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Friday, April 19, 2024
Coronavirus

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Close-up of scientist hands with microscope

A recent stem cell study has shown that SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, can infect heart cells via the same receptor present in the lungs. This may be responsible for the cardiac complications associated with COVID-19.

Experts initially thought that COVID-19 was a respiratory disease, with symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, and pneumonia. However, more recent evidence into COVID-19 shows that the disease can also cause neurological and cardiac symptoms.

Physicians have reported changes to the circulatory system in people with COVID-19, sometimes leading to blood clots, as well as cardiac complications, such as changes to the heart rhythm, damage to heart tissue, and heart attacks.

Although there is widespread agreement that COVID-19 is a risk to the heart, whether these symptoms are due to the virus directly or a consequence of other disease processes, such as inflammation, has been unclear.

In a new study appearing in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, scientists have helped resolve this mystery by showing that SARS-CoV-2 can infect heart cells and change their function.

Their findings, from experiments in human stem cells, suggest that the cardiac symptoms of COVID-19 may be the direct result of the infection of heart tissue.

SARS-CoV-2 behaviour in heart cells

The scientists used a type of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate heart cells.

Scientists can create iPSCs from a person’s skin cells and then reprogram them to become any cell type in the body. They provide a useful tool for research into human disease and a way to test new treatments.

In this study, the team programmed the iPSCs to become heart cells and later incubated them with SARS-CoV-2. Using microscopes and genetic sequencing techniques, the researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 could directly infect the heart cells.

They also showed that the virus can rapidly divide inside heart cells, which caused changes to the heart’s ability to beat after a period of under 3 days.

“We not only uncovered that these stem cell-derived heart cells are susceptible to infection by [the] novel coronavirus, but that the virus can also quickly divide within the heart muscle cells,” explains first study author Dr. Arun Sharma, a research fellow at the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.

The role of the ACE2 receptor

Additional experiments focused on the different genes expressed by heart cells before and after the virus infected them. These studies showed activation of the innate immune response and antiviral clearance pathways to help fight the virus.

However, how does the virus get into the heart in the first place? The researchers suggest that one way in which it gains access may be by using angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). This is the same receptor the virus uses to infect cells in the lungs.

Importantly, studies have shown that treatment with an ACE2 antibody can help stop SARS-CoV-2 from replicating and save cells in the heart.

“By blocking the ACE2 protein with an antibody, the virus is not as easily able to bind to the ACE2 protein, and thus cannot easily enter the cell. This not only helps us understand the mechanisms of how this virus functions, but also suggests therapeutic approaches that could be used as a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection.” – Dr. Arun Sharma

The importance of these findings

The researchers suggest that scientists could use stem cell-derived heart cells to screen new drugs and find compounds able to stop the infection of heart cells.

“This key experimental system could be useful to understand the differences in disease processes of related coronaviral pathogens SARS and MERS,” adds study author Dr. Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

There are some limitations to this approach, however. These include the fact that stem cell-derived heart cells are not exactly the same as the real thing.

The researchers also studied the cells in a dish, an isolated system lacking the immune interactions that would occur in the human body.

Nevertheless, the experiments clearly showed that the cells became infected with SARS-CoV-2, which is in line with some clinical data showing the virus in the hearts of people who died from COVID-19.

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Executive Director, ISN Medical laboratory Mr. Felix Ofungwu, has reiterated need to train and retrain medical laboratory scientists in the country as it remains the best way to reduce misdiagnoses of diseases.

He however, explained that causes of misdiagnosis include delay during the diagnosis process, human errors, quackery in the profession and personal biases about patients among others are common causes of misdiagnosis, which are increasing in the country.

He stated this during a press briefing to announce ISN Medical Laboratory Scientist of the Year award. He said the ward is a way of recognising and rewarding the efforts of medical Laboratory Scientist across the country including front line health workers in the ongoing fight against coronavirus, held at Ilupeju, Lagos.

He noted that the ISN award would run from June to November 2020 and entry is open to practicing licensed medical laboratory scientists while an erudite panel of judges will execute grading and selection of the winner in September while the grand final and presentation of prizes would hold in November.

The immediate past President of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), Dr. Raheed Toyosi, said MLSCN is in full support of the project adding that the eligible, participant must have the requisite academic qualifications, must be a registered member of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), and must be working in a registered medical laboratory or hospital. This is as much a recognition of the laboratory in, which the scientist works as it is about the science.

He noted that overall winner of the award will receive a grand prize of one million naira with a capacity development training with international partners and a donation of medical lab equipment/reagents worth one million naira to the lab or hospital where he or she works.

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Photo series of a virtual dinner date with video call during lockdown.

New research suggests that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption may reduce cognitive decline in older adults.

A new study has found that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption may slow cognitive decline in adults of middle age or older.

The research, which appears in the journal JAMA Open Network, lays the ground for future research to corroborate these findings and determine the underlying mechanism for the relationship.

Alcohol and health

Drinking alcohol is a central part of many cultures across the world. Beyond the immediate adverse effects of a hangover, drinking alcohol in excess has associations with various poor health outcomes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive alcohol use includes heavy drinking (more than eight or 15 drinks a week for women and men, respectively), binge drinking (drinking four or five drinks in about 2 hours for women and men, respectively), or drinking while underage or pregnant.

