The Verification & Validation of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Surface Mission Operations System

Leading up to its landing on Mars on February 18, 2021, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover Surface Mission Operations System (MOS) underwent a verification and validation (V&V) campaign consisting of a series of Super Thread Tests and Operational Readiness Tests. This V&V campaign emphasized incremental testing, mission scenario and capability coverage, and the Test-As-You-Fly approach wherever possible. Although the elements that comprise the Surface System underwent their own internal V&V campaigns, the system-level tests were vital in uncovering findings observable only through the integrated and flight-like nature of these Surface Mission Operations System V & V tests. The COVID-19 pandemic posed additional challenges, including limited facility access, constrained in-person activities, changes to operations paradigms, and evolving safety protocols in the midst of the testing campaign and preparation for surface operations. This paper describes the Verification and Validation campaign of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Surface Mission Operations System that led to the readiness for rover operations on Mars. © 2023 IEEE.

Case report: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Adults Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

A few months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, an entity called inflammatory syndrome with multisystem involvement was described in children, whose main manifestations include fever, cardiac, neurological, gastrointestinal, and mucocutaneous involvement, associated with elevated acute-phase reactants. These manifestations typically present a few weeks after infection. Later, in different parts of the world, cases in adults began to be published. Treatment is mainly aimed at modulating the immune response and associated hyperinflammation, with variable response and outcomes depending on the degree of multisystem involvement. We present two cases of adults treated at our institution.Copyright © 2023 Asociacion Colombiana de Infectologia. All rights reserved.

Tuberculosis and Hiv Infection - So Many Questions Pending

Since the early days of HIV infection, back in the eighties, TB - particularly extrapulmonary TB emerged as one of the opportunistic infections affecting these patients, specifically as a reactivation of latent TB infections. A diagnosis of TB in the context of HIV infection was then considered as an 'AIDS defining condition' according to classification systems used at that time. It has been recognized for a long time that there are many interactions between HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which lead to further immune deterioration and to worsening of both conditions due to complex biological and mechanistic interactions between these two agents. Many methods and techniques have been proposed in order to improve diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected subjects, knowing that TB is the most frequent opportunistic infection;and, if not treated in a timely fashion, it may easily take the lives of affected patients. It is not easy to have a diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected subjects, because of the difficulties for obtaining adequate sputum samples, or because of lack of adequate facilities for making a timely diagnosis, particularly in the so-called developing world. On the other hand, extrapulmonary TB is most frequently found in HIV-infected individuals compared to non-infected subjects, and its diagnosis poses significant difficulties, since so many times invasive procedures must be performed in order to obtain an adequate tissue sample and then be able to identify the pathological characteristics of tuberculous disease. In the first days of HIV infection when no antiretroviral therapy was available, a diagnosis of TB was made on clinical grounds, considering a history of contact or some characteristics of the disease, and those of us who are old (or experienced) enough offered antituberculosis therapy for these subjects, obtaining an adequate response many times, but in all cases, the natural history of HIV infection took place, and ultimately these patients died because of the occurrence of another opportunistic infection (or malignancy). With the advent of antiretroviral therapy in the late nineties, another problem occurred. The possibility of drug-drug interactions, taking into account hepatic metabolism of rifampin and the alterations of antiretroviral drug blood - or tissue - concentrations. On top of this, the occurrence of IRIS became another problem, and strategies and protocols have been designed in order to establish the adequate timing of antituberculosis therapy and sometime later antiretroviral therapy. A last point to be considered is the COVID-19 pandemic. The question to be asked is what the influence of the pandemic has been for affecting TB and HIV diagnosis and therapy strategies and programs, particularly in the developing world, knowing that health systems in these countries have many limitations, and that - scant - resources had to be dedicated for the fight against the pandemic.Copyright © 2023

Assessment of the Level of Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in a Sample of University Students. Comparison after the Covid-19 Pandemic

