Evidence synthesis findings depend on the assumption that the included studies follow good clinical practice and results are not fabricated or contain errors. Studies which are problematic due to scientific misconduct, poor research practice, or honest error may distort evidence synthesis findings. Authors of evidence synthesis need transparent mechanisms to identify and manage problematic studies to avoid misleading findings. As evidence synthesis authors of the Cochrane COVID-19 review on ivermectin, we identified many problematic studies in terms of research integrity and regulatory compliance. Through iterative discussion, we developed a Research Integrity Assessment (RIA) tool for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RIA was piloted and used in updating this Cochrane review. In this paper, we explain the rationale and application of the RIA tool. RIA assesses six study criteria: study retraction, prospective trial registration, adequate ethics approval, plausible authorship, sufficient reporting of methods (e.g., randomization), and plausibility of study results. RIA was used in the Cochrane review as part of the eligibility check during screening of potentially eligible studies. Problematic studies were excluded and studies with open questions were held in awaiting classification until clarified. RIA decisions were made independently by two authors and reported transparently. Using the RIA tool resulted in the exclusion of >40% of studies in the first update of the review. RIA is a complementary tool prior to assessing Risk of Bias aiming to establish the integrity and authenticity of studies. RIA provides a platform for urgent development of a standard approach to identifying and managing problematic studies.
Context In low-income settings where access to biological diagnosis is limited, data on the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic are scarce. In September 2020, after the first COVID-19 wave, Mali reported 3,086 confirmed cases and 130 deaths. Most reports originated form Bamako, the capital city, with 1,532 reported cases and 81 deaths for an estimated 2.42 million population. This observed prevalence of 0.06% appeared very low. Our objective was to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection among inhabitants of Bamako, after the first epidemic wave. We also assessed demographic, social and living conditions, health behaviors and knowledge associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Material and methods We conducted a cross-sectional multistage cluster household survey in commune VI, which reported, at this time, 30% (n=466) of the total cases reported at Bamako. We measured serological status by detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein Antibodies in venous blood sampled after informed consent. We documented housing conditions and individual health behaviors through KABP questionnaires among participants aged 12 years and older. We estimated the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and deaths in the total population of Bamako using the age and sex distributions of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence. A logistic generalized additive multilevel model was performed to estimate household conditions and demographic factors associated with seropositivity. Results We recruited 1,526 inhabitants in the 3 investigated areas (commune VI, Bamako) belonging to the 306 sampled households. We obtained 1,327 serological results, 220 household questionnaires and collected KABP answers for 962 participants. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was 16.4% after adjusting on the population structure. This suggested that ~400,000 cases and ~ 2,000 deaths could have occurred of which only 0.4% of cases and 5% of deaths were officially reported. KABP analyses suggested strong agreement with washing hands but lower acceptability of movement restrictions (lockdown or curfew), and limited mask wearing. Conclusion In spite of limited numbers of reported cases, the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 spread broadly in Bamako. Expected fatalities remained limited largely due to the population age structure and the low prevalence of comorbidities. This highlight the difficulty of developing epidemic control strategies when screening test are not available or not used, even more when the transmission modalities are not well known by the population. Targeted policies based on health education prevention have to be implemented to improve the COVID-19 risk perception among the local population and fight to false knowledge and beliefs.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are a key indicator of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control describes oxygen supplementation as a measure of severe disease. SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive patients hospitalized without hypoxia or requiring oxygen may have been identified incidentally due to routine screening practices. We describe the application of a revised case definition for COVID-19 hospitalization based on the case-patient oxygen requirement on admission. Using data collected from consecutive SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive hospital admissions in December 2021 and January 2022 at a large safety net hospital in Los Angeles County, we highlight differences between patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (i.e., no oxygen requirement on admission or `incidental` infection) and those hospitalized for COVID-19 (i.e., oxygen requirement on admission). We conducted multivariable modeling to determine the effect of age as a positive predictor of COVID-19 hospitalization and vaccination or prior infection as a negative predictor. The revised case-definition resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations during the study period: 67.5% of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive hospital admissions were not for COVID-19 but with COVID-19. A revised case-definition for COVID-19 hospitalization that includes the oxygen requirement on admission is needed to more accurately monitor the pandemic and inform public health policy.
