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This study examines the predictive power of oil shocks for the green bond markets. In line with this aim, we investigated the extent to which oil shocks could be used to accurately make in- and out-of-sample forecasts for green bond returns. Three striking findings emanated from our results: First, the three types of oil shock are reliable predictors for green bond indices. Second, the performances of the predictive models were consistent across the different forecasting horizons (i.e. H = 1 to H = 24). Third, our findings were sensitive to classifying the dataset into pre-COVID and COVID eras. For instance, the results confirmed that the predictive power of oil shocks declined during the crisis period. We also discuss some policy implications of this study's findings. © 2022 The Author(s)
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Clinical Applications of Immunogenetics: Immunogenetics: a Molecular and Clinical Overview, Volume II provides readers with an exclusive, updated overview of scientific knowledge, achievements and findings in the field of immunogenetics. In thirteen chapters, the book gives insights in new advancements and approaches in viral and autoimmune diseases. Specific chapters are dedicated to immunogenetic mechanisms in the treatment of immune disorders, cancer, neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, other chapters cover immunogenomics in precision medicine, clinical medicine and transplantation. Finally, a special chapter, COVID-19: A novel challenge to human immune-genetic machinery, updates on thoughts surrounding the pandemic. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Rationale: SARS-CoV-2 has been identified as a highly infective and contagious viral infection. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been spread worldwide and affected more than 210 countries. Globally, the fast spread of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants has been mostly attributed to international travel. Patient concerns: We are reporting the genomic evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Eta VOI among two international travelers. Both travelers were males from Nigeria aged 24 and 34 years and both were asymptomatic. Diagnosis: The nasopharyngeal swab samples were in both travelers positive by real-time RT-PCR followed by COVIDSeq-NGS. Interventions: Paracetamol 3 times daily for 5 days. Outcomes: Patient recovered completely within 10 days and discharged after 14 days of quarantine duration. Lessons: This report highlights genomic variation of SARS-CoV-2 among the travelers. For managing the present health crisis, molecular identification of viral variants present in different geographical locations will be very helpful.
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Background: COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic issue globally on 11th March, 2020. In response to this situation, all educational activities including medical and clinical education in various colleges across the country were suspended on the 15th of March. So, online education emerged as an alternative method of teaching & learning to maintain continuity of education Aim: To evaluate the use of online learning modalities and to find their feasibility and usability in medical education. Method(s): A cross-sectional study was performed across the government and private medical colleges of Lahore. Eligible participants were undergraduate medical students from 10 medical colleges of Lahore. A questionnaire linked to a Google form was distributed to the medical students across 10 government and private medical colleges through different social platforms. Result(s): A total of 439 valid questionnaires were collected. 31.7% of students disagreed that interaction between students and teachers was possible through online teaching. Only 7.7% of students agreed that online learning can be used for clinical teaching of medical sciences, as compared to 35.8% who disagreed with this answer and 12.8% who were neutral. 23% of the students agreed that online learning was more convenient and flexible than traditional learning, while 24% disagreed and 21.4% were neutral in this regard. Only 19.8% of students had problems with poor internet services. Conclusion(s): As Pakistan has faced four waves of the COVID-19 which is not over yet due to the emergence of new strains. Due to vaccination of medical students medical education is back to conventional physical learning but online learning has gained importance as an effective alternate to continue learning processes in exceptional situations like COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright © 2022 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.
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Objective: To determine the frequency of patient compliance with universal face mask policy during COVID-19 pandemic using simple observable criteria. Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Pakistan Railway Hospital, Rawalpindi during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic over a period of one month from 15 March 2021 to 15 April 2021. Materials and Methods: A total of 266 patients were recruited from the general population of patients visiting our hospital after undergoing screening for COVID-19 at the filter clinic. Face mask compliance was defined as the wearing of a disposable surgical mask while employing correct techniques as per the World Health Organization and National Institute of Health guidelines for hospital settings. Results: Majority of the patients (79.9%) wore a surgical face mask as recommended for hospital settings. However, only 41% employed the correct mask wearing technique. Patients under strict supervision in outdoor clinics were more likely to wear mask as compared to their indoor counterparts (76.79% vs 51.76%). Correlation was significant at a level of 0.492. One third (34.2%) of the patients did not cover their face, nose, and chin completely. An overwhelming majority (129/183 or 70.49%) admitted reusing the mask multiple times. Conclusion: The study findings indicate that while majority of the general population of patients visiting our hospital wore a face mask, compliance with correct mask wearing technique as per recommended guidelines was poor. Our results support strict implementation of universal masking policies for hospitals in Pakistan as part of a multifaceted strategy to minimize transmission of infection in health care settings. © 2022 Journal of Islamic International Medical College. All rights reserved.
