Background: Cardiomyopathies (CMPs) due to myocytes involvement are among the leading causes of sudden adolescent death and heart failure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there are limited data available on cardiac complications in patients with COVID-19, leading to severe outcomes.Methods: We conducted a systematic search in Pubmed/Medline, Web of Science, and Embase databases up to August 2020, for all relevant studies about COVID-19 and CMPs.Results: A total of 29 articles with a total number of 1460 patients were included. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and ischemic heart disease were the most reported comorbidities among patients with COVID-19 and cardiomyopathy. In the laboratory findings, 21.47% of patients had increased levels of troponin. Raised D-dimer levels were also reported in all of the patients. Echocardiographic results revealed mild, moderate, and severe Left Ventricular (LV) dysfunction present in 17.13, 11.87, and 10% of patients, respectively.Conclusions: Cardiac injury and CMPs were common conditions in patients with COVID-19. Therefore, it is suggested that cardiac damage be considered in managing patients with COVID-19.

Interferons are an essential part of the innate immune system and have antiviral and immunomodulatory functions. We studied the effects of interferon β‐1a on the outcomes of severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). This retrospective study was conducted on hospitalized COVID‐19 patients in Loghman‐Hakim hospital from February 20, 2020 to April 20, 2020, Tehran, Iran. Patients were selected from two groups, the first group received interferon β‐1a in addition to the standard treatment regimen, and the second group received standard care. The clinical progression of two groups during their hospital admission was compared. We studied a total number of 395 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients. Out of this number, 111 patients (33.5%) died (31.3% of the interferon β‐1a group and 34.1% of the control group). The mortality rate indicated no statistically significant difference between groups (p‐value = 0.348), however for patients who were hospitalized for more than a week, the rate of mortality was lower in the interferon β‐1a group (p‐value = 0.014). The median hospital stay was statistically longer for patients treated by interferon β‐1a (p‐value < 0.001). The results of this study showed that interferon β‐1a can improve the outcomes of hospitalized patients with severe COVID‐19, but more adequately‐powered randomized controlled trials should be conducted.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an ultrasound training course on the performance of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in terms of using extended-focused assessment with sonography in trauma (E-FAST) in the pre-hospital setting. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 107 EMTs affiliated to Shahid Beheshti and Kashan Universities of Medical Sciences, were randomly selected. At first, the EMTs were given a pre-test of five images concerning normal and abnormal ultrasound views of thoracic and abdominal cavities. Then, 6 hours of theoretical and practical sessions were done by emergency medicine specialists to teach the EMTs to use ultrasound for the detection of pneumothorax and free fluid. The EMTs were tested again in the form of 18 images post-test as well as a 13-item survey to evaluate their skills in taking correct 10 E-FAST. Results: A total of 107 EMTs with the mean age of 27±15.21 and average of 3.5 years work experience participated in this study. The mean of test score increased from 0.57± 0.19 to 0.81±0.08 (with P < 0.001) out of the total score of 100. In the 4-graded survey, 98% of EMTs obtained good to excellent grades in working with ultrasound machine. Also, 50.5% of EMTs were good in taking Morison’s view and 46.6% and 45.6% had medium grades in pericardial and splenorenal views, respectively. In addition, 22.3% had weak grades in taking pericardial views. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the implementation of the training course significantly improved the accuracy of free fluid detection in thoracic and abdominal cavities by EMTs.