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Tobacco Induced Diseases 2024Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a worldwide infection characterized by various symptoms. Few studies have examined its oral manifestations. However, there is...
INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a worldwide infection characterized by various symptoms. Few studies have examined its oral manifestations. However, there is insufficient information on the oral manifestations of patients with COVID-19 who use tobacco products. Therefore, this cross-sectional study investigated oral symptoms of tobacco-using patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.
METHODS
This study used a convenience sample of non-hospitalized patients (aged ≥18 years) with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 diagnosed by polymerized chain reaction (PCR). This study excluded pregnant or lactating women or patients with serious COVID-19 complications, including those who required hospitalization or were on specific medications (antiviral, corticosteroid, antimicrobial, or immunosuppressive). Oral examinations were performed, including labial, buccal, and gingival mucosa, tongue, floor of the mouth, and palate, for any newly developed lesions associated with the onset of COVID-19. The salivary flow was determined using the passive drool collection technique.
RESULTS
Lip dryness, gingivitis, tongue lesions, and taste loss were the most commonly reported oral symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. The most common general symptoms were tiredness and headache (63.9%), followed by dry cough, myalgia, sore throat, and fever. This study found 139 occurrences of oral symptoms, of which 52 were dry lips (27 tobacco non-users, and 25 tobacco users), and 11 were gingivitis (five non-users, and six tobacco users), and 12 tongue changes (eight non-users, and four tobacco users). Ageusia, or loss of taste sensation, was most commonly reported with or without other oral COVID-19 symptoms (55 occurrences: 36 non-users and 19 tobacco users). No significant differences were found in oral symptoms between tobacco non-users and tobacco users.
CONCLUSIONS
There is a need to expand the routine examination protocol for patients during future respiratory pandemics, as monitoring oral health allows dentists to improve the management of oral sequelae during a pandemic.
PubMed: 38742218
DOI: 10.18332/tid/186531 -
Bioinformation 2023The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has profoundly affected developing countries like India. This retrospective cross-sectional analysis investigated...
Epidemiology, clinical presentation and treatment outcomes in patients with COVID-19 in an ambulatory setting: a cross sectional study during the massive SARS-CoV-2 wave in India.
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has profoundly affected developing countries like India. This retrospective cross-sectional analysis investigated epidemiological, clinical characteristics, treatment strategies, and outcomes for hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the Massive SARS-CoV-2 Wave in India. Among 233 patients, the median age was 47.33 years, mostly male. Hospital stays averaged 8.4 days. Common symptoms include fever (88.41%), dry cough (56.2%), myalgia (44.20%), and shortness of breath (22.8%). The most common comorbidities were diabetes mellitus (52%) and hypertension (47.2%). Elevated biomarkers include D-dimer (24.4%), CRP (32.1%), ferritin (26.60%), and others. Prescription analysis revealed that antibiotics (42.6%), Antivirals (37%), anthelmintics (20.30%), vitamins and nutritional supplements (20.71%) and glucocorticoids (12.8%) were the most commonly prescribed. Oxygen therapy was needed by 19.31% of patients in the moderate and severe categories within 24 hours of admission. The mortality rate was 8.58%. The surge led to increased hospitalizations and mortality, particularly among young adults. Diabetes and hypertension were correlated with mortality. Irregular use of drugs lacking evidence, like antibiotics and anthelmintics, vitamins and nutritional supplements, was observed in COVID-19 management. This study underscores the impact of the pandemic in India and highlights the need for evidence-based treatments.
PubMed: 37928498
DOI: 10.6026/97320630019939 -
World Journal of Clinical Cases Aug 2023Rationale: No other treatment besides lung transplant is effective for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Patients with IPF have poor prognosis, which may eventually...
BACKGROUND
Rationale: No other treatment besides lung transplant is effective for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Patients with IPF have poor prognosis, which may eventually lead to death. Patient concerns: Two female patients were diagnosed with IPF. In our recent follow-up, both these patients maintained a good quality of life.
CASE SUMMARY
Diagnosis: Both patients had dry cough and progressive dyspnea. Interventions: The first patient was treated with prednisone, and the second patient was treated with prednisone and tripterygium glycosides. However, the symptoms did not improve and fibrosis was not controlled. Thus, the Feibi recipe was used. Outcomes: No deterioration was observed after the treatment, and the dry cough and its effect were ameliorated. Furthermore, they are still alive and the quality of their lives has improved.
