RESUMEN
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on love, marriage and family life. Employing both social science and cultural studies perspectives, this article discusses romantic and familial relationships and their respective depictions in four Japanese romantic dramas (ren’ai dorama) produced under pandemic conditions. It touches upon the COVID-19 pandemic and related policies in J apan, el aborat es on condi t i ons of TV production during the pandemic, and asks: How have TV series addressed love, dating and (marital) relationships during the pandemic? How di d the pandemi c and concomi tant policies impact depictions of these topics? Finally, what do these dramas reveal about the state of domestic gender relations and gender equality in the context of changing working condi t i ons and st ay-at-home pol i ci es implemented during the pandemic? The article i dent i f i es a t rend consi st ent wi t h ‘ re-tradi ti onal i zati on’ on the one hand, and depictions of diverse, unconventional relational practi ces that are cri ti cal of the mari tal institution on the other. While the dramas touch on the i mpact of the pandemi c on women’s livelihoods and gender equality, more serious consequences remain unexplored. © 2022, Japan Focus. All rights reserved.
RESUMEN
Although a high prevalence of COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis has been reported, it is still difficult to distinguish between colonization with Aspergillus fumigatus and infection. Concomitantly, similarities between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and hypersensitivity pneumonitis were suggested. The objective of this study was to investigate retrospectively if precipitin assays targeting A. fumigatus could have been useful in the management of SARS-CoV-2 patients hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 2020. SARS-CoV-2 ICU patients were screened for Aspergillus co-infection using biomarkers (galactomannan antigen, qPCR) and culture of respiratory samples (tracheal aspirates and bronchoalveolar lavage). For all these patients, clinical data, ICU characteristics and microbial results were collected. Electrosyneresis assays were performed using commercial A. fumigatus somatic and metabolic antigens. ELISA were performed using in-house A. fumigatus purified antigen and recombinant antigens.Our study population consisted of 65 predominantly male patients, with a median ICU stay of 22 days, and a global survival rate of 62%. Thirty-five patients had at least one positive marker for Aspergillus species detection. The number of arcs obtained by electrosyneresis using the somatic A. fumigatus antigen was significantly higher for these 35 SARS-CoV-2 ICU patients (P 0.01, Welch's t-test). Our study showed that SARS-CoV-2 ICU patients with a positive marker for Aspergillus species detection more often presented precipitins towards A. fumigatus. Serology assays could be an additional tool to assess the clinical relevance of the Aspergillus species in respiratory samples of SARS-CoV-2 ICU patients. LAY SUMMARY: This study showed retrospectively that precipitin assays, such as electrosyneresis, could be helpful to distinguish between colonization and infection with Aspergillus fumigatus during the management of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) patients in an intensive care unit.