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Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Schultz-Bip (feverfew) is among the important medicinal and aromatic plants due to its tryptophan (TRP), serotonin (SER), melatonin (MEL), and parthenolide (PRT) content. In recent studies, have reported TRP, MEL, and (PRT) are effective in the treatment of COVID-19, thus increasing the popularity of feverfew, which is rich in these valuable molecules. This study investigated the possible effects of exogenous foliar applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA 0.5 mM) and TRP (20 mM) on plant TRP, SER, MEL, and PRT levels. During the pre-flowering period, endogenous TRP was measured as 128.9 mu g/mL and endogenous PRT as 1.53% mg/g in the leaves of the control group. During the flowering period, the MEL level was measured as 1.38 mu g/mL in the leaves of the TRP application group. In addition, in the pre-flowering period, MeJA-induced increases of 94.51% were determined in DPPH antioxidant activity and the total flavonoid content was 38.76 mg QE/g, whereas the highest total phenolic content of 51.63 mg GAE/g was found in flower samples of the control group. However, neither the developmental periods nor the treatments significantly affected the total phenolic content in the leaves.
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Introduction: After COVID-19 infection, symptoms last for weeks or months. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between functional status and fatigue and the associated factors in patients with COVID-19. Method(s): Patients with COVID-19 infection who applied to 13 centers were included into the study according to the inclusion criteria. Age, gender, height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), marital status, smoking status and amount, presence, duration of chronic disease, Charlson comorbidity index, regular exercise habit, time of diagnosis with COVID-19, presence of hospitalization,length of hospital stay, intubation status, home oxygen therapy need, participation in PR program, presence of dyspnea, cough, sputum, mMRC score, post-COVID functional status scale, fatigue severity scale, EQ-5D-5L Questionnaire scores were recorded. Result(s): Of the 1095 patients, 603 (55%) were male and 492 (45%) were female. Their mean age was 50+/-14 years. The most common chronic lung disease was COPD (11%), while 266 patients (29%) had non-pulmonary systemic disease. The median time of COVID-19 diagonosis was 5 months ago with 47% hospitalization rate. The median value of post-COVID functional status scale was 1 (0:4), and fatigue severity scale score was 4.4 (1:7). There was a significant correlation between post-COVID functional status and fatigue severity scale (r=0.43, p <0.01). Conclusion(s): Functional status and fatigue were found to be related primarily to quality of life and then patients' age, BMI, presence of chronic and systemic lung disease, regular exercise habits before COVID-19, hospitalization and its duration, home oxygen therapy and symptoms.
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Background and aim: Although exposure during drug administration and susceptibility to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection secondary to immunomodulatory effects constitute potential risks for patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) or asthma on omalizumab (OMZ), there is a risk of loss of response following discontinuation of OMZ. There are few studies describing the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients receiving OMZ. Materials and methods: A total of 103 patients on OMZ were included in the study between February 2021 and January 2022. Results: Fourteen (13.6%) of the patients participating in the study had SARS-CoV-2 infection, of whom 3 (21.4%) required hospitalization and 11 (78.6%) were treated in an outpatient clinic. During the pandemic, 17 (16.5%) of the patients interrupted their OMZ treatment. Patients on OMZ for six months or less had a lower rate of interruption (2.5%) than those on OMZ for more than 6 months (25.4%). Patients interrupted treatment for the following reasons: 3 (17.6%) had COVID-19, 10 (58.9%) did not attend the hospital visit due to concern about contamination with SARS-CoV-2, and 4 (23.5%) thought that OMZ treatment would facilitate contamination with SARS-CoV-2. After interrupting OMZ, 3 (25%) female patients and 5 (100%) male patients presented no worsening of their symptoms. Three (13%) of the patients on OMZ for asthma and 11 (13.8%) of those on the drug for urticaria had COVID-19 infection. Patients presenting CSU and severe asthma are completely different, with different potential consequences of OMZ interruption. Nine (52.9%) patients had aggravated symptoms following interruption of OMZ treatment. Three of them described worsening of asthma symptoms and a need to increment their maintenance therapy due to asthma exacerbation after nearly three weeks of interruption, and 6 of them had hives and pruritus as urticaria exacerbation nearly four weeks after interruption of OMZ. The asthma patients did not stop their other treatments, including inhaled corticosteroids. Conclusion: Use of OMZ does not increase the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19-related pneumonia, or COVID-19-related hospitalization. We advise patients not to interrupt OMZ treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic unless advised to do so by their doctors, and we recommend that they receive instruction concerning self-administration of OMZ to avoid visiting hospitals in the event of a pandemic.
