lower than that of non-Omicron variant group, mainly sinus tachycardia, atrial premature beats and T wave changes. © 2022, Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Arteriosclerosis. All rights reserved.

Online art therapy: Experiences of art therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic

The lack of literature on online art therapy and research participants' remarks about feeling underprepared to transition to teletherapy underscores that more research must be conducted on the subject. Going forward, graduate-level coursework in the field should address virtual art therapy and training on how to conduct art therapy online should be implemented. Other opportunities to learn about virtual therapy may include consulting with other clinicians and completing online training programs for tele counselling. This chapter offers suggestions and raises ethical considerations for a tele art therapy practice. Online approaches to art therapy are novel and it uses the terms virtual, online, and tele art therapy interchangeably. Tele art therapy, a subset of teletherapy, emerged in the late 1990s. The bulk of art therapy literature written before the COVID-19 pandemic focuses on implementing online computer programs that can be used to facilitate art therapy and adapting analogue art therapy practices to suit online platforms. In contrast, tele art therapy literature published during the pandemic includes surveys and descriptions of art therapy programs and services developed in response to stay-at-home orders. To conclude, the chapter offers suggestions and raise ethical considerations for online art therapy practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Changes in state policy for promoting a healthy lifestyle. (A historical aspect).

Healthy lifestyle promotion from the perspective of state policy, journalism, healthcare, sociology, and psychology was analyzed. The objective of the study was to analyze changes in the financial and agitation state policy aimed at increasing the motivational activity of citizens of the Russian Federation towards a healthy lifestyle (HLS) in the Soviet era and at the post-Soviet stage and assess the effectiveness of these measures. The effectiveness of the Soviet propaganda of healthy lifestyles among the population was evaluated. Crisis phenomena in public health, low persuasiveness of the media presentation of the healthy lifestyle value, the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties in implementing corporate health promotion programs in the workplace at individual en-terprises, and ignoring gender stereotypes in attitudes to health are the reasons that contribute to the adherence of Russian workers to unhealthy behaviors, that cause an increase in the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases. The historical aspect of changes in state policy for health promotion made it possible to determine the tasks in developing health-saving programs.Copyright © 2023, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Performance, Trust, or both? COVID-19 Diagnosis and Prognosis using Deep Ensemble Transfer Learning on X-ray Imagesg±

The COVID-19 pandemic still affects most parts of the world today. Despite a lot of research on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, a big challenge today is the limited number of expert radiologists who provide diagnosis and prognosis on X-Ray images. Thus, to make the diagnosis of COVID-19 accessible and quicker, several researchers have proposed deep-learning-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. While most of these proposed machine and deep learning models work in theory, they may not find acceptance among the medical community for clinical use due to weak statistical validation. For this article, radiologists' views were considered to understand the correlation between the theoretical findings and real-life observations. The article explores Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classification models to build a four-class viz. "COVID-19", "Lung Opacity", "Pneumonia", and "Normal"classifiers, which also provide the uncertainty measure associated with each class. The authors also employ various pre-processing techniques to enhance the X-Ray images for specific features. To address the issues of over-fitting while training, as well as to address the class imbalance problem in our dataset, we use Monte Carlo dropout and Focal Loss respectively. Finally, we provide a comparative analysis of the following classification models - ResNet-18, VGG-19, ResNet-152, MobileNet-V2, Inception-V3, and EfficientNet-V2, where we match the state-of-the-art results on the Open Benchmark Chest X-ray datasets, with a sensitivity of 0.9954, specificity of 0.9886, the precision of 0.9880, F1-score of 0.9851, accuracy of 0.9816, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9781 (ROC-AUC score). © 2022 ACM.

Who Does Not Benefit from Fact-checking Websites?: A Psychological Characteristic Predicts the Selective Avoidance of Clicking Uncongenial Facts

Fact-checking messages are shared or ignored subjectively. Users tend to seek like-minded information and ignore information that conflicts with their preexisting beliefs, leaving like-minded misinformation uncontrolled on the Internet. To understand the factors that distract fact-checking engagement, we investigated the psychological characteristics associated with users' selective avoidance of clicking uncongenial facts. In a pre-registered experiment, we measured participants' (N = 506) preexisting beliefs about COVID-19-related news stimuli. We then examined whether they clicked on fact-checking links to false news that they believed to be accurate. We proposed an index that divided participants into fact-avoidance and fact-exposure groups using a mathematical baseline. The results indicated that 43% of participants selectively avoided clicking on uncongenial facts, keeping 93% of their false beliefs intact. Reflexiveness is the psychological characteristic that predicts selective avoidance. We discuss susceptibility to click bias that prevents users from utilizing fact-checking websites and the implications for future design. © 2023 Owner/Author.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the characteristic comparison of English achievement tests

