Viral infections have an essential function in both humans and other organisms. The persistent rise in viral diseases has made critical damage to human well-being. The present review indicates that viral diseases are been entangled in various cancer developments. Developing safe and effective antiviral medications remains a challenge. As a result, finding therapeutic targets that would interfere with the virus without affecting the host is hard-hitting. The use of natural substances rather than chemicals in the formulation of antiviral medications could significantly minimize the risk of side effects in patients. Coastal dune vegetation is a vital resource, which plays an imperative part in biodiversity. Coastal dunes have various utilizations in restorative and drug development. The drugs from marine are vitally been utilized as medicine due to their substantial antiviral, anticancer, and antimicrobial activities. Though Coastal dunes flora has numerous possessions their antiviral properties are rarely reported. Hence, in this report, we have compiled and highlighted the antiviral properties of 128 Indian coastal dune flora. This review may provide access to a profound understanding of coastal dunes’ vegetation resources and their usage in the production of antiviral and anticancer drugs. It may also help to preserve and cultivate these plants.

Selenium (Se) is a ubiquitous element akin to sulfur (S) existing in the Earth’s crust in various organic and inorganic forms. Selenium concentration varies greatly depending on the geographic area. Consequently, the content of selenium in food products is also variable. It is known that low Se is associated with an increased incidence of cancer and heart diseases. Therefore, it is advisable to supplement your diet with this element albeit in a proper form. Although blood increased concentrations of Se can be achieved with various pharmacological preparations only one chemical form (sodium selenite) can offer true protection. Sodium selenite, but not selenate, can oxidize thiol groups in the virus protein disulfide isomerase rendering it unable to penetrate the healthy cell membrane. In this way, selenite inhibits the entrance of viruses into the healthy cells and abolishes their infectivity. Therefore, this simple chemical compound can potentially be used in the recent battle against the coronavirus epidemic.

Exosomes are membrane vesicles that constitute a potential mode of intercellular communication. Although the scope of its role is still being discussed, the release of exosomes by tumor cells suggests their participation in pathological situations and its study will surely drive to new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. It is therefore important to be able to localize and identify these kinds of particles in transmission electron microscopy images. This preliminary work shows how a recent deep-learning algorithm available online can be applied to exosomes images to localize all the instances of the objects of interest, in any scale and several backgrounds.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a major concern. However, its association and rising cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus make the scenario even more troublesome. In addition, no specific medication against mucormycosis/black fungus makes things even worse. Objective: Garlic phytoconstituents have shown remarkable antifungal properties against various fungal species in various studies. Thus, the objective of the study was to check the potency of garlic phytoconstituents against the 1,3-beta-glucan synthase fungal protein using in-silico methods. Method: Auto Dock was used to evaluate selected garlic phytochemical molecules against 1,3-beta-glucan synthase fungal protein, and Discovery studio visualizer was used to create 3D and 2D interaction photos. Results: Five out of 9 phytoconstituents were found to form conventional hydrogen bonds, and only alliin formed the highest number of hydrogen bonds. However, the binding energy and inhibition constant of all nine phytoconstituents were determined. Interestingly, Z-ajoene showed the lowest binding energy of -5.07 kcal/mol and inhibition constant of 192.57µM. Conclusion: The results of our investigation suggested that garlic phytochemicals can have a good impact against black fungi, pertaining to the significant binding energies of phytoconstituents during blind docking. Specifically, Z-ajoene could be a good alternate against black fungi. However, detailed research is required to explore the antifungal activity of garlic against mucormycosis.

Background: In recent times, the novel coronavirus disease is one of the most challenging public health burdens. Low-and-middle-income countries including Ghana have not been spared by the infection. Several measures are being undertaken by countries to control and prevent the future waves of the disease. Previous studies have established the importance of knowledge, attitude and practices towards an infection as a remedy for controlling the spread of such infection. However, further studies are required to ascertain the socio-demographic characteristics influencing the knowledge, attitude and preventive measures of COVID-19. Methods: This study investigated the socio-demographic characteristics influencing knowledge, attitude and preventive practices towards COVID-19 among the Ghanaian population. A cross-sectional design was adopted to recruit 369 participants for the study utilizing convenience and snowball sampling methods. With the use of an electronic semi-structured questionnaire and social media platforms, an online survey was conducted from March 26 to May 1, 2020. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and linear regression were used to analyze data. Results: The average mean percentage of good knowledge, positive attitudes and good preventive practices regarding the novel coronavirus disease was 83.2%, 88.2% and 69.2%, respectively. In relation to occupation, there was significant difference (t = -2.984, p-value = 0.0030) in COVID-19 knowledge. Income level was significantly associated with attitudes towards COVID-19. Male gender (vs female, β = -1.276, p-value = <0.00001), less than ¢500 income earners (vs above ¢1000, β = -0.845, p-value = 0.017) were associated with lower COVID-19 preventive practice score while being the 42-64 age category (vs 18–25-year group, β = 1.128, p-value = 0.028), health worker (vs non-health worker, β = 0.816, p-value = 0.001) and belonging to Ga ethnic group (vs Akan ethnic group, β = 0.89, p-value = 0.027) were associated with higher scores. Conclusion: Although this study found higher knowledge and attitudes toward the novel coronavirus disease, it did not reflect in higher preventive practices towards the infection. In our fight against this infection in Ghana, COVID-19 preventive measure educational campaigns targeting the male gender and low-income earners should be considered and implemented.

Herpes simplex virus 1 is consistently the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis worldwide which leaves neurological deficits in more than 60% of survived patients.