Translation and Validation of the Tamil Version of the Dysphagia Handicap Index in Tamil-Speaking Patients.

Introduction Dysphagia is one of the general symptoms encountered in clinical practice. The impact of dysphagia can be devastating to a patient's physical condition and quality of life (QOL). To evaluate the QOL of patients with dysphagia there are numerous self-reported questionnaires. The most commonly used one such questionnaire is the Swallowing Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL). However, it is not concise and is incomplete as it does not address all the aspects of dysphagia. To overcome this, the Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI) was developed. It focuses on the functional and emotional aspects in addition to the physical aspects of dysphagia. Objective To develop a Tamil version of the DHI (DHI-T) and assess its reliability, cultural adaptability and validity. Materials and method This cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2021 to December 2022 on 140 participants consisting of 70 dysphagia patients and 70 healthy individuals. Results The reliability and validity of the DHI-T were good with a high correlation between DHI-T and self-perceived severity scales of dysphagia. The mean total score in the Dysphagia group was 59.77 with the mean physical, functional and emotional scores being 23.86, 17.46 and 18.46 respectively. These scores were less compared to the Healthy group (p-value <0.01). Conclusion This study shows that DHI-T can be used as a reliable and valid tool to grade and study the different domains of dysphagia in our study population. Among the various causes of dysphagia studied in our population, it was noted that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related dysphagia patients had higher mean score in the emotional domain. To the best of our knowledge, the DHI scores for COVID-19-related dysphagia have not been done before. As the application of DHI in routine clinical practice and research is increasing, we believe this DHI-T can be of aid to Tamil-speaking patients.

Adaptive 3D and VFX Films Virtual Learning Environments

In this study, the analysis of the topic 'Adaptive 3D and VFX Films Virtual Learning' has been provided. As virtual learning and 3D technologies use are increasing, the interest in their learning in academic discussion is increasing daily. However, there are various drawbacks to the use of3D for learning environments. To solve this drawback, the use of adaptive learning environments is increasing more, such as an environment that can dynamically adapt to the learner and the activities that can be performed by that specific learner. As the new ways of learning have been increasing over the past years (in the times of the COVID-19 Pandemic) through the use of computers in the educational sector. The learning environment has been widely adopted by the educational sectors in the case of obtaining promising outcomes. In recent years, these environments have evolved into more advanced environments with the implication of3D technology. With the help of 3D, these adaptive environments are helping learners according to their preferences. © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on non-COVID patient's management in urology: a public hospital experience in Mumbai.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on non-COVID urological patient's management in tertiary care urology centres. METHODS: This is an observational study in which data of patients visiting the urology department of all the MCGM run tertiary care hospitals were recorded for the duration of 1 April 2020 to 31 July 2020 and were compared to data of pre-COVID-19 period of similar duration. RESULTS: There was a decrease of 93.86% in indoor admissions of urology patients during the COVID-19 lockdown. Indoor admissions for stone disease, haematuria, malignancy accounted for 53.65%, 15.85%, 9.75%, respectively. Elective surgeries had the highest percentage decrease followed by emergency and semi-emergency procedures. There was a reduction of more than 80% in patients attending outpatient clinics. Stone disease and its consequences were the main reasons for visiting outdoor clinics (39%). A substantial number of patients presented with flank and abdominal pain (14.8%) and benign enlargement of the prostate (10.23%). Malignancy accounted for a very small number of patients visiting outdoor clinics (1.58%). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 pandemic has a profound impact on patient care and education in Urology. There was more than ninety percent reduction in indoor admissions, operative procedures, and outpatient clinics attendance. Once the pandemic is controlled, there will be a large number of patients seeking consultation and management for urological conditions and we should be prepared for it. Surgical training of urology residents needs to be compensated in near future. Long-term impact on urological patient outcome remains to be defined.

