Toll Of Human Lives Research Articles

Discovery of novel spike/ACE2 inhibitory macrocycles using in silico reinforcement learning

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a heavy toll in human lives and global economics. COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which infects cells via its spike protein binding human ACE2.Methods: To discover potential inhibitory peptidomimetic macrocycles for the spike/ACE2 complex we deployed Artificial Intelligence guided virtual screening with three distinct strategies: 1) Allosteric spike inhibitors 2) Competitive ACE2 inhibitors and 3) Competitive spike inhibitors. Screening was performed by docking macrocycles to the relevant sites, clustering and synthesizing cluster representatives. Synthesized molecules were screened for inhibition using AlphaLISA and RSV particles.Results: All three strategies yielded inhibitory peptides, but only the competitive spike inhibitors showed “hit” level activity.Discussion: These results suggest that direct inhibition of the spike RBD domain is the most attractive strategy for peptidomimetic, “head-to-tail” macrocycle drug development against the ongoing pandemic.

Risk Perception of Natural and Human-Made Disasters-Cross Sectional Study in Eight Countries in Europe and Beyond.

Each year, emergency and disaster situations claim a heavy toll in human lives and economic loss. Civilian populations that are more aware and prepared for emergencies are more resilient. The aim of this study was to explore similarities and differences in risk perception of emergencies and disasters across different societies and its association with individual resilience. A cross sectional study that explored attitudinal factors, as expressed by diverse samples of target countries across Europe and beyond, took place during the months of January-February 2021. Diverse samples (N ≥ 500) of adults from 8 countries (Italy, Romania, Spain, France, Sweden, Norway, Israel, and Japan) were engaged in this study. This study used the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self-Measure (iPRISM) tool to assess risk perception. The results suggest that for the overall sample (N = 4,013), pandemics were the risk of which participants showed the highest concern, followed by critical infrastructure fail, social disturbance, natural hazards, and extreme weather events. It was found that religiosity is associated with risk perception, with highly religious and non-religious reporting elevated risk perception (F = 5.735, df = 2, p = 0.003), however country-specific analysis revealed that this finding varies depending on local contexts. The analysis also revealed differences in risk perception depending on age and type of risk. The results of this study present that there are commonalities and differences between societies across Europe and beyond concerning societal resilience at large, including risk perception. The dependency of risk perception on local context suggests that a regional-based approach for disaster risk reduction may be called for to adapt and adjust to local socio-cultural characteristics of each population.

Epidemiological and Clinical Profile of COVID-19 in Nepali Children: An Initial Experience

Introduction: COVID-19 has spread all around the world with huge toll of human lives and suffering since it evolved in China. Nepal had slow rise in morbidity due to COVID 19 in early days but has been gripped by the pandemic's exponential growth lately. This study was conducted with the aim to describe the clinical and epidemiological features of Nepali children in early phase of the pandemic.
 Methods: This was an observational study conducted at 11 COVID care centres designated by the Government of Nepal with availability of supervision by paediatricians between January and August 2020 in children under 18 years of age diagnosed with COVID 19. Data was collected based on definitions outlined in data collection resources available at WHO-ISARIC Global COVID-19 clinical resources platform and analysed. 
 Results: One hundred and twenty one children diagnosed with COVID 19 who presented to the designated centres were enrolled. Majority of children (83.4%) were identified as a part of contact tracing, 28.1% had an identified contact to a person with COVID 19 prior to their diagnosis and 20.7% had another household member diagnosed with COVID 19. The mean age of admitted children was 8.8 years (SD 5.6 years) with the largest proportion being adolescents (40.5%). Male (58.7%) children were more commonly affected. There were 15 (12.4%) infants and 8 (6%) of them were under two months of age. Most children (87, 71.9%) were asymptomatic, 21 (22.3%) had mild symptoms and six (4.9%) had moderately severe symptoms. Fever (18.2%) was the most commonly reported symptom. All children were discharged after a median of 14 days of hospitalisation.
 Conclusions: Nepali children of all ages are affected by COVID 19 and present with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infection. Fever and respiratory symptoms are the most commonly reported symptoms. Most children do not develop complications. Continued surveillance in larger population of children as the pandemic unfolds will generate more stringent observations.

