The Effect of Covid -19 Pandemic On Eye-Related Emergency Department Visits: A Comparison of Tertiary Eye Care Hospital Two -Year Results

Purpose: The aim of study is to examine the clinical and demographic impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on emergency department admissions to a tertiary eye care hospital.Methods: Records of admissions to the ophthalmology emergency department during a one-year period before the pandemic (group 1) and during the pandemic (group 2) were retrospectively reviewed between March 15, 2019, and March 15, 2021. Application numbers, demographic characteristics of patients were recorded. The cases were grouped by age and diagnosis, and the findings were compared within and between the groups. Results: A total of 161 941 patients (Group 1: 103 178 and Group 2: 58 763) were admitted to the emergency department of our hospital within 2 years. All admission diagnoses were significantly lower in the pandemic period than in the pre-pandemic period (p:0.001). However, the rate of sight-threatening cases or cases requiring urgent treatment (retinal diseases, uveitis, etc.) was significantly higher in the pandemic period than in the pre-pandemic period (p:0.001). The most common admission diagnoses were ocular infectious/inflammatory diseases while the foreign body on the ocular surface/ocular trauma group was second. Admissions for allergic and infectious diseases were significantly less during the pandemic period (p: 0.001, p: 0.002 respectively).Conclusion: The Covid 19 pandemic has led to significant changes in the application numbers, demographic features and reasons for admissions to the emergency department.

The Effects of False-positive Result in Newborn Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening to Parents in Guangxi, China

Background: As more than 200,000 neonates participate in newborn congenital hypothyroidism (CH) screening in Guangxi each year, the overall number of false positives has increased. Concerns arise regarding the potential demographic impact on parental stress and knowledge of CH results has emerged. Methods: 255 parents were invited to participate in the false-positive (FP) group, and 1040 parents were invited to participate in the control group. After providing consent, the parents completed a semistructured questionnaire on demographic characteristics, knowledge of CH and the parental stress index-short form (PSI-SF). Results: The parents in the FP group had better knowledge of CH and higher PSI scores than did the parents in the control group (both P <0.001). The result of Logistic Regression showed that the major influence factors of knowledge of CH were FP experience and source of knowledge (both P <0.001). The parents in the FP group who were well-informed during the recall phone call had lower PSI scores than did the other parents (P = 0.001). The results suggested that FP screening results may affect parental stress and the parent-child relationships. Conclusion: Targeted health education should be carried out to increase prospective parents’ knowledge of NBS and reduce parental stress when false-positive results are received.

Impact of Demographic Factors on Consumer’s Usage of Digital Payments

The post-demonetization phase in India has triggered more cashless transactions; a shortage of cash in the system had forced consumers to shift themselves from cash to cashless transactions. In the retail space, the thrust has shifted on costs, as banks continued their efforts towards migrating customers to lower-cost electronic and automated channels to reduce human intervention. On the contrary, it is also vital to check the customers’ demographic impact on the usage of digital payment services. The objective of the study is to analyse the changing customer dynamics and improve the customer experience from the outcome. This article aims to investigate the impact of demographic factors on consumer usage (CU) of Digital payments during post-demonetization. Further, exploring the impact of demographic factors (gender, age, education, marital status and income) on CU and satisfaction of 599 respondents towards various digital payment methods in tier I and tier II cities of India. The results show a significant impact of age, education, occupation, and income of respondents and no significant impact of gender and marital status of the respondents on consumers’ usage. The outcomes of the current work revealed useful insights into consumer’s usage and satisfaction with four prevailing digital payment methods vis-à-vis demographic factors. This study is significant as it empirically examines the impact of demographic factors on the CU of digital payment systems during the post-demonetization period in India.

Healthcare Providers’ Vaccine Perceptions, Hesitancy, and Recommendation to Patients: A Systematic Review

Despite vaccines’ effectiveness in reducing the rate of preventable diseases, vaccine hesitancy has threatened public health and economies worldwide. Healthcare providers’ (HCP) communications and behavior strongly influence patient receptivity and uptake. The goal of this review was to examine HCP vaccine perceptions, knowledge, and reservations and how these attitudes affect their recommendations and vaccination practices. Primary research studies published by 16 September 2020 were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. A 14-item scale was developed for survey study and risk of bias appraisal (SSRBA). In total, 96 papers from 34 countries were included, covering 17 vaccines (HPV and influenza vaccines the most studied). Recommendation was positively associated with provider knowledge and experience, beliefs about disease risk, and perceptions of vaccine safety, necessity, and efficacy. HCP vaccination attitudes and practices varied across specialties, vaccines, and countries; demographic impact was inconclusive. Barriers included anticipation of patient/parental concerns or refusal, lacking clear guidelines, time constraints, and cost. For HPV, vaccines were more often recommended to older, female adolescents and by physicians who discussed sexual health. HCPs are vital advocates for patients and the public, but studies indicated a prevalence of provider hesitancy pertaining to inadequate knowledge, low vaccine confidence, and suboptimal uptake themselves. Improving HCP knowledge and assuring their access to information they deem trustworthy are essential to supporting HCPs‘ role as “trusted messengers” to promote vaccine acceptance.

