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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); a severe respiratory distress that has emerged from the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, China during December 2019. COVID-19 is currently the major global health problem and the disease has now spread to most countries in the world. COVID-19 has profoundly impacted human health and activities worldwide. Genetic mutation is one of the essential characteristics of viruses. They do so to adapt to their host or to move to another one. Viral genetic mutations have a high potentiality to impact human health as these mutations grant viruses unique unpredicted characteristics. The difficulty in predicting viral genetic mutations is a significant obstacle in the field. Evidence indicates that SARS-CoV-2 has a variety of genetic mutations and genomic diversity with obvious clinical consequences and implications. In this review, we comprehensively summarized and discussed the currently available knowledge regarding SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks with a fundamental focus on the role of the viral proteins and their mutations in viral infection and COVID-19 progression. We also summarized the clinical implications of SARS-CoV-2 variants and how they affect the disease severity and hinder vaccine development. Finally, we provided a massive phylogenetic analysis of the spike gene of 214 SARS-CoV-2 isolates from different geographical regions all over the world and their associated clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) play a crucial role in the context of viral infections and their associated diseases. The link between HSCs and HPCs and disease status in COVID -19 patients is largely unknown. This study aimed to monitor the kinetics and contributions of HSCs and HPCs in severe and non-severe COVID -19 patients and to evaluate their diagnostic performance in differentiating between healthy and COVID-19 patients as well as severe and non-severe cases. Peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected from 48 COVID-19 patients, 16 recovered, and 27 healthy controls and subjected to deep flow cytometric analysis to determine HSCs and progenitor cells. Their diagnostic value and correlation with C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, and ferritin levels were determined. The percentages of HSCs and common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) declined significantly, while the percentage of multipotent progenitors (MPPs) increased significantly in COVID-19 patients. There were no significant differences in the percentages of megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors (MEPs) and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs) between all groups. Severe COVID-19 patients had a significantly low percentage of HSCs, CMPs, and GMPs compared to non-severe cases. Contrarily, the levels of CRP, D-dimer, and ferritin increased significantly in severe COVID-19 patients. MPPs and CMPs showed excellent diagnostic performance in distinguishing COVID-19 patients from healthy controls and severe from non-severe COVID-19 patients, respectively. Collectively, our study indicated that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are significantly altered by COVID-19 and could be used as therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for severe COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of pulsed high-intensity laser therapy on pain, adhesions, and quality of life in women with endometriosis. Background data: Endometriosis is among the most common gynecological problems affecting females of childbearing age. The majority of women with endometriosis seek treatment to alleviate pain. Materials and methods: The sample included 40 women with endometriosis to either a mild or a moderate degree aged between 24 and 32 years. They were randomly assigned to two groups, group I of 20 women received pulsed high-intensity laser therapy three times per week for 8 weeks, as well as the usual regimen of hormonal treatment given to endometriosis patients, and group II of 20 women were given sham laser treatment three times per week for 8 weeks and the usual regimen of hormonal treatment. For all patients, pain, the degree of endometriosis, and quality of life were measured using present pain intensity and pain relief scales, laparoscopy, and the Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-5) before treatment began and at the end of the 8 weeks. Results: In comparison to the sham laser treatment, pulsed high-intensity laser therapy produced a significantly different result ( p < 0.0001), in women with endometriosis. Conclusions: Pulsed high-intensity laser therapy is an effective method of pain alleviation, reducing adhesions, and improving the quality of life in women with endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thecosomatous pteropods are pelagic molluscs with aragonitic shells. They are considered to be especially vulnerable among plankton to ocean acidification, but to recognize changes due to anthropogenic forcing a baseline understanding of their life history is needed. In the present study, adult Limacina retroversa were collected on five cruises from multiple sites in the Gulf of Maine (between 42°22.1′-42°0.0′N and 69°42.6′-70°15.4′W; water depths of ca. 45-260 m) from October 2013 to November 2014. They were maintained in the laboratory under continuous light at 8 °C. There was evidence of year-round reproduction and an individual life span in the laboratory of 6 months. Eggs laid in captivity were observed throughout development. Hatching occurred after 3 d, the veliger stage was reached after 6-7 d, and metamorphosis to the juvenile stage was after ~1 month. Reproductive individuals were first observed after 3 months. Calcein staining of embryos revealed calcium storage beginning in the late gastrula stage. Staining was observed in the shell gland, shell field, mantle and shell margin in later stages. Exposure of two batches of larvae at