Fruits as Boosters of the Immune System

Immunity is the major mechanism of host defence system against infectious and chronic diseases. The recent global concern of recent viral infection of SARS-CoV-19 has raised the demand of functional foods, nutraceuticals and fruits that can boost immunity. This will help in managing the overall physiological health and prevention of infectious and chronic diseases. Medicinal plants and fruits can help in boosting immunity through modulation of immune system and changing the types of immune response such as involvement of the induction, expression or amplification of the genes and proteins in inflammation and antioxidant system. The traditional medicine systems have used a wide variety of plants and fruits as supplement for immunomodulation including those for stimulation of immune system as well as immune compromisation deemed per se. Some of the plants that have been listed for immune boosting abilities included Curcuma longa, Withania somnifera, Phyllanthus emblica, Azadirachta indica, Panax ginseng, Rhododendron spiciferum, Caesalpinia bonducella, Tinospora cordifolia, Capparis zeylanica, Asparagus racemosus, Nelumbo nucifera, Arnica montana, Calendula officinalis, Echinacea purpurea and Euphorbia tirucalli. Reports indicate that a wide variety of phytochemicals like polysaccharide, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, lactones and glycoside have shown immunomodulatory properties under different pathophysiological conditions. Amongst the diverse chemical profile of plant extracts, polysaccharides are the water-soluble molecules that could activate immune responses when interacting directly with immune cells, while hydrophobic compounds like flavonoids such as quercetin and luteolin and terpenoids such as sesquiterpene lactones and curcumin showed potent immunomodulatory effects. Growing evidences suggest that phytochemicals from functional foods and fruits may be useful in maintaining the cytokine and chemokine balance, regulating oxidative status of cells, and targeting the specific cellular receptors as therapeutic targets. This chapter comprehensively enlists the plant resources with immune boosting abilities and explore their phytochemical characterization and molecular mechanism behind their protective effects. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Performance of Conventional and Sustainable Index in Pre and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis

Purpose: There has been a significant increase in the demand for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investment by investors in recent years. Investors are recognizing that companies that prioritize ESG factors in their operations are more likely to be sustainable and resilient in the long term. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the ESG-responsible firms are performing better than the other firms in the pre-COVID and during the COVID periods. The paper also tried to investigate the impact of COVID-19 cases on the index movement. Methodology: The study employed the descriptive analysis on the financial data of NSE NIFTY 500 and NIFTY 100 Enhanced ESG index. The EGARCH model was applied to estimate the effect of COVID-19 on the volatility of the NIFTY 100 Enhanced ESG index. Findings: The results showed that there was no leverage effect in the ESG index in both periods. That means that the ESG Index can act as a cushion during the pandemic period. The ESG Index outperformed the conventional market index, thus acting as a COVID-19 safe asset class. This gives an opportunity to investors and fund managers to diversify their risk by acting sustainably responsible for society. Practical Implications: This study compared the performance of ESG-indexed firms with that of other firms in the pre-COVID and during COVID time period to check whether there was any difference between them. This study provided empirical evidence for practitioners, policymakers, and academicians in support of ESG investment as it showed that the ESG Index performed better than the conventional index during the COVID period. Originality: This study used secondary data to study the performance of the EGS firms in the pre and during COVID period in order to compare with the other firms. In the context of India, this study may be the first one to compare the performance of the ESG firms with the normal firms in the pre and during the COVID period. © 2023, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Effect of Systemic Illness and Comorbidities in the Prognosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness Patients: An Observational Study

