Background: The SARS-CoV-2 infection has triggered a global health crisis. Early detection of COVID-19 infection using hematology and radiology examination is the fastest method to detect the infection. This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of sign and symptom, hematology, and radiology examination of COVID-19 patients at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Academic Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.Methods: This is a retrospective study with quantitative descriptive methods and uses a total sampling technique. This study was conducted at UGM Academic Hospital, with a total sample of 147 patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Data were collected from medical records and were analyzed with Microsoft Excel for Windows.Results: This study showed that the most signs and symptoms of COVID-19 patients were cough (46.26%) and cold (37.41%), followed by hypertension (31.97%). Hematology examination showed that the leukocyte count of patients was mainly higher than the normal level (82.99%). The data showed that 22.45% of patients had increased C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and 2.72% of patients had increased procalcitonin. The result of thorax x-ray (16.33%) and CT-scan (28.57%) examination of the COVID-19 patients indicates pneumonia.Conclusions: This study illustrated that the symptoms of COVID-19 patients at UGM Academic Hospital, Yogyakarta were various. Respiratory problems such as cough and cold were the most common symptoms, followed by muscle fatigue and digestive disorders. Hematology and radiology test results of COVID-19 patients depend on the severity of the disease.

Potassium content in biomass ashes, especially empty fruit bunches was quite high and had not been utilized maximally. This research dealt with the development of a technique for recovering potassium salt from a solution of ash extraction. Experiments were carried out usung a solution model containing KCl, NaCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2 with concentrations of 164.19, 8.39, 7.44, dan 39.60 mg/L respectively. Results of a preliminary experiment indicated that the solubilities of KCl and NaCl were reversed: 280.4 and 280.4 (g/L in water) to 6.9 and 14.2 (g/L in absolute ethanol), while the solubilities of MgCl2 and CaCl2 were still high (68.7 and 383.5 g/L in ethanol). Using these values of solubility, a combined evaporation and adding ethanol was trialed firstly to increase the precipitation of KCl. Evaporation of KCl solution 164.19 g/L until an evaporation leves of 15% did not give any precipitation yet, while adding ethanol to the remaining solution (at solution ratios of 4/1 and 3/2 ethanol) yielded precipitations with the potassium recoveries of 60% and 48% respectively. At an evaporation level of 30%, the evaporation yielded a 5% potassium recovery, while the combined technique gave 60% and 50% recoveries for adding ethanol with ratios of 4/1 and 3/2 respectively. The application of the combined technique on the mixed salts solution was modified slightly. The precipitate from the evaporation (containing KCl and NaCl) was redissolved into water and followed by adding ethanol to precipitate only KCl. Thus, two precipitates were finally obtained: (i) precipitate from adding ethanol to filtrate of evaporation, and (ii) precipitate from dissolving precipitate from evaporation. At an evaporation level of 30%, the evaporation only gave a precipitate recovery of about 10%, while the application of combined technique gave bout 80% and 60% recoveries by adding ethanol with ratios of 4/1 and 3/2 respectively. Hopefully this technique could separate KCl from its mixture with NaCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2.

Objective: This research aims to validate the method for rifampicin analysis in plasma by using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) that can be used to study the bioequivalence of a generic tablet of rifampicin 450 mg “X” marketed in Indonesia. Methods: Bioequivalence test was analysed using HPLC equipped with UV-Vis detector at 377 nm. The mobile phase used was acetonitrile-phosphate buffer pH 6.8 (45:55) delivered at a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. Bioequivalence test was conducted on a limited number of subjects (n=8). The subjects were divided into two groups randomly. The pharmacokinetic profiles of the test tablet and reference tablet were statistically calculated using SPSS program to see the test tablet and reference tablet were bioequivalence or not. Results: The developed HPLC method for rifampicin analysis in plasma was sufficiently valid based on the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) guideline, with precision and accuracy values were % Relative Standard Deviation (% RSD = 1.40–13.04) and % Recovery (86.24–102.13), respectively. Meanwhile, the method was linear over studied concentration (0.05 to 10.26 µg/ml) with a coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.9984. The method also had good stability and sensitivity. The result of statistical calculation showed that the generic rifampicin tablet X was bioequivalence toward the reference tablet Rimactan 450 mg. Conclusion: The test rifampicin tablet that was, the generic tablet “X” was bioequivalence toward the reference rifampicin tablet “Rimactan”.

Epilepsy is a disruption of brain function that is characterized by abnormal depolarization of neurons. One signs of epilepsy is seizures, which caused by brain injury. Epilepsy can cause morbidity and mortality, thus, many drugs are used to treat epilepsy. But these drugs have negative health effects. This research was using semax peptide as alternative therapy, because it is a neuropeptide that directly acts on the central nervous system and free from hormonal activity, therefore it will not cause negative health effects. Moreover, semax peptide is an antioxidant and can synthesize some proteins in brain. The potency of semax peptide therapy on epilepsy rats can be analyzed by MDA level and proteins profiles on the brain. The epilepsy rats were prepared by using LiCl and pilocarpine induction. Then rats were treated with 50 µg/kg body weight of semax peptide. Analysis of MDA level was measured using TBA test while protein profiles were determined using SDS-PAGE method. The result showed that semax peptide reduced MDA levels up to 40.46% and synthesize 3 kinds of proteins that were not synthesized on epilepsy rats. Those proteins have molecular weights of 93.54 kDa, 66.76 kDa, and 59.66 kDa. In conclusion, 50 µg/kg body weight dose of semax peptide can be used for the treatment of epilepsy.