Respiratory Care in Children with COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The common presentations in children include involvement of respiratory system leading to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, as well as multiorgan dysfunction syndrome and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Pediatric COVID-19 is a milder disease as compared with the adults. Also, there is rise in MIS-C cases which is a hyperinflammatory condition temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2. Since respiratory system is predominantly involved, few of these critically ill children often require respiratory support which can range from simple oxygen delivery devices, high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), noninvasive ventilation (NIV), invasive mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Most of the oxygen delivery devices and respiratory interventions generate aerosols and pose risk of transmission of virus to health care providers (HCPs). The use of HFNC and NIV should be limited to children with mild respiratory distress preferably in negative pressure rooms and with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). However, there should be low thresholds for intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation in the event of clinical deterioration while on any respiratory support. The principle of providing respiratory support requires special droplet and air-borne precautions to limit exposure or transmission of virus to HCPs and at the same time ensuring safety of the patient.

Nanocarrier vaccine therapeutics for global infectious and chronic diseases

Immunization has the potential to become a viable weapon for the upcoming pandemic and save millions of lives, while also dramatically lowering the high mortality rate brought on by a number of infectious and chronic illnesses. Despite the success of some vaccinations for infectious illnesses, obstacles remain in avoiding and creating fully protective vaccines. Current COVID-19 pandemic highlights need for vaccination platform improvements. Nanomaterials have been created as a possible nanocarrier to elicit a robust immune response against important global morbidity and mortality drivers by encapsulating targeted antigen and functionalizing nanoparticles with particular molecules. In addition to their application in cancer immunotherapy, nanocarriers are currently being included into the development of vaccines against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, TB, and influenza. In order to evaluate conventional and next-generation vaccination platforms, this study focuses on the COVID-19 and cancer vaccine as well as the passage and interaction of nanoparticles with immune cells in the lymph node. It also draws attention to the gaps in current and future HIV, TB, malaria, and influenza vaccinations, as well as nanovaccines. The importance of the dose-dependent vaccine in inducing and maintaining neutralizing antibodies after immunization has been discussed in more detail.

Research Dynamics within a New Multi-Institutional Cross-Disciplinary Translational Team (MCTT): A Formative Study

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: This report evaluates participants'experiences from three universities who assembled a complex grant proposal related to research on post-acute sequala of COVID-19 (PASC), also called long COVID. Activities reviewed ranged from the assembly of the team to responses to reviews by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, conducted and recorded on Zoom, with a sample of 15 scientists and staff both during proposal assembly and following proposal review. The sample comprised 40% of the total team equally selected from the 3 universities, The interview protocol was reviewed by the IRB at UTMB and the interviews were recorded on Zoom, and analyzed by means of the constant comparative strategy in the grounded theory method of qualitative research. Given the relatively small number of interviews in this project, we paid special attention to preserving the confidentiality of respondents. Only the verbal tracks of the interviews were professionally transcribed. Respondents were asked to suggest changes for future inter-organizational proposals. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: FIRST INTERVIEWS *LEADERSHIP: The scope of leadership opportunities was expanded as sub-teams in specific areas such as community engagement were formed. *TEAM: Each university's community engagement team specializes in a different ethnic clientele, precluding a singular statement for the proposal. SECOND INTERVIEWS *LEADERSHIP: Staff members noted that the team concept too easily evolved into a bureaucratic format, resulting in less negotiation and more direction. *ASSEMBLY TASKS: The Writing Team turned out to be one of the most critical staff teams. *COMMUNICATION: The behavioral scientists in community engagement do not necessarily share paradigms (e.g., public health, psychology, and social work). They had difficulty generating productive communication and a unified statement for the proposal. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The scientists, as a group, suggested that future proposals should focus on one general topic, such as the microbiome, as opposed to attempting to integrate widely divergent interests. The scientists as a group should decide a priori whether to treat innovative ideas such as machine learning science as a science or a service.

The paradigm of prophylactic viral outbreaks measures by microbial biosurfactants.