Buts de l'étude: Bien que l'exposition lors de l'administration du médicament et la susceptibilité individuelle à l'infection par le coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) secondaire aux effets immunomodulateurs soient des risques potentiels pour le patient victime d'urticaire chronique idiopathique (UCI) ou d'asthme recevant de l'omalizumab (OMZ), il existe également un risque de perte de réponse au traitement à la suite de l'arrêt de l'OMZ. Matériels et méthodes: Un total de 103 patients recevant de l'OMZ ont été inclus dans l'étude entre février 2021 et janvier 2022. Résultats: Quatorze (13,6 %) patients participant à l'étude ont été victimes d'une infection à coronavirus, 3 d'entre eux (21,4 %) ont été hospitalisés et 11 (78,6 %) ont été traités en ambulatoire. Durant la pandémie, 17 (16,5 %) patients arrêtèrent le traitement par OMZ. Le taux d'arrêt était plus faible (2,5 %) chez les patients recevant l'OMZ depuis 6 mois ou moins par rapport aux patients recevant l'OMZ depuis plus de 6 mois (25,4 %). L'arrêt du traitement était motivé par l'infection COVID-19 dans 3 cas (17,6 %), par une non-fréquentation de l'hôpital par crainte de contagion dans 10 cas (58,9 %), et dans 4 cas (23,5 %) parce qu'ils pensaient que l'OMZ favorisait l'infection COVID-19. Après l'arrêt de l'OMZ, 3 (25 %) femmes et 5 (100 %) hommes n'ont présenté aucune aggravation de leurs symptômes. Trois (13 %) patients recevant de l'OMZ pour asthme et 11 (13,8 %) pour de l'UCI présentèrent une infection par COVID-19. Les patients souffrant d'UCI ou d'asthme sévère étaient totalement différents, avec des conséquences potentielles différentes de l'interruption de l'OMZ. Neuf (52,9 %) patients aggravèrent leurs symptômes à l'arrêt de l'OMZ. Trois d'entre eux décrivirent une accentuation des symptômes d'asthme avec besoin d'augmenter leur traitement de fond pour exacerbation d'asthme après près de 3 semaines d'arrêt, et 6 d'entre eux présentèrent une exacerbation de l'urticaire avec papules et prurit après près de 4 semaines d'arrêt de l'OMZ. Les asthmatiques n'arrêtèrent pas les autres médicaments dont les corticostéroïdes inhalés. Conclusion: L'OMZ n'augmente pas les risques d'infection par COVID-19, ni les pneumopathies liées à l'infection COVID-19, ni les hospitalisations dues au COVID-19. Nous prévenons les patients de ne pas interrompre leur traitement par OMZ pendant la pandémie par COVID-19 sans avis médical, et nous recommandons une éducation thérapeutique pour l'auto-administration d'OMZ pour éviter les séjours hospitaliers en cas de pandémie.
