A Review About Equipment for Mechanical Ventilation in Intensive Care to Combat COVID-19 and the Role of Clinical Engineers

The current health crisis caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has created a great demand to widely explore the mechanisms of mechanical ventilation for life support in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This work describes the basic concepts of the mechanical ventilation process and a brief technical description of both invasive and non-invasive ventilator. Additionally, describes the importance of this therapy as it is the main mechanism for assisting patients in a critical state of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It also presents approaches that have been considered to meet the current demands and prevent the collapse of the health system. Finally, it presents the responsibilities of clinical engineers in this scenario. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Importance of Sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Using the Nanopore Technique to Understand Its Origin, Evolution and Development of Possible Cures

The sequencing of the genome of new virus, such as the coronavirus type 2 of the acute severe respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), is essential and of great importance to mitigate new zoonotic outbreaks, which are caused by mutations present in structural and non-structural proteins that make up the viruses. Sequencing allows tracking the behavior of the virus locally and globally, knowing the route of transmission and spread of the virus, and determine the virulence rate. Current studies have been carried out, using first, second or third generation sequencing techniques, which have allowed reading and analyzing the nucleotides that make up the virus genome. Thus, the benefits of effective technologies to know its genetic composition in the shortest possible time become evident. New technologies are able to monitor an epidemic in real time, monitor the evolution and efficacy of a drug, the development of a vaccine as well as epidemiological advances. This work addresses the Oxford Nanopore sequencing, which is considered the most efficient and applied method for sequencing viruses that cause epidemics. Some of the advantages of using this sequencing are highlighted in this work, such as the ability to perform long readings and be able to obtain sample responses in short time. It’s also able to discover as much information as possible about the pathogen, being an important feature to deal with public health emergencies, such is the case of the COVID-19. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Review About the Main Technologies to Fight COVID-19

This work presents a review about research published from the last five months (January–May 2020) about technologies used during the pandemic to fight the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, termed COVID-19. Through an analysis of these studies, Telemedicine was considered as a viable option to decrease the dissemination of the virus and identify infected people. However, to implant Telemedicine worldwide, it is necessary a fast and reliable way to transfer of large amounts of data, such as the new fifth generation of mobile communications (5G). Thus, new concepts as Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and the Electronic Health (e-Health) can be used, which have the necessary structures and tools for fast communication, with high-resolution, between patients and health professionals. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.