Phytochemicals Characterization of Lianqiao (Forsythia suspensa) extract and evaluation of its antivirus and antioxidant activities (preprint)

Forsythia suspensa (Lianqiao) has long been touted for its anti-viral effects in folklore. Although promising, limited research were conducted to evaluate its potential in defending the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). This study evaluated the fruits of Forsythia suspensa (Lianqiao), an important economic crop, for the chemical components of its water and ethanol extracts, along with their inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), inhibitions of ACE2 activity, and capacities to scavenge the selected free radicals. A total of 42 compounds were tentatively identified in the extracts by HPLC-MS/MS analysis. Both water and ethanol extracts of Lianqiao showed great inhibition of ACE2 activity and the binding affinity between SARS CoV-2 spike protein and ACE2. Furthermore, the water extract had greater scavenging capacities against HO●, DPPH● and ABTS●+ than the ethanol extract. Findings of this research contribute to the knowledge of different extraction solvent systems and support the potential of Lianqiao in reducing the risk of coronavirus infection and alleviating the symptoms after infection.

COVID-19 pandemic, risk-reduction strategies and crisis management in the travel insurance sector

Travel has always been considered to be a risky affair as there are multiple uncertainties associated with it. Though the tourism industry has developed sophisticated methods to manage these risks, there are still certain uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances that might affect the physical, emotional, and mental state of travellers. The result would be a huge financial burden for the traveller and increased frustration towards the tour operator. The concept of travel insurance was introduced to relieve travellers of such unforeseen risks while travelling. Moreover, the Covid 19 pandemic has instilled a sense of fear and doubt among the minds of travellers which affects their travel decision-making to a large extent. Destinations and tourism suppliers have introduced various risk reduction strategies and methods to resolve this issue. This paper focuses on understanding the concept of risk associated with travel, the various dimensions of risk management, and the key strategies adopted by tour operators and suppliers to minimize such risks. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Forecasting Commercial Vehicle Production Using Quantitative Techniques

Firms selling commercial vehicles often face difficulties due to recessions in the globalized economy. Manufacturers are keen to anticipate demand in future quarters to optimize their production schedules. In this study, commercial vehicle production data from a leading Indian automotive manufacturer were analyzed using moving averages, exponential smoothing, seasonal decomposition and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models with the goal of forecasting. The results reveal that the ARIMA (0,1,1) model effectively predicts the sectoral downturn coinciding with the global financial crisis of 2008. As life returns to normal after the financial crisis caused by COVID-19, such models may be used to strategically move past the disruption.

Evaluating the Regional Differences in Pediatric Injury Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Reports of pediatric injury patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic are conflicting and lack the granularity to explore differences across regions. We hypothesized there would be considerable variation in injury patterns across pediatric trauma centers in the United States. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective study evaluating patients <18 y old with traumatic injuries meeting National Trauma Data Bank criteria was performed. Patients injured after stay-at-home orders through September 2020 ("COVID" cohort) were compared to "Historical" controls from an averaged period of equivalent dates in 2016-2019. Differences in injury type, intent, and mechanism were explored at the site level. RESULTS: 47,385 pediatric trauma patients were included. Overall trauma volume increased during the COVID cohort compared to the Historical (COVID 7068 patients versus Historical 5891 patients); however, some sites demonstrated a decrease in overall trauma of 25% while others had an increase of over 33%. Bicycle injuries increased at every site, with a range in percent change from 24% to 135% increase. Although the greatest net increase was due to blunt injuries, there was a greater relative increase in penetrating injuries at 7/9 sites, with a range in percent change from a 110% increase to a 69% decrease. CONCLUSIONS: There was considerable discrepancy in pediatric injury patterns at the individual site level, perhaps suggesting a variable impact of the specific sociopolitical climate and pandemic policies of each catchment area. Investigation of the unique response of the community during times of stress at pediatric trauma centers is warranted to be better prepared for future environmental stressors.

