According to the World Health Organization, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases are highly debilitating and pose the greatest threats to public health. Diseases of the nervous system are caused by a particular pathological process that negatively affects the central and peripheral nervous systems. These diseases also lead to the loss of neuronal cell function, which causes alterations in the nervous system structure, resulting in the degeneration or death of nerve cells throughout the body. This causes problems with movement (ataxia) and mental dysfunction (dementia), both of which are commonly observed symptoms in Alzheimerʼs disease, Parkinsonʼs disease, Huntingtonʼs disease, and multiple sclerosis. Medicinal mushrooms are higher fungi with nutraceutical properties and are low in calories and fat. They are also a rich source of nutrients and bioactive compounds such as carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, and vitamins that have been used in the treatment of many ailments. Medicinal mushrooms such as Pleurotus giganteus, Ganoderma lucidium, and Hericium erinaceus are commonly produced worldwide for use as health supplements and medicine. Medicinal mushrooms and their extracts have a large number of bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharide β-glucan, or polysaccharide-protein complexes, like lectins, lactones, terpenoids, alkaloids, antibiotics, and metal-chelating agents. This review will focus on the role of the medicinal properties of different medicinal mushrooms that contain bioactive compounds with a protective effect against neuronal dysfunction. This information will facilitate the development of drugs against neurodegenerative diseases.

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In the era of growing antimicrobial resistance, there is a concern about the effectiveness of first-line antibiotics such as ampicillin in children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. In this study, we describe antibiotic use and treatment outcomes among under-five children with community-acquired pneumonia admitted to a tertiary care public hospital in Nepal from 2017 to 2019. In this cross-sectional study involving secondary analysis of hospital data, there were 659 patients and 30% of them had a history of prehospital antibiotic use. Irrespective of prehospital antibiotic use, ampicillin monotherapy (70%) was the most common first-line treatment provided during hospitalization followed by ceftriaxone monotherapy (12%). The remaining children (18%) were treated with various other antibiotics alone or in combination as first-line treatment. Broad-spectrum antibiotics such as linezolid, vancomycin, and meropenem were used in less than 1% of patients. Overall, 66 (10%) children were required to switch to second-line treatment and only 7 (1%) children were required to switch to third-line treatment. Almost all (99%) children recovered without any sequelae. This study highlights the effectiveness of ampicillin monotherapy in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized children in a non-intensive care unit setting.