Auburn Research Day 2022

Cl i n i ca l Resea rch | Med i ca l St udent Lingering Covid-19 Symptoms Among Young Adults

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Matthew J. Gold 1 , OMS-III; Marshall Johnson, OMS-III 1 ; Alexandra Mathis, OMS-II 1 ; Daniel Ruiz, OMS-IV 1 ; Shaheen Mehrara, OMS-III 1 ; Caroline Houston, OMS-III 1 ; Jonathan Kalenik, OMS-III 1 ; Mayra Rodriguez 1 , PhD, MPH 1,2 1 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Auburn Campus; 2 Auburn University

There is little known about the lingering Covid-19 symptoms among young adults, otherwise referred as long coronavirus syndrome. The objectives of this project strive to assess the most common lingering Covid-19 symptoms defined as greater than or equal to 4 weeks post-infection among young adults ages 18-30. In addition, duration of lingering symptoms will be examined between different races, Hispanic or non-Hispanic, genders, and medical history. Participants (n = 134) completed a quantitative survey which includes profile questions that were used in a descriptive analysis and to see what correlations exist between demographics and lingering Covid-19 symptoms. Measures include the comparison between social factors (i.e., employment status), genders and Hispanic or non-Hispanic with the longevity of the lingering Covid-19 symptoms (i.e., anosmia, fatigue, etc.) the participants experienced greater than or equal to 4 weeks. The correlation analysis and t-table will verify which correlations are significant and the probability of obtaining a result by chance will be established as 0.05 (p-value < 0.05). The results revealed the top-five most common lingering symptoms in descending order: anosmia and ageusia (32 respondents),

fatigue (17 respondents), chest pain (8 respondents), headaches (7 respondents) and cough (6 respondents). An example to cover, when comparing non-Hispanics and Hispanics of these responses and the 26 Hispanics that participated, 5 Hispanic respondents reported anosmia and ageusia lasting 4 weeks or greater. This is compared to 27 non-Hispanics also experiencing anosmia and ageusia lasting 4 weeks or greater out of 127 non-Hispanic respondents with a relative risk of 0.90 revealing that Hispanic status may be protective with lingering Covid-19 symptoms. In conclusion, there are several other comparisons to be included comparing different genders, social factors, etc. This study was certainly limited by being self-surveyed which creates drawbacks to the study, as researchers did not confirm that those who completed a survey met these two criteria. The largest barrier faced was to maintain IRB compliance while recruiting an adequate level of participants to meet the study criteria. The researchers held the ethical standard in abiding by IRB conduct.

Cl i n i ca l Resea rch | Gr adua te/Undergr adua te St udent Cannabis as a Potential Target for the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus

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Dylan Bowen; Sindhu Ramesh; Manoj Govindarajulu; Timothy Moore; Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran Drug Discovery and Development Department, Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University

The potential for pharmaceutical usage and recent trends in recreational use of Cannabis leads to the conclusion that Cannabis is the drug of the future for animal and human healthcare. Cannabis has been shown to exert significant pharmacological activities due to its ability to be absorbed and distributed readily in animals and humans. Historically, Cannabis has been used for millennia for commercial, recreational, medicinal, and religious ceremonies with the earliest use of Cannabis traced back to 5000 B.C. in Asia. The incidence of diabetes mellitus has been alarmingly rising globally and more rapidly in low & middle-income nations as compared to high-income countries. In the United States of America, 34.2 million Americans (10.5% of the population) have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus; however, there may be millions who have not been diagnosed. Hence, novel, and new therapeutic strategies (non- pharmacological and pharmacological) are required to combat this endocrinological disorder. Several significant complications result from diabetes mellitus, which affects the central nervous system, ophthalmic system, gastrointestinal system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, reproductive system, renal system, and immune

system. Consequently, novel/new synthetic drugs and natural products (botanicals) are currently being investigated to reduce hyperglycemia and the other severe complications related to diabetes mellitus. Cannabis has the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic ability to counteract the hyperglycemia-induced toxic effects and has been shown to influence certain key factors associated with diabetes mellitus. This study will emphasize the potential synergistic and pharmacodynamic properties of Cannabis in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Thus, our study will establish the possible prophylactic and therapeutic use of Cannabis for human healthcare.

33 2022 Via Research Recognit ion Day