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A Molecular Approach to Immunogenetics, Immunogenetics: A Molecular and Clinical Overview, Volume One provides readers with an exclusive, updated overview on the scientific knowledge, achievements and findings in the field of immunogenetics. The book presents readily available, updated information on the molecular and clinical aspects of immunogenetics, from origin and development to clinical applications and future prospects. The breadth of information goes from basics to developments, clinical applications and future prospects. The book's most attractive attribute is its academic and clinical amalgamation that covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of immunogenetics. An additional feature of the book is a special chapter on viral genetics that covers COVID-19. Above all, the book contains chapters that discuss immunogenetics in relation to pharmaco-genomics and immune-toxicology. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Stock markets have exhibited increased returns connectedness during the COVID-19 period. We examine the returns dependence among 42 stock markets classified under various emerging and developed groupings. We apply several dependence measures to examine the returns connectedness among the markets. Our results show that stock markets from the G-7 and Emerging Frontier and Asian (EFA) region exhibit high connectedness with other international markets, while Middle East and North African (MENA) and Latin American (LA) stock markets offer high diversification opportunities through low returns connectedness. The returns coherence of Central and East European (CEE) and G-7 markets increase significantly during the COVID-19 period which supports the hypothesis of contagion. However, during the pandemic MENA stock markets (excluding Greece) and most EFA markets (excluding China, Singapore and Korea) remain less cointegrated with other international equity markets. Our results have implications for individual and institutional investors, fund managers and other financial market stakeholders.
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The whole world is suffering from COVID-19 pandemic. This disease has halted life and has a negative impact on physical and mental health of all individuals. Objectives: To identify impact of BMI on Covid-19 clinical features and its management in terms of relationship among patients at government hospitals, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methodology: This study enrolled 206 patients having both genders and was carried at Life Diabetes Centre, Gujrat and CMH Kharian Medical College (CKMC), over a period of 3 months, Kharian-Pakistan following ethical review committee's (ERC) approval. Statistical analysis: Data was analyzed by SPSS software, version 17. Parameters like age, gender and treatment taken were presented as frequency. Chi square was applied to see the correlation with p-value <0.05 as significant. Results: Total 206 patients were randomly selected, 89 male and 117 females. Among 206, patients (n=133) showed symptoms while rest of the patients (73) remained asymptomatic. There was no association of BMI with COVID-19 symptoms having P-value greater than 0.05. There was an association of BMI with gender as P-value (0.000*). There was an association of BMI with age having P-value (0.000*). Conclusion: From present study, we concluded that there was a correlation between BMI and individuals with higher BMI as they developed more serious symptoms and required active management strategies in comparison to individuals who were either underweight or normal weight.
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The whole world is facing one of the biggest health related disasters of the century. As a novel disease, Covid-19 has so many parameters yet to explore. Objectives: To explore any correlation between atopy and Covid-19 among residents of Gujrat and Kharian, Punjab, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methodology: This study with enrolled subjects (n=206) was carried out after ethical review committee’s (ERC) approval at Life Diabetes Centre, Gujrat and CMH Kharian Medical College (CKMC), over a period of 3 months, Kharian-Pakistan. Both male and female medical subjects were enrolled. Statistical analysis: Data was analyzed by SPSS software, version 17. Parameters like gender, allergy and treatment taken were presented as frequency and percentage. Chi square was applied to see the correlation with p-value <0.05 as significant. Results: Total 206 patients were randomly selected, 89 male and 117 females. Among 206, only 13 patients had allergy from different allergens. Only 2 patients required hospitalization and injectable treatment. Conclusion: We concluded that there is strong affiliation between atopy and Covid-19 presentations.
