Comparing India's Second COVID Wave with the First Wave-A Single-Center Experience.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resurfaced in India as a hardhitting second wave. This study aims to compare the clinical profile of the first wave (April-June 2020) and the second wave (March-May 2021) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) in a single tertiary care center in India.

Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we examined the demographic profile, symptoms at presentation, severity of illness, baseline investigations, treatments received, underlying comorbidities, and outcomes of the COVID-19 patients belonging to the first (W1) and the second wave (W2) of the pandemic in India.

Primary Hypothyroidism Presenting as Cardiac Tamponade.

Unlabelled: Hypothyroidism is commonly associated with pericardial effusion, but it can be rarely complicated by cardiac tamponade. We report a case series of two patients who presented with shortness of breath and distension of the abdomen, progressing to generalized edema. Each of them was found to have cardiac tamponade at presentation and eventually diagnosed with hypothyroidism.

Antiviral Combination Clinically Better Than Standard Therapy in Severe but Not in Non-Severe COVID-19.

Purpose: Definitive antiviral treatment is not available for COVID-19 infection, with the exception of remdesivir, which still evokes many doubts. Various monotherapy or combination therapies with antivirals or other agents have been tried. The present study aims to evaluate the therapeutic potential of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir-ritonavir in combination with ribavirin in mild-severe COVID-19.

Recreational cannabis use causing non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy and cardioembolism in a young adult.

Cannabis is one of the most common illicit drugs and has been implicated with various complications which include stroke, acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmia and limb arteritis. We are reporting a case of a young man, who is a recreational cannabis smoker along with tobacco, who developed exertional progressive breathlessness for the last 4 months, mild cough for 2 months and acute left-sided hemiparesis along with ipsilateral facial palsy for 1 day that was attributed to an acute right middle cerebral artery territory infarct. There was also gangrene in his left forearm as a result of left radial artery thrombosis.