The recent emergence and outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed the incompetence of countries across the world to deal with a global public health emergency. Although the recent advent of vaccines is an important prophylactic measure, effective clinical therapy for SARS-Cov-2 is yet to be discovered. With the increasing mortality rate, research has been focused on understanding the pathogenic mechanism and clinical parameters to comprehend COVID-19 infection and propose new avenues for naturally occurring molecules with novel therapeutic properties to alleviate the current situation. In accordance with recent clinical studies and SARS-CoV-2 infection markers, cytokine storm and oxidative stress are entwined pathogenic processes in COVID-19 progression. Lately, Biosurfactants (BSs) have been studied as one of the most advanced biomolecules of microbial origin with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral properties, antiadhesive, and antimicrobial properties. Therefore, this review inspects available literature and proposes biosurfactants with these properties to be encouraged for their extensive study in dealing with the current pandemic as new pharmaceutics in the prevention and control of viral spread, treating the symptoms developed after the incubation period through different therapeutic approaches and playing a potential drug delivery model.

Impact of COVID-19 on lifestyles related etiquette among nursing staff in India: a cross sectional descriptive e-survey.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of COVID-19 pandemics on lifestyle-related etiquettes like eating, physical activity, and sleep behavior among nursing staff in India. METHODS: A crosssectional descriptive E-survey was conducted among 942 nursing staff. The validated electronic survey questionnaire was used to assess the changes in lifestyle-related etiquette before and during COVID-19 Pandemic. RESULTS: Pandemic. Results. A total of 942 responses (mean age 29.01±5.7years) were collected, 53% of the respondents were men. A slight decline in healthy meal consumption pattern (p<0.0001) and a restriction of unhealthy food items were observed (p<0.0001), and also reduction in physical activity coupled with decreased participation in leisure-related activities was seen (p<0.0001). The stress and anxiety slightly increase during COVID-19 pandemics (p<0.0001). Additionally, social support extended by family and friends to maintain healthy lifestyle-related behaviors also significantly decreased during COVID-19 PANDEMIC pandemics compared to before (p<0.0001). Although the COVID-19 Pandemic slightly reduced the intake of healthy meals and deterred participants from consuming unhealthy food, this this may have led to individual weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: In general, there was a negative impact on, lifestyle like diet, sleep and mental health was observed. A detailed understanding of these factors can help to develop interventions to mitigate the harmful lifestyle-related etiquette that has manifested during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Recent Advances in the Lipid Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of mRNA Vaccines.

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have recently emerged as one of the most advanced technologies for the highly efficient in vivo delivery of exogenous mRNA, particularly for COVID-19 vaccine delivery. LNPs comprise four different lipids: ionizable lipids, helper or neutral lipids, cholesterol, and lipids attached to polyethylene glycol (PEG). In this review, we present recent the advances and insights for the design of LNPs, as well as their composition and properties, with a subsequent discussion on the development of COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, as ionizable lipids are the most critical drivers for complexing the mRNA and in vivo delivery, the role of ionizable lipids in mRNA vaccines is discussed in detail. Furthermore, the use of LNPs as effective delivery vehicles for vaccination, genome editing, and protein replacement therapy is explained. Finally, expert opinion on LNPs for mRNA vaccines is discussed, which may address future challenges in developing mRNA vaccines using highly efficient LNPs based on a novel set of ionizable lipids. Developing highly efficient mRNA delivery systems for vaccines with improved safety against some severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants remains difficult.

The Psychological Morbidity among Health Care Workers During the Early Phase of Covid-19 Pandemic in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Across India, there have been multiple studies conducted to address the issues of the mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study estimated the pooled prevalence of psychological morbidity among healthcare workers during the early phase of the COVID 19 pandemic in India. We searched the following electronic bibliographic databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley online library, and Google scholar for studies conducted from the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic until 25 September 2021. The methodological quality of each study was scored and outcome measures with uniform cut off scores as per various screening measurements were evaluated. According to the current meta analysis, the pooled estimates of depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia among Indian healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic are 20.1% (95% CI: 15.6 to 24.6%; n = 21 studies), 25.0% (95% CI: 18.4 to 31.6%; n = 20 studies), 36% (95% CI: 23.7 to 48.2%; n = 22 studies) and 18.9% (95% CI: 9.9 to 28.0%; n = 6 studies) respectively. In subgroup analyses, low quality studies based on the JBI checklist (Score < 3/9) and studies using DASS 21 showed a higher pooled prevalence of depression and anxiety. About 20-36% of the healthcare workers in India reported having depression, anxiety, and stress during the early phase of the COVID 19 pandemic. The present study provides a comprehensive review of the overall burden of mental health problems among healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic in India necessitating appropriate intervention strategies to protect these frontline groups before the memory of the pandemic crisis starts to fade.