A significant number of COVID-19 patients develop 9long COVID9, a condition defined by long-lasting debilitating, often neurological, symptoms. The pathophysiology of long COVID is unknown. Here we present in-vivo evidence of widespread neuroinflammation in long COVID, using a quantitative assessment, [18F]DPA-714 PET, in two long COVID patients. We reanalyzed historical data from three matched healthy control subjects, for comparison purposes. Both patients with long COVID had widespread increases in [18F]DPA-714 binding throughout the brain. Quantitative measures of binding (BPND values) were increased on average by 121% and 76%, respectively. This implicates profound neuroinflammation in the pathophysiology of long COVID.
Backgrounds: Despite the widespread distribution of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic continues with highly contagious variants and waning immunity. Low disease severity of the Omicron variant gives society hope that the COVID-19 pandemic could end. Methods: We develop an agent-based simulation to explore the impact of COVID-19 vaccine willingness, booster vaccination schedule, vaccine effectiveness, and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on reducing COVID-19 deaths while considering immunity duration and disease severity against the Omicron variant. The model is calibrated to the greater Seattle area in year 2020 by observing local epidemic data. The simulation is run to the end of year 2024 to observe long-term effects. Results: Results show that an NPI policy that maintains low levels of NPIs can reduce mortality by 35.1% compared to fully opening the society. A threshold NPI policy is especially helpful when the disease severity of the Omicron variant is high, or booster vaccines are not scheduled. A periodic booster schedule is needed to achieve the goal of lowering the number of deaths from COVID-19 to the level of influenza and pneumonia. Except for one scenario, 80% or more vaccine willingness is also needed to achieve this goal. Conclusions: We find that a periodic booster vaccination schedule and mild disease severity of the Omicron variant play a crucial role in reducing deaths by the end of year 2024. If a booster schedule is not planned and the Omicron variant is not mild, NPI policies that limit society from fully opening are required to control the outbreak.
Concerns about the duration of protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccines have arisen in postlicensure evaluations. However, “depletion of susceptibles” bias driven by differential accrual of infection among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals may contribute to the appearance of waning vaccine effectiveness (VE) in epidemiologic studies, potentially hindering interpretation of estimates. We enrolled California residents who received molecular SARS-CoV-2 tests in a matched, test-negative design case-control study to estimate VE of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines between 23 February and 5 December 2021. We analyzed waning protection following 2 vaccine doses using conditional logistic regression models. Additionally, we used data from case-based surveillance along with estimated case-to-infection ratios from a population-based serological study to quantify the potential contribution of the “depletion-of-susceptibles” bias to time-varying VE estimates for 2 doses. We also estimated VE for 3 doses relative to 0 doses and 2 doses, by time since second dose receipt. Pooled VE of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was 91.3% (95% confidence interval: 83.8-95.4%) at 14 days after second-dose receipt and declined to 50.8% (31.2-75.6%) at 7 months. Accounting for differential depletion-of-susceptibles among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, we estimated VE was 53.2% (23.6-71.2%) at 7 months among individuals who had completed the primary series (2 doses). With receipt of a third dose of BN162b2 or mRNA-1273, VE increased to 95.0% (82.8-98.6%), compared with zero doses. These findings confirm that observed waning of protection is not attributable to epidemiologic bias and support ongoing efforts to administer additional vaccine doses to mitigate burden of COVID-19.
