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Introduction and Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge economic burden and impacted physical and mental health of the people. The young medical graduates are facing a lot of disappointments with regard to career, higher studies, personal life etc. The current research aims to assess the various stressors and their coping strategies among the young medical graduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material(s) and Method(s): The cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of General Medicine at a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India. Undergraduate medical students of 228 in number of both genders who completed their residency training just before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were enrolled in the study. The data was collected through a preformed questionnaire. Ethics clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Informed consent was obtained. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software version 18.0. P value < 0.05 was considered statically significant. Result(s): The mean scores obtained in PSS-10 were found to be higher among males than females. Around 79.4% showed moderate stress while 20.6% showed high stress (P=0.001). Males showed more stress compared to females in general as well as academic stressors. Male doctors and female doctors had differing stress coping skills. Conclusion(s): The study highlighted the vulnerable state of mind of the young medical doctors. The best way to overcome stress is by providing adequate resources, training to cope stress and ambient conditions for study and work, social support and relaxation techniques at both individual and organisational levels to help them to achieve a reasonable work-family interface.Copyright © 2023, Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists. All rights reserved.
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Background: Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) has a global impact. The laboratory assessments in Covid-19 illness help in better understanding the disease pathophysiology useful in screening asymptomatic individuals to diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring the affected patients. The aim of the study: To observe the association between biochemical and inflammatory parameters among the hospitalised COVID-19 patients of different clinical severity. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study carried out with the approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee. The study included patients over 18 years, hospitalised with COVID-19 infection, grouped into three severity groups, admitted to ward, high dependency unit or intensive care unit between May to September 2020. Data collection was carried out by manual perusal of inpatient case sheets, computerised patient data system and transcription database for discharge summaries. The biochemical and inflammatory markers like plasma glucose, renal function tests, serum electrolytes, liver function tests, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-Reactive protein (CRP), d-dimer, ferritin, Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) at the time of admission were collected. Data was expressed as mean and standard deviation or median and range. ANOVA test followed by post hoc (Tukey) test, Pearson correlation and Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve analysis were performed. Results: Significant correlations were observed between the mild and moderate-severe illness groups with respect to fasting plasma glucose, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, direct bilirubin, total protein, albumin, ferritin and LDH. The AUC was the highest for LDH at 0.64 followed by blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio at 0.62. Conclusion: High levels of renal function parameters were potential predictors of acute kidney injury among patients with COVID-19. Fasting plasma glucose, serum albumin, LDH, Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and BUN-creatinine ratio are better indicators of the severity of the disease with multiorgan dysfunction. © 2022 Belgorod State National Research University. All Rights Reserved.
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Background: Patients with COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) present varying disease severity;with such heterogeneity in clinical presentations, it can be challenging to assess the severity and progression of the disease. In addition, no specific markers have been identified that would indicate the diagnosis or prognosis of the disease. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine whether a panel of hematological and inflammatory biomarkers were indicative of disease severity in the assessment and the prognosis of COVID-19. Methods: The retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out in a university hospital in South India between May 2020 and September 2020. The participants were 997 patients with COVID-19, confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Information regarding demographics and laboratory tests was obtained from medical records. Association analysis was conducted using SPSS, version 16, and a P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and D-dimer, calculated inflammatory ratios, and hemoglobin were significantly increased in cases of severe COVID-19. Leucocytosis with increased absolute neutrophil count and decreased absolute lymphocyte count were observed. Conclusion: Haematological and inflammatory markers may indicate the severity of the disease. The severity of COVID-19 was indicated by elevated total white cells, increased neutrophillymphocyte, and platelet-lymphocyte ratios. Increasing levels of CRP indicated a severe prognosis of the disease. D-dimer elevations may indicate the incidence of thromboembolic episodes. Therefore, hematological indices were considered applicable in assessing the progression of the disease and for the risk stratification of the disease. © 2022 Shriaz University of Medical Sciences
