Robotic Systems Deployed to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

The COVID-19 epidemic has been deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It is triggered due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated and spread from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. At present, the entire world is struggling from this virus due to large confirmed positive and death cases of COVID-19. People of every nation have been isolated, and lockdowns are instituted. Despite the introduction of several precautionary measures, the spread of the virus is still increasing at an alarming pace. Although promising development has been made for the development of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, no vaccines have been reported to cure the infection. Different antiviral therapies have also been attempted but do not seem to be successful for every patient. To deter the dissemination and control the spread of virus, the frontline healthcare staff and police officers deployed numerous autonomous systems for an increased line of protection. Robots are deployed to conduct different operations including decontamination, package delivery, etc. It also acts as a mediator for two-way communication between the doctors and patients. Recent advancement in robotics for its application in healthcare facilities has been found very effective for the healthcare officials to communicate with the virus affected patients, and this literature has addressed it. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Robotic Systems Deployed to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

The COVID-19 epidemic has been deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It is triggered due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated and spread from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. At present, the entire world is struggling from this virus due to large confirmed positive and death cases of COVID-19. People of every nation have been isolated, and lockdowns are instituted. Despite the introduction of several precautionary measures, the spread of the virus is still increasing at an alarming pace. Although promising development has been made for the development of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, no vaccines have been reported to cure the infection. Different antiviral therapies have also been attempted but do not seem to be successful for every patient. To deter the dissemination and control the spread of virus, the frontline healthcare staff and police officers deployed numerous autonomous systems for an increased line of protection. Robots are deployed to conduct different operations including decontamination, package delivery, etc. It also acts as a mediator for two-way communication between the doctors and patients. Recent advancement in robotics for its application in healthcare facilities has been found very effective for the healthcare officials to communicate with the virus affected patients, and this literature has addressed it. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Events Tourism in the Eye of the COVID-19 Storm: Impacts and Implications

Events are considered to be integral parts of global tourism and currently they are experiencing massive turmoil in the form of cancellations or postponements thanks to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which has been declared as a pandemic of the 20th century. Despite its multifaceted nature, the implications of COVID-19 on various events have been understudied thanks to the novelty of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This paper undertakes a systematic review of scientific literature to discuss the recent developments in various global events amidst COVID-19 and the implications of the disease on event management. © 2022 by Apple Academic Press, Inc.

Fibrinolysis Shutdown Subtype of Early Allograft Dysfunction Represents the Predominant Cohort of Patients with Graft Failure Following Liver Transplantation

Purpose: Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) is associated with an increased rate of graft failure in liver transplantation (LT), but a mechanism remains unclear. Recent experience with COVID-19 has identified that microvascular clots related to fibrinolysis shutdown [ SD (lack of ability to break down clot)] drives organ failure, which can be treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). It remains unclear how SD interacts with EAD, and if it may be associated with a worse outcome in LT. We hypothesize that fibrinolysis shutdown with EAD would be an unfavorable combination with an increased risk of graft failure compared to patients with EAD without SD. Method(s): Adult liver transplant recipients underwent thrombelastography (TEG) on post-operative day-1 to assess for fibrinolysis shutdown. Fibrinolysis activity was quantified by the amount of clot strength lost from peak clot strength in 30-minutes (LY30) in the presence of tPA (75ng/ml). SD was defined as an LY30 of 0%, indicative or no fibrinolytic activity in the presence of a fibrinolytic activator (median LY30 = 8% in healthy volunteers). EAD was defined on laboratory measurements defined and validated by Olthoff et al. Graft survival analysis was conducted with logistic regression analysis when controlling for recipient severity of liver disease (MELD) and graft quality (donor risk index). Survival time was assessed with Kaplan Meier curve. Result(s): 230 liver transplant patient recipients with a median laboratory MELD of 23 were included in the analysis. Graft failure rate was 13% with a median follow up time of 345 days. EAD occurred in 31%, and SD was present in 45%. The combination of EAD and SD was associated with a 46% graft loss rate which was significantly higher than EAD without SD (8% p<0.001). When controlling for MELD, and donor risk index, EAD (OR 3.3 95%CI 1.3-8.4 p=0.014) and fibrinolysis shutdown (OR 2.9 95%CI 1.1-7.9 p=0.034) were independent predictors of graft failure. Graft survival times were significantly different when patients were stratified by EAD and SD (figure p<0.001). Conclusion(s): The combination of EAD and SD bodes poor prognosis following liver transplantation. The stark difference in survival warrants further investigation if activation of the fibrinolytic system can safely improve graft survival time in LT recipients with EAD without the risk of excessive bleeding. (Figure Presented).

