End Of February Research Articles

Monitoring sudden stratospheric warmings using radio occultation: a new approach demonstrated based on the 2009 event

Abstract. We introduce a new method to detect and monitor sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) data at high northern latitudes and demonstrate it for the well-known January–February 2009 event. We first construct RO temperature, density, and bending angle anomaly profiles and estimate vertical-mean anomalies in selected altitude layers. These mean anomalies are then averaged into a daily updated 5∘ latitude × 20∘ longitude grid over 50–90∘ N. Based on the gridded mean anomalies, we employ the concept of threshold exceedance areas (TEAs), the geographic areas wherein the anomalies exceed predefined threshold values such as 40 K or 40 %. We estimate five basic TEAs for selected altitude layers and thresholds and use them to derive primary-, secondary-, and trailing-phase TEA metrics to detect SSWs and to monitor in particular their main-phase (primary- plus secondary-phase) evolution on a daily basis. As an initial setting, the main phase requires daily TEAs to exceed 3×106 km2, based on which main-phase duration, area, and overall event strength are recorded. Using the January–February 2009 SSW event for demonstration, and employing RO data plus cross-evaluation data from analysis fields of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), we find the new approach has strong potential for detecting and monitoring SSW events. The primary-phase metric shows a strong SSW emerging on 20 January, reaching a maximum on 23 January and fading by 30 January. On 22–23 January, temperature anomalies over the middle stratosphere exceeding 40 K cover an area of more than 10×106 km2. The geographic tracking of the SSW showed that it was centered over east Greenland, covering Greenland entirely and extending from western Iceland to eastern Canada. The secondary- and trailing-phase metrics track the further SSW development, where the thermodynamic anomaly propagated downward and was fading with a transient upper stratospheric cooling, spanning until the end of February and beyond. Given the encouraging demonstration results, we expect the method to be very suitable for long-term monitoring of how SSW characteristics evolve under climate change and polar vortex variability, using both RO and reanalysis data.

Molecular Diagnosis and Genotype Analysis of Giardia lambelia in Diarrheal Patient in Al-Diwaniyah Province-Iraq

Three hundred and fifty-six stool samples were collected from the beginning of October 2019 till the endof February 2020 from patients who suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms ,general stool examinationwas done for detect the cysts and trophozoites of Giardia lamblia using direct smear and flotation method.The results showed that 105 out of 356 samples were positive ( 29.49 %) . Nested PCR were done to thesixty samples from the positive results microscopically selected randomly , triosephosphateisomerase (TPI)gene that using in detection Giardia lamblia genotype shows result that positive samples of (A,B,E) whilenot showed result positive to F . The current study also showed high significant association ( P <0.01) , andnoted that the genotype B is the most common than genotype A, where the number of infected samples withthe genetic pattern B 24/60 with percent 40% while the number of infected samples with genetic pattern A18/60 with percent 30%.

Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia and the Impact on Nuclear Cardiology Services: An Institutional Experience

Introduction: Nuclear cardiology applying radioactive tracer and hybrid imaging techniques are able to provide information needed to detect and evaluate ischaemic heart diseases. In our centre, nuclear cardiology services involving stress and rest myocardial perfusion scans and viability studies contribute about 40% of overall scan workload. The second wave of COVID- 19 pandemic in Malaysia announced by the end of February 2020 has affected nuclear cardiology services.Objectives: Our aims were to determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic second wave on the nuclear cardiology imaging studies performed as well as to ascertain crucial institutional experience especially unavoidable problem and adjustment during the period.Methods: A review of Technetium-99m tetrofosmin radiopharmaceutical dispensing data and scan records for 1st February to 31st August 2019 and 2020 was conducted at Nuclear Medicine Department, Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Figures were compiled and statistical analysis done. Survey and focus discussion conducted involving nuclear medicine physicians, pharmacists and physic officers to identify the main difficulty faced and most important Job-adapting measure taken.Results: A total of 1109 cardiac radiopharmaceutical doses dispensed during the studied period but were less when compared to 1342 doses dispensed last year. Significant reduction was noted in April and May 2020 with only 69 and 67 cases respectively in comparison with monthly average of 192 cases in 2019. Although some scan appointments were postponed to avoid the usual waiting area congestions, the main difficulty faced was Technetium-99m generator supply disruption with limited production in Europe and international transportation restriction. Implementing infection control standard operating procedure (SOP) instructions as part of routine work practice with emphasis of time, distance and shielding concept was the most important Job-adapting measure.Conclusion: Nuclear cardiology services were affected by the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic locally. Main problem ascertained was disruption of radioactive supply. Most important adjustment was infection control SOP implementation.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2021 Page: S25