The CDC define a drink as 14 grams of pure alcohol. This amount roughly equates to a 12-ounce (oz) can of 5% beer, a 5-oz glass of 12% wine, a 4-oz glass of 15% wine, or a single 1.5-oz shot of 40% distilled spirit or liquor.

The CDC note that excessive alcohol drinking is associated with various health problems. These include:

  • damage to the liver
  • inflammation of the pancreas
  • increased risk of cancer
  • hypertension
  • psychological disorders
  • unintentional injuries that a person sustained while drunk
  • harm to the fetus if a woman drinks while pregnant
  • sudden infant death syndrome
  • alcohol use disorder

Research has shown that the misuse of alcohol is a leading cause of illness and death and that any level of alcohol drinking, particularly in men who drink spirits, increases the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

However, there is also evidence that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption — fewer than eight or 15 standard drinks in the United States per week for women and men, respectively — can have a beneficial effect on health, including various cardiovascular diseases.

The effects of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive decline in later life have been mixed. Some research has found evidence that it may be protective, while other research suggests that it is probably not harmful. Conversely, some studies have found that it can exacerbate poor brain health.

The authors of the present study noted that previous studies exploring the relationship between alcohol consumption and cognitive decline are often limited in two ways.

First, they typically rely on single measures of cognitive decline, when it can present in a variety of ways. Second, they typically take into account net follow-up time to cognitive decline, despite the decline often being greater or lesser depending on age rather than general time passed.

As a consequence, the authors of the present research developed their study to take these factors into account, with the aim of better understanding the effects of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive decline in older age.

About 20,000 participants

The authors drew on data from the Health and Retirement Study, which was a longitudinal study involving about 20,000 adults of middle age or older living in the U.S.

The sample that the researchers used was representative of the U.S. population, and they tracked the participants for an average time of 9.1 years.

The team regularly assessed the participants’ cognitive functioning during this time, focusing on three measures: total word recall, mental status, and vocabulary. They split the participants into those with persistently high scores across time and those with persistently low scores across time.

The participants also gave information on how many alcoholic drinks they consumed on average. During the data analysis, the researchers separated them into three groups: those who never drank, those who used to drink, and those who currently drink.

They then further classified drinkers as low-to-moderate drinkers (fewer than eight or 15 drinks per week for women and men, respectively), or heavy drinkers (more than moderate drinking).

Low-to moderate drinking may protect against cognitive decline

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that low-to-moderate drinking was associated with better cognitive outcomes across all three measures for middle-aged and older adults.

As other factors could be responsible for this association, the researchers took age, sex, race/ethnicity, educational level, marital status, and body mass index (BMI) into account in the analysis. The association between consistently high cognitive scores and low-to-moderate drinking persisted.

While this was true in general across the study, the researchers found that the association between low-to-moderate alcohol consumption and protection against cognitive decline was stronger for white participants than for Black participants. However, there were fewer Black participants, and this could account for the lack of strong association.

The researchers also noted that about 5% of women and 15% of men drank excessive amounts of alcohol, meaning that public health awareness campaigns that focus on this issue are still crucial. Drinking more than 14 drinks (self-defined) had worse cognitive outcomes for vocabulary, while more than 10 drinks impacted negatively on word recall.

Future research

While the study demonstrates an association between low-to-moderate alcohol drinking and protection against cognitive decline in later life, it is not yet clear why this is the case. According to study author Dr. Ruiyuan Zhang of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia College of Public Health, Athens, and his co-authors:

“The role of alcohol drinking in cognitive function may be a balance of its beneficial and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system. Among low-to-moderate drinkers, the beneficial effects may outweigh the harmful effects on the cardiovascular system.”

Future research to corroborate the study’s findings is important, given the previous conflicting research on the topic. In addition, if research conclusively demonstrates low-to-moderate alcohol consumption as protective against cognitive decline in older age, future research to help understand why this is the case is important so that clinicians can best advise their patients.

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Female doctor talking with patient along coworker in ICU. Man is lying on bed amidst essential workers. Healthcare workers are in protective workwear.

The antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine has generated significant controversy. A new study suggests that if it is given early, it can reduce mortality in people with severe COVID-19. But our expert points out weaknesses in the study’s design.

Amid an ongoing search for an effective COVID-19 treatment, the debate about the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) continues.

There was plenty of hype about the drug during the early months of the pandemic. On March 28, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), allowing doctors to use HCQ and chloroquine (CQ) products in situations where clinical trials were not an option.

Last month, the FDA withdrew the EUA. The agency explains that it “has determined that CQ and HCQ are unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA. Additionally, in light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects, the known and potential benefits of CQ and HCQ no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use.”

Clinical trials using the drug have shown mixed results and been marred with controversy. After an investigation by The Guardian into the quality of data analysis provided by a company called Surgisphere, the authors of one high-profile study in The Lancet retracted the paper.

