Algal and Cyanobacterial Lectins and Their Antimicrobial Properties

Lectins are proteins with a remarkably high affinity and specificity for carbohydrates. Many organisms naturally produce them, including animals, plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, archaea, and viruses. The present report focuses on lectins produced by marine or freshwater organisms, in particular algae and cyanobacteria. We explore their structure, function, classification, and antimicrobial properties. Furthermore, we look at the expression of lectins in heterologous systems and the current research on the preclinical and clinical evaluation of these fascinating molecules. The further development of these molecules might positively impact human health, particularly the prevention or treatment of diseases caused by pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, influenza, and severe acute respiratory coronaviruses, among others.

A Critical Review on Nanoscience Advancement: In Treatment of Viral Infection

Viral contaminations speak to a general medical issue and one of the main sources of worldwide mortality. A large portion of the antiviral medications have low permeability, low dissolvability and other related physical properties which make them less efficient for the antiviral treatment. To conquer these constraints, different nanomedicine stages have been planned. Nanomaterials offer special physico-chemical properties that have various advantages for medicate conveyance as perfect devices for viral treatment. This review focuses on the currently used medicines used in viral infection, presents a broad overview of the application of nanosized materials for the treatment of common viral infections and shed light on the potential of nanotechnology to provide more effective treatment for HIV, Herpes simplex virus, Influenza virus and Hepatitis C virus. The action of antiviral medications could be improved with nanomedicine formulations. As the physicochemical properties of nanocarriers can empower their capacity to target the specific sites. When it comes to structuring nanocarriers, size is the most important factor and the nanoparticles can permit the controlled delivery kinetics, enhanced bioavailability, altered pharmacokinetics, and less side effects. Nanocarriers that build them appealing candidates for antiviral drug such as Improves bioavailability of the encapsulated actives, controlled release, reduce the toxicity associated with the anti-viral drugs. One of the important physicochemical properties mainly size is the most important design factor for nanocarriers for anti-viral drug delivery to the specific sites. Nanobased drug delivery also leads to enhance the potential of currently approved antiviral drugs. Keywords: Nanotechnology, HIV, Hepatits virus, Influenza, HSV

Building HMM and molecular docking analysis for the sensitive detection of anti-viral pneumonia antimicrobial peptides (AMPs)

Pneumonia is the main reason for mortality among children under five years, causing 1.6 million deaths every year; late research has exhibited that mortality is increasing in the elderly. A few biomarkers used for its diagnosis need specificity and precision, as they are related to different infections, for example, pulmonary tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. There is a quest for new biomarkers worldwide to diagnose the disease to defeat these previously mentioned constraints. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising indicative specialists against infection. This research work used AMPs as biomarkers to detect viral pneumonia pathogens, for example, Respiratory syncytial virus, Influenza A and B viruses utilizing in silico technologies, such as Hidden Markov Model (HMMER). HMMER was used to distinguish putative anti-viral pneumonia AMPs against the recognized receptor proteins of Respiratory syncytial virus, Influenza A, and B viruses. The physicochemical parameters of these putative AMPs were analyzed, and their 3-D structures were determined utilizing I-TASSER. Molecular docking interaction of these AMPs against the recognized viral pneumonia proteins was carried out using the PATCHDOCK and HDock servers. The results demonstrated 27 anti-viral AMPs ranked based on their E values with significant physicochemical parameters in similarity with known experimentally approved AMPs. The AMPs additionally had a high anticipated binding potential to the pneumonia receptors of these microorganisms sensitively. The tendency of the putative anti-viral AMPs to bind pneumonia proteins showed that they would be promising applicant biomarkers to identify these viral microorganisms in the point-of-care (POC) pneumonia diagnostics. The high precision observed for the AMPs legitimizes HMM’s utilization in the disease diagnostics’ discovery process.

FATORES QUE INTERFEREM NA BAIXA COBERTURA VACINAL CONTRA A INFLUENZA EM GESTANTES

Introdução: A doença respiratória causada pelo vírus influenza soma mais de 3 milhões de casos ao ano e é responsável por um alto índice de morbimortalidade, principalmente em grupos de riscos, como as gestantes, podendo estas desenvolver a síndrome da angústia respiratória aguda, que leva sérias complicações para a mãe e para o bebê, como parto prematuro e natimortos. A única forma efetiva de prevenção contra casos graves da influenza é a vacinação, na qual confere proteção ainda maior para a mãe e o bebê, visto que os anticorpos maternos são transferidos através da placenta. Apesar da efetividade, existem fatores que contribuem para a baixa adesão da cobertura vacinal desse grupo. Objetivo: Analisar fatores que interferem na baixa cobertura vacinal contra a influenza em gestantes. Material e Métodos: A partir de um protocolo pré-estabelecido pelos autores, definiu-se o banco de dados Pubmed como fonte de busca da literatura, utilizando os descritores “influenza” “pregnant” e “vaccine”, na qual dispôs de 267 artigos, onde foram filtrados de acordo com o tema abordado, últimos 5 anos e língua inglesa. Após uma leitura dos títulos, resumo e trabalho completo, 10 foram selecionados. Resultados: de acordo com a revisão, a baixa cobertura vacinal em gestantes contra a vacina influenza ocorre por fatores como: equívocos sobre a necessidade da vacinação durante a gestação, não conhecendo a seriedade dos riscos provocada pela doença; falha na recomendação por parte dos profissionais em apresentar riscos e benefícios; reações adversas causadas e a falta de confiança na indústria farmacêutica. Conclusão: Com isso, observa-se que essa baixa adesão é causada por fatores considerados modificáveis, passíveis de estratégias de intensificação dos programas de vacinação nesse grupo prioritário, recomendações dos profissionais de saúde sobre riscos e benefícios, além da condução de pesquisas que melhorem a eficácia global da vacina, elevando a proteção sem que haja tanta frequência vacinal, bem como a redução dos efeitos adversos, promovendo uma maior taxa de imunização nesse grupo.

