Patients with Initial Negative RT-PCR and Typical Imaging of COVID-19: Clinical Implications
subject: reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, covid-19, clinical management, Bayesian analysis
description: The sensitivity of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been questioned due to negative results in some patients who were strongly suspected of having coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of our study was to analyze the prognosis of infected patients with initial negative RT-PCR in the emergency department (ED) during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study included two cohorts of adult inpatients admitted into the ED. All patients who were suspected to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 and who underwent a typical chest CT imaging were included. Thus, we studied two distinct cohorts: patients with positive RT-PCR (PCR+) and those with negative initial RT-PCR (PCR–). The data were analyzed using Bayesian methods. We included 66 patients in the PCR– group and 198 in the PCR+ group. The baseline characteristics did not differ except in terms of a proportion of lower chronic respiratory disease in the PCR– group. We noted a less severe clinical presentation in the PCR– group (lower respiratory rate, lower oxygen need and mechanical ventilation requirement). Hospital mortality (9.1% vs. 9.6%) did not differ between the two groups. Despite an initially less serious clinical presentation, the mortality of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 with a negative RT-PCR did not differ from those with positive RT-PCR.
creator: Florent Baicry, Pierrick Le Borgne, Thibaut Fabacher, Martin Behr, Elena Laura Lemaitre, Paul-Albert Gayol, Sébastien Harscoat, Nirvan Issur, Sabrina Garnier-Kepka, Mickael Ohana, Pascal Bilbault, Mathieu Oberlin
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Medicine

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): review study
subject: MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, covid-19, Pandemic
description: On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan-China Health Commission reported a case of pneumonia in the city. The first symptoms began in mid-December 2019. Clinically isolated specimens identified the coronavirus as the cause of the disease. It was first shown as 2019-nCoV, and as the number of victims of the coronavirus crossed the border of thousands of people, the World Health Organization chose the official name COVID-19 for its illness. Although it appears to be of animal origin, it is rapidly transmitting from person to person around the world. The World Health Organization released a statement calling the outbreak of the new Corona virus a Public Health Emergency Situations that poses a threat to the whole world, not just China. In this study highlights how the virus is transmitted, the clinical signs, the laboratory characteristics, the pathogenicity of the virus, Vaccines, and the prevention and control of the spread of the virus.
creator: Abolfazl Jafari-Sales, Homeira Khaneshpour, Mehrdad Pashazadeh, Rozita Nasiri
source: Biotemas
publisher: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
date: 2020
coverage: Biology (General), Medicine

How to Screen Suitable Service Improve Community Health Care Services by University Students in Taiwan
subject: factor analysis, Community Health Services, postmodern education theories
description: Engaging in social contributions to enhance social participation and attending community experiential service learning or internship courses have become an essential learning experience for university students. On the basis of postmodern education theories, this study adopted images and oral accounts involving personal experiences to construct a postmodern education research scheme by using the method of collaborative ethnography. This study selected and performed the following services: filming a community documentary, administering community health dance classes, and archiving community cultural artifacts in databases. Interviews were also administered to facilitate implementation of the actual services. Community health services commonly seen in Taiwan and abroad were compiled, and the resources required for each service were examined. Subsequently, factor analysis was performed to explore the characteristic of these services in order to recommend feasible services for university students to undertake. The results indicated that the eight resources required for the 59 common community health services were (1) a designated space or venue, (2) materials, (3) monetary resources, (4) human resources, (5) expertise, (6) professional equipment, (7) patience, and (8) empathy. The results revealed three principal components, namely labor services, high-resource services, and professional services, for a total explanatory power of 67.99%; the individual explanatory power of these components accounted for 25.04%, 21.81%, and 21.15%, respectively. Next, community health care services suitable for university students to perform were selected and implemented, and these services were well received. The study results indicated that community and environmental justice can be realized by identifying with the value of community health services and promoting postmodern education theories and social norms. The research results are suitable for implementation after the COVID-19 pande…
creator: Guey-Shin Shyu, Wei-Ta Fang, Bai-You Cheng, Shinn-Jou Lin
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Medicine