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During the global Covid-19 pandemic, the shutdown of educational institutes has resulted in a phenomenal surge in online learning. Academic activities were shifted to online learning platforms to restrict the influence of COVID-19 and block its spread. For both students and parents, the efficiency of online learning is a major concern, particularly in terms of its suitability for students and teachers, as well as its technological applicability in various social situations. Before the online learning approach can be employed on such a big scale, such challenges must be viewed from different aspects. This study aims to assess the efficiency of online learning by examining individuals' sentiments toward it. Due to social media becoming such an essential form of communication, people's opinions can be observed on platforms like Twitter. The main motivation is to use a Twitter dataset featuring online learning-related tweets. Briefly, we focused on specifying the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education in many aspects and parameters by using tweets. We utilized natural language processing models for text classification with a gathered dataset that includes fetching tweets consisting of Covid-19 and education topics. We developed a fine-tuned Long short-term memory (LSTM) model that utilizes data augmentation for classifying the emotional states of individuals. With the deep sentiment analysis model that we proposed, we observed that the negative sentiments were experienced more. © 2022 IEEE.
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School closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic have changed education forever and we have witnessed the rise of online learning platforms. The education units of the countries made great efforts to adapt to this new order. The expanding, quick spread of the virus and careful steps have prompted the quest for reasonable choices for continuing education to guarantee students get appropriate education and are not impacted logically or mentally. Different methods were attempted to understand how students were affected by this big change. In addition to the significance of traditional surveys and consulting services, the utilization of social media analysis is used as a supportive approach. This paper analyzes the feedback of students on social media via tweets. Deep sentiment analysis is employed to identify embedded emotions such as negative, neutral, and positive. We also aimed to classify irrelevant tweets as the fourth category. Our experiments showed that the tweets are mostly biased toward negative emotions. © 2022 IEEE.
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Background and aim: As the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 arises worldwide, the effect of vaccines is protecting its importance. The aim of this study was to investigate the vaccination perspectives of patients and learn how many patients were persuaded to get vaccinated with the effect of the education provided by allergists. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 200 adult patients in the outpatient clinic between February 2021 and January 2022. Patients filled out the anti-vaccination scale form and a questionnaire form developed by allergists. The training about COVID-19 vaccines has been given to the patients who did not consider getting vaccinated. The patients were called by phone and questioned whether they have been vaccinated or not, after 22 weeks. Results: Out of 200 patients participants, 60.5% were considering getting vaccinated. Patients who did not consider getting vaccinated comprised 45.7% of women and 31% of men. While 52.4% of primary school graduates considered getting vaccinated, 75% of high school graduates and 60.8% of higher education graduates were considering getting vaccinated. Major reasons for rejecting vaccination were concerns about side effects and allergy. While the majority of women (47.2%) who did not want to get vaccinated were concerned about vaccine side effects, the majority of men (34.6%) did not want to get vaccinated because they did not trust the efficacy of the vaccine. Vaccination rates have been increased with the training we provided to our patients who did not consider getting the vaccine. 76 patients could be reached by phone and 81.6% of them were vaccinated, and 18.4% were not. Conclusion: The vaccination rates of allergy patients who did not consider getting vaccinated were increased with the information provided by allergists. So, the allergists should give more attention for giving information and increasing the vaccination rates of covid-19.
But de l: 'étude Alors que l'épidémie de maladie à coronavirus (COVID-19) impacte le monde entier, l'effet préventif de la vaccination est de première importance. Le but de cette étude était d'évaluer les souhaits de vaccination des patients et d'apprécier combien d'entre eux étaient persuadés de l'intérêt de celle ci après avoir bénéficié d'un parcours éducatif auprès des allergologues. Matériel et Méthodes: Une étude transversale a été menée parmi 200 patients adultes suivis en ambulatoire entre février 2021 et janvier 2022. Les patients renseignaient une échelle analogique de refus de vaccination et un questionnaire élaboré par des allergologues. Une éducation thérapeutique sur les vaccins pour la COVID-19 était dispensée aux patients refusant la vaccination. Les patients étaient ensuite contactés par téléphone pour savoir s'ils avaient été ou non vaccinés après 22 semaines. Résultats: Parmi les 200 patients, 60,5 % étaient considérés comme vaccinés. Les patients non vaccinés concernaient 45 % des femmes et 31 % des hommes. Alors que 52,4 % des patients ayant suivi une scolarité primaire étaient vaccinés, 75 % des patients de, niveau lycée et 60,8 % de niveau université se déclaraient vaccinés. Les raisons principales de refus de vaccination concernaient la crainte d'effets secondaires et le risque allergique. Alors que la majorité des femmes (47,2 %) refusant la vaccination alléguait le risque d'effets secondaires, la majorité des hommes (34,6 %) ne souhaitait pas être vaccinée pour non confiance dans l'efficacité du vaccin. Les désirs de vaccination étaient augmentés après éducation thérapeutique chez les patients ne souhaitant pas être vaccinés. Ainsi 76 patients ont pu être joints par téléphone et 81,6 % d'entre eux avaient pu être vaccinés et 18,4 % ne l'étaient pas. Conclusion: Les taux de vaccination des patients allergiques qui ne souhaitaient pas être vaccinés ont été augmentés après l'information fournie par les allergologues. Ainsi les allergologues devraient apporter toute leur attention à donner des informations visant à augmenter la vaccination pour la COVID-19.
