Changes in Routine Pediatric Practice in Light of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus or coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)1 in the city of Wuhan, China, in December 2019 has rapidly emerged into a pandemic affecting national communities throughout the world.2 As of May 17, 2020, more than 4.5 million people have been infected globally at a pace of 100 000/d, and 307 395 have died.3 We will briefly discuss the effects of COVID-19 on routine pediatric practice that have surfaced during the months after the onset of the pandemic and the implications for children’s health. Our aim is to raise awareness about the likely need to remodel routine pediatric practice, both in hospital and ambulatory services, in light of COVID-19, and in the event of future similar infectious emergencies

Quantifying the Population-level Effect of the COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Campaign in Israel: a Modeling Study

BackgroundEstimating real-world vaccine effectiveness is challenging since a variety of population factors can impact vaccine effectiveness.We aimed to assess the population-level reduction in cumulative SARS-CoV-2 cases, hospitalizations and mortality due to the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Israel during January-February, 2021.MethodsAn SIR model and a Dynamic Survival Analysis (DSA) statistical approach was used. Daily counts of tested positive and of vaccine doses administered obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Health, were used to calibrate the model. The model was parameterized using values derived from a previous phase of the pandemic during which similar lockdown and other preventive measures were implemented in order to take into account the effect of these preventing measures on COVID-19 spread.ResultsOur model predicts for the total population a reduction of 648,585 SARS-CoV-2 cases (75% confidence interval [CI]: 25,877–1,396,963) during the first 2 months of the vaccination campaign. The number of averted hospitalizations for moderate – severe conditions were 16,101 (75 % CI: 2,010–33,035) and reduction of death was estimated as 5,123 (CI: 388–10,815) fatalities.Among children aged 0-19 years, we estimated a reduction of 163,436 (CI: 0–433,233) SARS-CoV-2 cases which we consider as an indirect effect of the vaccine.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the rapid vaccination campaign prevented hundreds of thousands of new cases as well as thousands of hospitalizations and fatalities and has probably averted a major health care crisis

Safe food for infants: the importance of pursuing integrated approaches to monitor and reduce the risks of biological, chemical, and physical hazards in infant food during the key developmental years

Owing to increasing populations and global threats, the integrity and safety of global food chains are at risk. In many countries, simply getting enough to eat can be an issue, with poor quality food often contaminated with hazardous agents, whereas in developed countries the pressure to deliver cheap, affordable food may affect quality and safety. The purpose of this Special issue on Safe food for infants is to emphasize the importance of pursuing integrated approaches to monitor and reduce the risks of biological, chemical, and physical hazards in infant food. A careful integrated approach is proposed to be instrumental in order to minimize the hazards to infant health during the key developmental years and protect children from penalizing nutritional disorders and gastrointestinal diseases

Effects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Family Functioning

More than a year and a half after the first clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China,1 , 2 the magnitude of the pandemic across the globe and its related clinical and social effects3 remain unclear.4 The pandemic has affected lives and sparked concerns about everything from health to job security. In high–Gross Domestic Product (GDP) countries, despite trillions in coronavirus aid released by governments, many families still struggle to pay for basic necessities like food and rent, and these difficulties worsened during the pandemic.5 , 6 The general social uncertainty caused by the pandemic seems to have also affected family resilience, weakening the ability of individuals to confront challenges, survive difficulties, and thrive in adversities as a group.7 , 8 To reduce community spread of the virus, many countries adopted unprecedented confining measures, including the restriction of populations in their homes and reduction of interpersonal contacts. Confinement, quarantine measures for suspected COVID-19 cases, and social distancing were prolonged, and their effectiveness was debated at social, scientific, and political levels.9 However, although their prevention value in limiting viral spread is generally recognized,6 it is also widely accepted that social isolation measures have upended family lives.4 In particular, they have affected family functioning and parenting, which are significantly associated with the physical and psychosocial functioning of children and adolescents.10 This commentary, authored by the Working Group on Social Pediatrics of the European Paediatric Association/Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations, briefly discusses the effects of the confinement measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic on family functioning. Our aim is to raise the awareness of pediatricians, social work professionals, and policy makers, as knowledge of the effects of social restrictions on family functioning may contribute to the efforts of national health systems to be effectively prepared to handle the social effects of future public health crises. Adopting a more mindful and coordinated approach may help overcome divergences across countries, particularly in terms of complex sociopolitical realities

Совместная работа с Европейской педиатрической ассоциацией/ Союзом национальных европейских педиатрических обществ в рамках программы «Наведение мостов в Европе»: 8-й Europaediatrics, Бухарест, Румыния, 7–10 июня 2017 г.

