Immunity in the ABM-DSGE Framework for Preventing and Controlling Epidemics—Validation of Results

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised many questions on how to manage an epidemiological and economic crisis around the world. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and policy makers have been asking how effective lockdowns are in preventing and controlling the spread of the virus. In the absence of vaccines, the regulators lacked any plausible alternatives. Nevertheless, after the introduction of vaccinations, to what extent the conclusions of these analyses are still valid should be considered. In this paper, we present a study on the effect of vaccinations within the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with an agent-based epidemic component. Thus, we validated the results regarding the need to use lockdowns as an efficient tool for preventing and controlling epidemics that were obtained in November 2020.     

Nucleotide Analogues Bearing a C2′ or C3′-Stereogenic All-Carbon Quaternary Center as SARS-CoV-2 RdRp Inhibitors

The design of novel nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) analogues bearing an all-carbon quaternary center at C2′ or C3′ is described. The construction of this all-carbon stereogenic center involves the use of an intramoleculer photoredox-catalyzed reaction. The nucleoside analogues (NA) hydroxyl functional group at C2′ was generated by diastereoselective epoxidation. In addition, highly enantioselective and diastereoselective Mukaiyama aldol reactions, diastereoselective N-glycosylations and regioselective triphosphorylation reactions were employed to synthesize the novel NTPs. Two of these compounds are inhibitors of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2, the causal virus of COVID-19.     

Reviving chloroquine for anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatment with cucurbit[7]uril-based supramolecular formulation

The wide-spreading SARS-CoV-2 virus has put the world into boiling water for more than a year, however pharmacological therapies to act effectively against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain elusive. Chloroquine (CQ), an antimalarial drug, was found to exhibit promising antiviral activity in vitro and in vivo at a high dosage, thus CQ was approved by the FDA for the emergency use authorization (EUA) in the fight against COVID-19 in the US, but later was revoked the EUA status due to the severe clinical toxicity. Herein, we show that supramolecular formulation of CQ by a macrocyclic host, curcurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), reduced its non-specific toxicity and improved its antiviral activity against coronavirus, working in synergy with CB[7]. CB[7] was found to form 1:1 host-guest complexes with CQ, with a binding constant of ∼10⁴ L/mol. The CQ-CB[7] formulation decreased the cytotoxicity of CQ against Vero E6 and L-02 cell lines. In particular, the cytotoxicity of CQ (60 μmol/L) against both Vero E6 cell line and L-02 cell lines was completely inhibited in the presence of 300 μmol/L and 600 μmol/L CB[7], respectively. Furthermore, the CB[7] alone showed astonishing antiviral activity in SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells and mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (MHV-A59) infected N2A cells, and synergistically improved the antiviral activity of CQ-CB[7], suggesting that CB[7]-based CQ formulation has a great potential as a safe and effective antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus.     

Potential bioactive compounds as SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors from extracts of the marine red alga Halymenia durvillei (Rhodophyta) – A computational study

The respiratory infection COVID-19 caused by the virus SARS CoV-2 has continued to be a major health problem worldwide and has caused more than a million mortalities. Even if the development of COVID-19 vaccines has shown much progress, efforts to find novel, natural anti-viral drugs should be pursued. Halymenia durvillei is a marine red alga widely distributed around Southeast Asia. This study aimed to develop new anti SARS CoV-2 compounds from ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of H. durvillei via a computational approach, focusing onthe inhibitory action against the main protease (3CL-Mpro). In this study, 37 compounds were extracted and identified by GC–MS analysis. The potentials of compounds 1–2 tetradecandiol and E,E,Z-1,3,12-nonadecatriene-5,14-diol were identified for therapeutic purposes based on our pharmacophore study, while cholest-5-En-3-Ol (3.Beta.)- had a high fitness score in molecular docking studies both in monomer and dimer state compared to the N3 inhibitor and remdesivir affinity scores. As these compounds show competitive affinity scores against the 3CL-Mpro, these natural compounds may be effective for the treatment of COVID-19 infection. The ADME and pharmacokinetic studies should also be employed to assess the ability of the natural compounds as oral drugs. These promising results have shown the potentials of H. durvillei as an alternative drug in addressing COVID-19 infection. Accordingly, further studies should explore the effectiveness of these active compounds.     

Computational Approaches to Discover Novel Natural Compounds for SARS-CoV-2 Therapeutics

Scientists all over the world are facing a challenging task of finding effective therapeutics for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). One of the fastest ways of finding putative drug candidates is the use of computational drug discovery approaches. The purpose of the current study is to retrieve natural compounds that have obeyed to drug-like properties as potential inhibitors. Computational molecular modelling techniques were employed to discover compounds with potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibition properties. Accordingly, the InterBioScreen (IBS) database was obtained and was prepared by minimizing the compounds. To the resultant compounds, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) and Lipinski's Rule of Five was applied to yield drug-like compounds. The obtained compounds were subjected to molecular dynamics simulation studies to evaluate their stabilities. In the current article, we have employed the docking based virtual screening method using InterBioScreen (IBS) natural compound database yielding two compounds has potential hits. These compounds have demonstrated higher binding affinity scores than the reference compound together with good pharmacokinetic properties. Additionally, the identified hits have displayed stable interaction results inferred by molecular dynamics simulation results. Taken together, we advocate the use of two natural compounds, STOCK1N-71493 and STOCK1N-45683 as SARS-CoV-2 treatment regime.     

