Fruits as Boosters of the Immune System

Immunity is the major mechanism of host defence system against infectious and chronic diseases. The recent global concern of recent viral infection of SARS-CoV-19 has raised the demand of functional foods, nutraceuticals and fruits that can boost immunity. This will help in managing the overall physiological health and prevention of infectious and chronic diseases. Medicinal plants and fruits can help in boosting immunity through modulation of immune system and changing the types of immune response such as involvement of the induction, expression or amplification of the genes and proteins in inflammation and antioxidant system. The traditional medicine systems have used a wide variety of plants and fruits as supplement for immunomodulation including those for stimulation of immune system as well as immune compromisation deemed per se. Some of the plants that have been listed for immune boosting abilities included Curcuma longa, Withania somnifera, Phyllanthus emblica, Azadirachta indica, Panax ginseng, Rhododendron spiciferum, Caesalpinia bonducella, Tinospora cordifolia, Capparis zeylanica, Asparagus racemosus, Nelumbo nucifera, Arnica montana, Calendula officinalis, Echinacea purpurea and Euphorbia tirucalli. Reports indicate that a wide variety of phytochemicals like polysaccharide, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, lactones and glycoside have shown immunomodulatory properties under different pathophysiological conditions. Amongst the diverse chemical profile of plant extracts, polysaccharides are the water-soluble molecules that could activate immune responses when interacting directly with immune cells, while hydrophobic compounds like flavonoids such as quercetin and luteolin and terpenoids such as sesquiterpene lactones and curcumin showed potent immunomodulatory effects. Growing evidences suggest that phytochemicals from functional foods and fruits may be useful in maintaining the cytokine and chemokine balance, regulating oxidative status of cells, and targeting the specific cellular receptors as therapeutic targets. This chapter comprehensively enlists the plant resources with immune boosting abilities and explore their phytochemical characterization and molecular mechanism behind their protective effects. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Covid19 Disease Assessment Using CNN Architecture

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as one of the world's most critical public health concerns. One of the biggest problems in the present COVID-19 outbreak is the difficulty of accurately separating COVID-19 cases from non-COVID-19 cases at an affordable price and in the initial stages. Besides the use of antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK) and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), chest x-rays (CXR) can also be used to identify COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, manual checks may produce inaccurate results, delay treatment or even be fatal. Because of differences in perception and experience, the manual method can be chaotic and imprecise. Technology has progressed to the point where we can solve this problem by training a Deep Learning (DL) model to distinguish the normal and COVID-19 X-rays. In this work, we choose the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as our DL model and train it using Kaggle datasets that include both COVID-19 and normal CXR data. The developed CNN model is then deployed on the website after going through a training and validation process. The website layout is straightforward to navigate. A CXR can be uploaded and a prediction made with minimal effort from the patient. The website assists in determining whether they have been exposed to COVID-19 or not. © 2023 IEEE.

Potential Influence of Parasitic Interactions on COVID-19 Pathology and Epidemiology

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the human lives worldwide. The emerged disease and pandemic have challenged the public health particularly in the countries with middle or low economic condition including India. The transmigration of this zoonotic virus from bats and pangolins to humans in a process of genetic drift has targeted the lungs and respiratory and cardiovascular damages. Analyzing the infection of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 as a parasitic component in the human physiology, it drew considerable attention to analyze the impact of other residential parasitic entities. This adds to the involvement of the infection and proliferation of other human parasites especially malaria, soil-transmitted helminths (STH), and schistosomes. The coevolution mechanisms pertain to manage the growth and proliferation of pathogenic and nonpathogenic parasites in a cellular micromilieu. One of the key factors that have appeared is COVID-19-induced cytokine storm in cells which is characterized as a physiological state of cells with a hyperinflammatory response. In case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, this phenomenon has been even critically implicated especially with an exacerbated response of IL-6. Herein, this perspective analysis explores the potential influence of parasite coinfection in COVID-19 infection especially the interaction of parasites of malaria, STH, and schistosomes. In a nutshell, the correlation analysis between COVID-19 and other human parasites and diseases presented globally has shown a negative correlation with the COVID-19 cases. Thus, extensive large-scale epidemiological studies would be required to further establish the correlation between parasitic interactions with COVID-19 and to resolve the ambiguity existing in variable repertoire. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Migrant Workers from Rural Bihar

