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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0057.v2

Early Hydroxychloroquine Is Associated with an Increase of Survival in COVID-19 Patients: An Observational Study

Francisco Javier Membrillo, Germán Ramírez-Olivencia, Miriam Estébanez, Begoña de Dios, María Dolores Herrero, Tatiana Mata, Alberto M. Borobia, Carlos Gutiérrez, María Simón, Ana Ochoa, Yolanda Martínez, Alejandro Aguirre, Francisco de Asís Alcántara, Pablo Fernández-González, Elena López, Paula Valle, Sergio Campos, María Navarro, Lucía Elena Ballester

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Epidemiology And Infectious Diseases Keywords: COVID-19; treatment; drug; survival; antiviral; hydroxychloroquine

Online: 9 May 2020 (04:45:37 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202102.0359.v2

Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty in Online Food Delivery Service during COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Relation with Open Innovation

Yogi Tri Prasetyo, Hans Tanto, Martinus Mariyanto, Christopher Hanjaya, Michael Nayat Young, Satria Fadil Persada, Bobby Ardiansyah Miraja, A.A.N. Perwira Redi

Subject: Engineering, Automotive Engineering Keywords: food delivery; customer satisfaction; new normal; COVID-19; theory of planned behavior

Online: 19 February 2021 (10:01:10 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201809.0544.v1

Peak Week and Competition Day Strategies of Competitive Natural Bodybuilders

Andrew J Chappell , Trevor Simper

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: Bodybuilding; Drug Free; Competing; Peaking; Carbohydrate Loading; Water Loading; Sodium Loading; Fat Loading: Vitamin C; Fibre Restriction

Online: 27 September 2018 (12:58:34 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0452.v1

An Update on Self-Amplifying mRNA Vaccine Development

Anna Blakney, Andrew Geall, Shell Ip

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: RNA; self-amplifying RNA; replicon; vaccine; drug delivery

Online: 18 December 2020 (11:12:44 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202010.0295.v2

A Review of Recent Studies on Urban Stormwater Drainage System for Urban Flood Management

Manaye Teshome

Subject: Arts And Humanities, Architecture Keywords: stormwater drainage; urban flood; urban drainage management; food disaster management

Online: 15 October 2020 (12:05:44 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0349.v1

In Silico Identification of Potent COVID-19 Main Protease Inhibitors from FDA Approved Antiviral Compounds and Active Phytochemicals through Molecular Docking: A Drug Repurposing Approach

Vaishali Chandel, Sibi Raj, Brijesh Rathi, Dhruv Kumar

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biology And Biotechnology Keywords: novel coronavirus; COVID-19; protease; molecular docking; drug designing; ADME; drug repurposing

Online: 23 March 2020 (09:47:49 CET)

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The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA ((+)ssRNA) virus. The COVID-19 Main Proteases play very important role in the propagation of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). It has already killed more than 8000 people around the world and thousands of people are getting infected every day. Therefore, it is very important to identify a potential inhibitor against COVID-19 Main Proteases to inhibit the propagation of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We have applied a drug repurposing approach of computational methodology, depending on the synergy of molecular docking and virtual screening techniques, aimed to identify possible potent inhibitors against Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) from FDA approved antiviral compounds and from the library of active phytochemicals. On the basis of recently resolved COVID-19 Main Protease crystal structure (PDB:6LU7), the library of 100 FDA approved antiviral compounds and 1000 active components of Indian Medicinal Plants extracted for screening against COVID-19 Main Protease. The compounds were further screened using Pyrex virtual screening tool and then best inhibitors, top 19 compounds optimally docked to the COVID-19 Main Protease structure to understand the participation of specific amino acids with inhibitors at active sites. Total 19 best compounds were identified after screening based on their highest binding affinity with respect to the other screened compounds. Out of 19, 6 best compounds were further screened based on their binding affinity and best ADME properties. Nelfinavir exhibited highest binding energy -8.4 kcal/mol and strong stability with the TRP207, ILE281, LEU282, PHE3, PHE291, GLN127, ARG4, GLY283, GLU288, LYS5, LYS137, TYR126, GLY138, TYR126, SER139 and VAL135 amino acid residues of COVID-19 Main Protease participating in the interaction at the binding pocket. In addition to Nelfinavir (-8.4), Rhein (-8.1), Withanolide D (-7.8), Withaferin A (-7.7), Enoxacin (-7.4), and Aloe-emodin (-7.4) also showed good binding affinity and best ADME properties. Our findings suggest that these compounds can be used as potential inhibitors against COVID-19 Main Protease, which could be helpful in inhibiting the propagation of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Moreover, further in vitro and in vivo validation of these findings would be very helpful to bring these inhibitors to next level study.

Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0242.v1

Long-Haul COVID-19: Putative Pathophysiology, Risk Factors, and Treatments

Shin Jie Yong

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; long-haul; inflammation; tissue damage; drug repurposing

Online: 10 December 2020 (09:42:20 CET)

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Preprint COMMUNICATION | doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0418.v2

Virtual Screening Based Prediction of Potential Drugs for COVID-19

Sekhar Talluri

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: virtual screening; molecular docking; drug repurposing; drug repositioning; anti-viral drugs; Coronavirus; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; SARS-CoV-2

Online: 9 March 2020 (02:29:04 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202010.0213.v1

The Sensory Evaluation and Mechanical Properties of Functional Gummy in the Malaysian Market

Mohd Muzamir Mahat, Awis Sukarni Mohmad Sabere, Saiful 'Arifin Shafiee, Mohd Azizi Nawawi, Hairul Hisham Hamzah, Muhammad Afiq Fikri Md Jamil, Nazreen Che Roslan, Mohamed Izzharif Abdul Halim, Muhd Fauzi Safian

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Biomaterials Keywords: Food Analysis; Texture Profile Analysis; FTIR, Sensory Evaluation

Online: 12 October 2020 (07:57:48 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202107.0577.v1

Implementation of HACCP Management System: Case Study of a Baking Industry (cake) in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Md. Fahad Jubayer, Md. Sajjad Hossain, Md. Al-Emran, Md. Nasir Uddin

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: HACCP; baking; food safety; critical control points; prerequisite program; hazard analysis.

Online: 26 July 2021 (14:01:44 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0062.v1

Recent Advances in Trop 2 Targeted Therapy for Solid Tumors

Shutan Liao, Bing Wang, Rong Zeng, Haifeng Bao, Xiaomin Chen, Rakesh Dixit, Xiaoyan Xing

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: Trop 2; targeted therapy; antibody-drug conjugate; solid tumors

Online: 2 December 2020 (12:35:36 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201706.0035.v1

Role of Saponins in Plant Defense against the Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella (L.)

Mubasher Hussain, Muhammad Qasim, Bamisope Steve Bamisile, Liande Wang

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Agricultural Science And Agronomy Keywords: brassica; food odour preference; HIPVs; Plutella xylostella; trap crop

Online: 6 June 2017 (09:00:57 CEST)

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The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is very destructive crucifers specialized pest that has resulted in significant crop losses worldwide. The pest is well attracted to glucosinolate-containing crucifers such as; Barbarea vulgaris (Brassicaceae), and generally to other plants in the genus Barbarea. B. vulgaris on their part, build up resistance against DBM and other herbivorous insects using glucosinolates; that are plant secondary metabolites used in plant defense–contained only in plants of the order Brassicales. Aside glucosinolates, plants in this genus Barbarea (Brassicaceae) also contain saponins; which is toxic to insects and act as feeding deterrents for plant herbivores, most importantly, DBM, as it was found to prevent the survival of DBM larvae on the plant. Saponins are plant secondary metabolites have been established in higher concentrations in younger in contrast to older leaves within the same plant. Previous studies have found a relationship between ontogenetical changes in the host plant’s saponin content and attraction/resistance to P. xylostella. The younger leaves recorded higher concentrations of glucosinolates and saponins, which naturally attracts the plant herbivores. DBM was reported to have evolved mechanisms to avoid the toxicity of the former. The plant-herbivore had adapted glucosinolates for host plant recognition, feeding and oviposition stimulants. Despite the adaptation for oviposition by P. xylostella adults, larvae of the insect cannot survive on the same plant. An example is in some varieties of B. vulgaris. The triterpenoid saponins which act as feeding deterrents in larvae are responsible for this direct defense mechanism against P. xylostella. In the future, trials by plant breeders could aim at transferring this insect resistance to other crops. The previous trials had limited because of lack of knowledge on the biosynthetic pathways and regulatory networks of saponins. Herein, we discussed exclusively; saponins mediated plant defense mechanisms against the DBM.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201809.0386.v1

Menaquinone 7 Stability of Formulations and Its Relationship with Purity Profile

Patrick Orlando, Sonia Silvestri, Fabio Marcheggiani, Ilenia Cirilli, Luca Tiano

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Food Chemistry Keywords: menaquinone-7, stability, purity, food supplement

Online: 19 September 2018 (13:59:33 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202010.0179.v1

Explicit Treatment of Non Michaelis-Menten and Atypical Kinetics in Early Drug Discovery

