Massive Pandemic Research Articles

Determining the knowledge of medical students regarding spread and prevention of monkeypox virus - a single institution - based study from Lahore

<p>Background and Objective: The world has already seen a massive pandemic of COVID-19. Medical professionals are the first line of defense in this pandemic. In this regard knowing about the spread of Monkeypox and then its preventive measure could save us from another pandemic. This study was therefore designed to determine the knowledge and awareness of medical students regarding the spread and prevention of monkeypox viral disease.</p> <p>Methods: It was a cross-sectional study comprising of 406 medical students from first to final year MBBS of a private medical college in Lahore were enrolled through convenient sampling. The data were collected through a structured and validated questionnaire designed through Google Forms and administered by the researchers through WhatsApp groups. The data regarding the mode of spread and prevention was analyzed statistically with a p-value < 0.05 as significant.</p> <p>Results: A total of 406 responses were collected. The mean age of the participants was 22 ± 2 SD years. Regarding modes of spread of monkeypox, the medical students had significant knowledge about different routes; 359 (88.4%) respondents were aware of human-to[1]human transmission through respiratory secretions and vertical transmission (p < 0.001), while 298 (73.4%) respondents also regarded fomites as one of the modes (p < 0.001).Regarding the prevention of spread, 359 (88.4%) respondents picked each of the options of wearing masks, smallpox vaccination, and prior infection with chickenpox or smallpox while 329 (81%) and 309 (76.1%) respondents regarded the use of antivirals and isolation of affected person respectively as protective against Monkeypox (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion: The knowledge of medical students regarding the spread and prevention of monkeypox seems satisfactory. This can be attributed to the inclusion of the disease in their curriculum and its status as an emerging global outbreak, with extensive information readily available through social media platforms.</p>

Plague and the Mongol conquest of Baghdad (1258)? A reevaluation of the sources.

This paper reexamines the sources used by N. Fancy and M.H. Green in "Plague and the Fall of Baghdad (1258)" (Medical History, 65/2 (2021), 157-177). Fancy and Green argued that the Arabic and Persian descriptions of the Mongol sieges in Iran and Iraq, and in particular, in the conquest of Baghdad in 1258, indicate that the besieged fortresses and cities were struck by Plague after the Mongol sieges were lifted. This, they suggested, is part of a recurrent pattern of the outbreak of Plague transmitted by the Mongol expansion across Eurasia. Fancy and Green concluded that the primary sources substantiate the theory driven by recent paleogenetic studies indicating that the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century set the stage for the massive pandemic of the mid-fourteenth century. The link between the Plague outbreak and the Mongol siege of Baghdad relies on three near-contemporaneous historical accounts. However, our re-examination of the sources shows that the main text (in Persian) has been significantly misunderstood, and that the two other texts (in Syriac and Arabic) have been mis-contextualized, and thus not understood properly. They do not support the authors' claim regarding Plague epidemic in Baghdad in 1258, nor do other contemporary and later Arabic texts from Syria and Egypt adduced by them, which we re-examine in detail here. We conclude that there is no evidence for the appearance of Plague during or immediately after the Mongol conquests in the Middle East, certainly not for its transmission by the Mongols.

Artificial intelligence-aiding lab-on-a-chip workforce designed oral [3.1.0] bi and [4.2.0] tricyclic catalytic interceptors inhibiting multiple SARS-CoV-2 protomers assisted by double-shell deep learning.

While each massive pandemic has claimed the lives of millions of vulnerable populations over the centuries, one limitation exists: that the Edisonian approach (human-directed with trial errors) relies on repurposing pharmaceuticals, designing drugs, and herbal remedies with the violation of Lipinski's rule of five druglikeness. It may lead to adverse health effects with long-term health multimorbidity. Nevertheless, declining birth rates and aging populations will likely cause a shift in society due to a shortage of a scientific workforce to defend against the next pandemic incursion. The challenge of combating the ongoing post-COVID-19 pandemic has been exacerbated by the lack of gold standard drugs to deactivate multiple SARS-CoV-2 protein targets. Meanwhile, there are three FDA-approved antivirals, Remdesivir, Molnupiravir, and Paxlovid, with moderate clinical efficacy and drug resistance. There is a pressing need for additional antivirals and prepared omics technology to combat the current and future devastating coronavirus pandemics. While there is a limitation of existing contemporary inhibitors to deactivate viral RNA replication with minimal rotational bonds, one strategy is to create Lipinski inhibitors with less than 10 rotational bonds and precise halogen bond placement to destabilize multiple viral protomers. This work describes the efforts to design gold-standard oral inhibitors of bi- and tri-cyclic catalytic interceptors with electrophilic heads using double-shell deep learning. Here, KS1 with and KS2 compounds designed by lab-on-a-chip technology attain 5-fold novel filtered-Lipinski, GHOSE, VEBER, EGAN, and MUEGGE druglikeness. The graph neural network (GNN) relies on module-initiation, expansion, relabeling atom index, and termination (METORITE) iterations, while the deep neural network (DNN) engages pinning, extraction, convolution, pooling, and flattening (PROOF) operations. The cyclic compound's specific halogen atom location enhances the nitrile catalytic head, which deactivates several viral protein targets. Initiating this lab-on-a-chip that is not susceptible to the aging process for creating clinical compounds can leverage a new path to many valuable drugs with speedy oral drug discovery, especially to defend the loss of vulnerable population and prevent multimorbidity that is susceptible to hidden viral persistence in the continuing aging times.

