Coronaviruses - Online First

This study aimed to assess the impact of an educational intervention on the cleaning and disinfection processes within a respiratory syndrome unit, serving as a designated facility for COVID-19 patients.

A quasi-experimental design was employed, incorporating a pre-intervention and post-intervention assessment. The evaluation of surfaces involved various monitoring techniques, including Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) testing, colony-forming unit analysis, and visual inspections. All statistical analyses were conducted at a significance level of 5% (p < 0.05).

Following the implementation of the educational intervention, a notable reduction in surface contamination rates was observed. Significant improvements were noted for specific surfaces when utilizing the ATP testing method, including benchtops (p = 0.030), mattresses (p = 0.014), doorknobs (p = 0.014), and armchairs (p = 0.014). Furthermore, a decrease in the total count of aerobic bacteria was observed for benchtops (p = 0.014), mattresses (p = 0.014), and doorknobs (p = 0.014). Visual inspection results also indicated enhancements, with approval rates for benchtops, armchairs, and mattresses rising from 0% before the intervention to 37.5% afterward.

The findings of this study demonstrate substantial improvements in approval rates following the implementation of the educational intervention. Additionally, this research provides valuable insights for the development of ongoing educational initiatives for the healthcare team, incorporating evaluation and feedback mechanisms as well as updates to cleaning and disinfection protocols.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, some patients still experience post-COVID-19 symptoms. It has been reported that COVID-19 symptoms can persist for more than three months after recovery.

This study aims to analyze biomarkers, severity, and outcome factors associated with post-COVID-19 symptoms.

This prospective cohort study involves hospitalised COVID-19 patients who were followed for up to 3 months after discharge. Clinical examinations and laboratory tests for MMP-9, TIMP-1, and IL-6 were conducted during hospitalisation and after three months.

We enrolled 76 COVID-19 patients, with a mortality rate of 30.26%. Among them, 55 individuals (30.91%) had no residual symptoms, 54.5% had acute COVID-19, 9.09% had ongoing COVID-19, and 5.45% had long-term COVID-19. Symptomatic post-COVID-19 had oxygen demand and respiratory rates higher than no-symptoms groups. Early IL-6, IL-10, MMP-9, and TIMP-1 were lower in symptomatic post-COVID-19 compared to dead and asymptomatic post-COVID-19 groups. IL-6 and MMP-9 decrease, and TIMP-1 increases after cure. IL-6 significantly still increases in post-COVID-19 symptoms compared to no-symptoms (p=0.01). Patients more than 50 years old and critically ventilated patients are prone to have symptoms post-COVID-19.

More than half of patients suffer from post-COVID-19 symptoms with various related factors. Even though IL-6 decreases after recovery, IL-6 levels are still higher in symptomatic post-COVID-19 patients.

The spectrum of COVID-19 in adults ranges from asymptomatic infection to mild respiratory tract symptoms to severe pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiorgan dysfunction. In our study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of COVID-19 vaccine on lung involvement and hospitalization.

Cases over the age of 18, who had a history of contact with cases infected with COVID-19 or had clinical findings suggestive of COVID-19, who applied to the emergency department and who were diagnosed with COVID-19 by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were included in the study. Age, gender, comorbid diseases, hospitalization status, thorax tomography findings, and vaccination status in the last 3 months of the patients included in the study were obtained by examining the hospital information system and patient files.

Our study included 496 patients. One hundred eighty-three of the cases were vaccinated and 42.6% (n = 78) of the vaccinated patients were male. Of the 313 unvaccinated patients, 36% (n = 113) were male. Comorbid disease was observed in 55.2% (n = 101) of the vaccinated patients and 38.7% (n = 121) of the unvaccinated patients. Of the 313 unvaccinated patients, 72.2% (n = 226) were discharged from the emergency department, 19.8% (n = 62) were admitted to the service, and 8% (n = 25) were admitted to the intensive care unit. Of the 183 vaccinated patients, 78.1% (n = 143) were discharged from the emergency department, 16.4% (n = 30) were admitted to the service, and 5.5% (n = 10) were admitted to the intensive care unit. In the vaccinated patient group, both the service admission rate and the intensive care hospitalization rate were found to be significantly lower than the non-vaccinated patient group (p < 0.05). Thoracic tomography findings of 32.9% (n = 103) of 313 unvaccinated patients were reported as CORADS 1-2-3, and thoracic tomography of the remaining 210 patients was reported as CORADS 4-5. The number of patients whose thorax tomography report was CORADS 4-5 was found to be significantly higher in the unvaccinated group than in the vaccinated group (p < 0.05).

