Acute poisoning is considered one of the most important medical emergencies, resulting in severe morbidity and mortality, and is an economic burden on governments. This study aimed to determine the extent of acute adult intoxication among the population located in the Najran area, Saudi Arabia, over the last 3 years (from January 2017 to December 2019). The study is a hospital-based retrospective observational study. The data of all acutely intoxicated adult patients were collected from patients’ files of King Khalid Hospital, the main hospital in the Najran area. In this study, the total number of intoxicated patients was 852. Patients were divided into three groups according to their age: 15–25 years, 26–35 years and >35 years. Accidental intoxication was predominant (64.6%), especially with therapeutic drugs (60.2%), predominantly acetaminophen and amphetamine, which intoxicated 24.5% and 23.4% of the patients, respectively. Moreover, this study showed that 10.6% of patients were intoxicated with overdoses of alcohol, mostly among patients aged over 35 years. Furthermore, the present study revealed that 23.9% of patients were intoxicated with household chemicals, especially Clorox bleach or Flash. Patients presented with a wide range of symptoms; some were even asymptomatic. Overall, patients’ outcomes were good; mortalities were few (1.2%), and most fatalities were found in patients aged over 35 years (60%). The present study showed that pharmaceutical drugs constituted the most common causative agents in acute intoxication. Household chemicals, especially Clorox bleach, Flash and pesticides, are highly implicated in the acute toxicity problem. Drug abuse, especially amphetamine and alcohol, still represents a great threat facing people from the Najran region. It is crucial to deliver effective public health education programmes to increase community awareness about the predisposing risk factors of acute toxicity, whether as overdoses or suicide attempts.

The present study tested the hypothesis that mice exposed to Schistosoma mansoni and treated with the insecticide Larvin have an increased risk of accelerated liver damage. To investigate this hypothesis, adverse effects resulting from treatment with Larvin were compared between S. mansoni-exposed and nonexposed outbred albino mice. The effects of concurrent treatment with Larvin on the progress and outcomes of S. mansoni infection were assessed via macroscopic and microscopic examination of liver and spleen, evaluation of several hematological, biochemical and hepatic enzymes parameters, and effect on worm burden. Oral administration of 1/5 and 1/10 LD(50) of Larvin to S. mansoni-exposed mice induced (1) hepatomegaly and splenomegaly; (2) prominent lymphocytic aggregation in liver replacing large areas of bridging necrosis; (3) increased serum level of bilirubin and alanine aminotransferase-aspartate aminotransferase enzymes; (4) decreased serum level of albumin and total proteins; and (5) decreased RBC, hemoglobin content, leukocyte, and lymphocyte counts. No significant effect on worm burden or oviposition was noted as a result of Larvin treatment compared to controls. All doses used in mice either for infection with S. mansoni cercariae or treatment with Larvin resulted in dose dependent alterations in hepatic functions of the tested mice. These alterations were most profound in mice exposed to S. mansoni and receiving Larvin treatment. The present findings support our hypothesis and show that concurrent S. mansoni infection with exposure to Larvin adversely affect liver functions and seriously alter hematological, biochemical, and hepatic enzymes parameters in outbred albino mice. These findings warrant further investigation and reinforce the need to minimize exposure to insecticide in both natural field settings and the broader environment.

Background There is always a need for a safe and efficient vaccine platform, especially when facing a pandemic such as COVID-19. Most of the SARS-CoV-2-based vaccines are based on the full spike protein, which is presented as a trimerized protein, and many viral vector vaccines express the spike protein into the host cells and do not display it on virus surfaces. However, the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD)-based vaccines are efficient and are currently under investigation and clinical trials. Methodology In this study, we are testing the efficacy of the RBD displayed on a baculovirus as a mean to formulate a safe and stable carrier to induce the immune system against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, two pseudotyped baculoviruses were constructed to display the RBD, AcRBD-sfGFP-64, and AcRBD-sfGFP-V, using two different displaying strategies based on gp64 and VSV-G envelope glycoproteins, from Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), respectively. BALB/C mice were immunized with the pseudotyped baculoviruses in a dose-optimized manner. Dot blot and Western blot were used to screen and validate the polyclonal antibodies’ specificity to the SARS-CoV-2 RBD. A plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) was used to measure the sera neutralization capacity against a SARS-CoV-2 wild-type isolate from Egypt. ELISA was used to quantify certain cytokines for the assessment of the immune response. Result The outcome of our investigation showed that the monomeric RBD proteins were properly displayed on baculovirus and efficiently triggered the mouse immune system. The produced sera efficiently neutralized about 50% of SARS-CoV-2 in more than 100-fold serum dilution. The immunized mice showed a significant increase (p<0.01) in the levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ and a significant decrease (p<0.01) and (p<0.001) in the levels of IL-4 and IL-10, respectively, which suggest that AcRBD-sfGFP-64 and AcRBD-sfGFP-V induce Th1 cellular immune response. Conclusion The produced recombinant viruses can induce the immune response without adjuvant, which needs dose optimization and further stability tests. Neutralizing antibodies were induced without affecting the health of immunized mice. Th1 response can be attainable through the system, which is of great benefit in SARS CoV-2 infection and the system can be tested for future applications including vaccine development and polyclonal antibody production.

Targeted cancer therapy is a challenging area that includes multiple chemical and biological vehicles. Virus-like particles (VLPs) combine safety and efficacy in their roles as potential vaccines and drug delivery vehicles. In this study, we propose a novel drug delivery system based on HCV-LPs engineered with SP94 and RGD peptides mediated by a specific molecular chaperone (Grp78) associated with cancer drug resistance. The PCR primers were designed for engineering two constructs, SP94-EGFP-CORE-HIS and RGD-EGFP-CORE-HIS, by sequential PCR reactions. The two fragments were cloned into pFastBac Dual under the polyhedrin promoter and then used to produce two recombinant baculoviruses (AcSP94 and AcRGD). The VLP’s expression was optimized by recombinant virus infection with different MOIs, ranging from 1 to 20 MOI. Recombinant VLP2 were purified by Ni-NTA and their sizes and shapes were confirmed with TEM. They were incubated with different types of cells prior to examination using the fluorescence microscope to test the binding specificity. The effect of the overexpression of the Grp78 on the binding affinity of the engineered VLPs was tested in HepG2 and HeLa cells. The protocol optimization revealed that MOI 10 produced the highest fluorescence intensities after 72 h for the two recombinant proteins (SP94-core and RGD-core). Moreover, the binding assay tested on different types of mammalian cells (HeLa, HEK-293T, and HepG2 cells) showed green fluorescence on the periphery of all tested cell lines when using the RGD-core protein; while, the SP94-core protein showed green fluorescence only with the liver cancer cells, HepG2 and HuH7. Overexpression of Grp78 in HepG2 and HeLa cells enhanced the binding efficiency of the engineered VLPs. We confirmed that the SP94 peptide can be specifically used to target liver cancer cells, while the RGD peptide is sufficiently functional for most types of cancer cells. The overexpression of the Grp78 improved the binding capacity of both SP94 and RGD peptides. It is worth noting that the SP94 peptide can function properly as a recombinant peptide, and not only as a chemically conjugated peptide, as heretofore commonly used.