Search results for "Pandemics."
showing 10 items of 483 documents
The therapeutic potential of inorganic polyphosphate: A versatile physiological polymer to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
2021
Rationale: The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is advancing rapidly. In particular, the number of severe courses of the disease is still dramatically high. An efficient drug therapy that helps to improve significantly the fatal combination of damages in the airway epithelia, in the extensive pulmonary microvascularization and finally multiorgan failure, is missing. The physiological, inorganic polymer, polyphosphate (polyP) is a molecule which could prevent the initial phase of the virus life cycle, the attachment of the virus to the target cells, and improve the epithelial integrity as well as the mucus barrier. Results: Surprisingly, polyP matches perfectly with the ca…
SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A genetic, epidemiological, and evolutionary perspective
2020
In less than five months, COVID-19 has spread from a small focus in Wuhan, China, to more than 5 million people in almost every country in the world, dominating the concern of most governments and public health systems. The social and political distresses caused by this epidemic will certainly impact our world for a long time to come. Here, we synthesize lessons from a range of scientific perspectives rooted in epidemiology, virology, genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology so as to provide perspective on how this pandemic started, how it is developing, and how best we can stop it.
Identifying Biomarkers for Biological Age: Geroscience and the ICFSR Task Force
2021
The International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research Task Force met in March 2020, in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, to discuss strategies for advancing the interdisciplinary field of geroscience. Geroscience explores biological mechanisms of aging as targets for intervention that may delay the physiological consequences of aging, maintain function, and prevent frailty and disability. Priorities for clinical practice and research include identifying and validating a range of biomarkers of the hallmarks of aging. Potential biomarkers discussed included markers of mitochondrial dysfunction, proteostasis, stem cell dysfunction, nutrient sensing, genomic instability, telomere d…
SARS-CoV-2 infection risk assessment in the endometrium: viral infection-related gene expression across the menstrual cycle
2020
Objective To determine the susceptibility of the endometrium to infection by—and thereby potential damage from—SARS-CoV-2. Design Analysis of SARS-Cov-2 infection-related gene expression from endometrial transcriptomic data sets. Setting Infertility research department affiliated with a public hospital. Patient(s) Gene expression data from five studies in 112 patients with normal endometrium collected throughout the menstrual cycle. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Gene expression and correlation between viral infectivity genes and age throughout the menstrual cycle. Result(s) Gene expression was high for TMPRSS4, CTSL, CTSB, FURIN, MX1, and BSG; medium for TMPRSS2; and low for…
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, serum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical severity of hospitalized COVID-19 patients
2020
Background The involvement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in mediating immunopathogenetic events in COVID-19 patients has been suggested. By using several experimental approaches, we investigated the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 IgGs recognizing the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) targeting S, and COVID-19 severity. Patients and methods This unicenter, retrospective, observational study included 51 hospitalized patients (24 at the intensive care unit; ICU). A total of 93 sera from these patients collected at different time points from the onset of symptoms were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgGs were quantitated by ELISA and NtAb50 titers wer…
Characteristic of chronic plaque psoriasis patients treated with biologics in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. risk analysis from the PSO-BIO-COVI…
2021
Background The susceptibility of patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and the risks or benefits related to the use of biological therapies for COVID-19 are unknown. Few data about prevalence, clinical course and outcomes of COVID-19 among psoriatic patients were reported. The aims of this study were 1) to assess the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in psoriatic patients treated with biologic agents during the first phase of the emergency (22 February to 22 April 2020) in Italy, and 2) to report the clinical outcomes of patients who have been exposed to individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods Patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis, aged ≥18 years and …
Interim 2017/18 influenza seasonal vaccine effectiveness: combined results from five European studies
2018
Between September 2017 and February 2018, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B viruses (mainly B/Yamagata, not included in 2017/18 trivalent vaccines) co-circulated in Europe. Interim results from five European studies indicate that, in all age groups, 2017/18 influenza vaccine effectiveness was 25 to 52% against any influenza, 55 to 68% against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, -42 to 7% against influenza A(H3N2) and 36 to 54% against influenza B. 2017/18 influenza vaccine should be promoted where influenza still circulates. Funding: The five studies have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 634446 to conduct the study in…
Origin of modern syphilis and emergence of a pandemic Treponema pallidum cluster
2016
The abrupt onslaught of the syphilis pandemic that started in the late fifteenth century established this devastating infectious disease as one of the most feared in human history1 . Surprisingly, despite the availability of effective antibiotic treatment since the mid-twentieth century, this bacterial infection, which is caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA), has been re-emerging globally in the last few decades with an estimated 10.6 million cases in 2008 (ref. 2). Although resistance to penicillin has not yet been identified, an increasing number of strains fail to respond to the secondline antibiotic azithromycin3. Little is known about the genetic patterns in current infec…
Human molecular chaperones share with SARS-CoV-2 antigenic epitopes potentially capable of eliciting autoimmunity against endothelial cells: possible…
2020
Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of COVID-19 disease, has the potential to elicit autoimmunity because mimicry of human molecular chaperones by viral proteins. We compared viral proteins with human molecular chaperones, many of which are heat shock proteins, to determine if they share amino acid-sequence segments with immunogenic-antigenic potential, which can elicit cross-reactive antibodies and effector immune cells with the capacity to damage-destroy human cells by a mechanism of autoimmunity. We identified the chaperones that can putatively participate in molecular mimicry phenomena after SARS-CoV-2 infection, focusing on those for which endotheli…
SARS-CoV2 vertical transmission with adverse effects on the newborn revealed through integrated immunohistochemical, electron microscopy and molecula…
2020
Background: The occurrence of trans-placental transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remains highly debated. Placental positivity for SARS-CoV-2 has been reported in selected cases, but infection or virus-associated disease of fetal tissues or newborns remains to be demonstrated. Methods: We screened for SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein expression placentas from 101 women who delivered between February 7 and May 15 2020, including 15 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, 34 tested negative, and 52 not evaluated as they did not meet testing criteria (32), or delivered before COVID-19 pandemic declaration (20). Immunostain for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid…