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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/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 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/preprints202101.0153.v2

The Impact of Corona Pandemic on Consumer’s Food Consumption – Vulnerability of Households with Children and Income Losses

Adriano Profeta, Shahida Siddiqui, Sergiy Smetana, Mahdi Hossaini, Sophie Hieke, Ulrich Enneking, Volker Heinz, Christian Kircher

Subject: Social Sciences, Behavior Sciences Keywords: Covid-19; consumer behaviour; food

Online: 13 January 2021 (11:06:00 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202108.0317.v1

Impacts of COVID-19 on Diverse Farm Systems in Tanzania and South Africa

Hemant G Tripathi, Harriet E Smith, Steven M. Sait, Susannah M. Sallu, Stephen Whitfield, Astrid Jankielsohn, William E Kunin, Ndumiso Mazibuko, Bonani Nyhodo

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Agricultural Science And Agronomy Keywords: COVID-19; Africa; food systems; agriculture

Online: 16 August 2021 (10:47:45 CEST)

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Emerging information on the interactions between the COVID-19 pandemic and global food systems has highlighted how the pandemic is accentuating food crises across Africa. Less clear, however, are how the impacts differ between farming systems. Drawing on 50 key informant interviews with farmers, village leaders and extension officers, in South Africa and Tanzania, we identify the effects of COVID-19 and associated measures to curb the spread of the disease on farming production systems, the coping mechanisms adopted by farmers, and explore their longer-term plans for adaptation. We focus on a diverse range of production systems, from small-scale mixed farming systems in Tanzania, to large-scale corporate farms in South Africa. Our findings highlight how COVID-19 restrictions have interrupted the supply chains of agricultural inputs and commodities, increasing the storage time for produce, decreasing income and purchasing power, and reducing labour availability. Farmers’ responses were heterogeneous, with highly diverse small-scale farming systems and those less engaged with international markets least affected by the associated COVID-19 measures. Large-scale farmers were most able to access capital to buffer short-term impacts, whereas smaller-scale farms shared labour, diversified to subsistence produce and sold assets. However, compounded shocks, such as recent extreme climate events, limited the available coping options, particularly for smaller-scale and emerging farmers. The study highlights the need to understand the characteristics of farm systems to better equip and support farmers, particularly in contexts of uncertainty. We propose that policy actions should focus on (i) providing temporary relief and social support and protection to financially vulnerable stakeholders, (ii) job assurance for farmworkers, and engaging an alternative workforce in farming, (iii) investing in farming infrastructure, such as storage facilities, digital communication tools, and extension services, and iv) supporting diversified agroecological farming systems.

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/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 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/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/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 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/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 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 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 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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202009.0429.v1

Polyethylene Identification in Ocean Water Samples by Means of 50 Kev Energy Electron Beam

John. I Adlish, Davide Costa, Enrico Mainardi, Piero Neuhold, Riccardo Surrente, Luca J. Tagliapietra

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior And Systematics Keywords: Microplastics; Polyethylene Ocean Water; Microplastics identification; Microorganisms identification; Ocean Water quality; Drinking water; Food quality; Cancer and microplastics; plastic and ocean; particle physics; particle accelerators in environmental studies.

Online: 18 September 2020 (11:03:59 CEST)

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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/preprints201910.0144.v6

Discovery and Development of Safe-in-Man Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Agents

Petter I. Andersen, Aleksandr Ianevski, Hilde Lysvand, Astra Vitkauskiene, Valentyn Oksenych, Magnar Bjoras, Kaidi Telling, Irja Lutsar, Uga Dumpis, Yasuhiko Irie, Tanel Tenson, Anu Kantele, Denis E. Kainov

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: virus; antiviral drug; drug discovery; drug development; broad-spectrum antivirals

Online: 14 February 2020 (02:27:24 CET)

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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/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:10.3390/sci2020045

Antimalarial Drugs in Ghana: A Case Study on Personal Preferences

Prince Yeboah, Arnold Donkor Forkuo, Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah, Nana Ofori Adomako, Ahmad Yaman Abdin, Muhammad Jawad Nasim, Pitsch Werner, Anto Berko Panyin, Eike Emrich, Claus Jacob

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Tropical Medicine Keywords: adverse drug reactions; antimalarial; Ghana; herbal remedies; malaria; questionnaire; street sale; orthodox; unnatural medicines; patient preference

