The recent emergence of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a global public health crisis, and a crucial need exists for rapid identification and development of novel therapeutic interventions. In this study, a recurrent neural network (RNN) is trained and optimized to produce novel ligands that could serve as potential inhibitors to the SARS-CoV-2 viral protease: 3 chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro). Structure-based virtual screening was performed through molecular docking, ADMET profiling, and predictions of various molecular properties were done to evaluate the toxicity and drug-likeness of the generated novel ligands. The properties of the generated ligands were also compared with current drugs under various phases of clinical trials to assess the efficacy of the novel ligands. Twenty novel ligands were selected that exhibited good drug-likeness properties, with most ligands conforming to Lipinski’s rule of 5, high binding affinity (highest binding affinity: −9.4 kcal/mol), and promising ADMET profile. Additionally, the generated ligands complexed with 3CLpro were found to be stable based on the results of molecular dynamics simulation studies conducted over a 100 ns period. Overall, the findings offer a promising avenue for the rapid identification and development of effective therapeutic interventions to treat COVID-19.

South Indian cultures are diverse and unique amongst Indian traditions. In spite of many changes in Indian traditions over generations, South Indian states seem to have maintained a great extent of similarity with reference to vegetarian ethnic food habits and the reason behind is not convincingly known. Hindu traditional texts have extensive mention of the ethnic origins of many cultural practices prevailing in India and the present review aims to explore the different vegetarian ethnic foods of South India and also look into the influential role of food related ideologies mentioned in the traditional texts. Ethnographic study data about the prevailing vegetarian foods of the states were generated using multiple tools and presented. It is observed that there is a great extent of similarity amongst the varieties of vegetarian foods being prepared in Hindu communities of South India. Our study also highlights the strong influential role of tradition in evolution of vegetarian foods prevailing even today in South India.