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This article analyses the IT sector in India, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and transfer pricing issues in the IT sector. © 2022 IBFD.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused unparalleled global threat in terms of public health and economic loss. To date, there is no effective way of treating this disease, and the only way to control this disease is the extensive diagnosis of COVID-19 symptomatic patients and isolate them from the healthy population and treat them with appropriate medicine. There is a requirement of a global standard diagnosis method to quickly control this pandemic disease, which should be specific, easy to use, and inexpensive and requires least instrumentation at point-of-care testing (POCT). Serology-based tests are popular, inexpensive, and easy to use to diagnose COVID-19 patients, but they lack sensitivity at lower inoculum concentrations and may indicate false negatives which possess a major threat in spreading this pandemic disease. To avoid this issue, nucleic acid-based tests are more specific and sensitive to diagnose COVID-19 patients. However, it has some limitations such as a low sample throughput, expensive reagents, an extensive time, and requirement of costly quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction instruments. To overcome this limitation, the latest CRISPR-based detection methods coupled with allied isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification would provide inexpensive, quick, accurate, and easy ways of diagnosing a large number of populations at POCT. Here, we discuss some of the promising CRISPR-based assays which have the potential to transform COVID-19 diagnosis globally and curb this pandemic disease in the shortest possible time. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by episodes of partial or complete upper airway obstruction, associated with gas exchange abnormalities, and sleep disruption resulting in OSA syndrome. OSA in majority of children improves after adenotonsillectomy, but with comorbidities or severe OSA, there is a high risk of residual OSA. Positive airway pressure (PAP) is a more definitive therapy for residual OSA when well tolerated. Reported CPAP adherence in children varies from 11-78%, but data on AutoPAP (APAP) acceptability and adherence has not been described. Methods: Due to the limitations placed on PAP titration during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, children (range 2-18 years) diagnosed with OSA at our institution were placed on APAP therapy (Auto CPAP or Auto BiPAP). We performed a retrospective analysis of APAP download data of children who met the criteria (adherence at 90 days>4 hours). Adherent (usage>70%) and non-adherent children were compared using Wilcoxon rank sum test. Logistic regression analyses were performed the effect of covariates including age, PSG AHI, Day 1-7 usage, Day 1-7 residual AHI, Day 1-14 usage, Day 1-14 residual AHI, Day 1-30 usage, Day 1-30 residual AHI or mean pressure at 90 day on compliance at 90 days. Results: On day 90, 73 out of 90 children (40 boys) were using APAP >4 hours. Age, diagnostic PSG AHI, residual AHI (days 1-7;1-14, 1-30), APAP median pressure, pressure (95% centile), and pressure (maximum) had no effect on adherence. Adherence at days (1-7;1-14;1-30) and day 1-90 residual AHI had a positive effect on adherence at day 90. There was no statistically significant difference in BMI z-score, age, PSG AHI, median pressure between the two groups. However, residual AHI was lower in the compliant group. Conclusion: APAP was fairly well accepted in our study with the majority of children with usage > 4 hours at day 90. Adherence on (days 1-7 and 1-30) predicted APAP usage at day 90. This mirrors adherence data from adult OSA patients. APAP was effective in the compliant group with lower residual AHI. Further analysis of adherence characteristics such as;family history of PAP, PAP mode, mask, surgery and comorbidities is planned.
