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The American Psychological Association defines trauma as "an emotional response to a terrible event. . ..” Trauma can be experienced as a response to either physical or emotionally disturbing circumstances. The Journalism and the Pandemic Project from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, in their global survey of journalists, have studied the impact of the pandemic on journalists across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused varying degrees of disruptions in the personal and professional lives of journalists. Traumatic experiences like covering traumatic events up close, COVID-induced health issues, job loss, pay cuts, and insecurity at the workplace have consumed journalists like never before. Overwhelming emotions like shock, helplessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are some of the reactions observed by mental health experts. Indian journalists, too, like their counterparts across the globe, have had to take on the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis. This article intends to study the impact of the pandemic on Indian journalists both from physical and emotional perspectives. The objectives of the study include—(a) to analyze the journalists' response to traumatic experiences during the pandemic, (b) to study the nature of trauma experienced by journalists during the pandemic, (c) to analyze how traumatic experiences affected the journalists, and (d) to explore and analyze how journalists managed to cope with the traumatic experiences. The study adopts social cognitive theory (SCT) as the framework. SCT comprises four goal realization processes: self-observation, self-evaluation, self-reaction, and self-efficacy. The four components are interrelated, and all influence motivation and goal attainment. Social cognition includes diverse processes linking the perception of social information with a behavioral response, including perception, attention, decision-making, memory, and emotion. The post-traumatic reactions include re-experiencing the traumatic event in flashbacks, recurrent nightmares, and intrusive memories, hypervigilant arousal, impaired concentration, depression, sleep disturbances, self-devaluation, avoidance of reminders of traumatic experiences, emotional detachment from others, and disengagement from aspects of life that provide meaning and self-fulfillment, which impair intrapersonal, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. The scope of the study covers the journalists' responses to traumatic experiences specific to the pandemic. The study adopts a mixed research method with a thematic analysis of the qualitative data from interviews of journalists followed by a factor analysis of the quantitative data from the survey of the journalists. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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During the course of this epidemic, the Corona virus had a significant influence not only regular lives but also on international business. Protecting one's appearance has recently emerged as a widespread fashion trend and can now be considered the norm. In the present day or in the future, a large number of individuals will be obliged to wear masks in order to protect not only themselves but also the people around as well as the surrounding area. Face recognition has emerged as an increasingly vital tool in the fight against global terrorism. As part of this work, we are developing an AI system that will be able to determine whether or not a person is concealing their identity by wearing a mask. It will be of assistance to us in preventing the virus from spreading across the environment. In order to construct this work, we require the assistance of Machine Learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and Neural Network (NN), all of which will assist us in realizing the purpose of this work. We needed jupyter notebook in order to complete this work, and we also needed to install numpy, opencv, tensorflow, and numpy as well as a learning tool. This strategy will assist us in identifying the individual who is concealing their identity by wearing a mask in the imageand in real life picture. Additionally, it is able to recognize and distinguish a moving mask or face. © 2022 IEEE.
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The river water quality index (RWQI) of the upper Ganga canal has been computed to assess the effect of lockdown and unlock phases lead down by COVID-19 in India. Geospatial distribution of RWQI from January 2019 to December 2021 in the study area revealed significant impacts of lockdown on water quality. However, unlock phases (post lockdown) have deteriorated water quality since August 2020 and reached to actual conditions of the river by August 2021. To evaluate the lockdown as a management strategy to clean the river, other factors were reviewed including rainfall data, migration, and other activities. The results revealed that all the monitoring stations have improved water quality index ranging from 3 to 45 between March to June 2020. The River Ganga at Haridwar showed a two-fold improvement in the water quality index making it the highest positive impact of the lockdown, and at Rishikesh, the water quality index showed the least changes. The average decrease in RWQI has been observed to be 13 units in the year 2020 as compared to 2019 between March to June. In October 2020, RWQI has been observed to be higher as compared to the years 2019 and 2021. This is possibly due to a shift in rainfall patterns and other factors such as evapotranspiration, precipitation, and atmospheric temperature involved in river water quality control. Up to 60% reduction in average total coliforms and fecal coliforms has been observed due to the nationwide lockdown and a shift in human behavior towards cleaner and sustainable approaches. © 2023, Chulalongkorn University - Environmental Research Institute. All rights reserved.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 has emerged as a global pandemic causing millions of critical cases and deaths. Early identification of at-risk patients is crucial for planning triage and treatment strategies. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the pooled prognostic significance of procalcitonin in predicting mortality and severity in patients with COVID-19 using a robust methodology and clear clinical implications.We used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses and Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions guidelines. We included thirty-two prospective and retrospective cohort studies involving 13,154 patients. The diagnostic odds ratio of procalcitonin for predicting mortality were estimated to be 11 (95% CI: 7 to 17) with sensitivity, specificity, and summary area under the curve of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70 to 0.91), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.58 to 0.79), and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79 to 0.86) respectively. While for identifying severe cases of COVID-19, the odds ratio was 8.0 (95% CI 5.0 to 12.0) with sensitivity, specificity, and summary area under the curve of0.73 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.78), 0.74 (0.66 to 0.81), and 0.78 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.82) respectively.Procalcitonin has good discriminatory power for predicting mortality and disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, procalcitonin measurement may help identify potentially severe cases and thus decrease mortality by offering early aggressive treatment.