The Experiences and Challenges of Online Learning for Chinese Students and the Impact of Online Learning on Student’s Motivation

The massive COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on people's lives all over the globe, but it has also posed significant difficulties for educational systems since students were required to complete their coursework at home. Therefore, this study aims to examine how students and related personnel perceive online learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to thoroughly discuss students' motivation for learning. According to the study, despite the epidemic's rapid reform, online learning still faces some challenges, including issues with young children’s or primary school students’ self-control as well as the need for electronic devices to enable students in remote areas to pursue online learning and environmental factors. In addition, factors like the adaptability of courses and the variety of learning resources offered by online learning can help students feel more motivated. The study discovered that online students do not have the time to interact with their professors and that some process volatility will also have a detrimental effect on students’ motivation to learn. As a result, this study concludes with forward-thinking recommendations and fixes for the issues.

Study of features of influenza virus circulation in the southern region of Kazakhstan during the 2021 epidemic season

Influenza viruses are among the most prevalent infectious agents, leading to massive seasonal epidemics and pandemics with high mortality rates. The ability of influenza virus to antigenic variability determines the high population susceptibility, wide spread of infection, and short intervals between epidemics. In recent years, the co-circulation of influenza viruses that belong to A/H1N1pdm09 and A/ H3N2 subtypes and influenza type B virus has been observed. Here we summarize the data we explored to establish the features of the influenza virus circulation in the southern region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. To conduct virological and serological studies, 590 biosamples were collected from sick patients (419 swabs and 171 blood serums). Influenza type A virus RNA was found in 39 (9.31%) samples including that of A/H1N1pdm09 virus in 15 (3.58%), A/H3N2 virus in 23 (5.49%). It has also been noted that isolates A/Almaty/10/21 and A/Almaty/15/21 were profiled by the antigenic formula A/H3N2. The results of virological, serological, and molecular genetic studies confirm the simultaneous circulation of influenza A viruses (H1N1pdm09 and H3N2), and influenza type B virus. Some thoughts on the current scenario as well as implications for the future are presented as well.

Multivariate analysis of the parameters of the immune response after immunization with inactivated influenza vaccines

Influenza A and B viruses are widely spread respiratory pathogens of humans and cause both isolated cases and local outbreaks of the disease, as well as massive seasonal epidemics and pandemics. Vaccination is the main strategy for combating influenza, and an increase in the proportion of vaccinated people in the population determines the success of vaccination. To identify patterns of postvaccination immune response formation to different types of vaccines and assess the significance of its multiple parameters the appropriate statistical methods should by applied. These methods allow to operate with large datasets and reduce their dimension, while keeping the maximum of information about the differences between individual observations. The aim of our study was the analysis of parameters of humoral and cellular immunity and their dynamics after vaccination with different types of inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV) using statistical methods of complex data analysis. The study was conducted in the clinical department of the Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, in the flu season 2018 – 2019. The multivariate analysis of the immune response parameters after immunization with IIV “Grippol plus”, “Sovigripp” “Ultrix” included data obtained for 39 volunteers before vaccination, on the 7th and 21st days after vaccination. To identify parameters with significant differences between groups, one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used separately for each parameter and time point. To visualize the differences in the parameters selected in the analysis of variance, the Principal component analysis (PCA) method was used. The conducted studies revealed the peculiarities of the formation of a post-vaccination immune response to various types of IIV. It was shown that the factors of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell immune response introduced the major contribution to the formation of the differences between groups. The approach is a powerful tool in analyzing the parameters of the immune response in clinical trials of influenza vaccines and other preventive medicine.

