Side effects of messenger RNA vaccines and prior history of COVID-19, a cross-sectional study

Background There are concerns regarding immunogenicity with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccines among persons with prior history of COVID-19 (PHC). This study was to analyze the short-term side effects of mRNA vaccines among health care workers (HCWs) with and without PHC. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed using an independent online survey questionnaire that gathered responses from HCWs. Results Among 1,475 HCWs, 1268 (85.97%) completed the survey, 102/1268 (44/447 in Moderna group and 58/821 in Pfizer-BioNTech group) reported PHC during pre-vaccination period. Symptoms of flushing/P = .05, brain fogging/P= .005, vertigo/P= .041, numbness/P= .023, diarrhea/P= .047, hives/P= .028, itching/P= .028, swelling of lips/mouth/P= .001, shortness of breath/P= .022, and anxiety/P= .048 have greater occurrence among Pfizer-BioNtech group with PHC when compared to Pfizer-BioNtech group with no PHC. Symptoms of chills/P= .027, flushing/P= .045, tremor/P= .05, muscle spasm/P= .039, vomiting/P= .031, diarrhea/P= .015, and cough/P= .011 have higher occurrence among Moderna group with PHC when compared to Moderna group with no PHC. Conclusions Few short-term side effects among mRNA vaccine recipients with PHC may have necessitated transient time-off from work. The PHC can be considered as a predictor for severity of side effects. While the vaccination program continues in the United States, a future COVID legislation that mandates vaccination among employees along with paid time off provision may help with higher compliance and acceptance

Dissolution and Characterization of Biofunctional Keratin Particles Extracted from Chicken Feathers

In the present study chicken feathers were hydrolyzed in alkaline environment. The pH value of feather hydrolyzed solution was adjusted according to the principle of isoelectric precipitation. Three kinds of precipitates of keratin polypeptide were collected at pH of 3.5, 5.5 and 7.5 respectively. The keratin solution were freeze dried and denoted as FKP1, FKP2, FKP3 respectively. All keratin particles possessed smooth, uniform and round surface by scanning electron microscope (SEM). FKP1, FKP2 and FKP3 had higher glass transition temperature examined by thermogravimetry (TG). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that the extracted keratin retained the most of protein backbone, with the breakage of disulfide cross-links and hydrogen bonds

New Insights on N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) Receptor Under Combinatorial Molecular Docking and MD Simulation Studies Using Natural Bioactive Compounds Against Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases pose a significant challenge, and novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is reported to play a critical role in the central nervous system and has emerged as a potential target for drug discovery. This study explored the potential scope of natural bioactive compounds as ligands for the NMDA receptor using current advances of docking studies with molecular dynamic (MD) simulations. An extensive virtual screening of 500 natural compounds were executed based on wide scientific literature and bibliography search. Docking simulations identified promising candidates with favorable binding affinities, with the top compounds - DL-Alanosine, and Zeinoxanthin (PubChem CIDs 153353 and 5281234) exhibiting exceptionally high docking scores of -6.6 and -6.4, against NMDA respectively. Further, MD simulations suggested the stability of the top-scoring compounds in complex with the NMDA receptor. These findings will provide a new insights to researchers and scientists on proceeding with new alternatives on the investigation of natural bioactive compounds as therapeutic lead candidates for targeting various receptors like NMDA in neurodegenerative diseases. However, in vitro and in vivo studies are warranted to validate these results and elucidate the underlying mechanisms of action

Isolation of Nano Cellulose from Rubber Wood Fibre and Fibrillation Effects on Nano Cellulose Reinforced Poly (Ethylene Oxide)

Wood and plants are cellular hierarchical bio-composites produced by nature, and are essentially semicrystalline cellulose microfibrilreinforced amorphous matrices made of hemicellulose, lignin, waxes, extractive and trace elements. Cellulose acts as a structural reinforcing agent that provides mechanical strength as well as chemical stability to plants. The development of low-cost, sustainable and renewable resources is critical to meet the growing environmental concerns and energy demands; the use of rubber wood is extremely beneficial to Malaysia as it is one of the main commodities. The current study aims to extract cellulose nanofibres from rubber wood (Heveabrasiliensis) fibers via high pressure homogenisation combined with enzymatic and chemical pretreatments. In this study the application of enzymes in fiber processing has been mainly directed towards the modification of hemicelluloses and lignin while preserving the cellulosic fraction .The diameter distributions of the resulting nanofibers were dependent on the number of times of cellulose solution is passing. The extent of dispersion improved significantly with increasing when number of passes through the high pressure homogenised. Fe-SEM study showed that the diameters of the nanofibersisolated ranged from 37 to 85 nanometer(nm) and estimated length is several micrometers (µm). The nanocellulosefibres were studied further by examining with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). There was a disappearance of vibration peaks at 1730.28 and 1234 cm-1 from spectra of treated fibres which shows the removal of hemicellulose and lignin components respectively. XRD results showed an increase in crystalline which resulted from the removal of lignin and hemicellulose. Moreover, the isolated cellulose nanofibres were used to reinforce poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). PEO was dissolved in isolated nanocellulose liquid suspension followed by casting. The nanocomposites were characterized by using FTIR analysis and X-Ray diffractometry

Synthesis of Nanocellulose from Rubberwood Fibers Via Ultrasonication Combined with Enzymatic and Chemical Pretreatments

This paper presents synthesis of nanocellulose from rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis) fibers via ultrasonication combined with enzymatic and chemical pretreatments. Cellulose nanofibers were separated from rubber wood fibers in three distinct stages. Initially, rubber wood fibers were subjected to a series of enzymatic and chemical pre-treatments to eliminate lignin and hemicellulose. The obtained chemical-purified cellulose fibers were then mechanically separated into nanofibers using ultrasonication. The diameter distributions of the resulting nanofibers were dependent on the output power of ultrasonic treatment. The extent of dispersion improved significantly with increasing output power of ultrasonic treatment. Microscopy study showed that the diameters of the nanofibers isolated ranged from 8.7 to 20 μm. The effectiveness of laccase and xylanase enzymes was also studied. The results obtained from FTIR and thermo gravimetric analyses indicated that there were consistencies between the studied enzymes to the thermal stability or chemical structure. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed that the prominent peaks indicating that most of the lignin and hemicellulose were removed during the step-wise chemical treatment were present in the spectrum. FTIR spectroscopy suggested that the spectrum of cellulose nanofibers obtained under different ultrasonic output powers and chemical-purified cellulose fibers were similar, signifying that the molecular structure of cellulose were unaffected by the ultrasonic treatment. TGA results revealed that the thermal properties of cellulose nanofibers were enhanced and the thermal degradation temperature increased to proximately 310 °C as compared to 240 °C of the untreated rubber wood fibers. Results from this work may be potentially applied in various fields such as bio-nanocomposites, filtration media packaging, tissue engineering scaffolds, and so on

Evaluation of Tincture Prepared from <i>Jussiaea suffruticosa </i>Linn.

587-590Tincture of Jussiaea suffruticosa Linn. is prepared from different strengths of alcohol such as 30,40,50,60,70,80,90, and 100 per cent v/v by maceration period of 7,14, and 21 d and some co-chemical properties like pH, specific gravity, total solid matter content and the presence of chemical components are examined. From the examined parameters, it is observed that the tincture prepared from 50 per cent v/v alcohol yields maximum total solid content, maximum specific gravity value and shows pH 5.01. It is inferred that the tincture of Jussiaea suffruticosa prepared with 50 per cent per cent v/v alcohol is useful to achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy