Biomedical Research

Remdesivir and Dexamethasone: The Two Eligible Candidate Drugs Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Yusra Binte Sikandar, Ilora Shabnam Kheya, Rashed Noor Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):29-33 Lots of research based on drug designing as well as in silico study, cell culture/animal model study, and the clinical trials are being conducted perceive the suitable therapeutic drugs and to develop vaccines in order to alleviate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Although there are still no vaccines, some potential antiviral drugs have been repurposed including remdesivir, chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, ribavirin, favipiravir, cepharanthine, and lopinavir/ritonavir, of which remdesivir has been mostly accepted for the treatment purpose because of its multitarget actions. Besides, the immunosuppressive agent, dexamethasone, evolved with the capacity to protect the severely affected COVID-19 patients from death to some extent. The current review, thus, emphasized on both remdesivir and dexamethasone as the successful remedies for the ongoing pandemic and detected the possible mode of action of dexamethasone.

Emotion Regulation in Adolescence: Different Strategies and Associated Functional Connectivity of Brain Regions Athulya Krishnan Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):34-39 Adolescence is often characterized as a period of overwhelming sensitive emotions. Additional to the emotional instability, there are rapid changes in the development and the maturation of the brain regions because of the effects of sex hormones. Accordingly, the mismatch maturation rate of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex determines the disrupted functional connectivity between them leading to delayed cognitive responses. As a result of the increased emotional reactivity together with delayed cognitive responses, adolescence is more prone to maladaptive shifts in regulation skills. These shifts in the course of puberty lead to diminished emotion regulation in adolescents. Hence, the ability to execute successful regulatory skills becomes a vital aspect concerning mental well-being. Taken together, the current review evaluates the efficiency of the regulatory skills (strategies) and the associated connectivity of neural networks during emotional regulation in adolescence. Furthermore, the present review correlates the success of emotion regulation with psychiatric symptoms.

An Overview on the Application of Nanodiagnostics in Cancer Kavita Gala, Ekta Khattar Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):40-44 In the battle against cancer, timely diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. The major limitation in detecting cancer at early development stages is the unavailability of sensitive and specific detection methods. Nanobiology combines biology with physics and chemistry to generate several new areas such as nanodiagnostics and nanotheranostics. Nanodiagnostics involve the development of new strategies and innovations to enhance the current detection methods in tumor biology. Another important aspect of nanodiagnostics is to improve personalized cancer detection and real-time monitoring of treatments assisted by imaging modalities. Nanotheranostics combines therapy and diagnosis in a single model for cancer detection and treatment thus providing the advantage of targeted drug delivery and fewer side effects to normal tissues. In this review, we have outlined diverse nanoparticle systems for early cancer detection and therapy. A wide variety of nanomaterial-based approaches such as nanobubbles, quantum dots, liposomes, or nanotubes demonstrate huge potential in improving imaging methods to screen and monitor cancer progression. Although a significant amount of contributions have been directed to develop nanodiagnostics systems, they are still at preclinical stage. Thus, it is a dynamic area for research with encouraging development towards the clinical stage.

Isolation, Characterization, and Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Staphylococci from the Indoor Air of the Students' Halls of Residence at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria Kayode Gabriel Adeyemi, Favour Kelechi Ezekwem, Victoria Omolayo Babawale Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):45-49 Background: It has become a public health concern to evaluate the safety of the only readily consumable and unfiltered part of the biosphere, the air most especially from the densely populated region like the students' hostel. Aim and Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the colony-forming unit per unit volume of staphylococci obtained from the indoor air of students' halls of residence, their biochemical characteristics, and antibiotic resistance profile. Materials and Methods: The identification of isolates was based on the standard methods, such as colonial morphology, Gram stain reaction, catalase, and deoxyribonuclease tests, while antibiotic susceptibility profile was on standard disk diffusion method using the commercially available antibiotic discs (Abtek, Habdiscs) such as ciprofloxacin 5 μg/mL, gentamicin 10 μg/mL, and tetracycline 30 μg/mL. Results: A total of 26 staphylococci isolates were obtained from which none (0%), 4 (15%), and 10 (37%) of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and tetracycline, respectively. Conclusion: It is observed that the year of discovery of these antibiotics has a nonlinear correlation with the recorded rate of resistance of the staphylococci to the antibiotics, which predicts an efficacy duration window of 104 years from the date of development. This finding predicts a future pattern of the antimicrobial resistance, which may pose a severe public health problem if antimicrobial stewardship measures are not put in place.

Identification of Uropathogens: A Journey from Conventional to Molecular Level Trupti Bajpai, Maneesha Pandey, Meena Varma, Neelesh Gagrani, Ganesh Bhatambare Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):50-54 Background: During the course of bacterial infection, the rapid and accurate identification of the causative agent is essential to determine the effective treatment option. Now, the question arises, is it necessary to identify the microbial pathogens up to the species level? Objective: The present prospective study involving uropathogens has been designed to highlight the journey from well-adapted, inexpensive but time-consuming and labor-intensive gold-standard conventional (biochemical) diagnostic methods to the rapid and specific upcoming rival in the form of molecular methods (16s rRNA sequencing). Materials and Methods: The study was carried out for a period of 12 months. Clean catch, midstream urine samples from 1101 admitted patients clinically suspected of urinary tract infection (UTI) were subjected to microscopy and culture on blood agar, MacConkey agar, and UTI chromogenic media (HiMedia, Mumbai). The uropathogens isolated from the culture-positive samples were identified up to the species level by the conventional method (Biochemical testing). The isolates were further confirmed by automated method (Vitek 2-Compact System, BioMérieux Inc., France). If required, then, further confirmation was done by molecular method (16S rRNA sequencing) (Yaazh Xenomics, Mumbai and Chennai). Results: A total of 463 (42%) urine samples were found to be culture positive out of 1101 patient samples processed. Four hundred and eighty-nine uropathogens were isolated from 463 culture-positive samples (26 samples had mixed flora i.e., two pathogens per sample). Conclusions: Although genotypic characterization of bacterial pathogen is advantageous when compared to phenotypic method, it is recommendable to use the combination of a traditional culture-based assays and rapid molecular diagnostic tool.

Doctors' Perception of Assisted Death: The Effect of Career Stage Smitha Bhat Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):55-59 Introduction: Doctors' role in care is changing to the extent that their responsibility now includes not only preserving life and its quality but extends to end of life care as well. Patients -are now asking for more autonomy in choosing the how and when of end of life care and processes. Doctors have different opinions regarding these methods of assisted death , and these opinions are determined by various personal and professional factors. Indian literature regarding the influence of career stage on doctors' approach to assisted death is scanty and our project aimed to assess this influence, as well as find the reasons for favouring or not favouing the various modalities of assisted death. Materials and Methods: In this study, a prevalidated, piloted questionnaire regarding the different types of assisted death was administered by the interviewer to professors, associate professors, assistant professors, senior residents and post graduate residents of a medical college. Results: Post graduate residents, senior residents and Assistant professors opined that Legalization of DNR, Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia might be acceptable under certain circumstances. Reasons for favouring assisted death included medical futility and patient suffering. Those who opposed assisted death did so on the grounds of medical ethics and humanity. Conclusion: Junior cadres tended to be more accepting of assisted death than their more senior colleagues.

Therapeutic Uses of Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19 Tarun Kumar Suvvari Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):60-61

Erratum: Molecular Docking Study for Evaluation of Neuroprotective Potential of Sericin against Cerebral Stroke and Exploring Its Biomaterial Properties Biomedical Research Journal 2020 7(2):62-62

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