Resilient and agile engineering solutions to address societal challenges such as coronavirus pandemic

Agriculture and environmental management through nanotechnology: Eco-friendly nanomaterial synthesis for soil-plant systems, food safety, and sustainability

Through the advancement of nanotechnology, agricultural and food systems are undergoing strategic enhancements, offering innovative solutions to complex problems. This scholarly essay thoroughly examines nanotechnological innovations and their implications within these critical industries. Traditional practices are undergoing radical transformation as nanomaterials emerge as novel agents in roles traditionally filled by fertilizers, pesticides, and biosensors. Micronutrient management and preservation techniques are further enhanced, indicating a shift towards more nutrient-dense and longevity-oriented food production. Nanoparticles (NPs), with their unique physicochemical properties, such as an extraordinary surface-to-volume ratio, find applications in healthcare, diagnostics, agriculture, and other fields. However, concerns about their potential overuse and bioaccumulation raise unanswered questions about their health effects. Molecule-to-molecule interactions and physicochemical dynamics create pathways through which nanoparticles cause toxicity. The combination of nanotechnology and environmental sustainability principles leads to the examination of green nanoparticle synthesis. The discourse extends to how nanomaterials penetrate biological systems, their applications, toxicological effects, and dissemination routes. Additionally, this examination delves into the ecological consequences of nanomaterial contamination in natural ecosystems. Employing robust risk assessment methodologies, including the risk allocation framework, is recommended to address potential dangers associated with nanotechnology integration. Establishing standardized, universally accepted guidelines for evaluating nanomaterial toxicity and protocols for nano-waste disposal is urged to ensure responsible stewardship of this transformative technology. In conclusion, the article summarizes global trends, persistent challenges, and emerging regulatory strategies shaping nanotechnology in agriculture and food science. Sustained, in-depth research is crucial to fully benefit from nanotechnology prospects for sustainable agriculture and food systems.

People's perceptions on COVID-19 vaccination: an analysis of twitter discourse from four countries

More than six and half million people have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic till Dec 2022. Vaccination is the most effective means to prevent mortality and infection attributed to COVID-19. Identifying public attitudes and perceptions on COVID-19 vaccination is essential to strengthening the vaccination programmes. This study aims to identify attitudes and perceptions of twitter users towards COVID-19 vaccinations in four different countries. A sentiment analysis of 663,377 tweets from October 2020 to September 2022 from four different countries (i.e., India, South Africa, UK, and Australia) was conducted. Text mining using roBERTA (Robustly Optimized Bert Pretraining approach) python library was used to identify the polarity of people's attitude as "negative", "positive" or "neutral" based on tweets. A sample of 2000 tweets (500 from each country) were thematically analysed to explore the people's perception concerning COVID-19 vaccines across the countries. The attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines varied by countries. Negative attitudes were observed to be highest in India (58.48%), followed by United Kingdom (33.22%), Australia (31.42%) and South Africa (28.88%). Positive attitudes towards vaccines were highest in the United Kingdom (21.09%). The qualitative analysis yielded eight themes namely (i) vaccine shortages, (ii) vaccine side-effects, (iii) distrust on COVID-19 vaccines, (iv) voices for vaccine equity, (v) awareness about vaccines, (vi) myth busters, (vii) vaccines work and (viii) vaccines are safe. The twitter discourse reflected the evolving situation of COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination strategies, lacunae and positives in the respective countries studied.

The development and future frontiers of global ecological restoration projects in the twenty-first century: a systematic review based on scientometrics

Ecological restoration projects are becoming a mainstream of research, and their studies are widely followed by scholars worldwide, yet there is no comprehensive review of this research. Nowadays, bibliometrics has attracted much attention from the scientific community, and its methodological approach allows quantitative and qualitative analysis of research performance in journals or subject areas. This paper provides a systematic and comprehensive description of the progress and hotspots of ecological restoration projects from a bibliometric perspective, based on 1173 articles in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. Research on ecological restoration projects has shown a positive growth trend since the twenty-first century. China and the USA are the most active countries in terms of the number of relevant articles published, and more than half of the top 10 active institutions are from China, but there is less collaboration between different countries/institutions. Research in ecological restoration projects is summarized into three main research areas: the main ecological damage problems, the impact of human beings on ecological damage, and the main methods of ecological restoration. Finally, some challenges and outlooks conducive to the rapid and balanced development of ecological restoration projects are presented, which provide valuable references and help for future researchers.