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Consistent with the growth in aging population, the number of individuals with dementia is increasing. There is an agreement regarding the essential role of neuropsychological assessment in the early detection of cognitive decline, which is crucial in improving the course of dementia. Neuropsychological assessment that is usually applied with classical paper-pencil tests became digitalized with advancing technology. This digitalization spread rapidly, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the digital approaches that are used in the neuropsychological assessment of older adults. In this context, a critical review of digital approaches, including teleneuropsychology, computerized neuropsychological assessment batteries, mobile technology or web-based assessment tools, and innovative technological methods, such as virtual and augmented reality has been conducted. The results of teleneuropsychology studies, which focused on remote administration of neuropsychological tests usually via videoconference, indicated that this method is reliable and valid. Computerized batteries and methods based on mobile technology provide an opportunity for self-testing in nonclinical settings and a background for follow-up studies with large samples. Although assessment methods using new technologies, such as virtual reality, are still in their infancy, they have great potential for more sensitive measurements. The majority of the methods involved in digital approaches, which have advantages such as increased accessibility and standardization of measurements, revealed consistent results with classical paper-pencil tests and patients' diagnosis. However, a detailed psychometric analysis and best practice guidelines of the digital approaches are still lacking. Moreover, digital approaches can present a challenge in the clinician-patient relationship and have limitations in patient observation during testing. Despite the limitations due to digital neuropsychology applications, digital approaches have the potential to provide important benefits to patients, professionals in the area, and the health system. In this respect, academic and clinical studies that would benefit all parties are important.
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The important molecule tryptophan and its derivatives serotonin and melatonin have vital functions in human and plant biosystem. Recent reports claimed these molecules and parthenolide may also have a role in COVID-19 treatments. Herewith the study, contents of chlorogenic acid, cynarin, quinic acid, parthenolide, and tryptophan derivatives in leaf and flowers of seven species of Tanacetum from Turkey were examined using HPLC. The methanolic extracts of the species were also screened for their total phenolic content and DPPH scavenging activity. Regarding to HPLC data, the highest amount of chlorogenic acid and cynarin were detected in T. cilicicum, quinic acid in T. densum subsp. amani and parthenolide in T. argenteum subsp. argenteum leaves. Also, the highest amount of tryptophan and serotonin were estimated in T. argenteum subsp. argenteum. Melatonin content was highest in T. densum subsp. amani. All Tanacetum species exhibited potent antioxidant activities. T. densum subsp. amani (Afsin) flowers had higher DPPH activity than control group BHT and T. cilicicum leaves and flowers had the highest total phenolic content. Herewith, phenolic profiles of T. argenteum subsp. argenteum, T. armenum and T. densum subsp. amani and tryptophan derivates of the species were reported for the first time.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been in our lives for a long time, is a viral disease that threatens our health, lowers our quality of life, and causes changes of our habits in daily lives. Studies have indicated that obesity is an important factor in the more severe complications of this disease. In addition, the prevalence of obesity has increased due to the changes in eating and food shopping habits as a result of psychological factors such as decreased physical activity, fear, and stress during long periods of stay at home in the pandemic, and withdrawal from healthy eating behaviours. Since nutrition is of great importance in combating COVID-19, as well as in many diseases with high pre-valence, many institutions and organizations related to nutrition have published nutritional recommendations against COVID-19 in order to strengthen the immune system. In this review it will be summarized, how obesity plays a role in the development of COVID-19 as a risk factor, how vital changes occurring during the pandemic process pose a risk for obesity, and the relationship between dietary habits and COVID-19.
