RESUMEN
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infection. Its virus called SARS-COV-2 which is an RNA virus with high homology to the bat coronavirus. In this review study, first the molecular and cellular characteristics and the proliferation and replication of SARS-COV-2 are investigated. Then, by reviewing bioinformatics studies regarding protected domain analysis, homology modeling, and molecular docking, the biological role of some specific SARS-COV-2 proteins are examined. The results showed that the open reading frame 8 (ORF8) and surface glycoprotein could bind to porphyrin. At the same time, ORF1ab, ORF10, and ORF3a can attack the heme part of hemoglobin to dissociate iron and form porphyrin. This attack reduces hemoglobin ability to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. As a result, lung cells become severely inflamed due to their inability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen, which leads to large ground-glass opacities on CT scan images. Based on the bioinformatics results, chloroquine can prevent ORF1ab, ORF3a, and ORF10 from attacking hemoglobin to form porphyrin and avoid the binding of ORF8 and surface glycoprotein to porphyrin, which effectively relieves the symptoms of acute respiratory syndrome. In the current pandemic, bioinformatics studies are of great importance for preventing the spread of COVID-19, developing drugs and vaccines, and clinical practice.
RESUMEN
Background: Changes in the course of diseases, their treatment, and care provision result in the need for a specific type of care known as palliative care. Medical staff’s knowledge and awareness of palliative care is important in this regard. Objectives: This study aims to examine the caregivers’ knowledge and awareness of palliative care and to determine the related predictors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 277 subjects were selected from among the caregivers working in the selected teaching hospitals in Iran through non-randomized sampling method. The subjects were asked to fill the online questionnaire which consisted of 3 sections including demographic data, knowledge, and attitude toward palliative care. Descriptive, inferential statistics, correlation and regression analyses were performed. Results: The mean scores of care providers’ attitude and knowledge were 140.90 ± 11.56 and 19.36 ± 2.73 respectively. There was a significant relationships between some variables such as working place, education level, age, palliative care-related working expe-rience, and the necessity to pass training courses and the mean scores of attitude and knowledge. Conclusions: Since palliative care providers’ level of knowledge and attitude were reported to be moderate, training courses at different levels in the form of clinical courses should be offered with the aim of improving care providers’ skills and scientific abilities. It is essential to include the related topics in the curricula of academic programs.