eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 1 4 article Angela María Álvarez Gómez reproduccion@udea.edu.co 1 Walter D. Cardona Maya wdario.cardona@udea.edu.co 2 Centre of Excellence in New Target Discovery, Butantan Institute, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Reproduction Group, Medical School, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. While we are waiting for the “best good news” of a vaccine that allows us to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, we have to find a solution to reduce the adverse effects of the disease on people’s health. The situation is not hopeful. According to the World Health Organization, 4278180 people have been infected, of whom 292376 have died (May 13, 2020), many in their productive age who surely were out of the economic upheavals due to the measures adopted to anticipating the pandemic will also have a negative impact on the world economy. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-324-en.pdf COVID-19 treatment hydroxychloroquine SARS-CoV-2 chloroquine. eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 5 8 article Nileswar Das dr.nileswar@gmail.com 1 Priyanka Mishra priyankamishra16october@gmail.com 2 Department of Psychiatry and NDDTC, AIIMS, New Delhi, India. Department of Ophthalmology, RPC, AIIMS, New Delhi, India. The novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has created a massive burden on Healthcare Workers (HCWs). Working in a potentially infectious environment, HCWs are at higher risk of physical and psychological illnesses. However, providing adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is necessary to protect HCWs from rising violence in the community due to fear, frustration, and stigma. The authors highlighted this important yet relatively underresearched entity of public behavior that demands further studies in the future. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-343-en.pdf COVID-19 Pandemic Healthcare worker Violence assault Public behavior eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 9 16 article Gopi Battineni gopi.battineni@unicam.it 1 Nalini Chintalapudi nalini.chintalapudi@unicam.it 2 Francesco Amenta franceco.amenta@unicam.it 3 Department of E-health and Telemedicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. Department of E-health and Telemedicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. Department of E-health and Telemedicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. Background: The new novel Coronavirus 2019 (nCOV-19 or COVID-19) has caused an unprecedented pandemic in humans. All nations have heightened their surveillances after the quick diagnosis of potential cases of the COVID-19.  Objectives: Recent statistics have mentioned that virus outbreak in tropical countries is relatively low compared to cold nations. To support this conclusion, we considered the six main tropical regions to investigate the pandemic distribution at the initial phase.  Methods: Chi-square test was applied to understand the correlation between outbreak and temperature changes. Significant probability P-value was set to P<0.01. P-values were calculated to both positive and death cases.  Results: Out of 1211562 infected cases, 41776 cases (3.45%) were registered at high-temperature countries (P<0.0001) and 1161786 cases (96.55%) at other countries like European countries or the USA. Moreover, only 1433 mortality cases (2.2%) happened, and the remaining 97.8% of mortality happened among other nations. Conclusion: Similar to other respiratory viruses like flu and influenza, there is a low outbreak of COVID-19 in tropical nations compared to the other countries. Apart from weather conditions, it is also recommended to follow the serious preventive measures imposed by governments to survive this novel epidemic.  http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-342-en.pdf COVID-19 Tropical countries Humidity Preventive measures eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 17 26 article Syed Tazib Rahaman tazib.research@gmail.com 1 GITAM Institute of Pharmacy, GITAM, Deemed to be University, Visakhapatnam, India. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging disease with a rapid increase in cases and deaths since its first discovery in December 2019, in Wuhan, China. Limited data are available on COVID-19 effects during pregnancy; however, information on diseases associated with other highly pathogenic coronaviruses (i.e. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS] and the Middle East respiratory syndrome [MERS]) may provide insight into the effects of COVID-19 during pregnancy. Coronaviruses cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to severe respiratory disease and death. The data indicate an average of 5 days incubation period (range: 2-14 days). The average age range of the hospitalized patients was 49-56 years, and a third to half of them have an underlying illness. Children were rarely mentioned. Within hospitalized cases, men were more frequent (54%-73%). Fever, cough, myalgia, vomiting, and diarrhea are common symptoms. This review aims at giving an in-depth understanding of COVID-19 by comparing its effects with SARS and MERS to evaluate its severity in pregnant women1. The results of varied studies show that COVID-19 affects pregnant women seriously and there is an alarming need to look into this aspect to prevent its harmful effects on the fetus. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-323-en.pdf COVID-19 SARS MERS Pregnancy Coronavirus eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 27 36 article Shamabaditya Goswami shambampharma@gmail.com 1 Nikita Pal nikitapal192@gmail.com 2 Kushal Nath Mishra profknmishra@yahoo.co.in 3 Prashant Singh prashantsingh30785@gmail.com 4 Zahra Chegini z.cheginy@gmail.com 5 Ravindra Pal Singh ravindraceutics@gmail.com 6 Department of Pharmacy, NIMS Institute of Pharmacy, NIMS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Department of Pharmacy, NIMS Institute of Pharmacy, NIMS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Department of Chemistry, ITM, GIDA, Gorakhpur, India. Department of Pharmacy, NIMS Institute of Pharmacy, NIMS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran. Department of Pharmacy, NIMS Institute of Pharmacy, NIMS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Background: The whole planet is facing one of the scariest pandemic situations in this era. On 11th February, 2020 the World Health Organization announced the name of an unknown disease as COVID-19, which is caused by the ssRNA virus SARS-CoV-2 (formally recognized as a sister of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV). The epicenter of this disease is Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. COVID-19 can affect all age groups, but particularly affects immune compromised and aged persons with co-morbid conditions. It is highly contagious disease that involves mild to severe respiratory symptoms along with breathing difficulties.  