The Possibility of Nucleic Acids to Act as Anti-Viral Therapeutic Agents—A Review

For just about 30 years, researchers have considered the likelihood to utilize nucleic acids as antiviral therapeutics. In principle, small single-stranded nucleotide sequence (oligonucleotide) could hybridize to a particular gene or messenger RNA and diminish transcription or translation, respectively, in this manner decreasing the amount of protein that is synthesized. Until now, an incredible number of antisense oligonucleotides, double-stranded oligonucleotides, aptamers, ribozymes, deoxyribozymes, interfering RNAs, chimeric RNA-DNA molecules, antibody genes has been created artificially and applied effectively for comprehension and manipulating biological processes and in clinical preliminaries to treat a variety of diseases. Their versatility and potency make them similarly fit candidates for fighting viral infections. However, troubles with their efficiency, off-target effects, toxicity, delivery, and stability halted the development of nucleic acid-based therapeutics that can be utilized in the clinic. The potential for nucleic acid therapeutic agents is significant and is quite recently beginning to be realized. In this review, we have summarized some of the recent advancements made in the area of nucleic acid based therapeutics and focused on the methods of their delivery and associated challenges.

Health Related Quality of Life in Adult with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: The health related quality of life (HRQoL) has an important role in adults suffering from diabetes. Objective: To assess the health related quality of life in adult with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess diabetic patient’s HRQoL on 119 purposively selected type-2 DM patients (aged ≥ 18 years and duration of diabetes ≥ 1 year). Data were collected by face-to-face interview and by medical record review through a Bangle version of SF-36 semi-structured questionnaire and a checklist. Place and period of study: The study was conducted at outpatient department in Gopalganj 50 bedded diabetic hospital from 1st January, 2018 to 31st December 2018. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 52.34 (SD ± 10.19) years. Age group shows a significant difference associated with all domains of quality of life except role emotion (>0.05), gender shows the significant in social and pain domain (0.05) respectively co-morbidity shows the significant difference with all domains expect pain (>0.05). Physical functioning, emotional, pain and general health of the quality of life show the significant difference associated with use of insulin (Conclusion: The overall QoL of type-2 DM patients was poor and had lower score of health related quality of life.

Renewed Focus on the Threat of Cross-Contamination in Molecular Laboratories: Notes from the COVID-19 Testing Experience in Bangladesh

Rapid and accurate laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is crucial for the management of COVID-19 patients and control of the spread of the virus. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh had only one government molecular laboratory where real-time RT-PCR would be performed to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection. With the increasing number of suspected cases requiring confirmation diagnostic testing, there is a requirement to expand capacity for large-scale testing quickly. The government of Bangladesh established over 100 molecular laboratories within one year to test COVID-19. To expand the testing capacity, the government was compelled to recruit laboratory staff with limited experience and technical expertise, especially in molecular assays, to process specimens, interpret results, troubleshoot. As a result, the risk of diagnostic errors, such as cross-contamination, increased, potentially undermining the efficacy of public health policies, public health response, surveillance programs, and restrictive measures aimed toward containing the outbreak. In this piece, we discuss the different sources of cross-contamination in the COVID-19 RT-PCR laboratories and proffer practical preventive measures to avoid them.