Tridax procumbens L., regularly known as coatbuttons or Tridax daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. T. procumbens are well identified for their medicinal properties among local natives. Besides being habitually used for dropsy, anemia, ulcer, piles, arthritis, gout, asthma, and urinary problems, it is also used in treating gastric complications, body pain, and rheumatic pains of joints. It is superlative and well-known as a prevalent weed and pest herbal. It is generally seen in the unused lands and along roadsides. It has been presented to tropical, subtropical, and mild temperate areas worldwide. T. procumbent, normally known as coatbuttons or Tridax daisy, is a species of blossoming plant in the daisy family. The preliminary phytochemical investigation showed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, carotenoids, and tannins. It shows wound healing and is an anticoagulant, antifungal, and insect repellent activity. Ethnomedicinally this plant may be used in the treatment of numerous types of diseases. The plant shows various pharmacological activities such as antidiabetic, anticancer, antibacterial activity, antiarthritic activity, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory effects, antiulcer activity, and antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity.

Respiratory infections such as Tuberculosis (TB) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have tremendously impacted global morbidity and mortality. It is now known that their causative agents have an airborne route of transmission. Clinical diagnosis of these diseases often relies on samples that are difficult to obtain or involve invasive techniques. These limitations have given impetus to research focusing on pathogen detection in bioaerosols. Collection, detection, and quantification of infectious aerosols released by patients can serve as a diagnostic tool while assessing the infectiousness of the pathogen being transmitted. In this review, we have described the various methods of bioaerosol sampling in TB and COVID-19 along with their applications in real-life clinical settings. From aerosol sampling systems and cough chambers to the recent face mask sampling, techniques have advanced over the years moving toward the development of a point-of-care tool for disease diagnosis. Among these, the mask sampling approach has an edge over other methods in terms of convenience and usability. Such sampling techniques, combined with sensitive detection systems have the potential to rapidly detect respiratory pathogens and may ultimately play a role in preventing the spread of these diseases in the community. The review highlights the advances in the application of bioaerosol sampling with a focus on the potential of mask-based bioaerosol sampling method. It also discusses the future research and clinical prospects of bioaerosol sampling.

DNA vaccines, a type of nucleic acid vaccine, have emerged as one of the recent developments in immunology and recombinant DNA technology, offering great potential in terms of ease of manufacture, maintenance, and safety compared to conventional vaccines. Since their discovery, DNA vaccines have evolved immensely, resulting in the employment of new techniques such as gene guns, in vivo electroporation, and nanoparticle-based carriers to enhance the delivery of vaccines into the cells. Starting from the failures of the first-generation DNA vaccines to the near-success second-generation vaccines, several strategies including codon optimization, antigen design, and heterologous prime-boost have greatly helped in strengthening the vaccine's immunogenicity. The purpose of developing these third-generation vaccines is primarily to solve existing medical complications like cancer, along with therapeutic uses, to address health problems, and to aid the rapid eradication of sudden global outbreaks of infectious diseases including Ebola and COVID-19. In this review, we focus on the recent developments and strategies employed to improve the efficacy of DNA vaccines and discuss their mechanism of action, potential concerns, progress achieved, and a brief update on its clinical applications.

Tuberculosis remains unapparent in about 80% of the infected cases. It turns symptomatic in cases of stress, undernourishment, i.e., weakening of the immune defenses, hygiene deficits, or massive exposure of fragile and/or stressed populations, including overworked health agents, to the pathogen. It is, thus, mostly a disease of the stressed, the poor, and the indigents. Prevention demands a detection of unapparent infections at risk of turning symptomatic. Diagnostic tests based on the detection of the antigen in sputum and occasionally in other organs have their use but need to be completed with the detection of asymptomatic cases. It is possible by the monitoring of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies during the early process of infection, before the bacillus has reached a mass able to vigorously suppress the immune capacities of the patient. Some drugs are immune depressive and impair the recovery of successfully treated patients. At consultation, the patient is often already fully immune depressed; a monitoring of his IgG-specific antibodies shows that the level of antibodies is very low and will rise if the treatment is successful. The monitoring of the immune status of the patients and the application of immunostimulating products to those patients who show a need therefore will complete the chemotherapy. Nothing of this is currently applied and the serodiagnostic, so useful in rural areas, has been banned, to be replaced by an expensive and inaccurate antigen-test. In addition, the continuing use of an iatrogenic vaccine defeats the purpose.