A Method to Monitor Activity of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp3 from Cells

SARS-CoV-2 protease Nsp3 is a therapeutic target for developing anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. Nsp3 is a large multi-spanning membrane protein, and its characterization in vitro has been challenging. Here we describe an in vitro assay to characterize the biochemical activity of full-length Nsp3 isolated from cells. The assay can be used to evaluate Nsp3 inhibitors. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic among the general population in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: The novel coronavirus (n COVID-19) has affected every walk of life across the world including India. Several studies have been available on the COVID-19-related anxiety and depressive symptoms in the public health context. However, there is a dearth of evidence of a meta-analysis regarding the pooled estimates of anxiety and depressive symptoms related to this pandemic based on the existing studies conducted among the general population of India. The aim of the study was to estimate the pooled prevalence of COVID-19-related anxiety and depressive symptoms among the general population in India. Material and Methods: We searched the following electronic bibliographic databases: PubMed, Ovid, Science Direct, and Wiley online library for studies conducted from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and until September 25, 2021. We separately analyzed the outcome measures based on the risk of bias assessment. The publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots and Egger's test. Results: We used a random-effect model due to the significant heterogeneity between the studies (Anxiety symptoms – I2 = 99.40% and Depressive symptoms – I2 = 95.3%). According to the index meta-analysis, the pooled estimates of anxiety and depressive symptoms among general population of India during COVID-19 pandemic are 23.5% (95% CI: 17.4–29.6%;n = 21 studies) and 20.2% (95% CI: 17.2–23.2%;n = 17 studies), respectively. In subgroup analyses, good-quality studies (Score ≥7/9) had a significant effect on the pooled prevalence. Conclusion: About one-fifth of the general population of India reported having anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pooled estimates varied with the methodological quality of included studies. The present study provides a comprehensive picture of the overall magnitude of anxiety and depressive symptoms due to the COVID-19 outbreak which will guide the policy makers to measure the burden of similar pandemics more judiciously in the future.

Zebrafish-based platform for emerging bio-contaminants and virus inactivation research.

Emerging bio-contaminants such as viruses have affected health and environment settings of every country. Viruses are the minuscule entities resulting in severe contagious diseases like SARS, MERS, Ebola, and avian influenza. Recent epidemic like the SARS-CoV-2, the virus has undergone mutations strengthen them and allowing to escape from the remedies. Comprehensive knowledge of viruses is essential for the development of targeted therapeutic and vaccination treatments. Animal models mimicking human biology like non-human primates, rats, mice, and rabbits offer competitive advantage to assess risk of viral infections, chemical toxins, nanoparticles, and microbes. However, their economic maintenance has always been an issue. Furthermore, the redundancy of experimental results due to aforementioned aspects is also in examine. Hence, exploration for the alternative animal models is crucial for risk assessments. The current review examines zebrafish traits and explores the possibilities to monitor emerging bio-contaminants. Additionally, a comprehensive picture of the bio contaminant and virus particle invasion and abatement mechanisms in zebrafish and human cells is presented. Moreover, a zebrafish model to investigate the emerging viruses such as coronaviridae and poxviridae has been suggested.

Study the Biochemical and Hematological Biomarkers Association with COVID-19 Disease Progression and Hospitalisation in a Tertiary Care Hospital Puducherry

Introduction:COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-COV-2 belongs to the family coronaviridae.In worldwide, it affected more than 100 million people and 2.2 million patient died. Many studies have been conducted to determine the clinical, biological, and radiological characteristics of COVID-19 for better identification of infected people at an early stage and stop disease development to an advanced state. Aim(s): The aim of our this study was to take advantage of the biochemical and haematological parameters in predicting the prognosis and mortality in disease severity COVID-19 patients. Material(s) and Method(s): This study included total of 100 COVID-19 positive patients were included. Biochemistry and hematological parameters were tested for the COVID-19 positive patients and patients were categorized as mild, moderate, and severely ill based on clinical status. Result(s): The Biochemical parameters and inflammatory markers like D-Dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), Ferritin, and Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) levels differed significantly between mild, moderate and severely ill cases respectively. The mean difference of hematological parameters like total leucocyte count, neutrophil %, monocyte and lymphocyte % were shows significant different between mild, moderate and severe symptoms cases. Conclusion(s): The biochemical parameters, inflammatory markers haematological indices are a good guide for predicting the severity and disease outcome of corona virus disease and could be used as a screening tool to identify patients requiring intensive care.

