The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated tremendous innovation in India, driven by unprecedented novel needs, sense of urgency, availability of time during the lockdown, funding by Government agencies, and accelerated processing of projects. Therefore, the country has witnessed widespread innovation and imitation of existing technologies in recent weeks, but very few inventions. One novel invention, the Artificial Breathing Capability Device (ABCD) is being speeded up by the current necessity. Other innovations and imitations include (i) healthcare devices/products intended for diagnosis, management, or monitoring of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 patients (in healthcare institutions); (ii) improvisations in personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers and other personnel (including the public); (iii) adaptation of information technology platforms for telehealth, telemedicine, telemonitoring, and tele-education; and (iv) repurposing of existing resources/technologies for COVID-19. Some fruits of these efforts include (i) respiratory support devices (by mechanization of manual ventilation, ventilator splitters, etc.), (ii) personal protective equipment (PPE) (novel face masks, face shields/splash guards, intubation boxes, aerosol guards, etc.), (iii) novel sanitization products, processes or deployment methods, (iv) diagnostic tests (including rapid antibody tests, polymerase chain reaction [PCR] methods, and loop-mediated isothermal amplification [LAMP]), and (v) various adaptations such as repurposing and retrofitting of existing technologies aligned to the needs of COVID-19. These innovations and imitations have laudable features such as extremely rapid development of products (not merely concepts or prototypes); collaboration among individuals, institutions, and industry; willingness of players to work outside traditional comfort zones; and teamwork among stakeholders. Social media and lay press publicity create a sense of achievement and hope in a nation bogged down by the realities of COVID-19. However, these positive developments are associated with unique problems, especially duplication of effort, disregard of intellectual property (IP) issues, unhealthy competition amongst institutions, and failure to consider the needs for which solutions are proposed. The haste for developing products has bypassed the important steps of peer review, laboratory testing, and clinical validation to ensure the safety and efficacy of end users. These unintended side effects of the innovation race can be overcome by coordinated efforts through an innovation pathway proposed in this article under a broader innovation ecosystem.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is spreading worldwide rapidly from its original city of China. Corona virus has the presence of positive sense Ribonucleic acid (RNA) genetic material. The infection causes mild respiratory disease especially in humans across all age groups. The widespread distribution of corona virus in other organisms such as birds, livestock and mammals such as bats, pangolins etc. makes it an important pathogen of concern. It has also been reported the number of people that act as healthy carriers of the virus are approximately 2%, where they do not show any symptoms of the infection but act as a prime source of transmission. Transmission of the virus is usually through large droplets generated during sneezing and coughing and thus can remain viable for several days in favorable atmospheric conditions but can be controlled by the usage of disinfectants. World Health Organization recommends isolation as most efficacious method for the containment of patients that are affected by this virus. At present, there are no particular anti-viral medications or vaccines are correctly present to suppress this infection from spreading. However, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods have proved to be effective for assessing viral RNA but may prove to be very time-consuming assay. Thus, as per the present scenario, more research should be carried out to develop a rapid, user-friendly, diagnostic assay which has high specificity and sensitivity at mass level screening thus enabling the further process of drug designing.
In developing countries like India, the most unresolved threats present at our urban citizens are related to solid waste management. Even though various methods were practiced previously, due to various scenarios the degradation and disposal of waste has yet remained as a challenge. Thus, to overcome the present situation, Black Soldier fly/larvae (BSF/L) based waste disposal and management can be implemented as one of the main practices as it has been proved to degrade kitchen solid waste to organic waste within a few hours. These larvae after feeding on solid wastes like vegetable waste, agricultural waste and bio-waste mature into a complete fly after several stages of development. Simultaneously, late larval stage i.e. the pre-pupa can be also used as feed in poultry and fish industries. It has been reported that the BSFL can consume organic waste in larger quantities and the rate of degradation is estimated to be higher than any other species of their kind. Moreover, as the rate of reproduction of BSF is very high and provides maximum yield it makes waste management very productive and profitable with greater outcomes. The larvae of BSF used as poultry and fish feed consist of 70% of protein and other of carbohydrates, fats, micro and macronutrients thus providing all the beneficiary nutrients to produce high-quality eggs and meat without any dose of antibiotics and hormones. BSF can be an alternative for recycling and valuing agro-industrial by-products as well. This review explains about the health benefits of using BSF as feed in aquaculture and poultry. This article also explains about the environmental impacts of using BSF. Thus, reviewing all the benefits of the usage of black soldier Larvae/ fly, it can be considered as the next solution for solid waste management in urban India as it has been approved by FDA.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.