Evaluating the regional differences in pediatric injury patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background Reports of pediatric injury patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic are conflicting and lack the granularity to explore differences across regions. We hypothesized there would be considerable variation in injury patterns across Pediatric Trauma Centers (PTCs) in the United States. Materials and Methods A multicenter, retrospective study evaluating patients <18-years-old with traumatic injuries meeting National Trauma Data Bank criteria was performed. Patients injured after Stay-at-Home Orders through September 2020 ("COVID” cohort) were compared to "Historical” controls from an averaged period of equivalent dates in 2016–2019. Differences in injury type, intent, and mechanism were explored at the site level. Results 47,385 pediatric trauma patients were included. Overall trauma volume increased during the COVID cohort compared to the Historical (COVID 7,068 patients vs. Historical 5,891 patients);however, some sites demonstrated a decrease in overall trauma of 25% while others had an increase over 33%. Bicycle injuries increased at every site, with a range in percent change from 24% to 135% increase. Although the greatest net increase was due to blunt injuries, there was a greater relative increase in penetrating injuries at 7/9 sites, with a range in percent change from 110% increase to a 69% decrease. Conclusions There was considerable discrepancy in pediatric injury patterns at the individual site level, perhaps suggesting a variable impact of the specific sociopolitical climate and pandemic policies of each catchment area. Investigation of the unique response of the community during times of stress at PTCs is warranted to be better prepared for future environmental stressors.

Long Short Term Memory based Covid-19 Mutation Detection for RNA Sequence dataset

Mutation detection for the various strains of Covid 19 evolves the constraints of time, accuracy and precision. RNA sequencing with deep learning enables the detection of the mutation variant from the sequence dataset and helps for the development of tests that are used for the diagnosis and future predictions. Analyzing and researching on Covid- 19 structure and the epidemiological study aid to the accurate methodology selection and process implementation. Efficient data preprocessing of the RNA sequence adds to the accuracy of the model which was built using LSTM. This paper proposes a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) based deep learning modeling helps the RNA sequence dataset model to predict the RNA mutant variant. The model acquired an accuracy of 91.7 % and a loss function of 3.08%. © 2022 IEEE.

Household solid waste management - perception and practices during COVID-19 andemic outbreak in Ernakulam

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered panic buying of food, face masks, gloves, cleaning products and hand sanitizers. Change in food practices, dynamics of plastic and biomedical waste generation during the pandemic has, however, stirred the woes of household solid waste management. The virus loaded waste from indiscriminately discarded face masks, gloves and other biomedical waste with the regular waste stream could cause serious health risks. The present study was undertaken to find out the situation of waste management systems during pandemic outbreak by the households. An online survey was conducted via Google form using well-structured questionnaire. The study covered a sample size of 100 homemakers using simple random sampling technique. Only 45% of households agree with the satisfaction in current waste management system. A majority of 59% of the respondents are burning the household medical waste, 70% of respondents saw the need to avoid mixing of household waste with the PPE products, 64% of respondents are not educated by local authorities on proper waste disposal, and 81% of respondents think there is no sufficient waste management information to the public. Of respondents 54% received awareness regarding the disposal of household medical waste during COVID19 outbreak via social media. Household solid waste management training is important to improve the hygiene and sanitation practices of community people. The current study showed that participants who received training on household solid waste management were significantly correlated with good hygiene practices.

Bioactive Compositions of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J. Presl) Extracts and Their Capacities in Suppressing SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Binding to ACE2, Inhibiting ACE2, and Scavenging Free Radicals.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J. Presl) bark and its extracts are popular ingredients added to food and supplement products. It has various health effects, including potentially reducing the risk of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). In our study, the bioactives in cinnamon water and ethanol extracts were chemically identified, and their potential in suppressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding, reducing ACE2 availability, and scavenging free radicals was investigated. Twenty-seven and twenty-three compounds were tentatively identified in cinnamon water and ethanol extracts, respectively. Seven compounds, including saccharumoside C, two emodin-glucuronide isomers, two physcion-glucuronide isomers, and two type-A proanthocyanidin hexamers, were first reported in cinnamon. Cinnamon water and ethanol extracts suppressed the binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to ACE2 and inhibited ACE2 activity in a dose-dependent manner. Cinnamon ethanol extract had total phenolic content of 36.67 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g and free radical scavenging activities against HO• and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation (ABTS•+) of 1688.85 and 882.88 µmol Trolox equivalents (TE)/g, which were significantly higher than those of the water extract at 24.12 mg GAE/g and 583.12 and 210.36 µmol TE/g. The free radical scavenging activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•) of cinnamon ethanol extract was lower than that of the water extract. The present study provides new evidence that cinnamon reduces the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 development.