"Embracing the Inner Strength and Staying Strong": Exploring Self-Care Preparedness among Nurses for Enhancing Their Psychological Well-Being against the Long-Term Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic in Brunei Darussalam.

During three years of the unprecedented, massive COVID-19 pandemic that affected the world, nurse front liners faced substantial challenges and experienced long-term adverse mental health. This study explored psychological self-care practices undertaken by nurses to strengthen their mental health and develop resilience in their professional care role while addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 era. A qualitative descriptive exploratory study was conducted on 40 nurses who worked in providing COVID-19 care across Brunei using focus groups aided by semi-structured open-ended questions. Data were thematically analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Four themes emerged: (1) 'Care of the mind, heart and soul'; (2) 'Physical care for the psychological well-being'; (3) 'Venting out and distraction'; (4) 'Have faith, think and stay positive'. The challenges of dealing with a worldwide pandemic unintentionally placed nurses' mental well-being at risk while the government strategized and prioritized containing and preventing the spread of and death from COVID-19. Health administrators, as well as nursing educators, need to promote and develop resources to strengthen nurses' psychological self-care practices. This will not only benefit individual nurses but will help promote the well-being of patients and employees, improve the health of all, and counteract any unintended stressful situations, even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Global Prevalence of Pulmonary Fibrosis Among Post–COVID-19 Follow-up Patients

Abstract Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is the virus that causes a massive pandemic of the decade and has brought more than 215 million infections and nearly 4.5 million deaths worldwide as of August 2021. In addition, survivors of COVID-19 patients suffer from acute, chronic, and persistent lung problems and pulmonary fibrosis, which is the sequel of future morbidity and mortality. Method Electronic databases searched were PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, HINARI, Web of Science, and direct Google search. For publication bias, a funnel plot and the Egger regression test were used. The I 2 statistic was used to check the heterogeneity between the studies. DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model was applied to estimate the pooled effect size. Subgroup analysis was done by using publication year and mean sample size. For the effect of a single study on the overall estimation, sensitivity analysis was deployed. STATA version 14 software using the random-effects model was used to conduct all statistical analyses. Result The study included 9 studies with a total sample size of 1241. The overall pooled prevalence of pulmonary fibrosis among post–COVID follow-up patients was found to be 54.04% (95% confidence interval, 40.54%–67.54%). Conclusions The overall pooled prevalence of pulmonary fibrosis among post–COVID-19 follow-up patients was higher in magnitude and recognized as a potential sequela among survivors. Because of exaggerated viral and immune response, further searching for better diagnostic and efficacious treatment strategies is recommended.

Using WhatsApp Group & Google Meet during Online Class, Why Not?

Due to this current outbreak of Covid-19, the process of teaching and learning is now completely held online. For students, every teacher/lecturer must find the appropriate learning platform. Consequently, this article examines the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the college students’ perception in 2 English classes in Salatiga (an Islamic university) and Solo (a private university) during online learning. Researchers would respond to theories and facts emerging in the field, as well as answer problems that have not been solved in previous research. This type of research was descriptive qualitative. The data was collected using Google forms. Then, inductive analysis was used to test the data. The findings show that, despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on online English classes, such as unstable signal problems and the need to be constantly in front of gadgets, students can understand the material. They also have a good time in online English classes because the lecturers in WhatsApp Groups (WAG) include games, puzzles, quizzes, and other interesting activities to keep them entertained during online classes. They can also learn the correct pronunciation by using WhatsApp Voice Note and Google Meet. During online learning, both lecturers and students face numerous challenges. They also suggested being creative in class and livening up the atmosphere, despite the fact that it was held online due to a massive pandemic.

Monkeypox and Pregnancy: Latest Updates.

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) has emerged as a threatening zoonosis. Its spread around the world has been growing fast over the last 2 years, particularly in 2022. The reasons for this sudden spread are probably multifactorial. The R0 values of the two MPXV clades are rather low, and a massive pandemic is considered unlikely, although the increase in the number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms found in the 2022 MPXV strain could indicate an accelerated human adaptation. Very little is known about the risks of an infection during pregnancy for both the mother and the fetus. Further observations must be made to create clear, adapted, evidence-based guidelines. This article summarizes the current knowledge about MPXV infections and similar pregnancy virus infections.

Post COVID-19 Late Hemoptysis Managed with Bronchial Artery Embolization.

