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Background: Bibliometric studies help in quantifying the pattern of research published in a particular area of interest to get the measure of research productivity. In this context, we analyzed the dental and COVID-19 research papers published from December 2019 to January 2021 globally. Method: The articles were retrieved from the PubMed and WHO COVID-19 databases using MeSH terms and keywords. The data downloaded as excel and extracted bibliometric information's and analyzed using Epi-info (7.2) software. Result: We obtained 800 research articles after removing duplicates and non-relevant articles from 1,823 articles from these two databases. The articles were published by 475 institutions in 62 countries. Among the listed countries, more publications were done by the United States of America (USA) (n=135;16.8%). The majority of the papers were published in June 2020 (n=114). The King's College London had the most number of publications (n=15;1.9%). The majority of the articles were original articles (n=592;74%). Conclusion: The study reports a gradual increase in publications over the months and a slowing down at the end of the year. The countries such as the USA, England, Italy, and China published more articles and this correlates with the number of covid-19 cases. © 2023 National Journal of Community Medicine│.
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Diseases of high order are in the race adding complexity to diagnosis and treatment every day. The pandemic caused by SARS-COVID has obviously clarified the need for immediate diagnosis and treatment of any disease in the healthcare industry. The existing diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and infectious diseases caused by microorganisms require the use of combinatorial diagnosis for immediate diagnosis to save the affected from adverse effects. Traditional and conventional methods are losing its importance as the methods have the disadvantages of time consumption, less sensitive, and not being accurate. Nanodiagnosis is one field which is emerging at a very fast rate to meet the needs of the current healthcare system. Future nanotechnology insights in health science are part of an ongoing effort to develop intelligent systems for early diagnosis and treatment. The small, structured molecules with a nanoscale size of 0.1–100 nm enhance the efficacy and safety in the medical field for diagnosis and treatment. Nanodiagnosis offers novel opportunities to sense clinical biomarkers in molecular diagnosis, disease imaging tools for diagnosis, and therapeutic intervention. Different categories of nanoparticles such as nanocolloidal system, nanowires, nanocarbon tubes, nanofibers, nanosphere, nanocrystals, nanodevices and dendrimers of biodegradable nanopolymeric materials have significant applications in health science. The highlighted nanoparticles will have a positive impact on human health for the diagnosis of diabetes;cancer;neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease;cardiovascular disease;TB;and infectious bacterial, viral, and protozoans. Nanotechnology and new nanoparticle-based diagnostic tools have shown tremendous potential in health science. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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This paper is about revisiting the famed Kerala "Model" of Development. It covers a period of six decades, from 1960 to 2020. The remarkable achievements of the State of Kerala in India in basic human development indicators despite a very low per capita income had attracted the attention of development economists and other social scientists interested in the development of poor economies. However, it was often referred to as a case of "high human development with low per capita income". This paper traces the trajectory of high human development that ultimately resulted in high economic growth in terms of two phases of growth. It measures that the early demographic transition, that is a result of high human development, itself contributed to a high per capita income growth in the second phase. The sustaining of the high growth was also a direct result of human development through large scale emigration of adult males to the Gulf countries for employment resulting in a long-term trend in remittances to the Kerala economy. The role of favourable initial conditions and a vibrant public sphere has been highlighted to emphasize the role of public action in demanding the delivery of human development services from the sub-national state. In this otherwise positive scenario, the paper notes the highly skewed nature of the high growth process with a diminishing role for the commodity-producing sectors of agriculture and industry. It has adversely affected employment generation to the increasing working age population. Official measurement of unemployment has been argued as inadequate and in its place the concept of under-utilization of labour has been highlighted. The problem of high unemployment (those seeking work) and under-utilization of labour (both seeking and not seeking work) has been shown to be considerably higher for women than men. This has resulted in the under-utilization of the labour of a significant share of educated women in the working age population. This problem has been termed as a "spectacular failure" on the part of the state. The failure is rooted in the inability of the state to manage public finance as well as public investments. Three examples of these "state failures" are: (a) a declining revenue collection efficiency, (b) persisting loss of the public sector enterprises, and (c) waste of public resources due to time and cost overruns in public investments in basic infrastructure. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 in the background of the massive floods of August 2018 is portrayed as the beginning of a new challenge for Kerala's development trajectory.
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The counter-intuitive nature of the results of the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2019–20 is unravelled by arguing that in a situation of exogeneous shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the poor and vulnerable working people will be forced to engage in some kind of economic activity for sustaining their livelihood during a year, if not instantly. This then becomes the rationale to examine the impact on employment in terms of wage work and self-employment. In addition, a distinction is made between job loss (change in the workforce) and work loss (employed but not at work for reasons other than sickness). © 2022 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.
