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According to Robert E. Schofield, looking back to the golden age of Scientific Societies we discover that, from the middle of XVII to the XIX century, rather than academic institutions they were considered as the proper alma mater by scientists [1]. Over time, the general reform of the university has gradually reversed this state of things, with few exceptions. This paper proposes some brief reflections on being a Scientific Society (of Geometry and Graphics) nowadays (in its 30th year), including a glance at the present COVID-19 pandemic impact.
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No matter how narrowly you focus your spatial or temporal lenses, you are bound to catch sight of multiple significant challenges to human community. Many of these challenges are shared, such as Covid-19, though their impacts on individuals and groups are felt unevenly. Some challenges are immediate and existential, such as the wars in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen. Others, such as race, gender, caste, and class-based inequalities, are deeply embedded in social structures, providing privilege and persecution, and reward and oppression in unequal measures. And climate change, though slower moving, holds out the prospect of leading to total social collapse. How to make sense of these dramatic changes? This essay explores the adequacy of theories of IR and G/IPE in explaining the emergent world (dis)order. It argues that, whether orthodox or critical, theory must find a way to centre humanity within the biosphere if theory is to adequately inform practice.
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Background: Early identification of COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) is particularly challenging in low- middle-income countries where diagnostic capabilities are limited, and risk factors for CAPA have not been identified. It is also essential to recognise CAPA patients who are likely to have a poorer outcome to decide on aggressive management approaches. Therefore, this study aimed to identify risk factors and outcomes for CAPA among admitted moderate to critical COVID-19 patients at our centre in Pakistan. Methods: An unmatched case–control study with ratio of 1:2 was conducted on hospitalised adult patients with COVID-19 from March 2020–July 2021. Cases were defined according to European Confederation of Medical Mycology and the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology consensus criteria. Controls were defined as patients hospitalised with moderate, severe or critical COVID-19 without CAPA. Results: A total of 100 CAPA cases (27 probable CAPA;73 possible CAPA) were compared with 237 controls. Critical disease at presentation (aOR 5.04;95% CI 2.18–11.63), age ≥ 60 years (aOR 2.00;95% CI 1.20–3.35) and underlying co-morbid of chronic kidney disease (CKD) (aOR 3.78;95% CI 1.57–9.08) were identified as risk factors for CAPA. Patients with CAPA had a significantly greater proportion of complications and longer length of hospital stay (p-value <.001). Mortality was higher in patients with CAPA (48%) as compared to those without CAPA (13.5%) [OR = 6.36(95% CI 3.6–11)]. Conclusions: CAPA was significantly associated with advanced age, CKD and critical illness at presentation, along with a greater frequency of complications and higher mortality. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
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According to Robert E. Schofield, looking back to the golden age of Scientific Societies we discover that, from the middle of XVII to the XIX century, rather than academic institutions they were considered as the proper alma mater by scientists [1]. Over time, the general reform of the university has gradually reversed this state of things, with few exceptions. This paper proposes some brief reflections on being a Scientific Society (of Geometry and Graphics) nowadays (in its 30th year), including a glance at the present COVID-19 pandemic impact. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This is an interview with Professor Takuji Natori, who describes his current role as President of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST) and the challenges of conducting business since his tenure began just shortly before the pandemic-August, 2019. Creative solutions have emerged including regional meetings within the International Society for Sandplay Therapy Board and more frequent online board meetings. Natori-san also talks about the challenges of conducting sandplay therapy at a time of social distancing, the importance of the relationship in sandplay, transference and countertransference, as well as symbols and myths important to him in the context of the Japanese culture. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Background: Covid-19 is a viral disease that has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.[ 1,2]. The most frequent complication has been reported to be sepsis[3]. Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) has been observed in majority of mortalities.[4,5].While Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation is widely used to describe sepsis associated coagulopathy, ISTH has recently started using Sepsis Associated Coagulopathy in its definition. SIC is actually considered the early stage of DIC, and research has found that anticoagulant treatment is effective in patients meeting SIC criteria.