Optimism Bias as Moderator to Deal with Anxiety & Depression: Empirical Evidence from PLS – SEM Based Approach

The research aims at examining the influence of loneliness and stress on anxiety and depression. The role of optimism bias in regulating anxiety and depression dimensions among 726 students in India is investigated. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach is used to study the relationships between constructs. According to the data, optimism bias significantly moderates the association among stress and anxiety & between loneliness and anxiety. The research enables understanding of the consequences of Covid-19 upon the psychology of the students while providing an insight into the behavioural implications of loneliness, stress and optimism bias on the anxiety level and depression of students. The study enables the academicians and management in formulating communication and management strategies for students. Limited studies have been found on stress and depression in Indian student's context. It is the first study to employ an optimistic bias scale to investigate the behaviour of students in India and its impact on the students' mental health using anxiety and depression as variables. © The Author(s) 2023.

Teachers' perception in medical university towards online assessment of students conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background & Objective: During this COVID-19 pandemic a large number of institutes have undertaken an online assessment of medical students such as zoom meets, online objective structured clinical examination [OSCE] google forms, etc. The present study was undertaken to determine the perceptions and opinions of teachers towards online assessment so as to plan the future strategy regarding the assessment system. Materials & Methods: An online questionnaire was validated and distributed among 120 teaching faculty of a tertiary care hospital in North India and informed consent was obtained. It consisted of standard Likert scale questions which comprised 22 questions. The questionnaire was grouped into 4 categories: demographics, Comparison between traditional and online assessment, Advantages and limitations, different teaching methods, and acceptance of online assessment. The responses were collected and analyzed by using descriptive analyses. Results: The mean age was 41.25 ± 9.35 out of which the majority were females (55%). Most teachers found online exams less stressful, within the COVID norms, and more comfortable. The main limitation was no interaction between the patients & students followed by poor internet connection. 70.30% of the teaching faculty prefers traditional face-to-face assessment to online assessment, 23.40% select the blended mode, and only 6.30% of teachers prefer online assessment. Conclusion: The results from our study depicted that 70% of the teaching faculty prefer traditional assessment. The responses provided us with the viewpoint of the medical institute's teaching faculty, which will help us improve the logistic of the assessment program. © 2021, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services.

COVID-19 Vaccines: Fabrication Techniques and Current Status

The year 2020 was the most challenging period due to the havoc caused by the outbreak of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Scientists and researchers all around the world have endeav-ored every possible approach to find solutions in context to therapeutics and vaccines to control the spread of this life-threatening virus. The acceleration instigated by the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutated strains has leveraged the use of numerous platform technologies for the development of vaccines against this unfathomable disease. Vaccines could play an important role in miti-gating the effects of COVID-19 and reducing the ongoing health crisis. Various innovative plat-forms like proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, and viral vectors have been exploited to fabricate vaccines depicting almost 90% of efficacy like BNT162b2, AZD1222, Ad5-nCoV, etc. Some of these vaccines are multipotent and have shown potent activity against newly emerged malicious strains of SARS-CoV-2 like B.1.351 and B.1.1.7. In this review article, we have gathered key findings from various sources of recently popularized vaccine candidates, which will provide an overview of potential vaccine candidates against this virus and will help the researchers to investi-gate possible ways to annihilate this menace and design new moieties.Copyright © 2022 Bentham Science Publishers.

Potential of Hesperidin in the Medicinal Field

Hesperidin has gained major interest recently due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The traction has led to more research being conducted on the compound hesperidin. Recent studies have shown its anti-inflammatory and anti-viral attributes, which have beneficial effects on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Hesperidin has also shown unique effects on the protein of SARS-CoV-2, which lead to a good preventative measure for SARS-CoV-2. Hesperidin also causes a suppression of appetite, which helps to combat obesity through the release of cholecystokinin. Furthermore, hesperidin has shown cardioprotective properties, which cause an increase in plasma high-density lipoprotein levels and a decrease in plasma low-density lipoprotein levels. Hesperidin is also used in combination with the Japanese herb Rikkunshito, which has shown potential in a discovery of a new drug for gastrointestinal motility as hesperidin can depolarize pacemaker potential in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). The chemo-preventive effects of hesperidin are caused by its antioxidant effect, which may prevent tissue necrosis due to oxidative stress. The photo-protective effect of hesperidin can reduce the damage to the skin caused by UV rays. Hesperidin also possesses wound-healing properties.Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Overview of COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Management and Prevention in Light of the Indian Traditional Medicine System

