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Topic Review
Basophils and Mast Cells in COVID-19 Pathogenesis
Basophils and mast cells are among the principal inducers of Th2 responses and have a crucial role in allergic and anti-parasitic protective immunity. Basophils can function as antigen-presenting cells that bind antigens on their surface and boost humoral immune responses, inducing Th2 cell differentiation. Their depletion results in lower humoral memory activation and greater infection susceptibility. Basophils seem to have an active role upon immune response to SARS-CoV-2. In fact, a coordinate adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is magnified by basophils. It has been observed that basophil amount is lower during acute disease with respect to the recovery phase and that the grade of this depletion is an important determinant of the antibody response to the virus. Moreover, mast cells, present in a great quantity in the nasal epithelial and lung cells, participate in the first immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Their activation results in a hyperinflammatory syndrome through the release of inflammatory molecules, participating to the “cytokine storm” and, in a longer period, inducing pulmonary fibrosis. 
  • 672
  • 01 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Connections between COVID-19 and Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases and SARS-CoV-2 infections are intertwined in several ways. Both conditions lead to immune-mediated tissue damage, the immune response is accompanied by the increased secretion of inflammatory cytokines and both conditions can be treated using immunomodulatory drugs. Patients with certain autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, cardiac sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, autoimmune hepatitis, multiple sclerosis and others, are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, either because of the active autoimmune disease or because of the medications used to treat it. Conversely, SARS-CoV-2 infection can also cause certain autoimmune diseases. 
  • 670
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales
Improper use of antimicrobials has resulted in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including multi-drug resistance (MDR) among bacteria. Recently, a sudden increase in Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) has been observed. This presents a substantial challenge in the treatment of CRE-infected individuals. Bacterial plasmids include the genes for carbapenem resistance, which can also spread to other bacteria to make them resistant. The incidence of CRE is rising significantly despite the efforts of health authorities, clinicians, and scientists. Many genotypic and phenotypic techniques are available to identify CRE. However, effective identification requires the integration of two or more methods. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), an advanced molecular approach, helps identify new strains of CRE and screening of the patient population; however, WGS is challenging to apply in clinical settings due to the complexity and high expense involved with this technique.
  • 669
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Parasitic Connection between COVID-19 and Diarylamidines
As emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants (Omicron) continue to outpace and negate combinatorial vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies targeting the spike protein (S) receptor binding domain (RBD), the appetite for developing similar COVID-19 treatments has significantly diminished, with the attention of the scientific community switching to long COVID treatments.
  • 665
  • 21 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Discovery, Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Gomesin
Gomesin is a cationic antimicrobial peptide which is isolated from the haemocytes of the Brazilian tarantula Acanthoscurria gomesiana and can be produced chemically by Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis. Gomesin exhibits a range of biological activities, as demonstrated by its toxicity against therapeutically relevant pathogens such as Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, cancer cells, and parasites.
  • 664
  • 04 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Monkeypox Infection 2022 in Adults and Children
Contributors : Francesca Gaeta  Francesco De Caro  Gianluigi Franci  Pasquale Pagliano  Pietro Vajro  Claudia Mandato Monkeypox disease has been endemic in sub-Saharan Africa for a long time, attracting remarkable attention only in 2022 through the occurrence of a multi-country outbreak. The latter has raised serious public health concerns and is considered a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Although the disease is usually self-limiting, it can cause severe illness in individuals with compromised immune systems, in children, and/or the pregnant woman–fetus dyad. Patients generally present with fever, lymphadenopathy, and a vesicular rash suggestive of mild smallpox. Serious eye, lung and brain complications, and sepsis can occur. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9121832
  • 663
  • 13 Dec 2022
Topic Review
COVID-19 in the Brain and Nervous System
COVID-19 can spread throughout the central nervous system, impacting the brain and spinal cord, and neurological symptoms could explain this in people infected with long-term infection.
  • 658
  • 29 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Tuberculosis Treatment and Impact of Drug Delivery Systems
With an incidence of ten million cases and between one and two million deaths each year, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious agent currently. In this entry, the general physiopathology of tuberculosis is described, as well as the drugs constituting the first- and second-line treatments. The potential of nanosized drug delivery systems for the treatment of tuberculosis is also highlighted.
  • 657
  • 31 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Infections Caused by Fungi of the Genus Candida
Colonizing mucous membranes, mainly the oral cavity, intestines, vagina, and skin, fungi of the genus Candida are part of the human microbiota. Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common types of vaginal infections in women around the world and is often underestimated by both patients and doctors. 
