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Topic Review
Lung Microbiome in Critically Ill Patients
The microbiome is a diverse ecosystem that includes all host-associated microorganisms and their genomes. These microorganisms belong to various kingdoms including some potential pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. To obtain a comprehensive view of the lung microbiome, including not only bacterial but also viral and fungal data, is of great value to improve our understanding of critical lung illnesses such as VAP or ARDS. The evolution of the lung microbiome over time and the description of its dysbiosis will be key elements to improve diagnosis and preventive measures in ventilated patients.
  • 540
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Metal and Metal Oxide Nanomaterials
The misuse and mismanagement of antibiotics have made the treatment of bacterial infections a challenge. This challenge is magnified when bacteria form biofilms, which can increase bacterial resistance up to 1000 times. It is desirable to develop anti-infective materials with antibacterial activity and no resistance to drugs. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, anti-infective strategies based on metal and metal oxide nanomaterials have been widely used in antibacterial and antibiofilm treatments.
  • 538
  • 02 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Major Pharmacological Actions of Quercetin
Quercetin (3,3′,4′,5,7-pentahydroxy-2-phenylchromen-4-one), the major representative of the flavonoid subclass of flavonols, is derived from the Latin word “Quercetum,” meaning “Oak Forest”. It can be found in a variety of foods, including fruits and vegetables, and has been reported to be effective against a variety of viruses. 
  • 537
  • 02 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Treatment of Invasive Candidiasis
Candida species, belonging to commensal microbial communities in humans, cause opportunistic infections in individuals with impaired immunity. Pathogens encountered in more than 90% cases of invasive candidiasis include C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. tropicalis, and C. parapsilosis. The most frequently diagnosed invasive infection is candidemia. About 50% of candidemia cases result in deep-seated infection due to hematogenous spread. The sensitivity of blood cultures in autopsy-proven invasive candidiasis ranges from 21% to 71%. Non-cultural methods (beta-D-glucan, T2Candida assays), especially beta-D-glucan in combination with procalcitonin, appear promising in the exclusion of invasive candidiasis with high sensitivity (98%) and negative predictive value (95%). There is currently a clear deficiency in approved sensitive and precise diagnostic techniques. Omics technologies seem promising, though require further development and study. Therapeutic options for invasive candidiasis are generally limited to four classes of systemic antifungals (polyenes, antimetabolite 5-fluorocytosine, azoles, echinocandins) with the two latter being highly effective and well-tolerated and hence the most widely used.
  • 536
  • 21 Jun 2022
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 and Cancer Cross-Talk
Since the pandemic’s onset, a growing population of individuals has recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and its long-term effects in some of the convalescents are gradually being reported. Although the precise etiopathogenesis of post-acute COVID-19 sequelae (PACS) remains elusive, the mainly accepted rationale is that SARS-CoV-2 exerts long-lasting immunomodulatory effects, promotes chronic low-grade inflammation, and causes irreversible tissue damage. Several viruses have been causally linked to human oncogenesis, whereas chronic inflammation and immune escape are thought to be the leading oncogenic mechanisms. Excessive cytokine release, impaired T-cell responses, aberrant activation of regulatory signaling pathways (e.g., JAK-STAT, MAPK, NF-kB), and tissue damage, hallmarks of COVID-19 disease course, are also present in the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, the intersection of COVID-19 and cancer is partially recognized and the long-term effects of the virus on oncogenesis and cancer progression have not been explored yet.
  • 536
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Vaccinations of COVID-19
Vaccination has been identified as a critical method of disease control in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. This research updated information on vaccine development and to identify areas of concern that require further research. The researchers reviewed the literature on the development of COVID-19 vaccines, their efficacy, and use in special populations, as well as current vaccination strategies. To date, 170 vaccines are in clinical development, with 41 being already approved for use in various countries. The majority of vaccines approved for human use are vector-, subunit-, DNA-, or mRNA-based vaccines, or inactivated viruses. Because of the ongoing mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, well-studied vector vaccines are losing relevance due to the ability of new virus strains to bypass neutralizing antibodies. Simultaneously, PS-based vaccines are becoming more popular. There is mounting evidence that the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines is linked to their clinical efficacy. This has resulted in a shift in vaccination strategies, as well as the use of booster doses and revaccination. Furthermore, vaccination restrictions for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with chronic immunosuppressive diseases have been lifted, allowing more people to be vaccinated. New data on vaccine safety, including the incidence of serious adverse events, have been collected. Despite significant advances in the development of and research on COVID-19 vaccines, many questions remain that require further investigation.