With the global death toll nearing 3.3 million, India being amongst the top 4 countries, the condition is more than fearsome. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends one doctor per 1000 population ratio, but India lags it by one doctor to 1456 people, which sets a lot of pressure on the healthcare system. Traditional remedies are becoming increasingly popular in India as a re-sult of the lack of a proper medical system. Due to the rich diversity of medicinal herbs and drugs, India has been managing health issues with its 5000 years old medication system. Amidst all this, the traditional medicine system has given relief to plenty of diseases and remains the primary de-fence system against COVID-19. Therefore, COVID-19 is also managed by its different medicinal systems, which are collectively known as the AYUSH regime. It had been a recognized system to tackle diseases in the past. In this mini-review, we performed a deep study of the Indian traditional medicine system in managing the COVID-19 situation.Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Prediction of Customer Review's Helpfulness Based on Feature Engineering Driven Deep Learning Model

Online consumer reviews play a pivotal role in boosting online shopping. After Covid-19, the e-commerce industry has been grown exponentially. The e-commerce industry is greatly impacted by the online customer reviews, and a lot of work has been done in this regard to identify the usefulness of reviews for purchasing online products. In this proposed work, predicting helpfulness is taken as binary classification problem to identify the helpfulness of a review in context to structural, sentimental, and voting feature sets. In this study, the authors implemented various leading ML algorithms such as KNN, LR, GNB, LDA and CNN. In comparison to these algorithms and other existing state of art methods, CNN yielded better classification results, achieving highest accuracy of 95.27%. Besides, the performance of these models was also assessed in terms of precision, recall, F1 score, etc. The results shown in this paper demonstrate that proposed model will help the producers or service providers to improve and grow their business.

Prevalence of Dry Eye Disease in Undergraduate Medical Students and its Association with Online Overexposure Due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Objectives: To understand the prevalence of dry eye disease (DED) in undergraduate medical students and assess its association with online overexposure due to COVID-19. Materials and methods: The study was carried out with 200 medical undergraduate students aged 18-25 years at North Indian Medical College during the third and fourth weeks of September, 2021 & enquired regarding the online exposure pattern, type of device used and presence of eight dry eye symptoms (foreign body sensation, vision difficulties, discharge, itching, ocular pain, redness, photophobia, watering) followed by Schirmer's strips examination. Cut off for dry eye disease was <10 mm. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 package & Chi-square test for comparisons. Results: Mean age was 21.00±1.93 years. Majority were females (54.5%). Prevalence of dry eye symptoms was 85.5%. Vision difficulties (54.0%), itching (56.0%), watering (51.5%) were the most common symptoms. Majority (64.0%) had >3 symptoms. Use of mobile device, >4 hours of online exposure for other than study purposes and >1.5 increase in online exposure after COVID-19 were associated with presence of >3 dry eye symptoms. On Schirmer's test, prevalence of dry eye disease was 12.0%. Conclusion: Longer duration of online exposure and increase in online activities as a result of COVID-19 was associated with an increased risk of dry eye disease and its prevalence in undergraduate medical students. © 2022 by the Author(s).

Prediction of Customer Review's Helpfulness Based on Feature Engineering Driven Deep Learning Model

Online consumer reviews play a pivotal role in boosting online shopping. After Covid-19, the e-commerce industry has been grown exponentially. The e-commerce industry is greatly impacted by the online customer reviews, and a lot of work has been done in this regard to identify the usefulness of reviews for purchasing online products. In this proposed work, predicting helpfulness is taken as binary classification problem to identify the helpfulness of a review in context to structural, sentimental, and voting feature sets. In this study, the authors implemented various leading ML algorithms such as KNN, LR, GNB, LDA and CNN. In comparison to these algorithms and other existing state of art methods, CNN yielded better classification results, achieving highest accuracy of 95.27%. Besides, the performance of these models was also assessed in terms of precision, recall, F1 score, etc. The results shown in this paper demonstrate that proposed model will help the producers or service providers to improve and grow their business. © 2022 Taru Publications. All rights reserved.