Recent Advances in the Lipid Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of mRNA Vaccines (preprint)

In the recent days, lipid nanoparticles have been successfully emerged as one of the most advanced technology for highly efficient in vivo delivery of exogenous mRNA, especially for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. For the vaccines to be successful or protective, they require highly efficient mRNA delivery systems. However, developing effective, translatable vaccines with better safety against some of the SARS‐CoV‐2 variants is still a challenge. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are composed of four different types of lipids including ionizable lipids, helper or neutral lipids, cholesterol and polyethylene glycol (PEG) attached lipids. In this review, we present recent advancements and insights in designing the advanced LNPs and their composition and properties, with a subsequent discussion on the development of COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, as the ionizable lipids are most important drivers for complexing the mRNA and in vivo delivery, the role of ionizable lipids in mRNA vaccines discussed in detail. Furthermore, the use of LNPs as effective delivery vehicles for vaccination, genome editing, and protein replacement therapy were discussed. Finally, expert opinion of LNPs for mRNA vaccines were discussed which might address the future challenges in the development of mRNA vaccines employing highly efficient LNPs using novel set of ionizable lipids.

The Adaptive Strategies Improving Digital Twin Using the Internet of Things

Digital twins for factories and processes are becoming more prevalent and more valuable as a result of recent technological breakthroughs and the rise of smart manufacturing. There are also more potential for closed-loop analytics with digital twins, as well as with the rise of connection, data storage, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Some factories have employed discrete event simulations (DES) to construct digital twins that are connected to the manufacturing floor and can be monitored in real time. However, it is difficult to quantify the advantages of a digital twin that is linked to the real world. With the emergence of the new generation of mobile network (5G), Tactile Internet, as well as the deployment of Industry 4.0 and Health 4.0, multimedia systems are moving towards immersed haptic-enabled human–machine interaction systems such as the digital twin (DT). Specifically, Industry 4.0 will be using DT and robots on a large scale. This will increase human–machine and interaction to a great extent. There will be multimodal communications used to interact with digital twins and robots, especially haptics. Hence, Tactile Internet will replace the conventional Internet today. In fact, a DT system can also be extended in Health 4.0 domain to act as a COVID-19 is a COVID-19 early warning system. When a person's temperature and other symptom data are tracked in real time, it may be determined whether or not it is time to see a doctor or undergo a COVID examination. In conjunction with a COVID tracing programme, the digital twin may be able to provide further information about the virus in relation to the individual. Since there are currently no well-recognized models to evaluate the performance of these systems, to address this research lacuna, we proposed a Quality of Experience (QoE) model for DT systems con-training multi-levels of subjective, objective, and physiopsychological influencing factors. The model is itemized through a fully detailed taxonomy that deduces the perceived user’s emotional and physical states during and after consuming spatial, temporal, proximal, and ed multi-modality media between humans and machines. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

VPS34-dependent control of apical membrane function of proximal tubule cells and nutrient recovery by the kidney.

The lipid kinase VPS34 orchestrates autophagy, endocytosis, and metabolism and is implicated in cancer and metabolic disease. The proximal tubule in the kidney is a key metabolic organ that controls reabsorption of nutrients such as fatty acids, amino acids, sugars, and proteins. Here, by combining metabolomics, proteomics, and phosphoproteomics analyses with functional and superresolution imaging assays of mice with an inducible deficiency in proximal tubular cells, we revealed that VPS34 controlled the metabolome of the proximal tubule. In addition to inhibiting pinocytosis and autophagy, VPS34 depletion induced membrane exocytosis and reduced the abundance of the retromer complex necessary for proper membrane recycling and lipid retention, leading to a loss of fuel and biomass. Integration of omics data into a kidney cell metabolomic model demonstrated that VPS34 deficiency increased ß-oxidation, reduced gluconeogenesis, and enhanced the use of glutamine for energy consumption. Furthermore, the omics datasets revealed that VPS34 depletion triggered an antiviral response that included a decrease in the abundance of apically localized virus receptors such as ACE2. VPS34 inhibition abrogated SARS-CoV-2 infection in human kidney organoids and cultured proximal tubule cells in a glutamine-dependent manner. Thus, our results demonstrate that VPS34 adjusts endocytosis, nutrient transport, autophagy, and antiviral responses in proximal tubule cells in the kidney.

