Correlation between psychiatric impact of COVID-19 during pregnancy and fetal outcomes in Egyptian women

The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was examined in 238 pregnant women with (n = 146) and without (n = 92) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Fetal outcomes in the same groups were evaluated using the Apgar score. Anxiety and depression scores were significantly higher in women with COVID-19 but PTSD scores were similar in both groups. Infection with COVID-19 was associated with a higher number of fetal deaths or an Apgar score <7. During the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 46.6% of pregnant women had depression, 5.5% had PTSD, 64.3% had state anxiety, and 60.9% had trait anxiety. Except for PTSD, psychiatric problems and poor fetal outcomes were higher in women with COVID-19 than in those without COVID-19. Lastly, women with COVID-19 were more prone to have a fetus who died or had an Apgar score of <7.

Genome Sequence of an Early Imported Case of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant (B.1.617.2 AY.122) in Iraq in April 2021.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant was first reported in India. Thereafter, the Delta variant became the most prevalent variant globally. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of an early imported case of a SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 AY.122 strain in Iraq. The strain was obtained from a flight passenger from India to Iraq on 20 April 2021.

A New Chemometrically Assisted UV Spectrophotometric Method for Simultaneous Determination of Tamsulosin and Dutasteride in Their Pharmaceutical Mixture.

BACKGROUND: Tamsulosin (TAM) and dutasteride (DUT) are ranked among the most frequently prescribed therapies in urology. Interestingly, studies have also been carried out on TAM/DUT in terms of their ability to protect against recent COVID-19. However, very few studies were reported for their simultaneous quantification in their combined dosage form and were mainly based on chromatographic analysis. Subsequently, it is very important to offer a simple, selective, sensitive, and rapid method for the quantification of TAM and DUT in their challenging dosage form. OBJECTIVE: In this study, a new chemometrically assisted ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometric method has been presented for the quantification of TAM and DUT without any prior separation. METHOD: For the calibration set, a partial factorial experimental design was used, resulting in 25 mixtures with central levels of 20 and 25 µg/mL for TAM and DUT, respectively. In addition, to assess the predictive ability of the developed approaches, another central composite design of 13 samples was used as a validation set. Post-processing by chemometric analysis of the recorded zero-order UV spectra of these sets has been applied. These chemometric approaches include partial least-squares (PLS) and genetic algorithm (GA), as an effective variable selection technique, coupled with PLS. RESULTS: The models' validation criteria displayed excellent recoveries and lower errors of prediction. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed models were effectively used to determine TAM/DUT in their combined dosage form, and statistical comparison with the reported method revealed satisfactory results. HIGHLIGHTS: Overall, this work presents powerful simple, selective, sensitive, and precise methods for simultaneous quantification of TAM/DUT in their dosage form with satisfactory results. The predictive ability and accuracy of the developed methods offer the opportunity to be employed as a quality control technique for the routine analysis of TAM/DUT when chromatographic instruments are not available.

Worry from contracting COVID-19 infection and its stigma among Egyptian health care providers

BackgroundsHealthcare providers (HCPs) in COVID-19 epidemic face stressful workload of disease management, shortage of protective equipment and high risk of infection and mortality. These stressors affect greatly their mental health. The aim is to identify working conditions among Egyptian HCPs during COVID-19 epidemic as well as stigma and worry perceptions from contracting COVID-19 infection and their predictors.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 565 HCPs. Data was collected through Google online self-administered questionnaire comprised seven parts: demographics characteristics, knowledge and attitude of COVID-19, working condition, worry of contracting COVID-19 at work, discrimination intention at work for COVID-19 patients, stigma assessment using impact stigma, and internalized shame scales.ResultsThe vast majority of HCPs (94.7%) were worried from contracting COVID-19 at work. Risk factors for perceiving severe worry from contracting COVID-19 were expecting infection as a severe illness, believing that infection will not be successfully controlled, improbability to continue working during the pandemic even if in a well/fit health, high discrimination intention and impact stigma scales. Significantly high impact stigma scores were detected among those aged < 30 years, females, workers primarily in sites susceptible for contracting COVID-19 infection, those had severe worry from contracting infection at work, and high internalized shame scale. The risk factors for perceiving higher internalized shame scores were not having a previous experience in working during a pandemic, high discrimination intention towards COVID-19 patients and high impact stigma scale.ConclusionsConsiderable levels of worry and stigma were detected among Egyptian HCPs during COVID-19 outbreak. The psychological aspect of health care providers should not be overlooked during epidemic;appropriate institutional mental health support should be provided especially for young HCPs, those without previous work experience in epidemic and those who work in high-risk units. Raising the community awareness about contribution of HCPs in fighting the epidemic might decrease stigmatization action toward HCPs.

