Smartphone-based diagnostics for biosensing infectious human pathogens.

The widespread usage of smartphones has made accessing vast troves of data easier for everyone. Smartphones are powerful, handy, and easy to operate, making them a valuable tool for improving public health through diagnostics. When combined with other devices and sensors, smartphones have shown potential for detecting, visualizing, collecting, and transferring data, enabling rapid disease diagnosis. In resource-limited settings, the user-friendly operating system of smartphones allows them to function as a point-of-care platform for healthcare and disease diagnosis. Herein, we critically reviewed the smartphone-based biosensors for the diagnosis and detection of diseases caused by infectious human pathogens, such as deadly viruses, bacteria, and fungi. These biosensors use several analytical sensing methods, including microscopic imaging, instrumental interface, colorimetric, fluorescence, and electrochemical biosensors. We have discussed the diverse diagnosis strategies and analytical performances of smartphone-based detection systems in identifying infectious human pathogens, along with future perspectives.

Comparative Performance Evaluation of Personal Protective Measures and Antiviral Agents Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Narrative Review

Scientists identified SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China. Soon after its identification, Covid-19 spreads almost everywhere. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Countries are facing multiple waves due to the different variants of the coronavirus. Personal preventive measures, vaccines, and antiviral drugs are the approaches to control Covid-19. However, these approaches are being implemented in different countries at different levels because of the availability of personal protective measures and antiviral agents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of practicing measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Here we searched relevant literature from PubMed and Scopus using the keywords such as personal protective measures, antiviral agents, and vaccine effectiveness. According to the present findings, protective measures were found comparatively less effective. Nevertheless, these measures can be used to limit the spreading of Covid-19. Antiviral agents can reduce the hospitalization rate and are more effective than personal protective measures. The most effective strategy against Covid-19 is early vaccination or multiple vaccination dose. The respective authorities should ensure equal distribution of vaccines, free availability of antiviral drugs, and personal protective measure in poor and developing countries. We recommend more studies to describe the effectiveness of practicing preventive measures and antiviral agents against recent variants of the coronavirus.

Deleterious single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of human IFNAR2 gene facilitate COVID-19 severity in patients: a comprehensive in silico approach.

In humans, the dimeric receptor complex IFNAR2-IFNAR1 accelerates cellular response triggered by type I interferon (IFN) family proteins in response to viral infection including Coronavirus infection. Studies have revealed the association of the IFNAR2 gene with severe illness in Coronavirus infection and indicated the association of genomic variants, i.e. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, comprehensive analysis of SNPs of the IFNAR2 gene has not been performed in both coding and non-coding region to find the causes of loss of function of IFNAR2 in COVID-19 patients. In this study, we have characterized coding SNPs (nsSNPs) of IFNAR2 gene using different bioinformatics tools and identified deleterious SNPs. We found 9 nsSNPs as pathogenic and disease-causing along with a decrease in protein stability. We employed molecular docking analysis that showed 5 nsSNPs to decrease binding affinity to IFN. Later, MD simulations showed that P136R mutant may destabilize crucial binding with the IFN molecule in response to COVID-19. Thus, P136R is likely to have a high impact on disrupting the structure of the IFNAR2 protein. GTEx portal analysis predicted 14 sQTLs and 5 eQTLs SNPs in lung tissues hampering the post-transcriptional modification (splicing) and altering the expression of the IFNAR2 gene. sQTLs and eQTLs SNPs potentially explain the reduced IFNAR2 production leading to severe diseases. These mutants in the coding and non-coding region of the IFNAR2 gene can help to recognize severe illness due to COVID 19 and consequently assist to develop an effective drug against the infection.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Comparative Performance Evaluation of Personal Protective Measures and Antiviral Agents Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Narrative Review.

Scientists identified SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China. Soon after its identification, Covid-19 spreads almost everywhere. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Countries are facing multiple waves due to the different variants of the coronavirus. Personal preventive measures, vaccines, and antiviral drugs are the approaches to control Covid-19. However, these approaches are being implemented in different countries at different levels because of the availability of personal protective measures and antiviral agents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of practicing measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Here we searched relevant literature from PubMed and Scopus using the keywords such as personal protective measures, antiviral agents, and vaccine effectiveness. According to the present findings, protective measures were found comparatively less effective. Nevertheless, these measures can be used to limit the spreading of Covid-19. Antiviral agents can reduce the hospitalization rate and are more effective than personal protective measures. The most effective strategy against Covid-19 is early vaccination or multiple vaccination dose. The respective authorities should ensure equal distribution of vaccines, free availability of antiviral drugs, and personal protective measure in poor and developing countries. We recommend more studies to describe the effectiveness of practicing preventive measures and antiviral agents against recent variants of the coronavirus.

