Psychological Impact of E-Learning among Students: A Survey

Aim: This study is conducted to know the psychological impact of e learning among the students. Background(s): From the time of very first beginning of civilization to modern days before corona pandemic situation, most of the students of India are very much used to with the offline mode of learning. But now the situation is changed totally. They are getting themselves adapted to the online mode of learning as per need of time. In this changed scenario they are totally disconnected from their usual life with frames schools teachers and society. This situation wreaks havoc to their psychology. Methodology: This study is conducted with primary data in form of online survey. It was conducted with a pre formed questionnaire. 428 responses were collected for the present study. With advanced Excel software statistical analysis done. Outcome(s): Results show that students have shown negative impression on online learning and still they are not ready totally psychologically. Still positive answers show neck to neck result, which signifies increasing interest towards e learning. More practices and awareness required before further implementation.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.

Fusion-Based Segmentation and Classification of Novel Coronavirus or Pneumonia from Chest X-ray Images Using Machine Learning Techniques

The deadfall widespread of coronavirus (SARS-Co V-2) disease has trembled every part of the earth and has significant disruption to health support systems in different countries. In spite of such existing difficulties and disagreements for testing the coronavirus disease, an advanced and low-cost technique is required to classify the disease. For the sense of reason, supervised machine learning (ML) along with image processing has turned out as a strong technique to detect coronavirus from human chest X-rays. In this work, the different methodologies to identify coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) are discussed. It is essential to expand a fully automatic detection system to restrict the carrying of the virus load through contact. Various deep learning structures are present to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus such as ResNet50, Inception-ResNet-v2, AlexNet, Vgg19, etc. A dataset of 10,040 samples has been used in which the count of SARS-CoV-2, pneumonia and normal images are 2143, 3674, and 4223 respectively. The model designed by fusion of neural network and HOG transform had an accuracy of 98.81% and a sensitivity of 98.65%. © 2022 IEEE.

Procalcitonin as a Predictive Marker in Covid- 19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Coronavirus disease 2019 has emerged as a global pandemic causing millions of critical cases and deaths. Early identification of at-risk patients is crucial for planning triage and treatment strategies. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the pooled prognostic significance of procalcitonin in predicting mortality and severity in patients with COVID-19 using a robust methodology and clear clinical implications.We used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses and Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions guidelines. We included thirty-two prospective and retrospective cohort studies involving 13,154 patients. The diagnostic odds ratio of procalcitonin for predicting mortality were estimated to be 11 (95% CI: 7 to 17) with sensitivity, specificity, and summary area under the curve of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70 to 0.91), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.58 to 0.79), and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79 to 0.86) respectively. While for identifying severe cases of COVID-19, the odds ratio was 8.0 (95% CI 5.0 to 12.0) with sensitivity, specificity, and summary area under the curve of0.73 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.78), 0.74 (0.66 to 0.81), and 0.78 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.82) respectively.Procalcitonin has good discriminatory power for predicting mortality and disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, procalcitonin measurement may help identify potentially severe cases and thus decrease mortality by offering early aggressive treatment.

Impact of Intramuscular Injection Site on Sotrovimab Pharm Aco Kin Etics

BACKGROUND: Sotrovimab, a dual-action Fc-engineered human immunoglobulin G (IgG1) mAb, binds to a conserved epitope on the SARS-CoV- 2 receptor binding domain and was developed to treat mild to moderate COVID-19. A high concentration formulation is being evaluated to offer the potential for IM administration at lower volumes and at different injection sites. METHOD(S): COSMIC (NCT05280717) is a phase 1, open-label healthy volunteer study comprising three parts. Part A is an ongoing randomized, parallel group study investigating the relative bioavailability, safety, and tolerability of two concentrations of sotrovimab administered at different injection sites. A total of 215 subjects were randomized in a 2:2:1:1 ratio into 4 treatment arms: dorsogluteal injection (62.5 mg/mL), or 100 mg/mL administered as dorsogluteal, thigh, or deltoid injection(s). PK will be evaluated for 24 weeks post-dose. RESULT(S): Preliminary PK is available from 50 participants who received a 500 mg IM dose of sotrovimab of the higher concentration (100 mg/mL). Administration into thigh or deltoid resulted in higher geometric mean Cmax and AUCD1-15 and lower inter-subject variability compared to 100 mg/mL dorsogluteal. Following gluteal, thigh, or deltoid injections, the geometric mean (%CV) Cmax was 44.8 mug/mL (63.3), 70.9 mug/mL (35.5), and 65.1 mug/mL (27.1), respectively, and the geometric mean (%CV) AUCD1-15 was 534 day*mug/mL (67.5), 814 day*mug/mL (39.7), and 782 day*mug/mL (26.3), respectively. Median Tmax was earlier following thigh (4 days) and deltoid (5.5 days) injection than gluteal (7 days) injection. CONCLUSION(S): Administration of sotrovimab into thigh or deltoid muscles may improve exposure and reduce inter-subject variability compared to gluteal IM administration. These data may inform IM injection site selection for mAbs.

Covid-19 Prediction Analysis Using Machine Learning Approach

The unforeseen outbreak of Covid-19 which resulted in a global pandemic posed a threat to the human civilization. The entire world is trying their best to combat against the outspread of the disease. The rapid spread of the disease has put governing bodies under pressure and made it difficult to confront the situation. The RT-PCR which is the test confirming if a person has Covid-19 infection, is restricted by the shortfall of reagents, time taking, high cost and need for dedicated labs with trained pathologists. With the sudden rise in daily cases, there were large queues for Covid-19 tests, stressing the medical laboratories with many such laboratories facing shortage of kits for testing. Hence, there is a requirement for cost effective and quick diagnostic model to determine positive and negative cases of Covid-19. This paper aims to predict Covid-19 infection in an individual person from initial symptoms and information like fever, cough, sore throat using machine learning algorithms. The study includes working with six predicting models, MLP, GBC, Decision tree, SVM, Logistic Regression and Random forest with highest accuracy of 92.94% achieved in logical regression. The results can help in the initial diagnosis of Covid-19, especially when there is a shortage of RT-PCR kits, specialized laboratories and to screen large number of patients. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Ultrasound Guided Polypectomy: Evaluation of a Novel Technique to Remove Endometrial Polyp in the Office

Background: Endometrial polyps are present in 13-50% in women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). Hysteroscopy is currently the method of choice for definitive diagnosis and treatment, which has some limitations. Hence, we propose a novel technique which allows ultrasound-guided office-based polypectomy. It avoids general anaesthesia, is inexpensive and allows single point of care. Objective(s): The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel technique of endometrial polyp removal in the office and pain scores associated with that procedure Material(s) and Method(s): Prospective trial conducted at an academic hospital after Institutional Review Board approval over a period of 12 months. Women with AUB had saline infusion sonogram (SIS) to delineate the polyp. Then under ultrasound guidance, the universal grasping forceps (2.5 mm X 25 cm) was introduced through the cervix into the uterus to remove the polyp. It was an off-label use of the instrument. The goal of the study was to evaluate the patients' post-procedure pain and satisfaction score. The secondary outcomes were confirmation of complete removal of polyp by assessing resolution of patients' symptoms and performing SIS at 3 months interval. Result(s): There were 30 patients. Mean age and BMI was 54.8 +/- 11 and 30.6 +/- 10 respectively. Average polyp volume was 1.26 cm3 and mean time taken for polypectomy was 11 minutes 50 seconds. The median pain score was in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was 5. The median satisfaction score post procedure was 10. Adequate pathology sample was obtained for 100% of cases and 2 returned as malignancy. For 3 months follow-up, 16 patients returned. Among them 13 (81%) had no evidence of polyp on SIS and 14 (87%) reported complete symptom resolution. Conclusion(s): This technique can be used safely and effectively to remove endometrial polyp in appropriately selected patient population in an outpatient setting. In times of COVID-19, this technique can be helpful in reducing the number of cases which needs to be performed under anesthesia. Support: The authors did not receive any funding for this study. Copyright © 2022

Covid-19 Prediction Analysis Using Machine Learning Approach

The unforeseen outbreak of Covid-19 which resulted in a global pandemic posed a threat to the human civilization. The entire world is trying their best to combat against the outspread of the disease. The rapid spread of the disease has put governing bodies under pressure and made it difficult to confront the situation. The RT-PCR which is the test confirming if a person has Covid-19 infection, is restricted by the shortfall of reagents, time taking, high cost and need for dedicated labs with trained pathologists. With the sudden rise in daily cases, there were large queues for Covid-19 tests, stressing the medical laboratories with many such laboratories facing shortage of kits for testing. Hence, there is a requirement for cost effective and quick diagnostic model to determine positive and negative cases of Covid-19. This paper aims to predict Covid-19 infection in an individual person from initial symptoms and information like fever, cough, sore throat using machine learning algorithms. The study includes working with six predicting models, MLP, GBC, Decision tree, SVM, Logistic Regression and Random forest with highest accuracy of 92.94% achieved in logical regression. The results can help in the initial diagnosis of Covid-19, especially when there is a shortage of RT-PCR kits, specialized laboratories and to screen large number of patients. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Effects of COVID-19 on poultry and livestock health in Bangladesh

Background: Poultry and livestock are a leading sub-sector of agriculture, playing an important role to fulfill the protein requirements of the human diet and contributing to the national economy in Bangladesh. This sub-sector is often vulnerable due to frequent outbreaks of diseases in animals and unrest situations worldwide that hamper earning a profit up to the expected mark. Due to pandemic COVID-19, the Bangladesh government was bound to announce a countrywide lockdown and periodical restriction of movement in March 2020 to minimize the spread of the infection. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on poultry and livestock health.

Recurrent severe hypoglycaemia: Think about antibiotic choice

A 64 year-old Caucasian woman was admitted profoundly unwell with lethargy and generalised weakness. She had rheumatoid arthritis, with no history of diabetes or long-term steroid-use. Blood tests revealed pancytopaenia secondary to methotrexate (stopped on admission), acute kidney injury and severe metabolic acidosis. CT demonstrated lung base ground-glass changes. The patient had been double-vaccinated for covid-19 and all covid swabs were negative. Despite receiving Tazocin, respiratory symptoms worsened. High-dose co-trimoxazole was commenced to treat potential Pneumocystis infection from being immunocompromised. Subsequently she developed new confusion. Random blood glucose at midday was 1.2mmol/l. After treatment, hypoglycaemia recurred and persisted despite repeated intravenous dextrose boluses and glucagon injection. Blood glucose only improved with continuous 10% dextrose infusion. Causes were explored -a recent CT scan showed no pancreatic or intra-abdominal pathology;morning cortisol was normal. Literature review revealed very rarely Co-trimoxazole causes hypoglycaemia;hence this was stopped. Hypoglycaemia resolved within 48 hours;confusion improved. When serum glucose was 3.3mmol/l, c-peptide measured was inappropriately high (5175pmol/L). Co-trimoxazole is biochemically similar to sulfonylureas, mimicking their action on pancreatic beta-cells. Endogenous insulin hypersecretion raises c-peptide levels during hypoglycaemia. As Co-trimoxazole is renally excreted, when renal function is impaired it accumulates, with exacerbation of side effects such as protracted hypoglycaemia, especially at higher doses, as in our case. Hypoglycaemia will likely resolve after a 24-48h washout period, especially if renal function improves back to baseline. We recommend awareness of hypoglycaemia risk with co-trimoxazole treatment and blood glucose monitoring for inpatients taking high doses, especially in the setting of renal impairment.

Diabetic ketoacidosis presentation during the early part of the covid-19 pandemic: What was different?

Background and Aim: Covid-19 has been associated with erratic glycaemic control, sometimes leading to diabetic emergencies, including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). We reviewed DKA admissions to the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals to assess whether being admitted with DKA during the early phase of the covid-19 pandemic affected the clinical presentation and outcomes of DKA locally. Methods: This retrospective study included all patients with DKA in the pre-covid period (31 patients): 16th January-15th March 2020, versus those with DKA in the initial covid period (29 patients): 16th March-15th May 2020. Data collected included demographics, comorbidities, length of hospital stay (LOS), and diabetes-specific parameters, including type and duration of diabetes, last HbA1c, diabetes medications, DKA parameters leading to Critical Care admission, and time to DKA resolution. Results: Those presenting with DKA during the covid period were more likely to be male, of ethnic background, had longer duration of diabetes, better-controlled diabetes, and there were three times more patients with type 2 diabetes. Prescription of long-acting insulin alongside DKA protocol was significantly better during the covid period. Mean time to DKA resolution was significantly longer and mean LOS was 24 hours longer in the covid period. Conclusions: Diagnosis and management of DKA was objectively much better during the covid period but DKA occurred in more unexpected groups and recovery time was longer. Further study of larger samples with a multi-centred approach to see how DKA presentation has evolved during the pandemic would benefit our understanding of the impact of covid-19 on diabetes.

Utility of cat score for assessment of post covid-19 patients in our tertiary care centre

Background: With increasing number of patients recovered, significant detrimental long-term effects of post-COVID-19 infection has been recognized.CAT score in COPD is a great tool to assess symptoms severity, same may be used in post COVID patients. Objective: 1.Assess the use of CAT scores in post COVID-19 patients.2.Use CAT score as a predictor of long term effects. Methods: An observational study conducted between October 2020-November 2021. RT-PCR/TruNAT COVID-19 positive post COVID patients were included,their symptoms severity were evaluated based on CAT score. Patients with high CAT score were evaluated for long term effects. Results: Out of 89 patients, 50 (56%) were male,39 (44%) were female. 66(74.15%) smokers, 15(16.8%) non-smokers. 51 (57.3%) were COPD, 31(34.83%) Asthma, 62 (69.7%) Diabetic, 45(50.5%) Hypertensive patients. On 1 month follow-up, >30 CAT score in 11(12.3%), 33 (37%) had CAT score 21-30, 27(30.33%) CAT score 10-20, 18(20.22%) CAT <10.3months, CAT >30 in 5 (5.6%), CAT 21-30 in 19(21.3%), CAT 10-20 in 22 (24.7%), <10 CAT was in 43 (48.3%).6 months, CAT >30 in 6 (6.14%), CAT 21-30 in 13 (14.6%), CAT 10-20 in 33(37.7%), CAT <10 in 37 (41.5%).Patients CAT >10, spirometry revealed FVC <60%, should be evaluated for ILD by CT scan after 8 weeks and for long term pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusion: CAT score, effective tool in COPD find its use to assess post COVID-19 patients. It's a ready -made tool, less cost-expenditure, easy to use in rural ,urban set up to assess patients symptom ,long term effect.

Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection among Healthcare Workers in Dedicated Tertiary Care Facility of Kolkata, India

Introduction: In view of the present Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic it is of utmost importance to look out for the 'trojan horse' that is the asymptomatic population who are potential for spreading the disease. Healthcare Workers (HCWs) are the most vulnerable group. The possibility of having the infection does not always correlate well with the symptoms. It urges the need for development of certain special plans beyond continuous surveillance and symptom monitoring. Aim: To explore asymptomatic COVID-19 infection among HCWs as a potential source of transmission. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, from June 2020 to September 2020. The data were collected from 714 HCWs over a period of three months of study period, with the help of a standard questionnaire and blood sample was analysed by serological assessment of Immunoglobulin G (IgG) for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by EUROIMMUN Kit, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Epi info software 7, available from the World Health Organization (WHO) site was used to manage and analyse the data. Results: The mean age was 35.30 +/- 11.79 years. Out of 714 people, 54.8% (391/714) were male and 45.2% (323/714) were female. In this survey, 9.16% of HCWs in COVID-19 designated duties were IgG positive;whereas 21.89% of HCWs designated in other parts of area were detected to be IgG positive. Seroprevalence was least amongst nursing staffs with 5.41% (8/148);among doctor's it was 9.62% (41/426). Most interestingly among ward boys and cleaners this prevalence was found to be 29.90% (29/97) being the highest. Overall seroprevalence for IgG against SARS-CoV-2 was found to be 12.75% (91/714). Conclusion: This serosurvey at this tertiary COVID-19 care facility is a unique venture to look for the possible sources of super-spread. The high rate of sero-positivity among ward boys and cleaners might be due to their lack of knowledge and training regarding steps to prevent a droplet borne pandemic. This study also points out that if adequate precautions are taken, infectivity is not to an alarming extent, even in a full-fledged COVID-19 care hospital.

Psychological Impact of E-Learning among Students: A Survey

Aim: This study is conducted to know the psychological impact of e learning among the students. Background: From the time of very first beginning of civilization to modern days before corona pandemic situation, most of the students of India are very much used to with the offline mode of learning. But now the situation is changed totally. They are getting themselves adapted to the online mode of learning as per need of time. In this changed scenario they are totally disconnected from their usual life with frames schools teachers and society. This situation wreaks havoc to their psychology. Methodology: This study is conducted with primary data in form of online survey. It was conducted with a pre formed questionnaire. 428 responses were collected for the present study. With advanced Excel software statistical analysis done. Outcomes: Results show that students have shown negative impression on online learning and still they are not ready totally psychologically. Still positive answers show neck to neck result, which signifies increasing interest towards e learning. More practices and awareness required before further implementation.

Comparative Analysis of YOLOv4 and YOLOv4-tiny Techniques towards Face Mask Detection

Covid-19 has brought various complications in our day-to-day life leading to a disruption in overall movements across the world. Although still researchers and scientists are working on finding more effective ways to deal with it, wearing a face is one of the most simplistic yet efficient ways to overcome this. Wearing a face mask all the time in public places has become a new normal. Therefore, face mask detection for monitoring of people in public places has become a crucial task. Deep learning has been used to make recent advances in the field of object detection. To accomplish this objective, this research employs three state-of-the-art object identification models, notably YOLOv4 and YOLOv4-tiny. The models were trained using a dataset that included photos of persons wearing and not wearing masks. Considering it for surveillance purposes, it can also be used for detection of face and mask in motion. The models employ an approach that involves drawing bounding boxes (red or green) around people's faces and determining whether or not they are wearing a face mask. Further, the performance of these models was compared using mAP, recall F1-score and FPS © 2021 IEEE.

Bridging the supply chain resilience research and practice gaps: pre and post COVID-19 perspectives