Photography and the Biopolitics of Fear

President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war in the Philippines has exacted an enormous toll in human lives and suffering. This essay looks into one of the earliest and most graphic responses to this war: the work of photojournalists and the plurality of responses to their images. How does photojournalism become a kind of witnessing linked to the work of mourning? How are trauma and grieving braided together in the experience of photographers covering war? What is the role of the camera, and what are the ambivalent effects of the technical and aesthetic imaging of the dead and their survivors? How has the drug war, by instilling a biopolitics of fear, transformed the latter’s ways of seeing and being? What becomes of justice amid images of injustice? For example, how do returning spirits of the dead that appear in dreams of their families stimulate phantasms of revenge? How is revenge imagined as a form of justice that reinforces rather than detracts from the brutal logic of the drug war?

Programming Sustainable Urban Nodes for Spontaneous, Intensive Urban Environments

Urban development nowadays, not only in Poland but also throughout the world, is an important issue for planners, municipal authorities and residents themselves. New structures generated in spontaneous urban and suburban areas constitute randomly scattered seeds of excessive residential and little commercial functions which therein appear more often as temporary or even ephemeral installations emerging where it is temporarily needed. The more important special services are provided rarely. Correct thinking about creating cities involves simultaneous thinking on providing different basic functions required by local communities, but at the same time recognizing temporal fluctuations and distinction on what kind of amenities have to be provided in particular area permanently (such as e.g. medical care, preventive services and schools), with others retaining its mobile, non-formal character. An even greater problem is a restoration of urban structures in the areas affected by natural disasters or leftover areas being previously war zones, where similar deficits have significantly higher impact being potential cause of higher toll in human lives, if no functional nodes providing essential functions survived. The Ariadne’s Thread is a research project which proposes infrastructure and nodes for such urban areas. It develops new framework for creating nodes not only aimed at fulfilling basic needs of people but achieving social integration and build stability for fragile communities. The aim of the paper is to describe the process of identification of a relationship between needs of the inhabitants and both programmatic and ideological approach to Ariadne’s Thread (AT) node giving ultimately its architectural interpretation. The paper will introduce the process of recognition of local needs, the interpretive and/or participatory mechanisms of establishing the node as a response to this recognition containing conceptual programming, socio-cultural programming, and functional programming (services). Then, the aspect of permanence or temporality will be addressed to determine the choice of appropriate technologies used in order to convey programmatic assertions into physical solutions. The nodes are meant to be as lightweight installments in the area as possible, but at the same time as durable and of good quality as to support positive social effects and reinforce building social capital in the area. The author believe that this emergency-based AT node scenario can be extrapolated to unbalanced housing areas being the result of urban sprawl, after being only slightly adjusted to local standards. But the main goal is to allow for efficient interventions in areas in dire needs and poor environments with limited resources or limited funds.

Asian journalism education and key challenges of climate change: A preliminary study

Commentary: The mass media in the Asia Pacific region are reporting the environmental disasters that are regularly hitting the planet religiously, and journalists learn as they go along. However, the reporting has focused mainly on the toll in human lives and property. This is disaster reporting and it stops short of contextualising. It does not adequately explain why the environmental disasters are happening more violently and more frequently. Not too many reporters have taken formal courses in environmental journalism. Only a very few schools are offering regular courses, or programmes in science and environmental reporting, as indicated by a mini-survey in July 2016. The vacuum in formal science and environmental education is being filled by non-government organisations offering non-formal training.

Floodpath

This article recounts the disastrous collapse of the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles on March 12, 1928, its toll in human lives, and how quickly it was forgotten. The author also reviews the causes of the tragedy.

