A multimodal hybrid stochastic-based deterministic ARFIMA model for the sustainable analysis of COVID-19 pandemic

The revise is given as follows: The rapid emergence of the super-spreader COVID-19 with severe economic calamities with devastating social impact worldwide created the demand for effective research on the spread dynamics of the disease to combat and create surveillance systems on a global scale. In this study, a novel hybrid Deterministic Autoregressive Fractional Integral Moving Average (ARFIMA) model is presented to forecast the bimodal COVID-19 transmission dynamics. The heterogeneity of multimodal behavior of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan is modeled by a hybrid paradigm, in which a deterministic pattern is combined with the ARFIMA model to absorb the inherent chaotic pattern of the pandemic spread. The fractional fluctuation of the real epidemic system is effectively taken as a paradigm by stochastic type improved the deterministic model and ARFIMA process. Special transformations are also introduced to enhance the convergent rate of the bimodal paradigm in deterministic modeling. The outcome of the improved deterministic model is combined with the ARFIMA model is evaluated on the spread pattern of pandemic data in Pakistan for the next 30 days. The performance-indices of the hybrid-model based on Relative-Errors and RMSE statistics confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed paradigm for long-term epidemic modeling compared to other classical and machine learning algorithms. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Factors Associated with Psychiatric Morbidity among Patients who tested Positive and Isolated for COVID-19

Objective: To look for the psychiatric morbidity and associated socio-demographic factors among patients who tested positive and isolated for COVID-19. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Malir Pakistan, from Mar to May 2020. Methodology: All patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and were admitted to the COVID-19 Ward without complications were included in the study. General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) was administered to look for the presence of psychiatric morbidity. Results: Out of 61 patients included in the study, 45(73.7%) showed the presence of psychiatric morbidity, while 16(26.3%) did not show psychiatric morbidity when screened with GHQ-12. 43(70.4%) were male, while 18(29.6%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 35.21±2.355 years. The advanced age and female gender have a statistically significant relationship (pvalue<0.05) with the presence of psychiatric morbidity among patients of COVID-19. Conclusion: Many patients had psychiatric morbidity after being tested positive for COVID-19 and were isolated in the health facility. Female patients and patients aged more than 40 years were found to be more at risk of developing psychiatric morbidity among the patients admitted to COVID-19 ward. © 2022, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.

Library services and facilities in higher education institutions during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pakistan

This article attempts to evaluate the library services and facilities during the pandemic situations in Pakistan. This study is fashioned in positivistic tradition of quantitative research design, and a cross-sectional research method was employed. The objective of the study was to examine the library services available to students and faculty members in two public sector academic libraries in Pakistan. A complete list of students and faculty members was collected from the concerned offices along with their WhatsApp numbers and email address. A total of 1736 students and faculty members sampled through proportionate random sampling technique and filled the questionnaire out of 7835. The inclusion criteria to participate was based on enrolled students of public and private sector university, passed at least one semester of BS (4 years) and MA/MSc (2 years) programme in Pakistan, and faculty members using library resources. A structured questionnaire to measure the response of library patrons and consisted of exogenous and endogenous variables and pretested. The study findings showed that COVID-19 pandemic situations affected educational institutions at a large scale. The social distancing rule was opted to minimise the risk of infection and university libraries were also closed down. However, due to online learning transformation, library materials were digitalized and online library services were provided to students and faculty members.

Getting Negative for COVID-19: Role of Ethnicity and Demographic Factors

Objective: To explore the relationship between ethnicity and demographic factors with the time taken by patients to get negative on PCR for COVID-19. Study Design: Prospective Comparative Study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Malir Pakistan, from Mar to May 2020. Methodology: All patients who tested positive for COVID-19 with less than one week of exposure time and were admitted to the COVID-19 ward of Combined Military Hospital, Malir without any complications were included in the study. They were tested after every seven days with PCR. Time taken to get two consecutive negative tests were noted for each patient. Results: Out of 84 patients included in the study, 12(14.3%) tested negative on the 7th day, 34(40.4%) on the 14th day and 38(45.3%) tested negative after 14 days. 17(20.2%) were Sindhi, 13(15.5%) were Muhajir, 19(22.6%) were Punjabi, 25(29.7%) were Pathan, and 10(11.9%) were Kashmiris. Chi-square revealed that ethnicity and advancing age have a statistically significant relationship (p-value<0.05) with the time taken by patients to get negative on PCR for COVID-19. Conclusion: Ethnicity emerged as a significant factor in getting negative for COVID-19. Punjabis and Kashmiris required a shorter period to get negative than Sindhis and Pathans. Older age emerged as a factor requiring a longer period to get negative. © 2022, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.

