COVID-19 is a pandemic malady caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus. It is a global threat that has affected 223 countries and territories all over the world. According to the WHO report as of April 06, 2022 coronavirus has affected 492,189,439 people globally with 6,159,474 confirmed deaths. The pandemic of COVID-19 has badly affected Bangladesh likewise many other countries of the world. According to Worldometer report on 06 April 2022 the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 were 1,951,903 with 29,123 deaths, and 1,886,036 COVID-19 recoveries in Bangladesh. After originating from China, this notorious virus has been spread to almost all the countries of the world. Its spike protein aids in binding with the ACE2 receptors of the cell membrane resulting in cell entry, replication, and induction of inflammatory and pro-inflammatory responses leading to the pathogenic condition. The novel COVID-19 virus has structural and genetic similarity with its predecessors specially SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. This review presents the existing literature on COVID-19 and discusses different aspects of COVID-19 including virology, etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, transmission and susceptibility and preventive measures of COVID-19. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 25(2): 143-163, 2022 (July)

Background: Perineural injection of corticosteroid has been successfully used to prolong the local anesthetic action. The aim of this study was to evaluation the efficacy and safety of dexamethasone as an adjuvant with bupivacaine-lignocaine in supraclavicular block. Material and methods: This analytical study was carried out in the Department of Anesthesiology in Chittagong Medical College Hospital in collaboration with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery over a period of 22 months starting from January 2012 to December 2014. A total 130 adult patients of either sex with American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) health status I-II were selected for upper limb surgery under supraclavicular brachial plexus block was randomly allocated in to two groups of 65 patients in each. Group- D was received dexamethasone 2ml (10mg) and Group-C (Control) was received distilled water 2ml in 38ml of bupivacaine and lignocaine with adrenaline (total volume of 40ml). Results: The mean onset of sensory & motor block was 7.72±1.949min & 8.75±2.008min in group-D and 10.49±0.75min & 9.41±0.76 min in group-C. The duration of analgesia in group-D was 11.40±0.844hrs and in group-C was 3.81±0.88hrs. Conclusion: There was significantly prolonged duration of analgesia and better onset of sensory and motor block in dexamethasone group without any unwanted effects. JCMCTA 2018 ; 29 (1) : 47-52

Eclipta prostata (E. prostata) L, is a herbal medicinal plant, which is reported to contain phenolics and flavonoids, but very little is known about its bioactive potentials. In this report, we reexamined the phenols and flavonoid content and evaluated different bioactivities of organic soluble fractions from the shoots of E. prostata for the first time. Among the extractives, chloroform soluble fraction (CSF) possessed the highest content of phenols (156.03 ± 0.52 mg gallic acid equivalent /g of dry extract) and flavonoids (67.47 ± 0.56 mg quercetin equivalent /g of dry extract) and exhibited the most potent antioxidant properties in terms of total antioxidant capacity (198.71 ± 0.89 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g of dry extract) and DPPH free radical scavenging ability (IC50; 17.68 ± 0.32 μg/ml). Similarly, CSF showed the highest cytotoxicity with LC50 values of 16.03±0.23 μg/ml, and thrombolytic activity with 36.06 ± 0.39% clot lysis. A significant correlation was observed between flavonoid content and total antioxidant capacity (r2 = 0.894, p < 0.05), while high correlation was seen between polyphenols and flavonoid content with free radical scavenging, total antioxidant capacity and cytotoxicity (r2 = 0.612 - 0.928). These findings suggest that E. prostata is a precious source of polyphenols having potential bioactivities, which could be utilized for the management of lifestyle diseases. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 25(2): 164-174, 2022 (July)

Background: Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) is a medical speciality focused on prevention, diagnosis, rehabilitation, and therapy for patients who experience functional limitations resulting from injury, disease, or malformation. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital provides outdoor services for different musculoskeletal and neurological disorders which include counseling, drug management, physical therapy, speech therapy, ADL training etc. In this study, we enrolled only the patients of musculoskeletal disorders. Objectives: To understand the disease pattern and demographic characteristics of the patients of Musculoskeletal disorders presenting to the department of PMR. This will increase the awareness regarding PMR services among doctors and other health care providers and also to facilitate rehabilitation plan of a musculoskeletal disorder. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was done on outdoor patients attending the Department of PMR at Sir Salimullah Medical College from 1st January, 2021 to 31st December, 2021. We have enrolled only the patients of musculoskeletal disorders. Results: Total number of patients was 13644, most of them were female. Maximum number of patients belong to 20-50 years of range and they mainly come from surrounding urban areas. Regarding the musculoskeletal disease pattern, 34.2% patients presented with mechanical low back pain (LBP) and related diseases, 11.4% patients with neck pain, 13.7% with knee pain, 9.4% with shoulder pain, soft tissue rheumatism (STR) comprises of 8.7%, 4.6% with heel pain and related disorders, 14.3% with rheumatological diseases, other musculoskeletal diseases contribute to 3.7%. Patients with LBP and related diseases were diagnosed as non-specific mechanical LBP (74%), Herniated disc disease(5%), Lumbar spondylosis, Spondylolisthesis (2%), etc. Conclusion: LBP and related diseases affect most of the people attending outdoor with musculoskeletal diseases. Sir Salimullah Med Coll J 2022; 30: 186-189

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