SARS-COV-2 has been one of the most massive pandemics in modern history with typical radiological findings. As the follow up on patients who have survived this infection has been rising, newer studies have emerged detailing the long term sequelae of this disease and well as its complications. Few of the long term sequelae of COVID-19 pneumonia are lung fibrosis and bronchiectasis. Bronchiectatic changes in the lungs can lead to hemoptysis in the patient. We present you the case of a patient who recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia and presented with hemoptysis after 2 months secondary to bronchiectatic changes in lung fields. Patient underwent bronchial artery embolization as few studies have shown bronchial artery embolization to be effective and feasible management even on patients with history of COVID-19 pneumonia.

The Effect of The Covid-19 Pandemic on The Amount of Waste at The Toisapu Final Processing Site (TPA) Ambon City, Maluku Province

The massive Covid-19 pandemic has caused countries to implement policies in the form of social restrictions to limit activities outside and only carry out activities indoors. The risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus causes a reduction in public activities in the form of commercial, institutional, and public service facilities. This has an impact on the amount of waste generated by people in urban areas during the pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of covid-19 on the amount of waste that enters the Toisapu TPS in Ambon city and to see the difference in the average amount of waste before the pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic with Paired Sample T Test analysis using IBM SPSS statistics 25 application. The results showed that there was a correlation between the two variables (0.693) which means that the correlation of the amount of waste entering the Toisapu TPS between before and during covid-19 was strong but not significant as indicated by the probability value (sig.) 0.013 > 0.05. While the calculated t value is 3.16 > 2.63 (t table value) so it can be concluded that the average amount of waste before and during the Covid-19 period is different. Keywords: Pandemic, waste, T test

Is Social Distancing a Panacea? A Socio-Anthropological Case of Intimacy of Community Health Workers from Eastern Indian State

In different parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is testing the federal system of government like never before. Federalism—which believes in shared sovereignty and territoriality between multiple constituent units of governance—was anticipated to fail against a massive pandemic that needed swift, and presumably centralised, response. This brief examines federal India’s own experience in the past 18 months. The aim is to uncover the nature and dimensions of India’s pandemic response, and the obstacles it has had to hurdle given the challenges posed by its federal design. The brief outlines lessons for future crises.

A Review on Screening Models for Potential Therapeutic Candidates and Targets Against SARS-CoV-2.

Coronaviruses are a group of known RNA virus which primarily infect the respiratory tract, and also neurological, enteric, and hepatic systems. Endemic outbreaks of Middle East Coronavirus Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) have been observed in recent decades. A new strain named the SARS CoV-2(- COVID-19) virus has now spread across the globe. SARS-CoV-2 is highly communicable and has culminated in a massive pandemic of COVID-19. Currently, no successful treatment is available. Therefore, an urgent need is there for new screening models that can aid in identifying the drugs with potential activity against COVID-19. The current review aims to discuss various in-silico, in- -vitro and in-vivo screening methods that can potentially be used to expedite the discovery of new active therapeutic candidates and vaccines, drug targets, and repurposing the commercially available drugs against COVID-19 for the effective management of the infection and thereby controlling this pandemic. Further, the current status of drugs and vaccines under clinical investigation has been summarized.

Assessment of sanitation service gap in urban slums for tackling COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As the disease is highly infectious, the Global South countries are in a vulnerable situation with high urban population density and lack of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services. The situation for the urban slum dwellers and low-income group clusters are becoming worse. Lack of health and sanitation service availability has already been an issue for them before the beginning of the pandemic. So, it is predictable that adopting this massive global pandemic is a critical challenge for them. This paper assesses the sanitation service gap in urban slums, which has become a severe challenge to tackle due to COVID-19. The study areas of this research are the Ranarmath slum and the Khema slum of Khulna city, Bangladesh. The SERVQUAL model has been used to identify the quality of sanitation service available in these informal residential settlements. The interpretation of questionnaire survey data from the two slums reveals that one slum lacks Assurance and Empathy, where the other slum lacks Tangibility and Responsiveness. However, the Tangibility, Reliability, and Responsiveness condition of both slums are flawed with the lack of latrine functionalities and services from concerned authorities. The incompatibility of the condition has been identified by evaluating the WHO's different sanitation management policy for COVID-19. The research concludes that sanitation services like handwashing facilities and water supply availability in the latrine directly related to COVID-19 prevention are indigent for these slums.