Evaluation Time As Most Effective Factor In Success Of Thrombolysis With Streptokinase In Patients With Acute STEMI During COVID 19 Pandemic

Objective: The objective of this study to evaluate time as most effective factor in success of thrombolysis with streptokinase in patients with acute STEMI during covid 19 pandemic. Study Design: Prospective observational study Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Kashmir institute of Cardiology, Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir, from April 2020 to December 2020 for a period of nine months. Materials and Methods: Patients presenting in emergency department with Acute STEMI were included, patients were analyzed via history, clinical examination and ECG findings of Acute STEMI. Results: Total of 110 patients were included in study. 80% (88) patients were male and 20%(22) patients were female. Which shows increase in the number of female patients with acute STEMI In this study we have tried to compare ECG based success criterion with international data and our data back in 2016. During the study we found successful thrombolysis around 45% during covid 19 pandemic. Conclusion: Time from onset of symptoms of Acute STEMI and start of streptokinase treatment was proven to be most effective method to improve the chances of success of streptokinase treatment and reduce mortality in such patients, as regard to my previous study in 2016 in same institute success of thrombolysis was markedly reduced with streptokinase during the covid 19 pandemic using the same treatment parameters. © 2022 Medical Forum Monthly. All rights reserved.

COVID-19-Associated Portal Vein Thrombosis Post-Cholecystitis

This case study describes a 45-year-old Caucasian male with a past medical history of obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, who in the setting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, developed portal vein thrombosis (PVT) presenting as an acute abdomen after hospital discharge from a cholecystitis episode. PVT is a very infrequent thromboembolic condition, classically occurring in patients with systemic conditions such as cirrhosis, malignancy, pancreatitis, diverticulitis, autoimmunity, and thrombophilia. PVT can cause serious complications, such as intestinal infarction, or even death, if not promptly treated. Due to the limited number of reports in the literature describing PVT in the COVID-19 setting, its prevalence, natural history, mechanism, and precise clinical features remain unknown. Therefore, clinical suspicion should be high for PVT, in any COVID-19 patient who presents with abdominal pain or associated signs and symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of COVID-19-associated PVT causing extensive thrombosis in the portal vein and its right branch, occurring in the setting of early-stage cirrhosis after a preceding episode of cholecystitis.

Fetal and Maternal Outcome Asymptomatic vs. Symptomatic Covid Positive Pregnant Women

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the fetal and maternal outcomes in between asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID positive pregnant women. Study Design: Retrospective cohort study Place and Duration: The study was conducted at Gynae and Obs department of Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta for duration of six months from November 2020 to April 2021. Methods: One hundred and ten pregnant women with ages 18-45 years had corona virus disease were presented. Informed written consent was taken from all patients for detailed demographics. COVID -19 was diagnosed by PCR. 55 patients had symptoms of coronavirus were included in group A and 55 patients did not show symptoms were included in group B. Frequency of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus and post-partum haemorrhage were calculated. Maternal adverse outcomes (cesarean section, instrumental delivery, induction of labor and prolong labor, hypertensive disorder) were calculated among both groups. Fetal outcomes perinatal mortality, Low birth weight, Low Apgar score and NICU admission were observed. SPSS 20.0 version was used to analyze all data. Results: Mean age of the patients in group A was 28.47 +/- 3.18 years with mean BMI 24.03 +/- 5.24 Kg/m(2) and in group B mean age was 27.99 +/- 4.17 years with mean BMI 24.44 +/- 6.41 Kg/m(2). Maternal outcomes (cesarean section, instrumental delivery, induction of labor and prolong labor,) in symptomatic group were significantly higher than that of asymptomatic group. Fetal outcomes, perinatal mortality in group A 9 (16.4%) and in group B was 5 (9.1%), low birth weight in group A was among 21 (38.2%) and in group B was 10 (18.2%), low apgar score in group A was 11 (20%) and in group B was 8 (14.4%), 15 (27.3%) in group A went to NICU admission and 3 (5.5%) patient in group II admitted to NICU. Conclusion: In this study we concluded that adverse outcomes among symptomatic COVID pregnant women were higher than that of asymptomatic coronavirus pregnant women in terms maternal and perinatal outcomes.

Digitalization of Academic Libraries in Higher Education Institutions during COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper aimed to examine the digitalization of academic libraries in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the current pandemic named the COVID-19 outbreak affected all the educational institutions in the global south and global north and Pakistan has no exemption. For this study, a quantitative stud design was opted to conduct an online survey from the library patrons. A sample of 1052 library users had been selected from public sector universities from Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention here that the google form was shared with 6852 library users through an email and WhatsApp numbers taken from universities concerned administration offices. Similarly, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis had been employed to draw results and conclusions. The study findings revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between independent and dependent variables. Similarly, the COVID-19 infection, physical distancing, online periodical, online services, and online audio/video material had favorable effects on the digitalization of library material. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

COVID-19 black swan and personal protective equipment (PPE) in Pakistan

Purpose This paper aimed to examine the sources of information and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The COVID-19 pandemic affected at a large level of all social institutions including the healthcare system of the countries. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted in Pakistan by using an online survey technique. The rationale to opt for this method was based on the country's lockdown situations, social distancing and the care of the respondents. A total of 847 individuals from different parts of the Punjab province participated in the study. An attitudinal scale was administered, which consisted of statements to measure (dis)agreement among the individuals on current situations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ethical considerations and confidentiality of the respondents were opted by describing the purpose of research on the first page of the questionnaire. Findings The study findings revealed that peer group, signs and symptoms of COVID-19 pandemic and causes and consequences of COVID-19 pandemic had favourable positive effects on the use of PPE by individuals through the mediation of fear of infection during COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the study findings were interpreted as per the effects of current situations of COVID-19 on the sources of information and the use of PPE by individuals. Originality/value This study focused on an important gap in the research on COVID-19 pandemic in the country in terms of mass media, health practitioners, peer group, fear of infection and use of PPE.

Steady ship: Digital, online, and e-libraries (1971-2020)

This paper attempts to examine the e-libraries, digital libraries, electronic libraries, and online libraries employing bibliometric study techniques from 1971 to 2020. It focuses to consolidate the published documents on the library indexed in Web of Science. It has been observed that we found 4266 published documents employing bibliometric analysis. The study findings show that digital libraries are the top topic, proceeding paper is the top type of document, and most are published in the English language. Similarly, the year 2006 to 2010 has the highest number of published documents, top author Fox EA, Dept. Comp Sci top organisation, United States top country, and digital libraries as a top keyword has been found. Further, the name of Liu et al. has been at the top of the author's list. Moreover, the results are presented in tables and figures to show the trend of data.

Academic Library Resources and Services at Higher Education Institutions during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Students’ Satisfaction

This study has been designed to inspect the library resources and services at higher education institutions during the covid-19 pandemic in terms of students' satisfaction. A quantitative study design to conduct an online survey from the students of public sector universities of Pakistan. A sample of 1823 respondents had been sampled through a proportionate random sampling technique. Moreover, a well-structured questionnaire was opted to measure the response of the respondents using an attitudinal scale of (dis)agreement. Further, frequency distribution, descriptive statistics, correlation statistical tests, and regression analysis had been used to draw results and conclusions. The study findings present that provision of required documents and available library resources have not been predicting students' satisfaction. However, other variables including access to library resources, access to library services, available library services, response to online queries, and online research support have favorable effects on students' satisfaction towards online library access and resources in public sector universities. © 2021, Library Philosophy and Practice. All rights reserved.