[6,7]. Anticoagulant treatment has been shown to be beneficial in patients who do not exhibit clinical DIC, but meet SIC criteria. (Figure 1). Contemporary guidelines recommend anticoagulant treatment. Method(s): The patient groups, who were followed up with Covid-19 in Necmettin Erbakan University hospital, with and without anticoagulant treatment, will be analyzed retrospectively and comparative. Result(s): This study assessed the data of 2028 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and subsequently given (Group1 (n=1008)) or not given (Group2 (n=1020)) anticoagulant treatment. The demographic characteristics displayed on the table exhibited similarities;D-dimer, SOFA and SIC scores demonstrated significant changes. (Table 1).Patients who developed DVT, arterial embolism and pulmonary embolism were included in the THROMBOSIS'' study. While group 1 had a thrombosis development rate of 5.15% (n=52), this rate was 19.21% (n=196) in group2.THROMBOSIS patients in group1 and 2 demonstrated a mortality rate of 38.46%(n=20) and 65.5% (n=128), respectively (p<0.001).THROMBOSIS patients in group1 and 2 were divided into subgroups according to SIC scores and their mortality rates were analyzed with respect to SICDIC scores;significant results were observed (SIC>5 was accepted as DIC).Patients who receive anticoagulant treatment subsequent to COVID-19 diagnosis have reduced disposition to thrombosis. According to SIC-DIC scores obtained through SOFA scores and clinical parameters, patients who reach DIC levels (SIC>5) have an increased rate of mortality. (Table 2).However, in group 2 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and not given anticoagulant treatment due to no recommendation in prior guidelines, the mortality rate was high with every SIC score. Patients with a SIC score of 4 had a substantially high mortality rate;this is probably due to not receiving anticoagulants because DIC had not manifested.It was observed that compared to group 1, patients in group 2 who had not yet reached a DIC score, but had a SIC score of 4, had mortality rates reduced by 97% with anticoagulant treatment (p<0.001). According to SIC-DIC scores obtained through SOFA scores and clinical parameters, patients who reach DIC levels (SIC>5) have an increased rate of mortality (Tables 2 and 3). According to SIC-DIC scores obtained through SOFA scores and clinical parameters, patients who reach DIC Conclusion(s): Through our findings, we wanted to describe when COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized should receive anticoagulant treatment. Patients should be monitored with respect to their SIC scores, and clinicians should consider anticoagulant administration as it can potentially decrease mortality rate, regardless of DIC development.
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According to Robert E. Schofield, looking back to the golden age of Scientific Societies we discover that, from the middle of XVII to the XIX century, rather than academic institutions they were considered as the proper alma mater by scientists [1]. Over time, the general reform of the university has gradually reversed this state of things, with few exceptions. This paper proposes some brief reflections on being a Scientific Society (of Geometry and Graphics) nowadays (in its 30th year), including a glance at the present COVID-19 pandemic impact. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Corona pandemic has affected the daily routine of life disturbing the trade and economic globally. Wearing a mask has become compulsory and a new tradition. within the close to future, several suppliers can raise the shoppers to wear masks properly. Therefore, detection of face mask has become one of the important tasks to assist the international society. This paper provides a easy and simplified approach to detect the face masks using some of the important Machine Learning packages like TensorFlow, Keras, OpenCV and Scikit-Learn. The projected methodology detects the face from the image properly and so identifies if it's a mask thereon or not. As a police work task performing artist, it may detect a face together with a mask in motion. the tactic gives an accurate output with an accuracy of 96.77% on dataset. The model tendency to find the optimized values of parameters are employed using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to identify whether the masks are worn properly or not while not inflicting over-fitting. © 2021 IEEE.
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Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory rheumatic disorder that causes chronic pain, primarily in the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is characterized by the presence of type 1 major histocompatibility complex HLA-B27 genetic marker, arthritis in peripheral joints, enthesitis and/or dactylitis and extra-articular manifestations. Current guidelines recommend biological therapy when first-line therapy is not sufficiently effective. The finding that the interleukin (IL)-17 axis is vital for the pathogenesis of axSpA propelled the development of secukinumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody directed against IL-17A. The present review provides evidence on the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in the treatment of radiographic and non-radiographic axSpA from nine randomized controlled phase III trials, as well as evidence from real-world observational analyses. The primary endpoint in six clinical trials was the proportion of patients meeting the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society criteria for either 20% or 40% improvement (ASAS20, ASAS40) at week 16. Significantly more patients achieved the primary endpoint with secukinumab compared with placebo in all the studies except MEASURE 4. Both clinical trials and real-world studies showed significant improvements in the secondary endpoints of disease activity, quality of life, and pain and fatigue relative to placebo. The benefits of secukinumab were generally sustained during longer-term (up to 5 years) treatment. Overall, secukinumab was well tolerated with a low frequency of adverse events and treatment persistence was high in the real-world setting. Although indirect comparisons suggest that secukinumab and adalimumab have comparable efficacy and safety, they are being directly compared in the ongoing SURPASS study. During the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is advisable to continue biological therapy in patients who do not have severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection, but interrupt treatment during an infection, reinitiating once the patient has recovered from the infection. In conclusion, secukinumab is a largely safe and effective treatment for radiographic and non-radiographic axSpA.
