LESSONS AND NEW PERSPECTIVES: IS CONVALESCENT PLASMA THERAPY EFFECTIVE ON COVID-19 PATIENTS?

Objective: Recently, convalescent plasma (CP) therapy has shown promising evidence in the treatment of several serious contagious diseases, including SARS-CoV, Influenza and Ebola. We conducted a systematic review to extract data about using CP treatment for COVID-19 patients and it’s effectively. Methods: The retrieval of studies was conducted according to Cochrane Collaboration and from electronic databases including PubMed, Medline, and others (medRxiv and BioRxiv). Searching of the available evidence concerning CP treatment of COVID-19 patients was conducted in journal articles published between December 2019 and October 2020. The articles were further screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify the high-quality studies for analysis. Results: A total of 18 CP studies were included in this review. We found variance regarding the effectiveness of CP in the reduction of mortality rate, length of stay, and increased discharging rate. Several findings show CP therapy is effective in increasing viral negativity, neutralizing antibodies to recipients, does not cause harmful adverse reactions and in some cases can improve clinical symptoms. This therapy is presently considered effective for generating good clinical outcomes when given early in the course of the disease. Conclusion: The effectiveness of CP in terms of mortality, length of stay, and increased discharging patients is still debatable. However, CP therapy is effective in increasing the negativity of SARS-CoV-2 test, neutralizing antibody titer and is safe so it can be considered for COVID-19 patients. CP should not be given in the initial disease course but is recommended for the early disease course.

Application of Nanoemulsions in the Vaccination Process

Vaccination is one of the most effective approaches for the prevention of deadly and highly contagious diseases. One of the important biomedical applications of nanoemulsions is in the process of vaccination. Nanoemulsions are made from nano-sized safe, well-considered ingredients, amalgamated in a protective way to bring forth a stable emulsion. They have provided ways for vaccine delivery using intranasal or mucosal oil-based emulsions rather than using needles. Also, some nanoemulsions have effectively shown anti-pathogenic activities against several germs. Nanoemulsions are also used as vaccine adjuvants and are used to boost the effectiveness of vaccines. Nanoemulsion-based adjuvants put forward the possibility of non-irritating, needle-free vaccines, handed out as nose drops or as a simple nasal sprayer. The chapter aims to discuss the applications of nanoemulsions in the process of vaccination.

Cell lysis analysis for respiratory viruses through simulation modeling

An ordinary system of differential equations leading to a simulation model is propose as methodological approach to analysis the incidence of infectious-contagious diseases, in this case using SARS-CoV-2 virus as pathogenic model. The dynamics of the model are drive by the interaction between susceptible cells contemplating respiratory epithelial cells and viral infection mediated by two types of lysis response. To perform the simulations, values of some variables and parameters were selected from referenced sources, considering that previous reports suggested that the viral load in the lower respiratory tract might reach its peak in the second week after the beginning of disease symptoms. The scenarios described in the simulations evidence the performance of the cell lysis response from susceptible cells that have been infected. The recommend model shows that an excess response from both the original virus and the mutated virus leads to an increase in the approximate time to control viral infection within the organism.

Predictions For COVID-19 With Deep Learning Models of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)

COVID-19, one of the most contagious diseases and urgent threats in recent times, attracts attention across the globe to study the trend of infections and help predict when the pandemic will end. A reliable prediction will make states and citizens acknowledge possible consequences and benefits for the policymaker among the delicate balance of reopening and public safety. This chapter introduces a deep learning technique and long short-term memory (LSTM) to forecast the trend of COVID-19 in the United States. The dataset from the New York Times (NYT) of confirmed and deaths cases is utilized in the research. The results include discussion of the potential outcomes if extreme circumstances happen and the profound effect beyond the forecasting number.

Formulation and evaluation of eco-friendly handmade herbal mosquito repellent cone

A mosquito belongs to the insect-family Culicidae, order Diptera, suborder Nematocera and class Insecta. Mosquito act as vector which carries many disease causing parasites and viruses. Preventing mosquito spread is immensely necessary to stop spread of various contagious diseases. Now days, uses of plant based mosquito repellent have increased as synthetic repellents contains many noxious chemicals which can cause possible toxicity like skin toxicity and causes swelling, redness, itching and many health problems. The herbal mosquito repellent cones were prepared by using saw dust, cow dung, gum acacia, neem powder, eucalyptus powder and lemon grass powder. Lemon grass has insecticidal property. Saw dust increases the combustion. Gum acacia act as binder. Cow dung shows antioxidant and mosquito repellent property. Neem has mosquito repellent property. Herbal mosquito repellent cone were prepared by hand rolling method. The evaluation parameters of herbal mosquito repellent cone contain burning time (min), smoke visibility, odor, irritation test, ash weight (g.) and mosquito repellent activity. The formulation LNC containing lemon grass powder along with neem powder and cow dung in equal ratio shows best activity and maximum effectiveness in reducing mosquito number in comparison with all other formulations. In present study, the powders used in formulation were herbal based and eco-friendly and producing no side-effect on use. Here an attempt has been made to find out the novel formulation of different herbal plant powders containing alone and with combination for mosquito repellent cone.

Dynamics of Morphological Indicators of Blood of Piglets under the Influence of Iron Clathrochelate Complex and Cyanocobalamin

Iron deficiency anemia is one of the most common non-contagious diseases of piglets. Veterinary antianemic drugs have several drawbacks, so finding new medicines is an important current task for scientists. Therefore, the present study investigated the antianemic effect of iron (IV) clathrochelate in the organism of piglets. The subsequent studies included the exploration of its antianemic actions, particularly in combination with cyanocobalamin when this combination was administered to sows for prophylaxis in piglets. The experiment was carried out on 30 suckling piglets during the period of their detention with sows. According to the method of analogue groups, two groups of control (I) and experimental (II, each containing 15 animals) were formed and they were studied for 30 days. The piglets from five sows (three from each) were selected for the experimental group. During the pregnancy of these sows, 10 ml of 10% solution of iron (IV) IV clathrochelate and solution of cyanocobalamin were injected intramuscularly twice 7 and 14 days before their expected farrowing. For prevention of iron deficiency anemia, the traditional solution of iron dextran was administered once intramuscularly to piglets of the control group. The investigative material included the blood samples of piglets considering the dynamics of probable changes in the number of erythrocytes, hemoglobin content and hematocrit, and other morphological indicators and blood indices of piglets. The dynamics of changes in erythrocyte count, hemoglobin content, hematocrit, leukocytes and platelets, indices of blood almost did not differ from the dynamics of these values when using only 10% solution of iron (IV) clathrochelate for pregnant sows. The proposed scheme for the prophylaxis of iron deficiency anemia in piglets, involving simultaneous intramuscular injections of IV clathrochelate and cyanocobalamin to pregnant sows, is somewhat inferior to the previous preventive measures, which included only the intramuscular injections of iron (IV) IV clathrochelate, but it can be recommended as highly effective.

Review on the implication on the control of transboundary and trade barrier animal diseases in Ethiopia

Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) are highly contagious diseases of livestock within the world. they need importance within the international trade of animals and animal products. With rapidly increasing globalization, associated risk of transboundary disease is emerging. They reduce production and productivity, disrupt local and national economies, and also threaten human health (zoonosis). Transboundary diseases are a priority globally, cumulative effort is required at the international level to attenuate the spread of infectious diseases across the borders. except for sub-Saharan African countries more particularly, eradication of most Transboundary animal diseases is impossible thanks to various technical, financial and logistical reasons like increased outbreaks of transboundary animal diseases droughts and market issues. In Ethiopia Transboundary animal diseases are endemic livestock diseases that cause market limits. This imposes far-reaching challenges for agricultural scientists on the critically important have to improve technologies in animal production and health so as to confirm food security, poverty alleviation and to assist the economic process. The international approach to the management of TADs is predicated on the belief that the majority is often eradicated. However, in developing countries, eradication of most TADs is difficult for a range of technical, financial and logistical reasons. General TADs combating strategies include prevention, early warning, early detection and early control.

EXPRESS: Vaccination Acceptance across Cultures: The Roles of Collectivism, Empathy, and Homophily

How does culture influence vaccination acceptance? This is an important question facing managers, policymakers, and global health organizations. Even with effective vaccines for highly contagious diseases, humankind remains at risk from vaccine hesitancy. We conduct a largescale multilevel analysis of more than 400,000 survey respondents, finding that COVID-19 vaccination intentions are higher among people from countries higher in cultural collectivism (Study 1). Follow-up studies indicate that vaccination acceptance is higher among people that endorse collectivistic values because they feel more empathy for those afflicted by the disease (Studies 2a, 2b, 3), especially when victims of the disease have similar characteristics (e.g., political affiliation, lifestyle, personality) as themselves (Study 3). To encourage vaccination acceptance, we suggest promoting collectivistic values and empathic concern, as well as homophily through the portrayal of victims with characteristics like those hesitant to accept vaccination.

