Negative and positive antecedents of intention to resume hotel consumption in new normal settings in Malaysia: insight from three psychological theories

PurposeApplying three psychological theories, this study aims to attempt to investigate the role of consumer psychology, specifically the factors of trust in vaccination, threat severity, fear, anxiety, risk and hygiene, and safety, on intention to resume hotel consumption. The authors also tested the mediation effect of anxiety among psychological constructs: perceived threat, fear and risk with the intention to resume hotel consumption.Design/methodology/approachUsing purposive sampling, data were collected from 470 respondents from four cities in Malaysia and analysed by applying analysis of moment structures (AMOS) structural equation model technique. The respondents for this study were frequent travellers meaning the leisure tourists who at least travel twice a year or travel when getting the occasion to explore new things. In this study, an online survey was employed to ensure easy accessibility and to enhance the number of replies.FindingsThe results of this study confirmed that perceived severity, risk and fear influence travellers' anxiety. This study further confirms that trust in vaccination and hygiene & safety provided by the hotelier reduces anxiety levels. Anxiety is found one of the most important predictors of intention to resume hotel consumption, which further mediates the relationship between other psychological variables: perceived severity, risk, fear and intention to resume hotel consumption. Anxiety mediates the relationship between perceived severity, fear and intention to resume hotel consumption and partially mediates the association between risk and intention to resume hotel consumption.Originality/valueThis study examined three psychological theories and extended them by including the trust in vaccination and the hygiene and safety constructs. Anxiety was investigated as a mediator.

Role of Marketing Strategies to Generation Z in Emerging Markets

The aim of this research is to examine the marketing strategies to Generation Z, social media cognitive engagement, social media influencer, perceived corporate social responsibility and user-generated media communication and hedonic brand image as moderator on generation Gen Z purchase intention, and examining these effects in Covid'19 pandemic recession phase in Pakistan. Research was completed on Generation Z respondents, using an online survey questionnaire were evaluated using through factor analysis, model fit, SEM via Smart PLS 4. Empirical results via structural equation modeling demonstrate that the impact of the four constructs played a partially significant role on Gen Z purchase intention. Gen Z has strong bonding with social media engagement and aware of CSR activities of an organization and confirmed their behavior toward e-shopping. Brand equity and Citizen Behavior are could be examined as a dependent variable but we didn't due to lack of literature. Social media cognitive engagement and perceived corporate social responsibility has strong relation with generation Z purchase intention which indicates generation Z is engage with social media and CSR activities. Online business operators and trend setter can identify and promote their business on social media sites. Through this study marketers and professionals can also formulate strategies to increase promote their business. The empirical results provide academic contributions to the current group of knowledge in the marketing to capture Gen Z. Using advanced quantitative data analysis will eventually enable future researchers to explain the contribution of the current study to understanding the importance of Generation Z psychology.

Mental health training needs of physicians in Bangladesh: Views from stakeholders

Bangladesh is a lower-middle-income country with a high burden of mental health conditions and inadequate health systems. Prior research in similar settings has found that training physicians in mental health literacy can contribute to reducing the mental health treatment gap and strengthening the mental health care pathway. This study explores the need for mental health training for physicians by gathering stakeholders' perspectives and proposes recommendations for designing a mental training program in the context of Bangladesh. Key informant interviews were conducted among psychiatrists (n = 9), and mental health entrepreneurs (n = 7);one focus group discussion was conducted with psychologists (n = 8);and one-on-one interviews were held with physician (n = 17). Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, all interviews were conducted online, recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions were analyzed thematically, utilizing both an inductive and deductive approach. The data analysis from forty-one stakeholders generated three major themes and eight subthemes. Stakeholders perceived that the inadequate mental health system and low mental health awareness among physicians significantly contribute to the mental health treatment gaps. Stakeholders emphasized the need to include mental health training for physicians to increase skills related to identification and management of mental health conditions. Stakeholders suggested some basic components for the training content, feasible modalities to deliver the training, and implementation challenges. Recommendations included utilizing online training, ensuring interesting and practical content, and incorporating certification systems. At a systems level, stakeholders recommended including a mental health curriculum in undergraduate medical education, capacity building of other healthcare workers and increasing awareness at the policy level. There is clear agreement among stakeholders that implementing mental health training for physicians will promote universal health coverage and reduce the mental health treatment gap in Bangladesh. These findings can support creation of policies to strengthen the care pathway in countries with limited resources.Copyright © 2022 The Authors

