Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 at the end of 2019, 64 candidate vaccines are in clinical development and 173 are in the pre-clinical phase. Five types of vaccines are currently approved for emergency use in many countries (Inactivated, Sinopharm; Viral-vector, Astrazeneca, and Gamaleya Research Institute; mRNA, Moderna, and BioNTech/Pfizer). The main challenge in this pandemic was the availability to produce an effective vaccine to be distributed to the world’s population in a short time. Herein, we developed a whole virus NRC-VACC-01 inactivated candidate SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and tested its safety and immunogenicity in laboratory animals. In the preclinical studies, we used four experimental animals (mice, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters). Antibodies were detected as of week three post vaccination and continued up to week ten in the four experimental models. Safety evaluation of NRC-VACC-01 inactivated candidate vaccine in rats revealed that the vaccine was highly tolerable. By studying the effect of booster dose in the immunological profile of vaccinated mice, we observed an increase in neutralizing antibody titers after the booster shot, thus a booster dose was highly recommended after week three or four. Challenge infection of hamsters showed that the vaccinated group had lower morbidity and shedding than the control group. A phase I clinical trial will be performed to assess safety in human subjects.

Decreased foveal function as determined by MF-ERG is associated with high degree of myopia. Retinal function impairment is correlated with increase in the diopter of myopia, decrease of corrected visual acuity (VA), elongation of ocular axis and increased macular degeneration.

Multistage repair using buccal mucosa is an excellent option for urethral reconstruction. It guarantees excellent graft uptake and good vasculature, which improves success. It also provides supple tissue for glanular and urethral reconstruction in cases of severe complex hypospadias.

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Water extracts from four wild plant species namely: Azadirachta indica, Neriu oleander, Calotropis procena, Urginea maritime (different parts: leaves, stems and flowers) were tested against two widely land snails species, i.e. Monacha cartusiana and Theba pisana under laboratory conditions. The concentrations used were crude extract 1:1 and the diluted 1:3 and 1:10. All the treatments were sprayed directly to the snails or sprayed to the lettuce leaves which used as poisonous food. Moreover, the grinded parts of these plants (leaves, stems and flowers) were used separately for testing their active ingredients.The obtained results indicate that using some plant water extracts as spraying technique was more efficient against land snails than in its addition to lettuce leaves as poisonous foods or using the grinded plant parts itself.