COVID-19 THERAPY: COMPARISON EFFECTIVITY BETWEEN REMDESIVIR AND FAVIPIRAVIR

Introduction: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) is the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease of global concern(1). Remdesivir and favipiravir are antiviral drugs that are considered COVID19 therapy, as described in Indonesia's 3rd COVID-19 Management Guidelines. They have a similar mechanism, specifically by inhibiting RNA dependent RNA polymerase of the virus (3). Several studies have reported that patients who were treated with these antivirals had a shorter hospital stays (4–6). However, the comparison of efficacy between remdesivir and favipiravir is still unknown.Methods: An observational analytic study was done using a retrospective cohort design. Eighty-eight medical records of COVID-19 patients between January 2021 to August 2021 are collected by consecutive sampling techniques, and this research was carried out at Gotong Royong Hospital Surabaya.Results: Based on the statistical analysis test, there was no clinical improvement difference found, neither patients received remdesivir nor favipiravir based on their clinical manifestations, such as ventilation support and chest X-ray, measured by WHO ordinal scale (p=0,486 ; p>0,05 on the first week and p=0,942 ; p>0,05 on the second week).Conclusions: Improved clinical manifestations were seen in the second week of therapy, either in patients who received remdesivir or favipiravir, but there was no significant effectivity difference between those drugs

Anglican clergy husbands securing middle-class gendered privilege through religion

Traditionally, clergy wives have been obliged to assist the Church in an unpaid capacity; such work has been feminised, associated with the assumed competencies of women (Denton 1962; Finch 1980, 1983; Murphy-Geiss 2011). Clergy husbands are a relatively recent phenomenon in the Church of England, emerging when women started to be ordained as deacons in 1987 and priests in 1994. Based on interviews with men whose wives were ordained as priests in the Church of England, this article will explore the dynamics of class and gender privilege. Most clergy husbands were middle class, defined through educational, occupational and cultural markers (Bourdieu 1984). The narratives highlighted how gender and class privilege was maintained and extended through the clergy spouse role. The interweaving dynamics of class and gender privilege secured preferential outcomes for participants; outcomes that were less evidenced in relation to working-class spouses. Using Bourdieu’s (1984) concepts of habitus, field and capital and Verter’s (2003) conceptualisation of spiritual capital, this article will highlight the complex ways in which gender and class advantage is perpetuated and sustained, using the Anglican parish as the analytical context, thereby emphasising the role religion plays in consolidating privilege

Expression of a protease-resistant insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-4 inhibits tumour growth in a murine model of breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) promotes breast cancer and disease progression. Bioavailability of IGF1 is modulated by IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). IGFBP4 inhibits IGF1 activity but cleavage by pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) protease releases active IGF1. METHODS: Expression of IGF pathway components and PAPP-A was assessed by western blot or RT-PCR. IGFBP4 (dBP4) resistant to PAPP-A cleavage, but retaining IGF-binding capacity, was used to block IGF activity in vivo. 4T1.2 mouse mammary adenocarcinoma cells transfected with empty vector, vector expressing wild-type IGFBP4 or vector expressing dBP4 were implanted in the mammary fat pad of BALB/c mice and tumour growth was assessed. Tumour angiogenesis and endothelial cell apoptosis were assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: 4T1.2 cells expressed the IGF1R receptor and IGFBP4. PAPP-A was expressed within mammary tumours but not by 4T1.2 cells. Proliferation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production by 4T1.2 cells was increased by IGF1(E3R) (recombinant IGF1 resistant to binding by IGFBPs) but not by wild-type IGF1. IGF1-stimulated microvascular endothelial cell proliferation was blocked by recombinant IGFBP4. 4T1.2 tumours expressing dBP4 grew significantly more slowly than controls or tumours expressing wild-type IGFBP4. Inhibition of tumour growth by dBP4 was accompanied by the increased endothelial cell apoptosis. CONCLUSION: Protease-resistant IGFBP4 blocks IGF activity, tumour growth and angiogenesis

TRH attenuates scopolamine-induced memory impairment in humans

The brain tripeptide thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) has been demonstrated to facilitate cholinergic neurotransmission. To test its interaction with the cholinergic system in humans, high-dose TRH (0.5 mg/kg) or placebo was administered intravenously (IV) to normal controls pretreated with scopolamine (0.5–0.75 mg IV), a centrally active muscarinic antagonist, which has been used to model aspects of the memory impairment of normal aging and of dementia. Compared to placebo, TRH markedly attenuated scopolamine-induced impairment of some measures of memory, most notably on a selective reminding task. This cognitive study is the first in humans to suggest a neuromodulatory effect of a peptide on the cholinergic system, and suggests a facilitatory role for TRH in human memory processes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46332/1/213_2005_Article_BF02245795.pd

Marketplace success factors for new financial service success

Examines the effects of service offered on the success of new customer financial services in the United Kingdom. Shows that previous research has concentrated on the new product process ignoring what are termed direct factors (characteristics that affect the interaction between the service offered and the consumer). Finds that a number of characteristics describing the service core and the augmented service offering are highly correlated with success

Measuring self-efficacy, executive function, and temporal discounting in Kenya

Developing countries have low adherence to medical regimens like water chlorination or antenatal and postnatal care, contributing to high infant and child mortality rates. We hypothesize that high levels of stress affect adherence through temporal discounting, self-efficacy, and executive control. Measurement of these constructs in developing countries requires adaptation of existing measures. In the current study, we adapt psychological scales and behavioral tasks, measuring each of these three constructs, for use among adults in Kenya. We translated and back-translated each measure to Kiswahili and conducted cognitive interviewing to establish cultural acceptability, refined existing behavioral tasks, and developed new ones. Then, in a laboratory session lasting 3 h, participants (N=511) completed the adapted psychological inventories and behavioral tasks. We report the psychometric properties of these measures. We find relatively low reliability and poor correlational evidence between psychological scales and behavioral tasks measuring the same construct, highlighting the challenges of adapting measures across cultures, and suggesting that assays within the same domain may tap distinct underlying processes