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ARIA digital anamorphosis : Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed.Peer reviewe

Impact Metrics

Virtually every evaluative task in the academy involves some sort of metric (Elkana et al. 1978; Espeland & Sauder 2016; Gingras 2016; Hix 2004; Jensenius et al. 2018; Muller 2018; Osterloh and Frey 2015; Todeschini & Baccini 2016; Van Noorden 2010; Wilsdon et al. 2015). One can decry this development, and inveigh against its abuses and its over-use (as many of the foregoing studies do). Yet, without metrics, we would be at pains to render judgments about scholars, published papers, applications (for grants, fellowships, and conferences), journals, academic presses, departments, universities, or subfields. Of course, we also undertake to judge these issues ourselves through a deliberative process that involves reading the work under evaluation. This is the traditional approach of peer review. No one would advocate a system of evaluation that is entirely metric-driven. Even so, reading is time-consuming and inherently subjective; it is, after all, the opinion of one reader (or several readers, if there is a panel of reviewers). It is also impossible to systematically compare these judgments. To be sure, one might also read, and assess, the work of other scholars, but this does not provide a systematic basis for comparison – unless, that is, a standard metric(s) of comparison is employed. Finally, judging scholars through peer review becomes logistically intractable when the task shifts from a single scholar to a large group of scholars or a large body of work, e.g., a journal, a department, a university, a subfield, or a discipline. It is impossible to read, and assess, a library of work

Making Research Data Accessible

This chapter argues that these benefits will accrue more quickly, and will be more significant and more enduring, if researchers make their data “meaningfully accessible.” Data are meaningfully accessible when they can be interpreted and analyzed by scholars far beyond those who generated them. Making data meaningfully accessible requires that scholars take the appropriate steps to prepare their data for sharing, and avail themselves of the increasingly sophisticated infrastructure for publishing and preserving research data. The better other researchers can understand shared data and the more researchers who can access them, the more those data will be re-used for secondary analysis, producing knowledge. Likewise, the richer an understanding an instructor and her students can gain of the shared data being used to teach and learn a particular research method, the more useful those data are for that pedagogical purpose. And the more a scholar who is evaluating the work of another can learn about the evidence that underpins its claims and conclusions, the better their ability to identify problems and biases in data generation and analysis, and the better informed and thus stronger an endorsement of the work they can offer

ARIA digital anamorphosis: Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed

The Importance of Expert Opinion-Based Data: Lessons from the European Paediatric Association/Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations (EPA/UNEPSA) Research on European Child Healthcare Services.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has gained great importance in child healthcare.Yet, the practical process of clinical decision-making is far more complex and ranges from highly sophisticated clinical trials to personal experience of a pediatrician on previously treated individual patients. Furthermore, the necessary participation of young patients and their families in decision-making is based on their feelings, wishes, medical knowledge, and health beliefs. Decisionmaking processes in child healthcare service systems are even more complex because of a lack of evidence-based data. Longterm observational studies on the benefit and risk of new models of child healthcare are scarce, and there is no guarantee that a successful model in 1 country will work in different countries with different health system characteristics. Last but not least, the group of opinion makers involves—in addition to pediatricians—other professionals, who have different interests and biases. Pediatric expert advice appears to have become an old style of authority in decision-making. Indeed, expert opinion can be wrong, and there are occasions when experts do not agree with each other. The concept of EBM also has its limits with regard to the process of medical decision-making, as it tends to place medicine in the field of the exact sciences such as mathematics. However, unlike exact sciences, child healthcare is less characterized by accurate quantitative expression, predictions, and hypotheses that can be tested by rigorous methods involving precise measurements. We will stress the importance of the role of expert opinion in the planning of child healthcare services in an era when EBM is mainly sought. Plato wrote that “opinion is something intermediary between knowledge and ignorance.” Authors conclude that pediatric expert opinions should be used complementary to evidencebased pediatrics. Opinions may change the pediatric world if based on solid data, practical experience, theoretical knowledge, and creative visions. Our experience of gathering information and expert opinions from our European Paediatric Association/Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations (EPA/UNEPSA) members for improving child healthcare in Europe is summarized in this article