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This paper analyses Spanish citizens' views of public service expenditure, related to their socio-demographic characteristics, values and political economic conjunctures. The study's contributions are: 1) Bringing the analysis up to the present time, including the COVID and post COVID periods; 2) Analysing the determinants by using a multivariate regression analysis; and 3) Studying the relationship between assessments of public service expenditure and actual spending, identifying significant patterns, especially in education and healthcare. The results obtained are robust, especially for welfare policy assessments. Important sociological changes in the assessment of public policies are identified and additional evidence is provided about the highly important role played by cultural values ("symbolic predispositions") with respect to "self-interest" in explaining the assessment of public spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative demographic trends in Croatia (natural decrease, negative net migration and population aging) are increasingly influencing socio-economic development of the country. Already in early 21st century, the long term decrease of live births and the increase of deaths were recognized as destabilizing factors of population development in Croatia. After the Croatian accession to the EU, the concerns regarding future demographic development of the country raised even more due to intensive emigration to other EU countries, which coincided with the historically low birth rates and high death rates. The focus of this paper is on mortality trends in Croatia in the first two decades of the 21st century. In this period, mortality in Croatia was influenced by different socio-economic, demographic, and epidemiological factors. Given the lack of recent papers dealing with mortality in Croatia, the main aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the changes in selected mortality indicators and contribute to the discussion on recent mortality trends in Croatia. The results of this research indicate that Croatia experienced some positive changes regarding mortality (increase of life expectancy at birth and decrease of infant mortality rates in the first period, in particular), but, some of the trends are not favourable, particularly the changes in the causes of death. Although improvements were observed regarding the share of deaths caused by the diseases of the circulatory system, there was a notable increase in deaths caused by the endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases which can be attributed to the unhealthy lifestyle and various behavioural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to clarify the term CSR. In the aftermath of the events of 2020, the interest in analysing the concept pre- and post-pandemic is crucial. The first mentions of the concept date back to the 19th century. The most important development occurred in the second half of the 20th century. There is no generally accepted definition of CSR. They coincide in the concern for environmental, social and economic areas. And in attending to stakeholders. Companies are pursuing the SDGs and have opted to apply CSR in companies in the wake of the pandemic. Organisations have found their most supportive side in this health crisis situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of 2020, SARS-CoV 2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Corona Virus 2) has been in the focus of scientific circles and beyond. Finding the most efficient therapeutic protocol in prevention and treatment of the new and unknown COVID – 19 (Corona Virus Disease - 2019) disease has been indentified as especially important. SARS-CoV 2 uses various mechanisms to lead patients to malnutrition, which is detected by a higher frequency of admission to hospital treatment, especially on admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Malnutrition has a negative impact on the course and outcome of the disease. In the pandemic, the number of patients on various types of oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation increased, and in correlation with that, there has been a greater need for knowledge and education of staff to use different diagnostic and therapeutic modalities and different approaches in feeding critically ill patients. Nutritional therapy is the basis for maintaining body weight, supporting respiratory function, as well as helping in the overall recovery of patients. Omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins C and D have shown potentially beneficial effects against COVID-19 diseases. The aim of this paper is to consolidate the current knowledge and recommendations in the field of nutritional therapy in patients with COVID - 19 treated in the Intensive Care Unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 containment measures are parts of the key strategies is to reduce human mobility to slow down the spread, thus at a crossroad with transport policy and affecting travel behaviors. In this paper, based on information collected with expert questionnaire and supported by a literature review, we carried out an analysis on how transport policy is affected through various COVID-19 containment measures. Our analysis shows that the COVID-19 measures on public transport are virtually all restrictive, calling for additional behavioral changes, typically wearing face masks and enforced on a precautionary basis, since there seems no epidemiological consensus that public transport is a high-risk superspreading environment at the current status of