Social Capital and Community Resilience

Despite the ubiquity of disaster and the increasing toll in human lives and financial costs, much research and policy remain focused on physical infrastructure–centered approaches to such events. Governmental organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Agency for International Development, and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development continue to spend heavily on hardening levees, raising existing homes, and repairing damaged facilities despite evidence that social, not physical, infrastructure drives resilience. This article highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic. We look at definitions of social capital, measurement and proxies, types of social capital, and mechanisms and application. The article concludes with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and nongovernmental organizations for increasing resilience to catastrophe through strengthening social infrastructure at the community level.

Climate, Landscape and the Environments of Visceral Leishmaniasis Transmission in India, Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Background: The Indian sub-continent is prone to the occurrences of chronic Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) or Kalaazar, and geographical distribution of disease is endemic in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala in India. The world distribution of Kala-azar chronic cases occurring in the countries, such as, Brazil, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sudan, and the 90% of the disease has been mainly affected the children of below 9-15 years old, and it has been causing 50% of the cases turn to become deaths incidents occurred annually in India. Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL), a chronic disease caused by Leishmania donovani parasites is transmitted by female phlebotomine sandfly, Phlebotomous argentipes. It has been claimed heavy death toll of human lives in South-east Asia, especially in India. Materials and methods: Visceral Leishmaniasis database was developed in the Dbase format using the MS Excel software and later on imported to the MapInfo Professional 4.5 GIS software platform and Arc View 3.2 Spatial analyst software platform for mapping the Visceral Leishmaniasis epidemics from 1950 to 2012. The VL epidemic data was overlaid on the IRS WiFS data of indigenous satellite remote sensing, and the NDVI value was used for spatial auto correlation analysis. Results and discussion: The Visceral Leishmaniasis vector (sandfly) abundance has been found in the period of months between June and September, and the best fit for the distribution of P. martini is the dry season composite NDVI 0.07-0.38 and LST 22-33°C with a predictive value of 93.8%, and the best fit for P. orientalis is the wet season composite NDVI -0.01 to 0.34 and Land Surface Temperature (LST) 23°C -34°C The predictive climate model shows the best fit with the average altitude (12 m-1900 m), average annual mean temperature (15°C-30°C), annual rainfall (274 mm -1212 mm), average annual potential evapotranspirations (1264-1938 mm) and readily available soil moisture (62-113 mm) for P. martini and average altitude (200 m-2200 m), annual rainfall (I80 mm-1050 mm), annual mean temperature (16°C-36°C) and readily available soil moisture (67-108 mm), alluvial and black cotton soils dark coloured alkaline in nature (pH 7.2-8.5), calcareous with chief inorganic constituents of silicon, iron and aluminium most suitable for both P. orietalis and Phlebotomus papatasi. The stratification of Kala-azar transmission risk areas was classified, based on the climate variables, and the spatial relationship between the climate variables and VL statistically significance with 93.8%, accuracy. Conclusion: The longevity and survival of vector populations of Kala-azar has been geographically controlled by the climate (temperature, relative humidity, saturation deficiency, and rainfall), soil types and soil moisture. These climate variables and soil types have been progressively affect the vegetation growth and density, and then the conditions on the surrounding environment. Geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing were used to stratify a region into different areas of transmission risk, thereby providing a guideline to mapping the areas under the risk of visceral leishmaniasis transmission in India.

Dangerous meteorological phenomena in southeastern Kazakhstan

We examine the dangerous meteorological phenomena in southeastern Kazakhstan. Such phenomena have an adverse influence upon the economic activities and human health, interrupt continuous performance of the economic sectors and often take a heavy toll of human lives. The increase in their incidence may be attributed to current climate change.

