Life during the pandemic: an international photo-elicitation study with medical students.

BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global event with unprecedented impact on individuals and communities around the world. The purpose of this study is to use a modified photo-elicitation methodology to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of medical students and their communities around the world. METHODS: Participating medical students were asked to take photographs for 14 days. In lieu of an interview, which is customary for photo-elicitation projects, participants were asked to share a reflection (a paragraph or two) for each photograph they contributed to the study. RESULTS: Between April 27th, 2020 and May 11th, 2020 26 students from 19 medical schools across 13 countries shared photographs and reflections. Qualitative analysis of written reflections revealed that medical students felt the impact of the pandemic on several levels 1) individual, 2) interpersonal, 3) educational, and 4) societal. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of medical students on multiple levels. As individuals, students felt emotional distress but found resilience through physical activity and the establishment of new routines. Many students felt isolated as their interpersonal relationships were confined due to social distancing measures. These feelings could be combated with new educational initiatives focused on group collaboration. Lastly, students reflecting on the larger societal implications were concerned with the economic ramifications of the virus and its impact on their future. This study brought together students from several different countries to engage in an applied learning program as a model for equitable global health research.

Swelling of Transported Smoke from Savanna fires over the Southeast Atlantic Ocean.

We use the recently released Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) Version 4.1 (V4) lidar data to study the smoke plumes transported from Southern African biomass burning areas. Significant improvements in the CALIPSO V4 Level 1 calibration and V4 Level 2 algorithms lead to a better representation of their optical properties, with the aerosol subtype improvements being particularly relevant to smoke over this area. For the first time, we show evidence of smoke particles increasing in size, evidenced in their particulate color ratios, as they are transported over the South Atlantic Ocean from the source regions over Southern Africa. We hypothesize that this is due to hygroscopic swelling of the smoke particles and is reflected in the higher relative humidity in the middle troposphere for profiles with smoke. This finding may have implications for radiative forcing estimates over this area and is also relevant to the ORACLES field mission.

Electrical characteristics of PbSe nanoparticle/Si heterojunctions.

I-V characteristics of PbSe nanoparticle/single crystal Si heterojunctions prepared by chemical bath deposition method show a rectifying behavior. With decrease in average PbSe grain size between 72 nm and 9 nm currents decrease for forward and reverse bias. C-V characteristics indicate that the junctions transform into that of a metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) as the PbSe nanoparticle size decreases from 72 nm to 9 nm. This insulator like behavior of the small PbSe nanoparticle films is attributed to the highly resistive grain boundaries. Cole-Cole plots demonstrate that on decrease of grain size, the grain boundary contribution increases and grain contribution to the overall impedance decreases. Frequency dependence of capacitance proves space charge polarization in larger grains, which recedes with decrease in average grain size proving insulator like behavior of small PbSe nanoparticles.

Vaso-epididymal anastomosis.

Our experiences with 343 vaso-epididymal anastomosis operations carried out for the relief of obstructive azoospermia in the past 20 years were reported. The etiologic factors in obstructive azoospermia were discussed. Smallpox was the single most common factor responsible for the obstructive lesion in our series. Obstructive azoospermia due to congenital anomalies was very infrequent. The pathologic physiology of obstructive azoospermia was reviewed. In 37 patients vaso-epididymostomy could not be carried out because of some genital pathology or congenital abnormality. Vaso-epididymal anastomosis was performed in the remaining 281 patients. The operation was succesful in 137 patients (48.75%), and pregnancies occurred in 40 instances (14.23%). However, even after successful operations, the postoperative sperm counts were above 20 million/ml in only 56 patients (19.93%). Persistent necrospermia resistant to treatment was noted in 48 patients (35.04%). In 71 patients (51.83%), spermatozoa appeared in the semen within the first 3 months after operation, but, in 17 patients (12.41%), the appearance of spermatozoa in the semen was delayed for 1 year or more. Twenty patients (7.11%) again became azoospermic after a variable length of time. In this series, bilateral operations were performed on 185 patients and unilateral operations were performed on 96 patients. Our results indicated beyond doubt that bilateral operation is the method of choice. In addition, an analysis of our data showed that operations performed with an internal nylon splint yield more satisfactory results.

Wandering ascaris coming out through the T-tube tract--a rare occurrence.

A case of ascariasis of the common bile duct in the postoperative period of cholecystectomy and choledocholithotomy with T-tube drainage is reported. The living adult wandering ascaris came out through the T-tube tract immediately after removal of the T-tube. No such previous report has been found in the available literature.

A triaxial-measurement shear-test device for soft biological tissues.

A novel shear-test device for soft biological tissue, capable of applying simple shear deformations simultaneously in two orthogonal directions while measuring the resulting forces generated in three axes, is described. We validated the device using a synthetic gel, the properties of which were ascertained from independent tensile and rotational shear tests. Material parameters for the gel were fitted using neo-Hookean analytical solutions to the independent test data, and these matched the results from the device. Preliminary results obtained with rat septal myocardium are also presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the apparatus in determining the shear characteristics of living tissue.