Anosmia in the first coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak in Europe: functional recovery after eight months

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 is a formidable virus, responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 and endowed with marked neurotropism. The damage it causes to the nervous system is manifold. The main neurological manifestation is anosmia. Olfactory damage is often transient, but there are no data reflecting an observational period of several months. This study evaluated the trend of anosmia in patients affected by coronavirus disease 2019 in the eight months following diagnosis. Fifty-five subjects who presented with symptoms suggestive of coronavirus disease 2019 and who developed anosmia, between the end of February and the beginning of March 2020, were investigated. The patients were interviewed after eight months to determine functional recovery and assess the degree of recovery. Ninety-one per cent of the population reported olfactory recovery and, of these, 53 per cent had total recovery after eight months. Females and younger age groups seem slightly advantaged in functional recovery. The elderly population appears to have excellent prospects for full functional recovery. Anosmia represents a frequent neurological manifestation during coronavirus disease 2019. Fortunately, it is transient in most cases, and only a small percentage of patients affected by it report long-term functional deficits.

Arterial abnormalities identified in kidneys transplanted into children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Graft artery stenosis can have a significant short- and long-term negative impact on renal graft function. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we noticed an unusual number of graft arterial anomalies following kidney transplant (KTx) in children. Nine children received a KTx at our center between February and July 2020, eight boys and one girl, of median age of 10years. Seven presented Doppler features suggesting arterial stenosis, with an unusual extensive pattern. For comparison, over the previous 5-year period, persistent spectral Doppler arterial anomalies (focal anastomotic stenoses) following KTx were seen in 5% of children at our center. We retrospectively evidenced severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in five of seven children with arterial stenosis. The remaining two patients had received a graft from a deceased adolescent donor with a positive serology at D0. These data led us to suspect immune postviral graft vasculitis, triggered by SARS-CoV-2. Because the diagnosis of COVID-19 is challenging in children, we recommend pretransplant monitoring of graft recipients and their parents by monthly RT-PCR and serology. We suggest balancing the risk of postviral graft vasculitis against the risk of prolonged dialysis when considering transplantation in a child during the pandemic.

Spatiotemporal evolution of COVID-19 infection and detection within night light networks: comparative analysis of USA and China

