ABSTRACT
Introduction: The physiological changes in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in the immunosuppressed state of pregnancy may exacerbate clinical features and deteriorate outcomes due to COVID-19 infection. We aimed to compare the maternal and neonatal adverse effects in the first and second COVID-19 waves. Methodology: This study was a prospective cohort study conducted in a tertiary care COVID-19-dedicated hospital. In total, 104 (group A) and 96 (group B) COVID-19-positive pregnant women admitted during the first and second waves, respectively, were included in the study. Data on baseline variables, associated comorbidities, clinical presentations, management strategies, and neonatal and maternal outcomes were collected and compared using parametric and nonparametric tests and analyzed. Result(s): Around 2.08% in group A and 6.72% in group B of COVID-19-infected pregnant women, respectively, had moderate-to-severe disease and required intensive care unit stay. Almost 1.04% in group A and 3.84% in group B had maternal mortality, 13.4% and 19.8% babies of groups A and B required admission in neonatal intensive care units, and 8.6% and 7.3% of newborns in groups A and B had COVID-19-positive reports by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at birth, respectively. Of them, 2.1% newborns in group B had RT-PCR positive on day 7 of life and beyond, whereas none had positive RT-PCR reports on 7 days and beyond in group A. Conclusion(s): Dreadful maternal outcomes like requirement of ICU and mechanical ventilator and persistence of neonatal infections were higher during the second wave.Copyright © The Author(s). 2023.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of the traditional physically co-located office, forcing many organizations to work remotely. During COVID-19, many knowledge workers work from home regularly, and as a result, the power distance between remote e-workers and their previously on-site colleagues has disappeared. An in-depth organization-wide case study was conducted to answer our research questions, how does the involuntary working from home requirement due to COVID-19 affect team collaboration and performance? What are the enabling factors to design and implement a hybrid way of working in knowledge organizations? And how does organizational culture influence IT governance performance in global virtual teams in a large organization during volatile and uncertain situations? The main conclusion of this research is that organizational culture does influence the performance outcomes of IT governance. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The digital divide in the United States has received renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. As achievement of digital equity remains a high priority, this study examines spatial patterns and socioeconomic determinants of the purposeful use of mobile internet for personal and business needs in US states. Agglomerations of mobile internet use are identified using K-means clustering and the extent of agglomeration is measured using spatial autocorrelation analysis. Regression analysis reveals that mobile internet use is associated with employment in management, business, science, and arts occupations, affordability, age structure, and the extent of freedom in US states. Spatial randomness of regression residuals shows the effectiveness of the conceptual model to account for spatial bias. Implications of these findings are discussed. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Life during the COVID-19 pandemic was miserable, most of the people were in a panic situation either because of being affected by COVID-19 or losing their near and dear ones. Majority of Indian population was in the trauma condition impacting physical and mental health directly or indirectly either due to the infection or repeated lockdowns. Aim: The present study was carried out to gain knowledge of people's physical and mental health such as anxiety, depression, and stress during the period of the pandemic in the year 2021. Material and methods: The standard questionnaires were used to conduct the online survey using google form. The questionnaire contains five sections and collects the information on anxiety, stress, depression, and physical activities. The survey started on May 23, 2021, and ended on June 2, 2021 by circulating the link through emails, WhatsApp, and messages. Result: A total of 291 people participated in this survey process and all responses were analyzed, out of which 165 were men and 126 were women. It was calculated that 59.4% of men and 40.6% of women were affected by COVID-19. Total 49.5% of people affected by COVID-19 were in favor of improvement in physical and mental performance while taking dietary supplements. Whereas 19.8% denied the statement and 28.7% of people saw slight changes in their health status. Conclusions: During the pandemic people were mostly affected by anxiety, depression, stress, and physical health and to cope with these situations dietary supplements surely be the utilitarian for the society. Through this study, it was found that if a person includes both exercise and nutraceutical products in their lifestyle, there will be a chance of living a sustainable and healthy life.
