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COVID-19 , Neoplasms , Oncologists , Tobacco Use Cessation , Humans , Pandemics , Neoplasms/epidemiology , Neoplasms/therapyABSTRACT
Due to the increase in world population, a lot of research is being done in the medical sciences. Pandemics and epidemics have multiple outbreaks in many regions of the world. In order to solve the issue, creative probing is being used. Most of the illnesses in the group are obstructive and may result in a loss of life. Heart and lung conditions make up a large portion of the obstructive illnesses in this group. More than 5 lakh people die each year from lung illnesses, generally known as pulmonary disorders, with an equal proportion of men and women affected. Each disease has unique symptoms that are connected to it in the fields of medicine and healthcare. There are several new tests that are being developed to identify each of the dangerous diseases that are on the rise. This results from the necessity for quick illness prediction. This paper examines numerous studies and experiments carried out over a variety of timelines and approaches selected by various experiments, carefully examining the benefits and drawbacks of the approaches in order to construct an appropriate model for the cause. It focuses on the study of diagnosing pulmonary disorders and making the user's task easy in understanding the scanned images obtained. © 2023 IEEE.
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The purpose of this research is to find out whether retail investor trading activity was influenced by their financial attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research follows the descriptive and causal research design on a sample size of 87 retail investors obtained through snowball sampling method in which respondents were first identified with the help of financial advisors from five brokerage companies in Oman. The identified respondents were requested to forward the Google survey form to other participants. The study results reveal that the majority of the respondents were in agreement that they can be optimistic regardless of the current COVID-19 situation. There was found to be no difference in the mean rating given by Omanis and non-Omanis towards financial anxiety, optimism, financial security, precautionary savings, financial literacy, financial satisfaction, and risk involvement. Nationality matters only for investor confidence as the mean ratings given for it differ between Omanis and non-Omanis. © 2023, IGI Global.
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The COVID-19 disease is a threat to public health around theworld. Early diagnosis and detection will be critical factors in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Computed tomography has a significant role in COVID-19 detection because it gives both fast and best results. Hence it is very significant to develop an accurate and rapid computer-assisted tool for helping clinical experts to identify COVID-19 patients from CT scan images. The project's main objective is to develop an artificial intelligence-assisted tool for predicting the severity of COVID-19 with the help of CT scan images. We introduce a new dataset that contains 47,144 CT scan images from 292 normal persons and 14,346 images from 92 patients with COVID-19 infections. In the first stage, the system runs our proposed image processing algorithm that analyses the view of the lung to discard those CT images inside the lung that are not properly visible. This action helps to reduce the processing time and false detection. Then those chosen images from the CT selection algorithm will be fed to the ResNet50V2 model, so the model becomes able to investigate different resolutions of the image and does not lose the data of small objects. Apart from 152 patients,47 patients have been detected with COVID-19, and 105 patients have been detected as Normal. It shows that the model obtained 97.89% correctness overall and 95.45% along with class with COVID-2019 sensitivity.
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Introduction: During the early COVID-19 pandemic period in 2020, the laboratory evaluated Sight OLO haematology analyser as a dedicated instrument for infectious specimens. The Sight OLO analyser is compact, reliable and capable of self-contained waste production to limit biological waste exposure. The instrument can be used in isolation wards, Biosafety Level 3 laboratories or in smaller laboratories. A comparative study is conducted between Sight OLO and Sysmex XN-10 analyser, the blood count analyser used in the main laboratory. Method(s): There were two phases of study. Phase one evaluation was conducted on the haematology bench and Phase two evaluation inside a Biosafety cabinet (BSC). A comparative study is conducted using 40 normal and abnormal K2EDTA samples for each phase. Precision study was conducted using control materials provided by the manufacturer. Sensitivity and specificity studies were also conducted using 100 K2EDTA samples. Result(s): The blood count results of Phase 1 and Phase 2 on Sight OLO demonstrated good concordance with Sysmex XN-10. High agreement between Sight OLO and Sysmex XN- 10 was reflected in the results of regression analysis. The correlation value of FBC parameters ranged from 0.90 to 0.99. The Sight OLO is capable of detecting the presence of blast cells, nucleated RBCs, platelet clumps, atypical lymphocytes, immature granulocytes and platelet abnormal distribution. Conclusion(s): The study demonstrated that the performance of Sight OLO is comparable to Sysmex XN-10 hematology analyser. The instrument has a high potential use in small laboratories for pandemic sample testing or in institutions with limited space and resources.
