Angiotensin II Type I Receptor (AT1R): The Gate towards COVID-19-Associated Diseases

The binding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein to its cellular receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), causes its downregulation, which subsequently leads to the dysregulation of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) in favor of the ACE–angiotensin II (Ang II)–angiotensin II type I receptor (AT1R) axis. AT1R has a major role in RAS by being involved in several physiological events including blood pressure control and electrolyte balance. Following SARS-CoV-2 infection, pathogenic episodes generated by the vasoconstriction, proinflammatory, profibrotic, and prooxidative consequences of the Ang II–AT1R axis activation are accompanied by a hyperinflammatory state (cytokine storm) and an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). AT1R, a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family, modulates Ang II deleterious effects through the activation of multiple downstream signaling pathways, among which are MAP kinases (ERK 1/2, JNK, p38MAPK), receptor tyrosine kinases (PDGF, EGFR, insulin receptor), and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases (Src, JAK/STAT, focal adhesion kinase (FAK)), and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase. COVID-19 is well known for generating respiratory symptoms, but because ACE2 is expressed in various body tissues, several extrapulmonary pathologies are also manifested, including neurologic disorders, vasculature and myocardial complications, kidney injury, gastrointestinal symptoms, hepatic injury, hyperglycemia, and dermatologic complications. Therefore, the development of drugs based on RAS blockers, such as angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), that inhibit the damaging axis of the RAS cascade may become one of the most promising approaches for the treatment of COVID-19 in the near future. We herein review the general features of AT1R, with a special focus on the receptor-mediated activation of the different downstream signaling pathways leading to specific cellular responses. In addition, we provide the latest insights into the roles of AT1R in COVID-19 outcomes in different systems of the human body, as well as the role of ARBs as tentative pharmacological agents to treat COVID-19.     

A two-level domain decomposition method for the iterative solution of high frequency exterior Helmholtz problems

Summary. We present a Lagrange multiplier based two-level domain decomposition method for solving iteratively large-scale systems of equations arising from the finite element discretization of high-frequency exterior Helmholtz problems. The proposed method is essentially an extension of the regularized FETI (Finite Element Tearing and Interconnecting) method to indefinite problems. Its two key ingredients are the regularization of each subdomain matrix by a complex interface lumped mass matrix, and the preconditioning of the interface problem by an auxiliary coarse problem constructed to enforce at each iteration the orthogonality of the residual to a set of carefully chosen planar waves. We show numerically that the proposed method is scalable with respect to the mesh size, the subdomain size, and the wavenumber. We report performance results for a submarine application that highlight the efficiency of the proposed method for the solution of high frequency acoustic scattering problems discretized by finite elements. Received March 17, 1998 / Revised version received June 7, 1999 / Published online January 27, 2000     

Entropy generation analysis in peristaltic motion of Sisko material with variable viscosity and thermal conductivity

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Here, peristaltic flow of Sisko material is modeled with variable characteristics of thermal conductivity and viscosity via curved configuration. Both...     

Double fusion filtering based multi-view face recognition

Two-dimensional (2D) face recognition by correlation is a key challenge of telecommunication and optical information processing. Although this issue has been the focus of intense research, its utilization still has some drawbacks especially when the face is in rotation. In this paper, we propose an alternative method based on a newly designed optical correlation filter which allows recognizing faces with different view angles. This filter called “Multi-View Binary Phase-Only Filter” is based on a double fusion of reference images allowing an optimisation of the use of the spatial-bandwidth product (SBWP) in the filter Fourier plane. The first fusion is performed in the image (space) domain, and the second one is conducted in the spectral domain. Simulations results with the Pointing Head Pose Image Database illustrate the performance of the designed correlation filter for multi-view face recognition.     

Study of pH correction process of chloride-bicarbonate dilute solutions by electrodialysis with bipolar membranes

The pH of a dilute chloride-hydrocarbonate solution and the concentrations of chloride ions and carbonic acid anions at the outlet of the alkaline and acid chambers of the electrodialysis cell formed by bipolar and anion-exchange membranes were determined. The decrease in the concentration of hydrocarbonate ions in the alkaline chamber with growth of current density was not equal to its increase in the acid chamber. This disbalance was caused by two concurrent processes: the electromigration ion transport through the anion-exchange membrane and the chemical reactions of hydrocarbonate ions with the water dissociation products formed on the bipolar and anion-exchange membranes. A mathematical model was suggested to describe the electrodialysis correction of the pH of a dilute chloride-hydrocarbonate solution. The experimental data on the correction of pH of the chloride-hydrocarbonate solution were well approximated by both the model that takes into account water dissociation on the anion-exchange membrane and the simplified model that neglects water dissociation. The experimental data agreed well with the results of calculations by the model in which the effective anion transport numbers were calculated only from ion concentrations and diffusion coefficients in solution. This reflects the outer diffusion character of the kinetics of ion transport through the anion-exchange membrane, with pH of dilute solutions corrected by electrodialysis.     

Controlled optical photonic crystal AND gate using nematic liquid crystal layers

Two optical AND gates built in 2D photonic crystal (PhC) platform have been proposed and numerically simulated using 2D finite element method (FEM). The suggested logic gates consist of five PhC waveguides and silicon annular ring resonator filled by nematic liquid crystal (NLC) of type E7. The first proposed AND gate can handle two inputs and support two operating wavelengths, λ = 1.5 and 1.55 µm. However, the second proposed AND gate can handle three inputs at λ = 1.5 µm. The reported logic gates offer high and low transmission levels with a threshold of 0.5 and an ultra-high bit rate of not less than 0.3 Tbits/s. Further, the suggested AND gates operation can be switched off by using the NLC layer.     

Zinc-filled oil-based preserving materials modified with carbon additives

Protective efficiency of preservation materials based on spent motor oil and unrefined rapeseed oil with a zinc filler and additions of micrographite or multilwalled carbon nanotubes was studied.     

Coordination compounds of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indazole with Cu(II), Co(II) and Ag(I): structural,antimicrobial, antioxidant and enzyme inhibition studies

Coordination behavior of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indazole (H-Ind) with Cu(II), Co(II), and Ag(I) was studied. The ligand affords complexes bearing different geometries depending upon the metal and anion present in the starting salts. Five compounds with different structural perspectives, trans-[CuCl₂(H-Ind)₄] (1), trans-[CuBr₂(H-Ind)₄] (2), trans-[Cu(CH₃COO)₂(H-Ind)₂] (3), trans-[CoCl₂(H-Ind)₄] (4), and [Ag(H-Ind)₂]NO₃ (5), were obtained. The ligand adopts tetrahydro-1H-indazole isomeric form in Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes and with Ag(I) ion the same ligand adopts tetrahydro-2H-indazole form. In the case of sterically demanding acetate counter ion in contrast to Cl or Br, the Cu(II) ion accepts two equivalents of the ligand and four-coordinated square planar complex was obtained. With AgNO₃, the expected complex was obtained. The yield of reactions was >80% and all complexes were obtained as crystalline material from the reaction mixtures. Their structures were determined by X-ray diffraction and all complexes were tested for antibacterial (Enterobacter sakazkii, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniea), antifungal (Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumegatus, Aspergillus nigar, Fusarium oxysporium), and antioxidant (2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)) activities. The same were also tested as inhibitors against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) .