Recent developments and opportunities in fighting COVID-19

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikram Rao ◽  
Subrat Kumar Bhattamisra
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Therapeutic Molecules ◽  
Discharged Patients ◽  
Extensive Literature Search ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Health Organization

Background: COVID-19, a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) was first diagnosed in the patients from Wuhan, China in December 2019. Within couple of months of infection, it was declared as pandemic by World health organization. COVID-19 has become the most contagious infection with a serious threat to global health. In this review, we aimed to discuss the pathogenesis, diagnostics, current treatments and potential vaccines for COVID-19. Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted using keywords “COVID-19”; “Coronavirus”; “SARS-Cov-2”; “SARS” in public domains of Google, Google scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Selected articles were used to construct this review. Results: SARS-Cov-2 uses the Spike (S) protein on its surface to recognize the receptor on angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and bind with 10-folds greater affinity than SARS-Cov-1. Molecular assays and immunoassays are the most frequently used tests whereas computed tomography (CT) scans, Artificial intelligence enabled diagnostic tools were also used in patients. In therapeutic treatment, few drugs were repurposed and there are 23 therapeutic molecules including the repurposed drugs are in different stages of clinical trial. Similarly, development of vaccines is also in the pipeline. Few countries have managed well to contain the spread by rapid testing and identifying the clusters. Conclusion: Till now, the acute complications and mortality of COVID-19 has been linked to the pre-existing comorbid conditions or age. Besides the development of therapeutic strategies that includes drugs and vaccine, the long term implication of COVID-19 infection in terms of the disorder/disability in the cured/discharged patients is a new area to investigate.

scholarly journals Potential Prophylactic Treatments for COVID-19

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1292
Author(s):  
Noam Ben-Zuk ◽  
Ido-David Dechtman ◽  
Itai Henn ◽  
Libby Weiss ◽  
Amichay Afriat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Mild Disease ◽  
Clinical Background ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Prophylactic Use ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Medical Indications ◽  
Respiratory Droplets ◽  
Near Future

The World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern at the end of January 2020 and a pandemic two months later. The virus primarily spreads between humans via respiratory droplets, and is the causative agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which can vary in severity, from asymptomatic or mild disease (the vast majority of the cases) to respiratory failure, multi-organ failure, and death. Recently, several vaccines were approved for emergency use against SARS-CoV-2. However, their worldwide availability is acutely limited, and therefore, SARS-CoV-2 is still expected to cause significant morbidity and mortality in the upcoming year. Hence, additional countermeasures are needed, particularly pharmaceutical drugs that are widely accessible, safe, scalable, and affordable. In this comprehensive review, we target the prophylactic arena, focusing on small-molecule candidates. In order to consolidate a potential list of such medications, which were categorized as either antivirals, repurposed drugs, or miscellaneous, a thorough screening for relevant clinical trials was conducted. A brief molecular and/or clinical background is provided for each potential drug, rationalizing its prophylactic use as an antiviral or inflammatory modulator. Drug safety profiles are discussed, and current medical indications and research status regarding their relevance to COVID-19 are shortly reviewed. In the near future, a significant body of information regarding the effectiveness of drugs being clinically studied for COVID-19 is expected to accumulate, in addition to information regarding the efficacy of prophylactic treatments.

scholarly journals Morphological Characteristics, Classifications and Difficulties in the Use of Diagnostic Criteria for Serrated Lesions of the Large Intestine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar de Souza Bastos Junior ◽  
Vera Lucia Nunes Pannain ◽  
Adriana Caroli-Bottino
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Criteria ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Serrated Adenoma ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Serrated Lesions ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Introduction Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal neoplasm in the world, accounting for 15% of cancer-related deaths. This condition is related to different molecular pathways, among them the recently described serrated pathway, whose characteristic entities, serrated lesions, have undergone important changes in their names and diagnostic criteria in the past thirty years. The multiplicity of denominations and criteria over the last years may be responsible for the low interobserver concordance (IOC) described in the literature. Objectives The present study aims to describe the evolution in classification of serrated lesions, based on the last three publications of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the reproducibility of these criteria by pathologists, based on the evaluation of the IOC. Methods A search was conducted in the PubMed, ResearchGate and Portal Capes databases, with the following terms: sessile serrated lesion; serrated lesions; serrated adenoma; interobserver concordance; and reproducibility. Articles published since 1990 were researched. Results and Discussion The classification of serrated lesions in the past thirty years showed different denominations and diagnostic criteria. The reproducibility and IOC of these criteria in the literature, based on the kappa coefficient, varied in most studies, from very poor to moderate. Conclusions Interobserver concordance and the reproducibility of microscopic criteria may represent a limitation for the diagnosis and appropriate management of these lesions. It is necessary to investigate diagnostic tools to improve the performance of the pathologist's evaluation, for better concordance, and, consequently, adequate diagnosis and treatment.