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Body Arterial and venous thrombosis were documented in moderately and critically ill COVID-19 patients. They included peripheral deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary thrombo-embolism and major arterial thrombosis.In this pictorial review, we share the spectrum of thrombo-embolic manifestations we encountered in patients with Sars-Cov-2 infection. Learning Objectives: To be aware of spectrum of thrombotic complications of COVID-19 Background: COVID-19 has been linked to hypercoagulability as well as a high rate of thrombotic events in clinically unwell patients. Conclusion(s): Prompt thrombo-prophylaxis helped in reducing the incidences and complications.
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Various approaches have been explored to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite the fact that the period of protection is unknown, vaccine development is high on their priority list. Vaccines have been tested in clinical trials in a number of countries, with encouraging results. The effectiveness of vaccinations as well as their short- and long-term side effects are major concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic, which is likely to be the most devastating in the last 100 years after the Spanish flu, necessitates a rapid assessment of multiple approaches for competence in eliciting protective immunity and safety in preventing unwanted immune-potentiation, which plays a key role in the virus's pathogenesis. This review aims to give an overview of the efforts devoted to developing an effective vaccine for this novel coronavirus that has crippled the global economy, human health, and life. This study examines the latest recent evidence on 12 vaccines. Evaluate their efficacy, safety profile, and application in various demographics.
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Introduction and Aim: Sigma represents Standard Deviation (SD) which indicates the degree of variation in a process, where the higher sigma value implies that less likely the laboratory reports false test results. Using a newer parameter called Quality Goal Index (QGI) we can find the reason behind the lower sigma value. Our study aimed to compare the six-sigma metric and QGI ratio 3 months prior to first lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and 3 months during the first lockdown. Methodology: A retrospective study was used to compare the six-sigma metric and QGI ratio 3 months prior to first lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and 3 months during the first lockdown for the selected ten analytes from 1st of January 2020 to 30th of June 2020 from the clinical biochemistry section of Yenepoya Medical College Hospital, Deralakatte, Mangalore. Result(s): The sigma metrics from January to March (level 1) indicated that urea, TSH, beta-HCG fell short of meeting Six Sigma quality performance and from April to June, glucose, creatinine, urea and ALT had metrics less than 3 at both the Internal Quality Control levels. QGI ratio indicated that from January to March, the problem was imprecision for urea, TSH and beta-HCG (QGI < 0.8). From April to June, urea and creatinine showed imprecision, glucose and ALT showed inaccuracy, urea and ALT showed both imprecision and inaccuracy. Conclusion(s): This study highlights the necessity for stringent Internal Quality Control and External Quality Assurance monitoring even during the lockdown period of the pandemic. By implementing six sigma and finding QGI ratio, quality of laboratory services can be improved immensely. Copyright © 2022, Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists. All rights reserved.
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As community-driven organizations sought to support their constituents through the COVID-19 crisis, many drew on digital volunteers to expand their capacity and reach. However, coordinating the efforts of virtual volunteers is a challenging task with few empirical studies of the associated risks and best practices. In this paper, we report on the activities of CGNet Swara, a citizen journalism platform that published 401 distress calls from vulnerable communities stranded in India due to the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. CGNet mobilized 11 digital volunteers to help these contributors over a period of nearly 2 months. We found that a lack of proper guidance to digital volunteers and outdated organizational policies resulted in demonstrable harms to vulnerable communities. We discuss risks that are inherent in collaborations between organizations extending themselves to crisis response and emergent groups of digital volunteers, and how they can be mitigated by real-time monitoring and development of standard operating procedures relating to impact metrics, verification standards and disclosure policies. © 2022 ACM.