Several institutions have since halted their HCQ studies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Now, a new study in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases — by researchers from the Henry Ford Health System, in Michigan — reports that treatment with HCQ alone and in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin reduced the number of deaths among people in the hospital with severe COVID-19.

Comparing mortality rates

The corresponding author is Dr. Marcus J. Zervos, an infectious disease specialist at Henry Ford Hospital and the Wayne State University School of Medicine, both in Detroit, MI.

For their study, the team retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 2,541 individuals who received treatment for COVID-19 in Henry Ford Health System hospitals.

The aim of the research was to compare how many people with COVID-19 died while in the hospital after receiving either HCQ, HCQ and azithromycin, azithromycin on its own, or “other treatments for COVID-19,” as the authors explain in their paper.

Treatment with HCQ, azithromycin, or both began within 24 hours of hospital admission in 82% of cases, and within 48 hours of admission in 91% of cases.

Among the 2,541 patients in the study, 460 died, which equates to an overall mortality rate of 18.1%. In the group of 409 patients who received neither HCQ nor azithromycin, 108 died, representing a mortality rate of 26.4%.

A total of 1,202 patients received only HCQ, of whom 162 died, a mortality rate of 13.5%, while out of the 147 patients who received only azithromycin, 33 died, equating to a mortality rate of 22.4%.

Among the 783 patients who received a combination treatment of HCQ and azithromycin, 157 patients died. This reflects a mortality rate of 20.1%.

While these results sound encouraging, Dr. Hanh Le, who is the senior director of medical affairs at Healthline Media, shared her concerns about the study with Medical News Today.

“As an observational study, it would have been good to have insights into what factored into the treatments that the patients received. For example, of the patients who received neither drug, why were most of them 65 or older?” Dr. Le pointed out. “Unfortunately, the study authors did not address that.”

Study limitations

Dr. Le explained that the average age of those who received neither HCQ nor azithromycin was significantly higher than those who received HCQ.

Specifically, the average age in the group who received other COVID-19 treatments was 68.1 years, the median age was 71 years, and 64.1% were over the age of 65. In the HCQ group, on the other hand, the average age was 63.2 years, the mean age was 53 years, and 48.9% were over 65.

Patients in the HCQ group were also significantly more likely to receive steroids in addition to the drug. While 78.9% of patients in this group received steroids, only 35.7% of patients in the other COVID-19 treatment groups did.

“In addition, white race is a risk factor they identified, and it too was unbalanced,” Dr. Le added.

In the group receiving other COVID-19 treatments, 45.5% were white, while in the HCQ group, 27.6% were white.

“We attribute our findings that differ from other studies to early treatment, and part of a combination of interventions that were done in supportive care of patients, including careful cardiac monitoring,” Dr. Zervos comments in a press release.

“Our dosing also differed from other studies not showing a benefit of the drug. And other studies are either not peer-reviewed, have limited numbers of patients, different patient populations, or other differences from our patients,” he continued.

The study authors do urge caution in light of their findings:

“Our results should be interpreted with some caution and should not be applied to patients treated outside of hospital settings,” they write in the paper. “Our results also require further confirmation in prospective, randomized controlled trials that rigorously evaluate the safety, and efficacy of [HCQ] therapy for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.”

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There is “strong evidence” that COVID-19- positive mothers can pass the virus on to their unborn infants, scientists said Thursday, in findings that could affect how pregnant women are shielded during the pandemic.

While there have been isolated cases of babies infected with the virus, the findings show the strongest link yet between mother and infant transmission.

Researchers in Italy studied 31 pregnant women hospitalised with COVID-19 and found the virus in an at-term placenta, umbilical cord, the vagina of one woman and in breast milk.

They also identified specific COVID-19 antibodies in the umbilical cords of several pregnant women as well as in milk specimens.

Claudio Fenizia, from the University of Milan and lead study author, said the findings “strongly suggest” that in-vitro transmission is possible.

“Given the number of infected people worldwide, the number of women that could be affected by this could be potentially very high,” he told AFP.

Fenizia stressed that none of the infants born during the study period tested positive for COVID-19.

“Although in utero transmission seems to be possible, it is too early to clearly assess the risk and potential consequences,” he said.

The World Health Organization said last month that new mothers infected with COVID-19 should continue breastfeeding.

“We know that children are at relatively low-risk of COVID-19, but are at high risk of numerous other diseases and conditions that breastfeeding prevents,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Among other findings, the team identified a specific inflammatory response triggered by COVID-19 in the women’s placenta and umbilical cord blood plasma.

Fenizia said that the women studied were all in their third trimester, given the timeframe of Italy’s epidemic, adding that more research is currently underway among COVID-19-positive women in the early stages of pregnancy.

“Our study is aimed at raising awareness and inviting the scientific community to consider the pregnancy in positive women as an urgent topic to further characterise and dissect,” he said.

“I believe that promoting prevention is the safer advice we could possibly give right now for these patients.”

The study was released during a week-long International AIDS Conference, held online for the first time in its history due to the pandemic.

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Scientists have discovered a way to track changes in sound processing in the brains of people with HIV. Their test provides a simple technique for studying how HIV affects the central nervous system.