Impact of comorbidities on COVID-19 positive cases admitted in ICU at shaheed sheikh abu naser specialized hospital, Khulna, Bangladesh

Background: The ongoing pandemic COVID-19 is more serious for people with comorbidities and the elderly people. Comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic liver disease affect the majority of COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 affected patients having comorbidities are often admitted to ICU for proper treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of co-morbidities on Covid-19 Positive Cases Admitted to ICU. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Anesthesia and ICU, Shaheed Sheikh Abu Naser Specialized Hospital, Khulna, Bangladesh, during the period from June 2020 to July 2021. A total of 87 patients with covid-19 positive admitted to ICU were included in this study. Results: The majority of the study people were in the age group of 60-69. Most of the study people were male in with co-morbidities group (52.87%) and were female in without co-morbidities group (5.75%). Among 87 patients, 78 (89.6%) had different types of co-morbidities. More than half of the study people (64.37%) had diabetes. We found that the majority of the patients (77.30%) stayed in ICU for less than 15 days. 80.95% of patients with hypertension had to stay in ICU for less than 15 days. Among the patients with diabetes, 73.21% stayed in ICU for less than 15 days. About 8.97% of patients with diabetes were discharged from the hospital. 2.56% of patients with hypertension and diabetes were referred to another hospital. Among the death patients, 58.97% had diabetes and 43.59% had hypertension. Conclusions: Patients with comorbidities were more severely affected and had a higher mortality rate. Age, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension were the main factors affecting the survival of patients.

Multi-centre review of systemic anti-cancer prescribing patterns and treatment drop off rates in the United Kingdom 2018-2021

Background: The treatment landscape of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) has evolved over recent years with several systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACT) licensed across different lines of treatment. There is ongoing discussion amongst oncology professionals about how best to optimise treatments in terms of sequencing to maximise the potential number of lines or to give the best treatments first. A previous south-west UK audit was completed in 2021 reviewing the drop off rates across 5 UK sites identifying that 69% of patients were able to receive second line therapy and 34% were able to receive third line therapy. Method(s): In this study we conducted retrospective analysis of all patients who commenced treatment with SACT for mRCC between 1st January 2018 and 30th June 2021 in 18 centres across the 4 nations of the United Kingdom. All NHS reimbursed treatment options including the COVID interim treatment guideline options were included. Patients who received SACT as part of a clinical trial were also included. Patients who continued on their respective lines of treatment were censored. We also identified patients who had been on a period of active surveillance before staring SACT in this cohort. Result(s): 1549 patients (71% male: 29% female) were included. IMDC subgroup patients included 21.6%favourable, 52.3% intermediate, 25.1%poor and 1% unavailable. 9.1% of patients had been on active surveillance before starting SACT - defined as a period of longer than 3 months from mRCC diagnosis to starting SACT. Of those patients that started SACT 60.5% of eligible patients had 2nd line therapy, 25.3% had 3rd line, 7.2% received 4th line therapy and only 1% had 5th line therapy. In the 1st line setting 58.9% received single agent VEGF TKI, 24.5% received combination ipilimumab and nivolumab (IO-IO) immunotherapy, 14 % received IO/ VEGF TKI combination and 2.6% received other/trial treatment. The single agent VEGF TKI ratio for 1st line SACT declined year by year with rising IO-IO and IO/VEGF TKI combination ratios seen. In the secondand third-line settings cabozantinib (33.2% 2nd line and 44.4% 3rd line) and nivolumab (32.8% 2nd line and 22.6% 3rd line) were the most common options. Disease progression or death was the most common cause of SACT discontinuation amounting to 57.4%, 62.5% and 79% of SACT cessation in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lines respectively. Treatment toxicity SACT discontinuation rates were 22.8%, 21.4% and 10.9% for 1st, 2nd and 3rd lines respectively. Conclusion(s): These results suggest that with more treatment options available, including combination/immunotherapy therapies, more patients are able to receive second- and third-line therapies. That said there remains significant drop off rates mostly driven by disease progression that would support the use of our most effective therapies in the upfront setting.

SARS-CoV-2 and Stroke in a New York Healthcare System

Background and Purpose: With the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the current worldwide pandemic, there is mounting evidence that patients affected by the illness may develop clinically significant coagulopathy with thromboembolic complications including ischemic stroke. However, there is limited data on the clinical characteristics, stroke mechanism, and outcomes of patients who have a stroke and COVID-19. Method(s): We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients with ischemic stroke who were hospitalized between March 15, 2020, and April 19, 2020, within a major health system in New York, the current global epicenter of the pandemic. We compared the clinical characteristics of stroke patients with a concurrent diagnosis of COVID-19 to stroke patients without COVID-19 (contemporary controls). In addition, we compared patients to a historical cohort of patients with ischemic stroke discharged from our hospital system between March 15, 2019, and April 15, 2019 (historical controls). Result(s): During the study period in 2020, out of 3556 hospitalized patients with diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, 32 patients (0.9%) had imaging proven ischemic stroke. Cryptogenic stroke was more common in patients with COVID-19 (65.6%) as compared to contemporary controls (30.4%, P=0.003) and historical controls (25.0%, P<0.001). When compared with contemporary controls, COVID-19 positive patients had higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and higher peak D-dimer levels. When compared with historical controls, COVID-19 positive patients were more likely to be younger men with elevated troponin, higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Patients with COVID-19 and stroke had significantly higher mortality than historical and contemporary controls. Conclusion(s): We observed a low rate of imaging-confirmed ischemic stroke in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Most strokes were cryptogenic, possibly related to an acquired hypercoagulability, and mortality was increased. Studies are needed to determine the utility of therapeutic anticoagulation for stroke and other thrombotic event prevention in patients with COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Month-Wise Investigation on Residential Load Consumption Impact during COVID-19 Period on Distribution Transformer and Practical Mitigation Solution

This paper investigates the month-wise impact of COVID-19 conditions on residential load due to people's presence at home during office hours in Memphis city, Tennessee, USA. The energy consumption patterns of four consumers are analyzed based on the data available from pre-COVID to continuing COVID-19 situations. It is observed that the energy consumptions from April 2020 to June 2021 for all families have increased during office hours than that of pre-COVID months. Therefore, the impacts of the increased loads on distribution transformer are analyzed in terms of hottest spot, top-oil temperature, and loss of transformer life. Moreover, an experimental setup is made to produce the harmonics in currents of non-linear residential load which has detrimental effects on temperature rise of distribution transformer. In addition, this work proposes implementation of harmonic filter at the load side considering the impact of harmonics produced by loads to reduce the temperature rise due to the increased load consumption and presence of harmonics in currents produced by the load. The rise in temperatures and the loss of life of distribution transformer with and without the proposed solutions are simulated in MATLAB to show the efficacy of the proposed solution. Moreover, cost value analysis among different methods, which can be implemented to reduce the adverse impact on distribution transformer, are provided to rank the available methods. © 2023 by the authors.