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Science has time and again proven to be one of the most powerful tools in finding solutions to the problems faced by the world. Let it be natural or man-made challenges, hard work put into finding efficient answers to tackle them has proven to safeguard the ecosystem. Sometimes the research community is put under pressure when humanity faces the challenge of survival like the Covid-19 pandemic. A great extent of published works needs to be studied to find an optimal solution to existing or new queries related to the virus. In this research work, we build an efficient data mining tool using the CORD-19 Dataset to help the community come up with answers to Covid-19 related questions. We use a combination of semantic and keyword search to reduce the solution space of our model. Our model makes use of parallelism, paraphrasing, and state-of-the-art natural language processing techniques which will serve as a time and energy-saving tool for the information need of all doctors and researchers who are trying to put an end to the pandemic and avoid future possible outbreaks. © 2021 IEEE.
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BACKGROUND: Remdesivir (GS-5734) has emerged as a promising drug during the challenging times of COVID-19 pandemic. Being a prodrug, it undergoes several metabolic reactions before converting to its active triphosphate metabolite. It is important to establish the atomic level details and explore the energy profile of the prodrug to drug conversion process. METHODS: In this work, Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were performed to explore the entire metabolic path. Further, the potential energy surface (PES) diagram for the conversion of prodrug remdesivir to its active metabolite was established. The role of catalytic triad of Hint1 phosphoramidase enzyme in P-N bond hydrolysis was also studied on a model system using combined molecular docking and quantum mechanics approach. RESULTS: The overall energy of reaction is 11.47 kcal/mol exergonic and the reaction proceeds through many steps requiring high activation energies. In the absence of a catalyst, the P-N bond breaking step requires 41.78 kcal/mol, which is reduced to 14.26 kcal/mol in a catalytic environment. CONCLUSION: The metabolic pathways of model system of remdesivir (MSR) were explored completely and potential energy surface diagrams at two levels of theory, B3LYP/6-311++G(d, p) and B3LYP/6-31+G(d), were established and compared. The results highlight the importance of an additional water molecule in the metabolic reaction. The PN bond cleavage step of the metabolic process requires the presence of an enzymatic environment.
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COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Prodrugs , Adenosine Monophosphate/analogs & derivatives , Alanine/analogs & derivatives , Humans , Molecular Docking Simulation , Nerve Tissue Proteins , PandemicsABSTRACT
Although most people with COVID get better within weeks of illness, some people experience post COVID conditions. Post COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or on-going health problems people can experience four or more weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID. Post Coronavirus Disease (COVID) syndrome includes persistence of symptoms beyond viral clearance and fresh development of symptoms. Symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID. These conditions can have different types and combinations of health problems for different lengths of time. Unlike some of the other types of post COVID conditions that only tend to occur in people who have had severe illness, these symptoms can happen to anyone who has had COVID, even if the illness was mild, or if they had no initial symptoms. People commonly report experiencing different combinations of the following symptoms: Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, tiredness or fatigue, symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities, difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as brain fog) dry cough frequent chest or stomach pain headache, fast beating or pounding heart also known as heart palpitations, joint or muscle pain. All these post COVID symptoms are studied closely in patients hospitalised in different COVID hospitals for moderate to severe illness of COVID in the second wave in Kanpur city. Effects of hospitalization can also include Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS), which refers to health effects that begin when a person is in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and can remain after a person returns home. These effects can include severe weakness, problems with thinking and judgment, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD involves long-term reactions to a very stressful event.
