Many infants with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are screened for TORCH infections. The yield and costs of such a practice may not be justifiable. Medical charts of infants with IUGR who had a workup for toxoplasmosis, other (infections), rubella, cytomegalovirus (infection), and herpes (simplex) (titer) (TORCH) infections were reviewed for the presence of clinical findings, laboratory and head ultrasound abnormalities associated with intrauterine infections. Maternal charts and reports of placental pathology were reviewed for identifying maternal illnesses and placental causes associated with IUGR. Seventy-five out of 182 infants (41%) with IUGR had a workup for TORCH infection. Maternal conditions associated with IUGR included: pregnancy-induced hypertension (19%), tobacco use (43%), alcohol abuse (21%), illicit drug use (24%), chronic hypertension, diabetic vasculopathy or collagen vascular disease (12%), and multiple gestation (3%). Placental pathology was available in 53/75 cases. Thirty-six of fifty-three (67%) placentae had abnormalities associated with IUGR: placental infarcts (22 of 36), vasculitis/villitis (15 of 36), placenta previa (1 of 36), abruptio placenta (2 of 36), and velamentous insertion of umbilical cord (1 of 36). Clinical findings among infants included hepatosplenomegaly, cataract or rash (1 of 75), thrombocytopenia and/or neutropenia and/or direct hyperbilirubinemia (11 of 75). Seven out of 75 infants had dysmorphic features. None of the infants (0 of 75) had positive IgM titers for toxoplasma, rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), or herpes simplex virus (HSV). No infants (0 of 43) had elevated total IgM titers; one infant (1 of 57) had a positive urine culture for CMV. One infant had evidence of calcifications on head ultrasound and a second infant had hydrocephalus (2 of 43). The costs associated with workup for TORCH infections among 75 infants included: TORCH titers determination: $17,816, total IgM titers: $1318, urine culture for CMV: $5734, and head ultrasound: $28,165. The yield of workup for TORCH infection among infants with IUGR is poor and does not justify the incurred costs.

Every year a million tonnes of calcium rich agro and industrial waste are generated around the whole globe. These calcium rich waste like finger citron, shells of cockle, mussel, oysters etc., and egg shell are biological sources which have various organic compounds. The inorganic calcium rich waste includes gypsum, dolomite, sludge etc., which are produced in surplus amount globally. Most of these by-products are mainly dumped, while few are used for land-filling purposes which leads to the pollution. These agro and industrial by-products could be processed for the recovery of calcium carbonate and calcium oxide particles by physical and chemical method. The recovery of calcium carbonate and calcium oxide particles from such by products make them biocompatible. Moreover, the products are economical due to their synthesis from waste materials. Here, in this current review work we have emphasized on the all the calcium rich agro industries and industrial by products, especially their processing by various approaches. Further, we have also focused on the properties and application of such calcium carbonate and oxide particles for the remediation of organic and inorganic pollutants from the environments. The recovery of such particles from these byproducts is considered not only economical and eco-friendly but it also minimizes the pollution present in the form of solid waste.

End 2019, the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), named COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019, is the third adaptation of a contagious virus following the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2002, SARS-CoV, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus in 2012, MERS-CoV. COVID-19 is highly infectious and virulent compared to previous outbreaks. We review sources, contagious routes, preventive measures, pandemic, outbreak, epidemiology of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from 2002 to 2020 using a Medline search. We discuss the chronology of the three coronaviruses, the vulnerability of healthcare workers, coronaviruses on surface and in wastewater, diagnostics and cures, and measures to prevent spreading.

The world has been waging a fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since December 2019. The current coronavirus crisis is a catastrophe affecting billions of families worldwide. So far, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the globe: by slowing down economic growth; decreasing global trade; hurting health sector; increasing unemployment and underemployment; reducing FDI and hurting the tourism sector. This study investigates the economic costs of COVID-19. By using descriptive analysis, this study shows that the major economic variables, such as economic growth, global trade, health sector, unemployment and underemployment, foreign direct investment and travel and tourism sector have significantly affected by COVID-19.

No abstract

No abstract

In this work we present a system that enables automatic estimation of Pain from image sequences with frontal views of faces. The system uses facial characteristic points to characterize different Action Units (AU) of pain and is able to operate in cluttered and dynamic scenes. Geometric features are computed using 22 facial characteristic points. We use k-NN classifier for classifying AU. Only action units relevant to pain are classified. Validation studies are done on UNBC McMaster Shoulder Pain Archive Database [8]. We also classify action unit intensities for evaluating pain intensity on a 16 point scale. Our system is simpler in design compared to the already reported works in literature. Our system reports AU intensities on a standard scale and also reports pain intensity to assess pain. We have achieved more than 84% accuracy for AU intensity levels and 87.4% area under ROC curve for pain assessment as compared to 84% of state-of-the-art scheme.

No abstract