Background During the current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, psychological problems like anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, inattention and sleep disturbance are fairly common among quarantined children in several studies. A systematic review of these publications to provide an accurate burden of these psychiatric/behavioral problems is needed for planning mitigating measures by the health authorities. Methods Different electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CENTRAL, medRxiv and bioRxiv) were searched for articles describing psychological/behavioral complications in children/adolescents with/without pre-existing behavioral abnormalities and their caregivers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only original articles with/without comparator arms and a minimum sample size of 50 were included in the analysis. The pooled estimate of various psychological/behavioral problems was calculated using a random-effect meta-analysis. Results Fifteen studies describing 22 996 children/adolescents fulfilled the eligibility criteria from a total of 219 records. Overall, 34.5%, 41.7%, 42.3% and 30.8% of children were found to be suffering from anxiety, depression, irritability and inattention. Although the behavior/psychological state of a total of 79.4% of children was affected negatively by the pandemic and quarantine, at least 22.5% of children had a significant fear of COVID-19, and 35.2% and 21.3% of children had boredom and sleep disturbance. Similarly, 52.3% and 27.4% of caregivers developed anxiety and depression, respectively, while being in isolation with children. Conclusion Anxiety, depression, irritability, boredom, inattention and fear of COVID-19 are predominant new-onset psychological problems in children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Children with pre-existing behavioral problems like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have a high probability of worsening of their behavioral symptoms.

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Herbal formulations are getting popular throughout the world and commercialized extensively for various medicinal properties. WHO has emphasized the need for quality assurance of herbal products, including testing of heavy metals and pesticides residues. In view of WHO guidelines, single herbal drugs used in herbal formulations were collected from local market, for testing heavy metals and persistent pesticides residue. Therefore, in the present case, we have examined few local samples of certain herbs viz. Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica, and Withania somnifera. The present studies were selected for estimation of four heavy metals namely Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury. Apart from these, pesticide residue Viz. Organochlorine pesticides, Organophosphorus pesticides, and Pyrethroids were analyzed in the four samples of single crude drugs. Heavy metals and pesticide residue were found below detection limits in all the samples.