Strategies for safe management of hospital wastewater during the COVID-19 pandemic

Management of hospital wastewater is a challenging task, particularly during the situations like coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The hospital effluent streams are likely to contain many known and unknown contaminants including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) along with a variety of pollutants arising from pharmaceuticals, life-style chemicals, drugs, radioactive species, and human excreta from the patients. The effluents are a mixed bag of contaminants with some of them capable of infecting through contact. Hence, it is essential to identify appropriate treatment strategies for hospital waste streams. In this work, various pollutants emerging in the context of COVID-19 are examined. A methodical review is conducted on the occurrence and disinfection methods of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. An emphasis is given to the necessity of addressing the challenges of handling hospital effluents dynamically involved during the pandemic scenario to ensure human and environmental safety. A comparative evaluation of disinfection strategies makes it evident that the non-contact methods like ultraviolet irradiation, hydrogen peroxide vapor, and preventive approaches such as the usage of antimicrobial surface coating offer promise in reducing the chance of disease transmission. These methods are also highly efficient in comparison with other strategies. Chemical disinfection strategies such as chlorination may lead to further disinfection byproducts, complicating the treatment processes. An overall analysis of various disinfection methods is presented here, including developing methods such as membrane technologies, highlighting the merits and demerits of each of these processes. Finally, the wastewater surveillance adopted during the COVID-19 outbreak is discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13762-023-04803-1.

Precursor Chemistry Enables the Surface Ligand Control of PbS Quantum Dots for Efficient Photovoltaics

The surface ligand environment plays a dominant role in determining the physicochemical, optical, and electronic properties of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). Specifically, the ligand-related electronic traps are the main reason for the carrier nonradiative recombination and the energetic losses in colloidal quantum dot solar cells (CQDSCs), which are usually solved with numerous advanced ligand exchange reactions. However, the synthesis process, as the essential initial step to control the surface ligand environment of CQDs, has lagged behind these post-synthesis ligand exchange reactions. The current PbS CQDs synthesis tactic generally uses lead oxide (PbO) as lead precursor, and thus suffers from the water byproducts issue increasing the surface-hydroxyl ligands and aggravating trap-induced recombination in the PbS CQDSCs. Herein, an organic-Pb precursor, lead (II) acetylacetonate (Pb(acac)₂ ), is used instead of a PbO precursor to avoid the adverse impact of water byproducts. Consequently, the Pb(acac)₂ precursor successfully optimizes the surface ligands of PbS CQDs by reducing the hydroxyl ligands and increasing the iodine ligands with trap-passivation ability. Finally, the Pb(acac)₂ -based CQDSCs possess remarkably reduced trap states and suppressed nonradiative recombination, generating a certified record V_oc of 0.652 V and a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.48% with long-term stability in planar heterojunction-structure CQDSCs.

SARS-CoV-2 and its new variants: a comprehensive review on nanotechnological application insights into potential approaches

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) spreads and develops quickly worldwide as a new global crisis which has left deep socio-economic damage and massive human mortality. This virus accounts for the ongoing outbreak and forces an urgent need to improve antiviral therapeutics and targeted diagnosing tools. Researchers have been working to find a new drug to combat the virus since the outbreak started in late 2019, but there are currently no successful drugs to control the SARS-CoV-2, which makes the situation riskier. Very recently, new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is identified in many countries which make the situation very critical. No successful treatment has yet been shown although enormous international commitment to combat this pandemic and the start of different clinical trials. Nanomedicine has outstanding potential to solve several specific health issues, like viruses, which are regarded a significant medical issue. In this review, we presented an up-to-date drug design strategy against SARS-CoV-2, including the development of novel drugs and repurposed product potentials were useful, and successful drugs discovery is a constant requirement. The use of nanomaterials in treatment against SARS-CoV-2 and their use as carriers for the transport of the most frequently used antiviral therapeutics are discussed systematically here. We also addressed the possibilities of practical applications of nanoparticles to give the status of COVID-19 antiviral systems.

Nanotechnology Transition Roadmap toward Multifunctional Stimuli-Responsive Face Masks

In recent times, the use of personal protective equipment, such as face masks or respirators, is becoming more and more critically important because of common pollution; furthermore, face masks have become a necessary element in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, the main mission of scientists has become the development of face masks with exceptional properties that will enhance their performance. The versatility of electrospun polymer nanofibers has determined their suitability as a material for constructing "smart" filter media. This paper provides an overview of the research carried out on nanofibrous filters obtained by electrospinning. The progressive development of the next generation of face masks whose unique properties can be activated in response to a specific external stimulus is highlighted. Thanks to additional components incorporated into the fiber structure, filters can, for example, acquire antibacterial or antiviral properties, self-sterilize the structure, and store the energy generated by users. Despite the discovery of several fascinating possibilities, some of them remain unexplored. Stimuli-responsive filters have the potential to become products of large-scale availability and great importance to society as a whole.

