Background: Spinal anesthesia is the most commonly used method for elective cesarean section, which is a popular technique due to its simplicity, reliability, and speed to achieve adequate anesthesia. Headache following dura perforation is the most important delayed complication following spinal and epidural anesthesia. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of low-dose intravenous ketamine in patients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia on the prevention of dura perforation headache (PDPH). Methods: This clinical trial study was performed on 64 pregnant women undergoing cesarean section at Vali-e-Asr Hospital. The patients were divided into two groups. In the case group, 0.15 mg/kg body weight ketamine was injected intravenously and in the control group, normal saline was used as the placebo. The incidence of headache and its severity at one, 4, 12, and 24 hours postoperatively, nausea and its severity were also measured and compared. Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U and chi-square tests were used. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The data revealed that low dose intravenous ketamine significantly decreased patients' headaches (P = 0.001), the sensation of pruritus (P = 0.009), and the need for analgesic (P = 0.001). Furthermore, the sensation of postoperative nausea was less in the case group. The patients in the case and control groups had no significant difference in terms of hypertension or bradycardia (P = 0.717 and 0.939, respectively). Conclusions: The injection of ketamine as a premedication in the cesarean section can reduce the severity of postoperative headache in mothers. Therefore, it is recommended to use ketamine as an anti-headache drug in pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of acquiring and spreading the COVID-19 infection; using personal protective equipment (PPE) reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection in HCWs. OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of COVID-19 IgG, IgM antibodies among HCWs as well as identifying the factors associated with this seroprevalence. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed from July to August 2020 on healthcare workers at two COVID-19 referral hospitals of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. The level of COVID-19 IgG and IgM antibodies in sera was measured by commercial qualitative ELISA kits. RESULTS: In total, 192 individuals participated in the study: physicians (31.25%), nurses (30.2%). 84.2% of participants had contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases and among them 42.9 % of had close contact with COVID-19 patients for more than 3 months, and 31% reported close contact with more than 50 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Mask and gloves were the most frequently used personal protective equipment (PPE) with 92.4% and 77.2% of usage. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study showed high level of adherence to the use of PPE among HCWs as well as very low prevalence of seropositivity for of COVID-19 antibodies, hence confirming the effectiveness of PPE in protecting HCWs among COVVID-19 and possibly any other similar infections.