Stress is common among nursing students and it has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined nursing students’ stress levels and their coping strategies in clinical practice before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A repeated-measures study design was used to examine the relationship between nursing students’ stress levels and coping strategies before and during the pandemic. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the survey and a student T-test was used to compare the level of stress and coping strategies among 131 nursing students. The STROBE checklist was used. During COVID-19, there was a reliable and accurate relationship between stress and coping strategies. Furthermore, both stress and coping strategy scores were lower before COVID-19 and higher during COVID-19. Nursing students are struggling to achieve a healthy stress-coping strategy during the pandemic. There is a need for the introduction of stress management programs to help foster healthy coping skills. Students are important resources for our health system and society and will continue to be vital long term. It is now up to both nursing educators and health administrators to identify and implement the needed improvements in training and safety measures because they are essential for the health of the patient as well as future pandemics.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the major neurodegenerative disorders and the prevalence is expected to increase during the next couple of decades. There is a need for safe and effective therapeutic regimen that can effectively manage this neurotoxicity. The leaves and several other parts of Cordia dichotoma  are known to possess number of medicinal properties. The purpose of this study was to examine the neuroprotective role of Cordia dichotoma in an experimental model of haloperidol-induced P.D. Materials and methods Five groups of rats were randomly assigned into different groups. Intraperitoneal haloperidol 1 mg/kg was given to the inducer group and 0.5% CMC to the normal control. The reference standard was syndopa 10 mg/kg, p.o., and the test group animals received C. dichotoma's ethanolic extract at 200 and 400 mg/kg orally for one week. Rats exposed to haloperidol were assessed for behavioral, neurochemical, and histopathological parameters. Results: C. dichotoma leaves extract dose-dependently increased behavioral activity and muscle coordination. The extract at 400 mg/kg was found to increase significantly (P < 0.001) the central square activity in open-field test, compared to haloperidol treated rats. In stepping test, both tested doses of C. dichotoma (200 mg and 400 mg/kg) were found to significantly (P < 0.001) reduce akinesia, besides these doses also decreased the catatonic responses induced by haloperidol. Further, the extraction treatment (200 mg and 400 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.001) decreased malonaldehyde and increased antioxidant enzymes like catalase compared to the control group. Histopathological changes in the test group showed a significant reduction in haloperidol damage to normal morphology in cortical, hippocampus, substantia nigra, and pyramidal. Conclusion: The observations of the study suggest that Cordia dichotoma attenuated the haloperidol-induced neurological changes, indicating that the plant might benefit in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The activity of Cordia dichotoma could be linked to its antioxidant property. Since, the drug is traditionally used in different parts of world; it could be a promising agent if more research establishes its safety and efficacy in other experimental models of Parkinson’s Disease.