Knowledge of mpox and its determinants among the healthcare personnel in Arabic regions: A multi-country cross-sectional study.

Background & aim: The monkeypox virus (MPXV), an Orthopoxvirus family member, is the zoonotic agent that causes mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). The ongoing mpox pandemic has caused cases across continents involving 110 countries. This study aimed to assess mpox knowledge and its determinants among healthcare personnel. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 6 to June 25, 2022, among 17 Arab countries. The self-administered questionnaire consists of 53 questions assessing the knowledge about the monkeypox virus. Results: In total, 5874 medical students and clinical doctors from 17 Arab countries participated in this study. Only 13.8% (n = 812) of respondents have ever received information about mpox during their studies in medicine. The mean knowledge score was 13.84, and the median score was 15 (range 1-34). More than half (51.3%, n = 3012) have heard about mpox before. A low proportion of the participants had a good level of knowledge on mpox. Only 11.7% of respondents had correctly identified the natural host and the incubation period of mpox. More than half (58.9%) were aware of the signs and symptoms of mpox. Few respondents (28%) believed that mpox and smallpox have similar signs and symptoms. Specialist doctors had higher knowledge of mpox (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI = 2.24-3.92, p < 0.001) than other cadres. Conclusion: Mpox awareness among Arabic medical students and practitioners is low; hence immediate action in creating awareness among arab healthcare professionals is the need of the hour. This is crucial in the mpox early detection and prevention of its spread.

Chronic ethanol induces a pro-inflammatory switch in interleukin-1ß regulation of GABAergic signaling in the medial prefrontal cortex of male mice.

Neuroimmune pathways regulate brain function to influence complex behavior and play a role in several neuropsychiatric diseases, including alcohol use disorder (AUD). In particular, the interleukin-1 (IL-1) system has emerged as a key regulator of the brain's response to ethanol (alcohol). Here we investigated the mechanisms underlying ethanol-induced neuroadaptation of IL-1ß signaling at GABAergic synapses in the prelimbic region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), an area responsible for integrating contextual information to mediate conflicting motivational drives. We exposed C57BL/6J male mice to the chronic intermittent ethanol vapor-2 bottle choice paradigm (CIE-2BC) to induce ethanol dependence, and conducted ex vivo electrophysiology and molecular analyses. We found that the IL-1 system regulates basal mPFC function through its actions at inhibitory synapses on prelimbic layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons. IL-1ß can selectively recruit either neuroprotective (PI3K/Akt) or pro-inflammatory (MyD88/p38 MAPK) mechanisms to produce opposing synaptic effects. In ethanol naïve conditions, there was a strong PI3K/Akt bias leading to a disinhibition of pyramidal neurons. Ethanol dependence produced opposite IL-1 effects - enhanced local inhibition via a switch in IL-1ß signaling to the canonical pro-inflammatory MyD88 pathway. Ethanol dependence also increased cellular IL-1ß in the mPFC, while decreasing expression of downstream effectors (Akt, p38 MAPK). Thus, IL-1ß may represent a key neural substrate in ethanol-induced cortical dysfunction. As the IL-1 receptor antagonist (kineret) is already FDA-approved for other diseases, this work underscores the high therapeutic potential of IL-1 signaling/neuroimmune-based treatments for AUD.