More than half of rural households had at least one migrant worker prior to the pandemic, and for 94% of these households, their migrant workers' livelihood was adversely affected. There was large-scale reverse migration with a huge fraction of returning migrants spending as much as four to five months in native villages with limited opportunities for alternative work (including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act employment). The disruption of employment among migrant workers who stayed in destination areas led to drastic cuts in their remittances back home. About one-fifth of the migrant workers who had gone back to the destination areas were yet to resume work at destination sites at the time of survey. © 2023 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

Do Banking and Financial Services Sectors Show Herding Behaviour in Indian Stock Market Amid COVID-19 Pandemic? Insights from Quantile Regression Approach

In India, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-induced country-wide regulatory lockdown and consequential supply-chain disruptions and market instability have all posed serious challenges before the regulators and policymakers. Amid the pandemic, the stock market showed return volatilities primarily due to the unexpected investors' behaviour. One of the behavioural biases is herding, which has the power to wreck the market equilibrium and shatter the market efficiency. Given that the pandemic has generated unprecedented spirals of uncertainties across the globe, thereby creating interruptions in the pattern of stock market investment decisions, this study examined the herding behaviour of 54 stocks of banking and financial services sectors listed in the national stock exchange. In the quantile regression framework, the study provides evidence of the presence of herding for public sector banking and financial services under the bull market conditions during the pandemic in the 90th quantile of the return distribution. This finding has implications for the mispricing of financial assets in these sectors. So, the study suggests removing information asymmetry among the market participants and devising policy initiatives for ensuring market stability. © 2023 Association of Asia Scholars.

An Optimal Image Segmentation Method based on HGSO for CT Images

Finding the infected regions in medical image modalities is a crucial and challenging task. In this paper, a new image segmentation method is introduced to detect the COVID-19 infection in CT images. In this method, a bi-level-thresholding based image segmentation is proposed using Henry gas solubility optimization. This method used Kapur entropy as a fitness function. Efficiency of the developed segmentation method has been validated on publicly available CT images of COVID-19 patients in terms of PSNR (Pick Signal-to-Noise Ratio), MSE (Mean Square Error), SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Measure) and FSIM (Feature Similarity Index Measure). Moreover, the proposed HGSO-based segmentation method has been compared with SCA, SSA, GWO, CPSOGSA, and MFO-based image segmentation methods to show its efficacy. © 2022 IEEE.

Added value of the measles-rubella supplementary immunization activity in reaching unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children, a cross-sectional study in five Indian districts, 2018-20.

INTRODUCTION: Supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) aim to interrupt measles transmission by reaching susceptible children, including children who have not received the recommended two routine doses of MCV before the SIA. However, both strategies may miss the same children if vaccine doses are highly correlated. How well SIAs reach children missed by routine immunization is a key metric in assessing the added value of SIAs. METHODS: Children aged 9 months to younger than 5 years were enrolled in cross-sectional household serosurveys conducted in five districts in India following the 2017-2019 measles-rubella (MR) SIA. History of measles containing vaccine (MCV) through routine services or SIA was obtained from documents and verbal recall. Receipt of a first or second MCV dose during the SIA was categorized as "added value" of the SIA in reaching un- and under-vaccinated children. RESULTS: A total of 1,675 children were enrolled in these post-SIA surveys. The percentage of children receiving a 1st or 2nd dose through the SIA ranged from 12.8% in Thiruvananthapuram District to 48.6% in Dibrugarh District. Although the number of zero-dose children prior to the SIA was small in most sites, the proportion reached by the SIA ranged from 45.8% in Thiruvananthapuram District to 94.9% in Dibrugarh District. Fewer than 7% of children remained measles zero-dose after the MR SIA (range: 1.1-6.4%) compared to up to 28% before the SIA (range: 7.3-28.1%). DISCUSSION: We demonstrated the MR SIA provided considerable added value in terms of measles vaccination coverage, although there was variability across districts due to differences in routine and SIA coverage, and which children were reached by the SIA. Metrics evaluating the added value of an SIA can help to inform the design of vaccination strategies to better reach zero-dose or undervaccinated children.

