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In the present study, we tested the common assumption that teachers with more experience consider themselves better prepared for online teaching and learning (OTL). Utilizing the data from a survey of 366 higher-education teachers from Portugal at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we performed structural equation modeling to quantify the experience-readiness relationship. The survey contained an assessment of teachers' OTL readiness which was measured by their perceptions of the institutional support, online teaching presence, and TPACK self-efficacy. In contrast to the linearity assumption “the more experienced, the better prepared”, we found robust evidence for a curvilinear relationship. Teachers’ readiness for OTL increased first and then decreased with more experience—this applied especially to the self-efficacy dimension of readiness. Further analyses suggested that the experience-readiness relationship does not only exist at the level of aggregated constructs but also at the level of indicators, that is, specific areas of knowledge, teaching, and support. We argue that both novice and experienced teachers in higher education could benefit from experience-appropriate, pedagogical, and content-related support programs for OTL.

Supporting information for "Adaptive strategies for the deployment of rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19: a modelling study"

Background: To provide for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) healthcare capacity, (surgical oncology) guidelines were established, forcing to alter the timing of performing surgical procedures. It is essential to determine whether these guidelines have led to disease progression. This study aims to give an insight into the number of surgical oncology procedures performed during the pandemic and provide information on short-term clinical outcomes. Materials and methods: A systematic literature search was performed on all COVID-19 articles including operated patients, published before March 21, 2022. Meta-analysis was performed to visualize the number of performed surgical oncology procedures during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. Random effects models were used for evaluating short-term clinical outcomes. Results: Twenty-four studies containing 6762 patients who underwent a surgical oncology procedure during the pandemic were included. The number of performed surgical procedures for an oncological pathology decreased (−26.4%) during the pandemic. The number of performed surgical procedures for breast cancer remained stable (+0.3%). Moreover, no difference was identified in the number of ≥T2 (OR 1.00, P = 0.989), ≥T3 (OR 0.95, P = 0.778), ≥N1 (OR 1.01, P = 0.964) and major postoperative complications (OR 1.55, P = 0.134) during the pandemic. Conclusion: The number of performed surgical oncology procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic decreased. In addition, the number of performed surgical breast cancer procedures remained stable. Oncological staging and major postoperative complications showed no significant difference compared to pre-pandemic practice. During future pandemics, the performed surgical oncology practice during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic seems appropriate for short-term results.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented extreme pressure on the medical system due to the physical distance policy, especially for procedures such as ultrasound (US) imaging, which are usually carried out in person. Tele-operation systems are a promising way to avoid physical human?robot interaction (pHRI). However, the system usually requires another robot on the remote doctor side to provide haptic feedback, which makes it expensive and complex. To reduce the cost and system complexity, in this paper, we present a low-cost, easy-to-use, dual-mode pHRI-teleHRI control system with a custom-designed hybrid admittance-force controller for US imaging. The proposed system requires only a tracking camera rather than a sophisticated robot on the remote side. An audio feedback is designed for replacing haptic feedback on the remote side, and its sufficiency is experimentally verified. The experimental results indicate that the designed hybrid controller can significantly improve the task performance in both modes. Furthermore, the proposed system enables the user to conduct US imaging while complying with the physical distance policy, and allows them to seamlessly switch modes from one to another in an online manner. The novel system can be easily adapted to other medical applications beyond the pandemic, such as tele-healthcare, palpation, and auscultation.

Template for the Swedish national survey questionnaire directed to long-COVID / post-COVID sufferers in Swedish Facebook groups. The survey comprises questions on demographics, background factors, symptoms and changes over time, health impacts, information needs and practices, and validated scales for rating certain symptoms. The survey was produced for the research project CiLC-S - Crowdsourcing Long-COVID Sweden, and conducted in 2021. The survey is designed for anonymous participation and open digital methods distribution through social media and web channels.

