Impact of advanced Parkinson's disease on caregivers: an international real-world study.

BACKGROUND: Caring for a partner or family member with Parkinson's disease (PD) negatively affects the caregiver's own physical and emotional well-being, especially those caring for people with advanced PD (APD). This study was designed to examine the impact of APD on caregiver perceived burden, quality of life (QoL), and health status. METHODS: Dyads of people with PD and their primary caregivers were identified from the Adelphi Parkinson's Disease Specific Program (DSP™) using real-world data from the United States, Japan and five European countries. Questionnaires were used to capture measures of clinical burden (people with PD) and caregiver burden (caregivers). RESULTS: Data from 721 patient-caregiver dyads in seven countries were captured. Caregivers had a mean age 62.6 years, 71.6% were female, and 70.4% were a spouse. Caregivers for people with APD had a greater perceived burden, were more likely to take medication and had lower caregiver treatment satisfaction than those caring for people with early or intermediate PD; similar findings were observed for caregivers of people with intermediate versus early PD. Caregivers for people with intermediate PD were also less likely to be employed than those with early PD (25.3% vs 42.4%) and spent more time caring (6.6 vs 3.2 h/day). CONCLUSIONS: This real-world study demonstrates that caregivers of people with APD experience a greater burden than those caring for people with early PD. This highlights the importance of including caregiver-centric measures in future studies, and emphasizes the need for implementing treatments that reduce caregiver burden in APD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: N/A.

ICT-Based Research Tools to Determine the Importance of Vaccine Distribution in Supply Chain Efficiency: Specific Case of Bibliometrix

The global pandemic of COVID-19 created an unprecedented global supply chain crisis and disruptions. Vaccination has widely been recognized as the most effective in controlling the pandemic and keeping the economy moving. We use emerging ICT-based analytical technique, Bibliometrix, to assess the status of a field of knowledge, specifically vaccine distribution as a supply chain resilience and mitigation strategy. Bibliometrix, an R package, makes global analysis of a subject field extremely effective with the ability to import and convert data from diverse sources. With high-level network extraction for co-citation, coupling, and collaboration, matrices are the input data for performing network analysis, factorial analysis, or multidimensional scaling analysis. Using its abilities to gather global data, eliminate duplication, and concert data for sophisticated statistical analysis, we identified the dearth of academic research on vaccines as a supply chain mitigation strategy, even while the governments around the global are using vaccines to keep the wheels of the economy going. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Blockchain Solutions for Covid - policy Enforcement versus Food Security: A Demonstration of Customizable Benefits of Blockchain for e-Governance and e-Business

Blockchain, AI and robotics are the top three disruptive technologies that are likely to consume a major share of the supply chain (SC) technology investments in this decade. As in the past, each technology comes with inherent elements that have the potential to unlock governance and business capabilities, but not all the technological elements/ features of each are equally facilitative to the objectives of an organization. However, due to the lack of understanding of the capabilities of a technology in a specific context, governments and organizations make major investments in technologies that then result in suboptimal return on investment (ROI). This research study identifies the most facilitative features of the blockchain technologies and demonstrate their differential effects on achieving specific outcomes. Our case-based research identifies how each BCT feature contributes to specific performance benefits. Particularly this study focuses on two different use cases to show how transparency, immutability, smart contracts and consensus enablement in blockchain-based systems can help enforce Covid-19 rules and assure food safety. Finally, this research study has concluded that matching the features of a technology, specifically blockchains to the expected project outcomes can increase adoption of the technology with better return on technology investment. © 2022 IEEE.

Nurses as Warriors: Challenges and Impacts among Kerala Nurses during Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic.

Introduction: In December 2019, the global outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was announced. The pandemic has cast a spotlight like never before on health-care professionals in general, and nurses in particular. Nurses have been dubbed "warriors" by the general public for their determination to provide frontline care to patients with the disease, despite the risk of exposure and a lack of professional resources. The goal of the study was to assess the obstacles and consequences faced by Kerala nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2021 among Kerala nurses. A total of 1630 nurses were chosen using a randomized sampling technique. The data were gathered using a semi-structured self-reported questionnaire. The information was entered into a database and analyzed using SPSS program version 16.0. Results: After analyzing the data, seven themes emerged: (a) love for the profession; (b) frustration for being labeled as "COVID Nurses"; (c) fear of infection and transmission; (d) personal protective equipment uncertainty; (e) workplace safety especially against hospital violence; (f) burnout in nurses; and (g) job stress. Conclusion: Nurses undertook a hazardous rescue mission and played an essential contribution in COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of intensive work, they underwent significant psychological changes. Nurses burnout and occupational stress must be addressed with effective interventions. In order to mitigate the pandemic, the administration should also promote a healthy workplace and have a positive attitude and harmonious connection with the frontline personnel.