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Introduction: The portable Chest Radiograph (CXR) has an indispensable role in large scale screening and diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially in developing countries with limited resources. It can help in predicting the severity of lung involvement in the patients infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, especially in areas where the Computed Tomography (CT) is unavailable. Aim: To determine the prognostic value of CXR at clinical presentation in assessing the disease severity and its correlation with inflammatory markers in COVID-19 hospitalised patients. Materials and Methods: This was a single-centre retrospective study, conducted at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, from October 2020 to December 2020, on hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Clinically, the patients were categorised as mild, moderate and severe, based on their peripheral oxygen saturation- more than 94%, between 90-93%, and less than or equal to 89%, respectively. Blood samples, drawn at presentation to the hospital tested for various inflammatory markers proven to be predictive of disease severity, were documented for the analysis purpose. The CXRs, done at the presentation, were scored based on the number of zones involved and type of abnormality present (ground glassing, consolidation and septal thickening). The CXRs were scored a minimum '0' to a maximum of '9'. Correlation between the radiograph score and inflammatory markers was further analysed. Results: Among the 456 study patients, 71% had mild, 15% had moderate and 14% had severe COVID-19 infection. The mean CXR score in each category was 1, 3 and 4, respectively (p-value <0.001). The study groups were grouped as mild and non mild (included the moderate and severe categories). A criterion CXR score of 2 was able to differentiate mild and non mild cases (sensitivity was 78.29%, specificity was 77.98%, positive predictive values was 58.38%, negative predictive values was 90.11%), with an accuracy of 78.1%. The inflammatory markers like Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Absolute Lymphocyte Counts (ALC), eosinophil%, D-dimer, Lactate Dehydrogenas (LDH), Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and ferritin showed statistically significant difference between the two groups (p-value<0.001). Conclusion: The CXR can be used as a screening and predictive tool for disease severity in developing countries where access to Computed Tomography (CT) is limited. Given the possibility of subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of excessive radiation exposure from CT, CXR may be used as a reliable alternative.
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During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that we take measures to safeguard the lives of people. Wearing face masks, temperature screening, and regular sanitization of hands have become necessary in these times. However, the guards stationed at the entrances of various establishments face an added risk of infection while enforcing these regulations. This paper proposes to automate the abovementioned processes by means of a smart door, which performs three important functions. Firstly, face mask detection is performed by a Convolutional Neural Network model which is built using the MobileNetV2 architecture. Secondly, contactless temperature screening is performed by the infrared temperature sensor MLX90614 in coordination with electronic circuitry controlled by the Arduino Uno microcontroller. Thirdly, user-friendly audio and visual instructions guide the users throughout the screening process, and the door is then opened to allow the user to pass through. Although all the required technologies currently exist independently, the proposed smart door aims to integrate these functionalities into one automated system. This project demonstrates how smart systems can be successfully deployed, with the integration of PC and microcontroller boards, driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The deployment of the said smart door would help in minimizing the risk of infection during the pandemic, thereby benefiting the society at large. © 2021 IEEE.
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The year 2020 was an unprecedented time for the entire engineering workforce. Many companies were forced to transition to a strictly telecommuting environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, engineering organizations and teams needed to quickly assess how they could continue their mission and achieve their goals with minimal disruption to their existing workflow. For some, the transition was far easier than others due to the established processes, procedures, and information systems already in place. This paper explores the structure of a Digitally Integrated Systems Engineering (DISE) team, their framework (process, procedures, methods, tools, and environment), the transition to remote work, the successes and challenges of that transition, and potential implications for the future. © American Society for Engineering Management, 2021
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in early December, 2019. The disease begins as a respiratory disease with varied outcomes, from complete recovery to long-standing complications, such as respiratory distress, heart ailments and stroke. The present study was undertaken to identify the derangements in liver function and inflammatory status which may be used to diagnose the severity and thus assess the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 infection. The present study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital. The study population included 456 patients with COVID-19, confirmed by the reverse transcription-PCR of nasopharyngeal swabs for SARS-CoV-2. Data were collected from patient files. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. Data are expressed based on the normality of distribution. Variables were compared and correlation analyses were performed. Receiver operating characteristics and the Youden index were applied to obtain cut-off values. The results revealed an increase in C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin levels. In addition, there was evidence of leukocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia and an increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The NLR exhibited an area under the curve of 0.77, with a cut-off value of 2.23 mg/l. Collectively, the findings of the present study demonstrate that the CRP, LDH, neutrophil and eosinophil counts along with the total leucocyte counts and absolute lymphocyte counts, NLR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-dimer, ferritin and AST levels serve to predict the severity and prognosis of patients with COVID-19. AST appears to be a more sensitive marker than alanine aminotransferase. However, the De Ritis ratio, although not as sensitive as AST, may provide insight towards morbidity. Copyright © 2021 Moorthy S. et al.