Aim. The objectives of this research were to characterize and contrast the features of English language proficiency tests conducted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology and research methods. Before coronavirus pandemic, there were 287 students;during pandemic, there were 288 pupils;there were also an English teacher and a forum for English teachers. Through documentation and interviews, the information was gathered from eighth-graders at SMP Negeri 2 Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia. Results. Some aspects of English accomplishment tests made before COVID-19 can be seen. First, the percentages of items in the Easy, Moderate, and Difficult categories are 55%, 37.5%, and 7.5%, respectively. The item discrimination percentages for the Poor, Fair, Good, and Very Good categories are 10%, 30%, 25%, and 35%, respectively. Third, the distractor's effectiveness as a percentage is 53.30% and 46.70%. (effective: ineffective). Finally, the test reliability value is 0.990. The English proficiency test created during COVID-19 exhibits some of the same traits. First, the percentages for Easy, Moderate, and Difficulty categories for item difficulty: 10%, 84%, and 6%. The item discrimination percentages for the Poor, Fair, Good, and Very Good categories are 2%, 4%, 14%, and 80%, respectively. Third, the distractor's percentage efficacy is 99.30%: 0.70% (effective: ineffective). Finally, the test reliability value is 0.960. The foundation of classical test theory (CTT) was the effectiveness of the distractor, item difficulty, and item discrimination. The exams administered during coronavirus pandemic were more normally distributed than the tests administered prior to pandemic based on item difficulty. The tests given during coronavirus pandemic fell more into the very good category than the tests given before pandemic, according to item discrimination. In comparison to tests conducted before to coronavirus pandemic, more tests during pandemic were classified as effective based on the distractor's effectiveness. Both tests were compared based on the data of the collected features. The English achievement exam created during the epidemic was determined to be superior to the test created prior to the outbreak based on CTT. However, the English performance exam created before the epidemic is superior than that created during the pandemic, according to Item Response Theory (IRT). IRT was based on item fit and dependability. Testing for dependability before COVID-19 is more accurate than during pandemic. Before COVID-19, item fit tests were more favorable than during pandemic. Conclusions. The English proficiency test that was created during the epidemic is superior to the test that was created prior to the pandemic based on CTT. But according to IRT, the English proficiency exam created before the pandemic is superior to that created during the pandemic. © 2023 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of pneumonia in children with suspected/confirmed COVID-19

Background The most common COVID-19 infection clinical fea-tures in pediatric patients are similar to those of other pulmonary diseases, i.e., fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Information about the characteristics of coinfection and superinfection in COVID-19 cases can reduce misdiagnosis and differentiate CO-VID-19 from other pulmonary infections.Objective To observe the characteristics of pneumonia in children with suspected/confirmed COVID-19.Methods This descriptive study used medical record data of children hospitalized from 1 January 2020 -31 January 2021 to describe the characteristics of pneumonia in suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in Haji Adam Malik Hospital, Medan, North Sumatera. Pneumonia-related findings, such as clinical symptoms, chest X-ray, and blood test results, were collected.Results There were 27 confirmed and 34 suspected COVID-19 children. Most of them were aged 6-8 years. Pneumonia was significantly associated with COVID-19. In confirmed COVID-19 cases, fever persisted after 3 days, with cough and shortness of breath. Patients did not have flu symptoms, but had below normal SpO2 (81-90%). The occurrence of lung rhonchi was significant in confirmed COVID-19 group. Chest X-ray results showed lung opacity in all confirmed COVID-19 patients. Mean white blood cell (WBC) count was significantly lower in COVID-19 confirmed (3.49x103/mu L) vs. suspected group (17.9 x103/mu L) (P=0.011). Mean CRP was significantly higher in COVID-19 confirmed (26.5 mg/L) vs. suspected group (4 mg/L).Conclusion Pneumonia with confirmed COVID-19 cases present with longer fever and lower SpO2. Patients are presented with lung ronchi, had lower WBCcount, and higher CRP. Chest X-ray shows opacity and consolidation.[Paediatr Indones. 2023;63:57-64;DOI: https://doi.org/10.14238/pi63.2.2023.57-64 ].

Epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of human rhinovirus in a primary school in northern shaanxi

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of a Human rhinovirus outbreak in a primary school in northern Shaanxi, and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control. Methods On - site epidemiological investigation of an unexplained febrile aggregated outbreak reported in a primary school in northern Shaanxi on May 22, 2020. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from typical cases, and nucleic acid testing was performed to test for SARS COV 2, and 16 respiratory pathogens. Results A total of 37 cases were reported, including 1 adult teacher and 36 students, with the overall incidence rate of 1.75%, a male and female ratio of 3:1, and the incidence age mainly concentrated in 6 to 12 years old. The cases were mainly concentrated in 3 first-grade classes and 7 second-grade classes on the same floor, and the first grade cases accounted for 75.68% of the total number of cases. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence rate of the cases in the classes (χ2 = 49.29, P<0.01). The clinical features of the cases were mainly fever (body temperature between 37.3 and 38.8°C), sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion and cough, and some of which were accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting, and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Of the 33 nasopharyngeal swabs detected by laboratory, 14 were positive for Rhinovirus, and the positive rate was 42.42%. Conclusion This aggregated outbreak is caused by Rhinovirus infection. Primary and secondary schools in northern Shaanxi should be alert for aggregated unexplained fever due to Rhinovirus outbreaks during the epidemic season of respiratory infectious diseases. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Mobile Technology Acceptance among Undergraduate Nursing Students Instructed by Blended Learning at Selected Educational Institutions in South India

Background: Mobile phones have become a widely accepted learning mode due to the impact of COVID-19. This study explores the mobile technology acceptance, among nursing students at selected educational institutions in South India. Materials and Methods: Quantitative cross-sectional descriptive design. First-year 176 B.Sc. nursing students who underwent blended learning were selected by the purposive sampling method. The tool "Technology Acceptance Model" was used to collect responses. Bivariate analysis was used to determine the relationship between the demographic and study-related variables with the mobile technology acceptance using SPSS version 25.0. Results: The majority 73.9% of the students belonged to the age group of 18-19 years, females 76.7% and, 98.9% were unmarried. Among the constructs of TAM, a mean (SD) value of 22.08 (2.26) was found for material (mobile device audio/video) characteristics the mean (SD) value was 22.08 (2.26), attitude about use 17.58 (1.95), behavioral intention 17.46 (1.78) and system characteristics 17.21 (2.27). The mobile technology acceptance revealed that 126 (71.6%) strongly agreed, 49 (27.8%) agreed, and 1 (0.6%) was neutral with a mean (SD) of 105.19 (8.68), respectively. A positive correlation was found between the system characteristics, material characteristics, perceived ease to use, perceived usefulness, attitude about the use, behavioral intention with a P value <0.001. There was a statistically significant association between Mobile technology acceptance and time spent by the students for independent studies shown the Chi-square value of 12.7, with P value <0.05. Conclusion: Nursing students had a positive acceptance and behavior toward smartphone use.

Experiences of accumulated stress among aging parent caregivers of adults with autism spectrum disorder

With the continuing increased incidence rate of autism spectrum disorder over the decades, there are increasing numbers of adults with autism who require varying levels of lifelong care, typically from parents. It is necessary to understand parents' lived experience of lifelong caregiving, and how their own aging process further impacts life quality. Furthermore, greater understanding of stressors, resources, appraisals, and coping among parent caregivers of children with "high functioning autism" who are transitioning into young adulthood is particularly necessary as services, needs, and experiences for both are nuanced due to functional status, deficits in the service system, and demographic disparities. Given lifespan aspects past research has not addressed, the study focused on development of a measure of parent accumulated stressors, and on interrelations of stressors, perceived social support, future time perspective, burden, satisfaction, and coping on health-related quality of life and meaning in life among 28 parents of young adults with autism. Although proposed quantitative analyses were not completed due to sample size, qualitative analyses on parent experiences and stressors revealed common themes of concern for child's future quality of life, complicated dynamics of providing help to their child overtime, and increased stress related to others' lack of understanding of their child. In total, 10 themes and multiple subthemes were identified in relation to aspects of accumulated stressors. Findings suggest parent stress with this specific population is complex, manifesting in nuanced ways at different life stages. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are also explored, and implications for scientific advancement and clinical services are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Public Attitudes, Awareness and Fears Related to the Spread of COVID-19 in Bulgaria

