Use of wearable and health applications in insurance industry using internet of things and big data

Introduction: There is a variety of wearables and health applications available in the market which allow the tracking of various health and lifestyle measures like blood sugar, calorie counter, number of steps, sleep patterns, etc. After the Covid-19 pandemic, people have become more aware of their health and use these wearables to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Insurance companies in India are also eyeing the potential usage of these wearables in life and health insurance. Purpose: This research aims to look at the emergence of wearables and health apps and their usage in India's life and health insurance industry. This study also focuses on how these devices might benefit insurers' business models and some of the pitfalls to consider. Methodology: The study used both primary and secondary data. A survey was conducted to understand the customer perception towards usage of wearables. The secondary research included the analysis of the integration of wearables by insurance companies. Findings: The research would be helpful to the insurance companies as it would help them to understand the customer's viewpoint for the usage of wearables in the insurance industry. This study would also allow insurers to understand new dimensions, such as where the wearables improve customer satisfaction and engagement. The study results would be helpful for the customers for the appropriate usage of wearables and the internet of things (IoT). Insurance companies can provide better pricing and make personalised insurance plans that ultimately help customers. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.

Testing oxygenated microbubbles via intraperitoneal and intrathoracic routes on a large pig model of LPS-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome.

With a mortality rate of 46% before the onset of COVID-19, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) affected 200,000 people in the US, causing 75,000 deaths. Mortality rates in COVID-19 ARDS patients are currently at 39%. Extrapulmonary support for ARDS aims to supplement mechanical ventilation by providing life-sustaining oxygen to the patient. A new rapid-onset, human-sized pig ARDS model in a porcine intensive care unit (ICU) was developed. The pigs were nebulized intratracheally with a high dose (4 mg/kg) of the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) over a 2 h duration to induce rapid-onset moderate-to-severe ARDS. They were then catheterized to monitor vitals and to evaluate the therapeutic effect of oxygenated microbubble (OMB) therapy delivered by intrathoracic (IT) or intraperitoneal (IP) administration. Post-LPS administration, the PaO2 value dropped below 70 mmHg, the PaO2 /FiO2 ratio dropped below 200 mmHg, and the heart rate increased, indicating rapidly developing (within 4 h) moderate-to-severe ARDS with tachycardia. The SpO2 and PaO2 of these LPS-injured pigs did not show significant improvement after OMB administration, as they did in our previous studies of the therapy on small animal models of ARDS injury. Furthermore, pigs receiving OMB or saline infusions had slightly lower survival than their ARDS counterparts. The OMB administration did not induce a statistically significant or clinically relevant therapeutic effect in this model; instead, both saline and OMB infusion appeared to lower survival rates slightly. This result is significant because it contradicts positive results from our previous small animal studies and places a limit on the efficacy of such treatments for larger animals under more severe respiratory distress. While OMB did not prove efficacious in this rapid-onset ARDS pig model, it may retain potential as a novel therapy for the usual presentation of ARDS in humans, which develops and progresses over days to weeks.

The significance and applicability of computational approaches in combating covid-19

Novel corona virus disease (COVID-19), the causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) has become a burning issue of 2020. The pandemic has brought the complete world to think about the solutions that can lead us to restart the journey of life in a normal way. Every country is trying all possible steps to combat the disease ranging from shutting the complete economy of the country to the repurposing of drugs and vaccine development. Manual dealing with the virus is a very tedious and highly sensitive issue that requires a high level of safety and every researcher is not sufficient enough to attain it. Regarding this situation, computational approaches have opened a new door for researchers and scientists to think against this deadly issue. The speedy data generation and its analysis through different basic to advance approaches, tools, software, and databases have made bioinformatics capable of giving new insights to the researchers to deal with the current scenario more efficiently. From understanding the underlying mechanism of the virus to the speedy discovery of therapeutic intervention, computational approaches play a significant role. Various Insilco pipelines from genomics and proteomics study, drug discovery, vaccine development, drug repurposing to system biology, network medicine, next-generation sequencing, and machine learning not only help in understanding the disease pathway and mechanism but also speed up the therapeutic process efficiently. The current review deals with the significance and usefulness of computational approaches in combating the corona pandemic. © 2021 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outreach and Influence of Surgical Societies' Recommendations on Minimally Invasive Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic-An Anonymized International Urologic Expert Inquiry.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outreach and influence of the main recommendations of surgical governing bodies on adaptation of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery (MIS) procedures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in an anonymized multi-institutional survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: International experts performing MIS were selected on the basis of the contact database of the speakers of the Friends of Israel Urology Symposium. A 24-item questionnaire was built using main recommendations of surgical societies. Total cases/1 Mio residents as well as absolute number of total cases were utilized as surrogates for the national disease burden. Statistics and plots were performed using RStudio v0.98.953. RESULTS: Sixty-two complete questionnaires from individual centers performing MIS were received. The study demonstrated that most centers were aware of and adapted their MIS management to the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance to surgical bodies' recommendations. Hospitals from the countries with a high disease burden put these adoptions more often into practice than the others particularly regarding swabs as well as CO2 insufflation and specimen extraction procedures. Twelve respondents reported on presumed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission during MIS generating hypothesis for further research. CONCLUSION: Guidelines of surgical governing bodies on adaptation of MIS during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate significant outreach and implementation, whereas centers from the countries with a high disease burden are more often poised to modify their practice. Rapid publication and distribution of such recommendation is crucial during future epidemic threats.