Mitigation themes in supply chain research during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the themes and direction of supply chain mitigation and resilience research during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) of supply chain mitigation literature since pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the Web of Science (WoS) Database to analyze the contribution in supply chain mitigation literature by authors, themes in supply chain mitigation and the citing articles. An investigation based on bibliometric approach for the SLR represents the bibliographic data of over 530 publications between the years 2020-2021. Additionally, the article also develops graphical visualizations of the bibliographic data analyzed using the R-program Bibliometrix to ascertain the top sources, authors, keywords and conceptual themes. Findings Most strategies in the existing literature focused on reactive approaches to supply chain disruption and current mitigation literature has not evolved in parallel to the changing macro environment leaving a wide gap in considering vaccines as a supply chain mitigation strategy. Hence, this study identifies the potential need to focus on building proactive supply chain mitigation strategies preferably by studying the role of vaccines in mitigating supply chains. Practical implications This article helps the reader to understand the scientific research in terms of contributions in supply chain mitigation research since pandemic. Though, the time frame considered limits the connection the findings to previous work on supply chain disruptions and mitigation, it offers an understanding of the various mitigation themes evolved in light of mitigating the supply chain disruptions as one caused by the current pandemic. Further, this research helps us understand how businesses can help reduce the social consequences by preventing the disruptions and helping life normalize during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value This is the first of its kind contribution offering a SLR of supply chain mitigation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic identifying the focal themes in current literature and establishing the need for future venues of research studying the role of vaccines in supply chain mitigation strategies.

Panelization: A Step Toward Increased Efficiency in Homebuilding

This paper examines the current use of panelized components in homebuilding in the Oklahoma City (OKC) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) areas. Panelization is a type of prefabrication in which certain framing components are built off site and then transported to the site for assembly. This technique has been reported to make homebuilding more efficient and affordable. Further, panelization may be one strategy to cope with the growing labor shortage. However, adoption in the United States varies and is relatively limited. To better understand the benefits and challenges of panelization, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 production homebuilders from the OKC and DFW metropolitan areas. Although most of the benefits (faster, more consistent, and less waste) and challenges (cost, logistics, and labor issues) were consistent with previous research, new benefits related to warranties and new challenges relating to transportation and delivery were identified. In addition, the study concludes that national and regional production builders differ in their priorities and perceptions of panelization: national builders are trying to increase their use of panelization, whereas regional builders are moving away from it.

COVID-19: Understanding the Pandemic Emergence, Impact and Infection Prevalence Worldwide

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has showed high transmission across the continents due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with total infected cases of around ~ 44 million people. This communicable virus that initiated from the Wuhan city of China in the month of December 2020 has now spread to 189 different countries with 1.1 million fatalities worldwide (till 28 Oct, 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this outbreak as Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January, 2020. The infection spreads mainly due to contact with infected droplets or fomites, highlighting flu like symptoms initially, which may further progress into severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, often observed in elderly patients with prehistory of other diseases. The diagnosis is based on detection of viral antigen, human antibody and viral gene (RT-PCR). Further, various other diagnostic tools including X-ray, CT-scan are used for imaging purpose, recently artificial intelligence based imaging (contactless scanning) gained popularity. Generally testing of existing drugs (repurposing) and development of new molecules are the main strategies adopted by researchers. However, as per initial findings, various drugs, monoclonal antibody and plasma therapy were found to show effectiveness against COVID-19. Further, many vaccine candidates have entered or will soon enter phase III clinical testing. This disease has further challenged the global economy. Thus, this review uniquely compares the strategies adopted by developed and developing countries worldwide including protective measures like lockdown, continuous testing, utilizing latest tools (artificial intelligence) in curbing this infection spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pure & Applied Microbiology is the property of Dr. M. N. Khan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist GTS-21 improves bacterial clearance in mice by restoring hyperoxia-compromised macrophage function.

