The fear and panic created by COVID-19 has made people to use all kinds of masks available in the market without knowing their utility in offering protection against COVID-19. This review is intended to inform the readers about the different types of masks available, types of mask to be worn by different sections in the society and the latest information available on the role of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

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Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. COVID-19 is the third novel coronavirus disease similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome-CoV (2015) during the past two decades. Nosophobia is the irrational fear of having a specific disease. India has reported nearly 0.8 million cases and morbidity is more than 20,000. However, the fear or phobia has infected all the possible sectors (health, finance, industry, economy, education, sports, etc.). The objective of the article is to show the impact of nosophobia and make people aware that India needs to be very vigilant and open about the spread and containment of the infection but should not panic.

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BACKGROUND: Berberine is a natural compound found to have numerous pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. It has been the subject of intensive scientific research; however, there has been scanty information on its subacute effect on appetite and body weight. This work was done to evaluate the body weight, organ weight, and appetite of adult albino Wistar rats treated with berberine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty adult apparently healthy rats having a weight range between 200 and 230 g were used for this study. The rats were divided into four groups of five per group and fed with pellets and water ad libitum. Group A served as the control, Group B were fed with 2 mg/kg of berberine, Group C with 20 mg/kg, while Group D were fed with 200 mg/kg body weight. Doses were administered once daily using oral gavage for 28 days. Feed and water intake were monitored, calculated, and values recorded. Body weights of the animals were also monitored weekly and the values recorded. The animals were anesthetized with chloroform before the time of sacrifice. Necropsy was performed and the tissues (liver, lungs, heart, and kidneys) were weighed and values recorded. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant increase in the feed (119.21 ± 5.22 and 120.83 ± 5.54) and water (148.26 ± 6.30 and 153.21 ± 5.02) intake in the 20 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg berberine-treated rats, respectively. Statistical differences in the body weights (253.83 ± 5.63 and 255.04 ± 5.47) of the 20 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg berberine-treated rats, respectively, were noted when compared to the control. CONCLUSION: The result showed that berberine caused a significant increase in appetite and weight at concentrations as high as 20 mg/kg.

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BACKGROUND: Foot as an essential part in lower extremity, serves for variety of purposes in daily life. Complex anatomy and biomechanics of normal foot makes its prosthetic replacement quite challenging. Technological boom in prosthetic industries has somehow improved the performance of prosthetic foot but also hike the cost, resulting in limited accessibility to majority of prosthetic user. In this study, we have designed a new dynamic prosthetic foot at low cost and compare its efficacy from the traditional solid-ankle, cushion-heel (SACH) foot. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current prototype presented is a dynamic foot design consisting of commercially available thermoplastic materials that resembles a hybrid model with true ankle articulation and a flexible keel in order to mimic motion in all cardinal planes. A posttest experimental study has been conducted with fifteen individuals selected purposively. The gait parameters with current prototype and SACH foot were analyzed in conventional way by using 10 meter walk test and energy cost was estimated by calculating physiological cost index (PCI). The correlation between gait variables and PCI were analyzed through a paired t-test. RESULTS: Data analysis shows significant differences in the gait characteristics as stride length (P = 0.000), cadence (P = 0.001), velocity (P = 0.000), and PCI (P value 0.001), comparing the SACH foot and current foot prototype. CONCLUSION: The study outcome reveals the advantage of current prototype over conventional SACH foot in terms of gait characteristic and energy cost at self-selected walking speed.