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The rapid spread of COVID-19 including recent emergence of new variants with its extreme range of pathologies create an urgent need to develop a versatile sensor for a rapid, precise, and highly sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2. Herein, we report a microcantilever-based optical detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigenic proteins in just few minutes with high specificity by employing fluidic-atomic force microscopy (f-AFM) mediated nanomechanical deflection method. The corresponding antibodies against the target antigens were first grafted on the gold-coated microcantilever surface pre-functionalized with EDC-NHS chemistry for a suitable antibody-antigen interaction. Rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1) receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins was first demonstrated at a clinically relevant concentration down to 1 ng/mL (33 pM) by real-time monitoring of nanomechanical signal induced by antibody-antigen interaction. More importantly, we further show high specific detection of antigens with nasopharyngeal swab specimens from patients pre-determined with qRT-PCR. The results take less than 5 min (swab to signal ≤5 min) and exhibit high selectivity and analytical sensitivity (LoD: 100 copies/ ml; 0.71 ng/ml of N protein). These findings demonstrate potential for nanomechanical signal transduction towards rapid antigen detection for early screening of SARS-CoV-2 and its related mutants.
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Biosensing Techniques , COVID-19 , Gold , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Spike Glycoprotein, CoronavirusABSTRACT
The paper describes about the impacts of the lockdown imposed during the year 2020 owing to COVID-19 by the State of Telangana with specific reference to the facilities extended to the unorganized sector workers by the Union Government as well as State Government vis-à-vis the ground realties in implementing the schemes/ welfare measures. Further, the problems faced by the workers vis-à-vis the practical problems faced by the Governments to implement the said schemes is also discussed. The paper also aims to suggest the remedial measures to improve the living conditions of the unorganized workers during the pandemic crisis.
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In this paper, we present an information retrieval system on a corpus of scientific articles related to COVID-19 and biomedical. We build a heterogeneous entity-based knowledge graph network, where edges are shared between biomedical entities and paper names, where entities appear in abstract of the paper. The biomedical entities are derived from the abstract of the scientific articles using a fine-tuned Bio-BERT model. For a user query, entities are derived using a fine-tuned Bio-BERT model and then semantic similarity to query is employed for the return of the top-most relevant papers on the titles. We also provide a small set of results for the information retrieval system. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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Objectives: To describe the clinical outcomes of hypoxic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients treated with intravenous methylene blue (MB) in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods: We conducted a case series of 50 patients with hypoxic COVID-19 treated with intravenous MB admitted to our hospital between June 01 and September 10, 2020. Intravenous MB was administered as rescue therapy in dosage of 1 mg/kg body weight, with a maximum of five doses, to patients with high oxygen requirements (SpO2/FiO2 <200) apart from the standard of care after obtaining G6PD levels. Data were abstracted from multiple electronic data sources or patient charts to provide information on patient characteristics, clinical and laboratory variables and outcomes. Results: The median age of the patients was 53.3 (range 25-74 years) and most patients (74%) were men. About 68% of patients had pre-existing comorbidity. Median SpO2/FiO2 ratio progressively improved from 132.5 (predose) to 284 before the terminal event (death or discharge), ventilator-free days, and decrease in the proinflammatory biochemical parameter was significantly higher after the second dose of MB. A total of six patients out of 50 required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Thirty patients were discharged with a recovery rate of 60%, while 20 patients succumbed to the illness. There was no major side effect or adverse event reported in any of the patients. Conclusion: MB due to its polypharmacological action against SARS-CoV-2, an inexpensive and widely available drug with minimal side effects, has a significant potential in the treatment of COVID-19. How to cite this article: Mahale N, Godavarthy P, Marreddy S, Gokhale SD, Funde P, Rajhans PA, et al. Intravenous Methylene Blue as a Rescue Therapy in the Management of Refractory Hypoxia in COVID-19 ARDS Patients: A Case Series. Indian J Crit Care Med 2021;25(8):934-938.