The transition from secondary education to university education has become a critical moment for the lifestyle of young people, especially for the practice of physical activity. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to assess the levels of physical activity in university students, by correlating the results of the IPAQ-SF and the different physical fitness variables (Eurofit). The sample consisted of 194 students of the Primary Education Degree, with a mean age of 21.37 +/- 2.66 years. The main results obtained reflect the direct relationship between the practice of physical activity in general, and vigorous physical activity in particular, and optimal physical fitness of university students, linked above all to the strength component. As for the comparison between prepandemic ( 18/19) and post-pandemic (21/ 22) university students, the increase in physical activity after the pandemic did not show substantial differences in the physical fitness components. In conclusion, these results should lead us to reflect on the influence of an active lifestyle on physical fitness, which has an impact on overall health status and quality of life.

Challenges for biorefineries in Latin America: A prospective analysis

Biorefineries play an essential role in sustainability and the biobased economy. Some of the challenge related to policy regulation, new process, and raw materials needs structural change in the value chain, such as logistics, discovering new raw materials, and overcoming troubles that arose from pandemic SARS Cov 2. It was evident the need to have an auto sustainable economy, the active participation of quadruple helix efforts to drive new developments and reach new milestones in technological maturity. Government efforts have facilitated the legal framework for the operation of Research Centers with social projection and have allowed, for example, in Costa Rica, to join the developments of nanotechnology to one of the lines of biorefineries where pineapple waste has been taken advantage of it. On the other hand, advances in this sense in Uruguay and Chile have allowed substantial advances in using residues from the meat industry and the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates, respectively. Undoubtedly, Brazil is experiencing an important boom in the Latin American economy given its long history in the use of agricultural residues and in obtaining biofuels. Colombia is positioned as an important international actor due to its contributions, the adoption of the 2030 bioeconomy agenda, and the governmental impulse through the 2030 bioeconomy mission for Colombia, which requires the cohesion of the actors from the different industrial sectors, academia, the state, and civil society. In this sense, initiatives developed in post-conflict areas in Colombia for the reconstruction of the social fabric and to provide new energy sources and biobased products from organic agricultural and agro-industrial residues in the Colombian Caribbean are also presented. With the aim of performing a prospective analysis of the state of biorefineries in Latin America, this work was divided into the following section. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

CoViD-19 During the First Pandemic Wave in Mexico Valle and Mexico City: A Spatial Analysis Approach in Small Areas

The first cases of the CoViD-19 disease in Mexico came from abroad in February 2020. Com-munitarian propagation accelerated the infection in the big metropolitan areas of Mexico, such as Valle de México Metropolitan Zone (VMMZ), were located the biggest people concentration in the country. In this study, we evaluate the spatial distribution of the positive cases and deaths in VMMZ at municipality level through a spatial econometric model that include socio demographic and eco-nomic variables, besides we explore the active cases in México City at neighborhood level. We found significant spatial effects, most notably in positive cases, that could help to explain the stage of the disease, in both municipality and neighborhood. The model shed light to observe how the CoViD-19 hits harder at the municipalities more densely populated and where the urbanization pro-cess was deeper, compared with those peripheral, nevertheless, worst living conditions also exhibit a positive relationship, in both positive cases and deaths. © 2023,Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Regionais. All Rights Reserved.

Teleworking and its impacts: a bibliometric review and analysis

Telework was increasing its boom over time, and due to the pandemic (Covid 19) has been found to be one of the most important issues today, since most if not all companies have had to resort to it. This importance is reflected in the reviews that were made through the search on the Web of Science (WoS) platform, making an analysis of the publications by countries, magazines, organizations and authors;finding that the countries with more discussion on the subject, through the publication of documents are the United States, England and Canada. Continuing with the analysis of networks, to conclude with the metaphor of the tree, composed by root (classic), trunk (structural) and leaves (recent), this last one conformed by four clusters, achieving that the revision of this research has a solid bibliographic support and showing in this analysis the impact that teleworking has in the home environment, costs, satisfaction and mental health. © 2022. Aibi, Revista de Investigacion Administracion e Ingenierias. All right reserved.

