Indirect Response of the Temperature, Humidity, and Rainfall on the Spread of COVID-19 over the Indian Monsoon Region.

This article examines the role of the meteorological variable in the spread of the ongoing pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across India. COVID-19 has created an unprecedented situation for public health and brought the world to a standstill. COVID-19 had caused more than 1,523,242 deaths out of 66,183,029 confirmed cases worldwide till the first week of December 2020. We have examined the surface temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall over five cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai, which were severely affected by COVID-19. It is found that the prevailing southwest (SW) monsoon during the pandemic has acted as a natural sanitizer in limiting the spread of the virus. The mean rainfall is ~ 20-40 mm over the selected cities, resulting in an average decrease in COVID cases by ~ 18-26% for the next 3 days after the rainfall. The day-to-day variations of the meteorological parameters and COVID-19 cases clearly demonstrate that both surface temperature and relative humidity play a vital role in the indirect transport of the virus. Our analysis reveals that most COVID-19 cases fall within the surface temperature range from 24 to 30 °C and relative humidity range from 50% to 80%. At a given temperature, COVID-19 cases show a large dependency on the relative humidity; therefore, the coastal environments were more prone to infections. Wavelet transforms coherence analysis of the daily COVID-19 cases with temperature and relative humidity reveals a significant coherence within 8 days.

Comparison of the efficacy of parental brushing using powered versus manual tooth brush: A randomized, four-period, two-treatment, single-blinded crossover study.

BACKGROUND: Children <5 years of age need parental assistance with tooth brushing. PURPOSE: The aim is to compare the efficacy of manual and powered toothbrushes for plaque removal when used by parents to brush their children's teeth. METHODS: This randomized, four-period, two-treatment, examiner-blinded, crossover clinical trial comprised children aged 3-5 years. Tooth brushing was performed by the parent using a manual or powered toothbrush. Pre- and post-brushing plaque assessments were performed using the Turesky Modified Quigley-Hein Plaque Index. Differences in plaque scores were calculated using the paired t-test. RESULTS: A significant difference (P < 0.001) in the reduction of the plaque score was observed between the manual and powered tooth brushing groups. CONCLUSION: Powered toothbrushes performed significantly better than manual toothbrushes in terms of plaque removal when used by parents to brush their child's teeth.