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Abstract: Background: Information on neurological and psychiatric adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) with COVID-19 vaccines is limited. Research design & methods: We examined and compared neurological and psychiatric AEFIS reports related to BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) COVID-19 vaccines and recorded in the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency between 9 December 2020 and 30 June 2021. Results: As of 30 June 2021, 46.1 million doses of ChAdOx1 and 30.3 million doses of BNT162b2 had been administered. The most frequently reported AEFI was headache with 1,686 and 575 cases per million doses of ChAdOx1 and BNT162b2, respectively. AEFIs more frequently reported after CHAdOx1 compared with BNT162b2 vaccination were Guillain-Barré syndrome (OR, 95% CI = 2.53, 1.82–3.51), freezing (6.66, 3.12–14.22), cluster headache (1.53, 1.28–1.84), migraine (1.23,1.17–1.30), postural dizziness (1.24,1.13–1.37), tremor (2.86, 2.68–3.05), headache (1.40, 1.38–1.43), paresthesia (1.11, 1.06–1.16), delirium (1.85, 1.45–2.36), hallucination (2.20, 1.82–2.66), poor quality sleep (1.53, 1.26–1.85), and nervousness (1.54, 1.26–1.89) Reactions less frequently reported with ChAdOx1 than with BNT162b2 were Bell’s palsy (0.47, 0.41–0.55), anosmia (0.58, 0.47–0.71), facial paralysis (0.35, 0.29– 0.41), dysgeusia (0.68, 0.62–0.73), presyncope (0.48, 0.42–0.55), syncope (0.63, 0.58–0.67), and anxiety (0.75 (0.67–0.85). Conclusion: Neurological and psychiatric AEFIs were relatively infrequent, but each vaccine was associated with a distinctive toxic profile. Plain Language Summary We examined reports on adverse neurological and psychiatric effects following immunization with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) for COVID-19 to the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency between 9 December 2020 and 30 June 2021. Adverse effects following immunization (AEFIs) were relatively infrequent. Compared to BNT162b2, Guillain-Barré syndrome, freezing phenomenon, cluster headache, migraine, postural dizziness, tremor, headache, paresthesia, delirium, hallucination, poor quality sleep, and nervousness were more frequently reported for ChAdOx1. Reactions less frequently reported for ChAdOx1 than for BNT162b2 were Bell’s palsy, anosmia, facial paralysis, dysgeusia, presyncope, syncope, and anxiety.

Introduction: Short sleep, physical inactivity, and being locked up are risk factors for weight gain. Objective: We evaluated weight gain according to sex, age, hours of sleep and physical activity in university students from 10 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional and multicenter study (n=4880). Results: The average age was 22.5±4.4 years. 60.2% were currently locked up. 73.6% were women, 48.2% increased their body weight, 66% reported insufficient sleep hours, and 65.9% were inactive. Women gained more weight than men (73.2%) and younger students gained more weight (85.1%). Those who had insufficient sleep hours gained most weight (67.6%). Inactive participants gained most weight (74.7%). Students who have insufficient sleep are 21% more likely to have changes in body weight compared to students who have optimal sleep. Conclusion: The increase in body weight and its risk factors during confinement should be considered as emerging from public health. UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Salud::Facultad de Medicina::Escuela de Medicina

El presente trabajo de investigación abordará la problemática de la creatividad, la innovación y la cultura digital en el marco de las prácticas de escritura académica; específicamente, en el área de las humanidades. El roce permanente entre la conservación de los métodos de estudio y la revolución tecnológica, avivado en el último tiempo por la irrupción del COVID 19, genera un diálogo propicio para obtener nuevos acuerdos en lo formal-institucional, en lo que respecta al diseño de las prácticas de escritura, su revisión y su evaluación, en el nivel universitario. Con esta premisa, a partir de la apoyatura que nos brindará nuestro corpus bibliográfico, como así también, nuestra experiencia como equipo en el ámbito de la escritura creativa, nos proponemos realizar, en primera instancia, un análisis situacional, con información de campo y reflexión teórica, en el contexto de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades de la Universidad Católica de Córdoba, para diseñar, en un segundo momento, un proyecto de intervención que pueda dar algunas respuestas a las demandas observadas y materializar en acciones concretas los desafíos que se nos presentan sobre los deberes y haceres del leer y el escribir en el mundo académico. Fil: Moyano, Emilio Aníbal. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades; Argentina.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on human activities due to lockdowns or travel restrictions to preserve public health and decrease the workload of hospitals. Therefore, human activities spaces (HASs) were deeply affected worldwide, but to an extent that is hard to quantify properly. This paper presents a longitudinal analysis of HASs in Quito, Ecuador, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using location data collected through Google Location History (GLH) from the Google Maps application, we compute weekly people's activity point locations (APLs) from a convenience sample of 263 participants, mainly composed of university staff members, considering only weeks with at least five days of data. These APLs are then used to measure the HASs using the confidence ellipses and the minimum spanning trees. Finally, we perform a weekly intra-personal and inter-personal variability analysis of the HASs using a random intercept model, considering (a) the size of HASs as the dependent variable and (b) the levels of restrictions due to the pandemic and the participants' demographics as independent variables. The results reveal that HASs are strongly affected by the intensity of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) (Social distancing, quarantines, lockdowns, travel restrictions or closure of schools and workplaces) and the composition of the socio-demographic groups. We also demonstrate that the disruptive effects of NPIs on human mobility were reflected in the decrease in trip durations in conjunction with a drop in visited locations as individuals only engage in essential neighbouring activities, implying substantial variations in the size and extent of HASs.

