Immune thrombocytopenia: options and new perspectives.

Immune thrombocytopenia is a haematological, autoimmune disorder characterized by elevated platelet demolition due to the presence of antiplatelet autoantibodies derived from B cells and to an irregular, deficient process of platelets production in bone marrow. In this review, after a brief presentation of 'old' strategies used nowadays yet, we focused on new drugs used in the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia and their mechanism of action and posology, basing on the last scientific literature. The observation that CoViD-19 can be associated with immune thrombocytopenia is also put in evidence. Particular attention will be dedicated on the concept that the ideal treatment should represent a solution not only for the failure of normal processes of production and survival of platelets, but also it should improve quality of life of patients, with minimum adverse events. Anyway, despite enormous advances of the last years, further investigations are necessary in order to define scrupulously long-term efficacy of new molecules proposed.

Highly Twisted Conformation Thiopyrylium Photosensitizers for In Vivo Near Infrared-II Imaging and Rapid Inactivation of Coronavirus.

Despite significant effort, a majority of heavy-atom-free photosensitizers have short excitation wavelengths, thereby hampering their biomedical applications. Here, we present a facile approach for developing efficient near-infrared (NIR) heavy-atom-free photosensitizers. Based on a series of thiopyrylium-based NIR-II (1000-1700 nm) dyads, we found that the star dyad HD with a sterically bulky and electron-rich moiety exhibited configuration torsion and significantly enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) compared to the parent dyad. The electron excitation characteristics of HD changed from local excitation (LE) to charge transfer (CT)-domain, contributing to a ≈6-fold reduction in energy gap (ΔEST ), a ≈10-fold accelerated ISC process, and a ≈31.49-fold elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantum yield. The optimized SP@HD-PEG2K lung-targeting dots enabled real-time NIR-II lung imaging, which precisely guided rapid pulmonary coronavirus inactivation.

Bibliometric Analysis of Health Technology Research: 1990~2020.

This paper aims to summarize the publishing trends, current status, research topics, and frontier evolution trends of health technology between 1990 and 2020 through various bibliometric analysis methods. In total, 6663 articles retrieved from the Web of Science core database were analyzed by Vosviewer and CiteSpace software. This paper found that: (1) The number of publications in the field of health technology increased exponentially; (2) there is no stable core group of authors in this research field, and the influence of the publishing institutions and journals in China is insufficient compared with those in Europe and the United States; (3) there are 21 core research topics in the field of health technology research, and these research topics can be divided into four classes: hot spots, potential hot spots, margin topics, and mature topics. C21 (COVID-19 prevention) and C10 (digital health technology) are currently two emerging research topics. (4) The number of research frontiers has increased in the past five years (2016-2020), and the research directions have become more diverse; rehabilitation, pregnancy, e-health, m-health, machine learning, and patient engagement are the six latest research frontiers.

SM-COLSARSPROT: Highly Immunogenic Supramutational Synthetic Peptides Covering the World's Population.

Fifty ~20-amino acid (aa)-long peptides were selected from functionally relevant SARS-CoV-2 S, M, and E proteins for trial B-21 and another 53 common ones, plus some new ones derived from the virus' main genetic variants for complementary trial C-21. Peptide selection was based on tremendous SARS-CoV-2 genetic variability for analysing them concerning vast human immunogenetic polymorphism for developing the first supramutational, Colombian SARS-protection (SM-COLSARSPROT), peptide mixture. Specific physicochemical rules were followed, i.e., aa predilection for polyproline type II left-handed (PPIIL) formation, replacing ß-branched, aromatic aa, short-chain backbone H-bond-forming residues, π-π interactions (n→π* and π-CH), aa interaction with π systems, and molecular fragments able to interact with them, disrupting PPIIL propensity formation. All these modified structures had PPIIL formation propensity to enable target peptide interaction with human leukocyte antigen-DRß1* (HLA-DRß1*) molecules to mediate antigen presentation and induce an appropriate immune response. Such modified peptides were designed for human use; however, they induced high antibody titres against S, M, and E parental mutant peptides and neutralising antibodies when suitably modified and chemically synthesised for immunising 61 major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) DNA genotyped Aotus monkeys (matched with their corresponding HLA-DRß1* molecules), predicted to cover 77.5% to 83.1% of the world's population. Such chemically synthesised peptide mixture represents an extremely pure, stable, reliable, and cheap vaccine for COVID-19 pandemic control, providing a new approach for a logical, rational, and soundly established methodology for other vaccine development.

New Drugs 2021, Part 2.

ABSTRACT: The second of a two-part series, this article describes eight recently approved drugs, including the first drug approved for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, a first-in-class HIV attachment inhibitor, and a new intravenous injection indicated for the treatment of acute pain in adults for whom other treatments are ineffective.

Synthesis of novel artesunate-benzothiophene and artemisinin-benzothiophene derivatives.

Natural products are used for the treatment of a variety of diseases for many years. Last decades, design and synthesis of novel biologically active hybrid molecules including natural product is gained big importance due to their unique and new biological properties. In the present study, novel artemisinin-benzothiophene derivatives (12 A-F) are synthesised. Initially, benzothiophene derivatives (4 A-4F) are prepared via the Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions and iodocyclisation reactions. Then, Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions were used for the formation of intermediates 6 A-6F (between 64% and 91% yields). Finally, the Steglich esterification reaction between intermediate 6 and artesunate formed the artemisinin-benzothiophene hybrids (9 A-9F) in moderate to excellent yields under very mild reaction conditions. When intermediate 6 was reacted with dihydroartemisinin, product 12 A-12F was also obtained with high yields.[Formula: see text].