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Background: The role of physical activity and a healthy diet for improving overall health is known to all. Sudden lockdown, imposed by the Indian government for the containment of the Corona virus disease in March 2020, has affected the physical, mental and emotional health of everyone in the country. Objectives: This paper is aimed to access the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the healthy habits of the people of Uttar Pradesh. It also tried to explore the reason why someone not able to adapt the healthy habits. Method: An online survey was conducted among the people having smartphones and internet accessibility in Uttar Pradesh. Questions related to their daily routine and diets were asked. More than two hundred participants have taken part in the survey. Then BMI, immunity through diet, and Physical immunity were calculated. Different statistical methods were applied to find relations and associations among the variables. Results: Maximum respondents were below the age of 35 (89%, n = 178), hence they have a good physical immune system, but only 56 percent (n = 112) were having BMI in the normal range. Most of them were conscious about the impact of exercise and a healthy diet on their health then also only 68 percent (n = 136) were involved in any sort of exercise. Conclusion: People of Uttar Pradesh are aware of the healthy habits and diet required to improve the immune system. Taking a healthy diet and regular exercise is part of the day for many and those who lack motivation are unable to do so. © 2023 DMICS.
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Recent years have witnessed increased pressure across the global healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic shattered existing healthcare operations and taught us the importance of a resilient and sustainable healthcare system. Digitisation, specifically adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has positively contributed to developing a resilient healthcare system in recent past. To understand how AI contributes to building a resilient and sustainable healthcare system, this study based on systematic literature review of 89 articles extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases is conducted. The study is organised around several key themes such as applications, benefits, and challenges of using AI technology in healthcare sector. It is observed that AI has wide applications in radiology, surgery, medical, research, and development of healthcare sector. Based on the analysis, a research framework is proposed using an extended Antecedents, Practices, and Outcomes (APO) framework. This framework comprises AI applications' antecedents, practices, and outcomes for building a resilient and sustainable healthcare system. Consequently, three propositions are drawn in this study. Furthermore, our study has adopted the theory, context and methodology (TCM) framework to provide future research directions, which can be used as a reference point for future studies. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Uncertainty is associated with the COVID-19 disease progression among patients. There are evidences, that increased inflammatory markers can indicate causation of mortality in patients with Covid-19. The aim of the study is to correlate primary and secondary clinical outcome parameters in COVID-19 moderate and severe cases (survivors and non survivors) with CRP, D-dimer and CTSS. Also to determine the optimal cut-offvalues of these parameters with respect to mortality.Study was conducted in 100 adults admitted for moderate to severe COVID 19 disease assessed by primary and secondary outcome parameters in the survivor and non survivor groups. Study tools included serum CRP, D-dimer and CTSS.l9 patients belonged to moderate and 81 to severe groups. 55% patients were survivors and 45% were nonsurvivors. CRP, D-dimer, CTSS were significantly higher in non survivors as compared to survivors. The CRP levels, DDimer levels, CTS S were significantly different in severe survivors and non survivors. D-dimers and CRP are found to be positively associated with days of iCU stay while CRP, Ddimer and CTS S were found to be associated with the IMV. In ROC analysis for predicting mortality, D-dimer had a cut-off of794.5pg/L and strongest correlation, followed by CRP and CTSS.The severe COVID-19 disease was more likely to occur in middle aged men with the underlying co-morbidities. CRP and D-dimer were elevated in all patients admitted to hospital for Covid-19 and were significantly higher in the survivors group. D-dimer was the best predictor of mortality.
