International Journal of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine

How Current RNA Research Impacts the Future of Medicine

Suryakiran Navath — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Hearing the word RNA a lot these days? Here’s how it’s helping medical researchers fight against Covid 19 and develop novel technologies in the field of medicine.

The Effects of hydroalcholic extract polyherbal formulation on improving the symptoms of patients with COVID-19 in hospital

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Objectives: The pandemic of Coronavirus disease and severity of the infection and high mortality have almost unprecedented challenges in the health systems of most countries around the world. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of hydroalcholic extract polyherbal formulation as entitled Imfluna on symptoms of COVID-19 infected patients. The polyherbal remedy for Imfluna had a significant effect on pulmonary involvement and reduced pulmonary involvement, the severity of shortness of breath, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), sodium (Na) in the post-test phase. Also, the average CBC count and percentage of blood oxygen saturation increased in both experimental and control groups. In addition to, the mean CBC count and percentage of blood oxygen saturation of the control group increased significantly.

Methods: In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial a total of 60 voluntary confirmed COVID-19 patients were randomly assigned to placebo and Imfluna groups. Patients in each groups, in addition to receiving standard medications, took two 500 mg Imfluna capsules or placebo every 8 hours for 2 weeks. The patient's vital signs, pulmonary involvement, severity of shortness of breath, average blood CBC count, Percentage of blood oxygen saturation, liver and kidney function tests and study Na were evaluated.

Results: The results showed that patients in the Imfluna-treated group had significantly greater improvement in pulmonary involvement, severity of shortness of breath, average blood CBC count, Percentage of blood oxygen saturation compared with the placebo group.

Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 who were treated with a Imfluna for 2 weeks had better comfort and fewer symptoms associated with the disease with no drug side effects.

Synthesis of Linear and cyclic peptides analogues of Longicalycinin A and evaluation of toxicity effects on cancerous cells HepG2 and HT-29

Mohammadreza Gholibeikian, Mohammad Hassan HoushdarTehrani, Abdolhamid Bamoniri — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In this work, linear and cyclic peptides analogues of Longicalycinin A, known as a natural cyclopeptide anticancer agent, have been designed and successfully synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis methodology of Fmoc/t-Bu. 2-Chlorotrityl chloride resin (2-CTC) was used as solid support. The synthesized linear (Ot-Bu) Longicalycinin A analogues were cleavaged by the method of partial cleavage for the separation of the solid phase. The final deprotection was performed by treatment with TFA 95% containing scavengers to achieve deprotected linear Longicalycinin A analogues. Macrocyclization of deprotected cyclic Longicalycinin A analogues were characterized by different instrumental methods using FT-IR, LC-MS, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR. Deprotected linear and cyclic analogues, synthesized as such, were evaluated for their toxic activity against cell lines of HepG2 (human liver cancer cell line) and HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line) using MTT assay. The synthetic linear and cyclic analogues showed relatively good activity against cell lines of HepG2 and HT-29 with IC₅₀ values from 8.76 to 17.2 µg/mL and 9.06 to 17.34µg/mL, respectively, in comparison to standard drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Safety profile of the synthesized liner and cyclic analogues of Longicalycinin A were also examined using skin Fibroblast cells. Among the linear peptides, linear compounds 1, 8, 12, 13 and 14, showed a considerable toxicity activity on cancer cell lines HT-29 than HepG2 along with a high safety on normal cells and among the cyclic peptides, compound 5, considering the property of toxicity action good enough on cancerous cell lines along with high safety profile on normal skin cells, can be good candidates for developing new anticancer agents

Leprosy scenario, pattern of disabilities, perceived stigma and impact on quality of life in post-elimination era: a seven-year study from North India.

Shagufta Parveen Rather — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Leprosy is an infectious disease associated with fear, aversion and social stigma, mostly due to crippling deformities. As prevalence of leprosy decreases, so does the experience with disease, especially for younger physicians. Leprosy can have a significant impact on the quality of life (QOL) of the affected person owing to the chronic nature, disabilities and deformities associated with the disease. A high degree of social stigma in a conservative place like Kashmir further complicates the problem. This has necessitated the need to revisit realms of disabilities in leprosy in our region.

Objective: To study profile of leprosy patients, categorize the pattern of disabilities and assess its impact on the QOL of persons affected with leprosy in our region.

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, over a period of 7 years. All patients diagnosed with leprosy were included in the project following an Institutional ethical committee clearance. Detailed history followed by a meticulous examination was done in all patients with distinctive attention to recording of disabilities. Grading of disabilities was done using the world health organization (WHO) grading of 1988. The assessment of QOL was done using WHOQOL-BREF scale.

Results: Out of the 90 cases, 42 patients (46.67%) were found to suffer from a total of 72 disabilities with majority suffering from more than one, averaging 1.7 disabilities per person. 48 patients (53.33%) did not have any disability. Fourteen cases (15.56%) had grade 1 disability while grade 2 and grade 3 disability were seen in 23 (25.56%) and 5 (5.55%) cases respectively. The assessment of QOL using WHOQOL-BREF scale demonstrated the quality of life to be worst for the physical domain (median 42) followed by environmental (median 48), global (median 49), psychological (median 56) and social relations domain (median 57).

Conclusion: Disabilities and deformities are commonly encountered in our leprosy patients and can have a significant physiological, psychological, economic and social impact on the patient. The various clinical characteristics of disease such as deformity, disability, reaction, have a significant impact on the QOL of patients contrary to previous beliefs.