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BACKGROUND: Today, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has evolved into a modern procedure with a benign side effect profile, which is performed under anesthesia and the administration of muscle relaxants, but the negative view of this treatment is held not only by the general lay public but also by the medical professionals including nurses. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge about and attitude toward ECT in nursing students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which knowledge about ECT and attitude toward this treatment were assessed in nursing students using ECT knowledge and attitude questionnaires. Statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. RESULTS: A total of 54 3^rd year nursing students were included in the study. More than half (59.3%) reported the primary source of information as media. None of our students had full knowledge about ECT, i.e., a score of 31. The mean knowledge score was 16.22 ± 3.36 with a range of 10–21. They were more knowledgeable about the consent, side effects, and procedure part of the questionnaire compared to indications and effectiveness parts of it. A negative attitude toward ECT was highly prevalent. The mean score on attitude questionnaire was −7.5 ± 3.61 with a range of 0–−12. More than three-quarters of our subjects had a negative attitude in 12 out of 16 items. The total score on the knowledge questionnaire and total score on the attitude questionnaire were correlated positively (r = 0.387,P < 0.004). CONCLUSION: There is a deficiency in knowledge and highly prevalent negative attitude toward ECT among nursing students, which needs to be rectified so that ECT becomes a more acceptable treatment procedure.

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BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus disease COVID-19 has been spreading from Wuhan city to other cities in China and worldwide since December 2019. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. To guarantee the final success, people's adherence to the control measures is essential, which is greatly influenced by their knowledge, attitude, and practices toward COVID-19. Hence, the study was taken up to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices among law college students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mysore in March 2020 among the students of Law College. Students who were not interested in taking up the study were not included in the study. A total of 256 study participants were included in the study. Data were collected using a pretested and self-administered questionnaire about knowledge-, attitude-, and practice-based questions on COVID-19. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and were analyzed using SPSS V.23. RESULTS: Among 256 study participants, 130 were female (50.8%) and 126 were male (49.2%). The main sources of information for the study participants are online newspapers/channels (n = 70) and social media (n = 55). The median score of knowledge, attitude, and practices is 5, 4, and 8, respectively. A comparison of the scholastic year with knowledge scores was found to be statistically significant at aP < 0.05. CONCLUSION: The knowledge and attitude scores were low, but it was found that the study participants were following appropriate practices regarding COVID-19.

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BACKGROUND: The judo is the dynamic, high-intensity intermittent sport which needs advanced skills and military science excellence for fulfillment. Throughout the judo combat, strength and muscle power are associated with performance and judo-throw potency; therefore, the study aims to analyze the effect of physiotherapy exercises on grip strength, aerobic performance, and muscular endurance in Indian judo players. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An experimental study design was used. The study participants were divided into two groups: Group A (n = 15) received physiotherapy exercises of grip strength training, muscular endurance training, and aerobic training for 3 days/week for 6 weeks and Group B (n = 15) received the conventional exercise program. Pre- and posttreatment analysis was recorded and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: A total of thirty players were recruited for the study. The grip strength of Group A improved from 13.98 to 19.28 (0.0001) for the dominant hand and from 10.66 to 16.26 (0.0001) for nondominant hand as compared to Group B from 12.92 to 13.59 (0.270) for the dominant hand and from 10.45 to 11.34 (0.135) for nondominant hand. The muscular endurance for sit-ups and push-ups of Group A improved from 10.2 to 17.2 (0.0001) and 13.47 to 19.93 (0.0001), respectively, as compared to Group B whose values were 9–10.13 (0.091) and 11.67–12.53 (0.155), respectively. The aerobic performance of Group A improved from 40.91 to 47.31 (0.0001) as compared to Group B from 39.26 to 40.16 (0.222). CONCLUSION: Physiotherapy exercises are effective for improvement in grip strength, aerobic performance, and muscular endurance among Indian judo players.