Effectiveness of Probiotics

Background: To evaluate the potential of probiotics in stress management caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Material(s) and Method(s): PubMed, Elsevier, New England journal of Medicine and Google Scholar were searched for the keywords "Probiotics and stress management during the Covid pandemic" up to 30th April 2022. Result(s): Probiotics have a great potential of managing mild stress. The pandemic has brought about physical as well psychological distress and has had a negative impact on the mental health of individuals. Stress increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and neuropsychiatric disorders. Probiotics can be used to alleviate mental stress. Probiotics maintain ecological balance of gut and provide immunity. They also affect mood and health of host by regulating gut-brain axis of host and may be used as Psychobiotics by altering various neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, epinephrine, norepinephrine and GABA. The use of probiotics in mild stress will help reduce the risk of adverse effects and dependence associated with the psychotropic drugs. Conclusion(s): The ongoing studies on probiotics seems to be a good solution towards stress and related problems which is rapidly increasing due to COVID-19 pandemic. Probiotics seem to be beneficial in handling stress as they alter the release of neurotransmitters reducing stress level of an individual and have a positive effect on mood. The current pandemic is likely to continue and there is a need for greater preparedness of stress management, therefore, it is essential to explore the full potential of probiotics application in stress management.Copyright © 2022 Authors.

Status of Antibody against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: Preliminary Reports on Seroprevalence of Covid 19 in among Health Care Workers

Introduction: Large number of health care workers (HCW) were infected and died due to COVID-19 infection. It is needed to know the actual seroprevalence of COVID in HCWs to assess the risk and to take protective measures. This study was aimed to measure IgG antibodies against nucleocapsid protein (N) of COVID as a serological marker for detection of viral status in risk prone HCW of Bangladesh and possible association with reno-cardio-metabolic risk factors Methods: This longitudinal study was conducted from May 2021 to January 2022 among physicians and non-physician health care workers (HCW) in three non- COVID designated tertiary hospitals in Bangladesh. Participants' demographic data, medical history and information on past COVID-19 infection and vaccination status were collected. Serial blood samples were collected at 1.5 month in all (n=633) later at 3, 6 and 9 months in vaccinated group. A qualitative measurement of IgG antibody against nucleocapsid protein (N) of SARS-CoV-2 was done by was done by CMIA developed by Abbott (FDA-EUA approved). Result(s): The mean age was 35+/-10years where70% were female. Physician 32%, Nurse 45% and others was 23%. Diabetics were 9.5%, hypertensive 9% and asthma in 5.1%. The two doses of vaccine against COVID-19was completed in 56%. History of past COVID-19 infection was found among 20% participants at recruitment, out of which 13% was diagnosed by rt-PCR. History of past COVID-19 infection was found among 18% participants based on 1gG against N protein. But the subjects in two groups were different. Combination of RTPCR and N protein igG showed 35% seropositive for covid. Comparisons between covid infection positive vs. negative showed only age was different (37+/-11 vs. 34+/-9, years p<0.001) but other risk factors like BMI, SBP, DBP, S Albumin, glucose, hemoglobin were not different (P=NS) between the two groups. Further comparisons for eGFR cut-offs showed higher infection in lower eGFR (infection present vs. absent for >90ml/min group was 17% & 83% and in 60-90 ml/min group 32% &. 68 %). Prevalence of COVID 19 infection based on presence of N antibody (cutoff value >1.5) among vaccinated HCWs at 1.5, 6 and 9 month was 13.6%, 8.8% and 7.7% respectively. The mean titer of IgG (against N protein) >1.5 among vaccinated HCWs at 1.5 month was 3.1+/-1.5 and reduced to 0.87+/-0.96 at month 6 (p<0.001). Conclusion(s): The prevalence of COVID-19 infection in HCWs during the second wave was 35% based on test for RTPR or IgG against N protein positivity. In vaccinated persons, based on antibody against N protein, re-infection rate was around 8% up to 9 months post vaccine. Although no difference was seen for covid infection for cardio-metabolic risk factors, there seems to have some relation of higher infectivity with decreased GFR level. No conflict of interestCopyright © 2023

Setting Priorities for Exploiting and Exploring Digital Capabilities in a Crisis

Organizations' digital capabilities are often central to their survival of a crisis. In times of crisis, IT leaders must decide whether to exploit their current digital capabili-ties ("making the best of what you have,") explore new capability development ("do new things or better things") or do both. Based on an in-depth study of COVID-19 crisis responses of 18 Australian organizations, we recommend how IT leaders should prioritize exploitative or explorative capability development and best position their organizations for the next crisis.1