A multi-institutional study evaluating pediatric burn injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, children were out of school due to Stay-at-Home orders. The objective of this study was to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the incidence of burn injuries in children. Eight Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers participated in a retrospective study evaluating children <18 years old with traumatic injuries defined by the National Trauma Data Bank. Patients with burn injuries were identified by ICD-10 codes. Historical controls from March-September 2019 ("Control" cohort) were compared to patients injured after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic from March-September 2020 ("COVID" cohort). A total of 12,549 pediatric trauma patients were included, of which 916 patients had burn injuries. Burn injuries increased after the start of the pandemic (COVID 522/6711 [7.8%] vs. Control 394/5838 [6.7%], p=0.03). There were no significant differences in age, race, insurance status, burn severity, injury severity score, intent or location of injury, and occurrence on a weekday or weekend between cohorts. There was an increase in flame burns (COVID 140/522 [26.8%] vs. Control 75/394 [19.0%], p=0.01) and a decrease in contact burns (COVID 118/522 [22.6%] vs. Control 112/394 [28.4%], p=0.05). More patients were transferred from an outside institution (COVID 315/522 patients [60.3%] vs. Control 208/394 patients [52.8%], p=0.02), and intensive care unit length of stay increased (COVID median 3.5 days [interquartile range 2.0-11.0] vs. Control median 3.0 days [interquartile range 1.0-4.0], p=0.05). Pediatric burn injuries increased after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic despite Stay-at-Home orders intended to optimize health and increase public safety.

Assessment of Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence Among Healthcare Personnel in The Safety-Net Sector in The United States and Puerto Rico (preprint)

Background: This study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel in the safety net sector of the United States and Puerto Rico. The study aimed to examine the extent to which increased knowledge and positive attitudes about COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy were associated with healthcare workers' COVID-19 vaccination status and their recommendation of the vaccine to all patients. Methods: The study collected online survey data from healthcare workers working in Free and Charitable Clinics across the United States and Federally Qualified Health Centers in Puerto Rico. The survey consisted of 62 questions covering various demographic measures and constructs related to healthcare workers' vaccination status, beliefs, and their recommendation of COVID-19 vaccination to all patients. Statistical analyses, including multivariate analysis, were conducted to identify the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine status and recommendation among healthcare personnel. Results: Among the 2273 respondents, 93% reported being vaccinated against COVID-19. The analysis revealed that respondents who believed that COVID-19 vaccines were efficacious and safe were three times more likely to be vaccinated and two times more likely to recommend the vaccine to all their patients. Respondents who believed they had received adequate information about COVID-19 vaccination were 10 times more likely to be vaccinated and four times more likely to recommend it to all their patients. Conclusions: The study findings suggest that healthcare personnel's COVID-19 vaccine confidence is associated with increased knowledge and holding positive beliefs and attitudes about COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy. The results also highlight the importance of healthcare personnel feeling adequately informed and confident in their knowledge to recommend the vaccine to their patients. These findings have important implications for developing strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel and improve vaccine uptake among their patients.

Pediatric injury trends and relationships with social vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-institutional analysis.

BACKGROUND: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric injury, particularly relative to a community's vulnerability, is unknown. The objective of this study was to describe the change in pediatric injury during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to prior years, focusing on intentional injury relative to the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). METHODS: All patients <18 years meeting inclusion criteria for the National Trauma Data Bank between 1/1/2016 and 9/30/2020 at 9 Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Centers were included. The COVID cohort (children injured in the first 6 months of the pandemic) were compared to an averaged Historical cohort (corresponding dates, 2016-2019). Demographic and injury characteristics, and hospital-based outcomes were compared. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted odds of intentional injury associated with SVI, moderated by exposure to the pandemic. Interrupted time series analysis with autoregressive integrated moving average modeling was used to predict expected injury patterns. Volume trends and observed vs expected rates of injury were analyzed. RESULTS: 47,385 patients met inclusion criteria, with 8,991 treated in 2020 and 38,394 treated in 2016-2019. The COVID cohort included 7,068 patients and the averaged Historical cohort included 5,891 patients (SD 472), indicating a 20% increase in pediatric injury (p = 0.031). Penetrating injuries increased (722(10.2%) COVID vs 421(8.0%) Historical, p < 0.001), specifically firearm injuries (163(2.3%) COVID vs. 105(1.8%) Historical, p = 0.043). Bicycle collisions (505(26.3%) COVID vs. 261(18.2%) Historical, p < 0.001) and collisions on other land transportation (e.g. all-terrain vehicles) (525(27.3%) COVID vs. 280(19.5%) Historical, p < 0.001) also increased. Overall, SVI was associated with intentional injury (OR 7.9, 95% CI 6.5-9.8), a relationship which increased during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric injury increased during the pandemic across multiple sites and states. The relationship between increased vulnerability and intentional injury increased during the pandemic. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III, Prognostic and Epidemiologic Study.

