Recent biotechnological tools for diagnosis of corona virus disease: A review

Recently, a corona virus disease (COVID-19) caused by a novel corona virus (sevier acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2; SARS-CoV-2), rapidly spread throughout the world. It has been resulted an unprecedented public health crisis and has become a global threat. WHO declared it as a pandemic due to rapid transmission and severity of the disease. According to WHO, as of 22nd of August 2020, the disease spread over 213 countries of the world having 22,812,491 confirmed cases and 795,132 deaths recorded worldwide. In the absence of suitable antiviral drugs and vaccines, the current pandemic has created an urgent need for accurate diagnostic tools that would be helpful for early detection of the patients. Many tests including classical and high-throughput techniques have developed and obtained U.S. Food and drug administration (FDA) approval. However, efforts are being made to develop new diagnostic tools for detection of the disease. Several molecular diagnostic tests such as real-time-polymerase chain reaction, real-time isothermal loop-mediated amplification (RT-LAMP), full genome analysis by next-generation sequencing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats technique and microarray-based assays along with other techniques such as computed tomography scan, biomarkers, biosensor, nanotechnology, serological test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), isolation of viral strain in cell culture are currently available for diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. This review provides a brief overview of promising high-throughput techniques currently used for detection of SARS-CoV-2, along with their scope and limitations that may be used for effective control of the disease.     

The outlook for diagnostic purposes of the 2019-novel coronavirus disease

At the end of December 2019, a novel acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) appeared as the third unheard of outbreak of human coronavirus infection in the 21st century. First, in Wuhan, China, the novel SARS-CoV2 was named by the World Health Organization (WHO), as 2019-nCOV (COVID-19), and spread extremely all over the world. SARS-CoV2 is transmitted to individuals by human-to-human transmission leading to severe viral pneumonia and respiratory system injury. SARS-CoV2 elicits infections from the common cold to severe conditions accompanied by lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and other organ destruction. There is a possibility of virus transmission from asymptomatic cases as active carriers, in addition to symptomatic ones, which is a crucial crisis of COVID-19 that should be considered. Hence, paying more attention to the accurate and immediate diagnosis of suspected and infected cases can be a great help in preventing the rapid spread of the virus, improving the disease prognosis, and controlling the pandemic. In this review, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the different types of Clinical and Para-clinical diagnostic methods and their practical features, which can help understand better the applications and capacities of various diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 infected cases.     

Plant Derived Antiviral Products for Potential Treatment of COVID-19: A Review

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is declared global pandemic. The virus owing high resemblance with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV has been placed in family of beta-coronavirus. However, transmission and infectivity rate of COVID-19 is quite higher as compared to other members of family. Effective management strategy with potential drug availability will break the virus transmission chain subsequently reduce the pressure on the healthcare system. Extensive research trials are underway to develop novel efficient therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. In this review, we have discussed the origin and family of coronavirus, structure, genome and pathogenesis of virus SARS-CoV-2 inside human host cell; comparison among SARS, MERS, SARS-CoV-2 and common flu; effective management practices; treatment with immunity boosters; available medication with ongoing clinical trials. We suggest medicinal plants could serve as potential candidates for drug development against COVID-19 infection.     

SARS-CoV-2 tropism,entry, replication,and propagation: Considerations for drug discovery and development

Since the initial report of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emanating from Wuhan, China, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally. While the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection are not completely understood, there appears to be a wide spectrum of disease ranging from mild symptoms to severe respiratory distress, hospitalization, and mortality. There are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments for COVID-19 aside from remdesivir; early efforts to identify efficacious therapeutics for COVID-19 have mainly focused on drug repurposing screens to identify compounds with antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in cellular infection systems. These screens have yielded intriguing hits, but the use of nonhuman immortalized cell lines derived from non-pulmonary or gastrointestinal origins poses any number of questions in predicting the physiological and pathological relevance of these potential interventions. While our knowledge of this novel virus continues to evolve, our current understanding of the key molecular and cellular interactions involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection is discussed in order to provide a framework for developing the most appropriate in vitro toolbox to support current and future drug discovery efforts.     

