Potential role of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles from Aaronsohnia factorovskyi on Hymenolepis nana in BALB/c mice

ABSTRACT Hymenolepiasis is the most common intestinal tapeworm infection in humans caused by an intestinal cestode, Hymenolepis nana. Praziquantel (PZQ) is the most effective drug among other compounds, however, many cases of drug resistance have been reported. Recent research projects have been focused on finding novel therapeutic agents from medicinal plants. In the present study, Aaronsohnia factorovskyi was used against hymenolepiasis in the forms of plant extract (AF) and biosynthesized nanoparticles (AF-NPs) in comparison to PZQ. The results showed that 100 mg/kg AF and 0.5 mg/kg AF-NPs were the most effective doses at suppressing the fecal egg output by 98.39% and 100%, respectively. After the 10th day of treatment, it was not feasible to detect the presence of H. nana eggs in the fecal sample’s examination in the AF-NPs group. Upon treatment with AF-NPs, there were more improvements in the structure of the intestinal tissue than the effect of AF alone and in comparison, to PZQ. Collectively, results showed that A. factoryviski can be used as an anti-hymenolepiasis treatment with minimum side effects and less cost. Also, it was found that NPs are the most effective way, as it offers a faster recovery rate in comparison to natural plant extract

Genome-wide association study identifies novel susceptibility loci for <em>KIT</em> D816V positive mastocytosis.

Mastocytosis is a rare myeloid neoplasm characterized by uncontrolled expansion of mast cells, driven in &gt;80% of affected individuals by acquisition of the KIT D816V mutation. To explore the hypothesis that inherited variation predisposes to mastocytosis, we performed a two-stage genome-wide association study, analyzing 1,035 individuals with KIT D816V positive disease and 17,960 healthy control individuals from five European populations. After quality control, we tested 592,007 SNPs at stage 1 and 75 SNPs at stage 2 for association by using logistic regression and performed a fixed effects meta-analysis to combine evidence across the two stages. From the meta-analysis, we identified three intergenic SNPs associated with mastocytosis that achieved genome-wide significance without heterogeneity between cohorts: rs4616402 (pmeta = 1.37 × 10−15, OR = 1.52), rs4662380 (pmeta = 2.11 × 10−12, OR = 1.46), and rs13077541 (pmeta = 2.10 × 10−9, OR = 1.33). Expression quantitative trait analyses demonstrated that rs4616402 is associated with the expression of CEBPA (peQTL = 2.3 × 10−14), a gene encoding a transcription factor known to play a critical role in myelopoiesis. The role of the other two SNPs is less clear: rs4662380 is associated with expression of the long non-coding RNA gene TEX41 (peQTL = 2.55 × 10−11), whereas rs13077541 is associated with the expression of TBL1XR1, which encodes transducin (β)-like 1 X-linked receptor 1 (peQTL = 5.70 × 10−8). In individuals with available data and non-advanced disease, rs4616402 was associated with age at presentation (p = 0.009; beta = 4.41; n = 422). Additional focused analysis identified suggestive associations between mastocytosis and genetic variation at TERT, TPSAB1/TPSB2, and IL13. These findings demonstrate that multiple germline variants predispose to KIT D816V positive mastocytosis and provide novel avenues for functional investigation

Use of repurposed and adjuvant drugs in hospital patients with covid-19: Multinational network cohort study

Objective To investigate the use of repurposed and adjuvant drugs in patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 across three continents. Design Multinational network cohort study. Setting Hospital electronic health records from the United States, Spain, and China, and nationwide claims data from South Korea. Participants 303 264 patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 from January 2020 to December 2020. Main outcome measures Prescriptions or dispensations of any drug on or 30 days after the date of hospital admission for covid-19. Results Of the 303 264 patients included, 290 131 were from the US, 7599 from South Korea, 5230 from Spain, and 304 from China. 3455 drugs were identified. Common repurposed drugs were hydroxychloroquine (used in from <5 (<2%) patients in China to 2165 (85.1%) in Spain), azithromycin (from 15 (4.9%) in China to 1473 (57.9%) in Spain), combined lopinavir and ritonavir (from 156 (<2%) in the VA-OMOP US to 2,652 (34.9%) in South Korea and 1285 (50.5%) in Spain), and umifenovir (0% in the US, South Korea, and Spain and 238 (78.3%) in China). Use of adjunctive drugs varied greatly, with the five most used treatments being enoxaparin, fluoroquinolones, ceftriaxone, vitamin D, and corticosteroids. Hydroxychloroquine use increased rapidly from March to April 2020 but declined steeply in May to June and remained low for the rest of the year. The use of dexamethasone and corticosteroids increased steadily during 2020. Conclusions Multiple drugs were used in the first few months of the covid-19 pandemic, with substantial geographical and temporal variation. Hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, lopinavir-ritonavir, and umifenovir (in China only) were the most prescribed repurposed drugs. Antithrombotics, antibiotics, H2 receptor antagonists, and corticosteroids were often used as adjunctive treatments. Research is needed on the comparative risk and benefit of these treatments in the management of covid-19. ©Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Unraveling COVID-19: A Large-Scale Characterization of 4.5 Million COVID-19 Cases Using CHARYBDIS

Purpose: Routinely collected real world data (RWD) have great utility in aiding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response. Here we present the international Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) Characterizing Health Associated Risks and Your Baseline Disease In SARS-COV-2 (CHARYBDIS) framework for standardisation and analysis of COVID-19 RWD. Patients and Methods: We conducted a descriptive retrospective database study using a federated network of data partners in the United States, Europe (the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Germany, France and Italy) and Asia (South Korea and China). The study protocol and analytical package were released on 11th June 2020 and are iteratively updated via GitHub. We identified three nonmutually exclusive cohorts of 4,537,153 individuals with a clinical COVID-19 diagnosis or positive test, 886,193 hospitalized with COVID-19, and 113,627 hospitalized with COVID-19 requiring intensive services. Results: We aggregated over 22,000 unique characteristics describing patients with COVID-19. All comorbidities, symptoms, medications, and outcomes are described by cohort in aggregate counts and are readily available online. Globally, we observed similarities in the USA and Europe: More women diagnosed than men but more men hospitalized than women, most diagnosed cases between 25 and 60 years of age versus most hospitalized cases between 60 and 80 years of age. South Korea differed with more women than men hospitalized. Common comorbidities included type 2 diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease and heart disease. Common presenting symptoms were dyspnea, cough and fever. Symptom data availability was more common in hospitalized cohorts than diagnosed. Conclusion: We constructed a global, multi-centre view to describe trends in COVID-19 progression, management and evolution over time. By characterising baseline variability in patients and geography, our work provides critical context that may otherwise be misconstrued as data quality issues. This is important as we perform studies on adverse events of special interest in COVID-19 vaccine surveillance. © 2022 Kostka et al.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]