Accessible block-based programming for k-12 students who are blind or low vision

Block-based programming applications, such as MIT’s Scratch and Blockly Games, are commonly used to teach K-12 students to code. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many K-12 students are attending online coding camps, which teach programming using these block-based applications. However, these applications are not accessible to the Blind/Low Vision (BLV) population since they neither produce audio output nor are screen reader accessible. In this paper, we describe a solution to make block-based programming accessible to BLV students using Google’s latest Keyboard Navigation and present its evaluation with four individuals who are BLV. We distill our findings as recommendations to developers who may want to make their Block-based programming application accessible to individuals who are BLV. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.

Prevalence and clinical impact of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic sarscov-2 infection among actively treated cancer patients during recent covid-19 pandemic peak in Italy

Background: The European SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had its first epicentre in Italy, particularly in the area of Bergamo. In spite of a significant mortality rate, in the majority of cases the spectrum of Covid-19 ranges from asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic infection. No information is available on the prevalence and clinical impact of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic SARSCoV-2 infection among actively treated cancer patients during pandemic. Patients and methods: From April 1st, 2020 to the end of the month, 560 consecutive and unselected patients, scheduled for anticancer treatment at our facility and without clinical suspicious of Covid-19, were evaluated and tested for SARSCoV-2. We implemented a two-step diagnostics, including a rapid serological immunoassay for anti-SARSCoV-2 IgG/IgM and a pharyngeal swab RT-PCR assay in case of IgM seropositivity. Results: In 560 patients, 172 (31%) resulted positive for SARSCoV-2 IgM/IgG antibodies, regardless of type of cancer, stage and treatment. All IgM-seropositives were then tested with RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs and 55/146 (38%) proved to be SARSCoV-2 carriers, with slightly difference between mildly symptomatic vs. asymptomatic patients (38 vs. 17). Therefore, the two-step procedure allowed the identification of 55 (10%) silent carriers in the whole study population and magnified the number needed to test (NNT) with the pharyngeal swab RT-PCR assay to detect a silent virus carrier (NNT: 2.6 vs. 10, with or without serological selection). At a very early follow up (8 wks), in 114 SARSCoV-2-seropostive/RT-PCR-negative patients, who continued their anticancer therapies, none but one developed a symptomatic Covid-19 illness. Conclusions: Among cancer patients, the two-step diagnostics strategy with serology followed by pharyngeal swab for asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic SARSCoV-2 infection is feasible and effective and can help selecting cancer patients on treatment who might be silent carriers of the virus. The early safety outcome of patients previously exposed to SARSCoV-2 supports the recommendation to continue active treatment, at least in the case of negative RT-PCR test.

Perceptions of pharmacy students at a health polytechnic of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 is a virus that became first apparent in Wuhan City. The virus has spread rapidly throughout the world, including in Indonesia and has caused harm in many countries, not only attacking the health systems but also impacting the social, economic and educational orders. In the field of education, COVID-19 has changed the learning model drastically;all learning activities must now be done online. This case study is a simple descriptive design research with sampling using a stratified random sampling technique. A total of 120 responses were received from students at Department of Pharmacy, Health Polytechnic of Health Ministry Kupang. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. The results of the data analysis showed that 62.5% had a negative perception of online learning. Online learning methods were therefore deemed to be less effective during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes ofcoronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) in cancer patientstreated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI)

Background: ICI are widely used in the treatment of various cancer types. It has been hypothesized that ICI couldconfer an increased risk of severe acute lung injury or other complications associated with severe acute respiratorysyndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods: We analyzed data from 113 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 while on treatment with ICI without chemotherapy in 19 hospitals in North America, Europe, and Australia. Data collected included details onsymptoms, comorbidities, medications, treatments and investigations for COVID-19, and outcomes (hospitaladmission, ICU admission, and mortality). Results: The median age was 63 years (range 27-86);40 (35%) patients were female. Most common malignancies were melanoma (n=64, 57%), non-small cell lung cancer (n=19, 17%), and renal cell carcinoma (n=11, 10%);30(27%) patients were treated for early (neoadjuvant/adjuvant) and 83 (73%) for advanced cancer. Most patientsreceived anti-PD-1 (n=85, 75%), combination anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 (n=15, 13%), or anti-PD-L1 (n=8, 7%) ICI.Comorbidities included cardiovascular disease (n=31, 27%), diabetes (n=17, 15%), and pulmonary disease (n=14, 12%). Symptoms were present in 68 (60%) patients;46 (68%) had fever, 40 (59%) cough, and 23 (34%) dyspnea.Overall, ICI was interrupted in 58 (51%) patients. At data cutoff, 33 (29%) patients were admitted to hospital, 6 (5%)to ICU, and 9 (8%) patients died. COVID-19 was the primary cause of death in 7 patients, 3 of whom were admittedto ICU. Cancer types in patients who died were melanoma (2), non-small cell lung cancer (2), renal cell carcinoma(2), and others (3);all (9) patients had advanced cancer. Administered treatments were oxygen therapy (8), mechanical ventilation (2), vasopression (2), antibiotics (7), antiviral drugs (4), glucocorticoids (2), and anti-IL-6 (2).Of all hospitalized patients, 20 (61%) had been discharged and 4 (12%) were still in hospital at data cutoff. Conclusion: The mortality rate of COVID-19 in patients on ICI is higher than rates reported for the generalpopulation without comorbidities but may not be higher than rates reported for the cancer population. Despite thesepreliminary findings, COVID-19 patients on ICI may not have symptoms and a proportion may continue ICI.Correlative analyses are ongoing and will be presented.