Due to advances in antiretroviral drug treatment over the past 20 years, most people with HIV can now expect to live long, healthy lives.

However, even if treatment successfully brings the virus under control, people can experience cognitive issues as a result of HIV causing damage to their central nervous system.

Up to 45% of people with HIV may develop these difficulties, which are known collectively as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND).

Although the cause of HAND remains unknown, scientists have several theories. They speculate, for example, that it may be the result of chronic inflammation, lingering damage from the initial infection, or a toxic effect of antiretroviral drugs.

Alternatively, low levels of the virus may persist in the brain as a result of the blood-brain barrier limiting the passage of antiretroviral drugs into the brain.

The signs and symptoms of HAND can be subtle, which makes it challenging for doctors to diagnose early and monitor.

Understanding speech

One of the problems that people with HIV sometimes report is difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise.

Researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH, led a team that studied the hearing of a group of people with HIV in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

They collaborated with scientists from the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam and neuroscientists from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

“Initially, we thought we’d find that HIV affects the ear, but what seems to be affected is the brain’s ability to process sound,” says study co-leader Dr. Jay Buckey Jr., a professor of medicine at Geisel.

To test this idea, they used scalp electrodes to monitor the brain waves of 68 people with HIV and 59 people without as they listened to sounds.

Specifically, they recorded a brain response known as the speech-evoked frequency-following response (FFR).

Certain features of brain waves, such as their timing and amplitude, reveal how faithfully the brain encodes an auditory stimulus. The FFR has proven particularly useful for investigating how the brain processes information in highly complex sounds, such as music and speech.

The precision and accuracy of the FFR can improve as a result of experience, such as in trained musicians, or worsen as a result of illness or damage, such as concussion.

“There are many acoustic ingredients in speech, such as pitch, timing, harmonics, and phrase,” says study co-leader Nina Kraus, Ph.D., a professor of communication sciences and neurobiology at Northwestern.

“The FFR enables us to play speech sounds into the ear of study participants and figure out how good a job the brain is doing processing these different acoustic ingredients.”

Common speech sounds

The researchers recorded the FFR while the study participants listened to common speech sounds, such as “ba,” “da,” and “ga.”

They looked at how well the signal encoded two acoustic features of speech, known as the harmonics corresponding to the first formant and fundamental frequency.

The harmonics corresponding to the first formant identify the units of sound, or “phonemes,” that differentiate one word from another, whereas the fundamental frequency reflects the frequency at which the vocal cords vibrate, which helps identify the speaker.

The brains of people with HIV had similar responses to the brains of people without HIV at processing the fundamental frequency.

They also performed well on standard tests of hearing, but the FFR revealed that the brains of people with HIV were worse at encoding the first formant.

In other words, they had normal hearing thresholds, but their brains could not distinguish between the sounds of different words as accurately.

“When the brain processes sound, it’s not like a volume knob where all of the acoustic ingredients are either processed well or poorly,” Kraus explains. “With the FFR, we’re able to see which aspects of auditory processing are affected or diminished and ask, ‘[I]s there a specific neural signature that aligns itself with HIV?’”

The researchers have published their study in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology.

Early aging

The researchers note that as people get older, even if their hearing remains normal, their brains get worse at processing the same speech features that the brains of people with HIV seem to struggle with.

They write that HIV-associated cognitive problems may therefore be akin to early aging.

In the future, they hope that other scientists will use the FFR not only to study brain dysfunction associated with HIV, but also other conditions, such as concussion and Alzheimer’s disease.

Standard tests of cognitive function involve giving people tasks, such as solving math problems or remembering a list of words. However, these are dependent on the language people speak and their culture.

“What’s significant about our results is that the test doesn’t require any actions on the [subject’s] part. It’s recorded passively — subjects can even sleep or watch a movie,” says Dr. Buckey. “We think the FFR holds a lot of promise as a way to assess the brain easily and objectively.”

In their paper, the researchers note that the test could prove particularly useful in parts of the world with the most HIV infections and limited healthcare resources.

They write, “While previous neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have shown differences between HIV+ and HIV- individuals, these approaches are difficult to transport to resource-limited settings such as sub-Saharan Africa, where >70% of the world’s HIV+ population lives and where there is some evidence that neurocognitive symptoms are more severe.”

“Thus, the FFR holds promise as a research tool to further study [central nervous system] health, particularly in resource-limited settings.”

The study authors acknowledge that research projects involving more participants will be necessary to confirm their results. They say that it would also be interesting to track changes in the FFR from the early stages of infection onward.

Finally, in light of evidence suggesting that different strains of the virus may have differing neurological effects, they would like to see studies that compare FFR tests in different populations around the world.

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The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has closed a drug market along Douglas Road, Owerri, the Imo State capital for violating federal government’s policy on relocation of drug markets into regulated centres as well as the regulations guiding handling of pharmaceutical products and sale of medicines.

The council also sealed off 452 premises comprised of 19 pharmacies and 434 Patent and Proprietary Medicines Vendors (PPMV), otherwise known as patent medicine shops.

