scholarly journals Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of New Coronavirus Pandemic: A Novel Promising Therapeutic Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Razi ◽  
Zahra Molavi ◽  
Seyed Amir Mirmotalebisohi ◽  
Zahra Niknam ◽  
Marzieh Sameni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
World Health ◽  
Host Immune System ◽  
Infected People ◽  
Promising Therapeutic Approach ◽  
The Us ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Health Organization

After SARS and MERS outbreaks, COVID-19 is the third coronavirus epidemic that soon turned into a pandemic. This virus causes acute respiratory syndrome in infected people. The mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection will probably rise unless efficient treatments or vaccines are developed. The global funding and medical communities have started performing more than five hundred clinical examinations on a broad spectrum of repurposed drugs to acquire effective treatments. Besides, other novel treatment approaches have also recently emerged, including cellular host-directed therapies. They counteract the unwanted responses of the host immune system that led to the severe pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. This brief review focuses on Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) principles in treating the COVID-19. The US clinical trials database and the world health organization database for clinical trials have reported 82 clinical trials (altogether) exploring the effects of MSCs in COVID-19 treatment. MSCs also had better be tried for treating other pathogens worldwide. MSC treatment may have the potential to end the high mortality rate of COVID-19. Besides, it also limits the long-term inability of survivors.

scholarly journals Long-Term GeneXpert Positivity after Treatment for Pulmonary Tuberculosis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Costantini ◽  
Marco Marando ◽  
Pietro Gianella
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid Amplification Test ◽  
Nucleic Acid Amplification ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Process ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Culture Negative

Tuberculosis (TB) is a cause of ill health and death worldwide. Since 2010, the diagnostic process has strongly relied on GeneXpert assays on biological specimens. Xpert MTB/RIF is an automated nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance, endorsed by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. Xpert is used in many countries as the initial diagnostic test for tuberculosis. Nevertheless, the reliability of GeneXpert positive tests in patients with a history of TB is largely unknown, due to possible false-positive results (i.e., GeneXpert-positive but culture-negative patients). We present a case report of a patient with a history of pulmonary TB, who was GeneXpert positive but culture negative on bronchoalveolar lavage 22 months after completion of appropriate antitubercular therapy.

scholarly journals Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children - a clinical example in pediatrics

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-260
Author(s):  
V. M. Dudnyk ◽  
V. Н. Furman ◽  
I. I. Andrikevych ◽  
N. O. Buglova ◽  
O. V. Кutsak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Serological Test ◽  
World Health ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Coronavirus Infection ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Inflammatory Syndrome

Annotation. Peculiarities of clinical course and differential diagnosis of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children with coronavirus infection are described. The main features of this disease are long-term fever, multiorgan dysfunction, laboratory signs of inflammation and positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 (polymerase chain reaction using reverse transcription (RT-PCR), antigen test or positive serological test). The criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are used to confirm the MIS-C diagnosis.

scholarly journals PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
ROMAN MARKOVIČ ◽  
PETER ŽIŠKA ◽  
ŠIMONEK JAROMÍR
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Inactivity ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
World Health ◽  
Infected People ◽  
Public Facilities ◽  
Organ Systems ◽  
Regulatory Capacity ◽  
Health Organization

On 31 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global state of public health threat following the outbreak of a new coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 infection. To prevent spreading of the disease, various measures such as closing institutions, curfews, locking the country, and targeted quarantine for suspects and infected people are implemented in different countries. Physical inactivity caused by long-term quarantine measures may reduce the regulatory capacity of organ systems to resist viral infections, such as the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This article aims to advise on how the physical population should exercise physical activity and athletes who are quarantined or, as a result of the measures, are unable to fully exercise in public facilities. As a solution to the lack of physical activity, taking into account the limitations of this time, we proposed a movement program, which we want to contribute to the prevention of disease in COVID-19 and to better manage the current pandemic situation.

scholarly journals Clinical trial reporting performance of thirty UK universities on ClinicalTrials.gov—evaluation of a new tracking tool for the US clinical trial registry

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarai Mirjam Keestra ◽  
Florence Rodgers ◽  
Daphne Lenz ◽  
Rhiannon Osborne ◽  
Till Bruckner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Median Number ◽  
World Health ◽  
Trial Registry ◽  
Clinical Trial Registry ◽  
Link Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Uk