Objectives: As SARS-CoV-2 is a new strain of β-coronavirus that spreads from animals to humans via an unknown intermediate host, no vaccines have been developed yet and only supportive treatment is given to the infected patients. The review paper highlights the pharmacological therapy as a supportive treatment given to the COVID-19 patients and non-pharmacological therapeutic approaches for the prevention. Methods: Methods: Authors were surveyed and reviewed numerous articles, magazines, news papers, conference proceedings from different search engines and made the review successful. Results: Some drugs of different categories are approved and prescribed to the patients and some others are still under investigation and have gone through clinical trials. Conclusion: As no specific treatment or drugs for this disease have been developed till the date; therefore, social distancing, home quarantine, and proper healthy lifestyle management are the best current short-term options to avoid further spread of this pervasive virus.  http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-332-en.pdf COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 SARS MERS Pandemic eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 37 44 article Samuel J. Bunu Pharmsamuelbunu@gmail.com 1 Edebi N. Vaikosen edebivaikosen@gmail.com 2 Kosi W. Nnadozie nnadozie.williams@gmail.com 3 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Background: Chloroquine, 4-N-(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)-1-N,-N-diethylpentane-1,4-diamine has promising activity against corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and as such, it is imperative to thoroughly understand and determine the rate at which individual body systems metabolizes the drug. Chloroquine a known antimalarial drug belongs to the chemical class of 4-aminoquinolines. Objectives: The study aimed to analyze Chloroquine and its metabolite in biological fluids of healthy subjects by simple thin layer chromatography (TLC), which is an efficient, and inexpensive method for quantifying Chloroquine and its metabolites. Methods: A total of 30 healthy volunteers participated in the study by ingesting 500 mg of chloroquine, and the results were compared with side effects experienced by these subjects. Two brands of Chloroquine phosphate were used for the analysis and the urine were collected pre and post-drug administration and the intensities of the spots observed were compared with the reference standard stock solution. The same or greater intensity of sample spot indicates poor metabolizer, less intensity when compared to the stock spot indicates intermediate metabolizer while a much lesser intensity indicates an extensive metabolizer. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the brands of chloroquine used at P<0.05. 30% of the volunteers were assigned poor metabolizer phenotype, 50% were assigned extensive metabolizer phenotype, and 20% assigned Intermediate metabolizer phenotype based on the intensity of spots observed. The majority of the poor metabolizers were females while the majority of the extensive metabolizers were males. Conclusion: Gender differences plays a vital the role in metabolism, therefore outine implementation of phenotype determination before therapy will therefore greatly improve the goal of therapy and quality of life. implementation of phenotype determination before therapy will, therefore, greatly improve the goal of therapy and quality of life. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-317-en.pdf Chloroquine Hydroxychloroquine Adverse effects Phenotype eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 45 48 article Pawan Gadgile pawangadgile177@gmail.com 1 Aditi Hinge aditi.hinge@yahoo.com 2 Sagar Karia kariabhai117@gmail.com 3 Avinash De Sousa avinashdes888@gmail.com 4 Nilesh Shah drnilshah@hotmail.com 5 Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been followed by the shutting down of bars and liquor shops. This condition has led to the acute unavailability of alcohol, and subsequently increasing the number of cases of alcohol withdrawal.  Objectives: This paper reports the clinical profile of cases of alcohol withdrawal presented to the psychiatry department following the non-availability of alcohol due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: The patients were referred to the psychiatry department from the emergency medicine department and some of them directly to the psychiatry department. Thirty-two patients with alcohol use disorder and alcohol withdrawal were included in the study. The study data were collected using a semi-structured proforma and then were tabulated. The obtained data were assessed by the Chi-square test and unpaired t-test where appropriate. Results: The Mean±SD age of the study patients were 38.84±11.64 years. The Mean±SD years of consumption of alcohol was 13.50±7.8 years in the sample (range 1-30 years) and Mean±SD days of last consumption of alcohol was 3.88±1.8 days (range 2-10 days). There were no significant differences between stockers and non-stockers in various parameters.  Conclusion: Alcohol and substance withdrawal have increased in the wake of the lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic and there is a need for non-COVID-19 setups to be created to cater to the needs of these patients. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-334-en.pdf Alcohol Alcohol withdrawal Alcohol use COVID-19 eng Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research 2423-4486 2423-4494 2020-06 6 Special Issue 1 on COVID-19 49 58 article Mehmet Şahin mehmet.sahin@simon.rochester.edu 1 Department of Industrial Engineering, Iskenderun Technical University, Iskenderun, Turkey. Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an invisible enemy that has made people observe issues such as eating habits, personal hygiene, and environmental factors that may affect their immune systems. Objectives: Because air pollution can affect the immune system, it is necessary to examine the relationship between air quality parameters and COVID-19.  Methods: his study examines the correlation between air quality and COVID-19 considering 7 air pollutants: PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, NOx, NO, and O3. The confirmed COVID-19 cases were considered from 9 provinces, accounting for 78% of the total cases in Turkey. The required data were collected from the websites of the country’s relevant official institutions. Two statistical tests, the Pearson correlation, and Spearman Rho were conducted to determine any potential linear and monotonic relationships.  Results: Based on both test results, a significant positive correlation was observed between air SO2 content and the number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey. Conclusion: The outcomes could help identify provincial actions or measures. http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-338-en.pdf COVID-19 Air pollutants SARS-CoV-2 Air quality Correlation