Optimizing mRNA vaccines and virusmediated CAR T-cell therapy for immuno-oncology: Synthetic tools for gene modification

With the success of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and CAR T-cell therapies in clinical trials, there is growing opportunity for immunotherapies in the treatment of many types of cancers. Lentiviral vectors have proven effective at delivery of genetic material or gene editing technology for ex vivo processing, but the benefits and promise of Adeno-associated virus (AAV) and mRNA tools for in vivo immunotherapy have garnered recent interest. Here we describe complete synthetic solutions for immuno-oncology research programs using either mRNA-vaccines or virus-mediated cell and gene engineering. These solutions optimize workflows to minimize screening time while maximizing successful research results through: (1) Efficiency in lentiviral packaging with versatility in titer options for high-quality particles. (2) A highthroughput viral packaging process to enable rapid downstream screening. (3) Proprietary plasmid synthesis and preparation techniques to maintain ITR integrity through AAV packaging and improve gene delivery. (4) Rapid synthesis, in vitro transcription, and novel sequencing of mRNA constructs for complete characterization of critical components such as the polyA tail. The reported research demonstrates a streamlined approach that improves data quality through innovative synthesis and sequencing methodologies as compared to current standard practices.

Evolution and trends in entrepreneurial finance: reflections and insights from COVID-19

Entrepreneurship contributes substantially to the modernization and commercial development of an economy. Access to financial resources is key to the successful operation of new ventures which is arrested by COVID-19. Therefore, the present study aims to address the architecture of entrepreneurial finance since the inception of COVID-19. The research adopts a Systematic literature review approach to study the 127 articles chosen for analysis. The findings reveal the usage of novel sources of finance such as crowdfunding, and Initial Coin Offerings during COVID-19. Apart from this, the research also encapsulates the contributions of the articles on venture capital, P2P lending, and angel finance. Also, the study highlights promising avenues for future research focusing on different financing options and drivers of financing choices. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Tract specific CNS involvement post COVID-19 vaccine: A case report

We hereby report an interesting case of tractopathy following COVID-19 vaccine. Acute transverse myelitis following COVID-19 infection or vaccination is well documented. However, to the best of our knowledge, no case of selective tract involvement following COVID-19 vaccine has been reported so far. One case of tract-specific central nervous system involvement following COVID-19 infection has been reported from India. We report the case of a 46-year-old male who developed clinical and radiological evidence of tractopathy involving the corticospinal tracts and posterior columns following the first dose of the Covishield vaccine.

COVID-19 prediction with Chest X-Ray images using CNN

Coronavirus has outbreak as an epidemic disease, created a pandemic situation for the public health across the Globe. Screening for the large masses is extremely crucial to control disease for the people in a neighborhood. Real-time-PCR[18] is the general diagnostic approach for pathological examination. However, the increasing figure of false results from the test has created a way in choosing alternative procedures. COVID-19 patient's X-rays images of chest has emerged as a significant approach for screening the COVID-19 disease. However, accuracy depends on the knowledge of a radiologist. X-Ray images of lungs may be proper assistive tool for diagnosis in reducing the burden of the doctor. Deep Learning techniques, especially Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), have been shown to be effective for classification of images in the medical field. Diagnosing the COVID-19 using the four types of Deep-CNN models because they have pre-trained weights. Model needs to pre-trained on the ImageNet database in simplifying the large datasets. CNN-based architectures were found to be ideal in diagnosing the COVID-19 disease. The model having an efficiency of 0.9835 in accuracy, precision of 0.915, sensitivity of 0.963, specificity with 0.972, 0.987 F1 Score and 0.925 ROC AUC. © 2023 IEEE.

Hybrid deep learning models for effective COVID-19 diagnosis with chest x-rays

The survey on COVID-19 test kits RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) concludes the hit rate of diagnosis and detection is degrading. Manufacturing these RT-PCR kits is very expensive and time-consuming. This work proposed an efficient way for COVID detection using a hybrid convolutional neural network (HCNN) through chest x-rays image analysis. It aids to differentiate non-COVID patient and COVID patients. It makes the medical practitioner to take appropriate treatment and measures. The results outperformed the custom blood and saliva-based RT-PCR test results. A few examinations were carried out over chest X-ray images utilizing ConvNets that produce better accuracy for the recognition of COVID-19. When considering the number of images in the database and the COVID discovery season (testing time = 0.03 s/image), the design reduced the computational expenditure. With mean ROC AUC scores 96.51 & 96.33%, the CNN with minimised convolutional and fully connected layers detects COVID-19 images inside the two-class COVID/Normal and COVID/Pneumonia orders. © 2023, IGI Global. All rights reserved.

FINANCING INDIA'S URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Indian economy is expected to be one of the top performers in the world economy in the post covid era. While all the major economies of the world are finding it difficult to come back to pre-covid level, the Indian economy is on the path of a speedy recovery. With significant urbanization taking place, India will need to make a significant investment in its urban infrastructure. It is expected that $840 billion of investments is required in urban infrastructure over the next 15 years. This private player will have a significant role to play. This article attempts to identify the significant constraints in financing such a massive infrastructure needs of India.

An Analysis of Profitability and Key Hurdles for the Housing Finance Sector in India

There is a fear of recession worldwide as is evident from the decline in the economic activities in all major economies of the world. As per the prediction of the IMF, the Indian economy looks somewhat better placed compared to other major economies for the current financial year. The real estate sector has always been a significant contributor to the process of growth of India and depends on the soundness of the Housing Finance sector to a great extent. The study tries to examine the profitability of the housing finance sector as well as identifies significant hurdles, especially in the post Covid period when the fear of global recession looms large. Three leading housing finance companies based on market capitalization are taken as the sample companies and one-way Anova is used as a significant tool of analysis. The study points that the favourable time ahead for housing finance sector in near future.

A Critical Appraisal of the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Pertaining to COVID-19

Background: We critically evaluated the risk of bias in published systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) pertaining to COVID-19 using ROBIS tool. Materials And Methods: MEDLINE and Cochrane Central Library were searched for SRs/MAs on 14th May 2020, including studies of all designs describing various facets of COVID-19 in humans;no restrictions were applied for interventions, comparators, and outcomes. Two reviewers independently assessed all the SRs/MAs with ROBIS. Result(s): Out of 204 identified records, 48 SRs/MAs were included. The most frequently reviewed topics were therapy outcomes, diagnosis, and comorbidities (15, 8, and 6 papers respectively). Only 29/48(60.41%) papers had made a mention of using PRISMA or other guidelines for drafting the SR/MA. Only 5/48(10.42%) of all included SRs/MAs had low overall risk of bias as per ROBIS tool;41/48(85.42%) had high risk of bias, 2/48(4.17%) had unclear risk of bias. The highest proportion of bias was found in data synthesis and findings (30/48, 62.50% of studies had high risk of bias), followed by study identification and selection (29/48, 60.42%). The IRR for methodological quality assessment was substantial, with the Cohen's kappa values being 0.64, 0.68, 0.62, and 0.75 for domains 1-4 of ROBIS tool, and 0.66 for overall risk of bias assessment. Conclusion(s): There are serious concerns about the methodology employed to generate the results of the SRs/ MAs pertaining to COVID-19, with 'quantity' seemingly being given more importance than 'quality' of the paper.Copyright © 2022 Bentham Science Publishers.

A nonlinear mathematical model on the Covid-19 transmission pattern among diabetic and non-diabetic population.

In this paper, a three tier mathematical model describing the interactions between susceptible population, Covid-19 infected, diabetic population and Covid-19 infected, non diabetic population is proposed. Basic properties of such a dynamic model, namely, non negativity, boundedness of solutions, existence of disease-free and disease equilibria are studied and sufficient conditions are obtained. Basic reproduction number for the system is derived. Sufficient conditions on functionals and parameters of the system are obtained for the local as well as global stability of equilibria, thus, establishing the conditions for eventual prevalence of disease free or disease environment, as the case may be. The stability aspects are discussed in the context of basic reproduction number and vice versa. An important contribution of this article is that a novel technique is presented to estimate some key, influencing parameters of the system so that a pre-specified, assumed equilibrium state is approached eventually. This enables the society to prepare itself with the help of these key, influencing parameters so estimated. Several examples are provided to illustrate the results established and simulations are provided to visualize the examples.

Development of a Covid-19 Information Dashboard to Access the Health Care Resources and Requirements Online

With the emergence of coronavirus and the rapidly increasing number of cases, we observed that people were suffering from a lack of information about where to source critical requirements such as oxygen cylinders, beds, ambulance service, and ventilators. In this research paper and project, the authors have designed and developed an interactive information dashboard to access the availability of these resources and requirements at different locations across India from myriad sources. The information dashboard will show information for all the states across India. The dashboard visualizes the number of corona cases, hospital beds, blood bank, etc. The end-users and the COVID-19 support team can imagine all the requirements in the dashboard that is factual and credible within their vicinity from multiple information sources. The user need not search various information sites to search for different conditions. The project collates the data of other requirements from primary sources of information like Twitter and government websites and lists them on the dashboard. The authors used open-source programming and database technologies to display the data per user requirements. The dashboard was helpful to the end-users during COVID-19 times in terms of convenient accessibility and efficiency. © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cross-country runners: changes in training, sleep, diet, and mental health.

Objective: Determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the changes in training, sleep, diet, and mental health of cross-country runners. Participants: Cross-country runners from NCAA Division II institutes. Methods: Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed to analyze survey responses to ordinal questions on the survey while Spearman's rank correlation analysis (ρ) was used to calculate correlation between after the start of pandemic questions. Data was marked significant at p < 0.05. Results: Analysis of the survey responses revealed that cross-country runners were more likely to experience feelings of depression (p < 0.001), lack of motivation (p < 0.001), and higher daily stress (p < 0.001) after the start of the pandemic. After the start of the pandemic, runners running less days per week were more likely to report an increased feeling of depression (ρ=-0.315, p = 0.008) and lack of motivation (ρ=-0.458, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The present study underscores the importance of training, sleep, diet, and mental health amongst cross-country runners.

NEURAL NETWORK AIDED OPTIMIZED AUTO ENCODER AND DECODER FOR DETECTION OF COVID-19 AND PNEUMONIA USING CT-SCAN

Most of the countries in the world are now fighting against Covid-19 and many of the people are losing their life because of the less immunity or due to the late diagnostics and it is especially in the case of old age people and people with other medical issues. The concept of early detection of disease is really important in the case of the Covid-19 scenario because along with the infected people, the other people who are in close contact with the infected persons will also have life risk. During this pandemic, pneumonia and Covid-19 people suffers from almost the same symptoms. So, the proposed work designs an automated system that can perform multi-classification on general health, pneumonia and Covid-19 through Chest X-Rays by designing an optimized auto encoder- decoder network. Most of the earlier approaches which are used to perform the binary classification couldn't differentiate the Covid-19 and Pneumonia effectively because the traditional CNN extract the high level features, which are similar in case of COVID-19 & Pneumonia. These two have variations in the case of low level features. The major focus of this paper is to construct a hyper-parameterized auto encoder-decoder system that can help the user to detect level of lung infection. The level of infection helps the model to accurately classify the model. This method helps doctors and other medical-related people with the early diagnosis of disease. © 2022 Little Lion Scientific.

Risk management of COVID-19

The novel coronavirus or the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was an unforeseen catastrophe that shook the world to its core. As the dangers of COVID-19 transmission rises, so does the risks associated with its transmission. The novel coronavirus outbreak has affected the human population in much unpredicted ways. Restrictions in business operations and industrial activities have crashed the economies on an unprecedented scale. Risk assessment has become an important aspect which will be further utilized to restrict the transmission of COVID-19. Since vaccination protocols are still in developmental phase, it is crucial to enumerate the risks associated with COVID-19 transmission. Some particular set of populations face a greater risk of COVID-19 infection, occupational and environmental risks of COVID-19 constitutes important aspects that need to be addressed. After assessing the associated risks, proper management strategies must be devised. An international standpoint on how risks associated with COVID-19 can be managed is the need of the hour. While the COVID-19 vaccine development is still in progress, the public on an individual level must practice safety measures which would eventually to a certain extent limit the risks of the novel coronavirus transmission. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sampling and analytical techniques for COVID-19

In March 2020, the novel corona virus disease 2019 was declared as pandemic as the disease had started transmitted rapidly, worldwide many death cases were reported due to the fast-spreading of virus. Plenty of researches were carried out and some are still in progress to know the causative agent of SARS-CoV-2 and also on antiviral treatment to cure this disease. Many sample specimens such as Nasopharyngeal specimens, nasal wash, saliva, sputum, Oropharyngeal specimens, blood, tracheal aspirate, Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, urine and environmental sampling were used to detect corona virus, while several analytical techniques such as nucleic acid based techniques which are RT-PCR, and RT-LAMP as well as immunological assays such as ELISA, LFIA, neutralization assays, and luminescent immunoassays were used to detect Corona virus from the sample and a vibrant understanding about the sampling and analytical technique is of paramount significance. In this chapter, the different human sample collection method with their merits such as ease to collect, prominent result and many more as well as their demerits are discussed. Apart from that, the immunological assays to detect the cause of past infection and antibodies and also the most commonly used RT-PCR method for COVID-19 and limitation of this technique along with other alternative techniques are also discussed in detail. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Cross-Sectional Study on the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ocular Health at a Tertiary Care Department of Ophthalmology

Purpose : The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in ophthalmic care, and may have negatively impacted some patients more than others. We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional study at our large, tertiary care ophthalmology referral center in the Midwest region of the United States in an attempt to identify patients at risk for worsening ocular health during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Methods : We completed retrospective Electronic Health Record data extraction of demographic and clinical outpatient encounter-level data for all patients examined in our department from March-May 2019, August-October 2019, March-May 2020 (peak COVID), and August-October 2020 (COVID recovery). Changes in mean logMAR visual acuity (logMAR VA), mean intraocular pressure (IOP), and mean number of procedures per encounter were tested and stratified by age (<18, 18-64, and 65+ years-old), and compared based on associated billing codes. Results : During peak COVID, there was a 73% decrease in the number of outpatient clinical encounters compared to the control time period in 2019 (6,976 vs. 26,068), and mean patient age was significantly lower during peak COVID (mean age 53.4, 95% CI 52.8- 54.0) compared with the other time periods. Documented best-corrected logMAR VA of the right and left eyes worsened for pediatric, adult, and elderly patient age groups;IOP of the right and left eyes worsened when evaluating all patients together;and the mean number of procedures performed per encounter increased by 74% comparing early 2019 to peak COVID months. The billing diagnoses associated with the worst ocular health outcomes during the COVID-related shutdowns include patients with anophthalmia of the fellow eye;infectious keratitis;open, chronic angle closure, and secondary causes of glaucoma;ocular inflammatory disorders;optic neuritis and ischemic optic neuropathies;and vitreoretinal disorders related to diabetes, macular degeneration, and vitreous or retinal hemorrhages. Conclusions : Patients seen during the COVID-19 pandemic were younger, had worsened logMAR VA, increased IOP, and underwent more procedures compared to the COVID-recovery and 2019 control months. Numerous billing diagnoses were associated with worse measures ocular health. Patients with these ocular disorders may need prioritization during future periods of reduced access ophthalmic care.

