Emerging trends in the pharmaceutical waste generation and disposal after COVID-19

Every year, a million tonnes of pharmaceutical waste is generated around the globe. The major pharmaceutical products include syringes, masks, PPE kits, unused vaccines, antibiotics, etc. Its production was at a steady rate before the pandemic, but during the pandemic, the demand increased many-fold and so did the production. The widespread use of these pharmaceutical products during the COVID-19 pandemic has created an alarming situation around the world. All our landfills, oceans, and rivers are flooded with pharmaceutical waste. The unused antibiotics after unsafe disposal led to the presence of antibiotics in soil and water, which led to the antibiotic-resistant issue. In the current chapter, the authors suggest a drastic change in pharmacy waste before and after the pandemic and ways to minimize the environmental and health risks. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Repositioning of Drugs as a Promising Strategy to Fight COVID-19

Background and Objective: With the initial case of corona reported in Wuhan, China on 31st December 2020, there has been an unprecedented rise in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), with over 200 countries all across the world in less than 3 months. By the October 2020, about 40 million population of the world got infected and over one million deaths occurred. Since no WHO and FDA approved medications or vaccines for COVID-19 were available, there was an impatient bustling need to develop a drug for the treatment. Drug repurposing emerged as the easiest and fast emerging strategy to get medicine for COVID-19 with rapid approvals for the clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the status of drug repurposing under the clinical and its impact on the development of medicine for COVID-19. Method(s): The study was undertaken to review various clinical trials from the website. www.clinicaltrials.gov. We evaluated 220 ongoing clinical trials with the strategy of 'drug repur-posing' against COVID-19, analyzed them as per their chemical structure and possible biological targets. Result(s): It was noticed that some of the early repurposed drugs like chloroquine, hydroxychloro-quine, ACE inhibitors and ARBs, did not succeed and remained controversial. While many of the antiviral drugs like remdesivir, favipiravir, lopinavir, ritonavir, oseltamivir could be taken for the clinical trials in various countries, remdesivir could succeed to a great extent as compared to other drugs. WHO has come up with an initiative known as multi-country 'Solidarity Trial' for developing a potential drug or therapy against COVID-19.However, the most preferred drugs used for re-purposing like hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir have not shown predictable results in solidarity trials. Conclusion(s): The analyses of several ongoing and partially concluded clinical trials suggest that drug repurposing can be one of the major strategies for the treatment of COVID-19. Further, guidelines framed by the WHO through Infection Prevention and Control for monitoring the widespread of this COVID-19 across the world is another aggressive attempt to find the solution for the treatment for COVID-19.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Methane emissions decline from reduced oil, natural gas, and refinery production during COVID-19d

In the summer of 2020, the AVIRIS-NG airborne imaging spectrometer surveyed California's Southern San Joaquin Valley and the South Bay (Los Angeles County) to identify anthropogenic methane (CH4) point source plumes, estimate emission rates, and attribute sources to both facilities and emission sectors. These flights were designed to revisit regions previously surveyed by the 2016-2017 California Methane Survey and to assess the socioeconomic responses of COVID-19 on emissions across multiple sectors. For regions flown by both the California Methane Survey and the California COVID campaigns, total CH4 point source emissions from the energy and oil & natural gas sectors were 34.8% lower during the summer 2020 flights, however, emission trends varied across sector. For the energy sector, there was a 28.2% decrease driven by reductions in refinery emissions consistent with a drop in production, which was offset in part with increases from powerplants. For the oil & natural gas sector, CH4 emissions declined 34.2% and significant variability was observed at the oilfield scale. Emissions declined for all but the Buena Vista and Cymric fields with an observed positive relationship between production and emissions. In addition to characterizing the short-term impact of COVID-19 on CH4 emissions, this study demonstrates the broader potential of remote sensing with sufficient sensitivity, spatial resolution, and spatio-temporal completeness to quantify changes in CH4 emissions at the scale of key sectors and facilities. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Adopting e-learning facilities during COVID-19: Exploring perspectives of teachers working in Indian Public-funded Elementary Schools