Problematic internet use and depressive symptoms among the school-going adolescents in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study findings.

Background and Aims: Problematic internet use (PIU) by children and adolescents is a concern for many parents. Several factors, including students' education level, the method of instruction, the dependence on the internet, and their intended use of the internet, could all be contributing factors to PIU and depression. Disturbed mental health may be attributed to the cancellation of physical education classes because of the COVID-19 outbreak. This study aimed to assess the association of COVID-19 pandemic with PIU and depressive symptoms in adolescent students. Methods: We performed this cross-sectional study among 491 school-going adolescents of 10 to 16 years. Self-administered questionnaires were applied to collect sociodemographic information and the internet usage pattern of the participants. We measured the prevalence of PIU and depressive symptoms using the PIU questionnaire (PIUQ-SF-6) and patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Results: The estimations of the risk group for PIU and depressive symptoms among school-going adolescents were 80.04% and 77.80%, respectively. The latent profiling of PIU scores for obsession, neglect, and control sub-groups were 5.82, 6.12, and 6.35, respectively. Moreover, we observed mild, moderate, and severe depressive symptoms in 48.68%, 27.70%, and 1.43% of cases. Age, education level, medium of education, financial impression, internet connection, the device used, the purpose for internet use, and the living status of respondents were significantly associated with the PIU. Reported mental health issues was associated with education level, medium of education, financial impression, and internet connection. Conclusion: The present study revealed an association of PIU and depressive symptoms with sociodemographic factors and internet usage patterns. Therefore, these results might have practical implications in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. The healthcare professional can develop a context-specific comprehensive clinical intervention plan for children and adolescents.

Characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant and Emerging Impact on Global Public Health.

The discovery of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant has sparked alarm globally because of its rapid rate of infection and trespassing acquired immunity due to vaccination or natural infection. This heavily mutated variant is rapidly spreading around the world. Infected individuals with the Omicron variant may suffer from flu-like symptoms, and infected with the Delta variant frequently report low oxygen levels, high pulse rates, and a loss of smell and taste. Also, the Omicron variant causes asymptomatic or mild disease so far, and not any severe illness as like Delta, and this new variant has a 15% to 80% reduced risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant. Scientists are worried about the possibility of escaping the immunity by the Omicron variants and subvariants among fully vaccinated and recovered COVID-19 patients. Two doses of available vaccines are found to be partially ineffective in protecting this new variant, therefore, the third dose as a booster is recommended to enhance antibody level. Moreover, some antiviral drugs significantly reduce hospitalization or death among mild to severe COVID-19 patients. All authorized antiviral drugs are effective against viral replication for most SARS-CoV-2 variants, and particularly some monoclonal antibodies may not now be effective in treating COVID-19 patients. There is an urgent need to update existing vaccines, develop more effective and newer vaccines as well as additional monoclonal antibodies to counter Omicron. Therefore, along with close monitoring of Omicron characteristics, the present study suggests that health safety guidelines, mass immunization, early diagnosis, and search for effective antiviral drugs should be the approaches to fight against newer SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Ethnobotanical Uses, Phytochemistry, Toxicology, and Pharmacological Properties of Euphorbia neriifolia Linn. against Infectious Diseases: A Comprehensive Review.

Medicinal plants have considerable potential as antimicrobial agents due to the presence of secondary metabolites. This comprehensive overview aims to summarize the classification, morphology, and ethnobotanical uses of Euphorbia neriifolia L. and its derived phytochemicals with the recent updates on the pharmacological properties against emerging infectious diseases, mainly focusing on bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. The data were collected from electronic databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, ScienceDirect, and SpringerLink by utilizing several keywords like 'Euphorbia neriifolia', 'phytoconstituents', 'traditional uses', 'ethnopharmacological uses', 'infectious diseases', 'molecular mechanisms', 'COVID-19', 'bacterial infection', 'viral infection', etc. The results related to the antimicrobial actions of these plant extracts and their derived phytochemicals were carefully reviewed and summarized. Euphol, monohydroxy triterpene, nerifoliol, taraxerol, ß-amyrin, glut-5-(10)-en-1-one, neriifolione, and cycloartenol are the leading secondary metabolites reported in phytochemical investigations. These chemicals have been shown to possess a wide spectrum of biological functions. Different extracts of E. neriifolia exerted antimicrobial activities against various pathogens to different extents. Moreover, major phytoconstituents present in this plant, such as quercetin, rutin, friedelin, taraxerol, epitaraxerol, taraxeryl acetate, 3ß-friedelanol, 3ß-acetoxy friedelane, 3ß-simiarenol, afzelin, 24-methylene cycloarenol, ingenol triacetate, and ß-amyrin, showed significant antimicrobial activities against various pathogens that are responsible for emerging infectious diseases. This plant and the phytoconstituents, such as flavonoids, monoterpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, and alkaloids, have been found to have significant antimicrobial properties. The current evidence suggests that they might be used as leads in the development of more effective drugs to treat emerging infectious diseases, including the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Nanomaterials and Bioactive Compounds against SARS-CoV-2