Background: Globally critically ill COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease-19) patients have stretched critical care services. This study was undertaken to find factors implicated in mortality amongst COVID positive and negative patients presenting with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and factors having the probability of indicating COVID positivity. Methods: The demographic parameters, comorbid illness, clinical parameters and laboratory values of 327 patients were retrospectively analyzed to find the risk factors for mortality in COVID positive and negative patients and factors predicting COVID positivity amongst SARI patients. Results: 58% of SARI patients tested positive by RTPCR. Most common comorbidities were diabetes and hypertension, 35.2% and 33% respectively. Duration of swelling and low haemoglobin were significantly associated with mortality in COVID positive group (p=0.01, 0.005). Acidosis and tachycardia (p=0.003, 0.034) were associated with mortality amongst COVID negative. Creatinine, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and quick SOFA (qSOFA) were higher in non-survivors of both groups (p<0.001). Age, history of contact or from containment zone, cough, pain abdomen and P/F ratio were significant predictors of COVID positivity (1.020(1.006–1.035);3.889(1.316–11.495);2.908(1.182–7.152);2.147(1.149–4.012);0.997(0.994-1.000) respectively) by multivariable regression analysis. Conclusion: A long duration of swelling and low haemoglobin (<12 g%) were responsible for COVID positive mortality while pain abdomen, raised levels of AST, tachycardia and acidosis were associated with mortality in COVID negative. Deranged creatinine, higher SOFA and qSOFA were associated with mortality in both groups. Age, contact history, residence in containment zone, cough, pain abdomen and poor P/F ratio are predictive factors for COVID positivity. © 2023 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Success of digital marketing model for software development industry: validation of survey based results with case study analysis

PurposeThe paper aims to clarify the validity of the digital marketing model for software IT professionals. It proposes a model of buying behavior practices followed in digital era and outlining all six critical factors that were considered for developing this model. So the main objective of the study is to validate the success of digital marketing model through a survey-based results and case study analysis and synthesize the results for the success of digital marketing model for software development industry.Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for an exploratory study using the structured questionnaire. The data were collected using online platform. The present study covers the analysis of a survey of 406 IT professionals from software development industry to understand their buying behavior through digital marketing. Regression technique has been used to find the important predictors of the digital marketing model with its impact on the demographic variables.FindingsThe paper provides empirical insights about digital marketing model whose validity has been checked by synthesizing the results of both overall and case study. The results show that predictors elucidate Durbin-Watson in the acceptable range and are suitable for the model.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected during Covid period. So it was quite a challenging task and moreover sample size could not be increased due to this problem.Practical implicationThe paper includes implications for the development of digital marketing model for software IT professionals. Finally, this study will contribute to the further research for many prominent researchers who express their doubts about the state and future of digital marketing studies, characterized by contradictory and confusing empirical findings. A larger quantitative study on IT companies' digital marketing from different regions is recommended as a future line of research in order to encourage the unique globalized level model development.Social implicationsMany organizations use digital marketing successfully since with the great amount of awareness generated about the digitalization among the customers has propelled for its development.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to study how IT professional's digital buying marketing practices need to be studied.

Innovations in the Indian Healthcare Industry to Brave the Vuca Times

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity-in a VUCA world the moment of surprise is everywhere, making things extremely unpredictable and planning and strategizing far more challenging. The healthcare industry is witnessing seismic shifts as medicine becomes more personalised, health data becomes valuable, and data sharing becomes essential, demanding the healthcare sector to re-strategise. This research aims to understand the various innovations and change-management techniques based on technology that have been adopted by healthcare industries in today's VUCA world while exploring the innovations needed to drive the Indian healthcare sector in the years to come. Thus, it examines and highlight the implications of the rising emphasis being placed on innovations in the healthcare industry - helping the sector to re-strategise and face the changes in today's VUCA world with greater clarity. This paper is also designed to call attention to and discuss contemporary perspectives taken by top healthcare organisations in India before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is based on secondary data, including intensive analysis of research papers, media articles and grey literature reports, along with examining the recent innovations undertaken by the top healthcare companies and hospitals in India. The findings suggest that moving away from a supply-driven healthcare system toward a patient-centred system is necessary, and therefore organisations in India have to embrace innovation, agility, and adaptability in unison to brave the VUCA times.