scholarly journals Endothelial activation and dysfunction in COVID-19: from basic mechanisms to potential therapeutic approaches

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuefei Jin ◽  
Wangquan Ji ◽  
Haiyan Yang ◽  
Shuaiyin Chen ◽  
Weiguo Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Endothelial Activation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Inflammatory Reactions ◽  
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 ◽  
Therapeutic Implications ◽  
Endothelial Inflammation ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

AbstractOn 12 March 2020, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of 4 August 2020, more than 18 million confirmed infections had been reported globally. Most patients have mild symptoms, but some patients develop respiratory failure which is the leading cause of death among COVID-19 patients. Endothelial cells with high levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 expression are major participants and regulators of inflammatory reactions and coagulation. Accumulating evidence suggests that endothelial activation and dysfunction participate in COVID-19 pathogenesis by altering the integrity of vessel barrier, promoting pro-coagulative state, inducing endothelial inflammation, and even mediating leukocyte infiltration. This review describes the proposed cellular and molecular mechanisms of endothelial activation and dysfunction during COVID-19 emphasizing the principal mediators and therapeutic implications.

The Vulnerability of the Construction Ergonomics to Covid-19 and Its Probability Impact in Combating the Virus

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-17
Author(s):  
Ahmed Fahim Elgendi ◽  
◽  
◽  
◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
World Health ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Assessment Procedures ◽  
Chronic Health Problems ◽  
The Relationship

Currently, the world encounters the outbreak of an unprecedented epidemic named novel coronavirus COVID -19. World Health Organization (WHO) advises maintaining social distancing, preserving personal hygiene, and staying informed with the latest guidelines. WHO also reports the patients with robust immunity can combat the virus. However, the workers in the construction industry work and live in a crowded and non-hygiene environment. Moreover, they are characterized by illiteracy, a dearth of awareness, and chronic health problems that prove weak immunity. Therefore, this study aims to find the relationship between the virus and the prevailing conditions and the environment of the construction industry, under focus, and study so that the construction industry is not a vulnerability gap that may exacerbate the crisis. An extensive literature exploration for the latest research deals with coronavirus, the construction industry ergonomics, and its relevant diseases. This study makes robust alerts to motivate the governments, organizations, and individuals to collaborate to find solutions to close the gap between the current situation in the construction of ergonomics and the required precaution to avoid the outbreak of the virus. This study makes a crucial and novel contribution by paving the way for providing solutions to save humanity worldwide. The management system should review the conventional risk assessment procedures, and developed criteria must be introduced and become an everyday practice of all construction projects. This will help identify the gaps within the safety procedures associated with the COVID – 19 protection aspects. This article also introduces a framework in this regard.

scholarly journals Dynamics of TCR repertoire and T cell function in COVID-19 convalescent individuals

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingjie Luo ◽  
Wenhua Liang ◽  
Jianfeng Pang ◽  
Gang Xu ◽  
Yingying Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Cell Function ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
World Health ◽  
Cell Repertoire ◽  
Metabolic Functions ◽  
Tcr Repertoire ◽  
Discharged Patients ◽  
Health Organization

AbstractSARS-CoV-2 outbreak has been declared by World Health Organization as a worldwide pandemic. However, there are many unknowns about the antigen-specific T-cell-mediated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we present both single-cell TCR-seq and RNA-seq to analyze the dynamics of TCR repertoire and immune metabolic functions of blood T cells collected from recently discharged COVID-19 patients. We found that while the diversity of TCR repertoire was increased in discharged patients, it returned to basal level ~1 week after becoming virus-free. The dynamics of T cell repertoire correlated with a profound shift of gene signatures from antiviral response to metabolism adaptation. We also demonstrated that the top expanded T cell clones (~10% of total T cells) display the key anti-viral features in CD8+ T cells, confirming a critical role of antigen-specific T cells in fighting against SARS-CoV-2. Our work provides a basis for further analysis of adaptive immunity in COVID-19 patients, and also has implications in developing a T-cell-based vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Tuberculosis: Development of New Drugs and Treatment Regimens

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Soedarsono Soedarsono
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Guidelines ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Treatment Regimens ◽  
Tb Treatment ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Latent Tb Infection ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Who Guideline