Purpose: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all business sectors have critical needs. They face multiple challenges to restructuring their operations to build a resilient, cost-effective and sustainable supply chain. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the practice and the research gaps related to supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: This research paper is influenced by a literature review of the past decade. This review paper incorporates industry challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including future steps toward developing resilient supply chains in the new normal economy. The research provides a detailed framework for designing cost-effective survivable supply chains that withstand disruptions for the long term. Findings: The proposed research focuses on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains and attempts to bridge pre and post COVID-19 research and practice gaps. Post-COVID-19 resilient supply chains need to be transformed into survivable supply chains. The survivability of the supply chain can be achieved by combining both supply chain resilience and supply chain viability measures. To the best of the authors’ belief, this is the first study that grounds a theory to provide interconnection of five critical supply chain concepts to manage supply chain risk. This study is uniquely positioned to develop a theoretical framework to design a cost-effective, resilient and sustainable supply chain by establishing the interconnection among these concepts in supply chains. This framework helps practitioners to implement the key strategies at the operational, tactical and strategic levels that enhance maturity in supply chains. Research limitations/implications: The research findings are based on secondary reports such as industry reports, cases, research papers and expert opinions. The authors tried to consult with many companies. However, they were reluctant to share the recovery plan information from COVID. Also, as COVID still exists in many places in Canada, the authors could not gather every intended information from the companies. However, the authors have successfully shared the outcomes of this research with a reputed retail company in Canada. They recognized the importance of survivability in supply chains. Going forward, business organizations need to design cost-effective, sustainable and survivable supply chains. Originality/value: The study attempts to unify current research dealing with supply chain resilience. The study concludes with the limitations of the current research. It highlights the prospects of future research and bridges the supply chain practice gaps from the challenges faced by industries due to COVID-19. The study contributes to the literature by identifying gaps to bridge the supply chain practice and reiterating new research directions to develop a cost-effective, survivable and sustainable supply chain. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Evaluating prognostic role of cardiac biomarkers in COVID-19 patients

INTRODUCTION : The COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc in India with total deaths crossing 0.4 million. Cardiac biomarkers are found to be associated with poor outcome in COVID-19 patients having concomitant cardiac diseases. But the prognostic value of cardiac biomarkers in cardiac and non-cardiac patients following COVID-19 disease was not thoroughly investigated. This study was designed to investigate prognostic role of cardiac biomarkers in COVID-19 patients with cardiac disease. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, M.G.M. Medical college & M. Y. hospital, Indore. Four cardiac biomarkers, Trop-I, Myo, CK-MB, and BNP were considered for evaluation. Laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients were divided in two groups, with and without concomitant cardiac disease. The differences of cardiac biomarker levels between the groups were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. RESULTS: Out-off 632 admitted patients, 512 were found evaluable. of 512 eligible patients, 58 (11.3 %) had a history of cardiac disease. A total of 31 (6.0%) allcause death occurred during the follow-up, 8 (13.8%) deaths occurred in the cardiac disease group and 23 (5.0%) occurred in the non-cardiac group. For cardiac patients, the AUC of Trop-I, CK-MB, Myo, and BNP was found 0.660, 0.512, 0.753 and 0.712, respectively. Myo, had the highest prognostic value, followed by BNP. CONCLUSION: Increased levels of Myo and BNP have significant prognostic relevance. Our study can help to understand the prognosis of cardiac patients with COVID-19 disease. However, further study is needed.

Identifying men affected by changes in PSA screening in the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction & Objectives: The COVID19 pandemic has had enormous impacts on the health of our population. With health services under significant strain, prostate cancer was subject to strict changes in referral criteria. In our network the PSA thresholds for cancer referral criteria were raised, to >10ng/mL and >20ng/mL for those aged <70 years and 70-75 years respectively, for 3 months. Materials & Methods: We modelled the effects of these restricted referral criteria on patients, applying them to our prospective multicentre database of consecutive men referred to our cancer network from 04/2017-07/2020. We calculated the total numbers and proportions of significant cancers - by grade or T-stage - that may have been missed when these restrictions were applied. Four definitions of ‘significance’ were used;Gleason 3+4, 4+3, UCL1 (>/=4+3 OR maximum cancer core length (MCCL) >/=6mm) and UCL2 (>/=3+4 OR MCCL >/=4mm). Results: 2107/3014 (69.9%) of patients would not have been referred under the restricted referral criteria, including 199 (9.4%) and 486 (23.1%) significant cancers depending on the definition of significance. During the restricted period, this represents an expected 162 men who would not have been referred, including between 15 and 37 significant cancers by grade, and 1 and 7 by T-stage. Conclusions: The COVID19 pandemic had significant impact on our prostate cancer pathways. Potentially, up to 1 in 4 men who ordinarily would have had curable disease identified early, and treated, will not have done. Efforts must be made to identify these men before they represent with disease states of poorer prognosis.