Vitamin D Supplementation and Prior Oral Poliovirus Vaccination Decrease Odds of COVID-19 Outcomes among Adults Recently Inoculated with Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Structural and functional commonalities between poliovirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) suggest that poliovirus inoculation may induce antibodies that mitigate the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). No known studies have evaluated COVID-19 risk factors in adults recently vaccinated against poliovirus. STUDY OBJECTIVE: Among adults with no history of COVID-19 infection or vaccination, who recently received an inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), we sought to determine which biological factors and social determinants of health (SDOH) may be associated with (1) testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, (2) experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and (3) a longer duration of COVID-19 symptoms. METHODS: The influence of biological factors and SDOH on SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 symptoms were evaluated among 282 adults recently inoculated with IPV. Participant-reported surveys were analyzed over 12 months post-enrollment. Bivariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression models identified associations between variables and COVID-19 outcomes. RESULTS: Adjusting for COVID-19 vaccinations, variants, and other SDOH, secondary analyses revealed that underlying conditions, employment, vitamin D, education, and the oral poliovirus vaccination (OPV) were associated with COVID-19 outcomes. The odds of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and experiencing symptoms were significantly reduced among participants who took vitamin D (OR 0.12 and OR 0.09, respectively). Unemployed or part-time working participants were 72% less likely to test positive compared with full-time workers. No prior dose of OPV was one of the strongest predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 4.36) and COVID-19 symptoms (OR 6.95). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that prophylactic measures and mucosal immunity may mitigate the risk and severity of COVID-19 outcomes. Larger-scale studies may inform future policies.

Re-envisioning the Paradigm for Oncology Electronic Health Record Documentation by Paying for What Matters for Patients, Quality, and Research.

This Viewpoint discusses re-envisioning and incentivizing a unique approach to oncology electronic health record documentation.

How Good are Bacteriophages as an Alternative Therapy to Mitigate Biofilms of Nosocomial Infections.

Bacteria survive on any surface through the generation of biofilms that provide a protective environment to grow as well as making them drug resistant. Extracellular polymeric matrix is a crucial component in biofilm formation. The presence of biofilms consisting of common opportunistic and nosocomial, drug-resistant pathogens has been reported on medical devices like catheters and prosthetics, leading to many complications. Several approaches are under investigation to combat drug-resistant bacteria. Deployment of bacteriophages is one of the promising approaches to invade biofilm that may expose bacteria to the conditions adverse for their growth. Penetration into these biofilms and their destruction by bacteriophages is brought about due to their small size and ability of their progeny to diffuse through the bacterial cell wall. The other mechanisms employed by phages to infect biofilms may include their relocation through water channels to embedded host cells, replication at local sites followed by infection to the neighboring cells and production of depolymerizing enzymes to decompose viscous biofilm matrix, etc. Various research groups are investigating intricacies involved in phage therapy to mitigate the bacterial infection and biofilm formation. Thus, bacteriophages represent a good control over different biofilms and further understanding of phage-biofilm interaction at molecular level may overcome the clinical challenges in phage therapy. The present review summarizes the comprehensive details on dynamic interaction of phages with bacterial biofilms and the role of phage-derived enzymes - endolysin and depolymerases in extenuating biofilms of clinical and medical concern. The methodology employed was an extensive literature search, using several keywords in important scientific databases, such as Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, etc. The keywords were also used with Boolean operator "And". More than 250 relevant and recent articles were selected and reviewed to discuss the evidence-based data on the application of phage therapy with recent updates, and related potential challenges.

Traditional Nutritional and Health Practices Targeting Lifestyle Behavioral Changes in Humans.

In this 21st century who isn't enticed by the glamorous and appealing life in the fast lane? We are surrounded by wonders, something we could never have imagined erstwhile. We have everything just a click or a call away. This alluring lifestyle comes with its own perils, the biggest one being concerned with health which is often compromised with check ins and home delivered food but the problem doesn't just lie with the outside food but also with all those chemical enriched engineered expensive food items. The industry often tempers with our food to make it "More Attractive" to the consumer. However, in modern era, availability of drugs and fancy powders has led to imbalance of health and nutrition, contrary to the previous era when home gardening was very common and people preferred fresh-foods which didn't contain added chemicals. They even used to treat some of the health problems with the natural ways that we nowadays refer to DIYs (Do-it-yourselves). Since Ayurveda used natural herbs and plant extracts for treatment, the earth was fresher and less-polluted which led to greater life expectancy. The modern era also has its own benefits like excellences in allopathy medicine has brought a cure to many untreatable diseases of the ancient times, and have even eradicated certain diseases like smallpox and polio. To summarize, both the time had their own pros and cons, so it would be better if we take both of their advantages into consideration and work ahead to live a healthy life.

Dynamics of fluoroquinolones induced resistance in DNA gyrase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

DNA gyrase is a validated target of fluoroquinolones which are key components of multidrug resistance tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Most frequent occurring mutations associated with high level of resistance to fluoroquinolone in clinical isolates of TB patients are A90V, D94G, and A90V-D94G (double mutant [DM]), present in the larger subunit of DNA Gyrase. In order to explicate the molecular mechanism of drug resistance corresponding to these mutations, molecular dynamics (MD) and mechanics approach was applied. Structure-based molecular docking of complex comprised of DNA bound with Gyrase A (large subunit) and Gyrase C (small subunit) with moxifloxacin (MFX) revealed high binding affinity to wild type with considerably high Glide XP docking score of -7.88 kcal/mol. MFX affinity decreases toward single mutants and was minimum toward the DM with a docking score of -3.82 kcal/mol. Docking studies were also performed against 8-Methyl-moxifloxacin which exhibited higher binding affinity against wild and mutants DNA gyrase when compared to MFX. Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area method predicted the binding free energy of the wild, A90V, D94G, and DM complexes to be -55.81, -25.87, -20.45, and -12.29 kcal/mol, respectively. These complexes were further subjected to 30 ns long MD simulations to examine significant interactions and conformational flexibilities in terms of root mean square deviation, root mean square fluctuation, and strength of hydrogen bond formed. This comparative drug interaction analysis provides systematic insights into the mechanism behind drug resistance and also paves way toward identifying potent lead compounds that could combat drug resistance of DNA gyrase due to mutations.