Effectiveness of Probiotics

Background: To evaluate the potential of probiotics in stress management caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Material(s) and Method(s): PubMed, Elsevier, New England journal of Medicine and Google Scholar were searched for the keywords "Probiotics and stress management during the Covid pandemic" up to 30th April 2022. Result(s): Probiotics have a great potential of managing mild stress. The pandemic has brought about physical as well psychological distress and has had a negative impact on the mental health of individuals. Stress increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and neuropsychiatric disorders. Probiotics can be used to alleviate mental stress. Probiotics maintain ecological balance of gut and provide immunity. They also affect mood and health of host by regulating gut-brain axis of host and may be used as Psychobiotics by altering various neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, epinephrine, norepinephrine and GABA. The use of probiotics in mild stress will help reduce the risk of adverse effects and dependence associated with the psychotropic drugs. Conclusion(s): The ongoing studies on probiotics seems to be a good solution towards stress and related problems which is rapidly increasing due to COVID-19 pandemic. Probiotics seem to be beneficial in handling stress as they alter the release of neurotransmitters reducing stress level of an individual and have a positive effect on mood. The current pandemic is likely to continue and there is a need for greater preparedness of stress management, therefore, it is essential to explore the full potential of probiotics application in stress management. Copyright © 2022 Authors.

Modern Diagnostics Processes among New Strains of Coronaviruses: A Review

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the COVID-19 disease, which is a considerable outbreak that appeared in late 2019, and within a short period, this disease rapidly extended globally. Its prompt airborne transmission and highly infectious pneumonia-like symptoms in patients caused turmoil worldwide. This virus has a relatively high mortality rate compared to previous outbreaks such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and SARS-CoV. Therefore, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global health pandemic on January 30, 2020. However, the recent COVID-19 outbreak and newly emerged variants such as Delta and Omicron are having a huge spike in the human population. This rise has been a kind of challenging situation worldwide as perception is still limited in terms of modes of transmission, severity, diagnostics clinical oversight. Therefore, this review highlights the importance of these issues via a Medline search using the terms novel, coronavirus, sources, genetic nature, contagious routes, clinical characteristics, and diagnostic procedures for COVID-19. The authors extensively reviewed the analysis of behavior and impacts of this virus’s activities worldwide. The study reveals that patients’ epidemiology and clinical characteristics in different frames are sensitive toward commanding this virus and its associated diseases. Finally, the parametric data gathered for this study are also presented for use in forecasting models. Along with these searches, the authors have comprehensively discussed the current modern diagnostic processes. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Acute Kidney Injury In Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients: A Retrospective Observational Study

Background: Published studies have reported that acute kidney injury (AKI) and other kidney related manifestations are associated with COVID-19 and linked with poor outcome. This study aimed to determine the incidence, risk factors and outcomes of AKI in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Probenecid-Induced IgA Nephropathy Is Reversible

