COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic, with frontlines that look drastically different than in past conflicts: that is, women now make up a sizeable majority of the health care workforce. American women have a long history of helping in times of hardship, filling positions on the home front vacated by men who enlisted as soldiers during World War I and similarly serving in crucial roles on U.S. military bases, on farms, and in factories during World War II. The COVID-19 pandemic has represented a novel battleground, as the first in which women have taken center stage, not only in their roles as physicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, and the like, but also by serving in leadership positions and facilitating innovations in science, technology, and policy. Yet, the pandemic has exacerbated multiple pain points that have disproportionally impacted women in health care, including shortages in correctly sized personal protective equipment and uniforms, inadequate support for pregnant and breastfeeding providers, and challenges associated with work-life balance and obtaining childcare. While the pandemic has facilitated several positive advancements in addressing these challenges, there is still much work to be done for women to achieve equity and optimal support in their roles on the frontlines.

Speckles are introduced in the ultrasound data due to constructive and destructive interference of the probing signals that are used for capturing the characteristics of the tissue being imaged. There are a plethora of models discussed in the literature to improve the contrast and resolution of the ultrasound images by despeckling them. There is a class of models that assumes that the noise is multiplicative in its original form, and transforming the model to a log domain makes it an additive one. Nevertheless, such a transformation duly oversimplifies the scenario and does not capture the inherent properties of the data-correlated nature of speckles. Therefore, it results in poor reconstruction. This problem is addressed to a considerable extent in the subsequent works by adopting various models to address the data-correlated nature of the noise and its distributions. This work introduces a weberized non-local total bounded variational model based on the noise distribution built on the Retinex theory. This perceptually inspired model apparently restores and improves the contrast of the images without compromising much on the details inherently present in the data. The numerical implementation of the model is carried out using the Bregman formulation to improve the convergence rate and reduce the parameter sensitivity. The experimental results are highlighted and compared to demonstrate the efficiency of the model.

Distance measure is one of the research hotspot in Pythagorean fuzzy environment due to its quantitative ability of distinguishing Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFSs). Various distance functions for PFSs are introduced in the literature and have their own pros and cons. The common thread of incompetency for these existing distance functions is their inability to distinguish highly uncertain PFSs distinctly. To tackle this point, we introduce a novel distance measure for PFSs. An added advantage of the measure is its simple mathematical form. Moreover, superiority and reasonability of the prescribed definition are demonstrated through proper numerical examples. Boundedness and nonlinear behaviour of the distance measure is established and verified via suitable illustrations. In the current scenario, selecting an antivirus face-mask as a preventive measure in the COVID-19 pandemic and choosing the best school in private sector for children are some of the burning issues of a modern society. These issues are addressed here as multi-attribute decision-making problems and feasible solutions are obtained using the introduced definition. Applicability of the distance measure is further extended in the areas of pattern recognition and medical diagnosis.

Introduction:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) created major disruptions at academic centers and healthcare systems globally. Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) fund hubs supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences provideinfrastructure and leadership for clinical and translational research at manysuch institutions.Methods:We surveyed CTSA hubs and received responses from 94% of them regarding the impact of the pandemic and the processes employed for the protection of research personnel and participants with respect to the conduct of research, specifically for studies unrelated to COVID-19.Results:In this report, we describe the results of the survey findings in the context of the current understanding of disease transmission and mitigation techniques.Conclusions:We reflect on common practices and provide recommendations regarding lessons learned that will be relevant to future pandemics, particularly with regards to staging the cessation and resumption of research activities with an aim to keep the workforce, research participants, and our communities safe in future pandemics.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. consumers witnessed changes in the volume and type of meat products available at retail and food service markets. Simultaneously, widening farm-to-wholesale price spreads fueled calls for industry change and several related policy proposals. The objective of this study is to document fed cattle slaughter and evaluate the structure and performance of the beef processing industry during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. For major beef-producing regions, the 2019 to 2020 change in federally inspected U.S. cattle slaughter volumes varied in isolated instances with regional reliance on larger processing facilities. Implications of this are discussed both for current policy and industry discussions, as well as to encourage additional future research.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s41811-021-00109-7.].

