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Intergenerational programs in residential aged care may improve well-being and combat loneliness and social isolation in older people with cognitive impairment. This pilot study investigated the effects of a semi-structured intergenerational group, including children from a co-located early learning centre and people living in residential aged care with cognitive impairment. This 9-week study used a mixed methods pre- and post-program design. Sessions were designed and delivered once per week by Occupational Therapists and took into account residents' interests and children's developmental needs and interests, identified in pre-program interviews. Nine older people with cognitive impairment and 13 children participated. The program was well attended despite disruptions and complications caused by COVID-19 and weather conditions. Older people valued the opportunity to engage with the children. Children were observed to gain confidence in communicating and forming friendships with older people with different levels of ability. There did not appear to be any change in loneliness or neuropsychiatric symptoms. The intergenerational program benefited participants and received strong support from family members and staff of the early learning centre and aged care home., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: General practitioners (GPs) have played an integral role in Australia's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response. However, little is known about how GPs themselves have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to increase our understanding of the experiences of GPs working during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. Using purposive sampling, 15 GPs from South-Eastern Australia were asked to reflect on their experiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview transcripts underwent thematic analysis., Results: Five main themes were identified: fear of infection; uncertainty and information overload; impacts on the government-GP relationship; impacts on the patient-doctor relationship; and teamwork within practices and among GPs., Conclusions: The 15 GPs interviewed in this study provided valuable insights into their experiences working during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. From these insights, four recommendations propose what could be done to help support GPs to respond to a pandemic while continuing to deliver primary health care.

Understanding the magnitude of responses to vaccination during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is essential for ultimate mitigation of the disease. Here, we describe a cohort of 102 subjects (70 COVID-19-naïve, 32 COVID-19-experienced) who received two doses of one of the mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna)). We document that a single exposure to antigen via infection or vaccination induces a variable antibody response which is affected by age, gender, race, and co-morbidities. In response to a second antigen dose, both COVID-19-naïve and experienced subjects exhibited elevated levels of anti-spike and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity; however, COVID-19-experienced individuals achieved higher antibody levels and neutralization activity as a group. The COVID-19-experienced subjects exhibited no significant increase in antibody or neutralization titer in response to the second vaccine dose (i.e., third antigen exposure). Finally, we found that COVID-19-naïve individuals who received the Moderna vaccine exhibited a more robust boost response to the second vaccine dose ( p = 0.004) as compared to the response to Pfizer-BioNTech. Ongoing studies with this cohort will continue to contribute to our understanding of the range and durability of responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines.

Keywords: video-meeting; overuse; Zoom; mental disorder; medical education EN video-meeting overuse Zoom mental disorder medical education 669 669 1 11/23/20 20201201 NES 201201 Dear Sir, We highlight a new diagnosis of paramount significance during the COVID-19 pandemic public health measures, and which may be included in international diagnostic classifications (e.g. the I Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders i or I International Classification of Diseases i ) in the future. Our proposed diagnosis is based on clinical observations of an insidious and debilitating video-meeting-mediated disorder afflicting medical students and their clinical academic teachers over the last 6 months, during social distancing for the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. We consider that this disorder may be usefully classified under the rubric of a trauma or stressor-related disorder; analogous to similar COVID-19 emergent mental disorders (to be discussed in forthcoming papers) such as COVID-19-related Isolated-Academic Logorrhoea (an obsessive-compulsive and related disorder) - the product of which may be exemplified by this letter - or, COVID-19-related Specific Communication Disorder (a bullshit or related disorder). [Extracted from the article]