  • 536
  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Trial Results
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed over 7 million lives worldwide, providing a stark reminder of the importance of pandemic preparedness. Due to the lack of approved antiviral drugs effective against coronaviruses at the start of the pandemic, the world largely relied on repurposed efforts. Here, the researchers summarise results from randomised controlled trials to date, as well as selected in vitro data of directly acting antivirals, host-targeting antivirals, and immunomodulatory drugs. Overall, repurposing efforts evaluating directly acting antivirals targeting other viral families were largely unsuccessful, whereas several immunomodulatory drugs led to clinical improvement in hospitalised patients with severe disease. In addition, accelerated drug discovery efforts during the pandemic progressed to multiple novel directly acting antivirals with clinical efficacy, including small molecule inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies.
  • 536
  • 09 Jan 2024
Topic Review
WT Parent Virus for Effective LAIV
Current influenza vaccine candidates, for potential use in vaccine manufacturing, are reassortants of master donor virus (MDV) with wild-type (WT) virus that is antigenically similar to the recommended strain. MDVs have all the necessary characteristics for the type of vaccines of which they are intended. Two types of MDVs are used in the preparation of influenza vaccines—high-yielding donors for IIV and temperature-sensitive (ts) and cold-adapted (ca) donors of attenuation—for LAIV. There are a number of main features of WT influenza virus that may dramatically affect different aspects of the preparation of egg-derived live attenuated vaccine candidates and their effectiveness. 
  • 532
  • 30 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Host Defense Peptides
Host defense peptides (HDPs), also known as antimicrobial peptides, are an important component of the innate immune system. HDPs possess both antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties. HDPs and their derivatives are being actively explored for antimicrobial therapies. A host-directed approach to stimulate the synthesis of endogenous HDPs is also being developed to treat infections with a minimum risk for developing antimicrobial resistance.
  • 532
  • 18 Apr 2023
Topic Review
FimH and Anti-Adhesive Therapeutics
Chaperone-usher fimbrial adhesins are powerful weapons against the uropathogens that allow the establishment of urinary tract infections (UTIs). As the antibiotic therapeutic strategy has become less effective in the treatment of uropathogen-related UTIs, the anti-adhesive molecules active against fimbrial adhesins, key determinants of urovirulence, are attractive alternatives. The best-characterized bacterial adhesin is FimH, produced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). Hence, a number of high-affinity mono- and polyvalent mannose-based FimH antagonists, characterized by different bioavailabilities, have been reported. Given that antagonist affinities are firmly associated with the functional heterogeneities of different FimH variants, several FimH inhibitors have been developed using ligand-drug discovery strategies to generate high-affinity molecules for successful anti-adhesion therapy. As clinical trials have shown d-mannose’s efficacy in UTIs prevention, it is supposed that mannosides could be a first-in-class strategy not only for UTIs, but also to combat other Gram-negative bacterial infections. 
  • 532
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Efficacy and Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines
The major determinants of vaccine acceptance are vaccine safety and efficacy. Most COVID-19 vaccines have mild side effects, such as pain at the site of injection, tiredness, headache, fever, or shivering for 1–2 days after vaccination. Very rare side effects include allergic reactions and blood clotting problems, the latter affecting a small number of people who had the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Vaccine efficacy is defined as the degree to which a vaccine prevents disease, and possibly, also its transmission under ideal and controlled circumstances; this is determined by comparing a vaccinated group with a placebo group in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Vaccine effectiveness also refers to how well the vaccine performs in the real world based on observational studies.
  • 531
  • 04 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Cardiac Rehabilitation in COVID-19 Patients
Recent scientific literature has investigated the cardiovascular implications of COVID-19. The mechanisms of cardiovascular damage seem to involve the protein angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), to which severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus-2 (CoV-2) binds to penetrate cells and other mechanisms, most of which are still under study. Cardiovascular sequelae of COVID-19 include heart failure, cardiomyopathy, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmias, and venous thromboembolism.
