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Introduction: The COVID-19 infection amongst the renal transplant recipients (RTR) has a varied presentation and severity of illness. The overall mortality amongst RTR was found to be 11.6%- 27% compared to the mortality rate of 2-3% amongst the COVID-19 infected general population. The incidence of acute kidney injury(AKI) in RTR was also found to be higher compared to general population with Covid 19 (27.5% versus 13.3%). We assessed the clinical outcomes of COVID 19 infection among RTR and its impact on the graft function along with predictors of poor clinical outcomes. Method(s): Ours is a single centre observational cohort study of 83 RTR with Covid 19 infection with a follow up period of 6 months. The data pertaining to demographics, renal transplantation, maintenance immunosuppression, baseline allograft function prior to Covid 19 infection and comorbidities was recorded in both hospitalised and outpatient RTR. Lab investigations including renal function tests and inflammatory markers were noted. Renal allograft function was assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) using CKD-EPI equation prior to admission, hospital stay and 6 months follow up. The need for oxygenation, invasive ventilation;presence of hypotension, acute kidney injury(AKI),acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) and need for renal replacement therapy(RRT) was noted. Modification of immunosuppressant medications with respect to dose reductions and withdrawal was recorded. The primary endpoint was mortality and presence of acute kidney injury during Covid 19 infection. Result(s): The mean age was 47.67+/-13.7 years and 75.91 % were males. Around 81.9%(68/83) RTR were hospitalised & 18.9%(15/83)were managed as outpatients. Out of 83 patients,43 (51.8%), 23(27.7%),17(20.5%) had mild, moderate and severe COVID 19 illness respectively. The mortality rate amongst COVID 19 infected RTR was 19.3%(16/83). Out of 83 RTR,17 required inotropic support owing to hypotension. The baseline eGFR(ml/min) prior to Covid 19 infection was 66.3 +/- 30.66. The eGFR(ml/min) during Covid 19 was 44.27 +/- 31.53.Acute kidney injury(AKI) was seen in 72.3%(60/83) of RTR.19.28%(16/83) required RRT.The percentage change in eGFR from baseline during COVID-19 was found to be statistically significant(p=0.003)and correlated with mortality(p=0.003).At 6 months of follow up,55/83 RTR had stable allograft function with mean eGFR(ml/min) of 51.74 +/- 29.92 and 8/83 patients(9.6%) patients were on maintenance haemodialysis. In contrast to the survivors, the non survivors had a higher mean age(67+/-13 vs 57+/-12 years), number of years of hypertension(15+/-9 vs 8.5 +/-7 years),body mass index(27.05+/-4.7 vs 23.11+/- 7.8), percentage change in eGFR from baseline(114.1 +/-81.7% vs 58.8 +/-61.4%), serum Interleukin levels (120.7 vs 10 pg/ml) and D dimer(145 vs 21.3 mcg/ml) levels (p<0.05).Other risk factors which correlated significantly with outcome of mortality and reduced renal recovery include presence of hypoxia at presentation and ARDS(87.5 Vs 28.1%),presence of hypotension requiring inotropes(81.3% vs 6%) and AKI and the need for RRT(56.7% vs 10.4%). [Formula presented] [Formula presented] Conclusion(s): The mortality rate amongst the RTR with COVID 19 infection was found to be 19.3%.AKI was found in 72% of patients during the illness and about 9.6% developed graft loss by 6 months. RTR needs a close supervision and follow up as they are prone to acute kidney injury and may develop allograft failure. No conflict of interestCopyright © 2023
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In recent years, the significance of biosensors has increased rapidly due to the growing demand for rapid detection of various biomarkers with high selectivity and sensitivity. Among different biosensors, Graphene Field Effect Transistor (Gr-FET) based biosensors has emerged as a promising device and exhibited wide range of application prospects. Gr-FET biosensors are ideal for ultra-sensitive immunological diagnosis applications as it can sense surrounding changes on their surface with low noise. Recently Gr-FET based biosensors have gained profound research interest among scientific community because of its ability in detection of SARS-CoV-2 (corona virus-2). This review article highlights the sensing performance and characteristics of different Gr-FET biosensors like DNA sensor, RNA sensor, glucose sensor, lactose sensor, protein sensor, pH sensor, various bacteria and virus detecting sensors etc.This article also critically reviews the recent progress in Gr-FET based SARS- CoV-2 covid-19 virus detection bio-sensors. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
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In recent years, the significance of biosensors has increased rapidly due to the growing demand for rapid detection of various biomarkers with high selectivity and sensitivity. Among different biosensors, Graphene Field Effect Transistor (Gr-FET) based biosensors has emerged as a promising device and exhibited wide range of application prospects. Gr-FET biosensors are ideal for ultra-sensitive immunological diagnosis applications as it can sense surrounding changes on their surface with low noise. Recently Gr-FET based biosensors have gained profound research interest among scientific community because of its ability in detection of SARS-CoV-2 (corona virus-2). This review article highlights the sensing performance and characteristics of different Gr-FET biosensors like DNA sensor, RNA sensor, glucose sensor, lactose sensor, protein sensor, pH sensor, various bacteria and virus detecting sensors etc.This article also critically reviews the recent progress in Gr-FET based SARS- CoV-2 covid-19 virus detection bio-sensors.