Oral manifestation of the monkeypox virus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is a global public health concern, given the recent outbreaks in non-endemic countries where little scientific evidence exists on the disease epidemiology. Oral lesions among mpox cases have been poorly reported. Our aim was to estimate the overall prevalence of oral manifestations among patients with mpox globally. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, an extensive literature search in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, and preprint servers (medRxiv, arXiv, bioRxiv, BioRN, ChiRxiv, ChiRN, and SSRN) and assessment of all published articles, conducted across the world, until Nov 15 2022 as per the PROSPERO registration protocol (CRD42022371249), was undertaken. Primary studies (case series, cross-sectional, retrospective, prospective designs) that reported the oral/oropharyngeal symptoms among laboratory-confirmed mpox cases were included. The characteristics of the study, information on the number of cases, and symptomatic status were extracted from the included studies. The quality of the included studies was assessed for bias. Random-effects meta-regression with DerSimonian & Laird estimator, and subgroup analyses were conducted using STATA (v17.0). The degree of funnel plot asymmetry was assessed using Egger's test when at least 10 estimates were available. The heterogeneity between studies was assessed using the I2 statistic. The primary outcome was the pooled prevalence of oral manifestations in the examined population. Findings: 19 studies were included with 4042 laboratory-confirmed patients with mpox for qualitative and quantitative synthesis. The pooled prevalence of oral manifestations in the investigated population was 36.75% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 23.77-50.65). Heterogeneity was found to be high in the current meta-analysis (I2 = 98.24%; p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed a pooled prevalence of 39.96% (95% CI: 21.42-59.91) of sore throat, 24.80% (95% CI: 8.14-46.32) of mouth sore, 18.24% (95% CI: 0.34-52.54) of tonsillitis and 17.99% (95% CI: 15.66-20.43) of mouth rash from the included studies. Interpretation: Oral manifestations are common in patients with mpox, with variations in prevalence across the sites within the oral cavity, and geography of the studies. Healthcare workers should be wary of the oral signs and symptoms of mpox in endemic and high-risk areas. Funding: None.

Rural community health workers' readiness for mobile-phone based telemedicine uptake in India.

Objective: Healthcare services using mobile-phone based telemedicine provide simple technology that does not require sophisticated equipment. This study assessed community health workers' knowledge, attitude, and practice (i.e., their readiness) at the village level for uptake of mobile-phone based telemedicine. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 community health workers, including Auxiliary Nurse Midwives, Multipurpose Health Workers and Accredited Social Health Activists working in a rural health block of India. A pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer-assisted, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their mobile-phone based telemedicine readiness. Results: Sixty (75.0%) health workers owned mobile phones. The median readiness score for mobile-phone based telemedicine was 109.0. The Accredited Social Health Activists showed a better attitude toward mobile-phone based telemedicine than others. There was a significant moderate positive correlation (r=0.67) between knowledge and practice domains. Community health workers who had smartphones showed a significantly better attitude than those who did not. Conclusion: Training programs on telemedicine service delivery, focused on Auxiliary Nurse Midwives/ Multipurpose Health Workers, can improve their attitudes towards telemedicine. A better attitude of the Accredited Social Health Activists must be leveraged to initiate mobile-phone based telemedicine services on a pilot basis initially and later scaled up in other settings.

Telemedicine practice guidelines in India: Global implications in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telemedicine is the delivery of healthcare services from a distance, by use of information and communication technology. There have been no statutory regulations or official guidelines in India specific for telemedicine practice and allied matters so far. For the first time, the government of India released telemedicine practice guidelines for Registered Medical Practitioners on March 25, 2020, amid the COVID-19 outbreak. This review would initiate the discussion on the features of the guidelines, their limitations, and their significance in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines are with a restricted scope for providing medical consultation to patients, excluding other aspects of telemedicine such as research and evaluation and the continuing education of healthcare workers. The guidelines have elaborated on the eligibility for practicing Telemedicine in India, the modes and types of teleconsultations, delved into the doctor-patient relationship, consent, and management protocols, and touched upon the data security and privacy aspects of Teleconsultation. After releasing the guidelines, the telescreening of the public for COVID-19 symptoms is being advocated by the government of India. COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC) has been initiated, which connects the doctors across India to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in real-time for accessing expert guidance on the treatment of the COVID-19 patients.