In a press briefing in Owerri recently, the Director of Inspection and Monitoring of the council, Pharm. Anthonia Aruya said nine arrests were made during the enforcement exercise of the council which started in the state since June 29, 2020.

She said, “A major observed non-compliance is the fact that despite the federal government’s explicit policy direction and the PCN’s guidance to stakeholders on relocation of markets into regulated centres (Coordinated Wholesale Centres), a new drug market was discovered recently set up in this state. The PCN has sealed that market preparatory for evacuation.”

According to her, the council had visited 557 premises that comprised 68 pharmacies as well as 489 patent medicine shops.

Aruya who represented the PCN Registrar, Pharm. Nurudeen Mohammed disclosed that apart from those that were sealed off, ten pharmacies and one patent medicine shop were issued with compliance directives for poor handling of controlled drugs as well as sale and dispensing of ethical drugs without supervision of the pharmacists.

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More evidence are emerging on why death and infections by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will continue to be low in Africa and indeed Nigeria. In fact, researchers have demonstrated that a combination of several natural products and herbs such as black seed, Artemisia annua, aspirin, vitamin D3, zinc, honey, cloves, salt water and charcoal could be used to prevent and treat COVID-19.

According to a study published in the journal, The Nigerian Medical Practitioner, contrary to the projections of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Western countries, Africa will not be devastated by COVID-19.

The study is titled, “Death and Infections by Coronavirus (SARS CoV2) Will Continue to be Low in Africa.” The researchers from the Department of Pharmacology, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, said the testing levels in Africa are far below those in Europe and United States, which may be responsible for the low incidences. They, however, said the percentage fatality rates are maintained between 1.3 per cent, even after three months of the pandemic. In Nigeria, the fatality rate was highest (3.57 per cent) on May 2, 2020 and is now below 2.9 per cent after three months (March to May).

The leader of the team of researchers, Prof. Isa Marte Hussaini gave reasons for the low COVID-19 incidence and fatality in Africa. Hussaini, a professor of pharmacology and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS), said: “The African population is very young based on our lower average life expectancy (61 years for males and 65 for females) compared with Asia, Europe or North America. In West Africa, it is 56 years (2019). The ages below these average of life expectancy have relatively good immune systems and low numbers of patients with co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, asthma and heart diseases compared with those over 70 years.

“Africans have more Vitamin D3 than Caucasians and Asians because of abundance of sunlight in the continent. Vitamin D3 is an immune booster, which protects Africans from coronavirus disease.

“In Africa, the frequency of exposures to bacteria and viruses is very high because of the poor hygiene conditions. This may lead to a generation of specific antibodies (IgG) in Africans to different diseases including coronaviruses (SARS CoV-1&2) which may make the African immune system much stronger than that of a Caucasian or Asian….”

Hussaini specialised in cancer research and is currently exploring the use of local herbs for cancer therapy. His report to the Nigerian Academy of Science on the use of local herbs for Cancer therapy suggested that herbal plants are more efficacious than the current drugs used in cancer treatments.

Hussaini said his team has successfully used some combination of local herbs to prevent and treat COVID-19 patients. “Some of the patients tested positive and were in isolation centre when the preparations were given to them. The quarantined patients were all discharged and did not develop any symptoms of COVID-19. The prophylactic use of the preparations was also successful,” he said.
Black seed oil, vitamin D3, aspirin, zinc

Hussaini said the dosage and usage are:
*Black Caraway/Black seed (Nigella sativa) Seed oil one teaspoonful three times daily (immunity booster, anti inflammatory, anti histaminic, anti bacterial and anti viral activities). We have determined the safety level of black seed oil at this dose level and is very safe
*Vitamin D3 1000 IU daily (immune booster, anti inflammatory and prevents cloth formation).
*Aspirin 75 (UK brand) or 81 (US brand) mg daily (prevents clot formation). Aspirin at this dose level selectively blocks the formation of thromboxane A2 in platelets without affecting the production of prostacyclin by the endothelium.”

He said this selective inhibitory property of low dose aspirin prevents platelets from aggregation and sticking together to form thrombus, which is recently found in COVID-19 patients.

Hussaini said the three preparations were given for 10- 14 days for treatment of COVID-19. “On a personal note, I have been taking Vitamin D3, aspirin 81mg for the past 10 years to boost my immune system and prevent thrombus formation,” he said.

The pharmacologist said the study involved both prevention and treatment with a sample size of 30 persons. “There is need to increase the sample size. It is now up to the Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to finance and carry out multi-centre clinical trials involving thousands of COVID-19 patients for this treatment regimen,” he said.

Also, researchers led by Mohammad Tariqur Rahman of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia, have found that a combination of black seed and zinc supplementation could be used to prevent and treat COVID-19.

The study titled “Potential Benefits of Combination of Nigella sativa and Zn Supplements to Treat COVID-19” was published in Journal Pre-proof.The researchers wrote: “…In line with the proposed use of chloroquine, Nigella sativa (black seed) could be considered as a natural substitute that contains a number of bioactive components such as thymoquinone, dithymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, and nigellimine. Further benefits to use N. sativa could be augmented by zinc supplement. Notably, Zn has been proven to improve innate and adaptive immunity in the course of any infection, be it by pathogenic virus or bacteria.