Potential Influence of Parasitic Interactions on COVID-19 Pathology and Epidemiology

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the human lives worldwide. The emerged disease and pandemic have challenged the public health particularly in the countries with middle or low economic condition including India. The transmigration of this zoonotic virus from bats and pangolins to humans in a process of genetic drift has targeted the lungs and respiratory and cardiovascular damages. Analyzing the infection of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 as a parasitic component in the human physiology, it drew considerable attention to analyze the impact of other residential parasitic entities. This adds to the involvement of the infection and proliferation of other human parasites especially malaria, soil-transmitted helminths (STH), and schistosomes. The coevolution mechanisms pertain to manage the growth and proliferation of pathogenic and nonpathogenic parasites in a cellular micromilieu. One of the key factors that have appeared is COVID-19-induced cytokine storm in cells which is characterized as a physiological state of cells with a hyperinflammatory response. In case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, this phenomenon has been even critically implicated especially with an exacerbated response of IL-6. Herein, this perspective analysis explores the potential influence of parasite coinfection in COVID-19 infection especially the interaction of parasites of malaria, STH, and schistosomes. In a nutshell, the correlation analysis between COVID-19 and other human parasites and diseases presented globally has shown a negative correlation with the COVID-19 cases. Thus, extensive large-scale epidemiological studies would be required to further establish the correlation between parasitic interactions with COVID-19 and to resolve the ambiguity existing in variable repertoire. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.

Patterns of Social Vulnerability - An Interactive Dashboard to Explore Risks to Public Health on the US County Level

Social vulnerability is the susceptibility of a community to be adversely impacted by natural hazards and public health emergencies, such as drought, earthquakes, flooding, virus outbreaks, and the like. Climate change is at the root of many recent natural hazards while the COVID-19 pandemic is still an active threat. Social vulnerability also refers to resilience, or the ability to recover from such adverse events. To gauge the many aspects of social vulnerability the US Center of Disease Control (CDC) has subdivided social vulnerabilities into distinct themes, such as socioeconomic status, household composition, and others. Knowing a community's social vulnerabilities can help policymakers and responders to recognize risks to community health, prepare for possible hazards, or recover from disasters. In this paper we study social vulnerabilities on the US county level and present research that suggests that there are certain combinations, or patterns, of social vulnerability indicators into which US counties can be grouped. We then present an interactive dashboard that allows analysts to explore these patterns in various ways. We demonstrate our methodology using COVID-19 death rate as the hazard and show that the patterns we identified have high predictive capabilities of the pandemic's local impact. © 2022 IEEE.

Antiviral activity of the human endogenous retrovirus-R envelope protein against SARS-CoV-2

Coronavirus-induced disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is still a major global health challenge. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent retroviral elements that were integrated into the ancestral human genome. HERVs are important in embryonic development as well as in the manifestation of diseases, including cancer, inflammation, and viral infections. Here, we analyze the expression of several HERVs in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells and observe increased activity of HERV-E, HERV-V, HERV-FRD, HERV-MER34, HERV-W, and HERV-K-HML2. In contrast, the HERV-R envelope is downregulated in cell-based models and PBMCs of COVID-19 patients. Overexpression of HERV-R inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication, suggesting its antiviral activity. Further analyses demonstrate the role of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in regulating HERV-R antiviral activity. Lastly, our data indicate that the crosstalk between ERK and p38 MAPK controls the synthesis of the HERV-R envelope protein, which in turn modulates SARS-CoV-2 replication. These findings suggest the role of the HERV-R envelope as a prosurvival host factor against SARS-CoV-2 and illustrate a possible advantage of integration and evolutionary maintenance of retroviral elements in the human genome.Copyright © 2023 The Authors.

Dive of Photonics in the Battle to Fight Against COVID 19: A Review

When physicist says that there is physics behind everything, he literally means everything, including how virus or diseases transmit and how it can be detected at the early stage of infection. However, from the 1918's influenza pandemic till today's corona pandemic, no efficient diagnostic tool for the sensitive identification of viral pathogens has been developed. Rapid, sensitive, and label-free detection of COVID can serve as a first line defence against the current pandemic. Emphases is put on explaining how photonics is currently applied in COVID-19 testing while simultaneously looking at how photonics is fuelling the next generation of technologies to combat COVID-19.