MOODY: A Natural Language Processing-Based Chatbot for Mental Health Care

A chatbot is a software that establishes a human–machine interaction by using natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU). One of the essential tasks in machine learning and artificial intelligence is the mechanism through which conversation between a bot and a human is built and modelled. On the other hand, mental health issues have emerged up as one of the most rising diseases affecting millions around the world and are still one of the most untreated ones. People suffering from mental health disorders and issues have to live with it every single day, and the cases rose prominently during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, a machine learning and natural language processing-based chatbot has been implemented to hold conversations with the purpose of mental healthcare assistance. It has been named MOODY;an intelligent conversational agent built with Dialogflow integration on NLP, NLU and its sentiment analysis feature. Dialogflow's architecture has been taken from the end-to-end neural network machine translation domain. There are plenty of variations and features that have been introduced resulting in remarkably enhancing the conversational capabilities of chatbots. MOODY's dependency, quick response generation and privacy provide a unique opportunity to assist those in need of adequate information and resources at one place. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Techno-economics and Life Cycle Assessment of Bioreactors: Post-COVID-19 Waste Management Approach

Techno-economics and Life Cycle Assessment of Bioreactors: Post-Covid19 Waste Management Approach covers the emerging trends in bioreactor research, including techno-economics and life cycle assessment perspectives, both key considerations in making the anaerobic-digestion process technically feasible, economically viable and environmentally sustainable. The book is divided into three sections, with an introductory chapter on the impact of COVID-19 on existing practices of waste and resource management. Sections cover advances in bioreactor development for enhanced valorization of waste, the techno-economics of the different bioreactor systems, the life cycle assessment of bioreactors, their methodological challenges and future perspectives. Providing a holistic overview of bioreactors and taking into account recent trends in their design, the chapters also highlight the advances needed to manage COVID-19 waste in a sustainable manner. With contributions from leading experts in bioreactor and life cycle assessment, this book will be an invaluable reference source for academics working on anaerobic digesters and energy sustainability, as well as for research and development professionals in the renewable energy industry, and scientists and engineers working on clean and efficient energy generation from wastes. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) and Blockchain: An Efficient Integration for Smart Health Care Systems

Blockchain has emerged as an efficient technology for distribution and handling of useful information by cluster of computers. It offers wide number of applications such as personal identification, asset management, and smart appliances, insurance: claim processing and healthcare management etc. In this study, authors explored the role of blockchain in the field of healthcare application in integration with the new emerging field known as internet of health care things (IoHT). In this chapter, we discussed the basic foundation and applications of blockchain and internet of Technology for seeking better healthcare solutions through integration of both of them. Further limitations and challenges in implementation of IoHT are discussed, particularly in the current pandemic situation of corona virus. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Vineet Kansal, Raju Ranjan, Sapna Sinha, Rajdev Tiwari, and Nilmini Wickramasinghe;individual chapters, the contributors.

Therapeutic Options for the SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Is There a Key in Herbal Medicine?

SARS-CoV-2 has been responsible for over 500 million cumulative cases all over the world since December 2019 and has marked the third introduction of a highly pathogenic virus after SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. This virus is in a winning situation because scientists are still racing to explore effective therapeutics, vaccines, and event treatment regimens. In view of progress in current disease management, until now none of the preventive/treatment measures can be considered entirely effective to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, it is required to look up substitute ways for the management of this disease. In this context, herbal medicines could be a good choice. This article emphasizes the antiviral potential of some herbal constituents which further can be a drug of choice in SARS-CoV-2 treatment. This article may be a ready reference for discovering natural lead compounds and targets in SARS-CoV-2 associated works.