Machine learning-based forecasting of potability of drinking water through adaptive boosting model

Water is an indispensable requirement for life for health and many other purposes, but not all water is safe for consumption. Thus, various metrics, such as biological, chemical, and physical, could be used to determine the quality of potable water for use. This study presents a machine learning-based model using the adaptive boosting technique with the ability to categorize and evaluate the quality rate of drinking water. The dataset for the study was adopted from Kaggle. Consequently, an experimental analysis of the different machine learning techniques (ensemble) was carried out to create a generic water quality classifier. The results show that the forecast accuracy of the logistic regression model (88.6%), Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (93.1%), XGBoost tree (94.3%), as well as multi-layered perceptron (95.3%) improved by the presented ensemble model (96.4%). The study demonstrates that the use of ensemble model presents more precision in predicting water quality compared to other related algorithms. The use of the model presented in this study could go a long way to enhance the regulation of water quality and safety and address the gaps in conventional prediction approach.

UV222 disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 in solution

There is an urgent need for evidence-based engineering controls to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Although ultraviolet (UV) light is known to inactivate coronaviruses, conventional UV lamps contain toxic mercury and emit wavelengths (254 nm) that are more hazardous to humans than krypton chlorine excimer lamps emitting 222 nm (UV222). Here we used culture and molecular assays to provide the first dose response for SARS-CoV-2 solution exposed to UV222. Culture assays (plaque infectivity to Vero host) demonstrated more than 99.99% disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 after a UV222 dose of 8 mJ/cm2 (pseudo-first order rate constant = 0.64 cm2/mJ). Immediately after UV222 treatment, RT-qPCR assays targeting the nucleocapsid (N) gene demonstrated ~ 10% contribution of N gene damage to disinfection kinetics, and an ELISA assay targeting the N protein demonstrated no contribution of N protein damage to disinfection kinetics. Molecular results suggest other gene and protein damage contributed more to disinfection. After 3 days incubation with host cells, RT-qPCR and ELISA kinetics of UV222 treated SARS-CoV-2 were similar to culture kinetics, suggesting validity of using molecular assays to measure UV disinfection without culture. These data provide quantitative disinfection kinetics which can inform implementation of UV222 for preventing transmission of COVID-19.

Can machine learning models predict maternal and newborn healthcare providers' perception of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic? A cross-sectional study of a global online survey

BACKGROUND

Maternal and newborn healthcare providers are essential professional groups vulnerable to physical and psychological risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses machine learning algorithms to create a predictive tool for maternal and newborn healthcare providers' perception of being safe in the workplace globally during the pandemic.

METHODS

We used data collected between 24 March and 5 July 2020 through a global online survey of maternal and newborn healthcare providers. The questionnaire was available in 12 languages. To predict healthcare providers' perception of safety in the workplace, we used features collected in the questionnaire, in addition to publicly available national economic and COVID-19-related factors. We built, trained and tested five machine learning models: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), XGBoost, CatBoost and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for classification and regression. We extracted from RF models the relative contribution of features in output prediction.

RESULTS

Models included data from 941 maternal and newborn healthcare providers from 89 countries. ML models performed well in classification and regression tasks, whereby RF had 82% cross-validated accuracy for classification, and CatBoost with 0.46 cross-validated root mean square error for regression. In both classification and regression, the most important features contributing to output prediction were classified as three themes: (1) information accessibility, clarity and quality; (2) availability of support and means of protection; and (3) COVID-19 epidemiology.

CONCLUSION

This study identified salient features contributing to maternal and newborn healthcare providers perception of safety in the workplace. The developed tool can be used by health systems globally to allow real-time learning from data collected during a health system shock. By responding in real-time to the needs of healthcare providers, health systems could prevent potential negative consequences on the quality of care offered to women and newborns.

Laser-Fabricated 2D Molybdenum Disulfide Electronic Sensor Arrays for Rapid, Low-Cost, Ultrasensitive Detection of Influenza A and SARS-Cov-2

Multiplex electronic antigen sensors for detection of SARS-Cov-2 spike glycoproteins and hemagglutinin from influenza A are fabricated using scalable processes for straightforward transition to economical mass-production. The sensors utilize the sensitivity and surface chemistry of a 2D MoS₂ transducer for attachment of antibody fragments in a conformation favorable for antigen binding with no need for additional linker molecules. To make the devices, ultra-thin layers (3 nm) of amorphous MoS₂ are sputtered over pre-patterned metal electrical contacts on a glass chip at room temperature. The amorphous MoS₂ is then laser annealed to create an array of semiconducting 2H-MoS₂ transducer regions between metal contacts. The semiconducting crystalline MoS₂ region is functionalized with monoclonal antibody fragments complementary to either SARS-CoV-2 S1 spike protein or influenza A hemagglutinin. Quartz crystal microbalance experiments indicate strong binding and maintenance of antigen avidity for antibody fragments bound to MoS₂. Electrical resistance measurements of sensors exposed to antigen concentrations ranging from 2-20 000 pg mL^-1 reveal selective responses. Sensor architecture is adjusted to produce an array of sensors on a single chip suited for detection of analyte concentrations spanning six orders of magnitude from pg mL^-1 to µg mL^-1.

