Pandemic Era Research Articles

COVID-19 and the need for special care for women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A systematic review

Objective The study investigates the association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and assess whether women with PCOS are at a higher susceptibility and risk for COVID-19 complications. Methods This review analyzes articles indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library, focusing on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 1, 2019, until November 1, 2022. The quality of the evidence was assessed using the NIH quality assessment tool. The study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023371956) on January 12, 2023. Results A total of 11 observational studies were identified, totaling 22,155 PCOS patients. Despite the heterogeneity of the included studies, the findings of most of the studies were similar in terms of increased susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 infection in PCOS patients. PCOS patients were reported to have a 51% higher risk of COVID-19 infection than non-PCOS women (HR =1.51). Many causes have been identified to play a role, most notably the overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and elevated levels of RAS-associated proteins, decreased serum levels of neuropilin-1 (sNRP1), elevated serum biomarkers such as platelet degranulation and coagulation cascade markers increased acute phase response, and lower levels of vitamin D could render PCOS patients susceptible to a chronic inflammatory state, which can also lead to difficulties and severe consequences, when impacted by COVID-19. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic also influenced psychological well-being, with an increase in the incidence and severity of depression and anxiety among PCOS patients in the COVID-19 pandemic era compared to healthy individuals. Conclusions Patients with PCOS are more likely to get infected with COVID-19 and display a higher affinity to severe infections and complications due to overlapping and confounding factors. These findings suggest that PCOS patients may need more medical attention when infected with COVID-19.

The effects of the first UK lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic on primary-care-recorded cancer and type-2 diabetes mellitus records: A population-based quasi-experimental time series study

BackgroundCOVID-19 disrupted consulting behaviour, healthcare delivery and cancer diagnostic services. This study quantifies the cancer incidence coded in UK general practice electronic health records and deviations from historical trends after the March 2020 national lockdown. For comparison, we study the coded incidence of type-2 diabetes mellitus, which is diagnosed almost entirely within primary care. MethodsPoisson interrupted time series models investigated the coded incidence of diagnoses in adults aged ≥ 18 years in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink before (01/03/2017–29/02/2020) and after (01/03/2020–28/02/2022) the first lockdown. Datasets were stratified by age, sex, and general practice per 28-day aggregation period. Models captured incidence changes associated with lockdown, both immediately and over time based on historical trends. ResultsWe studied 189,457 incident cancer and 191,915 incident diabetes records in 1480 general practices over 52,374,197 person-years at risk. During 01/03/2020–28/02/2022, there were fewer incident records of cancer (n = 22,199, 10.49 %, 10.44–10.53 %) and diabetes (n = 15,709, 7.57 %, 7.53–7.61 %) than expected. Within cancers, impacts ranged from no effect (e.g. unknown primary, pancreas, and ovary), to small effects for lung (n = 773, 3.11 %, 3.09–3.13 % fewer records) and female breast (n = 2686, 6.77 %, 6.73–6.81 %), to the greatest effect for bladder (n = 2874, 31.15 %, 31.00–31.31 %). Diabetes and cancer records recovered maximally to 86 % (95 %CI 80.3–92.7 %) and 74 % (95 %CI 70.3–78.6 %) in July 2021 and May 2021, respectively, of their expected values, declining again until the study end. ConclusionThe “missing” cancer and diabetes diagnoses in primary care may comprise delayed or missed diagnoses, reduced incidence associated with excess deaths from COVID-19, and potentially increased non-coded recording of diagnoses. Future validation studies must quantify the concordance between primary care and National Cancer Registration Data and Hospital Episode Statistics over the pandemic era.

The Lagos State COVID-19 Think-tank, a Potential Framework for Decision-making in a Pandemic Era.

Lagos state remains the epicenter of COVID-19 infection in Nigeria. To facilitate the emergency preparedness and response to COVID-19, the State Governor and Incident Commander constituted a Think Tank comprising 13 experts from various disciplines committed to the health of the public. The Think Tank assisted the government with decision-making strategies and supported the emergency operation centre (EOC) for the COVID-19 response. Their main achievements were developing frameworks for decision-making and strategies for phased easing of the State-wide lockdown. The challenges encountered were that it was often viewed as a parallel structure to the EOC and separated from the traditional civil service structure; causing some reluctance to implement ideas generated by the Think Tank. Nevertheless, the Think Tank played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic; the lessons learned might help other states and resource-limited countries wishing to adopt this approach to emergency response.