EFFECT OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM ON LONG-TERM, ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN VETERAN SURVIVORS OF COVID-19

SESSION TITLE: Medications and Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COVID-19 Posters SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Posters PRESENTED ON: 10/18/2022 01:30 pm - 02:30 pm PURPOSE: Millions of people have survived COVID 19 infection and are living with post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC). Multi-disciplinary programs have been established to provide follow-up to these patients. Currently, there are limited data regarding the effectiveness of these programs and it is uncertain if there is a mortality benefit. Here, we explore if the enrollment of Veterans into a multi-disciplinary COVID-19 follow-up program influences long term all-cause mortality. METHODS: We designed a retrospective cohort study at the South Texas Veteran Health Care system (STVHCS) from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Participants in the study were Veterans who survived a COVID 19 infection after 30 days and were eligible for enrollment in the STVHCS Convalescence Program (“The Program”), which conducts multi-disciplinary follow up care. Patients who died <30 days after COVID 19 diagnosis were not eligible. The primary outcome of long term all-cause mortality was defined as mortality within 31-365 days after the diagnosis of a COVID 19 infection. Demographic differences and primary outcome between the two groups (enrolled versus non-enrolled in The Program) were analyzed using Chi square for categorical variables. Continuous variables were analyzed using Student’s t-test. RESULTS: In total 2253 patients were eligible for enrollment, of which 557 were enrolled and 1696 were not enrolled. Long term all-cause mortality between the groups was 6/557 (1.07%) in the enrolled group compared to 78/1696 (4.59%) in the non-enrolled group with a p value of <0.001. There was no statistical difference between the groups based on the average Charlson comorbidity index score, 2.12 vs 2.09 respectively, with a p value = 0.85. CONCLUSIONS: Enrollment of Veterans in a COVID 19 multidisciplinary follow-up program is associated with a significant decrease in long term all-cause mortality. These differences could not be explained by inherent differences between groups. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Our study shows the potential effectiveness of COVID-19 multidisciplinary follow-up programs to reduce long term all cause mortality in survivors of COVID. In addition there may be other benefits not yet explored such as reduction in symptom burden from COVID and decreased psychosocial distress. The generalizability of this study is limited by its observational study design, the voluntary nature of enrollment in the program and lack of non veterans in the population. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Ye Aung No relevant relationships by Ryan Choudhury No relevant relationships by Michael Mader No relevant relationships by Marcos Restrepo No relevant relationships by Sandra Sanchez-Reilly No relevant relationships by Monica Serra No relevant relationships by Ana Lucia Siu Chang No relevant relationships by Hanh Trinh

19th Annual Melhus Symposium: data driven plant health

The I. E. Melhus Symposium is a prestigious event that takes place as part of the annual meeting of the American Phytopathology Society. The 19th symposium highlights some of the best and brightest graduate students in epidemiology on the theme Data Driven Plant Health. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire meeting was online. Despite the challenges, the awardees successfully presented their research to a live online audience of more than 150 attendees. The five research projects are collected in this issue of Plant Health Progress.

