Tracking the Flu Virus in a Room Mechanical Ventilation Using CFD Tools and Effective Disinfection of an HVAC System

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (02) ◽  
pp. 2050019
Author(s):  
Ali Hasan

Recent concerns raised by the World Health Organization over the Coronavirus raised a worldwide reaction. Governments are racing to contain and stop the Coronavirus from reaching an epidemic/pandemic status. This research presents a way in tracking such a virus or any contagious germ capable of transferring through air specifically where such a transfer can be assisted by a mechanical room ventilation system. Tracking the spread of such a virus is a complicated process, as they can exist in a variety of forms, shapes, sizes, and can change with time. However, a beginning has to be made at some point. Assumptions had to be made based on published scientific data, and standards. The tracking of airborne viruses was carried out on the following assumption (for illustrative purposes); one person with one sneeze in a period of 600 s. The presence of viruses was tracked with curves plotted indicating how long it could take to remove the sneezed viruses from the mechanically ventilated room space. Results gave an indication of what time span is required to remove airborne viruses. Thus, we propose the following: (a) utilizing CFD software as a possible tool in optimizing a mechanical ventilation system in removing contagious viruses. This will track the dispersion of viruses and their removal. The numerical solution revealed that with one typical adult human sneeze, it can take approximately 640 s to reduce an average sneeze of 20,000 droplets to a fifth; (b) upscaling the status of human comfort to a “must have” with regards to the 50% relative humidity, and the use of Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) air disinfection in an epidemic/pandemic condition. A recommendation can be presented to the local authorities of jurisdiction in enforcing the above proposals partially/fully as seen fit as “prevention is better than cure”. This will preclude the spread of highly infectious viruses in mechanically ventilated buildings.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeya Sutha M

UNSTRUCTURED COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly contagious disease. On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of July 25, 2020; 15,947,292 laboratory-confirmed and 642,814 deaths have been reported globally. India has reported 1,338,928 confirmed cases and 31,412 deaths till date. This paper presents different aspects of COVID-19, visualization of the spread of infection and presents the ARIMA model for forecasting the status of COVID-19 death cases in the next 50 days in order to take necessary precaution by the Government to save the people.


Author(s):  
Adel Alizadeh ◽  
Reza Negarandeh ◽  
Fahimehe Bagheri Amiri ◽  
Zahra Yazdani

Abstract Objectives This systematic and meta-analysis review was conducted to determine the status of Iranian children and adolescents’ physical activity. Content All the related articles which were published in the major databases, including Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Magiran, SID from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2019, were reviewed by researchers. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was also used to evaluate the quality of articles. Moreover, I 2 index and chi-square were used to assess the heterogeneity between the results. Summary 490 articles were found as a result of the search in the selected international and local databases, where finally, 10 articles were included into the meta-analysis after the elimination of the duplicated articles and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that 29.5% of the girls were considered active according to WHO criteria (16.1–42.8: 95% CI) and also 20.5% of the boys (7.3–33.7: 95% CI). Outlook Overall, this study’s findings showed that a large percentage of Iranian children and adolescents do not achieve the level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization. This can lead to undesirable consequences for this group of population that is considered as the human capital of any country; consequently, it seems necessary to take basic measures at the micro and macro levels in order to reduce such problems in the society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Clara Saad Menezes ◽  
Alicia Dudy Müller Veiga ◽  
Thais Martins de Lima ◽  
Suely Kunimi Kubo Ariga ◽  
Hermes Vieira Barbeiro ◽  
...  

AbstractThe role of innate immunity in COVID-19 is not completely understood. Therefore, this study explored the impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on the expression of Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) in peripheral blood cells and their correlated cytokines. Seventy-nine patients with severe COVID-19 on admission, according to World Health Organization (WHO) classification, were divided into two groups: patients who needed mechanical ventilation and/or deceased (SEVERE, n = 50) and patients who used supplementary oxygen but not mechanical ventilation and survived (MILD, n = 29); a control group (CONTROL, n = 17) was also enrolled. In the peripheral blood, gene expression (mRNA) of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, retinoic-acid inducible gene I (RIGI), NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), interferon alpha (IFN-α), interferon beta (IFN-β), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interferon lambda (IFN-λ), pro-interleukin(IL)-1β (pro-IL-1β), and IL-18 was determined on admission, between 5–9 days, and between 10–15 days. Circulating cytokines in plasma were also measured. When compared to the COVID-19 MILD group, the COVID-19 SEVERE group had lower expression of TLR3 and overexpression of TLR4.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Joseph Meaney ◽  

COVID-19 vaccine passports run the risk of creating a divided society where social privileges or restrictions based on “fitness” lead to discrimination based on immunization status. Individuals have a strong right to be free of coercion to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and we should be very leery of further invasion of private medical decisions. These concerns are shared both internationally and in the United States, and the World Health Organization, the Biden administration, and many US governors oppose COVID-19 vaccine credentials. In addition, regulations for COVID-19 vaccine credentials face practical barriers, including lack of access globally, especially among the poor; and lack of scientific data on the efficacy of these vaccines.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (42) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyukmin Lee ◽  
Eun-Jeong Yoon ◽  
Dokyun Kim ◽  
Seok Hoon Jeong ◽  
Jong Hee Shin ◽  
...  

