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Context: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is still a cause of worldwide health concern. Diabetes and its associated comorbidities are risk factors for mortality and morbidity in COVID-19. Selecting the right antidiabetic drug to achieve optimal glycemic control might mitigate some of the negative impacts of diabetes. Metformin continues to be the most widely administered antidiabetic agent. There is evidence of its beneficial outcome in COVID-19 independent of its glucose-lowering effect. Evidence Acquisition: A thorough literature search was conducted in PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science to identify studies investigating metformin in COVID-19. Result(s): Several overlapping mechanisms have been proposed to explain its antiviral properties. It could bring about conformational changes in the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptor and decrease viral entry. The effects on the mammalian target of the rapamycin pathway and cellular pH have been proposed to reduce viral protein synthesis and replication. The immunomodulatory effects of metformin might counter the detrimental effects of hyperinflammation associated with COVID-19. Conclusion(s): These findings call for broader metformin usage to manage hyperglycemia in COVID-19.Copyright © 2023, International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
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A level 1 pediatric trauma registry database was examined for all non-accidental trauma (NAT) emergency department visits between 2016 and 2021, and average injury severity score assigned to those patients with physical injuries over 2019-2021. There was a decline in NAT visits in 2020 (267) from prior years (343 visits average over 2016-2019), with subsequent increase in 2021 (548). Injury severity score increased (ISS) in 2020 (7.3) when compared to 2019 (5.71), with a decline in average ISS in 2021 (5.42). This data highlights the potential for missed abuse during closures with increased detection following reopening. Our data regarding ISS demonstrates the pediatric population is at risk of more severe abuse during times of familial stress. We need increased awareness that periods of vulnerability to NAT exist, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Purpose: COVID-19 paved the way for a hybrid work model;wherein employees can work from the office or work from home, or work from anywhere. The model of working from anywhere offers flexibility and autonomy to employees to a great extent. However, its ramifications and consequences pertaining to the health of the employees are yet to be fully explored. This study tries to understand the impact of work from anywhere on employees' health. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Data was collected from 112 people who have worked in both work from office and work from home models. The analytic Hierarchy Process was used for data analysis. Findings: AHP analysis of mental health data considering stress, anxiety, and worry shows that mental health is better during work from anywhere than working from the office. Analysis of emotional health using AHP shows that emotional health is better during work from anywhere than during work from the office, based on employee relationships. It is evident from spiritual health data that spiritual health did improve during work from anywhere as compared to working from office. It is also clear that financial health is better during work from anywhere when compared with working from the office, which depends on employees' savings and expenditures. Originality/ Value: The research contributes significantly to organizations that are adopting a hybrid work model. © 2023, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.
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The quality of e-content had been identified as one of the major constructs impacting the quality of e-learning and students' satisfaction. During the time of Covid 19 pandemic, a surge in the development of e-contents had been noted. Moreover, the new scenario also pushed the debate on the quality of e-learning that directly or indirectly included the issue of the quality of e-content. The present study aimed to assess the quality of e-contents prepared during the pandemic period for higher education students in India against the standards laid down by different studies and models of e-content development. A manifest analysis approach as a part of the quantitative content analysis method was employed. The sample size consisted of 60 e-contents from the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of education discipline. Half (50%) of the e-contents selected from e-content repository and remaining 50% were collected from faculty of HEIs directly. A three-stage selection criterion was formulated to select the e-contents from both sources. In agreement with the three categories of quality assessment (standard, substandard and not-suitable), only 23.3% of e-contents were found of standard quality. Two factors could be attributed mainly to this poor quality of e-contents, one was the lack of training to developers of e-content and the second was the lack of quality control mechanisms for developing e-contents at the institutes of higher education in India. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
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The concept of Training, Motivation, and Performance are the variables examined under the study to evaluate the employee performance. Productivity is one of the most significant elements that influence the organization's general performance, which compromises with different elements like training, attitude, motivation, and work environment for creativity contribute to the overall success of the employees. The current examination explores the impact of worker proficiency and efficiency of training and motivation. A questionnaire was administered during pandemic to employees to identify the perceived level of training and motivation that emphasizes the overall performance. The three variables were estimated on a five-point Likert scale choice. Five were the most important (strongly agree), and one being the least important (strongly disagree). The sample of the questionnaire schedule was self-prepared. The study result shows that training and motivation positively impact the effectiveness and efficiency of the employees. Also, the study features the training and development procedure of the financial area that should utilize to proper workers and increment their performance and analyzes the needs of training and motivation in the workplace.Copyright © 2022 Novyi Russkii Universitet. All rights reserved.
