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Background and Objectives: In order to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the countries took preventive measures such as lockdown and restrictions of movements. This can lead to effects on mental health of the population. We studied the impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being and associated factors among the Pakistani general population. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between 26th April and 15th May and included participants from all over the Pakistan. Attitudes and worriedness about COVID-19 pandemic were assessed using a structured questionnaire. A validated English and Urdu version of the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used to assess the well-being. Factor analysis was done to extract the attitude item domains. Logistic regression was used to assess the factors associated with poor well-being. Results: A total of 1,756 people participated in the survey. Almost half 50% of the participants were male, and a similar proportion was employed. About 41% of the participants were dependent on financial sources other than salary. News was considered a source of fear as 72% assumed that avoiding such news may reduce the fear. About 68% of the population was worried about contracting the disease. The most common coping strategies used during lockdown were spending quality time with family, eating healthy food, adequate sleep, and talking to friends on phone. Prevalence of poor well-being was found to be 41.2%. Female gender, being unemployed, living in Sindh and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), fear of COVID-19, and having chronic illness were significantly associated with poor well-being. Similarly, coping strategies during lockdown (doing exercise; spending time with family; eating healthy food; having good sleep; contributing in social welfare work and spending time on hobbies) were also significantly associated with mental well-being. Conclusion: We found a high prevalence 41.2% of poor well-being among the Pakistani general population. We also investigated risk factors of poor well-being which included female gender, unemployment, being resident of ICT and Sindh, fear, chronic illness, and absence of coping strategies. This calls for immediate action at population level in the form of targeted mass psychological support programs to improve the mental health of population during the COVID-19 crises.
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The new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) shows structural similarity with SARS COV, which emerged in China in the early 2019. SARS-COV-2 has been declared a pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organization) as it imposed a threat to the world in various aspects. There is no specific drug therapy or vaccine to treat or prevent this disease because of the limited knowledge regarding the pathogenesis and proliferation pathways involved in disease progression. The virus penetrates the human body through ACE2 receptor by interacting with Spike(S) protein and it is assumed that viral entry can be inhibited by targeting the protein-protein interaction. Different drugs have been repurposed for their potential effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, such as ivermectin, digitoxin, and polyenes. Polyene antibiotics are characterized by the presence of a macrocyclic ring. Furthermore, this group has been known for pharmacological activities, for example, antifungal, antihuman immunodeficiency virus, immunomodulating, and antiprion. Polyene antibiotics inhibit the binding of the virus to the ACE2 receptor. Further investigation should be done to assess the relationship between polyenes and SARS-CoV-2 in considering the development of a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of COVID-19.
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COVID-19 is a human coronavirus infectious disease that is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spreading rapidly across the globe with no treatment currently. Thus, finding the potential therapeutic treatment for this disease is necessary. SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) is an essential enzyme for viral replication. Different compounds that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro can be considered effective against the disease. Pyridones were recognized as potential key pharmacophores that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The pyridone system is present in many natural products, vital drugs, and synthetic bioactive compounds. Pyridones have several biological properties, i.e., antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antitumor, antituberculosis, and antihuman immunodeficiency virus (anti-HIV) activity. The genome of coronavirus encodes Spike and Membrane protein that contribute to the attachment of the virus to the host for viral replication. Pyridones inhibit S protein and M protease of SARS-COV-2. Further investigation is required to evaluate the relationship between pyridones and SARS-CoV-2.
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The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has posed a serious challenge to mankind. The need for an urgent cure for SARS-CoV-2 increased, as there was no specific treatment protocol designed for this global pandemic. Previous studies show similarities in the genomic structure of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. So, the treatment strategy applied for SARS-CoV can be applied on SARS-CoV-2 as well. This chapter focuses on the effectiveness of diarylheptanoids against SARS-CoV-2.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcome of hepato-pancreato-biliary patients who were operated upon during the pandemic under a safety protocol devised to minimise the risk of coronavirus disease-2019 infection in patients and staff during the perioperative period. METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at the Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary (HPB) Unit of Bahria International Hospital Orchard, Lahore, Pakistan, in February 2021, and comprised data of all patients who were discussed in the multidisciplinary meeting of the Unit between May 1 and December 31, 2020. The coronavirus disease-2019 screening protocol was a negative polymerase chain reaction test just before admission and a second negative test 24-48 hours pre-surgery. All patients had computed tomography scan of chest to rule out atypical pneumonia due to coronavirus disease-2019 infection. Surgery was deferred for positive patients for at least 2 weeks until their test was negative. Surgeries were carried out with full personal protective equipment. Further testing was carried out if clinically indicated. Data was collected of 30-day coronavirus disease-2019-related morbidity and mortality. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 44 patients, 29(65.9%) were males and 15(34.1%) were females. Overall, 32(72.7%) patients were aged >40 years, 8(18.2%) were aged 20-40 years and 4(9%) were aged <20 years. Of the total, 7(15.09%) patients were found to be positive for coronavirus disease-2019 during preoperative screening. Among them, 5(71.4%) had successful surgery post-recovery, 1(14.3%) died without surgery due to pulmonary complications related to coronavirus disease-2019 and 1(14.3%) patient was lost to follow-up. Among the 42(95.5%) patients who underwent any procedure, 2(4.7%) patients turned positive for coronavirus disease-2019 in the postoperative period. There was 1(2.4%) mortality in the 30-day post-operative period which was not related to coronavirus disease-2019. Complications were seen in 5(11.90%) patients. Three (9.3%) out of 32 staff members were found to be asymptomatic carriers. CONCLUSIONS: Hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery could be safely carried out during coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic if strict safety protocols were followed.