The spatial distribution of population affects disease transmission, especially when shelter in place orders restrict mobility for a large fraction of the population. The spatial network structure of settlements therefore imposes a fundamental constraint on the spatial distribution of the population through which a communicable disease can spread. In this analysis we use the spatial network structure of lighted development as a proxy for the distribution of ambient population to compare the spatiotemporal evolution of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the USA and China. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band sensor on the NASA/NOAA Suomi satellite has been imaging night light at ~ 700 m resolution globally since 2012. Comparisons with sub-kilometer resolution census observations in different countries across different levels of development indicate that night light luminance scales with population density over ~ 3 orders of magnitude. However, VIIRS’ constant ~ 700 m resolution can provide a more detailed representation of population distribution in peri-urban and rural areas where aggregated census blocks lack comparable spatial detail. By varying the low luminance threshold of VIIRS-derived night light, we depict spatial networks of lighted development of varying degrees of connectivity within which populations are distributed. The resulting size distributions of spatial network components (connected clusters of nodes) vary with degree of connectivity, but maintain consistent scaling over a wide range (5 × to 10 × in area & number) of network sizes. At continental scales, spatial network rank-size distributions obtained from VIIRS night light brightness are well-described by power laws with exponents near −2 (slopes near −1) for a wide range of low luminance thresholds. The largest components (104 to 105 km2) represent spatially contiguous agglomerations of urban, suburban and periurban development, while the smallest components represent isolated rural settlements. Projecting county and city-level numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the USA and China (respectively) onto the corresponding spatial networks of lighted development allows the spatiotemporal evolution of the epidemic (infection and detection) to be quantified as propagation within networks of varying connectivity. Results for China show rapid nucleation and diffusion in January 2020 followed by rapid decreases in new cases in February. While most of the largest cities in China showed new confirmed cases approaching zero before the end of February, most of these cities also showed distinct second waves of cases in March or April. Whereas new cases in Wuhan did not approach zero until mid-March, as of December 2020 it has not yet experienced a second wave of cases. In contrast, the results for the USA show a wide range of trajectories, with an abrupt transition from slow increases in confirmed cases in a small number of network components in January and February, to rapid geographic dispersion to a larger number of components shortly before mobility reductions occurred in March. Results indicate that while most of the upper tail of the network had been exposed by the end of March, the lower tail of the component size distribution has only shown steep increases since mid-June.

Statistical Analysis of COVID cases in India

The novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2(COVID 19) has been considered as pandemic in the month of February as declared by World Health Organization. The cause of Coronavirus is due to group of RNA Viruses that mainly causes diseases in animals where this disease can be transferred to humans by droplets which ultimately results to death if it is not cured at early stages. But, in India, COVID cases has begun towards the end of February as the cases has been spiked in the month of March. In this paper, a complete analysis of Statistics for COVID cases has been demonstrated till the month of August. Using Statistical Measures, inferences are being drawn on the basis of COVID data on confirmed, recovered, active as well as death cases.

Dynamic of behavior of the small and medium scale fisheries traders in Cilincing District, North Jakarta encountered the pandemic of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic occurred in early 2020, precisely at the end of February. The Covid-19 pandemic is a global problem, prompting the government to implement a large-scale Social Restriction (PSBB) policy. This policy certainly has an impact on business continuity. One of them is a small-scale fishing community group that is feeling the impact of the covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Small-scale fishing businesses are fishermen with fleet users under 10 GT. Although they have a normal marine routine or no change, some problems are found when there is a decrease in sales and build-up of catches. This issue supports the reason why research is done. The research was conducted in July 2020, with the location of Cilincing District, North Jakarta. Data retrieval techniques are conducted in-depth interviews, while data analysis is done qualitatively supported by quantitative data. The analysis shows that the dynamics of small-scale and middle scale fishery marketers’ behavior in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic are a) Lowering the price of fresh fish and b) Selling fresh fishes to fishery business of salted fish processor

Internal Needs Assessments: A Worthwhile Endeavor?

On May 1, 2020, the Needs Assessment Committee submitted their final report of findings and recommendations to the dean of the Oral Roberts University Library, Dr. Mark Roberts. The report represented the culmination of approximately six months of a broad-based investigation of the Library, including an internal examination of the Library and an external study of Library resources, services, and staff. This Needs Assessment was unique in that a team of Library faculty and staff conducted it. Internal members of an organization rarely perform needs assessments for many reasons, including inherent bias and the potential distrust of those not on the assessment team. Further complicating matters for the Needs Assessment team was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdown of Oral Roberts University’s (ORU) physical campus at the end of March 2020 during the period of data collection. Even before the campus shutdown created new challenges, the university administration and board of trustees mandated the significant revision of faculty promotion and appointment due by the end of February 2020. This mandate also posed some difficulties for the Needs Assessment team in managing the assessment workload and stress. This paper discusses some of the rationales for performing an internal Needs Assessment and the Needs Assessment team’s process. The authors also describe how they navigated the tensions inherent in an internal assessment, the additional demands of a university mandate, and the COVID-19 pandemic impact. Finally, the authors present some of the Needs Assessment team’s recommendations that the Library has already implemented and some proposals that have been postponed due to the pandemic's effects.