Background India9s abrupt nationwide Covid-19 lockdown internally displaced millions of urban migrants, who made arduous journeys to distant rural homes. Documenting their labor market reintegration is a critical aspect of understanding the economic costs of the pandemic for India9s poor. In a country marked by low and declining female labor force participation, identifying gender gaps in labor market reintegration - as a marker of both women9s vulnerability at times of crisis and setbacks in women9s agency - is especially important. Yet most studies of pandemic-displaced Indian migrants are small, rely on highly selected convenience samples, and lack a gender focus. Methods Beginning in April 2020, we enrolled roughly 4,600 displaced migrants who had returned to two of India9s poorest states into a panel survey, which tracked enrollees through July 2021. Survey respondents were randomly selected from the states9 official databases of return migrants, with sampling stratified by state and gender. 85 percent of enrollees (3,950) were working in urban areas prior to the pandemic. Our analysis focuses on a balanced panel of 1,780 workers who were interviewed three times through July 2021, considering labor market re-entry, earnings, and measures of vulnerability by gender. Findings Both men and women struggle to remigrate - by July 2021 (over a year after the nationwide lockdown ended), no more than 63 percent (95% CI [60,66]) of men and 55 percent [51,59] of women had left their home villages since returning. Initially, returning migrants transition from non-agricultural urban employment into agriculture and unemployment in rural areas. Alongside, incomes plummet, with both genders earning roughly 17 percent of their pre-lockdown incomes in July 2020. Remigration is critical to regaining income - male re-migrants report earnings on par with their pre-lockdown incomes by January 2021, while men remaining in rural areas earn only 23 percent [19,27] of their pre-pandemic income. Remigration benefits women to a lesser extent - female remigrants regain no more than 65 percent [57,73] of their pre-pandemic income at any point. This contrast reflects significantly higher rates of unemployment among women, both among those remaining in rural areas (9 percentage points [6,13] higher than men across waves) and among those who remigrate (13 percentage points [9,17] higher than men across waves). As a result, we observe gender gaps in well-being: female migrants were 7 percentage points [4,10] more likely to report reduced consumption of essential goods and fare 6 percentage points [4,7] worse on a food security index. Interpretation Return migrants of both genders experienced persistent hardships for over a year after the initial pandemic lockdown. Female migrants fare worse, driven by both lower rates of remigration and lower rates of labor market re-entry both inside and outside home villages. Some women drop out of the labor force entirely, but most unemployed report seeking or being available to work. In short, pandemic-induced labor market displacement has far-reaching, long-term consequences for migrant workers, especially women.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several clinicians in Spain reported an increase in scabies diagnoses. We performed a time-series analysis with data from 2014 to 2022 to quantify this increase. We found an increasing trend during late 2020 and 2021, peaking in March 2022 with an almost 4.5-fold incidence than expected, especially in those aged between 16 and 30 years. Although scabies is more frequent in most socioeconomic deprived areas, the observed rise occurs in all the areas. We recommend increasing surveillance among other countries to detect unexpected increases in scabies outbreaks.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an effective way of tracking the appearance and spread of SARS-COV-2 lineages through communities. Beginning in early 2021, we implemented a targeted approach to amplify and sequence the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-COV-2 to characterize viral lineages present in sewersheds. Over the course of 2021, we reproducibly detected multiple SARS-COV-2 RBD lineages that have never been observed in patient samples in 9 sewersheds located in 3 states in the USA. These cryptic lineages contained between 4 to 24 amino acid substitutions in the RBD and were observed intermittently in the sewersheds in which they were found for as long as 14 months. Many of the amino acid substitutions in these lineages occurred at residues also mutated in the Omicron variant of concern (VOC), often with the same substitution. One of the sewersheds contained a lineage that appeared to be derived from the Alpha VOC, but the majority of the lineages appeared to be derived from pre-VOC SARS-COV-2 lineages. Specifically, several of the cryptic lineages from New York City appeared to be derived from a common ancestor that most likely diverged in early 2020. While the source of these cryptic lineages has not been resolved, it seems increasingly likely that they were derived from immunocompromised patients or animal reservoirs. Our findings demonstrate that SARS-COV-2 genetic diversity is greater than what is commonly observed through routine SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. Wastewater sampling may more fully capture SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity than patient sampling and could reveal new VOCs before they emerge in the wider human population.
