Since its discovery in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been affecting humanity in economic, social, physical, and psychological manner. During COVID-19, the older population needs special consideration since they have a greater risk of developing serious illnesses. We used a narrative review approach to identify the relevant articles. PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases were searched for the following keywords: (mental health OR mental illness(es) OR anxiety OR depression OR irritability) AND (elderly OR older people OR aged 60 years or more) AND (Covid-19 OR pandemic OR chronic diseases) AND (mitigate OR manage). In the initial search, we found 948 articles related to our search string, and only 33 studies were included in this narrative review. The results demonstrated that the elderly population is more prone to mental health issues associated with COVID-19. This narrative review also reported that loneliness, stress, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and suicidal ideation symptoms are experienced by the elderly during the pandemic. Our results also demonstrate that interventions, such as community activities through social interactions, and the use of digital technologies could improve the quality of life of older people and help in the mitigation and management of the adverse effects of COVID-19.

Background/Objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and affects approximately 50 million individuals worldwide. Interest in coconut oil (CO) as a potential dietary intervention has surged owing to its substantial medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) content. Therefore, sustaining cognitive function and potentially slowing the progression of AD are crucial. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effects of CO and its bioactive metabolites on AD and dementia. Methods: The review protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023450435). Relevant research articles published between January 2015 and June 2023 were systematically searched. Seven studies met the predetermined eligibility criteria. Thematic analysis was utilized to synthesis the data about the qualitative features, while meta-analysis was employed for the quantitative findings. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the standardized mean difference (SMD) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Forest plots were generated using Review Manager 5.3 (RevMan 5.3). Results: The analysis revealed that all studies showed consistent results regarding the effects of CO on cognitive scores, with little variability in the true effects of CO on cognitive scores across the studies included in the meta-analysis. Conclusions: CO improved cognitive scores in patients with AD compared with those in the control group (p < 0.05). The results of this study add to the increasing amount of evidence indicating that MCTs found in CO might be a way to improve abilities and potentially slow the advancement of AD. The findings of this study may encourage the development of targeted dietary strategies and interventions for individuals at risk of or diagnosed with AD.

Background: The SeDeM-ODT expert system is designed to assess the suitability of the pharmaceutical ingredients for their conversion into an orodispersible formulation by direct compression. The tool can be utilized to select the most appropriate excipients that improve the compressibility and buccodispersibility of the formulation. Objective: This study aimed to utilize the SeDeM-ODT expert system to evaluate the performance of superdisintegrants and select an appropriate superdisntegrant for Doxylamine Succinate orodispersible formulation. Method: The SeDeM-ODT expert system scrutinized the excipients to develop an orodispersible Doxylamine Succinate formulation. Among the 15 parameters of the tool, some of them were determined through experimental work, while the remaining were calculated through the experimental values of other parameters. The central composite design approach was used for formulation development. The prepared powder blends were compressed using the direct compression method and evaluated for different parameters (hardness, thickness, diameter, friability, weight variation, water absorption ratio, wetting time, and disintegration time). Results: The results of the SeDeM-ODT expert system were correlated with the values obtained by the post-compression tests. The Crospovidone formulation (F7) was found to be an optimized formulation as it disintegrated quickly compared with the other formulations containing other superdisintegtrants. The results perfectly endorsed the SeDeM-ODT expert system evaluation, as Crospovidone showed the highest IGCB value of 6.396. Conclusion: The study observed the effectiveness of the expert system in accurately examining the performance of disintegrating agents. The study observed the effectiveness of the expert system in accurately examining the performance of disintegrating agents. The assessment proved Crospovidone to produce quicker disintegration in Doxylamine Succinate orodispersible formulation.

The current study aimed to assess the efficacy of duloxetine in reducing pain and improving the quality of life of individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP). An extensive literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies that examined the efficacy of duloxetine in CLBP management. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the role of duloxetine use on pain levels, as well as improvements in quality of life, using validated instruments. The results were synthesized using a random‑effects model. A total of 8 studies were included in the analysis. Duloxetine demonstrated clear benefits in pain reduction, evidenced by improvements across multiple scales including the visual analogue scale, brief pain inventory‑interference (BPI), BPI‑severity, weekly worst pain over 24 hours and Roland‑Morris Disability Questionnaire scores. Quality of life improved with duloxetine treatment, as indicated by the 36‑item short form survey (SF‑36). However, there was no significant impact on the physical function component of SF‑36. The present study provides evidence to affirm the efficacy of duloxetine in treating CLBP. Further research is required to validate these findings and to establish whether combining duloxetine with other CLBP treatments yields superior outcomes.