Research COVID-19 and its Outcomes in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease that resulted in 4533645 deaths until September first, 2021. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients receive immunosuppressive drugs. Thus, there is a concern that these drugs will reduce the patient's immune system resistance against COVID19. Objective(s): This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of COVID19 and its impact on MS patients in our university hospital in Tehran City, Iran. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted based on hospital-based registry data from May 2020 to March 2021. Among more than 500 registered MS patients in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran City, Iran, referring within our study period, 84 patients reported SARS-COV2 infection. The diagnosis of MS was confirmed by the McDonald criteria. Moreover, the diagnosis of COVID-19 in MS patients was established by the real-time-PCR technique and chest computed tomography. Result(s): Out of 84 MS patients with SARS-COV2 infection, 55(65.5%) were women, and their mean age was 37.48 years. The most commonly used medications by MS patients were Rituximab 20 (26.3%) and Dimethyl Fumarate 14(18.4%). Totally, 9(10.8%) of the patients needed to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, with a mean hospitalization duration of 5.88 days. A total of 1 (1.2%) death was reported. Conclusion(s): Compared to the healthy population, COVID-19 is not more serious in MS patients. Most MS patients with COVID-19 infection were not hospitalized and continued their medication during the infection.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC-By-NC license. All Rights Reserved.

Oral and maxillofacial Stress-Related Disorders during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of the Research

Background: Stress and anxiety are psychosocial factors that can have potential effects on oral health. In addition to concerns about physical health, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to psychological disorders (including stress) in the general population. Moreover, life has not returned to normal in most parts of the world. Therefore, physicians and specialists should pay special attention to the psychological effects of COVID-19 on the onset and exacerbation of oral diseases. Methods: A search was performed (last update in June 2021) in the Medline, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases. The related keywords were bruxism, morsicatio, myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome (MPDS), temporomandibular (TMD) disorder, burning mouth syndrome (BMS), xerostomia, recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), lip herpes, and oral lichen planus. Of the 510 papers found, about 206 were related to the subject, which were further analyzed. All study types, except case reports and case series, were included in the review. Results: The current article reviewed stress-related disorders with clinical manifestations related to the oral cavity and maxillofacial disorders that have been significantly increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. These disorders are bruxism, morsicatio, MPDS, TMD disorders, BMS, xerostomia, RAS, recurrent lip herpes, and oral lichen planus. The clinical manifestation and management of each disorder are presented in this article. Conclusion: It can be concluded that various causes and conditions play a role in the pathology, disease course, prognosis, treatment, and recurrence rate of oral diseases., In addition to examining the psychological background of treatment in the diagnosis and treatment stages, a variety of psychotherapy methods can be used to increase the effectiveness of medical treatments. The stress caused by COVID-19 in psychologically and medically susceptible people can intensify the pathology of these diseases in all its dimensions, and therefore, special attention should be paid to this aspect in the care and treatment of patients. © 2023, Vesnu Publications. All rights reserved.

Disassociation of Visual-proprioception Feedback to Enhance Endotracheal Intubation

This paper discusses the key elements of a research study that focused on training an important procedure called 'Endotracheal intubation' to novice students. Such a procedure is a virtual part of treating patients who are infected with the covid-19 virus. A virtual reality environment was created to facilitate the training of novice nurses (or nurse trainees) using the HTC Vive platform. The primary interaction with the virtual objects inside this simulation-based training environment was using the hand controller. However, the small mouth of the virtual patient and the necessity of utilizing both hands to pick up the laryngoscope and endotracheal tube at the same time (during training), led to collisions involving the hand controllers and hampered the immersive experience of the participants. A multi-sensory conflict notion-based approach was proposed to address this problem. We used 'Haptic retargeting' method to solve this issue. And we compared the result of the haptic retargeting method with reference condtion. Initial Results (through a questionnaire) suggest that this Haptic retargeting approach increases the participants' sense of presence in the virtual environment. © 2022 IEEE.

