Drug discoveries & therapeutics
-
The virus severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is currently affecting more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. It has been declared as pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) and the whole world is suffering from corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Currently, no treatment for SARS-CoV-2 are approved because of lack of evidence, but a number of clinical trials are in process and we are expecting fruitful results very soon. This review focuses on various approaches of treatment and few of the most recent clinical trials carried out in this field.
-
Based on some publications that associate SARS-CoV-2 infection with the use of anti-hypertensive drug groups such as angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (e.g. enalapril) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (e.g. losartan), many patients from South America, Central America or Spain, have stopped or intend to interrupt their treatments with these drugs. Hence, it may exist ominous consequences due to this drop out. For this reason, it is necessary to quickly warn about this situation and the risks associated with it.
-
The pulse wave transit time (PWTT) is easily measured as the time from the R wave of an electrocardiogram to the arrival of the pulse wave measured by an oxygen saturation monitor at the earlobe. We investigated whether the change of PWTT during exercise testing reflects cardiopulmonary function. Eighty-nine cardiac patients who underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) were enrolled. ⋯ The shortening of PWTT from rest to peak exercise showed significant positive correlations with the peak O2 uptake (VO2) (r = 0.56, p < 0.001), anaerobic threshold (r = 0.40, p = 0.016), and % increase of systolic blood pressure during exercise (r = 0.75, p < 0.001), and a negative correlation with the slope of the increase in ventilation versus the increase in CO2 output (VE-VCO2 slope) (r = - 0.42, p = 0.010) in the patients with heart failure. PWTT was shortened during exercise as the exercise intensity increased. In the patients with heart failure, the shortening of PWTT from rest to peak exercise was smaller in those with lower exercise capacity and those with higher VE-VCO2 slope, an established index known to reflect the severity of heart failure.
-
The SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged in December 2019 and then spread rapidly worldwide, particularly to China, Japan, and South Korea. Scientists are endeavoring to find antivirals specific to the virus. Several drugs such as chloroquine, arbidol, remdesivir, and favipiravir are currently undergoing clinical studies to test their efficacy and safety in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China; some promising results have been achieved thus far. This article summarizes agents with potential efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
-
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out in 2019 and spread rapidly around the world, causing a global pandemic. Traditional Chinese medicine has a history of more than 2,000 years in the prevention and treatment of epidemics and plagues. ⋯ However, TCM faces many challenges in terms of being recognized around the world. Therefore, evidence-based research is crucial to the development of TCM.