Yoga and Physical Exercises as Immunogenic Fortifiers for Coronavirus Vaccine Responses

Background and aim: Coronavirus has emerged as a pandemic leading to pneumonia and death in susceptible populations, especially in immunocompromised hosts and the elderly. Though national governance and drug firms work in cohesion to develop vaccines, the fear and anxiety towards misconceptions about vaccine efficacy and adverse effects lead to underutilization of the vaccines. Though known for its immunogenic responses against infections, conservative lifestyle modifications such as Yoga and physical exercise's synergistic effects with coronavirus vaccine's immunogenic response remains unknown. Methods: We administered a systematic search on the contemporary evidence investigating the immune responses of physical activity or Yoga in three databases: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science. In the present review, we reviewed the empirical evidence that explored the role of Yoga and physical exercise as an immunity booster and extrapolated their effects against coronavirus infection. Results: We found sixteen articles emphasizing physical activity to augment immune responses towards Coronavirus. Discussion and Conclusion: Considering the contemporary evidence, complementary therapies such as Yoga or physical activity are speculated to improve the influenza vaccines' immune responses. We recommend that Yoga and physical exercises be affordable, practical and effective strategies that could be advocated along with vaccination doses. We hope the present review may help readers and policymakers explore complementary therapies that could be administered as adjuncts to vaccine-mediated immunity in combating the deadly pandemic. © 2023 by authors, all rights reserved.

Profile of Child and Adolescent Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Services at a Covid-19 Designated Tertiary Medical College and Hospital

Introduction: There is sparse literature on child and adolescent consultation liaison psychiatry during the COVID pandemic in India. Aims and objectives: To study the patterns of Child and Adolescent Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Services at a Covid-19 Designated Tertiary Medical College and Hospital Material(s) and Method(s): This was a retrospective chart-based study. Institutional Ethics Committee clearance was obtained. It was conducted from April 2020-21. The inclusion criteria comprised records of children and adolescents who were referred for consultation liaison services while they were admitted in COVID-19 designated tertiary hospital. Incomplete records were excluded. Data was tabulated and analysed with descriptive analysis. Result(s): We found 50 referrals out of which 42 records were complete and 8 incomplete were excluded. There were 47.62% boys and 52.38% girls with the mean age (10.8 years) All the 42 patients had been tested for COVID-19 at the time of intake admission as per hospital protocol. We found that 11.9% were confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease and 88.1% had tested negative for COVID-19 disease .The referrals were received mostly from Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (57.14%) followed by Paediatric ward (26.19%) and Special Paediatrics COVID High Dependency Unit (16.67%). The most common psychiatric disorder in COVID negative patients was adjustment disorder with deliberate self-harm (35.14%) and in COVID positive patients was delirium (60%) .The most commonly used medication were Escitalopram, Risperidone and Clonazepam. Conclusion(s): We conclude that psychiatric disorders were prevalent in child and adolescent patients admitted during COVID 19 pandemic and had a distinct profile.

Regulatory and Medico-legal Aspects of Technology and Psychiatry in India -3rd National Official workshop of the IPS Technology and Psychiatry Specialty Section

Globally, Technology and Psychiatry have emerged significant during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Technology is rapidly evolving and is definitely impacting the world of Psychiatry and mental health care across academics, research, training and clinical care. Technology is here to stay. It is pertinent that Psychiatrists and Allied professionals get adequate skills and training in Technology and Psychiatry for its application to clinical care and research. Many countries have relevant regulations, Guidelines, Bills, Policies, Acts, and Compliances regarding Technology and Health Care. The Telemedicine Guidelines were released during the COVID-19 Pandemic in India. Subsequently, The Telepsychiatry Guidelines were released by IPS and NIMHANS. There are certain regulations, such as EHR standards, Personal Data Protection Bill, DISHA, Information Technology Act, Drugs and Cosmetic Act, etc., for healthcare and technology in India. Aims and objectives of the workshop: * To create awareness of the regulatory and medicolegal aspects of Technology and Psychiatry in India * To improve the knowledge and skills Psychiatrists in Technology and Psychiatry Speakers and Topics: Dr Darpan Kaur : Conceptual Overview Framework of Needs and Perspectives of Regulatory and Medicolegal Aspects of Technology and Psychiatry in India, Dr Parmod Kumar: Telemedicine Guidelines and TelePsychiatry Guidelines in India Dr Shahul Ameen: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Standards and Personal Data Protection Bill Dr Vijay Chandra: Information Technology (IT) Act and Drugs and Cosmetic Act Dr Sudhir Bhave: Digital Information Security Health Care Act (DISHA).