Survey on Students Perception towards Online Assessment Conducted During COVID-19 Pandemic

Background & Objective:) The present study was undertaken to determine the perception of medical students towards the Online Assessment in North Indian medical university amidst COVID-19 Pandemic. Materials & Methods: An online questionnaire was validated and distributed among 500 medical students of a tertiary care hospital in North India. The consent was taken and the responses were analysed anonymously. It consisted of standard Likert scale questions, close-ended and open-ended questions comprising a total of 22 questions. The questionnaire was grouped into 4 categories such as demographics, Comparison between traditional and online assessment, Advantages and limitations, and Acceptance of online assessment. The responses were analysed by using descriptive analyses. Results: Out of the 500 students, 430 responded out of which 57.8 % were females and within 20-25yrs (86.8%). 54.6 % students found online exams less stressful, comfortable (58.13%) & within the COVID norms (75.11 %). Limitations included no interaction with patients (64.88%),social isolation (36.04%) & bad internet connection (80.9%). 50 % of undergraduate students preferred traditional assessment while 30% prefer blended method and least number of students preferred online assessment (20%). Conclusion: The results show that undergraduate students prefer traditional than online assessment. The online assessment provides several limitations such as technical issues, no interaction with patients, etc. The student's responses provided the educators an insight into the online assessment and will help in improving the assessment method. © 2022, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services. All rights reserved.

The spectrum of ABO hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn in neonates born to Group O mothers

Background: ABO hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (ABOHFDN) is a frequent event, and usually a problem of the neonate rather than the fetus, however, it is difficult to predict the disease severity. Thus, there is a need to increase awareness towards ABOHFDN for optimizing care in terms of early diagnosis and adequate monitoring. Aims: To determine the frequency of ABO-incompatibility in neonates born to group O mothers and to assess the severity of ABO-HDFN in neonates and determine the neonatal outcomes. Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out from February 2020 to May 2021 after obtaining a written informed consent from the mothers. A total of 260 neonates born to blood group O mothers were recruited. The maternal red cell antibody screen (ABS) using a 3-cell panel (Diacell, Bio-Rad, Switzerland) and the neonatal direct antiglobulin test (DAT) were done by column agglutination technique (CAT). For DAT positive samples, the IgG subclass of anti-A/anti-B was determined using DAT IgG1/IgG3 screening cards (Bio-Rad, Switzerland) and a heat elution at 56°C was also performed. The maternal anti-A/anti-B IgG titers was determined by tube technique after treating the serum sample with 0.01 M di-thiothreitol (DTT). The neonatal total serum bilirubin (TSB) and other relevant parameters were also recorded. The requirement for treatment in terms of phototherapy and/or exchange transfusion (ET) and the neonatal outcome were also recorded. Due to travel restrictions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the follow-up was performed telephonically with parents 6-8 weeks after discharge. Results: Of the 260 group O mothers, none had positive ABS. Of the 260 neonates born to them as an outcome of singleton pregnancies, 84 with blood group O were excluded from the study. The overall frequency of ABO-incompatibility between mother and neonates was 67.69% (176/260). Out of 176 neonates, 77 (43.8%) were group A and 99 (56.2%) were group B, and 15 (8.5%) of them had a positive DAT. Overall, 26.7% (47/176) neonates received phototherapy and 172 (97.7%) neonates survived. The mean (±SD) duration of phototherapy (hours) was 34.17 (±25.67) hours and it ranged from 12- 120 h. Only 1 neonate required ET. None of the neonates required readmission. The median maternal IgG anti-A titre was 16 (8-64) (range: 2-512), while the IgG anti-B titre was 32 (32-64) (range: 4- 512) (p = <0.001). The maximal TSB in neonates had a significant positive association with neonatal birth weight (p = 0.045), maturity at birth (p = 0.037), positive DAT (p = 0.006) and requirement of phototherapy (p = <0.001). Neonatal DAT positivity was significantly associated with maternal IgG titers (p = <0.001), neonatal PCV (p = 0.017), maximal TSB (p = 0.006), requirement (p = <0.001) and duration of phototherapy (p = 0.024). At a cut-off of maternal IgG titre ≥64, it predicted the requirement of phototherapy with a sensitivity of 72.3% and a specificity of 72%. The relative risk (95% CI) of a DAT positive neonate requiring phototherapy was calculated to be 4.55 (3.12-6.33). Summary/Conclusions: The frequency of ABO-incompatibility in neonates born to group O mothers was 67.69% (176/260). The maternal IgG titre of anti-A/anti-B of 64 or more could be a good predictor for identifying the neonates at-risk for developing hyperbilirubinemia requiring further management and combining it with neonatal DAT further enhances the sensitivity to identify such at-risk neonates.

