Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly around the world since its emergence and has wreaked havoc globally. As hospitals around the world are being overwhelmed due  to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is of utmost urgency to identify biomarkers which would accurately predict patient outcome at an early stage. Many studies suggested that numerous markers of inflammation like CRP, ESR, LDH, D-Dimer, Serum Ferritin and Interleukin -6 were found to be significantly elevated in patients with severe disease relative to patients with milder conditions. Amongst which IL-6 appears to be the most important driver of immune dysregulation and ARDS in Covid-19.  According to known evidence, IL-6 is superior to CRP and other markers of inflammation in predicting respiratory failure in Covid-19 (1, 2]. Method: All patients had a positive covid-19 Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test results.  Patients with the history of comorbidities such as Hypertension (HTN), Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Asthama, Heart failure, Chronic renal Failure (CRF) were included. The clinical and laboratory findings including Haemoglobin, WBC counts, Differential Counts, Liver Function Tests, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Ferritin and Interleukin -6 (IL-6) were obtained from the database. Results: A total of 50 patients were included in the study. The median age of study population was found to be 52.5 years. It was observed that there were significantly increased serum IL-6 levels as the age increased. The serum levels of both IL-6 and CRP were markedly increased in morbid patients. Higher plasma IL-6 levels translated to more severity (determined by of days of hospital stay, mechanical ventilation and mortality). Conclusion: This study proves that serum IL-6 level is an accurate and a reliable indicator in predicting the prognosis of the patients in terms of longer hospital stay ,greater need of mechanical ventilation, and/ or increased  mortality. Keywords: IL-6& Covid-Biomarkers.

Background: Ferritin is a key mediator of immune dysregulation, especially under extreme hyperferritinemia, via direct immune-suppressive and pro-inflammatory effects, contributing to the cytokine storm. In several studies, it was found that individuals with severe and very severe COVID-19 exhibited increased serum ferritin level, being serum ferritin in the very severe COVID-19 group significantly higher than in the severe COVID-19 group Method: All patients had a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results.  Patients with the history of comorbidities such as Hypertension (HTN), Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Asthama, Heart failure, Chronic renal Failure (CRF) were included. The clinical and laboratory findings including haemoglobin, wbc counts, differential counts, liver function tests, c-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin and interleukin -6 (IL-6) were obtained from the database. Results: A total of 38 patients were included in the study. The median age of study population was 52.5 years (13-90) and 65% of patients were male. Patients in the severe group were significantly older and had a higher frequency of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, heart failure and chronic renal failure as compared to the patients with the mild group. In addition frequency of dyspnea was higher in the severe group. It was observed that the serum ferritin levels of those patients who fell in the serious category were found significantly raised. P value for Serum Ferritin and Category (serious/mild) is 0.048 which is less than < 0.05. Conclusion: Hence it was concluded that there was a strong association between increased serum ferritin levels and the severity of the disease. Early analysis of ferritin levels in patients with covid 19 might effectively define the severity of disease. Keywords: Serum, Ferritin, Covid & Marker.

Aim: To evaluate the role of biomarkers from blood samples of COVID-19 patients admitted in Index Medical College Hospital & R.C. Material & Methods: Hematological parameters such as Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) & Systemic Inflammatory Index (SII) were studied in RT-PCR positive patients to evaluate the utility of these parameters for early diagnosis of COVID-19. Results: The study showed that there was statistically significant difference in test groups in reference to Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) & SII values (p<0.05). But no statistically significant difference was observed between test groups in reference to Platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) values (p>0.05). Conclusion: Leukocyte, Neutrophil, NLR & SII values can be used in the early diagnosis of COVID-19. Keywords: NLR, SII, Leukocyte, Neutrophil

The revised undergraduate (UG) medical curriculum envisages the Indian Medical Graduate (IMG) to assist the nation in achieving its goal of “health for all.” It adopts learner-centered and outcome-oriented approach to train an IMG who can effectively cater to the needs of the society. It emphasizes on the development of competencies and prepares the learner to work in real life situations. Hence, there is the shift in focus from “must know” to “must do.” Apart from being a competent clinician, the graduate has to function in the roles of effective communicator, leader, life-long learner, and professional. For acquisition of the competencies, some key components have been added in competency-based medical education. Each subject expert has to make sure to teach and assess the subject-wise skills as well as these competencies. This enables the UG students to acquire knowledge, skills, ethics, values, and attitude to work as competent and skillful health-care professionals.