COVID-19 under spotlight: A close look at the origin,transmission, diagnosis,and treatment of the 2019-nCoV disease

Months after the outbreak of a new flu-like disease in China, the entire world is now in a state of caution. The subsequent less-anticipated propagation of the novel coronavirus disease, formally known as COVID-19, not only made it to headlines by an overwhelmingly high transmission rate and fatality reports, but also raised an alarm for the medical community all around the globe. Since the causative agent, SARS-CoV-2, is a recently discovered species, there is no specific medicine for downright treatment of the infection. This has led to an unprecedented societal fear of the newly born disease, adding a psychological aspect to the physical manifestation of the virus. Herein, the COVID-19 structure, epidemiology, pathogenesis, etiology, diagnosis, and therapy have been reviewed.     

Transmission dynamics and control of COVID-19 in Chile,March-October, 2020

Since the detection of the first case of COVID-19 in Chile on March 3^rd, 2020, a total of 513,188 cases, including ~14,302 deaths have been reported in Chile as of November 2^nd, 2020. Here, we estimate the reproduction number throughout the epidemic in Chile and study the effectiveness of control interventions especially the effectiveness of lockdowns by conducting short-term forecasts based on the early transmission dynamics of COVID-19. Chile’s incidence curve displays early sub-exponential growth dynamics with the deceleration of growth parameter, p, estimated at 0.8 (95% CI: 0.7, 0.8) and the reproduction number, R, estimated at 1.8 (95% CI: 1.6, 1.9). Our findings indicate that the control measures at the start of the epidemic significantly slowed down the spread of the virus. However, the relaxation of restrictions and spread of the virus in low-income neighborhoods in May led to a new surge of infections, followed by the reimposition of lockdowns in Greater Santiago and other municipalities. These measures have decelerated the virus spread with R estimated at ~0.96 (95% CI: 0.95, 0.98) as of November 2^nd, 2020. The early sub-exponential growth trend (p ~0.8) of the COVID-19 epidemic transformed into a linear growth trend (p ~0.5) as of July 7^th, 2020, after the reimposition of lockdowns. While the broad scale social distancing interventions have slowed the virus spread, the number of new COVID-19 cases continue to accrue, underscoring the need for persistent social distancing and active case detection and isolation efforts to maintain the epidemic under control.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎:实验室检测、治疗及疫苗

新型冠状病毒肺炎(2019 novel coronavirus disease,COVID-19),一种由动物来源的新型冠状病毒(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,SRAS-CoV-2)感染所致的疾病在全球范围内急速传播,严重的危害人类的健康.快速、准确的诊...     

新型冠状病毒病(COVID-19)研究进展

2019年12月,湖北省武汉市暴发了一种由新型冠状病毒引起的肺炎(COVID-19)随后蔓延到中国所有省区以及多个国家和地区,WHO宣布其为全球关注的突发公共卫生事件。及时了解和表征该病毒对抗击疫情至关重要。通过收集和梳理该疫情暴发之后2个月内全球多领域研究人员关于COVID-19的论文,发现这些研究主要集中在溯源分析、检测手段、病患治疗、临床表现、药物研发、致病机理、传播途径、流行特征等方面。该冠状病毒与蝙蝠冠状病毒以及穿山甲冠状病毒相关,其利用与SARS-CoV相同的人受体ACE2,感染途径证实为呼吸系统和消化系统。该病毒具有人际传播能力,并且出现无症状传播。COVID-19确诊病例多数与武汉有关,大多数为轻症,年老者病死率较高。快速灵敏核酸检测通常作为确诊依据,目前已经筛选出有价值的候选药物如瑞德西韦进行临床试验。中国采取的旅行禁令和隔离等干预措施有效减轻了疫情蔓延。     

Biophysical analysis of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and theranostic development via N protein computational characterization

Recently, SARS-CoV-2 has been identified as the causative factor of viral infection called COVID-19 that belongs to the zoonotic beta coronavirus family known to cause respiratory disorders or viral pneumonia, followed by an extensive attack on organs that express angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2). Human transmission of this virus occurs via respiratory droplets from symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, which are released into the environment after sneezing or coughing. These droplets are capable of staying in the air as aerosols or surfaces and can be transmitted to persons through inhalation or contact with contaminated surfaces. Thus, there is an urgent need for advanced theranostic solutions to control the spread of COVID-19 infection. The development of such fit-for-purpose technologies hinges on a proper understanding of the transmission, incubation, and structural characteristics of the virus in the external environment and within the host. Hence, this article describes the development of an intrinsic model to describe the incubation characteristics of the virus under varying environmental factors. It also discusses on the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 structural nucleocapsid protein properties via computational approaches to generate high-affinity binding probes for effective diagnosis and targeted treatment applications by specific targeting of viruses. In addition, this article provides useful insights on the transmission behavior of the virus and creates new opportunities for theranostics development.     