Immunity benefits of yoga and physical exercises in the era of COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose. The novel coronavirus is the recently emerged disease of the respiratory system for which various national and international research agencies are putting joint efforts towards finding a permanent cure. Recently, the vaccine against coronavirus has been designed by various pharmaceutical agencies that are currently undergoing clinical trials. Since vaccines prevent infection by strengthening the defense system of the body, we proposed that yoga and physical exercises could act as an integrative approach to synergize the immunogenic response of the coronavirus vaccine. Yoga and physical exercises are already known to boost immunity against several other infections. Materials and Methods. In the present review article, we aimed towards exploring the role of yoga and physical exercise as an immunity booster against coronavirus infection. Being India is a low-income country, yoga and physical exercises could be an excellent cost-effective strategy that could be administrated along with vaccine trials to enhance immunity against virus infection. Results. In the present review, we analyze the studies conducted to date focusing on finding the role of yoga and physical exercises to prevent coronavirus infection. We also described the potential exercises, which are already known to enhance the immunity of the body by particularly targeting respiratory disease. Conclusion. The present review article will help in providing the health agencies potential targets, which could further be explored to established a standard exercise module to enhance the vaccine-mediated immunity against coronavirus infection. © Karuppasamy Govindasamy, Chandrababu Suresh, Mithin Anand, Saran KS, Mou Pramanik, Dilpreet Kaur, Imen Achouri, Hiba Boughanmi.

Hematologic findings and complications of SARS-COV- 2 in children and young adults

Background: Thrombotic coagulopathy is a predictor of SARS-CoV- 2 infection related mortality in adults (1-4). Incidence of venous thromboembolic events (VTE) in children seems to be lower (5), but there remains paucity of data on this in children. The current study describes the coagulation and inflammatory disturbances occurring in children <21 years with SARS-CoV- 2 infection and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and evaluates risk factors for hematologic complications. Aim(s): 1. Report hematological and inflammatory abnormalities and hemorrhagic/thrombotic outcomes, in pediatric patients with SARS-CoV- 2 or MIS-C. 2. Identify risk factors for hematologic adverse outcomes with SARS-CoV- 2 or MIS-C. Method(s): Single-institution, retrospective study of in children <21 years with SARS-CoV2 acute infection or MIS-C between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021. Laboratory parameters were collected at presentation, and during hospitalization. Bleeding was graded using the modified World Health Organizations (WHO) grading system. VTEs were diagnosed radiographically, or by strong clinical suspicion. Correlation studies were done to assess hematologic and inflammatory laboratory markers. (Figure Presented) Results: In pediatric patients with SARS-COV- 2 infection and MIS-C (n = 127), we identified thrombotic and bleeding complications incidences at 6.3% and 6.3%, respectively. VTEs and bleeding events occurred mainly in females. All thrombotic events occurred in patients not previously on anticoagulation. No patients in our study received post-discharge thromboprophylaxis;one VTE occurred 3 days after discharge for COVID-19 pneumonia. Adolescent age (>13 years) and indwelling central venous-access device (CVAD) increased thrombotic risk, while MIS-C diagnosis did not. Obesity was not a risk factor for VTE but was associated with increased bleeding risk. Seven of eight bleeding events (5.5%) were WHO grade 3. Conclusion(s): SARS-CoV- 2 thrombotic complications in children are occur at lower rates than in adults. Older age, female sex, and CVADs increase thrombotic risk. With higher rates of bleeding events our study, daily risk-assessment of the need for continued thromboprophylaxis is recommended.

Assessment of the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate medical students in India

BACKGROUND: Medical students who are prone to psychological stress due to their overburdened curriculum, are at an increased risk of getting adversely affected by the pandemic. The present study was planned to assess the anxiety level among undergraduate medical students across the country using generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this online survey, anonymous data was collected through Google forms from undergraduate students from all the phases of MBBS course across the country from August 15, 2020, to October 15, 2020. Section I collected various demographic information, section II included GAD-7 questionnaire for assessing anxiety and section III had open- ended questions about their impending fear, uncertainties, and apprehensions. The data was expressed in percentage and association among the variables was determined using Chi-square test. Thematic analysis of the open-ended responses was done. RESULTS: Among the sample of 1208 students, 81% were from urban areas. During the pandemic, 77% were residing with their parents and 71% parents having stable jobs. Eighty percent students had no relative diagnosed with COVID-19, whereas 52% students had family members with comorbidity. The GAP score showed mild, moderate, and severe anxiety in 27, 24, and 16% students, respectively. Anxiety was significantly associated with rural setting and with COVID-19 positive or comorbid family member (P < 0.05). Open ended responses revealed that majority of the students were finding it difficult to cope with the academic stress at home but still did not want to join back. CONCLUSION: With such a high incidence of anxiety among medical students, it is pertinent to safeguard the mental health and implement efficient approaches to upkeep the scholastic, physical, emotional, and professional well-being of medical students during such vulnerable times. © Shahad A. Hafez et al., 2022;Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2022.

