Background: Some individuals may experience symptoms persisting for many months after the recovery from COVID-19 and patients with Long COVID are managed mainly with symptomatic treatment and supportive care.
Objective: This review article focuses on the beneficial effects of black seeds (Nigella sativa) in the management of long COVID and persistent COVID symptoms.
Methods: The literature was searched in databases such as LitCOVID, Web of Science, Google Scholar, bioRxiv, medRxiv, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, Embase, and reference lists to identify studies, which evaluated various effects of black seeds (N. sativa) related to signs and symptoms of long COVID.
Results: Black seeds (N. sativa) have shown potential anti-COVID, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antihypertensive, anti-obesity, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, and antiasthmatic properties in various clinical, animal, in vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies, which would help the patients recovered from COVID to mitigate Long COVID complications.
Conclusion: Patients experiencing Long COVID may use black seeds (N. sativa) as adjunctive therapy in combination with symptomatic treatment and supportive care to prevent further deterioration and hospitalization. The safety and efficacy of N. sativa in patients with Long-COVID would further be established by future randomized controlled clinical trials.
Introduction: E. faecium and E. faecalis are the common species of Enterococcus responsible for the majority of infections. Earlier, species other than the common ones were usually unidentified and reported as Enterococcus species. However, modern equipment, like MALDI-TOF and VITEK2, have been utilitarian, helping us to identify the previously unidentified species. E. hirae is an organism seldom reported to cause human infections. Here, we report a case of a biliary tract infection in a female patient with cholangiocarcinoma caused by E. hirae.
Case: A 56-year-old female presented with fever and abdominal pain. Bile aspirated during the ERCP was received in our laboratory. The gram stain of the bile sample revealed abundant polymorphonuclear leucocytes along with gram-positive diplococci. The organism failed to grow on MacConkey agar. On blood agar, non-hemolytic colonies grew. The organism was identified as E. hirae by MALDI-TOF MS. The antibiotic susceptibility performed using VITEK2 revealed it to be resistant to high-level gentamicin and susceptible to all remaining drugs. She was successfully treated with oral ciprofloxacin for the infection.
Discussion: Bile is colonized with bacteria due to obstruction in the biliary tree, leading to cholangitis. This causes bacterial proliferation and translocation of bacteria into the systemic circulation. Our case was resistant to high-level gentamicin, while all previously reported cases were susceptible. The resistant isolates of E. hirae being isolated from cattle and their surroundings amidst the rampant use of antibiotics in livestock can pose a difficult situation for humans. Thus, there should be regulations on antibiotic usage in livestock. Cases like these should be reported and recognized for their potential to cause outbreaks if they remain unreported.
Conclusion: Thus, E. hirae, when encountered, should not be ignored but considered a pathogen and reported. The presence of drug-resistant organisms in cattle and their surroundings, their zoonotic potential to cause infections in humans, and the uncontrolled usage of antibiotics in livestock are causes for concern. Thus, we need to be more vigilant regarding it in the future.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) and patients with COVID-19 may be treated primarily with SARS CoV- 2-targeting drugs and the therapeutic agents assisting in the management of COVID-19 complications. This review focuses on the supplements like vitamins, minerals, herbal constituents, and others that help prevent or manage negative outcomes among COVID-19 patients. The literature was searched in databases such as Medline/PubMed Central/PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, EMBASE, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and reference lists to identify relevant articles. The vitamins, including vitamin C, and vitamin D, minerals such as zinc, selenium, and copper, herbal constituents like thymoquinone, curcumin, naringenin, quercetin, and glycyrrhizin, and other supplements, including N-acetylcysteine and melatonin. Melatonin have been identified as having the potential to manage patients with COVID-19 along with standard care. Some of the ongoing clinical trials are investigating the effectiveness of different supplements among COVID-19 patients.
Background: Increasing the number of COVID-19 patients raises concerns about the capacity of the health care system. This issue emphasizes reducing the admission rate and expediting patient discharge.
Objective: This study aimed to develop a discharge protocol for COVID-19 patients based on the existing capacity of the healthcare system and to assess its post-discharge outcomes.
Methods: This is a multicenter cohort study. All COVID-19 patients referred to selected medical centers in Qom, Iran, from Feb. 19 to Apr. 19, 2020, were target populations. Eligible patients were classified into a) the criterion group and b) the non-criterion group. Patients were followed up daily for 14 days after discharge by phone, and the required data was gathered and recorded in follow-up form. Univariate (chi-square and t-tests) and multivariate multiple (multivariate probit regression) analysis were used.