Assessment of Healthcare System Capabilities and Preparedness in Yemen to Confront the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak: A Perspective of Healthcare Workers
subject: covid-19, Preparedness, health care facilities, Yemen, capabilities
description: Background: In the past decade, Yemen has witnessed several disasters that resulted in a crumbled healthcare system. With the declaration of COVID-19 a global pandemic, and later the appearance of first confirmed cases in Yemen, there is an urgent need to assess the preparedness of healthcare facilities (HCFs) and their capacities to tackle a looming COVID-19 outbreak. Herein, we present an assessment of the current state of preparedness and capabilities of HCFs in Yemen to prevent and manage the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: An online survey for HCFs was developed, validated, and distributed. The questionnaire is divided into five main sections: (1) Demographic variables for participants. (2) HCFs capabilities for COVID-19 outbreak. (3) Support received to face the emergence and spread of COVID-19. (4). Current practices of infection prevention and control measures in the HCFs. The last section focused on the recommendations to ensure effective and timely response to this outbreak in Yemen. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze data using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 23.Results: Responses were received from healthcare workers (HCWs) from 18 out of 22 governorates in Yemen. Out of the 296 HCWs who participated in the study, the vast majority (93.9%) believed that the healthcare system in Yemen does not have the resources and capabilities to face and manage a COVID-19 outbreak. Approximately 82.4% of participants rated the general preparedness level of their HCFs as very poor or poor. More specifically, the majority of HCWs rated their HCFs as very poor or poor in term of availability of the following: an adequate number of mechanical ventilators (88.8%), diagnostic devices (88.2%), ICU rooms and beds (81.4%), and isolation rooms (79.7%).Conclusions: The healthcare facilities in Yemen are unprepared and lack the most basic resources and capabilities to cope with or tackle a COVID-19 outbreak. With the current state of a fragile healthcare s…
creator: Mohammed Zawiah, Mohammed Zawiah, Fahmi Y. Al-Ashwal, Ramzi Mukred Saeed, Ramzi Mukred Saeed, Mohammed Kubas, Mohammed Kubas, Sara Saeed, Amer Hayat Khan, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Rami Abduljabbar, Rami Abduljabbar
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Public aspects of medicine

Dynamic Interleukin-6 Level Changes as a Prognostic Indicator in Patients With COVID-19
subject: infectious disease, covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, Interleukin-6, Lung injury, CT scores
description: BackgroundInterleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine, has been reported to be associated with disease severity and mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Yet, dynamic changes in IL-6 levels and their prognostic value as an indicator of lung injury in COVID-19 patients have not been fully elucidated.ObjectiveTo validate whether IL-6 levels are associated with disease severity and mortality and to investigate whether dynamic changes in IL-6 levels might be a predictive factor for lung injury in COVID-19 patients.MethodsThis retrospective, single-center study included 728 adult COVID-19 patients and used data extracted from electronic medical records for analyses.ResultsThe mortality rate was higher in the elevated IL-6 group than in the normal IL-6 group (0.16 vs 5%). Cox proportional hazards and logistic regression analyses for survival (adjusted hazard ratio, 10.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09–99.23; p = 0.042) and disease severity (adjusted odds ratio, 3.56; 95% CI, 2.06–6.19; p < 0.001) revealed similar trends. Curve-fitting analyses indicated that patient computed tomography (CT) scores peaked on days 22 and 24. An initial decline in IL-6 levels on day 16 was followed by resurgence to a peak, nearly in tandem with the CT scores.ConclusionIncreased IL-6 level may be an independent risk factor for disease severity and in-hospital mortality and dynamic IL-6 changes may serve as a potential predictor for lung injury in Chinese COVID-19 patients. These findings may guide future treatment of COVID-19 patients.
creator: Danyang Chen, Zeming Liu, Wen Zeng, Sichao Chen, Yihui Huang, Liang Guo, Man Li, Wei Long, Xinghuan Wang, Jinpeng Li, Rongfen Gao, Jianglong Huang, Xiaohui Wu
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Therapeutics. Pharmacology

Impact of Covid-19 on Oman's Construction Industry
subject: covid-19, Oman, economy, construction management
description: Abstract. COVID-19 is a global pandemic that changed the global economic perspective. The ongoing pandemic is indeed the major cause of project delays in the Middle East. A severe impact is being taken place in all industries. Therefore, this research covers the construction industry of Oman, the Impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry; the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of global impact, and the prospects of Oman's economy. The study covers the impact of COVID-19 on global and regional economies. The construction industry and its economic prospects are also discussed in the global pandemic of COVID-19. The secondary research critically insight the impact of coronavirus along with the construction business dimensions of Oman’s construction industry.
creator: Tariq Al Amri, Manuel Marey-Pérez
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Social sciences (General)

Solvability and stability of a fractional dynamical system of the growth of COVID-19 with approximate solution by fractional Chebyshev polynomials
subject: covid-19, fractional calculus, Fractional integral operator, dynamic system, fractional differential operator, conformable calculus
description: Abstract Lately, many studies were offered to introduce the population dynamics of COVID-19. In this investigation, we extend different physical conditions of the growth by employing fractional calculus. We study a system of coupled differential equations, which describes the dynamics of the infection spreading between infected and asymptomatic styles. The healthy population properties are measured due to the social meeting. The result is associated with a macroscopic law for the population. This dynamic system is appropriate to describe the performance of growth rate of the infection and to verify if its control is appropriately employed. A unique solution, under self-mapping possessions, is investigated. Approximate solutions are presented by utilizing fractional integral of Chebyshev polynomials. Our methodology is based on the Atangana–Baleanu calculus, which provides various activity results in the simulation. We tested the suggested system by using live data. We found positive action in the graphs.
creator: Rabha W. Ibrahim, Shaher Momani, Samir B. Hadid, Dania Altulea
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Mathematics

