Effect of Neurofeedback Training on male Swimmers' Stress Tolerance

This study aimed to analyze the effect of eight weeks of neurofeedback training to increase the stress tolerance level of swimmers the current researchers examined six all-India inter-university male swimmers. For the pre-test and post-test data on stress tolerance of swimmers, the current author used the computer-based, pre-designed "Determination Test" on the Schuhfried "Vienna Test System", and the alpha and beta training was provided by the pre-designed Med-Life biofeedback/neurofeedback system. Swimmers go-through under rigorous training cycle andat the time of the race, and to reduce that stress, the current author conducted this study on swimmers and found the difference in the mean of the pre-test, i.e., 27.67, while the post-test mean was 59.5;hence, the value of the t-statistic(5.338) is also significant to its corresponding p-value, i.e., 0.003, which is less than 0.05, which shows the significant difference between the pre-test and post-test, thus leading the current authors conclude that there was a significant improvement in the swimmers' perception of their stress tolerance level and, it shows that the 21 tutelage sessions were effective in increasing the swimmers' stress tolerance level, which can help the swimmers maintain an optimal state at the time of the race.Copyright © 2023, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Parenchymal lung abnormalities, clinical severity and outcomes in patients with COVID 19 pneumonia: a prospective longitudinal observational study

Background: Clinical outcome and parenchymal lung abnormalities (PLA) data from hospitalized patients with COVID 19 pneumonia are limited. Objective(s): (1) Understand and compare the patterns of PLA on high resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) at admission, 4-8 weeks post-admission in all patients and 10-12 weeks post-admission in a subgroup of patients (2) follow up their general health status on phone 6 months post admissionMethods: Prospective, observational study of consecutive adult patients hospitalized with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia in a tertiary centre, India. Clinical data and HRCT image patterns and distribution of PLA at admission, 4-8 weeks in all patients and at 10-12 weeks in a subgroup of patients were analysed using a novel, composite radiological score (CRS). Surviving patients were followed up telephonically 6 months later. Finding(s): Of 179 patients, HRCT features were ground glass opacity (144, 80.4%), consolidation (23, 12.8%) and reticulation (7, 4%) at admission. 74% demonstrated resolving PLA with 14% showing complete resolution at 4-8 weeks. Fine reticulations were seen in 12% at 8 weeks and 20% in a subgroup of 44 patients who had persisting symptoms at 10-12 weeks. CRS correlated well with clinical severity and recovery (p=0.003). At 6 months, 144 responded to the phone follow up, reported no functional impairment and had returned to their pre-COVID health status. Conclusion(s): PLA resolved in 88% at 8 weeks and all the 144 patients who were followed up at 6 months reported return to pre-COVID 19 health status. This is quite reassuring amidst concerns of 'long COVID'.

BLOODSTREAM INFECTIONS IN COVID-19 PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN NORTH INDIA

Many COVID-19 studies are about epidemiological and clinical features but information about secondary bacterial infections is limited. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of bloodstream infections in COVID-19 patients admitted to a tertiary care academic health care organization. All blood samples were obtained from patients with COVID-19 admitted were included in the study. Blood cultures were performed using BD BACTEC ™ FX40, and the diagnosis and bacterial identification and antimicrobial sensitivity was performed by manual method. 2200 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized during a 6-month study period in which 315 blood cultures were performed. Of these, 24 (7.61%) were positive. The median age of patients with positive blood culture was 38 years and included 13 males and 11 females. Seventeen patients (70.83%) needed intensive care in the ICU. Significant correlations with blood culture positivity have been noted with parameters such as admission to the ICU, availability of accommodation, basic illness and adverse clinical outcomes. Bloodstream infections prevalence in COVID-19 patients is low. However, antibiotic prophylaxis needs to be used with caution, and immediate discontinuation should be made based on clinical judgment.

Mathematical Modeling and Analysis of Seqiahr Model: Impact of Quarantine and Isolation on COVID-19

