Current Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:5 Issue: 1, Spring-Summer 2021

During epidemics of infectious diseases, individuals’ health, especially their mental health, are affected. This study aimed to evaluate general health and its dimensions during the COVID-19 epidemic in South Khorasan province, Iran.

This study is a cross-sectional study. Individual information was collected voluntarily on the web. General health evaluation was performed by a standard questionnaire (GHQ-28). The collected data were entered into the SPSS v.23 and statistical tests were performed.

This study was performed on 320 people, most of the subjects were in the age range of 20-30 years. Also, 80 (25.0%) participants reported nonspecific symptoms of COVID-19 such as headache, sore throat, and dry cough, and 216 people (67.5%) used personal protective equipment (PPE). The mean score of the GHQ-28 one month before the COVID-19 epidemic (BE) was 16.5 ± 9.1, while the mean of this score during the epidemic (DE) increased by 1.8 points and reached 18.3 ± 10.2 (P ≤0.003, effect size=10.9%). The score of anxiety/insomnia subscale showed the highest increment. Adjusted R2 values for the scores of somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, and social dysfunction subscales, and the score of the GHQ-28 were 14.8%, 10.5%, 13.8%, and 13.1%, respectively.

This study showed that with the COVID-19 epidemic, the community has been faced with conditions in which individualschr anxiety, depression, social function, and in general, various dimension of health, has been deteriorated. The results of this study can be beneficial for appropriate planning for maintaining, promoting, and improving health in the community.

Currently, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological factor of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic condition. Based on the evidence, the number of infected patients is increasing around the world. SARS-COV2 infection could show both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary manifestations in patients. The Influenza virus is the cause of influenza disease which is a seasonal viral disease with clinical symptoms similar to COVID-19. Influenza could be a major public health problem throughout the world, as each year approximately 10%‐20% of the worldchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s population are infected and is the major cause of death, particularly among the elderly. Since influenza has an effective and preventive vaccine, maximizing influenza vaccination has been suggested. Until now (November 20, 2020) COVID-19 doesn’t have any approved drug or vaccine, So the universal influenza vaccination will probably decrease the health burden of this co-infection. In this review, we will focus on the importance of COVID-19 and influenza co-infection in the COVID-19 pandemic era.

As proper communication is the key to a strong family and the couples must follow effective communication patterns in these relationships to strengthen the family foundation, improving these relationships has been very effective.

The purpose of this study was to review the strategies for enhancing the couple communication patterns.

In this scoping review, the SID, Barkat, PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, Uptodate, Magiran, and Psych INFO databases were searched for interventional studies from 1990 to 2019 on Iranian couples. At the end of the search, 131 papers were obtained, and finally, 19 papers were included in the scoping review.

The classification was based on educational and therapeutic strategies. The educational strategies included training communication skills and training life skills and the therapeutic strategies included couple therapy, narrative therapy, and family therapy.

According to the results, it seems that to improve couple communication patterns, both life and communication skills are needed for all couples. Communication and life skills training can be more convenient and less costly than the rest. Each of Treatment methods need more specialized courses and one cannot reach useful results by some brief sessions, but training can be provided to couples even through the book.

Memory impairment (MI), happens when a person loses the ability to remember information and events they would normally be able to recall. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases involving the brain. Due to the localization of Toxoplasma gondii tissue cysts in brain and some related reports, the effect of toxoplasma on neurodegenerative diseases has been suggested.

The present study was conducted to investigate the probable association between MI and toxoplasmosis using serological and molecular techniques. The study population consisted of 87 Alzheimerchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s patients (AP) and 87 healthy controls which were selected under the supervision of neurology consultant. The Toxoplasma-specific antibodies were measured using commercial ELISA kits. The desired region for Toxoplasma B1 gene was amplified by using specific primers and a thermocycler. Specificity of primers was confirmed by direct sequencing, aligning and phylogenetic analysis of the amplicons.

Prevalence of toxoplasmosis in AP and control group was 66.6% and 56.3% (P=0.99) and 52.8% and 40.2% (P=0.229) using ELISA and PCR respectively. Despite the higher prevalence of toxoplasmosis in AP compared with the controls, a significant relationship was not found between MI and toxoplasmosis. The multiple sequence alignment of T. gondii isolates revealed a common haplotype. The significant relationship between some variables and toxoplasmosis as well as the MI could reveal the risk factors for MI.

These results provide fresh insights into the ambiguous association between T. gondii infection and MI. As a probable or concomitant risk factor, toxoplasmosis could induce the MI, principally in patients with the chronic or latent infection.

Introduction:

 The COVID-19 can cause a broad spectrum of neurologic and systemic manifestations.

Case reports :

on the neurological manifestation of COVID-19 are increasing in the pediatric population. Case report In this study, a child suspected to Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) associated with SARS-CoV-19 was reported. This case was a 31-month-old boy presented with transient dysautonomia, progressive symmetric muscle weakness in lower limbs, areflexia with a mild increase in the protein level of cerebro-spinal fluid and no significant evidence of inflammation. The results of an early electromyography-nerve conduction velocities were within normal limit at the fourth day. All radiological and laboratory findings were normal by considering possible causes. Intravenous immunoglobulin was administered, and clinical improvement was remarkable during treatment.

Conclusion:

 This case report represented an Iranian child with clinically diagnosed GBS, possibly triggered by SARS-CoV-2. It is recommended to consider COVID-19 in children with the neurological presentation in the current outbreak.