Mathematical Modeling of Covid-19

Background The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) suddenly appeared in Wuhan, Hubei since December 2019, and quickly swept across China, then the whole world. Today, after more than 100 days of fighting against the virus, China's epidemic has been effectively controlled, but when we looking at the entire world, the novel coronavirus has rampaged globally, especially in the United States and many European countries. This paper mainly studies the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks at Hubei Province and the United States, fits the given data and predicts future trends. Methods Based on the theoretical basis of traditional differential equations and SIR infectious disease model1, and combined with the actual situation to improve the model. Hubei Province is modeled in different time periods, and the effects of birth rate and natural mortality on the model are analyzed. Since the birth rate and natural mortality in the United States in recent years cannot be found, the epidemic situation in the United States can only be analyzed based on the absence of births and natural deaths. Finally, we used Netlogo2 to establish a closed environment (Small World), and combined with known data to conduct simulation experiments on COVID-19 infection. Findings Through the analysis of given data through the SIR model, it is found that before the Chinese government has taken comprehensive measures to cure patients (before 10 February), the number of patients in Hubei Province will reach the peak at the end of February, and will gradually decline thereafter, and on 20 March, the epidemic will be effectively controlled in the future, which coincides with the fact that Wuhan closed the last mobile cabin hospital on 10 March. On the other hand, after the Chinese government tried its best to cure the patients (after 21 February), the number of patients continued to decline over time and will reach 0 in mid-April, which is also consistent with the actual data. According to the factors of birth and natural death, the sensitivity analysis of the above model found that when the epidemic situation is at its peak, it has little effect on the curve, but when the epidemic situation gradually flattens, it still has a certain effect on the trend of the curve. Finally, looking at the situation in the United States, due to the high transmission rate, the number of patients in the United States continues to rise and is expected to reach its maximum in mid-June. We also use Netlogo to simulate the environment in which the virus spread, and find that the general trend of the curves is also consistent with the actual curves. Interpretation The Chinese government has taken various measures to deal with the novel coronavirus pneumonia, including the establishment of two temporary hospitals and dozens of sheltered hospitals, the temporary transformation of university dormitories into isolation rooms3, 4, 5, the closure of Wuhan, the ban on the movement of people and so on. These measures have helped to reduce the spread of the virus and greatly increased the patient's cure rate. But the US government ’s actions are not as effective as China’s, not only because the government ’s actions are inappropriate and untimely, and the people’s opposition to isolation has not subsided. As a result, the virus has spread widely in the United States. More than one million people have been infected with the virus, and tens of thousands of people have died from COVID-196.

An uncommon presentation of COVID-19, with diarrhea as initial symptom, the first case diagnosed in Cartagena, Colombia.

Introduction: the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The clinical presentation and severity of the disease has been described from its most typical symptoms, the common cold, pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome, to the involvement of other organs and systems such such as the gastrointestinal, renal and cardiovascular. Case report: we describe the first case of COVID-19 diagnosed in Cartagena, Colombia, on March 11, 2020, and its uncommon clinic presentation, which was almost unknown at the time. An 85-year-old woman with week-long initial symptoms of nausea and occasional vomiting, with progression to diarrhea and a 38.5 ºC fever during the last three days. The patient came from Oxford, UK, and she had been on a Caribbean cruise excursion since the end of February, 2020. Chest computed tomography showed ground glass opacities in both peripheral and central lung fields, multilobar and predominantly subpleural; without evidence of consolidation or pleural effusion. COVID-19 was confirmed three days after admission, when a RT-PCR molecular test performed on a nasopharyngeal swab sample tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 Conclusion: this first case of COVID-19 diagnosed in Cartagena occurred at a time when our health system was not prepared to face the pandemic. However, despite having manifested with a clinical that had not been described at the time, and thanks to the epidemiological, clinical and imaging data, the case could be adequately approached, diagnosed and treated according to the necessary and recommended measures at the time.