“The effectiveness of the zinc salt supplement could also be enhanced with N. sativa as its major bioactive component might work as ionophore to allow zinc salt/ions (Zn2+) to enter pneumocytes -the target cell for SARSCoV-2. Given those benefits, this review paper describes how Nigella sativa in combination with Zn could be useful as a complement to COVID-19 treatment.”
SARSCoV2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus type 2) is also known as COVID-19.

Artemisia annua and coffee
Also, a derivative of the Artemisia annua plant, also known as sweet wormwood, has long been used in the treatment of malaria. Scientists are currently testing the plant’s potential against the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2.

Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam have been working with researchers from Berlin’s Free University and other institutions for weeks, testing whether Artemisia annua plant extract and its artemisinin derivatives, could eventually be used to fight the novel coronavirus.

“We extracted pure substances from the Artemisia plant and combined it with the virus,” explained Peter Seeberger from the Max Planck Institute, who is co-head of the study along with the chemist Kerry Gilmore. The study is yet to be peer-reviewed.

“Since I work with combinations of Artemisia plants, I am very familiar with the interesting activities of plants that can work against different diseases, including a whole series of viruses,” said Seeberger.

He said that’s why it made sense to him and his colleagues to look into the possible effects on SARS-CoV-2. The plants used in the study were cultivated in the US state of Kentucky.

Researchers found that the leaves of Artemisia extract showed anti-viral activity after being extracted with pure ethanol or distilled water. The anti-viral activity increased considerably when the ethanol extract was combined with coffee.

“I was surprised that Artemisia extracts worked much better as a derivative, and that adding coffee increased the anti-viral activity,” said Klaus Osterrieder, professor of virology at the Free University.

In April, Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina promoted an unproven herbal concoction made from the Artemisia annua plant produced in the country called Covid-Organics.

There have been no clinical trials of the remedy, however.The World Health Organization “urges extreme caution over reports touting the efficacy of such products.” The WHO also warns that there is “no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 can be prevented or treated with products made from Artemisia-based plant material.”

“In recent weeks we have been asked over and over again to say something about Covid Organics. We have tried to get hold of some,” said Seeberger. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get hold of any samples. I think it’s a real shame. If it really works, it would be great to be able to test it. As far as we know, there have not been any scientific studies so far.”

The University of Kentucky is set to start clinical studies into the effects of Artemisia annua combined with coffee and tea. The effectiveness of artesunate, another derivative of the plant that is used to treat malaria, will also be tested.
Black seed, chamomile, cloves and honey

Also, another study published in American Journal of Public Health Research and titled “The Evidence-Based TaibUVID Nutritional Treatment for Minimizing COVID-19 Fatalities and Morbidity and eradicating COVID-19 pandemic: A novel Approach for Better Outcomes (A Treatment Protocol)” noted: “…In addition, nigella sativa enhances immunity, exerts tissue protective effects and effectively treats co-morbidities. Oral honey exerts potent antiviral effects, enhances immunity and exerts tissue protective effects. TaibUVID Plus dose includes regular TaibUVID dose plus nigella sativa decoction nebulization ± (if possible Clove oil nebulization/ Anthemis hyalina decoction nebulisation).

Clove oil nebulisation is beneficial for difficult berating in some COVID-19 cases as clove is confirmed to exert potent antiviral effects.
“The wonderful report by Ulasli et al. deserves a lot of interest where nigella sativa and Anthemis hyalina (chamomile) were confirmed to inhibit corona virus replication maximally. In addition, Nigella sativa enhances immunity, exerts tissue protective effects and effectively treats co-morbidities. Oral honey exerts potent antiviral effects, enhances immunity and exerts tissue protective effects. TaibUVID Plus dose includes regular TaibUVID dose plus nigella sativa decoction nebulization ± (if possible Clove oil nebulization/ Anthemis hyalina decoction nebulization). Clove oil nebulization is beneficial for difficult berating in some COVID-19 cases as clove is confirmed to exert potent antiviral effects.

“Our suggested TaibUVID and TaibUVID Plus are promising evidence-based approach to rescue lives, decrease fatalities and put a rapid end to COVID-19 pandemic. In prophetic medicine, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him recommended treatment using both nigella sativa and oral honey saying: “ In the black cumin (nigella sativa), there is a cure for every disease except death” and said also: “Cure is in three: in shartat mihjam, gulp of honey (oral honey), and cauterization. I do not recommend my nation to cauterize”.

TaibUVID stands for Taibah University anti-COVID-19 treatment as a novel evidence-based approach (using natural products) for treating COVID-19 patients. A single TaibUVID dose includes: one small spoonful (tea spoonful) of nigella sativa oil (or two gramme Nigella sativa seeds) mixed with one gramme of grinded Anthemis hyalina mixed with one large spoonful of natural honey. This mixture is to be chewed in the mouth and swallowed orally for both COVID-19 contacts and patients.

Charcoal
Also, artificial enzymes made of treated charcoal could have the power to curtail damaging levels of superoxides, radical oxygen ions that are toxic at high concentrations.