Background: Little is known about nursing students' illness beliefs and attitudes towards the involvement of families in nursing care during the COVID-19 epidemic. Focusing on family nursing throughout an undergraduate nursing education is not only appropriate or critical but also essential for advancing family nursing practice. Objectives: To evaluate the differences in undergraduate and graduate nursing students' perceptions of illness beliefs and their family nursing practice skills at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: A cross-sectional study. Settings: The Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland. Participants: Of the nursing and midwifery students, 109 participated in 2020 from one university. Methods: Data was collected regarding illness beliefs and attitudes towards family involvement in nursing care, through questionnaires via the Red Cap software. Results: The main finding indicated that the graduate students reported more confidence or reassurance regarding their knowledge of the cause of an illness, control, effect, suffering and what is the most and the least helpful in coping with an illness/health disorder when compared to the undergraduate students (t-value = −2.50, p-value = 0.014). Additionally, graduate nursing students also reported higher positive attitudes towards family importance in nursing care than undergraduate students (t-value = −2.16, p-value = 0.033). Conclusion: Even though the graduate students reported higher illness beliefs than undergraduate students, the undergraduate students reported a reasonably high or over medium high score, on the illness beliefs scale. University nursing educators need to be aware that nursing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards family nursing practice at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic shape clinical competence in family nursing within health care settings. Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all the nursing students and midwives at the University of Iceland, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Nursing, for their participation in the study. The authors would also like to thank Gudny Bergthora Tryggvadottir for contributing to the data analyses. The study was funded by grants from the Research Fund of the Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, from the Science Fund of the Icelandic Nurse Association and from the Research Fund at the University of Iceland. Funding Information: The study was funded by grants from the Research Fund of the Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, from the Science Fund of the Icelandic Nurse Association and from the Research Fund at the University of Iceland . Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Peer reviewed

The COVID-19 pandemic brought along an “infodemic” which has been amplified in the digital world. We intend to discuss the harmful content onTwitter during the COVID-19 pandemic and the approaches to solve theproblem taken by different sides. We first lay out how disinformation and misinformation have become problems negatively affecting society. We then present solutions and roles by three organisational clusters, namely the platform Twitter itself, governing bodies in the EU and Germany, and civil society such, as the news media and NGOs. Firstly, Twitter’s response can be found in their guidelines against harmful content during this pandemic. Secondly, we analyse Germany’s Network Enforement Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Thirdly, we present criticism from civil society such as “netzpolitik.org” and “HateAid”. In conclusion, the paper finds it important to have all three clusters working together to form an effective system against harmful content online, which is in fact advocated by the EU’s DSA.The COVID-19 pandemic brought along an “infodemic” which has been amplified in the digital world. We intend to discuss the harmful content on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic and the approaches to solve the problem taken by different sides. We first lay out how disinformation and misinformation have become problems negatively affecting society. We then present solutions and roles by three organisational clusters, namely the platform Twitter itself, governing bodies in the EU and Germany, and civil society such, as the news media and NGOs. Firstly, Twitter’s response can be found in their guidelines against harmful content during this pandemic. Secondly, we analyse Germany’s Network Enforement Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Thirdly, we present criticism from civil society such as “netzpolitik.org” and “HateAid”. In conclusion, the paper finds it important to have all three clusters working together to form an effective system against harmful content online, which is in fact advocated by the EU’s DSA.

Increasing evidence indicates that inflammation promotes thrombosis via a VWF (von Willebrand factor)-mediated mechanism. VWF plays an essential role in maintaining the balance between blood coagulation and bleeding, and inflammation can lead to aberrant regulation. VWF is regulated on a transcriptional and (post-)translational level, and its secretion into the circulation captures platelets upon endothelial activation. The significant progress that has been made in understanding transcriptional and translational regulation of VWF is described in this review. First, we describe how VWF is regulated at the transcriptional and post-translational level with a specific focus on the influence of inflammatory and immune responses. Next, we describe how changes in regulation are linked with various cardiovascular diseases. Recent insights from clinical diseases provide evidence for direct molecular links between inflammation and thrombosis, including atherosclerosis, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, and COVID-19. Finally, we will briefly describe clinical implications for antithrombotic treatment.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5334/gh.1128.].

This paper examines the integration of the immigrant population as a probable future of the Canadian Agricultural Workforce. According to the policy literature, a shortage of labourers will affect food security within Canada and impact Canada’s global food export. At the same time, the Canadian agricultural sector recognizes an increase in immigrants who might be agriculturally qualified and/ or interested in entering the agricultural sector. Theoretical perspectives on this topic suggest that current immigration policies and conditions need to be improved to attract agricultural experts to the country and transition Temporary Foreign Works (TFWs) already in the country to permanent residency. Funding is also vital to improving training and human resources management in the agricultural sector. This major research paper addresses this situation and discusses the role of stakeholders such as the government, including federal, provincial, and municipal levels, in brokering innovations that bring immigrants as workers into the Canadian agricultural sector. This paper identifies and discusses steps to overcome existing barriers and each player’s role in overcoming them. Important findings and actions taken by some non-governmental leaders in Labour Market research such as the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) will also be discussed. The context of this study is within Ontario with supplementary sources from across the country and the world and presents data from the past five to 10 years keeping in mind the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture will be central to Canada’s future health and prosperity by decreasing the gap in agricultural labour shortages as Canadian farms feed the world and grow Canada’s economy.