The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in enormous losses in terms of human lives and economy in United States. The outbreak has been continuing to heavily impact the mental health of people. Developing key strategies to prevent mental illnesses is extremely important for the well-being of people. A survey conducted during the last week of March 2020 showed that 72% of Americans felt that their lives were impacted by the outbreak, which was a 32% increase from the survey conducted only 2 weeks earlier. The results show a positive correlation between COVID-19 infections/casualties and growing public concern. These observations suggest possible increase in mental health illnesses in United States as a consequence of the pandemic. The authors review a recently published model on COVID-19 related fear among the people. The fear of being infected or dying from the disease is one of the most significant causes of mental health disorders. Loss of employment or the fear of losing employment is another major concern leading to mental illnesses. Several unique strategies to prevent or mitigate mental illnesses are discussed.

Background:The initial days following CABG is a crucial period as it imposes a high risk of pulmonary complications and morbidity. In an effort to increase lung volume following surgery, various deep breathing manoeuvres have been implemented as a main component in the care of the postoperative patient. The rationale for Deep Breathing Exercises with PEP and Incentive Spirometry is that they prevent postoperative complications (PPC), thereby improving cardiorespiratory function. Various studies to substantiate the effectiveness of Deep Breathing Exercises with PEP devices and Incentive Spirometry on preventing pulmonary complications following CABG surgery have been done. The need to study immediate effects of both techniques is yet to be studied. Methodology: 30 subjects undergoing CABG and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected for the study. They were randomly assigned into two groups: Group A and Group B having 15 subjects each. Group A received Deep Breathing Exercises with a positive expiratory pressure (PEP) device and Group B received Incentive Spirometry with Expiratory Positive Airway Pressure (EPAP). Results: The value of F = 45.729 to find the difference in PEFR in Group B is significant (p=0.00). It has been found that PEFR increased significantly after application of incentive spirometer with EPAP to the patients after 4th day. On Day 4, t = 3.750, which is significant (p = 0.001) implying that deep breathing exercise with PEP device is more effective to increase PEFR as compared to incentive spirometer with EPAP. Conclusion: PEP device is more effective than Incentive Spirometry with EPAP in preventing postoperative complications following CABG surgery. It can be inferred that deep breathing exercise with PEP device is more effective than incentive spirometer with EPAP in improving SPO2 and PEFR in both the groups.

Background: Air pollution as a trigger for exacerbation of COPD has been recognized for more than 50 years. Nowadays, in the cities like Bangalore, most of the people need to ride the bike for their occupational demand and move around. The purpose of this study is to find out the prediction of COPD using the BODE index in motor bike riders in Bangalore.Methods: An exploratory cross sectional study has been done on 100 subjects who uses motor bike as their mode of transport for their occupational demand, to study the hours of bike riding with the chances of COPD based on BODE index.Results: Analysis using spearman rank correlation found that there is statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05) between hours of bike riding and the BODE index. Chi square test found that more than 4 hours of bike riding was associated with the chances of COPD. Conclusion:Based on the result, it is concluded that more than 4 hours of bike riding is associated with the chances of developing COPD even in non-smokers. Therefore there is significant susceptibility of COPD among bike riders in Bangalore.

Background: ICU is a specially staffed and fully equipped unit of the hospital where patient requiring intensive care is kept. In order to meet the demand of seriously ill patients a numbers of sophisticated equipments and gadgets are used. Studies have shown that there is a need for knowledge about the operating system of these machines used in ICU to execute the treatment protocols by the ICU staff. Various therapeutic procedures are done depending on the readings of the machines and monitoring of the values is required before and after the treatment sessions. So it becomes mandatory for the ICU staff to have good command over the parameters of the equipment. The objective of the study is therefore to find out the awareness of two important machines namely the Mechanical ventilator and Pulse oximeter among the ICU staff including the physiotherapist in north eastern states of India.Methods: An observational cross section study has been done with 200 subjects who is working in ICU for more than 6 months. Result:The data of 200 subjects were analyzed and the scores of the questionnaire was estimated using Karl Pearson Correlation Coefficient which has shown that there is a significant (p value =0.00) awareness of pulse oximeter displayers and ventilators among physiotherapist and other ICU staff in the north eastern states of India. Conclusion:Based on the results, it is concluded that 72.5% of the subjects were well aware and 27.5% of the subjects were least aware about the ventilators and pulse oximeter, hence it can be considered that there is an acceptable knowledge among the ICU staff including physiotherapist in north eastern states of India about the ventilator and pulse oximeter displayers.