The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with Behçet's syndrome within the framework of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: implications for patient empowerment in national or global emergencies.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this online survey was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS) using Maslow's hierarchy of needs. METHODS: Sixty-eight BS patients from the UK completed an online questionnaire that covered three components of Maslow's hierarchy of needs regarding Physiological needs (sleep, food, mobility), Safety needs (employment, health), Social needs (relationships), personal precautions and main concerns regarding COVID-19. RESULTS: The patients received a letter from the NHS (66.2%) advising shielding. Health concerns were addressed using Tele-medicine by telephone consultations and e-mails to access BS specialists during lockdown (44.1%; 27.9%). In addition, patients also obtained information through official government and Behçet corporate health web pages related to Behçet's disease for self-empowerment. During lockdown, their weekly working hours were reduced (26.65±13.86 vs. 20.79±17.94) (p=0.017) and the employment rate was decreased (32.6% vs. 26.7%) in comparison to pre-lockdown. Moreover, the reduction in frequency of exercise per week (4.39±1.94 vs. 3.71±2.26) and healthy food consumption (73.5 % vs. 47.1%) per week were also reported (p=0.007; p=0.001, respectively). Furthermore, patients experienced sleeping less (54.4%) and feeling lonely (66.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Using Maslow's hierarchy of needs provided a framework for reviewing the quality of basic needs in patients' life during lockdown. These needs are required for healthy social lives and the deprivation should be considered while considering healthcare planning. Since lockdown appeared to have a negative influence on patients' lives and disease management in the framework of patient-centred, the empowerment of patients gained importance at this point.

Behçet's syndrome and health-related quality of life: influence of symptoms, lifestyle and employment status.

OBJECTIVES: Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a chronic multisystemic disorder. The complex pattern of BS symptoms can effect negatively on patients' quality of life. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of BS symptoms, oral health related lifestyles and employment status on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). METHODS: A questionnaire was mailed to a cohort of 641 adult members of the Behçet's Syndrome Society (BSS) and patients attending a Behçet's syndrome centre in the UK. Respondents gave information on socio-demographic characteristics, disease duration, current symptoms, symptom control, health related lifestyle, diet, smoking and alcohol, employment status and quality of life (the EQ-5D index). RESULTS: 315 out of 426 BS participants (Males: Females=136:179) were recruited. BS symptoms and EQ-5D score model (R=0.67 and R2=0.45) and standardised coefficients for symptoms were; arthropathy (-0.336), headache (-0.227), neurological problems (-0.135), pathergy reaction (-0.119) and skin lesions (-0.107) in decreasing order. This finding was similar to a 2009 study of the same cohort. Regression analysis of tobacco consumption revealed that tobacco use was a risk factor for decreasing the EQ-5D score (beta value = - 0.72, p=0.001). Using an effective mouthwash has a positive impact on HRQoL (beta value= 0.149 and p=0.012). The mean EQ-5D in patients who continued in employment and who were not receiving benefits was better compared to other sub groups. CONCLUSIONS: BS symptoms, employment status, a healthy lifestyle combined with a good oral health have a significant impact on the HRQoL of BS patients.

The impact of multifactorial factors on the Quality of Life of Behçet's patients over 10 years.

Objective: This study analyses the 2020 survey and reviews the 2009, 2014 surveys to ascertain which Behçet's symptoms, personal and family status, patients' lifestyle, and work-related outcomes impacted on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Methods: Four hundred and fifty-nine Behçet's patients submitted an online survey/questionnaire. Patients provided information on socio-demographic characteristics, disease duration, historical and current symptoms, systemic and topical medication, health related lifestyle, work-related outcomes regarding employment status and claiming benefits and Quality of Life (QoL) measured by EQ-5D index. Results: Four hundred and nineteen patients met the inclusion criteria, and 371 who had full data (Males: Females: Others = 84:285:2, mean-age = 41.1 ± 23.3:38 ± 13.2:40 ± 5). The main symptoms associated with patients seeking medical care were mouth ulcers 30% and genital ulcers 23%, joint 14%, and eye problems 9%. The EQ-5D index for 2009, 2014, 2020 was (mean ± SD); 0.47 ± 0.38, 0.42 ± 0.37, 0.34 ± 0.40, respectively, p < 0.05. 2020 patients had the worst values of the five domains compared to 2014 and 2009. Interestingly, mobility value was the same over the 10 years of monitoring patients. Behçet's syndrome (BS) symptoms that had significant negative impact on QoL were; 2009 (arthropathy, neurological problems, pathergy reaction, and stomach/bowel symptoms), 2014 (arthropathy, headache, neurological problems, pathergy reaction, and skin lesions), 2020 (arthropathy, neurological problems, and stomach/bowel symptoms). The 2014 and 2020 surveys reported the QoL is significantly better in patients on immunosuppressant, who did sport, continued in employment and not receiving benefits. Conclusion: Joints and neurological symptoms are the main symptoms which had negative impact on BS patients over the 10 years, sociodemographic (gender, age, marital, and education status), lifestyle (medication, cannabis, drinking wine, and regular exercise), employment status (employee and no career change), and accessing benefits (never claim benefit) had significant influence on patients' HRQoL.

3D Shape and Indirect Appearance by Structured Light Transport.

We consider the problem of deliberately manipulating the direct and indirect light flowing through a time-varying, general scene in order to simplify its visual analysis. Our approach rests on a crucial link between stereo geometry and light transport: while direct light always obeys the epipolar geometry of a projector-camera pair, indirect light overwhelmingly does not. We show that it is possible to turn this observation into an imaging method that analyzes light transport in real time in the optical domain, prior to acquisition. This yields three key abilities that we demonstrate in an experimental camera prototype: (1) producing a live indirect-only video stream for any scene, regardless of geometric or photometric complexity; (2) capturing images that make existing structured-light shape recovery algorithms robust to indirect transport; and (3) turning them into one-shot methods for dynamic 3D shape capture.

Multivariate relationships between groundwater chemistry and toxicity in an urban aquifer.

Multivariate statistical methods were used to investigate the causes of toxicity and controls on groundwater chemistry from 274 boreholes in an urban area (London) of the United Kingdom. The groundwater was alkaline to neutral, and chemistry was dominated by calcium, sodium, and sulfate. Contaminants included fuels, solvents, and organic compounds derived from landfill material. The presence of organic material in the aquifer caused decreases in dissolved oxygen, sulfate and nitrate concentrations, and increases in ferrous iron and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations. Pearson correlations between toxicity results and the concentration of individual analytes indicated that concentrations of ammoniacal nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, ferrous iron, and hydrocarbons were important where present. However, principal component and regression analysis suggested no significant correlation between toxicity and chemistry over the whole area. Multidimensional scaling was used to investigate differences in sites caused by historical use, landfill gas status, or position within the sample area. Significant differences were observed between sites with different historical land use and those with different gas status. Examination of the principal component matrix revealed that these differences are related to changes in the importance of reduced chemical species.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE: Science and Sputnik.

Sputnik led to an energetic U.S. space program and new discoveries about the cosmos.