No abstract

Objectives: The world is grappling with an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has shaken the mankind to the core and disrupted the lives of everyone. The aim of the study was to assess the presence of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia experienced by the Indian healthcare workers. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in India among 777 doctors to evaluate the mental health of doctors working in Corona wards from April 2020 to May 2020 using a pre-designed, pre-tested validated, semi-structured DASS-21 questionnaire, and the Insomnia Severity Index. Continuous variables between the groups were measured using the Mann–Whitney U-test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test. Results: Among the doctors working for the pandemic, around 55% of medical officers in the study reported having moderate levels of depression. With respect to anxiety, it was found that among men as many as 52% reported experiencing severe anxiety and 24% had moderate levels of anxiety whereas females reported as high as 68% and 48% of moderate and severe anxiety, respectively. In our study, around 30% and 44% of male doctors reported mild and moderate levels of stress, respectively, whereas 70% and 56% of female doctors reported mild and moderate levels of stress, respectively. It was also observed that among female doctors the rates of moderate insomnia were especially high (65%), whereas a high level of male participants reported sub-threshold insomnia (52%). Conclusion: Early screening targeting the medical workforce and the implementation of psychological interventions is essential for protecting and maintaining the functionality of the health-care system.

With a robust rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 th March 2020. COVID-19 pandemic has invited global researchers from various biomedical and biotechnological researchers to plan various treatment modalities for combating this pandemic crisis. At present, there is the unavailability of specific treatment modality; however, researchers have thrown light into the exploration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to therapeutically perquisite in ameliorating immune-mediated progressive worsening in COVID-19 infected patients. Cellular therapy (CT) has revolutionized the treatment of untreatable diseases with a better clinical and functional outcome. Placenta, being considered as medical waste, contains a variety of stem cells, and hence placenta-derived MSCs (P-MSCs) owe potentiality for extrapolation to combat COVID-19 pandemic.The usage of P-MSCs in combating the COVID-19 pandemic has plausible challenges in terms of isolation, harvesting, expansion, characterization, and involvement of ethical concerns. This article provides an insight into dealing COVID-19 pandemic with P-MSCs as cell-based therapy embracing immunomodulatory and immune-privileged potentials and future prospects. Advocating prospective randomized controlled clinical trials ethically will concretely supplement for its efficacy and safety concerns.

Ivermectin, an FDA approved broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent has been recently reported to show an inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 in an in-vitro study. This antiviral response has rendered it as a potential drug to be repurposed for COVID-19. Previously, ivermectin had showed inhibitory activity against RNA viruses in-vitro and DNA viruses in-vitro and in-vivo respectively. Much of its characterization has been related to SARS-CoV wherein viral proteins interacting with IMPα/β1 (Importins) were proposed to enhance the viral infectivity. These documentations serve as a ray of hope for considering ivermectin in treating COVID-19 due to its suggested nuclear transport inhibitory mechanism. Importantly, these recent findings warrant detailed investigations for understanding its benefit in terms of efficacy and safety in COVID-19 patients. This review article throws light on the current consensus in this regard.

Alopecia or baldness is a common diagnosis in clinical practice. Alopecia can be scarring or non-scarring, diffuse or patchy. The most prevalent type of alopecia is non-scarring alopecia, with the majority of cases being androgenetic alopecia (AGA) or alopecia areata (AA). AGA is traditionally treated with minoxidil and finasteride, while AA is treated with immune modulators; however, both treatments have significant downsides. These drawbacks compel us to explore regenerative therapies that are relatively devoid of adverse effects. A thorough literature review was conducted to explore the existing proven and experimental regenerative treatment modalities in non-scarring alopecia. Multiple treatment options compelled us to classify them into growth factor-rich and stem cell-rich. The growth factor-rich group included platelet-rich plasma, stem cell-conditioned medium, exosomes and placental extract whereas adult stem cells (adipose-derived stem cell-nano fat and stromal vascular fraction; bone marrow stem cell and hair follicle stem cells) and perinatal stem cells (umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs), Wharton jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs), amniotic fluid-derived MSCs (AF-MSCs), and placental MSCs) were grouped into the stem cell-rich group. Because of its regenerative and proliferative capabilities, MSC lies at the heart of regenerative cellular treatment for hair restoration. A literature review revealed that both adult and perinatal MSCs are successful as a mesotherapy for hair regrowth. However, there is a lack of standardization in terms of preparation, dose, and route of administration. To better understand the source and mode of action of regenerative cellular therapies in hair restoration, we have proposed the “À La Mode Classification”. In addition, available evidence-based cellular treatments for hair regrowth have been thoroughly described.