Navigating the Challenges: Construction Lessons in Establishing an Orthopedic Institute in a Sterile Environment

Background: In order to become a new, state-of-the-art orthopedic institute with additional operating rooms, and a brand new sterile processing department (SPD), construction needed to be done within a sterile environment. Expansion of the operating room (OR) included adding a whole new wing, with smaller construction work within the open and active OR. While construction for a new SPD occurred in the midst of an active and open SPD; unlike the addition of the OR, new SPD construction included heavy demolition and multiple dust generating projects. There were many lessons learned from the built of this brand new institute, which took place in the middle of a pandemic era. Method: Each project involved in the making of the new orthopedic institute required an Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA), as well as walkthroughs and team meetings prior to the start of work. Team meetings involved the hospital Infection Preventionist (IP), the construction project manager, and the departments [involved] managers. Requirements, to mitigate dust dispersal into the neighboring sterile environment, were listed in the ICRA. In addition, weekly rounding was conducted by the team to ensure air flow requirements were followed, and there were no accumulation of dust dispersing to the sterile side. Reprocessing was also conducted at sister facilities when existing reprocessing items (sterilizers, instrument washers, cart washers, etc) were shut down; the hospital also went on bypass a few times in order to accommodate patients who emergently needed operating services. Result: By April 2022, after two years of construction, the new orthopedic institute with 12 new operating rooms, new ambulatory surgery units (ASU), new post anesthesia care units (PACU), and a brand new SPD went live. There were more than 100 shutdown notices, over 50 alternative practices in place to continue daily operations while also allowing construction work to continue. Noncompliance to any of the requirements was immediately followed up with an urgent notice to the project manager. Conclusion: Hindsight, heavy construction in a sterile environment is not preferred and it would have been easier to add on a new SPD, similar to how the OR additions were added; instead of building within an actively open sterile environment. Multidisciplinary team meetings conducted at the very beginning of the project would have prevented many shut downs and alternate practices; . It is pertinent that IPs and clinical department managers are involved at the most earliest phases of the construction.

The 68th annual conference on magnetism and magnetic materials

The 2023 Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) was held from October 30–November 3 at the Dallas Hyatt Regency, at the base of the iconic Reunion Tower. There, 703 on-site attendees from 37 different countries discussed cutting-edge research in fundamental and applied magnetism, made new connections, and met old friends and colleagues at one of the first primarily in-person conferences in our field since the major disruptions of the pandemic era. The format of the conference was primarily in-person, with supporting online content that included recordings of the most popular programs and presentations, made available after the conference (including all symposia, the tutorial, and selected other special content). All presenters had the option to contribute online content, as did 96 participants who did not travel to the venue and elected to present virtual posters. Attendees enjoyed a vibrant celebration of the magnetism research community that included a Texas-sized welcome reception, tutorials on machine learning in magnetism, seven symposia, a lively exhibit hall that hosted poster sessions and bierstuben, a full roster of special events, coffee breaks to facilitate active scientific discussions, and of course, excellent technical presentations. These technical presentations, organized into 45 oral sessions, 23 in-person poster sessions, and 17 virtual poster sessions, were selected by a Program Committee of 57 members, capably coordinated by three Program Chairs: Hendrik Ohldag (ALS-LBNL), Karin Leistner (TU Chemnitz), and Takahiro Moriyama (Nagoya University). These three Program Chairs worked seamlessly and tirelessly over many months to make the central mission of MMM a huge success. The Program Committee selected seven symposia from nominations provided by the magnetism community: “Frontier Topics in Antiferromagnetism: Altermagnetism and Topology,” “Rare Earth Spintronics,” “Recent Advances in Cavity Magnonics,” “Emerging Topics in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions: Altermagnetism, Probabilistic Computing and Energy Efficient Switching,” “Orbitronics: From Orbital Currents Created by Charge Currents to Creation by Light or RF Excitation,” “Imaging Magnetic Textures at the Nanoscale,” and finally “Magnetization Dynamics in Two-Dimensional van der Waals Magnets.” These symposia highlighted a wide range of exciting new areas for magnetism, and were part of a total of 101 invited talks, 28% of which were presented by women. The contributed program was selected by the Program Committee from more than 900 submitted abstracts.

팬데믹을 경험한 z세대 청소년의 자원봉사활동이 청소년의 사회성에미치는 영향

This study was conducted for the purpose of understanding the factors thatinfluence the social skills of Generation Z youth volunteer activities in the pandemic era. Thesubjects were currently surveyed for two weeks from October 10 to October 23, 2023,focusing on high school volunteers in Gwangju Metropolitan City, and 560 cases were analyzed using spss 26.0. The results of the study showed that youth volunteer activities andsatisfaction with volunteer activities had a significant impact on youth social development. Based on the research results, the need to diversify volunteer activity programs to strengthenthe social skills of youth, support club activities for volunteer activities, and provide variousopportunities was suggested. It is believed that the production of a manual to standardizeyouth volunteer activities will have a major impact on the development of youth social skillsand interpersonal relationships.

