Coronavirus can infect, replicate in salivary gland cells

Brazilian researchers have found that tissues which specialise in saliva production and secretion can serve as reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, magnifying its infectious potential.
Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) analysed samples from three types of salivary gland obtained during a minimally invasive autopsy procedure performed on 24 patients who died from complications of COVID-19 and discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in the salivary glands.

The discovery, reported in an article published in the Journal of Pathology, helps explain why the virus is so abundant in saliva and has enabled scientists to develop saliva-based diagnostic tests for COVID-19.

 

 “This is the first report of a respiratory virus’s capacity to infect and replicate in salivary glands. Until now it was thought that only viruses that cause highly prevalent diseases such as herpes used salivary glands as reservoirs. The discovery may help explain why SARS-CoV-2 is so infectious,” Bruno Fernandes Matuck, doctoral candidate at USP’s Dental School.

For the study, the team extracted tissue samples from the parotid, submandibular and minor salivary glands from 24 patients who died from Covid-19 and molecular analysis detected the presence of the virus in more than two-thirds.

Further examination by an electron microscope detected not just the presence of the virus but also its replication in cells and the type of organelle it uses to replicate.

 

“We observed several viruses clustering in salivary gland cells, which showed that they were replicating there. They weren’t in these cells passively,” Matuck said.

Morepen Labs starts producing Sputnik V

Pharma major Morepen Laboratories has started the production of the test batch of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in Himachal Pradesh, the company has said.

The first batch of the vaccine will be shipped to Russia’s Gamaleya Centre for quality control. Sputnik V, which was granted emergency use authorisation in India in April, was the third to be launched in the country for its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme, after the Covaxin and Covishield.
 

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Morepen had signed a cooperation agreement in June 2021 for transferring the technology. “Agreement with Morepen Laboratories provides for a larger amount of Sputnik V to be available both for India and our partners globally to speed up the vaccination,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, in a statement on Tuesday.

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How coronavirus behaves in body and why Covid-19 is difficult to treat

Viruses are strange creatures. They are not even a complete cell that school textbooks describe as the basic unit of life. Viruses are a chemical compounds made up of only a handful of molecules.

These molecules arrange themselves in different orders to form various types of shapes. In the case of the novel coronavirus, these molecules make a sparkling red ball with crowns - giving identity to the family of coronavirus.

They are very, very small in size compared to their pathogenic cousins such as bacteria and fungi. They prey on almost any living organism. Some viruses infect other pathogens and make them sick. Bacteriophage is an excellent example. It infects and kills bacteria. Bacteriophage is considered as the reason why River Ganga water remained relatively bacteria-free before humans exceeded their capacity to keep the river water clean.

Coming back to viruses, they are so simple that most scientists don't even categorise them as living beings. Remember, school textbooks called them the link between the living and the non-living.

The novel coronavirus, scientifically named as SARS-CoV-2, is a comparatively large virus. Its size is about 120 nanometres - four times that of the poliovirus, which is just 30 nanometres. But a harmless Escherichia coli bacteria - the ones present in our gut - is some 16 times the size of the novel coronavirus. An average red blood cell in our body is about 64 times larger than the novel coronavirus.

The key molecule in all viruses including coronaviruses is protein. These are genetic materials and a storehouse of a very limited set of instructions - like a specific software programme. When these viruses get a favourable environment - namely, the body fluid - they start replicating themselves. This is their reproduction. They enter a cell and eat it from inside. When they leave the cell, they are in millions and the host cell is nothing more than garbage.

This is the way they wreak havoc among species including humans and crops. They are very smart and can travel through air, water, soil, droplets and from one person to other person. Through human-to-human transmission via saliva or mucous droplets, the novel coronavirus spread to all corners of the world after emerging from Wuhan in China. It took humans for a ride, literally.

Now, let's take a look at how the novel coronavirus behaves in our body. Proteins are crucial for the functioning of any living body. They don't only build muscles but they also establish the communication network within the body system. What is required, where and when, and how an issue inside the body is to be fixed is done by these proteins -- specifically, mRNA (messenger RNA), which perform the sentry's role in the body.

It is this variety of protein that keeps SARS-CoV-2 going. Typically, a human cell uses about 20,000 different types of proteins. Viruses use much less. For example, an HIV -- one that causes AIDS -- uses only 15 proteins to do its work. The novel coronavirus deploys 33, that too with the small size of its body.

Larger pathogens such as bacteria offer extra body space for medicines like antibiotics to block them from reproducing. The bacteria can be easily identified by antibiotics-induced antibodies as they flood outside the human cells. This behaviour makes them a suitable target for antibiotics/antibodies.