Public Library Online Information Resources to Library Patrons during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Higher Education Institutions

The main purpose of this paper is to examine online library resources during the COVID-19 pandemic situation at higher educational institutions in Pakistan. During the current pandemic situations, all the educational activities have been postponed and transformed into online latterly. A cross-sectional study consisting of a sample of 2378 from library patrons of public sector universities in Pakistan. A structured questionnaire has been administered based on different parts using an attitudinal scale of (dis)agreement has been used and pre-tested randomly with the reliability value ranging from .03 to .842. It is pertinent here to mention that during the COVID-19 pandemic, all the educational activities were shifted to online mode and it was not possible to collect information physically. Hence, an online method was opted and the questionnaire was shared through emails and WhatsApp numbers of public sector university library users. The study findings reveal that COVID-19 outbreak, fear of infection, and social distancing have favorable effects on online library information resources. Similarly, the results also support the argument that accessibility of manuscripts, accessibility of periodicals, and accessibility of books have favorable effects on online library resources. The study suggested that similar nature of the study may be conducted using mixed-method research and a different set of variables in the future. © 2021

Plotting the Literature on Precautionary Measures of COVID-19: A Scientometric Analysis of Web of Science

This study attempted to evaluate the scholarly publications on COVID-19, social distance, physical distance, social isolation, and self-isolation employing the scientometric analysis technique from 2020 to 2021. The main purpose was to consolidate the published scholarship on the COVID-19 in the Web of Science indexed documents. A total of 635 publications were found. The results indicated that social distance and COVID-19 was the top topic along with the article as a type of document, and the majority were published in the English language in 2021. The name of Gimenez-Llort L was at top of the list of authors, along with Univ. British Columbia, Canada organization, United States top country, COVID-19 as to keyword of the published documents and the main source of publication was PLOS One. Further, we had constructed figures and tables to show the trend of data. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Research Visualization of Different Treatment Modalities to Treat COVID-19 Infection: Bibliometric Analysis of PubMed Database

This paper designed to examine research published in PubMed indexed journals of different treatment modalities to treat COVID -19 infection employing bibliometric analysis technique from 2020 to 2021. The purpose was to consolidate the published scholarly work in the PubMed database on different treatment modalities including vaccine, oxygen supplementation, dexamethasone or steroids, aspirin, heparin, remdesivir, zinc, vitamin c or ascorbic acid, oxygen, anti-malarial like chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin or macrolides. We employed a bibliometric analysis technique and found a total of 3043 published documents. The study findings depicted that vaccine and COVID-19 top was at the top of the list of topics of the published documents along with the United States as a top productive country. The name of Mahase E secured the first position in top authors, Univ. Maryland as a top organization, COVID-19 as a top keyword, COVID as top term analysis by title, and ‘BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.)‘ was the top of the published documents. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Trend of Research Visualization of COVID-19 Complications in PubMed Database Using Scientometric Analysis from 2020 to March 20, 2021

This study focused to evaluate the published articles on PubMed whose focus was to study the different relations between COVID 19, and different complications caused due to it. The main complications that were used to formulate this study are Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT), Stroke, Pulmonary Embolism, Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), Myocardial Infarction (MI), anosmia, and pneumonia. The data was extracted from the PubMed database on March 20, 2021at 03:20 PM, PST with the period of 2020 to March 20, 2021. We used Biblioshiny, VOSviewer, and MS Excel software to analyze data and found 2375 published documents. The results revealed that Pneumonia and COVID-19 was the top topic out of 2375 published documents, journal articles as the top type, and the top year was 2020. Similarly, study findings also asserted that Guaraldi, Giovanni was the top author, China was a top country, COVID-19 top keyword, and Stroke was the top source of published documents. Further, the results were illustrated in tables and figures to show the trend of the published document. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Prevalence, attitude and knowledge of self medication during covid-19 disease pandemic

