Therapeutic Options for the SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Is There a Key in Herbal Medicine?

SARS-CoV-2 has been responsible for over 500 million cumulative cases all over the world since December 2019 and has marked the third introduction of a highly pathogenic virus after SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. This virus is in a winning situation because scientists are still racing to explore effective therapeutics, vaccines, and event treatment regimens. In view of progress in current disease management, until now none of the preventive/treatment measures can be considered entirely effective to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, it is required to look up substitute ways for the management of this disease. In this context, herbal medicines could be a good choice. This article emphasizes the antiviral potential of some herbal constituents which further can be a drug of choice in SARS-CoV-2 treatment. This article may be a ready reference for discovering natural lead compounds and targets in SARS-CoV-2 associated works. </jats:p

Numerical analysis of the resistance behavior of an electrostatically-induced graphene double junction

We present a numerical approach that we have developed in order to reproduce and explain the resistance behavior recently observed, as a function of the backgate voltage and of the position of a biased scanning probe, in a graphene flake in which a double p-n junction has been electrostatically induced. A simplified electrostatic model has been adopted to simulate the effect of gate voltages on the potential landscape, assuming for it a slow variation in space and using a simple capacitive model for the coupling between the electrodes and the graphene sheet. The transport analysis has then been performed with a solution of the Dirac equation in the reciprocal space coupled with a recursive scattering matrix approach. The efficiency of the adopted numerical procedure has allowed us to explore a wide range of possible potential landscapes and bias points, with the result of achieving a good agreement with available experimental data

Examining queue-jumping phenomenon in heterogeneous traffic stream at signalized intersection using UAV-based data

© 2020, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature. This research presents an in-depth microscopic analysis of heterogeneous and undisciplined traffic at the signalized intersection. Traffic data extracted from the video recorded using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at an approach of a signalized intersection is analyzed to study the within green time dynamics of traffic flow. Various parameters of Wiedemann 74, Wiedemann 99, and lateral behavior models used in microscopic traffic simulation package, Vissim, are calibrated for the local heterogeneous traffic. This research is aimed at exploring the queue-jumping phenomenon of motorbikes at signalized intersections and its impact on the saturation flow rate, travel time, and delay. The study of within green time flow dynamics shows that the flow of traffic within green time is not uniform. Surprisingly, the results indicate that the traffic flow for the first few seconds of the green time is significantly higher than the remaining period of green time, which shows a contradiction to the fact that traffic flow for the first few seconds is lower due to accelerating vehicles. Mode-wise traffic counted per second shows that this anomaly is attributed to the presence of motorbikes in front of the queue. Consequently, the outputs of simulation results obtained from calibrated Vissim show that the simulated travel time for motorbikes is significantly lower than the field-observed travel times even though the average simulated traffic flow matches accurately with the field-observed traffic flow. The findings of this research highlight the need to incorporate the queue-jumping behavior of motorbikes in the microsimulation packages to enhance their capability to model heterogeneous and undisciplined traffic

The effect of crystalloid versus medium molecular weight colloid solution on post-operative nausea and vomiting after ambulatory gynecological surgery - a prospective randomized trial.

UNLABELLED: ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Intravenous fluid is recommended in international guidelines to improve patient post-operative symptoms, particularly nausea and vomiting. The optimum fluid regimen has not been established. This prospective, randomized, blinded study was designed to determine if administration of equivolumes of a colloid (hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4) reduced post operative nausea and vomiting in healthy volunteers undergoing ambulatory gynecologic laparoscopy surgery compared to a crystalloid solution (Hartmann\u27s Solution). METHODS: 120 patients were randomized to receive intravenous colloid (N = 60) or crystalloid (N = 60) intra-operatively. The volume of fluid administered was calculated at 1.5 ml.kg-1 per hour of fasting. Patients were interviewed to assess nausea, vomiting, anti-emetic use, dizziness, sore throat, headache and subjective general well being at 30 minutes and 2, 24 and 48 hours post operatively. Pulmonary function testing was performed on a subgroup. RESULTS: At 2 hours the proportion of patients experiencing nausea (38.2 % vs 17.9%, P = 0.03) and the mean nausea score were increased in the colloid compared to crystalloid group respectively (1.49 ± 0.3 vs 0.68 ± 0.2, P = 0.028). The incidence of vomiting and anti-emetic usage was low and did not differ between the groups. Sore throat, dizziness, headache and general well being were not different between the groups. A comparable reduction on post-operative FVC and FEV-1 and PEFR was observed in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Intra-operative administration of colloid increased the incidence of early postoperative nausea and has no advantage over crystalloid for symptom control after gynaecological laparoscopic surgery

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

The HIV-1 Nef protein binds argonaute-2 and functions as a viral suppressor of RNA interference

The HIV-1 accessory protein Nef is an important virulence factor. It associates with cellular membranes and modulates the endocytic machinery and signaling pathways. Nef also increases the proliferation of multivesicular bodies (MVBs), which are sites for virus assembly and budding in macrophages. The RNA interference (RNAi) pathway proteins Ago2 and GW182 localize to MVBs, suggesting these to be sites for assembly and turnover of the miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC). While RNAi affects HIV replication, it is not clear if the virus encodes a suppressor activity to overcome this innate host response. Here we show that Nef colocalizes with MVBs and binds Ago2 through two highly conserved Glycine-Tryptophan (GW) motifs, mutations in which abolish Nef binding to Ago2 and reduce virus yield and infectivity. Nef also inhibits the slicing activity of Ago2 and disturbs the sorting of GW182 into exosomes resulting in the suppression of miRNA-induced silencing. Thus, besides its other activities, the HIV-1 Nef protein is also proposed to function as a viral suppressor of RNAi (VSR)

Neonatal tetanus in Turkey; what has changed in the last decade?

dikici, bunyamin/0000-0001-7572-6525WOS: 000259222800001PubMed: 18713452Background: Neonatal tetanus (NT) is still considered as one of the major causes of neonatal death in many developing countries. The aim of the present study was to assess the characteristics of sixty-seven infants with the diagnosis of neonatal tetanus followed-up in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Ward of Dicle University Hospital, Diyarbakir, between 1991 and 2006, and to draw attention to factors that may contribute (or may have contributed) to the elimination of the disease in Diyarbakir. Methods: The data of sixty-seven infants whose epidemiological and clinical findings were compatible with neonatal tetanus were reviewed. Patients were stratified into two groups according to whether they survived or not to assess the effect of certain factors in the prognosis. Factors having a contribution to the higher rate of tetanus among newborn infants were discussed. Results: A total of 55 cases of NT had been hospitalized between 1991 and 1996 whereas only 12 patients admitted in the last decade. All of the infants had been delivered at home by untrained traditional birth attendants (TBA), and none of the mothers had been immunized with tetanus toxoid during her pregnancy. Twenty-eight (41.8%) of the infants died during their follow-up. Lower birth weight, younger age at onset of symptoms and at the time admission, the presence of opisthotonus, risus sardonicus and were associated with a higher mortality rate. Conclusion: Although the number of neonatal tetanus cases admitted to our clinic in recent years is lower than in the last decade efforts including appropriate health education of the masses, ensurement of access to antenatal sevices and increasing the rate of tetanus immunization among mothers still should be made in our region to achieve the goal of neonatal tetanus elimination

Genetic diversity and transmissibility of imported Plasmodium vivax in Qatar and three countries of origin

Malaria control program in the Arabian Peninsula, backed by adequate logistical support, has interrupted transmission with exception of limited sites in Saudi Arabia and sporadic outbreaks in Oman. However, sustained influx of imported malaria represents a direct threat to the above success. Here we examined the extent of genetic diversity among imported P. vivax in Qatar, and its ability to produce gametocytes, compared to parasites in main sites of imported cases, the Indian subcontinent (india) and East Africa (Sudan and Ethiopia). High diversity was seen among imported P. vivax in Qatar, comparable to parasites in the Indian subcontinent and East Africa. Limited genetic differentiation was seen among imported P. vivax, which overlapped with parasites in India, but differentiated from that in Sudan and Ethiopia. Parasite density among imported cases, ranged widely between 26.25–7985934.1 Pv18S rRNA copies/µl blood, with a high prevalence of infections carried gametocytes detectable by qRT-PCR. Parasitaemia was a stronger predictor for P. vivax gametocytes density (r = 0.211, P = 0.04). The extensive diversity of imported P. vivax and its ability to produce gametocytes represent a major threat for re-introduction of malaria in Qatar. The genetic relatedness between P. vivax reported in Qatar and those in India suggest that elimination strategy should target flow and dispersal of imported malaria into the region

Can houseplants improve indoor air quality by removing CO2 and increasing relative humidity?

High indoor CO2 concentrations and low relative humidity (RH) create an array of well-documented human health issues. Therefore, assessing houseplants’ potential as a low-cost approach to CO2 removal and increasing RH is important. We investigated how environmental factors such as ’dry’ ( 0.30 m3 m-3) growing substrates, and indoor light levels (‘low’ 10 µmol m-2 s-1, ‘high’ 50 µmol m-2 s-1 and ‘very high’ 300 µmol m-2 s-1), influence the plants’ net CO2 assimilation (‘A’) and water-vapour loss. Seven common houseplant taxa – representing a variety of leaf types, metabolisms and sizes – were studied for their ability to assimilate CO2 across a range of indoor light levels. Additionally, to assess the plants’ potential contribution to RH increase, the plants’ evapo-transpiration (ET) was measured. At typical ‘low’ indoor light levels ‘A’ rates were generally low (< 3.9 mg hr-1). Differences between ‘dry’ and ’wet’ plants at typical indoor light levels were negligible in terms of room-level impact. Light compensation points (i.e. light levels at which plants have positive ‘A’) were in the typical indoor light range (1-50 µmol m-2 s-1) only for two studied Spathiphyllum wallisii cultivars and Hedera helix; these plants would thus provide the best CO2 removal indoors. Additionally, increasing indoor light levels to 300 µmol m-2 s-1 would, in most species, significantly increase their potential to assimilate CO2. Species which assimilated the most CO2 also contributed most to increasing RH