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an influx of research studies focusing on the new norm of online teaching–learning in higher education. However, much less is known about how this profound shift in pedagogy has impacted school education especially among rural children of India. The present study is an attempt to understand the barriers and challenges that teachers of Public-funded (PF) elementary schools face while teaching online. We developed a semi-structured questionnaire and administered it to teachers of PF elementary schools in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, India, using the online survey method. Thematic analysis of the responses we received (N = 203) reveals five broad themes, namely physical environmental constraints, socio-environmental limitations, parental support, issues of effective learning and health and well-being hazards. These findings have several implications for developing appropriate online teaching methods and making policy interventions to enhance learners' as well as educators' experiences. © 2021 ASPE.

Pulmonary rehabilitation in the management of rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis infection: A post-covid-19 complication

Mucormycosis, often known as 'black fungus' in India, is a fungal illness that has been identified in COVID-19 patients on an irregular basis. This case report describes a patient who was diagnosed with rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis infection following COVID-19 infection. The COVID-19 infection weakens the patient's immune system, making the patient more susceptible to other fungal infections. He had surgery for this as well as ocular exenteration surgery. A physiotherapy treatment was intended to battle the post-surgery problems, including COVID-19 infection. The goal of the physiotherapy was to improve the patient's facial muscles after surgery. Following recovery from the COVID-19 infection, it also aimed to strengthen the patient's respiratory capacity and increase his exercise tolerance. As a result, the patient's quality of life improves. It included the facial proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise as well as a well -planned cardiovascular exercise programme. The 6-minute walk test, peak expiratory flow rate, and quality of life questionnaire were used to assess the efficacy of the physiotherapy treatment.

Estimating COVID-19 Cases Using Machine Learning Regression Algorithms

Background: Coronavirus refers to a large group of RNA viruses that infects the respira-tory tract in humans and also causes diseases in birds and mammals. SARS-CoV-2 gives rise to the infectious disease “COVID-19”. In March 2020, coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the WHO. The transmission rate of COVID-19 has been increasing rapidly;thus, it becomes indispensable to estimate the number of confirmed infected cases in the future. Objective: The study aims to forecast coronavirus cases using three ML algorithms, viz., support vector regression (SVR), polynomial regression (PR), and Bayesian ridge regression (BRR). Methods: There are several ML algorithms like decision tree, K-nearest neighbor algorithm, Ran-dom forest, neural networks, and Naïve Bayes, but we have chosen PR, SVR, and BRR as they have many advantages in comparison to other algorithms. SVM is a widely used supervised ML algorithm developed by Vapnik and Cortes in 1990. It is used for both classification and regression. PR is known as a particular case of Multiple Linear Regression in Machine Learning. It models the rela-tionship between an independent and dependent variable as nth degree polynomial. Results: In this study, we have predicted the number of infected confirmed cases using three ML algorithms, viz. SVR, PR, and BRR. We have assumed that there are no precautionary measures in place. Conclusion: In this paper, predictions are made for the upcoming number of infected confirmed cases by analyzing datasets containing information about the day-wise past confirmed cases using ML models (SVR, PR and BRR). According to this paper, as compared to SVR and PR, BRR performed far better in the future forecasting of the infected confirmed cases owing to coronavirus. © 2022 Bentham Science Publishers.

SPECTRUM OF CT FINDINGS IN CLINICALLY SUSPECTED CASES OF MUCORMYCOSIS - A STUDY AT TERTIARY HEALTH-CARE CENTER (RAJINDRA HOSPITAL PATIALA) DURING SECOND WAVE OF COVID PANDEMIC

