Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the Western world. With an ageing population, it is anticipated that the number of AMD cases will increase dramatically, making a solution to this debilitating disease an urgent requirement for the socioeconomic future of the European Union and worldwide. The present paper reviews the limitations of the current therapies as well as the socioeconomic impact of the AMD. There is currently no cure available for AMD, and even palliative treatments are rare. Treatment options show several side effects, are of high cost, and only treat the consequence, not the cause of the pathology. For that reason, many options involving cell therapy mainly based on retinal and iris pigment epithelium cells as well as stem cells are being tested. Moreover, tissue engineering strategies to design and manufacture scaffolds to mimic Bruch's membrane are very diverse and under investigation. Both alternative therapies are aimed to prevent and/or cure AMD and are reviewed herein.

Background Recently, differences in mortality rates of COVID-19 in different geographic areas have become an important subject of research because these different mortality rates appear to be associated with mutations that appeared in SARS-CoV-2. The part of the viral body called the spike protein plays a critical role in the viral attachment and entry of the virus into the host cell. Accordingly, we hypothesized that mutations in this area will affect viral infectivity. Methods A total of 193 sequences of spike SARS-CoV-2 were randomly retrieved from five different geographic areas and collection dates (from December 2019 until July 2020). Multiple sequence alignment for mutation and phylogenetic analyses was conducted using Bioedit, UniProt, and MEGA X. Results We found 169 total mutations with 37 different mutations across the included samples. The D614G is the first and most frequently established mutation in different regions including Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia with the number of mutations of 49, 33, 17, 16 and 4, respectively. Furthermore, we also found mutations in several important domains in this virus including NTD and CTR/RBD of S1 subunit and at S2 subunit area, namely the peptide fusion (FP), and both heptad repetition (HR1 and 2) domains that suggested this could influence virus binding and membrane-host cell membrane fusion. Conclusion In summary, we concluded that mutation had generated diversity of spike SARS-CoV-2 sequences worldwide and is still growing. This analysis may provide important evidence that should be considered in vaccine development in different geographic areas.

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Hipertensi atau tekanan darah tinggi ialah penyakit silent killer yang dapat membunuh secara diam – diam tanpa gejala yang timbul. Faktor resiko yang dapat menyebabkan hipertensi yaitu usia, jenis kelamin, genetik, riwayat penyakit, dan gaya hidup. Pengobatan hipertensi secara sintetik memiliki efek samping, sehingga masyarakat mulai memilih pengobatan herbal, salah satunya ialah mentimun, daun kelor dan madu kelulut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik dan efek pemberian kombinasi jus mentimun, rebusan daun kelor dan madu kelulut terhadap tekanan darah pada pasien hipertensi Puskesmas Air Putih Samarinda. Metode penelitian menggunakan pre - experimental rancangan desain penelitian pre-test and post-test one group only design. Hasil penelitian diperoleh karakteristik 20 responden jenis kelamin perempuan 70% dan laki-laki 30%. Usia dewasa awal (26-35) 15%, dewasa akhir (36-45) 5%, lansia awal (46-55) 60% dan lansia akhir (56-55) 20%. Kepatuhan minum obat rutin setiap hari  65%, kurang dari 2 hari dalam seminggu tidak minum obat 0% dan lebih dari 2 hari dalam seminggu tidak minum obat 35%. Terapi amlodipine 100%. Pemberian kombinasi jus mentimun, rebusan daun kelor, dan madu kelulut pada 9 responden belum menunjukkan penurunan tekanan darah bermakna secara statistik belum terlihat menghasilkan efek signifikan setelah di uji paired t-test dengan nilai p > 0,05.