Economic, Social and Demographic Impact of Burmese Invasion of Manipur

Adversarial relationship best describes the history between the Kingdom of Manipur and Burma. As expected between neighbours, there had been frequent wars, alliance formation through intermarriages, trade ties, and cultural exchanges. The watershed in the bilateral relationships was the Burmese occupation during 1819-1826; a period described as the ‘Seven Years Devastation’. It was the last and the most destructive in the series of invasions that befalls the Kingdom of Manipur. Considered the darkest phase, the seven years left an indelible mark in the mindset of the Manipuris. The trail of destruction and devastation that the invading Burmese armies left in the psyche of the Manipuris are still retold in the popular folklore, ballads, and enacted in plays. It had left a penetrating impact on the social, economic, demographic, cultural, and even foreign relations of Manipur. Submitted: 28 May 2020; Revised: 02 December, 2020; Accepted: 26 February 2021

How host phenology impacts multi-season epidemic cycles

Parasite-host interactions can result in periodic population dynamics when parasites over-exploit host populations. The timing of host seasonal activity, or host phenology, determines the frequency and demographic impact of parasite-host interactions which may govern if the parasite can sufficiently over-exploit their hosts to drive population cycles. We describe a mathematical model of a monocyclic, obligate-killer parasite system with seasonal host activity to investigate the consequences of host phenology on host-parasite dynamics. The results suggest that parasites can reach the densities necessary to destabilize host dynamics and drive cycling in only some phenological scenarios, such as environments with short seasons and synchronous host emergence. Further, only parasite lineages that are sufficiently adapted to phenological scenarios with short seasons and synchronous host emergence can achieve the densities necessary to over-exploit hosts and produce population cycles. Host-parasite cycles can also generate an eco-evolutionary feedback that slows parasite adaptation to the phenological environment as rare advantageous phenotypes are driven to extinction when introduced in phases of the cycle where host populations are small and parasite populations are large. The results demonstrate that seasonal environments can drive population cycling in a restricted set of phenological patterns and provides further evidence that the rate of adaptive evolution depends on underlying ecological dynamics.

Excess deaths reveal the true spatial, temporal, and demographic impact of COVID-19 on mortality in Ecuador

Background: In early 2020, Ecuador reported one of the highest surges of per capita deaths across the globe. Methods: We collected a comprehensive dataset containing individual death records between 2015 and 2020 from the Ecuadorian National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government. We computed the number of excess deaths across time, geographical locations and demographic groups using Poisson regression methods. Results: Between January 1st and September 23rd, 2020, the number of excess deaths in Ecuador is 36,402 (95% CI: 35,762-36,827) or 208 per 105 population, which is 171% of the expected deaths in that period in a typical year. Only 20% of the excess deaths are attributable to confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Strikingly, in provinces that were most affected by COVID-19, such as Guayas and Santa Elena, the all-cause deaths are more than double the expected number of deaths that would have occurred in a normal year. The extent of excess deaths in men is higher than in women, and the number of excess deaths increases with age. Indigenous populations had the highest level of excess deaths among all ethnic groups. Conclusions: Overall, the exceptionally high level of excess deaths in Ecuador highlights the enormous burden and heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 on mortality especially in older age groups and indigenous populations in Ecuador that was not fully revealed by COVID-19 death counts. Together with the limited testing in Ecuador, our results suggest that the majority of the excess deaths were likely to be undocumented COVID-19 deaths.

SPATIAL RESOURCE OF THE TERRITORY OF THE CITY OF CHERNIVTSI: CHRONOLOGICAL AND CHORAL ANALYSIS

The purpose of the research is to analyze the spatial resource of the territory of the suburbanization zone of the city of Chernivtsi. In the article, the dynamics of changes in the population of the urban residents of Chernivtsi region was analyzed. The indicator of the voltage of the demographic impact field was calculated and was found that as a result of active urbanization zone was formed, for each settlement of which there is a large, medium or low demographic voltage. The power of influence depends primarily on the population in the city because the larger is the number of residents, the greater will be the zone of its influence, which is considered as a vector, directed from the center of the city. Outside the designated suburbanization zone the voltage of demographic influence does not disappear, although with the decreasing of the distance from the city of Chernivtsi to an interval of approximately 50-55 km it is heading to zero. The cartographic model of the field of the demographic voltage of the city of Chernivtsi has been developed, where the boundaries of the suburbanization zone are clearly distinguished. Since the 90s the suburban zone of the city of Chernivtsi has been characterized by active changes, and today it is heterogeneous with uneven development. The main trends of modern changes in the suburban zone of the city of Chernivtsi, factors and relations with the regional center were also revealed. The boundaries of formation of the Chernivtsi Amalgamated territorial community (hromada) on the basis of a pronounced mutual influence “city-village”, “village-city” have been confirmed. The historical change of compactness of the city of Chernivtsi for the period 1861- 2020 years was traced, where the analysis of calculated indices of the territory of Chernivtsi indicates the maximum compactness of the territory of Chernivtsi in 1861. With the further development of the city, the area of the territory increased and the shape of it gradually loses compactness. The rationality of the use of urban space is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of the urban settlement because the time spent on moving the passenger and cargo flows is minimized, and the connections become closer and more intensive.