Online: 12 June 2020 (00:00:00 CEST)

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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/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/preprints202005.0397.v1

Genetic Uniformity of a Specific Region in SARS-CoV-2 Genome and In-Silico Target-Oriented Repurposing of N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine

Omur Baysal, Ragip Soner Silme, Cagatay Karaaslan

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Drug repurposing; N-acetyl-D-glucosamine; ORF1ab; Biodata mining; Protein modelling

Online: 24 May 2020 (18:49:41 CEST)

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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:10.3390/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/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 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/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 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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202010.0481.v1

Methylphenidate and Alprazolam Co-Abuse: Drug-DNA Interactions

Shweta Sharma, Meenu Dutt, Neha Sharma, Ravinder Naik Dharavath, Tanzeer Kaur

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: Drug-DNA interaction; FTIR; Polydrug-abuse; UV-visible spectrophotometer

Online: 23 October 2020 (10:36:07 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 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/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/preprints201804.0052.v1

The Initiation of Th2 Immunity towards Food Allergens

Yosef Ellenbogen, Rodrigo Jiménez-Saiz, Paul Spill, Derek K. Chu, Susan Waserman, Manel Jordana

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: Th2 immunity; food allergy; allergic sensitization; allergens; alarmins; initiation of allergy; IgE; allergic disease

Online: 4 April 2018 (07:35:35 CEST)

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Working Paper ARTICLE

Short-Term Moderate-Dose Corticosteroid Plus Immunoglobulin Effectively Reverses COVID-19 Patients Who Have Failed Low-Dose Therapy

Zhi-Guo Zhou, Shu-Min Xie, Jing Zhang, Fang Zheng, Di-Xuan Jiang, Ke-Yu Li, Qi Zuo, Yu-Sheng Yan, Ji-Yang Liu, Yuan-Lin Xie, Hong Peng, Lei Zhang

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Clinical Medicine Keywords: humans; infection control; therapy; coronavirus; immunoglobulins; drug therapy; therapeutic use; corticosteroid

Online: 8 March 2020 (17:04:19 CET)

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Background: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has spread globally with more than 80,000 people infected, and nearly 3000 patients died. Currently, we are in an urgent need for effective treatment strategy to control the clinical deterioration of COVID-19 patients. Methods: The clinical data of 10 COVID-19 patients receiving short-term moderate-dose corticosteroid (160mg/d) plus immunoglobulin (20g/d) were studied in the North Yard of The First Hospital of Changsha, Hunan from January 17^th to February 27^th, 2020. Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, radiological findings were analyzed. Results: After treatment with combination of low-dose corticosteroid (40-80mg/d) and immunoglobulin (10g/d), patients’ lymphocyte count (0.88±0.34 vs 0.59±0.18, P<0.05), oxygenation index including SPO₂ (94.90±2.51 vs 90.50±5.91, P<0.05) and PaO₂/FiO₂ (321.36±136.91 vs 129.30±64.97, P<0.05) were significantly lower than pre-treatment, and CT showed that the pulmonary lesion deteriorated in all patients. While after treatment of short-term moderate-dose corticosteroid plus immunoglobulin, patients’ APACHE Ⅱ score (9.10±6.15 vs 5.50±9.01, P<0.05), body temperature (37.59±1.16 vs 36.46±0.25, P<0.05), lymphocyte count (0.59±0.18 vs 1.36±0.51, P<0.05), Lactate dehydrogenase (419.24±251.31 vs 257.40±177.88, P<0.05), and C-reactive protein (49.94±26.21 vs 14.58±15.25, P<0.05) significantly improved compared with post-treatment with low-dose therapy. In addition, oxygenation index including SPO₂ (90.50±5.91 vs 97.50±1.18, P<0.05), PaO₂ (60.47±14.53 vs 99.07±34.31, P<0.05), and PaO₂/FiO₂ (129.30±64.97 vs 340.86±146.72, P<0.05) significant improved. Furthermore, CT showed that pulmonary lesions obviously improved in 7 patients. After systematic therapy, 4 out of 10 COVID-19 patients recovered and discharged. Conclusions: Short-term moderate-dose corticosteroid plus immunoglobulin is effective for reversing the continued deterioration of COVID-19 patients who failed to respond to the low-dose therapy. Funding: This work was supported by the Innovative Major Emergency Project Funding against the New Coronavirus Pneumonia in Hunan Province (Dr. Ji-Yang Liu, number 2020SK3014; Dr. Yuan-Lin Xie, number 2020SK3013).

