Abstract highlights – January 2021

RW2021 participants have truly proven their passion for science, which can be seen in the diversity of high-quality research abstracts that have been submitted for this year’s conference. Here we share some highlights that have caught our eye this month.

The conference Knowledge for Use in Practice encompasses virtually all fields of medicine with topics ranging from 'Predictive model for serious bacterial infections in children with fever presenting to emergency department' to 'Precision of the fully digital 3D treatment plan' in maxillofacial surgery.

Novel findings that could influence clinical practice worldwide are represented by abstract titles like 'Novel recurrent BRCA1 pathogenic variants c.5117G>A and c.4675G>A identified after 20 years of BRCA1/2 research in Baltic region' and 'Novel mechanism of HIV-1 driven carcinogenicity affecting epithelial cells'.

Abstracts dealing with the latest discoveries related to COVID-19 include 'Potential biomarkers associated with severity of COVID-19' and 'Cytokine storm and COVID-19 severity', among many more.

Additionally, a set of rare and exciting clinical cases have been submitted. A couple of unique highlights include 'The first case in Latvia caused by mutation in the Prion-related protein' and 'Camptodactyly-Arthropathy-Coxa vara-Pericarditis (CACP) syndrome in combination with autoimmune disease'.

The Society. Health. Welfare conference deals with important public health issues that have been insufficiently discussed, including 'Family physicians’ perspective on risks and benefits of remote patient consultations during the state of emergency due to COVID-19 epidemic in Latvia: a qualitative study in primary care' and 'Public attitudes toward assisted dying in Latvia'. Our participants also offer practical advice on coping strategies in times of the pandemic e.g., 'Possibilities of receptive music therapy for mothers raising children with developmental disorders as a self-help tool for overcoming stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Various legal, political, economic and communication issues are up for discussion in the conference PLACES with some intriguing examples including 'Sports law and access to justice in anti-doping cases' and 'Is COVID-19 an ‘ordinary flu’ that benefits politicians? Perception of pandemic disinformation in Latvia'.

Reflecting the trend that novel educational methods are becoming more important than ever before, the conference University Teaching and Learning includes abstract titles like 'Reshaping the faculty professional competence: from face-to-face teaching to remote learning' and 'Biophilosophical approach to future challenges in medical humanities' to share just a few novel strategies that are being researched.

These are only a few examples of the wide variety of abstracts that we have received. See you 22–26 March 2021 for the full experience!