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a group of common diseases that are among the most common bacterial infections in humans. Antibiotics are often effective therapy, although antibiotic resistance is increasing. The study aimed to isolated pathogenic bacteria from UTI patients attended to Al-Shomali General Hospital and to detect the antibiotic susceptibility rate to isolated bacteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The bacterial identification and antibacterial susceptibility of this work were done in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of Al-Shomali General Hospital for the period between March 1, 2022, and June 1, 2022. Bacteria have been diagnosed by morphology and biochemical tests as well as using some selective and differential media. The results were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 26 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: A total of 124 positive urine cultures were studied that showed 101 (81.4%) females and 23 (18.5%) males. The data revealed the most predominant of uropathogen isolates were Escherichia coli (34%), Staphylococcus aureus (31%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (13%), Enterococcus spp. (11%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4%), Klebsiella spp. (3%), Micrococcus spp. (2%), and Proteus mirabilis (2%). Antibiotic resistance in this study shows the most bacteria resistance for an antibiotic is P. mirabilis (81%), P. aeruginosa (76%), Enterococcus spp. (66%), S. aureus (65%), E. coli (54%), S. saprophyticus (52%), Micrococcus spp. (48%), and Klebsiella spp. (44%). CONCLUSIONS: In UTI infections, resistant bacteria are becoming increasingly prevalent, with a high proportion of multidrug-resistant isolates. Furthermore, the meropenem, imipenem, and amikacin seemed to be more effective against bacterial UTI infection in this setting.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination is known as one of the best approaches for overcoming the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for emergency use, and the knowledge about efficacy, safety, and adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines is based only on data published from clinical trials and is not reliable. Therefore, a report of the side effects in the real world and among different populations is very helpful. The purpose of this research is to study and describe the side effects of the Sinopharm vaccine in adolescents aged 12–18 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted on 502 Iranian populations aged 12–18 years who received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine. Information was collected based-on telephonic interviews. In this survey, participants and their parents were asked about the underlying disease, side effects developed after receiving the vaccine, the time of beginning the reactions, and the time of resolving them. RESULTS: Out of 502 vaccinated participants with a mean age of 14.2 ± 0.6 years, about 10% (n = 50) reported side effects after the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. The most common side effects were injection site reactions (5.97%), and pain at the injection site (70%) was the most common of them. Systemic reactions were 2.19%, and fatigue/malaise was the most common of them (22%). The mean time to begin the side effects after injection was 42 ± 8.6 min, and the mean time of resolving developed adverse effects was 38 ± 5.3 min. CONCLUSION: About 10% of the population aged 12 to18 years developed adverse effects following the Sinopharm vaccine. These adverse reactions were often mild in severity and were developed mostly during 2 h of vaccination and resolved in <1 h and required no or home-based treatment. It seems that the Sinopharm vaccines are safe in the population aged 12–18 years and are not associated with significant complications. The exact mechanisms of these adverse reactions are not clear, but according to the time of occurrence of the vaccine side effects, it seems that type 1 hypersensitivity allergic reactions are mainly involved.

BACKGROUND: The association between COVID-19 incidence and genetic underlying is an interesting issue. The possible association between thalassemia and COVID-19 is proposed. In additional to beta-thalassemia, alpha-thalassemia is another important group of thalassemic disorder. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this report, the authors present an observation on correlation between alpha-thalassemia 1carrier prevalence and incidence of COVID-19 from a tropical country in Southeast Asia that alpha-thalassemia is endemic. RESULTS: According to this study, there is no significant correlation and the calculated correlation coefficient between alpha-thalassemia carrier prevalence and incidence of COVID-19 is equal to − 0.82 (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: According to the current data, there is no discernible link between the incidence of COVID-19 and the prevalence of alpha-thalassemia 1 carriers.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we have investigated the binding affinity, ADME, and toxicity analysis of phytocompounds of red wine by performing molecular docking studies related to diabetes and cardioprotective activity. Our aim is to Identify the affinity of phytocompounds of red wine for the management of coronary artery disease and diabetes by performing docking. METHODS: Molecular docking and toxicity prediction were performed using AutoDock Vina, Pymol, Discovery studio, Autodock Tools, Chemdraw, Swiss ADME, and PROTOX-II tools. RESULTS: Docking investigations of phytocompounds in red wine with targeted proteins, such as 2ZJ3 and 5JMY, found that all selected phytocompounds had a high binding affinity and enhanced binding modes for selected target receptors, resulting in increased activity for diabetes and coronary artery disease. Gallotannin (hydrolysable tannin), the most major phytocompound found in red wine, has a high binding affinity for the 2ZJ3 protein, which is the isomerase domain of the human glucose: fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase receptor (−11.9 Kcal/mol). Theaflavin has a binding affinity for the 5JMY protein of −11.4 Kcal/mol (neprilysin receptor). The binding affinity of all phytocompounds is depicted. CONCLUSION: Red wine is an alcoholic beverage that contains polyphenols such as anthocyanins, flavanols, tannins, and nonflavonoid chemicals, phenolic acids, and resveratrol. These chemicals have an effect on the pharmacological qualities of red wine. Investigators are very interested in the phenolic metabolites derived from polyphenol, phenolic acids parent molecules, and this topic needs to be researched more; hence, we conclude that docking studies of phytocompounds in red wine with targeted proteins, such as 2ZJ3 and 5JMY, found that all selected phytocompounds had a high binding affinity and enhanced binding modes for selected target receptors, resulting in management of activity for diabetes and coronary artery disease. The major drawback highlights concentration-dependent intake of red wine is highlights in the in-vivo study.