Indoor air quality (IAQ) in the built environment is significantly influenced by particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and air temperature. Recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been integrated to improve IAQ and safeguard human health, comfort, and productivity. This review seeks to highlight the potential of IoT integration for monitoring IAQ. Additionally, the paper details progress by researchers in developing IoT/mobile applications for IAQ monitoring, and their transformative impact in smart building, healthcare, predictive maintenance, and real-time data analysis systems. It also outlines the persistent challenges (e.g., data privacy, security, and user acceptability), hampering effective IoT implementation for IAQ monitoring. Lastly, the global developments and research landscape on IoT for IAQ monitoring were examined through bibliometric analysis (BA) of 106 publications indexed in Web of Science from 2015 to 2022. BA revealed the most significant contributing countries are India and Portugal, while the top productive institutions and researchers are Instituto Politecnico da Guarda (10.37% of TP) and Marques Goncalo (15.09% of TP), respectively. Keyword analysis revealed four major research themes: IoT, pollution, monitoring, and health. Overall, this paper provides significant insights for identifying prospective collaborators, benchmark publications, strategic funding, and institutions for future IoT-IAQ researchers.

BACKGROUND: Data on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness to support regional vaccine policy and practice are limited in Africa. Thus, this review aimed to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Africa.
METHODS: We systematically searched peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs), prospective and retrospective cohort studies, and case-control studies that reported on VE in Africa. We carried out a risk of bias assessment, and the findings of this review were synthesized and presented in a narrative form, including tables and figures. The synthesis was focused on COVID-19 VE against various levels of the disease condition and outcomes (infection, hospitalization or critical, and death), time points, and variants of concern.
RESULTS: A total of 13 studies, with a total sample size of 913,285 participants, were included in this review. The majority (8/13) of studies were from South Africa and 38.5% (5/13) were randomized clinical trials. The studies reported that a full dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had a VE of 100% against COVID-19 infection by Beta (B.1.351) and Delta variants and 96.7% against hospitalization by Delta variant. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine had VE ranging from 38.1%-62.0% against hospitalization and 51.9%- 86% against critical disease by Beta (B 1.351) variant. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had a VE of 89.4% against hospitalization by the Omicron variant but was not effective against the B.1.351 variant (10.4%). The Sinopharm vaccine had a VE of 67% against infection and 46% against hospitalization by Delta variant.
CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 vaccines administered in Africa were effective in preventing infections, hospitalization, and death. These review findings underscore the need for concerted efforts of all stakeholders to enhance the access and availability of COVID-19 vaccines and reinforce public awareness to reach the high-risk, unvaccinated group of the African population.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) seriously affected global public health security. Studies on vaccines, neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) and small molecule antiviral drugs are currently ongoing. In particular, NAbs have emerged as promising therapeutic agents due to their well‑defined mechanism, high specificity, superior safety profile, ease of large‑scale production and simultaneous application for both prevention and treatment of viral infection. Numerous NAb therapeutics have entered the clinical research stages, demonstrating promising therapeutic and preventive effects. These agents have been used for outbreak prevention and control under urgent authorization processes. The present review summarizes the molecular targets of SARS‑CoV‑2‑associated NAbs and screening and identification techniques for NAb development. Moreover, the current shortcomings and challenges that persist with the use of NAbs are discussed. The aim of the present review is to offer a reference for the development of NAbs for any future emergent infectious diseases, including SARS‑CoV‑2.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has taken many forms and continues to evolve, now around the Omicron wave, raising concerns over the globe. With COVID-19 being declared no longer a \"public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),\" the COVID pandemic is still far from over, as new Omicron subvariants of interest and concern have risen since January of 2023. Mainly with the XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 subvariants, the pandemic is still very much \"alive\" and \"breathing.\"
METHODS: This review consists of five highly concerning questions about the current state of the COVID Omicron peak. We searched four main online databases to answer the first four questions. For the last one, we performed a systematic review of the literature, with keywords \"Omicron,\" \"Guidelines,\" and \"Recommendations.\"
RESULTS: A total of 31 articles were included. The main symptoms of the current Omicron wave include a characteristically high fever, coughing, conjunctivitis (with itching eyes), sore throat, runny nose, congestion, fatigue, body ache, and headache. The median incubation period of the symptoms is shorter than the previous peaks. Vaccination against COVID can still be considered effective for the new subvariants.
CONCLUSIONS: Guidelines recommend continuation of personal protective measures, third and fourth dose boosters, along with administration of bivalent messenger RNA vaccine boosters. The consensus antiviral treatment is combination therapy using Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir, and the consensus for pre-exposure prophylaxis is Tixagevimab and Cilgavimab combination. We hope the present paper raises awareness for the continuing presence of COVID and ways to lower the risks, especially for at-risk groups.

