Zika: As an emergent epidemic

Zika virus is a new global threat for 2016 that has been swept to almost all Americas and is now posing serious threats to the entire globe.This deadly virus is playing havoc to unborn lives because of its reported association with upsurge of fetal deformation called microcephaly and neuropathic disorders including Guillain-Barrésyndrome.Till today,there is no vaccine prospect,antiviral therapy or licensed medical countermeasures to curb the teratogenic outcomes of this destructive viral infection.Diagnosis,treatment,chronicity and pathogenesis are still vague and unsettled.Therefore,this review article addresses all the aspects related to this disease to mitigate the explosive rise in Zika virus infection.

The current status of anti-GPCR drugs against different cancers

G protein coupled receptors(GPCRs)have emerged as the most potential target for a number of drug discovery programs ranging from control of blood pressure,diabetes,cure for genetic diseases to treatment of cancer.A panel of different ligands including hormones,peptides,ions and small molecules is responsible for activation of these receptors.Molecular genetics has identified key GPCRs,whose mutations or altered expressions are linked with tumorgenicity.In this review,we discussed recent advances regarding the involvement of GPCRs in the development of cancers and approaches to manipulating the mechanism behind GPCRs involved tumor growth and metastasis to treat different types of human cancer.This review provides an insight into the current scenario of GPCR-targeted therapy,progress to date and the challenges in the development of anticancer drugs.

Advances in research on Zika virus

Zika virus(ZIKV) is rapidly spreading across the America and its devastating outcomes for pregnant women and infants have driven this previously ignored pathogen into the limelight.Clinical manifestations are fever,joint pain or rash and conjunctivitis.Emergence of ZIKV started with a first outbrcak in the Pacific arca in 2007.a second large outbreak occurred in the Pacific in 2013/2014 and subsequently the virus spread in other Pacific islands.Threat of explosive global pandemic and severe clinical complications linked with the more immediate and recurrent epidemics necessitate the development of an effective vaccine.Several vaccine platforms such as DNA vaccine,recombinant subunit vaccine.ZIKV purified inactivated vaccine,and chimeric vaccines have shown potent efficacy in ritro and in rim trials.Moreover,number of drugs such as Sofosbuvir.BCX4450.NITD008 and 7-DMA are ready to enter phase I clinical trial because of proven anti-ZIKV activity.Monoclonal based antibodies offer promise as an intervention effective for use in pregnant women.In this review,we describe the advances in research on ZIKV such as research strategies for the development of antiviral drugs & vaccines,molecular evolution,epidemiology emergence,neurological complications and other teratogenic outcomes as well as pathogenesis.

An updated systematic review of Zika virus-linked complications

Objective: To determine the breadth of Zika virus(ZIKV)-associated brain anomalies in neonates and adults. Methods: Systematic review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA) statement using electronic databases ScienceDirect, Pubmed, Medline, Scopus, and Global Health Library.Only those research articles, case studies, case-control studies, case-cohort studies, crosssectional studies, and organizational survey reports were included in the study that reported any fetal outcomes for pregnant women who had infected with ZIKV during the gestational period and ZIKV-related neurological complications in adults as well. Results: Out of total 72 retrieved articles, 50 met the inclusion criteria. We estimated a significant increase in incidence of neural abnormalities such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and microcephaly in the regions that are experiencing ZIKV outbreaks. Other neurological malformations found in ZIKV patients include hydrancephaly/hydrops fetalis, myasthenia gravis,meningoencephalitis and myelitis. Conclusion: Our systematic analysis provides the broad spectrum of neurological malformations in ZIKV infected patients and these data further support the causal link of ZIKV with neurological disorders.

Zika virus: Is Pakistan next?

Dear editor,Zika virus(ZIKV)crisis,which caught Brazil in 2015,heralded the rapid spread throughout Americas and has imparted catastrophic devastation to human population in the form of severe

Anthropological analyses of 30 insertion/deletion autosomal markers in five major ethnic groups of Pakistan

We investigated the forensic efficacy of the 30 insertion/deletion(Indel)markers included in the Qiagen Investigator■DIPplex kit in 529 Pakistani individuals from five major subpopulations in Pakistan(Punjabi,Pashtun,Sindhi,Saraiki,and Baloch).In the Sindhi population,the distribution of HLD81 and HLD97 alleles deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction.The combined match probability ranged from 2.0E-12(Pashtun and Baloch)to 1.0E-12(Sindhi),and the mean paternity exclusion power varied from 0.995(Punjabi,Sindhi,and Saraiki)to 0.996(Pashtun and Baloch).The high combined power of discrimination(0.99999999999997)and low combined match probability(1.7E-12)for all subpopulations studied support the utility of the 30 Indel markers for forensic identification in the studied subpopulations.The allele frequencies of the Indel markers in the Pakistani subpopulations were compared with those from 18 other populations.The results show that the populations clustered according to geography.The subpopulations investigated in this work showed a close genetic relationship with others from Pakistan,as well as with South Central Asian and Middle Eastern populations.The results suggest that the Investigator■DIPplex kit can be useful as a supplementary tool for human identification in the five Pakistani subpopulations investigated in this study.

Assessment of biosafety implementation in clinical diagnostic laboratories in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic

Laboratory diagnostic capacity is crucial for an optimal national response to a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.Preventing laboratory-acquired infections and the loss of critical human resources,especially during a public health emergency,requires laboratories to have a good biorisk management system in place.In this study,we aimed to evaluate laboratory biosafety and biosecurity in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic.In this cross-sectional study,a self-rated anonymous questionnaire was distributed to laboratory professionals(LPs)working in clinical diagnostic laboratories,including laboratories performing polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based COVID-19 diagnostic testing in Punjab,Sindh,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces as well as Islamabad during March 2020 to April 2020.The questionnaire assessed knowledge and perceptions of LPs,resource availability,and commitment by top management in these laboratories.In total,58.6%of LPs performing COVID-19 testing reported that their laboratory did not conduct a biorisk assessment before starting COVID-19 testing in their facility.Only 31%of LPs were aware that COVID-19 testing could be performed at a biosafety level 2 laboratory,as per the World Health Organization interim biosafety guidelines.A sufficiently high percentage of LPs did not feel confident in their ability to handle COVID-19 samples(32.8%),spills(43.1%),or other accidents(32.8%).These findings demonstrate the need for effective biosafety program implementation,proper training,and establishing competency assessment methods.These findings also suggested that identifying and addressing gaps in existing biorisk management systems through sustainable interventions and preparing LPs for surge capacity is crucial to better address public health emergencies.