ABSTRACT
The schools were closed for the 2020-2021 academic sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of the present study was to explore the effects of school closure on the achievement motivation of school-going adolescents. This case study involved 67 no. of students (54 from 10th grade and 13 from 9th grade) in the age group of 14-15 years. The researcher conducted several students' self-reporting sessions and performed an 'content analysis' process for data analysis. The results represent that they didn't set their achievement goal to attain a high standard of excellence and due to this lack of achievement goals, those students had been neglecting their studies throughout two academic sessions. They had no drive for learning in their mind so they didn't put effort to learn and refrained from working hard. Those school-going adolescents were not involved to accomplish their learning goals. Most of the students couldn't understand the lesson alone at home and also face difficulties going through the online classes properly. So, they were not interested to study at home and it was not an enjoyable mode of study for them. In a word, those school-going adolescents had no achievement motivation, so they lost the desire to study.
ABSTRACT
Objective: In 2020, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) became the cause of a pandemic. In response, the Japan Sports Agency issued warnings about secondary damage to health, such as the threat to physical and mental well-being due to the lack of exercise in this situation. In this study, we report on cross-sectional and longitudinal examinations of standing trunk flexion to evaluate how temporary long-term school closures affected musculoskeletal function in elementary school students.Patients and Methods: All children in one public elementary school in T-city during the school years 2019 and 2020 were included in this study. A digital forward flexion meter was used to measure standing trunk flexion.Results: In this study, 284 (284/289: 98.3%) and 266 (266/274: 97.1%) children in school years 2020 and 2019, respectively, were found to have valid data for cross-sectional analysis. The standing trunk flexion did not show significant differences between grades or sexes. In the longitudinal analysis, the results of the comparison of standing trunk flexion in children for two consecutive years revealed significant differences only between grades 3 and 4 (P<0.05) and between girls in grades 3 and 4 (P<0.01), but no significant differences in other grades or among boys or girls were observed.Conclusion: Initially, we expected that there would be a difference in the results of functional assessment using standing trunk flexion depending on the period of absence from school. However, the results of this study showed no significant changes in standing trunk flexion. Moreover, since children’s musculoskeletal functions may be affected by various factors during the COVID-19 pandemic, they should be carefully monitored in the future.
ABSTRACT
The pattern of social contact that the connection exists between people in social life tends to have certain rules. Hence, studying the laws of social contact of the population can improve the accuracy of modeling infectious diseases and provide scientific evidences for the spreading and intervention of infectious diseases transmitted by droplets or contact. This paper is a review that summarizes the current research methods of social contact pattern, the law of social contact and its significance to the spreading and prevention of infectious diseases. It finds that the survey methods of social contact mainly include direct observation, contact diaries and proximity sensors and the social contact patterns show regularities in multiple dimensions such as contact time, contact location and contact objects. Moreover, these regularities relevant to social contact patterns can apply to the mathematical model of infectious diseases and the evaluation of the effect of interventions, which provide the effective basis for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
ABSTRACT
Background: Influenza virus is the major cause of respiratory illness, especially in young and older age groups. Since 1918, many subtypes, defined by hemagglutinine (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), have caused global infections or pandemics. The recently isolated swine origin influenza virus (S-OIV) subtype H1N1 has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the cause of the present influenza pandemic. Objective: To describe and attempt to predict the epidemiology of the novel H1N1 2009 in Bangkok and to evaluate the effects of school closures during the outbreaks. Materials and methods: The first two human cases infected by this S-OIV subtype H1N1 or H1N1 2009 in Thailand have been reported in May 12, 2009 by the Ministry of Public Health. Between May 12 and July 30, 2009, 1212 nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs from four private hospitals and Chulalongkorn Hospital, Bangkok have been sent to a laboratory for Influenza virus diagnosis. The diagnosis was based on real time RT-PCR for seasonal influenza (H1, H3) and H1N1 2009. Results: One thousand two hundreds and twelve specimens of patients with influenza like illness were tested using real time RT-PCR detection. Between mid June and early July, the number of H1N1 2009 increased rapidly with a high prevalence among the 6- to 20-year olds. School closure policy, long public holiday, and additional preventive measures have led to a rapid reduction in the number of H1N1 2009 positive patients. Conclusion: Preventive measures including school closures are important to slow down the outbreak and thus enable health care centers to cope with the large number of patients. Everyone should play a role in delaying the spread of this pandemic.