Ujjwal Ramtekkar

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to continue responding to healthcare needs, hospitals are rapidly adopting telehealth and other digital health tools to deliver care remotely. Intelligent conversational agents and virtual assistants, such as chatbots and voice assistants, have been utilized to augment health service capacity to screen symptoms, deliver healthcare information, and reduce exposure. In this commentary, we examined the state of voice assistants (e.g., Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa) as an emerging tool for remote healthcare delivery service and discussed the readiness of the health system and technology providers to adapt voice assistants as an alternative healthcare delivery modality during a health crisis and pandemic.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder increasing in prevalence. Although there is limited evidence to support treating ADHD with mineral/vitamin supplements, research does exist showing that patients with ADHD may have reduced levels of vitamin D, zinc, ferritin, and magnesium. These nutrients have important roles in neurologic function, including involvement in neurotransmitter synthesis. The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of each of these nutrients in the brain, the possible altered levels of these nutrients in patients with ADHD, possible reasons for a differential level in children with ADHD, and safety and effect of supplementation. With this knowledge, clinicians may choose in certain patients at high risk of deficiency, to screen for possible deficiencies of magnesium, vitamin D, zinc, and iron by checking RBC-magnesium, 25-OH vitamin D, serum/plasma zinc, and ferritin. Although children with ADHD may be more likely to have lower levels of vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, and iron, it cannot be stated that these lower levels caused ADHD. However, supplementing areas of deficiency may be a safe and justified intervention.

Buffalo health study concluded that pulmonary function is a long-term predictor for overall survival rates. It is essential to be involved in physical activity or sports which help in achieving better lung function. Cross sectional observation study was conducted to determine if yoga and athletic activity (running) are associated with better lung functions as compared to subjects with sedentary lifestyles and how does athletes and yogis differ in lung function. Spirometric parameters were assessed in randomly selected 60 healthy male, non-smoking; non-obese subjects-athletes, yogis and sedentary workers. The groups differed significantly in FEV1 and PEFR. The highest mean FEV1 and PEFR were observed in yogis. Both yogis and athletes had significantly better FEV1 as compared to sedentary workers. Yogis also had significantly better PEFR as compared to sedentary workers and athletes. Yogis and athletes had similar lung functions except for better PEFR amongst yogis. Involvement in daily physical activity or sport preferably yoga can help in achieving better pulmonary function.