Topic Review
Vitamin D in Long COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has quickly become a global pandemic. Reports from different parts of the world indicate that a significant proportion of people who have recovered from COVID-19 are suffering from various health problems collectively referred to as “long COVID-19”. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pain, chest pain, muscle aches, headaches, and so on. Vitamin D is an immunomodulatory hormone with proven efficacy against various upper respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D can inhibit hyperinflammatory reactions and accelerate the healing process in the affected areas, especially in lung tissue. Moreover, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with the severity and mortality of COVID-19 cases, with a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D found in patients with COVID-19 and acute respiratory failure. However, no evidence has been found to support a role of vitamin D supplementation in reducing symptoms of long-COVID-19. On the other hand, having a higher vitamin D level before SARS-CoV-2 infection or raising it rapidly at the first symptoms of infection can significantly reduce the risk and severity of COVID-19.
  • 2.5K
  • 29 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Vitamin D and Infectious Diseases
It is now 2 years since we have seen the impact of the CoronaVirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) caused by Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 worldwide, affecting millions of people and rates of mortality close to 6 million. Although we are beginning to see the real benefit of vaccines, in terms of reduced mortality rates, many individuals still remain to be vaccinated or do not respond to them leaving a large number of patients still experiencing severe respiratory symptoms associated with COVID-19. In recent months, we have seen another surge in individuals infected with COVID-19 and mortality rates are also increasing. In the absence of effective therapies or vaccines, the medical and scientific community have extensively explored a range of current available therapeutic agents, mainly focused on targeting viral replication as well as managing severe respiratory symptoms associated with COVID-19.  Vitamin D has emerged as one such candidate due to its recognized immunomodulatory effects. In this regard, the activation of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling pathway may generate beneficial effects in acute respiratory distress syndrome by decreasing the cytokine/chemokine storm, thus having an important immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory role.
  • 487
  • 07 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Visceral Leishmaniasis in COVID-19
Leishmaniasis is a zoonosis that may present general symptoms, including fever, malaise, and arthralgia, rendering it indistinguishable from COVID-19.
  • 393
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL)
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-borne disease caused by an intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania that can be lethal if not treated. VL is caused by Leishmania donovani in Asia and in Eastern Africa, where the pathogens’ reservoir is represented by humans, and by Leishmania infantum in Latin America and in the Mediterranean area, where VL is a zoonotic disease and dog is the main reservoir. 
  • 269
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Virology of Phages and Phage-Resistance in Therapy
Bacteriophages, also known simply as phages, are prokaryotic viruses that exclusively infect and kill bacteria. Phage therapy has been overshadowed in the past by the widespread use of antibiotics in Western countries. However, it has been revitalized as a powerful approach due to the increasing prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Although bacterial resistance to phages has been reported in clinical cases, studies on the fitness trade-offs between phage and antibiotic resistance have revealed new avenues in the field of phage therapy.
  • 173
  • 15 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Virion Structure of SARS-CoV-2 and Viral Inflammation
COVID-19 is an epidemic infection created by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2). SARS-CoV-2 has a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome with 29,891 nucleotides and 38% G + C content, encoding 9860 amino acids. Human coronaviral inflammation induces the clinical symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
  • 452
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Virally Infected Donor Grafts
The ideal management for end stage liver disease, acute liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), within specific criteria, is liver transplantation (LT). Due to continuous increase in LT cases, there has been consideration to increase utilization of organs from donor livers which were previously discarded, including virally infected donor livers. 
  • 323
  • 07 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Vesicular Systems for Advanced Drug Delivery
Erythromycin (ERY) is a macrolide compound with a broad antimicrobial spectrum which is currently being used to treat a large number of bacterial infections affecting the skin, respiratory tract, intestines, bones and other systems, proving great value from a clinical point of view. Despite this major advantage, ERY has low water solubility and is not stable under acidic conditions which leads to a limited efficacy and bioavailability. Apart from this, higher doses promote drug resistance and undesirable effects. In order to overcome these disadvantages, during the past decades, a large variety of ERY formulations, including nanoparticles, have emerged. This work presents the preparation and performances reported for ERY vesicles, such as liposomes, ethosomes, niosomes, micelles, cubosomes and solid lipid nano(micro) particles. 
  • 592
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Vector-Borne Tularemia
Tularemia is a zoonosis caused by the highly invasive bacterium Francisella tularensis. It is transmitted to humans by direct contact with infected animals or by vectors, such as ticks, mosquitos, and flies.
  • 333
  • 26 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Variants and Immunity for Non-Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
The continuing transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a world-wide 21st-century public health emergency of concern. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused greater than 600 million cases of COVID-19 and over 6 million deaths globally. COVID-19 continues to be a highly transmissible disease despite efforts by public health officials and healthcare providers to manage and control the disease. Variants identified in selected worldwide epicenters add to the complexity of vaccine efficacy, overage, and antibody titer maintenance and bioactivity. The identification of the SARS-CoV-2 variants is described with respect to evading protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and breakthrough infections. Vaccines and other therapeutics have prevented millions of SARS-CoV-2 infections and thousands of deaths in the United States.
  • 159
  • 27 Jul 2023
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