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Background: At the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in the absence of pharmaceutical interventions, countries resorted to containment measures to stem the spread of the disease. In this paper, we have conducted a global study using a sample of 46 countries to evaluate whether these containment measures resulted in unemployment. Methods: We use a difference-in-differences (DID) specification with a heterogenous intervention to show the varying intensity effect of containment measures on unemployment, on a sample of 46 countries. We explain variations in unemployment from January-June 2020 using stringency of containment measures, controlling for gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation rate, exports, cases of COVID-19 per million, COVID-19-specific fiscal spending, time fixed effects, region fixed effects, and region trends. We conduct further subset analyses by COVID-cases quintiles and gross national income (GNI) per capita quintiles. Results: The median level of containment stringency in our sample was 43.7. Our model found that increasing stringency to this level would result in unemployment increasing by 1.87 percentage points (or 1.67 pp, after controlling for confounding). For countries with below median COVID-19 cases and below median GNI per capita, this effect is larger. Conclusion: Containment measures have a strong impact on unemployment. This effect is larger in poorer countries and countries with low COVID-19 cases. Given that unemployment has profound effects on mortality and morbidity, this consequence of containment measures may compound the adverse health effects of the pandemic for the most vulnerable groups. It is necessary for governments to consider this in future pandemic management, and to attempt to alleviate the impact of containment measures via effective fiscal spending. © 2023 The Author(s);Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.
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This article describes the emergency implementation, and evaluates migration results from in person to virtual teaching in a regional university center during Covid-19 emergency. Planned in advance online education experiences are significantly different from the courses offered online in response to a crisis, hence the relevance of assessing this emergency implementation of online education. Through a descriptive quantitative re-search, an assessment tool aimed for professors of courses taught during the first semester of 2021 was designed. The objective was to evaluate the implementation of emergency remote teaching from the perception of professors. Operational, instrumental and pedagogical strategies that were generated for the conti-nuity of teaching, and the teaching perspective on the change of modality, are covered in the article. Assessment results highlight the maintenance of the courses in real time, the preference of certain technological tools, the readjustments of the evaluation methods and the discovery of the possibilities offered by the new modality. Concerns focus on instru-mental aspects of access and management of technology and not of a pedagogical nature.
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Resumo: O transplante de medula ossea traz bons resultados em sua terapeutica para tratamento de doencas onco-hematologicas. Contudo, encontram-se alguns pacientes com indicacao de transplante de medula ossea que nao possuem doadores compativeis em sua familia, que dependem de doadores voluntarios. A doacao voluntaria se da atraves de cadastro no Redome. Com a pandemia do COVID-19 os cadastros foram afetados, impactando no numero de doadores. Portanto, faz-se necessario demonstrar os impactos causados pela pandemia no numero de doadores de medula ossea. Logo, realizou-se estudo de dados fornecidos pelo REDOME entre 2019 a 2020, relacionados as coletaS e cadastro na Fundacao Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto junto ao Laboratorio de HLA. Autores: Santos VT, Deghaide NHS, Martins GV, Correa APB, Domeneghetti MS, Roque ACM, Sartori LG. Instituicao: Fundacao Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto. Justificativa: Frente a pandemia(COVID-19), o Laboratorio de HLA se adaptou as medidas de prevencao e recomendacoes do Hospital das Clinicas de Ribeirao Preto e protocolos do Ministerio da Saude, com reducao no cadastro de doadores voluntarios de medula ossea. O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar o numero de doadores voluntarios que foram cadastrados como doadores de medula ossea antes da pandemia, e analisar os cadastros durante esta. Materiais e Metodos: Utilizou-se um estudo observacional de criterio longitudinal e retrospectivo, do tipo serie temporal, utilizando a base dados fornecidos pelo REDOME, referentes ao numero de cadastro de novos doadores de medula ossea no Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto, entre 2019 e 2020. Os cadastros de janeiro a dezembro de 2020 foram comparados ao ano de 2019. Resultados: Segundo o REDOME, o numero de doadores no Brasil e de 5.522.346. O numero de doadores cadastrados a Fundacao Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto esta acima de 265.000, o que corresponde a 4,8% do total de doadores cadastrados no pais. Os total doadores em Ribeirao Preto em 2019 foi 24.130 e 18.737 em 2020. Em 2019, no Brasil foram 291.361 novos doadores, onde o Hemocentro representa 8,28% do pais. A pandemia influenciou essa reducao frente isolamento social e dificultou a realizacao de campanhas. Discussao: O transplante de medula ossea e uma terapeutica de resultados positivos em sua terapeutica, no entanto, necessita-se de doadores compativeis. O numero de doadores de transplante de medula ossea aumenta e no Brasil, ha locais de cadastro e de coleta, chamado de hemocentro. A educacao em saude e recurso importante para informar e atualizar a populacao quanto a relevancia do cadastro para formacao do banco de doadores. Conforme dados do Ministerio