Factor influencing economic growth of online food ordering and delivery application during COVID-19

Online food delivery (OFD) apps have grown in popularity in recent years, making it easier for customers to shop through online channels due to the convenience they provide. Lockdown was employed in India during the current COVID-19 pandemic in order to restrict the spread of illness. As a result of recent corporate scandals, demand for this speciality has skyrocketed. Consumers, on the other hand, are at danger when it comes to OFD. It improved consumer cleanliness and altered consumer perceptions of OFD. Because earlier research operations are no longer relevant due to constant changes in consumer behaviour, elements influencing consumer decision-making in the area of OFD should be investigated again and again. The research's main goal is to use exploration factory analysis to find the characteristics that influence OFD selection during lockout to India, allowing OFD service providers to make strategic decisions based on customer desired value. Analysis The major component analysis is used to collect the smallest fraction that contributes to the maximum number of variables specified using a sample of 215 models with a set of twenty variables. Three variables were eliminated from the analysis because they did not adequately characterise the variables of the component. Using a linear combination of actual variables, it generates a set of unrelated hidden variables. The study came to a conclusion with seventeen characteristics classified into four categories: efficiency, information, control, safety, quality, and cleanliness.

Patterns of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol spread in typical classrooms.

Although current industry guidelines to control the spread of aerosols such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have adopted a six-foot (~1.8 m) spacing between individuals indoors, recent evidence suggests that longer range spread is also responsible for infections in public spaces. The vehicle for long-range spread is smaller (<5 µm) droplets or particles, termed bio-aerosols, or aerosols for short, which have a large surface area to volume ratio such that aerodynamic drag is much larger than gravity forces. The aerosols remain suspended in air for extended time periods, and they essentially move with air currents. Prediction of the danger to occupants in a closed room when exposed to an infected individual requires knowledge of the period of exposure and the concentration level of aerosols in the breathing zone of an occupant. To obtain an estimate of the concentration level, a common assumption is well-mixed conditions within an interior space. This is obtained from a mass balance between the level of aerosol produced by an infected individual along with the airflow rate into and out of the entire space. In this work, we use computational fluid dynamics, compared with experimental results in several cases, to explore the aerosol concentration distribution in a typical classroom for several common conditions and compare these results to the well-mixed assumption. We use a tracer gas to approximately simulate the flow and dispersion of the aerosol-air mixture. The two ventilation systems examined, ceiling diffusers and open windows, yield average concentrations at occupant breathing level 50 % greater than the well mixed case, and some scenarios yield concentrations that are 150 % greater than the well mixed concentration at specific breathing-level locations. Of particular concern are two conditions: horizontal air flow from an open window in line with a row of seating and, second, an infected individual seated near a sealed cold window. For the former, conditions are improved if a baffle is placed inside the open window to direct the air toward the floor, creating a condition similar to displacement ventilation. In the latter, the cold air flowing down along the cold window recirculates aerosols back into the breathing zone. Adding window covers or a portable heater below the window surface will moderate this condition.

Robotic Applications in Orthodontics: Changing the Face of Contemporary Clinical Care.

The last decade (2010-2021) has witnessed the evolution of robotic applications in orthodontics. This review scopes and analyzes published orthodontic literature in eight different domains: (1) robotic dental assistants; (2) robotics in diagnosis and simulation of orthodontic problems; (3) robotics in orthodontic patient education, teaching, and training; (4) wire bending and customized appliance robotics; (5) nanorobots/microrobots for acceleration of tooth movement and for remote monitoring; (6) robotics in maxillofacial surgeries and implant placement; (7) automated aligner production robotics; and (8) TMD rehabilitative robotics. A total of 1,150 records were searched, of which 124 potentially relevant articles were retrieved in full. 87 studies met the selection criteria following screening and were included in the scoping review. The review found that studies pertaining to arch wire bending and customized appliance robots, simulative robots for diagnosis, and surgical robots have been important areas of research in the last decade (32%, 22%, and 16%). Rehabilitative robots and nanorobots are quite promising and have been considerably reported in the orthodontic literature (13%, 9%). On the other hand, assistive robots, automated aligner production robots, and patient robots need more scientific data to be gathered in the future (1%, 1%, and 6%). Technological readiness of different robotic applications in orthodontics was further assessed. The presented eight domains of robotic technologies were assigned to an estimated technological readiness level according to the information given in the publications. Wire bending robots, TMD robots, nanorobots, and aligner production robots have reached the highest levels of technological readiness: 9; diagnostic robots and patient robots reached level 7, whereas surgical robots and assistive robots reached lower levels of readiness: 4 and 3, respectively.

Effectiveness of simulation-based training for manual small incision cataract surgery among novice surgeons: a randomized controlled trial.