Point-of-Care Diagnostic Tests for Detecting SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Real-World Data
subject: covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, point-of-care diagnostics, rapid testing, real world data, Systematic review and meta-analysis
description: SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for a highly contagious infection, known as COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in late December 2019 and, since then, has become a global pandemic. Timely and accurate COVID-19 laboratory testing is an essential step in the management of the COVID-19 outbreak. To date, assays based on the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in respiratory samples are the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis. Unfortunately, RT-PCR has several practical limitations. Consequently, alternative diagnostic methods are urgently required, both for alleviating the pressure on laboratories and healthcare facilities and for expanding testing capacity to enable large-scale screening and ensure a timely therapeutic intervention. To date, few studies have been conducted concerning the potential utilization of rapid testing for COVID-19, with some conflicting results. Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to explore the feasibility of rapid diagnostic tests in the management of the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on ten studies, we computed a pooled sensitivity of 64.8% (95%CI 54.5–74.0), and specificity of 98.0% (95%CI 95.8–99.0), with high heterogeneity and risk of reporting bias. We can conclude that: (1) rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 are necessary, but should be adequately sensitive and specific; (2) few studies have been carried out to date; (3) the studies included are characterized by low numbers and low sample power, and (4) in light of these results, the use of available tests is currently questionable for clinical purposes and cannot substitute other more reliable molecular tests, such as assays based on RT-PCR.
creator: Younes Ben Said, Natalia Valeryevna Pyatigorskaya, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi, Matteo Riccò, Pietro Ferraro, Giovanni Gualerzi, Silvia Ranzieri, Brandon Michael Henry, Elena Nevolina, Jianhong Wu, Carlo Signorelli
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Medicine

Changes in Sustainability Priorities in Organisations due to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Averting Environmental Rebound Effects on Society
subject: environment, sustainability, Covid-19 outbreak, priorities, organisations
description: The COVID-19 outbreak has affected societies and organisations in an unprecedented way. This has resulted in negative impacts to economic and social issues, but it is a “blessing in disguise” for environmental issues. This paper analyses how the outbreak has affected organisations’ sustainability priorities. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, such priorities were on the economic dimension followed by the environmental and social dimensions. A survey was sent to 11,657 organisations to analyse such changes, with a 5.60% response rate. The results show that for organisations, the main priority is now on the social dimension, followed by the economic one; however, the environmental dimension has suffered a negative impact in prioritisation, regardless of organisation type, country where they are based, organisation size, or the time they have been working on sustainability. We are currently facing an environmental conundrum, where air quality has improved and pollution has decreased in societies, but organisations are starting to neglect such environmental issues. The COVID-19 outbreak is an opportunity for organisations to better contribute to sustainability by ensuring that the efforts that have been undertaken in the last three decades are not forgotten, and that societies and organisations are better coupled to face such crises and avert rebound effects.
creator: Maria Barreiro-Gen, Rodrigo Lozano, Afnan Zafar
source: Biotemas
publisher: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
date: 2020
coverage: Environmental effects of industries and plants, Renewable energy sources, Environmental sciences

Mental Health Challenges of United States Healthcare Professionals During COVID-19
subject: Anxiety, Health care professionals, pandemic (COVID-19), Depression, stress and coping
description: As COVID-19 continues to impact global society, healthcare professionals (HCPs) are at risk for a number of negative well-being outcomes due to their role as care providers. The objective of this study was to better understand the current psychological impact of COVID-19 on HCPs in the United States This study used an online survey tool to collect demographic data and measures of well-being of adults age 18 and older living in the United States between March 20, 2020 and May 14, 2020. Measures included anxiety and stress related to COVID-19, depressive symptoms, current general anxiety, health questions, tiredness, control beliefs, proactive coping, and past and future appraisals of COVID-related stress. The sample included 90 HCPs and 90 age-matched controls (Mage = 34.72 years, SD = 9.84, range = 23 – 67) from 35 states of the United States. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed, using education as a covariate, to identify group differences in the mental and physical health measures. HCPs reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, past and future appraisal of COVID-related stress, concern about their health, tiredness, current general anxiety, and constraint, in addition to lower levels of proactive coping compared to those who were not HCPs (p < 0.001, η2 = 0.28). Within the context of this pandemic, HCPs were at increased risk for a number of negative well-being outcomes. Potential targets, such as adaptive coping training, for intervention are discussed.
creator: Ann Pearman, MacKenzie L. Hughes, Emily L. Smith, Shevaun D. Neupert
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Psychology