ABSTRACT
Recently, a large portion of the world's population has experienced an unprecedented devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of its outbreak, not much was known about this disease and therefore, quarantine and social distancing were the only ways suggested to prevent its spread among humans. Although the current situation is much better than before however, strict social distancing norms as well as frequent long-lasting lockdowns with stringent guidelines and actions to control the spread in the early days have affected the physical and psychological health of the people. Consequently, this study was carried out to attain the following major objectives: (i) to identify the potential psychological problems/factors that might have been caused due to COVID-19 led social distancing and lockdowns, and (ii) to determine the ranks of the identified psychological factors to reflect their degree of criticality. The first objective was achieved by gathering information about the potential psychological factors from the experts. Data, in terms of linguistic variables, was collected from the experts and analyzed using two fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods i.e. Fuzzy Best Worst Method (F-BWM) and Fuzzy TOPSIS (F-TOPSIS) which led to the accomplishment of the second objective. The results of this study revealed that anxiety, stress, panic attacks, frustration, and insomnia were the top five critical psychological factors that might have affected people due to this pandemic. Consistency of the results was ensured by comparing the obtained ranks with the ranks found using the Fuzzy WSM and Fuzzy MABAC methods. In addition, the robustness of the results was ascertained by conducting the sensitivity analysis. Based on the findings of the study, the identified factors were categorized into most, average, and least critical psychological factors. This research might help the relevant authorities to understand the extent of the seriousness of the various psychological factors caused by this pandemic, so that an effective strategy may be developed for better management, control, and safety. © 2022 The Authors
ABSTRACT
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 which is the source of pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 has engulfed almost whole world. This virus was first reported in Wuhan city (China) in December 2019. Since the discovery of the virus, till today the researchers and scientists have been working to develop new vaccines or therapeutic agents against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. However, thus far no vaccine has emerged that can be approved to treat or prevent coronavirus disease 2019. Due to lack of specific preventative and therapeutic options for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019, the use of convalescent plasma therapy may be of great benefit in the current situation. Previous use of immune plasma has resulted in successful treatment of hemagglutinin type 1 and neuraminidase type 1 influenza virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 epidemics. In the current scenario raised by coronavirus disease 2019, the convalescent plasma therapy has been applied successfully among many patients across various regions. This article presents an up-to-date review of existing literature on recovery through convalescent plasma as a treatment of choice, safety and its efficacy, possibility and its challenges for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. © 2022 Indian Pharmaceutical Association. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The spread and threat of COVID-19 has brought the world under standstill. Educational institutions are not exempt. The pandemic has forced the universities to transform from traditional teaching-learning methods to web-based digital teaching-learning methods. Claims are being made that future teaching would be fully online rather than traditional or in-class mode. There are many challenges in implementation of online classes and at the same time there are possibilities to enhance the knowledge and resources required to build the global online education network. This paper reviews the challenges and possibilities in teaching and learning online, various technological tools and their outcome practiced by the academicians to conduct the lectures and assessment activities. A special attention has been paid to the impact COVID-19 on mental health and anxiety among the staff and student community.
ABSTRACT
SARS-COV-2 (Coronavirus) viral growth kinetics within-host become a key fact to understand the COVID-19 disease progression and disease severity since the year 2020. Quantitative analysis of the viral dynamics has not yet been able to provide sufficient information on the disease severity in the host. The SARS-CoV-2 dynamics are therefore important to study in the context of immune surveillance by developing a mathematical model. This paper aims to develop such a mathematical model to analyse the interaction between the immune system and SARS-CoV-2 within the host. The model is developed to explore the viral load dynamics within the host by considering the role of natural killer cells and T-cell. Through analytical simplifications, the model is found well-posed and asymptotically stable at disease-free equilibrium. The numerical results demonstrate that the influx of external natural killer (NK) cells alone or integrating with anti-viral therapy plays a vital role in suppressing the SARS-CoV-2 growth within-host. Also, within the host, the virus can not grow if the virus replication rate is below a threshold limit. The developed model will contribute to understanding the disease dynamics and help to establish various potential treatment strategies against COVID-19. © 2022 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press.
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 has spread to several countries within a considerably short period. The virus gets deposited in the human nasal cavity and moves to the lungs that might be fatal. As per safety guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO), social distancing has emerged as one of the major factors to avoid the spread of infection. However, different guidelines are being followed across the countries with regards to what should be the safe distance. Thus, the current work is an attempt to understand the virus deposition pattern in the realistic human nasal cavity and also to find the impact of distance that could be termed as a safety measure. This study is performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics as a solution tool to investigate the impact of COVID-19 deposition (i) On a realistic 3D human upper airway model and (ii) 2D social distancing protocol for a distance of 0.6, 1.2, 1.8, and 2.4 m. The results revealed that the regional deposition flux within the nasal cavity was predominantly observed in the external nasal cavity and nasopharyngeal section. Frequent flushing of these regions with saltwater substitutes can limit contamination in healthy individuals. The safe distancing limit estimated with 1 m/s airflow was about 1.8 m. The extensive deposition was observed for distances less than 1.8 m in this study, emphasizing the fact that social distancing advisories are not useful and do not take into account the external dynamics associated with airflow. © 2020 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.