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We compare the weak/strong hedging abilities of three alternative assets, namely bitcoin, gold and US VIX futures, against the downside movements in BRICS stock market indices. Results from the cross-quantilogram approach indicate that bitcoin and gold are weak hedges. Analysis from the recursive sampling shows that each of bitcoin, gold and VIX futures has a time-varying hedging role in some BRICS countries, which has been shaped by the COVID-19 outbreak. Results from the conditional diversification benefits show appealing roles for the three alternative assets for investors in BRICS stock markets. However, gold appears to have higher and more stable diversification benefits in China, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. Conversely, VIX futures offer higher diversification benefits in Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa during the abrupt of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Context . RNA viruses exhibit an extraordinary ability to evolve in a changing environment and to switch from animal hosts to humans. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, recognized as a respiratory disease, is an example of zoonotic transmission of the RNA virus known as SARS-CoV-2. The development and regulatory approval of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 pose multiple preventive and therapeutic challenges, especially during an ongoing pandemic. Objective . The review intended to examine the challenges and recent achievements in the development of vaccine candidates against COVID-19. Design . The research team performed a literature review, searching relevant and up to date information from the literature. The sources of data included Google Scholar, PubMed, NCBI, and Yahoo. The search terms used were COVID-19 challenges, SARS-CoV-2 prospective challenges, RNA viruses adoptability, host switching by RNA viruses, COVID-19 vaccines. Setting . The study took place at the digital libraries of contributing institutions. The data was combined, selected for further analysis and manuscript preparation at King Abdulaziz University. Results . RNA viruses with high rate of genome alterations and evolution have better chances to survive in the adverse environmental conditions by adopting the alternate host species. The recent epidemics such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 are examples of zoonotic transmission of RNA viruses from animal species to the humans. However, the mechanisms involved in the switching-on to new host species need further investigations to control the zoonotic transmissions in near future. As of April 2020, 115 candidate vaccines were being evaluated;78 of them had been found to be active, and a few of them are in Phase I trials. In the development of different types of vaccine candidates against COVID19, multiple international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are involved. Conclusions . Emerging and re-emerging pathogenic RNA viruses pose a serious threat to human health. Little is known about the human-host adoptive mechanism for zoonotic transmission. Deep insights into the molecular mechanism responsible for the switching of animal or bird viruses to humans could provide target molecules or events to prevent such transmissions in the near future. Fast development and approval of efficacious and safe vaccines is key to the effort to provide preventive measures against COVID-19 and future viruses. However, the development and availability of a vaccine candidate is a time-consuming process and often can't be completed during an epidemic. Currently, several types of vaccines are under development, and most of them won't realistically be available in time for the present COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Covid-19 viral infection is linked to a severe pulmonary reaction, leading to an acute lung injury in a large percentage of affected patients. Various inflammatory pathways regulated by SARS-CoV-2 are under-investigated. Some potential therapeutic options aimed to alleviate the inflammatory response of SARS-CoV-2 infection are involving different strategies for blocking the activation of its binding receptors on host cells and immunomodulation. Given that excessive lung inflammation is likely to cause death in Covid-19 patients, using nitric oxide (NO) pathway to mitigate this risk appears to be a reasonable approach to avoid serious lung injury. Such therapy could be paired with systemic immunomodulatory therapy to combat the multiple organ damage of Covid-19. Therefore, regulating the NO pathway has a potential therapeutic strategy to minimize the mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infection. © 2020, Romanian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19 has appeared as an ongoing global public crisis, growing with geometric progression and has caused huge devastation till date majorly because of lack of targeted therapeutic agents like vaccines. SARS-Cov-2 entrance into the host cells is reliant on acidic pH. Thus, in the current clinical emergency there is a pressing need to look forward for adjunct therapies which could counter the acidic pH, so as to restrain the viral entry and its subsequent reproduction in the host cells. Therefore, the current review attempted to explore the possibility to use sodium bicarbonate as an alternative lysosomotropic agent based on the reported literature owing to its anti-flu properties and widespread use during 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The suggestions put forward in the current review article based on the careful use of sodium bicarbonate could probably help to restrain SARS-CoV-2 infection. © 2020, Romanian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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The duplicate US1 genes of duck enteritis virus (DEV) encode a protein with a conserved Herpes_IE68 domain, which was found to be closely related to the herpes virus immediate early regulatory protein family and is highly conserved among counterparts encoded by Herpes_IE68 genes. Previous studies found the homologous proteins HSV-1 ICP22 and VZV ORF63/ORF70 to be critical for virus transcription and replication. However, little is known about the DEV ICP22 protein. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of this protein based on pharmacological experiments, real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction, Western blot, and immunofluorescence assays. We also investigate the role of the protein in DEV replication via mutation of US1. As a result, we found that the DEV ICP22 protein is a non-essential immediate early protein predominantly located in the nucleus of infected DEF cells and that DEV replication is impaired by US1 deletion. We also found that ICP22 contains a classical nuclear localization signal (NLS) at 305-312AA, and ICP22 cannot enter the nucleus by itself after mutating residue 309. © Copyright © 2020 Li, Wu, Wang, Ma, Jia, Chen, Zhu, Liu, Yang, Zhao, Zhang, Huang, Ou, Mao, Zhang, Liu, Yu, Pan, Tian, Rehman, Chen and Cheng.
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans. On December 31st 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases with pneumonia of unknown origin from Wuhan City, Hubei province of China. The WHO announced in February 2020 that COVID-19 is the official name of the coronavirus diseases. A total of 519,899 confirmed cases with 23,592 deaths linked to this pathogen as on March 27, 2020 have been reported. Due to increasing number of infected people across the continents and huge loss to human life, the WHO has declared the novel COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. A pandemic is defined as the "worldwide spread" of a new disease. Currently, no COVID-19 specific treatments have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA). However, the current treatment options include hydroxychloroquine, tocilizumab, remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra®), and nitazoxanide. In recent past, some natural herbal compounds have demonstrated encouraging anti-viral properties. This article attempted to summarize available information on the reported anti-viral activity of some natural products.