Review Paper on Marketing Strategy & CSR with Socialism in the Pandemic Era

Review Paper on Marketing Strategy & CSR with Socialism in the Pandemic Era

Enhancing publics’ COVID-19 vaccine advocacy on social media: the role of dialogic government communication

Based on dialogic and protection motivation theories, this study investigates the impact of governmental communication on publics’ vaccine advocacy on social media in the era of COVID-19 pandemic. Results of two online surveys at two different time points that include publics who are not vaccinated (Survey 1) and vaccinated (Survey 2) suggested that dialogic government communication fosters trust among the public, which in turn, influences their perceived threats of COVID-19 and efficacy in receiving the vaccine. Efficacy was positively associated with vaccine advocacy on social media for publics who are not vaccinated during the time when the vaccine was not widely available, whereas perceived threats were significantly related to vaccine advocacy for those vaccinated at the later stage of the pandemic. Theoretical and practical implications for the disciplines of communication and public relations are discussed.

Challenges Faced by Primary Schools in the COVID-19 Post Pandemic Era: A Case of St. Martin Primary School, Mulago, Kampala, Uganda

Challenges Faced by Primary Schools in the COVID-19 Post Pandemic Era: A Case of St. Martin Primary School, Mulago, Kampala, Uganda

Journey of Guillain Barre syndrome from the pre-pandemic era to the pandemic era: A 4-year retrospective study.

To study demographic and clinical profiles of Guillain Barre syndrome (GBS) in the pre-pandemic and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic era and to compare the GBS incidence, severity, and its outcome in the pre-pandemic and pandemic eras. This is a 4-year retrospective study done in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India, between March 2018 and March 2022. Patients were divided into the pre-pandemic era and pandemic era (2 years before and 2 years after March 2020). The number of patients (N) was 25 in the pandemic/vaccine era, while N = 49 in the pre-pandemic era. The mean duration of hospitalization was significantly higher (P = 0.03) during the pandemic era (10.68 ± 6.67 days) compared to the pre-pandemic era (7.59 ± 3.55 days). There was no statistical difference in age (P = 0.56), gender (P = 0.70), GBS variants (P = 0.40), clinical spectrum, antecedent infection (P = 0.91), Hughes Disability Score on admission and discharge (P = 0.93 and P = 0.52, respectively), respiratory involvement requiring a ventilator (P = 0.19), and mortality (P = 0.26) in both the eras. Our study showed no association of the incidence of GBS with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The mean hospitalization days were significantly increased during COVID-19 in view of associated respiratory involvement. The commonly held hypothesis of the increase in GBS cases during the pandemic/vaccine era has not been observed in our study.

Business resilience strategies for informal traders in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era in Gweru, Zimbabwe

Purpose: The informal trading business is a springboard for employment and poverty reduction, even during disruptions, such as those brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, this study examines the business resilience strategies adopted by informal traders to improve their livelihoods in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Research methodology: An exploratory research design underpinned this study’s data collection and thematic analysis approaches. Thirteen purposively sampled participants participated in face-to-face in-depth interviews. Findings: Participants identified social networking, consignment sale agreements, business analysis, and financial capital boost as some of the business resilience strategies used by both male and female traders to improve their livelihoods in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. Limitations: The study used a qualitative approach, whose findings could not unravel all resilience strategies adopted in the post-COVID-19 era in the whole country, as a study using a quantitative methodology could have. Accordingly, the study’s results are limited as they cannot be generalized to other cities. Contribution: This study incorporates informal traders’ business resilience strategies adopted in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era to sustain livelihoods and fight poverty and hunger. These strategies have not yet been used to explain the sustainability of livelihoods in post-pandemic disruptions. Novelty: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruptions, the resilience strategies adopted by informal traders enabled them to sustain their livelihoods and mitigate poverty and hunger. Consequently, the applicability of the sustainable livelihood approach has broadened in emerging economies.