Objective: Rhinocereberal mucormycosis is an acute, fulminant, and often lethal opportunistic infection typically affecting diabetic or immunocompromised patients. Early diagnosis is vital in these infections because delay in initiation of the treatment can be life-threatening. Computed tomography (CT) with axial and coronal sections is a highly accurate and non-invasive modality to accurately image sinonasal mycosis. The aim of the study was to describe the imaging findings in suspected cases of mucormycosis on CT. Methods: This study was conducted in Radiodiagnosis Department of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. The data of 22 patients who were referred for CT with a clinical suspicion of mucormycosis were collected and all these patients were followed up to know about the prognosis of the disease. Results: In our study, there were 54.60% females and 45.40% males. Maximum number of patients (45.45%) belonged to 40-49 year age group. Diabetes mellitus was found to be the most commonly (90.90%) found comorbidity followed by hypertension (36.36%). In our study, involvement of unilateral nasal cavity was observed in 36.36% cases. Among the paranasal sinuses, maxillary and ethmoid sinuses were the most commonly involved in 95.45% and 77.27% cases. Conclusion: Prompt diagnosis and treatment of rhino-orbital mucormycosis are the sine qua non as antifungal drugs and surgical debridement can successfully control the infection and thus reduce the high mortality and morbidity associated with mucormycosis.

Transient Elastography of Liver and Serum Hyaluronic Acid Levels In Adult Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia Patients

Iron overload occurs as a result of multiple blood transfusions and increased iron absorption in thalassemia patients. Iron deposition in liver results in liver stiffness and fibrosis. Non invasive methods including imaging and serum biomarkers have been introduced for assessment of liver fibrosis. We aimed to study liver stiffness using transient elastography and serum hyaluronic acid levels and correlate them with serum ferritin levels in adult transfusion dependent beta thalassemia patients. MATERIAL: 70 transfusion dependent thalassemia patients of age ≥18 years, registered at Thalassemia Day Care Centre were subjected to investigations like CBC, Liver function tests, viral markers, serum ferritin, serum hyaluronic acid levels and transient elastography. Fibrosis indices like FIB-4, AAR and APRI were also calculated. 45 patients had T2*MRI reports with them;which were also included and analysed. Spearman coefficient r was used to test correlations between TE values and serum HA levels with other variables. OBSERVATION: 70 patients (41 male and 29 female) with mean age of 24.09±5.38 years and BMI 20.51 ±3.47 kg/m², were enrolled. Median values of hemoglobin, AST, ALT, TE, serum HA and serum ferritin were, 9.15 g/dl, 42 IU/L, 47.50 IU/L, 9.1 kPa, 284 ng/dl and 1841 ng/ml, respectively . TE values had significant positive correlation with serum ferritin (r=0.5, p < 0.001), ALT (r=0.59, p < 0.001), AST (r=0.58, p< 0.001), APRI (r=0.5, p<0.001) and FIB-4 (p=0.02), respectively and significant negative correlation with T2* MRI (ms) (r= -0.5, p<0.001). No significant correlation of HA was found with any variable. CONCLUSION: Transient elastography can be used as a non expensive, easily accessible and non invasive marker of liver iron overload. Further detailed studies are required to establish the role of serum Hyaluronic acid in thalassemia patients. © Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 2011.

PREVALENCE OF MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN AND DISCOMFORT DUE TO ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS DURING LOCKDOWN IN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS: OUTCOMES OF THE NEW NORMAL

Purpose: The sudden lockdown due to COVID-19 in India led to closure of schools and colleges. This resulted in an increased usage of online mode of study, with a more sedentary lifestyle. The survey study aimed to analyze the prevalence of any musculoskeletal problem in students and teachers due to the same. Methodology: A Google Form was distributed by a snowball sampling technique using various social media platforms. A total of 715 responses were received. Results: Maximum respondents were in the age range of 18-25 years. Eighty eight percent of participants in the survey were involved in the online mode of education, with 60.8% experiencing some form of musculoskeletal pain or discomfort;71% of people believed that the cause of pain was online working. Neck pain (51.3%) followed by low back pain (33.4%) and headaches (29.8%) were commonly reported. University teachers reported maximum pain followed by university students, school teachers and school students. Of all the respondents, 60.8% people admitted to adopting awkward postures while at work, whereas only 27.6% of them exercised to relieve pain and discomfort. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop appropriate intervention strategies for people involved in sedentary online work to prevent the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. Physical therapy can play a major role in managing this lifestyle hazard.

