ABSTRACT
Due to the lack of sufficient data on the relationship between racial disparities and the occurrence of infectious respiratory diseases in children, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the presence of racial gaps in the occurrence of respiratory infectious diseases in children. This study follows the PRISMA flow guidelines for systematic reviews and the standards of meta-analysis for 20 quantitative studies conducted from 2016 to 2022 including 2,184,407 participants. As evidenced from the review, in the U.S., racial disparities are present among children, with Hispanic and Black children carrying the burden of infectious respiratory disease occurrence. Several factors are contributory to these outcomes among Hispanic and Black children, including higher rates of poverty; higher rates of chronic conditions, such as asthma and obesity; and seeking care outside of the home. However, vaccinations can be used to reduce the risk of infection among Black and Hispanic children. Whether a child is very young or a teen, racial disparities are present in occurrence rates of infectious respiratory diseases, with the burden resting among minorities. Therefore, it is important for parents to be aware of the risk of infectious diseases and to be aware of resources, such as vaccines.
ABSTRACT
The syphilis and COVID-19 pandemics have marked a turning point in the history of mankind. The aim of this review is to analyze what two pandemics caused by different diseases have in common. It is a scoping review made up of papers covering everything related to syphilis and COVID-19. The dialectical structural model of care (DSMC) is applied, focusing on three thematic plots that explain the historical and current context of the topic addressed. To this end, we compiled information from books, journals, and databases such as Cochrane, National Library of Spain, PubMed/Medline, Scielo, and Google Scholar. Syphilis is a bacterial disease transmitted sexually. COVID-19 is a viral infection transmitted by droplets. Despite their similarities and differences, both have triggered pandemics that have claimed the lives of thousands of people. Both still exist as active diseases. The origin of both remains a scientific enigma;many human and material resources have been devoted to tackling these two infections, and a wide range of drugs have been developed to combat them. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
In the recent times it is found that there is a growing interest in the field of controlling the contagious diseases, especially after the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 (coronavirus). It still remains to be one of the biggest threats to humanity and people are dying and getting infected on a daily basis. Governments across the globe are trying their level best to contain the virus. They are also taking the necessary steps (e.g., travel bans, suspension of recreational and outdoor activities concerning mass audiences or public, isolation and contact tracing, social distancing, etc.). There are many patients who are undocumented just because they have coronavirus in their systems but they show no symptoms. Around 79% patients come under this category. It is to be noted that the total count of the number of cases at present in several countries differ from the actual people who are infected at present. This is because in the maj ority of cases, the symptoms show after a certain period of days and not just instantly. Also testing the whole population of a country in such a limited time is simply not possible. The World Health Organization recommended COVID-19 patients to isolate themselves from the healthy individuals in order to stop the spread of the disease. In order to ensure that this happens more efficiently and smoothly, in this paper an IoT based wearable band called QuArm band (i.e) Quarantine Arm band, which the patient can wear on his/her arm for tracking the real-time location of the patient to ensure that the quarantine rules are being followed is designed. This band is made keeping in mind the requirements of the public and the cost is set accordingly. Web interface alongside the band is made to retrieve the information. Notification on band tampering is also enabled. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to evaluate the impact of massive infectious and contagious diseases and its final impact on the economic performance anywhere and anytime. We are considering to evaluate the case of Wuhan, China. We are taking in consideration the case of COVID-19 to be evaluated under a domestic, national, and international level impact. In this paper, we also propose a new simulator to evaluate the impact of massive infections and contagious diseases on the economic performance subsequently. This simulator is entitled "The Impact of Pandemics on the Economic Performance Simulator (IPEP-Simulator)" Hence, this simulator tries to show a macro and micro analysis with different possible scenarios simultaneously. Finally, the IPEP-Simulator was applied to the case of Wuhan-China respectively.
ABSTRACT
We investigate the effect of the probability of fatality due to contagious diseases on real gold returns over the period 1258–2020 using a predictive quantile regression model, which is justified by the features of non-normality, nonlinearity, and structural breaks in the dataset involving real gold returns and the probability of fatality. We show that real gold returns hedge the probability of fatality due to contagious diseases primarily when the gold market is bullish. However, the hedging ability is insignificant when the gold market is bearish. These results are important for investors seeking refuge in gold during rare disaster events.