Construction of intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves for precipitation with annual maxima data in Rwanda, Central Africa

Abstract. Detailed probabilistic information on the intensity of precipitation in Central Africa is highly needed in order to cope with the risk analysis of natural hazards. In the mountainous areas of Rwanda land slides frequently occur and might cause a heavy toll in human lives. The establishment of Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves for precipitation in Central Africa remains a difficult task as adequate long-term data sets for short aggregation times are usually not available. In 1962 recording raingauges were installed at several stations in Rwanda. According to the climatological procedures in use at that time in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, maximum monthly and annual precipitation depths for fixed-time durations of 15, 30, 45, 60 and 120 min were determined from the rainfall charts. The data set is completed by the monthly and annual daily precipitation extremes from the non-recording raingauge at the stations. The authors used the dataset to establish the IDF-curves for precipitation at 3 stations in Rwanda having more than 20 yr of operation. The fixed-hour intervals of multiple 15 min require the use of a technique converting data from fixed-time intervals into data of arbitrary starting intervals. Therefore, the van Montfort technique was used.

Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of analogues of the bioactive natural products sampangine and cleistopholine

Identification and investigation of novel classes and compounds for the treatment of tuberculosis remains of utmost importance in the fight against the disease. Despite many efforts, the weakly gram positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis keeps demanding its toll in human lives. For this reason a small library of substituted and unsubstituted aza analogues of cleistopholine and sampangine were synthesized in a short and straightforward manner and tested in vitro against M.tb. The compounds showed promising activity against the M.tb H37Rv strain and Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) could be observed as low as 0.88 μM. Accompanied by moderate acute toxicity against C3A hepatocytes, the therapeutic index showed an acceptable range. Further tests confirmed the inhibition by up to 74% of intracellular growth of M.tb inside macrophages conferred by1-hydroxybenzo[g]isoquinoline-5,10-diones. Activity of the library against other clinically relevant mycobacterial species such as Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium ulcerans was confirmed. Furthermore the activity against a multi-drug-resistant MDR LAM-1 M.tb strain was tested and the MIC value situated around 1 μM. The lacking genotoxicity of a group of enamine substituted cleistopholine analogues indicates this group as a hit and encourages their use as a scaffold for further studies.

Disaster management strategy for potential slide zones of Kumarkhera in Narendra Nagar township of Tehri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand, India

PurposeKumarkhera in Narendra Nagar township of Lesser Himalaya (Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand in India) is showing signs of an impending disaster. The potential mass wastage zone may take toll of human lives in the near future and cause damage to residential and commercial area and infrastructure, namely road, telephone and electric lines and water supply lines. This paper aims to document the strategy for managing this potential disaster.Design/methodology/approachStudy of satellite images and field investigations were carried out in order to probe the possibility of potential landslides in the near future and to find out the risk enhancing anthropogenic activities. Furthermore, the elements at risk were also assessed in order to evolve a disaster management strategy.FindingsIt is suggested that a series of prevention and mitigation measures (both structural and non‐structural) with the involvement of the local community are required to avoid an impending disaster in the study area.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for reading the signs of landslides and identifying the elements at risk and also calls for timely initiatives, including structural and non‐structural mitigation measures, so that the impact of the disaster can be minimized.

HIV/AIDS vaccine: An update

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to take its toll of human lives. In 2007 there were 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS, with 2.7 million new HIV infections and two million HIV-related deaths.(1) With a total of 2.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS, India too is in the grip of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.(2) According to the HIV Sentinel Surveillance data 2004–2006, there are 156 Category A districts (where there is more than one per cent antenatal prevalence at any given time, in any of the sites, in the last three years).(3) Despite the recent progress in increasing access to treatment and prevention programs, the epidemic continues to outpace the global prevention efforts. In countries that are most heavily affected, the epidemic has led to a significant increase in household poverty and reduction in the life expectancy by more than 20 years.(4,5) The effects of gender inequality leave women and girls more at risk of exposure to HIV. In India, women are becoming increasingly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and account for around one million cases.(6) Moreover, they have fewer and rather unfeasible options available to protect themselves such as abstinence and use of condom. The best hope of ending the epidemic lies in the development of a suitable vaccine.(7) Vaccines are one of the most effective public health interventions ever known. An HIV vaccine could either prevent disease onset or progression to AIDS. According to mathematical estimates by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) - provided that other programs for treatment and prevention have been scaled up — an HIV vaccine with an efficacy as low as 30% and coverage as low as 20% could avert as many as 5.5 million new infections between the years 2015 and 2030.(8) The development of an effective vaccine has posed a wide range of challenges, as HIV has proven to be a uniquely complex virus.

