Prediction of Infection and Death Ratio of COVID-19 Virus in Turkey by Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

Background: For the first time in December 2019, as reported in the Wuhan city of China, COVID-19 deadly virus spread rapidly around the world and the first cases were seen in Turkey on March 11, 2020. On the same day, a pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization due to the rapid spread of the disease throughout the world. Method(s): In this study, a multilayered perception feed-forward back propagation neural network has been designed for predicting the spread and mortality rate of the COVID-19 virus in Turkey. COVID-19 data from six different countries were used in the design of the artificial neural network, which has 15 neurons in its hidden layer. 70% of these optimized data were used for training, 20% for validation, and 10% for testing. Result(s): The simulation results showed that the COVID-19 virus in Turkey, between day 20 and 37, was the fastest to rise. The number of cases for the 20th day was predicted to be 13.845. Conclusion(s): As for the death rate, it was predicted that a rapid rise would start on the 20th day and a slowdown around the 43rd day and progress towards the zero case point. The death rate for the 20th day was predicted to be 170 and for the 43rd day it was 1,960s.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

In vitro, in silico and Pharmaco-toxicological Efficiencies of some Triazole Derivatives on Inhibition of Digestive Enzyme Alpha-amylase

Obesity is one of the main health problems associated with a range of diseases. Genetic disposition is related to the risk for obesity but external conditions such lifestyle also increase the incidence. Current COVID-19 pandemic conditions around the globe have been reported to increase the cases of Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) due to prolonged sedentary life. Among the various treatment modalities, applications of alpha-amylase inhibitors are commonly used worldwide. Commercially available anti-diabetic drugs are potent inhibitors of alpha-amylase that reduce postprandial hyperglycemia. In this study, alpha-amylase inhibition efficiencies of some 1,2,4-triazole derivatives were evaluated. Furthermore, it has been attempted to determine the possible inhibition mechanism of the strongest inhibitor compound among the 8 candidate molecules for alpha-amylase. Compound VII showed the strongest inhibition on alpha-amylase activity with low IC50 value (150 mu M). An inhibitory kinetic analysis on alpha-amylase activity by Compound VII was found to be reversible and uncompetitive. Furthermore, molecular docking studies with this molecule showed that it could bind to the catalytic site of the enzyme by performing weak interactions with Ser56, Tyr59, Tyr62, Asp176, Asp274 and Leu142 residues. Cytotoxic potential of Compound VII on amylase overexpressing AR42J pancreatic cancer cells was also performed using trypan blue staining and the compound at the highest dose 10 mu M was found to be cytotoxic, but effective for alpha amylase inhibition at non-cytotoxic doses. The results showed in vitro effect of Compound VII on alpha-amylase inhibition in cells. Here, we suggest an alternative and non-cytotoxic alpha-amylase inhibitor for T2DM.

Detection of Asthma Inflammatory Phenotypes Using Artificial Neural Network

Asthma is a common disease that usually starts in childhood. There are more than 300 million people with asthma. In 2020, patients with asthma were at higher risk of developing COVID-19 infection. Previous studies showed benefits of using artificial neural networks when it comes to detection of asthma. This paper included 300 persons out of which 200 of them had disease and 100 which were healthy. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1), eosinophiles, FeNO and IgE were measured. The neural network was made and it detected asthma by analyzing these parameters. It had the accuracy of 92.2%. This shows a great potential of neural network use when it comes to the detection of asthma and this could be an instrument used in clinical practice. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Cytotoxic effect of a 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(4-methoxybenzyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole derivative compound in human melanoma cells

Melanoma represents the most forceful derm cancer with a high rate of mortality. Although chemotherapy has been commonly used in the treatment of melanoma, drug resistance and side effects of conventional chemotheurapeutics negatively affect the continuity and success the treatment. 1,2.4 triazole derivatives are popular compounds of recent years with anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiviral, anti-proliferative and COVID-19 associated anti-fungal activities. However, studies that revealed the effects of 1,2.4 triazole compounds on melanoma cells are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a 3-(4-chloropheny1)-5-(4-methoxybenzy1)-4H-1,2.4-triazole derivative (B9) compound on cytotoxicity and cell cycle using MTT and flow cytometrv, respectively and the inhibitory' effect on tyrosinase in human melanoma (VMM917) cells using colorimetric assay for melanin content. The compound B9 exhibited a selective cytotoxic effect (4.9-fold) on VMM917 cells compared to normal cells. B9 induced cell cycle arrest at the S phase and also decreased the amount of melanin in the cells. The results suggest a novel candidate drug in melanoma therapy. The detailed investigation of the molecular mechanism of this selective cytotoxic effect will provide understanding on the usability of B9 as an alternative chemotherapeutic agent in melanoma.

Anca-positive iga nephropathy presented as alveolar hemorrhage in a covid-19 patient

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 virus primarily targets the respiratory system, but extrapulmonary involvements can be frequently seen. We presented a COVID-19 case with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive IgA nephropathy, alveolar hemorrhage, and rapidly progressive kidney disease. The patient received pulse corticosteroids, plasma exchange, and intravenous immunoglobulin as treatment. Azathioprine was added as an immunosuppressive therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of IgA nephropathy coexisting with COVID-19 infection.