With all learning institutions pre-maturely closed on 20 March 2020 and all citizens advised to self-isolate in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19, it was hypothesized that COVID-19 would negatively impact on the performance of students in the 2020 Grade 12 national examinations vis-a-vis mathematics, science and design and technology subjects An observed steady increase in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the low levels of technology use in secondary schools in Zambia due to limited technology resources signifies a very difficult period in a young country which has just rolled out a nation-wide implementation of STEM education, This study collected data from three teachers at a public secondary school in Chipata District of Eastern Province in the Republic of Zambia The Head of Department for Mathematics, the Head of Natural Sciences Department and one science teacher were interviewed Semi-structured interviews via mobile phone were used to collect views of what these specialists thought would be the COVID-19 effects on the general performance of students in their subject areas Results of this study revealed that there is likely to be a drop in the pass percentage of secondary school students in this year's national examinations if the COVID-19 epidemic is not contained in the shortest possible time considering that the school academic calendar was abruptly disturbed by the early untimely closure of all schools in the country (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

/pdf/effect-of-covid-19-on-the-performance-of-grade-12-students-340ai4mys7.pdf

Effect of COVID-19 on the performance of grade 12 students: Implications for STEM education

Patients with severe COVID-19, such as individuals in intensive care units (ICU), are exceptionally susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections. The most prevalent fungal infections are aspergillosis and candidemia. Nonetheless, other fungal species (for instance, Histoplasma spp., Rhizopus spp., Mucor spp., Cryptococcus spp.) have recently been increasingly linked to opportunistic fungal diseases in COVID-19 patients. These fungal co-infections are described with rising incidence, severe illness, and death that is associated with host immune response. Awareness of the high risks of the occurrence of fungal co-infections is crucial to downgrade any arrear in diagnosis and treatment to support the prevention of severe illness and death directly related to these infections. This review analyses the fungal infections, treatments, outcome, and immune response, considering the possible role of the microbiome in these patients. The search was performed in Medline (PubMed), using the words “fungal infections COVID-19”, between 2020–2021.

Overview on the Prevalence of Fungal Infections, Immune Response, and Microbiome Role in COVID-19 Patients.

Most countries around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions with the aim of containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. How have schools overcome these challenges and deliv...

Analysis of the implementation of teaching and learning processes at Catalan schools during the Covid-19 lockdown

The discovery of exoplanets within putative habitable zones revolutionized astrobiology in recent years. It stimulated interest in the question about the origin of life and its evolution. Here, we discuss what the roles of viruses might have been at the beginning of life and during evolution. Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. They are present everywhere, in our surrounding, the oceans, the soil and in every living being. Retroviruses contributed to about half of our genomic sequences and to the evolution of the mammalian placenta. Contemporary viruses reflect evolution ranging from the RNA world to the DNA-protein world. How far back can we trace their contribution? Earliest replicating and evolving entities are the ribozymes or viroids fulfilling several criteria of life. RNA can perform many aspects of life and influences our gene expression until today. The simplest structures with non-protein-coding information may represent models of life built on structural, not genetic information. Viruses today are obligatory parasites depending on host cells. Examples of how an independent lifestyle might have been lost include mitochondria, chloroplasts, Rickettsia and others, which used to be autonomous bacteria and became intracellular parasites or endosymbionts, thereby losing most of their genes. Even in vitro the loss of genes can be recapitulated all the way from coding to non-coding RNA. Furthermore, the giant viruses may indicate that there is no sharp border between living and non-living entities but an evolutionary continuum. Here, it is discussed how viruses can lose and gain genes, and that they are essential drivers of evolution. This discussion may stimulate the thinking about viruses as early possible forms of life. Apart from our view "viruses first", there are others such as "proteins first" and "metabolism first."

/pdf/viruses-and-evolution-viruses-first-a-personal-perspective-pwgo0dydno.pdf

Viruses and Evolution - Viruses First? A Personal Perspective.