Review of ML techniques for analyzing Novel Corona Virus

Currently, the demand of machine learning is increasing in healthcare field for disease diagnosis. The various kinds of machine learning algorithms are helping the medical field for prognosis of diseases with accuracy and therefore serving the humankind in timely classification and detection of diseases. This study emphasizes on using different machine learning techniques for analysis of Covid-19 disease prediction. This paper presents the review of several machine learning classifiers such as SVM, Ensemble learning, Multilayered Perceptron, Naive Bayes, KNN and ANN, and analyze their classification accuracies in Novel Corona Virus prediction. The authorized datasets have been considered to perform this analysis. This analysis may serve as good indicator for analysts and medical professionals in selection of efficient classifier for the datasets that may save the time and prediction cost. © 2022 IEEE.

Challenges in contact tracing and sampling in three districts of western Rajasthan during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Contact tracing commenced in districts of Western Rajasthan in March 2020 to control the spread of Covid-19.It was an ongoing process involving isolation and sampling of contacts. Multi department Quick and Rapid response teams (Q/RRT) worked continuously as the pandemic passed through different stages. The objectives of the study was to compare the challenges faced during contact tracing and document good practices in place. Methods: A cross –sectional study was done among contact tracers using a semi structured questionnaire in Google forms in three districts of Pali, Jodhpur and Barmer. Keeping power of study at 80%, 5% error and 95% confidence interval, assuming 50% prevalence of effective contact tracing and 10 % non-response total 400, i.e 133 participants from each district. Results: Major challenges faced by tracers were resistance to contact sampling (64%)lack of training (49%), and random sampling workload (47%). Overall 36% of contacts had downloaded the Aarogya setu app but among them only 68% were using the app. Trainings, workload distribution and inter-sectoral coordination was best in Jodhpur, Barmer and Pali respectively. Conclusions: Trainings helped in better field management of resistance to sampling among contacts. Excessive workload of lab technicians lead to errors in reporting. Transport for sampling of contacts was a challenge in remote areas. The Aarogya setu app was not used by all contacts. Regular feedback meetings by local administration helped in effective contact tracing.

Exploring the Effects of Blended Learning using WhatsApp on Language Learners' Lexical Competence

In the wake of COVID-19, online learning has achieved new dimensions and affected all fields of education. As such, one of the emerging fields of ELT is Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL). The proposed study adapts the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to identify factors influencing students' behavioral intention towards WhatsApp for enhancing lexical competence. Three constructs, namely, performance expectancy, social influence, & hedonic motivation, are adopted from the original model, and two new constructs: perceived relevance and collaborative learning are added. A questionnaire was administered to 203 undergraduate students from select Institutes in Rajasthan. SmartPLS (ver. 3.2.9) and IBM SPSS (ver. 26) are used for data analysis. Empirical testing confirms the significant relationship of social influence (beta=.274, p=.002), hedonic motivation (beta=0.639, p=.000), and perceived relevance (beta=0.138, p=.035) with the behavioral intention to use WhatsApp for enhancing lexical competence;and performance expectancy and collaborative learning are proved as insignificant predictors of behavioral intention. The findings should aid decision-makers in developing ELT practices and teachers in opting for innovative approaches for the benefit of language learners. The originality of the study stems from the inclusion of external factors in the UTAUT model. The ramifications for MALL theory and practice have been examined in light of these findings.

TAM MODEL FOR E-HEALTH IMPLEMENTATION IN RURAL AREAS OF UTTARAKHAND, POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC -- TAM Model for E-Health implementotion: A Study of Rural Areas of Uttarakhand During Post Covid

OBJECTIVE: The present study aim to find out the factors that has an influence and impacts the actual use of e-Health during post COVID-19 pandemic on the lines of TAM (technology acceptance model) and further suggest ways for effective implementation and adoption of e-Health by the rural patients. DESIGN & SETTING: The study was conducted on a total of 243 rural patients who had experienced e-Health services. Structural Equation Modeling has been used for analysis of data. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that 'perceived usefulness', 'perceived ease of use', 'privacy' and 'trust', all had considerable impact on the 'intention to use' which further significantly impacts the 'actual use'. CONCLUSION: Using in-depth interviews, both patients and physicians, practice of evidence-based e-Health interventions was identified for effective implementation and adoption of e-Health, which further helps to provides an equitable healthcare services to both urban and rural population.

