AvicennaPub Date : 2021-06-24DOI: 10.5339/AVI.2021.1
Jaseem Sirajudeen, A. Nair, Rabia Waseem Hassany, N. Purayil, J. Mathew, I. Elmadhoun, M. Mustafa
{"title":"All those exanthematous fevers are not Covid-19","authors":"Jaseem Sirajudeen, A. Nair, Rabia Waseem Hassany, N. Purayil, J. Mathew, I. Elmadhoun, M. Mustafa","doi":"10.5339/AVI.2021.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5339/AVI.2021.1","url":null,"abstract":"Fever with a rash is a common case scenario that clinicians encounter in their practice. The ubiquity of the presentation is proportional to the magnitude of the physician's dilemma due to its numerous causes. The diagnosis varies from infectious diseases to non-infectious, life threatening diseases including the current COVID-19 pandemic. Here we present a case of a 31-year-old male, who presented to the Emergency Department with fever and rash and was initially diagnosed and managed as a case of COVID-19 which on further evaluation proved to be brucellosis. This is a case of brucellosis with cutaneous manifestations which had been masquerading as COVID-19.","PeriodicalId":29746,"journal":{"name":"Avicenna","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48913879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AvicennaPub Date : 2021-06-24DOI: 10.5339/AVI.2021.2
W. Abdelghaffar, N. Haloui, Noamen Bouchrika, Souha Yaakoubi, Amani Sarhane, Emna Kalai, Nihel Siala, Hajer Boulehmi, S. Trabelsi, S. Bourgou, F. Charfi, A. Belhadj, R. Rafrafi
{"title":"Psychological support unit design and implementation during COVID-19 pandemic: Case of Mongi Slim Hospital, Tunisia","authors":"W. Abdelghaffar, N. Haloui, Noamen Bouchrika, Souha Yaakoubi, Amani Sarhane, Emna Kalai, Nihel Siala, Hajer Boulehmi, S. Trabelsi, S. Bourgou, F. Charfi, A. Belhadj, R. Rafrafi","doi":"10.5339/AVI.2021.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5339/AVI.2021.2","url":null,"abstract":"General lockdown was declared in Tunisia in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It had a negative psychological and social impact on the Tunisian population and health professionals. Mental healthcare was crucial during this period but health services access was difficult because of movement restrictions. Mongi Slim Hospital contains three special COVID-19 units and there was an urgent need for a psychological intervention with increasing demands at the mental health department in this hospital. A psychological support unit (PSU) was implemented with a free helpline for both patients, families and hospital staff. The objective of this paper was to describe the design, implementation and activities of this unit. This PSU had preventive and management activities for both patients and health professionals. Recommendations drawn from this experience are to promote mental health care and to encourage implementation of such units in order to respond to the local need of patients and staff. This pilot experience should be generalized to other hospitals in Tunisia and worldwide.","PeriodicalId":29746,"journal":{"name":"Avicenna","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49384038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AvicennaPub Date : 2021-06-24DOI: 10.5339/AVI.2021.4
M. Zakaria
{"title":"To win the global war against Covid-19 terror: free of charge vaccine to all people who want to be vaccinated","authors":"M. Zakaria","doi":"10.5339/AVI.2021.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5339/AVI.2021.4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29746,"journal":{"name":"Avicenna","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45094078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AvicennaPub Date : 2021-04-22DOI: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPAJTMC.V1
A. Ahmed
{"title":"After one year of COVID-19 Pandemic and Hundreds of Suggested Drugs, Will Cathepsin L Inhibitors be the Solution?","authors":"A. Ahmed","doi":"10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPAJTMC.V1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPAJTMC.V1","url":null,"abstract":"Cysteine cathepsins are defined as lysosomal enzymes which are member of the papain family. Cysteine cathepsins (Cts) prevalently exist in whole organisms varying from prokaryotes to mammals and possess in their active site greatly conserved residue of cysteine. Cts are engaged in the digestion of cellular protein, activation of zymogen, and remodeling of extracellular matrix (ECM). Host cells are entered by SARS-CoV-2 via endocytosis. Cathepsin L and phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate 5-kinase are crucial in terms of the endocytosis by cleaving the spike protein, which permits viral membrane fusion with endosomal membrane, and succeeded by the releasing of viral genome to the host cell. Thereby, inhibition of cathepsin L may be advantageous in terms of decreasing infection caused by SARS-CoV-2. Coordinate inhibition of multiple Cts and lysosomal function by different drugs and biological agents might be of value for some purposes such as parasite or viral infections and anti-neoplastic applications. It has been found that Zn \u0000 2+ deficiency or dysregulation leads to an exaggerated activity of Cysteine cathepsin increasing the autoimmune/inflammatory response. At this purpose Zn \u0000 2+ metal can be safely combined with a drug that increases the anti-proteolytic effect of endogenous Zn \u0000 2+ lowering the excessive activity of some CysCts. Biguanide derivatives complex with Zn \u0000 2+ have been found to be promising inhibitors of CysCts protease reactions. Molecular docking studies of Cathepsin L Inhibited by Metformin-Zn+2 complex have been performed showing two strong key interactions ( Cys-25&His-163) and an extra H-bond with Asp-163 compared to the co-crystallized Zn \u0000 +2 (PDB ID 4axl).","PeriodicalId":29746,"journal":{"name":"Avicenna","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45792112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}