This paper considers whether the COVID-19 pandemic, the governmental responses thereto, and actions taken by companies in connection with both of these constitute a Material Adverse Effect (MAE) under a typical MAE clause in a public company merger agreement. Although in any particular case everything will depend on the exact effects suffered by the company and the precise wording of the MAE clause, this paper concludes that, under a typical MAE clause, given the current tremendous contraction in economic activity, most companies will have suffered a material adverse effect as such term in used in the base definition of most MAE clauses. The question thus becomes whether the risks of a pandemic or of governmental responses thereto have been shifted to the acquirer under exceptions to the base definition. This paper considers some of the difficult causal questions that would arise in answering this question, including the relation of actions taken by the company to remain solvent while suffering the effects of COVID-19 and governmental lockdown orders, and concludes that, in some instances, a company will have suffered an MAE even if the MAE clause contains exceptions for pandemics, changes in law, or both.

BACKGROUND: Understanding pulmonary embolism (PE) rate and contributing comorbid, clinical, laboratory, and imaging characteristics may aid in management of pro-thombotic events in COVID-19 (COVID+) patients. PURPOSE: To evaluate PE prevalence on computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) in COVID+ patients and factors associated with PE severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, single-center study evaluated 62 COVID+ patients who underwent CTPA between March 13 and April 5, 2020. A 62-patient cohort who underwent CTPA prior to the first reported local COVID-19 case was retrogradely selected. The relative rate of CTPA-positivity was recorded. For the COVID+ cohort, comorbidities, laboratory values, clinical outcome, and venous thrombosis were recorded. Two thoracic radiologists assessed embolic severity using the Mastora system and evaluated right heart strain. Statistical analysis evaluated factors associated with PE and arterial obstruction severity. A P-value<.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: 37.1% of COVID+ patients had PE, higher than 14.5% of pre-COVID patients (P=.007). D-dimer levels closest to CTPA date correlated with Mastora obstruction score. ROC analysis identified optimal sensitivity (95%) and specificity (71%) for PE diagnosis at 1394 ng/mL DDU. The mean D-dimer was 1774 ng/mL and 6432 ng/mL DDU in CTPA-negative and CTPA-positive subgroups, respectively (P<.001). One additional CTPA-negative patient had DVT, for a total 38.7% with PE/DVT, despite 40% receiving prophylactic anticoagulation. Other factors did not demonstrate significant PE association. CONCLUSION: 37.1% of COVID+ CTPA exams diagnosed PE. PE can be a cause of decompensation in COVID+, and D-dimer can be used to stratify patients regarding PE risk and severity.

Research shows that worker subjective well-being influences physiological functioningan early signal of poor health outcomes. While several theoretical perspectives provide insights on this relationship, the literature lacks an integrative framework explaining the relationship. We develop a conceptual model explaining the link between subjective well-being and physiological functioning in the context of work. Integrating positive psychology and occupational stress perspectives, our model explains the relationship between subjective well-being and physiological functioning as a result of the direct influence of subjective well-being on physiological functioning and of their common relationships with work stress and personal resources, both of which are influenced by job conditions.

OBJECTIVES: In order to make tuberculosis (TB) treatment more effective and to lower the default rate of the disease, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) in Taiwan implemented the pay-for-performance on Tuberculosis program (P4P on TB) in 2004. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the P4P system in terms of default rate. METHODS: This is a retrospective study. National Health Insurance Research Datasets in Taiwan from 2002 to 2005 has been used for the study. The study compared the differences of TB default rate before and after the implementation of P4P program, between participating and non-participating hospitals, and between P4P hospitals with and without case managers. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the related factors influencing TB patients default treatment after TB detected. RESULTS: The treatment default rate after P4P on TB was 11.37% compared with the 15.56% before P4P on TB implementation. The treatment default rate in P4P hospitals was 10.67% compared to 12.7% in non-P4P hospitals. In addition, the default rate was 10.4% in hospitals with case managers compared with 12.68% in hospitals without case managers. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study showed that P4P on TB program improved the treatment default rate for TB patients. In addition, case managers improved the treatment outcome in controlling patients default rate.

