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Cover1 -- Guest editorial -- COVID-19 prediction through X-ray images using various layers in convolutional neural network -- Hybrid artificial bee colony and glow worm algorithm for energy efficient cluster head selection in wireless sensor networks -- Empirical path loss models at 433 MHz in Himalayan snow for health monitoring -- An intrusion detection system for health-care system using machine and deep learning -- Diagnosis of COVID-19 through blood sample using ensemble genetic algorithms and machine learning classifier -- COVID-19 image transmission using convolutional neural networks based algorithms for medical applications -- Diagnosis of COVID-19 using 3D CT scans and vaccination for COVID-19 -- Multi-criteria analysis of social isolation barriers amid COVID-19 using fuzzy AHP -- Early flood detection and rescue using bioinformatic devices, internet of things (IOT) and Android application -- Machine learning improvements to compressive sensing for speech enhancement in hearing aid applications -- Automatic epileptic seizure detection using LSTM networks -- Formation of the counter intelligence strategy of Ukraine: national and legal dimension -- Role of machine learning in changing social and business eco-system - a qualitative study to explore the factors contributing to competitive advantage during COVID pandemic -- The rise of 3D E-Commerce: the online shopping gets real with virtual reality and augmented reality during COVID-19 -- Integrating hyperreal literature with CALL in English language curriculum for engineering studies in India: an empirical study of the impact on students' learning.

The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a particular and rare situation. COVID-19 has affected and is likely to affect people from many countries, in many geographical locations. We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, with cities and even entire countries shutting down. The coronavirus has affected nearly every aspect of our lives, from school to work, to sports, to where we eat and what we do. All these changes affected people physically, but also psychologically. It is understandable that during times like this, people may be feeling afraid, worried, anxious, and depressed due to the constantly changing alerts and media coverage regarding the spread of the virus. Hence, the main aim of our paper is to explore the linkage between the coronavirus COVID-19 disease and mental health conditions, such as stress, anxiety and depression. Everyone may experience fear of the consequences of the infection with a potentially fatal new virus, and might experience mental stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression. Based on experience from past global serious viral experiences, the development and implementation of mental health assessment, support, treatment, and services are crucial and pressing goals for the health response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Human beings have an incredible ability to adapt and survive, through altruistic and co-operative means. So for each one of us is important to look after ourselves and each other.

AbstractThe British government has been debating how to escape from the lockdown without provoking a resurgence of the COVID-19 disease. There is a growing recognition of the damage the lockdown has caused to economic and social life. This paper presents a simple cost–benefit analysis inspired by optimal control theory and incorporating the SIR model of disease propagation. It also reports simulations informed by the theoretical discussion. The optimal path for government intervention is computed under a variety of conditions. These include a cap on the permitted level of infection to avoid overload of the health system, and the introduction of a test and trace system. We quantify the benefits of early intervention to control the disease. We also examine how the government's valuation of life influences the optimal path. A 10-week lockdown is only optimal if the value of life for COVID-19 victims exceeds £10m. The study is based on a standard but simple epidemiological model, and should therefore be regarded as presenting a methodological framework rather than giving policy prescriptions.

COVID-19 has dominated global health since it became a global pandemic in early 2020. It has stressed global health systems and pushed many other health concerns to the back burner. There is an urgent need to look for innovative ways to tackle the pandemic in a sustainable and transferrable manner. This article examines the COVID-19 control measures in Botswana. It describes the innovative government actions taken to control the pandemic. It also presents the observations of the authors, who have observed these actions around the country. They report on the effectiveness of the control cordon belts and the disinfection of people and animals as well as the sanitizing of objects like shoes and cars that pass across the control boundaries. Based upon the effectiveness of the control measures in Botswana, the authors recommend an innovative disease control framework for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases which they contend is replicable in other countries.

The spread of novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the disease COVID-19 that is caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues apace. Saving lives and slowing the worldwide pandemic remain of utmost importance to everyone: the public, healthcare professionals, scientists, industry and governments. It is absolutely essential that advice given to the public is evidence-based, accurate and timely; anything less would mislead and has the potential to cause harm. Popular information channels, such as social media platforms, have been rife with misinformation that has been perpetuated by fear and uncertainty. This has been the case particularly for diet and lifestyle advice. There are recommendations for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 from the WHO,1 the UK,2 Irish3 and USA4 governments and the European Commission,5 as well as public health and healthcare agencies, including key direction on self-isolation.6 This short original report aims to provide a balanced scientific view on vitamin D and SARS-CoV-2 virus/COVID-19 disease. It provides a succinct summary of the current scientific evidence of associations between vitamin D, influenza, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and immune health. Importantly, the paper concludes with lifestyle strategies for avoiding vitamin D deficiency and ensuring a healthy balanced diet at any time, including during the current pandemic. The overarching messages are as follows: (1) Vitamin D is essential for good health. (2) Many people, particularly those living in northern latitudes (such as the UK, Ireland, Northern Europe, Canada and the northern parts of the USA, northern India and China), have poor vitamin D status, especially in winter or if confined indoors. (3) Low vitamin D status may be exacerbated during this COVID-19 crisis (eg, due to indoor living and hence reduced sun exposure), and anyone who is self-isolating with limited access to sunlight is advised to take a vitamin D supplement according to their government's recommendations for the general population (ie, 400IU/day for ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified coronavirus as a global health emergency. Chest X-rays have been proven to be beneficial in both diagnosing and monitoring various lung diseases, including COVID-19. In this study, a COVID-19 disease detection framework is provided based on the methods used in machine learning and the Extra Tree algorithm to reduce the features extracted from the images. Using the Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) algorithm and the Extra Tree algorithm to choose the features of the work, a set of features is extracted from the images. This set of features is then put into the XGBoost algorithm to be classified. The proposed system was evaluated using two different sets of databases: the large database with 9544 images and the small database with 800 images. All image sizes were set to 300 x 300 pixels. The proposed system achieved a classification accuracy score of 90.04% using the large data set and 99.37% using the small set.

