Care for an elderly frail woman with double infection by Clostridium difficile and COVID-19 in the hospital setting

The objective was to present an individualized nursing plan of care for a 94-year-old woman, presenting frailty, without cognitive deterioration, coming from a nursing home and admitted to the Internal Medicine Unit by referral from the Emergency Unit, due to presenting infection by Clostridium difficile and respiratory infection by COVID-19. After assessment at admission, following Marjory Gordon's functional health patterns, the following NANDA diagnoses were prioritized: frailty syndrome of the elderly, skin integrity deterioration, and chronic pain. The desired NOC outcomes were determined for each: nutritional status, mobility, knowledge: prevention of falls, tissue integrity: skin and mucous membranes, pain: harmful effects, pain;adverse psychological response. The NIC interventions and their corresponding activities achieved an improvement in the basal score of all indicators, reaching the target score. It is essential to address care for elderly patients from the physical, mental, functional and social areas. © 2023 DAE Editorial, Grupo Paradigma. All rights reserved.

RESISTANCE OF SARS COV-2 TO SEAWATER

In this study, it was aimed to comparatively investigate the grain properties of shoe upper leathers produced for different purposes. Thus, six different types of shoe upper leather (cracked, antique, patent, nappa, nubuck, printed) were provided from three different footwear companies. The tensile strength and elongation at break (TS EN ISO 3376), single and double edge tear strength (TS EN ISO 3377-1, TS EN ISO 3377-2), cracking and bursting resistance (TS 4137 EN ISO 3378, TS EN ISO 3379), flex resistance (TS EN ISO 5402-1) as well as dry and wet rubbing fastness tests (TS EN ISO 11640) were applied to leathers that have similar thicknesses. The results of the study gave information about the physical strength and product performances of different upper leather types. The data were evaluated comparatively and the effects of shoe upper leather types on quality and performance were evaluated. © 2022 Toate drepturile asupra acestei ediţii sunt rezervate editorilor.

NEW FORMULATION EFFECTIVE AGAINST SARS CoV-2 AND H1N1

People apply a wide variety of over-the-counter treatments as food supplements against respiratory tract infections. In this study, we investigated the antiviral efficacy of piperine, capsaicin, and glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) against coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2) and Influenza viruses (H1N1), which are associated with acute respiratory infections. TCID50 concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1 isolates were determined. Then, the effectiveness of phytochemicals against these viral isolates at non-toxic concentrations was investigated. For this purpose, the MTT method and RTPCR techniques were used. Non-toxic concentrations of Capsaicin, Piperine, and GA on Vero cells were determined as 0.625 μg/ml, and Ceramide at 1.25 μg/ml and lower concentrations. It was determined that Capsaicin and Piperine showed very significant antiviral activity against SARS CoV-2 when compared to standard drugs at concentrations of 0.312 μg/ml. The effectiveness of GA was determined to be lower (0.625 μg/ml) than these two phytochemicals. Capsaicin, piperine, and GA exhibited antiviral activity on SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1 viral replication, especially the activity of the combination of capsaicin plus piperine against SARS CoV-2 was stronger than the activity against N1N1 than against H1N1. In addition, it was determined that the triple combination of these components exhibited stronger antiviral activity than single and double combinations, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of viral copies. We think that this new formulation containing three different phytochemical compounds is effective against SARSCoV- 2 and influenza viruses, which are the most important causes of morbidity and mortality from respiratory tract viruses, and can be effective, especially for prophylactic purposes. © 2022 Toate drepturile asupra acestei ediţii sunt rezervate editorilor.

Violacein and its antifungal activity: comments and potentialities.

Violacein is an important natural antimicrobial pigment that is mainly produced by Chromobacterium violaceum and Janthinobacterium lividum. It presents a significant range of effects against phytopathogenic and human fungi, besides being featured as having low toxicity, and by its important ecological role in protecting amphibian species and applications in dyed medical fabric. The hypothesis about violacein's action mechanisms against mucormycosis (Rhizopus arrhizus) and candidiasis (Candida auris) is herein discussed based on data available in the scientific literature.

The prevalence of anxiety and associated factors in physicians at a Brazilian public university in the COVID-19 pandemic

With the current COVID-19 pandemic health professionals working directly in the care of suspected and infected patients have suffered some unbalance of both their physical and mental health. The constant psychological fear and the great physical and emotional demands are stressors that medical workers have to face, which can contribute to the emergence or worsening of psychiatric disorders, particularly anxiety disorders. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with anxiety in medical professionals who work in teaching, doctors who work exclusively in assistance and residents of a Regional University Hospital in Southern Brazil, which is a reference in the treatment of cases of COVID-19 in the region. This is a cross-sectional observational study that used the Google Forms platform to collect data, a sociodemographic questionnaire was applied, whose content included living conditions and the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. Fifty-one professionals out of the 97 contacted completed the survey. Most of the respondents were men (64.7%), the average age was 40.7 years, 47.1% worked for more than 10 years and 31.4% reported some sleep disorder. The prevalence of anxiety was 25.49%, with a predominance of single (53.85%), white (69.23%) women (53.85%), the median age was 34 years. The results of the study showed shorter time in the career, activities associated with COVID-19, living alone and the lack of regular physical activity were factors associated with anxiety.

Nano-Immunotherapy Accelerates Recovery of Patient with Covid-19: Clinical Analysis and Metabolomics

In a severe COVID-19 patient case (78-year old male) that was under active immunotherapy for high-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer was followed. He received a shorter hospitalization period, as hypothesis it was suggested that active immunotherapy played a crucial role together to anti-inflammatory and antiviral treatment in precluding the evolution of pulmonary symptoms to a poor prognosis.