Passenger-to-Car Assignment Optimization Model for High-Speed Railway with Risk of COVID-19 Transmission Consideration

Narrow and closed spaces like high-speed train cabins are at great risk for airborne infectious disease transmission. With the threat of COVID-19 as well as other potential contagious diseases, it is necessary to protect passengers from infection. Except for the traditional preventions such as increasing ventilation or wearing masks, this paper proposes a novel measurement that optimizes passenger-to-car assignment schemes to reduce the infection risk for high-speed railway passengers. First, we estimated the probability of an infected person boarding the train at any station. Once infectors occur, the non-steady-state Wells–Riley equation is used to model the airborne transmission intercar cabin. The expected number of susceptible passengers infected on the train can be calculated, which is the so-called overall infection risk. The model to minimize overall infection risk, as a pure integer quadratic programming problem, is solved by LINGO software and tested on several scenarios compared with the classical sequential and discrete assignment strategies used in China. The results show that the proposed model can reduce 67.6% and 56.8% of the infection risk in the base case compared to the sequential and discrete assignment, respectively. In other scenarios, the reduction lies mostly between 10% and 90%. The optimized assignment scheme suggests that the cotravel itinerary among passengers from high-risk and low-risk areas should be reduced, as well as passengers with long- and short-distance trips. Sensitivity analysis shows that our model works better when the incidence is higher at downstream or low-flow stations. Increasing the number of cars and car service capacity can also improve the optimization effect. Moreover, the model is applicable to other epidemics since it is insensitive to the Wells–Riley equation parameters. The results can provide a guideline for railway operators during the post-COVID-19 and other epidemic periods.

O IMPACTO DAS FAKE NEWS NA VACINAÇÃO E NOS SURTOS DE DOENÇAS ERRADICADAS

Introdução: As fakes News (FN) alcançaram um amplo destaque nas notícias, influenciando intensamente a vida, transformando modos de pensar. Um dos exemplos de mudança é acerca das atitudes perante a vacinação, verificado pelo aumento ou retorno das doenças, algumas já erradicadas em nosso país. Objetivo: Constatar o impacto das FN na vacinação e os surtos de doenças, destacando as erradicadas na população. Método: Foi feita uma revisão sistemática da literatura nas bibliotecas: scielo, pubMed e lilacs, de artigos publicados entre os anos de 2011 a 2020, nos idiomas português e inglês, usando os descritores: doenças, surto de doenças (SD), vacinação e mídias sociais (MS). Após combinação dos descritores, foram incluídos ou excluídos do quantitativo final a partir da leitura dos títulos. Posteriormente, à análise dos resumos que contemplavam a relação das FN com vacinação, diminuição da vacinação na população, surtos de doenças e vacinação, compuseram a amostra final. Resultados e discussão: Dos 514 resultados, foi selecionado 50 estudos, e com a análise dos resumos excluídos 25, sendo selecionados para o estudo, 25 artigos. A maior quantidade de artigos encontrados foi no Pubmed, e com a temática vacinação e doenças erradicadas (8). Evidenciou- se grande variedade das temáticas abordadas pelos descritores escolhidos, como artigos que contemplavam a vacinação, bem como suas doenças erradicadas e como as FN podem interferir para prejudicar a vacinação. Conclusão: Apesar das vacinas protegerem boa parte da sociedade, é preocupante a crescente população que está comprometendo a cobertura vacinal e a saúde coletiva ao depositar incredibilidade em FN. Palavras chave: Antivacinação, Comunicação, Doenças Contagiosas, Mídias Sociais, Vacinas. ABSTRACT: Introduction: Fakes News (FN) reached a wide prominence in the news, influencing life intensely, transforming ways of thinking. One example of change is about attitudes towards vaccination, verified by the increase or return of diseases, some of which have already been eradicated in our country. Objective: To verify the impact of NFs on vaccination and disease outbreaks, highlighting those eradicated in the population. Method: A systematic literature review was carried out in the libraries: scielo, pubMed and lilacs, of articles published between the years 2011 to 2020, in Portuguese and English, using the descriptors: diseases, disease outbreak (DS), vaccination and social media (MS). After combining the descriptors, they were included or excluded in the final amount from the reading of the titles. Subsequently, the analysis of the abstracts that contemplated the relationship between FN and vaccination, decreased vaccination in the population, disease outbreaks and vaccination, comprised the final sample. Results and discussion: Of the 514 results, 50 studies were selected, and with the analysis of the excluded abstracts 25, 25 articles were selected for the study. The largest number of articles found was in Pubmed, and with the theme of vaccination and eradicated diseases (8). A great variety of the themes addressed by the chosen descriptors was evidenced, such as articles that contemplated vaccination, as well as their eradicated diseases and how NFs can interfere to harm vaccination. Conclusion: Although vaccines protect a good part of society, it is worrying the growing population that is compromising vaccination coverage and public health by depositing incredulity in FN. Keywords: Anti-vaccination, Communication, Contagious Diseases, Social Media, Vaccines.