Особенности психического реагирования жителей Казахстана, обращающихся за психологической помощью в период пандемии COVID-19

The article provides an analysis of international studies dedicated to the identification of mental problems involved among the population of different countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the results of the original study of the symptoms of mental disorders, which citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan sought private psychological help with during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data obtained are compared with the final indicators of similar studies in other regions of the world, claiming that the main requests are caused by anxiety-depressive symptoms. It was revealed that the manifestations of anxiety and fear associated with the threat of contracting a coronavirus infection, characteristic of the initial period of a pandemic, weaken over time, which may be associated with the phenomenon of desensitization and actual infection. Specific factors are noted, such as the peculiarities of the burial during a pandemic, which can be an aggravating factor in the occurrence of a prolonged grief reaction and a complicated grief reaction. Limitation of social contacts, closure of public institutions, and limited labour activities are considered as factors that enhance anxiety-depressive symptoms and complicate therapeutic interventions. Examples of PTSD symptoms are given, where the fact of illness is considered a traumatic event itself. The information published in some media sources about the possibility of re-infection is considered as a trigger that escalates the alarm. Patients with addictions are seen as a vulnerable population group during a massive pandemic.

Leadership In Time of Crisis: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan and Reflections for Malaysia

The 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was one of the most massive pandemics in history, with over 29.6 million people infected, including over 400,000 cases in Japan. This article describes the leadership tasks in a time of crisis during the different stages of Japan’s COVID-19 strategy under Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga's leadership. Our aim is to formulate lessons from Japan for Malaysia. Shallow assessments of leadership performance often accompany the deeply rooted belief in the importance of political leadership. Such reviews never arrive more quickly than in the wake of crises - dramatic disasters of COVID-19 cases and Abe's resignation from the prime minister post. While symbolic performance is necessary (if only because it can arouse the public), it is one of the plausible avenues for the public to express their political judgements upon leadership in a time of crisis. In this article, we adopted a qualitative method of library research and highlights the many expected tasks of Japanese prime ministers to perform, and we offer a lesson for Malaysia in times of crisis

The Role of National Food Security in a Massive Pandemic: The Case of Covid-19

This paper proposes the national pandemics contingency plan for any country based on the application of the minimum food, water & medication storage for a massive pandemic quota (ψ-Quota). Consequently, the main objective of the ψ-Quota is to calculate the approximate amount of food, water, and medicines storage amount annually in case of a possible massive pandemic crisis. Finally, this paper is divided into three sections: (i) the minimum food, water, and medicine quota storage calculation in case of a massive pandemic; (ii) the food, water, and medicine storage quota for a massive pandemic; (iii) the geographical distribution and mapping of the emergency aid supplier’s modules in case of a massive pandemic for any country. Finally, the ψ-Quota was applied on the case of Malaysia.

An overview of COVID-19 vaccine candidates

For the past two years, people worldwide were experiencing one of the most massive pandemics, the COVID-19. It is caused by a virus that is called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which mainly attacks the respiratory system. Since there is no previous experience treating the disease, the drug development process is extremely difficult. People in dire need of vaccines were urgently needed to restore their lives to normal. As time went by, medical staff and experts spent numerous amounts of time and effort studying this virus. Nowadays, as the vaccine technology of various countries was very mature, vaccines with various technological paths have entered the experimental stage one after another. Eventually, effective vaccines are finally ready for wild inoculation for everyone by collaborating with all medical researchers. Currently, there are four kinds of COVID-19 vaccines available in different countries. They are inactivated vaccines, mRNA-based vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and recombinant vaccines. Most of these COVID-19 vaccines are in Phase 3 and provided in different countries. Those vaccines were manufactured in different countries, and their general production and technical characteristics will be discussed in the following paragraphs. The main purpose is trying to provide some fundamental and comprehensive background knowledge about currently available COVID-19 vaccines. It could be a reference list for those audiences who have not decided to take which vaccine.

ВЛИЯНИЕ ДОЛГОСРОЧНЫХ УГРОЗ ПОТЕПЛЕНИЯ КЛИМАТА И ПАНДЕМИИ НА МИРОВОЙ РЫНОК НЕФТИ

The global oil market is currently being heavily impacted by the build-up of renewable energy power plants due to the threat of a warming climate. Many countries have decided to restructure the energy sector to minimize the burning of fossil fuels. This decision reduces the demand for oil and forces a revision of long-term oil market forecasts. The virulent COVID-2019 virus, which emerged in late 19, has caused a massive pandemic. The pandemic has markedly reduced human activity in all countries and, in the absence of effective drugs to deal with this virus and its many strains, poses additional long-term threats to both the global econ-omy and the oil market. This is confirmed by the forecasts of oil companies and think tanks discussed in this article.