Abstract highlights – December 2020

Here are some highlights from the diverse set of international abstracts that have already been submitted to RSU Research Week 2021.

From the abstracts submitted to the Knowledge for Use in Practice conference, we can see that transplantology specialists are involved with 'Innovative biomarkers in early period after kidney transplantation', state-of-the-art oncology is represented by the abstract 'Changes of miRNA levels in plasma as biomarker for response to chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer', and from the abstract 'Whole genome sequencing-based prediction of recurrent tuberculosis etiology for patients involved in a local outbreak' we can see that modern technologies in tuberculosis recurrence are being studied.

The topic that is undeniably trending at the moment, COVID-19, has not been forgotten – we have received high-quality data in the fields of epidemiology and diagnostics as well as abstracts dealing with the treatment and impact of COVID-19, including the abstract 'Construction of SARS-CoV-2 E gene plasmids for development of in-house method for quantification of viral RNA in patient samples'.

The abstracts submitted to the Society. Health. Welfare conference touch upon a plethora of pressing public health issues, e. g. 'Mortality from suicides by the level of education and its inequalities', 'Violence against children in a close environment', 'Social orphans of Latvia' to name just a few. Several abstracts deal with occupational morbidity and ways to tackle this problem, like 'Effect of Pilates method on the motion functionality of shoulder complex for sedentary workers'. One example of an abstract touching on a particularly important topic in these complicated times is 'Physical capacities and performance for rehabilitation specialists wearing protective clothing during the COVID-19 pandemic'.

The abstracts submitted to the PLACES conference explore many problematic and multidisciplinary legal issues including 'Legal and ethical aspects of the application of prediction algorithms in healthcare', as well as communication sciences - 'Is there anybody out there? Mediatisation of life under COVID-19 and virtual influencers'.

The authors of the abstracts submitted to the University Teaching and Learning conference have been closely following the latest trends in education as can be seen in the following title, for example: 'How medical practitioners define their continuous professional development: implications for simulation-based teaching and learning'.