Analysis of High-Resolution CT Images of COVID-19 Patients

This research work is carried out to quantify the COVID-19 disease and to explore whether the quantitative can be used to analyze the survivability of the patient during admission. In this method, a novel percentage split distribution (PSD), thresholding-based image segmentation method is proposed to quantify normal and lesion regions by analyzing the benign GGOs. The method segments the lung-CT image based on pixel distribution. The segmented regions are quantified as a fraction of region of interest with total number of pixels. The study is also extended to analyze the left and right lungs separately with some common findings on lesion distribution involved with COVID-19 disease. The performance of PSD method has been compared with two traditional image segmentation-based methods. From the results, it has been observed that the segments created by the PSD method are better than experimental methods and clearly identify the margins of lesion and normal regions. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Efficacy and Safety of an Ad26.RSV.preF-RSV preF Protein Vaccine in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause serious lower respiratory tract disease in older adults, but no licensed RSV vaccine currently exists. An adenovirus serotype 26 RSV vector encoding a prefusion F (preF) protein (Ad26.RSV.preF) in combination with RSV preF protein was previously shown to elicit humoral and cellular immunogenicity. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2b, proof-of-concept trial to evaluate the efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety of an Ad26.RSV.preF-RSV preF protein vaccine. Adults who were 65 years of age or older were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive vaccine or placebo. The primary end point was the first occurrence of RSV-mediated lower respiratory tract disease that met one of three case definitions: three or more symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection (definition 1), two or more symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection (definition 2), and either two or more symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection or one or more symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection plus at least one systemic symptom (definition 3). RESULTS: Overall, 5782 participants were enrolled and received an injection. RSV-mediated lower respiratory tract disease meeting case definitions 1, 2, and 3 occurred in 6, 10, and 13 vaccine recipients and in 30, 40, and 43 placebo recipients, respectively. Vaccine efficacy was 80.0% (94.2% confidence interval [CI], 52.2 to 92.9), 75.0% (94.2% CI, 50.1 to 88.5), and 69.8% (94.2% CI, 43.7 to 84.7) for case definitions 1, 2, and 3, respectively. After vaccination, RSV A2 neutralizing antibody titers increased by a factor of 12.1 from baseline to day 15, a finding consistent with other immunogenicity measures. Percentages of participants with solicited local and systemic adverse events were higher in the vaccine group than in the placebo group (local, 37.9% vs. 8.4%; systemic, 41.4% vs. 16.4%); most adverse events were mild to moderate in severity. The frequency of serious adverse events was similar in the vaccine group and the placebo group (4.6% and 4.7%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In adults 65 years of age or older, Ad26.RSV.preF-RSV preF protein vaccine was immunogenic and prevented RSV-mediated lower respiratory tract disease. (Funded by Janssen Vaccines and Prevention; CYPRESS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03982199.).

Barter scheme in supply chain of traditional wet market during COVID-19 pandemic

Since early 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. This disease spreads through person-to-person by physical contact, thus physical distancing is effective to prevent the virus transmission. The retailers in the traditional wet market cannot adapt to this policy due to the lack of internet literature while most of the customers change to online shopping habits. Furthermore, the decreasing number of transactions in the market may lead to bigger problems such as expiring products, prices fluctuation, and inflation. This research formulates a supply chain model with a barter scheme and third party to connect the retailer and online customers. The barter scheme allows retailers to exchange their products with other products for living and reduce the risk of loss caused by expired products, while the third party promotes online sales and manages the barter in the system. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Computing antimicrobial use/antimicrobial resistance ratios: A novel way to assess inpatient antimicrobial utilization using current National Healthcare Safety Network metrics.

