Visualizing Omicron: COVID-19 Deaths vs. Cases Over Time

For most of the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily focus has been on the number of cases, and secondarily, deaths. The most recent wave is caused by the omicron variant, first identified at the end of 2021 and the dominant variant through the first part of 2022. South Africa, one of the first countries to experience and report data regarding omicron, reported far fewer deaths, even as the number of reported cases rapidly eclipsed previous peaks. However, as more countries report on omicron, there remains uncertainty as to how it compares to prior waves. To more readily visualize the dynamics of cases and deaths, it is natural to plot deaths per million against cases per million. Unlike the time-series plots of cases or deaths that have become daily features of news outlets during the pandemic, which have time as the x-axis, in a plot of deaths vs. cases, time is implicit, and is indicated in relation to the starting point. Here we present and briefly examine such plots from a number of countries and from the world as a whole, illustrating how they summarize features of the pandemic in ways that are harder to extract from time series. These plots suggest that in most places, the omicron wave is very different from those that came before. Code for generating these plots for any country is provided on GitHub (https://github.com/rarnaout/Covidcycles).

COVID MED - An Early Pandemic Trial of Losartan for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Background ACEi/ARB medications have been hypothesized to have potential benefit in COVID-19. Despite concern for increased ACE-2 expression in some animal models, preclinical and observational-retrospective and uncontrolled trials suggested possible benefit. Two RCTs of the ARB losartan from University of Minnesota showed no benefit yet safety signals for losartan in outpatient and hospitalized COVID-19 patients. COVID MED, started early in the pandemic, also assessed losartan in a RCT in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods COVID MED was quadruple-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter randomized clinical trial (RCT). Hospitalized COVID-19 patients were randomized to receive standard care and hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, losartan, or placebo. Hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms were discontinued after RCTs showed no benefit. We report data from the losartan arm compared to combined (lopinavir-ritonavir and placebo) and prespecified placebo-only controls. The primary endpoint was the NCOSS slope of change. Slow enrollment prompted early stopping. Results Of 432 screened patients, 14 were enrolled (3.5%), 9 received losartan and 5 combined control (lopinavir/ritonavir [N=2], placebo [N=3]); 1 hydroxychloroquine arm patient was excluded. Most baseline parameters were balanced. Treatment with losartan was not associated with a difference in NCOSS slope of change in comparison with combined control (p=0.4) or placebo-only control (p=0.05) (trend favoring placebo). 60-day mortality and overall AE and SAE rates were numerically but not significantly higher with losartan. Conclusions In this small blinded RCT in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, losartan did not improve outcome vs. control comparisons and was associated with adverse safety signals.

Sibling Bullying in Turkish Adolescents: Translation and Cross-Cultural Validation of the Sibling Bullying Questionnaire

The primary aim of this study was to translate the Sibling Bullying Questionnaire (SBQ) into Turkish and validate it. A secondary aim was to estimate the prevalence of sibling bullying in Turkish adolescents. The SBQ was translated by a team of English-Turkish bilinguals. Self-report data were collected from Turkish adolescents (N = 301) aged 10 to 18 years old (mean age = 14.25 years, SD = 2.46). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to confirm the factor structure of the newly translated Turkish SBQ (T-SBQ). Descriptive analyses were then conducted to report the characteristics of the sample and the prevalence of sibling bullying. CFA confirmed the original two-factor structure of the T-SBQ indicating that a first-order correlated two-factor model shows the best fit: x2=160.33 (p < 0.001), df = 61, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.95 and TLI = 0.93. The T-SBQ showed satisfactory levels of internal consistency in victimisation (α = 0.84) and perpetration (α = 0.83) subscales, excellent reliability in the overall test scale (α = 0.90), and a high level of convergent validity when compared with the Revised Sibling Bullying Questionnaire (α = 0.79). In terms of sibling bullying prevalence, approximately half of the adolescents (51%) reported having been involved in some form of sibling bullying in the preceding six months, either as pure-victim (18%), pure-bully (3%) or bully-victim (30%). This result aligns with the findings from other countries such as the United States (41%), Israel (51%), and the United Kingdom (49%). The T-SBQ is valid and reliable in measuring sibling bullying in Turkish adolescents and sibling bullying is prevalent in the lives of Turkish adolescents.