La telemedicina es la prestación de servicios de salud a distancia, mediante el uso de las TIC. No ha habido regulaciones legales o pautas oficiales en India específicas para la práctica de la telemedicina y asuntos relacionados hasta el momento. Por primera vez, el gobierno de India publicó pautas de práctica de telemedicina para médicos registrados el 25 de marzo de 2020, en medio del brote de COVID­19. Esta revisión iniciaría la discusión sobre las características de las guías, sus limitaciones y su importancia en tiempos de la pandemia de COVID­19. Las pautas tienen un alcance restringido para brindar consultas médicas a los pacientes, excluyendo otros aspectos de la telemedicina, como la investigación y la evaluación y la educación continua de los trabajadores de la salud. Las pautas han detallado la elegibilidad para practicar Telemedicina en India, los modos y tipos de teleconsultas, profundizado en la relación médico­paciente, consentimiento y protocolos de gestión, y tocado los aspectos de seguridad y privacidad de datos de Teleconsulta. Después de publicar las pautas, el gobierno de la India aboga por la teleevaluación del público para detectar síntomas de COVID­19. Se ha iniciado el Centro Nacional de Teleconsulta COVID­19 (CoNTeC), que conecta a los médicos de toda la India con el Instituto de Ciencias Médicas de toda la India (AIIMS) en tiempo real para acceder a la orientación de expertos sobre el tratamiento de los pacientes con COVID­19.

Lockdowns, Community Mobility Patterns, and COVID-19: A Retrospective Analysis of Data from 16 Countries.

OBJECTIVES: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries around the world framed specific laws and imposed varying degrees of lockdowns to ensure the maintenance of physical distancing. Understanding changes in temporal and spatial mobility patterns may provide insights into the dynamics of this infectious disease. Therefore, we assessed the efficacy of lockdown measures in 16 countries worldwide by analyzing the relationship between community mobility patterns and the doubling time of COVID-19. METHODS: We performed a retrospective record-based analysis of population-level data on the doubling time for COVID-19 and community mobility. The doubling time for COVID-19 was calculated based on the laboratory-confirmed cases reported daily over the study period (from February 15 to May 2, 2020). Principal component analysis (PCA) of six mobility pattern-related variables was conducted. To explain the magnitude of the effect of mobility on the doubling time, a finite linear distributed lag model was fitted. The k-means clustering approach was employed to identify countries with similar patterns in the significant co-efficient of the mobility index, with the optimal number of clusters derived using Elbow's method. RESULTS: The countries analyzed had reduced mobility in commercial and social places. Reduced mobility had a significant and favorable association with the doubling time of COVID-19-specifically, the greater the mobility reduction, the longer the time taken for the COVID-19 cases to double. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 lockdowns achieved the immediate objective of mobility reduction in countries with a high burden of cases.

A persistent ultraviolet outflow from an accreting neutron star binary transient.

All disc-accreting astrophysical objects produce powerful disc winds. In compact binaries containing neutron stars or black holes, accretion often takes place during violent outbursts. The main disc wind signatures during these eruptions are blue-shifted X-ray absorption lines, which are preferentially seen in disc-dominated 'soft states'1,2. By contrast, optical wind-formed lines have recently been detected in 'hard states', when a hot corona dominates the luminosity3. The relationship between these signatures is unknown, and no erupting system has as yet revealed wind-formed lines between the X-ray and optical bands, despite the many strong resonance transitions in this ultraviolet (UV) region4. Here we report that the transient neutron star binary Swift J1858.6-0814 exhibits wind-formed, blue-shifted absorption lines associated with C IV, N V and He II in time-resolved UV spectroscopy during a luminous hard state, which we interpret as a warm, moderately ionized outflow component in this state. Simultaneously observed optical lines also display transient blue-shifted absorption. Decomposing the UV data into constant and variable components, the blue-shifted absorption is associated with the former. This implies that the outflow is not associated with the luminous flares in the data. The joint presence of UV and optical wind features reveals a multi-phase and/or spatially stratified evaporative outflow from the outer disc5. This type of persistent mass loss across all accretion states has been predicted by radiation-hydrodynamic simulations6 and helps to explain the shorter-than-expected duration of outbursts7.