Bharath Srinivasan

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: Non Michaelis-Menten Kinetics; High-throughput screening; allostery; cooperativity; processive kinetics; distributive kinetics; single-molecule; auto-catalytic; drug discovery

Online: 8 October 2020 (13:34:16 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0360.v2

TMPRSS2 Transcriptional Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy for COVID-19

Xinchen Wang, Ryan Dhindsa, Gundula Povysil, Anthony Zoghbi, Joshua Motelow, Joseph Hostyk, Nicholas Nickols, Matthew Rettig, David B. Goldstein

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; transcriptional inhibition; COVID-19; drug repurposing; TMPRSS2

Online: 28 April 2020 (09:39:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0061.v1

Deep Learning Based Drug Screening for Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCov

Haiping Zhang, Konda Mani Saravanan, Yang Yang, Md. Tofazzal Hossain, Junxin Li, Xiaohu Ren, Yanjie Wei

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Medicine And Pharmacology Keywords: Coronavirus; Deep learning; Drug screening; homology modeling; main protease

Online: 5 February 2020 (10:59:09 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0047.v1

Possible Inhibitors of ACE2, the Receptor of 2019-nCoV

Qinghua Cui, Chuanbo Huang, Xiangwen Ji, Wanlu Zhang, Fenghong Zhang, Liang Wang

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: 2019-nCoV; therapeutic strategies; drug; ACE2

Online: 4 February 2020 (10:59:25 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201612.0119.v1

Food Additives and Contaminants: Effects on Human Gut Microbiota—A Review

Paula Roca-Saavedra, Veronica Mendez-Vilabrille, Jose Manuel Miranda, Alexandre Lamas, Carolina Nebot, Alejandra Cardelle-Cobas, Carlos M. Franco, Alberto Cepeda

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Gastroenterology And Hepatology Keywords: antibiotic; bacteroidetes; dietary emulsifier; firmicutes; food additive; gut microbiota; non-nutritive sweetener; proteobacteria

Online: 23 December 2016 (11:21:40 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0440.v1

COVID-19: A Drug Repurposing and Biomarker Identification by Using Comprehensive Gene-Disease Associations through Protein-Protein Interaction Network Analysis

Suresh Kumar

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; 2019-nCoV; novel corona virus; drug repurposing; chloroquine; high-risk group; asymptomatic

Online: 30 March 2020 (07:24:16 CEST)

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COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) is a pandemic disease with an estimated mortality rate of 3.4% (estimated by the WHO as of March 3, 2020). Until now there is no antiviral drug and vaccine for COVID-19. The current overwhelming situation by COVID-19 patients in hospitals is likely to increase in the next few months. About 15 percent of patients with serious disease in COVID-19 require immediate health services. Rather than waiting for new anti-viral drugs or vaccines that take a few months to years to develop and test, several researchers and public health agencies are attempting to repurpose medicines that are already approved for another similar disease and have proved to be fairly effective. This study aims to identify FDA approved drugs that can be used for drug repurposing and identify biomarkers among high- risk and asymptomatic groups. In this study gene-disease association related to COVID-19 reported mild, severe symptoms and clinical outcomes were determined. The high-risk group was studied related to SARS-CoV-2 viral entry and life cycle by using Disgenet and compared with curated COVID-19 gene data sets from the CTD database. The overlapped gene sets were enriched and the selected genes were constructed for protein-protein interaction networks. Through interactome, key genes were identified for COVID-19 and also for high risk and asymptomatic groups. The key hub genes involved in COVID-19 were VEGFA, TNF, IL-6, CXCL8, IL10, CCL2, IL1B, TLR4, ICAM1, MMP9. The identified key genes were used for drug-gene interaction for drug repurposing. The chloroquine, lenalidomide, pentoxifylline, thalidome, sorafenib, pacitaxel, rapamycin, cortisol, statins were proposed to be probable drug repurposing candidates for the treatment of COVID-19. However, these predicted drug candidates need to be validated through randomized clinical trials. Also, a key gene involved in high risk and the asymptomatic group were identified, which can be used as probable biomarkers for early identification.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.3390/sci1010014.v1

Perspectives on Agricultural Land Use Conversion and Food Security in Rural Ghana

Divine Odame Appiah, Felix Asante, Bernice Nketiah

Subject: Social Sciences, Geography, Planning And Development Keywords: agriculture land use; conversion; peri-urbanization; food security; Asante-Akim South; Ghana

Online: 18 March 2019 (00:00:00 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0071.v1

Drug and Vaccine Design against Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Spike Protein through Computational Approach

Suresh Kumar

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: 2019-nCoV; novel corona virus; Wuhan virus; drug; vaccine; spike protein; epitope; vaccine design

Online: 5 February 2020 (15:34:15 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202112.0523.v1

The Avocado (Persea americana Mill.): A Review and Sustainability Perspectives

Subhash Janardhan Bhore, Daniela Salgado Ochoa, Amina Al Houssari, Angela Lopez Zelaya, Ru Yang, Zixin Chen, Sarah Siddiqui Deeya, Sheila C. da Silva Sens, Margherita Schumann, Zihan Zhang, Eslam Eltantawy

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Plant Sciences Keywords: Agriculture; antioxidants; Avocado; Cameroon; CAMAAY; deforestation; environment; food security; green gold; health; one health; sustainable development goals (SDGs); sustainability

Online: 31 December 2021 (13:47:40 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201907.0122.v1

Revelation of Children and Adult’s Food Allergen in Malaysia

Norrina Din, Basri Rashid, Kamal Izzuwan Ramli, Nur Aliah Mansor, Dahlan Abdullah

Subject: Social Sciences, Sociology Keywords: food allergy, food allergen, fruits, seafood, nut and milk

Online: 8 July 2019 (14:32:18 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0413.v1

Ontological and Bioinformatic Analysis of Anti-Coronavirus Drugs and Their Implication for Drug Repurposing against COVID-19

Yingtong Liu, Wallace K.B. Chan, Zhigang Wang, Junguk Hur, Jiangan Xie, Hong Yu, Yongqun He

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: coronavirus; drug; COVID-19; SARS; MERS; ontology; ChEBI; NDF-RT; DrON; bioinformatics

Online: 29 March 2020 (01:58:40 CET)

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Coronavirus-infected diseases have posed great threats to human health. In past years, highly infectious coronavirus-induced diseases, including COVID-19, SARS, and MERS, have resulted in world-wide severe infections. Our literature annotations identified 110 chemical drugs and 26 antibodies effective against at least one human coronavirus infection in vitro or in vivo. Many of these drugs inhibit viral entry to cells and viral replication inside cells or modulate host immune responses. Many antimicrobial drugs, including antimalarial (e.g., chloroquine and mefloquine) and antifungal (e.g., terconazole and rapamycin) drugs as well as antibiotics (e.g., teicoplanin and azithromycin) were associated with anti-coronavirus activity. A few drugs, including remdesivir, chloroquine, favipiravir, and tocilizumab, have already been reported to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro or in vivo. After mapping our identified drugs to three ontologies ChEBI, NDF-RT, and DrON, many features such as roles and mechanisms of action (MoAs) of these drugs were identified and categorized. For example, out of 57 drugs with MoA annotations in NDF-RT, 47 have MoAs of different types of inhibitors and antagonists. A total of 29 anticoronaviral drugs are anticancer drugs with the antineoplastic role. Two clustering analyses, one based on ChEBI-based semantic similarity, the other based on drug chemical similarity, were performed to cluster 110 drugs to new categories. Moreover, differences in physicochemical properties among the drugs were found between those inhibiting viral entry and viral replication. A total of 163 host genes were identified as the known targets of 68 anti-coronavirus drugs, resulting in a network of 428 interactions among these drugs and targets. Chlorpromazine, dasatinib, and anisomycin are the hubs of the drug-target network with the highest number of connected target proteins. Many enriched pathways such as calcium signaling and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathways were identified. These findings may be used to facilitate drug repurposing against COVID-19.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201608.0013.v1

Potential Application of Modified α-Mangostin Xanthones from Garcinia mangostana as Antibacterial Agents in Food Packaging

Srinivasan Narasimhan, Shanmugam Maheshwaran, Palmiro Poltronieri, Imad A. Abu-Yousef, Amin F. Majdalawieh, Janarthanam Rethavathi, Prince Edwin Das

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry Keywords: α-mangostin; antibacterial; antifungal; food packaging; semi-synthetic modification

Online: 2 August 2016 (09:02:09 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201812.0170.v1

Nanocellulose in Biotechnology and Medicine: Focus on Skin Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing

Lucie Bacakova, Julia Pajorova, Marketa Bacakova, Anne Skogberg, Pasi Kallio, Katerina Kolarova, Vaclav Svorcik

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biology And Biotechnology Keywords: bacterial nanocellulose; nanofibrillated nanocellulose; animal nanocellulose; algal nanocellulose; tissue engineering; tissue repair; wound dressing; cell delivery; drug delivery; antimicrobial properties

Online: 14 December 2018 (06:44:53 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0376.v1