Diante do cenrio atual de pandemia do coronavirus (Covid-19) pesquisadores dos mais variados segmentos das cincias tm se mobilizados para compreender a problemtica, tra?ar estrategias de combate e supress?o do contgio, bem como atenuar as consequncias que, conforme experincia nacional e internacional, tm afetado drasticamente a vida da sociedade. Como professores, futuros professores e pesquisadores da rea de ensino de cincias nos sentimos mobilizados a tratar a problemtica a partir do ponto de vista das Quest?es Sociocientficas (QSC). Dessa forma, este artigo busca delinear a problemtica sob a perspectiva das QSC, definindo os aspectos controversos, e indicar possibilidades para o seu tratamento no ambito escolar, evidenciando perspectivas formativas e metodolgicas, entendendo este como um compromisso politico e tico. Em tempos de crise, fundamental mobilizarmos nossos conhecimentos em prol de seu entendimento, anlise, critica e supera??o.Alternate abstract:In view of the current coronavirus pandemic scenario (Covid-19), researchers from the most varied segments of the sciences have been mobilized to understand the problem, outline strategies to combat and suppress contagion, as well as mitigate the consequences that, according to national and international experience, have dramatically affected the life of society. As teachers, future teachers and researchers in the field of science education, we feel mobilized to address the issue from the point of view of Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI). Thus, this article seeks to delineate the problem from the perspective of the SSI, defining the controversial aspects, and to indicate possibilities for its treatment in the school context, showing formative and methodological perspectives, understanding this as a political and ethical commitment. In times of crisis, it is essential to mobilize our knowledge in order to understand, analyze, criticize and overcome it.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought unprecedented psychological pressure to people across China and more widely across the entire globe. The aim of this study was to assess the immediate perceptions of COVID-19 among college students in Guangdong Province, China, and to assess the psychological impact of the outbreak. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of college students via online questionnaires between February 13th and February 22nd, 2020. A total of 304,167 students completed the Impact of Event Scale 6 (IES-6) and other items. The results showed that 155,077 (50.9%) of the students reported stress symptoms, 1,565 (0.5%) reported poor mental health, and 9,752 (3.2%) reported poor sleep quality. Analysis indicated that the students perceptions of COVID-19 were correlated with psychological stress, self-perceived mental health and sleep quality. Moreover, the analysis revealed that the relationship between types of perception and levels of stress symptoms varied according to the students demographic characteristics. These findings allow us to better understand psychological stress among students and the factors influencing stress during the COVID-19 outbreak. Understanding these factors will help us to design intervention programs with the aim of alleviating stress among students and reducing the potential for developing psychological disorders.

The impact of repeated sample collection on COVID-19 test performance is unknown. The FDA and CDC currently recommend the primary collection of diagnostic samples to minimize the perceived risk of false-negative findings. We therefore evaluated the association between repeated sample collection and test performance among 325 symptomatic patients undergoing COVID-19 testing in Atlanta, GA. High concordance was found between consecutively collected mid-turbinate samples with both molecular (n = 74, 100% concordance) and antigen-based (n = 147, 97% concordance, kappa = 0.95, CI = 0.88C1.00) diagnostic assays. Repeated sample collection does not decrease COVID-19 test performance, demonstrating that multiple samples can be collected for assay validation and clinical diagnosis.

We address the use of selfie ocular images captured with smartphones to estimate age and gender. Partial face occlusion has become an issue due to the mandatory use of face masks. Also, the use of mobile devices has exploded, with the pandemic further accelerating the migration to digital services. However, state-of-the-art solutions in related tasks such as identity or expression recognition employ large Convolutional Neural Networks, whose use in mobile devices is infeasible due to hardware limitations and size restrictions of downloadable applications. To counteract this, we adapt two existing lightweight CNNs proposed in the context of the ImageNet Challenge, and two additional architectures proposed for mobile face recognition. Since datasets for soft-biometrics prediction using selfie images are limited, we counteract over-fitting by using networks pre-trained on ImageNet. Furthermore, some networks are further pre-trained for face recognition, for which very large training databases are available. Since both tasks employ similar input data, we hypothesize that such strategy can be beneficial for soft-biometrics estimation. A comprehensive study of the effects of different pre-training over the employed architectures is carried out, showing that, in most cases, a better accuracy is obtained after the networks have been fine-tuned for face recognition.

