ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic is a prevalent health concern around the world in recent times. Therefore, it is essential to screen the infected patients at the primary stage to prevent secondary infections from person to person. The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is commonly performed for Covid-19 diagnosis, while it requires significant effort from health professionals. Automated Covid-19 diagnosis using chest X-ray images is one of the promising directions to screen infected patients quickly and effectively. Automatic diagnostic approaches are used with the assumption that data originating from different sources have the same feature distributions. However, the X-ray images generated in different laboratories using different devices experience style variations e.g., intensity and contrast which contradict the above assumption. The prediction performance of deep models trained on such heterogeneous images of different distributions with different noises is affected. To address this issue, we have designed an automatic end-to-end adaptive normalization-based model called style distribution transfer generative adversarial network (SD-GAN). The designed model is equipped with the generative adversarial network (GAN) and task-specific classifier to transform the style distribution of images between different datasets belonging to different race people and carried out Covid-19 detection effectively. Evaluated results on four different X-ray datasets show the superiority of the proposed model to state-of-the-art methods in terms of the visual quality of style transferred images and the accuracy of Covid-19 infected patient detection. SD-GAN is publicly available at: https://github.com/tasleem-hello/SD-GAN/tree/SD-GAN. Author
ABSTRACT
Covid-19-a heinous event that had left an eternally unforgettable scar of troubles, setbacks and distress on the entire human population across the globe. No country could evade from the unfavorable consequences of it. All countries across the world found themselves engulfed in the hands of Covid-19. It had taken a serious toll on the healthcare system of every country across the world. In the context of India, which is a nation with a poor coverage of public healthcare facilities and annually 3.2% Indians falling below poverty line, made the country and its population the most vulnerable. During that time, the biggest question arose was the survival of the marginalized and disadvantaged section of the society. However, fortunately a tiny hope of survival for the population of India was ensured and extended by the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). Thus, the authors of this research paper have attempted to figure out and critically examine the role played by AB PM-JAY in not only managing but also mitigating the outbreak of the virus in India and how it helped Indians sail through the storm of Covid-19. Besides, this paper tries to put views forward through analysis for the policy makers and healthcare stakeholders to become well-prepared for any such troublesome crisis in future. Moreover, secondary data is used to collect necessary information and critical descriptive analysis has been used to interpret the results of the study.Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
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Background: COVID-19 is a pandemic spread all over the world. This disease has imposed a huge burden on health resources. Evaluation of clinical profiles of such patients can help in understanding and managing the pandemic more efficiently. Method(s): This was a cross sectional observational study of 100 diagnosed COVID-19 patients admitted to JIIU's, IIMSR, from April to June 2021. All these patients were positive for COVID-19 by an oro-nasopharyngeal swab rt-PCR based testing. Result(s): The mean age of the population was 45 years with a male predominance (72% patients). All the patients (100 %) were symptomatic, with fever being the most common symptom (85%), followed by cough (62%). Conclusion(s): Severity based approach to COVID -19 infections, with defined criteria and treatment guidelines will help in judicious utilization of health-care resources. Copyright © 2022 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: The new 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the World Health Organization (WHO), has been characterized as a pandemic. As more is being discovered about this virus, we aim to report findings of the complete blood count (CBC) of COVID-19 patients. Method(s): A total of 100 patients were admitted at the Noor Hospital of JIIU's IIMSR, Jalna. The CBCs of these patients, following a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, were analyzed and a significant P P<0.05 was found after a full statistical analysis. Result(s): CBC analysis revealed changes in the levels of red blood cells (RBCs), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Conclusion(s): Clinicians should expect similar findings when dealing with the new COVID-19. This would serve in providing physicians with important knowledge on the changes that can be expected from the CBC of COVID-19 patients. Copyright © 2022 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
