Background and Purpose The ability of Low dose radiotherapy (LDRT) to control the unprecedented cytokine release associated with COVID-19 pathogenesis has been an area of widespread research since the COVID pandemic. It has not been studied adequately whether the anti-inflammatory effect of LDRT provides additional benefit when used concurrently with steroids amongst other standard pharmacologic therapy. Material and Methods 51 RT-PCR positive COVID-19 patients were recruited between November 2020 and July 2021. 34 patients were allotted to receive 0.5Gy single session LDRT along with standard pharmacologic therapy while 17 patients received standard pharmacologic therapy alone. All had SpO2<94% on room air, respiratory frequency > 24/min and SpO2/FiO2 (SF) ratio between >89 but <357. All patients underwent a baseline CT scan. They were followed up for 28 days during when serial SF ratio, blood biomarkers (CRP, Serum ferritin, IL-6), Absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), repeat CT scan were performed at pre-defined time points. Results LDRT showed a statistically significant early improvement in oxygenation, an early time to clinical recovery, early hospital discharge and better radiological resolution compared to control group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to ALC or blood biomarkers at any of the measured time points. The 28-day mortality rate did not show statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion LDRT can be considered for selected oxygen-dependent moderate to severe COVID-19 patients for rapid relief of respiratory distress. It can be safely combined with standard pharmacologic treatment in such patients for added clinical benefit.

Aim: To describe the distribution of lung patterns determined by High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) in COVID patients with mild and moderate lung involvement and outcomes after early identification and management with steroids and anticoagulants. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study of COVID-19 patients with mild and moderate lung involvement presenting at 5 healthcare centres in Trichy district of South TamilNadu in India. Patients underwent HRCT to assess patterns and severity of lung involvement, Inflammatory markers (LDH/Ferritin) and D-Dimer assay and clinical correlation with signs and symptoms. Patients were assessed for oxygen, steroid and anticoagulant therapy, clinical recovery or progression on follow up and details on mortality were collected. The RSNA, Fleischer Society guidelines and CORADS score was used for radiological reporting. New potential classification of patterns of percentage of lung parenchyma involvement in Covid patients is being suggested. Results: The study included 7,340 patients with suspected COVID and 3,963 (53.9%) patients had lung involvement based on HRCT. RT PCR was positive in 74.1% of the CT Positive cases. Crazy Pavement pattern was predominant ( n = 2022, 51.0%) and Ground Glass Opacity (GGO) was found in 1,941 (49.0%) patients in the study. Severe lung involvement was more common in the Crazy Pavement pattern. Patients with GGO in moderate lung involvement were significantly more likely to recover faster compared to Crazy Pavement pattern ( P value <0.001). Conclusion: HRCT chest and assessment of lung patterns can help triage patients to home quarantine and hospital admission. Early initiation of steroids and anticoagulants based on lung patterns can prevent progression to more severe stages and aid early recovery. HRCT can play a major role to triage and guide management especially as RT PCR testing and results are delayed for the benefit of patients and in a social cause to decrease the spread of the virus

Background and Purpose The main cause of death in COVID-19 pneumonia is acute respiratory distress syndrome which is preceded by massive cytokine release. Low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT) has anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects that can interfere with the inflammatory cascade, reducing the severity of associated cytokine release. Material & Methods 25 patients with RT-PCR proven COVID-19 disease were enrolled between November 2020 and May 2021. All patients had SpO2 < 94% on room air, respiratory frequency > 24/min and SpO2/FiO2 ratio (SF ratio) of >89 but < 357. Patients were treated according to standard COVID-19 management guidelines along with single fraction LDRT of 0.5Gy to bilateral whole lungs within 10 days of symptom onset and 5 days of hospital admission. Results LDRT was well tolerated by all patients. There was a statistically significant improvement in oxygenation as given by the SF ratio between pre-RT and day 2 (p<0.05), day 3 (p<0.001) and day 7 (p<0.001) post RT. Demand for supplemental oxygen showed statistically significant reduction between pre-RT and day 2 (p<0.05), day 3 (p<0.001), day 7 (p<0.001) post RT. 88% patients attained clinical recovery within 10 days post LDRT and median time to hospital discharge from day of LDRT was 6 days. Three patients deteriorated and died. Conclusion As per our initial experience, LDRT appears to be a promising modality of treatment with rapid relief of respiratory distress in selected patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia. This translates to early clinical recovery and hospital discharge in the selected patient group.

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<div>We present the open-source VOTCA-XTP software for the calculation of the excited-state electronic structure of molecules using many-body Green’s functions theory in the GW approximation with the Bethe–Salpeter Equation (BSE). This work provides a summary of the underlying theory and discusses details of its implementation based on Gaussian orbitals, including, i.a., resolution-of-identity techniques, different approaches to the frequency integration of the self-energy or acceleration by offloading compute-intensive matrix operations using GPUs in a hybrid OpenMP/Cuda scheme. A distinctive feature of VOTCA-XTP is the capability to couple the calculation of electronic excitations to a classical polarizable environment on atomistic level in a coupled quantum- and molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) scheme, where a complex morphology can be imported from Molecular Dynamics simulations. The capabilities and limitations of the GW -BSE implementation are illustrated with two examples. First, we study the dependence of optically active electron-hole excitations in a series of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based oligomers on molecular-architecture modifications and the number of repeat units. Second, we use the GW -BSE/MM setup to investigate the effect of polarization on localized and intermolecular charge-transfer excited states in morphologies of low-donor content rubrene-fullerene mixtures. These showcases demonstrate that our implementation currently allows to treat systems with up to 2500 basis functions on regular shared-memory workstations, providing accurate descriptions of quasiparticle and coupled electron-hole excited states of various character on an equal footing.</div>