  • 530
  • 24 May 2021
Topic Review
Type I Interferons in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection
Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of mortality due to infectious disease and rates have increased during the emergence of COVID-19, but many of the factors determining disease severity and progression remain unclear. Type I Interferons (IFNs) have diverse effector functions that regulate innate and adaptive immunity during infection with microorganisms. 
  • 530
  • 01 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Sarilumab Administration in COVID-19 Patients
COVID-19 pathogenesis consists of a first viral phase responsible for early symptoms followed by an inflammatory phase, cytokine-mediated, responsible for late-onset manifestations up to ARDS. The dysregulated immune response has an outstanding role in the progression of pulmonary damage in COVID-19. IL-6, through the induction of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines, plays a key role in the development and maintenance of inflammation, acting as a pioneer of the hyperinflammatory condition and cytokine storm in severe COVID-19. Therefore, drugs targeting both IL-6 and IL-6 receptors have been evaluated in order to blunt the abnormal SARS-CoV-2-induced cytokine release. Sarilumab, a high-affinity anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, may represent a promising weapon to treat the fearsome hyperinflammatory phase by improving the outcome of patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
  • 529
  • 20 May 2022
Topic Review
Th22 Cells in Infectious Diseases
T helper 22 (Th22) cells, a newly defined CD4+ T-cell lineage, are characterized by their distinct cytokine profile, which primarily consists of IL-13, IL-22 and TNF-α. Th22 cells express a wide spectrum of chemokine receptors, such as CCR4, CCR6 and CCR10. The main effector molecule secreted by Th22 cells is IL-22, a member of the IL-10 family, which acts by binding to IL-22R and triggering a complex downstream signaling system. Th22 cells and IL-22 have been found to play variable roles in human immunity. In preventing the progression of infections such as HIV and influenza, Th22/IL-22 exhibited protective anti-inflammatory characteristics, and their deleterious proinflammatory activities have been demonstrated to exacerbate other illnesses, including hepatitis B and Helicobacter pylori infection.
  • 529
  • 17 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Pentoxifylline for COVID-19
Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a drug that exhibits broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects through mechanisms involving the adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR), in parallel with rheological effects.
  • 528
  • 31 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Treatment of Enterococcus faecalis Infective Endocarditis
Today, Enterococcus faecalis is one of the main causes of infective endocarditis in the world, generally affecting an elderly and fragile population, with a high mortality rate. Enterococci are partially resistant to many commonly used antimicrobial agents such as penicillin and ampicillin, as well as high-level resistance to most cephalosporins and sometimes carbapenems, because of low-affinity penicillin-binding proteins, that lead to an unacceptable number of therapeutic failures with monotherapy. 
  • 526
  • 18 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Autophagy Pharmacological Modulators and COVID-19
The family of coronaviruses (CoVs) uses the autophagy machinery of host cells to promote their growth and replication. Pharmacological or pharmacogenomics tools might be used to modulate autofaphy, and these processes stand out potential targets to combat COVID-19.
  • 525
  • 24 May 2021
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 and its New Variants
Since the beginning of 2020, the new pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 and named coronavirus disease 19 (COVID 19) has changed our socio-economic life. In just a few months, SARS-CoV-2 was able to spread worldwide at an unprecedented speed, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, especially among the weakest part of the population. Indeed, especially at the beginning of this pandemic, many reports highlighted how people, suffering from other pathologies, such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, are more at risk of severe outcomes if infected. Although this pandemic has put the entire academic world to the test, it has also been a year of intense research and many important contributions have advanced our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 origin, its molecular structure and its mechanism of infection. Unfortunately, despite this great effort, we are still a long way from fully understanding how SARS-CoV-2 dysregulates organismal physiology and whether the current vaccines will be able to protect us from possible future pandemics.
  • 525
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Acute Infective Endocarditis
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a potentially fatal disease with a mortality rate of over 20%, largely unmodified over recent decades. Mechanisms of IE pathogenesis are still incompletely understood but involve bacteria, host immune responses and the coagulation system.
  • 525
  • 30 Nov 2021
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