Introduction: IgA nephropathy is usually idiopathic in nature but can have a genetic predisposition & it can also be secondary to autoimmune diseases, vasculitis, infections, liver disease, or anti-VEGFdrugs like bevacizumab, & covid vaccine. We present a case of probenecid-induced IgA nephropathy. Case Description: A 65-year-old male with chronic gout developed progressive chronic kidney disease over a 3-year period. He had been on probenecid 1 g twice daily for his gout for 15 yrs. His sodium iothalamate clearance deteriorated to 58 mL/min, with a serum creatinine of 1.5 mg/dL. All other serologic tests were negative. His 72-hour lead level was also normal. He did not have SLE, granulomatous disease, or systemic rheumatic disorders. Suprisingly he did not have proteinuria or hematuria. Renal biopsy revealed IgA nephropathy, with segmental mesangial hypercellularity, mild arterial sclerosis, & tubular atrophy. Cytoplasmic lipofuscin pigment was noted on PAS stain capillary loops with focal thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, engorged capillary loops, & thickened tubular basement membrane. Immunofluorescence studies showed diffuse segmental paramesangial granules of IgA [3+] & fibrinogen as well as paramesangial granules of IgG [2+], Kappa & lambda. Electron microscopy showed swollen podocytes with increased cytoplasmic organelles and vacuolization, focal foot process effacement, & electron-dense deposits in the paramesangium & mesangium. His MEST score was zero. 6 months after discontinuation of probenecid, the patient's iothalamate GFR significantly improved to 79 mL/min, followed by 82 mL/min 6 months later. He never had proteinuria, hematuria, or casts throughout his disease course. Five years later his GFR was 88 ml/min with a serum creatinine of 1.1 mg/dl. Discussion(s): Probenecid has pleiotropic effects on the human immune system. It inhibits Pannexin-1 channels which are known to modulate T-cell function. Probenecid also regulates TRPV -2 channels as an agonist. These channels are also present on human immune B and T cell lymphocytes. Probenecid inhibits VEGF in retinal endothelial cells, & bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody, has been shown to cause IgA nephropathy. We conclude that probenecid can be a cause of IgA nephropathy which is reversible upon drug discontinuation.

Covid-19 Association with Mucormycosis (CAM): An Experience from Single Hospital Based Study

Objective: This study aimed to assess the outcomes experienced by patients diagnosed with mucormycosis linked with COVID-19 while they were hospitalized. Study Design: Retrospective study Place and Duration: This study was carried out at Sardar Begum Dental College from January, 2022 to June 2022. Method(s): There were 215 patients of both genders had age 18-80 years were presented in this study. Included patients had confirmed coronavirus disease with symptoms of mucormycosis. Patients were provided informed written consent for detailed demographics. Clinical and laboratory outcomes among all cases were assessed. We used SPSS 22.0 to analyze all data. Result(s): There were majority males 165 (76.7%) and 50 (23.3%) females in this study. Mean age of the patients was 45.6+/-17.53 years and had mean BMI 26.13+/-8.17 kg/m2. We found that diabetes mellitus was the most common co morbidity in 140 (65.1%) cases, followed by hypertension in 85 (39.5%) cases. Frequency of rhino orbital mucormycosis was found in 110 (51.2%) cases, sinuses in 70 (32.6%) cases and cerebral in 35 (16.3%) cases. Majority of the cases were treated by steroid. Mean hospitalization was 16.8+/-7.67 days. Frequency of died patients was 28 (13.02%) because of CKD, renal dysfunction and orbital involvement. Conclusion(s): We concluded in this study that rhino-orbital involvement, CKD and renal dysfunction were a significantly risk factors for mortality among patients of COVID-19 with mucormycosis. Copyright © 2022 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.

Machine learning and Lexical Semantic-based Sentiment Analysis for Determining the Impacts of the COVID-19 Vaccine

In 2020 COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. Scientists from around the world are still working to develop a more effective vaccine for this disease. AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sputnik V and Comirnaty (Pfizer) are just a few of the vaccines that have been developed and are now being used by large populations. Social media is a powerful tool for people to express their opinions on current events, such as COVID-19 and its vaccine. It is highly noticeable that people are becoming increasingly concerned about the availability and effectiveness of these vaccines and other remedies for COVID-19. Healthcare organizations and professionals can acquire useful insights into vaccination safety by evaluating people's sentiments. Furthermore, it can also assist to prevent unnecessary panic and the spread of misinformation among people. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of people's sentiments regarding the vaccination against COVID-19 is shown. Twitter's data regarding the vaccine for COVID-19 from January to December of 2020 was collected from Kaggle for analysis. Necessary preprocessing techniques have been used to prepare and label the data based on textual sentiment using the lexical semantic methods: TextBlob and VADER. Various machine learning methods like Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), merged model (RNN+CNN) and Logistic Regression have been used to analyze the public sentiments and to visualize their concerns regarding the vaccination against COVID-19 throughout 2020. Then, the results from both TextBlob and VADER were compared in order to obtain the highest possible accuracy and to better understand the reasons for them. © 2021 IEEE.