Essential information: Many people who have contracted COVID-19 have reported struggling with ongoing symptoms weeks and months after they first fell ill The government has said there is accumulating evidence that people can experience long-term health effects Around 10% of people with mild coronavirus symptoms who are not admitted to hospital report symptoms lasting more than four weeks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Nursing Management - UK is the property of RNCi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )

BACKGROUND: The medical field causes significant environmental impact. Reduction of the primary care practice carbon footprint could contribute to decreasing global carbon emissions. This study aims to quantify the average carbon footprint of a primary care consultation, describe differences between primary care practices (best, worst and average performing) in western Switzerland and identify opportunities for mitigation. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective carbon footprint analysis of ten private practices over the year 2018. We used life-cycle analysis to estimate carbon emissions of each sector, from manufacture to disposal, expressing results as CO(2) equivalents per average consultation and practice. We then modelled an average and theoretical best- case and worst-case practices. Collected data included invoices, medical and furniture inventories, heating and power supply, staff and patient transport, laboratory analyses (in/out-house) waste quantities and management costs. RESULTS: An average medical consultation generated 4.8 kg of CO(2)eq and overall, an average practice produced 30 tons of CO(2)eq per year, with 45.7% for staff and patient transport and 29.8% for heating. Medical consumables produced 5.5% of CO(2)eq emissions, while in-house laboratory and X-rays contributed less than 1% each. Emergency analyses requiring courier transport caused 5.8% of all emissions. Support activities generated 82.6% of the total CO(2)eq. Simulation of best- and worst-case scenarios resulted in a ten-fold variation in CO(2)eq emissions. CONCLUSION: Optimizing structural and organisational aspects of practice work could have a major impact on the carbon footprint of primary care practices without large-scale changes in medical activities.

A strong public health workforce (PHW) is needed to respond to COVID-19 and public health (PH) issues worldwide. However, classifying, enumerating, and planning the PHW is challenging. Existing PHW taxonomies and enumerations focus on the existing workforce, and largely ignore workforce competition for public health graduates (PHGs). Such efforts also do not utilize real time data to assess rapid changes to the employment landscape, like those caused by COVID-19. A job postings analysis can inform workforce planning and educational program design alike. To identify occupations and industries currently seeking PHGs and contrast them with existing taxonomies, authors matched existing PHW taxonomies to standardized occupational classification codes, then compared this with 38,533 coded, US job postings from employers seeking Master's level PHGs from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. Authors also analysed 24,516 postings from March 2019 to October 2019 and compared them with 24,845 postings from March 2020 to October 2020 to assess changing employer demands associated with COVID-19. We also performed schema matching to align various occupational classification systems. Job postings pre-COVID and during COVID show considerable but changing demand for PHGs in the US, with 16%-28% of postings outside existing PHW taxonomies, suggesting labour market competition which may compound PHW recruitment and retention challenges.

Pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) have been recognized in multiple countries globally. In this review, we provide recent insights into SARS-CoV-2 infection in children from epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory perspectives, including reports on the disease course and therapy. We highlight key features of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, the relationship between MIS-C and Kawasaki disease, and summarize treatment guidelines for COVID-19 in children from institutional protocols from Colombia, case reports, recommendations based on expert consensus, and official statements from organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), Colombian Association of Infectious Diseases, and the Colombian Society of Pediatrics. Finally, we discuss gaps in research with suggestions for future research on the pathogenesis underlying pediatric COVID-19.

Background: COVID-19 infection is characterized by its heterogeneity in clinical presentation. Hospital admission, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality rates have shown wide variations throughout the months. Colombia experienced a high rate of COVID-19 infection, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. To date, there are only a few studies reporting peak variations. Therefore, we aimed to explore the potential reasons for epidemiological changes in COVID-19 with time. Methods This study was conducted at a tertiary referral center in Cartagena, Colombia, between March 7, 2020, and February 28, 2021. We included patients aged > 18 years with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. A diagnosis was made using the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. We extracted information from the Colombian National Surveillance System (SIVIGILA). We collected demographic data, such as age, sex, RT-PCR test results, and information on close contacts (awareness of the disease). We categorized the study period into two according to the two peaks defined in Colombia: the first period included weeks 10C35 (March 7CAugust 30, 2020), and the second period included weeks 36C60 (September 1, 2020-February 28, 2021). We adjusted the weekly overall mortality by covariates to identify potential changes during the pandemic. Results In total, 2761 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at our institution. The most significant number of cases occurred in the first and second periods during week 21 (peak 1 : 121 patients) and week 50 (peak 2 : 128 patients), respectively.

