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Background: Post-Covid retropharyngeal mucormycosis is a rare presentation, and no case has been reported in literature until date. Case presentation: A-32-year-old female post Covid presented to our OPD with history of dysphagia and with a history of steroid intake. Radiology confirmed it as retropharyngeal abscess. Endoscopic-guided aspiration was done. HPE (histopathological examination) revealed classic broad aseptate hyphae of mucormycosis. Patient was managed conservatively with broad-spectrum antifungal. Conclusion(s): Retropharyngeal mucormycosis is a rare entity in Covid era. Rapid diagnosis and management are needed to save life of an individual, or results could be fatal.Copyright © 2022, The Author(s).
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Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are intended to be attained as a balanced whole. However, significant interactions (the synergies and trade-offs) between the SDGs have caused the need, especially in developing economies, to identify and pursue them in line with their particular developmental needs. The research intends to empirically investigate the relationship between selected UN SDGs and GDP growth rate as a proxy for economic well-being in Saudi Arabia. We also investigate the role of education and training in achieving SDGs in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030, which places emphasis on the knowledge economy. This research employs multiple regression analysis to explore the relationship between the SDG variables and the GDP. The results show that education and training, gender equity/women's empowerment, greenhouse gas emissions, and decent employment are positively and significantly related to the GDP growth, whereas poverty, hunger, and health appear to be negatively related. The research indicates that education and training can promote economic, socioeconomic, and health goals without compromising environmental goals. Consequently, the Saudi government should invest more in education and training to maximize synergies and minimize tradeoffs between the SDGs. This will help to promote sustainable employment generation, build human capital, improve socioeconomic empowerment through technology, and boost economic growth.
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With the emergence of the pandemic disease covid 19 in the year 2019, disease had a devastating and life-threatening impression in the second wave that has calamitously ascended the number of cases of the disease called Mucormycosis all over the world and including our country, India. Being the most infrequent fungal infection, it was seen as the most rapidly occurring fulminating disease among the patients who were recovering from recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most common form of this infection is seen in the rhinomaxillary region and in patients who were immunocompromised such as diabetes. This article will highlight the various characteristic oral features of Mucormycosis with the CBCT characteristic features that have been observed in 6 different cases of recovered COVID-19 patients, with few patients having a history of diabetes.
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Digital technology-enabled personalized and adaptive learning has emerged as a critical tool for educational institutions to satisfy the evolving needs of their students, particularly in a dynamic environment like COVID-19. Such learning provides students the necessary guidance and flexibility required in a learner-centered environment, thus improving student performance. The current study leverages the TOE model to develop an institutional-level DT-PAL student learning framework. The framework suggests that digital technology-enabled personalized and adaptive learning can provide the students with the necessary personalization, flexibility, and adaptability to meet their learning needs and enhance their learning performance. The DT-PAL framework also suggests that COVID-19 and national culture complement the relationship between digital technology-enabled personalized and adaptive learning and student performance. The analysis of Saudi national culture on Hofstede cultural dimensions suggests that digital technology-enabled personalized and adaptive learning can foster student creativity, improve teaching-learning methodologies, bridge the gender divide, increase professionalism, improve evaluation methods, and streamline curriculum. The knowledge generated by this study can help Saudi Arabia to meet its digital transformation goals under National Transformation Program. Other countries can use the knowledge generated by this study to transform their education sector and improve the learning performance of their students.
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The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus, directly affected the displacement of people around the world. Some countries have restricted travel from certain countries where the pandemic has not been controlled. It is expected that with the emergence of different types of vaccines to contain the spread of this virus, international travel will resume both for business, tourism, and vacation. However, how to guarantee and verify that someone was vaccinated? Therefore, it is necessary to integrate most vaccination systems worldwide to offer digital proof of vaccination. One way to do this is to use FIWARE, a curated framework from an open-source platform for smart solutions, which utilizes NGSI Standards, enabling the integration of components and providing the basis for the interoperability and portability of smart solutions. However, data exchanged between systems need to be reliable and secure. One way is to overcome these challenges is using Blockchain with NGSI as an immutable decentralized transaction ledger to integrate systems. This paper proposes a new Generic Enabler (GE) named Canis Major to be integrated into the FIWARE ecosystem solutions to provide secure interoperability between systems used to integrate vaccination systems worldwide in a post-pandemic vaccination scenario. With this solution, any integrated vaccination system can reliably verify when and what type of vaccine a person has been vaccinated to contribute to the end of the pandemic. © 2021 IEEE.