“Roll Back Malaria, Roll in Development”? Reassessing the Economic Burden of Malaria

Recent efforts to mobilize support for malaria control have highlighted the economic burden of malaria and the value of malaria control for generating economic development. These claims have a long history. Beginning in the early twentieth century, they became the primary justification for malaria‐control programs in the American South and in other parts of the globe, including British India. Economists conducted none of these studies. Following World War II and the development of new anti‐malarial drugs and pesticides, including DDT, malaria control and eradication were increasingly presented as instruments for eliminating economic underdevelopment. By the 1960s, however, economists and demographers began to raise serious substantive and methodological questions about the basis of these claims. Of particular concern was the role of rapid population growth, resulting in part from the decline of malaria mortality, in undermining the short‐term economic gains achieved through malaria control. Despite these concerns, malaria continues to be presented as an economic problem in the work of Jeffrey Sachs and others, justifying massive investments in malaria control. The methodological basis of these claims is examined. The paper concludes that while malaria takes a dreadful toll in human lives and causes significant economic losses for individuals, families, and some industries, the evidence linking malaria control to national economic growth remains unconvincing. In addition, the evidence suggests that there are potential costs to justifying malaria‐eradication campaigns on macroeconomic grounds.

About this title - Palaeoseismology: Historical and Prehistorical Records of Earthquake Ground Effects for Seismic Hazard Assessment

Given the tremendous toll in human lives and attendant economic losses, it is appropriate that scientists are working hard to understand better earthquakes, with the aim of forecasting and, ultimately, predicting them. In the last decades increasing attention has been paid to the coseismic effects on the natural environment, creating a solid base of empirical data for the estimation of source parameters of strong earthquakes based on geological observations. The recently introduced INQUA scale (Environmental Seismic Intensity–ESI 2007 Scale) of macroseismic intensity clearly shows how the systematic study of earthquake surface faulting, coseismic liquefaction, tsunami deposits and other primary and secondary ground effects can be integrated with ‘traditional’ seismological and tectonic information to provide a better understanding of the seismicity level of an area and the associated hazards. At the moment this is the only scientific means of equating the seismic records to the seismic cycle time-spans extending the seismic catalogues even to tens of thousands of years, improving future seismic hazard analyses. This Special Publication covers some of the latest multidisciplinary work undertaken to achieve that aim. Eighteen papers from research groups from all continents address a wide range of topics related both to palaeoseismological studies and assessment of macroseismic intensity based only on the natural phenomena associated with an earthquake.

Palaeoseismology: historical and prehistorical records of earthquake ground effects for seismic hazard assessment

Given the tremendous toll in human lives and attendant economic losses, it is appropriate that scientists are working hard to understand better earthquakes, with the aim of forecasting and, ultimately, predicting them. In the last decades increasing attention has been paid to the coseismic effects on the natural environment, creating a solid base of empirical data for the estimation of source parameters of strong earthquakes based on geological observations. The recently introduced INQUA scale (Environmental Seismic Intensity–ESI 2007 Scale) of macroseismic intensity clearly shows how the systematic study of earthquake surface faulting, coseismic liquefaction, tsunami deposits and other primary and secondary ground effects can be integrated with “traditional” seismological and tectonic information to provide a better understanding of the seismicity level of an area and the associated hazards. At the moment this is the only scientific means of equating the seismic records to the seismic cycle time-spans extending the seismic catalogues even to tens of thousands of years, improving future seismic hazard analyses. This Special Publication covers some of the latest multidisciplinary work undertaken to achieve that aim. Eighteen papers from research groups from all continents address a wide range of topics related both to palaeoseismological studies and assessment of macroseismic intensity based only on the natural phenomena associated with an earthquake.