Characterization and prognostic factors for mortality of patients admitted to the ICU for COVID-19 in a public referral hospital in Bogotá, Colombia

Introduction: Millions of deaths have been reported in the world due to COVID-19 infection, most described in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU). The prognosis of the patient depends on the history and laboratory tests;for this reason, it is important to evaluate the characteristics of this population and determine risk factors for mortality at the local level. Objective: To characterize and identify the prognostic factors associated with mortality in patients admitted to ICU with a diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in a public referral hospital in Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: Retrospective, analytical, observational study in adults hospitalized in ICUs between March and August 2020. Results: Sixty-eight patients were analysed, median age was 59 (IQR 19.0) years;55.9% male. A percentage of 97.1 required mechanical ventilation, with a median PaO2/FiO2 on admission of 91.5. A percentage of 82.4 presented shock requiring vasopressor;33% of the patients received dialysis support, being greater in the group that died (53.8 vs. 19.0%, P =.004). Mortality was 38.2% and in the multivariate analysis it was associated with the serum lactate level at admission measured in arterial gases, greater than 2 mmol/L (OR = 4.19;95% CI 1.13-15.55), admission ferritin greater than 1500 μg/L (OR = 4.18;95% CI 1.20-14.58) and the requirement for dialysis support during the ICU stay (OR = 7.64;95% CI 2.00-29.14). Conclusion: The prognostic factors associated with mortality were elevated lactate, elevated ferritin, and requirement for dialysis support. © 2022 Asociación Colombiana de Medicina Crítica y Cuidado lntensivo

[Security protocols adapted to COVID-19 in elective surgery thru 2021]

Background: Medical personnel are among the populations with the most infections and morbidity and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

Acceptability and attributes of the COVID-19 vaccine

With the Philippines’ experience on vaccine hesitancy, the study aimed to determine the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination in the country and understand its attributes using the diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory. The cross-sectional study included 327 respondents recruited for four weeks through various social media platforms. Participants were requested to answer a self-administered online questionnaire. Majority of the respondents were belonged to age group 21-30 (46.2%), mostly female (65.4%), relatively healthy (86.2%), college graduate (37.6%), and currently unemployed (50.8%). While the majority had the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (70.0%), only 16.8% are innovators belonging to the age group 21-30 (p value=0.03), male (p value <0.001), and employed (p value=0.01). Relative advantage (p value <0.001), compatibility (p value <0.001), observability (p value <0.001), and perceived risk (p value <0.001) are significantly associated with the intention for COVID-19 vaccination and adopter category. Findings provde that the attributes of DoI are predictors for the acceptability and timing of COVID-19 vaccination. Strategies that promote trust, information transparency, and better information dissemination on the benefits and safety of vaccination can motivate more Filipinos to adopt the innovation. © 2022, Intelektual Pustaka Media Utama. All rights reserved.

Klever 21: Mobile App to Support Competence-Based Education

The appearance of COVID 19 caused the closure of many higher education institution facilities across the world and Mexico was no exception. This situation interrupted normal teaching and learning activities, fostering the search and development of tools which can guarantee the continuation of learning and teaching activities. Accordingly, this article describes the need for a tool to support learning activities within the context of a challenge-based learning approach. Consequently, after a search for an existing tool it was decided to design a tool suitable for competence development through challenge-based learning. Thus, a mobile app named Klever 21 was designed and released as a test version for this purpose. Additionally, this mobile app is associated with a web platform to aid project management and student competence evaluations. This article describes the main features of Klever 21 which is currently being tested at Tecnologico de Monterrey. This technology represents an evolution of mobile app technologies to face disruptive situations in higher education institutions. © 2021 IEEE.