OBJECTIVE: The syndemic that is COVID-19 and the disproportionate policing of Black communities have recently generated mass social consciousness of the anti-Black racism (ABR) pervading health, social, and cultural institutions. However, little is known about the implementation of public health measures addressing ABR in an evolving pandemic context. The objective of this scoping review is to provide an overview of public health initiatives undertaken to address ABR across North American jurisdictions between December 2019 and June 2022.
METHODS: A search for public health initiatives was conducted in June 2021 across MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, EBSChost, CINAHL, SocINDEX, and Google.ca. Included initiatives were those focussing on Black, African diasporic, or African American communities in the North American context. Community-led action, as well as initiatives in primary healthcare care, academic journals, and those broadly focused on racialized communities, were excluded from this review.
RESULTS: Seventy-five articles were included in this review, suggesting that ABR emerged as a public health priority. Strategies and action plans to address structural ABR were the most common types of initiatives observed (n = 21), followed by programs or interventions (n = 16), budget allocations or investments (n = 8), task forces (n = 7), guidance and recommendations for organizational capacity (n = 8), action-oriented declarations of ABR as a public health crisis (n = 8), and legislation and mandates (n = 7). Initiatives were largely cross-cutting of two or more socioeconomic themes (n = 23), while organizational change was also common (n = 16). Gaps in the current literature include a lack of community participation and outcome measurement for actions identified, which limit institutional accountability to communities of interest.
CONCLUSIONS: This research provides insights on public health accountability to social justice. This research outlines activities in upstream interventions, organizational transformation, and resource allocation in shaping anti-racist change, and require evaluation and input from those whom initiatives are intended to serve.

OBJECTIVE: At some point in their career, many healthcare workers will experience psychological distress associated with being unable to take morally or ethically correct action, as it aligns with their own values; a phenomenon known as moral distress. Similarly, there are increasing reports of healthcare workers experiencing long-term mental and psychological pain, alongside internal dissonance, known as moral injury. This review examined the triggers and factors associated with moral distress and injury in Health and Social Care Workers (HSCW) employed across a range of clinical settings with the aim of understanding how to mitigate the effects of moral distress and identify potential preventative interventions.
METHODS: A systematic review was conducted and reported according to recommendations from Cochrane and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Searches were conducted and updated regularly until January 2024 on 2 main databases (CENTRAL, PubMed) and three specialist databases (Scopus, CINAHL, PsycArticles), alongside hand searches of study registration databases and other systematic reviews reference lists. Eligible studies included a HSCW sample, explored moral distress/injury as a main aim, and were written in English or Italian. Verbatim quotes were extracted, and article quality was assessed via the CASP toolkit. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify patterns and arrange codes into themes. Specific factors like culture and diversity were explored, and the effects of exceptional circumstances like the pandemic.
RESULTS: Fifty-one reports of 49 studies were included in the review. Causes and triggers were categorised under three domains: individual, social, and organisational. At the individual level, patients\' care options, professionals\' beliefs, locus of control, task planning, and the ability to make decisions based on experience, were indicated as elements that can cause or trigger moral distress. In addition, and relevant to the CoVID-19 pandemic, was use/access to personal protection resources. The social or relational factors were linked to the responsibility for advocating for and communication with patients and families, and professionals own support network. At organisational levels, hierarchy, regulations, support, workload, culture, and resources (staff and equipment) were identified as elements that can affect professionals\' moral comfort. Patients\' care, morals/beliefs/standards, advocacy role and culture of context were the most referenced elements. Data on cultural differences and diversity were not sufficient to make assumptions. Lack of resources and rapid policy changes have emerged as key triggers related to the pandemic. This suggests that those responsible for policy decisions should be mindful of the potential impact on staff of sudden and top-down change.
CONCLUSIONS: This review indicates that causes and triggers of moral injury are multifactorial and largely influenced by the context and constraints within which professionals work. Moral distress is linked to the duty and responsibility of care, and professionals\' disposition to prioritise the wellbeing of patients. If the organisational values and regulations are in contrast with individuals\' beliefs, repercussions on professionals\' wellbeing and retention are to be expected. Organisational strategies to mitigate against moral distress, or the longer-term sequalae of moral injury, should address the individual, social, and organisational elements identified in this review.

