Background The COVID-19 pandemic is found to affect the mental health of the population. Undergraduate medical students are especially prone to mental health disorders and hence could be more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic. Methods A prospective longitudinal study was conducted on 217 undergraduate medical students in a medical college at Chennai, India. Depression, anxiety, and stress levels were recorded using Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 Items (DASS21) before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in India in December 2019 and June 2020, respectively. In the follow-up survey, in addition to DASS21, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to assess sleep quality and a self-administered questionnaire to assess the impact of COVID-19 related stressors were used. The self-administered questionnaire assessed the status of COVID-19 testing, interactions with COVID-19 patients, self-perceived levels of concerns and worries related to academics (COVID-19-AA (academic apprehensions)) and those pertaining to the self and family/friends (COVID-19-GA (general apprehensions)). Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparison of overall scores of depression, anxiety, and stress and scores stratified by gender, year of study, place of residence and monthly family income were performed. Predictors for depression, anxiety, and stress during COVID-19 were investigated using adjusted binary logistic regression analysis and results were expressed as adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI). A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The average scores of depression, anxiety, and stress during the baseline survey were 7.55 ± 7.86, 4.6 ± 6.19 and 7.31 ± 7.34 with the prevalence (95% Cl) of 33.2% [27–39.9%], 21.2% [16–27.2%] and 20.7% [15.5–26.7%]; in follow-up survey, the mean scores were 8.16 ± 8.9, 6.11 ± 7.13 and 9.31 ± 8.18 with the prevalence being 35.5% [29.1–42.2%], 33.2% [27–39.9%] and 24.9% [19.3–31.2%] for depression, anxiety, and stress respectively. There was a significant increase in both the prevalence and levels of anxiety and stress (P < 0.001), with depression remaining unchanged during COVID-19, irrespective of gender, year of study, place of residence and family’s monthly income. Poor sleep quality, higher levels of baseline depression, anxiety, and stress, higher COVID-19-GA, COVID-19 patients in family/friends and direct interactions with COVID-19 patients were found to be significant predictors of negative mental health in undergraduate medical students. COVID-19-AA was not significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic appears to negatively affect the mental health of the undergraduate medical students with the prevalence and levels of anxiety and stress being increased, and depression symptoms remaining unaltered. Addressing and mitigating the negative effect of COVID-19 on the mental health of this population is crucial.

Background: The novel Corona virus has derailed the entire world and various steps have been taken by the health authorities to tackle this pandemic. Nationwide lockdown has been imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 outbreak in India, which could have psychological impact on the population. Aim: Our study aims to study the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak & subsequent lockdown on mental health status of adult Indian population along with identifying the high-risk groups. Methodology: An online survey was conducted during 3rd phase of lockdown gathering details about sociodemographic variables, practice of precautionary measures, awareness and concerns regarding COVID-19 and mental health status of the participants through DASS21 questionnaire from 873 adults. Results: The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were 18.56%, 25.66%, and 21.99% respectively including higher number of participants with mild depression (15.1%) and stress (14.5%) and moderate anxiety (16.3%). Female gender, age <25 years, unemployment, self-business, employed in private sector, lack of formal education, larger household size, parenthood (>2 kids) were associated with increased likelihood of negative mental health. Confidence in physician′s ability to diagnose COVID-19 infection, decreased self-perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19, lesser frequency of checking for information on COVID-19 and satisfaction of information received were protective against negative mental health. Conclusion: This landmark study identified the protective and risk factors of mental health during COVID-19 pandemic, to help authorities and mental health workers to strategize and deliver interventional methods to maintain psychosocial wellbeing of the population.

Introduction: Stress has been known to be a potential modulator of learning and memory. Long term stress can lead to depression. Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor group of drug used in the treatment of depression. Aim:The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential of Fluoxetine on cold restraint induced stress in the hippocampus of Wistar rats. Materials and Methods:A total of 18 male wistar albino rats were divided randomly into three groups (n=6). Group 1 was the control group which were kept in normal laboratory conditions. Group 2 was the negative control group which were given cold restraint stress for period of four weeks. Group 3 was the experimental group, where the animals were pretreated with fluoxetine 10 mg/kg for a period of one week followed by cold restraint stress for 30 minutes and cotreated with fluoxetine 10 mg/kg for a period of four weeks. The whole study was done for a period of five weeks followed by behavioural studies and subsequently sacrificed with removal of brain for various histological, Immunohistochemical (IHC), neurochemical and antioxidant analysis. The values were expressed as Mean±SEM. One-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's multiple comparisons test was used for the comparison of means. A probability of 0.05 and less was taken as statistically significant using Prism Graphpad software version 6.01. Results:The results show there was significant improvement in the Morris water maze test after treatment with fluoxetine in Group 2. Similar results were also noted in the levels of neurotransmitters and antioxidant levels in brain and also in the number of cells counted in IHC and histological studies by H&E when Group 3 was compared with Group 2. The treatment reversed the damage in Group 2 which was comparable with the control group. Conclusion:The results revealed that administration of fluoxetine 10 mg/kg given orally has a potential antistressor effect by improving the neurogenic and neuroprotective effect on the cold restraint stress induced hippocampal damage.[Table/ Fig-1]: The experimental design for the study.Saikarthik Jayakumar et al., Effect of Fluoxetine on the hippocampus of Wistar albino rats in cold restraint stress model www.jcdr.net

As body mass index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR) are indices of obesity and as obesity is known to reduce flow rates, an attempt had been made to correlate these indices with peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and see whether there is any gender difference in this. 40 males and 40 females in the age group of 18 to 22 years participated in this study in which 20 were obese and another 20 were non obese. Anthropometric parameters were recorded from which BMI and WHR were calculated and PEFR was recorded by using peak flow meter. The data were analysed in SPSS 17.0 using Student 't' test. Our results revealed that PEFR was significantly lower in obese males (p < 0.003) but not in obese females (p <0.2) when compared to their nonobese counterparts. And in males, PEFR was negatively correlated with BMI (p < 0.002, r=0.470) but not with WHR. In females there was no correlation of PEFR with either BMI or WHR. This may be because of the gender difference in fat distribution-males having central distribution which may reduce compliance and PEFR whereas females having peripheral distribution which may not affect the compliance and PEFR.

Despite the vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being reported to be safe and effective, the unwillingness to vaccinate and doubts are still common. The aim of this international study was to assess the major reasons for the unwillingness to vaccinate in a group of students from Poland (n = 1202), Bangladesh (n = 1586), India (n = 484), Mexico (n = 234), Egypt (n = 566), Philippines (n = 2076), Pakistan (n = 506), Vietnam (n = 98) and China (n = 503). We conducted an online cross-sectional study that aimed to assess (1) the percentage of vaccinated and unvaccinated students and (2) the reasons associated with willingness/unwillingness to the vaccine. The study included 7255 respondents from 9 countries with a mean age of 21.85 ± 3.66 years. Only 22.11% (n = 1604) of students were vaccinated. However, the majority (69.25%, n = 5025) expressed a willingness to be vaccinated. More willing to vaccinate were students in informal relationships who worked mentally, used psychological/psychiatric services before the pandemic, and studied medicine. There are cultural differences regarding the reasons associated with the unwillingness to vaccinate, but some ‘universal’ might be distinguished that apply to the whole group.