Rural community health workers’ readiness for mobile-phone based telemedicine uptake in India / Journal of Rural Medicine

Objective: Healthcare services using mobile-phone based telemedicine provide simple technology that does not require sophisticated equipment. This study assessed community health workers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice (i.e., their readiness) at the village level for uptake of mobile-phone based telemedicine.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 community health workers, including Auxiliary Nurse Midwives, Multipurpose Health Workers and Accredited Social Health Activists working in a rural health block of India. A pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer-assisted, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their mobile-phone based telemedicine readiness.Results: Sixty (75.0%) health workers owned mobile phones. The median readiness score for mobile-phone based telemedicine was 109.0. The Accredited Social Health Activists showed a better attitude toward mobile-phone based telemedicine than others. There was a significant moderate positive correlation (r=0.67) between knowledge and practice domains. Community health workers who had smartphones showed a significantly better attitude than those who did not.Conclusion: Training programs on telemedicine service delivery, focused on Auxiliary Nurse Midwives/ Multipurpose Health Workers, can improve their attitudes towards telemedicine. A better attitude of the Accredited Social Health Activists must be leveraged to initiate mobile-phone based telemedicine services on a pilot basis initially and later scaled up in other settings.

Lockdowns, Community Mobility Patterns, and COVID-19: A Retrospective Analysis of Data from 16 Countries / 대한의료정보학회지

Objectives@#During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries around the world framed specific laws and imposed varying degrees of lockdowns to ensure the maintenance of physical distancing. Understanding changes in temporal and spatial mobility patterns may provide insights into the dynamics of this infectious disease. Therefore, we assessed the efficacy of lockdown measures in 16 countries worldwide by analyzing the relationship between community mobility patterns and the doubling time of COVID-19. @*Methods@#We performed a retrospective record-based analysis of population-level data on the doubling time for COVID-19 and community mobility. The doubling time for COVID-19 was calculated based on the laboratory-confirmed cases reported daily over the study period (from February 15 to May 2, 2020). Principal component analysis (PCA) of six mobility pattern-related variables was conducted. To explain the magnitude of the effect of mobility on the doubling time, a finite linear distributed lag model was fitted. The k-means clustering approach was employed to identify countries with similar patterns in the significant co-efficient of the mobility index, with the optimal number of clusters derived using Elbow’s method. @*Results@#The countries analyzed had reduced mobility in commercial and social places. Reduced mobility had a significant and favorable association with the doubling time of COVID-19—specifically, the greater the mobility reduction, the longer the time taken for the COVID-19 cases to double. @*Conclusions@#COVID-19 lockdowns achieved the immediate objective of mobility reduction in countries with a high burden of cases.

Community Preparedness and Practices for Prevention and Control of COVID-19 (COP-COVID): An Assessment from Rural Northern India.

OBJECTIVES: The study assessed the community preparedness to manage the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and access to health-care services during the lockdown of 2020 in a rural health block of northern India. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted during June-July, 2020, in 25 villages and 5 wards of a rural administrative block of Haryana. A pretested, semi-structured investigator-administered checklist was used to assess the community preparedness and practices for COVID-19 prevention/control and health-care access through direct observations and interviewing community health workers and beneficiaries. RESULTS: Active surveillance for influenza-like illness was carried out in 86.7% of the study units, although the frequency was once a month. There was poor adherence (adherence: 0-3%) to COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) measures such as physical distancing and use of face masks. Rural beneficiaries reported difficulty in accessing essential health-care services than their urban counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: A qualitative study to understand the facilitators and barriers for the non-adherence to IPC measures by the study population and formulating behavior change communication strategies for improving the IPC measures is needed. Repeat, cross-sectional surveys at regular intervals may be planned to gauge the change and effect of the interventions on the community preparedness and practices.

An initiative to improve nutritional education among medical students.

BACKGROUND: India faces a double burden of Malnutrition-undernutrition and overnutrition. In the medical institutes of India, there are no practice-based teaching methods to instill a greater understanding of the concepts of nutrition and healthy cooking. Hence, we have focused on an initiative named "Diet Demonstration" (DD) that is being practiced in the Department of Community Medicine at a government medical college in New Delhi. METHODS: Diet Demonstration is conducted in batches of 30-40 students. This specific exercise was conducted in May 2018. A batch of 35 MBBS students was subdivided into five groups, with 7 students/group. Each group was given a scenario/person with certain health conditions. They formulated a 24-h balanced dietary plan for nutrients and devised a food menu according to the scenario provided to them. The groups procured the raw materials from local markets, prepared the food according to their menu in the home/hostel kitchens. The cooked foods, alongside the equivalent raw materials used for cooking the respective foods, were presented and explained by each group in front of the whole batch and the faculty of the department. RESULTS: majority of the students opined that it had helped them in understanding nutrition in a better way, practice healthy cooking methods, and to learn the associated practical difficulties while planning and cooking a balanced diet. CONCLUSION: Diet Demonstration can be an innovative, cost effective way of inculcating nutrition knowledge and healthy cooking practices among the budding doctors, which needs replicability and feasibility studies in other settings.

