Antiviral activity of the human endogenous retrovirus-R envelope protein against SARS-CoV-2

Coronavirus-induced disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is still a major global health challenge. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent retroviral elements that were integrated into the ancestral human genome. HERVs are important in embryonic development as well as in the manifestation of diseases, including cancer, inflammation, and viral infections. Here, we analyze the expression of several HERVs in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells and observe increased activity of HERV-E, HERV-V, HERV-FRD, HERV-MER34, HERV-W, and HERV-K-HML2. In contrast, the HERV-R envelope is downregulated in cell-based models and PBMCs of COVID-19 patients. Overexpression of HERV-R inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication, suggesting its antiviral activity. Further analyses demonstrate the role of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in regulating HERV-R antiviral activity. Lastly, our data indicate that the crosstalk between ERK and p38 MAPK controls the synthesis of the HERV-R envelope protein, which in turn modulates SARS-CoV-2 replication. These findings suggest the role of the HERV-R envelope as a prosurvival host factor against SARS-CoV-2 and illustrate a possible advantage of integration and evolutionary maintenance of retroviral elements in the human genome.Copyright © 2023 The Authors.

Impact of Online Teaching on Mental Health and Quality of Life among Medical Teachers during COVID-19 Pandemic - A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Stress is the physiological and psychological response to internal or external stressors. The COVID 19 outbreak caused a sudden shutdown of conventionally designed medical teaching and new digital e-learning methods emerged which invariably affected the psychology of medical teachers. Aims and Objective: To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and distance teaching on the psychological status of medical teachers. Materials and Methods: A total of 322 medical teachers were included in the study;an online survey was conducted through a social media platform between April and May 2021. The online consent was obtained from all the participants. Participants were asked to complete a modified validated Google Form questionnaire with perceived stress scale (PSS-10) which is a classic stress assessment instrument. Results: The PSS-10 score was significantly high in the medical teachers who were using digital online e-learning methods first time during this COVID 19 pandemic lockdown. Male teachers reported more stress as compared to female teachers. Conclusion: Higher perceived stress among medical teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic should be acknowledged and strategies to mitigate it should be recommended. Proper counseling services should be available to support the mental health and well-being of faculty.

Mental health of medical students during corona virus disease-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Context: Human population is afflicted with Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic for last more than 1 year. Various measures were taken and restrictions were imposed by countries to break the chain of infection and to control this pandemic. Medical education has conventionally been considered challenging. Adding to it;hassles in teaching and fears and uncertainty about COVID-19 adversely affected the mental health of medical students during this pandemic. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the mental health of undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Settings and Design: This cross-sectional online survey was carried out on medical undergraduate students of Western Rajasthan using Google Form. Informed consent (online) was taken before enrolment for study. Materials and Methods: The students were sent the link to respond to the Google Form, which comprised questions seeking demographic details and items from depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21). Statistical Analysis Used: Frequencies and mean scores of depression, anxiety, and stress components of the DASS-21 scale were computed for the severity of scale according to the guidelines. The sociodemographic reasons predisposing the students to depression, anxiety, and stress were assessed using the Chi-square test. Statistical significance was set a priori at P < 0.05. Results: About 32.3% of the participants reported moderate-to-extremely severe depression, 41.5% reported moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety;while 11.6% reported moderate-to-extremely severe stress. Participants in the higher age group, younger batch, and urban residents were more likely to have depression. On the other hand, participants in higher age groups and females were more likely to have anxiety. Stress was found statistically higher in females and younger batch students. Conclusion: Students are facing challenging times and need to adapt to newer ways of distance education. Efficient time management, e-learning skills, following COVID norms, and getting vaccinated timely are the need of the hour for medical students. They should be provided regular psychological counseling and guidance to deal with stressful situations to prevent any untoward incidences.

Comparative analysis of forecasting models in healthcare (COVID-19)

Knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) is another name of Data mining. It is an interdisciplinary area which focuses on extraction of useful knowledge from data in every sector like health, education, business etc. There are many fields to explore like business, health care, e-commerce etc but nowadays, as covid pandemic is affecting everyone and due to surge in coronavirus cases causing shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supplies, vaccine and turning away patients from hospitals, put creaky health infrastructure in spotlight. The plenty of data is available in the medical field of these conditions. To analyse the problems, there are many data mining approaches which can be used to extract useful patterns from these types of data to follow the upcoming trends. This study is to compare the various models like KNN, improved RF model and multilayer perceptron by using SPSS and python software. The data of COVID-19 has been taken from Kaggle's website which is based on the symptoms and the forecasted results has been shown. In results and conclusion, the performance of every model has shown along with this, it also shows the models and mathematical algorithms in various fields of healthcare accordingly which can be used and benefitted in medical industries. © 2022 by the Author(s).