Sex-related differences in transmission of hepatitis B infection in a Melanesian population

Factors involved in the spread of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the largely Melanesian population (N = 909) of Graciosa Bay, Ndeni, are examined. Based upon cultural information from Ndeni and ways in which HBV is spread in other populations, certain practices and interactions, predicted as effective routes of HBV infection, are analyzed. Most significant are father-to-son transmission and older-brother-to-younger-sibling transmission, indicating that males are instrumental in the transmission of HBV on Ndeni. Other possible routes of HBV transmission that are not shown to be significant on Ndeni are significant modes of disease spread in other cultures. Cross-cultural differences are discussed with regard to behavior, age of infection, and persistence of HBeAg (an antigen linked to HBV infection). Particularly with regard to maternal transmission, it is clear that the average age of infection combined with the degree of HBeAg persistence limits the number of infective mothers in this population. Cultural practices, however, may explain the disproportion of male carriers over 30 implicating a largely extinct set of culturally sanctioned practices involving very early exposure to HBV in boys and their age-related inability to make antibody to the virus.     

密切关注新型冠状病毒肺炎并发、继发侵袭性真菌感染

新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2019,COVID-19)在中国武汉暴发波及全国,截至2月14日,死亡人数已经超过 1 300,严重威胁人类的生命。《新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎诊疗方案(试行第五版)》中采用的抗病毒、抗细菌、激素、机械通气和循环支持等治疗手段,均为引发真菌感染的高危因素。当患者继发真菌感染时,病死率会大幅提升。因此,应制定科学、规范的预警技术,以便早期发现真菌感染;研发便捷、高效、低廉和覆盖面广的抗高发侵袭性真菌感染的诊断试剂盒以及新型抗菌材料防护物品,确保做到早期预警、明确诊断、精准治疗和有效防护,以应对可能出现的COVID-19继发严重真菌感染的状况。密切关注COVID-19并发、继发性真菌感染具有重要的现实意义。     

A mini-review on the effects of COVID-19 on younger individuals

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has uprooted our lives like never before since its onset in the late December 2019. The world has seen mounting infections and deaths over the past few months despite the unprecedented measures countries are implementing, such as lockdowns, social distancing, mask-wearing, and banning gatherings in large groups. Interestingly, young individuals seem less likely to be impacted by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19. While the rate of transmission, symptom presentation, and fatality is lower in children than people from other age groups, they have been disproportionately affected by strict lockdown measures needed to curb viral spread. In this review, we describe the association between patient age and COVID-19, epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, psychological effects associated with lockdowns and school closures, and possible mechanisms underlying lower transmission rate of COVID-19 in children.     

Herbal immune-boosters: Substantial warriors of pandemic Covid-19 battle

Current scenario depicts that world has been clenched by COVID-19 pandemic. Inevitably, public health and safety measures could be undertaken in order to dwindle the infection threat and mortality. Moreover, to overcome the global menace and drawing out world from moribund stage, there is an exigency for social distancing and quarantines. Since December, 2019, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have came into existence and up till now world is still in the state of shock.At this point of time, COVID-19 has entered perilous phase, creating havoc among individuals, and this has been directly implied due to enhanced globalisation and ability of the virus to acclimatize at all conditions. The unabated transmission is due to lack of drugs, vaccines and therapeutics against this viral outbreak. But research is still underway to formulate the vaccines or drugs by this means, as scientific communities are continuously working to unravel the pharmacologically active compounds that might offer a new insight for curbing infections and pandemics. Therefore, the topical COVID-19 situation highlights an immediate need for effective therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. Towards this effort, the present review discusses the vital concepts related to COVID-19, in terms of its origin, transmission, clinical aspects and diagnosis. However, here, we have formulated the novel concept hitherto, ancient means of traditional medicines or herbal plants to beat this pandemic.     