Apoptosis, Autophagy, and Unfolded Protein Response and Cerebellar Development

Development is an evolutionary process that is tightly regulated in mammalian species. Several different cascades are involved in various stages of development. Among these mechanisms, apoptosis, autophagy, and unfolded protein response play critical roles in regulating development by affecting cell fate. All of these pathways are involved in the regulation of cell numbers via determining the life and death cycles of the cells. In this chapter, we first explain the brief mechanisms that are involved in the regulation of apoptosis, autophagy, and unfolded protein response, and later, we briefly describe how these mechanisms play roles in general development. We next address the critical role of these pathways in cerebellar development regulation and how they will aid in our knowledge of the processes behind neurodevelopmental disorders. Additionally, we summarize the present findings on neurological symptoms and disorders related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and their linkage to autophagy pathways in the cerebellum. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Fear and Empathy with COVID-19 Patients Among Medical Students

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has induced fear and mental health problems in the community and among healthcare workers. Empathy with patients may be difficult in such situations due to urgent conditions. Objective(s): We aimed to evaluate medical students' empathy and fear toward COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. Method(s): This cross-sectional study recruited 107 medical students from Shiraz Medical School in 2021. A Persian version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) was used to assess the participants' empathy toward COVID-19 patients. The internal validity of the Persian version of JSPE was 0.78, and its test-retest reliability after 14 days was 0.92 in a previous study. The participants were requested to fill out a fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) previously developed to assess their fear of affliction with COVID-19. Since the normality of data distribution was not approved, we used nonparametric tests, namely, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Spearman correlation coefficient. Result(s): The mean empathy score based on the Persian version JSPE was 71.94 +/- 12.83 out of 140, which was higher in male students and those who resided in dormitories. The mean fear score was 24.93 +/- 6.16 out of 35. Participants living out of dormitories feared COVID-19 to a greater extent. No statistically significant association was found between the age of the participants and these two parameters. The Spearman correlation coefficient test showed that students with a history of COVID-19 had less fear and more empathy because of their experience with COVID-19 (r =-0.249, P-value = 0.02). Conclusion(s): This study highlights the impact of the pandemic on the interaction between medical students as healthcare professionals and patients by affecting medical students' fear and empathy. The study indicates ways to improve readiness for future pandemics. Our study showed that living far away from families in dormitories may influence students' fear and empathy. Moreover, empathy, unlike fear, was affected by gender. A reverse correlation existed between fear and empathy in students with a history of COVID-19, indicating that the more they had empathy, the less they experienced fear.Copyright © 2023, Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.

COVID-19 and its outcomes in multiple sclerosis patients

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease that resulted in 4533645 deaths until September first, 2021. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients receive immunosuppressive drugs. Thus, there is a concern that these drugs will reduce the patient's immune system resistance against COVID19. Objective(s): This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of COVID19 and its impact on MS patients in our university hospital in Tehran City, Iran. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted based on hospital-based registry data from May 2020 to March 2021. Among more than 500 registered MS patients in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran City, Iran, referring within our study period, 84 patients reported SARS-COV2 infection. The diagnosis of MS was confirmed by the McDonald criteria. Moreover, the diagnosis of COVID-19 in MS patients was established by the real-time-PCR technique and chest computed tomography. Result(s): Out of 84 MS patients with SARS-COV2 infection, 55(65.5%) were women, and their mean age was 37.48 years. The most commonly used medications by MS patients were Rituximab 20 (26.3%) and Dimethyl Fumarate 14(18.4%). Totally, 9(10.8%) of the patients needed to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, with a mean hospitalization duration of 5.88 days. A total of 1 (1.2%) death was reported. Conclusion(s): Compared to the healthy population, COVID-19 is not more serious in MS patients. Most MS patients with COVID- 19 infection were not hospitalized and continued their medication during the infection.

