ABSTRACT
Introduction: Health care students have baseline elevated rates of anxiety, depression and burnout. However, not much is known regarding COVID-19's psychological impact on home-confined medical & nursing students. Aims: This study aimed at assessing the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression among health care students in Erode district, Tamilnadu during lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted via an online survey completed by students studying an MBBS and a Nursing degree in Erode district, Tamilnadu. The validated previously published Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire was used as a part of the online survey to assess students' stress, anxiety and depression scores. The data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: A total of 273 health care students (males: 29.3%, females: 70.7%) completed the survey. 50.9% of students are MBBS students, and 49.1% are nursing students. From those surveyed, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in different levels was 40.3% (110), 41.4% (113), and 30% (82), respectively, which are higher during lockdown. Mean depression (10.25 vs 7.75, p=0.05), anxiety (8.53 vs 6.6, p=0.05) and stress (11.76 vs 9.30, p=0.05) scores were higher among females than males. Final year students are having more depression (F=10.37, p=0.04), anxiety (F=9.93, p=0.05), and stress (F=9.97, p=0.05) than others, and it is confirmed using one-way ANOVA F-test. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 epidemic, stress, anxiety, and depression levels among health care students in Tamil Nadu were high. As a result, immediate and suitable psychological therapies for healthcare students should be undertaken to prevent the psychological harm caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, which might negatively impact their learning.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection has caused a prominent psychological and mental havoc among the patients. Till now, there is paucity in literature for the management of psychological problems among patients with Covid-19. So we aimed in our study to assess the effect of Yoga and Naturopathy intervention on anxiety and depression of Covid-19 patients. METHODS: This quasi experimental study was conducted among 130 Covid-19 positive patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital. Yoga and Naturopathic intervention was given for 60 min a day for two weeks. Hospital anxiety depression scale (HADS) and Corona anxiety scale (CAS) was used to assess the generalized anxiety and depression among the patients. RESULTS: Average age of the patients participated was 44 with the range from 36 to 53 years. Among them 85 were male and 45 were female. Of all 130 patients, 33% had symptoms of borderline depression, 9.2% had severe depression, 40% had borderline anxiety and 12.3% had severe anxiety. In CAS, 59 patients (45.38%) reported Covid-19 related dysfunctional anxiety. All the patients showed a significant reduction in the HADS- anxiety (P < 0.01), HADS-depression (p < 0.01) and CAS (p < 0.01) score after the intervention. CONCLUSION: The present study showed significant reduction of anxiety and depression level among the Covid-19 patients. These interventions can be added to the conventional care for better mental and physical wellbeing of the patients after validating the findings with justified study design.
ABSTRACT
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) is ß-coronavirus that is responsible for the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) all over the world. The rapid spread of the novel SARS CoV-2 worldwide is raising a significant global public health issue with nearly 61.86 million people infected and 1.4 million deaths. To date, no specific drugs are available for the treatment of COVID-19. The inhibition of proteases essential for the proteolytic treatment of viral polyproteins is a conventional therapeutic strategy for conquering viral infections. In the study, molecular docking approach was used to screen potential drug compounds among the phytochemicals of Vitex negundo L. against COVID-19 infection. Molecular docking analysis showed that oleanolic acid forms a stable complex and other phyto-compounds ursolic acid, 3ß-acetoxyolean-12-en-27-oic acid and isovitexin of V. negundo natural compounds form a less-stable complex. When compared with the control the synergistic interaction of these compounds shows inhibitory activity against papain-like protease (PLpro) of SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19). The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation (50 ns) were performed on the complexes of PLpro and the phyto-compounds viz. oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, 3ß-acetoxyolean-12-en-27-oic acid and isovitexin followed by the binding free energy calculations using MM-GBSA and these molecules have stable interactions with PLpro protein binding site. The MD simulation study provides more insight into the functional properties of the protein-ligand complex and suggests that these molecules can be considered as a potential drug molecule against COVID-19. In this pandemic situation, these herbal compounds provide a rich resource to produce new antivirals against COVID-19.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.