However, no antibiotic drug works on viruses because these germs don't reproduce on their own. They hijack the human host cell's physiology -- the miniature biological factory -- to make their Xerox copies. They leave one cell to invade millions others. They are always hidden. It is hard for medicine shots to kill viruses without damaging the body cells these pathogens have taken hostage.

There is another problem why treating viral diseases including Covid-19 is a bigger challenge. The viruses keep evolving almost continuously, but not significantly enough to be categorised as mutation. It is like changing clothes frequently.

This behaviour of virus confuses our immune system, whose responsibility is to detect the virus and neutralise the enemy. What happens often is that by the time the body's immune system detects the virus, the damage has already been done, and infection has transmitted to other person or persons.

Many a time, when body prepares for the fight with the invading virus -- the point when fever and other symptoms start showing up, the enemy is already on its way out after demolishing the fortresses of defence.

Doctors say the symptoms of fever etcetera are sometimes actually the response of the immune system rather than the virus. This is a stage where it may be too late for a patient. This is what is being seen in Covid-19 cases. A large number of Covid-19 patients died within 48 hours of their admission in a hospital. Those who were diagnosed earlier got well faster.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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New Artificial Neurons Will Help Heart Patients

Neurodegenerative diseases and heart disease have long been a major cause of concern for countless patients and their families across the globe. People who suffer from Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders, as well as heart failure face insurmountable challenges that can, at times, be impossible to overcome.

However, hope might be on the horizon!

Artificial neurons - a new discovery that might help fight heart ailments 

An international team of scientists,  has invented what is being called tiny "brain chips". These are basically artificial nerve cells – the first of their kind in the world – on silicon chips that will help fight chronic ailments like Alzheimer's, heart failure and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The researchers have explained that these artificial neurons could help replace the neurons that have been lost to degenerative diseases. This is primarily the case in people who use medical implants to treat conditions like heart failure and Alzheimer's.

The team successfully modeled and obtained equations to explain how neurons respond to electrical stimuli from other nerves. This is a complicated process as the responses are non-linear. Then they went on to design silicon chips that precisely imitated real, living neurons and responded to a vast series of stimulations. 

The research team accurately duplicated the entire dynamics of hippocampal neurons and respiratory neurons in rats. This was performed under a broad range of stimuli. 

"Until now, neurons have been like black boxes, but we have managed to open the black box and peer inside," research lead Alain Nogaret was quoted as saying to the press. "Our work is paradigm-changing because it provides a robust method to reproduce the electrical properties of real neurons in minute detail,” he added.

How will artificial neurons help fight different health conditions?

It is being said that these artificial neurons will behave like the real thing, meaning that they will replicate what nerve cells do naturally. Neurons carry nerve signals from the brain to the rest of the body. The neurons in people who have dementia generally decay or die. That is where these artificial neurons could help replace those decaying neurons and potentially cure or bring some relief to those patients. 

Artificial neurons will have the ability to repair the infected bio-circuits by duplicating their healthy function and responding to biological feedback to revive bodily functions. 

For instance, in some cases of heart failure, the neurons in the human brain fail to respond to the feedback from the nervous system. The heart thus doesn’t receive the proper signals from the nervous system and doesn’t pump the way it should. The artificial neurons’ ability to replicate healthy functions of the bio-circuit will help in transferring feedback to the nervous system, in this case, and respond in a way as when this brain to heart connection was healthy.

The same will also apply in case of a spinal cord injury where the neurons' processes have been cut off, and the artificial neurons will be able to reconnect the neural pathways in the place of injury.

How feasible are these artificial neurons?

The researchers are now working on developing smart pacemakers which, with the help of these artificial neurons, will help in stirring the heart into action. Basically, pacemakers will use the artificial neurons to react to the immediate pressure being put on the heart. 

At present, the focus of the researchers is on heart failure as they believe that this new technology will offer significant improvements in the life of heart patients.

"Beyond heart failure any neurodegenerative disease or disease of ion channels would naturally benefit from artificial neurons. Seizures, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease are diseases that come to mind and where there is a need for novel solutions in the medical community,” they added.
Interestingly, these chips require only  140 nanoWatts of power - that's only one billionth of the power of a microprocessor which makes them highly convenient for implants. 
To know more about artificial neurons and how they may help heart attack patients, watch the video below.

The future?
This could be a revolutionary step in modern science and medical devices. It also opens up various horizons for people who suffer from neurological ailments and particularly those who have suffered from heart failure. Here is hoping that this would eventually genuinely help in making life easier for heart attack patients and others with degenerative diseases.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement