Combating COVID-19 Crisis using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Based Approach: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2, the unique coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has wreaked damage around the globe, with victims displaying a wide range of difficulties that have encouraged medical professionals to look for innovative technical solutions and therapeutic approaches. Artificial intelligence-based methods have contributed a significant part in tackling complicated issues, and some institutions have been quick to embrace and tailor these solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic's obstacles. Here, in this review article, we have covered a few DL techniques for COVID-19 detection and diagnosis, as well as ML techniques for COVID-19 identification, severity classification, vaccine and drug development, mortality rate prediction, contact tracing, risk assessment, and public distancing. This review illustrates the overall impact of AI/ML tools on tackling and managing the outbreak. PURPOSE: The focus of this research was to undertake a thorough evaluation of the literature on the part of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a complete and efficient solution in the battle against the COVID-19 epidemic in the domains of detection and diagnostics of disease, mortality prediction and vaccine as well as drug development. METHODS: A comprehensive exploration of PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct was conducted using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) regulations to find all possibly suitable papers conducted and made publicly available between December 1, 2019, and August 2023. COVID-19, along with AI-specific words, was used to create the query syntax. RESULTS: During the period covered by the search strategy, 961 articles were published and released online. Out of these, a total of 135 papers were chosen for additional investigation. Mortality rate prediction, early detection and diagnosis, vaccine as well as drug development, and lastly, incorporation of AI for supervising and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic were the four main topics focused entirely on AI applications used to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. Out of 135, 60 research papers focused on the detection and diagnosis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, 19 of the 135 studies applied a machine-learning approach for mortality rate prediction. Another 22 research publications emphasized the vaccine as well as drug development. Finally, the remaining studies were concentrated on controlling the COVID-19 pandemic by applying AI AI-based approach to it. CONCLUSION: We compiled papers from the available COVID-19 literature that used AI-based methodologies to impart insights into various COVID-19 topics in this comprehensive study. Our results suggest crucial characteristics, data types, and COVID-19 tools that can aid in medical and translational research facilitation.

Degradation of Diazo Dye and its Kinetic and Equilibrium Studies Using the Potential of Bryophyllum fedtschenkoiin Aqueous System.

Phytoremediation is emerging as an eco-friendly, innovative, and cost-effective approach for the removal of textile dyes from wastewater from the previous decade. The current research work aims to explore the potential of a terrestrial ornamental plant, Bryophyllum fedtschenkoi (Raym.-Hamet & H. Perrier) Lauz.-March. for remediating the diazo dye as Congo red (CR) in aqueous form. B. fedtschenkoi was grown hydroponically before treatment with 100 mL of a different concentration of CR dye solution. A maximum decolorization potential of 90% was obtained for 10 mg L- 1 after 40 h of equilibrium. The kinetic studies have revealed that the experimental results for the removal of CR dye using the B .fedtschenkoi plant are suitable for Pseudo-first order with R2 ≥ 0.92, while the equilibrium studies agreed with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm with R2 ≥ 0.909. The dye removal by the plant was confirmed with the help of analytical techniques Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) were also performed on dye-degraded metabolites to explore the mechanism of dye degradation.

Small molecules as cancer targeting ligands: Shifting the paradigm.

Conventional chemotherapeutics exploration is hampered due to their nonspecific distribution leading to unintended serious toxicity. Toxicity is so severe that deciding to go for chemotherapy becomes a question of concern for many terminally ill cancer patients. However, with evolving times nanotechnology assisted in reducing the haywire distribution and channelizing the movement of drug-enclosing drug delivery systems to cancer cells to a greater extent, yet toxicity issues still could not be obliterated. Thus, active targeting appeared as a refuge, where ligands actively or specifically deliver linked chemotherapeutics and carriers to cancer cells. For a very long time, large molecule weight/macromolecular ligands (peptides and big polymers) were considered the first choice for ligand-directed active cancer targeting, due to their specificity towards overexpressed native cancer receptors. However, complex characterization, instability, and the expensive nature demanded to reconnoitre better alternatives for macromolecule ligands. The concept of small molecules as ligands emerged from the idea that few chemical molecules including chemotherapeutics have a higher affinity for cancer receptors, which are overexpressed on cell membranes, and may have the ability to assist in drug cellular uptake through endocytosis. But now the question is, can they assist the conjugated macro cargos to enter the cell or not? This present review will provide a holistic overview of the small molecule ligands explored till now.

Stress depression and anxiety with xerostomia among young Indian adults.

The relationship of Oral health related quality of life (OHRQOL), stress, depression, anxiety, with xerostomia, un-stimulated salivary flow rate among young Indian adults is of interest. The first phase involved xerostomia along with salivary flow rate measurements. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) the standard questionnaire in this field, was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress in the second part of the study. Xerostomia has a stronger effect on OHRQOL. Anxiety, stress, and depression are examples of psychological factors that significantly impact xerostomia and the reduction of salivary flow rate.

Synthetic and Biological Attributes of Pyrimidine Derivatives: A Recent Update.

Nitrogen-containing heterocycles attract the attention of chemists due to their multifarious activities. Amongst all, pyrimidine plays a central role and exhibits a broad spectrum of biological activities. Literature is replete with various aspects of synthetic development in the chemistry of pyrimidine for a wide array of applications. It aroused our interest to compile various novel and efficient synthetic approaches towards the synthesis of pyrimidine and its derivatives. Pyrimidine derivatives are broadly useful as therapeutic agents, owing to their high degree of structural diversity. They have been recorded to possess a diverse range of therapeutic activities viz. anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV etc.

A review on application of phytoremediation technique for eradication of synthetic dyes by using ornamental plants.

Phytoremediation emerges as an innovative and eco-friendly technique to remediate textile dyes with the use of various categories of plants. In recent years, ornamental plants emerge as more attractive and effective substitute in comparison to edible plants for phytoremediation. Regardless of aesthetic value, some ornamental plants can be grown to remediate the sites contaminated with dyes, heavy metals, pesticides, or other organic compounds. In this review, we focus on pioneer research on synthetic dye removal using ornamental plants and evaluate the phytoremediation capability of ornamental plants for treatment of textile effluent. This paper also emphasized specific ornamental plants having high accumulation and tolerance ability for removal of dyes. The mechanisms explored for the phytoremediation of dyes by ornamental plants have also been explained. This review will also be helpful for researchers for exploring more new ornamental plants in phytoremediation technique.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Psychological Status of Pregnant Women.

Introduction Pregnancy is a beautiful phase in every woman's life in which she undergoes several physical and psychological transformations. The level of stress and anxiety may increase due to a sudden outbreak of contagious diseases. Objective To evaluate the psychological status of pregnant women during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July 15, 2020, to September 15, 2020, in Dehradun, Haridwar, and Nainital districts of Uttarakhand, India. A total of 333 pregnant women were surveyed through an online platform. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was measured using the Impact of Event-Revised (IES-R) scale, and anxiety levels were measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results The survey results revealed that around three-fourths (73.6%) of the pregnant women reported minimal psychological impact, with a mean IES-R score of 16.93±11.23, whereas 69.4% of respondents had a minimal level of anxiety, with a mean GAD-7 score of 3.09±3.73. Multivariate linear regression found a positive association between psychological impact and gestational age, occupation, religion, locality, conception, history of abortion (p<0.05). Also, the level of anxiety was significantly associated with education, occupation, monthly income, religion, marital and family support, history of mental illness (p<0.01), conception type, and awareness regarding COVID-19 (p<0.05). Conclusion Psychological impact and anxiety levels were found to be minimal in pregnant women residing in Uttarakhand. Early identification of high-risk women is important to formulate necessary strategic planning to reduce the complications associated with maternal psychological stress on developing fetus.

Metal and Non-Metal Catalysts in the Synthesis of Five-Membered S-Heterocycles.

BACKGROUND: A wide variety of biological activities are exhibited by N, O and S containing heterocycles and recently, many reports appeared for the synthesis of these heterocycles. The synthesis of heterocycles with the help of metal and non-metal catalyst has become a highly rewarding and important method in organic synthesis. This review article concentrated on the synthesis of S-heterocylces in the presence of metal and non-metal catalyst. The synthesis of five-membered S-heterocycles is described here. OBJECTIVE: There is a need for the development of rapid, efficient and versatile strategy for the synthesis of heterocyclic rings. Metal, non-metal and organocatalysis involving methods have gained prominence because traditional conditions have disadvantages such as long reaction times, harsh conditions and limited substrate scope. CONCLUSION: The metal-, non-metal-, and organocatalyst assisted organic synthesis is a highly dynamic research field. For ßthe chemoselective and efficient synthesis of heterocyclic molecules, this protocol has emerged as a powerful route. Various methodologies in the past few years have been pointed out to pursue more sustainable, efficient and environmentally benign procedures and products. Among these processes, the development of new protocols (catalysis), which avoided the use of toxic reagents, are the focus of intense research.

Synthetic and Biological Aspects of Thiadiazoles and their Condensed Derivatives: An Overview.

The three heteroatoms containing five membered heterocycles such as thiadiazoles have been extensively studied due to their important pharmacological activities. The thiadiazole nucleus is an important class of compounds for new drug development. The chemical and biological behavior and synthesis of thiadiazole derivatives have gained much importance in last few decades. This review article provides up to date information about exploration of new methods, developments, synthetic strategies, and their diverse pharmaceutical activities.

Photocatalytic degradation of two commercial reactive dyes in aqueous phase using nanophotocatalysts.

This study involves the photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) and Reactive Orange 4 (RO4) dyes, employing heterogeneous photocatalytic process. Photocatalytic activity of different semiconductors such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) has been investigated. An attempt has been made to study the effect of process parameters through amount of catalyst, concentration of dye, and pH on photocatalytic degradation of RB5 and RO4. The experiments were carried out by varying pH (3-11), amount of catalyst (0.25-1.5 g/L), and initial concentration of dye (10-100 mg/L). The optimum catalyst dose was found to be 1.25 and 1 g/L for RB5 and RO4, respectively. In the case of RB5, maximum rate of decolorization was observed in acidic medium at pH 4, whereas the decolorization of RO4 reached maximum in basic region at pH 11. The performance of photocatalytic system employing ZnO/UV light was observed to be better than TiO2/UV system. The complete decolorization of RB5 was observed after 7 min with ZnO, whereas with TiO2, only 75% dye degraded in 7 min. In the case of RO4, 92 and 62% decolorization was noticed in the same duration.