Rebels and Revels: Exhibit Curation as Pedagogy in the Study of Theatre of the Middle East

Rebels and Revels, the pioneering photo exhibit on the theatre of the Middle East, came to life as a physical exhibit in Toronto in 2019 and traveled globally in a digitally curated space in 2021. This article will describe the vision and process involved in curating and exhibiting a collection of photos of the traditional performances (evolving over the centuries) and theatrical productions (the 1950s and 1960s) from six countries in the region. During these decades, while “traditional” forms of theatre such as shadow plays and improvisatory comedy performances were still very popular, a new class of experimental theatre emerged. Experiencing new forms of theatrical expressions became possible not despite the heavyweight of “traditional” performances at the time, but precisely by relying on older forms of theatrical expression in the Middle East. For example, experimental theatre practitioners in Syria, Iraq and Iran emphasized “traditional” techniques that were known to westerners as Brechtian. Similarly, by revisiting folk stories like A Thousand and One Nights, they experimented with new ways of dramatic narrative;ones that do not follow western ways of character development and dramatic action. Because of this remarkable interconnection between traditional and experimental theatre in shaping the theatre of the Middle East, the exhibit showcases photos in two sections of traditional performances and experimental theatre. The article discusses the challenges and prospects of both curating a physical photo exhibit on this under-represented subject and re-curating that exhibit on the digital space during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Bringing together these two forms of Middle Eastern Theatre in our exhibit participates in a historiographic practice that attends to through-lines. As we introduce under-represented voices to a public largely unfamiliar with the theatrical history of the region, our emphasis on a through-line becomes a pedagogical tool by illustrating a dynamic historical trajectory. As such, in this article, we attend to the politics of reclaiming a space, whether digital or physical, for absent topics as a means of reconstructing or replacing the current image of the theatre of the Middle East. © 2022 Marjan Moosavi, Q-mars Haeri, Kelley Holley.

Research Paper: COVID-19 and its Outcomes in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease that resulted in 4533645 deaths until September first, 2021. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients receive immunosuppressive drugs. Thus, there is a concern that these drugs will reduce the patient's immune system resistance against COVID19. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of COVID19 and its impact on MS patients in our university hospital in Tehran City, Iran. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on hospital-based registry data from May 2020 to March 2021. Among more than 500 registered MS patients in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran City, Iran, referring within our study period, 84 patients reported SARS-COV2 infection. The diagnosis of MS was confirmed by the McDonald criteria. Moreover, the diagnosis of COVID-19 in MS patients was established by the real-time-PCR technique and chest computed tomography. Results: Out of 84 MS patients with SARS-COV2 infection, 55(65.5%) were women, and their mean age was 37.48 years. The most commonly used medications by MS patients were Rituximab 20 (26.3%) and Dimethyl Fumarate 14(18.4%). Totally, 9(10.8%) of the patients needed to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, with a mean hospitalization duration of 5.88 days. A total of 1 (1.2%) death was reported. Conclusion: Compared to the healthy population, COVID-19 is not more serious in MS patients. Most MS patients with COVID-19 infection were not hospitalized and continued their medication during the infection. © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC-By-NC license. All Rights Reserved.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward covid-19 among healthcare workers in Shiraz, Iran

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a critical world concern, with healthcare workers (HCWs) at a high risk of infection. Thus, a sufficient level of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) must be ensured. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the KAP toward COVID-19 among HCWs in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on a large sample of HCWs dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple hospitals affiliated to the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The survey featured four sections: demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and practice. An expert panel validated the questionnaire, and its reliability was ensured through a pilot study on 20 HCWs (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.9). Results: We found that 72.8% of HCWs had sufficient knowledge, 66.65% indicated correct attitudes, and 67.72% described good practices. However, 24.23% thought adequate protective equipment or facilities are unavailable. The knowledge scores were lowest on prevention and diagnosis, though symptoms were well-recognized. The male gender was correlated with more correct attitudes. Among nurses, 2-5 years of work experience was associated with better practice, with a master’s degree being related to more positive attitudes. Conclusions: The KAP of HCWs toward COVID-19 are acceptable in Shiraz, but further education and training is beneficial, especially on disinfectants and prevention;reassurance regarding protective equipment is also vital. © 2020, Author(s).