Cutaneous Manifestations in SARS-CoV-2 Infection—A Series of Cases from the Largest Infectious Diseases Hospital in Western Romania

(1) Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection, which appeared as an isolated epidemic outbreak in December 2019, proved to be so contagious that, within 3 months, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. For one year (pre-vaccination period), the virus acted unhindered and was highly contagious, with a predominantly respiratory-oriented aggression. Although this lung damage, responsible for the more than 3,090,025 deaths, has provided sufficient data to facilitate the understanding of pathogenic mechanisms, other observation data, which meet the quality of emerging clinical aspects, such as rashes, remain without well-defined etiopathogenic support or a well-contoured clinical framework. (2) Methods and Results: We followed the occurrence of cutaneous manifestations in patients hospitalized during the second and third outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in the main clinics of infectious diseases of our county, Timis, and recorded laboratory investigations and clinical evolution for five suggestive cases. (3) Conclusions: The presented cases, added to many other present and future clinical observations, will allow for better knowledge and understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection, a requirement that has become a global priority for the entire medical and scientific community

Low Toxicity β‑Cyclodextrin-Caged 4,4′-Bipyridinium-bis(siloxane): Synthesis and Evaluation

The toxicity of viologens can be significantly reduced by including them in tight [2]­rotaxane structures alongside β-cyclodextrin, thus turning them into candidates of pharmaceutical interest. Here, we report a synthesis pathway for a benign viologen, by capping a small β-cyclodextrin-caged molecule, the 4,4′-bipyridine, with minimal-length presynthesized axle-stopper segments of the propyl-3-pentamethyldisiloxane type. After 90 min from the oral administration to laboratory mice, the product concentration in the bloodstream reaches a value equivalent to 0.634% of the initial dose of 800 mg·kg^–1. As compared to the nude viologen having the same structure, which proved to be lethal in doses of 40 mg·kg^–1, the product induces reversible morphological changes in the liver, kidney, lung, and cerebellum, up to a dose of 400 mg·kg^–1, with higher dosages giving rise to a chronic slow evolution