The nanozymes developed by a Texas Medical Centre, United States, team are highly effective antioxidants that break down damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS)/free radicals produced in abundance in response to an injury or stroke.

The researchers suggested the materials, described in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, could aid treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The biocompatible, highly soluble charcoal is a superoxide dismutase, and was synthesized and tested by scientists at Rice University, the University of Texas Health Science Center’s McGovern Medical School and the Texas A&M Health Science Centre.

Superoxide dismutases, or SODs, dismantle ROS into ordinary molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. In the project co-led by Rice chemist James Tour, previous materials were successfully tested for their ability to activate the process, including graphene quantum dots drawn from coal and polyethylene glycol-hydrophilic carbon clusters made from carbon nanotubes.

They have now found oxidized charcoal nanoparticles are not only effective antioxidizers, but can also be made from an activated carbon source that is inexpensive, good manufacturing practice (GMP)-certified and already being used in humans to treat acute poisoning.

“That these nanozymes are made from a GMP source opens the door for drug manufacturers,” said Tour, who led the project with A&M neurologist Thomas Kent and UTHealth biochemist Ah-Lim Tsai. “While coal was effective, an issue is that it can have a variety of toxic metallic elements and impurities that are not consistent across samples. And the clusters made from carbon nanotubes are very expensive.”

The disc-like nanozymes are prepared from powdered, medical-grade charcoal oxidized by treatment with highly concentrated nitric acid. The nanozymes teem with oxygen-containing functional groups that bust up superoxides in solution.

Tour noted the nanozymes are able to pass through the membranes of cells’ mitochondria to quench a major source of free radicals without killing the cells themselves. “We published a paper on this recently,” he said. “This seems to be really important to why these work so well in traumatic brain injury and stroke.”

The researchers noted it might be worthwhile to study the application of their nanozymes to treat the cytokine storms — an excessive immune system response to infection — suspected of contributing to tissue and organ damage in COVID-19 patients.

“While speculative that these particles will be helpful in COVID-19, if administration is timed correctly, they could reduce the damaging radicals that accompany the cytokine storm and could be further chemically modified to reduce other injury-causing features of this disease,” Kent said.
Salt water

Also, salt water could treat COVID-19, according to scientists who will test whether the unusual remedy actually works. Gargling salt water has been found to reduce the symptoms of coughs and colds and to stop them getting worse, researchers say. And now they want to find out if it could help people with mild symptoms of the coronavirus, which infects the airways in a similar manner.

University of Edinburgh experts are recruiting people to take part in a study to test whether gargling with salt water could boost the body’s antiviral abilities. Knowing how to treat COVID-19 is still a grey area for doctors, with people with mild symptoms advised to stick to paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Two antivirals have been approved for British National Health Service (NHS) use on critically ill patients, the steroid dexamethasone, and an anti-Ebola drug remdesivir — but neither are silver bullets.

The Edinburgh scientists now want to find out if the low-cost salt-water option could help people with mild infections and also stop them getting more seriously ill.

The idea for the study came from ongoing research into upper respiratory infections — which commonly cause coughs and colds. People with those illnesses were found to benefit from gargling regularly with salt water in a trial dubbed ELVIS (Edinburgh and Lothians Viral Intervention Study).

Results from the ELVIS trial, published last year, found people who gargled saline had less severe coughs, less congestion and colds that lasted two days less, on average.

They were also less likely to pass on the cold to family members, or to resort to taking medicines from a pharmacy, compared to people who did not gargle.

The Edinburgh team, whose original study included a different type of coronavirus, thinks the salt water could boost the body’s natural virus-fighting mechanisms, which are triggered when they get ill.

They suggested direct contact with salt has a toxic effect on the viruses themselves, or stimulates ‘innate immune mechanisms’ inside cells in the airways.

The body’s cells to create a chemical called hypochlorous acid, which is found in bleach and known to kill viruses, the researchers said, may also use salt.

Director of Edinburgh University’s Usher Institute, Prof. Aziz Sheikh, said: “We are now moving to trial our salt water intervention in those with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, and hope it will prove to be a useful measure to reduce the impact and spread of the infection.”

How could gargling salt water treat the coronavirus? Researchers at Edinburgh University trialled saltwater gargling and ‘nasal irrigation’ in a trial on people with upper respiratory tract infections, otherwise known as coughs and colds, and found it reduced their symptoms and the length of their illness.

Their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports last year, found 93 per cent of people said gargling reduced their symptoms, their illnesses lasted two days less, on average, and they were 35 per cent less likely to pass it on to a family member.

Scientists hope the cheap, simple therapy could have similar benefits for people with the coronavirus, reducing the severity of their cough and preventing the illness from worsening.

Explaining how the salt could achieve this effect, the study said direct contact with salt might have a toxic effect on the viruses themselves and damage or kill them.

It may also stimulate ‘innate immune mechanisms’ inside cells in the airways, they suggested, effectively boosting the body’s own ability to fight off infection.

Salt may also be soaked up and used by the body’s cells to create a chemical called hypochlorous acid, which is found in bleach and known to kill viruses, the researchers said.