Moderate to Severe Thrombocytopenia and Survival Predictors in Pregnant Women During the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic ERA

Moderate to Severe Thrombocytopenia and Survival Predictors in Pregnant Women During the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic ERA

Experiential Learning Labs for the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era

The post-pandemic era shaped by COVID-19 has compelled universities to reimagine their learning experiences, adapting to new educational requirements and heightened expectations. However, this transformation brings forth novel pedagogical requirements and learning limitations. In today’s educational landscape, learners seek active and relevant learning experiences that seamlessly integrate interactivity, crisis awareness, and global challenges tied to a resilience and sustainability perspective. To address this imperative, our work introduces an experiential learning lab to articulate Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and authentic assessment principles. By incorporating real-world events as study scenarios, higher-order skill challenges, and self-regulated learning in alignment with reflective and practical activities, we aim to enhance students’ engagement and learning relevance. To illustrate practical implementation, we propose a case study methodology regarding an experiential learning lab for operations management education. Specifically, we delve into a case study centred around the Social Lab for Sustainable Logistics, involving a circular economy challenge as a learning experience during the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary results indicate that the experiential learning lab helped to create the learning experience in alignment with intended learning outcomes. However, further instances of such learning experiences are necessary to explore the contribution and applicability of the lab across diverse settings and disciplines.

Teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT towards teaching and learning in mitigating Covid 19 Post pandemic era in Turkana central sub-county secondary schools

Teachers’ self-efficacy in using ICT towards teaching and learning in mitigating Covid 19 Post pandemic era in Turkana central sub-county secondary schools

The roles of exercise stress echocardiography for the evaluation of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in the heart failure pandemic era.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) accounts for nearly 70% of all HF and has become the dominant form of HF. The increased prevalence of HFpEF has contributed to a rise in the number of HF patients, known as the "heart failure pandemic". In addition to the fact that HF is a progressive disease and a delayed diagnosis may worsen clinical outcomes, the emergence of disease-modifying treatments such as sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists has made appropriate and timely identification of HFpEF even more important. However, diagnosis of HFpEF remains challenging in patients with a lower degree of congestion. In addition to normal EF, this is related to the fact that left ventricular (LV) filling pressures are often normal at rest but become abnormal during exercise. Exercise stress echocardiography can identify such exercise-induced elevations in LV filling pressures and facilitate the diagnosis of HFpEF. Exercise stress echocardiography may also be useful for risk stratification and assessment of exercise tolerance as well as cardiovascular responses to exercise. Recent attention has focused on dedicated dyspnea clinics to identify early HFpEF among patients with unexplained dyspnea and to investigate the causes of dyspnea. This review discusses the role of exercise stress echocardiography in the diagnosis and evaluation of HFpEF.

Evaluation of Resilience and Mental Health in the "Post-Pandemic Era" among University Students: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study.

The mental well-being of university students has been a growing concern in Public Health and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic (including the post-pandemic era) introduced and exacerbated a variety of potential stressors for vulnerable individuals and communities, resulting in an increase in mental health issues among university students. Resilience, as a process, is the ability of a system to adapt and grow in the face of adversity. This is a crucial aspect to consider when examining the coping of university students in critical situations such as COVID-19. This study aims to assess the association between resilience and mental health outcomes among university students in Cyprus during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. A parallel embedded mixed methods research design will be utilized to assess resilience, measured by the Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the COVID-19 Impact Scale (CIS) and mental health outcomes measured by the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL 90-R), during the COVID-19 post-pandemic era (January 2022-July 2024) among university students in the Republic of Cyprus. The study will be conducted in two stages: a pilot study followed by the main study. Quantitative data will be collected through a web-based survey, while qualitative data will be obtained through in-person focus groups designed to capture participants' experiences. Participants will be recruited using a proportional quota sampling approach to achieve representativeness based on predefined demographics. The study protocol has been approved by the Cyprus Bioethics Committee (approval no: EEC/EP/2023/31). This study is expected to broaden our understanding of the intricate interactions between the COVID-19 pandemic's impact, resilience, and mental health outcomes. The focus on university students' psychological wellbeing is consistent with the call by the WHO to focus on mental health (World Health Organization, 2019).

Microcredit as a Strategy for Nigeria’s Economic Recovery in Post Covid-19 Pandemic Era

Microcredit as a Strategy for Nigeria’s Economic Recovery in Post Covid-19 Pandemic Era

Digital Economy : Economic Innovation Through Digital Branding Via Instagram Platform for MSMEs

This research aimed to describe how Fadil Jaidi’s endorsement content on Instagram, to analyse Fadil Jaidi’s personal branding on Instagram in relation to endorsement content, and to determine the impact of Fadil Jaidi’s endorsements. This was qualitative research. The results of the research showed that Fadil Jaidi’s endorsement content could influence the audience and also his MSMEs. This was an innovative result that also represented the economic environment transitioning from direct shopping to online shopping, with Fadil Jaidi himself being one of the Gen Z influencers who significantly impacted consumer purchasing power and sales for MSME owners, who were also predominantly Gen Z. Additionally, Fadil Jaidi’s engaging endorsement content had turned Instagram into a new environment where advertising or marketing no longer needs to be done manually, especially in the pandemic era where people had limitations in accessibility, and even post-pandemic where society had become accustomed to using and accessing everything through digital media, making digital media a more frequently encountered social environment due to its unlimited space and time.