This study was designed to determine the effect of a novel simulation-based training curriculum for scleral tunnel construction in manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) compared with traditional training. In this multicenter, investigator-masked, randomized clinical trial, resident surgeons within 3 months of matriculation with minimal or no prior experience with MSICS were assigned either to simulation-based training, the Experimental Group (EG), or to conventional training, the Control Group (CG). EG residents were trained to perform scleral tunnel construction using a simulation-based curriculum (HelpMeSee Eye Surgery Simulator), while residents in the CG followed institution-specific curriculum before progressing to live surgery. Surgical videos of the first 20 attempts at tunnel construction were reviewed by masked video raters. The primary outcome was the total number of any of 9 pre-specified errors. On average, the total number of errors was 9.25 (95% CI 0-18.95) in the EG and 17.56 (95% CI 6.63-28.49) in the CG (P = 0.05); the number of major errors was 4.86 (95% CI 0.13-9.59) in the EG and 10.09 (95% CI 4.76-15.41) in the CG (P = 0.02); and the number of minor errors was 4.39 (95% CI 0-9.75) in the EG and 7.47 (95% CI 1.43-13.51) in the CG (P = 0.16). These results support that novice surgeons trained using the novel simulation-based curriculum performed fewer errors in their first 20 attempts at tunnel construction compared to those trained with a conventional curriculum.

Patterns of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol Spread in Typical Classrooms (preprint)

Although current industry guidelines to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have adopted a six-foot (∼1.8m) spacing between individuals indoors, recent evidence suggests that longer range spread is also responsible for infections in public spaces. The vehicle for long-range spread is smaller droplets or particles, termed bio-aerosols, or aerosols for short, which have a large surface area to volume ratio such that aerodynamic drag is much larger than gravity forces. The aerosols remain suspended in air for extended time periods and they essentially move with air currents. Prediction of the danger to occupants in a closed room when exposed to an infected individual requires knowledge of the period of exposure and the concentration level of aerosols in the breathing zone of an occupant. To obtain an estimate of the concentration level, a common assumption is well-mixed conditions within an interior space. This is obtained from a mass balance between the level of aerosol produced by an infected individual along with the airflow rate into and out of the entire space. In this work, we use computational fluid dynamics, verified by experimental results, to explore the aerosol concentration distribution in a typical classroom for several common conditions and compare these results to the well-mixed assumption. We use a tracer gas to simulate the flow and dispersion of the aerosol-air mixture. The two ventilation systems examined, ceiling diffusers and open windows, yield average concentrations at occupant breathing level 50% greater than the well mixed case, and some scenarios yield concentrations that are 150% greater than the well mixed concentration at specific breathing-level locations. Of particular concern are two conditions: horizontal air flow from an open window in line with a row of seating and, second, an infected individual seated near a sealed cold window. For the former, conditions are improved if a baffle is placed inside the open window to direct the air toward the floor, creating a condition similar to displacement ventilation. In the latter, the cold air flowing down along the cold window recirculates aerosols back into the breathing zone. Adding window covers or a portable heater below the window surface will moderate this condition.

Essential Attributes of Clear Aligner Therapy in terms of Appliance Configuration, Hygiene, and Pain Levels during the Pandemic: A Brief Review.

Fixed orthodontic treatment has been compromised at many levels during the pandemic period, as clinics underwent a prolonged lockdown and patients could not be treated regularly. With the end of the pandemic nowhere in sight, may be it is time to put newer tools, such as clear aligner therapy, for better use. Fixed orthodontic appliances by nature are not always self-limiting, which, if left unmonitored over a long period may cause undesirable side effects, pain, and discomfort. The undesired tooth movements that may occur with arch wire-guided mechanics in addition to problems with cut wires or removed brackets may be minimized with the use of aligners. While the benefits of using aligners are for all to see, they do require extensive planning and careful evaluation of the progress. This article reviews the advantages of using aligners during the pandemic period and how it can be beneficial in helping orthodontists resume their practice.

Repurposing existing drugs for the treatment of COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 infection: A review describing drug mechanisms of action.