Covid-19 Morbidity amongst Covishield Vaccinated vs Non-Vaccinated: A Comparative Study

Introduction: Covid-19 pandemic is further spreading its leg in India. Indigenous Covishield vaccination drive was started to protect people from the disease. Objective: This observational cross sectional study was conducted to assess the morbidity and mortality pattern amongst Covishield vaccinated people Vs non-vaccinated patients of covid19. Methodology: This observation study was conducted in a dedicated covid-19 hospital. All RTPCR covid-19 patients were included. The data on vaccination against covid-19 amongst the patients was obtained, and analysed using statistical software. Results: The study population comprised of 155 cases of confirmed covid-19 patients of which 24 (15.48%) were fully vaccinated, however 41 (26.45%) and 90 (58.06%) were partially and non-vaccinated respectively. Fully vaccinated people were protected from development of severe form of disease (p=0.0083). Mortality was significantly less amongst vaccinated group (p= 0.028). Conclusion: Patients who are completely vaccinated with Covishield vaccine are protected from development of severe form of diseases and deaths and hence mass vaccination of Indian population to over-come the pandemic is required at the earliest. © 2022, MedSci Publications. All rights reserved.

Mobile usage behavior among agricultural students in Haryana

Mobile is a versatile technological tool used by the students for multiple purposes especially during COVID- 19 pandemic viz., communication, education, research and entertainment. A study was carried out to assess the mobile usage behavior among the students of Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Empirical data were collected personally from 200 students through a structured interview schedule and analyzed using standard methodology. Findings revealed that all the students used mobile daily for more than 4 hours. More than half of the students (54.00%) used Xiaomi/MI mobile phone with Jio network services for entertainment and communication purpose compared to academic and professional purpose. Social networking apps were most frequently visited by the students followed by entertainment and educational apps. Study also revealed that personality traits viz.;age, education, medium of schooling, schooling, annual expenditure, scientific orientation, mass media exposure, information seeking behavior and risk orientation exhibited positive and significant correlation with their usage behavior of mobile at 0.05 level of probability.

Student’s Perception towards Mobile learning using Interned Enabled Mobile devices during COVID-19

INTRODUCTION: The novel corona disease disrupted education all around the world. This shifted people to mobile learning in real time wireless classroom from the physical face-to-face classroom. OBJECTIVE: Mobile learning has been present for years but the use of mobile learning is more in the current scenario due to COVID-19. However, people’s acceptance of mobile learning education at institutions is still low. Thus, this research seeks to understand the student’s perspective by analysing constructs hypothesized in the proposed hybrid model. METHOD: Data is collected using a survey from an Indian institute of the Meerut region with a total of 1022 students. RESULT: Data analysis and research findings showed that Random Forest and K-Nearest Neighbour Algorithms outperforms than other classifiers in predicting the dependent variables with better accuracy rate, precision, and recall value in this study. CONCLUSION: The research findings will help the designers and software development to design learning applications considering the perspective of students with respect to 5G technology. © 2021. Pooja Gupta et al.

Occurrence of collar rot on berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) caused by Sclerotium rolfsii and its molecular characterization in India

Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) is one of the important legume fodder crops. It is widely grown in Central and Northern parts of India during winter season. Disease symptoms resembling to collar rot was observed in the breeder seed production and research fields of berseem at ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India in March 2019 and April 2020. Disease incidence was ranged from 15–20% and 20-25% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Disease symptom appeared as water soaked lesions on surface of collar region followed by the development of rotten areas with white mycelial mass and finally plants were dried. The associated pathogen was isolated and identified as Sclerotium rolfsii (Teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) on the basis of morphological characters and sequence analysis of ITS, LSU and SSU regions of rDNA. Artificial inoculation of pathogen revealed cent per cent disease incidence and wilting of plants. To best of our knowledge, this is first complete report on etiology of collar rot disease caused by Sclerotium rolfsii on berseem in India. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Archives of Phytopathology & Plant Protection is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd 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 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 . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Analysis of performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a single cylinder VCR engine when run on blends of 1-octanol and diesel

