The use of Ephedra herbs in the treatment of COVID-19.

Objective: Ephedra herbs are the only extant genus in its family, Ephedraceae, and order, Ephedrales. It has been prescribed in traditional medicine for improving headaches and respiratory infections. On the other hand, because the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes respiratory problems and COVID-19 pandemic is the most widespread outbreak that has affected humanity in the last century, the current review aims using literature search to investigate the effects of the Ephedra herbs compounds on COVID-19 to supply a reference for its clinical application in the inhibition and remedy of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This review was performed using articles published in various databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, without a time limit. For this paper, the following keywords were used: "Ephedra", "coronavirus disease 2019", "COVID-19", "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" or "SARS CoV 2". Results: The results of this review show that the Ephedra herbs have effectiveness on COVID-19 and its compounds can bind to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) with a high affinity and act as a blocker and prevent the binding of the virus. Conclusion: Some plants used in traditional medicine, including the Ephedra herbs, with their active compounds, can be considered a candidate with high potential for the control and prevention of COVID-19.

Bacteriophages, a New Therapeutic Solution for Inhibiting Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Causing Wound Infection: Lesson from Animal Models and Clinical Trials.

Wound infection kills a large number of patients worldwide each year. Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are the most important colonizing pathogens of wounds that, with various virulence factors and impaired immune system, causes extensive tissue damage and nonhealing wounds. Furthermore, the septicemia caused by these pathogens increases the mortality rate due to wound infections. Because of the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in recent years, the use of antibiotics to inhibit these pathogens has been restricted, and the topical application of antibiotics in wound infections increases antibiotic resistance. Therefore, finding a new therapeutic strategy against wound infections is so essential since these infections have a destructive effect on the patient's mental health and high medical costs. In this review, we discussed the use of phages for the prevention of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, causing wound infection and their role in wound healing in animal models and clinical trials. The results showed that phages have a high ability to inhibit different wound infections caused by MDR bacteria, heal the wound faster, have lower side effects and toxicity, destroy bacterial biofilm, and they are useful in controlling immune responses. Many studies have used animal models to evaluate the function of phages, and this study appears to have a positive impact on the use of phages in clinical practice and the development of a new therapeutic approach to control wound infections, although there are still many limitations.