Blockchain and disruptive technologies in social sciences: Interdisciplinary perspectives

This special issue contains selected papers that cover a broad range of current trends and interdisciplinary approaches in the social research on Blockchain and disruptive technologies

Editorial: Homo Virtualis Inaugural Issue

Homo Virtualis is the conception of a humanity of sciences, cultures and socialities powered by the communicative technological innovations. Cyborgs, robots, avatars and virtual communities imagine, construct and create their lives within new technosocial or sociotechnical environments. [...

Psychosociology of Addiction and Rehabilitation: Construction of a Psychometric Instrument for screening problem and pathological gambling

Gambling and gambling disorders have received solicitous attention by clinicians and researchers during the past three decades. The majority of existing psychometric instruments relevant to problem gambling are based on the clinical evaluation of symptomatology. The aim of this study was the development and evaluation of a self report instrument that comprehends elements based on three main factors: a. psychological, b. biological, c. sociological. In the first phase of this research, structured and semi-structured interview was conducted in 16 individuals. In the second phase, a pilot inventory that consisted of 227 items, was administered in 91 individuals of general population. In the last phase of this study participated 200 individuals from the community and completed the short form of the inventory that included 148 items. Factor analysis was conducted in all items and 115 statistically significant questions were derived which comprise the final form. The present instrument, which has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, provides a first step in self evaluation of problem and pathological gambling in Greece and aims at effective counseling in order to reduce or even prevent addictive gambling behaviors

Transient injection site reaction to alirocumab during immune system activation: a case series.

Background Injection site reactions (ISRs) are known side effects of the proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor alirocumab. Transient ISR to alirocumab after a long phase of good tolerability have not been reported previously. Case summary A 55-year-old woman (Patient 1) and a 77-year-old man (Patient 2) were treated with alirocumab for the management of dyslipidaemia. Both patients tolerated the treatment without side effects for 7 and 2 months, respectively. After an upper respiratory tract infection in Patient 1 and a first COVID-19 vaccination in Patient 2, both patients suddenly developed ISR with erythema, calor, and itching upon 2 (Patient 1) and 1 (Patient 2) subsequent injection(s), respectively. Symptoms resolved with local steroids, oral antihistamines, and cooling. After termination of the presumed immune system activated state, alirocumab was well tolerated again in both patients without recurrence of any ISR upon repeated applications. Discussion These are the first cases to report transient ISR to a PCSK9 inhibitor, possibly triggered by activation of the immune system, after prolonged good tolerability. Based on the transient and benign nature of the reaction, such patients should be encouraged to continue supervised treatment, as tolerability may return after resolution of the pro-inflammatory state

Experiential Learning in Action: A Collaborative Inquiry

In this paper, we describe a case study of an undergraduate course on research methodology, in which lecture was reduced to a minimum and replaced with experiential learning activities. The course design was project-based and spiraled through four phases: a mini-lecture on a given research method, an “early practice” activity, and “reflection on practice” tutor-guided small group collaborations which led to deeper understanding of the given research method. This particular course design constitutes a paradigm shift in comparison to the predominant in Greek higher education didactic pedagogical model. How this paradigm shift was received and experienced by the participating students? In order to get rich insights into the lived experiences of the participants (N=15), we adopted a blended qualitative research approach: thematic analysis combined with students’ critical reflections on their experience, aiming to produce a thick description of our intervention. The course design and implementation positioned students and their tutors as knowledgeable actors able to contribute research insights through their transactions

TrickVOS: A Bag of Tricks for Video Object Segmentation

Space-time memory (STM) network methods have been dominant in semi-supervised video object segmentation (SVOS) due to their remarkable performance. In this work, we identify three key aspects where we can improve such methods; i) supervisory signal, ii) pretraining and iii) spatial awareness. We then propose TrickVOS; a generic, method-agnostic bag of tricks addressing each aspect with i) a structure-aware hybrid loss, ii) a simple decoder pretraining regime and iii) a cheap tracker that imposes spatial constraints in model predictions. Finally, we propose a lightweight network and show that when trained with TrickVOS, it achieves competitive results to state-of-the-art methods on DAVIS and YouTube benchmarks, while being one of the first STM-based SVOS methods that can run in real-time on a mobile device.Comment: Accepted to ICIP 202

Effects of SARS-COV-2 infection on outcomes in patients hospitalized for acute cardiac conditions. A prospective, multicenter cohort study (Swiss Cardiovascular SARS-CoV-2 Consortium)