A case of Post-COVID-19 thyrotoxicosis and a cavalcade of complications

Thyroid dysfunction has been reported following COVID-19 infection in the recent past. A 50 year old hypertensive female with no previous thyroid illness, developed features of thyrotoxicosis two weeks after a COVID-19 infection. There was no thyromegaly, neck pain or fever and her ESR was 15 mm/hour. She was initiated on propranolol and methimazole in an outside hospital. Ten days later, she presented to our hospital with fever, sore throat, cough and breathing difficulty. On evaluation she was found to be in neutropenic sepsis (WBC -820 cells/mm3, ANC-6 cells/mm3). Evaluation of thyroid functions showed: TSH- <0.00025 IU/ml, free T3 - 4.17 pg/ml, free T4- 3.59 ng/ml and Thyroid Receptor Antibody Levels (TRAb)- 2.53 IU/L. Following treatment with colony stimulating factors and antibiotics she recovered. The patient was commenced on lithium bicarbonate and cholestyramine, along with propranolol. On follow up in the OPD she is euthyroid with free T4 1.43 ng/ml (normal) levels. Post COVID-19 thyrotoxicosis in this case is likely due to Graves' disease. Thyrotoxicosis following COVID-19 is now being recognised and is possibly due to infection induced molecular mimicry with activation of immune pathways causing autoimmune disorders.

Privacy-Preserving Spatio-Temporal Patient Data Publishing

As more data become available to the public, the value of information seems to be diminishing with concern over what constitute privacy of individual. Despite benefit to data publishing, preserving privacy of individuals remains a major concern because linking of data from heterogeneous source become easier due to the vast availability of artificial intelligence tools. In this paper, we focus on preserving privacy of spatio-temporal data publishing. Specifically, we present a framework consisting of (i) a 5-level temporal hierarchy to protect the temporal attributes and (ii) temporal representative point (TRP) differential privacy to protect the spatial attributes. Evaluation results on big datasets show that our framework keeps a good balance of utility and privacy. To a further extent, our solution is expected be extendable for privacypreserving data publishing for the spatio-temporal data of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

An observational analysis of suicidal deaths during COVID 19 pandemic lockdown at Lucknow, India

COVID 19 Pandemic has affected the global population.. In this paper we have tried to study the possible contributing factors to suicides along with the demographic data of people committing suicides. Aim of the study-to analyse the role and magnitude of severity of these factors contributing to suicides and devising possible strategies to help the vulnerable groups to cope with such situations in future. Material &methods-We had conducted an observational analysis of suicidal deaths which occurred in Lucknow during the Lockdown period in India. Observations-A total 59 suicides were reported in Lucknow during the lockdown period of 69 days. Majority of suicides were done by Hanging (93.2%), Economic factors accounted for 49.2%, domestic conflicts 23.7%, psychological and emotional factors (27.1%). Conclusion-we should try to develop strategies and appropriate and timely interventions to eliminate the contributing predisposing factors to suicide. © 2020, Institute of Medico-Legal Publications. All rights reserved.

Risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality outcomes of COVID-19 patients on the 28th day of the disease course: a retrospective cohort study in Bangladesh.

Diverse risk factors intercede the outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We conducted this retrospective cohort study with a cohort of 1016 COVID-19 patients diagnosed in May 2020 to identify the risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality outcomes. Data were collected by telephone-interview and reviewing records using a questionnaire and checklist. The study identified morbidity and mortality risk factors on the 28th day of the disease course. The majority of the patients were male (64.1%) and belonged to the age group 25-39 years (39.4%). Urban patients were higher in proportion than rural (69.3% vs. 30.7%). Major comorbidities included 35.0% diabetes mellitus (DM), 28.4% hypertension (HTN), 16.6% chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and 7.8% coronary heart disease (CHD). The morbidity rate (not-cured) was 6.0%, and the mortality rate (non-survivor) was 2.5%. Morbidity risk factors included elderly (AOR = 2.56, 95% CI = 1.31-4.99), having comorbidity (AOR = 1.43, 95% CI = 0.83-2.47), and smokeless tobacco use (AOR = 2.17, 95% CI = 0.84-5.61). The morbidity risk was higher with COPD (RR = 2.68), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (RR = 3.33) and chronic liver disease (CLD) (RR = 3.99). Mortality risk factors included elderly (AOR = 7.56, 95% CI = 3.19-17.92), having comorbidity (AOR = 5.27, 95% CI = 1.88-14.79) and SLT use (AOR = 1.93, 95% CI = 0.50-7.46). The mortality risk was higher with COPD (RR = 7.30), DM (RR = 2.63), CHD (RR = 4.65), HTN (RR = 3.38), CKD (RR = 9.03), CLD (RR = 10.52) and malignant diseases (RR = 9.73). We must espouse programme interventions considering the morbidity and mortality risk factors to condense the aggressive outcomes of COVID-19.