Visualizing Omicron: COVID-19 Deaths vs. Cases Over Time

For most of the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily focus has been on the number of cases, and secondarily, deaths. The most recent wave is caused by the omicron variant, first identified at the end of 2021 and the dominant variant through the first part of 2022. South Africa, one of the first countries to experience and report data regarding omicron, reported far fewer deaths, even as the number of reported cases rapidly eclipsed previous peaks. However, as more countries report on omicron, there remains uncertainty as to how it compares to prior waves. To more readily visualize the dynamics of cases and deaths, it is natural to plot deaths per million against cases per million. Unlike the time-series plots of cases or deaths that have become daily features of news outlets during the pandemic, which have time as the x-axis, in a plot of deaths vs. cases, time is implicit, and is indicated in relation to the starting point. Here we present and briefly examine such plots from a number of countries and from the world as a whole, illustrating how they summarize features of the pandemic in ways that are harder to extract from time series. These plots suggest that in most places, the omicron wave is very different from those that came before. Code for generating these plots for any country is provided on GitHub (https://github.com/rarnaout/Covidcycles).

Role and Involvement of TENM4 and miR-708 in Breast Cancer Development and Therapy

Teneurin 4 (TENM4) is a transmembrane protein that is codified by the ODZ4 gene and is involved in nervous system development, neurite outgrowth, and neuronal differentiation. In line with its involvement in the nervous system, TENM4 has also been implicated in several mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism. TENM4 mutations and rearrangements have recently been identified in a number of tumors. This, combined with impaired expression in tumors, suggests that it may potentially be involved in tumorigenesis. Most of the TENM4 mutations that are observed in tumors occur in breast cancer, in which TENM4 plays a role in cells’ migration and stemness. However, the functional role that TENM4 plays in breast cancer still needs to be better evaluated, and further studies are required to better understand the involvement of TENM4 in breast cancer progression. Herein, we review the currently available data for TENM4′s role in breast cancer and propose its use as both a novel target with which to ameliorate patient prognosis and as a potential biomarker. Moreover, we also report data on the tumorigenic role of miR-708 deregulation and the possible use of this miRNA as a novel therapeutic molecule, as miR-708 is spliced out from TENM4 mRNA.

Exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic environment and generosity

We report data from an online experiment which allows us to study how generosity changed over a 6-day period during the initial explosive growth of the COVID-19 pandemic in Andalusia, Spain, while the country was under a strict lockdown. Participants ( n = 969) could donate a fraction of a €100 prize to an unknown charity. Our data are particularly rich in the age distribution and we complement them with daily public information about COVID-19-related deaths, infections and hospital admissions. We find correlational evidence that donations decreased in the period under study, particularly among older individuals. Our analysis of the mechanisms behind the detected decrease in generosity suggests that expectations about others' behaviour, perceived mortality risk and (alarming) information play a key—but independent—role for behavioural adaptation. These results indicate that social behaviour is quickly adjusted in response to the pandemic environment, possibly reflecting some form of selective prosociality.

The effect of implementing information systems on MS Glow

Ms Glow is a company engaged in the beauty sector. Ms Glow is a local brand that presents a series of skincare, especially for Indonesian women, which was founded in 2013. Technology is growing very fast as is online sales. This Ms Glow Information System was designed to serve as a promotional medium for Ms Glow and to simplify the online buying and selling transaction process. The design of promotional media also considers the factors that can affect the target market and target audience, so that the desires of potential customers can be identified. The website created can display complete and clear information and contain transaction reports, which sometimes errors occur when processing data. Ms Glow's Information System is a website that makes it easy for shop owners and consumers to make sales transactions, purchase goods and report data. Using easy-to-read fonts, attractive photo images, and choosing the right color. This system is created using the PHP programming language with the MySQL database for data storage. The result of this system is that it can process product information, such as: managing user data, category data, goods data, and the process of purchasing goods transactions. Through this website, it is hoped that Ms Glow as previously mentioned can be implemented and improved