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A convolutional neural network (CNN) has one or more layers and is mainly used for image processing, classification, segmentation. CNN is commonly used for satellite image capturing or classifying hand written letters and digits. In this particular project, a convolutional neural network is trained to predict whether a person is wearing a mask or not. The training is done by using a set of masked and unmasked images which constitutes the training data. The performance of the trained model is evaluated on the test dataset, and the accuracy of the prediction is observed. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially affected the antibiotic stewardship activities in most hospitals of India. Aims: We conducted an antibiotic point prevalence survey (PPS) immediately after the decline of a major COVID-19 wave at a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. By doing so we aimed to identify the antibiotic prescription patterns, identify factors influencing the choice of antibiotics, and identify/develop strategies to improve the antibiotic stewardship program in such setups. Methods: The PPS was single-centred, cross-sectional, and retrospective in nature. Patients admitted in various wards and intensive care units (ICUs) between September 2021 to October 2021 were included in our PPS. Results: Of the included 460 patients, 192 were prescribed antibiotics. Of these 192 patients, ICU-admitted patients had the highest number of antibiotics prescribed i.e. 2.09 ± 0.92. Only a minor fraction (7.92 %) of antibiotics prescriptions were on the basis of culture reports. Most of the antibiotics were prescribed empirically by the parenteral route. The most common group of antibiotics prescribed were third-generation cephalosporins. Carbapenems were the most common designated antibiotics prescribed. A large number of patients (22.40 %) were prescribed a double anaerobic coverage. Conclusion: The strategies that we identified to improve the antibiotic stewardship program at our institute included reviving the culture of sending culture reports to prescribe antibiotics, improving surgical prophylaxis guidelines, training resident doctors to categorize antibiotic prescriptions appropriately, closely monitoring prescriptions providing double anaerobic coverage, and improving the electronic medical record system for improving prescription auditing.
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Countless businesses exist only to serve the varying demands of the world's customers, and those consumers find themselves constantly bombarded by an overwhelming selection of goods and brands. The brand distinguishes the company from its rivals and aids consumers in making educated purchasing decisions. However, when faced with a catastrophic event like the COVID-19 outbreak, consumers' assessment criteria shifted in response to shifting priorities and circumstances. As a result, shoppers are rethinking their brand loyalties and choosing new ones. This article used the brand archetype framework to determine what factors customers value during times of crisis. It also used the brand archetype framework to identify the elements consumers consider important during a crisis. Data were collected from 207 respondents and using the Relative to an Identified Distribution (RIDIT) approach, the top-rated brand elements were identified based on level of importance or agreement. This study will help practitioners incorporate the identified elements into their brand image. Their subsequent actions will help them remain relevant and essential for their consumers, even in challenging situations. © 2023, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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Firstly, the motive behind this research is to know about the factors that lead to Job Satisfaction;secondly, the most authoritative factor of Job Satisfaction;thirdly, to find out which generation is the most satisfied with their current job across different generations of people. The study provides a descriptive and comparative analysis of working professionals during pandemic from all domains, industries, gender, age, and sectors across India selected based on random sampling using quantitative research methods. It aims to analyze the results on SPSS based on a survey in a close-ended and Likert-scale based questionnaire. Baby boomers are the most satisfied with their job. Generation X is satisfied but lesser than Baby Boomers. Generation Y and Generation Z are not satisfied. Still, Millennials are more satisfied than Generation Z. Their dominant factor for job satisfaction is Job Security, Work Culture, Equality, and Career Growth Opportunities. Not much research has been done on Gen Z by researchers, as they are young and will be entering the market. This study focuses on Gen Z. The findings will help analyze people of different ages to their work and participation levels. The HR could formulate their policies and practices according to the findings generated, which will help reshape their reward structure, decide how they can manage talent, control bad attrition, and a basis for further research, if anyone wants to study particularly about one factor.
