Deep Learning ResNet101 Deep Features of Portable Chest X-Ray Accurately Classify COVID-19 Lung Infection

This study is designed to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) based analysis tool that could accurately detect COVID-19 lung infections based on portable chest x-rays (CXRs). The frontline physicians and radiologists suffer from grand challenges for COVID-19 pandemic due to the suboptimal image quality and the large volume of CXRs. In this study, AI-based analysis tools were developed that can precisely classify COVID-19 lung infection. Publicly available datasets of COVID-19 (N = 1525), non-COVID-19 normal (N = 1525), viral pneumonia (N = 1342) and bacterial pneumonia (N = 2521) from the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM), Radiopaedia, The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) and Kaggle repositories were taken. A multi-approach utilizing deep learning ResNet101 with and without hyperparameters optimization was employed. Additionally, the fea-tures extracted from the average pooling layer of ResNet101 were used as input to machine learning (ML) algorithms, which twice trained the learning algorithms. The ResNet101 with optimized parameters yielded improved performance to default parameters. The extracted features from ResNet101 are fed to the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) yielded the highest 3-class classification performance of 99.86% and 99.46%, respectively. The results indicate that the proposed approach can be bet-ter utilized for improving the accuracy and diagnostic efficiency of CXRs. The proposed deep learning model has the potential to improve further the efficiency of the healthcare systems for proper diagnosis and prognosis of COVID-19 lung infection.

Digital Pakistan in COVID-19: rethinking language use at social media platforms

This study aims at exploring the multilingual practices of users in digital communication. The study utilizes "translanguaging' as a framework to analyze and unravel these multilingual practices based on four stances of translanguaging. The data for the study are gathered through an open-ended questionnaire that seeks detailed views of respondents who are active users of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and other social platforms. The study includes participants from diverse sociocultural backgrounds with the ability to have knowledge of more than one language with proficiency. The results correlate with the first two points of model, i.e., translanguaging blurs the boundaries between languages to convey meanings and introduce new concepts but deviates from the last two points. It also throws light on the impact of digital communication on local languages and presents suggestions for the preservation and promotion of local languages in the digital landscape, such as the provision of accurate translations of native languages, digital dictionaries, keyboards, and software. Copyright © 2023 Ahmad, Nawaz, Khan and Bukhari.

COVID-19 and Air Pollution: Air Quality Impact in 13 Cities of the Jiangsu Province of China

Jiangsu province is one of the economically strong provinces in east China. With the advance of the modernization process, the problem of air pollution in this area is facing a severe challenge under the common role of human activities and regional climate change. While the rest of the world struggles to control COVID-19, China has managed to control the pandemic rapidly and effectively with strong lockdown policies. This study investigates the change in air pollution (focusing on the air quality index (AQI), six ambient air pollutants nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ≤10 μm (PM10) and ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5)) patterns for different periods in last 5 years. Different pollutants have different behavior identified in this studied which is helping for understanding the pattern of air quality. Short-term health advantages from the COVID-19 pandemic can be attributed to the reduction in air pollution and significant improvement in ambient air quality, which need the government to enact post-COVID environmental regulations. © 2022, HARD Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

A Pre-to Post-COVID-19 Change of Air Quality Patterns in Anhui Province Using Path Analysis and Regression

During the epidemic period, primary emissions across the world were significantly reduced, while the response to secondary pollution such as ozone differed from region to region. To study the impact of the strict control measures of the new COVID-19 epidemic on the air quality of Anhui in early 2020, the air quality monitoring data of Anhui, from 2019 to 2021, specifically 1 January to 30 August, was examined to analyze the characteristics of the temporal and spatial distribution. Regression and path analysis were used to extract the relationship between the variable. PM10 and O3, on average, increased by 6%, and 2%, while PM2.5, SO2 decreased by 15% and 10% in the post-COVID-19 period. All air quality pollutants decreased during the active-COVID-19 period, with a maximum decrease of 21% observed in PM10, followed by 19% of PM2.5, and a minimum decrease of 2% observed in O3 . Changes in air pollutants from 2017 to 2021 were also compared, and a decrease in all pollutants through 2020 was found. The air quality index (AQI) recorded a low decrease of 3% post-COVID-19, which shows that air quality will worsen in the future, but it decreased by 16% during the active-COVID-19 period. A path analysis model was developed to further understand the relationship between the AQI and air quality patterns. This path analysis shows a strong correlation between the AQI and PM10 and PM2.5, however, its correlation with other air pollutants is weak. Regression analysis shows a similar pattern of there being a strong relationship between AQI and PM10 (r2 = 0.97) and PM2.5 (r2 = 0.93). The government must implement policies to control the environmental issues which are causing poor air quality in post-COVID-19. © 2022, HARD Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Psychological Impact of Covid-19 on Orthodontic Patients