BACKGROUND: Mechanical ventilation, in combination with supraphysiological concentrations of oxygen (i.e., hyperoxia), is routinely used to treat patients with respiratory distress, such as COVID-19. However, prolonged exposure to hyperoxia compromises the clearance of invading pathogens by impairing macrophage phagocytosis. Previously, we have shown that the exposure of mice to hyperoxia induces the release of the nuclear protein high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) into the pulmonary airways. Furthermore, extracellular HMGB1 impairs macrophage phagocytosis and increases the mortality of mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). The aim of this study was to determine whether GTS-21 (3-(2,4-dimethoxybenzylidene) anabaseine), an α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) agonist, could (1) inhibit hyperoxia-induced HMGB1 release into the airways; (2) enhance macrophage phagocytosis and (3) increase bacterial clearance from the lungs in a mouse model of ventilator-associated pneumonia. METHOD: GTS-21 (0.04, 0.4, and 4 mg/kg) or saline were administered by intraperitoneal injection to mice that were exposed to hyperoxia (≥ 99% O2) and subsequently challenged with PA. RESULTS: The systemic administration of 4 mg/kg i.p. of GTS-21 significantly increased bacterial clearance, decreased acute lung injury and decreased accumulation of airway HMGB1 compared to the saline control. To determine the mechanism of action of GTS-21, RAW 264.7 cells, a macrophage-like cell line, were incubated with different concentrations of GTS-21 in the presence of 95% O2. The phagocytic activity of macrophages was significantly increased by GTS-21 in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, GTS-21 significantly inhibited the cytoplasmic translocation and release of HMGB1 from RAW 264.7 cells and attenuated hyperoxia-induced NF-κB activation in macrophages and mouse lungs exposed to hyperoxia and infected with PA. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that GTS-21 is efficacious in improving bacterial clearance and reducing acute lung injury via enhancing macrophage function by inhibiting the release of nuclear HMGB1. Therefore, the α7nAChR represents a possible pharmacological target to improve the clinical outcome of patients on ventilators by augmenting host defense against bacterial infections.

COVID-19 and haematology services in a cancer centre from a middle-income country: adapting service delivery, balancing the known and unknown during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions in multiple spheres of healthcare delivery in the world. Developing nations have had to tackle this unanticipated crisis in the midst of various other healthcare delivery issues and resource constraints. As a tertiary level cancer care provider located in an eastern Indian city, a COVID-19 hotspot, we share our experience from the perspective of haematology and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) services. The primary challenges related to infection control included infection screening and decreasing exposure among patients and healthcare workers. Logistic challenges include maintaining essential patient care services, personnel redeployment, blood bank inventory constraints and maintaining the supply chain for a continuum of care. Clinical management challenges were dealt with by rationalising treatment delivery by modification of treatment regimens, risk-based deferral of HSCT, management of COVID-19 in patients, and staggering the follow-up schedules in survivors and those on maintenance therapies, among other strategies. These challenges were compounded by the restrictions imposed by a countrywide lockdown in the initial period of the pandemic, which also affected the socio-economic aspects of treatment delivery. As a training institution, this period also impacted academics and research activities. This overview details our response to these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has many unknowns.

CRISPR-based assays for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented threat to global public health and economies. There is no effective treatment of the disease, hence, scaling up testing for rapid diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and quarantine them from healthy individuals is one the best strategies to curb the pandemic. Establishing globally accepted easy-to-access diagnostic tests is extremely important to understanding the epidemiology of the present pandemic. While nucleic acid based tests are considered to be more sensitive with respect to serological tests but present gold standard qRT-PCR-based assays possess limitations such as low sample throughput, requirement for sophisticated reagents and instrumentation. To overcome these shortcomings, recent efforts of incorporating LAMP-based isothermal detection, and minimizing the number of reagents required are on rise. CRISPR based novel techniques, when merge with isothermal and allied technologies, promises to provide sensitive and rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids. Here, we discuss and present compilation of state-of-the-art detection techniques for COVID-19 using CRISPR technology which has tremendous potential to transform diagnostics and epidemiology.

CRISPR-Based Assays for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 (preprint)

COVID-19 represents an unprecedented threat to global public health and economies. Assays are urgently needed for rapid detection and diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients in order to inform treatment and quarantine strategies. Establishing globally accepted easy-to-access diagnostic tests is extremely important to understanding the epidemiology of the present pandemic. While nucleic acid-based tests are considered to be more sensitive with respect to serological tests, but the present gold standard RT-PCR-based assays possess limitations such as low sample throughput, requirement for sophisticated reagents and instrumentation. To overcome these shortcomings, recent efforts of incorporating LAMP-based isothermal detection, and minimizing the number of reagents required are on rise. Novel CRISPR- and other nuclease-based techniques, when merge with isothermal and allied technologies, promises to provide sensitive and rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids. Here we discuss and present compilation of state-of-the-art CRISPR based detection techniques for use in COVID diagnosis and epidemiology.