Addressing Behavioral Health of the Diverse Older Adults in the Various Health Care Setting during COVID pandemia

During COVID-19 pandemia being in a “golden age” group, having chronic health conditions make people more susceptible to the virus. The need to socially distance creates the sense of isolation, affects older adults routines, mass transportation, and some “non-essential” social services. Those factors in addition to the uncertainty and fear COVID-19 creates, and the potential for older adults to be more vulnerable to the virus and higher mortality rates among older adults may exacerbate depression and anxiety for which effective and safe treatment interventions are required. Virtual partial hospitalization program offers affordable and convenient opportunity to address mental health needs of older adults. There were a number of challenges with transitioning to and utilizing a telehealth platform for psychiatric evaluation in the long term care setting during the COVID 19 pandemic. First, staffing of facilities was stretched during the pandemic, making facilitation of Tele visits difficult. Without staff present through the entire visit to sort out technical difficulties, repeat questions and instructions for patients with hearing difficulties, and help patients complete questionnaires, evaluation was significantly limited. Additionally, the restrictions in place to mitigate viral transmission to residents and staff played unique roles in the psychiatric population. Isolation, lack of intellectual stimulation though group activities/dining, and halted family visits contributed to depression, anxiety, and agitation. Compounded with limited access to staff for therapy and medical management, we certainly observed a decline in motivation and functioning in our patients. In sum, while telehealth was successfully used in many settings during the COVID 19 pandemic, unique challenges in the geriatric psychiatry population residing in long term care facilities made implementation difficult. Lack of in-person visits and staffing shortages may have also contributed to escalation of psychiatric symptoms. Offering tele-psychiatry to diverse VA older adult patient population appears to be a valuable option although especially in the rural areas may present some challenges including irregularities of the internet connection, limited equipment availability as well as limited proficiency of the patient's utilization of the various telehealth platforms. However with appropriate training and equipment supplies those challenges can be resolved.

Sleep quality, stress level and COVID-19 in university students; the forgotten dimension.

Introduction: COVID-19 is a novel pandemic that has had a profound impact on global physical and psychological health. We aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on stress, sleep quality, and insomnia among South Valley University students in Egypt during the quarantine period. Material and Methods: A questionnaire, including the Pittsburgh sleep quality index, the insomnia severity index, the perceived stress scale and COVID-19 fear index was distributed to the undergraduate students through the online platforms of South Valley University during the period of 1st to 15th June 2020. Results: Of a total respondent sample of 2,474 students, 24.5% had high-perceived stress levels, 31.3% had clinical insomnia, and about 80% were identified as generally poor sleepers by the PSQI. Being female, having a chronic disease, having a sleep disorder before the quarantine, or consuming caffeine were the main factors associated with high stress levels, clinical insomnia, and poor sleep quality. Also, levels of fear of COVID-19 were higher among people with high stress levels, clinical insomnia, and poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Considerable levels of stress and poor sleep quality were identified among undergraduate university students during the pandemic/home isolation period. The effect was more obvious among certain demographic groups and among the students who scored higher in the fear of COVID-19 scale.

COVID-19 and hydatidiform mole.

The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic threatens the entire world resulting in severe consequences for people's health. Pregnant patients with COVID-19 had immune dysregulation that could result in abnormal pregnancy outcomes such as hydatidiform mole (HM), recurrent pregnancy loss, and early-onset preeclampsia. In this article, we tried to summarize the possible association between COVID-19 and the HM's development by reviewing the role of NOD-Like Receptor (NLR) Family Pyrin Domain Containing 7 (NLRP7), cytokines, zinc, and leukocytes in the pathogenesis of HM.

Psychological effect of COVID-19 on medical health-care workers.

OBJECTIVE: To review the psychological Effect of COVID-19 on medical health-care workers. CONCLUSIONS: Social support is a cornerstone in facing COVID-19 and uplifting the spirits of both patients and their doctors along with the whole medical staff dealing with the pandemic.

A focused review on the genital and sexual affection of COVID-19 patients.

The pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) could harm the reproductive and sexual health of both males and females. This could be through psychological, immunological, or systemic effects. In this article, we tried to elucidate the mechanisms that could explain the current and future genital affection of COVID-19 patients.

The mutual effects of COVID-19 and obesity.

•The rate of obesity was increased during this era of the COVID-19 epidemic.•Obesity is dangerous in COVID-19 patients.•Obesity is associated with other co-morbidities could affect the prognosis of COVID-19 patients.

Hydatidiform mole in the era of COVID-19 pandemic. Is there an association?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is considered a worldwide pandemic. COVID-19 patients had profound immune dysregulation so they could be susceptible for adverse pregnancy outcomes as hydatidiform mole. In this article, we tried to explain the link between hydatidiform mole and COVID-19.