Redefining disaster: need for managing accidents as disasters

PurposeThe cumulative impact of accidents not considered as disasters far surpasses the impact of disasters. Accidents taking toll of human lives and economy are often underreported and go unnoticed and the victims of these incidences are also ill compensated. It is therefore necessary to pay adequate attention to accidents and formulate appropriate policies for giving equal treatment to the victims of these events and also to make efforts for mitigating these. This paper aims to discuss this.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses the impact of accidents and attempts to assert that these are a cause of major concern. The database of the disasters (EM‐DAT) of Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), Belgium has been utilised for ascertaining the toll of disasters, while for assessing the cumulative toll of the accidents and disasters database available at departmental web sites (Department of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Government of India (www.morth.nic.in) and Railway Ministry, Government of India (www.indianrailways.gov.in) together with some other web sites have been used. The two databases have been correlated to establish that the cumulative toll is far more than what is generally perceived to be the toll of the disasters.FindingsBased on the correlation of one event each under the category of natural and man made disasters (landslides, transport accidents) it is concluded that these correlations establish that the toll of accidents is many times more than the disaster events and there exists a pressing need to pay adequate attention towards managing accidents that take heavy toll of the global resources.Research limitations/implicationsAt present there exists no formal and comprehensive database recording the toll of accidents and the study is based on the database compiled from different sources. The paper establishes beyond doubt that the magnitude of the toll of accidents is far more than that of disasters and there exists pressing need for managing accidents.Practical implicationsThis paper would bring forth the importance of managing accidents before the policy makers and initiate advocacy for putting in more resources for managing these events. In the long run the victims would not be differentiated on the basis of the magnitude of the incidents they have faced.Originality/valueThe paper shows the importance of managing major accidents and provides guidance for appropriate changes to be made.

Disaster management strategy for mass wasting hazard prone Naitwar Bazar and surrounding areas in Upper Tons valley in Uttarkashi district, Uttaranchal (India)

PurposeNaitwar Bazar in the Upper Tons valley Indian Himalaya (Uttarkashi district of Uttaranchal in India) is showing signs of an impending disaster. This settlement has witnessed active mass wastage during rainy season of 2003 which has caused damage to infrastructure (crucial road link), hospital (i.e. the sole health facility) and residential cum commercial area. The active mass wastage zone may take heavy toll of human lives during the rains. Therefore, the paper proposes examining this subject.Design/methodology/approachField investigations were carried out to assess the damage during the past events, probe the causes of mass wasting hazard and to assess the elements at risk in order to evolve a disaster management strategy.FindingsIt is suggested that a series of prevention and mitigation measures (both structural and non‐structural) with the involvement of the local community are required to avoid the impending disaster in the area.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for hazard prognosis and vulnerability assessment in the remotest settlements of Himalayas in order to timely plan the awareness initiatives, response mechanism and structural and non structural mitigation measures. An attempt has also been made to bring forth importance of incorporating the disaster management component into the local developmental planning.

HIV/AIDS Care in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: An Interview With Dr. Leana Uys

Human suffering from the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa has reached unprecedented proportions. In 1998, an estimated 50% of all new infections in sub-Saharan Africa occurred in South Africa; and it is predicted that by the year 2003, South Africa will be experiencing a negative population growth. Besides the toll in human lives, the estimated cost for basic care and prevention services in Africa is 10 times the current expenditure. Three unique factors are critical in the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic: HIV transmission patterns, the effect of this disease on women and children, and the role that traditional healers play in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. In a recent interview, Dr. Leana Uys, an educational leader in the School of Nursing at the University of Natal in Durban, Republic of South Africa, provided an insightful perspective on HIV/AIDS policies and related sociocultural issues that have a direct effect on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She communicated her personal experiences as well as the experiences of South African nurses working as caregivers, educators, and policy makers with AIDS patients and their families in KwaZulu-Natal.