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
Cytokine Storm in COVID-19
The concept of cytokine storm has been better elucidated and extended to the pathogenesis of many other conditions, such as sepsis, autoinflammatory disease, primary and secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and multicentric Castleman disease. Moreover, cytokine storm has recently emerged as a key aspect in the novel Coronavirus disease 2019, as affected patients show high levels of several key pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IP-10, GM-CSF, MCP-1, and IL-10, some of which also correlate with disease severity.
  • 611
  • 26 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing Interventions during COVID-19 Pandemic: South Africa
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is considered a renaissance of the manufacturing industry. Its unique capability of manufacturing 3D objects with intricate geometrical configurations has been used to produce hospital equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) in an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The technology has been used by different research units to produce ventilators, respirator face masks, oscillating respiratory devices, oxygen connectors, oxygen splitters, non-invasive ventilation helmets, reusable clinician PPE, visor frames for face shields, etc. Despite the efforts of the AM community in South Africa, COVID-19 infections have continued to increase in the country. It came to light that technological interventions (including AM) alone cannot prevent the spread of the virus without the corresponding adaptive behavioural changes, such as adhering to COVID-19 prevention protocols (washing of hands, social distancing, etc.). It could be postulated that the spread of COVID-19 can only be prevented by inter-marrying the technological interventions (AM) with adaptive behavioural changes. 
  • 371
  • 25 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Masks
Face masks can protect humans through their filtration function. They include different types and mechanisms of filtration whose performance depends on the texture of the fabric, the latter of which is strongly related to the manufacturing method. 
  • 633
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis [family Lamiaceae]), an herb of economic and gustatory repute, is employed in traditional medicines in many countries. Rosemary contains carnosic acid (CA) and carnosol (CS), abietane-type phenolic diterpenes, which account for most of its biological and pharmacological actions, although claims have also been made for contributions of another constituent, rosmarinic acid. 
  • 741
  • 28 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Fake News and Potentially Manipulative Content
At the core of numerous definitions of fake news lies a statement that it contains information that does not correlate with facts and that it is directed towards disinforming the public in a conscious manner, which implies that the major features of fake news are untruthfulness/incorrectness and intended deception. For this reason, Jaster and Lanuis attribute the lack of truth and lack of truthfulness to the notion of fake news and, using this as a starting point, they claim that fake news is “wrong or deceptive (lack of truth) and that it is released with the intention of deceiving or, eventually, discrediting or neglecting the truth (lack of truthfulness)”. In her efforts to draw a line between fake news and the contents similar to it, Milica Kulić defines the former as “incorrect information containing unprovable, mostly completely fabricated data or claims, as well as quotations, released with a view to deceiving audiences”.
  • 3.9K
  • 26 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Olfactory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients
Smell and taste dysfunction are frequently reported by SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. The degree of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction varies from a very mild reduction to their complete loss.
  • 465
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Adverse Perinatal Outcomes in COVID-19 Infected Pregnant Women
Several adverse maternal, fetal, and neonatal effects were significantly higher in COVID-19 infected pregnant women than non-infected. These included maternal death, preeclampsia, cesarean section delivery, fetal distress, preterm birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, low Apgar score at the fifth minute, and admission to NICU. The comorbidity conditions had no added risk of being infected with COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. Therefore, a COVID-19 infected pregnant woman should be treated with special precautions to avoid and minimize the identified adverse events during perinatal care. 
  • 598
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Inflammatory Markers Prediction in COVID-19 Mortality
COVID-19 is an inflammatory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 and can manifest as various symptoms ranging from mild symptoms or asymptomatic cases to severe pneumonia that can progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death.  Assessing the utility of various inflammatory markers in predicting mortality among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
  • 364
  • 21 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Intrinsic Kidney Pathology Following COVID-19 Infection in Children
COVID-19 infections resulting in pathological kidney manifestations have frequently been reported in adults since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019. Gradually, there have been an increased number of COVID-19-associated intrinsic kidney pathologies in children and adolescents reported as well. The pathophysiological mechanisms between COVID-19 and the onset of kidney pathology are not fully known in children; it remains a challenge to distinguish between intrinsic kidney pathologies that were caused directly by COVID-19 viral invasion, and cases which occurred as a result of multisystem inflammatory syndrome due to the infection. 
  • 522
  • 20 Jan 2022
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Mutational Pattern in Greece
From the 2500 clinical specimens, 220 were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 indicating a prevalence of 8.8% among suspected cases. The RT-PCR Ct (Cycle threshold) Value ranged from 19 to 25 which corresponds to medium to high copy numbers of the virus in the positive samples.
  • 403
  • 21 Jan 2022
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