Rash with Atypical Pneumonia: Varicella Pneumonia in a Young Immunocompetent Male

Varicella pneumonia is a serious complication of varicella infection. It occurs more often in adults than in children, although it is now infrequently seen since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccines. In immunocompetent adults, varicella pneumonia has a reported incidence of about 1 in 400 cases of varicella infection and it also carries significant mortality. Here, we report a case of varicella pneumonia in a young male who was immunocompetent and had no comorbidities. This case teaches us to be always careful and thorough with our clinical assessment and to think about the alternative etiologies for the cause of atypical pneumonia even during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic and not get swayed by the sheer numbers of coronavirus infections.

Strategies to streamline supplier relationship management during crises: lessons learned from COVID-19 and future pathways

Purpose: This paper explores the strategies adopted by purchasing firms to streamline relationships with suppliers amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a multiple case study method and conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with procurement managers from six firms in the United Arab Emirates. Findings: This study reveals six helpful strategies that purchasing firms can undertake to streamline supplier relationship management (SRM) in the wake of COVID-19. Precisely, purchasing firms are revising supply chain costs, planning orders in advance, sharing critical information with suppliers, planning major contingencies, developing a robust relationship with suppliers (e.g. partnership) and finally, improving the supplier's visibility. Research limitations/implications: This study comes with certain limitations. First, the results are based on a limited number of 42 interviewees. Hence, the study’s results cannot be generalized to a broader population. Second, the data were collected based on the cause and effect relationship. Practical implications: The findings of this study can help purchasing firms learn and use new appropriate strategies to manage the relationship with their suppliers in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. Originality/value: This study contributes to SRM literature by unveiling six distinct strategies (such as revising supply chain costs, planning orders in advance, sharing critical information, etc.) that purchasing firms have employed to develop a robust and healthy working relationship with the suppliers in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Towards a Social VR-based Exergame for Elderly Users: An Exploratory Study of Acceptance, Experiences and Design Principles

For many elderly individuals, the aging experience is associated with a lack of social interaction and physical exercise that may negatively affect their health. To address these issues, researchers have designed experiences based on immersive virtual reality (VR) and 2D screen-based exergames. However, very few have studied the use of social VR for elderly, in which users can interact remotely through avatars in a single, shared, immersive virtual environment, using a head-mounted display. Additionally, there is limited research on the experience of elderly in performing interactive activities, especially game-based activities, in social VR. We conducted an exploratory study with 10 elderly people who never experienced VR before, to evaluate an avatar-mediated interaction-based social VR game prototype. Based on a mixed-methods approach, our study presents new insights into the usability, acceptance, and gameplay experience of elderly in a social VR game. Moreover, our study reflects upon design principles that should be considered when developing social VR games for elderly to ensure an engaging and safe user experience. Our results suggest that such games have a potential among the user group. Direct hand manipulation, based on hand tracking for interaction with 3D objects, presented an engaging and intuitive interaction paradigm, and the social game activity in VR was found to be enjoyable. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Highly-sensitive and rapid detection of COVID-19 in wastewater: a comprehensive review based on graphene field effect transistor biosensor

The novel Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been spread from the Wuhan city of China has now affected many countries;it is still circulating worldwide. Consecutive studies of finding the RNA of this virus in sewage systems increase renewed interest about COVID-19 faucal transmission and its pathogenic issue on sanitation and wastewater systems. Municipal wastewater is typically remarked as one of the major end routes of different types of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, antibiotics, micro plastics, pesticide and heavy metal residues associated with antimicrobial resistance. Currently all available, antibodies based and molecular base testing have some limitations for this purpose: whole coronavirus particles instead of pure antigen proteins need to be tested in a short time and take control of the pandemic of COVID-19. The current study helped in understanding, concept and demonstrated the potential of graphene Field Effect Transistor (FET) technology for sensitive and rapid detection of corona viruses. Therefore, extra trustworthy, quick response, economical and broadly accessible analytical devices or diagnostic approaches are crucially required. We have critically reviewed and argued the biomarkers and indicators used for COVID-19 diagnostics or SARS-CoV-2 detection. In this regard, ultrasensitive graphene FET biosensors are powerful tools in early diagnosis of COVID-19 infection via targeting virus S1 protein to assess the clinical progress and offer awareness on severity and critical trends of infection.

Knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19 during the rapid rise period: a cross-sectional survey among public university students of Bangladesh

Bangladesh has experienced long term COVID-19 impact in the education sector where university students have suffered a lot. This cross-sectional study intended to evaluate the health behavior of public university students towards the COVID-19. The convenience sampling technique was employed during the rapid COVID-19 period. A total of 952 public university students participated in the KAP survey. Statistical analyses were performed depending on the data type. Study population demonstrated exemplary COVID-19 knowledge along with positive attitudes and preventive practices towards the COVID-19. Gender, university year, and major were determined as associating factors with their overall KAP. Female students reported better knowledge and practice regarding COVID-19 than their counterpart male students. Students living in the capital Dhaka city did not show positive attitudes towards COVID-19 compared to the students living outside the city. Students who were without their families demonstrated better attitudes compared to the students with their families. Broadcast media, print media, the internet, university, and social media were identified as sources of COVID-19 precautionary measures information for these students. Students showed better knowledge and attitude levels when used print media and university respectively compared to the students who used surrounding people as a source of information. This study enhances our understanding of the health behavior of public university students of Bangladesh. It has also determined the associating factors with their KAP level. The outcome of this study can assist the government, organizations, and the university to prepare for a comprehensive pandemic control effort.

Multi-Agent System Based Mobile Help Desk and Monitoring of Safety Measures to Combat COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge for humanity. The historical data about the past pandemics indicates towards a high possibility of future pandemics. Moreover, current pandemic is expected to stay for longer time. In this situation, social robots hold a huge potential to assist in fighting against current and future pandemics by minimizing human-to-human interactions e.g., by providing digital help desk, and monitoring the compliance of people with required safety measures at public places. A huge number of robots are required to monitor large spaces like shopping malls, airports etc. Therefore, we present Multi-Agent System (MAS) to provide robot based mobile help desk and monitoring safety measure of wearing face mask, for large spaces in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Our proposed MAS is based on collaborative work of two agents: 1) CCTV Camera, and 2) Robot. Experimental results show efficiency and effectiveness of proposed MAS in navigation and control of robot based on visual information interpreted by CCTV camera to provide mobile help desk, and detecting face masks through robot by using state-of-the-art real-time computer vision algorithms in large spaces. © 2021 IEEE.

Evaluation of knowledge, practices, attitude, and anxiety of nurses towards COVID-19 during the current outbreak in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Since the emergence of the novel coronavirus, the front line soldiers during this pandemic are the healthcare professionals because of their direct association with COVID19 patients. In the management of such patients, nurses play a significant role through proper care and preventive measures. Due to its contagious nature, fatality, and no proper medicine, it is a risk to the health and life of nurses and has an impact on their psychological health. The aim of the current study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, practices, and anxiety levels of the frontline nurses.

The Impact of Covid-19 Induced Decline in Consumer Durables and Mobility on NO2 Emission in Europe

This study explores links between NO2 emission and Covid-19 induced decline in consumption and mobility in Europe by using satellite images and various indices. This study discovered that strict lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 reduced consumption and mobility and thus, paved way for decline in NO2 emission in Europe. Satellite images show that NO2 emission is low in countries with strict bans on mobility. Similarly, decline in consumption is correlated in NO2 emission. This shows that despite its adverse socio-economic impact, Covid-19 is a blessing in disguise for environment, at least in short-run.

Analysis of public reactions to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on Twitter

Purpose: The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which started in late December 2019, has spread to more than 200 countries. As no vaccine is yet available for this pandemic, government and health agencies are taking draconian steps to contain it. This pandemic is also trending on social media, particularly on Twitter. The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the general public reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducts a thematic analysis of COVID-19 tweets through VOSviewer to examine people’s reactions related to the COVID-19 outbreak in the world. Moreover, sequential pattern mining (SPM) techniques are used to find frequent words/patterns and their relationship in tweets. Findings: Seven clusters (themes) were found through VOSviewer: Cluster 1 (green): public sentiments about COVID-19 in the USA. Cluster 2 (red): public sentiments about COVID-19 in Italy and Iran and a vaccine, Cluster 3 (purple): public sentiments about doomsday and science credibility. Cluster 4 (blue): public sentiments about COVID-19 in India. Cluster 5 (yellow): public sentiments about COVID-19’s emergence. Cluster 6 (light blue): public sentiments about COVID-19 in the Philippines. Cluster 7 (orange): Public sentiments about COVID-19 US Intelligence Report. The most frequent words/patterns discovered with SPM were “COVID-19,” “Coronavirus,” “Chinese virus” and the most frequent and high confidence sequential rules were related to “Coronavirus, testing, lockdown, China and Wuhan.” Research limitations/implications: The methodology can be used to analyze the opinions/thoughts of the general public on Twitter and to categorize them accordingly. Moreover, the categories (generated by VOSviewer) can be correlated with the results obtained with pattern mining techniques. Social implications: This study has a significant socio-economic impact as Twitter offers content posting and sharing to billions of users worldwide. Originality/value: According to the authors’ best knowledge, this may be the first study to carry out a thematic analysis of COVID-19 tweets at a glance and mining the tweets with SPM to investigate how people reacted to the COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.