Early parent-child intervention with Dialogic Book-Sharing: effects on child communicative and socio-emotional development and on parenting. Study protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial in Italy

BackgroundResearch in the neurosciences has highlighted the importance of intersubjective relationships in promoting neuromental development of the child. Children’s learning in early childhood occurs mainly in a dyadic context of an interaction with their parents: from this perspective, good dialogic parent–child communication is required to be promoted also through good educational practices. Dialogic Book-Sharing (DBS), a dialogic form of parent–child communication through the use of wordless picture books, provides a privileged ‘intersubjective’ space and is highly effective in promoting communication, language, attention, behavioural development and the parent–child relationship. DBS programme, successfully previously trialled in South Africa and the UK, will be applied for the first time in Italy for research purposes in Italian health, educational and maternal-child centres.MethodsA multicentre randomised controlled trial is being conducted to evaluate DBS parenting intervention for children aged between 14 and 20 months. Parent–child dyads are randomly allocated to a book-sharing intervention group or to a wait-list control group. In the intervention, parents are trained in supportive book-sharing with their children by local staff of the centres. DBS intervention is carried out in small groups over a period of 4 weeks. Data are collected at baseline, post-intervention and at 6 months post-intervention with a questionnaire and video recording of parent–child interaction.DiscussionDBS programme in early childhood could enhance the educational resources offered by Italian health, educational and maternal-child centres, in support of child’s development and parenting. DBS represents a strategic opportunity for bringing about positive effects, also in terms of prevention of socio-emotional and cognitive difficulties. As such it represents a promising response to the new social, health and educational needs of the post-COVID-19 pandemic era caused by the social isolation measures. Furthermore, the application of the DBS methodology is a way to promote the use of books, and thereby counteract the excessive use of technological devices already present in early childhood.Trial registrationThe trial is registered on the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number database, registration number ISRCTN11755019 Registered on 2 November 2023. This is version 1 of the protocol for the trial.

National trends in sexual intercourse and usage of contraception among Korean adolescents.

The exact influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual intercourse and usage of contraception remains largely uncharted territory. To bridge this gap in knowledge, we conducted a comprehensive, cross-sectional examination of long-term trends in the prevalence of sexual intercourse and usage of contraception among South Korean adolescents from 2006 to 2022. In our research, we drew upon data encompassing 1,138,799 South Korean adolescents aged 12 to 18years, derived from the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS) over a period spanning from 2006 to 2022. We focused on the prevalence of sexual intercourse, contraception utilization, and the underlying associated factors among this demographic. The KYRBS data was collected using a complex sampling strategy to determine the national prevalence estimates and shifts in prevalence before (2006-2019) and during (2020-2022) the COVID-19 pandemic era. During the pre-pandemic period, a decrease in adolescent sexual intercourse was observed (6.34% in 2006, 5.53% in 2012, and 5.87% in 2019). However, in the post-pandemic period (2020-2022), there was a surge in sexual intercourse (4.55% in 2020 and 6.20% in 2022). This evident alteration in sexual intercourse trajectory between pre- and post-pandemic periods was statistically significant [βdiff, 0.950; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.756-1.144]. Regarding contraceptive use among South Korean adolescents, there was an increase in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic phase across all demographic segments (14.61% in 2006, 22.30% in 2012, and 47.69% in 2022) but a notable decline when compared with the pre- and post-pandemic periods (βdiff, -0.319; 95% CI, -0.454 to -0.184). Additionally, during the study period, a decrease in sexual intercourse was observed in the pre-pandemic period (β, -0.129; 95% CI, -0.148 to -0.110), followed by an increase in the post-pandemic period (β, 0.821; 95% CI, 0.627 to 1.014). This shift is highlighted by an effect size of 0.96 [weighted odds ratio (wOR); 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.00], indicating a substantial change in adolescent sexual behaviors across study periods. The increase in sexual intercourse and decrease in usage of contraception observed in our study between the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods suggests a potential threat to sexual health among South Korean adolescents. This trend emphasizes the ongoing necessity of raising awareness about adolescent sexual behavior in South Korea.