CONCLUSION
These two cases suggest that the Feibi recipe and other traditional Chinese medicine therapies could be beneficial for IPF treatment.
PubMed: 37727712
DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i24.5742 -
PLOS Global Public Health 2023Scientific literature suggests that pregnant women are at greater risk of acquiring a more severe form of COVID-19 exposing both mother and child to a higher risk of...
Scientific literature suggests that pregnant women are at greater risk of acquiring a more severe form of COVID-19 exposing both mother and child to a higher risk of obstetric and neonatal complications. These include increased hospitalization rates, ICU admissions, or ventilatory support among pregnant women when compared to COVID-19 negative pregnant womenA case-control study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan with the objective of evaluating the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in pregnancy and its effect on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Data was retrospectively collected from April 2020 till January 2022 of obstetric patients with COVID-19 positive cases and were compared with COVID-19 negative cases from the same time. A total of 491 women were included in the study, 244 cases and 247 controls. The most common complication amongst cases was gestational diabetes mellitus (n = 59, 24%), followed by gestational hypertension (n = 16, 31.7%), pre-eclampsia (n = 13, 5%) Pre-rupture of membrane (85.7%). Amongst the COVID positive mothers the most common presenting complaints were fever followed by dry cough, headache, and shortness of breath. It was observed that COVID-19 did not result in increased adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes compared to COVID-19 negative mothers.
PubMed: 37566567
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002139 -
Cureus Jan 2024This report describes a 42-year-old female patient who presented with an intensive nocturnal dry cough persisting for over six months. Subsequent to the prolonged cough,...
This report describes a 42-year-old female patient who presented with an intensive nocturnal dry cough persisting for over six months. Subsequent to the prolonged cough, she developed shoulder and neck discomfort, leading her to seek chiropractic care. The patient received cervical chiropractic adjustments combined with the Koren Specific Technique (KST) emotions protocol. The patient was mainly treated for her musculoskeletal complaint. However, after two treatment sessions, the patient's chronic cough showed significant improvement. Two weeks later, the cough had completely ceased, and her shoulder and neck discomfort had also improved. The cough symptoms did not reappear during the six-month follow-up. The mechanism of cough improvement remains unclear, whether it is due to spinal adjustments, the KST emotions protocol, their combined effects, or merely a placebo response. This report discusses the potential underlying mechanisms of the case improvement, suggesting a non-pharmacological adjunctive therapeutic approach that could be investigated further in future research.
PubMed: 38304660
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.51502 -
Scientific Reports Jan 2024Coughing, a prevalent symptom of many illnesses, including COVID-19, has led researchers to explore the potential of cough sound signals for cost-effective disease...
Coughing, a prevalent symptom of many illnesses, including COVID-19, has led researchers to explore the potential of cough sound signals for cost-effective disease diagnosis. Traditional diagnostic methods, which can be expensive and require specialized personnel, contrast with the more accessible smartphone analysis of coughs. Typically, coughs are classified as wet or dry based on their phase duration. However, the utilization of acoustic analysis for diagnostic purposes is not widespread. Our study examined cough sounds from 1183 COVID-19-positive patients and compared them with 341 non-COVID-19 cough samples, as well as analyzing distinctions between pneumonia and asthma-related coughs. After rigorous optimization across frequency ranges, specific frequency bands were found to correlate with each respiratory ailment. Statistical separability tests validated these findings, and machine learning algorithms, including linear discriminant analysis and k-nearest neighbors classifiers, were employed to confirm the presence of distinct frequency bands in the cough signal power spectrum associated with particular diseases. The identification of these acoustic signatures in cough sounds holds the potential to transform the classification and diagnosis of respiratory diseases, offering an affordable and widely accessible healthcare tool.
Topics: Humans; Cough; Sound; Acoustics; Algorithms; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing
PubMed: 38182601
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50371-2 -
Brain Sciences Jan 2024Chronic cough in children and adolescents can be troublesome both to the patient and the whole family. The most common causes of chronic cough in children are protracted...