Study of Marine Natural Products as Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Agents Using Molecular Modeling

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has created a global pandemic. Viral entry into host cells is mediated by spike glycoprotein (SGP) interactions with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans on the cell surface. Carbohydrate small molecules were found to bind to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SGP, which also interacts with ACE2, forming a ternary complex. Moreover, glycans isolated from sea cucumber and red alga species exhibited anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities, presumably by blocking viral entry mediated through SGP-heparan sulfate interactions. Here we report a collection of computational studies conducted as part of a collaborative effort to investigate the effects of marine natural products (NPs) on the wild-type and N501Y mutant SGP RBD. Starting from an X-ray crystal structure of the RBD-ACE2 complex, a model of SGP RBD was built. To investigate the static and dynamic behavior of RBD-NP interactions, blind and site-targeted molecular docking using diverse docking programs (Glide, AutoDock Vina or ClusPro) was carried out, followed by extensive molecular dynamics simulations with two force fields (CHARMM36 or Glycam06) and binding free energy calculations. Predicted conformations of the NPs varied considerably when modeled in water or in complex with RBD. Five NP binding sites on the RBD were studied. NP binding specificities towards SARS-CoV-2 variants were explained and important RBD residues were identified. Statistical analyses of the stability of various protein-NP complexes during molecular dynamics simulations helped to differentiate pseudo-vs. real-binding sites. Our results provide significant insights into the importance of extensive molecular dynamics calculations in order to move beyond the limitations of molecular docking.

Docking of Glycosaminoglycans to Proteins: Methods and Challenges

Glycoscience continues to emerge as a high-value information-rich field providing medical insight in the post-genomic era. Among the glycans, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) represent a large family of highly sulfated, complex, linear, periodic polysaccharides that display a variety of important biological roles via interaction with protein targets. One of the recent examples is that heparan sulfate, itself a GAG, facilitates SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to the ACE2 receptor which triggers coronavirus infection. Not only this, but certain other kinds of GAGs have also been found to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 activity considerably and have been proposed as potential therapeutics. Computational modeling is an effective tool in studying biological systems but the nature of these long periodic linear and negatively charged polysaccharides makes it challenging to model GAG systems alone or their complexes with proteins. Docking is an essential tool for understanding protein-GAG interactions, but there has been a lack of validation studies to show the reliability of docking programs in predicting protein-GAG complexes. In this work, we will show some of the challenges and limitations of current software in modeling protein-GAG interactions by docking.

A Case of Anterior Spinal Artery (ASA) Syndrome After Vaccination -Coincidence or Causality?

Objective: To describe a case of Anterior Spinal Artery (ASA) syndrome after vaccination -coincidence or causality? Background: As efforts to improve SARS-CoV-2 vaccination continue, more questions safety of the vaccination continues to be raised. Ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and cerebrovascular venous sinus thrombosis have been reported in the literature after COVID -19 mRNA vaccination. Although rare cases of acute transverse myelitis have also been reported, literature regarding post-COVID vaccination ASA syndrome is even rarer. Design/Methods: A 32-year-old female with no significant past medical history presented with acute onset of bilateral extremity weakness and numbness that started 2 weeks ago. Result(s): Patient was awake, alert, and oriented. Physical examination showed decreased tone in wrist bilaterally. Motor examination was normal except for 1/5 handgrip, 2/5 wrist, and 3/5 triceps bilaterally. Triceps and brachioradialis reflexes were absent bilaterally. Sensory examination showed absent pinprick sensations C7 and below. Vibration and proprioception sensations were intact. Patient was recently admitted at outside hospital for same complaint. Neurological work was unremarkable except of an enlarged 4th ventricle for which she underwent left frontal ventriculostomy. Lumbar puncture showed normal IgG index and negative serum NMO Ab. She was treated with IVIG for presumed inflammatory disorder with minimal improvement. Patient underwent a repeat neurological workup at our facility due to ongoing symptoms. EKG showed normal sinus rhythm CT head showed prominent 4th ventricle. CT spine were unremarkable. MRI of the brain showed Postprocedural changes associated with recent prior left trans frontal ventriculostomy catheter. MRI of the cervical and thoracic spine showed T2 hyperintense lesion extending from C3/4 to T1 with central predominance rostrally, whole cord involvement at C5, and with anterior predominance caudally with extent to the upper thoracic level of T1;shows patchy enhancement. TTE was unremarkable. Infectious and hypercoagulable workup was also unremarkable. Patient-reported receiving first dose of Moderna mRNA Covid vaccine 2 weeks prior to onset of symptoms. She was discharged to rehab on aspirin and atorvastatin. Conclusion(s): Our patient presented with symptoms and imaging consistent with ASA syndrome 2/2 infarct of an anterior spinal artery C5-T1. Extensive neurological, infectious, rheumatological, and hypercoagulable workup was negative for etiology. The patient had onset of symptoms after receiving her first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, however, unclear if the presentation is consistent with postvaccination vaccine ASA syndrome or idiopathic.

