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Background: Since 2019, Coronavirus has been a highly contagious disease. The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Variable laboratory findings are reported in COVID-19 patients, among which elevated levels of D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, as well as lymphopenia, have been reported to be associated with increased severity of disease symptoms requiring ventilator support, intensive care unit admission, and mortality. Material(s) and Method(s): In the current study, inclusion criteria were: patient age above 18 years and hospitalization in the Imam Khomeini hospital with COVID-19 disease confirmed with nasopharyngeal swab polymerase chain reaction tests. Levels of white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, hemoglobin, platelets, D-dimer, C-reactive protein, LDH, and ferritin were measured and their correlation with the final patients' outcome was evaluated. Result(s): A total of 208 patients were included in the present study. Higher neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, (WBC count excluding lymphocyte)/lymphocyte, LDH, platelet to lymphocyte ratio, ferritin, and D-dimer were significantly related to O2 dependency. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, (WBC count excluding lymphocyte)/lymphocyte and LDH were significantly related to higher rates of mortality. Higher Hb and lymphocyte count were significantly related to higher rates of survival. Conclusion(s): Hematological parameters including neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, (WBC count excluding lymphocyte)/lymphocyte, LDH, platelet to lymphocyte ratio, ferritin, D-dimer, Hb, and lymphocyte count were significantly related to the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 disease. This could help decide which COVID-19 patients have priority for hospitalization and intensive medical care, particularly when the pandemic disease causes limitations in healthcare service.Copyright © 2023 Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
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With the advent of online educational platforms and the advances in pedagogical technologies, self-directed learning has emerged as one of the most popular modes of learning. Distance education - -elevated by the COVID-19 pandemic - -involves methods of instruction through a variety of remote activities which often rely on educational videos for mastery. In the absence of direct student engagement, the asynchronous nature of remote activities may deteriorate the quality of education for learners. Students often have an illusion of skill acquisition after watching videos, which results in overestimation of abilities and skills. We focus on the efficacy of skill acquisition through interactive technologies and assess their impact on computational thinking in comparison with delivery through other traditional media (e.g. videos and texts). In particular, we investigate the relationship between actual learning, perception of learning, and learners' confidence in adult learners. Our results reveal intriguing observations about the role of interactivity and visualization and their implications on the pedagogical design for self-directed learning modules. © 2023 ACM.
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Objective: Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) is a life-threatening infection caused by the opportunistic fungi Pneumocystis jirovecii. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the focus of attention of health policymakers on these two infections due to their clinical and paraclinical similarities, which cause diagnostic dilemmas. This study was undertaken to evaluate and estimate the global prevalence and main leading risk factors of coronavirus-associated pneumocystosis (CAP). Methods: We searched related databases between December 2019 and May 2022 for studies reporting CAP. Meta-analysis was performed using StatsDirect software (version 2.7.9) according to the DerSimonian and Laird method applying the random-effects model. We evaluated heterogeneity using the chi 2-based Q statistic (significant for P < 0.05) and the I2 statistic (> 75% indicative of "notable " heterogeneity). Moreover, an odds ratio (OR) analysis was performed for eligible data. Results: Our meta-analysis included eight studies with 923 patients hospitalized with COVID-19;among them, 92 were PcP cases. The overall pooled prevalence of CAP was estimated at 11.5%. The mortality among CAP patients was lower than that of non-PcP patients (OR 1.93;95% CI 0.86-4.31). Long-term corticosteroid therapy (OR 28.22;95% CI 0.54-1 480.84) was the most predisposing factor for PcP among COVID-19 patients, followed by pulmonary diseases (OR 1.46;95% CI 0.43-4.98), kidney diseases (OR 1.26;95% CI 0.21-7.49), and acute respiratory destruction syndrome (OR1.22;95% CI 0.05-29.28). Conclusions: The prevalence of PcP among the COVID-19 population is almost similar to the pre-COVID era. However, PcP-related mortality was decreased by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Women with COVID-19 are more susceptible to PcP than men. Acute respiratory distress syndrome, kidney diseases, pulmonary diseases, and long-term corticosteroid therapy increased the risk of PcP;however, transplantation and malignancy decreased the risk for PcP among COVID-19 patients. Further retrospective, case-control, prospective, and more precisely systematic review and meta-analysis studies are needed in this field.
