Urtica dioica agglutinin (UDA) as a potential candidate for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants: In silico prediction and experimental validation.

BACKGROUND: The high number of mutations and consequent structure modifications in a Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD) of the spike protein of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 increased concerns about evading neutralization by antibodies induced by previous infection or vaccination. Thus, developing novel drugs with potent inhibitory activity can be considered an alternative for treating this highly transmissible variant. Considering that Urtica dioica agglutinin (UDA) displays antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the potency of this lectin to inhibit the Receptor Binding Domain of the Omicron variant (RBDOmic) was examined in this study. PURPOSE: This study examines how UDA inhibits the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 by blocking its RBD, using a combination of in silico and experimental methods. METHODS: To investigate the interaction between UDA and RBDOmic, the CLUSPRO 2.0 web server was used to dock the RBDOmic-UDA complex, and molecular dynamics simulations were performed by the Gromacs 2020.2 software to confirm the stability of the selected docked complex. Finally, the binding affinity (ΔG) of the simulation was calculated using MM-PBSA. In addition, ELISA and Western blot tests were used to examine UDA's binding to RBDOmic. RESULTS: Based on the docking results, UDA forms five hydrogen bonds with the RBDOmic active site, which contains mutated residues Tyr501, Arg498, Arg493, and His505. According to MD simulations, the UDA-RBDOmic complex is stable over 100 ns, and its average binding energy during the simulation is -87.201 kJ/mol. Also, the ELISA test showed that UDA significantly binds to RBDOmic, and by increasing the concentration of UDA protein, the attachment to RBDOmic became stronger. In Western blotting, RBDOmic was able to attach to and detect UDA. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that UDA interaction with RBDOmic prevents virus attachment to Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and, therefore, its entry into the host cell. Altogether, UDA exhibited a significant suppression effect on the Omicron variant and can be considered a new candidate to improve protection against severe infection of this variant.

Impact of clinical factors on calorie and protein intakes during Icu stay in adults trauma patients: results from a prospective observational study.

Propose: Nutritional requirements are often escalated following major trauma. Underfeeding and adverse outcomes were seen in critically ill trauma patients. The aim of the study was to quantify actual amount of calories and protein intakes, and extent to which those clinical factors may affect adequate intake. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An observational study carried out in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) of Tabriz University of medical science during April 2017 and December 2018. A total of 85 adult trauma patients with a 7 days ICU length of stay and who received Enteral nutrition (EN) were included in this study. The data on estimated and actual intake of energy and protein, severity of illness (i.e., Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and markers of nutritional status (i.e., serum albumin level and body mass index) were recorded. RESULTS: In this study, sixty-six patients (77%) were underfed in terms of energy and 19 patients (23%) had adequate energy intake. Logistic regression showed that only GCS possibly predict energy status. For every one-unit additional decrease in GCS scores, the odds of being underfed in terms of energy were increased by 1.32 times, after controlling for other factors (95% CI, 1.07 to 1.75, P-value = 0.044). No association was observed between nutritional status and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The definite nutritional intake did not coverage the calculated requirements during ICU stay. The current study proposed that there was an inverse association between some clinically important factors (APACHE II score, intubation time) and mean energy intake. Nutritional support was not associated with any complications.

Effects of Topical 1% Sodium Hyaluronate and Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose in Treatment of Corneal Epithelial Defects.

We aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of topical 1% sodium hyaluronate (Healon) or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) for the treatment of alkali-induced epithelial corneal defects. An alkali burn was produced in 30 corneas of 30 New Zealand White rabbits, using a 7.5-mm-diameter trephine. The rabbits were randomly divided into three groups. Four times a day, one group was treated with 1% sodium hyaluronate, one with HPMC, and one (the control group) with physiologic saline. During the treatment period, the size of the epithelial defect was observed every day, up to day 17, using a slit-lamp biomicroscope (with fluorescein). Sodium hyaluronate significantly accelerated the wound healing process compared with saline and increased the healing rate to an even greater extent compared with HPMC. Sodium hyaluronate, but not HPMC, is an effective wound-healing adjuvant for alkali-induced corneal epithelial defects.

Beneficial role of antioxidants on clinical outcomes and erythrocyte antioxidant parameters in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to investigate the effect of antioxidants supplement on clinical outcomes and antioxidant parameters in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The pre-post study was conducted on 40 female patients with RA in 12 weeks that taken daily one Selenplus capsule contained 50 µg selenium, 8 mg zinc, 400 µg vitamin A, 125 mg vitamin C, and 40 mg vitamin E. About 5 mL venous blood sample was taken from all participants and disease activity score (DAS) was determined by DAS-28 formula and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured by spectrophotometric kit and catalase (CAT) was measured by Abei method. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was determined by spectrophotometric kit. Distribution of the variables was assessed using histogram with normal curve as well as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and data were analyzed with paired t-test for differences between pre-post data using SPSS software version 13.5. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that antioxidants may improve disease activity significantly, but it did not affect the number of painful and swollen joints and increased erythrocyte antioxidant levels. Antioxidants may be useful for controlling of clinical outcomes and oxidative stress in RA.