Objective: Science and technology sector constituting of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence are contributing towards COVID-19. The aim of the present study is to discuss the various aspects of modern technology used to fight against COVID-19 crisis at different scales, including medical image processing, disease tracking, prediction outcomes, computational biology and medicines. Methods: A progressive search of the database related to modern technology towards COVID-19 is made. Further, a brief review is done on the extracted information by assessing the various aspects of modern technologies for tackling COVID-19 pandemic. Results: We provide a window of thoughts on review of the technology advances used to decrease and smother the substantial impact of the outburst. Though different studies relating to modern technology towards COVID-19 have come up, yet there are still constrained applications and contributions of technology in this fight. Conclusions: Ongoing progress in the modern technology has contributed in improving people's lives and hence there is a solid conviction that validated research plans including artificial intelligence will be of significant advantage in helping people to fight this infection.

A central goal in vaccinology is the induction of high and sustained antibody responses. Protein-in-adjuvant formulations are commonly used to achieve such responses. However, their clinical development can be limited by the reactogenicity of some of the most potent pre-clinical adjuvants and the cost and complexity of licensing new adjuvants for human use. Also, few adjuvants induce strong cellular immunity which is important for protection against many diseases, such as malaria. We compared classical adjuvants such as alum to new pre-clinical adjuvants and adjuvants in clinical development such as Abisco®100, CoVaccine HT™, Montanide®ISA720 and SE-GLA, for their ability to induce high and sustained antibody responses and T cell responses. These adjuvants induced a broad range of antibody responses when used in a three-shot protein-in-adjuvant regime using the model antigen ovalbumin and leading blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate antigens. Surprisingly, this range of antibody immunogenicity was greatly reduced when a protein-in-adjuvant vaccine was used to boost antibody responses primed by a human adenovirus serotype 5 (AdHu5) vaccine recombinant for the same antigen. This AdHu5-protein regime also induced a more cytophilic antibody response and demonstrated improved efficacy of merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1) protein vaccines against a Plasmodium yoelii blood-stage challenge. This indicates that the differential immunogenicity of protein vaccine adjuvants may be largely overcome by prior immunization with recombinant adenovirus, especially for adjuvants that are traditionally considered poorly immunogenic in the context of subunit vaccination, and may circumvent the need for more potent chemical adjuvants.

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Over 9 million new active tuberculosis (TB) cases emerge each year from an enormous pool of 2 billion individuals latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb.) worldwide. About 3 million new TB cases per year are unaccounted for, and 1.5 million die. TB, however, is generally curable if diagnosed correctly and in a timely manner. The current diagnostic methods for TB, including state-of-the-art molecular tests, have failed in delivering the capacity needed in endemic countries to curtail this ongoing pandemic. Efficient, cost effective and scalable diagnostic approaches are critically needed. We report a multiplex TB serology panel using microbead suspension array containing a combination of 11 M.tb. antigens that demonstrated overall sensitivity of 91% in serum/plasma samples from TB patients confirmed by culture. Group wise sensitivities for sputum smear positive and negative patients were 95%, and 88%, respectively. Specificity of the test was 96% in untreated COPD patients and 91% in general healthy population. The sensitivity of this test is superior to that of the frontline sputum smear test with a comparable specificity (30–70%, and 93–99%, respectively). The multiplex serology test can be performed with scalability from 1 to 360 patients per day, and is amenable to automation for higher (1000s per day) throughput, thus enabling a scalable clinical work flow model for TB endemic countries. Taken together, the above results suggest that well defined antibody profiles in blood, analyzed by an appropriate technology platform, offer a valuable approach to TB diagnostics in endemic countries.

Women are at higher risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection when pregnant. The decreasing risk of malaria with subsequent pregnancies is attributed to parity-dependent acquisition of antibodies against placental parasites expressing variant surface antigens, VAR2CSA, that mediate placental sequestration through adhesion to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). However, modulation of immunity during pregnancy may also contribute to increase the risk of malaria. We compared antibody responses among 30 Mozambican primigravidae and 60 multigravidae at delivery, 40 men, and 40 children. IgG levels were measured against the surface antigens of erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum isolated from 12 pregnant women (4 placental and 8 peripheral blood isolates) and 26 nonpregnant hosts. We also measured IgG levels against merozoite recombinant antigens and total IgG. Placental P. falciparum infection was associated with increased levels of total IgG as well as IgG levels against merozoite antigens and parasite isolates from pregnant and nonpregnant hosts. We therefore stratified comparisons of antibody levels by placental infection. Compared to multigravidae, uninfected primigravidae had lower total IgG as well as lower levels of IgGs against peripheral blood isolates from both pregnant and nonpregnant hosts. These differences were not explained by use of bed nets, season at delivery, neighborhood of residence, or age. Compared to men, infected primigravidae had higher levels of IgGs against isolates from pregnant women and CSA-binding lines but not against other isolates, supporting the concept of a pregnancyspecific development of immunity to these parasite variants. Results of this study show that parity and placental infection can modulate immune responses during pregnancy against malaria parasites.

The impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in pregnant women and their neonates is an area of research interest nowadays. To date, there is limited knowledge about SARS‐CoV‐2 prevalence, maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women at term in middle‐ and low‐income countries. In the present retro‐prospective study, medical records of pregnant women admitted for delivery were reviewed from the largest Covid‐19 dedicated Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) maternity hospital. The SARS‐CoV‐2 screening was carried out for all pregnant women admitted for delivery using RT‐PCR. All neonates born from SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive mothers were isolated and tested for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Most of the pregnant women (90.6%) were asymptomatic at the time of admission with a low prevalence (3.4%) of SARS‐CoV‐2. A higher rate of asymptomatic prevalence (86.1%) was found among SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive pregnant women. On the basis of the RT‐PCR result (negative vs. positive), statistically significant differences were found for maternal characteristics, such as mean gestational age (37.5 ± 2.2 vs. 36.6 ± 3.3), medical comorbidity (2.9% vs. 7.4%), and maternal outcomes like the C‐section rate (29.8% vs. 58.3%), preterm delivery (14.6% vs. 28.3), and neonatal outcomes like mean birth weight (2840 ± 450 vs. 2600 ± 600), low Apgar score (2.7% vs. 6.48%), and fetal distress (10.9% vs. 22.2%) among SARS‐CoV‐2 negative and positive cases, respectively. No neonate from SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive pregnant women was found to be positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.

Antiparasite IgGs in women at delivery are affected by HIV infection, as well as by variations in the exposure to P. falciparum. Heterogeneity of malaria transmission needs to be considered to identify IgGs against VAR2CSA and other parasite antigens associated with improved pregnancy outcomes.