BACKGROUND Passive immunization with plasma collected from convalescent patients has been regularly used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Minimal data are avail- able regarding the use of convalescent plasma in patients with Covid-19–induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). METHODS In this open-label trial, we randomly assigned adult patients with Covid-19–induced ARDS who had been receiving invasive mechanical ventilation for less than 5 days in a 1:1 ratio to receive either convalescent plasma with a neutralizing antibody titer of at least 1:320 or standard care alone. Randomization was stratified according to the time from tracheal intubation to inclusion. The primary outcome was death by day 28. RESULTS A total of 475 patients underwent randomization from September 2020 through March 2022. Overall, 237 patients were assigned to receive convalescent plasma and 238 to receive standard care. Owing to a shortage of convalescent plasma, a neutralizing antibody titer of 1:160 was administered to 17.7% of the patients in the convalescent-plasma group. Glucocorticoids were administered to 466 patients (98.1%). At day 28, mortality was 35.4% in the convalescent-plasma group and 45.0% in the standard-care group (P = 0.03). In a prespecified analysis, this effect was observed mainly in patients who underwent randomization 48 hours or less after the initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation. Serious adverse events did not differ substantially between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS The administration of plasma collected from convalescent donors with a neutralizing antibody titer of at least 1:160 to patients with Covid-19–induced ARDS within 5 days after the initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation significantly reduced mortality at day 28. This effect was mainly observed in patients who underwent randomization 48 hours or less after ventilation initiation. (Funded by the Belgian Health Care Knowl- edge Center; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04558476.)

The difficult task of finding a place for the Long Covid in medical nosography becomes clear when we look at the medical terminologies that mention it. This exercise is made possible by the use of the HeTOP multi terminology server at the University of Rouen. The heterogeneity of the terms used by the main medical terminology sources is surprising. The following concepts are used: condition, disease, disorder, diagnosis, symptom, syndrome and sequelae. Most treat Long Covid as a general disease. Only ICPC and MedDRA use the term respiratory. Human Phenotype Ontology does not include Long Covid. However, Deer et all chose this ontology to analyze the content of 47 articles dealing with Long Covid in 2021 to develop the Long Covid Phenotype Ontology (LCPO). LCPO 286 entries have been mapped to ICPC3, enabling to show the intensity of neurological and psychiatric problems identified by doctors in the articles consulted. Understanding Long Covid requires an active access to knowledge. A classified bibliography on Long covid is available online, using ICPC and Q-Codes. Finally, the results of observation of a cohort of around one hundred patients accompanied by the author in family medicine since July 2021 are discussed. The suffering and abandonment of patients by medicine is terrible. Two-thirds of them women (66%) - of working age (average age 42) - see their lives broken, their brains washed away, with no hope of evolution for most of them, no understanding on the part of doctors and no treatment. A quick overview of the known physiopathology of Long Covid shows the intensity of neurovascular problems . The use of technetium scintigraphy (SPECT-CT) shows that cerebral perfusion is severely disrupted in cognitively-affected patients. Encephalitis, myocarditis, colitis, asthma and various allergies, and peripheral neuritis are common in Long Covid patients. Finally, access to the transcriptomic laboratory of the Rega Institute (KUL Leuven, Belgium) through the Covid Human Genetic Effort network has enabled us to identify the presence of viral RNA, platelet activation and mast cell genes in a large proportion of our patients. These biomarkers have a strong statistical association with hypoperfusion seen on SPECT-CT. Viral persistence, immune disorders and organ damage are all present in Long Covid. It is vital to pursue cutting-edge clinical and biological research in this field. The pathway of this translational research has been described in a poster available online.

According to WHO, 10.5% of medicines in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or falsified (SF), which has a multidimensional impact on public health as well as severe economic and socioeconomic consequences. Constrained access, weak technical capacity and poor governance contribute to the emergence of SF medicines. The increasing complexity of supply chains in our globalised world and the growing popularity of e-commerce provide numerous entry points for illegal medical products in both the Global South and the Global North. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a global surge in SF medicines. Various actors are involved in the trafficking of SF medicines. Key elements to combat SF medicines are prevention, detection and response with united, global participation of all parties involved.

Globalisation, internationalisation, and more specifically, the migratory movements that these phenomena have caused during the last decades, have expanded cultural and linguistic diversity in people’s daily environments. In addition, because of the increase in the use of new technologies to communicate globally since the COVID-19 pandemic, interactions between people from different parts of the world have become constant—without any need to travel. Because of these events, a key concern has been raised: The abilities needed to take an active part in this multicultural world are no longer simply based on language skills; intercultural competence has become indispensable. If the aim is to avoid misunderstandings and make coexistence as harmonious as possible, intercultural competence is essential—not only to work on teams or in classrooms with colleagues from different cultures but also to interact daily with people from diverse backgrounds. Intercultural competence implies possessing a set of skills and abilities that together allow one to engage in intercultural interactions with a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness. However, intercultural competence does not consist of reaching a level at which one is fully interculturally competent. On the contrary, to maintain both cultural and linguistic diversity, intercultural competence must be understood as a continuous process that is developed throughout life, because learning never stops...

Въпросите относно ролята и ефектите на фискалните правила са ши-роко дискутирани в теорията на публични финансите. Covid-пандемията допълни-телно актуализира академичните дискусии в анализираната област. Отчитайки изло-жените съображения, разработката има за обект на изследване фискалните правила относно бюджетния баланс, а предмет на анализ са ефектите на Covild-19 върху касовото и структурното бюджетно салдо в ЕС и България. Целта е да се изведат актуални тенденции и критично да се осмисли ролята на фискалните ограничения в пан-демични условия. Изследването доказва негативното Covid влияние, анализира насоките на въздействие и аргументира необходимостта от разумна фискална политика в посткризисния период.