ABSTRACT
Water-borne diseases are on the rise all over the world. With the galloping progress of industrialization and urbanization, ground water which is the main source of drinking water is getting contaminated due to the various types of pollutants and is becoming scarce due to overconsumption. Consuming and using this contaminated water without any kind of treatment causes dangerous water-borne diseases. This is rampant not only in developing countries such as India but developed nations such as the USA as well. The prevalence of these water-borne diseases, its occurrence during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, effect of climate change on the occurrence of the diseases, adverse outcomes of water-related illnesses, possible treatment and precautionary methods should be reviewed. The types of pollutants, discussion of water-borne diseases, drugs used for treating the water-related diseases, treatments, and prevention measures have been covered in this literature-based review paper with a critical acclaim of literature sources available in the public domain. All references have been duly acknowledged in the references section of this paper. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Considering the heavy toll taken by COVID- 19 pandemic, the understanding of the epidemiological parameters as well as various risk factors is crucial for future preparedness and tackling the pandemic in a more effective manner. We wanted to study the socio-demographic correlates of COVID -19 cases in Assam, India. Also to find the relationship of clinical status of COVID -19 cases with co- morbidities and with substance use. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was undertaken from 1st April 2020 to 31st August 2020. Out of the total 12 COVID Care Centres / hospitals that had been established in Kamrup and Kamrup Metro districts of Assam, 6 were randomly selected. A total of 3000 patients were interviewed over telephone by using an android-based application;on or after discharge from the centres, while patient was put on mandatory quarantine. The patients were interviewed on various socio-demographic variables, co-morbidities and substance use behaviour. Categorical variables are expressed as percentages and the continuous variables are expressed as mean +or- standard deviation. t-test and chi-square test were used for continuous and categorical variables respectively. RESULTS: Mean age of moderate and severe cases were 55.10 and 55.9 years respectively. Smoking and use of alcohol were significantly associated with severity of symptoms. Diabetes, hypertension and co-existing lung diseases were found to be associated with status of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiological risk factors like age has to be relooked. Primary prevention on risk factors of non-communicable diseases proved to be crucial in prevention of severity of communicable pandemic like COVID-19. Further studies are required to enhance the knowledge on this aspect.
ABSTRACT
The next-generation cellular network will aim to overcome the existing Fifth Generation (5G) networks' shortcomings. At the moment, academics and business are concentrating their efforts on the Sixth Generation (6G) network. This 6G technology is expected to be the next great game-changer in the telecommunications sector. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the entire globe has turned to virtual meetings and live video interactions in various fields as healthcare, business, and education. We explore the most recent viewpoints and future technology trends that are most likely to drive 6G in this paper. The incorporation of blockchain in 6G, will allow the network to efficiently monitor and manage resource consumption and sharing. We explore the potential of blockchain for sharing in 6G utilizing a variety of application scenarios in the smart city. To strengthen security and privacy in 6G networks, we introduce potential difficulties and solutions with various 6G technologies. In addition, we examine the security and privacy issues that may arise as a result of the current 6G standards and prospective 6G uses. Overall, our study aims to give insightful direction for future 6G security and privacy research. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Ovarian dermoids mostly remain asymptomatic during pregnancy. Large dermoids may present with torsion, hemorrhage, or rupture. However, a dermoid cyst causing fetal growth restriction (FGR) and oligohydramnios is a very rare entity. The authors report a case of a large ovarian dermoid (15 x 12 cm) hampering intrauterine fetal growth. Due to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) lockdown, the patient was unable to get ultrasound examinations in early gestation, and thereby, surgical intervention was not possible during the second trimester. As a result, this growing teratoma finally led to FGR by either exerting a pressure effect upon the uterus or by dwindling its blood supply. Copyright © The Author(s). 2022.
ABSTRACT
In 2019, there was an epidemic to the human society, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is an uncertain disease encountered in society for which the technology and human society had not prepared before. COVID-19 first spread over the Wuhan city of China. Since, the past two years of time-span, it has affected the citizen's life culture and expectancy. Now, most of the population are concern about when will be COVID-19 terminate. Basically, this paper aims to analyze the COVID-19 data with features as total confirmed cases, death rate, and vaccination rate around the world-wide region. On analyzing the data, with the help of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, we estimate the termination of COVID-19. The rapid expansion of the COVID-19 epidemic has compelled the need for technology in this field. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
To critically assess the performance of micro and small foodpreneurs during COVID-19 pandemic in Manipur state of India, an online survey was conducted during the year 2020. The survey data was subjected to non-parametric statistical analysis using PROC NPAR1WAY and Dwass, Steel, Critchlow-Ffigner multiple comparison analysis. The findings suggested that during COVID-19 pandemic, the micro and small foodpreneurs faced multifaceted challenges with respect to the number of employees, working hours, supply of raw material, selling mode, production, sale, turnover and the extent of loss, etc. The performance of different categories of foodpreneurs was compared based on the change in various performance indicators between pre-pandemic and pandemic period. The study also highlights the major problems faced by the foodpreneurs and remedial measures. This is the first report on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on foodpreneurs from North East India.
