scholarly journals A semiotic comparison of mass media representations of the swine flu and Covid-19 pandemics: Observing Narcissus Narcosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 07 (01) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Alin Olteanu ◽  
Florian Rabitz ◽  
Augustė Nalivaikė
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
World Health ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Organization

This paper compares the coverage of the H1N1 and Covid-19 pandemics in ten prominent US daily newspapers. We selected articles that reference disease-specific keywords, published in the period between the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization and the first peak in laboratory- confirmed cases in the USA (20550 articles on Covid-19 and 1705 articles on H1N1). We analyzed the dataset via topic models and semantic networks, which, in a semiotic approach, are understood as iconic models. As the Covid-19 virus produced the first global pandemic in the age of social media, this comparative analysis illustrates how the news media changed the mediasphere in general. During the H1N1 pandemic (2009-2010), newly emerging social media were not mainstream, having a limited impact compared to 2020 at the outbreak of Covid-19. By 2020, social media have definingly changed the mediasphere. Given their affordance for the virulent transmission of media products, the rise of social media stirred the relativization of knowledge and mistrust towards traditional authority and legacy media. Paradoxically, this both democratizes public debate and opens opportunities for misinformation. In this context, the Covid-19 pandemic has been accompanied by a global infodemic, with adverse impact on global health. While the two pandemics are very different, comparing media representations in their early stages, when the viral spread was unpredictable, offers an insight into how the emergence of social media impacted traditional newspapers’ approach to events of global concern. The analysis reveals that ideological commitments are expressed through the same correlation of topics in both corpora but that, overall, the discourses have different structures. We argue that the remarkable stability of ideological discourses displays what McLuhan termed Narcissus narcosis, namely the numbness experienced socially during media changes.

scholarly journals Environmental and health impacts of spraying COVID-19 disinfectants with associated challenges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakeel Ahmad Bhat ◽  
Farooq Sher ◽  
Rohitashw Kumar ◽  
Emina Karahmet ◽  
Syed Anam Ul Haq ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
World Health ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Secondary Products ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Specific Morphology ◽  
Application Techniques ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Chemical Usage

AbstractCoronavirus refers to a group of widespread viruses. The name refers to the specific morphology of these viruses because their spikes look like a crown under an electron microscope. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has been reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, was proclaimed an international public health emergency (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and on 11 March 2020, it was declared as a pandemic (World Health Organization 2020). The official name of the virus was declared by the WHO as “COVID-19 virus”, formerly known as “2019-nCoV”, or “Wuhan Coronavirus”. The International Committee on Virus Taxonomy’s Coronavirus Research Group has identified that this virus is a form of coronavirus that caused a severe outbreak of acute respiratory syndrome in 2002–2003 (SARS). As a result, the latest severe acute respiratory syndrome has been classified as a corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen by this committee. This disease spread quickly across the country and the world within the first 3 months of the outbreak and became a global pandemic. To stop COVID-19 from spreading, the governing agencies used various chemicals to disinfect different commercial spaces, streets and highways. However, people used it aggressively because of panic conditions, anxiety and unconsciousness, which can have a detrimental impact on human health and the environment. Our water bodies, soil and air have been polluted by disinfectants, forming secondary products that can be poisonous and mutagenic. In the prevention and spread of COVID-19, disinfection is crucial, but disinfection should be carried out with sufficient precautions to minimize exposure to harmful by-products. In addition, to prevent inhalation, adequate personal protective equipment should be worn and chemical usage, concentrations, ventilation in the room and application techniques should be carefully considered. In the USA, 60% of respondents said they cleaned or disinfected their homes more often than they had in the previous months. In addition to the robust use of disinfection approaches to combat COVID-19, we will explore safe preventative solutions here.

scholarly journals WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - SCENE OF AMERICAN-CHINESE CONFRONTATIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Svetlana CEBOTARI ◽  
Victoria BEVZIUC
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Organization

The activity of the World Health Organization is now becoming a topic in disputes between the big power centres – the USA and China. The role of the WHO is also becoming a research topic not only for researchers in medical sciences, but also for political specialists in international relations. With the COVID-19 crisis, the WHO is becoming a scene of the major challenges – the USA and China. This Article aims to highlight the USA and China relations with reference to the work of the WHO, including the effectiveness of the organization with a global pandemic such as that of the COVID-19.

scholarly journals Institutional and news media denominations of COVID-19 and its causative virus: Between naming policies and naming politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 635-652
Author(s):  
Fernando Prieto-Ramos ◽  
Jiamin Pei ◽  
Le Cheng
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
News Media ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Committee ◽  
World Health ◽  
Washington Post ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Health Organization

From the beginning of the COVID-19 global pandemic, it became clear that the practices of naming the disease, its nature and its handling by the health authorities, the news media and the politicians had social and ideological implications. This article presents a sociosemiotic study of such practices as reflected in a corpus of headlines of eight newspapers of four countries in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. After an analysis of the institutional naming choices of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the study focuses on the changes in newspapers’ naming patterns following the WHO’s announcement of the disease name on 11 February 2020. A subsequent political controversy related to naming in the United States is then examined in reports of The New York Times and The Washington Post as a further illustration of how public discourses and perceptions can rapidly evolve in the context of health crises.

scholarly journals The WHO Health Alert: Communicating a Global Pandemic with WhatsApp

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Josephine Walwema
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Risk ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Access Information ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Local Agencies

Upon declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) orchestrated a global risk-communication outreach. The WHO’s objective was to persuade the public to upend and alter their lives so as to contain the disease and minimize its spread and infection. The WHO found a simple and efficient medium to communicate glocally through the social media application WhatsApp, through which individuals could access information without gatekeeping by governments and local agencies.

Risk Communication and Social Media

2021 ◽  
pp. 150-171
Author(s):  
Hikmet Tosyalı ◽  
Furkan Tosyalı
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Health Belief ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Belief Model

The new form of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Then, the citizens were required to stay in their homes. In this process, social media has become the users' window to the global village. With the prolongation of the isolation process, the use and importance of these platforms in communication, entertainment, socialization, and access to instant information about the pandemic have increased. People and institutions responsible for pandemic management have started to frequently benefit from social media platforms in risk communication activities to create public awareness about the disease and reinforce individuals' beliefs to comply with the precautions. In this study, the person responsible for COVID-19 pandemic planning and response in Turkey, the Minister of Health's, Twitter account was analyzed. The posts shared by the Minister of Health were subjected to content analysis, and the messages conveyed to the citizens were examined from the perspective of the health belief model.

The relevance of dietetic approach of Ayurveda from the perspective of COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 748-752
Author(s):  
Swapnali Khabade ◽  
Bharat Rathi ◽  
Renu Rathi
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Healthy Person ◽  
World Health ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Individual

A novel, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causes severe acute respiratory syndrome and spread globally from Wuhan, China. In March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the SARS-Cov-2 virus as a COVID- 19, a global pandemic. This pandemic happened to be followed by some restrictions, and specially lockdown playing the leading role for the people to get disassociated with their personal and social schedules. And now the food is the most necessary thing to take care of. It seems the new challenge for the individual is self-isolation to maintain themselves on the health basis and fight against the pandemic situation by boosting their immunity. Food organised by proper diet may maintain the physical and mental health of the individual. Ayurveda aims to promote and preserve the health, strength and the longevity of the healthy person and to cure the disease by properly channelling with and without Ahara. In Ayurveda, diet (Ahara) is considered as one of the critical pillars of life, and Langhana plays an important role too. This article will review the relevance of dietetic approach described in Ayurveda with and without food (Asthavidhi visheshaytana & Lanhgan) during COVID-19 like a pandemic.

Dietary and living regimen of covid-19 with special reference to Ayurveda Varsha and Sharad Ritucharya

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 758-762
Author(s):  
Amit Biswas ◽  
KunalChandankhede
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Dietary Regimen ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Individual Disease ◽  
Morbid Conditions

Wuhan originated Covid-19 disease is caused by SARC-COV 2 virus. It is a contagious disease it spread all over the world. World health organization declared a global pandemic disease. In Covid-19 immunity plays an important role. In old age people or having other co-morbid conditions the mortality rate is more. Ayurveda has a big role in improved immunity or to intact immunity. The principle of Ayurveda is to keep individual swastha (diseases free). To maintain individual disease-free Ritucharya is one of the important subjects of Ayurveda. Aimed of study is to find out Ritucharya literature from the Ayurveda and modern research specifically Varsha and Sharad ritu. Ritucharya contains dietary regimen, living modification, common medicine, and contraindicated things those changing according to environmental change. Upcoming season in India is Varsha and Sharad ritu. Environmental changes are huge in this season and it directly affected human beings. So this study reveals property of ritu, dietary regimen, living modification, common medicine and contraindicated things in upcoming varsha and sharad ritu.