A Secretaria de Estado de Sade do Rio de Janeiro informa que registra, at este sbado (23/05), 34 533 casos confirmados e 3 905 bitos por coronavrus (Covid-19) no estado H ainda 976 bitos em investigao e 238 foram descartados At o momento, entre os casos confirmados, 28 120 pacientes se recuperaram da doen?a

In the late 2019, a report from China was published stating a disease with unknown cause. After that,the outbreak of the COVID-19 caused a pandemic in the world. On March 11, 2020, the outbreak of this virus was reported in 100 countries. The virus is currently spreading rapidly around the world.In the past, coronaviruses caused life-threatening diseases such as SARS and MERSsome areas.Although there is still a debate about the origin of this new coronavirus, it is most likely linked with some animals including bats, civet and pangolin. In this review, we try to simply describe the features of the new coronavirusas well as the recent diagnostic and therapeutic findings.

BACKGROUND: Face-to-face interviews are recommended for the collection of composite time trade-off (cTTO) data. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social distancing measures made researchers consider videoconferencing interviews as an alternative mode of administration, but little evidence about the implementation of videoconferencing in valuation studies is available. This study provides insights into the effect of videoconferencing on the quality of data, evaluating interviewers and respondents engagement level in videoconferences compared with face-to-face interviews. METHODS: We used cTTO data collected in Belgium and Spain following the EQ-5D-Y-3L valuation protocol. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both projects interrupted the face-to-face data collection before reaching the target sample. The remaining interviews were conducted by videoconference. We compared both modes of administration in terms of interviewers engagement (task duration and number of moves in each example) and respondents engagement (task duration and proportions of specific response values, in half-year units). To minimise interviewers learning effects, we split our sample into three groups: (1) first 20 interviews conducted face-to-face; (2) subsequent interviews conducted face-to-face; and (3) videoconferencing interviews. RESULTS: The comparison between videoconferencing and subsequent face-to-face interviews showed the interviewers engagement was not affected by the mode of administration as almost no significant results were found either in the task duration or the numbers of moves shown in the examples. Similarly, none of the respondents task duration or proportion of specific responses or half-year units were affected by the mode of administration in either of the two countries. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence suggested that the quality of cTTO data is reduced when using videoconferencing compared with face-to-face interviews.

Psychology usually treats the creative act as both novel and adapted, a definition that can embrace the social and the cultural features of creativity Allied to the need for social bonding and the promise of self-realization, available technological resources have enabled valuable social networks However, social isolation caused by the COVID-19 crisis has reduced outdoor and collective personal experiences usually shared on Facebook, encouraging some users to re-publish past events Considering that posting is potentially a creative act, hence both new and adapted, may this action now equally become old and adapted? To illustrate the question, a set of 293 posts made by twelve Brazilians with mean age of 49 7 years (SD 7 34) were collected from May 25th to June 8th, 51 of them being re-posts The authors were inter-viewed about their use of Facebook, relation to others, and first re-posts published in the period Thematic dialogical analysis was applied to the content of the interviews and led to finding new meanings about old posts Despite a small sample (n = 12) and the fact that 56 1% of Facebook users in Brazil are under 35 years old, the analysis of the phenomenon can shed new light on problematization of the notion of creativity by reflecting on its role in regulation of human emotions during the COVID-19 crisis, through the action of posting legacy experience on Facebook ? 2020 Asdrbal Borges Formiga Sobrinho, published by Sciendo 2020

