COVID-19: How Does Religion Interact with Pandemic?

At the end of 2019, Corona’s outbreak appeared in Wuhan in China then rapidly the World Health Organization (WHO) stated Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic infection. This infection can transmit by areosal, direct contact, fomite, oral or a vector. So, as a matter of course, we expect mass gathering will over spread this infection as large numbers of people attending in close contact in certain location for extending time like Hajj, major sporting or other religious and culture events.1 In situation of Hajj, an estimated two million pilligrimes attend from 184 countries, present in crowded condition & performed religious rites in close contact and exposing themselves. An increase prevalence of infectious disease has been described also other than the Hajj as the annual celebration of day of Ashura in Karbala in Iraq which involved about 2-3 million of Muslim from and outside Iraq. Evidence of outbreaks is not limited to Muslims gathering, they also occur at Christian ones. Also respiratory tract infection outbreak was recorded during world youth day 2008 in Australia. So we should take precautions about these meetings and avoid spreading of infection.

Using Virtual Reality to Study Subjective Time in Crowded Versus Uncrowded Environments

Human density in different locations influences time estimation. In this article, we report three experiments investigating whether research in virtual reality (VR) environments would replicate this earlier finding. In our first experiment, 35 participants wore head-mounted VR displays and watched two videos showing a cityscape and a countryside. While watching each video, participants were asked to provide their perceptions of 30 seconds of time passage. Perceived time in the cityscape condition was longer than in the countryside condition. In our second experiment, 43 participants wore head-mounted VR displays and watched two videos showing a crowded and uncrowded Ikebukuro station. While watching these videos, participants were asked to provide their perceptions of 60 seconds of time passage. Perceived time in the crowded condition was longer relative to the uncrowded condition. In our third experiment, 21 participants wore head-mounted displays and watched two videos showing a crowded and uncrowded nature park. While watching the videos, participants were asked to provide their perceptions of 60 seconds of time passage. These repeated findings in VR environments of longer time perception in crowded versus uncrowded conditions were similar to data reported by who examined how location and human density affected subjective time in the real world. We discussed the implications of the VR tool in subjective time research and how people perceive and use VR environments in daily life.

Three-dimensional Characterization of Bearing Pecan Tree

Three-dimensional leaf and fruit distribution was studied in a 26-year-old `Success' pecan tree [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch]. The tree was typical of the trees in this orchard and typical of thousands of hectares of mature pecan trees growing in a crowded condition. There are fewer leaves and fruit in the lower and central canopy than in the rest of the tree. To obtain an adequate sample, measurements should be taken from branches arising at a height ≥4.75 m and from 1.9 m from the center of the tree trunk to the edge of the canopy around the trees. Fruit could be sampled from branches arising at ≥3.76 m from the ground and from 3.37 m from the center of the tree trunk to the edge of the canopy around the tree.

Ambulatory Velocity in Crowded and Uncrowded Conditions

The time individuals spent walking a standard distance on a sidewalk was unobtrusively observed under 2 conditions. In a crowded condition the distribution of walking speeds ( n = 20) was skewed towards fast speeds. This was interpreted as being due to physical constraints against walking slower than the pace of the crowd and freedom to move faster. In an uncrowded condition the distribution of walking speeds ( n = 20) was skewed towards slow speeds. This was interpreted as being due to norms which limit walking speed and the lack of normative or physical constraints against moving slower than the “normal” speed. The findings were generalized to other settings where user density and environment capacity interact to determine the pace at which people move through behavior sequences.

Effect of Stress by Crowding Prior to and Following Tuberculous Infection

Although it is known that stressing an already infected animal reduces resistance to the infection, the effect of applying stress prior to infection has not been studied. In the present experiments, it was found that this procedure produced significant differences in resistance to infection. Eighty male and seventy-four female B albino C mice were assigned at random to four experimental groups as follows: 1) individually maintained before and after infection; 2) individually maintained before infection and housed in groups of 20 in cages allowing 3 square inches/animal after infection (‘crowded’ condition); 3) crowded before infection and individually maintained after infection; and 4) crowded before and after infection. These animals were infected with a dose of tubercle bacilli resulting in a chronic disease. It was found that males and females reacted differently to the experimental treatment. Males which were crowded before or after injection showed less resistance than the controls whereas females which were crowded before or after injection survived longer than the controls. Seventy-six male and sixty-six female B albino C mice were assigned to experimental groups as outlined above. These animals were infected with tubercle bacilli resulting in acute disease. The factors of sex differences, crowding before infection and crowding after infection all significantly affected the course of the disease. Males and females reacted to the experimental conditions in the same way. It was found that animals which were crowded before infection and maintained individually after infection resisted tuberculosis better than animals which were individually maintained before infection and crowded after infection.

Some Notes on the Origin and Prevention of Gingivitis

Gingivitis is a disease of local origin primarily, although in many cases a constitutional factor is concerned.—The predisposition arises during the eruptive period of the second dentition.—The developmental predisposing cause of most importance is a crowded condition of the permanent dentition.—Of acquired predisposing causes, calculus deposits on the teeth are the most important.—Others are those which either cause stagnation around the teeth, or produce definite mechanical injury to the gum margin.—They can take effect at any age. Orthodontic treatment directed towards the arrangement of the optimum number of teeth in well functioning order is the ideal prophylactic. Other preventive measures are to employ such methods of artificial cleansing as brushing and the use of floss silk.—These are the adjuncts to automatic cleansing best carried out by efficient mastication of a suitable diet.—This is only possible when the arrangement of the teeth is such that stagnation of any kind of food is reduced to a minimum.

Lunacy in Norway, 1891

The population of Norway in 1875 consisted of 891,000 males and 930,000 females. (The details of the last census, 1890, showing a population of two millions, have not yet been published). Of these were insane 2,186 males and 2,382 females, giving a ratio of 23 insane (20·4 males, 25·6 females) to every 10,000 of the population. The total number of admissions into asylums for the year 1889 was 756, a ratio of 4·15 per 10,000. These figures compare favourably with those given in the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy for England for the same year, viz, 29·2 insane (27·2 males, 31·2 females) to every 10,000 population, and a ratio of 5·18 per 10,000 on the admissions. Although Norway is a poor country, such extreme poverty and distress as is found in our large cities does not exist there, and this, probably, accounts for the considerably smaller ratio of insane to population. Of the 756 total admissions 32 per cent, were suffering from melancholia, 27 per cent, from mania, 24 per cent, from dementia, and from general paralysis and epilepsy, equally, 1·9 per cent. The marked preponderance of melancholia over mania is interesting, the opposite conditions obtaining in this country, where mania shows an excess of 24 per cent. The distribution of a small population over a large tract of country, the mountainous character of that country, the monotony of life, the lack of amusement, the phlegmatic character of the race, in contrast to the crowded condition of the people, the high tension of living, and the excitement of city life which prevails in this country probably explain the difference. The small number (1·9 per cent, of the admissions,—being 6·4 per cent, less than in England) of those suffering from general paralysis might be explained in the same manner.