ABSTRACT
Background: The authenticity and importance of RT-PCR testing cannot be overstated, for resource-limited settings like Bangladesh, especially in places where RT -PCR facilities are unavailable, rapid antigen testing could be an important supportive tool in SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test with RT-PCR for viral gene detection assay. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was performed at National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Center (NILMRC), Dhaka between March and April 2021. The nasopharyngeal swab samples were obtained from COVID-19 suspected cases collected from NILMRC virology lab. RT-PCR testing was conducted by Novel Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Diagnostic Kit. Rapid antigen testing was conducted using Standard Q COVID-19 Ag test. Results: The median age was 35.2 years. Among the confirmed cases, 63.0% were male patients. A total of 68 samples came out as positive and 226 were negative using both methods. Additionally, four more positive cases were detected by the Rapid Antigen Testing method. The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid antigen test was found to be 94.0% and 99.0% respectively. Conclusions: Rapid antigen test and rt-PCR showed almost similar sensitivity and specificity.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 epidemic had a significant impact on how otolaryngologists deliver care and treatment to their patients in the outpatient setting. Throughout this Public Health Emergency (PHE), maintaining a continuum of care with existing patients and establishing a relationship with potential patients is difficult. State and municipal governments have issued orders for the citizens to remain at homes and stay under shelters in several places to prevent the spread of COVID-19.Wide adaptability in providing services via remote communications technology has been allowed to avoid exposure concerns to healthcare professionals, patients, and the general public. The use of telehealth or online services will allow otolaryngologists to provide essential care to patients while reducing the pandemic's clinical and budgetary burden. It increases the continuum of care, lowers costs, and enhances patient self-management and overall results, according to studies, notably in the treatment of distinct disease states. [1]The considerable coding and billing challenges associated with deploying telehealth services are explained to encourage otolaryngologists to adopt this technology.
ABSTRACT
Home-based workspaces have considerably increased all over the world. Besides, the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 disease forced many people to work from their homes. However, existing residential apartment buildings (ERABs) had been designed for accommodation but not for office works. Low-quality visual environments in ERABs, which have no shading controls on their windows, are evident in tropical climates with extremely high solar radiation. Thus, interior retrofit is significant to provide visual comfort for users in ERABs with low flexibility for modification of their facades. Different interior design variables were simulated by the Radiance-based program to analyse daylighting in a closed-plan room. Before the simulation experiments, field measurement of daylight was performed under a tropical sky to validate the results, and the findings revealed significant Pearson correlations. This paper showed that ERABs are confronting extremely high indoor daylight quantity, up to 10,228 lx, and low quality with intolerable glare. An adjustable model of internal shading, including an integrated Venetian blind with a horizontal light shelf and the window films, was proposed to improve quantitative and qualitative performances of daylighting in tropical regions. This dynamic model could be adjusted to various positions based on daylighting conditions in the buildings. By comparing the simulation results of this model with the base model, indoor illuminance levels could successfully reduce from 32% to 86%;Illuminance Uniformity Ratio (IUR) and Target Daylight Illuminance (TDI) significantly improved up to 180% and 300%, respectively;Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) and CIE Glare Index (CGI) changed from intolerable to imperceptible status. Accordingly, the proposed model can considerably improve daylight quantity and quality in the test room during different times. This study concludes that the dynamic model of internal shadings could provide efficient daylighting, by decreasing the extremely high indoor illuminance and glare in the ERABs in tropical climates. © 2021 WITPress. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Home office workspaces have significantly grown in residential sectors throughout the world. Nowadays, many people worldwide are forced to work from their housing units due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the existing residential buildings were only designed for living activities, not for desk-related tasks. This is more critical in tropical regions with the overabundance of indoor daylight and lack of external shadings on existing buildings. Despite the limitations for modifying the external facades, interior retrofit plays a major role in improving visual environments. Daylighting performances of various configurations, including internal shading devices, interior surfaces, and window films, were experimented with the Radiance-IES program. A field measurement of daylight was conducted in a home office room under the Malaysian tropical sky to validate the simulated results. This research proved that the existing residential buildings in the tropical climates had poor daylighting performance where the mean indoor illuminance could be over 10,000 lx. The combination of a light shelf, a partial blind, and the tinted window film could effectively 85% alleviate the excessive indoor daylight level. This configuration recorded a significant improvement in Useful Daylight Zone (around 300%), and Daylight Glare Probability was considerably reduced from 0.46 to 0.34. © 2021 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This is a century of corona virus. The world is still coping up with the third wave of COVID-19, while the scientists have already warned that a fourth wave is imminent. This wave is expected to be more lethal due to multiple mutated variety of the corona virus, including one of the most lethal one known as Indian variant or delta variant. Meanwhile, the health staff has to deal with those patients who survived COVID-19, but continued to have a variety of new complaints, including respiratory distress, dysautonomia, intravascular thrombosis and endocardial myocarditis etc. Anti-corona therapy, in itself lead to multiple syndromes including acute kidney injury, bone marrow depression and deranged blood sugar levels. One of the more lethal complication is mucormycosis-a fungal disease. It has effected thousands of recovering or recovered corona patients in India. This editorial highlights the salient features of post-corona syndrome or long covid.
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Background: COVID-19 has now become a pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Over the period of four months, corona virus has conquered the world. The rapidity of the spread of the disease from country to country, and the rapidity of the clinical deterioration of the patients perplexed the medical fraternity. Every day, extremely variable presentation of the signs and symptoms in the same patient as well as from the different patients, left the treating physicians guessing about the most fitting model of pathogenesis and the most suitable or effective treatment modality. Till now thousands of trials and studies have been published on COVID-19 globally, but the missing links have yet to be found. This perspective is about this complex dilemma, which still remains to be solved, and may take years to be solved with certainty.