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Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest problems that the healthcare system faces nowadays, with an increasing burden due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Different alternatives to the current treatments of bacterial infections have been studied far away from the use of traditional antibiotics. One of them is nanotechnology, which proposes a suitable solution without the associated problems. Still, the production of different nanomaterials often shows disadvantages, such as producing toxic by-products or the need for functionalization to deliver a suitable therapeutic effect. The implementation of green nanotechnology in nanomaterials synthesis shows great potential, with specific implementation in metal-based nanomaterials. As such, this chapter revised the state of biogenic or biologically produced metal nanoparticles produced by bacteria, fungi, and plant extracts with antimicrobial applications against antibiotic-resistant strains. The chapter summarizes and discusses some of the newest advances in the field to demonstrate that these nanostructures can become a significant enhancement in the fight towards superbugs. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Indian payments landscape has undergone a makeover in the recent past with the decision to demonetise leading to a shortage of physical currency. The current COVID-19 pandemic created a contamination fear while exchanging and using currency. Hence, the customers started adopting digital payments. Research was conducted in this context to investigate the behaviour intentions of the customers regarding digital payment usage through application of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of the Technology-2 (UTAUT2) model. This paper explores the behaviour intentions of using digital payments during the pandemic. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect the required information from 271 respondents through the judgemental sampling technique. The data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS. The results revealed that, among the seven constructs examined, effort expectancy and habit had a positive effect on behaviour intentions. No association was elicited between social influence, facilitating condition and price value on behaviour intentions. The findings also uncovered a moderately significant negative relationship between performance expectancy and hedonic motivation on behaviour intentions. Compared to prior studies, the findings regarding a few constructs from our study were in line with earlier work, whilst others were found to be not so. Also, the timing of the study might have played a role in influencing the results as most of the customers felt it was convenient to use digital payments compared to physical currency during the pandemic © All rights reserved 2021 Transnational Press London
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Introduction: Apart from lung symptoms, studies report that 36.4% of patients with COVID-19 developed neurological symptoms including headache, disturbed consciousness, paresthesia, loss of smell and taste, partial neuronal degeneration and brain tissue edema. Mechanisms proposed for virus entry are via ACE2 receptors, olfactory nerves and MCP-1 protein. Assessing reaction time is an indirect way of assessing the integrity of the nervous system. This study aims to find out the effect of COVID-19 on auditory and visual reaction time (ART&VRT) during illness and after recovery. This helps us to assess the degree of nervous system damage during illness and whether recovery time is shorter or longer. Aims: 1. To measure and compare the impact of COVID-19 on ART&VRT during COVID-19 illness and one and two months after recovery 2. To measure and compare ART&VRT in non COVID-19 subjects with those of the COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods: The study involved 86 subjects, 46 COVID- 19 positive patients (WHO score < 3) & 40 non COVID-19 subjects of age 20-60 years. ART&VRT was measured with discriminatory and choice reaction time apparatus during illness, one and two months after illness. Results were analysed using one way ANOVA. Results: There was statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between auditory and visual (GREEN and RED) RT between control and COVID-19 patients during illness (152.86±29.76 vs 176.8±21.7, 170.80±22.71 vs 202.6±29.2, 161.92±21.79 vs 201.5±26.1). By one- and two-months post recovery, ART and VRT reduced in COVID-19 patients and no statistical difference (p>0.05) between control and COVID-19 patients by two months (152.86±29.76 vs 155.85±15.49, 170.80±22.71 vs 173.33±20.07, 161.92±21.79 vs 164.5±17.55) Conclusion: Audio visual RT increased during illness indicating nerve lesion. But a progressive improvement was observed one and two months after recovery.