knowledge. Moreover, from the result of the expert questionnaire, it is clear that a large variety of measures has been enforced, in response to the specific problem of containment, thus demonstrating that there was neither preparedness nor common vision among the public transport operators. On the contrary, for private motorized transport, COVID-19 measures are often oriented on ease of existing restrictions and regulations. This is not in line with the principle of sustainable transport policies to encourage the use of active modes and public transport and to discourage the use of private motorized modes. It shows the vulnerability of current transport policy and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this retrospective unicenter study we aimed to outline the key features of the first 100 cases of COVID-19 hospitalized in our clinic after designation of it as front line unit for hospitalization of these cases. Thus, the average age of cases was 44.7 years (SD: 15.9) and the prevalence of female was 57.4%. By age groups, prevalence of young patients (7.8%) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the prevalence of adult patients (77.2%). The most prevalent occupation (31.7%) was healthcare worker. The most frecvent exposure to source of infection was represented by attending healthcare facilities (44.6%), followed by having contact with COVID-19 confirmed/suspect case (30.7%), and recent international travel (18.8%). Of the 30% of cases in which at least one health precondition was recorded the most prevalent (13.9%) of such condition was chronic cardiovascular disease including high blood presure. In regard with severity, to note that 6 patients died within 14 days of hospital admission, all fatalities have occurred in very old patients and 83.3% of them had chronic kidney disease. In the end, we express the hope that data outlined in this paper will help for better management of COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health organization in early March 2020. The disease typically presents with viral respiratory symptoms that could progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Emerging evidence suggests different possible dermatologic manifestations of COVID-19, including: acral lesions (pernio-like, pseudo-chillblain), vesicular eruptions, macular and papular exanthema, urticaria, livedoid, purpuric and petechial rashes. However, specific skin manifestations of the COVID-19 disease have not yet been clearly established and the relationship between the appearance of skin lesions and SARS-CoV-2 infection is still unclear. These highly variable skin changes could represent a direct consequence of the viral infection, an immunological response to viral nucleotides, adverse reactions to drugs frequently used for the treatment of COVID-19, or other disorders. In a global effort to comprehend the exact cutaneous features of COVID-19, several international dermatological societies have initiated nationwide studies to analyze COVID-19 cutaneous manifestations during this pandemic. This paper represents a literature review of the scientific data available on the clinical characteristics and symptoms of the cutaneous manifestations associated with COVID-19. Such findings are extremely useful in establishing if dermatological manifestations in COVID-19 patients could harbor a diagnostic significance and subsequently be used as prognostic factors for outcomes of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is facing, after a hundred years, a new pandemic – infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Establishing a therapeutic protocol along with paraclinical infection management is the great challenge of the moment for healthcare professionals all around the world. This paper tries to stadialise the diagnosis methods and paraclinical investigations, establishing the time correspondence between this investigations and laboratory also radiological findings. The positive diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is made by using four methods of testing: RT-PCR molecular method, serological testing by chemiluminescence and ELISA, rapid tests for the determination of IgM and IgG antibodies. Laboratory findings are not disease-specific but studies have shown that lymphopenia occurs in 83% of paediatric hospitalized patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Imaging is not recommended for diagnosis or screening purposes in patients with suspected COVID-19, the predictive value of RT-PCR test is ten times higher than the results of pulmonary CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid spread of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the implementation of preventive measures have led to the rapid adaptation and wider application of digital technologies in psychotherapeutic practice. Although there are significant benefits to using online therapy, there are still disputes about the quality, safety, and confidentiality of this way of working. Switching to online mode is, in fact, a change of setting. The aim of this paper is to show the advantage of using technological advances in times of crisis and the impact of setting change on group members and therapists. It also aims to point out the supervision as an important component of the psychotherapeutic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which author discusses articles on topics including examines that the list of accepted abstracts and 2-page papers for AWC2021 conference and because of the COVID-19 situation, the Acoustics Week in Canada (AWC) in Sherbrooke (QC) been postponed in October 2021.