the gastrula stage to elevated CO levels (800 and 1200 ppm) resulted in significantly increased mortality in comparison with individuals raised under ambient (~400 ppm) conditions and a developmental delay in the 1200 ppm treatment compared with the ambient and 800 ppm treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The foot provides a crucial contribution to the balance and stability of the musculoskeletal system, and accurate foot measurements are important in applications such as designing custom insoles/footwear. With better understanding of the dynamic behavior of the foot, dynamic foot reconstruction techniques are surfacing as useful ways to properly measure the shape of the foot. This paper presents a novel design and implementation of a structured-light prototype system providing dense three dimensional (3D) measurements of the foot in motion. The input to the system is a video sequence of a foot during a single step; the output is a 3D reconstruction of the plantar surface of the foot for each frame of the input. Methods Engineering and clinical tests were carried out to test the accuracy and repeatability of the system. Accuracy experiments involved imaging a planar surface from different orientations and elevations and measuring the fitting errors of the data to a plane. Repeatability experiments were done using reconstructions from 27 different subjects, where for each one both right and left feet were reconstructed in static and dynamic conditions over two different days. Results The static accuracy of the system was found to be 0.3 mm with planar test objects. In tests with real feet, the system proved repeatable, with reconstruction differences between trials one week apart averaging 2.4 mm (static case) and 2.8 mm (dynamic case). Conclusion The results obtained in the experiments show positive accuracy and repeatability results when compared to current literature. The design also shows to be superior to the systems available in the literature in several factors. Further studies need to be done to quantify the reliability of the system in clinical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human SARS-CoV-2 and avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) are highly contagious and deadly coronaviruses, causing devastating respiratory diseases in humans and chickens. The lack of effective therapeutics exacerbates the impact of outbreaks associated with SARS-CoV-2 and IBV infections. Thus, novel drugs or therapeutic agents are highly in demand for controlling viral transmission and disease progression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) secreted factors (secretome) are safe and efficient alternatives to stem cells in MSC-based therapies. This study aimed to investigate the antiviral potentials of human Wharton's jelly MSC secretome (hWJ-MSC-S) against SARS-CoV-2 and IBV infections in vitro and in ovo. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50), cytotoxic concentration (CC50), and selective index (SI) values of hWJ-MSC-S were determined using Vero-E6 cells. The virucidal, anti-adsorption, and anti-replication antiviral mechanisms of hWJ-MSC-S were evaluated. The hWJ-MSC-S significantly inhibited infection of SARS-CoV-2 and IBV, without affecting the viability of cells and embryos. Interestingly, hWJ-MSC-S reduced viral infection by >90%, in vitro. The IC50 and SI of hWJ-MSC secretome against SARS-CoV-2 were 166.6 and 235.29 µg/mL, respectively, while for IBV, IC50 and SI were 439.9 and 89.11 µg/mL, respectively. The virucidal and anti-replication antiviral effects of hWJ-MSC-S were very prominent compared to the anti-adsorption effect. In the in ovo model, hWJ-MSC-S reduced IBV titer by >99%. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) analysis of hWJ-MSC-S revealed a significant enrichment of immunomodulatory and antiviral proteins. Collectively, our results not only uncovered the antiviral potency of hWJ-MSC-S against SARS-CoV-2 and IBV, but also described the mechanism by which hWJ-MSC-S inhibits viral infection. These findings indicate that hWJ-MSC-S could be utilized in future pre-clinical and clinical studies to develop effective therapeutic approaches against human COVID-19 and avian IB respiratory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molluscs, owing to their filtrate ability, can accumulate metals that may contaminate food, causing a negative impact on the health of the consumers. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to investigate the heavy metal concentrations in one of the widest broad and consumed surf clams Mactra olorina available in the Great Bitter Lake, Egypt. The concentrations of the heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn) were seasonally evaluated in water, sediment, and the soft flesh of M. olorina. The specimens were monthly collected from the Egyptian Great Bitter Lake near Fayed City (Ismailia Governorate) for one year, from April 2009 to March 2010. Results revealed that, the annual mean concentrations of heavy metals in water were 1.376±0.562, 0.267±0.329, 2.256±2.909 and 3.355±2.731 μg/l for Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn, respectively. The corresponding concentration values in the sediment were 0.398±0.355, 0.307±0.244, 1.753±0.464 and 8.643±1.821 for Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn μg/g, respectively. While, the annual mean concentrations of heavy metals in soft tissues were 0.538±1.130, 0.262±0.283, 5.395±3.115 and 13.043±5.743 for Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn μg/g, respectively. Interestingly, heavy metals deposited in the tissues of M. olorina and their environment (water and sediments) recorded a close relationship (0.05 ≥ p ≤0.01) in the current research. In conclusion, though no apparent risk was detected on bivalve consumers from being exposed to a single metal, yet there is a risk from being exposed to the 4 studied metals combined together, especially for high bivalve-consuming groups such as fishermen. Furthermore, environmental parameters need to consider