Spectrum of Neurological Manifestations of COVID-19 Data from a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: Coronavirus is a novel virus which has disrupted life in the past year. While it involves the lungs in the majority and this has been extensively studied, it involves other organ systems. More number of studies need to be focused on the extrapulmonary manifestations of the disease. Objective: To delineate the clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus on the central and peripheral nervous systems and to assess the risk factors and the outcome of COVID-19 patients with neurological manifestations. Materials and Methods: All patients who were SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive were assessed, and detailed clinical history and laboratory findings were collected. Data was analyzed using percentage, mean, and frequency. Results: Out of 864 patients, 17 (N = 17, 1.96%) had neurological manifestations. Twelve out of 17 had comorbid conditions. Patients had diverse presentations ranging from acute cerebrovascular accident to paraplegia and encephalopathy. Ten (58.8%) patients presented with acute cerebrovascular accidents. Of the patients who developed stroke, five (50%) died. Conclusions: COVID-19 usually presents as a respiratory disease. The neurological manifestations of COVID-19 are not uncommon. One should be aware of a wide spectrum of neurological signs and symptoms of COVID-19 for early diagnosis and treatment for preventing mortality and morbidity.

Low-intensity Aerobic Exercises during COVID-19 Pandemic in Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Home based Study

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare genetic disorder that affects about 0.8 million Indian children. The incidence rate of 1:3500 male births is the most common form of all muscular dystrophies. Covid-19 pandemic cause profound devastation to the lives of DMD children. The muscles are weaker in DMD, and the children are more prone to lung infections. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a severe lung infection that disturbs the entire function of the World. DMD already has weakness in major muscles, including the respiratory. So, the study aims to identity the effect of low-intensity aerobic exercises in children with DMD. This is a home-based pilot study with 11 DMD children and wheelchair dependent since, for ten years, they have been on continuous rehabilitation and monitoring. When the pandemic was declared in India in March 2020, all children were given clear notes on the disease and its severity to the parents. Self-created quarantine exercise protocol, which includes Limb exercises, breathing exercises, trunk mobility exercises, and positioning, was taught along with a logbook given to all the children. Video calls, and WhatsApp videos, were used to monitor them regularly. The physiotherapist made a personal visit in June 2020 to review the exercises, and subsequently on Aug 20, Oct 20, Dec 20, Feb 21, and May 21. Observations are detailed here. The infection rate was 3 out of 9, and they got admitted to the hospital for other illnesses. All the children noted Flu infection but recovered within ten days without hospitalization. The parents monitored their SPo2 and temperature and updated them in the logbook. A lung function test was done using a handheld incentive spirometer during the personnel visit by the therapist and found satisfactory. The study concluded a significant improvement in the DMD children following low-intensity and quarantine exercises.

Comparative Evaluation of Short-term Clinical Safety and Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin

Background: Many candidate vaccines against COVID-19 are competing for their clinical safety and efficacy but few have got approval from the competent authorities. However, people are still concerned about their use. Objectives: To assess the clinical safety of COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin using the incidence of self-reported and solicited local and systemic adverse events and efficacy by collecting data on the occurrence of confirmed COVID-19 infection after vaccination and to compare the clinical safety and efficacy of both the vaccines. Method: This study was conducted as an online survey using a self-administered questionnaire, among the individuals who were vaccinated in the months of February, March and April 2021. The participants were categorised into two groups, based on the type of vaccine they received as Covishield and Covaxin. The two groups did not differ in terms of age and gender. Results: The proportion of participants who had adverse events after the first dose of vaccination was significantly high with Covishield (37.2%) compared to Covaxin (17.4%). But the proportion of participants who developed adverse events after the second dose was not significantly different between Covishield and Covaxin (16.1% with Covishield and 23.8% with Covaxin). The incidence of COVID-19 infection after vaccination was similar in both the groups (4.5% in Covishield group and 5.7% in Covaxin group, p = 0.5, Chi-square test). Conclusion: The findings from this study gives real-world data that both Covishield and Covaxin are equally effective in preventing COVID-19 infection and have an acceptable safety profile. Copyright (c) 2022: Author(s).

Vector Error Correction Modeling of COVID-19 Infected Cases and Deaths

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the dynamic relationship between the COVID-19 infected cases and the number of deaths due to COVID-19 using the Johnsen-Fisher co-integration test, vector error correction model and Granger causality test. The daily COVID-19-infected new cases and daily deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States, Canada, Ukraine and India were collected from the website for the period from 01-04-2020 to 26-12-2020. The summary statistics revealed that the highest numbers of COVID-19-infected cases were registered in the United States, followed by India, Canada and Ukraine;the highest numbers of deaths due to COVID-19 were registered in the United States, followed by India, Ukraine and Canada. The death percentage is exceedingly high in Canada, followed by the United States, Ukraine and India. The Johnsen-Fisher co-integration test results reveal the existence of one co-integration equation. The vector error correction model and Granger causality test reveal that long-term and short-term causality exists between COVID-19 infection and death cases. The speed of adjustment is found to be 9.9%. © 2022 NSP Natural Sciences Publishing Cor.

Autoregressive distributed lag model of COVID-19 infected cases and deaths

The primary objectives of the present study are to investigate the short- and long-term cointegration relationships between the cumulative number of new cases of COVID-19 infections (X) and the cumulative numbers of deaths due to COVID-19 (Y), to investigate the long-run equilibrium relationship between these variables using an autoregressive distributed lag model and bounds cointegration tests, and to study the stability of the estimated model. The cumulative sum of recursive residuals test and the cumulative sum of recursive residuals squares tests are used to assess the consistency of the model parameters. © 2021 Natural Sciences Publishing. All rights reserved.

ICT in Mitigating Challenges of Life Amid COVID-19 and Emerging Business Opportunities

The entire human life is passing through a very bad and unprecedented phase of the pandemic called COVID-19. It is a chronic disease that occurs because of "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)". The entire world has witnessed a very bad phase of life which has never happened before on this massive scale. COVID-19 has made the entire human life challenging. Millions of people got affected around the globe and many lost their loving ones while fighting with the deadly disease. The two critical challenges of the pandemic are: there are no known treatments for COVID-19 and secondly, its transmission from one person to another is very prompt. Therefore, to control the deadly spread of the pandemic the countries have adopted complete lockdown for months, people were isolated and quarantined to control the spread of the disease. Several terminologies such as lockdown, quarantine, social-distancing, home isolation, and Corona waves can be heard around. In all these necessary measures to control the virus taken by the government the entire humankind suffered and still suffering from several challenges towards living a normal life. In this entire disaster, information communication technologies (ICTs) have shown a significant contribution in mitigating the effects and challenges caused due to COVID-19. In the present study, efforts have been given on highlighting the role of ICT in overcoming the challenges of life caused due to COVID-19 with the help of studies that took place in the pandemic duration. The study has also shown that how the extensive inclination of the people towards the use of ICTs helped in emerging new business opportunities. The present study is a conceptual study that will help in leading to another study. A research model has been proposed in the study which can be further tested in upcoming studies. The outcomes of the study can be helpful for the decision and policymakers especially those who are working in the area of ICT. The ICT industry can learn many things that can help focus more on the expansion of business opportunities.