At this moment in time, an outbreak of COVID-19 is transmitting from human to human. Different parts have different quality of life (e.g., India compared to Russia), which implies the impact varies in each part of the world. Although clinical vaccines are available to cure, the question is how to minimize the spread without considering the vaccine. In this paper, via a mathematical model, the transmission dynamics of novel coronavirus with quarantine and isolation facilities have been proposed. The examination of the proposed model is set in motion with the boundedness and positivity of the solution, sole disease-free equilibrium, and local stability. Then, the condition for the existence of sole endemic equilibrium and its local stability has established. In addition, the global stability of the endemic equilibrium for a special case has been investigated. Further, it has shown that the system undergoes a transcritical bifurcation. A threshold analysis has also performed to examine the effect of quarantine on transmission dynamics. Lastly, numerical simulations are giving support to theoretical results.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Now in these days, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a major role in healthcare. It has many applications in diagnosis, robotic surgeries, and research, powered by the growing availability of healthcare facts and brisk improvement of analytical techniques. AI is launched in such a way that it has similar knowledge as a human but is more efficient. A robot has the same expertise as a surgeon;even if it takes a longer time for surgery, its sutures, precision, and uniformity are far better than the surgeon, leading to fewer chances of failure. To make all these things possible, AI needs some sets of algorithms. In Artificial Intelligence, there are two key categories: Machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NPL), both of which are necessary to achieve practically any aim in healthcare. The goal of this study is to keep track of current advancements in science, understand technological availability, recognize the enormous power of AI in healthcare, and encourage scientists to use AI in their related fields of research. Discoveries and advancements will continue to push the AI frontier and expand the scope of its applications, with rapid developments expected in the future. © 2022, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.

Covid-19 catastrophe: Internet based learning and safety among foundation students of Universiti Utara Malaysia

In student-centered learning, UUM Foundation students (FS) must take a more active role in building knowledge. The goal of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of internet-based learning for UUM FS students during the Covid-19 disaster, as well as the ways in which students protect themselves when using the internet. University students have been obliged to go online due to the COVID-19 disaster and the introduction of Movement Control Order (MCO). During the COVID-19 tragedy, there were a number of hurdles that impacted the effectiveness of internet-based learning, including internet connectivity and budgetary difficulties. At this point, even student safety is crucial. The effectiveness of internet-based learning and safety among UUM FS are investigated in this study using a descriptive-normative approach. Physical data collection could not be done due to MCO. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to choose 130 pupils from a group of 200. In addition, Google Meet and WhatsApp were used to conduct interviews to obtain replies to questions about internet-based learning and safety. In comparison to before Covid-19, 119 percent of respondents (92 percent) spent more than 4 hours per day. During the Covid-19 disaster, 48 percent or 62 FS preferred Zoom app for internet-based learning, and 56 percent of FS evaluated themselves as having the highest level of safety. In an interview, FS stated that internet-based learning has numerous advantages, including the ability to submit assignments via the e-learning UUM portal, which he considers to be one of the best. FS are also less likely to become infected because they do not have to interact with other people. The study's findings revealed that internet-based learning is quite successful, according to FS. Students' safety is also ensured because they are not needed to leave their homes or places of residence in order to complete their studies. UUM FS must survive, be self-sufficient, and adjust to the changes despite the COVID-19 disaster. © 2021 Cognizance Research Associates - Published by JLLS.

Clinical effect of the combination therapy of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ivermectin in patients with COVID-19

Background: The ongoing pandemic has highlighted the need for an effective treatment of COVID-19 patients and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 community transmission.Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study on a cohort of 85 COVID-19 patients (80% males, median age 46 years, range 18–80 years). Patients were treated with a triple drug therapy: ivermectin 12 mg once a week, hydroxychloroquine 400 mg twice a day on the first day and 200 mg twice a day for the next 4 days, and azithromycin 500 mg once a day for 5 days. Endpoints were assessed by clinical outcomes, death, negative SARS-CoV-2 RNA-PCR test on the tenth day, and length of the hospital stay.Results: All patients improved except one 70-year-old female, who died on the third day of admission. The clinical outcome was considered good as 95.24% (80/84) of patients presented a negative SARS-CoV-2 RNA-PCR test on the tenth day of admission and 90.48% (76/84) were discharged in stable condition.Conclusions: The response must focus on immediate isolation of COVID-19 patients and their early treatment to prevent irreversible severe respiratory injury. Our study shows the beneficial effect of triple drug therapy in terms of clinical recovery, shorter duration of viral carriage, community spread prevention, and minimal cost of therapy.