Tuberculosis (TB) still becomes a public health crisis. Drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) becomes a concern as the increasing DR-TB cases in countries with high TB burden. The 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) guideline recommended a combination of TB treatment consisting of 2 months of intensive phase with isoniazid (H), rifampisin (R), pyrazinamid (Z), and ethambutol (E), followed by 4 months of continuation phase with HR daily. WHO has updated DR-TB treatment guidelines several times. In 2016, WHO recommended shorter regimen and individual regimen based on certain conditions. The most updated 2020 WHO guideline recommended the short regimen consisting of all oral drugs as well as changes in the grouping of medicines used in DR-TB regimens in longer/individual regimens. Bedaquiline, delamanid, pretomanid, and sutezolid are new drugs which have been studied for their uses as anti-TB drugs (ATD). Bedaquilin and delamanid, which have passed phase 3 trials, have been approved and recommended by WHO for DR-TB treatment. Repurposed drugs have been used for DR-TB treatment during the time of evaluation of drugs list and regimens for DR-TB treatment. Fluoroquinolones, clofazimine, linezolid, carbapenem, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid are repurposed drugs. TB and DR-TB management will be updated at any time, based on the latest findings in studies, to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of current treatments. Prevention of active TB disease by the treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) is also a critical component of the end TB strategy by WHO. Therefore, the development of new drugs for the LTBI treatment is also needed.

scholarly journals Screening diabetes mellitus patients for pulmonary tuberculosis: a multisite study in Indonesia, Peru, Romania and South Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bachti Alisjahbana ◽  
Susan M McAllister ◽  
Cesar Ugarte-Gil ◽  
Nicolae Mircea Panduru ◽  
Katharina Ronacher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Sputum Smear ◽  
Tb Treatment ◽  
Chest X Ray ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) patients are three times more likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) than the general population. Active TB screening in people with DM is part of a bidirectional approach. The aim of this study was to conduct pragmatic active TB screening among DM patients in four countries to inform policy. Methods DM patients were recruited in Indonesia (n=809), Peru (n=600), Romania (n=603) and South Africa (n=51). TB cases were diagnosed using an algorithm including clinical symptoms and chest X-ray. Presumptive TB patients were examined with sputum smear and culture. Results A total of 171 (8.3%) individuals reported ever having had TB (South Africa, 26%; Indonesia, 12%; Peru, 7%; Romania, 4%), 15 of whom were already on TB treatment. Overall, 14 (0.73% [95% confidence interval 0.40 to 1.23]) TB cases were identified from screening. Poor glucose control, smoking, lower body mass index, education and socio-economic status were associated with newly diagnosed/current TB. Thirteen of the 14 TB cases diagnosed from this screening would have been found using a symptom-based approach. Conclusions These data support the World Health Organization recommendation for routine symptom-based screening for TB in known DM patients in high TB-burden countries. DM patients with any symptoms consistent with TB should be investigated and diagnostic tools should be easily accessible.

scholarly journals Air Pollution and COVID-19: The Role of Particulate Matter in the Spread and Increase of COVID-19’s Morbidity and Mortality

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 4487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Comunian ◽  
Dario Dongo ◽  
Chiara Milani ◽  
Paola Palestini
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Atmospheric Particulate Matter ◽  
World Health ◽  
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Pulmonary Cells ◽  
Health Organization

Sars-Cov-2 virus (COVID-19) is a member of the coronavirus family and is responsible for the pandemic recently declared by the World Health Organization. A positive correlation has been observed between the spread of the virus and air pollution, one of the greatest challenges of our millennium. COVID-19 could have an air transmission and atmospheric particulate matter (PM) could create a suitable environment for transporting the virus at greater distances than those considered for close contact. Moreover, PM induces inflammation in lung cells and exposure to PM could increase the susceptibility and severity of the COVID-19 patient symptoms. The new coronavirus has been shown to trigger an inflammatory storm that would be sustained in the case of pre-exposure to polluting agents. In this review, we highlight the potential role of PM in the spread of COVID-19, focusing on Italian cities whose PM daily concentrations were found to be higher than the annual average allowed during the months preceding the epidemic. Furthermore, we analyze the positive correlation between the virus spread, PM, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a receptor involved in the entry of the virus into pulmonary cells and inflammation.

scholarly journals Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis infection and disease in children: a review of new and repurposed drugs

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 204993611986473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Huynh ◽  
Ben J. Marais
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Care ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
World Health ◽  
Resistant Tuberculosis ◽  
Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Prevention And Treatment ◽  
Mdr Tb ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization estimates that 10 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) occurred worldwide in 2017, of which 600,000 were rifampicin or multidrug-resistant (RR/MDR) TB. Modelling estimates suggest that 32,000 new cases of MDR-TB occur in children annually, but only a fraction of these are correctly diagnosed and treated. Accurately diagnosing TB in children, who usually have paucibacillary disease, and implementing effective TB prevention and treatment programmes in resource-limited settings remain major challenges. In light of the underappreciated RR/MDR-TB burden in children, and the lack of paediatric data on newer drugs for TB prevention and treatment, we present an overview of new and repurposed TB drugs, describing the available evidence for safety and efficacy in children to assist clinical care and decision-making.

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