Nationwide COVID-19-EII Study: Incidence, Environmental Risk Factors and Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and COVID-19 of the ENEIDA Registry

We aim to describe the incidence and source of contagion of COVID-19 in patients with IBD, as well as the risk factors for a severe course and long-term sequelae. This is a prospective observational study of IBD and COVID-19 included in the ENEIDA registry (53,682 from 73 centres) between March–July 2020 followed-up for 12 months. Results were compared with data of the general population (National Centre of Epidemiology and Catalonia). A total of 482 patients with COVID-19 were identified. Twenty-eight percent were infected in the work environment, and 48% were infected by intrafamilial transmission, despite having good adherence to lockdown. Thirty-five percent required hospitalization, 7.9% had severe COVID-19 and 3.7% died. Similar data were reported in the general population (hospitalisation 19.5%, ICU 2.1% and mortality 4.6%). Factors related to death and severe COVID-19 were being aged ≥ 60 years (OR 7.1, 95% CI: 1.8–27 and 4.5, 95% CI: 1.3–15.9), while having ≥2 comorbidities increased mortality (OR 3.9, 95% CI: 1.3–11.6). None of the drugs for IBD were related to severe COVID-19. Immunosuppression was definitively stopped in 1% of patients at 12 months. The prognosis of COVID-19 in IBD, even in immunosuppressed patients, is similar to that in the general population. Thus, there is no need for more strict protection measures in IBD.

ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION TRENDS INJURIES IN RUSSIA IN 2000-2020

The analysis of trends in industrial injuries indicators for 2000-2020 has been carried out. in Russia and revealed their exponential decline. The adequacy of the obtained models 98-99% allows them to be used for forecasting. It was found that with an increase in funding for labor protection measures more than 14 thousand rubles / person. there is no significant decrease in the values of indicators

Design Strategy of Emergency Pools at Source Water Protection Areas

The pollution problem arising from the flushing of initial rainwater and wastewater from accidents while transporting dangerous goods to source water protection areas needs to be solved as soon as possible. Therefore, the design of corresponding environmental protection measures should be considered in the engineering design stage. It is necessary to analyze the specific work in combination with engineering examples. Under this background, this paper first briefly expounds the precautions in accident risk analysis and the design of tank capacity and tank body. Finally, by analyzing actual cases, this paper systematically studies the design strategy of emergency pool in source water protection area, hoping to provide new development ideas for the upgrading of relevant work.

Cardiopulmonary imaging utilization and findings among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Latin America (From RIMAC: Registry IMAging Cardiopulmonary among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in LATAM)

Objectives To describe the use and findings of cardiopulmonary imaging - chest X-ray (cX-ray), echocardiography (cEcho), chest CT (cCT), lung ultrasound (LUS)) and/or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) - in COVID-19-associated hospitalizations in Latin America (LATAM) Background The SARS-Cov-2 is one of the largest and most active threats to healthcare in living memory. There is an information gap on imaging services resources (ISR) used and their findings during the pandemic in LATAM. Methods This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study of COVID-19 inpatients conducted from March to December 2020 from 12 high-complexity centers in nine LATAM countries. Adults (> 18 yrs) with at least one imaging modality performed, followed from admission until discharge and/or in-hospital death, were included. Results We studied 1435 hospitalized patients (64% males) with a median age of 58 years classified into three regions: 262 from Mexico (Mx), 428 from Central America and Caribbean (CAC), and 745 from South America (SAm). More frequent comorbidities were overweight/obesity (61%), hypertension (45%), and diabetes (27%). During hospitalization, 58% were admitted to ICU. The in-hospital mortality was 28% (95%CI 25-30) highest in Mx (37%). The most frequent cardiopulmonary imaging performed were cCT (61%)-more frequent in Mx and SAm-, and cX-ray (46%) -significantly used in CAC-. The cEcho was carried out in 18%, similarly among regions, and LUS in 7%, more frequently in Mx. The cMRI was performed in only one patient in the cohort. Abnormal findings on the cX-ray were related to peripheral (63%) or basal infiltrates (52%), and in cCT with ground glass infiltrates (89%). Both were more commonly in Mx. In LUS, interstitial syndrome (56%) was the most related abnormal finding, predominantly in Mx and CAC. Conclusions The use and findings of cardiopulmonary imaging in LATAM varied between regions and may have been influenced by clinical needs, the personnel protection measures and/or hospitalization location.

Combating the Current Pandemic and Preparing for the Next: Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic From the Perspective of Deployed Special Operations Forces

ABSTRACT The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to be a threat to global health, including the health of deployed armed forces. Servicemembers had to adjust to the “new normal” while maintaining the interests of the nation’s security as well as that of our host nation partners. This commentary examines how Special Operations Forces operating within four different regions worldwide leveraged the challenges presented by the onset of this pandemic in maintaining stability, sustaining a ready force, and operating forward deployed. Deployed forces face constant difficulties with logistical support, varied medical resources access and a medical system predominantly focused on trauma care. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic there was little guidance specific to these circumstances which required an improvised adaptation of the recommendations set by national and Department of Defense medical authorities. Plans were constantly revised to match the ever changing medical and operational environment. Strategies such as the “Bubble Philosophy” and tiered force protection measures helped our units to maintain a rigorous training cycle. New methods of communication and training with our host nation partners such as the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) platforms to survey host nation training became standard. Through these measures all of our forces were able to maintain operational capacity, protect the force, and maintain rapport with the host nations. We hope these experiences will provide a rough framework for future forces faced with a similar struggle. We also want to stress that challenges vary depending on the area of operations and the pathogen responsible for the pandemic. Any feedback and collaboration that may come from this work is appreciated and encouraged.