Prospects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and their landscape. (Special Issue: SARS-CoV-2.)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus -2 (SARS-CoV-2), puzzled the whole world with its diverse, unique clinical spectrum, and unprecedented transmission dynamics. The disease caused by this virus is named as Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), reported first time in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It had spread to almost all countries of the world disrupting the health and economy of many countries. It was the recent zoonotic spillover disease reported in humans from the Coronavirus group, without proper medicine and non-existence of prior immunity, this disease posed a challenge to both the scientific and medical fraternity. The search for safe, effective drugs to treat the disease and vaccines against the causative agent SARS- CoV-2 had begun all over the world with public and private partnerships. Many countries are part of the solidarity trail for identifying the effective drugs, clinical trials and vaccines for this global pandemic. Here in this review, we are focussing on the different vaccine production platforms being used in the preparation of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, their current status and prospects. Vaccine production technology significantly advanced in recent times by imbibing the cutting edge technologies such as nucleic acid based technologies such as DNA/RNA/Codon deoptimization and availability of safe and effective viral vectors produced through rDNA technology. The availability of complete genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2, geared up for the production of vaccine candidates based on these new vaccine production platforms, and in a record time of 4-5 months, these vaccine candidates entered in human clinical trials for the evaluation of safety and efficacy. Prior knowledge on SARS and MERS-CoV's structural and genomic features, vaccine production platforms used in making vaccines against them greatly augmented in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efforts. As per World Health Organization (WHO) a total of202 vaccine candidates are under developing for SARS-CoV-2, among them 47 entered in clinical trials and 156 are in the preclinical stage. These vaccines are prepared by an amalgamation of both new and old traditional vaccine production platforms such as nucleic acid base platforms, inactivated, live attenuated, recombinant viral vectors, protein and peptide-based vaccines. The success of these vaccine candidates lies in the generation of effective immune response for SARS-CoV-2 across all age groups and people with co-morbidities. We briefly summarize the different strategies of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine production and their prospects with an emphasis on different routes of administration and added a basic mathematical model depicting the importance of vaccination for any pandemic.

Prediction of Cytokine Storm and Mortality in Patients with COVID-19 Admitted to ICU: Do Markers Tell the Story?

Introduction: COVID-19 has caused approximately one million deaths worldwide as of November 24, 2020. Markers of disease activity like ferritin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and D-dimers are frequently monitored to detect the best opportunity for intensive treatment. Methods: All patients of >18 years of age were included. The primary variables of interest, ferritin, CRP, and D-dimers, for each patient throughout hospitalization were recorded. Primary clinical outcomes of length of stay in ICU and survival were recorded. Demographics: age, gender, BMI, and nationality. Ferritin, CRP, and D-dimers were recorded daily if available for the whole ICU stay, and all other variables were recorded on admission day to ICU. Results: The sample includes 235 records. More than 95% of patients have all markers on the day of admission to ICU were ferritin (median 1,278;IQR 1,424), D-dimer 1.21 (3.4), and CRP 129.5 (121). Daily average levels of markers were different from their admission day level: ferritin 1,395 (1,331), D-dimer 3.11 (5.52), and CRP 107 (75.8). Multiple logistic regression analysis determined that average CRP during the stay was the only predictor of survival. Discussion: Data on markers utilization to detect the acute phase of inflammation help clinicians focus on the opportunity window for intensive treatment. Conclusion: Average CRP during the stay in ICU is higher than CRP on admission. Average CRP is the only factor that predicts survival.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and D-dimer assay in prediction of disease severity in covid positive Indian patients in a tertiary care centre

Aims & Objectives: To evaluate role of hematological parameters in prediction of disease severity and also analyze the trends of NLR and D-Dimer during its course. Patients/Materials & Methods: A retrospective analysis of 83 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 by RT-PCR at Medanta-the Medicity hospital in June 2020 was done. The data included neutrophil- to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), D-Dimer, PT/APTT and platelet count. The patients were divided into 20 critical patients and 63 Noncritical patients group, based on disease severity. The parameters were compared and trends analyzed. Results: The COVID positive cases had a mean age of 56.7 years (Range: 7-84 years) with a male:female ratio of 2.6:1. The critical group had mean age of 64.7 years (Range: 42-76), versus 54.1 years (Range: 7-84) in non-critical group. At admission, the mean NLR in the critical and non-critical group was 12.26 and 5.7. Further, the critical and non-critical group had NLR>3.13 in 19 cases (95%) and 49 cases (77.8%), respectively. On receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, predictive ability of NLR for detection of critical patients was significant(p value = 0.0001;AUC:0.779) with optimal cut-off value of 6.01, having 85% sensitivity, 68.9% specificity and ∼ 93.5% negative predictable value (NPV). The mean D-Dimer value in critical and non-critical group on Day-4 of admission was 18.89 mg/L and 2.48 mg/L. Moreover, the D-Dimer>0.55 mg/L were seen in 17 critical cases (85%) in contrast with 35 non-critical cases (55.5%). On ROC analysis, the ability of D-Dimer in predicting disease severity was significant( p value = 0.0001;AUC:0.896) with optimal cut-off value of 2.27 mg/L, having 85% sensitivity, 76.2% specificity and NPV ∼ 94.1%. On trend analysis, it was observed that the D-Dimer and NLR showed a progressive upward trend in critical patients, whereas there were more of plateau/declining values in non-critical patients. PT was mildly prolonged in 14 critical patients (70%) and 13 non- critical patients (40.6%). The mean platelet counts were similar in both the groups. Discussion & Conclusion: The study shows that the severity of the disease is more in elderly (Mean age: 64.7 years). Also, at admission NLR>6.05 and Day-4 D-Dimer>2.27 mg/L are significantly predictive of disease severity and such patients should receive prompt treatment to minimize further sequel and morbidities.