Computational Strategies to Combat COVID-19: Useful Tools to Accelerate SARS-CoV-2 and Coronavirus Research

Franziska Hufsky, Kevin Lamkiewicz, Alexandre Almeida, Abdel Aouacheria, Cecilia Arighi, Alex Bateman, Jan Baumbach, Niko Beerenwinkel, Christian Brandt, Marco Cacciabue, Sara Chuguransky, Oliver Drechsel, Robert D. Finn, Adrian Fritz, Stephan Fuchs, Georges Hattab, Anne-Christin Hauschild, Dominik Heider, Marie Hoffmann, Martin Hölzer, Stefan Hoops, Lars Kaderali, Ioanna Kalvari, Max von Kleist, René Kmiecinski, Denise Kühnert, Gorka Lasso, Pieter Libin, Markus List, Hannah F. Löchel, Maria J. Martin, Roman Martin, Julian Matschinske, Alice C. McHardy, Pedro Mendes, Jaina Mistry, Vincent Navratil, Eric Nawrocki, Áine Niamh O'Toole, Nancy Palacios-Ontiveros, Anton I. Petrov, Guillermo Rangel-Piñeros, Nicole Redaschi, Susanne Reimering, Knut Reinert, Alejandro Reyes, Lorna Richardson, David L. Robertson, Sepideh Sadegh, Joshua B. Singer, Kristof Theys, Chris Upton, Marius Welzel, Lowri Williams, Manja Marz

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: virus bioinformatics; SARS-CoV-2; sequencing; epidemiology; drug design; tools

Online: 23 May 2020 (11:01:11 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202004.0122.v2

Can Melatonin Reduce the Severity of COVID-19 Pandemic?

Alex Shneider, Aleksandr Kudriavtsev, Anna Vakhrusheva

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Immunology And Microbiology Keywords: melatonin; coronavirus; pandemic; SARS-CoV-2; bat; lung; apoptosis; programmed cell death; mortality; morbidity; COVID-19; drug

Online: 9 April 2020 (09:24:47 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202011.0292.v1

Prediction of Drug Potencies of BACE1 Inhibitors: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation and MM_GB(PB)SA Scoring

Mazen Hamed

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; BACE1; Molecular dynamics; MM/GBSA; Inhibitors; Drug likeness; Ligand efficiency, Kd.

Online: 10 November 2020 (09:10:50 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201812.0094.v1

Potentials of the Underutilized Kei-apple (Dovyalis caffra L.): Beyond its Nutritional and Functional Value

Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, Khayelihle Ncama, Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: economic sustainability; environment conservation; food security; income diversity; indigenous fruit.

Online: 7 December 2018 (17:15:43 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0312.v1

Virion Structure and Mechanism of Propagation of Coronaviruses including SARS-CoV 2 (COVID -19 ) and some Meaningful Points for Drug or Vaccine Development

Swapan Ghosh

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: SARS-CoV-2(COVID-19); + ssRNA; ribosomal – framshift; Pseudoknot; replication; model; drug; vaccine

Online: 14 August 2020 (08:26:31 CEST)

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SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, a new seventh human corona virus, has out-broken in Wuhan, China since 31^st December 2019, and quickly escalated to take the form of pandemic which killed many human beings throughout almost all countries across continents. The rapidity of its transmission from human to human is far greater than all previous human corona viruses which came into existence like SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, etc. The nucleotide sequence of SARS-CoV-2 (isolates Wuhan-Hu-1) is 29,875 bp in ss-RNA. Symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infected pneumonia include from asymptomatic to high fever and/or respiratory illnesses. Coronavirus virion (spherical/round /elliptical in shape) consists of three parts- outer membrane or envelope, nucleocapsid and genome (RNA). SARS-CoV-2 was shown to use receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) for attachment to the cells through its surface spike (S) protein (S1), and the virion enters into the host cell through two routes- direct membrane fusion and endocytotic pathway. The RNA of SARS-CoV acts directly as mRNA and here minus(-) 1 programmed ribosomal frameshift (-1PRF) is being operated by slippery sequence and pseudoknot, so it translates 16 nonstructural proteins including RNA dependent RNA replicase. Then genomic RNA replicated continuously on – strand RNA template and subgenomic RNA transcribed discontinuously on –RNA template to sgmRNA. Subgenomic RNAs/sgmRNAs synthesize all structural proteins. This article takes into consideration the details of established theories of viral structure, viral attachment, mode of entry into human cells, different models of replication and transcription of virus genome proposed by eminent scientists over the years, and makes an in depth examination highlighting meaningful points or important target cites of viral propagation or synthesis, which are conserved, for prompt development of potent drugs or vaccine to counter COVID-19 for which human race is anxiously and eagerly waiting.

Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202108.0383.v1

Carotenoids in Bacteria: Biosynthesis, Extraction, Characterization and Applications

Gerson-Dirceu López, Gerardo Álvarez-Rivera, Chiara Carazzone, Elena Ibañez, Chad Leidy, Alejandro Cifuentes

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Analytical Chemistry Keywords: Bacterial carotenoids; Cell disruption; HPLC separation; MS analysis; Food and textile applications

Online: 18 August 2021 (14:09:35 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0311.v1

Pharmacotherapy of COVID-19: Considerations for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

Amirreza Naseri, Sepideh Seyedi Sahebari, Mohammad-Salar Hosseini

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: Angiotensin converting enzyme 2; breast feeding; drug therapy; pregnancy; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

Online: 13 May 2021 (15:26:34 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0416.v1

Outcomes of Food Handlers’ Medical Examinations Conducted at An Occupational Health Clinic in Zimbabwe

Dingani Moyo, Florence Moyo

Subject: Public Health And Healthcare, Public, Environmental And Occupational Health Keywords: food handlers; medical examinations; fitness; radiology; rectal and throat swabs

Online: 19 August 2020 (12:15:54 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201711.0102.v1

Plants of the Genus Zingiber as Source of Antimicrobial Agents: from Tradition to Pharmacy

Mehdi Sharifi-Rad, Elena Maria Varoni, Bahare Salehi, Javad Sharifi-Rad, Karl R. Matthews, Seyed Abdulmajid Ayatollahi, Farzad Kobarfard, Salam A. Ibrahim, Dima Mnayer, Zainul Amiruddin Zakaria, Majid Sharifi-Rad, Zubaida Yousaf, Marcello Iriti, Adriana Basile, Daniela Rigano

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Plant Sciences Keywords: Zingiber; ginger; essential oil; rhizome; herbal remedies; traditional healing systems; food preservatives

Online: 16 November 2017 (04:38:52 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202104.0157.v1

Influence of Chinese National Centralized Drug Procurement on the Price of Policy-Related Drugs: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis

Ni Wang, Ying Yang, Luxinyi Xu, Zongfu Mao, Dan Cui

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Accounting And Taxation Keywords: National Centralized Drug Procurement; "4+7" policy; drug price; interrupted time series; volume-based procurement.

Online: 6 April 2021 (08:18:10 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201808.0064.v1

Asymmetric Impacts of Oil Price on Inflation: An Empirical Study of African OPEC Member Countries

Umar Bala, Lee Chin

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Economics Keywords: oil price; inflation; food production; asymmetric; Algeria; Angola; Libya; Nigeria

Online: 3 August 2018 (11:35:04 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202006.0143.v1

Assessing Impacts of COVID-19 on Aquatic Food System and Small-Scale Fisheries in Bangladesh

Atiqur Rahman Sunny, Sharif Ahmed Sazzad, Gopal Chandra Datta, Ashoke Kumar Sarker, Md. Ashrafuzzaman, Shamsul H. Prodhan

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Aquatic Science Keywords: COVID-19; Corona virus; Aquatic food system; Food security; Small-scale fisheries; Bangladesh

Online: 12 June 2020 (08:25:09 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201807.0233.v1

Nanocrystals of Poorly Soluble Drugs: Drug Bioavailability and Physicochemical Stability

Maria Rosa Gigliobianco, Cristina Casadidio, Roberta Censi, Piera Di Martino

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Physical Chemistry Keywords: nanocrystals; poorly soluble drug; nanotechnology; stability

Online: 13 July 2018 (11:16:15 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201608.0183.v3

Creole Hens and Ranga-Ranga: Campesino Foodways and Biocultural Resource-Based Development in the Central Valley of Tarija, Bolivia

Katherine L. Turner, Iain J. Davidson-Hunt, Annette Aurélie Desmarais, Ian Hudson

Subject: Social Sciences, Geography, Planning And Development Keywords: biocultural resources; biocultural design; alternative food networks; sustainable rural development; local food systems; Bolivia

Online: 8 September 2016 (10:19:43 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201610.0125.v1

Herbal Products in Italy: The Thin Line between Phytotherapy, Nutrition and Parapharmaceuticals; a Normative Overview of the Fastest Growing Market in Europe

Marco Biagi, Rita Pecorari, Giovanni Appendino, Elisabetta Miraldi, Anna Rosa Magnano, Paolo Governa, Giulia Cettolin, Daniela Giachetti