Earliest detection to date of SARS-CoV-2 in Florida: Identification together with influenza virus on the main entry door of a university building, February 2020.

In February and March, 2020, environmental surface swab samples were collected from the handle of the main entry door of a major university building in Florida, as part of a pilot surveillance project screening for influenza. Samples were taken at the end of regular classroom hours, between the dates of February 1–5 and February 19-March 4, 2020. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus was isolated from the door handle on four of the 19 days sampled. Both SARS-CoV-2 and A(H1N1)pdm09 virus were detected in a sample collected on February 21, 2020. Based on sequence analysis, the Florida SARS-CoV-2 strain (designated UF-11) was identical to strains being identified in Washington state during the same time period, while the earliest similar sequences were sampled in China/Hubei between Dec 30th 2019 and Jan 5th 2020. The first human case of COVID-19 was not officially reported in Florida until March 1st. In an analysis of sequences from COVID-19 patients in this region of Florida, there was only limited evidence of subsequent dissemination of the UF-11 strain. Identical or highly similar strains, possibly related through a common transmission chain, were detected with increasing frequency in Washington state between end of February and beginning of March. Our data provide further documentation of the rapid early spread of SARS-CoV-2 and underscore the likelihood that closely related strains were cryptically circulating in multiple U.S. communities before the first “official” cases were recognized.

The Immovable AMLO

The Immovable AMLO Humberto Beck (bio), Carlos Bravo Regidor (bio), and Patrick Iber (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution President Andrés Manuel López Obrador waves a flag on the balcony of the National Palace to kick off Independence Day celebrations on September 15, 2020, in Mexico City. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) [End Page 92] When Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president of Mexico in 2018, he promised a government “for the good of all, with the poor coming first.” He pledged to break with neoliberalism and its attendant inequalities, violence, and corruption. After more than two years in power, AMLO remains rhetorically committed to a vision of equality. But he has pursued this vision with a set of very fixed ideas. As new challenges have emerged, he has not adapted. His inflexibility threatens to undermine the promise that his election represented. His government’s handling of the coronavirus is emblematic of this problem. When COVID-19 cases began to surface in Mexico last spring, AMLO’s response bordered on denial. A total lockdown would have been difficult to pull off in a country where a majority of the population earns a living from informal work. “I can’t stop working,” one hamburger vendor told reporters. “If I don’t sell, I don’t eat. It’s as simple as that.” But AMLO’s own activities demonstrated a lack of concern about spreading the virus. Initially, he made no changes to his practice of making trips around the country, which brought him into close contact with thousands of his supporters. He also promoted deadly misinformation. At the end of March, during one of his daily morning conferences, AMLO took out a pair of “amulets” and said that they would protect him and the country from the pandemic. Even after catching and recovering from COVID-19 in early 2021, AMLO chooses not to wear a mask in public. As the number of cases rose, the government suspended large public gatherings and in-person schooling but avoided imposing a mandatory lockdown. Inconsistent public messaging encouraged voluntary restrictions, asking Mexicans to maintain safe social distance. Despite many people having little choice but to keep working outside of their homes to survive, Mexico experienced an 8.5 percent reduction of its gross national product in 2020, its worst economic contraction in almost ninety years. In keeping with AMLO’s commitment to “republican austerity,” direct financial support has been minimal. Big business, he announced, had [End Page 93] evaded taxes and didn’t deserve support: “No more bailouts like those given to banks in the era of neoliberalism.” But AMLO’s government has offered little help to ordinary people either. Some benefits were dispersed early, but there was no large-scale effort to provide insurance or basic income to the millions who found themselves short of work. Mexico’s coronavirus relief spending remains among the stingiest in the world: less than 1 percent of GDP. That figure is dwarfed by the relief policies of other Latin American countries; Chile and Brazil’s relief packages, for instance, amounted to about 8 percent of GDP. The coronavirus has devastated Mexico. In September 2020, AMLO predicted that the worst was over. By the end of 2020, cases spiked, peaking in late January of this year. Black markets emerged for oxygen tanks, as family members tried to take care of sick relatives who could not, or would not, access public hospitals. According to data from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, somewhere between 18 and 55 million Mexicans (in a country of roughly 130 million) have contracted the virus. Mexico has the lowest rate of testing in the Americas and the highest positivity rate. By the end of February, the government reported approximately 185,000 deaths due to COVID-19. Mexico, with the world’s tenth-highest population, ranked third in the world for deaths, behind only the United States and Brazil. But looking at “excess deaths” compared to previous years reveals that official figures have grossly understated the cost to Mexico: by mid-December, there were already 380,000. After returning from his illness in early February, AMLO spoke optimistically about rolling...