Prevalence of depression and the associated factors among the software professionals in Delhi: A cross-sectional study.

India is home to an estimated 57 million people (18% of the global estimate) affected by depression. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of depression and associated factors among software professionals in Delhi National Capital Region, during 2017-2018 with a sample size of 310. Two-stage cluster sampling was used. A predesigned, pretested, semi-structured, English questionnaire was used. Patient Health Questionnaire 9, CAGE, CAGE Adapted to Include Drugs (CAGE-AID) questionnaire, Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence questionnaire was used. Forty percent (124) of the participants were screened to have major depressive disorder. There was a statistically significant association between depression and marital status (P = 0.041), family type (P = 0.008), alcohol use (P < 0.001), substance use (P = 0.014), multiple roles in a project (P < 0.001), and shift of work (P < 0.008). Considering the high prevalence of depression, mental health screening program, sensitization, and promotion must be incorporated into the IT industry to prevent and detect depression early.

Nine-hour X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from a low-mass black hole galactic nucleus.

In the past two decades, high-amplitude electromagnetic outbursts have been detected from dormant galaxies and often attributed to the tidal disruption of a star by the central black hole1,2. X-ray emission from the Seyfert 2 galaxy GSN 069 (2MASX J01190869-3411305) at a redshift of z = 0.018 was first detected in July 2010 and implies an X-ray brightening by a factor of more than 240 over ROSAT observations performed 16 years earlier3,4. The emission has smoothly decayed over time since 2010, possibly indicating a long-lived tidal disruption event5. The X-ray spectrum is ultra-soft and can be described by accretion disk emission with luminosity proportional to the fourth power of the disk temperature during long-term evolution. Here we report observations of quasi-periodic X-ray eruptions from the nucleus of GSN 069 over the course of 54 days, from December 2018 onwards. During these eruptions, the X-ray count rate increases by up to two orders of magnitude with an event duration of just over an hour and a recurrence time of about nine hours. These eruptions are associated with fast spectral transitions between a cold and a warm phase in the accretion flow around a low-mass black hole (of approximately 4 × 105 solar masses) with peak X-ray luminosity of about 5 × 1042 erg per second. The warm phase has kT (where T is the temperature and k is the Boltzmann constant) of about 120 electronvolts, reminiscent of the typical soft-X-ray excess, an almost universal thermal-like feature in the X-ray spectra of luminous active nuclei6-8. If the observed properties are not unique to GSN 069, and assuming standard scaling of timescales with black hole mass and accretion properties, typical active galactic nuclei with higher-mass black holes can be expected to exhibit high-amplitude optical to X-ray variability on timescales as short as months or years9.

Safety assessment of an etidronate in a sodium hypochlorite solution: randomized double-blind trial.

AIM: To assess whether Dual Rinse HEDP, an etidronate that can be combined with NaOCl to create an endodontic irrigating solution containing both hypochlorite and a chelator in the form of 1-hydroxyethane 1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP), alters the clinical efficacy of NaOCl or adds any untoward clinical effects. METHODOLOGY: In this randomized controlled double-blind single-centre trial, a pure NaOCl solution was compared to a HEDP-containing counterpart regarding antimicrobial efficacy, postoperative pain, and the host response by means of changes in MMP-9 levels in periapical fluid. Sixty patients presenting with asymptomatic apical periodontitis (one tooth each) were randomly divided into two groups (N = 30) based on irrigation regime. Pre- and post-treatment microbial aerobic and anaerobic cultures and MMP-9/total protein (TP) periapical fluid samples were collected. Postoperative pain levels were assessed 24 h after treatment. Categorical data were compared between groups using the Fisher's exact test, continuous data using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, α = 0.05. RESULTS: Irrigation with pure NaOCl rendered 40% canals free of culturable microorganisms, compared to 50% with the NaOCl/HEDP mixture (P = 0.60). As assessed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight analysis (MALDI-TOF), no apparent selection of aerobic or anaerobic taxa occurred in either group. One patient in the NaOCl group experienced moderate pain, whilst two patients in the NaOCl/HEDP group experienced mild postoperative pain. MMP-9/TP levels in periapical fluid declined significantly (P < 0.001) after 1 week with no medication in the root canal, without significant difference between treatment groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This trial found no influence of HEDP on clinical NaOCl effects.