BACKGROUND: Current methods for benchmarking inpatient antimicrobial use (AU) could benefit from combining AU with antimicrobial resistance (AR) information to provide metrics benchmarked to microbiological data; this may yield more instructive and better risk-adjusted measurements than AU and AR in isolation. METHODS: In this retrospective single-center study, we computed facility-wide AU/AR ratios from 2019 to 2020 for specific antimicrobial agents and corresponding AR events, and compared median monthly AU/AR ratios between March 2019 through December 2019 (pre-COVID period) and March 2020 through December 2020 (COVID period). Aggregate AU was expressed as a ratio to aggregate AR events for antimicrobials that typically have activity against the AR organism and are frequently used to treat the AR organism in clinical practice. We also computed AU/AR ratios in our surgical intensive care unit in the pre-COVID period. RESULTS: High-median facility-wide monthly AU/AR ratios were observed for intravenous vancomycin/methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, with 130.0 in the pre-COVID period and 121.3 in the COVID period (p =.520). Decreases in facility-wide median monthly AU/AR ratios were observed between periods for meropenem/ESBL Enterobacterales (20.9 vs. 7.9, p < .001), linezolid/vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (48.5 vs. 15.8, p =.004), and daptomycin/vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (32.2 vs. 4.8, p = .002). Increases in facility-wide median monthly AU/AR ratios were observed between periods for ceftazidime-avibactam/carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (0.0 vs. 3.2, p = .020) and ceftazidime-avibactam/multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.0 vs. 4.0, p = .017). The AU/AR ratio for intravenous vancomycin/methicillin-resistant S. aureus in the surgical intensive care unit was 191.5 in the pre-COVID period. CONCLUSIONS: AU/AR ratios may be used to supplement current AU and AR metrics. Future directions should include the development of more AU metrics benchmarked to microbiological information. AU metrics more specific to transplant infectious diseases should be developed.

Deployment of Cellular Application Using Flutter for Covid-19 Visualization

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a new virus called SARS-CoV-2. Its impact on public health creates adverse effects. Because it is a brand-new virus, scientists are getting to know more every day. Although the majority who've COVID-19 have slight symptoms, COVID- 19 can also cause intense infection or even demise. a few corporations, together with older adults and those who've certain underlying scientific conditions, are at accelerated risk of extreme contamination So monitoring and Visualization of COVID-19 cases and simply representing the information for a higher understanding of the COVID-19 instances around the world helps humans recognize the present-day state of affairs and to try this a cellular application is a fine way. In this paper, We summarize and illustrate with examples the way to amass and Visualize the statistics of the COVID-19 cases in a cellular application using Flutter. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Resilience as a Protective Factor During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 is a global stressor that has been shown to impact mental health outcomes. Given that COVID-19 is a unique stressor that has been shown to have mental health consequences, identifying protective factors is imperative. The protective influences of resilience are demonstrated through the extant literature, though less is known about resilience and COVID-19 impact. The current study seeks to expand the existing literature on resilience, and on mental health outcomes influenced by COVID-19, by longitudinally investigating relative resilience as a buffer against posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol consumption, in the wake of a global pandemic. Participants included 549 undergraduates with a history of lifetime trauma exposure. Using a longitudinal path model, we tested the interaction between relative resilience (i.e., an individual's deviation from distress levels predicted by prior trauma exposure relative to other individuals in the same cohort) and COVID-19 impact domains (i.e., social media use, worry, exposure, change in substance use, and housing/food insecurity) on PTSD symptoms and alcohol consumption. Findings demonstrate a significant interaction between the COVID-19 worry impact domain and baseline resilience on later PTSD symptoms, whereby COVID-19 worry impacts PTSD symptoms at low levels of resilience (ß = .26, p < .001), marginally impacts PTSD symptoms at mean levels of resilience (ß = .09, p = .05), and does not impact PTSD symptoms at high levels of resilience (ß = -.08, p = .16). There were no significant main effects nor interaction effects of resilience on alcohol consumption. This article adds to the literature on resilience and COVID-19 through examining both internalizing (i.e., PTSD) and substance use outcomes, using longitudinal data, and using a quantitative measure of resilience.

Tracking and visualization of COVID-19 data using cellular application

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is because of a brand-new coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Because it is a brand-new virus, scientists are getting to know more every day. Although the majority who've COVID-19 have slight symptoms, COVID-19 can also cause intense infection or even demise. A few corporations, together with older adults and those who've certain underlying scientific conditions, are at accelerated risk of extreme contamination So monitoring and Visualization of COVID-19 cases and simply representing the information for a higher understanding of the COVID-19 instances around the world helps humans recognize the present-day state of affairs and to try this a cellular application is a fine way. In this article, we summarize and illustrate with examples the way to amass and visualize the statistics of the COVID-19 cases in a cellular application using Flutter. Our way of visualization will assist the healthcare and public works department to make appropriate decision.

Multivalent designed proteins neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and confer protection against infection in mice.

New variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continue to arise and prolong the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we used a cell-free expression workflow to rapidly screen and optimize constructs containing multiple computationally designed miniprotein inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2. We found the broadest efficacy was achieved with a homotrimeric version of the 75-residue angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) mimic AHB2 (TRI2-2) designed to geometrically match the trimeric spike architecture. Consistent with the design model, in the cryo-electron microscopy structure TRI2-2 forms a tripod at the apex of the spike protein that engaged all three receptor binding domains simultaneously. TRI2-2 neutralized Omicron (B.1.1.529), Delta (B.1.617.2), and all other variants tested with greater potency than the monoclonal antibodies used clinically for the treatment of COVID-19. TRI2-2 also conferred prophylactic and therapeutic protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge when administered intranasally in mice. Designed miniprotein receptor mimics geometrically arrayed to match pathogen receptor binding sites could be a widely applicable antiviral therapeutic strategy with advantages over antibodies in greater resistance to viral escape and antigenic drift, and advantages over native receptor traps in lower chances of autoimmune responses.

Student Opinion on Teaching Thermodynamics through Synchronous and Asynchronous Distance Learning

This Evidence-Based Practice paper describes the shift of a third-year biological and agricultural engineering thermodynamics course into 100% distance delivery including both synchronous and asynchronous elements. Public health restrictions on in-person gatherings due to the global COVID-19 pandemic shifted many courses that were previously not considered appropriate candidates for e-Learning to an online platform. This was one of those courses. Anecdotal evidence from the teaching team suggested that students preferred this online approach to the more traditional class setting. Written reflections and Likert scale survey data were collected from students in the class that transitioned from in-person to online-delivery to determine their course preference, and indicated positive attitudes towards the online-delivery mode. Additionally, test scores from two previous years were compared to current exams to determine if the change in lecture delivery mode had a significant impact on students' performance. It was found that the asynchronous lectures did not harm student learning outcomes. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

A Multi-component-Based Zero Trust Model to Mitigate the Threats in Internet of Medical Things

The advent of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has become a greater boom in the present scenario due to the pandemic COVID-19. Nowadays, remote monitoring of the patients is significant in elderly people as well as COVID-19-affected cases. It is known that the medical data is more sensitive and if not handled properly can result in adverse conditions. In this paper, a Zero Trust Model (ZTM) is introduced to handle the security of the IoMT data. This framework will definitely mitigate the occurrence if threats and further benefit the users. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Thermodynamics online: A multi-method exploration of student perception

Public health restrictions on in-person gatherings due to the global COVID-19 pandemic have shifted many courses to an online platform that were previously not considered appropriate candidates for distance education. This paper focuses on the shift of a third-year biological and agricultural engineering thermodynamics course that in the past was taught in-person with two lectures and one lab/recitation session per week. In response to the pandemic, the course was delivered via two asynchronous lectures and one required synchronous lab/recitation each week. Both pre- and post-COVID courses consisted of online homework, weekly worksheet assignments, four total exams, and a semester-long humanitarian engineering team project. Student perceptions were evaluated using end-of-semester course evaluation comments and a Likert-style survey based on the Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics that was modified by replacing “statistics” with “thermodynamics” in the survey’s questions. The results from these different methods were triangulated in order to better understand the effect of transitioning this thermodynamics course to a wholly online delivery mode and to inform future curricular innovations with the goal of enhancing student success. © American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting, ASABE 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Multivalent designed proteins protect against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (preprint)

Escape variants of SARS-CoV-2 are threatening to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this challenge, we developed multivalent protein-based minibinders as potential prophylactic and therapeutic agents. Homotrimers of single minibinders and fusions of three distinct minibinders were designed to geometrically match the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) trimer architecture and were optimized by cell-free expression and found to exhibit virtually no measurable dissociation upon binding. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) showed that these trivalent minibinders engage all three receptor binding domains on a single S trimer. The top candidates neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern with IC50 values in the low pM range, resist viral escape, and provide protection in highly vulnerable human ACE2-expressing transgenic mice, both prophylactically and therapeutically. Our integrated workflow promises to accelerate the design of mutationally resilient therapeutics for pandemic preparedness.

REACH for mental health in the COVID19 pandemic: an urgent call for public health action.

Our submission is responsive to the urgent need for public mental health action prompted by the escalating COVID-19 pandemic. In it, we review the evidence calling for urgent public mental health action, propose a mental health equivalent fo the World Health Organization's 'Do the Five' concept, and describe the 'REACH for Mental Health' public health measure we have launched at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Nuestra presentación responde a la necesidad urgente de acciones en la salud mental pública debido a la creciente pandemia de COVID-19. En esta presentación revisamos la evidencia que exige acciones urgentes de la salud mental pública, proponemos un equivalente de salud mental del concepto 'Haz los cinco' de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, y describimos la intervención de salud pública 'REACH (por sus siglas en ingles) para Salud Mental' que hemos lanzado en la Escuela T.H. Chan de Salud Pública de Harvard.