The deficiencies of trace elements and infectious diseases often coexist and exhibit complex interactions. Several trace elements such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mg) have immunomodulatory functions and thus influence the susceptibility to the course and outcome of a variety of viral infections. So, this present study was aimed to study relations of trace metals in association with severity and mortality in SARS-CoV-2 patients. A total of 150 individuals infected with COVID-19 and 50 healthy individuals were recruited. Cases were divided based on severity (mild, moderate and severe) and outcome (discharged or deceased). Serum Zn, Mg and Cu levels were analysed by direct colourimetric method. Both serum Cu and Zn levels were significantly decreased in cases when compared to those in controls ( p < 0.005 and p < 0.0001). Serum magnesium levels although not significant were found to be slightly decreased in controls. On comparing the trace elements between the deceased and discharged cases, a significant difference was found between serum copper and zinc levels, but for magnesium, both groups have similar levels. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve results indicate that a serum Cu/Zn ratio along with the age of patient provides some reliable information on COVID-19 course and survival odds by yielding an AUC of 95.1% with a sensitivity of 93.8% and specificity of 89.8%. Therefore, we would like to emphasize that measuring the serum copper and zinc along with their ratio can be used as routine investigations for COVID-19 patients in proper identification and management of severe cases in upcoming new waves of COVID-19. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12011-022-03124-7.

Prazosin and dobutamine, both are useful drugs for management of cardiovascular features of scorpion envenomation, nevertheless, prazosin is slightly better than dobutamine in terms of faster recovery, and also because of its ease of administration and low cost of therapy.

Background: Accurate diagnosis of anemia by community workers using a point-of-care device is a challenge. The objective of the study was to establish the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care devices for detecting anemia in community settings. Methods: It was diagnostic accuracy study with cross-sectional design on adult patients attending the outpatient department of rural/ urban health centres of Medical colleges from India. The index tests were HemoCue, TrueHb, Massimo's device and spectroscopic device, compared against autoanalyzer (gold standard). Accuracy was expressed by sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, predictive values, area under the curve (AUC) and levels of agreement. For the diagnostic accuracy component, 1407 participants were recruited with a minimum of 600 for each device. An additional 200 participants were considered to elucidate the performance of devices in different weather conditions. Results: HemoCue and TrueHb performed better than Massimo and spectroscopic devices. Detection of anemia by technicians was similar between TrueHb and HemoCue (AUC 0.92 v/s 0.90, p > 0.05). Community workers performed better with Hemocue for detecting anemia compared to TrueHb (AUC 0.92 v/s 0.90, p < 0.05). For detection of severe anemia, accuracy of TrueHb was significantly better with technicians (AUC 0.91 v/s 0.70; p < 0.05) and community workers (AUC 0.91 v/s 0.73; p < 0.05). HemoCue showed a bias or mean difference (95%CI) of 0.47 g/dl (0.42, 0.52) for all values, and 0.92 g/dl (0.82, 1.03) for severe anemia. For TrueHb, it was − 0.28 g/dl (− 0.37, − 0.20) for all readings, and 0.06 g/dl (− 0.52, 0.63) for severe anemia. TrueHb appeared to be more consistent across different weather conditions, although it overestimated Hb in extreme cold weather conditions. Conclusion: For detection of anemia, True Hb and HemoCue were comparable. For severe anemia, True Hb seemed to be a better and feasible point-of-care device for detecting anemia in the community settings.

No abstract