ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) disproportionately struck minority populations.It is important to find out the determinants of such differences in outcomes. Methods:We collected data on 403 hospitalized COVID19 patients at Howard University Hospital.Statistical analysis of symptoms, comorbidities, and lethality was performed using SPSS.Results: There were 257 (63.7%) African Americans (AAs), 102 (25.3%) Hispanics, and 26(6.45%) Whites. The mean age was 55.6 years old (+/-18.5). However, the Hispanic's meanage was the lowest (43.66 years vs. 61.23 for Whites vs. 60 for AAs). 64 (15.8%) patientsdied. Age and race were risk factors for poor outcomes. Elevated Creatinine, Ferritin, CRPand D-dimers were associated with death (35.75% vs. 2.61%), (24.72% vs. 9.9%), (22.7%vs. 7.8%), and (21% vs. 0%), respectively. Hydroxychloroquine treatment did not associatewith a better prognosis (25.92% vs. 14.23%). Abdominal pain, anorexia, diarrhea, nausea,and vomiting did not have any effect on the outcome. Elevated liver enzymes associatedwith poor outcome. There was more mortality in patients with cardiac diseases (25.67%vs. 14.33). Immunocompromised patients had a higher mortality rate (40% vs. 15.31%).Cough and fever were the top symptoms in our patients, but they were unrelated to theoutcome. As for treatment, patients receiving glucocorticoid displayed higher mortality(39.1% vs. 11.8%). Also, patients with shortness of breath (21.6 vs. 7.3%), those undergoingIntubation (66.6% vs. 14.5%), and mechanical ventilation (70.1% vs. 5.1%) had a highmortality rate. Conclusion: Overall, elevated liver enzymes, ferritin, CRP, and D-dimers arerobust markers of poor prognosis. The African Americans in our study displayed the highestmortality as they consisted of an older population when compared to the Hispanic group.GI symptoms did not correlate with outcome, however, they are likely important to followas the virus persists within the GI system, even after clearing from the respiratory system.
ABSTRACT
It is true that the world we have today is not the world we use to know. The Covid-19 pandemic has paralyzed all sector, hence the need for safety and enabling environment for mankind is of high importance. Adsorption technology is far the best and cheapest treatment technology for water and has extensively proven its worth for the uptake of micro-pollutant from surface, ground and water which are the major channels of home water. Over the years activated carbon is considered as the most common and universally used adsorbent for the eradication of different types of micro-pollutants from water. The contamination of surface water by micro-pollutant is a potential threat for the production of high quality and safe drinking water. Adsorption operation onto granulated activated carbon (GAC) in fixed-bed filters is often applied as a remedying step in the synthesis of safe and drinkable water. Activated carbon actively tends to act as a carrier material for a thin usually resistant layer of microorganisms (mostly bacteria) that forms on the coat of various surfaces (biofilm), hence biological simplification can be an alternative removal approach that can be adopted in granulated activated carbon filters. To evaluate the capacity of biofilm to biologically simplify micro-pollutants, it is very imperative to distinguish adsorption from biological simplification (biodegradation) as a removal mechanism. Experiment was carried out under the operating condition of a temperature range of 6?C to 20?C with biologically activated and autoclaved GAC to assess the biological simplification by the biofilm adsorbed on the GAC surface. Five micro-pollutants were selected as model compounds, of which some of them were biologically simplified by the GAC biofilm. Additionally, we observed that temperature can increase or decrease adsorption. Conclusively, comparison was made on the adsorption capacity of granulated activated carbon used for more than 50,000 beds.