A Method to Monitor Activity of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp3 from Cells

SARS-CoV-2 protease Nsp3 is a therapeutic target for developing anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. Nsp3 is a large multi-spanning membrane protein, and its characterization in vitro has been challenging. Here we describe an in vitro assay to characterize the biochemical activity of full-length Nsp3 isolated from cells. The assay can be used to evaluate Nsp3 inhibitors.

A Critical Review of COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in the Restaurant Industry

Food Service Industry (FSI) was one of the hardest hit during the outbreak of COVID-19 as they were shutdown to control the spread of the virus across society. The COVID-19 pandemic almost nullified the organized and unorganized restaurant business across the country. Dining out is one of the most popular social activities in a metropolitan city like Coimbatore (popularly known as Manchester of South India), the city has branches of popular restaurant chains from across the globe. Measures such as lockdown, social distancing, and dine-in restrictions adopted by the government to slow down the spread of the virus, have imparted huge loss to the FSI that has in turn severely affected the livelihood of millions of restaurant workers in the country with Coimbatore being no exception. In this background, the authors have studied the case of impact of COVID-19 on restaurants with special reference to Coimbatore. Primary data from restaurants were used for this study. The findings based on the data provide a significant contribution to the FSI, and identify the factors that need to be tapped to frame a strategy to increase the sales volume in upcoming pandemic-like situations. Also, the authors have suggested following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) instructed by the government even after the pandemic.

A Critical Review of COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in the Restaurant Industry

Food Service Industry (FSI) was one of the hardest hit during the outbreak of COVID-19 as they were shutdown to control the spread of the virus across society. The COVID-19 pandemic almost nullified the organized and unorganized restaurant business across the country. Dining out is one of the most popular social activities in a metropolitan city like Coimbatore (popularly known as Manchester of South India), the city has branches of popular restaurant chains from across the globe. Measures such as lockdown, social distancing, and dine-in restrictions adopted by the government to slow down the spread of the virus, have imparted huge loss to the FSI that has in turn severely affected the livelihood of millions of restaurant workers in the country with Coimbatore being no exception. In this background, the authors have studied the case of impact of COVID-19 on restaurants with special reference to Coimbatore. Primary data from restaurants were used for this study. The findings based on the data provide a significant contribution to the FSI, and identify the factors that need to be tapped to frame a strategy to increase the sales volume in upcoming pandemic-like situations. Also, the authors have suggested following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) instructed by the government even after the pandemic. © 2022, ASERS Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Emerging trends in the nanomedicine applications of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles as novel therapies for acute and chronic diseases.

High-quality point-of-care is critical for timely decision of disease diagnosis and healthcare management. In this regard, biosensors have revolutionized the field of rapid testing and screening, however, are confounded by several technical challenges including material cost, half-life, stability, site-specific targeting, analytes specificity, and detection sensitivity that affect the overall diagnostic potential and therapeutic profile. Despite their advances in point-of-care testing, very few classical biosensors have proven effective and commercially viable in situations of healthcare emergency including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. To overcome these challenges functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have emerged as key players in advancing the biomedical and healthcare sector with promising applications during the ongoing healthcare crises. This critical review focus on understanding recent developments in theranostic applications of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Given the profound global economic and health burden, we discuss the therapeutic impact of functionalized MNPs in acute and chronic diseases like small RNA therapeutics, vascular diseases, neurological disorders, and cancer, as well as for COVID-19 testing. Lastly, we culminate with a futuristic perspective on the scope of this field and provide an insight into the emerging opportunities whose impact is anticipated to disrupt the healthcare industry.