COVID-19 patients diagnosed ≥3 days after symptom onset had increased odds of hospitalization. The 75th percentile for diagnosis delay was 5 days for residents of low-privilege areas and Black and Hispanic people diagnosed before SARS-CoV-2 Delta predominance, compared with 4 days for other patients, indicating inequities in prompt diagnosis.
Background: As highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are eager to make use of a wide variety of data sources, both government-sponsored and alternative, to characterize the epidemiology of infectious diseases. To date, few studies have investigated the strengths and limitations of sources currently being used for such research. These are critical for policy makers to understand when interpreting study findings. Methods: To fill this gap in the literature, we compared infectious disease reporting for three diseases (measles, mumps, and varicella) across four different data sources: Optum (health insurance billing claims data), HealthMap (online news surveillance data), Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (official government reports), and National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (government case surveillance data). We reported the yearly number of national- and state-level disease-specific case counts and disease clusters according to each of our sources during a five-year study period (2013-2017). Findings: Our study demonstrated drastic differences in reported infectious disease incidence across data sources. When compared against the other three sources of interest, Optum data showed substantially higher, implausible standardized case counts for all three diseases. Although there was some concordance in identified state-level case counts and disease clusters, all four sources identified variations in state-level reporting. Interpretation: Researchers should consider data source limitations when attempting to characterize the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Some data sources, such as billing claims data, may be unsuitable for epidemiological research within the infectious disease context.
A Safety and Efficacy Study of Hymecromone Tablets for the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19. - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Drug: Hymecromone tablets; Other: Placebo
Sponsor: Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital
Recruiting
A Study to Assess the Safety and Immunogenicity of a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster in Healthy Adults - Condition: COVID-19
Intervention: Biological: Prime-2-CoV_Beta
Sponsors: University Hospital Tuebingen; FGK Clinical Research GmbH; VisMederi srl; Staburo GmbH; Viedoc Technologies AB
Not yet recruiting
Eucalyptus Oil as Adjuvant Therapy for Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Drug: Eucalyptus Oil; Drug: Standard COVID medication
Sponsors: Hasanuddin University; Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Indonesia
Completed
Study of Oral High/Low-dose Cepharanthine Compared With Placebo in Non Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19 - Condition: Asymptomatic COVID-19
Interventions: Drug: Cepharanthine; Drug: Placebo
Sponsors: Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; YUNNAN BAIYAO GROUP CO.,LTD
Not yet recruiting
A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Called Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir) in Pregnant Women With Mild or Moderate COVID-19. - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Drug: nirmatrelvir; Drug: ritonavir
Sponsor: Pfizer
Not yet recruiting
Evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccines Given as a Booster in Healthy Adults in Indonesia (MIACoV Indonesia) - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Standard dose; Biological: AstraZeneca Standard dose; Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Fractional dose; Biological: AstraZeneca Fractional dose; Biological: Moderna Standard dose; Biological: Moderna Fractional dose
Sponsors: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD); Universitas Indonesia (UI); Health Development Policy Agency, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia; Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Not yet recruiting
α-synuclein Seeding Activity in the Olfactory Mucosa in COVID-19 - Condition: COVID-19
Intervention: Other: Real-time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC)
Sponsor: Medical University Innsbruck
Recruiting
Randomized, Single-blinded, Multicenter Trial Comparing the Immune Response to a 2nd Booster Dose of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) or Sanofi /GSK B.1.351 Adjuvanted Vaccine in Adults - Condition: COVID-19 Vaccines
Interventions: Biological: 2nd booster with Comirnaty® (Pfizer-BioNTech); Biological: CoV2 preS dTM adjuvanted vaccine (B.1.351), Sanofi/GSK
Sponsors: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris; IREIVAC/COVIREIVAC Network
Not yet recruiting
Immunogenicity and Safety of a Third Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine(Vero Cell), Inactivated in the Elderly - Condition: COVID-19
Intervention: Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero cell), Inactivated
Sponsor: Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.