Less invasive endovenous techniques have been shown to be as effective as open surgery in the treatment of varicose veins. Furthermore, they cause less postoperative bruising and pain and enable early return to normal activities and work. Tumescent anaesthesia is safe and obviates complications of general or spinal anaesthesia. Drawbacks are a steep learning curve and painful administration during treatment. Tumescentless techniques like Clarivein? or VenaSeal? Sapheon Closure System are recently under investigation. Short-term results of VenaSeal? are comparable with thermal ablation. The procedure is safe without serious adverse events. Perioperative pain and patient discomfort with this tumescentless approach is minimal but postoperative recovery is temporarily hindered by thrombophlebitis in 14-15 % of patients. One-year results in a small feasibility study has demonstrated durable closure at this endpoint. No longer-term results are available. A randomized control trial between VenaSeal? and Covidien ClosureFast? is in a preparatory phase.

Energy enthusiasts in developed countries explore sustainable and efficient pathways for accomplishing zero carbon footprint through the H(2) economy. The major objective of the H(2) economy review series is to bring out the status, major issues, and opportunities associated with the key components such as H(2) production, storage, transportation, distribution, and applications in various energy sectors. Specifically, Part I discussed H(2) production methods including the futuristic ones such as photoelectrochemical for small, medium, and large-scale applications, while Part II dealt with the challenges and developments in H(2) storage, transportation, and distribution with national and international initiatives. Part III of the H(2) economy review discusses the developments and challenges in the areas of H(2) application in chemical/metallurgical industries, combustion, and fuel cells. Currently, the majority of H(2) is being utilized by a few chemical industries with >60% in the oil refineries sector, by producing grey H(2) by steam methane reforming on a large scale. In addition, the review also presents the challenges in various technologies for establishing greener and sustainable H(2) society.

Rapid information dissemination is critical in a world changing rapidly due to global threats. Ubiquitous internet access has created new methods of information dissemination that are rapid, far-reaching, and universally accessible. However, inaccuracies may accompany rapid information dissemination, and rigorous evaluation of primary data through various forms of peer review is crucial. In an era in which high-quality information can save lives, it is critical that infectious diseases specialists are well versed in digital strategy to effectively disseminate information to colleagues and the community and diminish voices spreading misinformation. In this study, we review how social media can be used for rapid dissemination of quality information, benefits and pitfalls of social media use, and general recommendations for developing a digital strategy as an infectious diseases specialist. We will describe how the Infectious Diseases Society of America has leveraged digital strategy and social media and how individuals can amplify these resources to disseminate information, provide clinical knowledge, community guidance, and build their own person brand. We conclude in providing guidance to infectious diseases specialists in aiming to build and preserve public trust, consider their audience and specific goals, and use social media to highlight the value of the field of infectious diseases.

Listening to, and acting on, the voices of children and families during clinical research and innovation is fundamental to ensuring enhanced pediatric health care, medicines development, and technological advances. While this is often discussed as an important step in ensuring patient-centered care, involving children and families across the life cycle of clinical research is not currently routine. The pediatric research community needs to address how to meaningfully involve children and families if they are to succeed in designing clinical research that suits the needs of pediatric patients and their families. This paper describes how an international community working under the umbrella International Childrens Advisory Network (iCAN) and European Young Persons Advisory Group Network (eYPAGnet) has involved children and families in the design and delivery of pediatric clinical research. It offers practical solutions through various case studies assessed against seven patient engagement quality criteria within the Patient Engagement Quality Guidance (PEQG) tool, highlighting some of the lessons learnt from involving and engaging with children and families across different stages of clinical research, including pediatric trials for drug development programs.

Background: This study aimed to provide information on activities and experiences of Nongovernmental organizations in Tabriz regarding COVID-19 to develop a framework for effective measures and actions for other communities based on relevant achievements and experiences. Method: The Social determinants of health research center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences coordinated the NGOs to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 disease by announcing, inviting, developing networks and preparing aims and objectives and action plans in participation with the NGOs. Results: This cooperation and synergy among NGOs led to following results: providing public health education, fund raising to provide health service and food items for vulnerable families, advocacy by writing letters to the governor and the City Council and emphasizing the needs for controlling the epidemics. Conclusion: NGOs can increase public awareness, change social policies, and provide services and facilities to the vulnerable groups of people to deal with these problems.