Carbamazepine is one of the classical antiepileptic drugs, chemically related to the Tricyclic Antidepressants. There are different methods to detect Carbamazepine in plasma i.e. Therapeutic Drug monitoring (TDM). Various studies claim the usefulness of TDM of Carbamazepine but clear-cut guidelines for TDM are still lacking. This article is authors' endeavour to summarize facts in different publications on TDM of Carbamazepine. Electronic databases MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, IMSEAR (Index Medicus for South-East Asia Region) and Scopemed were extensively searched with Mesh (Medical Subject Headings) terms "Carbamazepine" AND "drug monitoring" from earliest possible date (1966) to December, 2016. Articles in any language especially those published in recent years were given preference. For non-English articles, Google translation was used and only abstracts were included. Review is mostly centred on toxic effects, poorly adjusted therapies and poor seizure control. Individualization of drug dose with the help of plasma level detection is a must in case of Carbamazepine therapy. TDM helps better outcome by minimizing the risk of under or overdosing due to drug/food interaction or genetic polymorphism of enzymes and transporters involved in the metabolism of Carbamazepine.

On December 31, 2019, the China Health Authority alerted WHO about 27 cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan City. It was subsequently named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease has now become pandemic. Current review was done to summarize information on COVID-19 published in various scientific works. Electronic databases containing medical articles viz., MEDLINE/ PubMed, Google Scholar etc were searched using the Medical Subject Headings ‘COVID-19’, ‘2019- nCoV’, ‘coronavirus’ and ‘SARS-CoV-2’ during antecedent one year. All study designs were incorporated to harvest clinical, laboratory, imaging, and hospital course data. The intermediate host of the virus is still unknown. Respiratory droplets produced by the patient is main source of transmission. SARS-CoV-2 invades the airway epithelium by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor with Coronavirus spike (S) protein. Most common symptoms are fever (98%), dry cough (77%), and dyspnea (63.5%). Later, complications like acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock etc may occur. Advanced age and co-morbidities like Diabetes have higher mortality otherwise Case Fatality Rate is 2-3%. RT-PCR is the diagnosis of choice. Since no universally accepted registered drug or FDA approved vaccine has come by now, prevention is the key. Hands should be regularly cleaned with soap or alcohol based sanitizer and in public, Nose and Mouth should be covered with face-mask and social distance of one meter should be maintained. While Vaccines are expected by early 2021, we should not forget to take comprehensive measures to prevent future outbreaks of zoonotic origin.

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Background: Carbamazepine plasma level is directly related to dose, therapeutic effect, and toxicity. We aimed to observe its plasma level and relationship with dose among psychiatric and pediatric patients. Methods: This observational study was performed in the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Laboratory of a university hospital for a period of 1.5 years. Twenty-six consenting patients visiting either psychiatric or pediatric service and taking carbamazepine same dose for > 8 days (i.e. > 6 half-lives) were enrolled. The primary outcome was plasma carbamazepine level as determined by a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography machine. The secondary outcome included its correlation with dose assessed by the Spearman rho’s correlation coefficient. Results: The mean dose received by the patients was 13.31 ± 5.39 mg/kg/day in pediatrics and 8.33 ± 2.29 mg/kg/day in psychiatry.  The plasma levels [median (IQR)] were 10.01 (6.27, 13.35) mg/L and 10.53 (5.17, 15.19) mg/L respectively in pediatric and psychiatric patients. Thirteen patients (50%) had therapeutic, 10 (36.46%) had above therapeutic, and 3 (11.54%) had subtherapeutic plasma level. Neurocysticercosis (23.1%) in pediatrics and partial seizure (69%) in psychiatry were the most common diagnosis. Symptom-control was achieved in 19 (73.1%) patients. The plasma carbamazepine level did not correlate with dose either in pediatric patients (p = 0.42) or in psychiatry patients (p = 0.63).  Conclusion: The plasma carbamazepine levels [median (IQR)] in pediatric and psychiatric patients were 10.01 (6.27, 13.35) mg/L and 10.53 (5.17, 15.19) mg/L respectively. The plasma level was normal in half of the recruited patients and did not correlate with dose.