Background: Unexpected postponement or delay in various treatment protocols during peak time of COVID-19 cause serious psychological trauma and obstacle to orthodontists and orthodontic patients as well. Objective: To evaluate depression and anxiety level of orthodontic patients during this chaos regarding their treatment even when the treatment was resumed. Study Design: Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Orthodontics, Bacha Khan College of Dentistry, Mardan from 1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021. Methods: One hundred and sixty-six orthodontic patients were enrolled after taking informed consent from the patients. Data were taken in hard form and then later verbally translated into native language of this area. Numerical rating scale was used for psychological assessment and for the determination of anxiety level where 0 refers to no anxiety and 10 interprets extreme anxiety. Results: Ninety-three females and seventy-three males were present in this study. Conclusion: Severe anxiety level was reported and patients were greatly concerned about their health.

Causes of Alarmingly High Frequency of Covid 19 Infection in Health Care Workers: A Third World Perspective

Background: Covid 19 infection is spreading like a wild fire world wide. More worrisome thing is that it has spread in health workers too which are the sole care takers of affected patients, despite of use of personal protective equipments and taking other precautions. Aim: To conduct a study at local level to see causes of high frequency of Covid 19 infection in health care workers. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional observational study in which we enrolled 195 doctors, nurses and paramedics from different hospitals of punjab, who were affected from covid 19 infection and gave them a questionnaire to fill regarding use of mask, (surgical, cloth, n=95)/duration of its use, use of surgical cap, goggles, soap or hand sanitizer use/frequency, technique of donning/doffing of PPE etc, to find out that where is the fault. Results: Out of total 195 participants 148 were doctors from various specialties, departments and with different work experience.47 were nurses and other paramedical staff including lab workers, pharmacists, ward boys and others. Out of 195 participants 42(21.5%) did not use PPE (cover-all with surgical apron, mask KN-95 or N-95, goggles/face shield) whereas 153(78.5%) used it. Conclusion: We concluded at the end of our study that improper doffing techniques, overuse of masks for more than 3 days, and infrequent hand washing may be the reasons for increased rate of infection and need to be dealt promptly.

Assessment of the temporary Surgical ED Study and Audit

Aims: To ascertain the effectiveness of the newly formed surgical ED during Covid-19 outbreak in terms of: 1) Ability to accommodate all surgical patients 2) Right colour-coding of triage 3) Quick access to hospital-services-within 4-hours 4) Timely fashion of admission and discharges-within 4-hours 5) Breeches to the max.time required for a patient to stay in ED.0%4hour breaches. Methods/Study design: Retrospective cohort of 992 patients were identified and included from the period of the 5th April to 5th May 2020 Inclusion criteria: All patients attended and triaged in the new surgical emergency department. Exclusion criteria: Patients who were not triaged. Results: The temporary surgical emergency department was successful in accommodating all surgical patients categorized 2, 3 and 4 with category 4 being the highest number at 45%. Hospital services were successfully accessed in 771(77.72%) during patients stay in ED including Bloods and imaging with X-ray as the most service used at 42.33%. 221(22.27%) patients didn't require any investigations and were discharged after review by the surgical doctor within the 4-hour window. Conclusion: Presence of a dedicated surgical emergency during the covid period was essential to separate medical patients from non-medical patients. Having a decision maker on the front line right after triage has reduced the overall number of admissions, number of emergency breeches and unnecessary investigations. Having a dedicated space with dedicated team could make a huge impact on the service in terms of time, effort and money spent.

Online Teaching in an Un-prepared Country during COVID-19: An Interview Study on Final Year Medical and Dental Students

Aims: To assess medical students' perception of online teaching to suggest transforming the future curriculum in low-economic countries. Study Design: Cross-sectional online interview study. Place and Duration of Study: A team of collaborators interviewed final year medical and dental students of Pakistan from 07/08/2020 till 17/09/2020. Methodology: A questionnaire was developed based on open and close-ended questions in Google forms;focusing on institutional preparedness, views on online education, the institute's closure and COVID-19, and long-term effects of closure of the institute. Independent fellow researchers systematically analyzed the unaltered transcripts of the responses, and themes were then identified and coded to conclude the results. SPSS version 23 used for analysis. As this study was based on final year students. Results: In response to an invitation email, 2442/2661 (91.77%) students voluntarily participate in this qualitative study. Most participants were females (1614, 66.10%). Closing down institutes was directly linked to a lack of motivation and feel of helplessness. As most showed dissatisfaction with online teaching compounded by psychological effects, students feared losing clinical skills and life during the pandemic. Conclusion: The psychological impact of the crisis led to resistance to accepting the change for a better outcome. Incorporating telemedicine, different interactive learning style to online teaching, and resilience training would result in fruitful outcomes. Developed countries may also guide build infrastructure in developing countries to develop a more robust online teaching methodology in the long-run.