Presently, an outbreak of coronavirus is of global concern, as it causes various respiratory problems. It was first detected in December 2019 in China's Wuhan City where various patients got admitted to the hospitals with a symptom of pneumonia. As the number of cases increased, scientists isolated the samples from patients. Initially, it was named as a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and now renamed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This virus spread from Wuhan to other cities of China, and currently it is affecting worldwide. Transmission of this virus occurs from one human to another and spreads through contaminated hands or surfaces. Various researchers are trying to explore the potential role of bioactive compounds from plants and different nanomaterials against this virus. Therefore, in this review, an overview of SARS-CoV-2, preventive measures against this viral infection, potential biocides against this virus, and role of phytochemicals and nanomaterials against this virus have been discussed. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Nanomaterials is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Herd Immunity Against Coronavirus: A Review.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread exponentially, leading to an alarming number of deaths worldwide. A devastating effect has been observed in susceptible populations. Our body's immune system plays a very important role in fighting against diseases. The principle of herd immunity (also known as population immunity), which has found its way into science and has been in the limelight, is the most widely recognised among all. It is an indirect defence against infectious diseases when a community gained immunity, either through vaccines or through prior infection. Herd immunity against COVID-19 must be achieved to reduce the transmission of disease and save lives. Therefore, this review provides a comprehension of the role of immunity, with a special emphasis on herd immunity against COVID-19, and the ways to attain herd immunity in India have also been discussed.

Evaluation of bioactive compounds from Boswellia serrata against SARS-CoV-2.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still wreaking havoc worldwide, new variants being discovered every month in some parts of the globe due to the mutating nature of the virus. There is no specific solution for this highly transmissible disease. In search of a lead molecule for the discovery and development of drug, extensive research is being conducted throughout the world. Many synthetic drugs are already in clinical trials and some are utilized for the treatment of this viral infection. Apart from synthetic drugs, phytocompounds from plants act as a potential drug candidate which can inhibit the growth of virus and thus able to prevent the viral infection. In this study, 26 ligands (bioactive compounds) from Boswellia serrata (an important medicinal plant) were tested against SARS-CoV-2 by using computational method. Selected ligands were shortlisted using Lipinski's rule and then subjected to molecular docking against one of the main proteins of SARS-CoV-2, i.e., Mpro. Out of these compounds, Euphane, Ursane, α-Amyrin, Phytosterols, and 2,3-Dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid were potential to inhibit the Mpro activity with binding energies of - 10.47 kcal/mol, - 10.41 kcal/mol, - 9.99 kcal/mol, - 9.94 kcal/mol and - 9.72 kcal/mol respectively. A comparative study was performed using the best five ligands against four possible drug targets of SARS-CoV-2. It was found that Euphane showed highest negative binding energy against all the four crucial targets of SARS-CoV-2. Further, in-vitro experimentation is required to validate the use of Euphane as a potent drug against SARS-CoV-2.

Evaluation of bioactive compounds from Boswellia serrata against SARS-CoV-2

With the COVID-19 pandemic still wreaking havoc worldwide, new variants being discovered every month in some parts of the globe due to the mutating nature of the virus. There is no specific solution for this highly transmissible disease. In search of a lead molecule for the discovery and development of drug, extensive research is being conducted throughout the world. Many synthetic drugs are already in clinical trials and some are utilized for the treatment of this viral infection. Apart from synthetic drugs, phytocompounds from plants act as a potential drug candidate which can inhibit the growth of virus and thus able to prevent the viral infection. In this study, 26 ligands (bioactive compounds) from Boswellia serrata (an important medicinal plant) were tested against SARS-CoV-2 by using computational method. Selected ligands were shortlisted using Lipinski’s rule and then subjected to molecular docking against one of the main proteins of SARS-CoV-2, i.e., Mpro. Out of these compounds, Euphane, Ursane, α-Amyrin, Phytosterols, and 2,3-Dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid were potential to inhibit the Mpro activity with binding energies of − 10.47 kcal/mol, − 10.41 kcal/mol, − 9.99 kcal/mol, − 9.94 kcal/mol and − 9.72 kcal/mol respectively. A comparative study was performed using the best five ligands against four possible drug targets of SARS-CoV-2. It was found that Euphane showed highest negative binding energy against all the four crucial targets of SARS-CoV-2. Further, in-vitro experimentation is required to validate the use of Euphane as a potent drug against SARS-CoV-2.

