Achillea millefoilum L. (Yarrow) is an important species of Asteraceae family with common utilization in traditional medicine of several cultures from Europe to Asia for the treatment of spasmodic gastrointestinal disorders, hepatobiliary, gynecological disorders, against inflammation and for wound healing. An extensive review of literature was made on A. millefoilum L. using ethno botanical text books, published articles in peer-reviewed journals, unpublished materials and scientific databases. The Plant List, International Plant Name Index and Kew Botanical Garden databases were used to authenticate the scientific names. Monoterpenes are the most representative metabolites constituting 90% of the essential oils in relation to the sesquiterpenes, and a wide range of chemical compounds have also been reported. Different pharmacological experiments in many in-vitro and in-vivo models have proved the potential of A. millefoilum with antiinflammatory, antiulcer, anticancer activities etc. lending support to the rationale behind numerous of its traditional uses. Due to the noteworthy pharmacological activities, A. millefoilum will be a better option for new drug discovery. The present review will comprehensively summarize the pharmacognosy, phytochemistry and ethnopharmacology of A. millefoilum reported to date, with emphasis on more in vitro, clinical and pathological studies needed to investigate the unexploited potential of this plant. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The pandemic of viral diseases like novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV) prompted the scientific world to examine antiviral bioactive compounds rather than nucleic acid analogous, protease inhibitors, or other toxic synthetic molecules. The emerging viral infections significantly associated with 2019‐nCoV have challenged humanity's survival. Further, there is a constant emergence of new resistant viral strains that demand novel antiviral agents with fewer side effects and cell toxicity. Despite significant progress made in immunization and regenerative medicine, numerous viruses still lack prophylactic vaccines and specific antiviral treatments that are so often influenced by the generation of viral escape mutants. Of importance, medicinal herbs offer a wide variety of therapeutic antiviral chemotypes that can inhibit viral replication by preventing viral adsorption, adhering to cell receptors, inhibiting virus penetration in the host cell, and competing for pathways of activation of intracellular signals. The present review will comprehensively summarize the promising antiviral activities of medicinal plants and their bioactive molecules. Furthermore, it will elucidate their mechanism of action and possible implications in the treatment/prevention of viral diseases even when their mechanism of action is not fully understood, which could serve as the base for the future development of novel or complementary antiviral treatments.

Background The COVID‐19 pandemic has demanded effective therapeutic protocol from researchers and clinicians across the world. Currently, a large amount of primary data have been generated from several preclinical studies. At least 300 clinical trials are underway for drug repurposing against COVID‐19; the clinician needs objective evidence‐based medication to treat COVID‐19. Observations Single‐stranded RNA viral genome of SARS‐CoV‐2 encodes structural proteins (spike protein), non‐structural enzymatic proteins (RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase, helicase, papain‐like protease, 3‐chymotrypsin‐like protease) and other accessory proteins. These four enzymatic proteins on spike protein are rate‐limiting steps in viral replications and, therefore, an attractive target for drug development against SARS‐CoV‐2. In silico and in vitro studies have identified various potential epitomes as candidate sequences for vaccine development. These studies have also revealed potential targets for drug development and drug repurposing against COVID‐19. Clinical trials utilizing antiviral drugs and other drugs have given inconclusive results regarding their clinical efficacy and side effects. The need for angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE‐2) inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and corticosteroids has been recommended. Western countries have adopted telemedicine as an alternative to prevent transmission of infection in the population. Currently, no proven, evidence‐based therapeutic regimen exists for COVID‐19. Conclusion The COVID‐19 pandemic has put tremendous pressure on researchers to evaluate and approve drugs effective against the disease. Well‐controlled randomized trials should assess medicines that are not marketed with substantial evidence of safety and efficacy and more emphasis on time tested approaches for drug evaluation.