Consumer Behaviour of Generation Y and Z during the Pandemic: Attitude Change towards Restaurants and Delivery

With the appearance of the coronavirus, companies across several industries were required to alter their business models in order to avoid going bankrupt. Hospitality is commonly considered as one the most vulnerable industry for pandemics, therefore the decline on a global scale was inevitable. The occupancy rate of European hotels experienced an overall significant decline in 2020 and reached the lowest peak in May at 13.3%. Compared to the data from May 2019, this meant a drop of 82.3%. Restaurants also felt the negative effect of the pandemic: compared to the data of 2019, at the end of February, European restaurants started to experience declines on a daily basis. With the additional unfortunate events and governmental restrictions, not even in a single month were restaurants able to achieve the number of customers served that they reported in 2019. Even though restaurants on a global scale were seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of delivery services and food delivery applications (FDAs) has significantly grown and the number of global customers is still increasing. The market size of the global online food delivery sector was 107.44 billion US Dollars in 2019 and expected to reach 154.34 by the end of 2023. There is a wide range of factors that influences consumer behaviour such as quality of information, the design and accessibility, reduction on waiting time and experiences regarding online orders. This research aims to uncover the significance of these dimensions with the support of a primary research conducted in Hungary in order to discover whether the international trends are also applicable in the country.

P134 SARS-CoV-2 infection in cystic fibrosis during the first pandemic wave in Italy: a multi-centre prospective study with a control group

Background: Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at high risk of developing severe forms of viral respiratory infections. This study aimed at comparing symptoms and clinical course of SARS-CoV2 infection with other respiratory infections in patients with CF. Methods: We carried out a prospective multicentre cohort study within the Italian CF Society involving 32 CF centres following 6,597 patients. CF centres were contacted to collect baseline and follow-up data of all patients who had reported symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 or who had had contact with a positive/suspected case between the end of February and July 2020. Symptoms and clinical course of the infection were compared between patients who tested positive by molecular testing (cases) and those who tested negative (controls). Results: Thirty patients were reported from the centres, 16 of whom tested positive and 14 negative. Fever, cough, asthenia and dyspnea were the most frequently reported symptoms and their frequency were not significant different between groups. Eight cases (50%) were hospitalised but none required ICU admission. Two adults with a history of lung transplant required non-invasive ventilation;none required ICU admission. All patients fully recovered without short-term sequelae. Changes in FEV1 (percent of predicted) after recovery were not significantly different between groups (median, interquartile range: 3.0%, –1.5, 5.5 among cases and –3.0%, –8.5, 6.3 among controls, P = 0.48). Conclusions: Symptoms and clinical course of SARS-CoV-2 infection in our patients was not significantly different from other respiratory infections. The clinical course of COVID-19 was relatively favourable, however CF patients with severely impaired respiratory function and organ transplant may develop complications and a negative outcome. The study is ongoing, and we are recruiting patients during the second wave of the pandemic.