Análise dos casos de gripe A(H1N1) no Brasil e no estado do Maranhão de 2009 a 2019

Desde meados de 2009, o Brasil convive com o vírus influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. No período pandêmico, o país notificou 50.482 casos de Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave (SRAG) por influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, dentre os quais 2.060 evoluíram com óbito. O objetivo deste estudo foi realizar uma análise de casos e óbitos notificados da gripe H1N1 no Brasil e no estado do Maranhão, de 2009 a 2019. Trata-se de um estudo ecológico sobre a gripe influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. Os dados foram obtidos no Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN), do Ministério da Saúde (MS), disponível no banco de dados do Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde – DATASUS. Confirmou-se a sazonalidade do vírus influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, ressalvadas as peculiaridades de cada região, principalmente no Norte e Centro Oeste do país. Os grupos de risco de destaque foram os adultos > 60 anos, cardiopatas, pneumopatas e portadores de diabetes mellitus. O Maranhão registrou números abaixos da média nacional, sugerindo subnotificação. Os anos de 2016, 2018 e 2019 registraram os maiores números de casos e mortes, excluído o ano da pandemia, em 2019 (10.625/1.987, 3.880/917 e 3.399/787, respectivamente). Os estados do Sul e Sudeste apresentaram as maiores incidências em todo o período, com destaque para o Paraná e São Paulo. Diante dos resultados, notou-se a necessidade de reforço do sistema de vigilância sanitária da influenza, através da criação de mais unidades sentinelas e rigoroso controle dos dados; bem como otimização das campanhas de vacinação, visando se adequar à realidade encontrada em cada extremo do país.

A Case-Control Study of the Causes of Acute Respiratory Infection among Hospitalized Patients in Northeastern Laos

Background With the advent of highly sensitive real-time PCR, multiple pathogens have been identified from nasopharyngeal swabs of patients with acute respiratory infections (ARIs). However, the detection of microorganisms in the upper respiratory tract does not necessarily indicate disease causation. We conducted a matched case-control study, nested within a broader fever aetiology project, to facilitate determination of the aetiology of ARIs in hospitalised patients in Northeastern Laos. Methods Consenting febrile patients of any age admitted to Xiengkhuang Provincial Hospital were included if they met the inclusion criteria for ARI presentation (at least one of the following: cough, rhinorrhoea, nasal congestion, sore throat, difficulty breathing, and/or abnormal chest auscultation). One healthy control for each patient, matched by sex, age, and village of residence, was recruited for the study. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from participants and tested for 33 pathogens by probe-based multiplex real-time RT-PCR (FastTrack Diagnostics Respiratory pathogen 33 kit). Attributable fraction of illness for a given microorganism was calculated by comparing results between patients and controls (= 100 *[OR-1]/OR)(OR = Odds Ratio). Results Between 24th June 2019 and 24th June 2020, 205 consenting ARI patients and 205 matching controls were recruited. After excluding eight pairs due to age mismatch, 197 pairs were included in the analysis. Males were predominant with sex ratio 1.2:1 and children < 5 years old accounted for 59% of participants. At least one potential pathogen was detected in 172 (87%) patients and 175 (89%) controls. ARI in admitted patients were attributed to influenza B virus, influenza A virus, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 17.8%, 17.2%, 7.5%, and 6.5% of participants, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any cases or controls. Conclusion Determining ARI aetiology in individual patients remains challenging. Among hospitalised patients with ARI symptoms presenting to a provincial hospital in Northeastern Laos, half were determined to be caused by one of several respiratory viruses, in particular influenza A virus, influenza B virus, HMPV, and RSV.

Aktivitas Antivirus Ekstrak dan Fraksi Daun Miana (Plectranthus scutellarioides (L.) R.Br.) terhadap Enzim Neuraminidase H5N1 dengan Metode Munana Assay

Virus influenza A (H5N1) merupakan wabah utama yang berpotensi menyebabkan epidemik di seluruh dunia. Telah ditemukan banyaknya kasus resistensi terhadap obat antivirus influenza A sehingga penggunaannya mulai dibatasi. Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan penelitian untuk melakukan pengembangan obat baru yang lebih efektif dan aman untuk melawan virus influenza A. Tanaman herbal menjadi salah satu sumber pengembangan obat antivirus baru. Dalam penelitian ini, dilakukan pengujian aktivitas antivirus dari ekstrak dan fraksi ekstrak daun miana (Plectranthus scutellarioides (L.) R. Br) melalui penentuan IC50 terhadap enzim neuraminidase menggunakan metode MUNANA Assay. Konsentrasi optimal enzim neuraminidase yang digunakan adalah 1,25 U/mL. Validasi metode dilakukan melalui penentuan IC50 dari inhibitor DANA terhadap enzim neuraminidase yaitu sebesar 15,72 µg/mL. Hasil pengujian aktivitas inhibisi enzim neuraminidase oleh ekstrak etanol, fraksi etil asetat, fraksi n-heksan dan fraksi air daun miana secara berturut-turut adalah 339,1 µg/mL; 125,6 µg/mL, 355,4 µg/mL dan 288,5 µg/mL. Dari seluruh sampel yang diuji, fraksi etil asetat memiliki aktivitas potensial penghambatan yang paling baik.