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Plant Sciences Keywords: herbal medicinal products; food supplements; botanicals; normative; phytotherapy; Italian pharmaceutical market; parapharmaceuticals

Online: 28 October 2016 (08:06:07 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201701.0073.v1

Food as Commons or Commodity? Exploring the Links between Normative Valuations and Agency in Food Transition

Jose Luis Vivero-Pol

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Agricultural Science And Agronomy Keywords: food valuation; food as commons; food as commodity; transition theory; narratives of transition; agency in transition; transformative agency; counter-hegemonic attitudes; gradual reformers

Online: 16 January 2017 (04:17:20 CET)

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The food system, the most important driver of planetary transformation, is in a deep crisis. Therefore, seeking a sustainable and socially-fair transition pathway becomes an issue of utmost priority for our own survival. The consideration of food as a commodity, a social construct that played a central role in driving this crisis, remains the uncontested narrative to lead the different transition pathways what seems rather contradictory. By exploring the normative values in the transition landscape, this paper seeks to understand how relevant is the hegemonic narrative of “food as commodity” and its alternative of “food as commons” to determine transition trajectories and food policy beliefs. Applying the Multi-level Perspective framework and developing the ill-studied “agency in transition”, this research enquired food-related professionals that belong to an online community of practice (N=95) on valuation of food dimensions and agency in food transitions to check whether the valuation of food is relevant to explain personal stances in transition. Results suggest the socially-constructed view of food as commodity is positively correlated to the gradual reforming attitude, whereas food as commons is positively correlated to the counter-hegemonic transformers regardless the self-defined position in the transition landscape (regime or niches). At personal level, there are multiple loci of resistance with counter-hegemonic attitudes in varied institutions of the regime and the innovative niches, many of them holding this discourse of food as commons. Conversely, alter-hegemonic attitudes are not positively correlated to this alternative discourse and they may inadvertently or purportedly reinforce the ‘‘neoliberal narrative’’. Food as commons, a different narrative whose rationale is explained in the paper, seems to be a relevant framework that could enrich the multiple transformative constituencies that challenge the industrial food system and therefore facilitate the convergence of movements that reject the commodification of food.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0701.v1

Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Lockdown on Global Eating Behavior: A Google Trends Analysis

Hung Nguyen Ngoc, Wantanee Kriengsinyos

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: COVID-19; eating behavior; diet; food concern; Google Trends; health behavior.

Online: 28 December 2020 (12:55:42 CET)

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COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictive measures have present serious unprecedented challenges to human eating behavior. Given that Google Search has become a valuable information resource to examine, predict, and estimate human online interests and behavior, that somehow linked to real people concerns. This study aimed to investigate the features and evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown on consumer worldwide interest in eating behavior and its related factors. Google Trends-Relative Search Volumes (RSV) of distinct keywords related to eating behavior, were obtained from a timeframe before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 1, 2018, to December 13, 2020. During the global lockdown from March 11, 2020, to June 30, 2020, RSV curves exhibited a short-term fluctuation of interest in multiple keywords related to eating behavior and its related factors such as food purchasing, food security, food poisoning, panic buying, stocking up, health awareness and mental illness. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed a strong correlation between daily confirmed cases and examined keywords. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA following with Bonferroni Post-hoc test revealed that during the year with the presence of COVID-19 pandemic, people worldwide pay more concerns in each keyword (1) environmental and economic factors (unemployment: +269%, food shortage: +180%, food bank: +50%); (2) health- and food-safety concerns (immunity: +138%, vitamin C: +90%, vitamin D: +55%, zinc: +47%, food storage containers: +40%, food packaging: +31%); (3) food choices and interest (local meat: +84%, frozen food: +67%, CSA: +65%, flour: +66%, bread: +53%, soybean oil: +45%, local fruit: +43%, canned tomato: +42%, refrigerated food: +41%, canned meat: +39%, pancake: +37%, cookie: +29%, butter: +29%, canned fish: +29%, liquior: +20%); (4) social and individual factors (take-out: +128%, deliver: +53%), (6) lifestyle factors (stationary bicycle: +110%, dumbbell: +89%, yoga mat: +84%, treadmill: +65%, grocery store: +51%); (6) psychological factors (isolation: +113%). COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown have had far-reaching effects on global concerns in many factors related to human eating behavior. Swift action is necessarily performed to strengthen the resilience of the food supply chain system, support and adapt to the new normal behavior, and mitigation the profound negative changes, especially targeting those in high-risks and vulnerable groups and food-insecure regions.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201809.0292.v1

Mathematical Models as Tools to Predict the Release Kinetic of Fluorescein from Monoglyceride Colloidal Liquid Crystals

Donatella Paolino, Andra Tudose, Christian Celia, Luisa Di Marzio, Felisa Cilurzo, Constantin Mircioiu

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: monoglyceride colloidal liquid crystals; release profile; mathematical models; drug delivery systems; release kinetic; square root laws

Online: 17 September 2018 (09:33:52 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201609.0019.v1

Ethnic Differences in the Food Intake Patterns and Its Association Factors of Adolescents in Malaysia

Nurul-Fadhilah Abdullah, Pey Sze Teo, Leng Huat Foo

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Dietetics And Nutrition Keywords: dietary patterns, food-frequency questionnaire, dietary, lifestyle practices, adolescents

Online: 5 September 2016 (14:46:56 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202112.0315.v1

Niosomes: A Novel Targeted Drug Delivery System

Iman Akbarzadeh, Kamand Sedaghatnia, Mahsa Bourbour, Zahra Moghaddam, Maryam Moghtaderi, Ehsa Samimi-Sohrforozani, Sameer Quazi, Bahareh Far

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biology And Biotechnology Keywords: Nanotechnology; Niosomes; Targeted Drug Delivery

Online: 20 December 2021 (14:18:53 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202102.0265.v1

Current Advances in Therapeutic Peptides: Past and Future Trends

Ramachandran Chelliah, Eric Banan-Mwine Daliri, Fazle Elahi, Su-Jung Yeon, Akanksha Tyagi, Deog-Hwan Oh

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: Peptides; Clinical Practice; Drug Therapy; Therapeutic

Online: 10 February 2021 (15:51:13 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201905.0257.v1

Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices among Street Food Vendors and Consumers’ Perceptions of Street Food Vending in Maseru Lesotho

Ponts'o Letuka, Sebolelo Nkhebenyane, Oriel Thekisoe

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Other Keywords: street vendors, consumers, food safety, knowledge, attitudes, practices

Online: 21 May 2019 (10:08:50 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0426.v1

Hyaluronic Acid in the 3^rd Millennium

Arianna Fallacara, Erika Baldini, Stefano Manfredini, Silvia Vertuani

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Medicine And Pharmacology Keywords: biological activity; crosslinking; drug delivery; cosmetic; food-supplement; functionalization; hyaluronan applications; hyaluronan derivatives; hyaluronan synthases; hyaluronic acid; hyaluronidases; physico-chemical properties

Online: 29 May 2018 (12:13:48 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0393.v1

Virtual Screening and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Suggest Valproic Acid Co-A could Bind to SARS-CoV2 RNA Depended RNA Polymerase

Neel Sarovar Bhavesh, Anupam Patra

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biophysics Keywords: SARS-CoV2; RNA depended RNA polymerase; Valproic acid Co-A; drug repurposing

Online: 26 March 2020 (15:04:22 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202107.0229.v1

Isocratic Reverse-Phase HPLC Method for Determination of Aspirin, Paracetamol, and Naproxen

Md. Mynul Hassan, Sung-Wook Nam

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: HPLC; NSAIDs; Isocratic; Short column; Drug mixture

Online: 9 July 2021 (15:23:57 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201611.0075.v3

A Robust Liquid Chromatographic Method for Confirmation of Drug Stability of Azithromycin in Bulk Samples, Tablets and Suspensions

Alex O. Okaru, Kennedy O. Abuga, Franco N. Kamau, Stanley N. Ndwigah, Dirk W. Lachenmeier

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Analytical Chemistry Keywords: azithromycin; HPLC; robust; isocratic; drug stability; degradation products

Online: 4 January 2017 (10:08:52 CET)

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Preprint CONCEPT PAPER | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0740.v1

Development of Novel Construction Material from Food Waste

Kota Machida, Yuya Sakai

Subject: Engineering, Architecture, Building And Construction Keywords: Food waste, recycling, construction materials

Online: 31 May 2021 (11:01:15 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201611.0074.v1

Larval Survivorship and Settlement of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) at Varying Chlorophyll Concentrations

Morgan S. Pratchett, Symon Dworjanyn, Benjamin Mos, Ciemon F. Caballes, Cassandra A. Thompson, Shane Blowes

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior And Systematics Keywords: Acanthaster; coral reefs; food limitation; larval competency; planktonic larval duration (PLD)

Online: 14 November 2016 (07:49:50 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0108.v1

COVID-19: Comprehensive Synopsis of Suggested Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Repurposed Drugs