An overview for biomedical waste management during pandemic like COVID-19

Amid COVID-19, world has gone under environmental reformation in terms of clean rivers and blue skies, whereas, generation of biomedical waste management has emerged as a big threat for the whole world, especially in the developing nations. Appropriate biomedical waste management has become a prime concern worldwide in the pandemic era of COVID-19 as it may affect environment and living organisms up to a great extent. The problem has been increased many folds because of unexpected generations of hazardous biomedical waste which needs extraordinary attentions. In this paper, the impacts and future challenges of solid waste management especially the biomedical waste management on environment and human beings have been discussed amid COVID-19 pandemic. The paper also recommends some guidelines to manage the bulk of medical wastes for the protection of human health and environment. The paper summarizes better management practices for the wastes including optimizing the decision process, infrastructure, upgrading treatment methods and other activities related with the biological disasters like COVID-19. As achieved in the past for viral disinfection, use of UV- rays with proper precautions can also be explored for COVID-19 disinfection. For biomedical waste management, thermal treatment of waste can be an alternative, as it can generate energy along with reducing waste volume by 80-95%. The Asian Development Bank observed that additional biomedical waste was generated ranged from 154 to 280 tons/day during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic in Asian megacities such as Manila, Jakarta, Wuhan, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur.

Advanced materials used in wearable health care devices and medical textiles in the battle against coronavirus (COVID-19): A review

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has generated great confusion around the world, affecting people's lives and producing a large number of deaths. The development of portable and wearable devices is of great importance in several fields such as point-of-care medical applications and environmental monitoring. Wearable devices with an ability to collect various types of physiological records are progressively becoming incorporated into everyday life of people. Physiological indicators are essential health indicators and their monitoring could efficiently enable early discovery of disease. This would also help decrease the number of extra severe health problems, in disease avoidance, and lower the overall public sector health cost. Protective clothing is nowadays a main part of textiles classified as technical or industrial textiles. Protective clothing aims to protect its wearer from the harsh environmental impacts that may result in injury or death. Providing protection for the common population has also been taken seriously considering the anticipated disaster due to virus attacks. This review highlights the properties of the materials that are used in wearable health care device and medical textiles.

Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Micro and Small Enterprises: Evidence From Rural Areas of Iran

Since 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis has caused a great deal of social and economic damages to micro and small-scale enterprises (MSEs). This research examined the most common damages of this crisis in active and inactive rural MSEs and also assessed different kind of responses the managers and owners of theses MSEs have received dealing with these damages. The sample population of this study consisted of all managers of 72 active and 38 closed rural MSEs in the Dastjerd village, Hamedan, Iran. These MSEs were mainly garment small factories. This research utilized a mixed approach (quantitative-qualitative) to study the research objectives in depth. First, in qualitative part, semi-constructed interviews and field visits were done. Then, using quantitative, results of the qualitative section, previous studies and the existing literature, a researcher-made questionnaire was created. Based on qualitative part information through interviews, damages of rural MSEs during COVID-19 pandemic were categorized into three classes, including damages related to production, and financial and marketing issues. Also, two categories of managers' responses that could be labeled as passive and adaptive behavior were identified. Findings showed that active rural MSEs have taken more adaptive measures and tried to find appropriate ways to reduce or overcome damages. Active MSEs were mainly owned and managed collaboratively by more literate and experienced managers. Also results revealed that rural MSEs' managers reacted to different kinds of damages based on their ability, knowledge, and experience. Based on research results, managers' knowledge and skills can help them find more adaptive solutions to keep the firms stable and overcome damages. It can be concluded that COVID-19 pandemic has a great impact on rural MSEs and they need more financial support and managerial advice to overcome this kind of crisis situation.

Complementary Effects of Virus Population Are Required for Efficient Virus Infection

It is believed that the virions of a virus infecting a host may share the identical viral genome and characteristics. However, the role of genomic heterogeneity of the virions of a virus in virus infection has not been extensively explored. To address this issue, white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), a DNA virus infecting crustaceans, was characterized in the current study. In WSSV, differences in two nucleotides of the viral genome generated two types of WSSV, forming a virus population that consisted of Type A WSSV (encoding WSSV lncRNA-24) and Type B WSSV (encoding the wsv195 gene) at a ratio of 1:3. The virus populations in all virus-infected cells and tissues of different hosts exhibited a stable 1:3 structure. WSSV lncRNA-24 in Type A WSSV promoted virus infection by binding to shrimp and WSSV miRNAs, while the wsv195 gene in Type B WSSV played an essential role in virus infection. Loss of Type A WSSV or Type B WSSV in the WSSV population led to a 100-fold decrease in viral copy number in shrimp. Simultaneous loss of both types of WSSV prevented virus infection. These results indicated that the virus infection process was completed by two types of WSSV encoding different functional genes, revealing the complementary effects of WSSV population. Therefore, our study highlights the importance of the complementarity of virus population components in virus infection.