ABSTRACT
Background: Life during the COVID-19 pandemic was miserable, most of the people were in a panic situation either because of being affected by COVID-19 or losing their near and dear ones. Majority of Indian population was in the trauma condition impacting physical and mental health directly or indirectly either due to the infection or repeated lockdowns. Aim(s): The present study was carried out to gain knowledge of people's physical and mental health such as anxiety, depression, and stress during the period of the pandemic in the year 2021. Material(s) and Method(s): The standard questionnaires were used to conduct the online survey using google form. The questionnaire contains five sections and collects the information on anxiety, stress, depression, and physical activities. The survey started on May 23, 2021, and ended on June 2, 2021 by circulating the link through emails, WhatsApp, and messages. Result(s): A total of 291 people participated in this survey process and all responses were analyzed, out of which 165 were men and 126 were women. It was calculated that 59.4% of men and 40.6% of women were affected by COVID-19. Total 49.5% of people affected by COVID-19 were in favor of improvement in physical and mental performance while taking dietary supplements. Whereas 19.8% denied the statement and 28.7% of people saw slight changes in their health status. Conclusion(s): During the pandemic people were mostly affected by anxiety, depression, stress, and physical health and to cope with these situations dietary supplements surely be the utilitarian for the society. Through this study, it was found that if a person includes both exercise and nutraceutical products in their lifestyle, there will be a chance of living a sustainable and healthy life. Copyright © 2022 International Journal of Nutrition, Pharmacology, Neurological Diseases Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.
ABSTRACT
The next-generation cellular network will aim to overcome the existing Fifth Generation (5G) networks’ shortcomings. At the moment, academics and business are concentrating their efforts on the Sixth Generation (6G) network. This 6G technology is expected to be the next great game-changer in the telecommunications sector. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the entire globe has turned to virtual meetings and live video interactions in various fields as healthcare, business, and education. We explore the most recent viewpoints and future technology trends that are most likely to drive 6G in this paper. The incorporation of blockchain in 6G, will allow the network to efficiently monitor and manage resource consumption and sharing. We explore the potential of blockchain for sharing in 6G utilizing a variety of application scenarios in the smart city. To strengthen security and privacy in 6G networks, we introduce potential difficulties and solutions with various 6G technologies. In addition, we examine the security and privacy issues that may arise as a result of the current 6G standards and prospective 6G uses. Overall, our study aims to give insightful direction for future 6G security and privacy research. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic not only in terms of health but also in terms of economic and other spheres. This chapter initiates with the preliminary analysis of the COVID-19 situation and its related challenges in Mumbai megacity and further presents an outline of the journey that the metro-city has trailed during the COVID-19 era. With the advent of the pandemic, several restrictive measures were imposed resulting in abrupt loss of jobs, salary reductions, unavailability of public health infrastructure, closure of finance and educational institutions, closure of economic hubs and transportation systems had severely derailed the ‘business as usual’ of Mumbai, thereby impacting the health and well-being of its citizens. This chapter highlights the impact of restrictive measures such as lockdown, night curfew, containment and quarantine and self-isolation. The impacts of the local and state government initiatives and participation of private enterprises and non-profit organisations in order to curb the crisis, with a focus on special models such as ‘4-T model’ ‘chase the virus’ mission implemented on the mega-slum of Dharavi, were studied. The major difficulties and hurdles that were exposed during this period included dwindling health infrastructure, overcrowding and hyper-density, lack of habitable spaces and sanitation facilities. Lastly, the ‘urban restart’ approaches and innovative initiatives taken by the city development authorities in order to reinvigorate the balance between work and life have also been portrayed on the other hand. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, symptoms, and medical treatment data of 130 COVID-19 patients have been collected from a leading Hospital in Kolkata. After necessary de-identification and data wrangling, a thorough exploratory data analysis has been performed. Further, it has been investigated if the drug Remdesivir affects early discharge. A decision tree-based model was subsequently built to predict the length of stay of a patient, based on demographics and health parameters. It is observed that Remdesivir cannot be concluded to be more effective than alternative treatments. It is observed that diabetes significantly increases the length of stay of a patient. It may be noted that such a study has not been conducted earlier for COVID-19 patients in India. This study will be beneficial for healthcare community and pharmaceutical companies as there is lot of conflicting views and acute dearth of information about the disease and its treatment. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Video recording, expected satiety, food texture, rheology : Food texture seems to offer a promising strategy for the control of expected satiety, satiety, satiation and daily caloric intake. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of food texture, more specifically the effect of different levels of viscosity, on perceived satiety through an online survey where the viscosity levels of protein-based beverages were visually perceived using a newly developed video-based demonstration. Whey protein beverages were prepared with viscosities being manipulated using xanthan gum and their viscosity and tribological properties were measured instrumentally. Subjects (n=211) watched beverages being poured in videos streamed online and were instructed to imagine drinking them. The results showed that instrumentally measured HV (high viscous) and MV (medium viscous) beverages were visually perceived by the participants as being more satiating immediately and 2 h later after the imagined drinking event as compared to LV (low viscous) beverages (p<0.05). Also, sensory attributes such as visually perceived smoothness, thickness, creaminess and watery were shown to be important factors in the perception of satiety (the creamier or thicker the beverage the higher the perceived satiety scores). Therefore, a video-based online demonstration is a highly feasible and convenient tool to measure the effect of food texture on perceived/expected satiety that can be useful in Covid-19 pandemic situation, latter necessitates online participation in many situations. More importantly, key role of food/beverage texture expressed through visual cues alone, may open new avenues of informing consumers about the degree of the perceived satiety/fullness even before the product is consumed. Copyright © 2022
ABSTRACT
As the hands-on engineering education got severely affected by the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study discusses how to adopt the Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach to teach complex engineering concepts in this tough time. In this paper, we have discussed the design of a gamified problem statement (using a robotic simulation environment called CoppeliaSim) which was used to teach complex engineering concepts like image processing, control systems, path planning, etc to undergraduate students by a pioneering initiative in engineering education. The study was implemented on 469 teams (1876 students) and explores how the use of a simulation environment impacts the overall performance of teams in completing the assigned problem statement. In addition to this, we have demonstrated the use of a leaderboard to increase learner engagement and motivation in completing the problem statement. Our work is useful to anyone seeking to use PBL to teach and/or learn complex engineering concepts. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
We present here a bead-based immunoassay which provides a sensitive direct electronic readout without the use of any intermediate optics. Analyte binding to antigen-coated microparticles is converted to probe-directed enzymatically amplified silver metallization on microparticle surfaces. The microparticles are then characterized in a high-throughput manner via electrical impedance spectra captured as they flow through a 3-D printed plastic micro-aperture. Metallized microparticles are found to have unique impedance signatures. This enables an electronic readout of the silver metallization density on microparticle surfaces and hence analyte concentration as well. Here we use this scheme to measure the antibody response to the viral nucleocapsid protein in convalescent COVID-19 patient serum. © 2021 MicroTAS 2021 - 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
We present a multiplexed, electronic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (E2LISA) microchip for direct electrical detection and quantitation of multiple biomarkers from a single microliter-scale drop of sample. Spatially distinct spots on the microchip, each containing an interdigitated microelectrode array, are coated with specific capture agents and used to bind different analytes. Enzyme-labeled probes are then used to convert this analyte binding to an electrical impedance signal via the amplified, localized deposition of silver on the nanostructured, catalytic surface of the chip prepared using gold nanoparticles. We use this microchip with a custom handheld, cellphone interfaced reader to detect COVID-19 biomarkers including antigen-specific antibodies and viral antigens. Further, we demonstrate the multiplexed measurement of distinct antibody responses in serum samples from convalescent COVID-19 patients versus uninfected vaccine recipients. © 2021 MicroTAS 2021 - 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a well-established inflammatory marker that has been studied in COVID-19 inflicted patients. Pregnancy per se is associated with its own physiological changes in hematological parameters. No study has specifically been done on the pregnant population to evaluate the role of various hematological markers for prognosticating the severity of COVID-19 infection. Aim: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate changes in NLR and other indices in a cohort of pregnant women with severe and non-severe COVID-19. Materials and methods: Prospective cohort study at a COVID dedicated tertiary care center of a low-middle income country for a period of 6 months involving hospitalized COVID-19 positive pregnant women. Results: In total, 8/8 (100%) and 6/8 (75%) of the pregnant women with severe COVID-19, had a raised NLR and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), respectively, compared to only 3/47 (6.4%) and 1/47 (2.13%) with non-severe COVID-19 (p <0.0001, p <0.0001). These ratios were noted to normalize at 2 and 4 weeks follow-up in the survivors of severe COVID-19. Conclusion: This is the first prospective study demonstrating an association between COVID-19 disease severity in pregnant women and NLR and PLR on admission. These indices may be utilized for prognostication and better preparations for the care of pregnant women hospitalized with COVID-19 infections.