Prediction of the Effects of Variants and Differential Expression of Key Host Genes ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FURIN in SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis: An In Silico Approach.

A new strain of the beta coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is solely responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although several studies suggest that the spike protein of this virus interacts with the cell surface receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and is subsequently cleaved by TMPRSS2 and FURIN to enter into the host cell, conclusive insight about the interaction pattern of the variants of these proteins is still lacking. Thus, in this study, we analyzed the functional conjugation among the spike protein, ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FURIN in viral pathogenesis as well as the effects of the mutations of the proteins through the implementation of several bioinformatics approaches. Analysis of the intermolecular interactions revealed that T27A (ACE2), G476S (receptor-binding domain [RBD] of the spike protein), C297T (TMPRSS2), and P812S (cleavage site for TMPRSS2) coding variants may render resistance in viral infection, whereas Q493L (RBD), S477I (RBD), P681R (cleavage site for FURIN), and P683W (cleavage site for FURIN) may lead to increase viral infection. Genotype-specific expression analysis predicted several genetic variants of ACE2 (rs2158082, rs2106806, rs4830971, and rs4830972), TMPRSS2 (rs458213, rs468444, rs4290734, and rs6517666), and FURIN (rs78164913 and rs79742014) that significantly alter their normal expression which might affect the viral spread. Furthermore, we also found that ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FURIN proteins are functionally co-related with each other, and several genes are highly co-expressed with them, which might be involved in viral pathogenesis. This study will thus help in future genomics and proteomics studies of SARS-CoV-2 and will provide an opportunity to understand the underlying molecular mechanism during SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis.

In silico analysis of selected alkaloids against main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2.

In the present situation, COVID-19 has become the global health concern due to its high contagious nature. It initially appeared in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and now affected more than 190 countries. As of now preventive measures are the sole solution to stop this disease for further transmission from person to person transmissions as there is no effective treatment or vaccine available to date. Research and development of new molecule is a laborious process; therefore, drug repurposing can be an alternative solution that involves the identification of potential compounds from the already available data. Alkaloids are potential source of therapeutic agents which might be able to treat novel COVID-19. Therefore, in the present study, twenty potential alkaloid molecules that possess antiviral activity against different viral diseases have taken into consideration and scrutinized using Lipinski's rule. Then out of twenty compounds seventeen were further selected for docking study. Docking study was performed using Autodock software and the best four molecule which provides maximum negative binding energy was selected for further analysis. Two alkaloids namely thalimonine and sophaline D showed potential activity to inhibit the Mpro but to confirm the claim further in-vitro studies are required.

Molecular docking analysis of selected phytochemicals against SARS-CoV-2 Mpro receptor.

Presently world is on a war with the novel coronavirus and with no immediate treatments available the scourge caused by the SARS-CoV-2 is increasing day by day. A lot of researches are going on for the potential drug candidate that could help the healthcare system in this fight. Plants are a natural data bank of bioactive compounds. Many phytochemicals are being studied for various ailments including cancer, bacterial and viral infections, etc. The present study aims to screen 38 bioactive compounds from 5 selected plants viz., Azadirachta indica, Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum basilicum and Panax ginseng against SARS-CoV-2. Lipinski's rule was taken as the foundation for initial screening. Shortlisted compounds were subjected to molecular docking study with Mpro receptor present in SARS-CoV-2. The study identified that gedunin, epoxyazadiradione, nimbin and ginsenosides have potential to inhibit Mpro activity and their binding energies are - 9.51 kcal/mol, - 8.47 kcal/mol, - 8.66 kcal/mol and - 9.63 kcal/mol respectively. Based on bioavailability radar studies gedunin and epoxyazadiradione are the two most potent compounds which are used for molecular dynamics simulation studies. Molecular dynamics studies showed that gedunin is more potent than epoxyazadiradione. To find the effectiveness and to propose the exact mechanism, in-vitro studies can be further performed on gedunin.