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 REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0011.v1

Changing Trends in Computational Drug Repositioning

Jaswanth K. Yella, Suryanarayana Yaddanapudi, Yunguan Wang, Anil G. Jegga

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: computational drug repositioning; drug repositioning; drug repurposing; machine learning; deep learning; crowdsourcing; open innovation; drug discovery

Online: 1 May 2018 (12:27:22 CEST)

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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/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/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/preprints202303.0107.v2

From Dearth to Excess: The Rise of Obesity in an Ultra-Processed Food System

Kevin Hall

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: Obesity; food system; agriculture; ultra-processed food

Online: 22 May 2023 (14:20:35 CEST)

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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 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 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 CONCEPT PAPER | doi:10.20944/preprints202004.0133.v2

The Airborne and Gastrointestinal Coronavirus SARS-COV-2 Pathways

Tomás Santa-Coloma

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: ACE2, airborne; coronavirus; COV-2; COVID-19; food chain; intestinal infection; Kepler conjecture; rebound epidemic; packaging; particle size; SARS; surgical masks.

Online: 13 April 2020 (10:12:52 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 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/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/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/preprints201701.0134.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 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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202009.0459.v1

SARS-CoV-2 Infections - Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) Data Mining, Pathway Enrichment Analysis, and Prediction of Repurposable Drugs/Compounds

Srilakshmi Chaparala, Carrie L Iwema, Ansuman Chattopadhyay

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; drug repositioning; pathway enrichment

Online: 19 September 2020 (11:34:12 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/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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202004.0466.v1

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Evidence from Bioinformatics Analysis

Xiaomei Yang, Hongjin Zhao, Yan Li, Peng Zhang

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Endocrinology And Metabolism Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; ACE2; bioinformatics analysis; drug prediction

Online: 26 April 2020 (03:14:50 CEST)

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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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201908.0020.v1

Comparison of Meteorological and Agricultural Drought Indicators across Ethiopia

Dawit Teweldebirhan Tsige, Venkatesh Uddameri, Farhang Forghanparast, Elma Hernandez, Stephen Ekwaro-Osire

Subject: Engineering, Civil Engineering Keywords: PDSI; Z-index; receiver operating characteristic (ROC); SPI; SPEI; GIS; food security; droughts

Online: 2 August 2019 (08:54:40 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/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/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 ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202010.0325.v1

Physical and psychological effects related to food habits and lifestyle changes derived from Covid-19 home confinement Spanish population.

López-Moreno Miguel, Iglesias López María Teresa, Garcés-Rimón Marta, Miguel Marta

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Food Science And Technology Keywords: COVID-19; Food intake; Lifestyle; Emotional eating; Home confinement; Lockdown.

Online: 15 October 2020 (14:07:18 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 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/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/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/preprints202006.0358.v1

In-Silico Analysis of Natural Products That Modulates Enzymes of Diabetic Target

Babita Aryal, Saroj Basnet, Bishnu P. Marasini, Karan Khadayat, Darbin Kumar Poudel, Ganesh Lamichhane, Prakriti Budhathoki, Purushottam Niraula, Sonika Dawadi, Rishab Marahatha, Sitaram Phuyal, Niranjan Parajuli

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry Keywords: Enzyme inhibition; Secondary Metabolites; In-silico Analysis; Molecular docking; Drug candidates

Online: 30 June 2020 (08:11:28 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 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 REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201907.0034.v1

Problems Associated with Marketing Food and Drink Specifically at Women

Charles Spence

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Marketing Keywords: food marketing; sex/gender; advertising; nutrition

Online: 2 July 2019 (08:27:16 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0321.v1

COVID-19 Pandemic and its Implications on Food Systems

Hilal A Makroo, Darakshan Majid, Mushtaq A Siddiqi, Ralf Greiner, B.N. Dar

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; coronavirus; pandemic; food; hygiene

Online: 14 August 2020 (11:16:44 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 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 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 REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201910.0125.v1

Micro-by-Micro Interactions: How Microorganisms Influence the Fate of Marine Microplastics