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BACKGROUND: The students must engage early in safety principles within their academic programs. This study aims to determine the differences in knowledge, attitude, and perception from interns' demographic information and correlates between knowledge, attitudes, and perception on patient safety. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quantitative comparative-correlational study was conducted at the hospital hemodialysis units in the Hail Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There were 118 nurse interns who participated in the study resulting from simple random sampling. The survey questionnaire was used for data collection from May to July 2019. RESULTS: Nurse interns have a good knowledge (x̄= 2.94), attitudes (x̄= 3.51), and perception (x̄= 3.26). The t-test found significant differences between type of program to knowledge (P < 0.01) and attitudes (P < 0.02). However, no significant differences found between knowledge to sex (P > 0.18.) and patient safety (P > 0.73); perception to sex (P > 0.60), type of program (P > 0.45), and patient safety training (P > 0.68); and attitudes to sex (P > 0.14) and patient safety training (P > 0.51). There is a significant moderate positive correlation between the knowledge, attitude, and perception, and attitude to perception. CONCLUSION: The good results of knowledge, attitudes, and perception of the nurse interns suggest a continuous improvement of the nursing intern program for patient safety. Further, the knowledge translation to attitude and perception is a good indication that nurse interns can acclimatize the patient safety in their future actual practice. Study findings contribute to the improvement of the outcomes of the educational process for the nursing internship program.

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BACKGROUND: Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation cause hypertension and tachycardia in anesthetized patients, which is undesirable, especially in patients with cardiovascular or neurosurgical diseases undergoing anesthesia. Various drug regimens and techniques have been used from time to time for attenuating the pressor response to laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. The aim is to study, evaluate, and compare the efficacy of nitroglycerine (NTG) spray and 10% lignocaine spray in the attenuation of hemodynamic responses to laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation and to observe and evaluate any side effects if any associated with the use of these drugs and their management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted on ninety patients under the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I and ASA II scheduled for elective surgeries. The patients were divided randomly into equal groups of 30 patients and received the following drugs before induction of general anesthesia: Group N-30 patients will be given NTG sublingual spray (2 puffs) 800 mcg 60s before laryngoscopy and group L-30 patients will be given lignocaine spray (2 puffs) 20 mg 60s before laryngoscopy. Hemodynamic variables were continuously recorded from baseline until 15 min after intubation and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The demographic profile was comparable. The heart rate (HR) increased in both groups, although the increase in HR in the lignocaine group is higher than the increase in HR in NTG group. There was a significant difference in HR values immediately after intubation, 1, 3 min, and 5 min after intubation when the values were lower in group N, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). At 10 min and 15 min after intubation, there was no statistically significant difference between the HR values of both the groups (P > 0.05). There was a significant difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP) values immediately after intubation, 1, 3, and 5 min after intubation when the values were lower in group N and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). At 10 min and 15 min after intubation, there was no statistically significant difference between the SBP values of both the groups (P > 0.05). At 1, 3, and 5 min after intubation, the SBP values were significantly higher than baseline in the lignocaine group. However, there was a downward trend in SBP observed in the NTG group until 5 min after intubation, and it was statistically significant. There was a significant difference in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) values immediately after intubation, 1, 3 and 5 min after intubation when the values were lower in group N and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). At 10 min and 15 min after intubation, there was no statistically significant difference between the DBP values of both the groups (P > 0.05). The increase in mean DBP observed in the lignocaine spray group was statistically highly significant when compared to the increase in mean DBP in the NTG spray group. There was a significant difference in mean arterial pressure (MAP) values immediately after intubation, 1, 3 and 5 min after intubation when the values were lower in group N and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). At 10 min and 15 min after intubation, there was no statistically significant difference between the MAP values of both the groups (P > 0.05). NTG spray decreases the MAP more effectively as compared to lignocaine following laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation. CONCLUSION: Based on our study, we conclude that: In lignocaine spray group patients who received a dose of 20 mg (2 puffs), there was a significant rise in HR, SBP, DBP, mean arterial blood pressure. In the NTG spray group patients who received a dose of 800 mcg (2 puffs), there is effective attenuation of the pressor response to laryngoscopy and intubation in normotensive ASA I–II patients. However, NTG is not able to attenuate the rise in HR due to reflex tachycardia due to vasodilation. Thus, it can be a better alternative in attenuating the hemodynamic responses to laryngoscopy and intubation.