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In this paper, I utilize proprietary servicer call transcripts between a single servicer and the corresponding borrowers, whose loans they service, to shed light on borrower responses to the mortgage forbearance program contained in the CARES Act. My analysis reveals that borrowers (especially with non-performing loans) did not actively seek out mortgage forbearance (conditional on communication) in response to this policy, which was intended to prevent a pandemic-induced foreclosure. This is an outcome of the servicer's differential treatment between government and private loans, as the CARES Act was designed for government loans only and left scope for servicer discretion for private loans. These results bring into question the effectiveness of ad hoc laws and the implementation thereof during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Over the last decade, there has been a quantum leap in terms of the evolution of new methodologies to better our quest to understand artificial intelligence and machine learning. One such field, where there has been an unparalleled advancement, is computer vision. The paper aims to design and structure an automated monitoring system that automates the monitoring of the number of people in this COVID-19 scenario in a designated enclosure. We have deployed the system on Raspberry Pi module and integrated a HOG detector which transcends ordinary Haar cascades in terms of performance. This model can then subsequently be connected and integrated with other modules to further enhance its applicability and spectrum of usage. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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COVID-19 has emerged as a global pandemic. There is currently a spurt of clinical research to generate evidence to treat this novel disease. The aim of the current study is to characterise the pharmacotherapeutic intervention-related clinical trials registered in India. COVID-19 clinical trials registered in India were analysed from data retrieved from Clinical Trial Registry-India, ClinicalTrials.gov and International Clinical Trial Registry Platform. Parameters such as study design, sample size, pharmacotherapeutic interventions and primary outcomes were evaluated. A total of 267 studies were screened among which 103 clinical trials were assessed for descriptive analysis. Majority of registered trials (55.3%) were in Indian System of Medicine followed by antimalarials such as hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine (10.5%) and plasma therapy (7.1%). Most commonly used study design was randomised parallel group in 63%. Open-label study was seen in 47.5%. Primary outcome was improvement of clinical symptoms in 46.6% followed by rate and time of viral load reduction in 18.2%. Maharashtra (n = 35) followed by Delhi (n = 29) had the maximum number of registered trial sites. The study gives broad perspective on the current trend of clinical trials on COVID-19 being conducted in India. The outcomes of these trials will lead to generation of valuable data for evidence-based treatment of COVID-19.
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At the very outbreak of a pandemic, it is very important to be able to assess the spreading rate of the disease i.e., the rate of increase of infected people in a specific locality. Combating the pandemic situation critically depends on an early and correct prediction of, to what extent the disease may possibly grow within a short period of time. This paper attempts to estimate the spreading rate by counting the total number of infected persons at times. Adaptive clustering is especially suitable for forming clusters of infected persons distributed spatially in a locality and successive sampling is used to measure the growth in number of infected persons. We have formulated a 'chain ratio to regression type estimator of population total' in two occasions adaptive cluster successive sampling and studied the properties of the estimator. The efficacy of the proposed strategy is demonstrated through simulation technique as well as real life population which is followed by suitable recommendation.
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Background: COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in nearly 55,000 deaths in India and over 800,000 deaths worldwide. Despite several clinical trials there Is no effective proven treatment currently available for this condition and the mainstay of management Is only supportive. Methods: Data from successive patients presenting to a telemedicine clinic between May and August 2020 with severe COVID 19 and receiving domiciliary treatment with oral cotrimoxazole In addition to standard therapy was collected and retrospectively analyzed. Results: 14 patients received cotrimoxazole in addition to standard therapy. Following start of the treatment regimen, all of the patients showed marked improvement In their clinical parameters Including fever and oxygen requirements, following which all of them made complete recoveries. Only one patient required hospital admission for a transient period. Conclusion: This observation warrants an urgent clinical trial. If the above results are replicated in future trials it may change the way in which we manage patients with this potentially life-threatening condition.
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The planet is now suffering from the fever of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) since December 2019, a human health fatality, education and the global economy, and we don't know how to cope with this deadly environment and what will happen in the immediate future. First thing is stop transmitting this pandemic disease as a cross-infection so long as there is no discovered antidote to cope with this worrying situation. As a result, a certain number of citizens in all countries must be considered for a mandatory test that may not be available by all individuals or may not be supported by the government due to the availability and expense of the test kit or any other testing tool or procedures that require time to install and use it for community use. Here we have proposed a smart screening device focused on a new cloud-oriented platform "COVID-19 on spot detection as a service (COSDaaS)" – for early screening of infected populations, deploying at low cost in various heavy public transition areas with less effort to protect non-infected people from cross-infection. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.