Temporal Trendsin Humoral and Cellular Immune Responsesto SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccines Among Multiple Sclerosis Patients TreatedWith Natalizumab, Ocrelizumab or Fumarates

Objective: To examine the temporal trends of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients on different immunomodulatory therapies. Background: The impact of various MS medications on the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is of acute interest to patients and clinicians. Design/Methods: 22 MS patients treated with ocrelizumab (OCR, n=9), natalizumab (NTZ, n=8), fumarates (FUM, n=5;diroximel fumarate, 3 and dimethyl fumarate, 2) received BNT162b2 (Pfizer, n=15) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna, n=7) vaccines. Blood samples were collected before and after each of the two vaccine doses, and 2 months after second vaccine dose. AntiSARS-CoV-2 spike protein titers were measured using quantitative assay (Labcorp). Antibody neutralization was measured with a lentivirus-based pseudovirus particle expressing the D614 spike protein (Labcorp-Monogram Biosciences). T-cell reactivity was determined by measuring interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 in response to stimulation with SARS-CoV-2 peptides. Results: All patients in NTZ and FUM cohorts, but only 22% (2/9) of OCR cohort developed anti-spike and neutralizing antibodies. The highest titers were measured after the second vaccine dose, without significant difference between the NTZ and FUM cohorts in anti-spike IgG (69.7+/-55.1 vs 56.0+/-36.7 arbitrary units/ml) or neutralizing ID50 (1513+/-1317 vs 942+/ -566). Two months after the second vaccine, the antibody titers and neutralizing ID50 decreased by 72% and 79% in NTZ cohort, respectively, and by 45% and 49% in FUM cohort. T-cell reactivity was observed in all cohorts as early as 7 days after the first vaccine, and further increased following the second vaccine. Conclusions: Patients on NTZ and FUM mounted robust antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, in contrast to OCR-treated patients. T-cell responses were comparable among all three treatment cohorts. Two months after the second vaccine, the serological responses decreased by 45-79%. These findings may inform the optimal timing of additional vaccine doses for MS patients.

Burnout and Resilience of Internal Medicine Physician Trainees in a Tertiary Government Hospital in the Philippines during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-method Study

Objectives. Internal Medicine physician trainees faced unique challenges as the primary frontline physicians at a tertiary COVID-19 government referral center during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the prevalence of burnout and resilience of these physician trainees during the early period of the pandemic, the determinants of burnout, and their sources of anxiety and coping mechanisms. Methods. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey to measure burnout and resilience among 196 Internal Medicine physician trainees using the Maslach Burnout Index Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel and the Connor-Davidson Resiliency questionnaires, respectively. We then conducted virtual focus group discussions and in-depth key informant interviews to explore the trainees’ sources of anxiety and coping mechanisms until thematic saturation was satisfied. Results. Out of 146 respondents (from 196 eligible participants, 74% response rate), four percent of physician trainees fit the frank burnout profile, 40% were engaged, while the majority had intermediate profiles (23% ineffective, 28% overextended, and 4% disengaged). The mean resilience score was 72.9 (SD 12.4). Resilience was a significant negative predictor for burnout (Beta Coefficient = -0.73, p<0.001). Its protective effect decreases in those with more exposure to patient deaths (Beta Coefficient = 6.767, p<0.05). Significant sources of anxiety included changes in the practice of medicine (changes in workflow, working in full personal protective equipment, telemedicine and zoom fatigue, constant threat of acquiring the infection) and having competing demands between service and training. Coping mechanisms included preserving a haven, maintaining social relationships, and self-care. Conclusion. In the largest government hospital in the Philippines, four percent of Internal Medicine physician trainees had burnout, 40% were engaged, and the majority were at-risk for burnout a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Resilience reduces the risk for burnout. However, its protective effect decreased with exposure to a higher number of patient deaths per week. © 2022 University of the Philippines Manila. All rights reserved.