Effect of Supplemental Antioxidant-Based Therapy on the Oxidative Stress Level in COVID-19 Patients.

Background: COVID-19 is a disease in several stages starting with virus replication to dysregulation in immune system response, organ failure and recovery/death. Our aim was to determine the effect of Ganoderma lucidum, lycopene, sulforaphane, royal jelly and resveratrol extract on markers of oxidative stress, inflammation, routine laboratory analyses and duration of symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Methods: The oxidative stress parameters and interleukines 6 and 8 (IL-6, IL-8), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were determined in order to estimate the antioxidant and the anti-inflammatory effect of the product using a spectrophotometric and a magnetic bead-based multiplex assay in serum of 30 patients with mild form of COVID-19. Results: Statistically significant differences were obtained for all investigated parameters between the treated patients and the control group. Moreover, significant differences were observed for leukocytes, neutrophil to leukocyte ratio and iron. The average duration of the symptoms was 9.4±0.487 days versus 13.1±0.483 days in the treatment and the control group, respectively (p=0.0003). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated the promising effect of Ge132+NaturalTM on reducing the oxidative stress and the IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α levels, and symptoms duration in COVID-19 patients. The evidence presented herein suggest that the combination of Ganoderma lucidum extract, lycopene, sulforaphane, royal jelly and resveratrol could be used as a potent an adjuvant therapy in diseases accompanied by increased oxidative stress and inflammation.

Evaluation of severity scoring systems in patients with severe community acquired pneumonia.

Background. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of severity scoring systems to predict 30-day mortality in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia. Methods. The study included 98 patients aged ≥18 years with community acquired pneumonia hospitalized at the Intensive Care Unit of the University Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, during a 3-year period. We recorded demographic, clinical and common biochemical parameters. Five severity scores were calculated at admission: CURB 65 (Confusion, Urea, Respiratory Rate, Blood pressure, Age ≥65 years), SCAP (Severe Community Acquired Pneumonia score), SAPS II (Simplified Acute Physiology Score), SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score) and MPM (Mortality Prediction Model). Primary outcome variable was 30-day in-hospital mortality. Results. The mean age of the patients was 59.08 ± 15.76 years, predominantly males (68%). The overall 30-day mortality was 52%. Charlson Comorbidity index was increased in non-survivors (3.72 ± 2.33) and was associated with the outcome. All severity indexes had higher values in patients who died, that showed statistical significance between the analysed groups. The areas under curve (AUC) values of the five scores for 30-day mortality were 0.670, 0.732, 0,726, 0.785 and 0.777, respectively. Conclusion. Widely used severity scores accurately detected patients with pneumonia that had increased risk for poor outcome, but none of them individually demonstrated any advantage over the others.