Impact of the COVID-19 on global trade of kiwifruit

Impact of the COVID-19 on global trade of kiwifruit

Hospital Utilization after the Epidemic

This study focused on hospital utilization for adult medical-surgical patients in Syracuse, New York as the census peaked then declined between December 2020 and February 2021. The initial analysis demonstrated that the adult medical-surgical census including Coronavirus patients declined by 8.1 percent during January and February 2021. The study data also demonstrated that the adult medical-surgical census of the combined hospitals increased as the numbers of virus patients declined. The inpatient census at the end of February 2021 was 3.6 percent below the level for February 2019 and 15.0 percent below the level for February 2020. This suggested a range between 3.6 and 15.0 percent below those in previous years for medical-surgical planning after the epidemic.

MODEL PEMBINAAN REMAJA DI ERA PANDEMIK DENGAN PA BGA

This Community Service is aimed at the youth category for Bible study activities. In the pandemic era since the end of February 2020, various activities in the realm of stewardship must also participate in government recommendations as part of breaking the chain of coronavirus transmission. Therefore, online media is used to create youth coaching by selecting the zoom application in its implementation. The coaching method starts with planning, implementing, finding partners for cooperation, and implementing activities. Of course, it ends with an evaluation of the activities. The Bible study model used this time is reading the Bible from the narrative genre. The community service team found great passion in youth while participating in Bible study coaching using the Bible Digging Method (BGA). The method was felt to be simple, practical, and able to bring Bible readers to find text messages. The implementation of community service must be carried out and pursued even in a pandemic situation. Youth spirituality is very important to build their future. The Word of God is a powerful material for developing youth spirituality, for a fresh, strong, and alert spiritual life

Did anomalous atmospheric circulation favor the spread of COVID-19 in Europe?

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is having negative health, social and economic consequences worldwide. In Europe, the pandemic started to develop strongly at the end of February and beginning of March 2020. Subsequently, it spread over the continent, with special virulence in northern Italy and inland Spain. In this study we show that an unusual persistent anticyclonic situation prevailing in southwestern Europe during February 2020 (i.e. anomalously strong positive phase of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations) could have resulted in favorable conditions, e.g., in terms of air temperature and humidity among other factors, in Italy and Spain for a quicker spread of the virus compared with the rest of the European countries. It seems plausible that the strong atmospheric stability and associated dry conditions that dominated in these regions may have favored the virus propagation, both outdoors and especially indoors, by short-range droplet and aerosol (airborne) transmission, or/and by changing social contact patterns. Later recent atmospheric circulation conditions in Europe (July 2020) and the U.S. (October 2020) seem to support our hypothesis, although further research is needed in order to evaluate other confounding variables. Interestingly, the atmospheric conditions during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 seem to have resembled at some stage with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The PROMISE study protocol: a multicenter prospective study of process optimization with interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral care for German patients receiving hip and knee endoprostheses

Background and purpose — Knee and hip replacement are common and increasing procedures, and an optimized care process that could be implemented in different settings would be useful. The PROMISE trial investigates whether a new care process works equally in different German settings and how the results compare with current non-standardized care. Patients and methods — This multi-center prospective mixed-method study includes 2,000 German patients receiving arthritis-related hip or knee endoprostheses. An interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral care process was developed and implemented in 3 German hospitals with different levels of care, and corresponding rehabilitation centers were included to bridge the gap after acute care. Duration and outcome — The PROMISE trial recruited patients between May 2018 and March 2020. Follow-up will end in February 2021. Assessments are performed at: examination on clinical indication, 1 week before surgery, on the day of surgery, at the end of hospitalization, end of the rehabilitation program, and 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery. Outcomes include patient-reported outcomes, medical examination findings, and routinely collected data regarding the surgery and complications. Guideline-based interviews are conducted with selected patients and care partners. The primary endpoint is the presence of chronic pain at 12 months after surgery. Secondary endpoints are the number of recognized pre-existing conditions, physical activity at 12 months after surgery, use of medical services, quality of life, and interactions between care partners. Trial registration — The trial is registered with the German Clinical Trials Register (https://www.drks.de; DRKS00013972; March 23, 2018).