Rhinovirus causes respiratory tract infections in children and is found in co-infections. The objective of this research was to study the clinical profile of rhinovirus infection and co-infection in children with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) during the COVID-19 pandemic period. We included 606 children ranging in age from 0.1 to 144 months of age from March 2020 to December 2021, hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The samples were collected by secretion from the nasopharynx region. A total of 259 children were tested positive for viral infection, 153 (59.07%) of them had a single rhinovirus infection and, 56 (36.6%) were aged between 60.1 and 144 months. Nine types of co-infections were identified and were found coinfection with three or more viruses (22/104, 21.15%). Observing the seasonality, the number of cases was similar between 2020 (49.53%) and 2021 (51.47%). Patients with a single infection (86.88%) and coinfection (67.30%) were more likely to have coughed. Patients with co-infection required the use of O2 for longer than those with a single rhinovirus infection. Hemogram results obtained from individuals with a single infection had higher levels of urea when compared to patients with co-infection with and other respiratory viruses. Multiple correspondence analyses indicated different clinical symptoms and comorbidities in patients with co-infection compared to those with single infection. The results found that the rhinovirus was much prevalent virus during the pandemic period and was found in co-infection with other virus types, what is important to diagnostic for the correct treatment of patients.

The excited triplet state of a molecule (T₁) is one of the principal intermediate products in various photochemical processes due to its high reactivity and relatively long lifetime. The T₁ quantum yield (${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$) is one of the most important characteristics in the study of photochemical reactions. It is of special interest to determine the ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ of various photoactive compounds (photosensitizer, PS) used in photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT is an effective medical technique for the treatment of serious diseases, such as cancer and bacterial, fungal and viral infections. This technique is based on the introduction of a PS to a patient’s organism and its further excitation by visible light, producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) via electron or energy transfer from the PS T₁ state to the biological substrate or molecular oxygen. Therefore, information on the ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ value is fundamental in the search for new and effective PSs. There are various experimental methods to determine ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ values; however, these methods demonstrate a high discrepancy between ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ values. This stimulates the analysis of various factors that can affect the determined ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$. In this study, we analyze the effect of the intensity profile of the exciting laser pulse on the calculation of the ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ value obtained by the Laser Flash Photolysis technique. The φ_T values were determined by analyzing the variation of a sample transient absorption in the function of the exciting laser pulse intensity, in combination with the spectral and kinetic PS characteristics obtained in nonlinear optical experiments by solving the rate equations of a five-level-energy diagram. Well-studied PSs: meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl) (TPPS₄) porphyrins, its zinc complex (ZnTPPS₄) and the zinc complex of meso-tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl) (ZnTMPyP) were chosen as test compounds to evaluate the proposed model. The ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ values were determined through a comparison with the ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T},\mathrm{T}\mathrm{M}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{P}}$ = 0.82 of meso-tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl) (TMPyP), used as a standard. The obtained results (${\phi }_{\mathrm{T},{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{S}}_4}=0.75\pm 0.02$, ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T},\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{M}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{P}}=0.90\pm 0.03)$, and ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T},{\mathrm{Z}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{S}}_4}=0.89\pm 0.03$) are highly compatible with the medium ${\phi }_{\mathrm{T}}$ values obtained using the known methods.