关键词： Body composition   Computed tomography   PET-CT   Inflammation   Survival  

摘要： Background Adipose tissue radiodensity and metabolic activity may influence COVID-19 outcomes. This study evaluated the association between adipose tissue characteristics and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Methods Two retrospective cohorts of hospitalized COVID-19 patients were analyzed. Subcutaneous adipose tissue radiodensity (SATR) and visceral adipose tissue radiodensity were assessed by computed tomography. Fluorine-18-labelled fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography measured adipose tissue metabolic activity. Associations with mortality, length of stay, ventilation requirement, and complications were examined using regression analyses. Results High SATR was independently associated with increased mortality risk (OR: 2.70; P = 0.033), longer hospitalization ( P < 0.001), higher rates of mechanical ventilation ( P = 0.007), and complications: acute kidney injury ( P = 0.001), secondary infection ( P = 0.007), shock ( P = 0.010), and pulmonary embolism ( P = 0.011). SATR positively correlated with SAT glucose uptake ( ρ = 0.52) and negatively with leptin levels ( ρ = –0.48). Conclusions Elevated SATR at COVID-19 diagnosis predicts disease severity and worse outcomes. SATR is a potential prognostic biomarker for acute and chronic inflammatory conditions.

摘要： This study investigates golf tourists’ preferences for diverse social distancing measures implemented by golf courses during the COVID-19 pandemic using a discrete choice experiment. With a sample of 430 South Korean golfers, this study provides a better understanding of how gender affects their trade-offs among several precautionary policies. Results suggest the maximum occupancy of each restaurant table is considered a critical factor in reducing infection risk, while golfers are willing to pay KR₩10,747 for a one-person reduction in table occupancy. Gender groups reveal different preference patterns regarding several safety measures. Female golfers show a higher willingness to pay for several preventive measures, particularly restaurant occupancy limits and locker spacing. These findings provide insights for golf course managers to develop targeted strategies that enhance customer safety and satisfaction during future health crises.

关键词： E62   E65   H12   H24   COVID-19   Stimulus payments   Local small businesses  

摘要： During economic downturns, stimulus checks are often used to help households but may fail to reach the most affected sectors, such as local small businesses during COVID-19. Although the aggregate impact of these measures is well-studied, their distributional effects on local economies are less explored. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, this study examines weekly local sales data during 2020 from Gyeonggi and Incheon, South Korea, to assess the impact of Gyeonggi’s stimulus, distributed to every household for spending exclusively at local stores, contrasting with Incheon’s lack of such stimulus. We find that Gyeonggi’s stimulus initially boosted local sales by 4.5%, though this impact gradually diminished. This translates into a local-sales multiplier of 1.09, indicating that more than distributed stimulus was spent due to spillover and propagation effects in local in-person spending. Our findings emphasize the importance of tailored fiscal policy designs and assessing the distributional impacts of fiscal measures.

关键词： Endometriosis   COVID-19   Surgery   Medical treatment   Pain   Quality of life  

摘要： Objective There are no studies directly comparing medical vs surgical treatments in improving endometriosis-related pain despite the condition’s widespread prevalence. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions resulted in many endometriosis patients unable to receive surgical treatment, providing an opportunity to compare non-surgical management directly against the conventional practice of surgery. We also explored the impact of the pandemic on the quality of care and quality of life for endometriosis patients. Methods An online questionnaire was conducted between June and August 2023. Patients from a single centre were asked to participate if they had received surgery in 2018−2019 or received non-surgical management in 2020−2022. The questionnaire measured impacted endometriosis care, quality of life over the pre-, during, and post-pandemic periods with the endometriosis impact questionnaire (EIQ), and treatment effectiveness with the numerical rating scale (NRS). Results Of the 60 total respondents, 56.7% had a cancelled, postponed, or rescheduled clinic appointment, while 33.3% were impacted for endometriosis surgery and 8.3% for fertility treatment. There were no statistically significant differences in EIQ scores during or after the pandemic as compared to before and during for all domains. Both surgery and non-surgical treatment decreased NRS scores significantly by 3, p < 0.001. There was no significant difference between the two treatments, p = 0.901. Conclusion The quality of life of endometriosis patients remained stable despite disruptions to care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both surgical and non-surgical treatments are effective for endometriosis-related pain, although how one compares to the other is still unclear due to systematic differences between study cohorts.

关键词： COVID-19   Dementia   ADL   Barthel Index   Ambulatory movement   Care facility  

摘要： Background This study aimed to investigate the determinants of decline in activities of daily living (ADL) among people with dementia following the onset of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed, including 37 individuals with dementia residing in group and nursing homes. The study cohort experienced a resurgence in facility admissions following COVID-19 outbreak, spanning from September to December 2022. Multivariate generalized linear mixed-effects models were employed to assess the Barthel Index at the time of readmission, which served as the dependent variable. Demographic variables before contracting COVID-19 were considered independent predictors if they were significantly associated with the Barthel Index at the time of readmission. Random intercepts were applied to account for variations among facilities in which individuals resided before contracting COVID-19. Results Care level, degree of independent living for disabled older adults, and the ability to perform daily ambulatory movements were significantly associated with the Barthel Index at the time of readmission. When used as independent variables, both daily ambulatory movement (beta = 0.350) and care level (beta = -0.347) showed significant associations with the Barthel Index at the time of readmission. Whereas using daily ambulatory movements and the degree of independent living for disabled older adults as independent variables, only the degree of independent living for disabled older adults (beta = -0.757) was significantly associated with the Barthel Index at the time of readmission. Conclusion The ability to engage in daily ambulatory movement affects the decline in ADLs due to COVID-19.

关键词： Academic Medical Centers   COVID-19   Disparities   Hospital outcomes  

摘要： AbstractBackgroundStudies examining racial and ethnic disparities in-hospital mortality for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had mixed results. Findings from patients within academic medical centers (AMCs) are lacking, but important given the role of AMCs in improving health equity. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to assess whether minority patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) institutions, which consist predominantly of AMCs, have higher mortality rates relative to White patients. DesignA retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was performed. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the primary hypothesis. A separate analysis tested whether there were differences by race and ethnicity during the delta variant phase of the pandemic. PatientsAll hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who were above 17 years old were categorized by race and ethnicity as Black, Hispanic, Asian, White, Other, and Unknown. Main MeasuresIn-hospital mortality for patients with a known hospital outcome formed the primary outcome measure. Race and ethnicity were the primary independent variables. Key ResultsThere were 103,702 in-hospital Covid-19 admissions with 14,207 (13.7%) hospital deaths. Unadjusted in-hospital mortality for White patients was approximately 26% higher than for Black patients. After multivariable adjustment, none of the racial and ethnic groups had significantly different odds of in-hospital mortality compared to White patients. Only Hispanic patients had an odds ratio greater than one that was insignificant (OR = 1.06; 95% CI = 0.92-1.20). Findings for the delta variant phase were similar with the exception of the unknown category (OR = 1.90; 95% CI = 1.05-3.46). ConclusionsDisparities in-hospital mortality outcomes by race or ethnicity were not found in COVID-19 patients hospitalized in AMCs. AMCs are expected to lead health delivery systems in eliminating disparities associated with structura

关键词： COVID-19   Social imaginaries   Qualitative interviews   Futures   Lived experience   Australia  

摘要： Many expert commentaries predicting what life will be like in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have been published. The views of the public on post-COVID futures have received less attention. To explore these issues, this article draws on qualitative interviews conducted with Australian adults, conducted in three stages in each of the first pandemic years of 2020, 2021 and 2022. The final questions asked were: ‘What do you think your way of life will be like once the COVID crisis has passed? Will it go back to the way it was before – or be different in important ways?’. This article analyses participants’ responses to these future-facing questions across the three annual interview sets. Continuities and differences in the imaginaries of pandemic futures expressed in each of these years are identified. Findings demonstrate the value of documenting public understandings, practices and feelings concerning imaginaries of the future of crises such as the pandemic across an extended timescale. The study identified the complexity of how quotidian life, emotions and biographical experiences are entangled with broader socioeconomic, policy, infrastructural, cultural and political dimensions in people’s predictions of what a post-COVID world might be like at different stages of the pandemic.

关键词： COVID-19  

摘要： The outbreak of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Covid-19) has resulted in a global health emergency that has caused millions of deaths in recent years. The control of the pandemic was significantly impacted by the availability of inputs and qualified labor to correctly diagnose the population. The challenges faced by numerous countries in conducting this extensive diagnosis, utilizing methods such as RT-PCR, emphasize the necessity for alternative testing strategies that are less reliant on expensive raw materials and can be implemented on a larger scale. This paper proposes a methodology for classifying blood serum samples as either positive or negative for Covid-19 infection using excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy associated with multivariate analysis. The proposed methodology uses EEM spectra of samples diagnosed by the reference method (RT-PCR) to train and validate classification models. Two approaches were tested: the first using PARAFAC and the second by unfolding the excitation-emission matrices. The DD-SIMCA model performed best in the PARAFAC approach, with an error rate of 0.05, sensitivity of 0.98 and specificity of 0.96. The PLS-DA and PCA-DA models in the second approach effectively distinguished between classes. The PCA-DA model performed the best with an error rate of 0.06 and sensitivity and specificity of 0.94. Fluorescence spectroscopy was found to be effective in analyzing serum samples and obtaining discrimination models to determine if a patient is infected with SARS-CoV-2. The findings are encouraging and could aid in the development of an inexpensive and reliable auxiliary diagnostic method. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

关键词： Pandemics   Orthopedics   Surgery   Telehealth  

摘要： Introduction Even though the pandemic has had a documented impact on the outcomes of orthopedic surgery, the patient perspective and anxieties are not well addressed in the literature. Methods A new COVID-focused patient survey on their perspective regarding orthopedic care has been formulated and investigated in 206 patients, including information regarding demographics and relevant health history. To aid our understanding, clinical practice trends were collected to better understand the impact on surgical volume and associated rebound after a catastrophic global event like a pandemic. Results Patients with public insurance, hypertension, unemployed, or low health levels, were moderately worried about contracting and surviving Covid-19, but still prioritized their orthopedic care despite the associated risks. A typical orthopedic practice dropped 30–40 % of visits between week 5 and 7 of Covid-19. Telehealth visits comprised 20 % of visits. Discussion Despite the pandemic impact and associated anxieties, the demand for orthopedic surgery persists both on the patient and healthcare sides. The impact and understanding of population dynamics are critical for future preparation and likely re-organization of healthcare systems such as increased telehealth utilization in orthopedics.

摘要： Respiratory bacterial co-infections are frequently observed in COVID-19 patients. This retrospective study analysed clinical data from patients with COVID-19 and respiratory bacterial co-infections compared to those with COVID-19 alone. The findings suggest that inflammatory markers and lymphocyte subsets may be valuable for the early identification of co-infections in COVID-19 patients.