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Abstract Background India witnessed a massive surge of rhino orbital cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) cases during the second wave of COVID-19, recording the highest number of cases in the world, indeed, an epidemic within the pandemic. Objectives To describe the clinical profile of patients with COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM) and the clinical suspects for mucormycosis. Methods This single-center descriptive, observational study/audit was done at Indira Gandhi Medical College, Pondicherry, South India. This study is about the clinical profile of 7 CAM patients and 14 COVID-19 patients who were suspects of CAM, based on their risk factors and clinical symptoms, and were referred to the ENT department. Statistical analysis All the descriptive variables were summarized as mean, frequency, and percentages for qualitative data. Results All 7 CAM patients were COVID-19 positive and were not vaccinated against COVID-19, All 7 were known diabetic, all 7 had steroid therapy for their COVID status, and 5 out of 7 (71%) had uncontrolled diabetes mellitus at the time of diagnosis. Facial pain, nasal discharge, and eye swelling were the presenting symptoms of CAM. Maxillary and ethmoid sinuses were the most commonly involved para nasal sinuses. Four out of seven (57.1%) CAM patients survived after 16 months of follow-up, after surgical and medical treatment for CAM. Of the 14 clinical suspects who were negative for CAM, 2 were negative for COVID-19, their risk factors were brought under control, 3 expired due to COVID complications, and 9 patients are alive till date. Conclusion Uncontrolled diabetes is a risk factor for ROCM/CAM, another possible risk factor is steroid therapy, and we hypothesize that COVID infection could also be a possible risk factor that needs to be studied more extensively in a larger sample. Early clinical suspicion, withdrawal of steroids, rapid control of diabetes mellitus, appropriate investigations, and early surgical intervention combined with medical treatment offers better outcome.

Introduction: Personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a necessity in the COVID pandemic for containing, protecting, and preventing the spread of the virus among the health-care workers; however, there are limitations to its use due to its associated adverse effects. The objective is to determine the adverse effects of PPE and its effect on work efficiency in health-care workers. Methods: This is a single-center descriptive cross-sectional survey done among 384 health-care workers by a consecutive sampling method. A semi-structured questionnaire was sent through the Google platform and the data were analyzed using SPSS 20. Results: 79.7% of study participants reported irritability and 59.9% had difficulty reading and writing during working hours in PPE, both factors had a significant association with their work efficiency (P = 0.019, P = 0.031). A feeling of being in a closed tight environment (85.7%), headache (71.95%), difficulty in drawing samples and intravenous cannulation (60.2%), and difficulty in adjusting the ventilatory settings and infusion pumps (39%) were reported by the study participants. However, these factors did not affect their work efficiency. On multivariate analysis, most health-care workers (HCWs) in the intensive care unit had more adverse effects than the others posted in other clinical areas. Conclusion: Our survey has identified several factors affecting HCWs during their working hours. These physical and cognitive adverse effects need to be alleviated to maintain a healthy, productive, and efficient work environment. We need to encourage reporting and find ways to mitigate their difficulties regarding PPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Hearing loss has been rightly regarded as "invisible disability." Globally, it is the third largest cause for years lived with disability. It is imperative to detect it early to initiate remedial measures. We intended to find a cheaper, quick, and reliable alternative to the traditional audiological services. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the hearing levels using a self-administered smartphone hearing application and compare these results with pure-tone audiograms performed by an audiologist. Settings and Design: This diagnostic study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in the State of Puducherry, between 2019 and 2021. Subjects and Methods: One hundred and nineteen participants were recruited; hearing screening was done using the smartphone application "Hearing Test" followed by pure-tone audiometry. Statistical Analysis Used: The results were analyzed for validity and reliability using SPSS software. Results: The mean age was 34.23 ± 9.39 years, and 57.1% had ear complaints at presentation. At the level of statistical significance of P = 0.05, no difference was found between the tests. An absolute difference of <6.712 for each frequency was observed with the average difference being 5.18 dB (95% confidence interval 5.65–4.73) with standard deviation of 3.56. The smartphone application demonstrated a sensitivity of 76.26% and a specificity of 98.99%. Conclusions: We did not find any significant difference between the application and pure-tone thresholds in any frequency. Thus, the Hearing Test application is a valid screening tool to assess hearing loss early. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]