Joan Antoni Carreres-Calabuig, Kelsey Rogers, Elena Gorokhova, Nicole Posth

Subject: Environmental And Earth Sciences, Pollution Keywords: microorganisms; microplastics; biogeochemical cycles; plastic degradation; food webs

Online: 11 October 2019 (04:05:54 CEST)

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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 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 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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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/preprints202006.0232.v1

Repurposing of FDA Approved Drugs as COVID-19 Therapeutics: Safety Concerns and Contraindications of Drugs in Clinical Trials

Ravinder Naik Dharavath, Meenu Dutt, Sunil Kumar, Priya Badyal, Nitin Rawat, Tanzeer Kaur, Shweta Sharma, Mahendra Bishnoi, Kanwaljit Chopra

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: Adverse drug reactions; Anti-COVID drugs; Coronavirus; Drug repurposing; Drug toxicity; Pharmacotherapy

Online: 18 June 2020 (12:43:43 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints201801.0218.v1

Biodegradable and Biocompatible Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA): Auspicious Microbial Macromolecules for Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Applications

Martin Koller

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biology And Biotechnology Keywords: Biocompatibility; Biodegradability; Biopolyesters; Biopolymers; Composites; Drug Release; Implants; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Scaffolds; Tissue Engineering

Online: 23 January 2018 (16:49:05 CET)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202104.0022.v2

Immunomodulation as a Potent COVID-19 Pharmacotherapy: Past, Present and Future

Decsa Medika Hertanto, Bayu Satria Wiratama, Henry Sutanto, Citrawati Dyah Kencono Wungu

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Immunology And Allergy Keywords: COVID-19; immunomodulation; immunology; immune system; pharmacotherapy; coronavirus; drug repurposing

Online: 1 July 2021 (12:59:44 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201902.0154.v1

Deforestation, Climate Change and Food Security Nexus in Sub-Sahara Africa: Content Analysis

Dastan Bamwesigye, Petra Hlavackova, Samuel Antwi Darkwah, Nahanga Verter

Subject: Environmental And Earth Sciences, Environmental Science Keywords: Access, availability, climate change, deforestation, drought, food security, SSA

Online: 18 February 2019 (10:16:03 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/preprints202208.0397.v1

Saving Food from Waste or Advance Selling? An Empirical Analysis of Too Good To Go Offering in Rome

Mengting Yu, Luigi Palumbo, Luca Secondi

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Econometrics And Statistics Keywords: food waste; web scraping; Too Good To Go; empirical analysis

Online: 23 August 2022 (08:53:11 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/preprints201711.0189.v1

Development of Antimicrobial Biocomposite Films to Preserve Quality of Bread

Kelly Johana Figueroa López, Margarita Maria Andrade Mahecha, Olga Lucía Torres Vargas

Subject: Chemistry And Materials Science, Biomaterials Keywords: biocomposite films; gelatin; oleoresins; antimicrobial compounds; food quality

Online: 29 November 2017 (10:23:11 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202110.0172.v1

The Effect of Productive Safety Net Programme on Household Food Consumption and Dietary Diversity in Ethiopia

Mebratu Feyisa

Subject: Business, Economics And Management, Economics Keywords: PSNP; household food consumption; household dietary diversity; random effect; instrumental variable

Online: 11 October 2021 (17:15:51 CEST)

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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/preprints201710.0143.v1

Thiopurine Drugs Repositioned as Tyrosinase Inhibitors

Joonhyuck Choi, You-Mie Lee, Jun-Goo Jee

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Pharmacology And Toxicology Keywords: cheminformatics; docking simulation; drug repositioning; thiopurine; tyrosinase

Online: 22 October 2017 (14:03:13 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0320.v1

Data Science in Unveiling COVID-19 Pathogenesis and Diagnosis: Evolutionary Origin to Drug Repurposing

Jayanta Kumar Das, Giuseppe Tradigo, Pierangelo Veltri, Pietro H Guzzi, Swarup Roy

Subject: Computer Science And Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Keywords: Data Science; Machine Learning; Deep Learning; Genomics; COVID-19; Drug Discovery; Image Analysis; Interactomics; Epidemiology

Online: 14 August 2020 (11:01:56 CEST)

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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/preprints201908.0271.v1

Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations for GPCR Drug Discovery

Ye Zou, John Ewalt, Ho-Leung Ng

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biophysics Keywords: GPCRs; membrane protein; molecular dynamics; protein structure; drug design; biased-signaling pathway; allosteric sites

Online: 26 August 2019 (15:34:57 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202206.0147.v3

The DARPin Encyclopedia: from Basic Research towards Therapeutics

Philipp Wild, Rohan Eapen, Patrik Forrer, Christian Jost

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: Designed Ankyrin Repeat protein; DARPin; drug development; ensovibep; abicipar pegol

Online: 21 June 2022 (10:21:27 CEST)

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The adaptive immune system in vertebrates comes in two flavors. Historically, adaptive immunity focused on the study of immunoglobulins (also referred to as Ig-based antibodies herein); more recently, jawless vertebrates were found to use an entirely different class of proteins for their adaptive immunesystem. Specifically, these organisms express variable lymphocyte receptors (so called VLR antibodies) that create diversity based on the rearrangement of leucine-rich repeats. Meanwhile, various, naturally occurring repeat motifs have been used as building blocks for the design of artificial binding scaffolds which, among others, include designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins). Such binding scaffolds are also referred to as non-Ig-based antibodies or non-Ig scaffolds herein). DARPins display several benefits such as a low molecular weight (~15 kDa), high thermal stability, high specificity and affinity, versatility (e.g., in terms of valency and multi-specificity), speedy preclinical development, low production costs and, thus, bear the potential to not only complement existing therapeutic Ig-based antibodies but also open up novel therapeutic strategies. The first generation DARPin therapeutic abicipar pegol has completed two Phase III studies in 2020 while several other DARPin drug candidates are currently undergoing clinical validation. Most recently, the rapid development of tri-specific SARSCoV-2 DARPin therapeutics showcases the immense potential of recombinant repeat proteins in adopting quickly e.g., new forms of target neutralization that a single Ig-based antibody cannot afford. Here, we highlight the design principles of repeat proteins in general and summarize in detail the continuous advancements of the DARPin scaffold that made it one of the most promising antibody mimetics to date. This review provides an overview of current and emerging applications of DARPins as both a research tool and therapeutic drug that can match or even surpass Ig-based antibody applications.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202104.0395.v1

SynPred: Prediction of Drug Combination Effects in Cancer using Full-Agreement Synergy Metrics and Deep Learning

António J. Preto, Pedro Matos-Filipe, Joana Mourão, and Irina S. Moreira

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Keywords: Deep-Learning; Interpretability; Omics; Biophysics; Drug Synergy; Cancer

Online: 14 April 2021 (17:44:40 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201712.0024.v1

Characterization of HIV-1 near Full-Length Proviral Genome Quasispecies from Patients with Undetectable Viral Load Undergoing First-Line HAART Therapy

Brunna M. Alves, Juliana D. Siqueira, Marianne M. Garrido, Ornella M. Botelho, Isabel M. Prellwitz, Sayonara R. Ribeiro, Esmeralda A. Soares, Marcelo A. Soares

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Virology Keywords: HIV-1; quasispecies; minority resistance mutations; HAART; drug resistance; undetectable viral load

Online: 4 December 2017 (09:34:16 CET)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201803.0259.v1

MOSH Syndrome (Male Obesity Secondary Hypogonadism): Clinical Assessment and Possible Therapeutic Approaches

Antonino De Lorenzo, Annalisa Noce, Eleonora Moriconi, Tiziana Rampello, Giulia Marrone, Nicola Di Daniele, Valentina Rovella

Subject: Medicine And Pharmacology, Dietetics And Nutrition Keywords: MOSH syndrome; lifestyle change; food addiction; aromatase activity; testosterone/estradiol ratio

Online: 30 March 2018 (06:19:03 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201902.0106.v1

Comparative Assessment of Age, Growth and Food Habit of the Black-Chinned Tilapia, Sarotherodon melanotheron (Rüppell, 1852), from Closed and Open Lagoons, Ghana

Cephas Kwesi Zuh, Seth Mensah Abobi, Benjamin Betey Campion

Subject: Biology And Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior And Systematics Keywords: Ghana; lagoon; tilapia; fish growth; otoliths; age; food

Online: 12 February 2019 (17:14:54 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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