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The medicinal characteristics of garlic’s (Allium sativum L.) dynamically bioactive constituents such as alliin, allicin, ajoene, S-allyl-cysteine, S-trityl-L-cysteine, diallyl sulfide, and S-allylmercaptocysteine, have gained a lot of scientific attention from a large number of investigators who have occupied the related pre-clinical and clinical studies, as well as in the industrial sector. The outcomes from basic investigations demonstrated that, depending on the type of food processing, the presence of bioactive compounds in the matrix of garlic have a coherent and direct relation with the appearance/development of health-promoting effects in the host. Besides, it can be acknowledged that at present spectroscopic and chemometric techniques are powerful tools to detect fraud, prevent criminal activities of fraudsters, and ensure food chain safety, and future studies should lead to further progress, such as portable and hand-held spectroscopy devices for rapid on-site analysis, in this field. There have been also many issues on the effects of processing on garlic’s bioactive compounds, potential toxicities, pharmacokinetics, and safety profile of these elements that should be studied to validate the health advantages of garlic in humans. In this review, the outcomes of recent experimental and clinical reports are reviewed and metabolism pathway, bioavailability, biological/therapeutically effects, food-related applicability, methods of adulteration detection, potential toxicities, and safety profile of garlic’s derived bio-compounds are discussed. © 2022 Taylor & Francis.
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Background: Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) causes severe economic losses worldwide. IBV has a broad tissue distribution with different viral loads in different tissues. Additionally, IBV can induce apoptosis in infected cells. Aims: The present study aimed to evaluate the role of the genetic background of chickens in viral load and the expression level of apoptotic genes in different tissues of two hybrids of commercial broiler chickens (Ross 308 and Cobb 500) challenged with IBV. Methods: Chickens at 21 days of age were nasally challenged with 200 µL of allantoic fluid containing 104 EID50/ml of Iranian variant-2-like IBV (IS/1494). The expression level of apoptotic genes (Fas, FasL, Bax, and Bcl-2) in the tracheal and renal tissues and the amount of viral load in the tracheal, renal, and cloacal swab samples were investigated two, five, and seven days after IBV infection by RT-qPCR assay. Results: The amount of viral load and apoptotic the expression level of apoptotic genes in the tracheal (two and five days after infection) and renal samples (seven days after infection) were significantly higher in the Ross challenged group than in the Cobb challenged group.Furthermore, no difference was observed in the cloaca viral load on sampling days. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first report that evaluated the role of the chickens' genetic background in the amount of viral load and the expression level of apoptotic genes against IBV. Further studies are needed to investigate the pathogenic characteristics of IBV in Ross 308 and Cobb 500 chickens.
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COVID-19 pandemic obligated applying population-level behavioral modifications to effectively prevent the spread of the disease. This necessitated investigating those measures that determine population behavior. Herein we have studied risk perception and information exposure that are among those determinants in Iran. 402 cases from medical sciences students were enrolled during the last week of September 2020. Using an online questionnaire, risk perception and sources of information about COVID-19 were investigated. Although most students considered COVID-19 preventable, merely a few considered the disease curable. A higher risk was perceived concerning the families compared to themselves. Moreover, most of them believed the prognosis good even in high-risk patients. Social media was the most informative source used;however, health professionals were considered the most reliable. The risk perception was equal between those diagnosed with COVID-19 or had a family member diagnosed compared to those without such exposure in most questions. Also, no significant difference was observed in risk perception between those students with serious underlying medical conditions and those without one regarding most items. Lastly, major and grade were the most significant demographic contributors to the risk perception. Moderate risk was perceived overall among the cases in which major and grade were the only remarkable demographic contributors. Unexpectedly, underlying medical history was not significantly correlated with the perceived risk. Lastly, previous COVID-19 exposure merely altered the curability and preventability perception.
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Covid-19 or severe acute respiratory syndrome is a novel beta coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 has a putative animal origin. As SARS-CoV-2 started outspreading in the whole world, potential spill overexposure was considered in companion and pet animals, similarly because of their strict social relationship with humans. As the novel coronavirus prevalence spreads in the world with devastating impacts on human health, pets and companion animals are also becoming unessential sacrifices among the pandemic panic and concern amid the public that companion animals might play a role in spreading COVID-19 pets being obsolete or even killed. These facts led to a KAP survey design to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 and pets among pet owners referring to veterinary clinics. This study was conducted as a cross-sectional paper-based survey. The questionnaire comprised 56 items, of which nine were on socio-demographic profiles, 41 were on KAP of COVID-19 and pets, and the other six items were on the source of individual information about this subject. The questionnaire was answered by 462 participants anonymously in October 2020. All the statistical analyses were performed by using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. Based on the results, most general population (62.7%) had moderate knowledge about the Covid-19, and 22.1% had insufficient knowledge about this subject. The present study indicated that a higher knowledge score concerning COVID-19 was notably related to a higher likelihood of having a positive tendency and good practice when the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, our findings presented that the majority of participants (62.3%) obtained their information from social media.
