In the present study, we utilized Stevia rebaudiana L. (SRLe) extract to in situ biosynthesize nanoscale alpha hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles (NPs) with potent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties. SRLe-α-Fe 2 O 3 was characterized using physiochemical analyses, including UV/Vis, FTIR, XRD, DLS, EDX, SEM, and TEM studies. Among tested solvents, CHCl 3 /MeOH (2:1 v / v ) SRL extract (least polar solvent) contained the highest EY, TPC, and antioxidant capacity of ~3.5%, ~75 mg GAE/g extract, and IC 50 = 9.87 ± 0.7 mg/mL, respectively. FTIR confirmed the engagement of coating operation to the colloidal α-Fe 2 O 3 NPs. TEM, SEM, and DLS revealed that SRLe-α-Fe 2 O 3 has a spherical shape, uniform size distribution with aggregation for an average size of ~18.34 nm, and ζ = −19.4 mV, forming a repulsive barrier that helped to improve stability. The synthesized nanoparticles displayed considerable antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus bacterial growth, and exhibited superior activity against the A549 lung cancer cell lines. These findings indicate that the increased availability of bioactive substances with antioxidant properties of SRLe makes it a potentially interesting material for the preparation of biologically active compounds and green synthesis of nanoparticles.

Background: Hyperglycemic patients are at a high risk of COVID-19 severity. Neutrophils have been considered critical effector cells in COVID-19 development. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in hyperglycemic patients and was found to adversely associate with the neutrophil count. Aim: The goal of this work was to evaluate the characteristics of diabetic and pre-diabetic COVID-19 patients and discovered changes in neutrophils and their correlation, if any, with disease clinical presentation. Patients and Methods: The study included total of (514) Covid-19 positive patients confirmed by PCR and recruited from the Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Patient’s clinical characteristics were collected for all patients. Laboratory tests include HbA1c, neutrophil count, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), ferritin, D- dimer, 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D), and folate. Results: The results found that 286 patients (55.6%) were diabetic, 77 patients (15%) were pre-diabetic and 151 (29.4%) were normoglycaemic. A significant difference was exhibited regarding the neutrophil count and inflammatory factors of COVID-19 severity. Furthermore, the neutrophil count was found to be directly correlated with the severity monitoring biochemical markers for Covid-19: CRP, ESR, ferritin, and D-dimer and inversely associated with vitamin D levels in diabetic and pre-diabetic patients. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the change of neutrophils in COVID-19 diabetic and pre-diabetic patients that was found to correlate positively with CRP, ESR, ferritin, and D-dimer, and negatively with 25(OH)D, but their correlation with the clinical presentation of the disease need further large investigations.