基于竞争配位的Ca2+特异性响应1H/19F磁共振成像分子探针

合成了一种含~(19)F的Mn~(2+)配合物3,12-二(2-氧代-2-((2,2,2-三氟乙基)氨基)乙基)-6,9-二氧杂-3,12-二氮杂十四烷酸锰(Ⅱ)(Mn(Ⅱ)-L,1),可实现对Ca~(2+)特异响应的~1H/~(19)F磁共振成像分析。~(19)F核在近距离的顺磁性Mn~(2+)影响下产生了顺磁弛豫增强作用,使~(19)F的横向弛豫时间T_2急剧缩短而磁共振信号锐减。当有Ca~(2+)存在时,与配体L的竞争配位使得~(19)F远离Mn~(2+)离子,从而~(19)F磁共振信号得到恢复。同时,由于Mn~(2+)离子从配合态变为游离态,水配位数增加使得其对~1H的纵向弛豫时间T_1弛豫性能增加,从而~1H磁共振成像信号也增强。相关实验的结果证实了该配合物是一种能对Ca~(2+)特异性响应的~1H/~(19)F磁共振成像探针。     

New hexaarylbenzene-containing di- and tetrafluoroarenes

New hexaarylbenzene-containing di- and tetrafluoroarenes were prepared by the Diels—Alder reactions of 1,4-bis(1-oxo-2,4,5-triphenylcyclopentadien-3-yl)benzene with 4-fluoro-4′-(phenylethynyl)- and 4-fluoro-4′-(4-fluorophenylethynyl)benzophenone, respectively. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1881–1883, August, 2005.     

Phase transitions and molecular motions in [Cd(H2O)6](BF4)2 studied by DSC, H and F NMR and FT-MIR

Two solid phase transitions of [Cd(H₂O)₆](BF₄)₂ occurring on heating at T_C2=183.3 K and T_C1=325.3 K, with 2 K and 5 K hysteresis, respectively, were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). High value of entropy changes indicated large orientational disorder of the high temperature and intermediate phase. Nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR and ¹⁹F NMR) relaxation measurements revealed that the phase transitions at T_C1 and T_C2 were associated with a drastic and small change, respectively, of the both spin-lattice relaxation times: T₁(¹H) and T₁(¹⁹F). These relaxation processes were connected with the “tumbling” motions of the [Cd(H₂O)₆]²⁺, reorientational motions of the H₂O ligands, and with the iso- and anisotropic reorientation of the BF₄⁻ anions. The cross-relaxation effect was observed in phase III. The line width and the second moment of the ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR line measurements revealed that the H₂O reorientate in all three phases of the title compound. On heating the onset of the reorientation of 3 H₂O in the [Cd(H₂O)₆]⁺², around the three-fold symmetry axis of these octahedron, causes the isotropic reorientation of the whole cation. The BF₄⁻ reorientate isotropically in the phases I and II, but in the phase III they perform slow reorientation only about three- or two-fold axes. A small distortion in the structure of BF₄⁻ as well as of [Cd(H₂O)₆]²⁺ is postulated. The temperature dependence of the bandwidth of the O-H stretching mode measured by Fourier transform middle infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR) indicated that the activation energy for the reorientation of the H₂O did not change much at the T_C2 phase transition.     

超细红色荧光粉LaMgAl_(11)O_(19):Eu~(3+)的制备与发光性能

采用凝胶-燃烧法制备了稀土Eu3+掺杂的LaMgAl11O19红色荧光粉的前驱粉末,在低于700℃退火处理时,得到非晶态样品,而高于850℃退火处理后为单一六方相结构LaMgAl11O19:Eu3+样品.SEM结果表明,该法制备的样品为颗粒分布均匀,粒径在200～400nm之间的超细粉末.通过激发光谱和发射光谱研究了Eu3+在LaMgAl11O19基质中的发光性能,结果显示,非晶态和晶态La1-xMgAl11O19:xEu3+样品都可发光,在613nm波长光的监测下所得荧光粉的激发光谱为一宽带和系列锐峰,其最强激发峰出现在蓝光465nm处,次强峰为394nm,表明该荧光粉与广泛使用的紫外和蓝光LED芯片的输出波长相匹配.在465nm波长光的激发下观察到超细LaMgAl11O19粉末中Eu3+的613nm(5D0→7F2)强的特征发射,且随着粉末逐渐成相5D0→7F2跃迁明显增强,说明LaMgAl11O19:Eu3+超细粉末可作为白光LED的红色补偿荧光粉.