Investigation on the Essential Oils of the Achillea Species: From Chemical Analysis to the In Silico Uptake against SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease

In this study, phytochemicals extracted from three different Achillea genera were identified and analyzed to be screened for their interactions with the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. In particular, the antiviral potential of these natural products against the SARS-CoV-2 main protease was investigated, as was their effectiveness against the SARS-CoV-1 main protease as a standard (due to its high similarity with SARS-CoV-2). These enzymes play key roles in the proliferation of viral strains in the human cytological domain. GC-MS analysis was used to identify the essential oils of the Achillea species. Chemi-informatics tools, such as AutoDock 4.2.6, SwissADME, ProTox-II, and LigPlot, were used to investigate the action of the pharmacoactive compounds against the main proteases of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. Based on the binding energies of kessanyl acetate, chavibetol (m-eugenol), farnesol, and 7-epi-beta-eudesmol were localized at the active site of the coronaviruses. Furthermore, these molecules, through hydrogen bonding with the amino acid residues of the active sites of viral proteins, were found to block the progression of SARS-CoV-2. Screening and computer analysis provided us with the opportunity to consider these molecules for further preclinical studies. Furthermore, considering their low toxicity, the data may pave the way for new in vitro and in vivo research on these natural inhibitors of the main SARS-CoV-2 protease

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality: methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. METHODS: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. RESULTS: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future

Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017 : results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Correction:Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.Peer reviewe

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality : methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

Background While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. Methods In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. Results GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. Conclusions GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of Medical Ethics among patients with Nose and Abdominal Surgery

Background-Medical ethics in surgeries is counted as great importance according to the surgical results that might have irreversible side effects or cause patient's death, or bring the patient back to life and health. Especially in recent years, in addition to indispensable surgeries, surgeries with cosmetic purposes have increased and of course many reasons are claimed for these without indication for surgeries, including economic factors and educational purposes. Materials and Methods: This study intended to investigate the role of medical ethics in nose and different abdominal surgeries among 100 patients and 70 hospital personnel in different parts of Ilam City in 1386. Results and Conclusions: The results state a lack of patient's awareness of medical ethics committee, lack of awareness of their rights and lack of medical staff's awareness of the way of dealing with medical ethics issues while facing such cases during treatment of patients and during working in therapeutic environment. On the other hand, patients' awareness of their rights help them endure health problems and may lead to their satisfaction from treatment team. Afra Khosravi, Rahmatollah Mousavi-Moghadam, Soghra Zarei. Evaluation of Medical Ethics among patients with Nose and Abdominal Surgery. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):5778-5781 (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 86

Thickness Dependence of Structural and Optical Properties of CdTe Films

In this work, Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin films were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by vacuum evaporation technique. The deposited CdTe thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-Visible spectroscopy and Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) techniques. Structural studies revealed that the CdTe films deposited at various thicknesses are crystallized in cubic structure. The results showed the improvement of the film crystallinity upon grain size increment. Optical constants such as refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant, volume energy loss function (VELF), and surface energy loss function (SELF) were calculated using UV-Vis spectra. In addition, band gap and Urbach energies were calculated by Tauc and ASF methods. The band gap energy of the specimens was found to decrease from 1.8 to 1.4eV with increasing the thickness of films. The absorption coefficient, computed and plotted versus the photon energy (hν) and tailing in the optical band gap, was observed which is understood based on Urbach law. Urbach energy variation from 0.125 to 0.620 eV in the samples with higher thicknesses is concluded. &nbsp

Oxygen doping effect on wettability of diamond-like carbon films

DLC films were deposited on Ge substrates using direct ion beam deposition method, followed by investigating the influence of O _2 doping on their morphological, electrical, and structural properties. The films were doped with oxygen under flow rates of 5, 10, 20, and 40 sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute). The structure of the films was studied by Raman spectroscopy. Result showed that by increasing oxygen incorporation, sp ^2 content decreases, sp ^3 content increases, and the C-C bonding loses its order. The hydrophilicity of the layers was analyzed by the contact angle measuring experiment. The results showed that by increasing the O _2 flow ratio from 5 to 40 sccm, the percentage of O _2 increases from 1.1 to 3.9%. The water contact angle measurement showed that an increase in oxygen flow ratio results in a decrease in contact angle from 82.9° ± 2.1° to 50° ± 3°

Comparison of outcomes and complications in conventional versus ultrasound-accelerated catheter directed thrombolysis for treatment of pulmonary embolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Acute submassive a massive pulmonary embolism are known as leading causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in emergency departments. Choosing the optimal type of catheter directed thrombolysis (CDT) for treatment of pulmonary embolism presents a quandary to the practitioners. To the best of our knowledge, there is no meta-analysis comparing superiority of conventional CDT and ultrasound-accelerated catheter directed thrombolysis (USACDT). Therefore, in this meta-analysis, we aimed to compare conventional CDT with USACDT regarding clinical outcomes and safety profile. Methods: A systematic literature search of previous published studies comparing conventional CDT with USACDT regarding clinical outcomes and safety profile was carried out in the electronic databases including MEDLINE, Scopus, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Cochrane from inception to December 2021. Data were analyzed by comprehensive meta-analysis software (CMA, version 3). Results: The meta-analysis included nine studies with a total of 705 patients. Our meta-analysis showed that there is no significant difference between two groups with respect to pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (SMD: �0.084; 95 CI: �0.287 to 0.12; p: 0.41), RV/LV (SMD: �0.003; 95 CI: �0.277 to 0.270; p: 0.98), and Miller score (SMD: �0.345; 95 CI: �1.376 to 0.686; p: 0.51). Similarly, we found no statistically significant differences between two groups regarding major and minor bleeding (p >.05). Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed that when compared with USACDT, conventional CDT provides similar clinical and hemodynamic outcomes or safety for treatment of pulmonary embolism without the need for very expensive technologies. However, randomized clinical trials are required to further investigate cost-effectiveness of USACDT in comparison with conventional CDT. © The Author(s) 2022