Challenges of Education In Energy and Environment: Comparison before and after Pandemic Constraints

Energy systems present a complex and dynamic interrelation between energy, environment, and society. Therefore, properly educating new professionals for the renewable energy sector is a challenging endeavor by itself. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an additional challenge on how to engage students in energy and environment education through distance learning. In this paper, we present the methodology applied at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) for students of the discipline "Energy and Environment". The graduate student interns developed an integrated methodology of disseminating knowledge about renewable energy and environment for those students and society as a whole. A positive feedback over 95% was obtained from the enrolled students in the period of 2019-2020. It was also noticed a failure rate of 24% in 2020 in contrast to zero occurrences in 2019, when face-to-face activities were in place. Finally, we present a brief discussion on the primary challenges and lessons learned during the studied period. © 2021. The Authors. Published by International Solar Energy Society Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Scientific Committee.

IMPACT of COVID OUTBREAK on PREVENTION and CARE for HIV and STIs at A LARGE HOSPITAL

Background: Routine medical care was drastically affected by the overwhelming irruption of COVID-19 pandemic. We comprehensively assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevention and care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections at a large reference hospital providing preventive and clinical services for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections. Methods: We retrospectively compared clinical and laboratory data from March to December 2020 (first ten months of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemics in Spain) vs. the same period 2019 in the setting of Hospital Clínic of Barcelona which provides preventive and clinical services for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections for the region of Catalonia and is the largest of its kind in Spain. Monthly clinical data on HIV pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis users and on adults with HIV infection were retrieved from the administrative hospital database. Monthly tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C, Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Chlamydia trachomatis, and plasma lipids and glucose were recovered from the laboratory database. De novo HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C diagnosis were considered whenever a person had a first known positive laboratory test. Results: There were less (28% reduction) but more advanced (mean [SD] CD4 cell counts per mm3 at HIV diagnosis 305 [167] vs. 370 [170], P<0.001;26 (18%) persons had AIDS-defining conditions at HIV diagnosis vs. 20 (10%), P=0.03) HIV cases and more gonorrhea (39% increase, P<0.001) and chlamydia (37% increase, P<0.001) infections in 2020 vs. 2019. In people with HIV, rates of viral load above the level of detection remained stable (11% vs 11%, P=0.147) despite less scheduled visits (25% reduction, P<0.001). However, they had less antiretroviral prescription changes (10% reduction, P=0.018), worse plasma lipids (mean total cholesterol 190 vs 185 mg/dL, P<0.001;mean LDL cholesterol 114 vs 110 mg/dL, P<0.001;mean triglycerides 136 vs 125 mg/dL, P<0.001;mean HDL cholesterol 47 vs 48 mg/dL, P=0.006), and an excess of mortality (29 deaths vs 11, 264% increase, P=0.006) due in great part to COVID-19 (n=11) but also to other non-COVID-19 causes. Conclusion: In the setting of a large Spanish reference hospital, SARS-CoV-2 epidemics was associated with an increase of some prevalent sexually transmitted infections, with less but more advanced de novo HIV infections, and with worse non-virologic healthcare outcomes and higher mortality in people living with HIV.

DemaBot: A tool to automatically generate decision-support chatbots

This article presents DemaBot: a low-code solution to create chatbots designed to automate decision-making. Examples of these chatbots range from COVID-19 screening to first-line incident support, amongst others. Using DemaBot, the developer only needs to model the decision that the chatbot will automate using DMN and, optionally, customize the utterances that the chatbot will use to interact with the user. From this information, DemaBot generates automatically the complete set of components that implement a ready-to-use chatbot. Furthermore, it provides help to guide users during the conversation, and optimizes the conversation flow, being able to recognize several parameters in a single turn and asking only for those that are indispensable for the decision. © 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Brazilian states in the context of covid-19 pandemic: An Index Proposition using Network Data Envelopment Analysis

This study aims to evaluate comparatively the situation of the federal units and the Brazilian states in relation to the pandemic of new coronaviruses (COVID19) through the technique of Network Data Envelopment Analysis (Network DEA - NDEA). For the development of research, data were collected on the Ministry of Health website, for all regions that register cases of virus cases notified until April 27, 2020. The purpose of the analysis is to assess regional discrepancies in the country. The model consists of the following structure: three inputs (number of doctors, number of respirators and number of clinical beds), an intermediate variable (number of reported cases) and one output (number of deaths). The results indicated that the federative unit with the worst performance overall was Amazonas, while the worst capital was Manaus. With two-dimensional representation, managers can visualize better which locations have the worst performance and assess which locations require more assistance. Depending on the results, managers can develop regional action plans, which can take steps to prevent the collapse of the health system. Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Experience with the use of siltuximab in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to describe characteristics and clinical outcome of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection that received siltuximab according to a protocol that aimed to early block the activity of IL-6 to avoid the progression of the inflammatory flare. METHODS: Retrospective review of the first 31 patients with SARS-CoV-2 treated with siltuximab, in Hospital Clinic of Barcelona or Hospital Universitario Salamanca, from March to April 2020 with positive polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab. RESULTS: The cohort included 31 cases that received siltuximab with a median (IQR) age of 62 (56-71) and 71% were males. The most frequent comorbidity was hypertension (48%). The median dose of siltuximab was 800 mg ranging between 785 and 900 mg. 7 patients received siltuximab as a salvage therapy after one dose of tocilizumab. At the end of the study, a total of 26 (83.9) patients had been discharged alive and the mortality rate was 16.1% but only 1 out of 24 that received siltuximab as a first line option (4%). CONCLUSIONS: Siltuximab is a well-tolerated alternative to tocilizumab when administered as a first line option in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia within the first 10 days from symptoms onset and high C-reactive protein.

Tocilizumab reduces the risk of ICU admission and mortality in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OBJECTIVE: In some patients the immune response triggered by SARS-CoV-2 is unbalanced, presenting an acute respiratory distress syndrome which in many cases requires intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The limitation of ICU beds has been one of the major burdens in the management around the world; therefore, clinical strategies to avoid ICU admission are needed. We aimed to describe the influence of tocilizumab on the need of transfer to ICU or death in non-critically ill patients. METHODS: A retrospective study of 171 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection that did not qualify as requiring transfer to ICU during the first 24h after admission to a conventional ward, were included. The criteria to receive tocilizumab was radiological impairment, oxygen demand or an increasing of inflammatory parameters, however, the ultimate decision was left to the attending physician judgement. The primary outcome was the need of ICU admission or death whichever came first. RESULTS: A total of 77 patients received tocilizumab and 94 did not. The tocilizumab group had less ICU admissions (10.3% vs. 27.6%, P=0.005) and need of invasive ventilation (0 vs 13.8%, P=0.001). In the multivariable analysis, tocilizumab remained as a protective variable (OR: 0.03, CI 95%: 0.007-0.1, P=0.0001) of ICU admission or death. CONCLUSIONS: Tocilizumab in early stages of the inflammatory flare could reduce an important number of ICU admissions and mechanical ventilation. The mortality rate of 10.3% among patients receiving tocilizumab appears to be lower than other reports. This is a non-randomized study and the results should be interpreted with caution.