da Saude, as doacoes de medula ossea e transplantes nao chegaram a ser interrompidos na pandemia, porem foram aplicadas restricoes de seguranca, publicadas no portal da Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria. O decrescimo de cadastros de doadores de medula ossea no Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto e em todo o Brasil, pode estar fortemente relacionado com a interrupcao de campanhas em virtude da pandemia. Conclusao: Ao comparar o registro de doadores de medula ossea no Hemocentro com dados de cadastro no Brasil, entre 2019 e 2020, nota-se que houve reducao nos registros. No estado de Sao Paulo, a reducao foi de 12,7%, passando de 69.567 para 60.744 o numero de cadastros. No Brasil, de 25,66%, total de 291.361 em 2019 para 170.287 ate dezembro de 2020. As restricoes do periodo de isolamento social devido COVID-19 impactaram nos registros de doadores, assim como a nao realizacao de cadastro e campanhas do Hemocentro, que foram suspensas em 2020. Copyright © 2022
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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Minority communities disproportionately shouldered poor COVID-19 outcomes, however the impact of the pandemic on prostate cancer (PCa) surgery is unknown. To that end, we sought to determine the racial impact on PCa care during the first wave of the pandemic. METHODS: Using a multi-institutional collaborative we evaluated practice patterns for Black and White patients with untreated non-metastatic PCa during the initial COVID-19 lockdown (March-May 2020) compared to prior (March-May 2019). Patient and practice characteristics were compared by race using Fisher's exact and Pearson's chi-square to compare categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank sum to evaluate continuous covariates. We determined the covariate-adjusted impact of year and race on surgery, using logistic regression models with a race year interaction term. RESULTS: Among the 647 men with non-metastatic PCa, 269 received care during the pandemic and 378 prior. Surgery was significantly less likely in Black men (1.3% v 25.9%;p<0.001), despite similar COVID-19 risk factors, biopsy Gleason grade group, and comparable surgery rates prior (17.7% vs. 19.1%;p=0.75). Black men had higher PSA (8.8 vs. 7.2 p=0.04) and were younger (38.2% vs. 24.4% <60 yr;p=0.09). Regression results demonstrated an 94% reduced odds of surgery (OR=0.06, 95% CI 0.007-0.43;p=0.006) for Black patients, with no change for White patients (OR=1.41, 95% CI 0.89-2.21;p=0.142), after adjusting for covariates. Changes in surgical volume varied by site (33% increase to complete shutdown), with sites that experienced the largest reduction in cancer surgery, caring for a greater proportion of Black patients (figure). CONCLUSIONS: In a large multi-institutional regional collaborative, odds of prostatectomy declined only among Black patients during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While localized prostate cancer does not require immediate treatment, this study illuminates systemic inequities within healthcare. Public health efforts are needed to fully recognize the unintended consequence of diversion of cancer resources to the pandemic in order to develop balanced mitigation strategies as viral rates continue to fluctuate.
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Digital education has reached enormous advances and acceptance in the last decade. COVID 19 has triggered a boom in the digital education implementation. Those courses that never had been delivered in a digital format, suddenly were forced to be prepared and presented as digital education. The nature of different courses might facilitate this new reality, depending if they are theoretical, numerical or mixed. This paper has evaluated a set of characteristics deployed in different engineering courses transformed into digital courses, depending on its nature. On the other hand, this analysis had a focus on the women participation in engineering courses and their evaluations of such digital course's characteristics. The main purpose of the present paper is to answer the question of what characteristics within the course methodology design, works and are evaluated better by students. A survey was designed and applied to the 87% of the Industrial and Systems Engineering program population in Tecnologico de Monterrey, Sonora Mexico. Data was statistically analyzed to find if there were any difference between female and male opinions about the course characteristics and within each gender in each kind of course. Also, a correlation analysis was made to identify how the elements influenced each other and if they should be combined depending on the desired result. An additional analysis took place to identify the level of participation of female and male students before and during pandemic time. Findings reveal interesting coincidences and differences in evaluating some of those digital course's characteristics depending on the gender of students and course nature, such as women participation and the differences in perception of competitiveness among women and men. Some of these findings are: 1) In mixed subjects, male students identify a higher academic environment that encourages more competitiveness than female students. 2) Another finding is that men seem to have greater motivation to attend class sessions in numerical subjects. 3) Among female students a negative correlation between the frequency of the instructor request of a final reflection analysis of the session with considering a competitiveness academic environment. 4) Talking about mixed courses, all female students evaluated with the highest score in the question about motivation to be present in the session and the identification of moments and activities that allowed them to share opinions. To reinforce women participation in Industrial and Systems Engineering digital courses, those identified characteristics shall be included and developed in the course methodology design. © 2021 IEEE.