Aim: To determine the prevalence, attitude, and knowledge of self-medication of general population for the prevention of coronavirus during the COVID 19 pandemic. Place and duration of the study: Major studies of Punjab during 2020. Methodology: A self-generated questionnaire was distributed online amongst the general population of Punjab excluding the people using medication for any other chronic medical disorder. The study included the general public including the age group from 16-60 years. Results: Among 290 participants, 33.7% were males and 66.3% were female. Based on the data obtained 53% used medication without a doctor's prescription (self- medication) while 46.7% took the medication with a doctor's prescription. Those with the habit of self-medication relied on both allopathic and herbal medications due to various reasons, the most frequent reason found was unavailability of doctors (27.8%). The most frequently used self-medicated drugs were pain killers, Hydroxychloroquinone, Azithromycin and Ivermectin to prevent from this deadly virus (p-value=0.000).Adverse effects reported after self-medications are statistically non-significant. Conclusion It is concluded that majority of the general population of Punjab are in the habit of self-medicating themselves because of difficulty in approaching physicians and the most commonly self-medicated drug with or without symptoms was found to be tablet Azithromycin as a preventive measure during this pandemic.

Experience of E. learning among the students of KMSMC Sialkot conducted during COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: To assess the experience of E-Learning among the students of KMSMC during Covid.19 pandemic Study design: Cross- sectional observational study Place and duration of study: Physiology Dept. Kh. M. Safdar Medical College Sialkot at the end of session in October 2020. Methodology: A self-generated questionnaire was designed based on the Likert scale and distributed online among Khawaja Muhammad Safdar medical college Sialkot students. The study included the students from all five academic years, from first year to final year. Results: Among 500 students, 244 students participated. Based on data, participation from first year was 82%, 65% from second year, 49% from third year, only 17% from the fourth year and 39% from final year submitted the questionnaire. The overall score of individual class response was between 41 and 60, showing that they were satisfied with their E-Learning. Conclusion;Overall E-learning experience was good with one common problem of poor network connectivity.

Clinical and virological course of SARS-CoV 2 infected patients in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

Background: Acute respiratory illness caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) involved the whole globe within no time. Various studies published globally have shown variable severity of disease and mortality. The objective of our study was to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease in our setup. Methods: in this descriptive case series, individuals with signs and symptoms of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and asymptomatic patients with history of close contact to confirmed COVID-19 patients were considered for SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Epidemiological and clinical features of only PCR positive cases were recorded. Data regarding hospitalization status, exposure to known COVID-19 patients, clinical feature and clinical outcome of patients was collected and interpreted. Results: A total of 266 patients were found to be SARS-CoV 2 PCR positive which were included in the study. Mean age of patients was 39.45+/-31.9 years and majority of the patients in our study were male, i.e., 238 (89.5%). Most common clinical features among COVID-19 symptomatic patients were fever and dry cough followed by myalgias and sore throat. Eighteen (7%) out of 266 died in our setup. Time duration of viral shedding after initial positive PCR varied between 11 days to up to more than 55 days. Conclusion: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) can present with wide range of clinical spectrum and disease can be life threatening. Severity of disease, requirement of ICU care and mortality were directly related to age of the patient and underlying comorbidities. Rigorous precautionary measures are of utmost importance particularly in this high-risk population.

Economical Requirements Elicitation Techniques During COVID-19: A Systematic Literature Review

Requirements elicitation is a fundamental phase of software development in which an analyst discovers the needs of different stakeholders and transforms them into requirements. This phase is cost- and time-intensive, and a project may fail if there are excessive costs and schedule overruns. COVID-19 has affected the software industry by reducing interactions between developers and customers. Such a lack of interaction is a key reason for the failure of software projects. Projects can also fail when customers do not know precisely what they want. Furthermore, selecting the unsuitable elicitation technique can also cause project failure. The present study, therefore, aimed to identify which requirements elicitation technique is the most cost-effective for large-scale projects when time to market is a critical issue or when the customer is not available. To that end, we conducted a systematic literature review on requirements elicitation techniques. Most primary studies identified introspection as the best technique, followed by survey and brainstorming. This finding suggests that introspection should be the first choice of elicitation technique, especially when the customer is not available or the project has strict time and cost constraints. Moreover, introspection should also be used as the starting point in the elicitation process of a large-scale project, and all known requirements should be elicited using this technique.