On the Ten-Year Success in the Application of Partial Extraction Therapy: A Systematic Review

Hürzeler presented the socket-shield technique (SST) more than 10 years ago. The partial extraction therapy (PET), a collective concept of utilizing the patient’s own tooth root to preserve the periodontium and peri-implant tissue, has been remarkably developed. PET comprises a group of novel techniques for post-extraction implant placement. Several modifications of PET and simultaneous implant placement have been presented since its inception. Since its origin, several alterations have been employed in the methodology of partial extraction of the root and the simultaneous implant placement. A repeatable, predictable protocol is needed to provide tooth replacement in esthetic dentistry. Moreover, a standardized procedure provides a good framework for clinicians to report data relating to the technique with procedural consistency. This review aims to illustrate a reproducible and systematic protocol for the PET techniques with immediate implant placement at the aesthetic zone. The most used technique is the socket-shield technique, which is potentially offers promising results, minimizing the necessity for invasive bone grafts round implants in the aesthetic area, clinical data to support this is very inadequate. The limited research data existing is cooperated by a deficiency of well-designed prospective randomized controlled investigations. The present case studies and techniques are of actual incomplete technical value. Retrospective studies published in limited records but are of inconsistent plan. At this point, it is indistinct whether the socket-shield technique will offer a stable long-time outcome or not

From Wellbeing to Social Media and Back: A Multi-Method Approach to Assessing the Bi-Directional Relationship Between Wellbeing and Social Media Use

Literature concerning the relationship between social media use and wellbeing is inconsistent in its findings, and most research has focused on time spent on social media rather than on what emerging adults do there, with whom and why. Here, we investigated whether momentary social stress affects emerging adults’ social media use, and whether this social media use relates to subsequent changes in wellbeing. We implemented a multi-method paradigm utilising objective and self-report data to investigate how social stress relates to how (much) and why emerging adults use social media. We report on findings based on 114 17–25-year-old emerging adults recruited on university campus. Our findings suggest that social stress does not affect adolescents’ subsequent social media use and that there is no relationship between social media use after stress and changes in momentary wellbeing. Our work illustrates the need for detailed approaches in social media and psychological wellbeing research.

A systematic review of observational methods used to quantify personal protective behaviours among members of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the concordance between observational and self-report measures in infectious disease health protection

Objectives: To assess the quantity and quality of studies using an observational measure of behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to narratively describe the association between self-report and observational data for behaviours relevant to controlling an infectious disease outbreak. Design: Systematic review and narrative synthesis of observational studies. Data sources: We searched Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, Publons, Scopus and the Public Health England behavioural science LitRep database from inception to 17th September 2021 for relevant studies. Study selection: We included studies which collected observational data of at least one of three health protective behaviours (hand hygiene, face covering use and maintaining physical distance from others (social distancing) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies where observational data were compared to self-report data in relation to any infectious disease were also included. Data extraction and synthesis: We evaluated the quality of studies using the NIH quality assessment scale for observational studies, extracted data on sample size, setting and adherence to health protective behaviours, and synthesized results narratively. Results: Of 27,279 published papers on COVID-19 relevant health protective behaviours that included one or more terms relating to hand hygiene, face covering and social distancing, we identified 48 studies that included an objective observational measure. Of these, 35 assessed face covering use, 17 assessed hand hygiene behaviour and seven assessed physical distancing. The general quality of these studies was good. When expanding the search to all infectious diseases, we included 21 studies that compared observational versus self-report data. These almost exclusively studied hand hygiene. The difference in outcomes was striking, with self-report over-estimating observed adherence by up to a factor of five in some settings. In only four papers did self-report match observational data in any domains. Conclusions: Despite their importance in controlling the pandemic, we found remarkably few studies assessing protective behaviours by observation, rather than self-report, though these studies tended to be of reasonably good quality. Observed adherence tends to be substantially lower than estimates obtained via self-report. Accurate assessment of levels of personal protective behaviour, and evaluation of interventions to increase this, would benefit from the use of observational methods.