The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked unprecedented public health and social measures (PHSM) by national and local governments, including border restrictions, school closures, mandatory facemask use and stay at home orders. Quantifying the effectiveness of these interventions in reducing disease transmission is key to rational policy making in response to the current and future pandemics. In order to estimate the effectiveness of these interventions, detailed descriptions of their timelines, scale and scope are needed. The Health Intervention Tracking for COVID-19 (HIT-COVID) is a curated and standardized global database that catalogues the implementation and relaxation of COVID-19 related PHSM. With a team of over 200 volunteer contributors, we assembled policy timelines for a range of key PHSM aimed at reducing COVID-19 risk for the national and first administrative levels (e.g. provinces and states) globally, including details such as the degree of implementation and targeted populations. We continue to maintain and adapt this database to the changing COVID-19 landscape so it can serve as a resource for researchers and policymakers alike.

Background and aims Health care workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of getting infected with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and suboptimal preventive practices have been identified as an important risk factor in this regard. This study was done to evaluate the preventive practices being followed by health care workers and identify reasons for suboptimal compliance. Methods A cross-sectional survey was done in HCWs belonging to various occupational roles and socio-cultural backgrounds across India through online platforms and telephonic interviews from July 30, 2020 to August 30, 2020. A scientifically designed and pre-validated questionnaire with good validity (CVR = 0.87, S-CVI/Av = 0.978) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.85) was used. Results The responses of 956 participants were analysed. Various suboptimal practices like touching outer surface of masks, lack of social distancing in cafeteria and duty rooms, inability to wash hands for adequate duration and properly follow steps of hand hygiene, inability to don and doff PPE properly, carrying PPE to duty rooms before completely doffing, use of personal mobile phones during duty and improper sleep were identified. Lack of knowledge, long duty hours, shortage of PPE, high patient workload, and casual attitude regarding own safety were identified as important barriers. Resident doctors and paramedical staff in the age group 18–30 years reported lower adherence. Conclusions Suboptimal compliance in preventive practices like handling PPE, distancing in cafeteria/duty rooms and hand hygiene is not uncommon in HCWs. Certain barriers are identified which should be addressed to ensure adequate safety of HCWs against COVID-19.

This study was conducted to assess the traumatic impact of the second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on depression, anxiety, stress, sleep quality, mental well-being, and resilience among the general population of India.

INTRODUCTION: Oral chemotherapy with Vismodegib for locally advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is widely used by dermatologists. In several isolated case reports, rare hepatotoxicity has been reported, but no consumer safety notifications have been issued by the manufacturer or the FDA to date. CASE DESCRIPTION/METHODS: A 62-year-old Caucasian female presented to emergency room with profound jaundice of her skin and scleral icterus that began two weeks after completion of Vismodegib oral chemotherapy for BCC of the left lateral forehead (Figure 1). Her past medical history was only significant for hypertension and pyrosis. The patient reports that she did not take any prescription or over-the-counter medications, herbal supplements, and had no history of alcohol use. Admission labs revealed AST of 37, ALT of 287, alkaline phosphatase of 522, total bilirubin 11.2, direct bilirubin 6.9, and indirect bilirubin of 4.3. A prompt liver biopsy revealed findings consistent with drug-related injury, including bile ductular reaction associated with portal inflammation consisting of lymphocytes, eosinophils, and neutrophils (Figure 2). She was stabilized and discharged with a plan for weekly outpatient monitoring. However, she presented two weeks later with complaints of right upper quadrant pain and melanotic stools for two days. Admission labs revealed a hemoglobin of 8.4, decreased from 12.0 on previous discharge. She was transfused appropriately and an upper endoscopy (EGD) revealed bleeding from the papillary orifice, indicative of hemobilia (Figure 3), warranting selective angiography and coil embolization for successful hemostasis. Jaundice resolved fully in four weeks and hemoglobin and liver function tests (LFTs) normalized in two months at follow-up. DISCUSSION: As noted in our case, gastroenterologists are bound to see an array of iatrogenic life-threatening complications from outpatient oral therapy for cosmetic lesions. Our case involved not only the hepatotoxic effects from Vismodegib, but a rare iatrogenic complication from the biopsy with bleeding requiring further interventions. Fatalities have been reported with this drug. Therefore, heightened awareness in medical community and mandated patient safety notifications by the manufacturer and the FDA are necessary to improve outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Disaccharidase assay for evaluating abdominal pain has been well studied in the pediatric population. Deficiency of lactase or sucrase-isomaltase can present with chronic diarrhea, flatulence, abdominal pain, and bloating in such patients. However, the prevalence of disaccharidase deficiencies in adult populations with such symptoms has not been well delineated. METHODS: Distal duodenal specimens from 100 patients with above symptoms, who underwent an upper endoscopy (EGD) at an outpatient facility were submitted for disaccharidase assay. Standardized laboratory cut off values were used to determine disaccharidase levels that were outside the normal range. Statistical analysis was done to determine the frequencies of abnormal disaccharidases. Analysis of the group, with normal or low lactase/sucrase and presenting clinical features, was performed. RESULTS: Mean age of study patients was 52 years and 46% of the patients were male. The racial distribution was as follows: 45% White, 23% Hispanic, 18% Asian, 6% Black, 8% other. Table 1 shows the frequencies of normal and low values for these patients. 84% of the cohort had low lactase, 21% had low sucrase, and 11% had all 4 values in normal range. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the remaining patients who had at least 1 abnormal disaccharide. CONCLUSION: The association between abdominal symptoms and carbohydrate malabsorption in adults is widely recognized, but testing is rarely performed by gastroenterologists in clinical practice. Dietary recommendations are often made empirically. We investigated the prevalence of low disaccharidase levels in the adult population with above symptoms. Besides lactase deficiency, a significant number of patients also had deficiency of sucrase, maltase and palatinase. While this study cannot establish a causal relationship between low levels noted and patient symptoms, this information can be used to recommend appropriate diets or the use of lactase and sucrase enzyme supplements offering a more selective approach in patient care.