Eosinophilia, basophilia and mastocytosis in a case of myeloproliferative neoplasm with very low bcrabl1 transcript: To be or not to be cml

Aims & Objectives: Basophilia and eosinophilia are common manifestations of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The diagnosis is usually established by demonstrating the presence of BCR-ABL1 fusion transcript. The presence of numerous mast cells in such scenario is very uncommon and should prompt further evaluation for systemic mastocytosis associated with myeloid or lymphoid hematologic diseases (SM-AHNMD). Here we report an unusual case of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN), which showed abundance of morphologically and immunophenotypically abnormal mast cells, thus confirming to the diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis with associated MPN, possibly chronic myeloid leukemia. Interestingly, the diagnostic sample showed a very low BCR-ABL1 transcript level. Patients/Materials & Methods: A 66-year old male presented with a history of weight loss and mild splenomegaly of 1 month duration. Complete hemogram showed Hb of 5.9, TLC of 17,000/cumm and platelet count of 16,000/cumm. Bone marrow (BM) examination was performed and subjected to flow cytometry and molecular analysis. Results: Peripheral smear examination showed marked eosinophilia (57%) and basophilia (10%) with absence of any shift cells, blasts or dyspoiesis. Bone marrow examination revealed marked proliferation of eosinophils (21%) and basophils (4%) with no excess of blasts. First round of Nested RT-PCR for BCR-ABL transcript (qualitative) analysis did not revealed any band;however second round revealed BCR-ABL1 p210 (e13a2) transcript band. The patient failed to respond to Imatinib. A repeat BM examination, performed after 2 months showed persistence of the findings with prominent basophilia (14%) and no evidence of blast excess. However, the bone marrow biopsy showed aggregates of mast cells. An aberrant expression of CD25 on the mast cells was elicited on flow cytometry. Sample subjected for comprehensive NGS panel for myeloid neoplasms was negative for commonly known genetic aberrations including PDGFR-A, PDGFR-B, FGFR-1, KIT and JAK-2. Thus a diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis associated with myeloid diseases possibly CML was conferred. In view of inadequate response to imatinib, the patient was started on Dasatinib. Unfortunately the patient had a rapid downhill course, developed COVID and succumbed to death. Discussion & Conclusion: A diagnostic dilemma, presence of abnormal population of mast cells and a very low level of BCR-ABL1 transcript level will be discussed.

Prospects of sars-cov-2 vaccines and their landscape

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), puzzled the whole world with its diverse, unique clinical spectrum, and unprecedented transmission dynamics. The disease caused by this virus is named as Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), reported first time in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It had spread to almost all countries of the world disrupting the health and economy of many countries. It was the recent zoonotic spillover disease reported in humans from the Coronavirus group, without proper medicine and non-existence of prior immunity, this disease posed a challenge to both the scientific and medical fraternity. The search for safe, effective drugs to treat the disease and vaccines against the causative agent SARS-CoV-2 had begun all over the world with public and private partnerships. Many countries are part of the solidarity trail for identifying the effective drugs, clinical trials and vaccines for this global pandemic. Here in this review, we are focussing on the different vaccine production platforms being used in the preparation of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, their current status and prospects. Vaccine production technology significantly advanced in recent times by imbibing the cutting edge technologies such as nucleic acid based technologies such as DNA/RNA/Codon deoptimization and availability of safe and effective viral vectors produced through rDNA technology. The availability of complete genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2, geared up for the production of vaccine candidates based on these new vaccine production platforms, and in a record time of 4-5 months, these vaccine candidates entered in human clinical trials for the evaluation of safety and efficacy. Prior knowledge on SARS and MERS-CoV‘s structural and genomic features, vaccine production platforms used in making vaccines against them greatly augmented in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efforts. As per World Health Organization (WHO) a total of202 vaccine candidates are under developing for SARS-CoV-2, among them 47 entered in clinical trials and 156 are in the preclinical stage. These vaccines are prepared by an amalgamation of both new and old traditional vaccine production platforms such as nucleic acid base platforms, inactivated, live attenuated, recombinant viral vectors, protein and peptide-based vaccines. The success of these vaccine candidates lies in the generation of effective immune response for SARS-CoV-2 across all age groups and people with co-morbidities. We briefly summarize the different strategies of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine production and their prospects with an emphasis on different routes of administration and added a basic mathematical model depicting the importance of vaccination for any pandemic. © 2020, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.