Mathijs Binkhorst, Annette K. Offringa, Johannes G. van der Hoeven

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacy Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; hypothesis; pathophysiology; drug repurposing

Online: 7 July 2020 (02:50:55 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202101.0503.v1

Central Nervous System Depressant Drugs: Updated Review

Abdullah Alkattan, Eman Alsalameen, Amr Ahmed

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Neuroscience And Neurology Keywords: CNS; Drug receptors; GABA; Cannabinoid; Opioid; Serotonin; Dopamine

Online: 25 January 2021 (14:15:20 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0234.v1

Epidemiological Challenges in Pandemic Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Role of Artificial Intelligence

Abhijit Dasgupta, Abhisek Bakshi, Srijani Mukherjee, Kuntal Das, Soumyajeet Talukdar, Pratyayee Chatterjee, Sagnik Mondal, Puspita Das, Subhrojit Ghosh, Archisman Som, Pritha Roy, Rima Kundu, Akash Sarkar, Arnab Biswas, Karnelia Paul, Sujit Basak, Krishnendu Manna, Chinmay Saha, Satinath Mukhopadhyay, Nitai P. Bhattacharyya, Rajat K. De

Subject: Computer Science And Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Keywords: SIRD; Twitter; GHSI; Pre-symptomatic; EHR; Contact tracing; On-line survey; qRT-PCR; X-ray; CT/HRCT; CNN; Autoencoder; Drug affinity; CPI; and Inflation.

Online: 14 May 2020 (11:25:57 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202203.0117.v3

Compounded Nonsterile Preparations and FDA-Approved Commercially Available Liquid Products for Children: A North American Update

Richard Parrish, Lisa D. Ashworth, Raimar Löbenberg, Sandra Benavides, Jeffrey J. Cies, Robert B. MacArthur

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: active pharmaceutical ingredient; compounded drug; compounding; extemporaneous formulation; manufactured material; medication; monograph; pediatric; reference standards

Online: 5 April 2022 (10:17:10 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201610.0025.v1

A Protocol for Identifying Potentially Repurposable Drugs Using Online Tools and Databases

Aditi Chattopadhyay, Madhavi Ganapathiraju

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Other Keywords: drug repurposing; translational bioinformatics; transcriptomics; transcriptome analysis; drug discovery; protocol; gene expression

Online: 9 October 2016 (08:42:23 CEST)

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Preprint CASE REPORT | doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0596.v1

Treatment of Covid-19 with Minocycline and a Guanosine-Restricted Diet: Case Report

Steven Baranowitz, Marie Nrekaj

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, drug repurposing

Online: 23 December 2020 (15:58:38 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202104.0652.v1

Enzymatic Crosslinked Hydrogels for Biomedical Application

Elham Badali, Maryam Mohajer, Sajad Hassanzadeh, Sepideh Saghati, Mehdi Khanmohammadi

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Biomaterials Keywords: Enzymatic reaction; crosslinking; Hydrogel; Biomedical application; Tissue engineering; Wound healing; Drug delivery

Online: 26 April 2021 (10:52:24 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201704.0023.v1

Effects of Biomimetic Shear Stress by Self-Assembled Gelatin Oleic Nanoparticles Containing Paclitaxel on the Behavior of Cancer Cell Lines in a Microfluidic System

Taehee Kang, Thuy Thi Thanh Tran, Kyung Taek Oh, Han-Gon Choi, Beom-Jin Lee

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Nanotechnology Keywords: gelatin-oleic conjugate; self-assembled biodegradable nanoparticles; biomimetic shear stress; cell dynamic environment; cellular drug delivery; paclitaxel

Online: 4 April 2017 (10:59:02 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0567.v1

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Medicinal Chemistry and Validation of Emerging Drug Targets

Sameer Quazi, Rohit Jangi

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Analytical Chemistry Keywords: Artificial intelligence AI; machine learning; algorithms; QSAR; drug discovery

Online: 24 May 2021 (13:02:21 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201807.0241.v1

Lignin-Derived Biomaterials for Drug Release and Tissue Engineering

Abla Alzagameem, Michel Bergs, Markus Witzler, Basma El Khaldi-Hansen, Stephanie E. Klein, Dorothee Hielscher, Birgit Kamm, Judith Kreyenschmidt, Edda Tobiasch, Margit Schulze

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Biomaterials Keywords: biomaterial; bone regeneration; drug release; hydrogel; lignin; multivariate data processing; osteogenesis; scaffolds; stem cells; tissue engineering

Online: 13 July 2018 (15:07:37 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201610.0083.v1

UPEI-400, a Conjugate of Lipoic Acid and Scopoletin, Mediates Neuroprotection in a Rat Model of Ischemia/Reperfusion

Barry J. Connell, Monique C. Saleh, Desikan Rajagopal, Tarek M. Saleh

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pathology And Pathobiology Keywords: stroke; antioxidant; co-drug; animal model

Online: 20 October 2016 (08:46:38 CEST)

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Background: Previously, our laboratory has provided evidence that pre-administration of the antioxidant, lipoic acid covalently bonded to various naturally occurring antioxidants, enhanced neuroprotective capacity compared to the administration of lipoic acid on its own. The naturally occurring compound scopoletin, a coumarin derivative, has been shown in various in vitro studies to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanism of actions. To date, the effect of scopoletin on neuronal cell death in an in vivo model of ischemia or ischemia-reperfusion has not been investigated. Therefore, the present investigation was designed to determine if scopoletin on its own, or a co-drug consisting of lipoic acid and scopoletin covalent bond, named UPEI-400, would be capable of demonstrating a similar neuroprotective efficacy. Methods: Using a rodent model of stroke in male rats (anesthetized with Inactin®; 100 mg/kg, iv), the middle cerebral artery was permanently occluded for 6 hours (pMCAO), or in separate animals, occluded for 30 min followed by 5.5 hrs of reperfusion (ischemia/reperfusion; I/R). Results: Pre-administration of either scopoletin or UPEI-400 significantly decreased infarct volume in the I/R model (p<0.05), but not in the pMCAO model of stroke. However, UPEI-400 was ~1000 times more potent as compared to scopoletin on its own. The optimal dose of UPEI-400 was then injected during the occlusion and at several time points during reperfusion and significant neuroprotection was observed for up to 150 mins following the start of reperfusion (p<0.05). Conclusion: The data suggest that synthetic combination of scopoletin with lipoic acid (UPEI-400) is a more effective neuroprotectant that either compound on their own. Also, since UPEI-400 was only effective in a model of I/R, it is possible that it may act to enhance neuronal antioxidant capacity and/or upregulate anti-inflammatory pathways to prevent the neuronal cell death.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201704.0038.v1

Epistemic Regards on Food as a Commons: Plurality of Schools, Genealogy of Meanings, Confusing Vocabularies

José Luis Vivero-Pol

Subject: Social Sciences, Political Science Keywords: food; commons; epistemologies of food; commons epistemologies; food narratives; food values; public good theory; academic schools; paradigms

Online: 7 April 2017 (04:13:41 CEST)

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Commons and food are experiencing a revival in recent years and yet the links between both are almost absent in academic and political discourses. Commons are often portrayed as historical and yet innovative governing mechanisms that can challenge the State-Market hegemony. On the other side, food is both a relevant agent of change and a major driver of planetary destruction, being thus cause and solution to multiple crises that affect humankind. Departing from the commodification of food as one root cause of the broken global food system, this text firstly situates and discusses the different schools of thought (or epistemologies) that have addressed the private/public, commodity/commons nature of goods in general, and then explores how those schools have considered food in particular. To do so, the author has defined five epistemologies, four academic (economic, legal, historical and political) and one non-academic (grassroots activists). The analysis highlights how those epistemologies have yielded incommensurable understandings and conflicting vocabularies, hence creating confusion in the socio-political realm and even rejection around the idea of food being considered as a commons. The economic epistemic regard has reigned over the others by applying an approach to commons, public and private goods that is theoretical, reductionist and ontological instead of phenomenological, therefore preventing or obscuring other scholarly or practical understanding of commons. When applied to food, the iron law of economics dictated that food, a private good based on rivalry and excludability, shall be better allocated through market mechanisms with absolute proprietary rights and valued as a pure commodity. This reductionist view collides with the plurality of meanings of food in different societies, civilisations and historical periods, as other schools of thought indicate. The author uses diverse epistemic tools to re-construct food as a commons, based on its essentiality to human beings and societies and the customary and contemporary praxis to produce, consume and govern food collectively through non-market mechanisms for more than 2000 centuries. As commoning has instituting power to create different political and legal frameworks, if food is valued differently the entire architecture of the global food system would change, as the grassroots activist school claims. Re-commoning food defies the legal and political scaffoldings that sustain the hegemony of market and state decision-makers over eaters and food producers and informs sustainable forms of food production (agro-ecology), new collective practices of governance (food democracies) and alternative policies to regain control over the food system (food sovereignty). Food as a commons is an agent of change with transformative power, no matter what economists say.

Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201902.0235.v1

Nanotechnology: An Elixir to Life Sciences

Zulqurnain Khan, Sultan Habibullah Khan, Muhammad Zubair Ghouri, Hina Shahzadi, Sarmad Frogh Arshad, Ummara Waheed, Summra Firdous, Qurat-ul-ain Mehboob, Aftab Ahmad

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Agricultural Science And Agronomy Keywords: nanotechnology; nanoparticles; biosynthesis; agriculture; food sciences; health sciences; environmental sciences

Online: 26 February 2019 (10:56:29 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201705.0174.v1

Inhibitory Effects of Diclofenac on Steroid Glucuronidation in Vivo Do not Affect Hair-Based Doping Tests for Stanozolol

Gergely Zachár, Nawed I. K. Deshmukh, Andrea Petróczi, Andrea D. Székely, Iltaf Shah, James Barker, Declan P. Naughton

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Endocrinology And Metabolism Keywords: steroid; metabolism; anti-inflammatory drug; inhibition

Online: 24 May 2017 (08:25:26 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201611.0131.v1

Transforming Food Systems at Local Levels: Using Participatory System Dynamics in an Interactive Manner to Refine Small-Scale Farmers’ Mental Models

Birgit Kopainsky, Gerid Hager, Hugo Herrera, Progress H. Nyanga

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: adaptation; mental model refinement; food systems; knowledge management participatory modeling; system dynamics; systems thinking

Online: 27 November 2016 (04:12:49 CET)

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Preprint COMMUNICATION | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0679.v1

Mold Detection on Food Surfaces Using YOLOv5

Md. F. Jubayer, Md. J. A. Soeb, Mitun K. Paul, Pranta Barua, Md. S. Kayshar, Md. M. Rahman, Md. A. Islam

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Immunology And Microbiology Keywords: YOLOv5; object detection; mold; food spoilage; deep learning.

Online: 27 May 2021 (14:14:20 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201610.0136.v1

Food Security Condition of Smallholding Farmers in Kilte Awelalo, Ethiopia

Tinsaye Tamerat, Dharitry Borah

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Economics Keywords: food security, rural livelihoods

Online: 31 October 2016 (07:59:32 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201705.0129.v1

Phenotypic Plasticity and Cell Fate Decisions in Cancer: Insights from Dynamical Systems Theory

Dongya Jia, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Prakash Kulkarni, Herbert Levine

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biophysics Keywords: cell fate decision; cancer attractors; gene network dynamics; EMT; drug resistance; intrinsically disordered proteins

Online: 17 May 2017 (06:25:17 CEST)

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Waddington’s epigenetic landscape, a famous metaphor in developmental biology, depicts how a stem cell progresses from an undifferentiated phenotype to a differentiated one. The concept of “landscape” in the context of dynamical system theory represents a high-dimensional cell state space, in which each cell phenotype is considered as an “attractor” that is determined by interactions among multiple variables (molecular players), and is buffered against environmental fluctuations. Further, biological noise is thought to play an important role during these cell-fate decisions and in fact controls transitions between different phenotypes. Here, we discuss these phenotypic transitions in cancer from a dynamical systems perspective and invoke the concept of “cancer attractors” – hidden stable states of the underlying regulatory network that are not occupied by normal cells. Using epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cancer stem-like properties, metabolic reprogramming and the emergence of drug/hormone resistance as examples, we illustrate how phenotypic plasticity in cancer cells enables them to acquire hybrid phenotypes (such as hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal and hybrid metabolic phenotypes) that tend to be more aggressive and notoriously resilient to drug/hormone treatment. Furthermore, we highlight multiple factors that may give rise to phenotypic plasticity in cancer cells, such as (a) multi-stability or oscillatory behaviors governed by underlying regulatory networks involved in cell-fate decisions in cancer cells, and (b) network rewiring due to conformational dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that are highly enriched in cancer cells. We conclude by discussing why a therapeutic approach that promotes ‘recanalization’, i.e. the exit from “cancer attractors” and re-entry into “normal attractors”, is more likely to succeed rather than a conventional approach that targets individual molecules/pathways.

Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0346.v1

Role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Bioinformatics: Drug Discovery and Drug Repurposing

Sameer Quazi

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: drug discovery; drug repurposing; bioinformatics; machine learning; artificial intelligence; biomedical discoveries etc.

Online: 14 May 2021 (15:17:50 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201702.0036.v1

Nanoparticle-Mediated Drug Delivery System for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Kazufumi Nakamura, Hiromi Matsubara, Satoshi Akagi, Toshihiro Sarashina, Kentaro Ejiri, Norifumi Kawakita, Masashi Yoshida, Toru Miyoshi, Atsuyuki Watanabe, Nobuhiro NIshii, Hiroshi Ito

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Cardiac And Cardiovascular Systems Keywords: pulmonary arterial hypertension; prostacyclin; nanoparticle; drug delivery system

Online: 13 February 2017 (09:27:09 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201802.0072.v1

Assessing the Impact of Climate Variability on Food Security in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisii County

Moranga P. Samwel, Beatrice A. Abutto, Vincent Otieno

Subject: Environmental And Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science And Meteorology Keywords: Climate Variability; Food Security; Climate Change Adaptation; Malnutrition

Online: 8 February 2018 (15:59:16 CET)

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Climate variability and change has been found to be one of the factors that affect economies leading to food insecurity in various parts of the world. Kenya is no exception. This study looks at how climate variability has contributed to food insecurity in Kisii County, Kenya. The objectives of this study is therefore to, (i) to examine the rainfall and temperature trends in Kisii County for a period of approximately 30 years, (ii) to examine the effect of climate variability on food production and (iii) to assess the perception of local farmers on weather and climate information, (iv) to evaluate the coping strategies adopted at to bridge the gap on food deficit at different household level and (v) to assess the nutritional status of children and the elderly. The study was conducted in two sub-counties of Kisii County; Marani and Bomachoge Chache. The data used was mainly rainfall and temperature data from meteorological stations and sample data gathered from selected groups. The study population comprised of children between 6 months and 59 months, household heads, elderly people and agricultural officers. Purposive sampling was used to select agricultural officers while multistage sampling was used to select respondents at household level. Data was collected by use of a pre-tested questionnaire. The MUAC tape was used to collect nutritional status of children while BMI data was obtained from elderly people. Mann Kendall statistic was used to determine whether the trend of rainfall and temperature observed is significant while Chi-square test was used to determine whether the coping strategies observed varied significantly at household level. From the analysis, rainfall has not shown any significant change in Kisii County while temperature trend has been significantly increasing over the years at 95% confidence level. This could explain the observed reduction in river levels. Analysis of crop production and price trends of major food crops in Kisii County showed a decreasing trend of food production leading to increase in price over the years. This meant that farmers could not produce enough to take them to the next harvesting season making farmers to adopt different coping strategies at household level which differed significantly according to Chi-Square test. Malnutrition status of both elderly people above 59 years and children between 6-59 months were similar with 23% of both children/elderly being severely malnourished/malnourished. This study has only looked at climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature. Other aspects such as depth of underground water, ph level of soil and the effects of land fragmentation also need to be looked at. This study is important to both farmers in choosing the right crop to plant, and policy makers and planners in formulating the best mitigation and intervention strategies for Kisii County food insecurity problem. This will further contribute to national efforts towards achievement of vision 2030.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202101.0490.v1

The Cancer Stem Cell Marker CD44 Play Key Roles in Immune Suppression/Evasion, Drug Resistance, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, and Metastasis in Several Human Cancers

Kevin Dzobo, Musalula Sinkala

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Anatomy And Physiology Keywords: CD44; Cancer Stem Cells; Tumorigenesis; Drug Resistance; Immune Markers; Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition; Therapeutic Targeting

Online: 25 January 2021 (12:23:49 CET)

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One of the most used markers of cancer stem cells in several cancers, including colorectal cancer and breast cancer, is CD44. CD44 is a glycoprotein that traverses the cell membrane and binds to many ligands including hyaluronan resulting in activation of signaling cascades. Several reports have shown conflicting data on the expression of CD44 and that the expression depends on modes of investigations and subtypes of cancers. In addition, the correlation between CD44 expression and drug resistance, immune infiltration, EMT, metastasis and patients prognosis in several cancer types remains unclear. This study investigated CD44 expression in several cancers and explored its relationship with tumorigenesis using various publicly available databases, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, GEPIA, Oncomine, Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource. Our analysis reveals that CD44 is differentially expressed in different cancers. CD44 expression is significantly associated with cancer patients’ survival in gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. In addition, CD44 expression is closely linked with immune infiltration and immune suppressive features in pancreatic, colon adenocarcinoma and stomach cancer. High CD44 expression was significantly correlated with the expression of drug resistance-, EMT- and metastasis- linked genes. Tumors expressing high CD44 have higher mutation burden and afflict older patients than tumors expressing low CD44. Cell lines expressing high CD44 are more resistant to anti-cancer drugs compared to those expressing low CD44. Protein-protein interaction investigations and functional enrichment analysis showed that CD44 interacts with gene products related to cell-substrate adhesion, migration, platelet activation, and cellular response to stress. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that these genes play key roles in biological adhesion, cell component organization, locomotion, G-α-signaling and the response to stimulus. Overall, this investigation reveals that CD44 play significant roles in tumorigenesis, can be used as a prognostic biomarker in several cancers and can be therapeutically targeted in cancer therapy.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201804.0310.v1

