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Objective. We intend to identify differences in the clinicodemographic and laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients to predict disease severity and outcome on admission. Methods. This single-centred retrospective study retrieved laboratory and clinical data from 350 COVID-19 patients on admission, represented as frequency tables. A multivariate regression model was used to assess the statistically significant association between the explanatory variables and COVID-19 infection outcomes, where adjusted odds ratio (AOR), p value, and 95% CI were used for testing significance. Results. Among the 350 COVID-19 patients studied, there was a significant increase in the WBC count, neutrophils, aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet ratio (NLPR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), D-dimer, interleukin-6 (IL-6), ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), prothrombin time (PT), glucose, urea, urea nitrogen, creatinine, alanine phosphatase (ALP), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and a significant decrease in lymphocytes, eosinophils, total protein, albumin, prealbumin serum, and albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio in the severe group when compared with the mild and moderate groups. However, after adjusting their age, gender, and comorbidities, WBC count (adjusted odds ratio AOR = 6.888 , 95% CI = 1.590 -29.839, p = 0.010), neutrophils (AOR = 5.912 , 95% CI = 2.131 -16.402, p = 0.001), and urea (AOR = 4.843 , 95% CI = 1.988 -11.755, p = 0.001) were strongly associated with disease severity. Interpretation and Conclusion. On admission, WBC count, neutrophils, and urea, with their cut of values, can identify at-risk COVID-19 patients who could develop severe COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 risk increases with comorbidities, and the effect is magnified due to the contribution of individual and combined comorbidities to the overall clinical outcomes. We aimed to explore the influence of demographic factors, clinical manifestations, and underlying comorbidities on mortality, severity, and hospital stay in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, retrospective chart reviews were performed to identify all laboratory-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, between March 2020 and August 2020.A total of 369 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases were identified: 272 (73.7%) patients were male, and 97 (26.2%) were female. Of the confirmed cases, 218 (59.1%) had comorbidities, and 151 (40.9%) were devoid of comorbidities. This study showed that old age and underlying comorbidities significantly increase mortality, hospital stay, and severity due to COVID-19 infection. The presence of all four comorbidities, diabetes mellitus DM + Hypertension HTN + coronary artery disease CAD + chronic kidney disease CKD , conferred the most severity (81%). The highest mortality (OR: 44.03, 95% CI: 8.64-224.27) was observed during the hospital stay (12.73 ± 11.38 ; 95% CI: 5.08-20.38) in the above group. Multivariate analysis revealed that nonsurvivors are highest (81%) in (DM + HTN + CAD + CKD) category with an odds ratio (95% CI) of 44.03 (8.64-224.27). Age, gender, and comorbidities adjusted odds ratio decreased to 20.25 (3.77-108.77). Median survival of 7 days was observed in the (DM + HTN + CAD + CKD) category. In summary, the presence of underlying comorbidities has contributed to a higher mortality rate, greater risk of severe disease, and extended hospitalization periods, hence, resulting in overall poorer clinical outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major health, social and economic problem for which there are few effective treatments. The opiate antagonist naltrexone is currently prescribed clinically with mixed success. We have used naltrexone in an established behavioral assay (CAFE) in Drosophila melanogaster that measures the flies' preference for ethanol-containing food. We have confirmed that Drosophila exposed to ethanol develop a preference toward this drug and we demonstrate that naltrexone, in a dose dependant manner, reverses the ethanol-induced ethanol preference. This effect is not permanent, as preference for alcohol returns after discontinuing naltrexone. Additionally, naltrexone reduced the alcohol-induced increase in protein kinase C activity. These findings are of interest because they confirm that Drosophila is a useful model for studying human responses to addictive drugs. Additionally because of the lack of a closely conserved opiate system in insects, our results could either indicate that a functionally related system does exist in insects or that in insects, and potentially also in mammals, naltrexone binds to alternative sites. Identifying such sites could lead to improved treatment strategies for AUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]