A Review on Building Design as a Biomedical System for Preventing COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainable design methods aim to obtain architectural solutions that assure the coexistence and welfare of human beings, inorganic structures, and living things that constitute ecosystems. The novel coronavirus emergence, inadequate vaccines against the present severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-(SARS-CoV-2), and increases in microbial resistance have made it essential to review the preventative approaches used during pre-antibiotic periods. Apart from low carbon emissions and energy, sustainable architecture for facilities, building designs, and digital modeling should incorporate design approaches to confront the impacts of communicable infections. This review aims to determine how architectural design can protect people and employees from harm; it models viewpoints to highlight the architects’ roles in combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and designing guidelines as a biomedical system for policymakers. The goals include exploring the hospital architecture evolution and the connection between architectural space and communicable infections and recommending design and digital modeling strategies to improve infection prevention and controls. Based on a wide-ranging literature review, it was found that design methods have often played important roles in the prevention and control of infectious diseases and could be a solution for combating the wide spread of the novel coronavirus or coronavirus variants or delta.

WhatsApp-Based virtual consultation in clinical practice during COVID times: A prospective institutional study

Background:

As the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues its pandemic surge globally, the attention toward the treatment of non-COVID diseases has become difficult. Software-based systems and social media platforms could provide alternatives for ensuring regular health-care non-COVID diseases. In this context, we evaluated our own experience with virtual consultation (VC) for the management of endocrine surgical patients during the current COVID pandemic.

Materials and Methods:

This prospective study was conducted in the endocrine surgery department spanning 4 months from April to July 2020. We employed WhatsApp-based group video conferencing for VC with both new and follow-up outpatients. We evaluated the satisfaction quotient of patients, regarding the three types of consultations (no consultation, VC, and direct consultation) on an ordinal scale of three modes of consultation.

Results:

Virtual consultation was performed with 102 new and 285 follow-up patients. Goiters, clinical findings, and wounds/scars (in post-operative cases) were evaluated virtually. Dosage of thyroxine replacement, calcium supplementation, and other medications was prescribed based on findings and history. Patients who needed surgery (25/102 cases) were given appropriate appointment. More than 82% of the patients in both groups preferred VC during this COVID pandemic.

Conclusions:

More than 82% of both new and follow-up patients preferred VC over direct or no consultation during this COVID pandemic. Our findings suggest that VC through social media platforms is capable of ensuring appropriate treatment and follow-up for endocrine diseases.

Industry 4.0 and Digitalisation in Healthcare

Industry 4.0 in healthcare involves use of a wide range of modern technologies including digitisation, artificial intelligence, user response data (ergonomics), human psychology, the Internet of Things, machine learning, big data mining, and augmented reality to name a few. The healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift thanks to Industry 4.0, which provides better user comfort through proactive intervention in early detection and treatment of various diseases. The sector is now ready to make its next move towards Industry 5.0, but certain aspects that motivated this review paper need further consideration. As a fruitful outcome of this review, we surveyed modern trends in this arena of research and summarised the intricacies of new features to guide and prepare the sector for an Industry 5.0-ready healthcare system.

A short review of vapour droplet dispersion models used in CFD to study the airborne spread of COVID19

The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the spread of COVID19 and many other airborne diseases, especially in an indoor environment needs accurate understanding of dispersion models. Modelling the transport/dispersion of vapour droplets within the atmosphere is a complex problem, as it involves the motion of more than one phase, as well as the interphase interactions between the phases. This paper reviews the current canon of research on dispersion modelling of vapour droplets by looking at three specific aspects: (i) physical definition/specification of the initial droplet size distribution; (ii) physics of evaporation/condensation models and (iii) transport equations (with molecular/turbulent dispersion models) to describe the movement of the vapour droplets as they propagate through the air. This review found that the state of modelling implements a wide range of models which shows variances in results thus leading to a state where it is difficult to know which model is most accurate. The authors suggest that further studies in this direction should focus on developing a principle set of equations by benchmarking the previously developed models to establish model uncertainty of the previously developed models with reference to a fixed theoretical model and be compared under identical conditions. However, it must be noted that due to the complex nature of microdroplet evaporation and dispersion coupled with the unpredictable way droplet size distributions are produced, current experimental methodologies that are available to validate such simulations, such as particle image velocimetry, are still not robust enough to provide detailed data to verify minute aspects of the simulations.