when to use bivalves as indicators of heavy metal pollution since seasonality could affect the absorption of heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms on MTX toxicity in pediatric Egyptian ALL patients. Ninety- Four of Pediatric ALL patients aged 3-13 years (7.6 ± 3.6) on oral maintenance dose of 50 mg/m2 weekly of MTX. MTHFR c.677C>T (rs1801133) and c.1298A>C (rs1801131) genotyping were performed using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR- RFLP). The allele frequencies of c.677C>T were 42.6%, 46.8%, and 10.6% for CC, CT, and TT respectively, while c.1298A>C alleles frequencies were 62.7%, 24.5%, and 12.8% for AA, AC, and CC respectively. None of the investigated polymorphism (C677T or A1298C alleles) was associated with either overall or site specific MTX toxicity regarding anemia (p = 0.99) (p = 0.4), platelets (p = 0.4) (p = 0.4), hepatotoxicity (p = 0.4) (p = 0.7), respectively. The results indicated that between c.677C>T genotypes, CC/CT and TT were associated with hematopoietic toxicities 60.7% and 60% (p = 0.2); platelet toxicities 76.2% and 80% (p = 1) and, hepatotoxicities 40.5% and 60% (p = 0.3), respectively. In the c.1298A>C genotypes, CC/AC and AA presented hematopoietic toxicities 68.6% and 55.9% (p = 0.2), platelet toxicities 82.9% 72.9% (p = 0.3) and, hepatotoxicity 37.1% and 45.8% (p = 0.5), respectively. No significant associations were detected between MTHFR c.677C>T or c.1298A>C polymorphisms and either overall or site specific MTX toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several phytopathogens attack eggplant, causing crop damage. One of the most destructive plant diseases, Root-Knot Nematode (RKN), causes significant damage to eggplant seedlings. Finding safe and effective biological alternatives to prevent eggplant root nematode disease, which significantly limits plant productivity, is the innovative aspect of this study. Six isolates of plant growth-promoting fungus (PGPF) were tested in the current work for improving biochemical defense and physio-biochemical performance in eggplant seedlings under the Meloidogyne incognita challenge. PGPF isolates were tested in vitro for some biochemical traits such as Siderophores and HCN production. Besides, the antagonistic efficacy of PGPF filtrates against M. incognita was tested in vitro. The best isolates capable of producing HCN were F5 and F3 respectively. Also, F5 followed by F3 exhibited the maximum mortality proportions of 74.20% and 60.35% mortality in nematode juveniles after 96 hours respectively. Moreover, F5 has the highest level of antioxidant activity, with IC50 145 µg/mL followed by F3 with IC50 350 µg/mL. thus, we identified F5 and F3 completely as Rhizopus microsporus (OQ291571.1 and Aspergillus oryzae OQ291572.1. Implementing R. microsporus and A. oryzae collectively in vivo study was the most successful therapy, limiting nematode recordings as 95.23%, 86.98%, 80.35%, 80%, and 68.78% reduction in females, galls, developmental stage, egg masses, second juveniles, respectively, in diseased seedlings. It could be suggested that the use of ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) of A. oryzae and R. microsporus might be commercially applied as a stimulator of eggplant and or anti-nematodes against M. incognita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A pulsed Nd-YAG laser is an effective physiotherapy modality used as a class IV high-intensity laser therapy (HILT). Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of HILT alone or combined with exercise (HILT+EX) on bone mineral density (BMD) after 24 weeks and at 1 year of follow-up in men with osteopenia or osteoporosis. Methods: One hundred men with osteopenia or osteoporosis (mean age, 53.78 [2.89] years; weight, 80.56 [7.33] kg; height 175 [5.30] cm) participated in the study. The T-scores were ≤−1.5. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups: HILT+EX (group I), placebo laser plus exercise (PL+EX; group II), HILT alone (HILT; group III), and PL (group IV). HILT was applied to the lower back and hip regions. Aerobic, weight-bearing, flexibility, strengthening, and balance exercises were performed three times per week for 24 weeks. The measured outcomes were BMD of the L2-L4 spine and total hip. Measurements were taken before and after 24 weeks and at 1 year of follow-up. Results: Lumbar and total hip BMD significantly increased post-treatment in the HILT+EX and PL+EX groups, but insignificantly in the HILT and PL groups. HILT+EX showed a significantly greater effect than PL+EX did on lumbar BMD, with no significant difference in total hip BMD, after 24 weeks and at follow-up. Conclusions: Although HILT alone did not effectively increase lumbar and total hip BMD, HILT combined with exercise was more effective than exercise alone at increasing lumbar BMD after 24 weeks of treatment, with effects lasting up to 1 year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthworms are used as biomarkers for soil contamination. In the present study, earthworms (Allolobophora caliginosa) were exposed to 100 mg of silver (Ag), copper oxide (CuO), and polyethylene (PE) nanoparticles (NPs) per kilogram of soil for 30 days. We evaluated antioxidant activity using assays for catalase, total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde, immune activity (lysozyme and metallothionein), lipid peroxidation, DNA fragmentation, and examining histopathology during exposure and recovery periods. CAT and total antioxidant capacity levels significantly decreased in response to Ag and CuO NPs; however, a response to PE NPs was observed only in catalase levels. MDA level, lysozyme activity, metallothionein, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and DNA fragmentation increased significantly in response to NP exposure. After recovery, only MDA content and metallothionein concentration returned to normal levels and only for worms exposed to PE NPs. NPs caused deleterious effects or damage to the wall of the intestine. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]