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The paper provides insights into the mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic from the Central, Eastern, Nordic, Southern, and Western subregions of Europe, represented by five member countries of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). On the basis of the existing national research and experiences in these countries, we propose five lessons learned. (1) There is no evidence of a mental health pandemic so far in the countries in focus. No increase in severe mental disorders but some increase in the symptoms of common mental health disorders are observable. More high-quality longitudinal studies are needed to understand the mental health burden of the pandemic. (2) The pandemic affects countries (including the mental health situation) differently, depending on the level of the exposure, management policies, pre-pandemic structural characteristics, and healthcare resources. (3) The pandemic affects people differently: the exposure severity to pandemic-related stressors differs between individuals, as well as individual resources to cope with these stressors. There are winners and losers as well as identifiable at-risk groups that need particular attention. (4) Besides the negative consequences, the pandemic has had a positive impact. The rapidly applied innovations within the system of healthcare responses provide a window of opportunity for positive changes in mental healthcare policies, strategies, and practices. The increased focus on mental health during the pandemic may contribute to the prioritization of mental health issues at policy-making and organizational levels and may reduce stigma. (5) A stress- and trauma-informed response to COVID-19 is required. The European community of psychotraumatologists under the leadership of ESTSS plays an important role in promoting stress- and trauma-informed healthcare and policies of pandemic management. Based on the lessons learned, we propose a stepped-care public mental health model for the prevention of adverse mental health outcomes during pandemics. Population mental health is affected differently in the COVID-19 pandemic: there are winners and losers, as well as identifiable at-risk groups that need particular attention. A stress- and trauma-informed public mental health stepped-care model can address pandemic-related mental health burden in a systematic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acromegaly embraces typical complications of a pituitary tumor as well as GH (growth hormone) and IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor) excess-related cardio-metabolic and oncologic conditions; and associated medical, surgical treatment or even radiotherapy issues. We point out a few particular aspects concerning acromegaly issues amid COVID-19 pandemic. The review includes only full length, English published papers. One of the most important complications of long standing, untreated or un-responsive to therapy acromegaly is related to respiratory and otorhinolaryngology issues like sleep apnea; this becomes an important aspect causing pulmonary complications in patients with active coronavirus infection. In subjects who are not going through a COVID-19 infection, but they had a prior diagnostic of acromegaly, two main aspects of medical and surgical practice were noted: a massive reduction of surgical volume during the first year of pandemic, mostly during peak months of high infection rate in general population and the introduction of tele (digital) health care systems, of different protocols and various platforms mostly depending of medical center, rather than country or even continent related protocols. Associated central adrenal insufficiency requires a particular attention if COVID-19 positive. The data directly targeting the endocrinologists amid pandemic are very limited. ACROCOVID is a 2021 study that was internationally conducted based on a questionnaire that was applied to 84 endocrinologists (67% of them in Europe); 33% of acromegalic individuals had a delay on procedure because of insufficient COVID-19 assays and 54% of them due to inefficient provision for neurosurgery. Secondary diabetes mellitus (with a potential worsening in some patients due to pasireotide LAR) is at high risk for COVID-19 infection; the level of glycated hemoglobin A1c seems a good predictor at onset of infectious disease. Acromegaly might associate osteoporosis; coronavirus infection aggravates bone loss due to oxidative stress, inflammatory status, cytokine release, immobilization, glucocorticoid use. Acromegaly field concerning pandemic changes represents a complex, still ongoing matter involving both patients and multidisciplinary practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current pandemic is sustained in dichotomies and distancing, as most of us awkwardly have recently experienced. Moreover, COVID-19 has definitely put the spotlight on social inequalities that are underpinning our society and it has highlighted the escalation of the state surveillance capability and new forms of oppression too. The discrimination ingrained in our societies, built on a historically defined regime of racialized oppression and structural disadvantage of racialized citizens and migrants, was produced well before the coronavirus, but it is now casting a different shade, reinforcing forms of exclusions, highlighting the pandemic as a political issue. Hence, this paper addresses a range of political perspectives of the lived experiences in and through social space with examples of narratives in language which capture the everyday political experiences of the pandemic within Europe. The kind of language used and its profound effect on the growing discourse regarding COVID-19 is the main focus in this paper. I here explore the intertwining of language and politics during the pandemic and bring out the countervailing narratives that seem to be in constant tension. I then ask where this takes us, not only in terms of scholarship and expansion of knowledge, but also with a pragmatic edge to it, trying to figure out how is it possible for us to achieve some sort of cognitive shift in our approach in order to learn from this challenge and from this new perspective. Methodologically, as well as looking at existing data, references to attitudes in general are made. A theoretical discussion on migration and language, and the kind of intersection between them, is offered, from the point of view of critical theory, before pointing to the metaphors used, the implications they allow, and how all these fit together, in the form of a concluding discussion. Metaphor or not, the power of language in its ramifications of articulations about the pandemic and the idea of distance underlines COVID-19 as a deeply political issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]