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a major public health concern across the globe. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus that is known to cause human disease. As of September 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has been reported in 213 countries and more than 31 million cases have been confirmed, with an estimated mortality rate of ∼3%. Unfortunately, a drug or vaccine is yet to be discovered to treat COVID-19. Thus, repurposing of existing cancer drugs will be a novel approach in treating COVID-19 patients. These drugs target viral replication cycle, viral entry and translocation to the nucleus. Some can enhance innate antiviral immune response as well. Hence this review focuses on comprehensive list of 22 drugs that work against COVID-19 infection. These drugs include fingolimod, colchicine, N4-hydroxycytidine, remdesivir, methylprednisone, oseltamivir, icatibant, perphanizine, viracept, emetine, homoharringtonine, aloxistatin, ribavirin, valrubicin, famotidine, almitrine, amprenavir, hesperidin, biorobin, cromolyn sodium, and antibodies- tocilzumab and sarilumab. Also, we provide a list of 31 drugs that are predicted to function against SARS-CoV-2 infection. In summary, we provide succinct overview of various therapeutic modalities. Among these 53 drugs, based on various clinical trials and literature, remdesivir, nelfinavir, methylpredinosolone, colchicine, famotidine and emetine may be used for COVID-19. SIGNIFICANCE: It is of utmost important priority to develop novel therapies for COVID-19. Since the effect of SARS-CoV-2 is so severe, slowing the spread of diseases will help the health care system, especially the number of visits to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of any country. Several clinical trials are in works around the globe. Moreover, NCI developed a recent and robust response to COVID-19 pandemic. One of the NCI's goals is to screen cancer related drugs for identification of new therapies for COVID-19. https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2020/covid-19-cancer-nci-response?cid=eb_govdel.

World Federation of Orthodontists: An orthodontic umbrella organization coordinating activities and pooling resources.

The idea of a global orthodontic organization, the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO), made up of national and regional orthodontic organizations, was realized in 1995 in San Francisco at the 4th International Orthodontic Congress that was held in conjunction with the 95th annual American Association of Orthodontists meeting. This umbrella organization strives to promote quality orthodontic care, practiced and delivered by orthodontic specialists in all parts of the world. In addition, it supports its member organizations with governing principles that promote appropriate membership criteria, qualified individual leadership participation, and long-term stability of the organization over time. In response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, the WFO has responded proactively and plans to augment its digital resources even further in the near future. This article describes the formation of the organization, the idea that germinated through the first three international orthodontic congresses, its workflow and membership criteria, the accountability and commitment it has toward its affiliates and individual members, and its plans for future years to come.

Temporary reduction in air pollution due to anthropogenic activity switch-off during COVID-19 lockdown in northern parts of India.

Due to fast and deadly spread of corona virus (COVID-19), the Government of India implemented lockdown in the entire country from 25 April 2020. So, we studied the differences in the air quality index (AQI) of Delhi (DTU, Okhla and Patparganj), Haryana (Jind, Palwal and Hisar) and Uttar Pradesh (Agra, Kanpur and Greater Noida) from 17 February 2020 to 4 May 2020. The AQI was calculated by combination of individual sub-indices of seven pollutants, namely PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NH3, SO2, CO and O3, collected from the Central Pollution Control Board website. The AQI has improved by up to 30-46.67% after lockdown. The AQI slope values - 1.87, - 1.70 and - 1.35 were reported for Delhi, - 1.11, - 1.31 and - 1.04 were observed for Haryana and - 1.48, - 1.79 and - 1.78 were found for Uttar Pradesh (UP), which may be attributed to limited access of transportation and industrial facilities due to lockdown. The ozone (O3) concentration was high at Delhi because of lesser greenery as compared to UP and Haryana, which provides higher atmospheric temperature favourable for O3 formation. The air mass back trajectory (AMBT) analysis reveals the contribution of air mass from Europe, Africa and Gulf countries as well as local emissions from Indo-Gangetic Plain, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states of India.

Association of Environmental Parameters with COVID-19 in Delhi, India.

The present study explores the association between weather and COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, India. The study used the data from daily newspaper releases from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Linear regression was run to understand the effect of the number of tests, temperature, and relative humidity on the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi. The model was significantly able to predict number of COVID-19 cases, F (4,56) = 1213.61, p < 0.05, accounting for 99.4% of the variation in COVID-19 cases with adjusted R2 = 98.8%. Maximum Temperature, average temperature and average relative humidity did not show statistical significance. The only number of tests was significantly associated with COVID-19 cases.