Behavioural consequences of verbally expressed and unexpressed customer rage emotions

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to distinguish those emotions which customers express verbally during a failed remote service encounter from those which they do not. The study further attempts to investigate the post-consumption customer behaviour of verbally expressed and unexpressed negative customer emotions. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used a survey-based research design. The hypotheses were tested through the “partial least squared structural equation modelling” method. Findings: This study shows that in a failed remote service encounter, customers verbally express retaliatory rage emotions, such as anger and rage. At the same time, they are able to suppress rancorous rage emotions, such as disgust and contempt and do not express them verbally. The authors demonstrate that after emotions are verbally expressed during a failed remote service encounter, they are followed by the post-consumption behaviours of negative word of mouth and revenge;when emotions are not expressed verbally during a failed service encounter, they are followed up by exit behaviour. Research limitations/implications: The effects of variables, such as switching costs and individual and situational factors, can be investigated in the model. Future studies can also explore the role of organizational interventions, such as explanation and apology, on negative customer emotions during failed remote service encounters. Their moderating impact on customer behaviour during and after the encounters can be investigated. Practical implications: This study has much practical relevance in the post-COVID-19 world, where remote service delivery is becoming the new normal in many sectors. In remote service delivery situations, verbally unexpressed negative emotions can remain undetected;however, they have negative consequences for firms. This study underscores the need to train frontline employees to notice these unexpressed emotions so that service recoveries can be initiated. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the area of dysfunctional customer behaviour and service recovery. The existing literature has not explored whether some negative emotions are expressed during a failed service encounter and then acted upon later, and some emotions are not expressed but acted upon later. This study addresses the problem of firms getting caught unawares when they find customers resorting to undesirable post-consumption behaviour without demonstrating any verbal expressions during the preceding failed service encounters. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

A Fuzzy Soft Set Theoretic Approach in Decision Making of Covid-19 Risk in Different Regions

In the present paper, we apply the theory of fuzzy soft sets to solve a decision making problem related to Covid-19. We give an example which shows that the method can be successfully applied to the burning problem of Covid-19 that contains uncertainties and find result regarding to the risk of Covid-19 in particular region.

A cross-sectional study on perspective of people towards the covid-19 induced nationwide lockdown in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India

Background: Almost one-third to half of the global population is now under some form of COVID-19 induced lockdown. The objective of this study was to assess the perspective of people in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India towards the COVID-19 induced nation-wide lockdown. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 159 residents of the state of Himachal Pradesh using snowball technique. The questionnaire was prepared through Google Forms and contained 21 perspective based questions. Results: Majority of the participants (96.2%) were found to be fully aware and satisfied (66.7%) with the implication of the nation-wide lockdown. It was also revealed that only few of the participants were working from home or taking online classes (18%). The percentage of participants facing mental and physical health issues were 55.3% and 49.7% respectively. Conclusion: The overall findings of the study revealed that even though most of the participants were fully aware and were satisfied with the implication of the nation-wide lockdown, there were some problems being faced by them. However, most of the participants agreed with the necessity of nationwide lockdown for the control of COVID-19.

Role of ayurveda in the era of COVID-19

Summary: Currently, we can see, covid19 is quite a concern because of its mortality and even morbidity rate. Since no cure is present till date it’s more important for people to take basic care to increase their immunity. One modality for prevention of such diseases can be through Ayurveda, which has different therapies and medicines to deal with diseases as well as measures to take basic care and to boost immunity of individuals. AYUSH helps with those basic methods in one’s life. This article discusses the necessity of ayurveda in order to cure this type of air born diseases. Ayurveda mainly emphasizes on body response to any cure as well as role of chakra healing in covid19. Susruta helps find chakras in our body and chakra helps to communicate with different diseases via factors like air, water, earth, fire etc. Ayurveda is the oldest cure and best way to connect body with mind and soul. It brings you more near to nature and helps you calm yourself in different situations. It also molds your perspective and the way we see things. Conclusion: Lifestyle adaptation with proper dincharya and ritucharya is quite effective to ensure healthy living and protect ourselves by building our immunity. Ayurveda acts as an immunity booster and effective in combating infectious diseases. © 2021, Institute of Medico-Legal Publications. All rights reserved.

Unfolding trends of covid-19 transmission in india: Critical review of available mathematical models

Background: There is a surge in epidemiological modeling research due to sudden onset of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. In the absence of any pharmaceutical interventions to control the epidemic, nonpharmaceutical interventions like containment, mitigation and suppression are tried and tested partners in epidemiological theories. But policy and planning needs estimates of disease burden in various scenarios in absence of real data and epidemiological models helps to fill this gap. Aims and Objectives: To review the models of COVID-19 prediction in Indian scenario, critically evaluate the range, concepts, strength and limitations of these prediction models and its potential policy implications. Results: Though we conducted data search for last three months, it was found that the predictive models reporting from Indian context have started publishing very recently. Majority of the Indian models predicted COVID-19 spread, projected best-, worst case scenario and forecasted effect of various preventive measurements such as lockdown and social distancing. Though the models provided some of the critical information regarding spread of the disease and fatality rate associated with COVID-19, it should be used with caution due to severe data gaps, distinct socio-demographic profiling of the population and diverse statistics of co-morbid condition. Conclusion: Although the models were designed to predict COVID spread, and claimed to be accurate, significant data gaps and need for adjust confounding variables such as effect of lockdown, risk factors and adherence to social distancing should be considered before generalizing the findings. Results of epidemiological models should be considered as guiding beacon instead of final destination. © 2020, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine. All rights reserved.