COVID-19 associated myelitis: A case series

Spinal cord involvement in COVID-19 infections can be varied and may present as acute transverse myelitis, acute necrotizing myelitis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, Myelin oligodendrocyte-associated glycoprotein (MOG) antibody myelitis, and SARS-CoV-2 myelitis. We retrospectively analyzed eight cases of COVID-19-associated myelitis. All patients had only mild antecedent symptoms of COVID-19 infection and were admitted with clinical features of acute transverse myelitis confirmed on neuroimaging. Seven patients had longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM). Serum Aquaporin-4 antibodies (NMO), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oligoclonal bands, and RT PCR for COVID-19 were negative. Serum MOG antibodies were positive in three patients;out of this two had CSF pleocytosis. All patients were treated with steroids followed by plasmapheresis. Five cases showed good improvement (increase in power by grade 2 or more), while three cases that were MOG positive had poor outcomes with either minimal or no improvement. The severity of COVID-19 infection was not related to the development of myelitis. Seven cases had LETM. Response to therapy was not uniform and the presence of MOG antibodies and CSF pleocytosis was associated with poor outcomes. © Medical Journal of Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth 2022.

A conceptual framework for identifying sustainable business practices of small and medium enterprises

Purpose The purpose of the current paper is to identify the factors responsible for achieving business sustainability. This paper further attempts to develop a conceptual framework that can help SMEs to achieve viable business growth through improved sustainable performance. Design/methodology/approach The study follows a methodical examination of literature published on SMEs during COVID-19. Specifically, the combination of keywords has primarily centred on SMEs, Business Practices, COVID-19 and Pandemic. The 155 research papers identified for the analysis have been classified as per geographical spread, type of papers, central theme, and theoretical foundations, which finally is followed by rigourous thematic analysis. Findings This research contributes to the SME literature by providing methodological, conceptual and practical rigour. The framework proposed by the research covers all the relevant areas which can be useful in preparing sustainable business trajectory for SMEs. It outlines the required directives for designing sustainable business practices for SMEs and includes macro and micro determinants. It also opens up future research avenues in different areas identified in the research. Future research can be performed on comparing business practices of SMEs across the emerging and developed economies. Practical implications In this study, we propose a framework that enables the design of sustainable business practices and thereby supports SMEs to combat any uncertain events or shocks. SMEs that can work on adopting sustainable business practices may sculpt novel avenues for growth and competitive advantage for their business. Originality/value The study is distinctive in nature as it is based on the examination of literature published during a phenomenological event (COVID-19) which depicts the sudden and unaccounted disruptions faced by SMEs and thereby strategies formulated around the significant glitches.

Screening of personality profile and aggressive intent in pooled analysis of COVID-19 survivors - An Analytical, Cross-sectional Study

Background: A bidirectional relationship was seen between COVID 19 survivors and psychological issues. Global research shows 1 - 7% of patients infected with COVID had aggressive behaviour in acute as well as post illness stage. In general population, people with higher extroversion scores were associated with lesser social distancing, thereby high chances of infection. No clear data exists from India to comment on personality profile or aggressive intent among COVID survivors. Aim: The current study aimed to assess the personality profile and aggression intent among COVID-19 survivors in patients from Telangana. Methodology: This study is conducted in hospital out-patient or in-patient setting of KIMS, Narketpally, Nalgonda, Telangana in patients of COVID-19. A total of 157 COVID-19 patients were recruited based on convenient sampling. The data from patients was collected using standardized objective semi-structured proforma which contains clinical and sociodemographic profile, Big Five Inventory, Assessment of Aggressive Intent (which includes six components). Results: Among the study population, 18.5% of them had positive scores in one or more of the six components of aggression. On personality assessment, patients with aggression had significantly lower mean scores on agreeableness (p value 0.003) and significantly higher mean scores on neuroticism (p value 0.049). Conclusion: COVID survivors, along with medical complications, have a risk of having psychological disturbances like aggression. Clinicians should be aware and screen for these psychological issues when the patient comes for follow-up. Early intervention and management of aggression can help in improving the patient's quality of life.