Search results for "pandemic"
showing 10 items of 1097 documents
COVID-Guide: An app for Covid-19 triage and self-assessment
2021
Introduction. The unprecedented covid-19 pandemic has shown the weaknesses of health systems and opened new spaces for e-health and telemedicine. Recent literature states that chatbots, if implemented effectively, could be useful tools for quickly sharing information, promoting healthy behaviors, and helping reduce the psychological burden of isolation. The aim of this project is to develop and test a secure and reliable computerized decision support system (CDSS) in web-app and evaluate its use, usability and its outputs in a pre-specified way. Methods. A multidisciplinary team was recruited to plan and design, based on the SMASS medical CDSS, the scenarios of the COVID-Guide web-app, a se…
Women’s rights and gender equality during the COVID-19 pandemic
2021
This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the scope of States’ obligations to realise women’s rights and ensure gender equality amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the analysis focuses on three areas where the gendered consequences of emergency measures have been the most widespread and/or severe: the disproportionate impact of social distancing policies enacted to curb the spread of the virus on women’s right to work (Section 2); the increased rates of gender-based domestic violence triggered by stay-at-home mandates and other emergency measures restricting the movement of people (Section 3); and the uniquely adverse consequences of the diversion of health res…
Update I. A systematic review on the efficacy and safety of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19
2020
Purpose To assess efficacy and safety of chloroquine (CQ)/hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for treatment or prophylaxis of COVID-19 in adult humans. Materials and methods MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE and two pre-print repositories (bioRxiv, medRxiv) were searched from inception to 8th June 2020 for RCTs and nonrandomized studies (retrospective and prospective, including single-arm, studies) addressing the use of CQ/HCQ in any dose or combination for COVID-19. Results Thirty-two studies were included (6 RCTs, 26 nonrandomized, 29,192 participants). Two RCTs had high risk, two ‘some concerns’ and two low risk of bias (Rob2). Among nonrandomized studies with comparators, nine had high risk and five moderat…
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
2022
Funder: Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence Scheme, FAIR project No 262675
ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a University hospital: Molecular features, diffusion of epidemic clones and evaluation of cross-transmission.
2021
The worldwide spread of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL-Kp) is a significant threat. Specifically, various pandemic clones of ESBL-Kp are involved in hospital outbreaks and caused serious infections. In that context, we assessed the phenotypic and molecular features of a collection of ESBL-Kp isolates in a French university hospital and evaluated the occurrence of potential cross-transmissions. Over a 2-year period (2017–2018), 204 non-duplicate isolates of ESBL-Kp were isolated from clinical (n = 118, 57.8%) or screening (n = 86, 42.2%) sample cultures. These isolates were predominantly resistant to cotrimoxazole (88.8%) and ofloxacin (82.8%) but remaine…
Relationship between Training Load Management and Immunoglobulin A to Avoid Immunosuppression after Soccer Training and Competition: A Theoretical Fr…
2021
Immunoglobulin A (IgA), which is the main effector against upper respiratory tract viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been related to training load management. The aim of this systematic review was to establish the relationship between training load and salivary IgA based on current evidence in order to avoid immunosuppression after exercise and players´ vulnerability to virus contagion. A systematic review of relevant articles was carried out using two electronic databases (PubMed and Web of Science) until 19 May 2021. From a total of 127 studies initially found, 23 were included in the qualitative synthesis. These studies were clustered depen…
In situ structural analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike reveals flexibility mediated by three hinges
2020
Flexible spikes The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein enables viral entry into host cells by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and is a major target for neutralizing antibodies. About 20 to 40 spikes decorate the surface of virions. Turoňová et al. now show that the spike is flexibly connected to the viral surface by three hinges that are well protected by glycosylation sites. The flexibility imparted by these hinges may explain how multiple spikes act in concert to engage onto the flat surface of a host cell. Science, this issue p. 203
Pandemics and Inequality: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19
2020
This chapter provides evidence on the impact of major epidemics from the past two decades on inequality and job prospects. Our results justify the concern that the COVID-19 pandemic could significantly raise inequality; past events of this kind, even though much smaller in scale, have led to increases in the Gini coefficient, lowered the employment-to-population ratio for those with basic education compared to those with higher education, and pushed people into precarious work in the form of self-employment or in the informal sector.
Will the Economic Impact of COVID-19 Persist? Prognosis from 21st Century Pandemics
2021
COVID-19 has had a disruptive economic impact in 2020, but how long its impact will persist remains unclear. We offer a prognosis based on an analysis of the effects of five previous major epidemics in this century. We find that these pandemics led to significant and persistent reductions in disposable income, along with increases in unemployment, income inequality and public debt-to-GDP ratios. Energy use and CO2 emissions dropped, but mostly because of the persistent decline in the level of economic activity rather than structural changes in the energy sector. Applying our empirical estimates to project the impact of COVID-19, we foresee significant scarring in economic performance and in…
The impact of the coronavirus crisis on European societies. What have we learnt and where do we go from here? – Introduction to the COVID volume
2021
The coronavirus pandemic, which first impacted European societies in early 2020, has created a twofold crisis by combining a health threat with economic turmoil. While the crisis has affected all European societies very significantly, its impact varies across countries, social groups, and societal domains. In an effort to provide a first overview of the effect of the coronavirus crisis, in this editorial we discuss contributions of 58 papers published as part of this special issue. These early research papers illustrate the varied impact of the pandemic on various areas of social life. The first group of studies in this special issue analyzes the effect of the pandemic on social inequalitie…