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Biliary Tract Surgical Procedures , COVID-19 , Female , Humans , Male , Biliary Tract Surgical Procedures/methods , COVID-19/epidemiology , Pancreas , Pandemics , Retrospective Studies , Young Adult , AdultABSTRACT
Exchange rates are crucial in regulating the foreign exchange market's dynamics. Because of the unpredictability and volatility of currency rates, the exchange rate prediction has become one of the most challenging applications of financial time series forecasting. This study aims to build and compare the accuracy of various methods. The time series model Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) are utilized to forecast the daily US dollar to Pakistan rupee currency exchange rates (USD/PKR). Lagged observations of the data series and moving average technical analysis are used in both models. Explanatory factors were used as indicators, and the prediction performance was assessed using a variety of commonly known statistical metrics. These statistical metrics suggested the presence of conditional heteroscedasticity. Thus, the process turns to capture the volatility effect of conditional heteroscedasticity through GARCH modeling. It may be inferred based on the results of tentative models;that the ARCH model outperforms the GARCH model in terms of predicting the USD/PKR exchange rate.
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OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially affected students around the globe due to the closure of educational institutes. However, student involvements and contributions are important in combating the disease; for this reason, the current study was designed to assess the knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP), preventive behavior, and risk perception among university students. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among medical and non-medical university students, from April 1 to June 30, 2020. The 68-item questionnaire was used to evaluate responses using statistical approaches (Student's t-test, regression-analysis, and co-relation analysis) by considering a P-value <0.05 as statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 503 university students (medical and nonmedical) were selected, where majority of participants were females (83%) and 64.5% were of age ranged from 16 to 21 years old. The participants (80%) reported good disease knowledge with a mean score of 12.06 ± 1.75, which substantially higher among medical students (P < 0.05). Most of the respondents (72%) believed that COVID-19 will be effectively controlled through precautionary measures. In correlation subgroup analysis, a significant relationship (P = 0.025) between knowledge and positive attitude were indicated. Fear and knowledge of COVID-19 emerged as strong predictors (P < 0.001) of preventive behaviors towards disease. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated satisfactory knowledge, positive attitudes, and suitable practices among students toward COVID-19. University students can be involved in public education to aid the health authorities in achieving the targets of educational campaigns with maximum population coverage.
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Since December 2019, the COVID-19 epidemic has been spreading all over the world. This epidemic has brought a risk of death in the daily activity (physical and social) participation that influences travellers’ physical, social, and mental health. To analyze the impact of the COVID-19-induced daily activities on health parameters of higher education institutes, 150 students of the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Perak, Malaysia, were surveyed through an online web survey using random sampling techniques. The data were analyzed through RStudio and SPSS using multilevel linear regression analysis and Hierarchical Structural Equation Modeling. The estimated results indicate that restricting individuals from doing out-of-home activities negatively influences physical and social health. A unit increase in the in-home maintenance activities during the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a daily increase of 0.5% in physical health. Moreover, a unit increase in the in-home activities at leisure time represents a 1% positive improvement in social health. Thus, physical activity has proven to be beneficial in improving physical and social health with severe COVID-19. In contrast, the coefficient of determination (R2) for all endogenous variables ranges from 0.148 to 0.227, which is incredibly acceptable in psychological research. For a healthier society with a better quality of life, this study adopted multidisciplinary approaches that are needed to be designed.
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BACKGROUND: The global health emergency of COVID-19 has necessitated the development of multiple therapeutic modalities including vaccinations, antivirals, anti-inflammatory, and cytoimmunotherapies, etc. COVID-19 patients suffer from damage to various organs and vascular structures, so they present multiple health crises. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of interest to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. MAIN BODY: Stem cell-based therapies have been verified for prospective benefits in copious preclinical and clinical studies. MSCs confer potential benefits to develop various cell types and organoids for studying virus-human interaction, drug testing, regenerative medicine, and immunomodulatory effects in COVID-19 patients. Apart from paving the ways to augment stem cell research and therapies, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) holds unique ability for a wide range of health applications such as patient-specific or isogenic cells for regenerative medicine and breeding transgenic animals for biomedical applications. Being a potent cell genome-reprogramming tool, the SCNT has increased prominence of recombinant therapeutics and cellular medicine in the current era of COVID-19. As SCNT is used to generate patient-specific stem cells, it avoids dependence on embryos to obtain stem cells. CONCLUSIONS: The nuclear transfer cloning, being an ideal tool to generate cloned embryos, and the embryonic stem cells will boost drug testing and cellular medicine in COVID-19.
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COVID-19 , Animals , Cloning, Molecular , Cloning, Organism , Embryonic Stem Cells , Humans , Prospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Both developed and developing economies of the world are greatly influenced by global oil prices. More importantly, after the repeated episodes of economic crises in different parts of the world at difference times, like world crisis 2008, European debt crisis 2011 and COVID-19 pandemic, the investors are keen to know the potential effect of fluctuating oil prices generally on the global financial markets with particular emphasis on the stock market returns. This paper empirically explores the impact of oil prices and macro-economic factors on stock market development in Pakistan by utilizing a novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations model for annual time series data starting from 1985 to 2017. The results of dynamic simulated ARDL model disclose that oil prices, remittance inflow and foreign direct investment exert a positive effect while exchange rate exert a negative effect on the development of the Pakistan stock market. This study suggests that the government, policy makers and the investors should estimate probable changes in oil prices, exchange rate, expected inflow of personal remittances and FDI in order to easily forecast the performance of stock exchange in Pakistan.