The exponential growth of the COVID-19 pandemic is of great global economic problems and has received magnificent worldwide attention The vulnerability of the pandemic with lower economic immunity is greater in developing countries The present study aims to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs in Sri Lanka Data were marshalled with the aid of qualitative interviews from conveniently chosen 14 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) The study reveals that the mitigating strategies and protocols to combat the COVID-19 have come at high economic and human costs and gravely sullied the SMEs in Sri Lanka including the shortage of materials, decline in both global and local demand for their products and services, difficulties in repaying loan and interest, cancellation of orders, dire cash deficit (inflows) and lack of savings (even problems with payroll and utility bills), limitations in recalling the employees back to work, high cost in preventing workplace COVID-19 strategies, absence of new orders, etc The COVID-19 pandemic is emotionally challenging for both employees and operators of the SMEs The government relief and the best policies and guidelines to support the SMEs are indeed crucial for riding through the crisis The present study further ensures the overarching importance of formulating after-effects COVID-19 economic revival policies Needless to say, the resilience of the SMEs is greatly dependent on the concerted efforts of the government, SMEs operators and other policymakers

Exploring the effect of Covid-19 on Small and Medium Enterprises: Early Evidence from Sri Lanka

Examining a sample of still unfolding epidemiological data relating to the world-wide epidemic of Covid-19, we conclude that a connection with an atmospheric in fall appears increasingly probable.

/pdf/growing-evidence-against-global-infection-driven-by-person-3ff5j9r9z9.pdf

Growing Evidence against Global Infection-Driven by Person-to-Person Transfer of COVID-19

The origins and global spread of two recent, yet quite different, pandemic diseases is discussed and reviewed in depth: Candida auris, a eukaryotic fungal disease, and COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), a positive strand RNA viral respiratory disease. Both these diseases display highly distinctive patterns of sudden emergence and global spread, which are not easy to understand by conventional epidemiological analysis based on simple infection-driven human- to-human spread of an infectious disease (assumed to jump suddenly and thus genetically, from an animal reservoir). Both these enigmatic diseases make sense however under a Panspermia in-fall model and the evidence consistent with such a model is critically reviewed.

Origin of new emergent Coronavirus and Candida fungal diseases-Terrestrial or cosmic?

We propose that the new coronavirus which first appeared in the Hubei province of China was probably linked to the arrival of a pure culture of the virus contained in
	 cometary debris that was dispersed over a localised area of the planet namely China. The sighting of a fireball some 2000 kilometers north of Wuhan on 11 October 2019
	 followed shortly after with the first recorded cases in Hubei is suggestive of a causal link. Gene sequencing data of the virus that show little or no genetic variations
	 between isolates, combined with available epidemiological data point to the predominance of a transmission process directly from an “infected” environment, with personto-
	 person transmission playing a comparatively weaker secondary role. The facts relating to this epidemic are discussed and placed in the context of other pandemics
	 that have been recorded throughout history.

/pdf/comments-on-the-origin-and-spread-of-the-2019-coronavirus-4cn0xnmy6r.pdf

Comments on the Origin and Spread of the 2019 Coronavirus

/pdf/growing-evidence-against-global-infection-driven-by-person-3s64etr3er.pdf

Growing Evidence Against Global Infection-Driven by Person-to-Person Transfer of Covid-19

We argue that the new coronavirus COVID-19 was probably linked to the arrival of a pure culture of the virus in cometary debris that was deposited in the stratosphere,
 and first came down in the Hubei province of China. The subsequent worldwide spread of the virus has taken place by a combination of two effects: the deposition of
 further large quantities of virus at several locations – Iran, North Italy, South Korea – combined with much slower spread through person-to-person infection (itself
 enhanced largely by contaminated surfaces and personal affects). The location of the foci outside China all lie close to latitude 40 degrees N, consistent with the
 transport of aerosols by cyclonic winds in the stratosphere. It is also remarkably consistent with observations in the 1960’s of the fall-out of radioactive dust deposited in
 the stratosphere in the last of the atmospheric atom bomb tests. On this basis, we conclude that a stratospheric loading of the Coronavirus that happened in October/
 November 2019 could take a few winter seasons to be fully drained. A clearer understanding of the causal events that led to the COVID-19 pandemic could help planning
 future strategy.

/pdf/predicting-the-future-trajectory-of-covid-19-bcvqsxejfr.pdf

Predicting the Future Trajectory of COVID-19

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