Background:The world is affected by the Corona Virus Disease 2019 . Because of their direct contact with patients, health workers, especially nurses, play critical roles in the prevention of the COVID-19 outbreak through proper care and preventive procedures.Objectives: This study aimed to measure the awareness level of nurses in Shiraz, Iran, during the current COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire containing knowledge questions was distributed to 85 participants to complete. Results: More than half of the nurses (56.5%) had good knowledge about sources, transmission, symptoms, signs, prognosis, treatment, and mortality rate of COVID-19. The sources of information for the nurses were the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health (55.29%), social applications (48.23%), and media (42.35%). Conclusions: Nurses had almost good knowledge of COVID-19. However, the WHO and the Ministry of Health still must provide more information for the medical staff for better control of the infectious disease.

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Objective:Recently, adenosine deaminase (ADA) is introduced as helpful marker in diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the serum ADA in diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment with methotrexate (MTX) in RA.Methods:This was a self-controlled clinical trial conducted in university hospitals of Isfahan, Iran. The serum level of ADA, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and rheumatoid factor (RF) were measured for 70 patients with active RA (Disease Activity Score-28 [DAS28] > 3/2). After three months of MTX treatment and disease remission (DAS28 < 2.6) these markers were measured again. ANCOVA multiregression and paired t-test were used to compare and evaluate the mean level and correlation of ADA, ESR, IgM-RF, and DAS before and after RA remission.Findings:The mean value for ADA activity was significantly higher than the normal one compared with other studies. Significant decreases were seen in values of ADA, ESR, RF, visual analogue scale (VAS), and DAS after remission. Also, the correlation coefficient between the values of ADA with ESR and DAS were statistically significant in baseline. Moreover, the statistically significant correlation between ADA and ESR, VAS, and DAS were seen after remission. No correlation was found in the case of the dosage of MTX with the value of ADA.Conclusion:It was concluded that ADA may be considered useful as a marker in diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment with Methotrexate in RA.