COVID-19 in people living with HIV: A multicenter case-series study.

OBJECTIVES: Information on how COVID-19 affects people living with HIV (PLHIV) remains scarce. METHODS: An observational study was conducted in four public hospitals in Madrid. All HIV patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were included and compared with COVID-19 patients without HIV infection. RESULTS: Sixty-three patients with HIV infection and confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were analyzed. The median age was 46 years (IQR: 37-56 years), and 88.9% were men. The median duration of HIV infection was 10.8 years (IQR: 6.5-16.8 years), and 96.8% were on antiretroviral therapy. 84.1% had previous comorbidities. The most common symptoms were fever (66.1%), cough (66.1%) and dyspnea (46.8%). Pneumonia was found in 47.5%, 28.6% of patients had severe disease, and 32.3% were admitted to hospital. The ICU admission rate and the mortality rate were both 3.17%. A significant association was observed between age, arterial hypertension, overweight, and diabetes mellitus and the severity of COVID-19. No association was observed between HIV-related factors and the severity of COVID-19. The rate of COVID-19 in HIV-patients was 1.68%. Similar hospitalization (31.74% vs 32.57%) and ICU admission (3.17% vs 2%) rates were observed with non-HIV infected patients. A lower mortality rate during hospitalization (10% vs 21.37%) and a lower global mortality rate (3.17% vs 6.96%) were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Established poor prognostic factors for COVID-19 patients, such as age and comorbidities, remain the main determinants for PLHIV. Neither the HIV severity nor the type of ARV treatment seem to influence the outcome of COVID-19. Large prospective cohorts are needed in order to establish the differences between HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients.

A web-based cross-sectional survey on computer-related visual and ocular symptoms and perceived stress, amid the COVID-19 transitional online learning among students in the Faculty of Medical Sciences: A Caribbean perspective

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted various sectors of human life, in unprecedented ways. Inevitably, many educational institutions transitioned to online learning due to worldwide 'lockdowns'. Digital technology is significant. However, studies have been reported that it has short- and long-term negative effects on people's biopsychosocial wellbeing; particularly, mental and visual issues. The current study focused on the effects of the transitional online learning mode on the ocular and mental health of students.

Exploring Virtual Empathy versus Real-life Empathy among Undergraduate University Students across Five Faculties

Empathy is important for effective social interactions since it helps people understand others' feelings, thinking, and intentions, and therefore aids in predicting behavior (Baron Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004). Additionally, the capacity to understand and feel another's pain often leads to compassionate responses (Riess, 2017). Virtual empathy has been described as an important competence for promoting learning given the increasing use of online forums in education (Garcia-Perez, Santos-Delgado, & Buzon-Garcia, 2006). It is particularly important for students to cultivate empathy since it benefits not only them but their future place of work (Gentry, Weber, & Sadr, 2007; Lilius, Kanov, Gutton, Worline, Maitlis, 2013). The current study further seeks to explore any links between real world empathy and empathy expressed online. There is existing evidence to suggest that a person's online social activity is reflective of their personailty (Gosling, Augustine, Vazire, Holtzman,m& Gaddis, 2011). Similar to real world tendencies, extroverts had higher online social networking engagement than introverts, and openess and conscientiousness in online settings were also reflective of that in the real world (Gosling, Augustine, Vazire, Holtzman,m& Gaddis, 2011). Following thiis pattern of reasoning, one can assume that a person's virtual empathy levels might mirror their empathy levels in the real world, For this reason, the authors of this current study sought to determine whether online sociazl media usr had any impact on a person's capacity for empathy. With this background the objective of the current study to explore empathy on social media and in the real world among undergraduates from five faculties (Law, Engineering, Medical Sciences, Humanities, and Education, Science and Technology) at the University of the West Indies.