Acaricidal, pediculicidal and larvicidal activity of synthesized ZnO nanoparticles using Momordica charantia leaf extract against blood feeding parasites.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the acaricidal, pediculicidal and larvicidal effect of synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Momordica charantia leaf extract against the larvae of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, adult of Pediculus humanus capitis, and the larvae of Anopheles stephensi, Culex quinquefasciatus. The ZnO NPs were characterized by using UV, XRD, FTIR and SEM-EDX. The SEM image confirms that the synthesized nanoparticles were spherical in shape with a size of 21.32 nm. The results of GC-MS analysis indicates the presence of the major compound of Nonacosane (C29H60) in the M. charantia leaf extract. Cattle tick, head lice and mosquito larvae were exposed to a varying concentrations of the synthesized ZnO NPs and M. charantia leaf extract for 24 h. Compared to the leaf aqueous extract, biosynthesized ZnO NPs showed higher toxicity against R. microplus, P. humanus capitis, An. stephensi, and Cx. Quinquefasciatus with the LC50 values of 6.87, 14.38, 5.42, and 4.87 mg/L, respectively. The findings revealed that synthesized ZnO NPs possess excellent anti-parasitic activity. These results suggest that the green synthesized ZnO NPs has the potential to be used as an ideal ecofriendly approach for the control of R. microplus, P. humanus capitis and the mosquito larvae of An. Stephensi and Cx. quinquefasciatus.

BenzoDODA grafted polymeric resin-Plutonium selective solid sorbent.

A new ligand grafted polymeric resin (BenzoDODA SDVB) was synthesized by covalently attaching plutonium selective ligand (BenzoDODA) on to styrene divinyl benzene (SDVB) polymer matrix. BenzoDODA SDVB resin was evaluated for separation and recovery of plutonium(IV) from nitric acid medium. Sorption of Pu(IV) was found to decrease with the increase in nitric acid concentration, with very small sorption above 7.0M HNO3. Sorption kinetics was fast enough to achieve the equilibrium within 60min of contact where the kinetic data fitted well to pseudo-second-order model. Sorption isotherm data fitted well to Langmuir model suggesting chemical interaction between the BenzoDODA moiety and plutonium(IV) ions. Sorption studies with some of representative radionuclides of high level waste showed that BenzoDODA SDVB is selective and therefore could be a promising solid sorbent for separation and recovery of plutonium. Further, the theoretical calculations done on BenzoDODA SDVB resin suggested Pu(NO3)4·BenzoDODA (1:1) sorbed complex conformed to generally observed square antiprism geometry of the plutonium complexes, with contributions from oxygen atoms of four nitrate ions as well as from four oxygen atoms present in BenzoDODA (two phenolic ether oxygen atoms and two carbonyl oxygen atoms of amidic moiety).

MicroRNA Regulation of Acute Lung Injury and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a severe form of acute lung injury (ALI), is a very common condition associated with critically ill patients, which causes substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite decades of research, effective therapeutic strategies for clinical ALI/ARDS are not available. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding molecules have emerged as a major area of biomedical research as they post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in diverse biological and pathological processes, including ALI/ARDS. In this context, this present review summarizes a large body of evidence implicating miRNAs and their target molecules in ALI/ARDS originating largely from studies using animal and cell culture model systems of ALI/ARDS. We have also focused on the involvement of miRNAs in macrophage polarization, which play a critical role in regulating the pathogenesis of ALI/ARDS. Finally, the possible future directions that might lead to novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of ALI/ARDS are also reviewed. J. Cell. Physiol. 231: 2097-2106, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.