Diabetes mellitus has become a serious and chronic metabolic disorder that results from a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors, principally characterized by hyperglycemia, polyuria, and polyphagia. Uncontrolled high blood sugar can result in a host of diabetic complications. Prolonged diabetes leads to serious complications some of which are life-threatening. The prevalence of diabetes patients is rising at epidemic proportions throughout the world. Every year, a major portion of the annual health budget is spent on diabetes and related illnesses. Multiple risk factors are involved in the etiopathogenesis of the disease and turning the disease into an epidemic. Diabetes, for which there is no cure, apparently can be kept under control by maintaining self-care in daily living, effective diabetes education, with comprehensive improvements in knowledge, attitudes, skills, and management. In this review, we focused on the biochemical aspects of diabetes, risk factors including both environmental and genetic, disease complications, diagnosis, management, and currently available medications for the treatment of diabetes.

Nature has always been an excellent source for many therapeutic compounds providing us with many medicinal plants and microorganisms producing beneficial chemicals. Therefore, the demand for medicinal plants, cosmetics, and health products is always on the rise. One such plant from the Leguminosae family is licorice and the scientific name is Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn. It is an herb-type plant with medicinal value. In the following article, we shall elaborately look at the plants' phytochemical constituents and the pharmacological impact of those substances. Several compounds such as glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizinic acid, isoliquiritin, and glycyrrhizic acid have been found in this plant, which can provide pharmacological benefit to us with its anti-cancer, anti-atherogenic, anti-diabetic, anti-asthmatic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and antispasmodic activity. Alongside, these products have a different role in hepatoprotective, immunologic, memory-enhancing activity. They can stimulate hair growth, control obesity, and have anti-depressants, sedatives, and anticoagulant activity. This review examines recent studies on the phytochemical and pharmacological data and describes some side effects and toxicity of licorice and its bioactive components.

Knowing the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies across geographic regions before vaccine administration is one key piece of knowledge to achieve herd immunity. While people of all ages, occupations, and communities are at risk of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2, the health care workers (HCWs) are possibly at the highest risk. Most seroprevalence surveys with HCWs conducted worldwide have been limited to Europe, North America, and East Asia. We aimed to understand how the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies varied across these geographic regions among HCWs based on the available evidences. By searching through PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases, eligible studies published from January 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021 were included for the systematic review and meta-analysis. The random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled proportion of IgG seropositive HCWs. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plot and confirmed by Egger's test. Heterogeneity was quantified using I2 statistics. We performed sensitivity analyses based on sample size, diagnostic method and publication status. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020219086). A total of 53 peer-reviewed articles were selected, including 173,353 HCWs (32.7% male) from the United States, ten European, and three East Asian countries. The overall seropositive prevalence rate of IgG antibodies was 8.6% in these regions (95% CI= 7.2–9.9%). Pooled seroprevalence of IgG antibodies was higher in studies conducted in the USA (12.4%, 95% CI= 7.8–17%) than in Europe (7.7%, 95% CI=6.3–9.2%) and East Asia (4.8%, 95% CI=2.9–6.7%). The subgroup study also estimated that male HCWs had 9.4% (95% CI= 7.2–11.6%) IgG seroconversion, and female HCWs had 7.8% (95% CI=5.9–9.7%). The study exhibits a high prevalence of IgG antibodies among HCWs under 40 years in the USA, conversely, it was high in older HCWs (≥40 years of age) in Europe and East Asia. In the months February-April 2020, the estimated pooled seroprevalence was 5.7% (4.0–7.4%) that increased to 8·2% (6.2–10%) in April-May and further to 9.9% (6.9–12.9%) in the May-September time-period. In the view of all evidence to date, a significant variation in the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in HCWs is observed in regions of Europe, the United States, and East Asia. The patterns of IgG antibodies by time, age, and gender suggest noticeable regional differences in transmission of the virus. Based on the insights driven from the analysis, priority is required for effective vaccination for older HCWs from Europe and East Asia. A considerable high seroprevalence of IgG among HCWs from the USA suggests a high rate of past infection that indicates the need to take adequate measures to prevent hospital spread. Moreover, the seroprevalence trend was not substantially changed after May 2020, suggesting a slow progression of long-term SARS-CoV-2 immunity. Routine testing of HCWs for SARS-CoV-2 should be considered even after the rollout of vaccination to identify the areas of increased transmission. None

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled all educational institutions from the conventional campus-based education system to e-learning worldwide. However, adapting to this new platform, e-learning read...

Background: E-learning is a relatively trending system of education that has been placed over conventional campus-based learning worldwide, especially since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess e-learning readiness among university students of a developing country like Bangladesh and identify the independent predictors of e-learning readiness.Methods: From 26 December 2020 to 11 January 2021, a total of 1162 university students who had enrolled for e-learning completed a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected online via “Google Form” following the principles of snowball sampling through available social media platforms in Bangladesh. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted to investigate the association of e-learning readiness with perceived e-learning stress and other independent predictor variables.Results: A total of 1162 university students participated in this study. The results indicated that with the increase of students’ perceived e-learning stress score, the average e-learning readiness score was significantly decreased (β = -0.43, 95% CI: -0.66, -0.20). The students did not seem ready, and none of the e-learning readiness scale items reached the highest mean score (5.0). The age, gender, divisional residence, preference of students and their parents, devices used, and having any eye problems were significantly associated with the students’ e-learning readiness.Conclusion: During the prolonged period of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning implication strategies are needed to be assessed systematically with the level of readiness and its’ impacts among students for the continuation of sound e-learning systems. The study findings recommend evaluating the e-learning readiness of university students and the mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 catastrophe in Bangladesh.

Plants have been used as sources of medicine since ancient times. Natural products have been used extensively in Chinese, ayurvedic and folk medicine. In addition, a significant portion of the world’s population still utilizes herbal medicine. Diabetes is a common ailment affecting almost 463 million people in the world. However, current medications exert harmful after-effects on patients, while herbal medicines have fewer adverse effects. Plants possess secondary metabolites, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, etc., which exert numerous beneficial effects on health. Extensive research has been conducted over the years investigating and proving the hypoglycemic potential of various plants. The present paper reviews 37 such plants that are rich in phytoconstituents that possess a variety of pharmacological activities and have been experimentally proven to possess potentially hypoglycemic properties in animal models: Ficus racemosa, Agremone mexicana, Bombax ceiba, Cajanus cajan, Coccinia cordifolia, Momordica charantia, Syzygium cumini, Neolamarckia cadamba, Mangifera indica, Cocos nucifera, Tamarindus indica, Punica granatum, Azadirachta indica, Costus speciosus, Moringa oleifera, Andrographis paniculata, Ficus benghalensis, Anacardium occidentale, Annona squamosa, Boerhaavia diffusa, Catharanthus roseus, Cocculus hirsutus, Ficus hispida, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia catappa, Amaranthus tricolor, Blumea lacera, Piper betle leaves, Achyranthes aspera, Kalanchoe pinnata, Nelumbo nucifera, Mikania cordata, Wedelia chinensis, Murraya koenigii, Aloe barbadensis, Bryophyllum pinnatum and Asparagus racemosus. These 37 plant extracts exhibit antidiabetic activities through different mechanisms, including α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition, increases in glucose uptake and the stimulation of insulin secretion.