Molecular interaction modeling of carbon nanotubes and fullerene toward prioritized targets of SARS-CoV-2 by computer-aided screening and docking studies

The global outbreak of COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, which affected millions of people and killed hundreds of thousands, continues to be the most formidable pandemic ever witnessed by mankind. Although several countries are thriving in terms of advancement of potential therapeutic remedy to combat SARS-CoV-2, a comprehensive solution is yet to be achieved. In exploring various approaches for the drug discovery process, computational biology has proven to be extremely helpful in aiding drug development. Additionally, functionalized carbon nanomaterials such as nanotubes and nano fullerene, which are known to be effective against life-threatening pathogens such as influenza virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), etc., are being considered for use against coronaviruses due to their antiviral properties. This chapter thus presents the applications of carbon nanomaterials employing computational approaches in order to predict and study the binding potential of the functionalized nanoparticles against selected targets of SARS-CoV-2. A brief overview of the virus, its genetic, structural, and functional features, carbon nanoparticles and their properties, and different computational approaches applicable for aiding the process of drug development are presented. Furthermore, the binding potential of carbon nanoparticles toward putative SARS-CoV-2 targets is predicted and the molecular interactions between them are analyzed. Overall, this chapter provides profound insight into the binding potential of functionalized carbon nanomaterials toward the prioritized targets of SARS-CoV-2, which gives scope for experimental studies and future investigation. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lessons learned from the first pandemic of the 21st century, global experience, recommendations, and future directions

Viral outbreaks do occur regularly but the severity of outcome may vary. Genetic reassortment gives rise to novel viral strains causing new outbreaks with epidemic or pandemic potential against which mankind is not prepared to fight. The early 21st century has witnessed pandemics like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS-CoV-2, and novel influenzas (avian and swine), originating from specific geographical regions and transmitting across the globe causing heavy damages in all sectors. Here, in this chapter we focus mainly on SARS-CoV with reference to other similar respiratory infections like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. The lessons learned so far in the early 21st century are discussed with emphasis on future directions. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Streetscapes as Surrogate Greenspaces During COVID-19?

In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) globally led to severe crisis, disruption and hardship in both private and public life. In such times of distress, access to urban greenspaces is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. However, globally implemented lockdowns deprived many people of freely visiting greenspaces. Inequality in access to urban greenspaces was apparent at global scales. Consequently, many people took to streets for outdoor activities due to its easy accessibility. We, therefore, aimed to study the usage and relevance of streetscapes for outdoor activities during a crisis. We hypothesised that streetscapes supported diverse outdoor activities, functioning as surrogate urban greenspaces. We distributed an online questionnaire to over 400 international respondents. Our results clearly showed that people used streetscapes during this period for a variety of activities, many of which were also reported as their main physical activity. Walking was the most frequent activity in streetscapes globally, and independent from sociocultural characteristics. Other activities reported such as jogging and cycling also aligned generally with main physical activities of people, but differed between countries and people's sociocultural background. In summary, more than one third of respondents from lower-income countries reported not having had access to a greenspace, whereas 8% reported the same in high-income countries. Our results highlight the important role of streetscapes in facilitating people's regular physical activities during the pandemic. Recognising streetscapes as important public outdoor spaces within residential neighbourhoods could help counteract the inequality in greenspace access, an issue that seems more relevant than ever before.

Bridging powerful knowledge and lived experience: Challenges in teaching mathematics through COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic supported an investigation of ongoing challenges as to whether and how to make mathematics relevant to learners’ lifeworlds. Given that COVID-19 created major disruptions in all learners’ lives, we developed and taught tasks that attempted to make links between their experiences of the pandemic and disciplinary mathematical knowledge. We located our investigation in current debates about the extent to which disciplinary knowledge can be linked to learners’ out-of-school experiences. We developed and analysed two tasks about COVID-19 that could support link-making and productive disciplinary engagement, and analysed one Grade 10 teacher teaching these tasks. We found that linking mathematics to learners’ lifeworlds is both possible and extremely difficult in relation to task design and how the teacher mediates the tasks. In relation to task design, we argue that teachers cannot do it alone;they need to be supported by the curriculum and textbooks. In relation to mediation, we saw that teacher practices are difficult to shift, even in the best of circumstances. We articulate the complexities and nuances involved in bridging powerful knowledge and lived experience and thus contribute to debates on how to teach powerful knowledge in relation to learners’ lifeworlds. © 2021. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Recent Perspectives on COVID-19 and Computer-Aided Virtual Screening of Natural Compounds for the Development of Therapeutic Agents Towards SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2 is the pathogen accountable for the recent COVID-19 outbreak that originated from China in December 2019. There are about a million confirmed cases of the infection, and thousands of deaths have been witnessed across 216 countries worldwide as of first week of July 2020. As no approved drugs are currently available for treating COVID-19, it is an alarming situation calling the need to develop alternative therapeutic agents. In order to address the aforementioned need, the underlying mechanism and structural information of SARS-CoV-2 at the molecular level should be understood. The computational biology approaches such as computer-aided virtual screening and molecular modelling provide a significant breakthrough in understanding the structural aspects of various molecular targets of coronavirus and identification novel lead molecules. Natural molecules are one of the probable alternatives as many of these compounds possess ideal drug likeliness and pharmacokinetic features and might probably be used as lead molecules against various targets of SARS-CoV-2. The current chapter provides an overview of different types of coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 and its genetic and structural information, the impact of COVID-19 on various sectors such as health and economy, conventional drugs currently used and their shortcomings, various anti-viral compounds present in nature, the importance of natural lead molecules, computational approaches for molecular modelling of the target proteins, major drug targets that are identified, and virtual screening of herbal-based molecules using molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation studies. This chapter is thus focused on portraying the relevance of utilizing natural lead molecules by virtual screening and pharmacokinetics prediction for the development of effective lead molecules against SARS-CoV-2.