Experience of Treating COVID-19 With Remdesivir and Convalescent Plasma in a Resource-Limited Setting: A Prospective, Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) and remdesivir (REM) have been approved for investigational use to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Nepal. METHODS: In this prospective, multicentered study, we evaluated the safety and outcomes of treatment with CPT and/or REM in 1315 hospitalized COVID-19 patients over 18 years in 31 hospitals across Nepal. REM was administered to patients with moderate, severe, or life-threatening infection. CPT was administered to patients with severe to life-threatening infections who were at high risk for progression or clinical worsening despite REM. Clinical findings and outcomes were recorded until discharge or death. RESULTS: Patients were classified as having moderate (24.2%), severe (64%), or life-threatening (11.7%) COVID-19 infection. The majority of CPT and CPT + REM recipients had severe to life-threatening infections (CPT 98.3%; CPT + REM 92.1%) and were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU; CPT 91.8%; CPT + REM 94.6%) compared with those who received REM alone (73.3% and 57.5%, respectively). Of 1083 patients with reported outcomes, 78.4% were discharged and 21.6% died. The discharge rate was 84% for REM (n = 910), 39% for CPT (n = 59), and 54.4% for CPT + REM (n = 114) recipients. In a logistic model comparing death vs discharge and adjusted for age, gender, steroid use, and severity, the predicted margin for discharge was higher for recipients of remdesivir alone (0.82; 95% CI, 0.79-0.84) compared with CPT (0.58; 95% CI, 0.47-0.70) and CPT + REM (0.67; 95% CI, 0.60-0.74) recipients. Adverse events of remdesivir and CPT were reported in <5% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a safe rollout of CPT and REM in a resource-limited setting. Remdesivir recipients had less severe infection and better outcomes.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier. NCT04570982.

Case Report: Using basic liver function tests as a guide to suspected Wilson's disease.

We present a case of a 36-year-old female patient who presented with subacute liver disease with a history of alcohol abuse. On basic liver function tests (LFT), she had aspartate transaminase / alanine transaminase > 2.2 and alkaline phosphatase / total bilirubin < 4. This pattern in acute liver failure patients signifies Wilson's disease. Its presence in our patient with subacute liver disease also prompted us to suspect Wilson's disease and we extended the liver disease screen to include slit lamp eye examination for Kayser-Fleischer rings, serum ceruloplasmin and 24-hour urinary copper level, which led to the diagnosis. She improved clinically and biochemically with zinc acetate therapy.  As screening for rare diseases is not always possible in low-income countries, this case demonstrates the usefulness of the basic LFT as a guide for suspecting Wilson's disease in patients with liver disease.

Obesity and Its Risk Factors of among School Children in Sylhet, Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is found in affluent society, less physical activity and changes in food pattern. This study was designed to see prevalence and risk factors of childhood obesity among school children of Sylhet city. METHODS: Students of class five and six of two schools of Sylhet city were randomly selected. Demographic and anthropometric data were collected and recorded in predesigned data sheet. BMI and percentile were calculated using official centre for disease control growth chart for 2 to 20 years. Logistic regression analysis was done to see association of various factors with childhood obesity. P value of ?0.05 was taken as significant. RESULTS: Total 288 children were included in this study. Age varied from 10 to 14 years. Among them 5.6% and 8.7% were found to be obese and overweight respectively. Obesity was significantly higher among girls (6.8% vs3.6%).Prevalence of obesity and overweight (p=0.001) was more among those who spent less time in physical exercise and outdoor games. Food habit, television watching, computer gaming and duration of sleep were not found as significant predictor of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity was significantly higher among girls (6.8% vs3.6%). Girls with less physical activity were mainly associated with overweight and obesity.

A study on efficacy of lamivudine therapy in decompensated cirrhosis of liver due to chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

The prognosis of decompensated cirrhosis of liver resulting from chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection is poor and liver transplantation is the only established mode of treatment. The benefits of treatment with interferon are outweighed by serious side effects and risks of fatal exacerbation of disease activity. Lamivudine rapidly reduces hepatitis B viral DNA in serum to undetectable levels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness and safety of Lamivudine treatment in patients with advanced and end stage liver disease caused by Hepatitis B. This was a prospective observational study in which a total of 45 patients, 39 (87.0%) male and 6 (13.0%) female who had viral activity and child pugh score e" 8 were given Lamivudine 100 mg orally once daily. Among them 30 patients completed at least 6 months of therapy, majority (27 patients) showed improvement in liver function with decrease in serum ALT from mean (+/- SD) 118.8 +/- 106.5 to 50.2 +/- 57.1 U/L (p < 0.001), decrease in serum bilirubin from 73.9 +/- 80.5 to 44.7 +/- 62.9 micromol/l (p = 0.129), increase in serum albumin from 26.2 +/- 4.2 to 33.2 +/- 3.4 g/l (p < 0.05), decrease in prothrombin time from 8.3 +/- 4.0 to 3.9 +/- 2.9 seconds prolonged (p < 0.05) and reduction in child pugh score from 11.0 +/- 1.7 to 7.0 +/- 1.3 (p < 0.001). Seroconversion was found in 5 (11.1%) patients on Intention to treat analysis. Among the seroconverted group, 1 (2.2%) patient also lost HBsAg. Six (13.0%) patient had procore mutant virus, 2 (4.4%) of them showed virological response. Therefore, total 7 (15.5%) patients showed virological response by intention to treat analysis. We conclude that inhibition of viral replication with Lamivudine results in a significant improvement of liver function in patients with decompensated cirrhosis of liver due to HBV infection.