Household solid waste management - perception and practices during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Ernakulam

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered panic buying of food, face masks, gloves, cleaning products and hand sanitizers. Change in food practices, dynamics of plastic and biomedical waste generation during the pandemic has, however, stirred the woes of household solid waste management. The virus loaded waste from indiscriminately discarded face masks, gloves and other biomedical waste with the regular waste stream could cause serious health risks. The present study was undertaken to find out the situation of waste management systems during pandemic outbreak by the households. An online survey was conducted via Google form using well-structured questionnaire. The study covered a sample size of 100 homemakers using simple random sampling technique. Only 45% of households agree with the satisfaction in current waste management system. A majority of 59% of the respondents are burning the household medical waste, 70% of respondents saw the need to avoid mixing of household waste with the PPE products, 64% of respondents are not educated by local authorities on proper waste disposal, and 81% of respondents think there is no sufficient waste management information to the public. Of respondents 54% received awareness regarding the disposal of household medical waste during COVID19 outbreak via social media. Household solid waste management training is important to improve the hygiene and sanitation practices of community people. The current study showed that participants who received training on household solid waste management were significantly correlated with good hygiene practices.

Intelligent mobile malware detection

The popularity of Android mobile phones has caused more cybercriminals to create malware applications that carry out various malicious activities. The attacks, which escalated after the COVID-19 pandemic, proved there is great importance in protecting Android mobile devices from malware attacks. Intelligent Mobile Malware Detection will teach users how to develop intelligent Android malware detection mechanisms by using various graph and stochastic models. The book begins with an introduction to the Android operating system accompanied by the limitations of the state-of-the-art static malware detection mechanisms as well as a detailed presentation of a hybrid malware detection mechanism. The text then presents four different system call-based dynamic Android malware detection mechanisms using graph centrality measures, graph signal processing and graph convolutional networks. Further, the text shows how most of the Android malware can be detected by checking the presence of a unique subsequence of system calls in its system call sequence. All the malware detection mechanisms presented in the book are based on the authors' recent research. The experiments are conducted with the latest Android malware samples, and the malware samples are collected from public repositories. The source codes are also provided for easy implementation of the mechanisms. This book will be highly useful to Android malware researchers, developers, students and cyber security professionals to explore and build defense mechanisms against the ever-evolving Android malware. © 2023 Tony Thomas, Roopak Surendran, Teenu S. John, and Mamoun Alazab. All rights reserved.

Frequency of IRF5+ dendritic cells is associated with the TLR7-induced inflammatory cytokine response in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to enhanced inflammation driven by innate immune responses. Upon TLR7 stimulation, dendritic cells (DC) mediate the production of inflammatory cytokines, and in particular of type I interferons (IFN). Especially in DCs, IRF5 is a key transcription factor that regulates pathogen-induced immune responses via activation of the MyD88-dependent TLR signaling pathway. In the current study, the frequencies of IRF5+ DCs and the association with innate cytokine responses in SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals with different disease courses were investigated. In addition to a decreased number of mDC and pDC subsets, we could show reduced relative IRF5+ frequencies in mDCs of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals compared with healthy donors. Functionally, mDCs of COVID-19 patients produced lower levels of IL-6 in response to in vitro TLR7 stimulation. IRF5+ mDCs more frequently produced IL-6 and TNF-α compared to their IRF5- counterparts upon TLR7 ligation. The correlation of IRF5+ mDCs with the frequencies of IL-6 and TNF-α producing mDCs were indicators for a role of IRF5 in the regulation of cytokine responses in mDCs. In conclusion, our data provide further insights into the underlying mechanisms of TLR7-dependent immune dysfunction and identify IRF5 as a potential immunomodulatory target in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Effect of Hand Hygiene Intervention in Community Kindergartens: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of hand hygiene interventions on the overall hand hygiene (HH) status of teaching instruction of hand hygiene in kindergartens, given the vulnerability of kindergarten children and their high risk due to infectious diseases and the current COVID-19 epidemic. We investigated the HH status of teachers from two kindergartens in the same community. The participants were recruited from 28 classes in both kindergartens. After completing the baseline survey, the intervention program consisted of three components: lectures on infectious diseases, lectures on HH, and seven-step hand washing techniques conducted in two kindergartens. The intervention program effectively increased teachers' perceived disease susceptibility (p < 0.05), reduced the total bacterial colonization of children's hands (p < 0.001), and improved the HH environment (p < 0.01). We recommend that health authorities or kindergartens adopt this HH intervention program to effectively improve the HH status in kindergartens and allow for preventive responses to the COVID-19 epidemic or other emerging infectious diseases.

