Coronavirus disease 2019 and the natural agents: Is there a role for the primary care?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly discovered RNA virus that belongs to corona virus group. It leads to an infectious state manifested as fever, loss of smell and taste sensations, cough, myalgia, fatigue and headache. The condition may become more serious as difficulty in breathing, chest pain and even death. Until successful vaccine is developed, complimentary and herbal medicine can be used as alternative prevention measure against COVID-19 in high-risk populations. This is because the none of the traditional agents used in the treatment protocols had proven effective results. In addition, recent studies reported that dietary supplements and herbal agents may have effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may contribute efficiently to amelioration of the effects of COVID-19. This review sheds light on the possible role of the natural agents in the management of COVID-19 with reference to the role of the primary care in this issue.

Short- and Long-Term Effects of Vitamin D Treatment on Bacillus Calmette-Guerin-Induced Depressive-Like Behavior in Mice.

PURPOSE: Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders. The nutritional etiology of the depression proposes that vitamin D may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of depression. Further, vitamin D deficiency has been found to aggravate depression in animals. Therefore, vitamin D treatment might be a potential therapeutic aid in depression management. This study aimed to explore the antidepressant effects of vitamin D in a Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-induced depression model. METHODS: Thirty-six mice were randomly assigned to short-term and long-term experimental groups. In each group, mice were randomly subcategorized into three subgroups: 1. control (received vehicle), 2. BCG (received BCG [107 CFU/mouse]), and 3. BCG + vitamin D (received vitamin D [60.000 IU/kg] before BCG [107 CFU/mouse] inoculation). After completion of the two experimental periods (3 days for the short-term group and 2 weeks for the long-term group), the mice underwent three behavioral tests: locomotor activity, the forced swimming test (FST), and the tail suspension test (TST). RESULTS: Locomotor activity did not significantly differ among the subgroups in either the long-term or short-term groups. In the short-term group, the total immobility time on the FST was decreased in the vitamin D-treated group compared to the BCG group. However, in the TST, no significant difference was found between the vitamin D-treated group and the BCG group. In the long-term group, the immobility time on the FST was decreased in the vitamin D-treated group compared to the BCG group. Similarly, the total immobility time on the TST was also significantly lower in the vitamin D-treated mice than in the BCG-treated mice. CONCLUSION: Vitamin D is useful in the management of depressive behavior. The potential role of vitamin D in the etiology of depression should be investigated in future work.