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BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents various phenotypes from asymptomatic involvement to death. Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) is among the poor prognostic complications frequently observed in critical illness. To improve mortality, a timely diagnosis of DIC is essential. The International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) introduced a scoring system to detect overt DIC (score ≥5) and another category called sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC) to identify the initial stages of DIC (score ≥4). This study aimed to determine whether clinicians used these scoring systems while assessing COVID-19 patients and the role of relevant biomarkers in disease severity and outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An exhaustive search was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, using Medline, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, and PubMed until August 2020. Studies considering disease severity or outcome with at least two relevant biomarkers were included. For all studies, the definite, maximum, and minimum ISTH/SIC scores were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 37 papers and 12,463 cases were reviewed. Studies considering ISTH/SIC criteria to detect DIC suggested a higher rate of ISTH ≥5 and SIC ≥4 in severe cases and nonsurvivors compared with nonsevere cases and survivors. The calculated ISTH scores were dominantly higher in severe infections and nonsurvivors. Elevated D-dimer was the most consistent abnormality on admission. CONCLUSION: Higher ISTH and SIC scores positively correlate with disease severity and death. In addition, more patients with severe disease and nonsurvivors met the ISTH and SIC scores for DIC. Given the high prevalence of coagulopathy in COVID-19 infection, dynamic monitoring of relevant biomarkers in the form of ISTH and SIC scoring systems is of great importance to timely detect DIC in suspicious patients.
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Early cell biology reports demonstrated the presence of cells with stem-like properties in bone marrow, with both hematopoietic and mesenchymal lineages. Over the years, various investigations have purified and characterized mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) from different human tissues as cells with multilineage differentiation potential under the appropriate conditions. Due to their appealing characteristics and versatile potentials, MSCs are leveraged in many applications in medicine such as oncology, bioprinting, and as recent as therapeutics discovery and innovation for COVID-19. To date, studies indicate that MSCs have varied differentiation capabilities into different cell types, and demonstrate immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory properties. Different microenvironments or niche for MSCs and their resulting heterogeneity may influence attendant cellular behavior and differentiation capacity. The potential clinical applications of MSCs and exosomes derived from these cells have led to an avalanche of research reports on their properties and hundreds of clinical trials being undertaken. There is ample reason to think, as discussed in this expert review that the future looks bright and promising for MSC research, with many clinical trials under way to ascertain their clinical utility. This review provides a synthesis of the latest advances and trends in MSC research to allow for broad and critically informed use of MSCs. Early observations of the presence of these cells in the bone marrow and their remarkable differentiation capabilities and immunomodulation are also presented.
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Cell Differentiation , Immunomodulation , Mesenchymal Stem Cells/immunology , Humans , Mesenchymal Stem Cells/physiology , Regenerative Medicine , Stem Cell Niche , Tissue EngineeringABSTRACT
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to reasons beyond control, health care workers have struggled to deliver treatment for the patients with cancer. The concern for otherwise healthy patients with curable cancers that require timely intervention or therapy is the risk of contracting COVID-19 may outweigh the benefits of cancer treatment. Lack of international guidelines leaves health care providers with a case-to-case approach for delivering optimal cancer care in the wake of the pandemic. Transition to telemedicine has somewhat bridged the gap for in-office visits, but there is a continuing challenge of delays in cancer screening or significant decline of new diagnoses of cancers due to the pandemic. We aim to propose a balance in risk from treatment delay versus risks from COVID-19 with emphasis on treatment modality (surgery, radiation, and systemic therapy) as well as supportive care for cancer patients, and therefore have reviewed the publications and recommendations from international societies and study groups available as of October 2020.
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This commentary provides an overview and links to presentations of a recent virtual congress series organized by the International Society for Vaccines (ISV) focused on COVID-19 vaccines. The series provided the academic community and vaccine developers as well as the wider general public with balanced information of the global response and resources for COVID-19 vaccines under development featuring: 1) NGOs and the regulatory perspective, 2) the status of vaccine development efforts, and 3) panel discussions to present and discuss challenges. ISV is a non-profit scientific organization whose members work on all areas relevant to vaccines. ISV plans to host additional virtual symposia including regional meetings and incorporating other topics along with COVID-19 vaccines.