Active, not recruiting
Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity Study of the Recombinant Two-component COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell)(Recov) - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: Recombinant two-component COVID-19 vaccine (CHO cell); Biological: Placebo
Sponsor: Jiangsu Rec-Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Not yet recruiting
A Phase 1a Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Chimera Vaccine Against COVID-19 - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: RQ3013; Biological: Comirnaty
Sponsors: Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd.; Shanghai RNACure Biopharma Co., Ltd.
Not yet recruiting
A Phase 1b Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Chimera Vaccine Against COVID-19 - Condition: COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: RQ3013; Biological: Comirnaty
Sponsors: Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd.; Shanghai RNACure Biopharma Co., Ltd.
Not yet recruiting
Paxlovid in the Treatment of COVID-19 Patients With Uremia - Conditions: COVID-19; Uremia
Interventions: Drug: Paxlovid; Drug: standard-of-care
Sponsor: Ruijin Hospital
Not yet recruiting
Telemedically Assisted Sampling of COVID-19 Patients - Is the Sampling Quality Sufficient - Conditions: Telemedicine; Pharynx; COVID-19
Intervention: Diagnostic Test: telemedically guided oropharyngeal + nasal (OP+N) self-sampling (GSS) and nasopharyngeal (NP) or OP+N sampling performed by health care professionals (HCP)
Sponsor: Teststation Praxis Dr. med Bielecki
Active, not recruiting
Treatment of COVID-19 Post-acute Cognitive Impairment Sequelae With tDCS - Conditions: Cognitive Impairment; Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection; COVID-19
Interventions: Procedure: Active tDCS and cognitive training; Procedure: Sham tDCS and cognitive training
Sponsors: University of Sao Paulo; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Not yet recruiting
Potential effects of icariin, the Epimedium-derived bioactive compound in the treatment of COVID-19: a hypothesis - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has affected the world’s health systems for more than two years. This disease causes a high mortality rate followed by cytokine storm-induced oxidative stress and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Therefore, many drugs have been considered with emphasis on their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects in controlling the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Icariin is a major…
Ginsenoside Rg1 suppresses paraquat-induced epithelial cell senescence by enhancing autophagy in an ATG12-dependent manner - Paraquat (PQ), as a widely used herbicide, is highly toxic to human. PQ-induced pulmonary fibrosis is the main reason for respiratory failure and death. In PQ-poisoned mice, we find abundant senescent epithelial cells in the lung tissues, which can contribute to the activation of pulmonary fibroblasts. Ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1), the main active component of ginseng, possess beneficial properties against aging. In our work, we aimed to investigate the potential protective effects of Rg1 on PQ-induced…
Insights into Coronavirus Papain-like Protease Structure, Function and Inhibitors - Coronavirus are pathogens that seriously affect human and animal health. They mostly cause respiratory or enteric diseases, which can be severe and life threatening, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in humans. The conserved coronaviral papain-like protease is an attractive antiviral drug target because it is essential for coronaviral replication and it also inhibits host innate immune responses….