Introduction. During the COVID-19 pandemic variety of digital tools and technologies were demonstrated owing to the global digitalization of education and the total transition to online learning. The purpose of present research is to determine factors of digitalization of education and their effect on transformation of social values among high school students in conditions of the COVID-19. The results of research on social values of students were considered using comparative analysis. It was revealed that the paradigm of values among young people changed from an individual-personal one at the beginning of the XXI century to the social oriented paradigm - tolerance, openness, public recognition through social networks, self-development and contribution to the community. Materials and Methods. The analysis of pedagogical experience in the field of digitalization of education allowed to formulate the main factors of global digitalization of education and to highlight positive and negative aspects of online learning. According to M. Rokich's method, an empirical study of instrumental values transformations was carried out among 137 students of Ural Federal University in the conditions of full-time online learning. A questionnaire method was implemented to determine students' attitude to online learning during COVID-19 pandemic and possibility for further development of this form of learning. Results. It was revealed that only 13.7% of respondents did not notice any decrease in the quality of learning and did not experience discomfort in obtaining knowledge in online form. According to the students' opinion the values that are subjected to transformation are the following: efficiency, self-control, responsibility, honesty. It can be concluded that the era of network personality and new scientific knowledge in pedagogy has begun. Online learning is a fait accompli which requires scientific substantiation of a new didactics and social values system development among students in a digital education environment. Discussion and Conclusion. Achieved results contribute to ecological system of new digital services that change life and educational activities of a human, as well as transform his personality and values system. Thus, for the purpose of health and emotional intelligence preservation in students the continuation of interdisciplinary study of various aspects of education digitalization is required. ? Rezer T. M., 2021.

The past 2 decades have seen fruit flies being widely adopted for research on social behavior and aggression. This fruitful research, however, has not been well tied to fruit flies natural history. To address this knowledge gap, I conducted a field study. My goal was to inform future research conducted in artificial surroundings, and to inspire new investigations that can rely more heavily on fruit flies actual natural behavior. My two main novel findings were first, that flies in the field showed significant sociability, as they formed social groups rather than dispersed randomly among fruits of similar quality. Second, males showed fair levels of aggression towards each other as indicated by a lunging rate of 17 per hour, and lower rates of wing threat and boxing. Courtship was the most prominent activity on fruits, with females rejecting almost all males advances. This resulted in an estimated mating rate of 0.6 per female per day. Flies showed a striking peak of activity early in the mornings, even at cold temperatures, followed by inactivity for much of the day and night. Flies, however, handled well high temperatures approaching 40 C by hiding away from fruit and concentrating activity in the cooler, early mornings. My field work highlights a few promising lines of future research informed by fruit flies natural history. Most importantly, we do not understand the intriguing dynamics that generate significant sociability despite frequent aggressive interactions on fruits. Males responses to female rejection signals varied widely, perhaps because the signals differed in information content perceived by flies but not humans. Finally, flies tolerated cold early mornings perhaps owing to fitness benefits associated with increased mating and feeding opportunities at this time. Flies were adept at handling very high temperatures under the natural daily temperature fluctuations and availability of shelters, and this can inform more realistic research on the effects of global warming on animals in their natural settings.

One of the classic debates in public opinion, now more prevalent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been the dilemma between freedom and security. Following a theoretical review, this article sets out to establish the sociodemographic profiles and those variables that can correlate and/or explain the inclination towards one or the other, that is, the dependent variable freedom-security, such as victimization or the assessment of surveillance. The analysis is based on the results of a survey prepared by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS, in Spanish) and administered to a sample of 5,920 Spaniards. The conclusions indicate that the majority inclination is for security, especially among older men, with elementary education attainment level and right-wing ideology. Furthermore, although victimization correlated with the dependent variable, the perception of being a possible victim led to a preference for safety rather than the actual experience of having been a victim. Finally, the positive assessment of surveillance through technologies such as video cameras explains or is strongly associated with security, making it a promising line of research for future work and a means to improve the understanding of the analyzed dilemma.

Evolutionary biology is key to potentially predicting virulence and transmission after a pathogen jumps into a new host species. This knowledge would be valuable for designing public health strategies.[Image: see text]

[Image: see text] RNA quantification methods are broadly used in life science research and in clinical diagnostics. Currently, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most common analytical tool for RNA quantification. However, in cases of rare transcripts or inhibiting contaminants in the sample, an extensive amplification could bias the copy number estimation, leading to quantification errors and false diagnosis. Single-molecule techniques may bypass amplification but commonly rely on fluorescence detection and probe hybridization, which introduces noise and limits multiplexing. Here, we introduce reverse transcription quantitative nanopore sensing (RT-qNP), an RNA quantification method that involves synthesis and single-molecule detection of gene-specific cDNAs without the need for purification or amplification. RT-qNP allows us to accurately quantify the relative expression of metastasis-associated genes MACC1 and S100A4 in nonmetastasizing and metastasizing human cell lines, even at levels for which RT-qPCR quantification produces uncertain results. We further demonstrate the versatility of the method by adapting it to quantify severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA against a human reference gene. This internal reference circumvents the need for producing a calibration curve for each measurement, an imminent requirement in RT-qPCR experiments. In summary, we describe a general method to process complicated biological samples with minimal losses, adequate for direct nanopore sensing. Thus, harnessing the sensitivity of label-free single-molecule counting, RT-qNP can potentially detect minute expression levels of RNA biomarkers or viral infection in the early stages of disease and provide accurate amplification-free quantification.

BACKGROUND Although heavyweight (HW) or lightweight (LW) polypropylene (PP) meshes are widely used for hernia repair, other alternatives have recently appeared. They have the same large-pore structure yet are composed of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). This study compares the long-term (3 and 6 months) behavior of meshes of different pore size (HW compared with LW) and composition (PP compared with PTFE). METHODS Partial defects were created in the lateral wall of the abdomen in New Zealand White rabbits and then repaired by the use of a HW or LW PP mesh or a new monofilament, large-pore PTFE mesh (Infinit). At 90 and 180 days after implantation, tissue incorporation, gene and protein expression of neocollagens (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction/immunofluorescence), macrophage response (immunohistochemistry), and biomechanical strength were determined. Shrinkage was measured at 90 days. RESULTS All three meshes induced good host tissue ingrowth, yet the macrophage response was significantly greater in the PTFE implants (P < .05). Collagen 1/3 mRNA levels failed to vary at 90 days yet in the longer term, the LW meshes showed the reduced genetic expression of both collagens (P < .05) accompanied by increased neocollagen deposition, indicating more efficient mRNA translation. After 90-180 days of implant, tensile strengths and elastic modulus values were similar for all 3 implants (P > .05). CONCLUSION Host collagen deposition is mesh pore size dependent whereas the macrophage response induced is composition dependent with a greater response shown by PTFE. In the long term, macroporous meshes show comparable biomechanical behavior regardless of their pore size or composition.

