Cross-National Comparison of Religion as a Predictor of COVID-19 Vaccination Rates.

We examined the effects of religiosity on COVID-19 vaccination rates using a cross-national comparison while controlling for socio-economic factors and culture. Our analysis, conducted on data from 90 countries representing 86% of the world population, showed that Christianity was negatively related to vaccination, while there was no relation with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and nonbelief. The importance of religion, freedom of expression and belief, sex ratio, median age, and almost all cultural factors were not related to vaccination, whereas Human Development Index was. The influence of different religions on vaccination rates has also been described.

End of Life Care Practices for Hindu Patients During COVID-19.

With coronavirus disease 2019, the risk of death has increased in the general population. In these unprecedented times and even otherwise, it is important for the health care professionals caring for Hindu patients to be aware of the end of life practices in Hinduism. There is limited information in the medical literature about traditions and practices followed in Hinduism which is observed by 15% of the world population. Hinduism is currently the third largest religion following Christianity and Islam. Based on Hindu beliefs about life, death, and reincarnation, we propose 10 end of life best practices for Hindu patients.

Extended Ecological Restoration of Bacterial Communities in the Godavari River During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period: a Spatiotemporal Meta-analysis.

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has had major impact on human health worldwide. Whilst national and international COVID-19 lockdown and travel restriction measures have had widespread negative impact on economies and mental health, they may have beneficial effect on the environment, reducing air and water pollution. Mass bathing events (MBE) also known as Kumbh Mela are known to cause perturbations of the ecosystem affecting resilient bacterial populations within water of rivers in India. Lockdowns and travel restrictions provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of minimum anthropogenic activity on the river water ecosystem and changes in bacterial populations including antibiotic-resistant strains. We performed a spatiotemporal meta-analysis of bacterial communities of the Godavari River, India. Targeted metagenomics revealed a 0.87-fold increase in the bacterial diversity during the restricted activity of lockdown. A significant increase in the resilient phyla, viz. Proteobacteria (70.6%), Bacteroidetes (22.5%), Verrucomicrobia (1.8%), Actinobacteria (1.2%) and Cyanobacteria (1.1%), was observed. There was minimal incorporation of allochthonous bacterial communities of human origin. Functional profiling using imputed metagenomics showed reduction in infection and drug resistance genes by - 0.71-fold and - 0.64-fold, respectively. These observations may collectively indicate the positive implications of COVID-19 lockdown measures which restrict MBE, allowing restoration of the river ecosystem and minimise the associated public health risk.

COVID-19, Moral Injury and the Bhagvad Gita.

During life challenging times like the present COVID-19 pandemic, the health care worker (HCW) is faced with a number of questions of an existential nature. There is a sense of guilt, anguish, helplessness, uncertainty and powerlessness when one is fighting something on such a powerful scale with limited resources and no definite end in sight. There are circumstances when these feelings can overwhelm a person leading to demoralization and potentially a moral injury. Spiritual practices and advice may help to deal with moral paradoxes and ethical dilemmas when other secular supports are undermined or inaccessible. The Holy Indian Epic, the Bhagvad Gita has described the moral distress of the warrior Arjuna, during the battle of Kurukshetra and the advice given to him by the Lord Krishna the gist of which can be encapsulated in the form of the four Ds- Detachment, Duty, Doer-ship and Dhyana or meditation. In this article, the authors explore how these concepts may be useful aids to the HCW faced with moral and psychological distress.