Circulation of Coronavirus Images: Helping Social Distancing?

As soon as the SARS-Cov2 disease was recognized by experts to potentially cause a serious pandemic, a three dimensional diagrammatic image of the virus, colored in strong red, conquered public media globally. This study confronts this iconic virus image with a historic image analysis of 33,000 biomedical articles on coronaviruses published between 1968-2020 and interviews with some of their authors. Only a small fraction of scientific virus publications entail images of the complete virus. Red as an alarm color is not used at all by scientists who don't aim for a non-scientific public. Circulation in this case concerns the movement of iconic images from a scientific context into a general public. On the basis of hps-studies on scientific diagrams and especially on color use in scientific diagrams to convey specific messages in public, the paper discusses the role of the claim of public corona-virus diagram as "scientific." It points at relevant differences between most frequent scientific corona-virus images and the diagrammatic image used in public. Both author- and readerships (in science and public) follow contrasting aims and values. Thus, the images meet non-expert readers for whom the images entail very different - and potentially unintended - meanings then to virus experts.

The impact of vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc supplements on immune status among Jordanian adults during COVID-19: cross-sectional study findings

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Nutritional status is essential for the maintenance of the immune system, with malnutrition suppressing immunity. The aims of the current study were to assess the immune status of a group of Jordanian adults and to evaluate the association between vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc consumption and the Immune Status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A total of 615 adults Jordanian participants were enrolled in this study, an online- based cross sectional survey was used as a tool for this study. Data was collected by distributing the questionnaire form link through social media platforms. The association between ISQ score and the supplement intake pattern (daily, weekly, monthly and rarely) was assessed using multinomial logistic regression analysis, described as Odds ratio and 95% CI.

RESULTS

Data have indicated that the majority of the participants did not take Vitamin D supplements during the pandemic (46.3%). Also, there was a significant association between the frequency of Vitamin D supplement intake and ISQ (r = 12.777; P < 0.05). Data showed that the majority of participants used vitamin C supplementation (49.4%). Also, there was a significant association between the frequency of Vitamin C supplement intake and ISQ (r = 12.797; P < 0.05). Data also have indicated that the majority of the participants did not increase their consumption of Zinc during the COVID-19 pandemic (55.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study suggest a significant association between the frequency of Vitamin D, and vitamin C supplement intake and ISQ. Nutritional status is essential for the maintenance of the immune system, with malnutrition suppressing immunity.