Results: A total of 2775 patients were included in the study (1440 people in the criterion group and 1335 in the non-criterion group). Based on multivariate probit regression, death was statistically associated with discharge outside our criteria (p<0.001), rising age (p<0.001), and being male (p=0.019), and readmission were associated with discharge outside our criteria (p<0.001), rising age (p=0.009), and having the history of underlying diseases (p=0.003). Furthermore, remission had statistically significant associations with discharge based on our criteria (p<0.001), decreasing age (p=0.001), and lack of a history of underlying diseases (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Mortality and readmission were significantly lower according to our discharge criteria. Our designed criteria apply to less developed and developing countries due to the limited capacity and resources available in the health care system.
Reports show that other ordinary childhood infections like measles or influenza are likely to reemerge. The re-emergence of infectious diseases may happen due to the direct impact of the pandemic on the community because of decreased access to health and medical services, interrupted transport systems, weaknesses in the supply chain, flight restrictions, closings of the border, and international trade problems. The most prevalent cause (60.9%) for low vaccine uptake and coverage during the current pandemic was fear of exposure to the COVID-19 virus outside the home. The expectation and hope that the pattern of reduction in transmission and number of influenza cases will continue over the next flu season depend on continued adherence to nonpharmaceutical interventions and their long-term application. But there is always the fear and threat of increasing the spread of influenza by reducing the movement restrictions and low adherence to protective health measures due to vaccination. So far, not much information has been published about the interaction between different infectious diseases in the background of the coronavirus pandemic and related interventions. The purpose of this article is to examine the general effects of the COVID-19 vaccination on the spread of influenza in the coming seasons.
Background: Leptotrichia spp. are fastidious facultative anaerobic, pencil-shaped, gramnegative rods that reside in the mouths, intestines, and female genital tracts of humans. Bacteremia and septic shock have been rarely reported in the immunocompromised host. We report a case of L. trevisanii bacteremia in a patient recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on chemotherapy.
Case presentation: A 75-year-old male with a history of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and coronary artery disease status post-CABG presented with neutropenic fevers and signs of sepsis after the initiation of chemotherapy. Blood cultures were ordered and extensive gene sequencing helped identify Leptotrichia trevisanii as the causative pathogen. Subsequently, the patient was successfully treated with empiric cefepime.
Discussion: Opportunistic pathogens are involved in a variety of diseases and have been isolated from immunocompromised patients undergoing transplantation or in patients with comorbidities, like leukemia, lymphoma, or neutropenia. L. trevisanii has been reported as a cause of bloodstream infections in patients with hematologic malignancies receiving chemotherapy.
Conclusion: This case highlights the key role that Leptotrichia trevisanii plays in the introduction of sepsis among immunocompromised patients, particularly with hematologic malignancies, like AML, on chemotherapy.
Objective: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a group of drugs widely used around the world for their analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory effect, but still have many limitations due to their side effects. So, these lead to the development of a new approach to search for a new product from natural plants that have similar therapeutic effects without common side effects like gastrointestinal ulcers.
Methods: The anti-inflammatory effect of β-amyrin palmitate (1) as triterpene and 1,7-bis (4- hydroxyphenyl) hept-4-en-3-one (2) as diarylheptanoid, isolated from Pellacalyx axillaris was studied by molecular docking to find the probability of binding position and binding strength of new compounds with particular Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 (PDB ID: 1CX2). In vivo acute anti-inflammatory activity of the isolated compounds (1 and 2) was evaluated in rats using the egg-white induced edema model of inflammation in a dose correspondent to 3 mg/Kg of Diclofenac Sodium.
Results: The tested isolated compounds showed a high activity to inhibit the swelling in paw edema and their anti-inflammatory effect began shortly after the injection of the egg white and continued to the end of the experiment in comparison to the reference and control.
Conclusion: The isolated compounds show a rapid onset of action and a very potent effect, this may be related to their suitable acidity and may have perfect hydrophilic -lipophilic balance. This is the first study of anti-inflammatory effect using Paw edema model and molecular docking.
Remdesivir has appeared to be the most effective medication against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and is broadly administered to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients around the world. Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor with a broad spectrum of antiviral activities against RNA viruses in in-vitro and in-vivo models of SARSCoV, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and SARS-CoV-2. Remdesivir is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatment for adult and pediatric patients and has been used for not hospitalized and have mild-to-moderate COVID-19, and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. However, questions have been raised about the value of remdesivir in treating COVID-19, and governing bodies worldwide have been hesitant to approve this medication. Nevertheless, in the context of the public health emergency and the urgent need for effective treatments for patients with COVID-19, remdesivir has been approved by several authorities worldwide. Here, we discuss the characteristics and applications of remdesivir, and various challenging studies with different outcomes about its efficacy are also reviewed.
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