Efficacy and Safety of Timolol-Dorzolamide Fixed-Combination Three Times a Day Versus Two Times a Day in Newly Diagnosed Open Angle Glaucoma

Mohammad Pakravan, Afsaneh Naderi Beni, Shahin Yazdani, Hamed Esfandiari

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Ophthalmology Keywords: primary open angle glaucoma; dorzolamide/timolol fixed combination; drug efficacy; safety

Online: 24 April 2018 (08:36:58 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202006.0311.v1

Medicinal Plant-based Functional Foods for the Management of Neurological Health

Md. Nasir Ahmed

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Dietetics And Nutrition Keywords: functional food; dietary supplement; phytochemicals; nutritional neuroscience; gut microbiome; personalized nutrition; Bangladesh

Online: 26 June 2020 (12:23:14 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201807.0042.v1

Tree Species Diversity and Socio-economic Perspectives of the Urban (Food) Forest of Accra, Ghana

Bertrand Nero, Nana Afranaa Kwapong, Raymond Jatta, Oluwole Fatunbi

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Forestry Keywords: species, edible, food bearing, diversity, neighborhoods, urban forest

Online: 3 July 2018 (12:10:53 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202105.0331.v1

Recent Advances in PGPR and Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Drought Stress Tolerance

Diksha Sati, Veni Pande, Satish Chandra Pandey, Mukesh Samant

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: PGPR; Global food security; Sustainable agriculture; Omics techniques; Bioinoculants

Online: 14 May 2021 (12:03:16 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201710.0081.v1

Validity of Dietary Assessment in Athletes: A Systematic Review

Louise Capling, Kathryn L. Beck, Janelle A. Gifford, Gary Slater, Victoria M. Flood, Helen O'Connor

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: dietary assessment; food record; FFQ; biomarker; doubly labeled water; energy intake; validity; athletes; sports nutrition

Online: 12 October 2017 (09:43:35 CEST)

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Dietary assessment methods recognized as appropriate for the general population are usually applied in a similar manner to athletes, despite knowledge that sport-specific factors can complicate assessment and impact accuracy in unique ways. As dietary assessment methods are used extensively within the field of sports nutrition, there is concern the validity of methodologies have not undergone more rigorous evaluation in this unique population sub-group. The purpose was to systematically review studies comparing two or more methods of dietary assessment, including dietary intake measured against biomarkers or reference measures of energy expenditure, in athletes. Six electronic databases were searched for English-language, full-text articles published from January 1980 until June 2016. The search strategy combined the following keywords: diet, nutrition assessment, athlete and validity; where the following outcomes are reported but not limited to: energy intake, macro and/or micronutrient intake, food intake, nutritional adequacy, diet quality, or nutritional status. Meta-analysis was performed on studies with sufficient methodological similarity, with between-group standardized mean differences (or effect size) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) calculated. Of the 1624 studies identified, 18 were eligible for inclusion. Studies comparing self-reported energy intake (EI) to energy expenditure assessed via doubly labelled water were grouped for comparison (n=11) and demonstrated mean EI was under-estimated by 19 % (- 2793 ± 1134 kJ/d). Meta-analysis revealed a large pooled effect size of - 1.006 (95% CI: -1.3 to -0.7; p<0.001). The remaining studies (n=7) compared a new dietary tool or instrument to a reference method(s) (e.g. food record, 24-h dietary recall, biomarker) as part of a validation study. This systematic review revealed there are limited robust studies evaluating dietary assessment methods in athletes. Existing literature demonstrates substantial variability between methods, with under and misreporting of intake frequently observed. There is a clear need for careful validation of dietary assessment methods, including emerging technical innovations, among athlete populations.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201810.0490.v1

Investigation of Disintegration and Dissolution Behavior of Mefenamic Acid Drug Formulation Using Numeric Solution of Noyes-Whitney Equation with Cellular Automata Model on Microtomographic Surfaces and Rational Arrangements of Tablet Components

Reiji Yokoyama, Go Kimura, Christian Schlepütz, Jörg Huwyler, Maxim Puchkov

Subject: Computer Science And Mathematics, Computer Vision And Graphics Keywords: drug release simulation; disintegration simulation; poorly water soluble drug; mefenamic acid; Noyes-Whitney equation; cellular automata; synchrotron microtomography

Online: 22 October 2018 (11:38:04 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201703.0181.v1

An on-site, ultra-sensitive, quantitative sensing method for the determination of total aflatoxin in peanut and rice based on quantum dot nanobeads strip

Suiyan Ouyang, Zhaowei Zhang, Ting He, Peiwu Li, Qi Zhang, Xiaomei Chen, Du Wang, Hui Li, Xiaoqian Tang, Wen Zhang

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Food Chemistry Keywords: total aflatoxin; quantum dot nanobead; test strip; on-site; peanut and rice; agro-food safety

Online: 24 March 2017 (03:59:06 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201701.0134.v1

CO₂-Induced Changes in Wheat Grain Composition: Meta-Analysis and Response Functions

Malin C. Broberg, Petra Högy, Håkan Pleijel

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Agricultural Science And Agronomy Keywords: Triticum aestivum; carbon dioxide; minerals; protein; starch; baking properties; crop quality; food security

Online: 31 January 2017 (11:49:41 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201809.0354.v1

High-throughput Genome Editing Tools for Lactic Acid Bacteria: Opportunities for Food, Feed, Pharma and Biotech

Rosa Aragão Börner, Vijayalakshmi Kandasamy, Amalie Melton Axelsen, Alex Toftgaard Nielsen, Elleke F Bosma

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Immunology And Microbiology Keywords: Genetic tool development, Food fermentation, Biotherapeutics, Phytotherapeutics, Synthetic biology, GMO regulation

Online: 18 September 2018 (14:22:47 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202102.0541.v1

Diet-Derived Exogenous miRNAs As Functional Food Components: Facts and New Perspectives

Pankaj Khurana, Apoorv Gupta, Rajeev Varshney

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: Functional food components, Dietary miRNA, XenomiRs, dietary supplementation therapy

Online: 24 February 2021 (10:11:26 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202204.0277.v2

A Historical Review of the Use of Pesticides in Colombian Agriculture

Diana Angélica Varela-Martínez, Natalia Fuentes-Molina, Diego Alejandro Riaño-Herrera

Subject: Environmental And Earth Sciences, Environmental Science Keywords: Agriculture; agri-food sector; analytical methods; Colombia; pesticides residues, toxicology effects

Online: 27 May 2022 (09:02:52 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0199.v1

Revealing SARS-CoV-2 Functional Druggability Through Multi-Target Cadd Screening of Repurposable Drugs

Yash Gupta, Dawid Maciorowski, Raman Mathur, Catherine M. Pearce, David J. Ilc, Hamza Husein, Ajay Bharti, Daniel Becker, Rathi Brijesh, Steven B Bradfute, Ravi Durvasula, Prakasha Kempaiah

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; CADD; virtual screening; approved drugs; drug repurposing; essential targets; molecular docking; molecular dynamics simulations

Online: 11 May 2020 (13:14:18 CEST)

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The emergence of SARS/MERS drug resistant COVID-19 with high transmission and mortality has recently been declared a deadly pandemic causing economic chaos and significant health problems. Like all coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is a large virus that has many druggable components within its proteome. In this study, we focused on repurposing approved and investigational drugs by identifying potential drugs that are predicted to effectively inhibit critical enzymes within SARS-CoV-2. We shortlisted seven target proteins with enzymatic activities known to be essential at different stages of the virus life cycle. For virtual screening, the energy minimization of a crystal structure or modeled protein was carried out using Protein Preparation Wizard (Schrödinger LLC, 2020-1). Following active site selection based on data mining and COACH predictions, we performed a high-throughput virtual screen of drugs (n=5903) that are already approved by worldwide regulatory bodies including the FDA, using the ZINC database. Screening was performed against viral targets using three sequential docking modes (i.e. HTVS, SP and XP). Our in-silico virtual screening identified ~290 potential drugs based on the criteria of energy, docking parameters, ligand and binding site strain and score. Drugs specific to each target protein were further analyzed for binding free energy perturbation by molecular mechanics (prime MM-GBSA) and pruning the hits to the top 32 candidates. A top lead from each target group was further subjected to molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) using the Desmond module to validate the efficacy of the screening pipeline. All of the simulated hit-target complexes were predicted to strongly interact and with highly stable binding. Thus, we have identified a number of approved and investigational drugs with high likelihood of inhibiting a variety of key SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Follow-up studies will continue to identify inhibitors suitable for combination therapy based on drug-drug synergy to thwart resistance. In addition, the screening hits that we have identified provide excellent probes for understanding the binding properties of the active sites of all seven targets, further enabling us to derive consensus molecules through computer-aided drug design (CADD). While infections are expanding at a rampant pace, it must be recognized that resistance will grow commensurately through either genetic shift and/or genetic drift to all small molecule drugs identified. Vaccines should provide a more permanent solution through prevention, but resistivity is still a possible scenario. Nevertheless, a persistent multi-target drug development program is essential to curb this ongoing pandemic and to keep reemergence in check.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201709.0102.v1