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Background: Minority communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, however the impact of the pandemic on prostate cancer (PCa) treatment is unknown. To that end, we sought to determine the racial impact on PCa surgery during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: After receiving institutional review board approval, the Pennsylvania Urologic Regional Collaborative (PURC) database was queried to evaluate practice patterns for Black and White patients with untreated non-metastatic PCa during the initial lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-May 2020) compared to prior (March-May 2019). PURC is a prospective collaborative, which includes private practice and academic institutions within both urban and rural settings including regional safety-net hospitals. As data entry was likely impacted by the pandemic, we limited our search to only practices that had data entered through June 1, 2020 (5 practice sites). We compared patient and disease characteristics by race using Fisher's exact and Pearson's chi-square to compare categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank sum to evaluate continuous covariates. Patients were stratified by risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection as described by the CDC. We determined the covariate-adjusted impact of year and race on surgery, using logistic regression models with a race∗year interaction term. Results: 647 men with untreated nonmetastatic PCa were identified, 269 during the pandemic and 378 from the year prior. During the pandemic, Black men were significantly less likely to undergo prostatectomy compared to White patients (1.3% v 25.9%;p < 0.001), despite similar COVID-19 risk-factors, biopsy Gleason grade group, and comparable surgery rates prior (17.7% vs. 19.1%;p = 0.75). White men had lower pre-biopsy PSA (7.2 vs. 8.8 vs. p = 0.04) and were older (24.4% vs. 38.2% < 60yr;p = 0.09). The regression model demonstrated an 94% decline in odds of surgery(OR = 0.06 95%CI 0.007-0.43;p = 0.006) for Black patients and increase odds of surgery for White patients (OR = 1.41 95%CI 0.89-2.21;p = 0.142), after adjusting for covariates. Changes in surgical volume varied by site (33% increase to complete shutdown), with sites that experienced the largest reduction in cancer surgery, caring for a greater proportion of Black patients. Conclusions: In a large multi-institutional regional collaborative, odds of PCa surgery declined only among Black patients during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While localized prostate cancer does not require immediate treatment, the lessons from this study illuminate systemic inequities within healthcare, likely applicable across oncology. Public health efforts are needed to fully recognize the unintended consequence of diversion of cancer resources to the pandemic in order to develop balanced mitigation strategies as viral rates continue to fluctuate.
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COVID-19 is a pandemic with clinical and emotional implications, sometimes invisible to gastroenterologists. Although dying is part of life, the risk for some doctors may be greater. Specifically, gastroenterologists are affected by the fear of restarting medical check-ups and endoscopic procedures. Amid a sea of information –even with contradictions between different experts— following the guidelines of the Colombian Associations of the Digestive Tract could help reassure doctors and patients. Although the pathologies will continue to appear, the fear of the population to be infected can generate consequences such as delaying the treatment of digestive tract cancers. Physical self-care through protection strategies and the emotional care, are important to help our immune system. Adapting to function during the pandemic, using tele-orientation through digital platforms, is a creative way to reduce collective anxiety. © 2020 Asociaciones Colombianas de Gastroenterología, Endoscopia digestiva, Coloproctología y Hepatología.
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This manuscript aimed to develop a brief 2-item screening tool to identify Brazilian households that include families with children at risk for food insecurity. Psychometric analyses including sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, accuracy, and ROC curves were used to test combinations of questions to determine the most effective screener to assess households at risk for food insecurity when compared to a gold standard scale. Participants included Brazilian National Survey of Demography and Health on Women and Children (PNDS) surveyed households with a valid Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) response. The sample included 3,920 households representing 11,779,686 households when expanded using PNDS sample weights. With overall prevalence of food insecurity at 21%, a Brazilian 2-item food-insecurity screen showed sensitivity of 79.31%, specificity of 92.95%, positive predictive value of 74.62%, negative predictive value of 94.5% and ROC area 86.13%. This screen also presented high convergent validity for children's nutrition and health variables when compared with the gold standard, the EBIA full scale. Based on its ability to detect households at risk for food insecurity, a 2-item screening tool is recommended for widespread adoption as a screening measure throughout Brazil, especially when rapid decision-making has been made fundamental, as under the COVID-19 pandemic. This screener can enable providers to accurately identify families at risk for food insecurity and promptly intervene to prevent or ameliorate adverse health and developmental consequences associated with food insecurity and swiftly respond to crises.