COVID-19 induced renal injury differs from that in other viral-infections

Background: Kidney injuries caused by several viral diseases have been reported worldwide among all age groups, races, and genders. Of particular importance is coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and its prevalence in communities infecting all patient populations with symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to severe, including complications and mortality. Methods: Data were acquired from PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), and Lexi-Comp using the following search terms: “COVID-19 and renal pathology,” “COVID-19 induced kidney disease,” “Viral infection induced kidney disease,” and “Viral infection induced renal damage.” Titles and s were manually analyzed as per the exclusion and inclusion criteria of relevant articles;relevance of articles included studies on the pathology of a specific viral infection and the impact of the virus on the adult renal system. Results: The mechanisms for renal disease due to COVID-19 include direct renal tubular injury, cytokine storm, inflammation, thrombosis vs. acute tubular necrosis, thrombotic events, and direct renal injury. Although some mechanisms behind renal dysfunction among the studied viral infections are similar, the prevalence rates of kidney injury or damage differ. This might be described by recommended prophylactic and therapeutic approaches that can alter the viral infection characteristics and possibly the impact a particular organ system. Conclusion: The patient population at risk was old in age and had a high body mass index. The mechanisms associated with renal dysfunction are similar, including direct renal injury through angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) entry, inflammation, and thrombosis. The renal pathology of coronaviruses that differs from that of other prevalent viral infections is the activation of cytokine storm, which causes elevations of a greater number and different kinds of cytokines than other viral infections. Copyright © 2022 Shandong University, published by Wolters Kluwer, Inc.

Chemical Compositions of Clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.) Extracts and Their Potentials in Suppressing SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein-ACE2 Binding, Inhibiting ACE2, and Scavenging Free Radicals.

COVID-19 is initiated by binding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on host cells. Food factors capable of suppressing the binding between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and ACE2 or reducing the ACE2 availability through ACE2 inhibitions may potentially reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19. In this study, the chemical compositions of clove water and ethanol extracts were investigated, along with their potentials in suppressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-ACE2 binding, reducing ACE2 availability, and scavenging free radicals. Thirty-four compounds were tentatively identified in the clove water and ethanol extracts, with six reported in clove for the first time. Clove water and ethanol extracts dose-dependently suppressed SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2 and inhibited ACE2 activity. The water extract had stronger inhibitory effects than the ethanol extract on a dry weight basis. The clove water extract also had more potent free radical scavenging activities against DPPH• and ABTS•+ (536.9 and 3525.06 µmol TE/g, respectively) than the ethanol extract (58.44 and 2298.01 µmol TE/g, respectively). In contrast, the ethanol extract had greater total phenolic content (TPC) and relative HO• scavenging capacity (HOSC) values (180.03 mg GAE/g and 2181.08 µmol TE/g, respectively) than the water extract (120.12 mg GAE/g and 1483.02 µmol TE/g, respectively). The present study demonstrated the potential of clove in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 development.

Role of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Among the General Population of Saudi Arabia in Management of Second Wave of COVID-19

Introduction: The highly infectious corona virus disease, described as a pandemic by the WHO, has been the focus of intense discussion world-wide due to its unpredictable nature and impact. The present study was undertaken to assess the health behavior of individuals as a result of their knowledge, attitudes and practice, which are important in containing the spread of such a pandemic in the community with anticipated future outcomes. Method(s): This study was carried out to explore the influence of KAP of the Saudi population from Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Medina, Abha, Qassim and other cities of KSA towards the second wave of the pandemic spike, and determine the acceptance of the population of changed behavioral measures. Result(s): About 90.2% of the respondents had strong knowledge and awareness about COVID-19 where as 80.7% showed positive attitudes, with a mean score of 29.52 +/- 2.591 and 59.4% following good practices. About 75.5% of respondents regularly washed their hands, 73.7% used sanitizers effectively every time after touching some surface and 86.8% affirmed using masks regularly. Conclusion(s): The present data showed that irrespective of gender, age group, nationality, education level and occupation, majority of the population had adequate knowledge and positive attitude. However, it was found that good knowledge and positive attitude may not always culminate into good practice as evident from the study. This reflects that irrespective of the shortcomings, the Saudi government was successful in propagating right information across all sections of the society. The findings give valuable insight to policy makers and health officials to pinpoint gaps in these areas and bolster ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic and sustain the preventive measures implemented as part of the future strategic planning. Copyright © 2022 Al-Mohaithef et al.