BACKGROUND: The number of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) positive patients and fatalities keeps rising. It is important to recognize risk factors for severe outcomes. Evidence linking vitamin D deficiency and the severity of COVID-19 is tangential but substantial – relating to race, obesity, and institutionalization. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the function of vitamin D and nutritional defense against infections such as COVID-19, which is the goal of this research. METHODS: This study includes observational cohort, cross-sectional, and case-control studies that estimated variances in serum levels of vitamin D among patients with mild or severe forms of COVID-19, and in patients who died or were discharged from hospitals. Studies that assessed the risk of developing severe disorder or death in patients with vitamin D deficiency, defined as levels of vitamin D< 20 ng/mL, were also encompassed. RESULTS: In a retrospective study on 464,383 individuals, results showed that individuals who had the highest risks for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and for COVID-19 severity when infected, had vitamin D levels < 30 nmol/L; Odds Ratio (OR) were 1.246 [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.210–1.304] and 1.513 [95%CI: 1.230–1.861], respectively. Additionally, in a retrospective observational study of 191,779 individuals in the USA. The SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate was greater in the 39,190 subjects with vitamin D < 20 ng/mL [12.5%, 95% C.I. 12.2–12.8%] than in the 27,870 subjects with sufficient serum vitamin D levels [8.1%, 95% C.I. 7.8–8.4%] and in the 12,321 subjects with serum vitamin D ⩾ 55 ng/mL [5.9%, 95% C.I. 5.5–6.4%]. CONCLUSION: People hospitalized for COVID-19 should be checked for vitamin D status and supplemented, and high-dose-in testing should be considered in the recovery trial. More importantly, screening for malnutrition and the administration of the best nutritional supplements are essential for the immune system of the human body to function as it should be. Thus, nutritional supplementation is crucial for people with risk factors as well as older adults with compromised immune systems.
A comparative study was done on the adsorption of methyl orange dye (MO) using non-activated and activated corn leaves with hydrochloric acid as an adsorbent material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were utilized to specify the properties of adsorbent material. The effect of several variables (pH, initial dye concentration, temperature, amount of adsorbent and contact time) on the removal efficiency was studied and the results indicated that the adsorption efficiency increases with the increase in the concentration of dye, adsorbent dosage and contact time, while inversely proportional to the increase in pH and temperature for both the treated and untreated corn leaves. The equi
... Show MoreThe polymer was used to inhibit the corrosion of copper metal in salt media in di erent concentrations at room temperature using potentiometric polarization measurement. The polymer was prepared by mixing (0.1 M) 4-Hydroxy aniline (C6H7NO) with (0.25M) of ammonium persulfate as the initiator using the electro-deposition technique. The polymer’s results showed that copper in (3.5%) NaCl had good corrosion resistance. The ndings demonstrate that the %IE for polymer-induced copper corrosion is 89.32% at 10 ppm concentration as a result of the 4-hydroxy aniline polymer’s adsorption from salt solution on the surface of copper metal. The numbers from the polarization method and the acquired standard data agree well. The coated copper by poly
... Show MoreThis study was undertaken to diagnose routine settling problems within a third-party oil and gas companies’ Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) regeneration system. Two primary issues were identified including; a) low particle size (<40 μm) resulting in poor settlement within high viscosity MEG solution and b) exposure to hydrocarbon condensate causing modification of particle surface properties through oil-wetting of the particle surface. Analysis of oil-wetted quartz and iron carbonate (FeCO₃) settlement behavior found a greater tendency to remain suspended in the solution and be removed in the rich MEG effluent stream or to strongly float and accumulate at the liquid-vapor interface in comparison to naturally water-wetted particles. As su
... Show MoreA comparison between the resistance capacity of a single pile excited by two opposite rotary machines embedded in dry and saturated sandy soil was considered experimentally. A small-scale physical model was manufactured to accomplish the experimental work in the laboratory. The physical model consists of: two small motors supplied with eccentric mass 0·012 kg and eccentric distance 20 mm representing the two opposite rotary machines, an aluminum shaft with 20 mm in diameter as the pile, and a steel plate with dimensions of (160 × 160 × 20 mm) as a pile cap. The experimental work was achieved taking the following parameters into consideration, pile embedment depth ratio (L/d; length to diameter) and operating freq
... Show MoreExcessive water production is a persistent challenge in oil and gas wells, with polymer and gel solutions commonly employed for water control. This study investigates the rheological behaviour of cross-linked polyacrylamide gels and their impact on water shutoff treatment in gas wells. Rheological measurements, coreflooding experiments using Berea sandstone samples, and micromodel flow visualizations were conducted to evaluate gel performance. Results showed that during water injection, the water residual resistance factor ( Frrw ) decreases with increasing flow rates, mainly due to gel shear thinning behaviour and reduced residual gas saturation. Higher polymer concentrations in the gel enhance water permeability reduction. In contrast, un
... Show MoreThis paper presents a vibration suppression control design of cantilever beam using two piezoelectric patches. One patch was used as an actuator element, while the other was used as a sensor. The controller design was designed via the balance realization reduction method to elect the reduced order model that is most controllable and observable. the sliding mode observer was designed to estimate six states from the reduced order model but three states are only used in the control law. Estimating a number of states larger than that used is in order to increase the estimation accuracy. Moreover, the state estimation error is proved bounded. An optimal LQR controller is designed then using the estimated states with the slid
... Show MoreAirlift reactors are widely used in the chemical and biochemical applications as effective contactors for mass and heat transfer. The main advantages of airlift contactor compared with simple bubble column are ease of construction, low shear rate, high capacity, good mixing and liquid circulation without mechanical agitators and circulating pumps.
In this work, growth characteristics of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae were studied in an internal loop airlift photobioreactor for biomass production. The bioreactor operated under batch and semi-continuous culture mode using commercially available 20:20:20+TE NPK fertilizer as nutrients. The experiments were conducted to evaluate the growth rate and biomass productivity of
... Show MoreThe monthly time series of the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) concentrations in Euphrates River at Nasria was analyzed as a time series. The data used for the analysis was the monthly series during (1977-2000).
The series was tested for nonhomogenity and found to be nonhomogeneous. A significant positive jump was observed after 1988. This nonhomogenity was removed using a method suggested by Yevichevich (7). The homogeneous series was then normalized using Box and Cox (2) transformation. The periodic component of the series was fitted using harmonic analyses, and removed from the series to obtain the dependent stochastic component. This component was then modeled using first order autoregressive model (Markovian chain). The above a
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