Digital Transition by COVID-19 Pandemic? The German Food Online Retail.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sharp increase in online trade. This article examines the impact of the pandemic on online grocery retail in Germany. Here we follow and refine the multi-level perspective by Geels, and examine to what extent and why the online grocery retail expanded during the pandemic. A particular focus is on the spatial expansion into rural areas. The study shows a general upswing in the grocery trade and disproportionately high growth in online grocery trade and identifies driving and limiting factors. While COVID-19 has opened a window of opportunity, our results indicate little transition of grocery to e-grocery. This finding can be explained by the sudden and temporary constellation at the level of the socio-technical regime during the pandemic. As a result, we argue for a rethinking the temporality of windows of opportunities and the related vulnerability of the innovations which need them.

Severe maternal morbidity (near-miss) and its correlates in the world's newest nation: South Sudan.

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the frequency of near-miss events and compares correlates in the world's newest nation. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out to audit near-miss events and their causes. A total of 1,041 mothers were sampled. Data were gathered using World Health Organization near-miss evaluation tools according to morbidity and organ failure-based criteria. Intensive care unit admission criteria were not used (as there is no functional intensive care unit in Juba Teaching Hospital). Descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki. RESULTS: Nearly half (49.7%) of the clients were young pregnant women (aged 15-24 years), with a mean age of 25.07±5.65 years. During the study period, there were 994 deliveries, 94 near-misses, and 10 maternal deaths. This resulted in maternal near-miss and mortality rates of 94.1 per 1,000 and 1,007 per 100,000 live births, respectively. Severe maternal outcome and maternal near-miss rates were 10.47 per 1,000 (morbidity-based criteria) and 41.3 per 1,000 (organ failure-based criteria), respectively. The likelihood of mortality was 25% (95% CI 10%-51%) for a ruptured uterus, 9% (95% CI 4%-17%) for severe postpartum hemorrhage, and 11% (95% CI 3%-30%) for eclampsia. Anemia, hemorrhage, and dystocia were the highest contributory factors in the occurrence of maternal near-misses. CONCLUSION: The near-miss rate was high. Contributing factors were lack of resources, low quality of primary health care, and delays in care. All near-misses should be regarded as opportunities to improve the quality of maternity care. Health institutes should address delays in conducting interventions, referral barriers, and personnel gaps. Fully functional intensive-care units must be created in all facilities, including Juba Teaching Hospital and other hospitals. Notification policies for all near-miss cases should be in place in all health care units, with a "no shame, no blame" approach.

Ex vivo characterization of carotid plaques by intravascular ultrasonography and virtual histology: concordance with real plaque pathomorphology.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of carotid plaque characterisation by virtual histology using intravascular ultrasonography (VH-IVUS) by comparing the results with real morphology. METHODS: Following elective carotid endarterectomy (CEA), atherosclerotic plaques from 36 patients (19 asymptomatic, 17 symptomatic) underwent ex-vivo VH-IVUS examination. Afterwards, tissue specimens were fixed with formalin and embedded in paraffin. Atherosclerotic lesions were characterised following hematoxylin/eosin (HE) and Elastin van Gieson (EvG) staining using AHA classification (stages I to VIII). The plaque composition, cellularity, severity of inflammation, and atheroma-associated macrophages and foam cells were compared with virtual histology. RESULTS: Patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis showed most commonly lesion type IV-V (N.=9; 52.9%), followed by type VI (N.=3; 17.6%) and type VII (N.=3, 17.6%), type VIII (N.=1; 5.9%) and type I-III (N.=1; 5.9%). In asymptomatic patients with the main lesion was type VII (N.=8; 42.1%), followed by type I-III (N.=4; 21.1%), type IV-V (N.=3, 15.8%) and type VIII (N.=1; 5.3%). The composition of unstable lesions differed significantly in symptomatic patients compared to asymptomatic subjects (70.1% vs. 31.6%, P=0.03). The concordance between the histological results and the VH-IVUS classification was 86.1% (Cohen`s kappa of 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, our findings demonstrated significant correlation between true plaque composition determined by histology and VH-IVUS. Thus, IVUS might be useful as an additional diagnostic method to detect patients with unstable rupture-prone plaques.

Mobile clinics for antiretroviral therapy in rural Mozambique.

PROBLEM: Despite seven years of investment from the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the expansion of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related services continues to challenge Mozambique's health-care infrastructure, especially in the country's rural regions. APPROACH: In 2012, as part of a national acceleration plan for HIV care and treatment, Namacurra district employed a mobile clinic strategy to provide temporary manpower and physical space to expand services at four rural peripheral clinics. This paper describes the strategy deployed, the uptake of services and the key lessons learnt in the first 18 months of implementation. LOCAL SETTING: In 2012, Namacurra´s adult population was estimated to be 125,425, and of those 15,803 were estimated to be HIV infected. Although there is consistent government support of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes, national coverage remains low, with less than 15% of those eligible having received ART by December 2012. RELEVANT CHANGES: Between April 2012 and September 2013, Namacurra district enrolled 4832 new patients into HIV care and treatment. By using the mobile clinic strategy for ART expansion, the district was able to expand provision of ART from two to six (of a desired seven) clinics by September 2013. LESSONS LEARNT: Mobile clinic strategies could rapidly expand HIV care and treatment in under-funded settings in ways that both build local capacity and are sustainable for local health systems. The clinics best serve as a transition to improved capacity at fixed-site services.