Every storm will pass: Examining expat’s host country-destination image, cultural intelligence and renewed destination loyalty in COVID-19 tourism

The massive cultural transformation in the pandemic-paused tourism industry has revamped loyalty towards destinations, thus prompting scholarly attention towards global expats who were rarely considered in tourism research. Drawing on data from 266 expats in South Korea, the study examined the effects of country image (CYI), destination image (DNI), and expat’s cultural intelligence (ECLI) on expat’s renewed destination loyalty (EDLY) in COVID-19 tourism. Using partial least squares structural modeling (PLS-SEM), we show that expat’s cultural intelligence has a significant influence on destination image and expat’s destination loyalty. Moreover, the study provides new empirical evidence that destination image mediates country image and expat’s destination loyalty in the COVID-19 tourism. The study findings underpin policy interventions to rescue tourism destinations under COVID-19 crisis, as well as restore loyalty towards destinations in the post-COVID-19 global tourism. © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Viral outbreaks: A real threat to the world

Global public health is facing significant challenges in terms of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. The world is facing a new public health crisis emergence and spread of Coronaviruses outbreaks especially COVID-19 after nine deadliest viral outbreaks including Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Rabies, HIV, Smallpox, Hantavirus, Influenza, Dengue and Rotavirus. Coronaviruses (enveloped non-segmented positive-sense RNA viruses) belong to the Coronaviridae family, broadly distributed in humans as well as in other mammals. In December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak was reported in the Wuhan, Hubei province of China. WHO confirmed that COVID-19 is associated with Huanan seafood (Wuhan). COVID-19 virus outbreak is more dangerous than its ancestors MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. Although the case fatality rate is lower, it has alarmed the world because of its rapid spread during this era of the modern world where the whole world is connected through different channels of trade. As the world is already facing economic challenges, underdeveloped countries are not capable of facing such challenges, and this outbreak may become worse than ever before. © Advancements in Life Sciences 2020.

A mini-review of computational approaches to predict functions and findings of novel micro peptides

New techniques in bioinformatics and the study of the transcriptome at a wide-scale have uncovered the fact that a large part of the genome is being translated than recently perceived thoughts and research, bringing about the creation of a various quantity of RNA with protein-coding and noncoding potential. A lot of RNA particles have been considered as noncoding due to many reasons, according to developing proofs. Like many sORFs that encode many functional micro peptides have neglected due to their tiny sizes. Advanced studies reveal many major biological functions of these sORFs and their encoded micro peptides in a different and wide range of species. All the achievement in the identification of these sORFs and micro peptides is due to the progressive bioinformatics and high-throughput sequencing methods. This field has pulled in more consideration due to the detection of a large number of more sORFs and micro peptides. Nowadays, COVID-19 grabs all the attention of science as it is a sudden outbreak. sORFs of COVID-19 should be revealed for new ways to understand this virus. This review discusses ongoing progress in the systems for the identification and distinguishing proof of sORFs and micro peptides. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.

A web-based health education module and its impact on the preventive practices of health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proper training on the preventive measures against COVID-19 among health-care workers is crucial for mitigating the spread of viral infection. The present study evaluated the efficacy of a brief web-based module on the practice of hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette among respective health-care workers. A comparative study was conducted with a total of 500 participants. A self-reported questionnaire was used for both pre- and post-intervention evaluation. The post-intervention assessment was conducted 1-2 weeks following the intervention. The difference in the practice of hand hygiene and respiratory etiquettes during work hours was recorded. We found that the intervention resulted in an evident difference in the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer by the participating doctors before examining the patient. Interns showed a much higher propensity to wash their hands for at least 20 s, relative to other health-care workers. The difference between pre- and post-intervention handwashing for >5 times/day was 6.5% in females and 4.5% in males. In short, the study was able to demonstrate that a web-based health education module is an effective tool for the education and promotion of preventative measures in hospital setups, which may ultimately aid in halting the spread of COVID-19 among health-care workers.