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Background: COVID-19 pandemic has produced a great impact in the STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) care systems across the world. Patient hesitancy to seek medical attention for suspected STEMI, necessity of the health care systems to prioritize COVID-19 care, safety concerns of health care workers etc., have brought in unprecedented times for both patients and health care workers. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the establishment of a STEMI care system is less known Purpose: To identify the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on a developing public STEMI care system in a low-middle income country in Asia, with reference to the type of reperfusion offered and outcome. Methods: Data on number of STEMI admissions, type of reperfusion therapy and outcome are being collected from 12 teaching hospitals as a part of a developing public regional STEMI care system based on a hub and spoke model in a low middle-income country from August 2018. These 12 thrombolysis only hospitals were being upgraded as primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) capable hub hospitals in 2019. Though the hassles of COVID-19 pandemic affected this process significantly, daily data collection in our STEMI care system continued. The maximal COVID impacted period in 2020 was identified from the online database (1) as from April to December 2020. The number, type of reperfusion and outcome of the STEMI patients treated during this period were compared to the same data collected during April-December 2019. Results: A total of 13,137 STEMI patients were treated in our system during the two time periods April to December 2019 and April to December 2020. There was a 13.3% drop in the number of STEMI treated in 2020, compared to the number treated in 2019 (6101 vs 8925;P<0.001). This drop was in proportion to the number of new cases of COVID-19 reported in our state (Fig. 1a) We also noted a significant drop in the rate of PPCI and Pharmaco-invasive therapy (PIT) offered for STEMI in 2020 compared to 2019 in the same period (PPCI: 0.13% vs 5.9%-P<0.001 and PIT 0.64% vs 11%- P<0.001). This decrease in PPCI and PIT for STEMI also corresponded to the increase in number of new cases of COVID-19 reported (Fig. 1b). More patients received thrombolytic therapy for STEMI in 2020 compared to 2019 (73.6 vs 61.2% P<0.001). There was no change in the mortality of STEMI during this period. (Fig. 2) Conclusion: We found a significant drop in number of patients seeking medical care for STEMI during COVID-19 pandemic. There was significant drop in the rate of PPCI and PIT offered in our STEMI care system. Thrombolytic therapy remained the predominant mode of reperfusion as before, but with a significant increased rate of thrombolysis. There was no change in mortality rate in STEMI patients. Thrombolytic therapy is an acceptable mode of reperfusion, when the balance of a STEMI care system is disturbed by extraneous influences like the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Plants and bioactive compounds have played an important role in the development of several clinically useful therapeutic agents since time immemorial. In the recent years, more emphasis has been placed on identifying plant-derived compounds that can be used as an effective treatment for life-threatening diseases. COVID-19, a new strain of coronavirus (CoV), was identified in Wuhan, China, in 2019. No specific therapies are available and investigations regarding COVID-19 treatment are lacking. Bioactive compounds found in Siddha herbal formulation Deva Chooranam which was previously confirmed through molecular docking to have antiviral effects against HIV -RT. The present study aimed to assess Deva Chooranam as potential COVID-19 Mpro inhibitor. Molecular docking was performed using Autodock 4.2, with the Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm and results were visualized using pymol. The physiochemical and ADMET(Adsorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) properties were also analysed.COVID-19 Mpro was docked with several compounds, Eugenol A-Pinene, Atlantone, Myrcene, Luteolin, Apigenin, Kaempferol and docking was analysed using Pymol. The results showed that out of the 7 compounds screened Luteolin appeared to have the best potential binding against the COVID-19 Mpro 6LU7. However, further research is necessary to investigate their potential medicinal use. © 2020 iGlobal Research and Publishing Foundation. All rights reserved.
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Aims & Objectives: Aim: To describe an unexpected clinical condition during the pandemic due to Covid 19 Objectives: (1) To understand the effects of allopathic and alternative medicines at inappropriate doses on coagulation. (2) To understand the need of full coagulation work up to provide proper treatment. Patients/Materials & Methods: Present : A 47 year old gentle man was referred to haematologist for prolonged coagulation screen and factor X deficiency. Past : He had echymoses in the lower limbs and hematuria 2 months back. Nephrology & Urology opinion: Nil abnormality detected. Coagulation screen (prothrombin time & partial thromoplastin time) prolonged. InvestigatIon for common pathway factors show low Factor X. 3 units of fresh frozen plasma transfused to arrest hematuria and echymoses. (These past events happened elsewhere and was verified from his case file). Two years back he had plate implant without transfusion support for fracture femur which occurred due to road traffic accident. He has no comorbid conditions or bleeding history. Family history: No significant illness or bleeding history. Occupation: Pharmacist. Drug history: (1) Diclofeanac paracetamol 2 tabs/day for two years for pain. (2) Antihiastamines and antifungals for echymoses. (3) Kabasurakudineer and many other decotions for fear of Covid 19. Results: Diagnosis: Acquired Vitamin K dependent factor deficiencies. Treated with Vitamin K 10 mg orally daily for 3 months. Follow up: coagulation screen within reference range. Discussion & Conclusion: 1.Diclofenac known to inhibit platelet aggregation will interfere with coagulation? As in rats 2.Alternate system medicines interfere with vitamin K+ 3.Diclofenac and alternate medicines interaction cause vitamin k deficiency? 4.Lot of drugs causing malabsorption? Medications of all streams need physician guidance and follow up. Full coagulation work up is diagnostic and aids in treatment.
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COVID-19 pandemic has derailed the medical education system globally and setting it back on the track is a great challenge for the medical educationists. With the lockdown and social distancing being critical in curbing this pandemic, there is no denying the impact it has on medical education. Various medical schools have suspended all classes and live patient interactions for the students because of the recommended social isolation and quarantine. We are being hampered in our responsibility to educate future doctors and hence a vigorous focus on alternate measures is the need of the hour. Any alternative for the accustomed medical education system should be designed with the objective of facilitating the development of essential aptitudes in medical knowledge, patient care and ethics, personal care like proficient use of PPE, clinical and diagnostic skills. Swift measures need to be taken to prepare us for current and future crisis, if any arises. Hence an approach with the aim of risks outweighing benefits or vice versa should be properly scrutinised.