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BACKGROUND: Currently, AVFs are created by vascular surgeons urologists and nephrologists. Nephrologists may be better placed to create AVFs and conduct follow-up as they re well versed with the usage of AVF. AIM OF THE STUDY: This observational prospective study aims to find the outcome of AVFs created by nephrologists over two years in a tertiary level hospital. METHOD(S): All the patients in whom an AVF was created by nephrologists between March 2020 and August 2022 were included. On the day of surgery vitals were recorded and vein mapping was done. Side-to-side anastomosis with 6-0 proline between artery and vein were performed under local anesthesia in a single sitting. Patients were observed for post-op complications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, RT PCR was only performed in suspected in suspected patients indentified during screening. All patients staff and surgeons wore N-95 masks in addition to usual sterile measures. Patients were followed up at 6th week and 12th week post-AVF construction to do clinical examination and evaluate blood flow diameter of AVF by high-quality Doppler. Patients were asked to use AVF for dialysis after 6th week of creation after they have matured. AVF maturation was defined radiologically as a combination of blood flow of 600 ml/min and diameter of 6 mm or more and clinically usable. Else it was considered immature. Primary failure was defined as AVFs that had not matured till 12th week of creation. All the data were analyzed by appropriate statistical tools using the SPSS software RESULTS: A total of 1323 fistulae (including 376 during COVID-19 pandemic) were created in 1102 patients. Of them 928 (84.21%) were males, and 537 (48.72%) of the patients were having underlying diabetes mellitus. A total of 1008 (76.19%) were radio-cephalic while 262 (19.8%), 19 (1.43%) were brachio-cephalic, and brachio-basilic respectively. 1013 (76.56%) fistulae were left sided. 944 (85.66%) were already on hemodialysis while 158 (14.33%) were planned for elective initiation after fistula maturation. Of the 1102 patients, 150 patients required fistula creation twice, 17 patients thrice, and 4 patients underwent fistula creation four times. Out of 556 (50.45%) patients who completed three months follow-up, 65 patients (11.69%) expired. Primary failure was observed in 107 (19.21%) fistulae and 24 (4.30%) patients developed local site infection. 8 (1.43%) and 4 (0.71%) patients developed fistula rupture and aneurysms respectively requiring admission for AVF closure. Mean AVF blood flow and diameter were 674.92 +/- 317.40 and 5.42 +/- 1.33 at 6th week and 983.60 +/- 289.41 and 9.36 +/- 54.58 at 12th week respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, out of 376, 15 (7.1%) patients were found to be COVID-19 positive during follow-up, and only 2 out of 18 staff and 4 nephrologists were found to COVID-19 positive. CONCLUSION(S): Nephrologists are well positioned to create AVFs successfully. However, collaboration with vascular surgeons and radiologists will further improve the success rate and management of complications. AVF creation is safe during pandemics and should be continued.
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Introduction: Vaccines play an important role in the fight against diseases whose cure is unavailable. In the battle against pandemics such as Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), the vaccine is the only available course of prevention. The hesitancy has been found all over the world, while some find it against their religious values, others are concerned about safety, or have doubts about its efficacy. Some are hesitant due to fear of needles while some show brass negligence. Being the second most populated country globally and a developing nation, India had faced its fair share of struggles with her citizens vaccinated. Even a minute percentage of people accounts for millions;hence, it is of utmost importance to get to the root of the causes of delay in vaccination.Aim: To find the causes of delay or hesitancy among the people attending COVID-19 vaccination centre of a tertiary care hospital of Kolkata, (a year after vaccines were introduced to the general population).Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in the COVID-19 vaccination centre of Medical College Kolkata, West Bengal, India, from 14th January to 14th April 2022. Total 74 non medical (not related to healthcare work) people who had come for 1st or 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccination were included in the study. A prestructured, pretested, prevalidated questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants of the study. The Likert scale comprising of nine questions were used to assess hesitancy. Data were analysed using Chi-square test. Binary logistic regression was done to confirm any predictability of occupation, literacy rate, age and gender on vaccine hesitancy.Results: The participants comprised of 45 (60.8%) females and 29 (39.2%) males, aged between 18 to 60 years with the mean age of 33.75 +/- 11.06 years. The participants included 22 (29.7%) people who had just taken their first dose. Twenty six (35.1%) participants were hesitant. The most common causes of hesitancy were individuals' fear of the vaccine and its impact on general health, unavailability of slots for vaccination and reluctance. Out of total, 58 (78.4%) people had faith in vaccines made in India and 48 (64.9%) persons believed that the vaccine would provide complete protection against COVID-19.Conclusion: People were mainly concerned about safety issues as adequate and reliable information was not available to them. Some of them ignored the importance of vaccination while some could not get vaccinated due to the unavailability of slots.
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"With the progress of telecommunications and capabilities of technological gadgets, a sea change has arrived in the consumer behaviour of Indians especially with regard to media products. The COVID 19 and the ensuing lockdown have made consumers eager regarding ""Over The Top"" (OTT) players. This eagerness has led to a battle between different OTT players to get a slice of the consumer's wallet. This paper has attempted to study student study consumer behavior in OTT space with special emphasis on the Indian state of West Bengal. It has tried to delve into different OTT features, their impact on student consumer behaviour and their willingness to consume OTT products.With the pandemic still looming on our planet, it can be hoped that this paper will be a reflector for OTT players to understand West Bengal's student consumer behaviour in a better manner. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved."
