Summary

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and the disease now affects nearly every country and region. Caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 continues nearly 18 months later to present significant challenges to health systems and public health in both hemispheres, as well as the economies of every country. The morbidity and mortality of the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been significant, and various waves of disease outbreaks initially overwhelmed many hospitals and clinics and continue to do so in many countries. This influences everyone, and public health countermeasures have been dramatic in terms of their impact on employment, social systems, and mental health. This entry collection aims to gather diverse fields about COVID-19, including in epidemiology, public health, medicine, genetics, systems biology, informatics, data science, engineering, sociology, anthropology, nursing, environmental studies, statistics, and psychology.

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Entries
Topic Review
Traditional and Virtual Teams during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The social distance imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the development of technology has positively affected people’s personal lives and the every-day working manner and environment. Currently, people can communicate and work together remotely, from different locations, cities, or even countries, very similar to the way they would work while sharing the same office. The world displays a brand-new face people have never seen before, while the business world encounters challenges never experienced until now (i.e., the imperative to reimagine work conditions in order to create a productive climate for all parties involved via a mixture of face-to-face and virtual interaction). As the result of the global virtualization trend, new types of organizations have emerged, being composed of work groups aiming to promote innovation and that have the purpose to increase the capacity of work, and the phenomenon has had an unexpected rhythm since the outbreak of the pandemic. The digitalization of the work processes has enabled remote work and the building of virtual teams in various fields of activity and for all types of companies and entities. Thus, the virtual society started to expand the global electronic space and information became more and more available through technology. Getting in contact with coworkers and leadership and sharing work and results remotely is no longer a challenge, but business as usual. The term “virtuality” has a large range of meanings in the specialized literature. The global dimension of virtualization is permanently compared to the features of the local and regional traditional teams, when it comes to the dimensional and relational aspects, involving geographical dispersion and electronic communication and interconnection. New typologies of organizational structures and the new forms of organizations emerged (i.e., organizational structures availing more flexibility in terms of schedule, location, co-presence), most of them being a virtual response to a present, more complex business environment, impacted by turmoil and uncertainty, thus creating new ways and means for both people and organizations worldwide to benefit from fresh opportunities (i.e., a better work-life balance, intercultural and transnational teamwork and coordination, etc.).
  • 813
  • 14 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Technology-Based Mental Interventions for Domestic Violence in COVID-19
Domestic violence is a threat to human dignity and public health. Mounting evidence shows that domestic violence erodes personal and public health, spawning issues such as lifelong mental health challenges. To further compound the situation, COVID-19 and societies’ poor response to the pandemic have not only worsened the domestic violence crisis but also disrupted mental health services for domestic violence victims. While technology-based health solutions can overcome physical constraints posed by the pandemic and offer timely support to address domestic violence victims’ mental health issues. 
  • 680
  • 12 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Water Quality and Pollution in Time of COVID-19
Researchers proposes an assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic positive and negative impacts on water bodies on different continents. Regarding the positive impacts, the SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in sewage waters is a useful mechanism in the promptly exposure of community infections and, during the pandemic, many water bodies all over the world had lower pollution levels. The negative impacts are as follows: SARS-CoV-2 presence in untreated sewage water amplifies the risk to human health; there is a lack of adequate elimination processes of plastics, drugs, and biological pollution in wastewater treatment plants; the amount of municipal and medical waste that pollutes water bodies increased; and waste recycling decreased. Urgent preventive measures need to be taken to implement effective solutions for water protection.
  • 804
  • 12 Apr 2022
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Our Time
Coronavirus disease-19 (a.k.a. COVID-19) is a new disease caused by a coronavirus that is still under investigation concerning how it spreads. Development and deployment of biosensors for the rapid detection of the 2019 novel severe acute respiratory syndrome—coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are of utmost importance and urgency during this recent outbreak of coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, which spread rapidly around the world. 
  • 464
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Biomarkers for a COVID-19 Electrical Biosensing Platform
The race towards the development of user-friendly, portable, fast-detection, and low-cost devices for healthcare systems has become the focus of effective screening efforts since the pandemic attack in December 2019, which is known as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Currently existing techniques such as RT-PCR, antigen–antibody-based detection, and CT scans are prompt solutions for diagnosing infected patients. However, the limitations of currently available indicators have enticed researchers to search for adjunct or additional solutions for COVID-19 diagnosis. Meanwhile, identifying biomarkers or indicators is necessary for understanding the severity of the disease and aids in developing efficient drugs and vaccines. Therefore, clinical studies on infected patients revealed that infection-mediated clinical biomarkers, especially pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins, are highly associated with COVID-19. These biomarkers are undermined or overlooked in the context of diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of infected patients.
  • 433
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Mechanism how Fluoxetine and Fluvoxamine act in COVID-19
Mapping non-canonical cellular pathways affected by approved medications can accelerate drug repurposing efforts, which are crucial in situations with a global impact such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Fluoxetine and fluvoxamine are well-established and widely-used antidepressive agents that act as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI-s). Interestingly, these drugs have been reported earlier to act as lysosomotropic agents, inhibitors of acid sphingomyelinase in the lysosomes, and as ligands of sigma-1 receptors, mechanisms that might be used to fight severe outcomes of COVID-19. 
  • 342
  • 11 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Antidepressants Fluoxetine and Fluvoxamine in Treatment of COVID-19
Mapping non-canonical cellular pathways affected by approved medications can accelerate drug repurposing efforts, which are crucial in situations with a global impact such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Fluoxetine and fluvoxamine are well-established and widely-used antidepressive agents that act as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI-s). Interestingly, these drugs have been reported earlier to act as lysosomotropic agents, inhibitors of acid sphingomyelinase in the lysosomes, and as ligands of sigma-1 receptors, mechanisms that might be used to fight severe outcomes of COVID-19. In certain cases, these drugs were administered for selected COVID-19 patients because of their antidepressive effects, while in other cases, clinical studies were performed to assess the effect of these drugs on treating COVID-19 patients. Clinical studies produced promising data that encourage the further investigation of fluoxetine and fluvoxamine regarding their use in COVID-19.
  • 364
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
The Side Effects Reported after COVID-19 Immunization
Studies found that all immunizations were safe, with very few or no Side Effects (SEs); however, the form of SEs was shown to be more persistent in DNA- and mRNA-based vaccines, whereas inactivated viral vaccines were associated with longer-duration SEs. Overall, SEs were shown to be more prevalent in women and youngsters. Certain instances of adverse responses have also been observed, although their pathological relationship with COVID-19 immunization has yet to be determined.
  • 431
  • 14 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Internet Use for Older Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic
Older adults were advised to avoid social activities during the outbreak of COVID-19. Consequently, they no longer received the social and emotional support they had gained from such activities. Internet use might be a solution to remedy the situation. The research revealed that Internet use for communication purposes seems to be associated with better mental health in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 554
  • 06 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Extreme Online Service-Learning during the Pandemic
Service-Learning (SL) is an experience that allows students to (a) participate in activities co-designed in partnership by universities and local organizations and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain an enhanced sense of responsibility. These experiences represent significant ways to meet and experience real-world contexts for students. The COVID-19 pandemic required Higher Education Institutions to rethink and shift in-presence courses to online platforms. This transition included SL courses as well. 
  • 414
  • 01 Apr 2022
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