Graphene-based nanomaterials as antimicrobial surface coatings: A parallel approach to restrain the expansion of COVID-19

The recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a significant and topmost global health challenge of today. SARS-CoV-2 can propagate through several direct or indirect means resulting in its exponential spread in short times. Consequently, finding new research based real-world and feasible solutions to interrupt the spread of pathogenic microorganisms is indispensable. It has been established that this virus can survive on a variety of available surfaces ranging from a few hours to a few days, which has increased the risk of COVID-19 spread to large populations. Currently, available surface disinfectant chemicals provide only a temporary solution and are not recommended to be used in the long run due to their toxicity and irritation. Apart from the urgent development of vaccine and antiviral drugs, there is also a need to design and develop surface disinfectant antiviral coatings for long-term applications even for new variants. The unique physicochemical properties of graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) have been widely investigated for antimicrobial applications. However, the research work for their use in antimicrobial surface coatings is minimal. This perspective enlightens the scope of using GBNs as antimicrobial/antiviral surface coatings to reduce the spread of transmittable microorganisms, precisely, SARS-CoV-2. This study attempts to demonstrate the synergistic effect of GBNs and metallic nanoparticles (MNPs), for their potential antiviral applications in the development of surface disinfectant coatings. Some proposed mechanisms for the antiviral activity of the graphene family against SARS-CoV-2 has also been explained. It is anticipated that this study will potentially lead to new insights and future trends to develop a framework for further investigation on this research area of pivotal importance to minimize the transmission of current and any future viral outbreaks.

The Aftermath of the COVID-19 Crisis in Saudi Arabia: Respiratory Rehabilitation Recommendations by Physical Therapists

Since late 2019, the number of COVID-19 patients has gradually increased in certain regions as consecutive waves of infections hit countries. Whenever this wave hits the corresponding areas, the entire healthcare system must respond quickly to curb the diseases, morbidities, and mortalities in intensive care settings. The healthcare team involved in COVID-19 patients' care must work tirelessly without having breaks. Our understanding of COVID-19 is limited as new challenges emerge with new COVID-19 variants appearing in different world regions. Though medical therapies are finding solutions to deal with the disease, there are few recommendations for respiratory rehabilitation therapies. A group of respiratory rehabilitation care professionals in Saudi Arabia and international experts have agreed with the World Health bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) on the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19. Professionals participating in COVID-19 patient treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery formulated respiratory rehabilitation guidelines based on the DELPHI Method, combining scientific research and personal practical experience. As a result, it is envisaged that the number of individuals in the region suffering from respiratory ailments due to post-COVID-19 will decrease. This narrative review and clinical expertise guidelines may give physiotherapists acceptable and standard clinical guideline protocols for treating COVID-19 patients.

Ultrasensitive and Reusable Graphene Oxide-Modified Double-Interdigitated Capacitive (DIDC) Sensing Chip for Detecting SARS-CoV-2

This research reveals the promising functionalization of graphene oxide (GrO)-glazed double-interdigitated capacitive (DIDC) biosensing platform to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S1) proteins with enhanced selectivity and rapid response. The DIDC bioactive surface consisting of Pt/Ti featured SiO₂ substrate was fabricated using GrO/EDC-NHS/anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (Abs) which is having layer-by-layer interface self-assembly chemistry method. This electroactive immune-sensing platform exhibits reproducibility and sensitivity with reference to the S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2. The outcomes of analytical studies confirm that GrO provided a desired engineered surface for Abs immobilization and amplified capacitance to achieve a wide detection range (1.0 mg/mL to 1.0 fg/mL), low limit of detection (1 fg/mL) within 3 s of response time, good linearity (18.56 nF/g), and a high sensitivity of 1.0 fg/mL. Importantly, the unique biochip was selective against blood-borne antigens and standby for 10 days at 5 °C. Our developed DIDC-based SARS-CoV-2 biosensor is suitable for point-of-care (POC) diagnostic applications due to portability and scaling-up ability. In addition, this sensing platform can be modified for the early diagnosis of severe viral infections using real samples.

Mechanisms of instantaneous inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by silicon nitride bioceramic

The hydrolytic processes occurring at the surface of silicon nitride (Si3N4) bioceramic have been indicated as a powerful pathway to instantaneous inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the virus inactivation mechanisms promoted by Si3N4 remain yet to be elucidated. In this study, we provide evidence of the instantaneous damage incurred on the SARS-CoV-2 virus upon contact with Si3N4. We also emphasize the safety characteristics of Si3N4 for mammalian cells. Contact between the virions and micrometric Si3N4 particles immediately targeted a variety of viral molecules by inducing post-translational oxidative modifications of S-containing amino acids, nitration of the tyrosine residue in the spike receptor binding domain, and oxidation of RNA purines to form formamidopyrimidine. This structural damage in turn led to a reshuffling of the protein secondary structure. These clear fingerprints of viral structure modifications were linked to inhibition of viral functionality and infectivity. This study validates the notion that Si3N4 bioceramic is a safe and effective antiviral compound; and a primary antiviral candidate to replace the toxic and allergenic compounds presently used in contact with the human body and in long-term environmental sanitation.