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Nanotechnology has revolutionized diverse fields, which include agriculture, the consumer market, medicine, and other fields. Widespread use of nanotechnology-based products has led to increased prevalence of these novel formulations in the environment, which has raised concerns regarding their deleterious effects. The application of nanotechnology-based formulations into clinical use is hampered by the lack of the availability of effective in vitro systems, which could accurately assess their in vivo toxic effects. A plethora of studies has shown the hazardous effects of nanoparticle-based formulations in two-dimensional in vitro cell cultures and animal models. These have some associated disadvantages when used for the evaluation of nano-toxicity. Organoid technology fills the space between existing two-dimensional cell line culture and in vivo models. The uniqueness of organoids over other systems for evaluating toxicity caused by nano-drug formulation includes them being a coculture of diverse cell types, dynamic flow within them that simulates the actual flow of nanoparticles within biological systems, extensive cell-cell, cell-matrix interactions, and a tissue-like morphology. Thus, it mimics the actual tissue microenvironment and, subsequently, provides an opportunity to study drug metabolism and toxico-dynamics of nanotechnology-based novel formulations. The use of organoids in the evaluation of nano-drug toxicity is in its infancy. A limited number of studies conducted so far have shown good predictive value and efficiently significant data correlation with the clinical trials. In this review, we attempt to introduce organoids of the liver, lungs, brain, kidney intestine, and potential applications to evaluate toxicity caused by nanoparticles.

As per a recent study conducted by the WHO, 15.4% of all cancers are caused by infectious agents of various categories, and more than 10% of them are attributed to viruses. The emergence of COVID-19 has once again diverted the scientific community’s attention toward viral diseases. Some researchers have postulated that SARS-CoV-2 will add its name to the growing list of oncogenic viruses in the long run. However, owing to the complexities in carcinogenesis of viral origin, researchers across the world are struggling to identify the common thread that runs across different oncogenic viruses. Classical pathways of viral oncogenesis have identified oncogenic mediators in oncogenic viruses, but these mediators have been reported to act on diverse cellular and multiple omics pathways. In addition to viral mediators of carcinogenesis, researchers have identified various host factors responsible for viral carcinogenesis. Henceforth owing to viral and host complexities in viral carcinogenesis, a singular mechanistic pathway remains yet to be established; hence there is an urgent need to integrate concepts from system biology, cancer microenvironment, evolutionary perspective, and thermodynamics to understand the role of viruses as drivers of cancer. In the present manuscript, we provide a holistic view of the pathogenic pathways involved in viral oncogenesis with special emphasis on alteration in the tumor microenvironment, genomic alteration, biological entropy, evolutionary selection, and host determinants involved in the pathogenesis of viral tumor genesis. These concepts can provide important insight into viral cancers, which can have an important implication for developing novel, effective, and personalized therapeutic options for treating viral cancers.

Background: For centuries, convalescent plasma (CP) has been recommended to treat a diverse set of viral diseases. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of CP in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Methods and Materials: From 23 March 2021 to 29 December 2021, an open-label, prospective cohort, single-centre study was conducted at Chest Disease Hospital, Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar. Patients with severe manifestation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) under BST (best standard treatment) +CP were prospectively observed in order to evaluate effectiveness of CP therapy and historical control under BST were used as the control group Results: A total of 1667 patients were found positive for COVID-19. Of these, 873 (52.4%), 431 (28.8%), and 363 (21.8%) were moderately, severely, and critically ill, respectively. On 35th day post-infusion of CP, all-cause mortality was higher in the BST (best standard treatment) +CP group 12 (37.5%) compared to 127 (35%) in the BST group with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.4 and hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI: 1.08–1.79, p = 0.06). Similarly, 7 (21.9) patients in the BST+CP group and 121 (33.3) patients in the BST group showed the transition from critically ill to moderate disease with subhazard ratio (s-HR 1.37) (95% CI: 1.03–2.9). Conclusions: In the present study, we could not find any significant difference in the CP group and BST +CP in primary outcome of reducing all-cause mortality in critically ill patients with negligible Nabs levels. However, beneficial results were observed with use of CP in a limited number of secondary outcomes which includes days of hospitalization, negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 on basis of RT-PCR on 7th day and 14th day, need for invasive mechanical ventilation on 14th day post-CP treatment, and resolution of shortness of breath.