International Journal of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine

Leprosy Scenario, pattern of disability, perceived stigma and impact on quality of life in post-elimination era: a seven year study from North India

Shagufta Rather, FaizanYounus Shah, Akhtar S, Hassan I, Reeta Devi, Bhat YJ

Leprosy is an infectious disease associated with fear, aversion and social stigma, mostly due to crippling deformities. As prevalence of leprosy decreases, so does the experience with disease, especially for younger physicians. Leprosy can have a significant impact on the quality of life (QOL) of the affected person owing to the chronic nature, disabilities and deformities associated with the disease. A high degree of social stigma in a conservative place like Kashmir further complicates the problem. This has necessitated the need to revisit realms of disabilities in leprosy in our region.  Objective: To study profile of leprosy patients, categorize the pattern of disabilities and assess its impact on the QOL of persons affected with leprosy in our region. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, over a period of 7 years. All patients diagnosed with leprosy were included in the project following an Institutional ethical committee clearance. Detailed history followed by a meticulous examination was done in all patients with distinctive attention to recording of disabilities. Grading of disabilities was done using the world health organization (WHO) grading of 1988. The assessment of QOL was done using WHOQOL-BREF scale. Results: Out of the 90 cases, 42 patients (46.67%) were found to suffer from a total of 72 disabilities with majority suffering from more than one, averaging 1.7 disabilities per person. 48 patients (53.33%) did not have any disability. Fourteen cases (15.56%) had grade 1 disability while grade 2 and grade 3 disability were seen in 23 (25.56%) and 5 (5.55%) cases respectively. The assessment of QOL using WHOQOL-BREF scale demonstrated the quality of life to be worst for the physical domain (median 42) followed by environmental (median 48), global (median 49), psychological (median 56) and social relations domain (median 57). Conclusion: Disabilities and deformities are commonly encountered in our leprosy patients and can have a significant physiological, psychological, economic and social impact on the patient. The various clinical characteristics of disease such as deformity, disability, reaction, have a significant impact on the QOL of patients contrary to previous beliefs.

The Effects of Hydroalcholic Extract Polyherbal Formulation On Improving The Symptoms of Patients With COVID-19 In Hospital

Mohammadreza Gholibeikian, Hasan Fallah Huseini, Afsaneh Kaffash, Majid Ghorbani Nohooji

COVID-19 infection since 2019 is a global pandemic that has challenged the health care system worldwide. The symptoms of coronavirus are usually fever, cough, sore throat, breathlessness, fatigue and malaise among others. The disease is mild in most people; in some may progress to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi organ dysfunction. Most infected patients are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. (China Novel Coronavirus I, 2019).The lung is the main affected organ in severe coronavirus disease caused by the novel coronavirus and undergoes an acute pneumonia process accompanied by diffuse alveolar injury, inflammatory infiltrates, and microvascular thrombosis that is the leading cause of death in the vast majority of patients. (Yuki et al., 2020).

Although the recommended treatments with drugs for COVID-19 and its side effects are antiviral, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anti-malarial, immunomodulatory, and anticoagulant, there is currently a number of drugs used for treatments of this virus, but their safety and efficacy are under investigation (Wu et al., 2020).Many of the immune responses and respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 patients are common with other respiratory viral diseases (Yuki et al., 2020). In Iranian traditional medicine, several medicinal plants with antiviral, imunomodelating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties are known to improve pulmonary and systemic symptoms of viral infections, which may be effective in preventing and improving the symptoms of COVID infection (Kenari et al., 2021). Herbal product under the brand name Imfluna is one of the herbal mixtures used similarly by some other herbal ingredients  (Manavari SHR, 1386). 

Synthesis of Linear and cyclic peptides analogues of Longicalycinin A and evaluation of toxicity effects on cancerous cells HepG2 and HT-29

Mohammadreza Gholibeikiana, Mohammad Hassan HoushdarTehranib, Abdolhamid Bamoniri

Cancer is a disease marked by uncontrolled growth and division of cells, making tumors. If the tumor spread is not controlled, it can result in mortality. Cancer is caused by the both external factors (tobacco, chemicals, radiation, and infectious organisms) and internal factors (inherited mutations, hormones, immune conditions, and mutations that occur from metabolism). 1 Cancer can occur in the breast, lungs, colon, blood cells and etc. Cancers are similar in some ways, but different in growth and spread routes.2 Normal cells are divided in a regular routine order. They die when become damaged and new cells take their place.3 When cancer cells spread in the body, it is called metastasis. Many new and effective therapies are currently being used to treat cancer. Among the new ways to battle cancer, chemotherapy based on peptides has attracted a great interest and considerable attention. This is due to the unique advantages of peptides, such as having low molecular weights, the ability to specifically target tumor cells, and low toxicity in normal tissues. During the last decade, peptides have gained a wide range of applications in medicine, drug delivery and biotechnology.4 

How Current RNA Research Impacts the Future of Medicine

Suryakiran Navath

The In the past couple of years, the field of medicine has overcome huge scientific challenges to showcase advances in gene therapy. One of the most significant of these is CRISPR technology that enables the manipulation of one’s DNA to cure genetic disorders. However, its use has put forward an ethical debate because of the uncertainty surrounding the effects it poses once genes are permanently edited.