Utility of Virtual Platform for Conducting Practical Examination for Medical Students During Covid Times: A Prospective Study from Gynaecology Department

Background

As the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) continues its pandemic surge globally along with its social distancing norms, the physical conduction of practical examinations for medical graduates and postgraduates has become difficult. Software-based systems and social media platforms could provide alternatives for ensuring regular medical education and exam-oriented assessments. In this context, we evaluated our own experience with virtual conduction of semester practical exams for medical graduates.

Material and Methods

This prospective study was conducted in Gynaecology and Obstetrics department. We employed live streaming educational video conferencing software for virtual consultation between medical students, patients (case presentations), internal and external examiners. The outcomes were evaluated in terms of conduction of various components of practical examination-Viva, case presentations, instruments, slides, specimen examination. Statistical analysis was performed by descriptive statistics through Microsoft Excel sheet.

Results

Virtual conduction examination/evaluation was performed on 150 medical students by examiners from a distant location. No problems occurred except few short duration (less than 5 min) interruptions due to internet connectivity issues. 125/150 (83.5%) of medical students and all examiners (2 internal and 2 external) expressed satisfaction with virtual medical evaluation.

Conclusions

83.5% of medical students and all examiners expressed satisfaction with virtual medical evaluation during this COVID pandemic. Our findings suggest that virtual conduction of practical annual medical exams through virtual video conferencing platform appears to be an optimal alternative during COVID pandemic.

Nanotechnology based solutions to combat zoonotic viruses with special attention to SARS, MERS, and COVID 19: Detection, protection and medication

Zoonotic viruses originate from birds or animal sources and responsible for disease transmission from animals to people through zoonotic spill over and presents a significant global health concern due to lack of rapid diagnostics and therapeutics. The Corona viruses (CoV) were known to be transmitted in mammals. Early this year, SARS-CoV-2, a novel strain of corona virus, was identified as the causative pathogen of an outbreak of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China. The disease later named corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), subsequently spread across the globe rapidly. Nano-particles and viruses are comparable in size, which serves to be a major advantage of using nano-material in clinical strategy to combat viruses. Nanotechnology provides novel solutions against zoonotic viruses by providing cheap and efficient detection methods, novel, and new effective rapid diagnostics and therapeutics. The prospective of nanotechnology in COVID 19 is exceptionally high due to their small size, large surface-to-volume ratio, susceptibility to modification, intrinsic viricidal activity. The nano-based strategies address the COVID 19 by extending their role in i) designing nano-materials for drug/vaccine delivery, ii) developing nano-based diagnostic approaches like nano-sensors iii) novel nano-based personal protection equipment to be used in prevention strategies.This review aims to bring attention to the significant contribution of nanotechnology to mitigate against zoonotic viral pandemics by prevention, faster diagnosis and medication point of view.

Role of additive manufacturing in medical application COVID-19 scenario: India case study

This paper reviews how the Additive Manufacturing (AM) industry played a key role in stopping the spread of the Coronavirus by providing customized parts on-demand quickly and locally, reducing waste and eliminating the need for an extensive manufacturer. The AM technology uses digital files for the production of crucial medical parts, which has been proven essential during the COVID-19 crisis. Going ahead, the 3D printable clinical model resources described here will probably be extended in various centralized model storehouses with new inventive open-source models. Government agencies, individuals, corporations and universities are working together to quickly development of various 3D-printed products especially when established supply chains are under distress, and supply cannot keep up with demand.

Using circular economy principles to recycle materials in guiding the design of a wet scrubber-reactor for indoor air disinfection from coronavirus and other pathogens

An arduous need exists to discover rapid solutions to avoid the accelerated spread of coronavirus especially through the indoor environments like offices, hospitals, and airports. One such measure could be to disinfect the air, especially in indoor environments. The goal of this work is to propose a novel design of a wet scrubber-reactor to deactivate airborne microbes using circular economy principles. Based on Fenton's reaction mechanism, the system proposed here will deactivate airborne microbes (bioaerosols) such as SARS-CoV-2. The proposed design relies on using a highly porous clay-glass open-cell structure as an easily reproducible and cheap material. The principle behind this technique is an in-situ decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into highly reactive oxygen species and free radicals. The high porosity of a tailored ceramic structure provides a high contact area between atomized oxygen, free radicals and supplied polluted air. The design is shown to comply with the needs of achieving sustainable development goals.

Antibacterial and Antiviral Functional Materials: Chemistry and Biological Activity toward Tackling COVID-19-like Pandemics

The ongoing worldwide pandemic due to COVID-19 has created awareness toward ensuring best practices to avoid the spread of microorganisms. In this regard, the research on creating a surface which destroys or inhibits the adherence of microbial/viral entities has gained renewed interest. Although many research reports are available on the antibacterial materials or coatings, there is a relatively small amount of data available on the use of antiviral materials. However, with more research geared toward this area, new information is being added to the literature every day. The combination of antibacterial and antiviral chemical entities represents a potentially path-breaking intervention to mitigate the spread of disease-causing agents. In this review, we have surveyed antibacterial and antiviral materials of various classes such as small-molecule organics, synthetic and biodegradable polymers, silver, TiO2, and copper-derived chemicals. The surface protection mechanisms of the materials against the pathogen colonies are discussed in detail, which highlights the key differences that could determine the parameters that would govern the future development of advanced antibacterial and antiviral materials and surfaces.

