Diabetic ketoacidosis and covid-19: Two case reports

Background: COVID-19 is a viral infection that causes pneumonia with dyspnea, cough, and fever. Its outcomes are more severe in patients with diabetes, hypertension, and other disorders than in healthy people. New-onset diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) have been reported as the complications of COVID-19 in several studies. It seems that the prevalence of DKA due to Covid-19 is increasing. Therefore, two cases of individuals with DKA due to COVID-19 are presented in this study to inform other researchers about the details of this phenomenon. Material and Methods: Demographic characteristics, medical histories, physical examinations, laboratory investigations, real-time RT-PCR tests, computed tomography (CT) imaging studies, given treatments, clinical courses, and management outcomes were documented prospectively. Results: In the present experience, the manifestation of COVID-19 disease in the second case with a history of diabetes was more severe than in the first case. In the second case, with underlying diabetes and COVID-19, the DKA manifestation was associated with consciousness loss, severe restlessness, and respiratory distress; however, in the first case, with COVID-19 without diabetes, the DKA manifestation was associated with anorexia, weight loss, and lack of respiratory distress, which were milder symptoms than the second case. Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of diabetes mellitus and COVID-19 in Iran, it is recommended to raise awareness of DKA symptoms among health professionals

Optimal MHC-II-restricted tumor antigen presentation to CD4+ T helper cells: the key issue for development of anti-tumor vaccines

Present immunoprevention and immunotherapeutic approaches against cancer suffer from the limitation of being not “sterilizing” procedures, as very poor protection against the tumor is obtained. Thus newly conceived anti-tumor vaccination strategies are urgently needed. In this review we will focus on ways to provide optimal MHC class II-restricted tumor antigen presentation to CD4+ T helper cells as a crucial parameter to get optimal and protective adaptive immune response against tumor. Through the description of successful preventive or therapeutic experimental approaches to vaccinate the host against the tumor we will show that optimal activation of MHC class II-restricted tumor specific CD4+ T helper cells can be achieved in various ways. Interestingly, the success in tumor eradication and/or growth arrest generated by classical therapies such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy in some instances can be re-interpreted on the basis of an adaptive immune response induced by providing suitable access of tumor-associated antigens to MHC class II molecules. Therefore, focussing on strategies to generate better and suitable MHC class II–restricted activation of tumor specific CD4+ T helper cells may have an important impact on fighting and defeating cancer

Mechanically induced combustion synthesis and thermoelectric properties of nanostructured strontium hexaboride (SrB6)

The nanoparticles of strontium hexaboride (SrB 6 ) were synthesized by a mechanically induced magnesiothermic combustion in the Mg/B 2 O 3 /SrO system. Ignition time in this system was recorded to be 23 min of milling. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques were used to characterize the combustion product. Thermal analysis was employed to assess the formation mechanism. It was revealed that Mg initially reduced B 2 O 3 in a combustive manner to generate elemental boron and a large amount of heat, resulting in the reduction of SrO by Mg at high temperature. The in-situ formed elemental Sr and B react immediately to generate SrB 6 . Thermoelectric properties of consolidated SrB 6 , including thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and figure-of-merit were evaluated at the temperature range of 300–873 K