Assessment of immunohaematological profile of COVID- 19 patients and its correlation with the clinical and laboratory parameters

Background: Covid-19 like other viruses, can change the immunohematological profile of the infected patients and timely identification of these changes can help in the management of these patients. There are various reports which have shown decline in haemoglobin in covid patients due to autoimmune red cell hemolysis. One recent study has shown that patients admitted in ICU have higher chances of DAT positivity as compared to non-covid patients. Aims: • To assess the Immunohematological profile of COVID-19 positive patients. • To find any correlation between the immunohematological profile and clinical spectrum of COVID-19 disease. Methods: It was a prospective observational study. Blood grouping, Direct antiglobulin test (DAT) and antibody screening (ABS) were performed on RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative patients admitted in Intensive care units and General wards of our institute. The immunohematological findings were also correlated with the patient clinical laboratory profiles. Results: A total of 205 patients were recruited. Out of which 102 were RT-PCR Covid-19 positive and 103 were negative. There was difference in blood group distribution with significantly less O group individuals in RT-PCR negative group. The overall DAT positivity was seen in 24.4% of the total 203 patients enrolled in the study. The DAT positivity was significantly higher (p value 0.01) in COVID-19 positive patients (32%) than COVID-19 negative patients (16.7%). However, there was no significant difference in the percentage of DAT positivity among patients admitted in ICU or general ward patients. Among COVID-19 positive patients, the mean haemoglobin was statistically significantly (p value 0.02) lower in DAT positive (Mean Hb: 8.5gm/dl) as compared to DAT negative patients (Mean Hb 9.6gm/dl). Also, DAT positive patients among COVID-19 positive patients were found to have significantly higher C-Reactive protein levels (p value: 0.05). There was no significant difference in other biochemical parameters between COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative individuals. DAT positivity was not associated with any drug intake or co-morbid state. Summary/Conclusions: Like other bacterial and viral infections, COVID-19 is also associated with DAT positivity indicating some autoimmune phenomenon due to exposure of the crypt antigens. The specificity of antibodies involved in DAT are mainly IgG and hence it may present as autoimmune hemolytic anaemia. And its association with increased inflammatory makers can help us in decision making by blood transfusion services and better management of COVID-19 patients requiring blood transfusion. .

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure through cooking environment and assessment strategies for human health implications

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons' (PAHs) exposure through day to day cooking activities has been a serious concern for human health due to their carcinogenic nature. Given the Covid-19 conditions, where people are spending extended time indoors, the likely exposure to these compounds will increase for the members involved/not involved in cooking. In this context, this review summarizes different studies undertaken worldwide on PAHs from cooking activities, the sources of exposure (fumes/emissions, dust/depositions), effect of scale (households/restaurants/neighborhoods) of cooking, monitoring process, risk assessment (air sampling and urinary metabolites), global distribution pattern. Proportionately higher number of studies was focused on cooking fumes and emissions while very limited studies aimed at kitchen depositions and dust. Most of the studies have not reported the size of particulate matter considered for determining PAHs exposure from cooking fumes and emissions. The evaluation of reported data becomes more complicated due to difference in sampling and expression units, the number and types of PAHs (parent, oxygenated-PAHs, i.e., o-PAHs, nitro-PAHs, i.e., n-PAHs) studied/found, lack of other intrinsic information (site and control parameters), lack of specific regulations etc. Therefore, such studies require method standardization for future policy development. This review also highlights the gaps and challenges in existing knowledge and future prospects.

Functional Outcome of Conservative Management of Displaced Midshaft Clavicle Fracture: It’s Significance During Covid-19 Pandemic