Marching Ahead through the Pandemic: Continuing Anesthesia Services in COVID Era-Our Experience from a Tertiary Care Cancer Centre

Introduction This paper aims to provide an overview of the administrative and clinical preparations done in a tertiary care cancer hospital in continuing operation theatre (OT) services through the COVID pandemic.Methods Retrospective data collection, data for the past 1.5 years (COVID period) March 2020 to August 2021 were compared to surgical output for a similar duration of time before the COVID era (September 2018-February 2020).Results A total of 1,022 surgeries were done under anesthesia in the COVID period as against 1,710 surgeries done in a similar time frame in the pre-COVID era. Overall, we saw a 40%drop in the total number of cases. Thorax, abdominal, and miscellaneous surgeries (soft tissue sarcomas, urology, and gyneconcology) saw a maximum fall in numbers;however, head and neck cases saw an increase in numbers during the pandemic. Surgical morbidity and mortality were similar in the COVID and pre-COVID era. No cases of severe COVID infection were reported among the healthcare staff working in OT.Discussion We could successfully continue our anesthesia services with minimal risk to healthcare staff throughout the pandemic by adopting major guidelines in a pragmatic and practical approach with minor changes to suit our setup.

Virtual accreditation peer review team visits – higher education accreditations: present and future directions

Purpose: The main objective of the present research is to depict the experience of challenges and opportunities for virtual accreditation peer review team (PRT) visits. COVID-19 has changed higher education delivery. Higher education accreditation and PRT visits have become online. The lockdown forced schools and accreditation agencies to cancel or change visit arrangements. PRT visits could not be stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but accrediting agencies needed to review programme quality to meet standards. Design/methodology/approach: Eight former and present accreditation specialists were interviewed. The researchers described the challenges and opportunities in virtual accreditation visits (VAV). Also, the authors have explained their own experience of coordinating on-site and virtual accreditation visits. Using the NVIVO tool, the experts' replies are transcribed and categorised as challenges and opportunities. Findings: The findings will help the professionals and academicians better prepare for, plan and execute virtual PRT visits for accreditation agencies and schools. The results revealed that the evaluation and accreditation outcomes are similar for virtual and physical accreditation visits. Finally, the findings suggest that accreditation agencies and schools need to adopt a hybrid site visit model for accreditation visits. Practical implications: The school can prepare better for virtual PRT visits by identifying the challenges and opportunities ahead of time. The finding may motivate authorities to schedule meetings in different time zones, prepare document evidence rooms, save money, time, and travel time, and benefit the environment by eliminating paper printing, fuel use, and paper printing. Originality/value: This research is unique and noteworthy since accreditation organisations, PRT members and schools are uncertain about virtual visits. This may be the first paper in this domain to assist accreditation organisations and institutions review accreditation visits online or in hybrid mode. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Medical publishing: a flawed model in dire need of reform.

Recently, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, high-profile retractions of some papers published in prestigious medical journals have highlighted the necessity for structural reform to the current model of medical publishing. We discuss what ails the current system and what can be done to remedy it.

Food supply chains and resilience to shocks: Evidence from India's COVID-19 lockdown

We study the disruption of food supply to households and reduced farm-to-market arrivals in India's food supply chain during the COVID-19 lockdown. We focus on the relationship between logistics quality (and performance) and the intensity of disruptions across India's states. We find four policy-relevant findings: (1) Food consumption expenditure was higher in states with better logistics quality;(2) These states recovered more quickly from farm-to-market disruptions with higher agricultural market arrivals in the later phases of the lockdown;(3) Rural food supply chains turned out to be as vulnerable as urban ones;and (4) Expenditure on cereals and pulses faced large reductions. © 2023 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.

Online education and student engagement in higher education institutes during COVID-19: an SEM-based study

The present study has been conducted to investigate the impact of online education on student engagement and student learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Higher Education Institutes (HEI). The study identified the antecedents of student engagement and investigated the impact of student engagement on student learning and satisfaction. The study has been conducted utilising learning from TAM, UTAUT and Moore model of Interaction. A quantitative study has been conducted using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. The results of the study indicated that perceived usefulness, student to student interaction, faculty to student interaction and student to course interaction significantly raise the student engagement. The student engagement in turn significantly leads to the perceived student learning and satisfaction. The results of study bear the important implications for both the HEI and theoretical perspective. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Parenchymal lung abnormalities, clinical severity and outcomes in patients with COVID 19 pneumonia: a prospective longitudinal observational study