Ocular transmissibility of COVID-19: possibilities and perspectives

Since the initial outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), extensive research has emerged from across the globe to understand the pathophysiology of this novel coronavirus. Transmission of this virus is a subject of particular interest as researchers work to understand which protective and preventative measures are most effective. Despite the well understood model of aerosol-respiratory mediated transmission, the exact mechanism underlying the inoculation, infection and spread of COVID-19 is currently unknown. Given anatomical positioning and near constant exposure to aerosolized pathogens, the eye may be a possible gateway for COVID-19 infection. This critical review explores the possibility of an ocular-systemic or ocular–nasal–pulmonic pathway of COVID-19 infection and includes novel insights into the possible immunological mechanisms leading to cytokine surge.

     

Functional consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women,fetoplacental unit,and neonate

The SARS-CoV-2 infection causes COVID-19 disease, characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome, bilateral pneumonia, and organ failure. The consequences of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection for the pregnant woman, fetus, and neonate are controversial. Thus, it is required to determine whether there is viral and non-viral vertical transmission in COVID-19. The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 leads to functional alterations in asymptomatic and symptomatic pregnant women, the fetoplacental unit and the neonate. Several diseases of pregnancy, including COVID-19, affect the fetoplacental function, which causes in utero programming for young and adult diseases. A generalized inflammatory state and a higher risk of infection are seen in pregnant women with COVID-19. Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension may increase the vulnerability of pregnant women to infection by SARS-CoV-2. Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 show specific mutations that seem to increase the capacity of the virus to infect the pregnant woman, likely due to increasing its interaction via the virus S protein and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors. This review shows the literature addressing to what extent COVID-19 in pregnancy affects the pregnant woman, fetoplacental unit, and neonate. Prospective studies that are key in managing SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy are discussed.     

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): diagnosis and prognosis

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic with a high rate of transmission. Currently, there is a lack of vaccines and specific drugs for this newly-emerged virus. Timely diagnosis and treatment, as well as isolation of patients and virus carriers, contribute to the effective prevention and control of this epidemic. This review focuses on early stage COVID-19 diagnosis methods and strategies, highlighting the guiding role of laboratory indicators on treatment strategy formulation, and prognosis assessments.     

Contribution of traditional Chinese medicine to the treatment of COVID-19

COVID-19 as an epidemic disease has spread across the planet since December 2019. The somber situation reminds each country to take actions in preventing the spreading of the virus. China as one of the early affected countries has been fighting against the novel coronavirus with the achievements of nearly 80,000 cured confirmed patients. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has made contributions to the treatment of COVID-19 because of its efficacy and comprehensive therapeutic theory. In this commentary, the advantage, etiology and mechanism of TCM therapy were discussed in the aspect of its functions in reducing the harms brought by COVID-19 to human beings.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控期间内镜诊疗相关感染防控建议

针对2019年底出现在我国的新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情,全国上下拼尽全力积极抗疫。目前全国疫情在得到良好控制的同时,各大医疗机构为防控疫情纷纷暂停的各项高风险诊疗项目也陆续开诊。由此根据国家卫生健康委员会最新发布的《新型冠状病毒肺炎诊疗方案(试行第八版)》及《新型冠状病毒肺炎防控方案(第七版)》等文件,结合相关国家规范对新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控期间消化内镜、支气管镜及喉镜(软镜)诊疗的感染防控措施进行梳理和总结,提出相关建议以供临床医务工作者参考。     

Assessment of global asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and management practices from China

With ongoing research, it was found that asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was widespread in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) populations. Studies have confirmed asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 have potential infectivity, and most of the transmission occurred before symptoms appear. Asymptomatic infection rates varied widely in different countries and regions. Identifying the asymptomatic infected persons and cutting off the infection source is an effective way to prevent the spread of this disease. However, asymptomatic patients have hidden clinical symptoms, and screening based only on the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 can easily lead to a missed diagnosis. Therefore, determining asymptomatic infection patients by SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing is the gold standard. A series of prevention and control measures adopted by the Chinese government, especially the “Four Early” policy, have achieved outstanding achievements, which are worth learning from by other countries.