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has led to radical lifestyle changes worldwide, particularly in the Republic of Bulgaria, and was a factor for global changes in economics, politics, healthcare and daily life. Aim(s): The aim of the study was to analyze the public attitudes, awareness and fears related to the COVID-19 disease in the Republic of Bulgaria. Material(s) and Method(s): The survey was conducted between August 1st, 2022 and September 1st, 2022 via an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 24 closed questions. A total of 1861 people, aged 18-69 years and older, took part in the survey after being selected randomly. The data were statistically processed via MS Excel. Result(s): The main source of information to the respondents on issues related to COVID-19 was the Internet (29,8%), followed by TV (26%) and the specialized website (Single information portal) - 15,9%. More than one-third (35,1%) of the respondents was afraid of getting infected and an equal share of participants reported that they have been infected with COVID-19. More than half of the respondents (52,5%) adhered to all the provisions of the governmental bodies related to limiting the COVID-19 pandemic. The most frequent symptom of post- COVID-19 syndrome was being easily fatigued (26,7%), followed by shortness of breath (13,4%) and persistent cough (11,6%). Conclusion(s): The survey could be useful in understanding what were the public attitudes, awareness and fears related to the COVID-19 disease in the Republic of Bulgaria during the pandemic.Copyright © 2023 D. Penchev et al., published by Sciendo.

THE IMPACT OF THE SARS-COV-2 PANDEMIC ON THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PICTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF COLORECTAL CANCER - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ONCOLOGY AND RADIOTHERAPY, UH of SPLIT, FOR THE YEAR 2020 IN COMPARISON TO PRE PANDEMIC 2017

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer in the world, after lung and breast cancer, while in Croatia is the most common malignant disease. Among the EU members, Croatia ranks ninth in terms of the incidence of colon cancer and a high second place by mortality. Since 2007, Croatia has had a National Colon Cancer Early Detection Program, but the response rate is still very low - 36% (25-52% depending on county and year).2 Despite the prevention program, approximately 13% of patients in Croatia is initially diagnosed with metastatic disease.1 According to the results of the CONCORD 3 study3, Croatia is at the bottom of the five-year survival (48%) compared to some other western countries (up to 71%) in the world. Method(s): A retrospective analysis was conducted at the Clinic of Oncology and Radiotherapy, CHC Split. Patients with newly diagnosed colorectal adenocarcinoma enrolled in the clinic from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 were processed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics methods, with the use of Microsoft Excel tools. Result(s): A retrospective analysis of the medical history identified 269 patients (compared to 387 in 2017) presented at the multidisciplinary team (MDT) of CHC Split who were diagnosed with colorectal adenocarcinoma in 2020. All patients were presented to the MDT before starting the treatment. The median age of patients was 66 years, and the youngest patient was 22 years old. Patients from other counties who did not undergo the entire treatment/monitoring in our institution were excluded from the analysis. 52 patients (19.3%) were diagnosed in the metastatic stage of the disease, in stage 0 4 patients (1.5%), in stage I 32 (12%), in stage II 91 (34%), and in stage III 88 (33%). In 2 patients, the stage couldn't be precisely determined. There is a significant decrease in the number (81 in 2017 and 52 in 2020) but no percentage wise (20.9% in 2017 and 19.3% in 2020) of patients diagnosed with de novo metastatic colorectal cancer compared to the previous analysis from 2017, when 81 of them were detected. Patients diagnosed with metastatic disease were mostly in good general condition: ECOG 0 status 21 patients (40.3%), ECOG 1 24 patients (46.2%), ECOG 2 7 patients (13.5%), while no patient was ECOG status 3 or 4. 32 (57.7%) patients had a left-sided tumor, while 20 (42.3%) patients had a right-sided tumor. Conclusion(s): The results of our retrospective analysis showed a significant decrease in the number of patients compared to previous years. The effect of the smaller number of newly diagnosed patients will be analyzed and the real consequences will be seen, however, the appearance of patients in the later stages of the disease is to be expected.

Introduction

Two hundred seventy-four million people-one in thirty people on the planet-are in humanitarian need as of September 2022.1 More than one hundred million of these individuals are displaced, usually as a result of crisis: conflict, political upheaval, economic meltdown, or climate shocks.2 In a humanitarian crisis, health is the most urgent and paramount need. But today the system for preventing and addressing humanitarian crisis is failing, and with it, the health needs of millions of vulnerable people are under threat. From treating childhood acute malnutrition to delivering COVID-19 vaccines to ensuring access to sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health, health care in humanitarian contexts requires a dramatic rethink amid growing challenges to access and service delivery.

Earnings management and issue characteristics: an empirical analysis of IPOs in India

PurposeThis study aims to examine earnings management around initial public offerings (IPOs) in India. It also explores the influence of issue characteristics on earnings management around the IPOs.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 511 IPOs that came during April 2003-March 2019 is studied for calculating earnings management for pre-issue, issue and post-issue years. Using Cross-Sectional Modified Jones Model, the paper presents earnings management on the basis of three proxies i.e. discretionary accruals, discretionary current accruals and discretionary long-term accruals. The influence of issue characteristics on earnings management practised around the IPOs is also observed through correlation and multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe paper finds that earnings management is abnormally high during the issue year compared with pre-issue and post-issue years. It also unveils that profitability, premium, age, and size of the issuer significantly determine the level of pre-issue and issue year earnings management practised by Indian IPO issuers.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are useful to stakeholders (potential investors, analysts and regulators) to observe, assess and understand the quality of financial numbers that are based on fallacious disclosure of accounting figures. It provides insight into the possibilities of managed earnings around the issue that could influence investors' decision-making. Further, the study reflects the efficacy of Indian regulatory norms for IPOs.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, it is the only Indian study that had used an extensive data set of about two decades to calculate earnings management during pre-issue, issue and post-issue years. The uniqueness of the study further lies in three proxies of earnings management representing short-term and long-term accruals. Moreover, it is the first study to observe the influence of IPO issue characteristics on earnings management.

Alcohol consumption among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, ConVid Adolescents - Behavior Research

Objective: To describe the prevalence of alcohol consumption before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze the factors associated with this behavior during the period of social distancing among Brazilian adolescents. Method(s): Cross-sectional study using data from the ConVid Adolescents survey, carried out via the Internet between June and September 2020. The prevalence of alcohol consumption before and during the pandemic, as well as association with sociodemographic variables, mental health, and lifestyle were estimated. A logistic regression model was used to assess associated factors. Result(s): 9,470 adolescents were evaluated. Alcohol consumption decreased from 17.70% (95%CI 16.64-18.85) before the pandemic to 12.80% (95%CI 11.85-13.76) during the pandemic. Alcohol consumption was associated with the age group of 16 and 17 years (OR=2.9;95%CI 1.08-1.53), place of residence in the South (OR=1.82;95%CI 1.46-2.27) and Southeast regions (OR=1.33;95%CI 1.05-1.69), having three or more close friends (OR=1.78;95%CI 1.25-2.53), reporting worsening sleep problems during the pandemic (OR=1.59;95%CI 1.20-2.11), feeling sad sometimes (OR=1,83;95%CI 1,40-2,38) and always (OR=2.27;95%CI 1.70-3.05), feeling always irritated (OR=1,60;95%CI 1,14-2,25), being a smoker (OR=13,74;95%CI 8.63-21.87) and a passive smoker (OR=1.76;95%CI 1.42-2.19). Strict adherence to social distancing was associated with lower alcohol consumption (OR=0.40;95%CI 0.32-0.49). Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in consumption of alcoholic beverages by Brazilian adolescents, which was influenced by sociodemographic and mental health factors, adherence to social restriction measures and lifestyle in this period. Managers, educators, family and the society must be involved in the articulation of Public Policies to prevent alcohol consumption.Copyright © 2023 A Epidemio e uma publicacao da Associacao Brasileira de Saude Coletiva-ABRASCO.

Identifying the Influencing Factors of Depressive Symptoms among Nurses in China by Machine Learning: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study

Background. Nurses' high workload can result in depressive symptoms. However, the research has underexplored the internal and external variables, such as organisational support, career identity, and burnout, which may predict depressive symptoms among Chinese nurses via machine learning (ML). Aim. To predict nurses' depressive symptoms and identify the relevant factors by machine learning (ML) algorithms. Methods. A self-administered smartphone questionnaire was delivered to nurses to evaluate their depressive symptoms;1,431 questionnaires and 28 internal and external features were collected. In the training set, the use of maximum relevance minimum redundancy ranked the features' importance. Five ML algorithms were used to establish models to identify nurses' depressive symptoms using different feature subsets, and the area under the curve (AUC) determined the optimal feature subset. Demographic characteristics were added to the optimal feature subset to establish the combined models. Each model's performance was evaluated using the test set. Results. The prevalence rate of depressive symptoms among Chinese nurses was 31.86%. The optimal feature subset comprised of sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, physical fatigue, exhaustion, and perceived organisation support. The five models based on the optimal feature subset had good prediction performance on the test set (AUC: 0.871–0.895 and accuracy: 0.798–0.815). After adding the significant demographic characteristics, the performance of the five combined models slightly improved;the AUC and accuracy increased to 0.904 and 0.826 on the test set, respectively. The logistic regression analysis results showed the best and most stable performance while the univariate analysis results showed that external and internal personal features (AUC: 0.739–0.841) were more effective than demographic characteristics (AUC: 0.572–0.588) for predicting nurses' depressive symptoms. Conclusions. ML could effectively predict nurses' depressive symptoms. Interventions to manage physical fatigue, sleep disorders, burnout, and organisational support may prevent depressive symptoms.