A comprehensive review about immune responses and exhaustion during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a viral infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. The infection was reported in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019 and has become a major global concern due to severe respiratory infections and high transmission rates. Evidence suggests that the strong interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and patients’ immune systems leads to various clinical symptoms of COVID-19. Although the adaptive immune responses are…
Cleavage of the selective autophagy receptor SQSTM1/p62 by the SARS-CoV-2 main protease NSP5 prevents the autophagic degradation of viral membrane proteins - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. Omicron, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, has the characteristics of strong transmission and pathogenicity, short incubation period, and rapid onset progression, and has spread rapidly around the world. The high replication rate and intracellular accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 are remarkable, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Autophagy acts as a…
A dimeric proteomimetic prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection by dimerizing the spike protein - Protein tertiary structure mimetics are valuable tools to target large protein-protein interaction interfaces. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for designing dimeric helix-hairpin motifs from a previously reported three-helix-bundle miniprotein that targets the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Through truncation of the third helix and optimization of the interhelical loop residues of the miniprotein, we developed a thermostable dimeric…
Metformin therapy in COVID-19: inhibition of NETosis - No abstract
What Is an Antibody Test? Characteristics of Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and Their Tests - Antibodies play a major role in immune responses against viruses, which inhibit infection by binding to target viral antigen. Antibodies are induced by viral entry to the body and vaccination that artificially induces immune responses; therefore, antibody tests are used in research for infection history and evaluation of vaccine efficacy. Currently, antibody tests against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) by immunochromatography, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay…
Suite of TMPRSS2 Assays for Screening Drug Repurposing Candidates as Potential Treatments of COVID-19 - SARS-CoV-2 is the causative viral pathogen driving the COVID-19 pandemic that prompted an immediate global response to the development of vaccines and antiviral therapeutics. For antiviral therapeutics, drug repurposing allows for rapid movement of the existing clinical candidates and therapies into human clinical trials to be tested as COVID-19 therapies. One effective antiviral treatment strategy used early in symptom onset is to prevent viral entry. SARS-CoV-2 enters ACE2-expressing cells…
Synthetic Heparan Sulfate Mimetic Pixatimod (PG545) Potently Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 by Disrupting the Spike-ACE2 Interaction - Heparan sulfate (HS) is a cell surface polysaccharide recently identified as a coreceptor with the ACE2 protein for the S1 spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 virus, providing a tractable new therapeutic target. Clinically used heparins demonstrate an inhibitory activity but have an anticoagulant activity and are supply-limited, necessitating alternative solutions. Here, we show that synthetic HS mimetic pixatimod (PG545), a cancer drug candidate, binds and destabilizes the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein…
High-Resolution Magic-Angle Spinning NMR Spectroscopy for Evaluation of Cell Shielding by Virucidal Composites Based on Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles, Flexible Cellulose Nanofibers and Graphene Oxide - Antiviral and non-toxic effects of silver nanoparticles onto in vitro cells infected with coronavirus were evaluated in this study using High-Resolution Magic-Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy. Silver nanoparticles were designed and synthesized using an orange flavonoid-hesperetin (HST)-for reduction of silver(I) and stabilization of as obtained nanoparticles. The bio-inspired process is a simple, clean, and sustainable way to synthesize biogenic silver…
Unravelling the Therapeutic Potential of Botanicals Against Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Molecular Insights and Future Perspectives - Background: COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a serious health problem worldwide. Present treatments are insufficient and have severe side effects. There is a critical shortage of possible alternative treatments. Medicinal herbs are the most traditional and widely used therapy for treating a wide range of human illnesses around the world. In several countries, different plants are used to treat COPD. Purpose: In this review, we have discussed several known cellular and molecular…
Binding of SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF9b to mitochondrial translocase TOM70 prevents its interaction with chaperone HSP90 - The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains a great threat to global health. ORF9b, an important accessory protein of SARS-CoV-2, plays a critical role in the viral host interaction, targeting TOM70, a member of the mitochondrial translocase of the outer membrane complex. The assembly between ORF9b and TOM70 is implicated in disrupting mitochondrial antiviral signaling, leading to immune evasion. We describe the…
High-throughput drug screening allowed identification of entry inhibitors specifically targeting different routes of SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron/BA.1 - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has continuously evolved, resulting in the emergence of several variants of concern (VOCs). To study mechanisms of viral entry and potentially identify specific inhibitors, we pseudotyped lentiviral vectors with different SARS-CoV-2 VOC spike variants (D614G, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Omicron/BA.1), responsible for receptor binding and membrane fusion. These SARS-CoV-2 lentiviral pseudoviruses were applied to screen 774 FDA-approved…
Exploration of potential inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro considering its mutants via structure-based drug design, molecular docking, MD simulations, MM/PBSA and DFT calculations - The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-COV-2 plays a vital role in the viral life cycle and pathogenicity. Due to its specific attributes, this 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3Cl-P) can be a reliable target for the drug design to combat COVID-19. Since the advent of COVID-19, Mpro has undergone many mutations. Here, the impact of 10 mutations based on their frequency and 5 more based on their proximity to the active site was investigated. For comparison purposes, the docking process was also performed…