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Aim: To study the various presentations and manifestations of complicated rhinosinusitis in COVID era- ranging from bacterial rhino sinusitis to invasive fungal rhino sinusitis. Methods: Design-A retrospective observational study was carried out from March 2020 to May 2021. Setting-Tertiary care hospital subjects—all COVID-positive patients who had paranasal sinus involvement. Methods-Patients were evaluated based on their symptomatology profile. Fungal stains and culture were carried out for all. They underwent Magnetic resonance Imaging and Computed Tomography scan on case-to-case basis, apart from routine nasal endoscopy. All were managed both medically and surgically depending upon their diagnosis. The natural course including outcomes, was studied, documented and analyzed. Results: Out of 496 patients presenting with sinonasal disease, 126 were COVID-positive, 16 patients had complicated rhino sinusitis, of which 4 patients had complicated rhinosinusitis with intraorbital, intracranial or combined complications. All patients were managed successfully with combined medical and surgical approach. Twelve patients had invasive mucormycosis with overall mortality rate of 37%. Conclusion: Complicated sinusitis was encountered in COVID-positive patients either when they were being actively treated for COVID-19 or as part of post-COVID sequalae. Though rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis constituted the major disease burden in such patients but the possibility of bacterial rhino sinusitis with or without complications must also be kept in mind while evaluating such patients. We must remember every complicated rhinosinusitis in COVID-positive patient may not be mucor and manage appropriately. © 2023, The Author(s).
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Background: In several studies, Vitamin D supplementation was found useful against the highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 to reduce the mortality rate and severity of its infection. Viral replication was also found to be affected negatively by vitamin D administration. Objective: The literature was reviewed with an aim to evaluate the efficacy of the therapeutic approach of nutrition involving intervention of Vitamin D towards decreasing the severity of prevailing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2. Methods: A background research of literature was performed using the keywords "SARS-CoV-2”, "COVID-19”, "nutritional therapy”, "Vitamin D”, "immunity”, "AEC2 receptors” and "RAS” in the Pubmed and Google Scholar. Results: This literature was review suggested that if combined with medical sciences, this nutritional therapy approach can end up as an influential solution to reduce the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which is a prevailing pandemic. A combination of assessment, supplementation of this required micro-nutrient (Vitamin D), and monitoring can be used to aid the immune system of COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Nutritional therapy with Vitamin D as a major factor can be used to increase the immunity of an individual to fight against the highly infectious SARS-CoV-2. However, the ac-tual mechanism of how Vitamin D supplementation functions to improve the health of an individual is yet unclear. © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.
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BACKGROUND: Currently, AVFs are created by vascular surgeons urologists and nephrologists. Nephrologists may be better placed to create AVFs and conduct follow-up as they re well versed with the usage of AVF. AIM OF THE STUDY: This observational prospective study aims to find the outcome of AVFs created by nephrologists over two years in a tertiary level hospital. METHOD(S): All the patients in whom an AVF was created by nephrologists between March 2020 and August 2022 were included. On the day of surgery vitals were recorded and vein mapping was done. Side-to-side anastomosis with 6-0 proline between artery and vein were performed under local anesthesia in a single sitting. Patients were observed for post-op complications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, RT PCR was only performed in suspected in suspected patients indentified during screening. All patients staff and surgeons wore N-95 masks in addition to usual sterile measures. Patients were followed up at 6th week and 12th week post-AVF construction to do clinical examination and evaluate blood flow diameter of AVF by high-quality Doppler. Patients were asked to use AVF for dialysis after 6th week of creation after they have matured. AVF maturation was defined radiologically as a combination of blood flow of 600 ml/min and diameter of 6 mm or more and clinically usable. Else it was considered immature. Primary failure was defined as AVFs that had not matured till 12th week of creation. All the data were analyzed by appropriate statistical tools using the SPSS software RESULTS: A total of 1323 fistulae (including 376 during COVID-19 pandemic) were created in 1102 patients. Of them 928 (84.21%) were males, and 537 (48.72%) of the patients were having underlying diabetes mellitus. A total of 1008 (76.19%) were radio-cephalic while 262 (19.8%), 19 (1.43%) were brachio-cephalic, and brachio-basilic respectively. 1013 (76.56%) fistulae were left sided. 944 (85.66%) were already on hemodialysis while 158 (14.33%) were planned for elective initiation after fistula maturation. Of the 1102 patients, 150 patients required fistula creation twice, 17 patients thrice, and 4 patients underwent fistula creation four times. Out of 556 (50.45%) patients who completed three months follow-up, 65 patients (11.69%) expired. Primary failure was observed in 107 (19.21%) fistulae and 24 (4.30%) patients developed local site infection. 8 (1.43%) and 4 (0.71%) patients developed fistula rupture and aneurysms respectively requiring admission for AVF closure. Mean AVF blood flow and diameter were 674.92 +/- 317.40 and 5.42 +/- 1.33 at 6th week and 983.60 +/- 289.41 and 9.36 +/- 54.58 at 12th week respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, out of 376, 15 (7.1%) patients were found to be COVID-19 positive during follow-up, and only 2 out of 18 staff and 4 nephrologists were found to COVID-19 positive. CONCLUSION(S): Nephrologists are well positioned to create AVFs successfully. However, collaboration with vascular surgeons and radiologists will further improve the success rate and management of complications. AVF creation is safe during pandemics and should be continued.