Surveillance plays a pivotal role in overcoming antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens, and a variety of surveillance systems have been set up and employed in many countries. In 2015, the World Health Organization launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) as a part of the global action plan to enhance national and global surveillance and research. The aims of GLASS are to foster development of national surveillance systems and to enable collection, analysis and sharing of standardised, comparable and validated data on AMR between different countries. The South Korean AMR surveillance system, Kor-GLASS, is compatible with the GLASS platform and was established in 2016 and based on the principles of representativeness, specialisation, harmonisation and localisation. In this report, we summarise principles and processes in order to share our experiences with other countries planning to establish a national AMR surveillance system. The pilot operation of Kor-GLASS allowed us to understand the national burden of specific infectious diseases and the status of bacterial AMR. Issues pertaining to high costs and labour-intensive operation were raised during the pilot, and improvements are being made.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109352662110366
Author(s):  
Naz Kanit ◽  
Ozge Uysal Yoca ◽  
Dilek Ince ◽  
Nur Olgun ◽  
Erdener Ozer

Introduction Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric central nervous tumor of high malignancy that has been classified into both histological subtypes and molecular subgroups by the 2016 World Health Organization classification. However, there is a still need to understand the genomic characteristics and predict the clinical course. The aim of the study is to investigate the significance of the methylation profiles in molecular subclassification and precision medicine of the disease. Methods The study enrolled 47 pediatric medulloblastoma patients. DNA methylation levels of KLF4, SPINT2, RASSF1A, EZH2, ZIC2, and PTCH1 genes were analyzed using methylation-specific pyrosequencing. The significance of the statistical relationship between methylation profiles and clinicopathological parameters including molecular subgroups and histological subtypes, the status of metastasis, and event-free survival were analyzed. Results DNA methylation analysis demonstrated that KLF4, PTCH1, and ZIC2 hypermethylation were associated with the SHH-activated subgroup, whereas both SPINT2 and RASSF1A hypermethylation were associated with metastatic disease. EZH2 gene was not methylated in any of the samples. Conclusion We think that customized DNA methylation profiling may be a useful tool in the molecular subclassification of pediatric medulloblastoma and a potential technical approach in precision medicine.


2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 247-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Angelo L. Lindoso ◽  
Ana Angélica B.P. Lindoso

Poverty is intrinsically related to the incidence of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The main countries that have the lowest human development indices (HDI) and the highest burdens of NTDs are located in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Among these countries is Brazil, which is ranked 70th in HDI. Nine out of the ten NTDs established by the World Health Organization (WHO) are present in Brazil. Leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, dengue fever and leprosy are present over almost the entire Brazilian territory. More than 90% of malaria cases occur in the Northern region of the country, and lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis occur in outbreaks in a particular region. The North and Northeast regions of Brazil have the lowest HDIs and the highest rates of NTDs. These diseases are considered neglected because there is not important investment in projects for the development of new drugs and vaccines and existing programs to control these diseases are not sufficient. Another problem related to NTDs is co-infection with HIV, which favors the occurrence of severe clinical manifestations and therapeutic failure. In this article, we describe the status of the main NTDs currently occurring in Brazil and relate them to the HDI and poverty.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahasan Ullah Khan

Abstract In Bangladesh, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported the first COVID-19 positive patients in the country on March 8, 2020. The world health organization (WHO) declared a COVID-19 epidemic on March 11, 2020. The aim of this study was related to the situation and relation of tests, infested, recovered and death of people against COVID-19 of Bangladesh. The study was carried out from 8 March 2020 to 30 April 2021 (N=419 days) to observe the status of Bangladesh towards rampant COVID-19. The data of this research was collected from IEDCR, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and cross-checked with different newspapers and online news portals. Correlations were made using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The total tests, infection, recovered and died were 5357294, 747761, 669995 and 11250; respectively in Bangladesh. The tests of COVID-19 were 1482, 69252, 244064, 460528, 409503, 362113, 397452, 389452, 436862, 454892, 424034, 392403 and 722848 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The infestation of COVID-19 was 49, 7616, 39486, 98330, 92125, 73070, 50457, 44205, 57248, 58948, 21629, 11077 and 128555 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The recovered of COVID-19 was 25, 135, 7904, 34845, 76517, 69452, 71600, 48658, 56099, 70367, 22285, 17140 and 150816 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The death of COVID-19 was 6, 163, 472, 1198, 1264, 1125, 970, 666, 718, 938, 568, 277 and 2237 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The maximum number of people infested and death in April, 2021. The positive correlation found between infested with tests and recovered with tests of April, 2021 by people where (R2= 0.5289, p<0.012 and 0.0000006 p<0.05) and the negative correlation found between tests with date and death with tests (R2= 0.2567, p<0.01 and 0.3614, p<0.01). All the Spearman correlation positive with moderate to strong relation between the variables at the 0.01 level in two-tailed and the total number was n=419. The mean Spearman correlation for tests was 0.31 (range 0.553 to 0.634), for infested was 0.35 (range 0.611 to 0.880), for recovered was 0.796 (range 0.634 to 0.799), for death was 0.808 (range 0.553 to 0.880). March to December 2020 and January to February 2021, not much less than April 2021. More people infested and died in April, 2021 than previous year. This study also indicated that there is moderate to strong relation among tests, infested, recovered and death with COVID-(2020-2021).