Indoor Air Quality: Rethinking rules of building design strategies in post-pandemic architecture

To effectively reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, it is crucial to highlight the effectiveness of building design strategies in mitigating threats to occupants. The ongoing pandemic research and actions focus on how poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) amplifies the effects of airborne viruses. This review aims to draw architects' attention toward the high risk of airborne transmission of diseases by providing the latest updates and solutions to understand better the environmental and health issues associated with COVID-19. Based on the complexity of the problem and the need for interdisciplinary research, this study presents a conceptual model that addresses the integration of engineering controls, design strategies and, air disinfection techniques required to achieve a better IAQ.

Rapid detection of fast innovation under the pressure of COVID-19

Covid-19 has rapidly redefined the agenda of technological research and development both for academics and practitioners. If the medical scientific publication system has promptly reacted to this new situation, other domains, particularly in new technologies, struggle to map what is happening in their contexts. The pandemic has created the need for a rapid detection of technological convergence phenomena, but at the same time it has made clear that this task is impossible on the basis of traditional patent and publication indicators. This paper presents a novel methodology to perform a rapid detection of the fast technological convergence phenomenon that is occurring under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fast detection has been performed thanks to the use of a novel source: the online blogging platform Medium. We demonstrate that the hybrid structure of this social journalism platform allows a rapid detection of innovation phenomena, unlike other traditional sources. The technological convergence phenomenon has been modelled through a network-based approach, analysing the differences of networks computed during two time periods (pre and post COVID-19). The results led us to discuss the repurposing of technologies regarding "Remote Control", "Remote Working", "Health" and "Remote Learning".

Electrochemical SARS-CoV-2 Sensing at Point-of-Care and Artificial Intelligence for Intelligent COVID-19 Management

To manage the COVID-19 pandemic, development of rapid, selective, sensitive diagnostic systems for early stage β-coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) virus protein detection is emerging as a necessary response to generate the bioinformatics needed for efficient smart diagnostics, optimization of therapy, and investigation of therapies of higher efficacy. The urgent need for such diagnostic systems is recommended by experts in order to achieve the mass and targeted SARS-CoV-2 detection required to manage the COVID-19 pandemic through the understanding of infection progression and timely therapy decisions. To achieve these tasks, there is a scope for developing smart sensors to rapidly and selectively detect SARS-CoV-2 protein at the picomolar level. COVID-19 infection, due to human-to-human transmission, demands diagnostics at the point-of-care (POC) without the need of experienced labor and sophisticated laboratories. Keeping the above-mentioned considerations, we propose to explore the compartmentalization approach by designing and developing nanoenabled miniaturized electrochemical biosensors to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus at the site of the epidemic as the best way to manage the pandemic. Such COVID-19 diagnostics approach based on a POC sensing technology can be interfaced with the Internet of things and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques (such as machine learning and deep learning for diagnostics) for investigating useful informatics via data storage, sharing, and analytics. Keeping COVID-19 management related challenges and aspects under consideration, our work in this review presents a collective approach involving electrochemical SARS-CoV-2 biosensing supported by AI to generate the bioinformatics needed for early stage COVID-19 diagnosis, correlation of viral load with pathogenesis, understanding of pandemic progression, therapy optimization, POC diagnostics, and diseases management in a personalized manner.

The energy and environmental footprints of COVID-19 fighting measures - PPE, disinfection, supply chains

The still escalating COVID-19 pandemic also has a substantial impact on energy structure, requirements and related emissions. The consumption is unavoidable and receives a lower priority in the critical situation. However, as the pandemic continues, the impacts on energy and environment should be assessed and possibly reduced. This study aims to provide an overview of invested energy sources and environmental footprints in fighting the COVID-19. The required energy and resources consumption of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and testing kits have been discussed. The protecting efficiency returned on environmental footprint invested for masks has been further explored. The main observation pinpointed is that with a proper design standard, material selection and user guideline, reusable PPE could be an effective option with lower energy consumption/environmental footprint. Additional escalated energy consumption for aseptic and disinfection has been assessed. This includes the energy stemming from emergency and later managed supply chains. The outcomes emphasised that diversifying solutions to achieve the needed objective is a vital strategy to improve the susceptibility and provide higher flexibility in minimising the environmental footprints. However, more comprehensive research proof for the alternative solution (e.g. reusable option) towards low energy consumption without compromise on the effectiveness should be offered and advocated.