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End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients who were on maintenance hemodialysis require a stable, permanent vascular access as a lifeline. Venous mapping during prearteriovenous fistula (AVF) construction does not include central vein assessment. The guidelines on angiographic assessment of central veins during pre-AVF construction are yet to be streamlined. Moreover, during COVID pandemic, assess difficulty in catheterization laboratory and interventional radiology created devastating situation. We report 15 ESKD cases of central venous stenosis presented during the COVID pandemic time from February 2020 to July 2021. Patients' basic details were collected and initial clinical examination findings were recorded;they were subjected to Doppler and fistulogram. After the combined decision of nephrologist, interventional cardiologist, and vascular surgeon, the management (fistula closure/repair) was planned. Of 15 patients, 13 were males. Basic disease is chronic glomerulonephritis in 9, diabetic nephropathy in 4, and chronic interstitial nephritis in 2. Average number of central vein cannulation prior to AVF creation was 2.6. The median time to the development of symptoms after fistula creation was 13 months. Major initial symptoms were swelling of the upper limb in 4, dilatation of outflow veins in 5, swelling and dilatation in 2, poor flow during dialysis in 3, and dilatation of neck and chest vein in 1. Arm elevation test was positive in most of the cases. On Doppler assessment, dilated veins (> 12 mm) with high outflow (> 2000 ml/min) in 5, 4 patients showed low flow (< 400 ml/min), and six patients showed normal findings. In fistulogram, the common location of stenosis/thrombosis was brachiocephalic vein (BV) in 5 and subclavian vein (SC) in 3, BV vein + SC vein in 4, and superior vena cava in 3. Out of 15, 3 underwent balloon dilatation, 7 underwent fistula closure, 1 no intervention done, 3 lost to follow-up, and 1 expired. This is the first case series of central vein stenosis (CVS) brought in light during COVID pandemic. CVS is a serious issue, which might result in permanent vascular access failure. Further study is needed on impact of previous central vein catheterization leading to stenosis and role of pre-AVF creation angiographic assessment to avoid this type of devastating AVF complication.
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In the present paper, we have prophesied how much time will be required to vaccinate 18+ population of India with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines. We have used non-linear extrapolation technique to prophecy, for this polynomial function is used for extrapolation. We have Fitted a non-linear polynomial of degree six to the cumulative vaccination data from 16 January 2021 to 24 July 2021 to estimate the required time period. Non-linear extrapolation results are depicted through the graphs, shows that the entire 18+ population will be vaccinated with at least 1 dose by mid of December of this year and 25% population will be fully vaccinated. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The emergence of COVID-19 created several new challenges in the field of dentistry. New guidelines were published by various regulatory bodies to be followed in dental clinic. One such guideline was to wear visor facemasks while working, to avoid the chances of cross-infection. However, the major problem associated with wearing visor is “fogging” leading to impaired vision of the operator. In this article, certain ways to reduce the chances of fogging has been enlisted. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
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Introduction: Lipids are fundamental biomolecules of the body. Infections like COVID-19 with intricate immune response in some patient’s leads to acute complications by affecting metabolic pathways at multiple levels. Metabolism of cholesterol, triglyceride and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL)-Cholesterol is deranged by cytokines and multiple inflammatory mediators. The sex differences in lipid metabolism may contribute in susceptibility, severity and outcome of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Performing lipid profile in COVID-19 patient may help in assessing severity and prognosis of disease. Aim: To assess the relationship between lipid profile and inflammatory markers in COVID-19 patients and also to evaluate the gender wise differences in lipid parameters and their correlations with inflammatory markers. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in Department of Biochemistry at SHKM, GMC, Mewat, Haryana, India (tertiary care health centre) on COVID-19 positive patients attending Outpatient Department (OPD) and Inpatient Department (IPD), from October 2020 to December 2020. The data of 85 patients with COVID-19 positive, confirmed by Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and who were prescribed for lipid profile along with C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and serum ferritin were included in the study. Serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-Cholesterol, CRP and ferritin were measured in the subjects. Data was statistically analysed using Student’s t test and Pearson correlation coefficient. results: Total 85 (46 males and 39 females) COVID-19 patients were included in the study. Mean age in male and female patients were 43.02±15.52 years and 42.02±15.25 years, respectively with a range of 5-82 years. Mean value of Serum triglycerides, HDL-C and total cholesterol was 204.94±141.27 mg/dL, 42.97±13.38 mg/ dL and 187.058±45.75 mg/dL, respectively. Serum triglycerides were statistically significantly higher in males than females (p-value=0.0413). The HDL-C however was significantly higher in females than males (p-value=0.0006). In male patients, r-value between cholesterol and CRP was -0.3538, and p-value was 0.016. Ferritin had a significant negative correlation with HDL-C (r-value=-0.3578, p-value=0.00079). Weak Positive correlation was noted between triglyceride and ferritin (r-value= 0.2285, p-value=0.035). conclusion: High levels of serum triglycerides, low total cholesterol, and low HDL-cholesterol correlates with inflammatory markers like CRP and ferritin in COVID-19 patients. Lipid profile may be used as a potential marker in all COVID-19 patients in assessing prognosis of disease.
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Most of the Indian cities and towns have been facing serious traffic noise pollution due to urbanization, substantial growth of new vehicles, inadequate road network, etc. Automotive traffic, railroads, and air traffic are the most common sources of noise pollution in cities, with vehicular traffic accounting for around 55% of overall metropolitan noise. Prolonged exposure to such loud noise causes anger, stress, mental diseases, discomfort, hypertension, concentration problems, and sleeplessness. This study aims to investigate the effects of COVID-19 societal lockdown on changes in the noise pollution levels before, during, and after the lockdown period in various industrial, commercial, residential, and silence zones in Bengaluru, India, in light of the recent imposition of COVID-19 societal lockdown. According to data acquired from the KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) online portal, the average noise levels before and during lockdown were determined to be in the range of 59.4 dB to 70.9 dB and 58.2 dB to 62.7 dB for different zones. During the lockdown, all commercial, industrial and educational activities were closed to limit the spread of infection, resulting in usage of private and commercial transportation declining dramatically. Reduction in the noise level was observed during the lockdown in all monitoring stations of Bengaluru, except for Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, where the noise level didn???t decline because of a COVID emergency. Maximum reduction was observed in the commercial area (11.56%) followed by industrial areas (8.34%). The result further indicated that only the industrial area experienced an increase of 8.41% in noise level, while other areas experienced a reduction in a noise level during the early post-lockdown. During the mid and late post-lockdown periods, most locations experienced a rapid spike in the noise intensity.
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Objective: Rhinocereberal mucormycosis is an acute, fulminant, and often lethal opportunistic infection typically affecting diabetic or immunocompromised patients. Early diagnosis is vital in these infections because delay in initiation of the treatment can be life-threatening. Computed tomography (CT) with axial and coronal sections is a highly accurate and non-invasive modality to accurately image sinonasal mycosis. The aim of the study was to describe the imaging findings in suspected cases of mucormycosis on CT. Methods: This study was conducted in Radiodiagnosis Department of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. The data of 22 patients who were referred for CT with a clinical suspicion of mucormycosis were collected and all these patients were followed up to know about the prognosis of the disease. Results: In our study, there were 54.60% females and 45.40% males. Maximum number of patients (45.45%) belonged to 40-49 year age group. Diabetes mellitus was found to be the most commonly (90.90%) found comorbidity followed by hypertension (36.36%). In our study, involvement of unilateral nasal cavity was observed in 36.36% cases. Among the paranasal sinuses, maxillary and ethmoid sinuses were the most commonly involved in 95.45% and 77.27% cases. Conclusion: Prompt diagnosis and treatment of rhino-orbital mucormycosis are the sine qua non as antifungal drugs and surgical debridement can successfully control the infection and thus reduce the high mortality and morbidity associated with mucormycosis.