To contain the spread of CoV-19 / SARS-CoV-2 infection, several governments have imposed collective quarantine on the population. All of these restrictions have influenced women's health and induced an unhealthy lifestyle that, in some cases, could persist after the lockdown. The present commentary briefly analyzes the effects of quarantine on women's lifestyle. Quarantine is associated with stress and depression, which lead to unhealthy nutrition and reduced physical activity, particularly in women. Unhealthy diet is usually poor in fruit and vegetables, with a consequent low intake of antioxidants and vitamins. However, vitamins have recently been identified as a weapon in the fight against the Covid-19. Some reports suggest that Vitamin D could exert a protective effect on such infection. In addition, women are less likely to engage in regular physical activity and have increased sitting time and sedentary behaviors during quarantine, which have led to weight gain. During quarantine strategies to increase home-based physical activity and to encourage adherence to a healthy diet have been implemented. Following quarantine, a global action supporting healthy Diet and physical activity is mandatory to encourage women to return to a good lifestyle routine. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Summary for social mediaVitamin D is essential for good health, especially bone and muscle health. Many people have low blood levels of vitamin D, especially in winter or if confined indoors, because summer sunshine is the main source of vitamin D for most people. Government vitamin D intake recommendations for the general population are 400 IU (10 µg) per day for the UK7 and 600 IU (15 µg) per day for the USA (800 IU (20 µg) per day for >70 years) and the EU.9 Taking a daily supplement (400 IU /day (10 µg/day) in the UK) and eating foods that provide vitamin D is particularly important for those self-isolating with limited exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D intakes greater than the upper limit of 4000 IU (100 µg) per day may be harmful and should be avoided unless under personal medical/clinical advice by a qualified health professional.

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy, thousands of Romanian citizens who worked in Northern Italy, Spain or Germany returned to Romania. Based on the time-dependent susceptible–infected–recovered—SIR model, this paper compares the evolution of the COVID-19 disease between Romania and Italy, assuming that the parameter value of R0 in the time-dependent SIR model decreases to R1 < R0 after publicly announced restrictions by the government, and increases to a value of R2 < R1 when the restrictions are lifted. Among other things, we answer the questions about the date and extent of the second peak in Italy and Romania with respect to different values of R2 and the duration of the restrictions.

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has put millions of people, especially children at risk of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) by pushing them into poverty and disrupting the global food supply chain. The thymus is severely affected by nutritional deficiencies and is known as a barometer of malnutrition. Aim: The present commentary provides a novel perspective on the role of malnutrition-induced thymic dysfunction, involution and atrophy on the risk and severity of disease in children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A review of pertinent indexed literature including studies examining the effects of malnutrition on the thymus and immune dysfunction in COVID-19. Results: Protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies of zinc, iron and vitamin A are known to promote thymic dysfunction and thymocyte loss in children. Malnutrition- and infection-induced thymic atrophy and immune dysfunction may increase the risk of first, progression of COVID-19 disease to more severe forms including development of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C); second, slow the recovery from COVID-19 disease; and third, increase the risk of other infections. Furthermore, malnourished children may be at increased risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection due to socioeconomic conditions that promote viral transmission amongst contacts and create barriers to vaccination. Conclusion: National governments and international organizations including WHO, World Food Program, and UNICEF should institute measures to ensure provision of food and micronutrients for children at risk in order to limit the health impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic called COVID-19 disease has an exponential course since the first cases were reported showing in 9th of May, 2020, more than 4 million cases of COVID-19. United States and European Council (EC), together with other European Union institutions, were closely monitoring the situation in order to take quick action. Objective: The aim of this article is to analyze the response to COVID 19 pandemic outbreak in term of strategy and money flow of Romanian health system in order to identify the strength and weakness and prepare for other similar provocative challenges. Global and national strategy: United States Government is delivering a comprehensive package of services to support international partners around the world in combatting this disease adding American expertise for global benefit, saving lives by improving international partners abilities to respond to the COVID-19, and reducing secondary impacts. Meanwhile European Union is focused on 6 major coordinates limit the spread of the virus, ensure and provide medical supplies, decrease negative economic impact, support jobs, promoting research and help European citizens to repatriate. Despite all negative elements a proper and relatively quick response of Romanian Public Health System was noticed and the taken measures were harmonized and synchronized with the European coordinates, prioritize initiatives, build an action plan, establish a communication plan, workforce optimization and management strategy. Conclusion: Global shock needs global response, with little or no government interventions, economic costs will be huge.