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The moored buoy network in Indian Ocean revolutionized the observational programs with systematic time series measurement of in-situ data sets from remote marine locations. The real time meteorological and oceanographic data sets significantly improved the weather forecast and warning services particularly during extreme events since its inception in 1997. The sustenance of the network requires persistent efforts to overcome the multitude of challenges such as vandalism, bio-fouling, rough weather, corrosion, ship time availability, telemetry issues etc. Besides these, the COVID-19 pandemic constrained the normal functioning of activities, mainly by delaying the maintenance of the network that resulted in losing a few expensive buoy system components and precious data sets. However, the improvements in the buoy system, in-house developed data acquisition system and efforts in ensuring the quality of measurements together with ‘best practice methods’ enabled 73 % of the buoy network to be functional even when the cruises were reduced to 33 % during the Covid lockdown in 2020. The moored buoys equipped with Indian buoy data acquisition system triggered high frequency transmission during the Super cyclone Amphan in May 2020, which greatly helped the cyclone early warning services during the Covid pandemic. The Covid lockdown point towards the reliability and enhanced utility of moored buoy observations particularly when other modes of measurements are limited and also necessitates more such platforms to better predict the weather systems. The present study analyses the enhancement of the buoy program and improvisation of the buoy system that extended the lifetime beyond the stipulated duration and enabled the high frequency data transmission during cyclones amid the Covid lockdown. The recommendations to better manage the remote platforms specifically in the event of a pandemic based on the operational experience of more than two decades is also presented.
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Background: Most of the people are not medically qualified for studying or understanding the extremity of their diseases or symptoms. This is the place where natural language processing plays a vital role in healthcare. These chatbots collect patients' health data and depending on the data, these chatbot give more relevant data to patients regarding their body conditions and recommending further steps also. Purposes: In the medical field, AI powered healthcare chatbots are beneficial for assisting patients and guiding them in getting the most relevant assistance. Chatbots are more useful for online search that users or patients go through when patients want to know for their health symptoms. Methods: In this study, the health assistant system was developed using Dialogflow application programming interface (API) which is a Google's Natural language processing powered algorithm and the same is deployed on google assistant, telegram, slack, Facebook messenger, and website and mobile app. With this web application, a user can make health requests/queries via text message and might also get relevant health suggestions/recommendations through it. Results: This chatbot acts like an informative and conversational chatbot. This chatbot provides medical knowledge such as disease symptoms and treatments. Storing patients personal and medical information in a database for further analysis of the patients and patients get real time suggestions from doctors. Conclusion: In the healthcare sector AI-powered applications have seen a remarkable spike in recent days. This covid crisis changed the whole healthcare system upside down. So this NLP powered chatbot system reduced office waiting, saving money, time and energy. Patients might be getting medical knowledge and assisting ourselves within their own time and place. © 2021 IEEE.
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As the epidemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly, health organizations around the world has made wearing face mask obligatory to prevent the spread of the infections for the wellness of the society. As wearing face masks become a daily routine, the usage of cloth facemasks from textile fabric, is popular among the public. Since antiquity, textiles have been proven to be intertwined with human lives and the integrant of these crucial materials are fibers. Particularly, nanofiber fabrics manufactured by electrospinning have attracted attention, owing to the better filtration efficiency and breathability. In addition, the electrospinning process provide opportunities to fine tuning of the surface functionality through polymer chemistry and an encapsulation of bioactive agents in single step process. This review opens up a new horizon in possible textile applications especially, an active layer of bioactive agent (Curcumin and Moringa) loaded nanofibrous fabrics-based facemasks for day to day life.
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome related coronaviruses -2 (SARS CoV-2) infection posed unprecedented challenges to the world. SARS Co-V 2 shows similarity with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and are distributed broadly among humans and animals and cause respiratory tract infections. It is imperative for identifying appropriate therapeutic options in response to the SARC CoV-2 outbreak. Here, we discuss the potential drug options for repurposing against Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)/SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 outbreak has emphasized the urgent need for repurposing drugs. We focus here on the existing drugs, based on therapeutic application in influenza and human coronaviruses: SARS and MERS. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has a long-standing history in the prevention and treatment of malaria and has immunomodulatory effects used in various autoimmune disease. Multiple research studies show that HCQ improved virologic clearance, and a combination of HCQ with Azithromycin (AZ) is better in viral clearance. These drugs are relatively safe and may improve the clinical outcome in the patient.