  • 656
  • 01 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Mediterranean Wild Edible Plants
Mediterranean wild edible plants (MWEPs) and their antimicrobial properties have been known from ancient times, and nowadays, a growing number of people have rediscovered them as natural remedies for common infections. One of the problems concerning their use is the heterogeneity of the protocols used to extract and analyze the properties of their active principles; such heterogeneity still marks the overall set of scientific studies on MWEPs, not to mention the enormous heterogeneity that characterizes the properties of plants at the outset. We reviewed the current literature on medicinal value of Mediterranean native edible plants trying to emphasize both the weaknesses and the opportunities of these plants. The majority of the reviewed MWEPs can inhibit both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and fungi.
  • 655
  • 24 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Animal Models and Helicobacter pylori Infection
Helicobacter pylori colonize the gastric mucosa of at least half of the world’s population. Persistent infection is associated with the development of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and an increased risk of gastric cancer and gastric-mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. 
  • 653
  • 14 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Host Response to SARS-CoV-2
The massive expansion of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has urged countries to introduce lockdowns and set restrictive actions worldwide. When viruses attach to host receptors they penetrate into host cells by fusing with their membrane through endocytosis.
  • 653
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Microbiological Perspectives in COVID-19 Pandemics
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains a significant issue for global health, the economy, and society. When SARS-CoV-2 began to spread, the most recent serious infectious disease of this century around the world, with its high morbidity and mortality rates, it is understandable why such infections have generally been spread in the past, mainly from international travel movements. Microbiology is a branch of medicine and biology that studies the structure and functions of microorganisms (i.e., all those single-celled, multicellular or acellular living organisms not visible to the naked eye such as bacteria, Archaea, some types of fungi, algae, protozoa, viruses and prions).
  • 651
  • 02 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Nucleoside Analogs and Coronaviruses
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are positive-sense RNA enveloped viruses, members of the family Coronaviridae, that cause infections in a broad range of mammals including humans. Several CoV species lead to mild upper respiratory infections typically associated with common colds. However, three human CoV (HCoV) species: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV-1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, are responsible for severe respiratory diseases at the origin of two recent epidemics (SARS and MERS), and of the current COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19), respectively.
  • 648
  • 24 May 2021
Topic Review
Disulfiram
The literature has suggested that disulfiram (DSM) may be a potent drug in the armamentarium of physicians who treat chronic Lyme disease. The use of disulfiram in the treatment of Lyme disease started with a researcher who determined that DSM is bactericidal to spirochete. 
  • 648
  • 08 May 2023
Topic Review
Dexamethasone in Treatment of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly spread globally, becoming a huge public health challenge. Even though the vast majority of patients are asymptomatic, some patients present with pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), septic shock, and death. It has been shown in several studies that the severity and clinical outcomes are related to dysregulated antiviral immunity and enhanced and persistent systemic inflammation. Corticosteroids have been used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, as they are reported to elicit benefits by reducing lung inflammation and inflammation-induced lung injury. Dexamethasone has gained a major role in the therapeutic algorithm of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen or on mechanical ventilation. Its wide anti-inflammatory action seems to form the basis for its beneficial action, taming the overwhelming “cytokine storm”. Amid a plethora of scientific research on therapeutic options for COVID-19, there are still unanswered questions about the right timing, right dosing, and right duration of the corticosteroid treatment.
  • 646
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
In Silico Strategies in Tuberculosis Drug Discovery
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious threat to global public health, responsible for an estimated 1.5 million mortalities in 2018. Discovering new and more potent antibiotics that target novel TB protein targets is an attractive strategy towards controlling the global TB epidemic. In silico strategies can be applied at multiple stages of the drug discovery paradigm to expedite the identification of novel anti-TB therapeutics.
  • 637
  • 29 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Blood Stream Infections
Blood Stream Infections (BSIs) are defined by positive blood culture or cultures (with an isolate of the same species grown in at least one blood culture bottle) in a patient with systemic signs of infection (i.e., a patient who has evidence of one or more of the symptoms or signs, which are fever (body temperature > 38 °C), hypothermia (body temperature < 36 °C), chills, hypotension, oliguria, or high lactate levels).
  • 637
  • 23 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Monocytes’ and Macrophages’ Proinflammatory Immune Response
Monocytes and macrophages are a central component of the innate immune system and exert an important function in orchestrating inflammation.
  • 635
  • 13 Jul 2022
Topic Review
PPARγ in Brain Viral Infections
Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a master regulator of metabolism, adipogenesis, inflammation and cell cycle, and it has been extensively studied in the brain in relation to inflammation or neurodegeneration. Specific to viral infections is the ability to subvert signaling pathways of the host cell to ensure virus replication and spreading, as deleterious as the consequences may be for the host.
  • 633
  • 28 Sep 2021
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