ABSTRACT
Introduction Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal/ oropharyngeal swab has been the gold standard test for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection The relationship between cycle threshold (Ct) values of rRT-PCR and severity of disease remain disputable and not clearly defined in COVID-19. Methodology This is a single-centred retrospective observational study conducted at Government Corona Hospital (GCH), Guindy, Chennai. In the present study, we compared the Ct value of rRT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swab specimens with a diverse range of symptoms and disease severity among 240 individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19, viz., mild cases (MC;n=160), moderately severe cases (MSC;n=46) and severe cases (SC;n=34) in the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic. Results The study included 240 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a median age of 52 years (range 21 to 90 years). MC, MSC, and SC all had median Ct values of 25.0 (interquartile range – IQR 20.0 to 30.5), 29.5 (IQR 23.0 to 34.0), and 29.0 (IQR 24 to 37.5) for the ORF1ab gene. The Ct value differed significantly between mild vs moderate, and mild vs severe cases. The Ct value of SC group with co-morbidity of type 2 diabetes have a significant difference compared to non-diabetes group (p value <0.05). There was a significant difference in the median Ct value of ORF1ab gene among the MSC group and MC but not in the SC group in the first and second waves of the pandemic (p<0.05). Conclusion We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 Ct values of rRT-PCR alone does not have a role in aiding severity stratification among patients with COVID-19 since the viral dynamics and Ct value may vary due to the emerging variants that occur in different waves of the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a phase of worldwide pandemic caused due to SARS-CoV2. India has the largest number of positive cases in Asia and second highest number in the world. India had four different versions of lockdowns with substantial relaxations. During January 2022, India has release completely all the relaxations. However, most of the infected people are suffering a lot from post-COVID-19 syndrome which has long effects even for months. Mainly, the persons with diabetic, cardiac, asthuma, etc. have major threats and impact for the mitigation of post effects of COVID-19. To analyze and prioritize the preventive measures and follow up cares, this paper proposes a multi-criterion decision analysis TOPSIS model integrated with Grey s theory. TOPSIS is one of the most used techniques in manifold important areas that have been providing uncertain solutions. To overcome the uncertainty in symptoms of the post-COVID-19 infection process, Grey s theory has been integrated. © 2022 Information Resources Management Association. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal/ oropharyngeal swab has been the gold standard test for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection The relationship between cycle threshold (Ct) values of rRT-PCR and severity of disease remain disputable and not clearly defined in COVID-19. Methodology: This is a single-centered retrospective observational study conducted at Government Corona Hospital (GCH), Guindy, Chennai. In the present study, we compared the Ct value of rRT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swab specimens with a diverse range of symptoms and disease severity among 240 individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19, viz., mild cases (MC; n = 160), moderately severe cases (MSC; n = 46) and severe cases (SC; n = 34) in the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The study included 240 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a median age of 52 years (range 21 to 90 years). MC, MSC, and SC all had median Ct values of 25.0 (interquartile range - IQR 20.0 to 30.5), 29.5 (IQR 23.0 to 34.0), and 29.0 (IQR 24 to 37.5) for the ORF1ab gene. The Ct value differed significantly between mild vs moderate, and mild vs severe cases. The Ct value of SC group with co-morbidity of type 2 diabetes have a significant difference compared to non-diabetes group (p value <0.05). There was a significant difference in the median Ct value of ORF1ab gene among the MSC group and MC but not in the SC group in the first and second waves of the pandemic (p<0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 Ct values of rRT-PCR alone does not have a role in aiding severity stratification among patients with COVID-19 since the viral dynamics and Ct value may vary due to the emerging variants that occur in different waves of the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Introduction There have been tremendous continuous efforts to understand the broad spectrum of disease and its sequelae since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Several studies have identified biomarkers that correlate with multiple organ failure in COVID-19 patients. The purpose of our study was to evaluate COVID-19-associated kidney injury. Methods This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Institute of Biochemistry, Madras Medical College, by reviewing the electronic records of 1,000 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19-positive patients admitted at the COVID-19 care center. Data were extracted from the case records of 1,000 RT-PCR-positive patients with different CT chest grades plus comorbid conditions such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), systemic hypertension (SHT), coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cerebrovascular accident (CVA) as Group I (n = 500). Group II (n = 500) comprised of COVID-19-positive patients with no comorbid conditions. The data were recorded from all the patients at the time of admission, prior to starting treatment. Patients with comorbid and non-comorbid conditions were compared according to different CT grades. Results COVID-19 patients with different CT grades showed a significant relationship with creatinine, sodium, potassium, C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, total protein, and albumin with p-values of 0.04, 0.01, 0.02, 0.000, 0.00, 0.00, and 0.000, respectively, in Group I. In Group II, with various grades of CT changes, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and creatinine showed no significance. The sodium, potassium, CRP, ferritin, total protein, and albumin showed low significance with the chest CT grades. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that COVID-19 can cause mild to moderate renal impairment in COVID-19 patients. Multiple factors contributed to this, such as the higher angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression on kidney cells, microinflammation, increased blood clotting, and probable direct infection of the kidney. A high NLR, increased inflammatory markers, and altered renal function analytes such as urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, total protein, and albumin also confirmed this.