AbstractClinical trial transparency forms the foundation of evidence-based medicine, and trial sponsors, especially publicly funded institutions such as universities, have an ethical and scientific responsibility to make the results of clinical trials publicly available in a timely fashion. We assessed whether the thirty UK universities receiving the most Medical Research Council funding in 2017–2018 complied with World Health Organization best practices for clinical trial reporting on the US Clinical Trial Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov). Firstly, we developed and evaluated a novel automated tracking tool (clinical-trials-tracker.com) for clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. This tracker identifies the number of due trials (whose completion lies more than 395 days in the past) that have not reported results on the registry and can now be used for all sponsors. Secondly, we used the tracker to determine the number of due clinical trials sponsored by the selected UK universities in October 2020. Thirdly, using the FDAAA Trials Tracker, we identified trials sponsored by these universities that are not complying with reporting requirements under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act 2007. Finally, we quantified the average and median number of days between primary completion date and results posting. In October 2020, the universities included in our study were sponsoring 1634 due trials, only 1.6% (n = 26) of which had reported results within a year of completion. 89.8% (n = 1468) of trials remained unreported, and 8.6% (n = 140) of trials reported results late. We also identified 687 trials that contained inconsistent data, suggesting that UK universities often fail to update their data adequately on ClinicalTrials.gov. The mean reporting delay after primary completion for trials that posted results was 981 days, the median 728 days. Only four trials by UK universities violated the FDAAA 2007. We suggest a number of reasons for the poor reporting performance of UK universities on ClinicalTrials.gov: (i) efforts to improve clinical trial reporting in the UK have to date focused on the European clinical trial registry (EU CTR), (ii) the absence of a tracking tool for timely reporting on ClinicalTrials.gov has limited the visibility of institutions’ reporting performance on the US registry and (iii) there is currently a lack of repercussions for UK sponsors who fail to report results on ClinicalTrials.gov which should be addressed in the future.

scholarly journals Does Zero-COVID neglect health disparities?

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2021-107763
Author(s):  
Nancy S Jecker ◽  
Derrick K S Au
Keyword(s):  
Health Equity ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Us ◽  
Community Transmission ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Ethical Basis

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) first declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, diverse strategies have emerged to address it. This paper focuses on two leading strategies, elimination and mitigation, and examines their ethical basis. Elimination or ‘Zero-COVID’ dominates policies in Pacific Rim societies. It sets as a goal zero deaths and seeks to contain transmission using stringent short-term lockdowns, followed by strict find, test, trace and isolate methods. Mitigation, which dominates in the US and most European nations, sets targets for community transmission and lifts restrictions once targets are met. This approach takes calculated risks and regards a certain amount of disease and death as ethically justified. Section I examines different societal responses to risk that underlie these different policy approaches. Section II focuses on ethical arguments favouring Zero-COVID and raises health equity objections. Section III proposes a long-term strategy that balances the twin goals of promoting population health and health equity.

Synchronized movement between US lumber futures and southern pine sawtimber prices and COVID-19 impacts

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianbang Gan ◽  
Nana Tian ◽  
Junyeong Choi ◽  
Matthew Pelkki
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Southern Pine ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

We analyzed the synchronized movements of lumber futures and southern pine sawtimber stumpage prices in the United States since 2011 and their response to COVID-19 events using wavelet analysis and event study. We found that the sawtimber and lumber prices have followed complex comovement patterns in the time-frequency domain and both reacted to COVID-19 events with a higher response intensity of the lumber price. Although they reacted differently to the early COVID-19 episodes and vaccine news, the sawtimber and lumber prices responded similarly to the COVID-19 pandemic declarations by the World Health Organization and US president, the US Food and Drug Administration panel’s recommendation of the first COVID-19 vaccine, and economic stimulus legislation. The patterns of synchronized movements between the sawtimber and lumber prices varied with time and frequency, but their comovement at low frequencies (>64 weeks) has strengthened since 2014 and been led by the lumber futures price; COVID-19 episodes have not changed this trend. The different magnitude of response of the two prices to the COVID-19 related events, as well as the long-term dominance of the lumber price in the comovement, reveals asymmetric price negotiation power and benefit distributions among the agents of the lumber value chain.

scholarly journals Mortality and long-term course in schizophrenia with a poor 2-year course

2001 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramin Mojtabai ◽  
Ezra Susser ◽  
Vijoy K. Varma ◽  
Savita Malhotra ◽  
Surendra K. Mattoo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Poor Prognosis ◽  
World Health ◽  
Severe Mental Disorders ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
First Contact

BackgroundThe short-term course of schizophrenia is reported to be better in some developing country settings. The long-term course in such settings, however, has rarely been studied.AimsTo examine the long-term course and mortality of schizophrenia in patients with a poor 2-year course.MethodThe report is based on two incidence cohorts of first-contact patients in urban and rural Chandigarh, India, originally recruited for the World Health Organization Determinants of Outcome of Severe Mental Disorders study. Patients were assessed using standardised instruments at 2- and 15-year follow-ups.ResultsNinety-two per cent of the patients with a poor 2-year course had a poor long-term course and 47% died – a nine times higher mortality rate than among patients with other 2-year course types.ConclusionsIn this developing country setting, a poor 2-year course was strongly predictive of poor prognosis and high mortality, raising questions about the adequacy of care for such patients.

Recent developments and opportunities in fighting COVID-19

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikram Rao ◽  
Subrat Kumar Bhattamisra
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Therapeutic Molecules ◽  
Discharged Patients ◽  
Extensive Literature Search ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Health Organization

Background: COVID-19, a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) was first diagnosed in the patients from Wuhan, China in December 2019. Within couple of months of infection, it was declared as pandemic by World health organization. COVID-19 has become the most contagious infection with a serious threat to global health. In this review, we aimed to discuss the pathogenesis, diagnostics, current treatments and potential vaccines for COVID-19. Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted using keywords “COVID-19”; “Coronavirus”; “SARS-Cov-2”; “SARS” in public domains of Google, Google scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Selected articles were used to construct this review. Results: SARS-Cov-2 uses the Spike (S) protein on its surface to recognize the receptor on angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and bind with 10-folds greater affinity than SARS-Cov-1. Molecular assays and immunoassays are the most frequently used tests whereas computed tomography (CT) scans, Artificial intelligence enabled diagnostic tools were also used in patients. In therapeutic treatment, few drugs were repurposed and there are 23 therapeutic molecules including the repurposed drugs are in different stages of clinical trial. Similarly, development of vaccines is also in the pipeline. Few countries have managed well to contain the spread by rapid testing and identifying the clusters. Conclusion: Till now, the acute complications and mortality of COVID-19 has been linked to the pre-existing comorbid conditions or age. Besides the development of therapeutic strategies that includes drugs and vaccine, the long term implication of COVID-19 infection in terms of the disorder/disability in the cured/discharged patients is a new area to investigate.

scholarly journals Potential Prophylactic Treatments for COVID-19

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1292
Author(s):  
Noam Ben-Zuk ◽  
Ido-David Dechtman ◽  
Itai Henn ◽  
Libby Weiss ◽  
Amichay Afriat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Mild Disease ◽  
Clinical Background ◽  
Repurposed Drugs ◽  
Prophylactic Use ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Medical Indications ◽  
Respiratory Droplets ◽  
Near Future

The World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern at the end of January 2020 and a pandemic two months later. The virus primarily spreads between humans via respiratory droplets, and is the causative agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which can vary in severity, from asymptomatic or mild disease (the vast majority of the cases) to respiratory failure, multi-organ failure, and death. Recently, several vaccines were approved for emergency use against SARS-CoV-2. However, their worldwide availability is acutely limited, and therefore, SARS-CoV-2 is still expected to cause significant morbidity and mortality in the upcoming year. Hence, additional countermeasures are needed, particularly pharmaceutical drugs that are widely accessible, safe, scalable, and affordable. In this comprehensive review, we target the prophylactic arena, focusing on small-molecule candidates. In order to consolidate a potential list of such medications, which were categorized as either antivirals, repurposed drugs, or miscellaneous, a thorough screening for relevant clinical trials was conducted. A brief molecular and/or clinical background is provided for each potential drug, rationalizing its prophylactic use as an antiviral or inflammatory modulator. Drug safety profiles are discussed, and current medical indications and research status regarding their relevance to COVID-19 are shortly reviewed. In the near future, a significant body of information regarding the effectiveness of drugs being clinically studied for COVID-19 is expected to accumulate, in addition to information regarding the efficacy of prophylactic treatments.

scholarly journals Psychometric validation of the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales among elderly residents in long-term care facilities with joint contractures

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-chang Chen ◽  
Keh-chung Lin ◽  
Chen-Jung Chen ◽  
Shu-Hui Yeh ◽  
Ay-Woan Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Chinese Version ◽  
World Health ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Joint Contractures ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Joint contractures, which affect activity, participation, and quality of life, are common complications of neurological conditions among elderly residents in long-term care facilities. This study examined the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales in a population with joint contractures. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used. The sample included elderly residents older than 64 years with joint contractures in an important joint who had lived at one of 12 long-term care facilities in Taiwan for more than 6 months (N = 243). The Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales for joint contractures was generated from the English version through five stages: translation, review, back-translation, review by a panel of specialists, and a pretest. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity were evaluated, and the results were compared with those for the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule. Results The Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales had excellent reliability, with a Cronbach α coefficient of 0.975 (mean score, 28.98; standard deviation, 17.34). An exploratory factor analysis showed three factors and one factor with an eigenvalue > 1 that explained 75.176 and 62.83 % of the total variance in the Activity subscale and Participation subscale, respectively. The subscale-to-total scale correlation analysis showed Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.881 for the Activity subscale and 0.843 for the Participation subscale. Pearson’s product-moment correlation revealed that the correlation coefficient (r) between the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule was 0.770, whereas that for the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale was − 0.553; these values were interpreted as large coefficients. Conclusions The underlying theoretical model of the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales functions well in Taiwan and has acceptable levels of reliability and validity. However, the Chinese version must be further tested for applicability and generalizability in future studies, preferably with a larger sample and in different clinical domains.

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