COVID-19 and Diabetes

COVID-19 is a disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus which is easily transmitted among humans. One of the reasons for the greater risk of diabetes is that insulin resistance promotes low-grade chronic inflammation, leaving the immune system weakened due to this constant state of alertness. Additional risk factors such as heart disease are often present in people infected with COVID-19 who have diabetes. It is important to point out that controlling blood sugar, before and during infection, can be helpful in fighting infection. Blood sugar control in people with diabetes is a procedure that can prevent certain infections and ensure a normal defense mechanism in response to infection. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused concern around the world, especially in people with certain diseases such as diabetes. Data available to the American Heart Association show that among COVID-19 patients treated in intensive care units, 32 percent have diabetes, and among those hospitalized who are not in intensive care units, 24 percent have diabetes. It is estimated that diabetics have a nearly five times higher risk of death from COVID-19.

Evaluation of the Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Diclofenac Sodium, Prednisolone and Atorvastatin in Combination with Ascorbic Acid

Objectives: Inflammation is our body’s normal defense mechanism, but in some cases, it may be responsible for causing different kinds of disorders. Several antiinflammatory drugs are present for the treatment of these disorders; however, the conventional anti-inflammatory drugs cause side effects when used in the long term and therefore, it is better to use them in a low dose for a shorter duration of time. This study was designed to find out whether there is an augmentation of the therapeutic effectiveness of the antiinflammatory drugs like diclofenac sodium (NSAID), prednisolone (steroid) and atorvastatin (statin) when used in combination with ascorbic acid (antioxidant). Methods: Wistar Rats (n=144) were selected and divided into 24 groups of 6 rats in each. Carrageenan and formalin were used to induce local inflammation and neuropsychiatric effects, respectively. The inhibitions of such responses were measured after administering a drug alone and in combination with ascorbic acid. Results: In case of carrageenan mediated inflammation, the combination of 5 mg/kg diclofenac and 200 mg/kg ascorbic acid gave the highest inhibition of 74.19% compared to other groups of drugs. The combination of 5 mg/kg diclofenac and 200 mg/kg ascorbic acid gave 97.25% inhibition for formalin-mediated inflammation group. In both cases, combination therapy showed statistically significant anti-inflammatory activities compared to monotherapy (p values <0.05). Conclusion: All the data clearly indicate new combinations of drug therapy comprising diclofenac sodium, prednisolone, atorvastatin with ascorbic acid, which may be more effective against both local edema and the neuropsychiatric effect caused due to inflammation.

Gut dysfunction in critically ill patients: a review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients are susceptible to injury of the intestinal mucosa, changes in gut permeability, and failure of intestinal defense mechanisms. These conditions put the patients at risk for infection and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Specific therapies are needed to prevent gut failure during critical illness. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this literature review is to provide a better understanding of the normal defense mechanisms of the gut and alterations associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury, risk of infection, and the link to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in critically ill patients. Implications for early enteral stimulation and nutrition are included. METHODS: Medical and nursing studies on the intestinal response to critical illness and on the implications for early enteral nutrition in critically ill patients were reviewed. RESULTS: Significant advances have been made in understanding the normal defense mechanisms of the gut, including barrier and immune functions. Translocation of bacteria, mediators of the inflammatory response, and the microcirculation play a role in the response to critical illness. Enteral nutrition that includes glutamine and arginine enhances gut function and improves patients' outcomes in some clinical states. DISCUSSION: Further research should focus on specific strategies to enhance gut function, prevent loss of gut integrity, and improve patients' outcomes. These strategies include maintaining mesenteric blood flow, using gastric tonometry to assess oxygenation, inhibiting inflammatory mediators, and using growth factors to modify the metabolic state in patients who are critically ill.

Effect of Oxymetazoline Nose Drops on Acute Sinusitis in the Rabbit

This investigation was designed to evaluate the effect of the common topical nasal decongestant oxymetazoline hydrochloride on the early local tissue defense in an experimental bacterial infection. For that purpose, a bilateral infection of the maxillary sinus was induced in 14 rabbits. Nose drops (oxymetazoline) were instilled in one nasal cavity, and placebo in the other. After 48 hours, the degree of infection was judged by using a semiquantitative inflammatory score to evaluate histologic preparations of the maxillary sinuses. On the oxymetazoline-treated side, we found a significantly higher degree of inflammation. We conclude that oxymetazoline nose drops, commonly used in acute rhinitis and sinusitis, interfere with the normal defense mechanisms during bacterially induced sinusitis, possibly by a decrease in mucosal blood flow.

Exercise, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants: A Review

Elemental and gaseous oxygen presents a conundrum in that it is simultaneously essential for and potentially destructive to human life. Traditionally the ability to consume large volumes of oxygen has been assumed to be totally beneficial to the organism. In the past 10 years it has become clear that oxygen radicals are generated even during normal resting metabolism Nevertheless, such radicals are usually of no appreciable threat since a wide array of protective biochemical systems exist. However, under certain circumstances aerobic exercise may increase free radical production to a level that overwhelms those defenses. A broad array of nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin E, p-carotene, and so forth are known to suppress such radical events. This paper reviews the status of our knowledge relative to the potential benefits of nutritional modification in augmenting the organism's normal defense against harmful radical chemistry.

The Immune System: Your Defensive Partner and Offensive Foe

Immune function and inflammation are normal physiologic processes essential to health and well-being. However, overactivity of any inflammatory or immune responses can result in tissue-damaging reactions that threaten the functional integrity of tissues and organs. This article reviews the normal defense responses of inflammation and immune function as well as selected conditions resulting from offensive or hyperactive inflammatory and immune responses. The selected conditions include those seen more often in the acute and critical-care setting, such as tissue-damaging inflammation, drug allergy, autoimmunity, and transplant rejection

Spiral Modiolar Vein: Its Importance in Viral Load of the Inner Ear

Guinea pig—specific cytomegalovirus and Sendai virus were inoculated into the cochleas of seronegative guinea pigs to study the route of entry of cells participating in inner ear inflammation. Inflammatory cells accumulated around the spiral modiolar vein and appeared to be streaming from this vein into the scala tympani via a collecting venule. Inactivated virus inoculated into the cochlea and normal control cochlea failed to show inflammatory cell infiltrates. The spiral modiolar vein appears to play an important role in the movement of cells from the systemic circulation into the inner ear as part of the host's normal defense against invading pathogens such as viruses.