Safety, benefits, and efficacy of a virtual clinic for assessment of patients referred for endoscopy: A retrospective audit

Background and Aim: For an outpatient endoscopy assessment clinic for patients referred by general practitioners or other specialists for consideration of endoscopy, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated a move from face-to-face to a virtual format, including telehealth and telephone models. We aimed to assess if the telephone and telehealth models were safe and effective alternatives to face-to-face clinics. Methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective audit of electronic medical records between June and August 2019 and June and August 2020. Outcomes measured included clinic failure-to-attend rates, procedural referral rates, anesthetic referral rates, anesthetic and procedural complication rates, periprocedural medication errors, procedural cancelations, unplanned post-procedural admissions, re-do procedure rates, and adequacy of bowel preparation. Statistical analysis was completed using the chi-squared test of independence, Fisher's exact test, and Mann-Whitney U test, with P < 0.05 deemed significant. Results: A total of 883 patients had 444 face-to-face, 241 telephone, and 198 telehealth appointments. There were no significant differences between clinic models for any of the outcomes measured (Table 1). Conclusion: Virtual endoscopy assessment clinics appear to be a safe and effective alternative to face-to-face clinics and are an effective strategy to deliver outpatient gastroenterology services safely during a global pandemic.

Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Algorithms for Stock Market Prediction During COVID-19 Outbreak

In the current period of time, when there is a havoc across the world due to COVID-19 virus outbreak, it becomes very important to foresee the impact of this pandemic on the world economy. This has attracted us to analyze and predict the stock market prices of some international IT international companies which provide employment to thousands of people and create revenue for many countries namely Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. In this study, we have implemented algorithms such as SVM and LSTM on stock market data to see if major IT companies see a rise or fall during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have also used ARIMA forecasting method to predict the stocks of above mentioned 4 companies. This paper provides a simple but original statistical analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock market risk for 4 major IT companies of the world. Results revealed that while some businesses like personal computers from Microsoft, I phone handsets, sale of luxury and fashion goods at Amazon has declined during the pandemic, thus leading to fall of stocks. However, some prominent other segments like online shopping, cloud computing and streaming video from Amazon, oversees Office, Dynamics, Skype, LinkedIn Intelligent Cloud from Microsoft, Google’s ad sales during the crisis and issue of cheap bonds by Apple came out to be the winning corporate strategies to fight the negative economic effect of COVID-19 and to stabilize the situation of stocks in coming months. This study may help investors and companies to sustain the tide of economic fall. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Adaptations During COVID-19 and Smart Disease Detection Through ‘Germica’

COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world and has taught a lesson to maintain personal cleanliness and hygiene. In these tough times, only people with higher degree of cleanliness and hygiene could beat this deadly virus and survive the pandemic. Everyday millions of people are losing their lives due to COVID-19, which is majorly spreading due to lack of sanitization and unhygienic surroundings. Simple remedies to fight corona virus including washing hands with soaps, regular use of hand and air sanitizers, use of face mask etc. In public places such as railway stations, airports, restaurants, hospitals, cafes, shopping malls etc., the maintenance and monitoring of hygiene conditions of visiting people conditions becomes a big challenge. To help the government authorities and local administration in better surveillance and monitoring of Corona positive cases, or people contaminated with any other kind of germs and bacteria, we came up with the prototype design of ‘Germica-A germ detection machine’. It is savvy medical and clinic framework, which has multiple germ detection features installed like UV lights to detect the germ intensity on hands or any other targeted body parts. Another feature of ‘Germica’ is germ detection cameras;which can take the image of different body parts, example nails and based to its colour, it can tell if a person is sick or healthy. In preparing the prototype of ‘Germica’, scientist have vigorously tested and trained the medical data to see its actual application and degree of accuracy. Small portable device like ‘Germica’ can help in maintaining hygiene conditions in hospitals, clinics and other places. ‘Germica’ in long run can help to combat with COVID-19 pandemic and other disease that spread through human carrier. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Information sharing through twitter by public health care institution during covid-19 pandemic: A case study of aiims, Raipur

Background: During the time of COVID 19, public health care institutions have used social media to inform and aware society. Aim & Objective: To analyze how Public Health Care Institutes conveyed the health information and messages through social media platform-Twitter during COVID 19, and analyzing its impact through sentiment analysis of comments. Material & Methods: The Thematic and sentiment analysis method has been used to analyze the data of the Twitter handle of AIIMS, Raipur in two phases;January-March 2020, and April-June 2020. Results: The analysis shows that the sharing of COVID-19 updates on AIIMS, Raipur Twitter handle increased the followers 15 times from 2,000+ in March 2020 to 30,000+ in June 2020, and the sentiment analysis reflects that COVID related updates received 96.7 % positive comments. Conclusion: The case study finds that transparent and informative message sharing through social media by public health care institutions can create an effective channel of communication. This results in a positive institutional image. © 2021, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine. All rights reserved.