In our study, it was found that vaccination significantly reduced hospitalization in COVID-19 patients. Although the mean age was higher in the vaccinated patient group, both the service admission rate and the intensive care admission rate were found to be lower.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted global health systems, highlighting the urgent need for effective treatment strategies. This article aims to provide an assessment of the pandemic's current status and examines the effectiveness of traditional treatments against innovative synthetic approaches.

The article explores synthetic strategies involving repurposed antiviral drugs, supportive care, and vaccinations. It emphasizes the role of computational modeling and artificial intelligence in engineering molecules with potent antiviral properties. In-silico methods were utilized to accelerate chemical library screenings, predict efficacy, and assess interactions between viral proteins and potential treatments.

Studies employing molecular docking analysis have evaluated the efficacy of approved antiviral drugs and natural compounds. Notably, Azithromycin was found to have a potential inhibitory effect with a binding energy of -9.69, while natural compounds like Camphor and Curcumin displayed binding energies of -5.18 and -6.16, respectively.

Synthetic treatments showed effectiveness in inhibiting viral proteins and facilitating rapid development, while natural products were more effective in preventing virus entry.

Based on in-silico docking studies, it can be concluded that natural products have more therapeutic effects than synthetic drugs.

Some evidence shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has had negative effects on the mental health status of different sections of society, including the medical staff.

The current study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mental health status of obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN) assistants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted in 23 hospitals across Iran in 2021 (January-March). Four hundred OB-GYN assistants were randomly and voluntarily enrolled in the study. The instrument used in this study was the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), which had four subscales, including somatic symptoms, anxiety/ insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. To collect data and to reach respondents in distant areas, the questionnaires were provided to the OB-GYN assistants by the online platform.

The mean age of the OB-GYN assistants was 32.3±2.6 years, and all were female. Of 400 OB-GYN assistants, 132 (33%) had no distress and 268 (67%) had psychiatric distress. According to subscales scoring, 72 (18%), 68 (17%), 92 (23%) and 64 (16%) had severe distress in somatic symptoms, anxiety/ insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression, respectively.

Considering that more than half of the Iranian OB-GYN assistants had poor mental health, it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative and destructive effect on the mental health of OB-GYN assistants. In this situation, they need psychological support and appropriate intervention.

Self-care is any activity that establishes and maintains one’s own health and prevents and deals with illnesses. According to the evidence, epidemiological crises affect mental health. Also, dealing with infertility can lead to mental health issues. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of self-care knowledge towards the COVID-19 crisis with anxiety and quality of life in infertile women.

A cross-sectional online survey via the social media platform WhatsApp based on convenience sampling of infertile women was conducted from April to December 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Infertility centers of Shiraz (A metropolis in the South of Iran, center of Fars province). Data was collected by demographic and infertility-related data questionnaire, self-structured questionnaire of self-care knowledge towards the COVID-19 crisis, state anxiety questionnaires, and Spielberger's standardized quality of life using Porsline software by self-report. Inclusion criteria were infertile women active in the virtual network. SPSS software IBM company version 20 was used for data analysis.

Most of the participants (62.2%) had average self-care knowledge about Covid-19. There was an inverse, and significant relationship between self-care knowledge of COVID-19 and anxiety of infertile women, i. e., the lower level of self-care knowledge of infertile women towards Covid-19 crisis was associated with a higher level of anxiety (p < 0.05). No significant relationship was found between the level of self-care knowledge of COVID-19 and infertile women’s quality of life (P > 0.05).

Increasing self-care knowledge of COVID-19among infertile women could affect their mental health. Education and increasing self-care knowledge during pandemics are recommended to manage the anxiety of infertile women and, as a consequence, promote fertility.

In the face of the rise of COVID-19, the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 has been reported, and an increase in MIS-C cases has been observed throughout the world. The majority of these cases were similar to Kawasaki disease concerning clinical presentation.

Despite similarities, MIS-C cases present clinical and laboratory differentiation, which makes it essential to portray similar cases worldwide to have a better consensus in the future. A 7-year-old male child visited the hospital with the chief complaints of fever associated with chills, rigors, and excessive myalgia for 3 days. He had a history of elevated high C-reactive protein (CRP) of 42.7 mg/L. He was diagnosed with Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS)-grade 3. Here, for the first time, we bring an Indian MIS-C case with COVID-19-associated Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS)-grade 3.

PIMS-TS infection in paediatrics is associated with a wider range of complications, and the importance of musculoskeletal complications in PIMS-TS has been discussed.