Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases

Background. Data from developed/developed countries have shown that hospital-acquired blood infections (HA-BSIs) are one of the most severe nosocomial infections and constitute 20%–60% of hospitalization-related deaths. Despite the high morbidity and mortality rates and the enormous burden of health care costs associated with HA-BSIs, to our knowledge, there are few published reports on HA-BSI prevalence estimates in Arab countries, including Oman. Objectives. This study aims to explore the HA-BSI prevalence estimates over selected sociodemographic characteristics among admitted patients at a tertiary hospital in Oman over five years of follow-up. The regional variations in Oman were also examined in this study. Methods. This hospital-based cross-sectional study reviewed reports of hospital admissions over 5 years of retrospective follow-ups at a tertiary hospital in Oman. HA-BSI prevalence estimates were calculated over age, gender, governorate, and follow-up time. Results. In total, 1,246 HA-BSI cases were enumerated among a total of 139,683 admissions, yielding an overall HA-BSI prevalence estimate of 8.9 cases per 1000 admissions (95% CI: 8.4, 9.4). HA-BSI prevalence was higher among males compared to females (9.3 vs. 8.5). HA-BSI prevalence started as relatively high in the group aged 15 years or less (10.0; 95% CI 9.0, 11.2) and then declined as age increased from 36 to 45 years (7.0; 95% CI 5.9, 8.3) when it started to increase steadily with increasing age in the group aged 76 or more (9.9; 95% CI 8.1, 12.1). The governorate-specific estimate of HA-BSI prevalence was the highest among admitted patients who resided in Dhofar governorate, while the lowest estimate was reported from the Buraimi governorate (5.3). Conclusion. The study provides supportive evidence for a steady increase in HA-BSI prevalence over age categories and years of follow-up. The study calls for the timely formulation and adoption of national HA-BSI screening and management programs centered on surveillance systems based on real-time analytics and machine learning.

COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 has impacted human livelihood globally. Strenuous efforts have been employed for its control and prevention; however, with recent reports on mutated strains with much higher infectivity, transmissibility, and ability to evade immunity developed from previous SARS-CoV-2 infections, prevention alternatives must be prepared beforehand in case. We have perused over 128 recent works (found on Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect as of February 2023) on medicinal plants and their compounds for anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and eventually reviewed 102 of them. The clinical application and the curative effect were reported high in China and in India. Accordingly, this review highlights the unprecedented opportunities offered by medicinal plants and their compounds, candidates as the therapeutic agent, against COVID-19 by acting as viral protein inhibitors and immunomodulator in (32 clinical trials and hundreds of in silico experiments) conjecture with modern science. Moreover, the associated foreseeable challenges for their viral outbreak management were discussed in comparison to synthetic drugs.

Typhoid fever is a multiorgan infectious disease caused by Salmonella typhi. It is transmitted through fecal oral route and can be fatal without proper treatment. Therefore, early diagnosis of typhoid fever is crucial. In the previous study, we have developed TYPHOIDYNE EIA, which showed excellent synergy between the genus conserved and species-specific antigens in the serodiagnosis of typhoid fever. TYPHOIDYNE EIA can effectively detect and differentiate typhoid patients, typhoid vaccinated subjects, healthy subjects, and subjects with other febrile illnesses. Following the successful development of TYPHOIDYNE EIA, in this report, we further characterize the antigenic components of differentially extracted S. typhi and S. spp recognized by IgM, IgG, and IgA antibody isotypes in typhoid patients and possible typhoid carrier by the western blot (WB) assay. The WB characterization revealed a dynamic pattern of recognition, with significant variations in the number of antigenic bands observed between the differentially extracted arrays of antigens. The reactivity of patient’s sera was divided into 3 regions, with region 1 (≥55 kDa) showing the strongest reactivity followed by region 2 (54 kDa–34 kDa) and region 3 (<34 kDa). Overall, the good synergy expressed in these bands suggests the potential role of these proteins in differentiating typhoid patients with possible typhoid carrier. The antigenic bands highlighted in this study are also identified as prospective biomarkers for diagnostic use and vaccine development.

The discovery of proteinaceous infectious agents by Prusiner in 1982 was sensational. All previously known pathogens contained nucleic acids, the code of life, that enabled them to reproduce. In contrast, the proteinaceous agents of disease, called prion proteins (PrP), lacked nucleic acids and propagated by binding to the functional, endogenous form of cellular prion protein (referred to as PrP^C) and altering its conformation to produce the infectious disease-causing misfolded protein (referred to as PrP^Sc). The accumulation and aggregation of these infectious prion proteins within the brain cause destruction of neural tissue and lead to fatal spongiform encephalopathies. In this review, we present the molecular pathology of prion-based diseases. These insights are of particular importance since the principles of prion pathogenesis apply to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Collectively, the global prevalence of these diseases is rapidly increasing while effective therapies against them are still lacking. Thus, the need to understand their etiology and pathogenesis is urgent, and it holds profound implications for societal health.

Quinoline-based molecules are major constituents in natural products, active pharmacophores, and have excellent biological activities. Using 2H-thiopyrano[2,3-b]quinoline derivatives and CB1a protein (PDB ID: 2IGR), the molecular docking study has been revealed in this article. The study of in silico molecular docking analysis of such derivatives to determine the binding affinity, residual interaction, and hydrogen bonding of several 2H-thiopyrano[2,3-b]quinolines against CB1a is reported here. The current work demonstrated that 2H-thiopyrano[2,3-b]quinoline derivatives could be effective antitumor agents to produce potent anticancer medicines in the near future.

Objective. The design and implementation of an online dashboard to support data-driven decision-making and joint coordination between health institutions and government bodies in the Balkan countries faced with new COVID-19 waves in the region. Methods. Shiny R dashboard tracks COVID-19 in real-time using a comparative approach to interactively visualize national-level data from various official sources. Results. The dashboard, named COVID-19 Situation in Balkan countries can be accessed online (COVID-19 Situation in Balkan countries). The daily situation in 11 Balkan countries focuses on similarities and differences between countries on a daily basis and since the beginning of the pandemic. The web resource features the most affected countries, the number of new cases, and fatality rates reported daily. Features also include rankings of the worst affected countries, information search and filtering, and a map component interactively showing daily information for each country comparatively. Conclusions. The dashboard for the COVID-19 situation in Balkan countries simplifies meaningful real-time information for public and health agencies regarding the COVID-19 situation in the whole Balkan region. The creation allows for a deep analysis of measures taken to face COVID-19 in a regional context, allowing for health policy updates and a better basis for collaboration among Balkan governments.