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The fifth paper of reviews on COVID-19 addresses COVID-19 vaccines, as vaccination has started in the world and Iran. In this paper, we review different types of available vaccines and also various platforms for production of COVID-19 vaccines as well as the vaccines produced in each platform in the world and Iran. Then the considerations about vaccination in patients with skin diseases, specially those using immunomodulator drugs will be presented. Finally, the cutaneous adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines will be reviewed.
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The development of industry and technology, changes in agriculture, trade and global travel, and the adaptation of microorganisms are important factors in the occurrence of emerging diseases. Currently, the world is facing a pandemic caused by an emerging virus called the novel coronavirus (Covid 19) in 2020. This disease led to infect more than one million people worldwide and the death of more than five hundred thousand people during six months. Covid 19 causes death in patients with respiratory problems of varying severity. Fever, soreness, dry coughs, shortness of breath, runny nose, and nasal congestion were observed in coronavirus-infected individuals. Fever was one of its common symptoms. Other unusual signs such as diarrhea and nausea were reported for this disease. For the first time, the bat was introduced as the host of the novel coronavirus in China. Therefore, identifying the initial route of transmission of the novel coronavirus is necessary to prevent the occurrence and its widespread distribution. The virus enters into a human through respiratory particles as well as touching the surfaces contaminated by nasal, mouth and eye secretions. Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens needing host cells to survive. These microorganisms cannot proliferate in foods and require live cells for existence. Food is introduced as a carrier of viruses to the consumer. There have been no reports of novel coronavirus transmission through food. However, it is important to observe the principles of health and safety by assuming the spread of the virus due to food contamination. Regarding the presence and proliferation of novel coronavirus in the gastrointestinal tract and aerosol formation of this microorganism in the feces and the possibility of retransmitting it to people from various environmental sources, the most important priority is to remove the virus from food environments. It is also important to update the methods of disinfecting surfaces, especially areas with high contact of hand as well as personal hygiene. Therefore, it is recommended to educate the staff about managing the novel coronavirus and improving health guidelines. Furthermore, keeping distance and washing hands is in priority in different food-related environments.
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BACKGROUND: Neurological disorders associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection represent a clinical challenge because they encompass a broad neurological spectrum and may occur before the diagnosis of COVID-19. METHODS: In this monocentric retrospective case series, medical records from patients with acute neurological disorders associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection from medicine departments of an academic center in Paris area were collected between March 15th and May 15th 2020. Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 was ascertained through specific RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs or based on circulating serum IgG antibodies. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection presented with neurological disorders: encephalitis (N=8), encephalopathy (N=6), cerebrovascular events (ischemic strokes N=4 and vein thromboses N=2), other central nervous system (CNS) disorders (N=4), and Guillain-Barré syndrome (N=2). The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 was delayed on average 1.6 days after the onset of neurological disorder, especially in case of encephalitis 3.9 days, encephalopathy 1.0 day, and cerebrovascular event 2.7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that COVID-19 can yield a broad spectrum of neurological disorders. Because neurological presentations of COVID-19 often occur a few days before the diagnosis of SARS-COV-2 infection, clinicians should take preventive measures such as patient isolation and masks for any new admission to avoid nosocomial infections. Anti-SARS-CoV2 antibody detection in RT-PCR SARS CoV-2 negative suspected cases is useful to confirm a posteriori the diagnosis of atypical COVID-19 presentations.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/epidemiology , Nervous System Diseases/epidemiology , Nervous System Diseases/etiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , COVID-19/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Nervous System Diseases/virology , Paris/epidemiology , Retrospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2/physiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is considered an emerging disease that results in severe acute respiratory syndrome. Coronaviruses, as single-stranded RNA viruses, have envelope and positive-sense genome. Virion’s nucleocapsid contains genomic RNA and phosphorylated nucleocapsid protein, which is located within the phospholipid layers and is covered with spike proteins. Although considerable research improvements have occurred, the virus origin is yet obscure. There are several factors that contribute to the development of COVID-19, such as mutations, viral loads, and the survival of the virus in the laboratory, or related factors such as age, sex, and immune status. Proper diagnosis of changes in biochemical and immunological factors affecting COVID-19 leads to the rapid detection of this disease. Finding suitable biochemical and immunological biomarkers could help us in early diagnosis and reducing the casualties of this disease. However, further studies for finding a good solution to early diagnosis require a better understanding of the mechanism of action of this virus. In this review, we review the biochemical and immunological biomarkers used for laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).