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Background and Aim: The exact treatment method of Covid-19 has not been found so far. However, some small-scale studies have shown the potential benefit of hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine (hydroxychloroquine treatment in our country) and azithromycin in Covid-19 treatment. It is known that these drugs (alone or combined use) may increase the risk of malignant arrhythmia such as torsades de pointes (polymorphic ventricular tachycardia) with prolonged QT interval. There is no data showing the effect of Favipiravir on cardiac arrhythmia. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on the QTc interval in patient with Covid-19. Methods: Patients who hospitalized in our center between March and May 2020 for Covid-19 and treated with recommendations of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health SARS-CoV-2 guide included in our study. The data of 142 consecutive patients who received hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin treatment were retrospectively analyzed and the QTc interval in ECG was calculated with the Bazzet formula. Patients who were already using hydroxychloroquine (i.e. because of autoimmune disease etc), hypersensitivity to hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin and patients who use drugs other than hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin that can prolong the QT interval were excluded. Patients with baseline QTc 500 milliseconds (msec) or longer were also excluded from the study. According to the protocol, ECG was performed all patients before treatment, and ECG controls were performed on the 1st, 3rd and 5th days of the treatment. Results: The mean age of the study population was 46.9±17.3. A total of 142 patients (50.7% male and 49.3% female), received hydroxychloroquine therapy, 36 patients (25%) received hydroxychloroquine monotherapy, while 106 patients (75%) received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination therapy (Table 1). Majority of the patients were in sinus rhythm (%95,1) with mean baseline heart rate of 81.9±14.7 beats per minute. Mean baseline QTc values of 142 patients were 417.3±24 msec, ranging between 356-486 msec. There were no significant differences between the baseline, 1st, 3rd and 5th day's QTc values of two groups. (p>0.05). When each groups were evaluated for QTc prolongation during the therapy period, it was observed that the baseline QTc interval was significantly prolonged with treatment in both the hydroxychloroquine group and the hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin group (Table 2) (p<0.05). There were no patients required discontinuation of these medications, no malign arrhythmia and no arrhythmogenic deaths due to QTc prolongation (Table 3). Conclusions: Although treatment-related QTc prolongation is observed in our study population, no malignant arrhythmia was observed. Close monitoring of the treatment process by cardiologist and the predetermination of patients with long onset QTc distances are considered to be the most important factor in the safe management of the treatment.
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Background and Aim: The aim of this study is to report our experience on electrophysiological (EP) procedures during the Coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and compare the results with findings from a similar timeframe from the previous year. Methods: Patients who underwent an EP procedure during the Covid-19 pandemic in our hospital between dates March 20, 2020 and May 1, 2020 constituted the study group. Patients who underwent an EP procedure between dates March 20, 2019 and May 1, 2019 constituted the control group. Baseline characteristics and the indication for EP procedure between the groups were compared. Results: Compared to previous year, there was a 61.5% reduction in the total number of EP procedures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to control group, the number of VT ablation was higher in the study group (22.7% vs. 5.3%, p=0.001). The number of AF ablation (16.7% vs. 2.3%, p=0.015) and PVC ablation (9.6% vs. 0%, p=0.033) were higher in the control group. The number of PM implantation was higher during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the control group (13.6% vs 2.6%, p=0.007). Although the number of ICD implantation was similar between the groups (15.9% vs 14.9%, p=0.875), more patients in the study group had ICD implantation for secondary prevention (11.4% vs 4.5%). There was no CRT implantation performed in Covid-19 pandemic period. Conclusions: The number of EP procedures is decreased and there are important differences in the indications of EP procedures during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to routine practice.