Nanobiosensors Potentialities for Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in the Environment

The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a devastating and distressing scenario that highlights humanity's inability to build fast diagnostic tools for emerging infectious diseases. However, the majority of existing approaches have a significant probability of false negatives, leading in patient diag-nostic errors and prolonging therapy. Nanoparticles have shown significant improve-ment and have the potential to be used as a platform for quickly and accurately identifying viral infection. The relevance of nanoparticles is potential platforms for COVID-19 diagnostics was emphasized in this research. In addition, nanomaterials have surface chemistry, which may be beneficial for the bioconjugation of molecules, large surface potential, and a significant amplification impact on signals. Due to various potential benefits, metallic nanomaterials like gold, silver nanoparticles, and carbon-based nanomaterials (carbon nanotube and graphene), nanogels, and photonic crystals are utilized for biosensing applications. In compared to traditional techniques for identifying severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), this study covers the most relevant aspects of nanobiosensor-based diagnostics tech-niques. Additionally, major potential challenges and prospects associated with the advancement of these distinct sensors for SARS-CoV-2 detection are discussed in detail. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Online English Language Class at Public Schools in the Municipality of Conceicao Do Coite-Ba in Times of Covid-19: Challenges of a Practice

Educational practices have always demanded a lot from students and teachers and, in the current context of the pandemic, expressions in the English language appear all the time, which makes the importance of learning them undeniable. Exposed to the reading/use of textual genres with different languages, we cannot ignore the presence of multimodal texts (which employ more than one linguistic modality) immersed in our society. Thus, this article aims to reflect on the relationship between teaching and learning the English language in public schools in the sisal region during the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to portraying the importance of re-evaluating teacher education curricula against the use of Digital Technologies in information and Communication, given the lack of preparation of some professors in that scenario. We also reiterate the need to implement, in the initial training curricula, technical/technological subjects which con address the existing gaps in public education, especially with regard to Basic Education.

Impact of COVID-19 on health services and its consequences for pregnant women

During the pandemic of the COVID-19 several factors provided higher risks for pregnant women, which could negatively interfere in the ongoing pregnancies. This study aims to reflect on the impacts of the pandemic of COVID-19 caused in the health of pregnant women, related to the physical and psychological impacts and changes in prenatal care, as well as the changes made in maternity hospitals due to social distance. This is a methodology with a literature review based on scientific articles published during the pandemic period. In view of the records analyzed it was observed that the pandemic of COVID-19 brought difficulties in the scope of health services, directed to pregnant women.

Knowledge Transfer and the Challenges of the Virtual World

Transferring knowledge to the clinic is a complex process and involves more than disseminating or communicating research results;it implies the planning and implementation of strategies to identify target audiences, such as clinicians, managers, policy agents, and consumers. In this reflection article, the authors aim to discuss challenges to be transferring knowledge and ‘qualitative evidence’ in the virtual world and promote the debate about strategies for disseminating qualitative research online. This text results from the dialogue between the researchers’ concerns, their experiences, and the literature on the subject. The situation caused by SARS-CoV-2 made it clear that there are clear challenges to using qualitative research methods and techniques in the online modality, from the design to the implementation of knowledge. The complexity of the processes experienced by people has increased the need for in-depth qualitative studies to make clear the influence of context, constraints and adaptations resulting from the pandemic on human existence, but also has made it clear that the methods and techniques of data collection that were traditionally developed in the field need a different methodological approach to be carried out in an online modality. On the other hand, the implementation of knowledge in clinical settings can be achieved with virtual strategies, but it also implies collaborative work between researchers and clinical professionals. We conclude that there is a need to study the use of methods and techniques traditionally used in the context for its use either in online modality or to explore the virtual world. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Smartphone-based photo analysis for the evaluation of anemia, jaundice and COVID-19

Anemia and jaundice are common health conditions that affect millions of children, adults, and the elderly worldwide. Recently, the pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that leads to COVID-19, has generated an extreme worldwide concern and a huge impact on public health, education, and economy, reaching all spheres of society. The development of techniques for non-invasive diagnosis and the use of mobile health (mHealth) is reaching more and more space. The analysis of a simple photograph by smartphone can allow an assessment of a person's health status. Image analysis techniques have advanced a lot in a short time. Analyses that were previously done manually, can now be done automatically by methods involving artificial intelligence. The use of smartphones, combined with machine learning techniques for image analysis (preprocessing, extraction of characteristics, classification, or regression), capable of providing predictions with high sensitivity and specificity, seems to be a trend. We presented in this review some highlights of the evaluation of anemia, jaundice, and COVID-19 by photo analysis, emphasizing the importance of using the smartphone, machine learning algorithms, and applications that are emerging rapidly. Soon, this will certainly be a reality. Also, these innovative methods will encourage the incorporation of mHealth technologies in telemedicine and the expansion of people's access to health services and early diagnosis.