Background: With increasing popularity of surgical interventions in the past few decades in the field of Orthopaedics, conservative treatment methods were challenged by surgical techniques of fracture fixation with various implants. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for pragmatic management that balances optimum treatment of patients against clinically safe practice has brought conservative treatment methods back into focus. Methods: The functional outcome of displaced mid-shaft clavicle fracture in 20 patients (6 females, 14 males) managed conservatively with figure of eight bandage was studied prospectively over a period of 9 months from March-November 2020. The demographic and the clinical data including the Constant Murley Score, length of shortening of the fractured clavicle, non-union and cosmetic outcome of the patients were recorded over 3 follow up visits at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 months. The correlation between the study variables and the functional and clinical outcome was then calculated. Results: The mean shortening of fractured clavicle was 15.65±2.94 mm and the mean Constant Murley Score was 76.90±3.27. On an average, the union was achieved at 3 months and there were no non-union cases. Out of the 20 patients, 18 patients were satisfied with the treatment and 2 were dissatisfied with the outcome. Dissatisfaction was more among the males as compared to the females. 2 out of14 males were not satisfied. There was no significant association between the satisfaction of treatment and shortening of the bone (P value >0.05). There was a linear correlation between the Constant Murley Score and bone shortening with the functional outcome being better with lesser bone shortening. Conclusion: During the treatment of displaced mid shaft clavicle fractures in adults, the conservative management with figure of eight bandage yielded a good functional outcome with fewer follow-up visits to the hospital. The conservative treatment still had a significant place in the armamentarium of fracture management during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Pre-admission proton pump inhibitors use associated with increasing secondary infection in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A new finding from a single center experience

Introduction: Despite advances in treatment and vaccination, COVID-19 continues to have a significant toll on healthcare services. Identifying more modifiable risk factors for severe infection is of utmost importance to guide effective health care delivery. Recent studies show conflicting results regarding the association of gastric acid suppression with the risk of developing severe COVID-19 infection. Considering that acid-suppressive medications are among the most commonly consumed drugs in the United States, an understanding of the impact of these agents on COVID-19 outcomes is of significant importance and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate if pre-admission exposure to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) is associated with worse outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Methods: We retrospectively identified COVID-19 patients admitted to Ochsner LSU Health, Shreveport, from July 2020 to November 2020. Information on baseline demographics, comorbidities, presenting symptoms, PPI use and clinical course was abstracted. We compared outcomes for PPI users and non-users using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: 1370 patients were included in this study, with 14 (22.9%) PPI users, and 1056 (77.1%) non-users. Baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1. PPI users were older (66.00 vs 61.24, p< .0001) and had a lower BMI (31.54 vs 32.39, p< .0085) compared to non-users. Both groups received similar treatment: steroids, antibiotics, remdesivir, convalescent plasma, and supplemental oxygen. There was no significant difference in the length of stay between these 2 groups. On univariate analysis, PPI users were significantly associated with developing secondary infection (OR 1.45, P=0.049) and acute kidney injury (AKI) (OR 1.45, P=0.015). The rate of developing other complications like deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, stroke, encephalopathy, shock, need for renal replacement therapy was similar in both groups. After adjusting for age, gender, race, BMI, comorbidities, PPI use was not associated with worse outcomes like ICU admission, ventilation requirement, mortality, or more complications (Figure 1). Conclusion: An interesting finding in this study was that PPI users were significantly associated with developing secondary infection but not with worse clinical outcomes or mortality. We recommend continuing PPI use when clinically indicated and educating users regarding their safety.

Low – Cost Portable Smart Ventilator

Ventilators are one of the most important and complex devices in the intensive care unit (ICU). These devices are used to handle the patients in critical conditions like lungs collapse, comma, transplant surgeries, etc. But due to COVID-19 pandemic, there is a very large need of the ventilators. This paper focuses on the development of a prototype of portable ventilators with remote control. These ventilators are based on the slider-crank mechanism operated remotely as well as manually. The slider-crank mechanism compresses resuscitator (AMBU bag) and delivers the compressed air to lungs through a pipe and face mask. These ventilators are capable of controlling breath per minute (BPM) and Tidal volume (volume of the oxygen compulsory in the lungs). The range of BPM can be controlled 10-45 BPM where deliverable tidal volume is 250–750 mL. To deliver the contactless treatment to a patient and save the doctor from the disease transmission, we have developed the android application to operate ventilator remotely. Arduino-based Wi-Fi controller is used to create control over BPM. Wi-Fi controller integrates the mobile application with ventilators to establish remote and contactless control. There is the provision of emergency cut-off in antagonistic condition. The overall cost of the prototyping is only 4000 INR and can be assembled within minutes on an assembly line. Because of the ventilator’s compact size and light weight it can be used in remote locations and ambulances. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.