“It only requires salt, water and some understanding of [gargling] procedure, so should, if found to be effective, be easy – and inexpensive – to implement widely.”

The study is open only to adults living in Scotland who have symptoms of COVID-19 or have recently received a positive test for the virus.It is expected to operate similarly to the previous one in which some participants will gargle salt water while others down, with all of them following the same lockdown rules. In the cough and cold study people kept diaries of their symptoms for two weeks and reported back to the scientists, who compared which group fared best.

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Bingham University, Karu, in Nasarawa State has disclosed that its subsidiary, Zankli Research Centre, has the capacity to test and produce result sample of COVID-19 in one hour.

The Director of the centre, Dr. John Bimba, said, “The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has approved Bingham University’s Zankli Research Centre to commence private testing for COVID-19.

“We have a maximum capacity of 300 tests per day and each sample could be ready in one hour. We use GeneXpert Xpress Cartridges that have the capacity to give results in less than an hour.”

According to him, the centre was activated and approved for COVID-19 testing on June 16, 2020, by NCDC. Dr. Bimba said the centre had been in existence for TB, HIV and other research work.

“It is an out-patient centre for test of samples only and does not have bed capacity,” he added.

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Close-up of woman's hand holding Vitamin D supplements

A review from health experts in the United Kingdom has found no evidence that vitamin D deficiency is an independent risk factor for COVID-19. However, the country’s National Health Service recommend taking a daily vitamin D supplement to compensate for any lack of sunlight exposure during lockdown.

Vitamin D is vital for maintaining healthy bones and muscles. There is also some evidence that it may help protect against viral respiratory infections and play a regulatory role in the body’s immune response.

This has led to a proposal that taking vitamin D supplements could help prevent or even treat COVID-19, the primarily respiratory disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2.

While no clinical trials have tested the vitamin’s efficacy as a treatment or a preventive measure, several studies have found an association between low levels of vitamin D and COVID-19.

However, a review of five of these studies by the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which compiles guidelines on best practices, concludes that the studies provide no evidence that vitamin D levels influence the risk of getting COVID-19 or dying as a result.

None of the five studies had been designed to investigate the effects of the supplements on the risk of the infection or as a treatment for the disease, the authors point out. Either investigation would have required an intervention study, such as a randomized controlled trial.

The existing studies, therefore, provide no insights into the vitamin’s efficacy, appropriate doses, or possible adverse effects as a means of treating or preventing COVID-19.

Confounding factors

Moreover, only one study in the review accounted for confounding factors, which may provide alternative explanations for the observed associations between vitamin D status and COVID-19.

Higher body mass index (BMI), older age, and socioeconomic deprivation, for example, are all factors that could affect both the risk of COVID-19 and levels of the vitamin.

This makes it impossible to draw any firm conclusion about whether having a lack of the vitamin increases the risk of contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 or dying as a result of the disease.

One of the studies, reported by Medical News Today, found an association between average levels of vitamin D and numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths by country. But the research had limitations — it did not, for example, account for the proportions of older people in these populations.

The only study reviewed by NICE that had adjusted for potential confounding factors — including preexisting illnesses, sociodemographic factors, ethnicity, and BMI — found no independent association between COVID-19 and vitamin D levels.

As the authors of the review observe:

“There is no evidence to support taking vitamin D supplements to specifically prevent or treat COVID-19. However, all people should continue to follow U.K. government advice on daily vitamin D supplementation to maintain bone and muscle health during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The review focused exclusively on studies that had been peer reviewed and published in scientific journals.

“Vitamin D enthusiasts will point to a large number of other studies, published on preprint websites, that were not included in this review,” says Prof. Adrian Martineau, a clinical professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved in the NICE review.

“However, these studies have not yet undergone peer review, so their findings should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or public health policy.”

Sunlight exposure

Only about 10% of the vitamin D in our bodies originates from food. The remainder is synthesized in the skin through exposure to ultraviolet light in sunlight.

Research suggests that the U.K. population has one of the highest levels of vitamin D deficiency in Europe.

The country’s National Health Service, therefore, recommend that people take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter months, when sunlight exposure may be limited.

But its latest advice says that people should consider taking a supplement during the summer months, as well, if they are spending more of their time indoors as a result of the pandemic.

The aim of this recommendation is to support bone and muscle health, rather than to protect against COVID-19.

Call for research

In a preprint review, The Royal Society, in London, has called for more research into the possibility that vitamin D deficiency predisposes people to COVID-19.

The review cites several lines of evidence to suggest that people with the deficiency may be more susceptible to the disease:

“Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of both respiratory viral infections and inflammatory conditions. Vitamin D has an important regulatory role in the human immune system, so a deficiency of vitamin D is likely to cause immune dysregulation, which may reduce the first line of our defense against COVID-19. It is therefore biologically plausible that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to susceptibility to COVID-19 infection. However, there is no direct causal link yet between vitamin D deficiency and increased susceptibility to COVID-19.”

The authors point out that vitamin D deficiency is more common among older people, those who are Black or of Asian origin, and those who have obesity. These groups of people are also known to have an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Nonetheless, the scientists emphasize that “Correlations are not the same as causality.”

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