Phenomenal Changes are taking place in the world. The energy consumption of the country has grown many folds over the past few years, thereby putting pressure on the fossil fuel reserves. Though, recently due to COVID-19, the price of crude oil has fallen since few months but it would again rise which would lead to heavy expenditure over imports of crude petroleum. Also the fossil fuels increase the problem of global warming and carbon emissions. Alternate fuel such as alcohols poses a sustainable alternative solution of the problem. In the present investigation, Blends of 1-octanol are formed with neat diesel i.e. OC-5, OC-10, OC-15 & OC-20 and analyzed for efficiency, fuel economy and effluents of the single cylinder variable compression ratio engine. It was perceived that there was increment in viscosity of the blends containing n-octanol while the heating value lowered by increasing the absorption of 1-octanol. The peak BTE and lowest fuel consumption was found to be with blend containing 20% 1-octanol. Lower CO and UBHC emissions were reported with the addition of 1-octanol in the different blends formed. © 2021 University of Kuwait. All rights reserved.

Phytochemicals against COVID-19 and a gap in clinical investigations: An outlook

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unexpected pandemic that has triggered severe panic among people worldwide. In this direction, nations are maximizing their efforts to battle the disease and lower illness. Plants that produce numerous bioactive compounds might help develop and keep immunity against chronic diseases and COVID-19. Medicinal plant-based treatments are trendy in rural and tribal communities, mainly as an outcome of the increased scalability, which causes them to be cheaper and affordable compared to present-day medication. Furthermore, additional research on the antiviral possibility of healing plants shown that plant extracts with incredibly energetic secondary metabolites are competent to interrupt the replication of numerous very pathogenic viruses. But the testing and clinical trials take a very long time. This review discusses the gap in clinical studies with available phytochemicals and the possible ways to cover the same.

Effect of modifiedpulmonary rehabilitation in prompt restoration of functional independence: A post Covid case report

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is known to cause severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome which causes breathing difficulty requiring ICU management and assisted ventilation. A male patient, 50 years old was admitted to the hospital with complaints of breathlessness, morning chest pain with palpitations and low saturation level, and hypoxia on room air. The patient was a known case of COVID-19. ABG revealed metabolic alkalosis with partially compensated respiratory acidosis. CBC revealed leukocytosis suggestive of infection and HB count was decreased. HRCT thorax was done given COVID positive PCR test and was suggestive of multiple patchy ground-glass attenuations in the left upper and bilateral lower lobes of lungs. A repeat HRCT thorax was done after 3 months, which was suggestive of diffuse patchy ground-glass opacities with interlobar septal segment giving crazy paving pattern and consolidation in both lungs. Physiotherapy intervention included patient education, breathing retraining, airway clearance techniques, positioning, walking program with supplemented oxygen, and psychological support. Outcome measures have shown enhancement in functional independence and performance of activities of daily living. Modified pulmonary rehabilitation has worked efficiently in improving the general condition of a post COVID patient. © 2021 MEDIC SCIENTIFIC. All right reserved.

Lung perfusion SPECT/CT imaging in post COVID-19pneumonia: The spectrum of imaging findings