Prediction of Happiness Score of Countries by Considering Maximum Infection Rate of People by COVID-19 using Random Forest Algorithm

In this paper, the relationship between COVID-19 Maximum Infection Rate (MIR) and the happiness indicators has been investigated for the prediction of Happiness Score of Countries using Random Forest (RF) algorithm. The per-formance of the proposed algorithm is also compared against five other algorithms such as Linear Regression (LR), Ada Boost Classifier (ABC), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Gaussian Naive Bayes (NB) and Logistic Regression. The comparison of performance includes parameters like training accuracy, testing accuracy and computation time. It is clear from the observation that the proposed approach is superior to others. Then the parameters like MAE, MSE, RMSE, R2 Score, Adjusted R2 Score is calculated. This proposed algorithm can be used for other classification and regression work involving large amount of data with missing values like COVID- 19 datasets. © 2022 IEEE.

Seroprevalence of SARS CoV 2 immunoglobulin among first year medical students in a tertiary care hospital of Odisha: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: COVID-19 caused by SARS coronavirus two has halted life across the globe since its emergence in December 2019. Most of the infected persons are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Serosurvey is vital for the estimation of the burden of infection. In this context, our study objective is to estimate the Seroprevalence of SARS CoV 2 IgG among the first-year medical students after the first wave in February 2021. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the first-year medical students of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research. All the students were enrolled, and their data & serum sample was collected. Serum samples were tested for the presence of Anti-Spike IgG. Data were analyzed by using appropriate statistical tests.

Strategic response to COVID-19: how do social enterprises navigate crisis situations?

Purpose: Social enterprises (SEs) have experienced unprecedented uncertainty due to COVID-19, and it has challenged the fundamental assumptions underlying the SEs. Little is known about the strategic response of SEs when their fundamental characteristics are being challenged. The purpose of this paper is to explore – how do SEs respond to a crisis caused by the pandemic? Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a case study approach and reports the response strategy of impulse social enterprises (ISE) from India. Data were collected through interviews, Webinars and organizational reports. To analyze the data, the authors examined the fundamental assumption on SE that was challenged by the pandemic. Findings: The response strategy of ISE is driven by social and substantive rationality focusing on the relationship with the community and doing what is good for them. The role of communication was vital in gathering support and resources to continue with their function. ISE adapted a mindset of mission agility and created an alternative market for its product. Originality/value: This study highlights the response strategy of SE in an emerging economy like India, which experienced one of the stringent lockdowns. It is probably one of the few studies that examined the responses of SE under a crisis that challenged their fundamental attributes by adopting the framework of Bacq and Lumpkin (2021). © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Stock markets' responses to COVID-19 in developing countries: evidence from the SAARC region

This study examined the stock markets' responses to the unprecedented outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in SAARC countries. The results support these countries' surge in stock market return volatilities amid the rapid spread of the COVID-19 infection caused by investors' pessimistic sentiments. The intensive media coverage of information related to the pandemic has weakened investors' sentiments and caused sudden market plunges in the SAARC region. During the pandemic, the performances of the stock markets in SAARC countries are found to be influenced by the number of COVID-19 confirmed and death cases, and movements in the fear index. The implication is that the stock markets of the SAARC region do not qualify to be semi-strong information efficient. This implication is important for investors.

