Digital Learning Trends Post Covid-19

In the current society, mobile devices have become common in modern culture along with which the Internet transcends time and location constraints to become a widespread learning tool. This gave rise to digital learning which reached a new peak due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Not every student has the same learning opportunities. In order to make education more egalitarian, effective policies and programs must be implemented-And perhaps your unique data analysis could assist disclose the solution. Current research indicates that educational outcomes are far from egalitarian. The COVID-19 epidemic aggravated the imbalance. There is an immediate necessity for a higher standard of acknowledgement and quantify the range and impact of COVID-19 on the mentioned partisanship. This paper aims to understand the digital learning trends in the current times and visualize the inclination towards the use of different online learning tools. © 2022 IEEE.

Interim results from comparison of immune responses elicited by an inactivated and a vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in seronegative and seropositive participants in India (preprint)

Background There are limited global data on head-to-head comparisons of vaccine platforms assessing both humoral and cellular immune responses, stratified by pre-vaccination serostatus. The COVID-19 vaccination drive for the Indian population in the 18 to 45-year age-group began in April 2021 when seropositivity rates in the general population were rising due to the Delta wave in April-May 2021. Methods Between 30 June 2021 and 28 January 2022, we enrolled 691 participants in the 18-45 age group across 4 clinical sites in India. In this non-randomized and laboratory blinded study, participants received either two doses of Covaxin(R) 4 weeks apart or two doses of Covishield 12 weeks apart per the national vaccination policy. The primary outcome was the seroconversion rate and the geometric mean titer (GMT) of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins. The secondary outcome was the frequency of cellular immune responses pre- and post-vaccination. Findings When compared to pre-vaccination baseline, both vaccines elicited statistically significant seroconversion and binding antibody levels in both seronegative and seropositive individuals. In the per-protocol cohort, Covishield elicited higher antibody responses than Covaxin(R) as measured by seroconversion rate (98.3% vs 74.4%, p<0.0001 in seronegative individuals; 91.7% vs 66.9%, p<0.0001 in seropositive individuals) as well as by anti-spike antibody levels against the ancestral strain (GMT 1272.1 vs 75.4 BAU/ml, p<0.0001 in seronegative individuals; 2089.07 vs 585.7 BAU/ml, p<0.0001 in seropositive individuals). Not all sites recruited at the same time, therefore site-specific immunogenicity was impacted by the timing of vaccination relative to the Delta and Omicron waves. Surrogate neutralizing antibody responses against variants-of-concern were higher in Covishield recipients than in Covaxin(R) recipients and in seropositive than in seronegative individuals after both vaccination and asymptomatic Omicron infection. T cell responses are reported from only one of the four site cohorts where the vaccination schedule preceded the Omicron wave. In seronegative individuals, Covishield elicited both CD4+ and CD8+ spike-specific cytokine-producing T cells whereas Covaxin(R) elicited mainly CD4+ spike-specific T cells. Neither vaccine showed significant post-vaccination expansion of spike-specific T cells in seropositive individuals. Interpretation Covishield elicited immune responses of higher magnitude and breadth than Covaxin(R) in both seronegative individuals and seropositive individuals, across cohorts representing the pre-vaccination immune history of the majority of the vaccinated Indian population.

Rates of Dermatology Follow-Up and New Skin Cancer Diagnosis Among Solid Organ Transplant Recipients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) are at an elevated risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers. Routine dermatologic surveillance has been shown to improve skin cancer outcomes in SOTRs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on delivery of care. Among the general population, recent studies have found an increase in the number of teledermatology visits despite an overall decrease in dermatology visits, a decline in treatment adherence, and a stated preference for in-person care. The impact of the ongoing pandemic on dermatologic care in SOTRs, a high-risk population, remains largely unexplored. We sought to compare rates of usage of dermatology in-person and telemedicine services and new skin cancer diagnoses among SOTRs before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, CA. Method(s): A retrospective study was performed on patients who received solid organ transplants at Keck Hospital of USC between 2013-2018. The number of visits to our dermatology department during two 17-month time periods was counted: 1) prepandemic, October 2018-March 2020 and 2) peri-pandemic, April 2020-September 2021. Each visit was categorized based on 1) general dermatology vs. Mohs surgery or follow-up and 2) in-person vs. telemedicine. Lastly, the number of new skin cancer diagnoses during these two time periods was counted. Result(s): Among a total of 1569 SOTRs, 154 patients had at least 1 dermatology visit in the pre-COVID 19 pandemic period, compared to 135 in the peri-pandemic period (p=0.241). While there was no significant decline in the mean number of general dermatology in-person visits per patient (p=0.266), there was a significant increase in general telemedicine visits during the same timeframe (p=0.026). Lastly, 11 new skin cancer diagnoses were made pre-pandemic, compared to 13 peri-pandemic (p=0.270). Conclusion(s): Our findings suggest our high-risk population of SOTRs did not experience significant disruption to routine delivery of dermatologic care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like prior studies, we found an increased reliance on teledermatology services, however without a concomitant decline in access to in-person care. Furthermore, the similar pre- and peri-pandemic rates of new skin cancer diagnoses do not raise concern for a future surge in skin cancer morbidity and mortality. By continuing to investigate the usage of dermatology services by SOTRs during the ongoing pandemic, we hope to address barriers to dermatologic care and prevent a rise in skin cancer morbidity and mortality. (Table Presented).

Ontology Modeling and Analysis of COVID-19 associated Acute Kidney Injury and Its Underlying Molecular Mechanisms

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is found to be common among COVID-19 patients. In this study, we performed extensive literature mining and used the BioGRID COVID-19 interaction data to bridge the mechanistic and molecular link between COVID-19 and AKI. DAVID GO enrichment analysis of the BioGRID data allowed for further filtration of COVID-19 related interactors by their relevance to untoward kidney manifestations. Key physiological processes involved in this pathway include Renin-Angiotensin system (RAS) activation, complement activation, and most importantly, systemic inflammation. Discovered interactors like CD147, CD209, CypA, and MASP2 were found to be heavily implicated in the mentioned processes. The Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO) was used to represent our analyzed results, leading to further understanding of the COVID-19 associated AKI mechanisms. © 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

Strategies to target SARS-CoV-2 entry and infection using dual mechanisms of inhibition by acidification inhibitors.

Many viruses utilize the host endo-lysosomal network for infection. Tracing the endocytic itinerary of SARS-CoV-2 can provide insights into viral trafficking and aid in designing new therapeutic strategies. Here, we demonstrate that the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is internalized via the pH-dependent CLIC/GEEC (CG) endocytic pathway in human gastric-adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells expressing undetectable levels of ACE2. Ectopic expression of ACE2 (AGS-ACE2) results in RBD traffic via both CG and clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Endosomal acidification inhibitors like BafilomycinA1 and NH4Cl, which inhibit the CG pathway, reduce the uptake of RBD and impede Spike-pseudoviral infection in both AGS and AGS-ACE2 cells. The inhibition by BafilomycinA1 was found to be distinct from Chloroquine which neither affects RBD uptake nor alters endosomal pH, yet attenuates Spike-pseudovirus entry. By screening a subset of FDA-approved inhibitors for functionality similar to BafilomycinA1, we identified Niclosamide as a SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitor. Further validation using a clinical isolate of SARS-CoV-2 in AGS-ACE2 and Vero cells confirmed its antiviral effect. We propose that Niclosamide, and other drugs which neutralize endosomal pH as well as inhibit the endocytic uptake, could provide broader applicability in subverting infection of viruses entering host cells via a pH-dependent endocytic pathway.