BACKGROUND Although the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects the respiratory system, the disease entity has been associated with cardiovascular complications. This study sought to assess the effect of concomitant SARS-COV-2 infection on clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized primarily for acute cardiac conditions on cardiology wards in Switzerland. METHODS In this prospective, observational study conducted in 5 Swiss cardiology centers during the COVID-19 pandemic, patients hospitalized due to acute cardiac conditions underwent a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test at the time of admission and were categorized as SARS-COV-2 positive (cases) or negative (controls). Patients hospitalized on cardiology wards underwent treatment for the principal acute cardiac condition according to local practice. Clinical outcomes were recorded in-hospital, at 30 days, and after 1 year and compared between cases and controls. To adjust for imbalanced baseline characteristics, a subgroup of patients derived by propensity matching was analyzed. RESULTS Between March 2020 and February 2022, 538 patients were enrolled including 122 cases and 416 controls. Mean age was 68.0 ± 14.7 years, and 75% were men. Compared with controls, SARS-COV-2-positive patients more commonly presented with acute heart failure (35% vs. 17%) or major arrhythmia (31% vs. 9%), but less commonly with acute coronary syndrome (26% vs. 53%) or severe aortic stenosis (4% vs. 18%). Mortality was significantly higher in cases vs. controls in-hospital (16% vs. 1%), at 30 days (19.0% vs. 2.2%), and at 1 year (28.7% vs. 7.6%: p < 0.001 for all); this was driven primarily (up to 30 days) and exclusively (at one-year follow-up) by higher non-cardiovascular mortality, and was accompanied by a greater incidence of worsening renal function in cases vs. controls. These findings were maintained in a propensity-matched subgroup of 186 patients (93 cases and 93 controls) with balanced clinical presentation and baseline characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In this observational study of patients hospitalized for acute cardiac conditions, SARS-COV-2 infection at index hospitalization was associated with markedly higher all-cause and non-cardiovascular mortality throughout one-year follow-up. These findings highlight the need for effective, multifaceted management of both cardiac and non-cardiac morbidities and prolonged surveillance in patients with acute cardiac conditions complicated by SARS-COV-2 infection

Effects of SARS-COV-2 infection on outcomes in patients hospitalized for acute cardiac conditions. A prospective, multicenter cohort study (Swiss Cardiovascular SARS-CoV-2 Consortium).

BACKGROUND Although the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects the respiratory system, the disease entity has been associated with cardiovascular complications. This study sought to assess the effect of concomitant SARS-COV-2 infection on clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized primarily for acute cardiac conditions on cardiology wards in Switzerland. METHODS In this prospective, observational study conducted in 5 Swiss cardiology centers during the COVID-19 pandemic, patients hospitalized due to acute cardiac conditions underwent a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test at the time of admission and were categorized as SARS-COV-2 positive (cases) or negative (controls). Patients hospitalized on cardiology wards underwent treatment for the principal acute cardiac condition according to local practice. Clinical outcomes were recorded in-hospital, at 30 days, and after 1 year and compared between cases and controls. To adjust for imbalanced baseline characteristics, a subgroup of patients derived by propensity matching was analyzed. RESULTS Between March 2020 and February 2022, 538 patients were enrolled including 122 cases and 416 controls. Mean age was 68.0 ± 14.7 years, and 75% were men. Compared with controls, SARS-COV-2-positive patients more commonly presented with acute heart failure (35% vs. 17%) or major arrhythmia (31% vs. 9%), but less commonly with acute coronary syndrome (26% vs. 53%) or severe aortic stenosis (4% vs. 18%). Mortality was significantly higher in cases vs. controls in-hospital (16% vs. 1%), at 30 days (19.0% vs. 2.2%), and at 1 year (28.7% vs. 7.6%: p < 0.001 for all); this was driven primarily (up to 30 days) and exclusively (at one-year follow-up) by higher non-cardiovascular mortality, and was accompanied by a greater incidence of worsening renal function in cases vs. controls. These findings were maintained in a propensity-matched subgroup of 186 patients (93 cases and 93 controls) with balanced clinical presentation and baseline characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In this observational study of patients hospitalized for acute cardiac conditions, SARS-COV-2 infection at index hospitalization was associated with markedly higher all-cause and non-cardiovascular mortality throughout one-year follow-up. These findings highlight the need for effective, multifaceted management of both cardiac and non-cardiac morbidities and prolonged surveillance in patients with acute cardiac conditions complicated by SARS-COV-2 infection