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BACKGROUND: Mass vaccination is a key preventive approach against COVID-19 pandemic and governments have prioritized health care workers (HCWs) for vaccination. HCWs are the frontline army of the COVID-19 pandemic and are at a high risk of infection. Some studies have documented that not the entire HCWS are ready to accept COVID-19 vaccines, when offered in their country. HCW acceptance or rejection, can influence the general population's perception towards COVID-19 vaccines. Thus the study was planned to determine the COVID‐19 vaccine perception and to improve vaccine awareness among HCWS of Maharashtra, India MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWS of Noor hospital from 1 June - 14 June 2021 through self-reported, structured questionnaire prepared from prior evidence from studies on vaccine perception among HCWS and general population. RESULTS: Out of 392, 300 HCWS (response rate 76.53%) had completely filled the online survey questionnaire. In present study 87% of the participant were agreed to take COVID-19 vaccine and 13% were reluctant to take it. Acceptance for vaccine was more in doctors (94.80%) and nurses (89.92%) than pharmacist (80.76%) and laboratory technicians (75%). CONCLUSION: Vaccine acceptance is more in doctors and nurses as compared to pharmacist and technical staff. Vaccine acceptance is influenced by academic level, exposure to infection in family and inadequate information regarding vaccine.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented and challenging changes to surgical practice, especially with the suspension of cancer surgery. There have been concerns regarding Covid-19 risk and infection to patients and healthcare workers, during major complex open surgical intervention, especially with minimally invasive surgery. This study examines the COVID-19 related risks to patients and healthcare workers following the re-introduction of major oesophago-gastric (OG) surgery. Methods: This was an international, multi-centre, cohort study of open and minimally invasive oesophagectomy and gastrectomy procedures in specialist Upper GI centres, over a consecutive period of two months. Patients were recruited from nine European centres serving regions with a high population incidence of COVID-19 infections. 30-day operative morbidity and mortality data was collected for patients. All staff involved in the operative care of patients, were invited to complete a health-related survey. Results: A total of 158 patients were included in the study (71 oesophagectomy, 82 gastrectomy), of which 87 patients (57%) underwent minimally invasive surgery (59 esophagectomy, 28 gastrectomy). A total of 403 staff were eligible for inclusion of which 313 (78%) completed the health survey. Non-standardised precautions to minimise against the risks of COVID for patients and staff were implemented at the centres. There were no cases of Covid-19 among patients in the post-operative period, however, two healthcare workers developed self-limiting COVID infection. Conclusion: Precautions to minimise COVID-19 infection risk to healthcare staff and patients, have allowed the safe and successful reintroduction of major open and minimally invasive OG surgery.
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Introduction: COVID-19 vaccines have emerged as a key strategy, being the most effective public health intervention in preventing the massive humanitarian crisis. Thus, as a part of preventive measure, government of India had launched COVID-19vaccines on 16 January 2021.Indeed vaccine hesitancy is one of the most significant barriers for success of any immunization drive. Hence, in view of the recent surge in Covid19 cases in our country, this study was planned to assess the awareness, hesitancy and acceptance attitudes ofCOVID-19vaccine among Medical Students (MS) of Maharashtra. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study. Data was collected using self-reported, structured questionnaire from 356 MS through online Google form. Data were extracted, transferred and analysed using appropriate statistical tool. Results: The study reported 83.43%vaccine acceptance and 16.57% of hesitancy among MS. Furthermore, the main source of COVID-19 vaccine information was social media followed by government web sites. Majority 91.57% of the students were aware of different types of COVID-19vaccines available in our country. However 62.62% MS among acceptance group were willing to get vaccinated through college or university health centre. Beside the main reason for hesitancy was fear of adverse reactions. Moreover the hesitant group was uncertain about safety and efficacy of available vaccines. Conclusion: High acceptance was shown among MS regarding COVID-19 vaccine;however, it is critical to alleviate uncertainties among hesitant MS by continuous education, encouragement and motivation. Consequently, planning and implementation of strategies to further amplify the vaccination rate among medical student is vital to augment the COVID-19 vaccination drive in our country.
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The Covid 19 pandemic brought about many changes. People were stressed, also they didn’t get treatment on time. Because of this there was worsening of pre-existing disease. There was also increase in stress related diseases like myocardial ischemia. Lockdown and sudden change of plans also affected the treatment of cases. Some cases could also be due to undiagnosed Covid infection, since there is no test that is 100% sensitive and specific to detection of the virus1 especially during the post-mortem period. Here we are discussing some selected cases which we have come during the period and the autopsy findings thereof. This article highlights the importance of negating fear and increase awareness. It also conveys the significance of verbal autopsy as a tool to help certify death.