Sundar Adhikari

Background/Aim: In 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic due to its widespread nature. The severity of COVID-19 infections leading to patient deaths is influenced by various factors. Therefore, it is crucial to identify and address these contributing causes for effective treatment of COVID-19. Methods: This study was conducted between 23 January 2021 and 19 June 2021 at a hospital with 100 beds in Western Nepal. Patient demographic data and High-resolution computed tomography severity scores were recorded. Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences were used for statistical data analysis. Binomial regression and Chi-square tests were applied, setting the significance level at P<0.05 with a confidence interval of 95%. Results: The study found a significant association between computed tomography (CT) severity, gender, and age with the treatment outcome among COVID-19-infected patients admitted to the hospital. Patients with a CT severity score between 16 and 25 had an eightfold higher mortality rate (OR: -8.802; 95% CI: 3.506–18.491). Conclusion: The severity and mortality of COVID-19 infections are influenced by factors such as age, gender, and biomarkers indicated by CT severity scores. Identifying additional factors that worsen COVID-19 patient’s conditions and increase the risk of mortality is essential.

Background: Although many studies have reported the association of different factors with the severity of coronavirus disease (COVID) patients, no concrete scientific conclusions have been reported till date. Aim and Objective: This study aimed to conduct a prospective analysis on different factors associated with the severity and outcome of the COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a 100-bedded hospital of West Nepal for 3 months, with the total number of hospitalized patients 78. Demographic data, pre-existing comorbidities, ABO blood group, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) severity score, and outcomes of the respondents were recorded and analyzed statistically using Chi-square, binomial regression test, and significance level was considered P<0.05 at 95% confidence intervals. Results: Although the improvement rate was higher among males (84.0%) than females (75.0%), no significant association was observed between sex of the patient and treatment outcomes. Similarly, no significant association was observed in between age and ABO blood grouping of patients and treatment outcome. Furthermore, the chance of improvement is about 6 times higher (OR-6.214, 95% CI: 1.452–26.599; P=0.014) among patients with single comorbidity compared with patients with two or more comorbidities. Moreover, the chance of improvement is 8 times higher (OR-8, 95% CI: 2.034–31.461; P=0.001) in patients with CT severity score 1–15 compared with patients with CT severity score 16–25. Conclusion: CT severity score and pre-existing comorbid conditions play an important role among the different associated factors with the severity and treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients.

Background: Pain and inflammation are major health problems. The adverse effect of synthetic drugs for the management of painful inflammatory conditions gives a strong motivation for researchers to develop newer drugs with lesser side effects. Mimosa rubicaulis has been traditionally used in rheumatism, fungal infection, wound, fever, etc. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of ethanolic stem extract of M. rubicaulis in Swiss albino rats. Methods: The stem of M. rubicaulis was collected, subjected to double maceration using ethanol as a solvent. Then, Swiss albino rats (n=72) were taken. An acute toxicity study was conducted using different doses of the plant extract. The anti-inflammatory activity (100 mg/kg, 250 mg/kg) was evaluated using the carrageenan-induced paw edema test, while, analgesic activity (100 mg/kg, 250 mg/kg) was evaluated using a hot plate and tail immersion method. The result was analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance and post hoc analysis with the Tukey test. Results: The acute toxicity study showed that the plant is safe for use in an animal model. The extract showed anti-inflammatory activity by a reduction in paw edema volume by 25% and 48%. Similarly, analgesic activity was shown by an increase in latency of paw licking and tail withdrawal by 41%, and 56% (hot plate method) and 39% and 54% (Tail immersion method), p<0.05. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the ethanolic extract of Mimosa rubicaulis is safe and possesses both anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity.

Many plants have the property of wound healing, but most of the people are using costly allopathic medicine for the wound. This might be due to lack of awareness about the traditional uses and lack of scientific study of ethnomedicinal plants. So, this study aimed to carry out the antibacterial and antioxidant activity of two medicinal plants which are used traditionally for wound healing activity, i.e.,Mimosa rubicaulis and Reinwardtia indica. Different parts of Mimosa rubicaulis (root, stem, and leaves) and Reinwardtia indica (flower and leaves) were used for the study. Extractions were done by maceration using ethanol as solvent. Antibacterial activity was carried out by the well diffusion method, and antioxidant activities were screened by DPPH radical scavenging and NO scavenging assays. Extract of M. rubicaulis has shown a weak zone of inhibition towards S. aureus and P. vulgaris whereas R. indica has shown no zone of inhibition towards selected bacterial strains. Leaf, root, and stem extracts of M. rubicaulis have shown potent antioxidant activity, i.e., IC₅₀ value of 9.8 µg/ml, 10.19 µg/ml, and, 13.64 µg/ml, respectively. Similarly, leaf extract of R. indica exhibited antioxidant activity with an IC₅₀ value of 19.73 μg/ml. The percentage inhibition of NO radicals of root and stem of M. rubicaulis and leaves of R. indica was 31%, 21%, and 22%, respectively. Out of these two plant species, M. rubicaulis had shown antibacterial activity towards selected microorganism, but antioxidant activity was shown by both plant species. These properties on above mentioned two plant species might help for the development of a marketed formulation for antibacterial and wound‐healing agent since wound healing is promoted by antibacterial and antioxidant activities.