Management of Cancer Patients in the COVID-19 Crisis Using Telemedicine: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine can provide a solution for disease management during the COVID-19 pandemic. This literature review aims to explore the role of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic for management of cancer patients. METHOD: A comprehensive systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Science Direct, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases for the papers published until April 2021. Studies were included in case they had practically used telemedicine in the management of cancer patients during the COVID-19 crisis. RESULTS: After screening 2614 titles and abstracts and reviewing 305 full-texts, 16 studies were found to be eligible. The results indicated that most of the patients contacted by telemedicine services mostly used to intract with patients breast cancer (n=4, 25%). The most common use of telemedicine was the provision of virtual visit services (n=10, 62.25%). Besides, communication was most frequently provided by live video conferences (n=11, 68.75%). CONCLUSION: Telemedicine can provide continued access to necessary health services in oncology care and serve as an important role in pandemic planning and response.

Therapeutic potentials of CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology in human viral infections.

Viral infections are a common cause of morbidity worldwide. The emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to more attention to viral infections and finding novel therapeutics. The CRISPR-Cas9 system has been recently proposed as a potential therapeutic tool for the treatment of viral diseases. Here, we review the research progress in the use of CRISPR-Cas technology for treating viral infections, as well as the strategies for improving the delivery of this gene-editing tool in vivo. Key challenges that hinder the widespread clinical application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology are also discussed, and several possible directions for future research are proposed.

The Experiences of Nurses of Infectious and Non- Infectious Wards of Caring COVID-19 Patients in a Big Hospital in Iran: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Nurses play a very important role in caring for patients with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). They are on the frontline fighting COVID-19. The objective was to explore the experiences of nurses in the surgical and infectious wards about caring for patients with COVID-19 in a large and tertiary care hospital in Iran. Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative study. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 nurses in the Imam Reza Hospital Complex from April to May 2020, Mashhad, Iran. Data analysis was performed using the method proposed by Lundman and Granheim. The Maxqda10 software was used. Results: The experiences were summarized into three categories: (1) experiencing new feelings and relationships with colleagues and patients, (2) viewpoints about managers' performance, and (3) concern about getting infected with COVID-19. Findings reflected similar experiences on personal protective equipment between nurses in the surgical and infectious wards. Experiencing new feelings and relationships with colleagues and patients and concern about getting infected and spreading the COVID-19 were mostly expressed by infectious nurses and surgical nurses, respectively. Conclusions: This research results provide evidence of the experiences of infectious and non-infectious disease nurses who are currently caring for COVID-19 patients. Due to some differences between the experiences of these two groups in COVID-19, it is suggested to pay more attention to the needs and required skills in the staff mix during a crisis.