Effectiveness of unani regimen in protecting high risk population from COVID-19: A pilot study

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally. COVID-19 presents varied clinical features. The present study focuses on number of patients turning COVID-19 positive, change in Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ) and WHO quality of life-Bref (WHO Qol – BREF) scales after taking intervention. This open labelled, double arm, controlled, interventional, clinical trial was conducted on high-risk individuals i.e., those residing with a COVID-19 positive member in the identified quarantine area. This twin armed study was conducted on asymptomatic individuals exposed to COVID-19. The test group were prescribed Unani poly-herbal decoction together with Unani formulations Khamira Marwareed and Tiryaq e Arba whereas the control group was not on any intervention. The duration of intervention was 20 days;follow ups were planned on day 10 and day 20. Of the 81 participants enrolled, none of the patients turned COVID-19 positive. However, 13.58% (n=11) developed COVID like symptoms and 70 patients completed the study. The mean age of the participants was 41.42±16.9 years;however, majority of the participants were 18-28 years male with Damvi (Sanguine) temperament. The quality of life of the intervention group improved significantly however, the immune status in both the groups increased with P <0.001. The Unani prophylactic regimen provides a 62% (relative risk reduction) protection against COVID-19. This pilot study paves for a study on a larger population. No adverse effects were observed during the study. Absence of biochemical investigations were limitations to the study. © 2022, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources. All rights reserved.

An antibody from single human VH-rearranging mouse neutralizes all SARS-CoV-2 variants through BA.5 by inhibiting membrane fusion.

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants have generated a worldwide health crisis due to resistance to most approved SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and evasion of vaccination-induced antibodies. To manage Omicron subvariants and prepare for new ones, additional means of isolating broad and potent humanized SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are desirable. Here, we describe a mouse model in which the primary B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire is generated solely through V(D)J recombination of a human VH1-2 heavy chain (HC) and, substantially, a human Vκ1-33 light chain (LC). Thus, primary humanized BCR repertoire diversity in these mice derives from immensely diverse HC and LC antigen-contact CDR3 sequences generated by nontemplated junctional modifications during V(D)J recombination. Immunizing this mouse model with SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan-Hu-1) spike protein immunogens elicited several VH1-2/Vκ1-33-based neutralizing antibodies that bound RBD in a different mode from each other and from those of many prior patient-derived VH1-2-based neutralizing antibodies. Of these, SP1-77 potently and broadly neutralized all SARS-CoV-2 variants through BA.5. Cryo-EM studies revealed that SP1-77 bound RBD away from the receptor-binding motif via a CDR3-dominated recognition mode. Lattice light-sheet microscopy-based studies showed that SP1-77 did not block ACE2-mediated viral attachment or endocytosis but rather blocked viral-host membrane fusion. The broad and potent SP1-77 neutralization activity and nontraditional mechanism of action suggest that it might have therapeutic potential. Likewise, the SP1-77 binding epitope may inform vaccine strategies. Last, the type of humanized mouse models that we have described may contribute to identifying therapeutic antibodies against future SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens.

Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Manifestations of COVID-19 in Children: A Review

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) is shaking the world heavily. SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) infection has a wide variety of presentations as it affects almost every system of body. Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary symptoms are frequently overlooked especially in children. Objectives: The purpose of this review was to discuss the gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary presentations of COVID-19 in children and compare with non-gastrointestinal presentations. Methods: This study was a narrative review. Recent available literature was searched by keywords. The most recent information from relevant articles were collected and reviewed. This write up was compiled after the review of articles from the last one and half year. Results: About 50.0% symptomatic children with COVID-19 had gastrointestinal manifestations. COVID-19 with gastrointestinal symptoms had delayed diagnosis, delayed hospitalization and worse outcome in compare with Covid-19 with non-gastrointestinal symptoms. Conclusion: Vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, anorexia, nausea are common gastrointestinal manifestations in children with COVID-19. Elevated transaminasemia is not uncommon.