Live Florescent Staining Platform Drug-Screening and Mechanism-Analysis in Zebrafish for Bone Mineralization

Jung-Ren Chen, Yu-Heng Lai, Jhih-Jie Tsai, Chung-Der Hsiao

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biology And Biotechnology Keywords: drug screening； bone mineralization； osteoclast； zebrafish

Online: 21 September 2017 (06:34:11 CEST)

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Currently, drug screening is primarily based on human cell culture for initial high-throughput screening, and subsequently, rodent model to confirm the biological effects. However, the mammalian system is known for time-consuming and highly-cost to be difficult to perform high-throughput drug screening, which exists a critical gap between in vitro cell-based models and the in vivo mammalian models. Therefore, the zebrafish could bridge this gap in preclinical toxicity screening along the drug development pipeline because of its efficiency. We aimed to develop an in vivo zebrafish platform for rapid drug screening. Zebrafish, due to its high genomic conservation with mammals and rapid development and differentiation, it has many advantages, such as short life span, large number of offspring and low cost, easy manipulation for generating transgenic species, to serve as animal model for disease-based research. In 96-well microplates, zebrafish embryos were incubated with small molecular compounds that affected bone mineralization. The level of osteogenic mineralization was evaluated by fluorescent dye staining and quantified by image analysis software. Quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to evaluate the biological pathways involved in bone metabolism at the molecular level. The system was validated by demonstrating that response to alendronate and Dorsomorphin in zebrafish. In our study, we screened for 24 compounds within the CYCU-1120~1152 chemical library and identified 3 compounds, pentamidine (CYCU-1140), BML-267 (CYCU-1147), and alendronate (CYCU-1152), increased embryonic mineralization; while 6 compounds, RWJ-60475 (CYCU-1126), levamisole HCL (CYCU-1128), tetramisole HCL (CYCU-1129), fenvalerate (CYCU-1132), NSC-663284 (CYCU-1138), and BML-267ester (CYCU-1148), were inhibitory to bone mineralization. We also found that alendronate enhanced the level of bone mineralization by inhibiting osteoclast-related genes. To sum up, our research showed that zebrafish may have potential to be a drug-screening and mechanism-analysis platform for bone mineralization.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201706.0132.v1

In Silico Screening and Analysis of Potential Inhibitors of Arylamine N-Acetyltransferases (NATs) from the Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Study Using Free Available Tools

Francisco Azevedo, Joveline Richardt, Mayrla Oliveira, Inês Araujo, Ricardo Oliveira, Luis Baptista, Hermes Amorim

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry Keywords: arylamine N-acetyltransferases; cancer; tuberculosis; drug discovery; traditional Chinese medicine; virtual screening; molecular dynamics simulation; MM-PBSA

Online: 30 June 2017 (11:36:22 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202003.0345.v2

Widely Available Lysosome Targeting Agents Should Be Considered as a Potential Therapy for COVID-19

Jan Homolak, Ivan Kodvanj

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: COVID-19; lysosomotropic agents; endosome; antiviral; drug repurposing

Online: 24 March 2020 (06:26:54 CET)

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While the COVID-19 pandemic advances, the scientific community struggles in the search for treatments. Several improvements have been made, including the discovery of clinical efficacy of chloroquine (CQ) in COVID-19 patients, but the effective treatment protocols are still missing. In order to find novel treatment options many scientists utilize the in silico approach to identify compounds that could interfere with the key molecules involved in entrance, replication, or dissemination of the SARS-CoV-2. However, most of the identified molecules are currently not available as pharmacological agents, and assessing their safety and efficacy could take many months. Here, we took a different approach based on the proposed pharmacodynamic model of CQ in COVID-19. The main mechanism of action responsible for the favourable outcome of COVID-19 patients treated with CQ seems to be related to pH modulation-mediated effect on the endolysosomal trafficking, a characteristic of chemical compounds often called lysosomotropic agents because of the physico-chemical properties that enable them to passively diffuse through the endosomal membrane and undergo protonation-based trapping in the lumen of the acidic vesicles. In this review, we discuss lysosomotropic and lysosome targeting drugs that are already in clinical use and are characterized by good safety profiles, low cost, and wide availability. We emphasize that some of these drugs, in particular azithromycin and other macrolide antibiotics, indomethacin and some other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, proton pump inhibitors, and fluoxetine could provide additional therapeutic benefits in addition to the potential antiviral effect that still has to be confirmed by well-controlled clinical trials. As some of these drugs, mostly antibiotics, were already empirically used in the treatment of COVID-19, we encourage our colleagues all over the world to publish patient data so potential efficacy of these agents can be evaluated in the clinical context and rapidly implemented in the therapeutic protocols if the beneficial effect on clinical outcome is observed.

Preprint ESSAY | doi:10.20944/preprints201704.0120.v2

Synthesis and Anti-Tumor Activity of Oleanolic Acid Derivatives

Kuai ZhenYu, Lei Li, Shengwen Zhan, Chunlin Li, Yuwei Zhao, Hongrong Chen, Yanqiu Meng

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry Keywords: oleanolic acid derivatives; synthesis; anti-tumor activity; molecular docking; computer-aided drug design

Online: 24 April 2017 (12:08:36 CEST)

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Working Paper REVIEW

Causal Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Review

Brenda Cardoso, Luiza Cunha, Adriana Leiras, Paulo Gonçalves, Hugo Yoshizaki, Irineu de Brito Junior, Adriana Leiras, Frederico Pedroso

Subject: Engineering, Automotive Engineering Keywords: COVID-19; Food Supply Chain; Epidemic; Pandemic, Disruptions

Online: 9 July 2021 (09:37:29 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0369.v1

COVID-19: Implications for Food, Water, Hygiene, Sanitation, and Environmental Safety in Africa: A Case Study in Ghana

Courage Kosi Setsoafia Saba

Subject: Public Health And Healthcare, Health Policy And Services Keywords: COVID-19; food; water; hygiene; sanitation; environment; Ghana; Africa

Online: 23 May 2020 (10:21:50 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202102.0168.v1

Nursery Culture of Mud Crab, Genus Scylla, a Review: The Current Progress and Future Directions

Muhammad Nur Syafaat, Mohamad Nor Azra, Khor Waiho, Ambok Bolong Abol-Munafi, Mohammad Syahnon, Ghazali Azmie, Hongyu Ma, Mhd Ikhwanuddin

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Anatomy And Physiology Keywords: aquaculture; shellfish; future food; nursery stage; mud crab; juvenile; seed production; hatchery; crablet; breeding

Online: 5 February 2021 (16:18:19 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201704.0170.v1

Cellular Morphology-Mediated Proliferation and Drug Sensitivity of Breast Cancer Cells

Ryota Domura, Rie Sasaki, Yuma Ishikawa, Masami Okamoto

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Cell And Developmental Biology Keywords: Spreading parameter; Cellular proliferation; Drug sensitivity; Substrates; Cancer cells

Online: 26 April 2017 (17:38:07 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202005.0342.v1

Neuroprotective Potentials of Marine Algae and Their Bioactive Metabolites: Pharmacological Insights and Therapeutic Advances

Md. Abdul Hannan, Raju Dash, Md. Nazmul Haque, Md. Mohibbullah, Abdullah Al Mamun Sohag, Md. Ataur Rahman, Md Jamal Uddin, Mahboob Alam, Il Soo Moon

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: seaweed; metabolites; neuroprotection; Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; ischemic stroke; computer-aided drug discovery

Online: 21 May 2020 (09:49:29 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201704.0028.v1

Synthesis of Europium-doped Fluorapatite Nanorods and Their Multifunctional Biomedical Applications

Hai Feng Zeng, Mu Yang Sun, Su Fan Wu, Hai Feng Chen

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Nanotechnology Keywords: lanthanides; fluorapatite; drug loading; nano carrier

Online: 5 April 2017 (11:26:48 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201711.0108.v1

Attitudes and Sensory Perceptions of Food Consumers towards Sustainable Technological Innovation in Mexico

Lizbeth Salgado-Beltrán, Luis F. Beltrán-Morales, Alma T. Velarde-Mendivil, Maria E. Robles-Baldenegro

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Marketing Keywords: food sustainable innovation; rice with milk; hedonic tasting

Online: 16 November 2017 (07:29:20 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202305.1084.v1

Lysosomal Cleavable Peptide Linkers in Antibody-Drug Conjugates

Seetharamsing Balamkundu, Chuan Fa Liu

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Medicine And Pharmacology Keywords: antibody-drug conjugate; lysosome; cathepsin; legumain; self-immolation; payload release; peptidomimetic; linker

Online: 16 May 2023 (04:51:34 CEST)

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