Objectives: COVID-19 pneumonia is documented to produce pulmonary thromboembolism. Despite achievingCOVID negative status, few patients continue to be symptomatic, especially with respiratory distress. This has beennoted particularly in those patients who had severe pulmonary involvement requiring high flow oxygenadministration at the time of admission. It often becomes challenging to correlate the clinical findings, D-dimervalues and ultrasonographic evaluation to rule out deep vein thrombosis related acute pulmonary embolism in thesepatients. Computed tomography pulmonary angiography has many limitations in assessing pulmonary embolism inthese patients as there are several other lung findings which can be seen in this cohort. Lung perfusion scintigraphywith SPECT/CT is a valuable tool in evaluation of pulmonary embolism. Lung perfusion scintigraphy in thesepatients, as a part of evaluation of pulmonary thromboembolism after recovering from COVID-19 pneumonia shows a multitude of findings. The aim of this exhibit is to acquaint the imaging physicians with these findings and henceimprove the diagnostic accuracy of pulmonary embolism in these patients. Methods: Records of lung perfusion scintigraphy with SPECT/CT done in patients with post COVID-19 pneumoniawere reviewed. Those patients who had severe symptoms clinically were reviewed for the imaging findings. Typicalperfusion finding of a wedge shaped perfusion defect in the planar imaging along with no lung parenchymal changesshould be easy to identify as well as strongly suggests the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. However, somepatients might show difficult to interpret images in the planar and SPECT/CT imaging which requires careful analysisof both the perfusion and corresponding CT images. Results: Different possible findings of lung perfusion scintigraphy with SPECT/CT are presented. These includesclassical wedge shaped segmental defects in the planar as well as SPECT/CT imaging with (matched defects) orwithout (mismatched defects) corresponding various lung parenchymal findings (diffuse ground glassing, subpleuralground glassing, subsegmental cystic areas, parenchymal consolidation, fibrosis, interlobular reticulation) in the CTimages. Apart from the classical segmental defects, a good number of subsegmental perfusion defects are alsonoted in many cases, which poses a challenge in diagnosing the pulmonary embolism in these patients. Conclusions: In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, ventilation scintigraphy carries an inherent risk of COVID-19exposure to the imaging personnel. However, the lung perfusion scintigraphy with added SPECT/CT imaging servesto overcome the deficiency of ventilation imaging. This exhibit illustrates the common and uncommon perfusion andcomputed tomography lung findings in those patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection and continue to besymptomatic, requiring supportive therapy. The knowledge of these findings will help the readers in interpreting theclinical and laboratory findings and correlate it with the lung perfusion imaging in any patient who have recoveredfrom COVID-19 infection. (Figure Presented).

Are artificial intelligence and machine learning suitable to tackle the COVID-19 impacts? An agriculture supply chain perspective

Purpose: This article aims to model the challenges of implementing artificial intelligence and machine earning (AI-ML) for moderating the impacts of COVID-19, considering the agricultural supply chain (ASC) in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: 20 critical challenges were modeled based on a comprehensive literature review and consultation with experts. The hybrid approach of “Delphi interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-Fuzzy Matrice d' Impacts Croises Multiplication Applique'e à un Classement (MICMAC) − analytical network process (ANP)” was used. Findings: The study's outcome indicates that “lack of central and state regulations and rules” and “lack of data security and privacy” are the crucial challenges of AI-ML implementation in the ASC. Furthermore, AI-ML in the ASC is a powerful enabler of accurate prediction to minimize uncertainties. Research limitations/implications: This study will help stakeholders, policymakers, government and service providers understand and formulate appropriate strategies to enhance AI-ML implementation in ASCs. Also, it provides valuable insights into the COVID-19 impacts from an ASC perspective. Besides, as the study was conducted in India, decision-makers and practitioners from other geographies and economies must extrapolate the results with due care. Originality/value: This study is one of the first that investigates the potential of AI-ML in the ASC during COVID-19 by employing a hybrid approach using Delphi-ISM-Fuzzy-MICMAC-ANP. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Proposed Framework for Dealing COVID-19 Pandemic Using Blockchain Technology

The production and distribution of COVID-19 testing kits is an urgent and increasingly worldwide requirement, due to the ongoing pandemic. The accuracy of the kit is critically important and to save the world from the faulty kit becomes an issue. The kit before use has to be approved by an authorized medical research agency like US-FDA, ICMR, etc. In this paper, we proposed a framework that ensures that the testing kit is validated by various measures and gives the history of the supply chain of the testing kit. The parties that are used in the supply chain are Notary, Manufacturer, and Validating Party. A Consumer also plays an important role and can punch the batch number to check whether the kit is approved or not. The framework is developed using R3 Corda, a permissioned distributed ledger technology. A permissioned blockchain is used for data privacy and security so that only trusted parties can leave or join the system.