How will the new land sale rule affect developers' bidding strategy? A game theoretic approach

Leung, C (2018) How will the new land sale rule affect developers' bidding strategy? A game theoretic approach, Surveying & Built Environment,27(1), 58-65

Guillain-Barre syndrome should be monitored upon mass vaccination against SARS-CoV-2

In response to the recent pandemic, vaccines have been developed for large-scale immunization. Despite safety and efficacy verified by health authorities, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) remains a risk of unexpected adverse reactions. Since COVID-19-related GBS cases have largely been reported in Europe, vaccines involving viral genetic materials can potentially trigger GBS, as demonstrated in clinical trials in the Americas. Therefore, medical professionals should be aware of GBS as a potential adverse reaction in SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Consultation with a neurologist may be needed. Nevertheless, this is not to say that the use of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 should be suspended and that the association between GBS and the vaccine is confirmed or excluded. The benefits of vaccine still outweigh potential adverse effects

hospital_finance_2008.csv

List of hospitals 2008</p

How outbreaks in different settings contribute to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the era of “living with COVID”: The case of Japan

COVID-19 continues to impact different parts of the world. In countries where the “living with COVID” strategy is adopted and endemic is likely to be declared, radical public health measures, such as lockdowns, have been and will be removed. However, the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 persists and waves continue to emerge, putting pressures on the healthcare system. Because the majority of the population have been immunised, the number of the vaccinated and recovered may not be informative measures to study transmission dynamics

Post-pandemic immunity debt of influenza in US and England: an interrupted time series study

Objectives: The concept of "immunity debt" has gained attention in the public sphere and some have argued that the recent out-of-season resurgence of respiratory syncytial virus demonstrates the presence of immunity debt. This study investigates the existence of immunity debt in the context of influenza. Study design: Interrupted time series analysis Methods: The positivity rate of influenza in the US and England were gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UK Health Security Agency. A time series model with an autoregressive approach was used to model the dynamics of positivity rate. Binary indicator variables were included in the model to account for the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions and immunity debt. Results: The impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions and immunity debt on the positivity rate of influenza was found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: This present work provides evidence supporting the existence of immunity debt in influenza in both the US and England in the immediate month following the removal of NPIs such as lockdowns and facemask mandate

Better healthcare can reduce the risk of COVID-19 in-hospital post-partum maternal death: evidence from Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 in post-partum women is commonly overlooked. The present study assessed whether puerperium is an independent risk factor of COVID-19 related in-hospital maternal death and whether fatality is preventable in the Brazilian context. METHODS: We retrospectively studied the clinical data of post-partum/pregnant patients hospitalized with COVID-19 gathered from a national database that registered severe acute respiratory syndromes (SIVEP-Gripe) in Brazil. Logistic regressions were used to examine the associations of in-hospital mortality with obstetric status and with the type of public healthcare provider, adjusting for socio-demographic, epidemiologic, clinical and healthcare-related measures. RESULTS: As of 30 November 2021, 1943 (21%) post-partum and 7446 (79%) pregnant patients of age between 15 and 45 years with COVID-19 that had reached the clinical endpoint (death or discharge) were eligible for inclusion. Case-fatality rates for the two groups were 19.8% and 9.2%, respectively. After the adjustment for covariates, post-partum patients had almost twice the odds of in-hospital mortality compared with pregnant patients. Patients admitted to private (not-for-profit) hospitals, those that had an obstetric centre or those located in metropolitan areas were less likely to succumb to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Those admitted to the Emergency Care Unit had similar mortality risk to those admitted to other public healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that puerperium was associated with an increased odds of COVID-19-related in-hospital mortality. Only part of the risk can be reduced by quality healthcare such as non-profit private hospitals, those that have an obstetric centre or those located in urban areas

Does empathy decline in the clinical phase of medical education? A study of students at Leicester medical school

Objective: To examine whether medical student empathy changes throughout the five years of a UK medical school. Methods: Students completed an online version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE-S) during the 2022–2023 academic year. Comparisons of empathy scores were made using analysis of variance (ANOVA), and independent t-tests. Results: Empathy scores varied across different years of medical school (P ≤ 0.001), with a small drop in empathy between the pre-clinical and clinical phases of medical school (Mean difference = 1.82, P = 0.025). Male students scored lower than female students and there was no statistically significant difference between the mean empathy score and speciality interest. Conclusions: Students' empathy appeared declined slightly as they progressed through medical school. As a crucial component of good clinical care, interventions in medical education to enhance empathy should be prioritised. Innovation: This is the first time following the COVID-19 pandemic that medical student empathy was measured across all five years of a medical school. Unlike many previous related studies, we identified the point at which empathy appears to decline, providing guidance for educators who can target empathy enhancing interventions where they are most needed

Effectiveness of oseltamivir in reducing COVID-19-related in-hospital deaths: A pharmacoepidemiological study.

BACKGROUND: Oseltamivir is a low-cost antiviral agent that could support or complement treatment of COVID-19. This study assessed whether oseltamivir is effective in reducing COVID-19-related mortality. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study evaluated real-world data from a nationwide database of hospitalisation due to severe acute respiratory syndrome in Brazil. Propensity score matching was used to mimic a randomised controlled trial with 'oseltamivir' and 'no antivirals at all' as the intervention and control groups, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 21 480 and 268 486 patients admitted between February 2020 and January 2023 were included in the intervention and control groups, respectively. After matching, the odds ratio (OR) for death was 0.901 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.873-0.930). The OR (95% CI) for death in patients who were admitted to the ICU, and on non-invasive or invasive ventilation was 0.868 (0.821-0.917), 0.935 (0.893-0.980), and 0.883 (0.814-0.958), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the use of oseltamivir was associated with an attributable risk reduction of 2.50% (95% CI 1.77-3.29). Similar results were observed in patients who were admitted to the ICU, and on non-invasive or invasive ventilation. Oseltamivir is a low-cost potential antiviral treatment for COVID-19

Difference in clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 in pediatric patients before and after emergence of P.1.

BACKGROUND: The P.1 variant is a Variant of Concern announced by the WHO. The present work aimed to characterize the clinical features of pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 before and after the emergence of P.1. METHODS: This is a cohort study. Data of symptomatic patients younger than 18 years diagnosed with COVID-19 by PCR tests registered in Painel COVID-19 Amazonas were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 4080 symptomatic pediatric patients were identified in the database between March 2020 and July 2021, of which 1654 were categorized as pre-P.1 and 978 as P.1-dominant cases, based on the prevalence of P.1 of >90% in the North Region, Brazil. Lower case-fatality rate was observed in non-infants infected during the P.1-dominant period (0.9% vs. 2.2%). In general, patients infected during the P.1-dominant period had less fever (70.8% vs. 74.2%) and less lower respiratory tract symptoms (respiratory distress: 11.8% vs. 18.9%, dyspnea: 27.9% vs. 34.5%) yet higher prevalence of neurological symptoms, headache for example (42.8% vs. 5.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of symptoms of COVID-19 can differ across different periods of variant dominance. Lower prevalence of fever during the P.1-dominant period may reduce the effectiveness of symptom-based screening in public premises where laboratory diagnostic tests are not available. IMPACT: The prevalence rate of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection can differ among different variants. The present work documents the difference in the clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 in patients aged below 18 years before and after the emergence of P.1, the first study of its kind. Unlike previous studies that focus solely on hospitalized cases, the present work considers both mild and severe cases. While non-infants had a lower fatality rate, lower prevalence of fever associated with the emergence of P.1 may reduce the effectiveness of symptom-based screening in public premises where laboratory diagnostic tests are not available