This study aims to find out the effectiveness of using augmented reality-based magic book math at State Senior High School 15 Semarang on student achievement The type of research used was Quasy Experimental research The population of this study was X grade students of State Senior High School 15 Semarang With random sampling technique, two classes were selected, X grade of IPA 4 as the experimental class and X grade of IPA 2 as the control class Data processing with t comparative test and regression effect test The results showed that learning was said to be effective which was indicated by: a) the average value of learning achievement in the experimental class was 89 57 which exceeded the Passing Grade 70 limit;b) the effect of student responses can be seen from the value of R square = 0 882 which means 88 2% of student achievement was influenced by student response factors in learning using magic book math based on augmented reality;and c) the average learning achievement of the experimental class was 89 57 while the control class was 70 84, so the experimental class had a significantly better final score average than the control class average

Continual innovation to address emerging population needs necessitates health service ongoing redesign and transformation worldwide. Recent examples include service transformations in response to Covid-19, many of which were led and managed by nurses. Ensuring change readiness is central to delivering these transformative changes yet has been identified as a central challenge impacting nurse leaders and managers. Recent evidence indicates that affective commitment to change among healthcare staff may be an important contributor to gaining support for change implementation but understudied in healthcare. A cross-sectional survey study was used to examine the association between affective commitment to change and change readiness among 30 healthcare staff across four projects in one state-wide health system in Australia. Our findings indicate that affective commitment to change; healthcare worker's emotional and personal perception of the value of the proposed change is independently associated with individual and collective change readiness. Given that achieving change readiness is a central goal of change management strategies, this pilot work provides valuable insight to inform the change management practices of nurse leaders and managers.

Relapses of Plasmodium vivax malaria are prevented by 8-aminoquinolines. If hypnozoites survive, then the subsequent blood stage infections in early relapses (< 2 months) are suppressed by the slowly eliminated anti-malarial drugs used to treat the blood stage infection (chloroquine, artemisinin combination treatments), but they are not usually eliminated. The 8-aminoquinolines have significant blood stage activity which contributes to therapeutic responses. The latent interval from primary infection to early relapse depends on the number of activatable hypnozoites, the dose of anti-malarial, its pharmacokinetic properties, the level of resistance (minimum inhibitory concentration) and immunity. The doseCresponse relationship for radical curative efficacy of primaquine and tafenoquine is steep over the total dose range from 1.5 to 5 mg base/kg which may explain the poor efficacy of tafenoquine at the currently recommended dose.

The scale and duration of neutralizing antibody responses targeting SARS-CoV-2 viral variants represents a critically important serological parameter that predicts protective immunity for COVID-19. In this study, we present longitudinal data illustrating the impact of age, sex and comorbidities on the kinetics and strength of vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody responses for key variants in an Asian volunteer cohort. We demonstrate a reduction in neutralizing antibody titres across all groups six months post-vaccination and show a marked reduction in the serological binding and neutralizing response targeting Omicron compared to other viral variants. We also highlight the increase in cross-protective neutralizing antibody responses against Omicron induced by a third dose (booster) of vaccine. These data illustrate how key virological factors such as immune escape mutation combined with host factors such as age and sex of the vaccinated individuals influence the strength and duration of cross-protective serological immunity for COVID-19.

One of complications of Covid-19 infection is the so-called Covid toes. This is disease with nonstudied pathophysiological mechanisms, which in some ways is like Raynauds phenomenon. Our goal was to research the rheological differences and similarities between these diagnoses. We studied rheological status in a group of patients with the so-called Covid toes and a group with Reynauds phenomenon as well as in a control group healthy individual. We measured simultaneously the erythrocyte aggregation index, the erythrocyte deformation index and the blood plasma viscosity. The methods for indices measurement were composed by our research group (Rheology and Diagnostic Analytical Services Laboratory in Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine). Based on our data, we can evaluate rheological changes observed in both groups examined. In the patients with Reynauds phenomenon, rheological changes were not associated with an increase in the erythrocyte aggregation index. Significantly elevated levels of the erythrocyte aggregation index have been obtained only in the group of COVID-19 patients with Covid toes. Our studies presented new scientific focus and research area, able to transport our experimental and analytical conclusions to the field of routine clinical practice-for successful management and treatment of Covid toes as one of complications of COVID-19. ? 2022, Bulgarska Akademiya na Naukite. All rights reserved.

DISCLOSURES:: No funding supported the writing of this article. The author has received grants from BeiGene, Ltd., and Pfizer, Inc., and advisory board fees from PhRMA Foundation.