Research on Conducted Disturbance to Secondary Cable Caused by Disconnector Switching Operation

The disconnector switching operation in GIS not only generates very fast transient overvoltage (VFTO) in primary equipment, but also couples to the secondary system, which affects normal operation of the secondary equipment. In this study, aiming at the conducted disturbance caused by the disconnector switching operation of the 1,000-kV UHV GIS test circuit on the secondary cable, a broadband equivalent circuit model of the potential transformer and the grounding grid is proposed based on the vector fitting method and the impedance synthesis method, and the accuracy of the model is tested. On the basis of this model, the conducted disturbance voltage of the secondary cable core is obtained by combining the measured typical disturbance source waveform. The research results of the influencing factors of conducted disturbance show that the amplitude of the disturbance voltage generated by the capacitive conduction is higher than that generated by the resistive conduction, but the main frequency of the resistive conducted disturbance voltage is higher. The amplitude of the conducted disturbance voltage will decrease with the increase of the length of the cable and the length of the grounding wire. The single-ended grounding of the secondary cable shield at the GIS side will cause serious disturbance voltage. The research results of this study will be beneficial to the protection of secondary cable electromagnetic disturbance in the intelligent substation and have reference significance for the implementation of secondary equipment protection measures in the intelligent substation.

Information Sharing and Privacy Protection of Electronic Nursing Record Management System

The traditional centralized storage of traditional electronic medical records (EMRs) faces problems like data leakage, data loss, and EMR misplacement. The current protection measures for patients’ privacy in EMRs cannot withstand the fast-developing password cracking technologies and frequency cyberattacks. This paper intends to innovate the information sharing and privacy protection of electronic nursing records (ENRs) management system. Specifically, the signature interception technology was introduced to EMRs, the different phases of certificateless signature interception scheme were depicted, and the validation procedures of the scheme were designed. Then, the six phases of ENR information sharing protocol based on alliance blockchain were described in detail. Finally, an end-to-end memory neural network was constructed for ENR classification. The proposed management scheme was proved effective through experiments.

Daily Variation in Sampled Densities of Ixodes scapularis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) Nymphs at a Single Site—Implications for Assessing Acarological Risk

The public health challenge posed by tick-borne disease (TBD) has increased efforts to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of ticks and associated pathogens to better focus tick control strategies and personal protection measures. We describe variability in nymphal Ixodes scapularis Say and Amblyomma americanum (L.) density derived from daily drag sampling at a single location in New Jersey over 4 yr and explore how observed differences in daily collections might affect the estimation of acarological risk. We found significant variability in the density of host-seeking nymphs that could suggest substantially different rates of human-tick encounters depending on sampling date, habitat, and ambient weather conditions. The spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of 2 sympatric tick species with different host preferences and questing strategies, suggests that to produce results that are comparable among sites across the area sampled, surveillance efforts may be limited to shorter collection seasons, fewer sites or less sampling effort (fewer plots or fewer visits) per site, and a geographic scope that minimizes the potential temporal and spatial biases indicated here. Our results illustrate that evaluation of models of tick distribution or relative acarological risk based on surveillance data requires a full description of the diversity of habitats sampled and the conditions under which sampling is performed. The array of factors that affect tick host-seeking and that could bias interpretation of sampling results emphasizes the need to standardize sampling protocols and for more caution when interpreting tick sampling data collected over large temporal and spatial scales.

State Support of Plant Protection (by the Example of Novosibirsk Region)

Modern crop production in the conditions of total reduction of tilled area is one of the priorities in effective farming. The adaptive intensification of crop production, which provides sustainable growth of yield, resource conservation and ecological safety, requires increase of financing and involvement of plant protection measures in the mechanism of state support, the use of genetic selection potential of plants, the use of agrotechnical measures, technical and technological upgrade, for the purpose of adjustment of arable crops growth conditions, improvement of grain quality, as well as soil conservation and enrichment. Scientifically proven measures regarding plant protection against hazardous organisms play a special role in the mechanism of state support and stimulation of agricultural goods producers. This approach will make it possible to abandon abusive application of chemical agents and replace them with biological ones against the same variety of pathogens; it will facilitate increase in arable crops yield, improve of quality of goods produced, cost saving and growth of net profit, in comparison with traditional technologies, as well as mitigate risks related to the influence of chemical agents on the environment. It will increase the field competitiveness both at internal and external market. The offered measures were developed with provision for the WTO requirements which make it bin­ding to implement the methods of state support without distorting influence of activities of companies, i.e. implement the support within the «green box». The «green box» includes the costs of plant protection measures and productive infrastructure formation.