Background: The worldwide sudden appearance and drastic increase in the number of infected cases with the severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) determined the World Health Organization to declare it as a pandemic situation. The ‘Corona Virus Disease 2019’ (COVID-19) has varied clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic to severe cases, and conjunctivitis, seems not only to be one of them, but sometimes found to be lone initial symptom present. Aim and method: The aim was to identify the prevalence of conjunctivitis as the first symptom in COVID-19 patients, in a primary healthcare unit. A retrospective study was conducted analyzing the presenting complains/symptoms and results of COVID-19 confirmatory tests. Results: Out of the 672 cases that were sent for RT-PCR testing only 121 (18%) were found to be positive. Among this 2.67% of patients who had both conjunctivitis and COVID-19, 77.77% of patients had unilateral eye affected while 22.22% had bilateral conjunctivitis of varying degrees. 15 patients diagnosed to have both acute conjunctivitis and COVID-19, presented other symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection. While 3 patients had only acute conjunctivitis during their entire course of COVID-19. Conclusions: Conjunctivitis is a symptom of COVID-19 and maybe the first sign of the infection, until the onset of the classical manifestations, the patient serves to be a viral reservoir. The physicians should not miss unilateral conjunctivitis, as it can be the only presenting complain of the COVID-19 disease at the initial phase, which might worsen if underwent undetected and can aid in the spread of the contagion.

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Introduction The role of digoxin (cardiac glycoside) in controlling the heart rate (HR) for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients has not been explored in depth. Methods To contribute to the limited data, our team conducted retrospective analysis of the clinical records of 1444 AF patients. We divided the AF patients into two groups, wherein group 1 patients were treated with beta-blockers (BB), low-dose digoxin, and an anticoagulant (vitamin K antagonist/factor-IIa inhibitor/factor-Xa inhibitor), and group 2 patients were treated with just BB and an anticoagulant. Our objectives were to compare the impact of combination therapy of BB and digoxin on the resting HR in patients with permanent AF and the patients’ quality of life (QOL) at periodic intervals. Results The findings of our study showed a better control of the resting HR rate (<110bpm) and an improved QOL among the group 1 patients when compared with group 2 patients. Conclusion Our findings are indicative of the favorable clinical outcomes that resulted from the addition of a low-dose of digoxin to the AF treatment regimen. However, larger studies/trials elucidating the outcomes of AF patients treated with the dual rate control therapy are required, to clarify the role of digoxin, guide the choice of agents, and standardize the AF treatment protocol.

Background: Poorly informed college students tend to adopt the habit of cigarette smoking. This habit often continues into their adulthoods, adversely affecting the population’s health and increasing the burden on healthcare systems. Aim: We aimed at exploring the predictors of the avoidable habit of smoking. We performed an analysis of the correlation between the potential predictors (marijuana use among peers and truancy) and the tobacco smoking statuses of the students. Material and method: Our study sample included 2976 students from colleges in Timis County, Romania, during the 2018–2019 period. The gender distribution of the participants was 62.5% girls and 37.5% boys, between the ages 18 and 25 years. A logistic regression test was performed to determine the impact of some personal and environmental factors, which are responsible for heavy smoking in this population. Results: Our findings suggest that the degree of marijuana smoking among friends and the frequency of college truancy are meaningful predictors of heavy smoking among young adults. The students with higher cigarette smoking rates had significantly more marijuana-smoking friends when compared to the students with average smoking rates. The truancy was higher among the students with higher cigarette smoking rates, compared to the students with average smoking rates.