Author(s):  
Ghada Sobhy Ibrahim ◽  
Buthaina M. Alkandari ◽  
Islam Ahmed Abo Shady ◽  
Vikash K. Gupta ◽  
Mohsen Ahmed Abdelmohsen

Abstract Background Since late 2019, COVID-19 infection has quickly spread substantially in all countries, forcing the appropriation of noteworthy lockdown and social separating measures. It has been considered as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Positive pressure ventilation is a non-physiological and invasive intervention that can be lifesaving in COVID-19 patients. Similar to any other interventions, it can cause its own danger and complications as it can prompt ventilator-induced lung injury and barotrauma. The aim of the work was to identify the incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation complication in COVID-19 pneumonias, and to describe patient characteristics and patterns of barotrauma in COVID-19 patients. Results This retrospective study included 103 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, 76 males and 27 females are on invasive mechanical ventilation. Their mean age was 56.6, ranged from 21 to 85 years old. Barotraumas event type in the studied patients, (NB: one or multiple barotrauma events occurring on the same day were considered as single event (95/103 patients-92.23%), while separate multiple events (8/103 patients-7.77%) were recorded when occurring separated by at least 24 h). Single barotrauma events were subdivided into: one event (67/95 patients—70.53%), & multiple events (28/95 patients—29.47%). The mean interval between invasive mechanical ventilation and developing barotraumas was 3–7 days included 41 patients (39.98%). We revealed a strong prevalence of COVID-19 IMV complication with worsening prognosis and subsequent higher death rates in elderly smoker or obese males, as well as those suffering from ARDS. Past medical history (hypertension, DM, chronic renal or cardiac disease) or surgical history of CABG was more liable for these types of complications. Conclusion Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were more liable to the higher incidence of barotraumas with presence of predisposition and high risk factors. In general, an outstanding bad prognostic outcome and a significantly high mortality rate prevailed in COVID-19 patients associated with mechanically ventilated patients.


Author(s):  
Niti G Patel ◽  
Ajay Bhasin ◽  
Joseph M Feinglass ◽  
Steven M Belknap ◽  
Michael P Angarone ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19 is associated with hypercoagulability and an increased incidence of thrombosis. We evaluated the clinical outcomes of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 who either continued therapeutic anticoagulants previously prescribed or who were newly started on anticoagulants during hospitalization. Methods: We performed an observational study of adult inpatients with COVID-19 at 10 hospitals affiliated with Northwestern Medicine in the Chicagoland area from March 9 to June 26, 2020. We evaluated clinical outcomes of subjects with COVID-19 who were continued on their outpatient therapeutic anticoagulation during hospitalization and those who were newly started on these medications compared to those who were on prophylactic doses of these medications based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement. The primary outcome was overall death while secondary outcomes were critical illness (WHO score >5), need for mechanical ventilation, and death among those subjects who first had critical illness adjusted for age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), Charlson score, glucose on admission, and use of antiplatelet agents. Results: 1,716 subjects with COVID-19 were included in the analysis. 171 subjects (10.0%) were continued on their outpatient therapeutic anticoagulation and 201(11.7%) were started on new therapeutic anticoagulation during hospitalization. In subjects continued on home therapeutic anticoagulation, there were no differences in overall death, critical illness, mechanical ventilation, or death among subjects with critical illness compared to subjects on prophylactic anticoagulation. Subjects receiving new therapeutic anticoagulation for COVID-19 were more likely to die (OR 5.93; 95% CI 3.71-9.47), have critical illness (OR 14.51; 95% CI 7.43-28.31), need mechanical ventilation (OR 11.22; 95% CI 6.67-18.86), and die after first having critical illness. (OR 5.51; 95% CI 2.80 -10.87). Conclusions: Continuation of outpatient prescribed anticoagulant was not associated with improved clinical outcomes. Therapeutic anticoagulation for COVID-19 in absence of other indications was associated with worse clinical outcomes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document