Photodynamic disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples using a methylene blue formulation.

The amplitude of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic motivated global efforts to find therapeutics that avert severe forms of this illness. The urgency of the medical needs privileged repositioning of approved medicines. Methylene blue (MB) has been in clinical use for a century and proved especially useful as a photosensitizer for photodynamic disinfection (PDI). We describe the use of MB to photo-inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in samples collected from COVID-19 patients. One minute of treatment can reduce the percentage inhibition of amplification by 99.99% under conditions of low cytotoxicity. We employed a pseudotyped lentiviral vector (LVs) encoding the luciferase reporter gene and exhibiting the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 at its surface, to infect human ACE2-expressing HEK293T cells. Pre-treatment of LVs with MB-PDI prevented infection at low micromolar MB concentrations and 1 min of illumination. These results reveal the potential of MB-PDI to reduce viral loads in the nasal cavity and oropharynx in the early stages of COVID-19, which may be employed to curb the transmission and severity of the disease.

Rickettsial fever leading to upper disphagya: A rare neurovascular conflict between vertebral artery and glossopharyngeal nerve.

Rickettsial fevers are a common type of zoonosis with potential neurological involvement, mostly in form of meningoencephalitis. However, there are some rare cases that could compromise cranial nerves function through vascular inflammation. In this paper, we describe a rare case of dysphagia related to glossopharyngeal involvement by juxtaposed vertebral artery vasculitis.

Enostosis-related epilepsy.

Unexpected bone lesions of the skull present a common dilemma, where radiological appearance and patient's clinical background are crucial to avoid misdiagnosis. Enostosis are benign sclerotic bone lesions; its aetiology is still unknown and its management is usually conservative, with good prognosis. Most of these lesions are asymptomatic and neurological involvement is rare. We present the first report of enostosis-related epilepsy.

Non-lymphopenic pneumocystis pneumonia in low-dose methotrexate therapy: An exception to every rule.

Pneumocystis jiroveci associated pneumonia (PCP) is one of the most important opportunistic conditions affecting immunocompromised patients, especially those with rheumatic diseases, often associated with lymphopenia and high serum LDH levels. The risk of PCP correlates with immunomodulators' dosage given to control patient's underlying disease. We present a case of a PCP involving a non-lymphopenic patient with psoriatic arthritis treated with low dose of methotrexate.

Adult pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis revealed by central diabetes insipidus: A case report and literature review.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare systemic and heterogeneous disease secondary to proliferation and diffuse infiltration of immature CD1a-positive dendritic cells, also known as Langerhans cells. LCH affects predominantly paediatric patients and is rarely diagnosed in adulthood. Despite its worldwide prevalence, most reported cases are found in the Japanese population. There is no consensus regarding treatment strategy due to the low incidence of this disease and the diversity of symptoms that appear. An integrative literature review was conducted based on the PubMed database using MeSH terms 'Langerhans', 'histiocytosis' and 'adult'. The present report describes a case of a successfully treated LCH-induced central diabetes insipidus (uncommon presentation in adult patients) as well as an updated review of current evidence published on this matter.