ABSTRACT
The establishment of regularised trading exchanges for agricultural commodities attracted every market participant to benefit from their trade. The pandemic has created massive chaos in every asset class, and agri-commodities are no exception. However, the pandemic also taught lessons for the global traders to focus on food produce. Therefore, this paper intends to look at agricultural commodity trading behaviour during this COVID-19 pandemic by looking at the movement of the trade in the agri-futures index and other asset classes, including equity, exchange rates, bullion prices, etc. The results show that all the selected asset classes except the exchange rate are influencing Agridex. In addition, the Agridex returns are influenced by the severity of COVID-19 cases. Therefore, the policymakers should keep this in mind and work to prevent the price rise to an uncontrollable extent because this can lead to stagflation. Copyright © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Currently, the entire globe is infected with COVID 19, and everyone is doing everything they can do to avoid contracting this serious sickness by adhering to social segregation, wearing coverings, using credit-only exchanges, and refraining from contacting anything to prevent the spread of germs. With the advancement of technology, traditional locks are becoming relics of the past, while new biometric-based locks and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based locks are becoming increasingly in common. The unique finger impression based locks, as well as participation record-keeping devices, are used in the vast majority of offices and universities, however due to the pandemic, it is no longer appropriate to do so. As a result, the proposed system use a solenoid lock to make the door lock. Aside from the equipment, a mobile application is used to inspect and double-check the finger impression and send the confirmation, as well as an id, to Arduino through Bluetooth. The entry way lock will be bolted and opened using the smartphone fingerprint sensor. © 2021 The authors and IOS Press.
ABSTRACT
It is of interest to assess the inflammatory marker profile in SARS-CoV-2 patients and to correlate the levels of systemic inflammatory biomarkers such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), C-Reactive Protein CRP, Ferritin, Creatine kinase (CK), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and liver function analytes total serum proteins, albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) with the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. A total of 1000 COVID-19 positive patient's data were collected. Laboratory assessments consisted of NLR (neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio) by cell counter, C Reactive Protein (CRP) by immunoturbidimetry, Ferritin by electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) and Creatine Kinase (CK), Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Total Bilirubin, Direct Bilirubin, Total Protein and Albumin by spectrophotometry. The mean plasma CRP levels, NLR, ferritin, CK and LDH levels were higher in severe cases than in non-severe cases, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). All liver function tests such as the total and direct bilirubin, AST, ALT, ALP, total protein and albumin were higher in severe patients than non-severe patients and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Data indicate that NLR, CRP, Ferritin, CK, LDH and liver function analytes have a crucial role as prognostic markers for SARS-CoV-2 infections and hence should be routinely recommended for risk assessment and stratification of the patients to reduce the associated morbidity and mortality.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is the global pandemic causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, affects the liver in the earlier stages⁵. In our biochemistry laboratory we observed most of the covid-19 patients have deranged liver function tests commonly mixed type. Thus the main aim of our study was to analyse the association of LFT with lung involvement in symptomatic covid-19 patients with or without comorbidities. Method: This study is a retrospective cross sectional study, where we collected 1000 biochemical data of RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 cases with positive CT-chest reports at the time of admission, before starting the treatment and analyzed the biochemistry data in 2 different forms. One is comparing the data of covid-19 positive cases with comorbidity to no comorbidity. Another form, the cases were classified into 4 grades based on the CT-chest, and analyzed the relationship between CT-Chest and liver function parameters. Results: The data of 1000 cases were compared statistically. It showed a significant number of patients with COVID-19, had abnormal liver function at the earlier state on infection. 90% of the cases have at least one abnormal liver function tests.Patients having >50% lung involvement have increased enzyme levels and decreased total protein and albumin levels, when compared with those having <50% lung involvement Conclusion: In COVID-19 patients, apart from the lung involvement, extra pulmonary manifestations are also common. Liver is the most commonly affected along with lung at earlier stages. © 2021, Universitatea de Vest Vasile Goldis din Arad. All rights reserved.