Unique nCoV-2019 (COVID 19) spike glycoprotein processing by host protease: Analysis and Implication on infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajoy Basak ◽  
Sarmistha Basak
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Spike Glycoprotein ◽  
Binding Domains ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
High Infection ◽  
Crucial Information ◽  
Glycoprotein Processing ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Host Reservoir

: The current global pandemic outbreak of a novel type of corona virus termed by World Health Organization as COVID-19 became an grave concern and worry to human health and world economy. Intense research efforts are now underway worldwide to combat and prevent the spread of this deadly disease. This zoonotic virus, a native to bat population is most likely transmitted to human via a host reservoir. Due to its close similarity to previously known SARS CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus) of 2002 and related MERS CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus) of 2012, it is also known as SARS CoV2. But unlike them it is far too infectious, virulent and lethal. Among its various proteins, the surface spike glycoprotein “S” has drawn significant attention because of its implication in viral recognition and host-virus fusion process. A detail comparative analysis of “S” proteins of SARS CoV (now called SARS CoV1), SARS CoV2 (COVID-19) and MERS CoV based on structure, sequence alignment, host cleavage sites, receptor binding domains, potential glycosylation and Cys-disulphide bridge locations has been performed. It revealed some key features and variations that may elucidate the high infection and virulence character of COVID-19. Moreover this crucial information may become useful in our quest for COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines.

scholarly journals Squamous cell carcinoma mimics small cell carcinoma of the lung: a case report

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kmeid ◽  
Breanne Gillie ◽  
Armand Asarian ◽  
Philip Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Cell Carcinoma ◽  
Small Cell Carcinoma ◽  
Squamous Cell ◽  
Lung Tumors ◽  
Small Cell ◽  
World Health ◽  
Lung Cancers ◽  
Lung Carcinomas ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) accounts for roughly 20% of lung cancers in the USA. The 2015 World Health Organization classification of lung tumors further categorizes SCC as three subtypes: keratinizing, non-keratinizing and basaloid variant. The non-keratinizing subtype is a poorly differentiated tumor that can present histologically in different ways, and one of which is a rare variant that strongly resembles small cell carcinoma. As a result, histological diagnosis alone is not sufficient to properly diagnose lung carcinomas. Immunohistochemistry has been increasingly used over the past few years to differentiate between lung tumors. The combination of morphological and immunohistochemical staining should be the mainstay for diagnosis of all lung carcinomas as more targeted therapies become more available.

scholarly journals Neurological Complications of COVID-19: Underlying Mechanisms and Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 4081
Author(s):  
Ghaydaa A. Shehata ◽  
Kevin C. Lord ◽  
Michaela C. Grudzinski ◽  
Mohamed Elsayed ◽  
Ramy Abdelnaby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neuromuscular Junctions ◽  
Neurological Complications ◽  
Cerebrovascular Diseases ◽  
World Health ◽  
Neurological Sequelae ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Demyelinating Disorders ◽  
Taste And Smell

COVID-19 is a severe respiratory disease caused by the newly identified human coronavirus (HCoV) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was discovered in December 2019, and in March 2020, the disease was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to a high number of cases. Although SARS-CoV-2 primarily affects the respiratory system, several studies have reported neurological complications in COVID-19 patients. Headache, dizziness, loss of taste and smell, encephalitis, encephalopathy, and cerebrovascular diseases are the most common neurological complications that are associated with COVID-19. In addition, seizures, neuromuscular junctions’ disorders, and Guillain–Barré syndrome were reported as complications of COVID-19, as well as neurodegenerative and demyelinating disorders. However, the management of these conditions remains a challenge. In this review, we discuss the prevalence, pathogenesis, and mechanisms of these neurological sequelae that are secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aim to update neurologists and healthcare workers on the possible neurological complications associated with COVID-19 and the management of these disease conditions.

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