RESPONDING TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC BY RURAL LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENTS OF ODISHA

Odisha, a State vulnerable to natural disasters, is located on the eastern coast of India. The State also experienced COVID-19 pandemic which affected all parts of the globe. The study has been undertaken to assess the coping mechanism adopted by the State to address COVID-19 pandemic situation considering its poor public health system. The role of rural local self-governments in managing the pandemic situation has also been analysed during the study. The study is based on the analysis of secondary data available from COVID-19 dashboard of Government of Odisha, circulars webhosted by State in the public domain and findings of focus group discussions organised with the multiple stakeholders associated in managing the COVID-19 situation. After a detailed research on COVID-19 management in Odisha, the study concludes that multipronged strategies of State like enforcing early lockdown, establishing dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, temporary medical camps to look after large influx of migrants and decentralised management of pandemic by the rural local self-governments are major contributing factors in managing the situation effectively. Gram Panchayats of Odisha also experienced multiple challenges in dealing with the pandemic situation due to desperate return of a large number of migrants, surveillance of the suspected COVID-19 cases, and arranging facilities for quarantine and food during the period of institutional isolation. The study recommends to strengthen the comprehensive primary healthcare at Gram Panchayat level with due attention to the preventive measures, livelihood security of rural poor and decentralised management of the pandemic at the local level. © 2021 National Institute of Rural Development. All rights reserved.

Android based Cloud Platform for Health Monitoring of COVID19 Affected Person

Healthcare is a human right that must be accessible to all disregarding the social or economic conditions of any human being. The burden on healthcare system has increased immensely in the last few months. The COVID19 pandemic has brought to the fore gaps in the healthcare system world over. The doctors and front-line workers are directly getting exposed to the virus and patients that might need other healthcare services are vulnerable to the exposure. These problems would be catered by the proposed device as it would be operated by the patients and the real time data can be collected by the doctors to assess the vital body parameters through cloud without being physically present in the same environment. The parameters that can be monitored are body temperature, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation level. Hence, the proposed device includes sensors for measuring the body temperature (i.e. LM35) and pulse and oxygen level (i.e. MAX30100). The experimental setup has been built using Android based Blynk Cloud Platform where data is collected from remote places and stored the cloud. It is further available for assessment by the healthcare professionals. © 2021 IEEE.

Work and non-work life of R&D professionals during Covid-19: a cultural perspective

Purpose The purpose of this study is to comprehend the approach and adaptation of research and development (R&D) professionals in managing work and non-work life during Covid-19. Besides, it investigates the influence of organizational culture on extra-role behavior both within and outside the organizational boundaries during uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach Being an exploratory study, the data were generated through the in-depth personal interview from 23 respondents of the Indian Space Research Organization. Besides, the study also used data from secondary sources. The authors followed thematic analysis for eliciting themes from the text data. Findings Primarily, it found that the organizational culture may influence employees to perform extra-role behavior within and outside the organizational boundaries during the pandemic. Besides, it found that R&D professionals are adaptive toward the work from home culture. Research limitations/implications The qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews of 23 R&D professionals during the Covid-19. Future studies may conduct a larger-scale quantitative study to generalize the findings. Implications for future research on hybrid work culture are discussed. Practical implications This study hints that employers need to move from a short-term transactional approach to a long-term cultural approach to navigate extreme uncertainty. It also highlights reorientation of human resource professionals in managing workplace evolution. Originality/value The study extends the literature on organizational culture by attributing culture for the extra-role behaviors of R&D professionals beyond the organizational boundary and navigating uncertainty.

Is the Impact of COVID-19 Significant in Determining Equity Market Integration? Insights from BRICS Economies

This article examined the impact of the unanticipated outbreak of global public health crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, on the equity market performances and on the degree of integration of these markets in BRICS bloc. The empirical analyses lend support to the weakened equity market integration in the BRICS economies amid the pandemic, and the key driving forces include the rate of inflation, the real rate of interest, real exchange rate and composite leading indicator in the long-run, and trade performance and composite leading indicator in the short-run. The implications on the one hand, indicate increased opportunities for international portfolio diversification, and on the other hand, suggest for controlling the macroeconomic uncertainties of inflation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations during global health crisis to promote stable economic conditions for ensuring equity market integration in the long-run.