ABSTRACT
Human behavior plays a vital role in spreading contagious diseases, and understanding its influence on the outbreak could be the key to devising better mitigatory strategies. The varied individual behaviors give rise to different patterns in the evolution of the disease. Such trends in the disease outbreak that arise due to microscopic behaviors of heterogeneous agents in a populace are typical of agent-based models. Therefore, we propose an agent-based framework equipped with a population mixing algorithm, and stochastic disease transmission and evolutionary dynamics. The mixing algorithm incorporates different mobility trends in a synthetic populace to generate contact patterns among them. On the other hand, the disease model characterizes the health condition of agents using three crucial traits of the disease: 1) infection status;2) severity;and 3) awareness, endowed with age-dependent probabilities for transmission, progress, and recovery of the disease. Together with different mobility patterns, we demonstrate the impact of mitigatory measures, such as social distancing, vaccination, testing, isolation, and containment zones, on the spread of disease. The proposed model is used to demonstrate trends in the COVID-19 outbreak rather than predict its course of evolution. The results indicate that enhanced mobility of agents facilitates contagion, and a combination of mitigation strategies needs to be adopted to combat the spread of the disease effectively. IEEE
ABSTRACT
Since the outbreak of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, public transportation networks have faced unprecedented challenges and have looked for practical solutions to address the rising safety concerns. It is deemed that in confined spaces, operating heating units (and cooling) in non-re-circulation mode (i. e., all-fresh air mode) could reduce the airborne transmission of this infectious disease, by reducing the density of the pathogen and exposure time. However, this will expectedly increase the energy demand and reduce the driving range of electric buses. To tackle both the airborne transmission and energy efficiency issues, in this paper a novel recovery heat pump concept, operating in all-fresh air mode, was proposed. The novelty of this concept lies in its potential to be applied to already manufactured/in-service heat pump units as it does not require any additional components or need for redesigning the heating systems. In this concept, the cabin exhaust air is directed to pass through the evaporator of the heat pump system to recover part of the waste heat from the cabin and to improve the efficiency of the system. In this paper, a 0D/1D coupled model of a generic single-deck cabin and a heat pump system was developed in the Simulink environment of MATLAB (R2020b) software. The model was run in two different modes, namely the all-fresh air (as a baseline and a recovery heat pump concepts), and the air re-circulation mode (as a conventional heat pump concept with a 50% re-circulation ratio). The performance of these concepts was investigated to evaluate how an all-fresh air policy could affect the performance of the system, as well as the energy-saving potential of the proposed recovery concept. The performance of the system was studied under different ambient temperatures of -5 °C, 0⯰C, and 5⯰C, and for low and moderate occupancy levels. Results show that implementing the all-fresh air policy in the recovery and baseline concepts significantly improved the ventilation rate per person by at least 102% and at most 125%, compared to the air-re-circulating heat pump. Moreover, adopting the recovery concept reduced the power demand by at least 8% and at most 11%, compared to the baseline all-fresh air heat pump, for the selected fan and blower flow rates. The presented results in this paper along with the applicability of this concept to in-service mobile heat pumps could make it a feasible, practical, and quick trade-off solution to help the bus operators to protect people and improve the energy efficiency of their service.
ABSTRACT
The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which is causing COVID-19 disease, has taught us unexpected lessons about the dangers of human suffering through highly contagious and lethal diseases. As the COVID-19 pandemic is now being partially controlled by various isolation measures, therapeutics, and vaccines, it became clear that our current lifestyle and societal functions may not be sustainable in the long term. We now have to start thinking and planning on how to face the next dangerous pandemic, not just overcoming the one that is upon us now. Is there any evidence that even worse pandemics could strike us in the near future and threaten the existence of the human race? The answer is unequivocally yes. It is not necessary to get infected by viruses found in bats, pangolins, and other exotic animals that live in remote forests to be in danger. Creditable scientific evidence indicates that the human gut microbiota harbor billions of viruses that are capable of affecting the function of vital human organs such as the immune system, lung, brain, liver, kidney, or heart. It is remotely possible that the development of pathogenic variants in the gut can lead to contagious viruses, which can cause pandemics, leading to the destruction of vital organs, causing death or various debilitating diseases such as blindness, respiratory, liver, heart, and kidney failures. These diseases could result in the complete shutdown of our civilization and probably the gradual extinction of the human race. This essay will comment on a few independent pieces of scientific facts, and then combine this information to come up with some (but certainly not all) hypothetical scenarios that could cause human race misery, even extinction, in the hope that these hypothetical scenarios will trigger preventative measures that could reverse or delay the projected adverse outcomes.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the continuous intention to use digital payment solutions in online transactions to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Primary data was collected from individuals using digital payment systems in Bangkok, Thailand using a structured questionnaire from a total of 400 respondents. The study adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS 26. The results revealed that factors that significantly affected continuous intention to use digital payments were perceived ease of use, satisfaction, attitude, and social distancing. Satisfaction mediated the effects of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and social distancing on continuous intention to use. Attitude mediated the effect of perceived usefulness on continuous intention to use. The study recommends that concerned policymakers and institutions should consider users’ satisfaction, social distancing, and perceived ease of use when developing digital payment systems. © 2022 by the authors;licensee Growing Science, Canada.
ABSTRACT
The present study examines the existing knowledge and intellectual structure on contagious diseases and tourism to map the development of the concept through collaborative networks. Utilising the Scopus and Web of Science bibliometric databases, 328 research records were extracted through keyword searching and forward referencing approaches. Based on these records, the study conducted bibliometric and content analysis to diagnose core themes in the field. The present study's findings are helpful for academia and industry to aid their existing knowledge about contagious diseases, particularly its timeline, geographical spread, and development of coherent themes. A rigorous literature review revealed that the scholarly work in the domain of contagious diseases and tourism revolves around four important themes, namely COVID-19, SARS, Crisis management, and Sustainability. The first theme revolves around COVID-19, highlighting about the impact of COVID-19 on different sectors of the TTH industry, countries, stakeholders, and contexts. Also, researchers foresee COVID-19 as a catalyst to reshape the tourism industry. The next group of studies explained the handling of SARS, particularly by Asian countries. The third cluster elaborated on different stages of crisis and strategies adopted by organizations and countries to manage the crisis. Lastly, a handful of studies in the corpus stated that sustainability in tourism needs to be understood beyond saving the environment and aspiring prosperous travel and tourism industry. The study also suggested the scope of future work.