BACKGROUND: Governments and public health agencies worldwide experienced difficulties with social media-mediated infodemics on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing public health crisis communication strategies need to be updated. However, crisis communication experiences of governments and public health agencies worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been systematically compiled, necessitating updated crisis communication strategies.
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to collect and organize the crisis communication experiences of senders (ie, governments and public health agencies) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our focus is on exploring the difficulties that governments and public health agencies experienced, best practices in crisis communication by governments and public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic in times of infodemic, and challenges that should be overcome in future public health crises.
METHODS: We plan to begin the literature search on May 1, 2024. We will search PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Communication Abstracts, and Web of Science. We will filter our database searches to search from the year 2020 and beyond. We will use a combination of keywords by referring to the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) tool to search the abstracts in databases. We intend to include qualitative studies on crisis communication by governments and public health agencies (eg, officials, staff, health professionals, and researchers) to the public. Quantitative data-based studies will be excluded. Only papers written in English will be included. Data on study characteristics, study aim, participant characteristics, methodology, theoretical framework, object of crisis communication, and key results will be extracted. The methodological quality of eligible studies will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for qualitative research. A total of 2 independent reviewers will share responsibility for screening publications, data extraction, and quality assessment. Disagreement will be resolved through discussion, and the third reviewer will be consulted, if necessary. The findings will be summarized in a table and a conceptual diagram and synthesized in a descriptive and narrative review.
RESULTS: The results will be systematically integrated and presented in a way that corresponds to our research objectives and interests. We expect the results of this review to be submitted for publication by the end of 2024.
CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this will be the first systematic review of the experiences of governments and public health agencies regarding their crisis communication to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review will contribute to the future improvement of the guidelines for crisis communication by governments and public health agencies to the public.
BACKGROUND: PROSPERO CRD42024528975; https://tinyurl.com/4fjmd8te.
UNASSIGNED: PRR1-10.2196/58040.

The COVID-19 epidemic has made significant changes in the organization of treatment process both at the inpatient and outpatient stages.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the work results of the rehabilitation units dealing with patients who have suffered from COVID-19, in order to summarize the used approaches to medical rehabilitation and improve the effectiveness of care delivery in the recovery phase.
CONCLUSIONS: Currently, the rehabilitation system has been effectively rebuilt to meet new challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery of patients with pronounced neurotic disorders has become a showing good results direction in rehabilitation. It is necessary to implement a tight integration of physical exercises and telerehabilitation facilities in order to effectively settle the main issues directly related to the treatment and recovery of patients with COVID-19 and other pathologies. The control, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of other infectious diseases will have great prospects regarding the possibility of remote follow-up of patients and correction of their functional state of the body in the nearest future.
Эпидемия COVID-19 внесла существенные коррективы в организацию лечебного процесса как на стационарном, так и на амбулаторном этапах.
UNASSIGNED: Провести анализ результатов работы реабилитационных подразделений, занимающихся пациентами, перенесшими COVID-19, с целью обобщения применяемых подходов к медицинской реабилитации и повышения эффективности оказания помощи на этапе восстановления.
UNASSIGNED: В настоящее время система реабилитации эффективно перестроилась под новые вызовы пандемии COVID-19. Направлением в реабилитации, демонстрирующим хорошие результаты, стало восстановление пациентов с выраженными невротическими расстройствами. Для эффективного решения основных вопросов, непосредственно связанных с лечением и восстановлением пациентов с COVID-19 и другими патологиями, необходимо осуществить плотную интеграцию физических упражнений и средств телереабилитации. В ближайшем будущем контроль, профилактика, лечение и реабилитация других инфекционных заболеваний будут иметь большие перспективы в отношении возможности дистанционного динамического наблюдения за пациентами и коррекции их функционального состояния организма.

Land public transport is an important link within and between cities, and how to control the transmission of COVID-19 in land public transport is a critical issue in our daily lives. However, there are still many inconsistent opinions and views about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in land public transport, which limits our ability to implement effective interventions. The purpose of this review is to overview the literature on transmission characteristics and routes of the epidemic in land public transport, as well as to investigate factors affecting its spread and provide feasible measures to mitigate the infection risk of passengers. We obtained 898 papers by searching the Web of Science, Pubmed, and WHO global COVID database by keywords, and finally selected 45 papers that can address the purpose of this review. Land public transport is a high outbreak area for COVID-19 due to characteristics like crowding, inadequate ventilation, long exposure time, and environmental closure. Different from surface touch transmission and drop spray transmission, aerosol inhalation transmission can occur not only in short distances but also in long distances. Insufficient ventilation is the most important factor influencing long-distance aerosol transmission. Other transmission factors (e.g., interpersonal distance, relative orientation, and ambient conditions) should be noticed as well, which have been summarized in this paper. To address various influencing factors, it is essential to suggest practical and efficient preventive measures. Among these, increased ventilation, particularly the fresh air (i.e., natural ventilation), has proven to effectively reduce indoor infection risk. Many preventive measures are also effective, such as enlarging social distance, avoiding face-to-face orientation, setting up physical partitions, disinfection, avoiding talking, and so on. As research on the epidemic has intensified, people have broken down many perceived barriers, but more comprehensive studies on monitoring systems and prevention measures in land public transport are still needed.

Diabetics have an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 infection and tend to have more severe symptoms. This systematic review explores the potential mechanisms influencing the high prevalence of COVID-19 infections in individuals with diabetes. It reviews the emerging evidence about the interactions between viral and diabetic pathways, particularly how diabetes physiology could contribute to higher viral reception, viral entry and pathogenicity, and the severity of disease symptoms. Finally, it examines the challenges we face in studying these mechanisms and offers new strategies that might assist our fight against current and future pandemics.