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A convolutional neural network (CNN) has one or more layers and is mainly used for image processing, classification, segmentation. CNN is commonly used for satellite image capturing or classifying hand written letters and digits. In this particular project, a convolutional neural network is trained to predict whether a person is wearing a mask or not. The training is done by using a set of masked and unmasked images which constitutes the training data. The performance of the trained model is evaluated on the test dataset, and the accuracy of the prediction is observed.
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Introduction: Hybrid Problem-Based Learning (h-PBL) is a type of teaching-learning technique that incorporates both in-person learning and virtual learning via hybrid classroom tools. It reportedly increases student engagement, positively impact their learning process and improve communication skills. During Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) times, its applicability was further enhanced as it allowed the flexibility of teaching as well as learning from home to both teachers and students. Aim: To assess the perception and experience of 2nd phase MBBS students after undergoing training by the h-PBL method. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2nd phase MBBS students in the Department of Microbiology at College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kolkata from 15th March to 14th April 2022. A total of 111 students of 2nd phase MBBS of the college gave an informed consent to be part of the study. All inductees underwent a structured training by h-PBL technique following which their perception and experience about the exercise was sought via questionnaire. Data were presented in frequency and percentage. Association between mean scores of male and female participants was calculated by Chi-square test. Results: Out of the 111 participants, 58 (52.2%) were male and 53 (47.8%) were female with mean age of 19.5±0.5 years (range 18-22 years). The h-PBL technique was perceived to be motivating for self-directed learning by 97 (85.6%) of the respondents. A total of 107 (96.4%) students agreed that h-PBL is more effective than traditional teaching for acquiring both theoretical and practical knowledge, learning and understanding topics correctly and also identifying and rectifying their deficiencies in knowledge and skills. More than 90% participants (102 of 111) felt that h-PBL has more potential than traditional teaching to establish fruitful student-teacher interaction and provide better feedback opportunities. Overall student satisfaction in our study showed 96.4% agreement (107 of 111). Conclusion: The students considered h-PBL model to be better than traditional teaching to help them acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills. They also felt that it improved their communication skills, teamwork ethics and motivated them to undertake self-directed learning.
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Since the emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019, scientists have tracked five variants of concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2. The variants such as B.1.1.7 and B.1.617.2 primarily originated independently from the United Kingdom and India, respectively, and subsequently became dominant across the globe. The adaptability of these variants depends on their relative survival fitness to the positive selection pressure acting on them. Antiviral drugs and vaccine usage might act as a selective environment, thus, facilitating the positive selection resulting in the rapid emergence of new variants with higher fitness and survival value. The recently emerged VOC, the omicron variant (B.1.1.529), was first reported from South African samples, and it has a large number of mutations some of which are concerning as per the preliminary evidence. Owing to the dynamism of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, we may expect many unexpected events as far as the emergence of variants, virulence, and transmissibility is concerned. However, as an evolutionary trade-off strategy, the virulence of SARS-CoV-2 might get reduced with an increase in the transmissibility to attain a wider host range. The intermingling of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals provides the virus opportunity to amplify by infecting the unvaccinated individuals and causing breakthrough infections. Moreover, the prevalence of different variants of SARS-CoV-2 has been different in different geographic zones as far as the cases and causalities are concerned. Sustained viral surveillance and monitoring with region-wise variant-specific preventive strategies are required to prevent and contain the outbreak of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2. © 2022 Indian Society for Malaria and Communicable Diseases. All rights reserved.
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In this expository essay, we argue that the pandemic has brought out in sharp relief certain particulars about current conditions of work and employment that often remain substratal. Using work situations of individuals as our analytical lens, we study the differences in Covid experiences of working populations in the Global North and the Global South. For this study, we interrogate the familiar notions of ‘work’ and ‘employment’. Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing disjuncture between these two categories, with certain fundamental and wide-ranging changes taking place in the nature of work and relations of employment. We draw from critical studies on these issues to develop our idea of work situation. This concept is predicated on the nature of work performed, the circumstance under which work is performed, and the position that a working individual occupies within the economic processes of production and distribution. We posit that these factors shape the conditions of precarity in livelihood conditions and chances of disease exposure that we observe during the pandemic. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Rajib Bhattacharyya, Ananya Ghosh Dastidar and Soumyen Sikdar;individual chapters, the contributors.