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Introduction: As COVID 19 swept across the nation, the pandemic imposed many challenges to the United States healthcare system. With limitations in access to care, common conditions including an exacerbation of congestive heart failure (CHF) accounted for a significant proportion of hospitalizations. What remains unclear is the impact that the pandemic had on outcomes including mortality of patients who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 compared to the year prior. Hypothesis: During the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID 19 negative CHF exacerbations patients had increased mortality than patients from the prior non-pandemic period. Methods: This was a retrospective multi-center study including 37,340 patients admitted in 154 hospitals in the HCA network. The study primarily evaluated the mortality difference between patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure that tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) during the pandemic during the months of March through May 2020 (N=15282) and compared to patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure during the same months in 2019, pre-pandemic (N=22058). Results: There was an observed increase in mortality in patients admitted in 2020 when compared to 2019 (2.34% vs 1.98% respectively, p = 0.020). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed mortality was 24% higher in CHF patients admitted in the studied months March through May 2020 when compared to CHF patients admitted in the same period in 2019 (OR = 1.24, CI [1.07-1.43], p = 0.003), when correcting for age, demographics, comorbidities, and prior beta blocker or diuretic use. Although there was no statistically significant difference in BNP between the two groups as a measure of disease severity, patients that presented to the ED in the studied months in 2020 had higher admission rates (OR = 0.90 CI [0.86-0.95] p<0.001). Conclusions: The study revealed that there was an increased mortality rate in hospitalized CHF exacerbation patients who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic when compared to those the year prior. This illustrates some of the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic on patient healthcare. Further studies are needed to determine the effects of the pandemic in COVID19 negative patients.
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Objective Indian data on cancer patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and its outcome are limited. Infectivity and outcome among cancer patients staying in large congregations are not known. We conducted this study to address this lacuna in literature. Methods This was a retrospective-prospective, observational study of hospitalized cancer patients with proven COVID-19 infection, conducted at tertiary care hospital in New Delhi after ethical approval. We analyzed clinical, laboratorial parameters, and outcomes in these patients. Results All 32 admitted male patients became COVID-19 positive and 10 (31%) patients were symptomatic. Median age was 37.5 years (range: 16-64). Sixteen health-care workers (HCWs) were working in the cancer ward (paramedical staff: 4, nurses: 6, residents: 4, and consultants: 2). Among HCWs, two nursing staff and three paramedical staff contracted asymptomatic COVID-19. Eighteen (56%) and 14 (44%) patients were on curative and palliative treatment, respectively. Leukopenia (total leukocyte count <4,000/μL) was seen in 37.5% of cases. Grades 4, 3, 2, and 1 neutropenia were present in 12.5% of patents. Two (6.25%) patients had features of critical COVID-19. Eight (25%) patients received treatment with hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin. Five patients died. Three patients had features of progressive disease with poor performance status. One critical COVID patient survived and one succumbed to COVID-19. Patients shared a common dining room, sanitation area. Conclusion Seventy percent of cancer patients were asymptomatic. Cancer patients living in congregation areas are susceptible to COVID-19 with 3% mortality rate. Recent chemotherapy and associated cytopenias may not increase the risk in cancer patients with COVID-19 treated with curative intent. Palliative intended patients are at increased risk of death. N-95, personal protective equipment, and adherence to infection control measures should be encouraged. © 2021. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology.
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The new pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), originated at Wuhan, Hubei province, China in December 2019, threatening the world and becomes the public health crisis throughout the globe. Due to changing data and behavior of the current epidemic, appropriate pharmacological techniques to cure are getting delayed day by day. The estimated trends of the global and Indian region for COVID-19 epidemic were predicted for the next 21 days till 05/05/2020 on the data recorded till 14/04/2020 in the present work. The main focus of the work was to estimate the trends of COVID-19 outbreak on population, especially the high-risk age group of elderly people (with age 50 years and greater) in the Republic of India. It was observed that this identified age-group could be more prone to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and chances of death in this age group could be more. The high-risk Indian states/regions were also identified throughout the nation and trends for infection, death, and cured cases were predicted for the next 21 days. The outcome of the present work was presented in terms of suggestions that the proper social and medical care for the identified high-risk age group of elderly people of the Indian population should be required to prevent the COVID-19 community transmission. The work also supported the extension in countrywide proper lockdown, mass testing, and also the strict rules to follow social distancing. FAU - Singh, Harjit Pal
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SARS cov-2 is spreading globally and affecting a large population. This pandemic outbreak spreads from human to human. However, various other routes of spread including inanimate object contact and airborne transmission are reported. This extensive and rapid spread of the pandemic has become a major cause of concern for healthcare professionals. It is affecting their mental, social, as well as physical well-being. All the focus in the health care sector is shifted on diagnosing, prevention, and treatment of the corona virus pandemic;this is highly compromising the timely treatment of other severe and life-threatening disease. Also, COVID-19 will lead to various short and long term consequences in the health care sector. This write-up attempts to understand the various common and less common modes of COVID-19 transmission as well as short-term and long-term effects of this pandemic outbreak on the health care system and front line workers. © 2020, Hampstead Psychological Associates. All rights reserved.