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Stem cell research is one of the most promising and fascinating field in regenerative medicine and dentistry. The use of embryonic stem cells is restricted due to the very many ethical issues while the dental pulp stem cell research is relatively free from such embargoes. Recently published research articles relating to dental pulp stem cells are voluminous but are very diversifying in nature. The observations of these researchers require critical analysis and evaluation in a focused way as is presented in this review article.

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COVID-19, caused by novel coronavirus SARCoV2, is a contagious disease, emerged in the end of December 2019, at Wuhan seafood market, China. This disease is spiraling like a wildfire and rapidly spreading worldwide, overburdening the health system with newly infected cases. As of April 25, 2020, a total of 2,846,536 COVID-19-positive cases and 197,859 total deaths were reported across the globe. This epidemic has exponential growth characteristics in the absence of specific vaccine and treatment for COVID-19. Many countries across the world including India, the USA, China, Italy, and German are implementing the lockdown measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic and to maintain the infection at manageable levels. Keeping the prospectus of future such pandemics, we reviewed; what is lockdown and containment? Does it works? What are the advantages of lockdown and containment in cotrolling the spread of the virus?. The present review answers these questions and tries to spread light on the impact of lockdown. Our review concludes that the implementation of lockdown has forced many countries in flattening the epidemic curve and strengthening the health-care system and improves the environmental quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Corona virus disease-2019 (COVID 19) is a respiratory disorder caused by bunches of serious respiratory disorders (i.e., coughing, fever, and breathing problems) like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the 79% homology as well as gene sequences are basically similar to SARS-CoV, thus the name of COVID-19 also be distinguish as SARS-CoV-2 on January 7^th. Nanoparticles may also improve drug pulmonary efficacy by enhancing residence time, as a consequence the efficient mucus complexation between mucin and nanoparticles caused increment the rate of permeation and tissue uptake and displayed sustainable release property. Advances in device technology have led to the development of more efficient delivery systems capable of delivering larger doses and finer particles into the lung. As more efficient pulmonary delivery devices and sophisticated formulations become available, physicians, and health professionals will have a choice of a wide variety of device and formulation combinations that will target-specific cells or regions of the lung, avoid the lung's clearance mechanisms and be retained within the lung for longer periods. Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) exhibit many unique advantages that have contributed to the incredible growth in the number of DPI pharmaceutical products. To improve the performance, there are a relatively large number of DPI devices available for different inhalable powder formulations. The present review different type of nanoaparticles and DPIs used for the treatment of COVID 19 infections.

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The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which was initially reported in the form of a cluster of pneumonia cases in the Wuhan city of China has raised serious concerns about the outbreak readiness across the world, including in the developed nations with the best quality health care delivery system. The initial facts depict that the primary mode of disease transmission is airborne, there is an indispensable need to revisit the infection control practices. Apart from the various strategies which have been proposed to strengthen the level of preparedness of a nation and also to contain the infection, contact tracing is an essential and integral component. The contacts should be advised to monitor their health for at least a period of 14 days after the last day of potential contact. In conclusion, contact tracing is a standard infection control strategy and is an important aspect in the interruption of the disease transmission in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The need of the hour is to strengthen the same to ensure early detection of the COVID-19 suspects and interrupt the transmission of the disease.

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CONTEXT: The low prevalence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Africa has puzzled many experts. Some have attributed the low prevalence to the continent's inadequate testing capacity, whereas others have suggested other less substantiated evidence such as the preponderance of active global tuberculosis vaccination policies in African countries. Regardless of the true prevalence of COVID-19 in Africa, the pandemic is expected to exhibit a different pattern in Africa compared to other parts of the world because of the continent's peculiarities. AIM: In this article, we discuss the major factors that are currently shaping the pattern and prevalence of the outbreak in Africa. CONCLUSIONS: Based on this assessment, Africa will face an uphill battle against the COVID-19 pandemic with significant long-term effects.

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