Background: Clinical outcome and parenchymal lung abnormalities (PLA) data from hospitalized patients with COVID 19 pneumonia are limited. Objective(s): (1) Understand and compare the patterns of PLA on high resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) at admission, 4-8 weeks post-admission in all patients and 10-12 weeks post-admission in a subgroup of patients (2) follow up their general health status on phone 6 months post admissionMethods: Prospective, observational study of consecutive adult patients hospitalized with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia in a tertiary centre, India. Clinical data and HRCT image patterns and distribution of PLA at admission, 4-8 weeks in all patients and at 10-12 weeks in a subgroup of patients were analysed using a novel, composite radiological score (CRS). Surviving patients were followed up telephonically 6 months later. Finding(s): Of 179 patients, HRCT features were ground glass opacity (144, 80.4%), consolidation (23, 12.8%) and reticulation (7, 4%) at admission. 74% demonstrated resolving PLA with 14% showing complete resolution at 4-8 weeks. Fine reticulations were seen in 12% at 8 weeks and 20% in a subgroup of 44 patients who had persisting symptoms at 10-12 weeks. CRS correlated well with clinical severity and recovery (p=0.003). At 6 months, 144 responded to the phone follow up, reported no functional impairment and had returned to their pre-COVID health status. Conclusion(s): PLA resolved in 88% at 8 weeks and all the 144 patients who were followed up at 6 months reported return to pre-COVID 19 health status. This is quite reassuring amidst concerns of 'long COVID'.

Emerging trends in the pharmaceutical waste generation and disposal after COVID-19

Every year, a million tonnes of pharmaceutical waste is generated around the globe. The major pharmaceutical products include syringes, masks, PPE kits, unused vaccines, antibiotics, etc. Its production was at a steady rate before the pandemic, but during the pandemic, the demand increased many-fold and so did the production. The widespread use of these pharmaceutical products during the COVID-19 pandemic has created an alarming situation around the world. All our landfills, oceans, and rivers are flooded with pharmaceutical waste. The unused antibiotics after unsafe disposal led to the presence of antibiotics in soil and water, which led to the antibiotic-resistant issue. In the current chapter, the authors suggest a drastic change in pharmacy waste before and after the pandemic and ways to minimize the environmental and health risks. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

T Cells In Virus Infection And Vaccination: Lessons For Vaccine Development

The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for new immunological parameters to assess the vaccine for generating durable protective immunity. Both humoral and cell mediated immunity play crucial role in the vaccine induced protection. Because T cells are essential for killing virus infected cells as well as for the generation of humoral immunity ('neutralizing antibodies and the B cell memory'), the T-cell related parameters may provide crucial information on the immunological effectiveness of a vaccine in early stages of development. The SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in the similar demography provided an opportunity to understand various functional traits of T cells as the quantifiable correlates of protective immunity. Here, we will discuss the lessons learned from the immunological memory studies of the SARS-Co V-2 infection and vaccination in a long-term in Indian population. Moreover, how this knowledge about the physiological process of T-cell response could be utilized to develop new immunological parameters for vaccine evaluation will be discussed in details. Importantly, with an example of intranasal COVID-19 vaccine, we will share our experience on applying these advanced T-cell immunology tools for evaluating a vaccine under human trial.

Tryst with the unknown: navigating an unplanned transition to online examinations

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the major challenges faced and lessons learned during the unplanned transition to online examinations (OE) at a traditional university following the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study involved two distinct samples (110 students and 30 instructors) drawn from a large public university and triangulated the qualitative and quantitative data to analyze how the university navigated the unplanned transition to OE. Findings: The university faced several challenges related to a lack of proper institutional infrastructure, non-familiarity of the stakeholders with OE, lack of effective communication, limited student access to technology resources because of socio-economic impediments and academic integrity issues. Practical implications: Short- and medium-term recommendations are proposed to enable continuity of teaching and learning in future emergency situations, including the establishment of technology-enabled exam centers, as well as strategies to assure instructor readiness for OE, academic integrity among students and the validity of the evaluation procedure for future OE. Originality/value: This study shows how the unplanned transition to OE in a public university exposed new challenges for conducting OE, particularly in resource challenged emerging countries, where full integration of OE was a new experience and prior knowledge of potential issues was lacking. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.