Chronic cough in children and adolescents can be troublesome both to the patient and the whole family. The most common causes of chronic cough in children are protracted bacterial bronchitis and bronchial asthma. However, differential diagnostic workup and treatment can become complicated when a cough of different etiology is encountered, especially in a child having a complex medical history for an unrelated pathology. A cough lacking any identified somatic cause and response to medical treatment in combination with core clinical features of tics that include suppressibility, distractibility, suggestibility, variability, and the presence of a premonitory sensation is labeled tic cough. Here we discuss a case of an adolescent who had atrophy of the corpus callosum and a history of ventriculoperitoneal shunting due to hydrocephalus caused by stenosis of the sylvian aqueduct, but now presented with a debilitating dry cough lasting for several months. After physical causes of cough were ruled out, the diagnosis of tic cough was reached, and multidisciplinary treatment ensured complete recovery. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case showing coincidence of tic cough and hydrocephalus. The co-occurrence of non-syndromic corpus callosum atrophy and tic cough might hypothetically suggest a predisposing pathogenetic link via reduced signaling through cortical inhibitory neurons; further studies are needed. The importance of careful assessment of medical history, clinical picture, and features of the cough itself are emphasized in order to reach the correct diagnosis. Increased awareness of medical society is mandatory to recognize tic cough and to distinguish it from the neurologic manifestations of organic brain pathology.
PubMed: 38248294
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14010079 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2023Primary cardiac myxofibrosarcoma is a rare form of cardiac malignant tumors. MFS usually involves the left atrium and presents as a unicentric or multicentric tumor...
Primary cardiac myxofibrosarcoma is a rare form of cardiac malignant tumors. MFS usually involves the left atrium and presents as a unicentric or multicentric tumor mass. We reported on a 37-year-old female who presented with chest tightness and dyspnea for a month, dry cough, and occasionally having blood streak sputum for half a month. Echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography and cardiac positron emission tomography revealed multiple tumors in the heart. The right ventricle and right pulmonary artery were involved, with occlusion of the right pulmonary artery. Cardiac tumors were surgically resected and were consistent with low-grade MFS. No recurrence or metastasis occurred at 20 months of follow-up.
PubMed: 37731640
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1197463 -
SAGE Open Medical Case Reports 2024Amoebic colitis remains a diagnostic challenge on colonoscopy given that its features resemble that of inflammatory bowel disease. We describe a similar case of a 66...
Amoebic colitis remains a diagnostic challenge on colonoscopy given that its features resemble that of inflammatory bowel disease. We describe a similar case of a 66 years old male patient with multiple comorbidities including morbid obesity, end-stage renal disease requiring haemodialysis, IHD with PCI, T2DM, HTN and new onset dry cough for which he received a short course of steroids. He presented to the colorectal clinic with bleeding and mucus discharge per-rectum with no other symptoms related to bowel and non-specific colonoscopy findings with amoebic colitis only confirmed on histological diagnosis. The patient was commenced on a course of Metronidazole and followed up on first and sixth month after treatment where he remained well and reported no further symptoms.
PubMed: 38495736
DOI: 10.1177/2050313X241235835 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Sep 2023(1) Background: A high concentration of sodium chloride on in vitro cell culture leads to reduced SARS-CoV-2 replication. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate the effects...
(1) Background: A high concentration of sodium chloride on in vitro cell culture leads to reduced SARS-CoV-2 replication. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate the effects of inhaling hypertonic NaCl particles (BREATHOX) on the duration of COVID-19-induced acute symptoms. (2) Methods: A prospective, open label, randomized, standard of care-controlled group (SOC) pilot trial compared inhaled oral and nasal administered BREATHOX (2.0 mg NaCl, particles size between 1-10 μm), with five or ten inhalations per day for ten days. The primary endpoint was the time to resolve COVID-19-related symptoms. Safety outcomes included adverse clinical and laboratory events. (3) Results: A total of 101 individuals were screened and 98 were randomly assigned to BREATHOX ten sessions per day (Group 1; 33 patients), BREATHOX five sessions per day (Group 2; 32 patients), or SOC (33 patients), and followed up for 28 days. There was an association with cough frequency after 10 days BREATHOX compared to SOC [Group 1: hazard ratio (HR) 2.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-3.81; Group 2: HR 2.17, 95% CI 1.17-4.04]. No differences between the groups for the reported symptoms' resolution time were seen after 28 days. After combining both BREATHOX groups, the period to cough resolution 10 days after randomization was significantly lower than in SOC (HR 2.10, 95% CI 1.20-3.67). An adverse event occurred in 30% of Group 1, 36% of Group 2, and 9% in SOC individuals. One patient from SOC had a serious adverse event. Nasal burning, sore or itchy nose, and dry mouth were considered related to BREATHOX use and resolved after stopping inhalations. (4) Conclusion: BREATHOX inhalation is safe and may be effective in reducing the duration of COVID-19-induced coughing.
PubMed: 37763015
DOI: 10.3390/jcm12186075