Remote and non-invasive monitoring of patients with COVID-19 by smartphone

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) has led to more than two million deaths in the world by March 2021. The worldwide call to reduce transmission is enormous. Recently, there has been a rapid growth of telemedicine and the use of mobile health (mHealth) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Smartphone accessories such as a flashlight, camera, microphone, and microprocessor can measure different clinical parameters such as oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, fever, pulmonary auscultation, and even voice analysis. All these parameters are of great clinical importance when evaluating suspected patients of COVID-19 or monitoring infected patients admitted in various hospitals or in-home isolation. In remote medical care, the results of these parameters can be sent to a call center or a health unit for interpretation by a qualified health professional. Thus, the patient can receive orientations or be immediately referred for in-patient care. The application of machine learning and other artificial intelligence strategies assume a central role in signal processing and are gaining much space in the medical field. In this work, we present different approaches for evaluating clinical parameters that are valuable in the case of COVID-19 and we hope that soon all these parameters can be measured by a single smartphone application, facilitating remote clinical assessments. © 2021 Editora Universitaria da PUCRS. All rights reserved.

Noninvasive Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose at Your Fingertips, Literally+ACE-: Smartphone-Based Photoplethysmography

Diabetes is a chronic disease and one of the major public health problems worldwide. It is a multifactorial disease, caused by genetic factors and lifestyle habits. Brazil had ∼ 16.8 million individuals living with diabetes in 2019 and is expected to reach 26 million people by 2045. There are global increasing needs for the development of noninvasive diagnostic methods and use of mobile health, mainly in face of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For daily glycemic control, diabetic patients use a portable glucometer for glycemic self-monitoring and need to prick their fingertips three or more times a day, generating a huge discomfort throughout their lives. Our goal here is to present a review with very recent emerging studies in the field of noninvasive diagnosis and to emphasize that smartphone-based photoplethysmography (spPPG), powered by artificial intelligence, might be a trend to self-monitor blood glucose levels. In photoplethysmography, a light source travels through the tissue, interacts with the interstitium and with cells and molecules present in the blood. Reflection of light occurs as it passes through the biological tissues and a photodetector can capture these interactions. When using a smartphone, the built-in flashlight is a white light-emitting LED and the camera works as a photodetector. The higher the concentration of circulating glucose, the greater the absorbance and, consequently, the lesser the reflected light intensity will be. Due to these optical phenomena, the signal intensity captured will be inversely proportional to the blood glucose level. Furthermore, we highlight the microvascular changes in the progression of diabetes that can interfere in the signals captured by the photodetector using spPPG, due to the decrease of peripheral blood perfusion, which can be confused with high blood glucose levels. It is necessary to create strategies to filter or reduce the impact of these vascular changes in the blood glucose level analysis. Deep learning strategies can help the machine to solve these challenges, allowing an accurate blood glucose level and interstitial glucose prediction.

Mobile Health (mHealth) and Advances in Noninvasive Diagnosis of Anemia: An Overview

Anemia is a public health problem that can have different causes, such as iron deficiency, vitamin deficiency, inflammation, hemolytic anemias, and anemias associated with bone marrow disease. Anemia shows a decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin, a pigmented molecule in the erythrocytes. The objectives of this review were to highlight the impact of nutritional factors on morbidity and mortality caused by anemia and to present different non-invasive approaches that use a smartphone to analyze hemoglobin levels to detect anemia. According to the records of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS, in the Portuguese acronym), ∼ 440,000 people checked in hospitals due to anemia between January 2015 and April 2020, with 215,000 deaths. The government spent ∼ 294 million Brazilian Reais (more than 50 million US dollars) on anemia hospitalization cases during this period. There is a worldwide search to provide noninvasive diagnostics and mobile health (mHealth) tools to help diagnosing anemia. The smartphone appears to be a viable device to detect anemia by a camera with colorimetric analysis of images providing a quantitative, instantaneous, and noninvasive result. These images can be obtained as a photograph or extracted from video frames. The review presents three different methods of detecting anemia using a smartphone: i) photoplethysmograph from video obtained from the tip of the index finger, ii) photo of the palpebral conjunctiva, and iii) fingernail photo app. Therefore, it seems urgent that these approaches may be applied in routine clinical diagnosis to allow remote, needy, low-Tech locations to have access to anemia screening.

Smartphone-Based Screening for Cardiovascular Diseases: A Trend?

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. People living in vulnerable and poor places such as slums, rural areas and remote locations have difficulty in accessing medical care and diagnostic tests. In addition, given the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an increase in the use of telemedicine and non-invasive tools for monitoring vital signs. These questions motivate us to write this point of view and to describe some of the main innovations used for non-invasive screening of heart diseases. Smartphones are widely used by the population and are perfect tools for screening cardiovascular diseases. They are equipped with camera, flashlight, microphone, processor, and internet connection, which allow optical, electrical, and acoustic analysis of cardiovascular phenomena. Thus, when using signal processing and artificial intelligence approaches, smartphones may have predictive power for cardiovascular diseases. Here we present different smartphone approaches to analyze signals obtained from various methods including photoplethysmography, phonocardiograph, and electrocardiography to estimate heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation (SpO2 ), heart murmurs and electrical conduction. Our objective is to present innovations in non-invasive diagnostics using the smartphone and to reflect on these trending approaches. These could help to improve health access and the screening of cardiovascular diseases for millions of people, particularly those living in needy areas. © 2022, Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia. All rights reserved.