At the health emergence, no such potent prophylactic therapy is available to control the deadly emerged Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, existing antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial drugs is the only option against SARS-CoV-2, but it may be harmful to patients without more clinical evidence. As an alternative solution, we proposed a newer hypothesis using the selective 10 potent anti-HIV drugs and flavonoid class of phytochemicals from previous reports to use in combination against SARS-CoV-2. Primarily, 10 anti-HIV protease inhibitor drugs and 10 phyto-flavonoids as ligands in molecular docking study against the putative target, the SARS-CoV-2-main protease (M pro ) ID: 6Y2E), as an essential enzyme in viral genome replication. According to molecular docking and drug-ability scores of each ligand, the anti-HIV drug, the darunavir (with a docking score, −10.25 kcal/mol and drug-likeness rating, 0.60) and the quercetin-3-rhamnoside (with a docking score, −10.90 kcal/mol and drug-likeness rating, 0.82) were selected for further analysis in combined effect. Perceptibly, the combined ‘anti-HIV drug and phyto-flavonoid’ docking complex has actively interacted with eight strong H-bonds with stability, briefly elucidated through RMRD-, RMSF- Rg-plots and MM/PBSA-binding energy calculation during 100 ns than the individual against SARS-CoV-2-M pro . Thus, the ‘anti-HIV-drug-phyto-flavonoid’ combination therapy could be used against SARS-CoV-2 after some experimental validation. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem, invading all age groups world-wide. It is an opportunistic infection affecting the individuals alone or with co-infections. Childhood TB is a neglected aspect and a significant health problem in epidemic areas. It constitutes more than 20% of TB incidence. Pediatric TB exists in the shadow of adult TB. The clinicians concentrate on pulmonary manifestation of TB, whereas it is a major problem in both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary infections. The rate of infection with this disease is mostly associated with poverty, social disruption and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The diagnosis of extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB) is more difficult than pulmonary TB (PTB). Delayed diagnosis and executive treatment contribute to increase in the mortality rate in endemic areas. This article provides the evidence-based simple and safe screening method, indicating rapid, highly sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for pulmonary and EPTB in children. The most important aspect of treatment is the correct course of anti-tubercular drugs. This review serves the purpose of quick reference for microbiologists, epidemiologists, academicians, students and researchers. It provides guidance regarding early diagnosis and treatment accuracy of pediatric TB.

Nowadays, drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) and co-infected tuberculosis (CI-TB) strains are the leading cause for the enhancement of long-term morbidity and unpredicted mortality rates from this ghoulish acid fast-bacterium infection, globally. Unfortunately, the lack of/ample lethargic towards the development of compelling anti-TB regimens with a large-scale prevalence rate is a great challenge towards control of the pandemic situation. Indeed, the recent improvement in genomic studies for early diagnosis and understanding the mechanisms of drug resistance, as well as the identification of newer drug targets is quite remarkable and promising. Mainly, identification of such genetic factors, chromosomal mutations and associated pathways gives new ray of hope in current anti-TB drug discovery. This focused review provides molecular insights into the updated drug resistance mechanisms with encoded bacilli genetic factors as a novel target and potential source of development with screened-out newer anti-TB agents towards the control of MDR-TB soon.

Leprosy (causative, Mycobacterium leprae) continues to be the persisting public health problem with stable incidence rates, owing to the emergence of dapsone resistance that being the principal drug in the ongoing multidrug therapy. Hence, to overcome the drug resistance, structural modification through medicinal chemistry was used to design newer dapsone derivative(s) (DDs), against folic acid biosynthesis pathway. The approach included theoretical modeling, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation as well as binding free energy estimation for validation of newly designed seven DDs, before synthesis. Theoretical modeling, docking, and MD simulation studies were used to understand the mode of binding and efficacy of DDs against the wild-type and mutant dihydropteroate synthases (DHPS). Principal component analysis was performed to understand the conformational dynamics of DHPS-DD complexes. Furthermore, the overall stability and negative-binding free energy of DHPS-DD complexes were deciphered using Molecular Mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area technique. Molecular mechanics study revealed that DD3 possesses higher binding free energy than dapsone against mutant DHPS. Energetic contribution analysis portrayed that van der Waals and electrostatic energy contributes profoundly to the overall negative free energy, whereas polar solvation energy opposes the binding. Finally, DD3 was synthesized and characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, UV, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. This study suggested that DD3 could be further promoted as newer antileprosy agent. The principles of medicinal chemistry and bioinformatics tools help to locate effective therapeutics to minimize resources and time in current drug development modules.

A substantial percentage of the outpatients seen in the clinics of the district hospital in Uttar Pradesh harbor HIV and viral hepatitis infections, which otherwise would remain undiagnosed without serological screening.