Liver enzymes in high-risk patients diagnosed with COVID-19

Introduction: It is important to know the alterations in liver enzymes in patients with COVID-19, as markers of liver damage. Objective: To identify alterations in liver enzymes in high-risk patients with COVID-19. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was carried out on alterations in liver enzymes in 56 patients admitted with COVID-19. The variables studied were age, sex, evolution towards gravity, and liver enzymes. Serum samples were taken on the first day of admission and on the fifth day to determine liver enzymes. The Ritis index was also found. Results: The average age was 66.64 ± 13.12 years, 51.8% were older men and 37.5% progressed towards severity. In all enzymes there was an increase in the mean on the fifth day of the study. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) were found to be high in most of the patients from the first day. On the fifth day, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was high in 71.4% of non-severe patients and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in severe cases. At the beginning, a Ritis index < 1 was more frequent, but on the fifth day the Ritis index > 1 increased by 42.9% in seriously ill. 56.6% of seriously ill patients modified this index on the fifth day. Conclusions: The elevation of the mean liver enzymes on the fifth day was demonstrated. LDH and GGT remained high from the beginning of the disease. The majority of severe patients reversed the Ritis index on the fifth day. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Clinical laboratory parameters in patients with covid-19

Introduction: Knowing the alterations in clinical laboratory tests is useful in the diagnosis and progress of patients with COVID-19. Objective: To describe the clinical laboratory parameters in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Methods: Descriptive study in 82 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The variables analyzed were age, sex, comorbidity, patient report, discharge status, hemoglobin, white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, absolute lymphocyte count, platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-dimer, creatinine, urea, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, neutrophil / lymphocyte and platelet / lymphocyte ratio. Results: The average age was 55.61 ± 22.04, the majority were female (57.3%), hypertensive (41.5%), 18.3% reported serious and 14.6% died. Advanced age and comorbidity were associated with the severity report. There was a significant decrease in hemoglobin, lymphocytes;elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-dimer, creatinine, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, and lactate dehydrogenase, especially in severe patients. The neutrophil / lymphocyte and platelet / lymphocyte ratio warned about the worsening of the patient and the possibility of death. Conclusions: The patients a mean age of 55.61, female, with arterial hypertension;they were discharged alive, reported as not serious. Mean hemoglobin values decrease, global lymphocyte count, especially in severe patients;increases D-dimer, creatinine, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, and LD. The neutrophil / lymphocyte and platelet / lymphocyte ratio show high mean values, especially in severely ill patients and in those who died. © 2021, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Perceptions and emotions in light of a pandemic: gathering the voices of boys and girls from a public early childhood institution in Uruguay

This article shows the preliminary results of an educational action-research activity framed in a university extension practice carried out by the Early Childhood and Initial Education Program of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of the Republic in an initial education center located in the city of Montevideo. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the team deployed an action-research device during the return to face-to-face attendance at educational centers that aimed to identify the perceptions that boys and girls attributed to the COVID-19 confinement. It also allowed to describe and analyze the emotions that confinement generated in them, as well as analyze the effects that girls and boys report in relation to the time of confinement and not attending the Educational Center. The main conclusions mark the directly proportional relationship that access to information by boys and girls had according to their evolutionary stage-with the possibility of generating a healthy adaptation to the new reality produced by confinement. This situation generated ambivalent emotions in boys and girls, mainly of joy about the time shared with the family and, to a lesser extent, of anger and fear due to isolation and the possibility of getting sick. The need that the majority of boys and girls expressed about longing the instances of socialization, play and learning in the educational center was also conclusive.