No abstract

Since the appearance in the late of December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly evolving and mutating continuously, giving rise to various variants with variable degrees of infectivity and lethality. The virus that initially appeared in China later mutated several times, wreaking havoc and claiming many lives worldwide amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants, the most recently emerged variant of concern (VOC) is the Omicron (B.1.1.529) that has evolved due to the accumulation of high numbers of mutations especially in the spike protein, raising concerns for its ability to evade from pre-existing immunity acquired through vaccination or natural infection as well as overpowering antibodies-based therapies. Several theories are on the surface to explain how the Omicron has gathered such a high number of mutations within less time. Few of them are higher mutation rates within a subgroup of population and then its introduction to a larger population, long term persistence and evolution of the virus in immune-compromised patients, and epizootic infection in animals from humans, where under different immune pressures the virus mutated and then got reintroduced to humans. Multifaceted approach including rapid diagnosis, genome analysis of emerging variants, ramping up of vaccination drives and receiving booster doses, efficacy testing of vaccines and immunotherapies against newly emerged variants, updating the available vaccines, designing of multivalent vaccines able to generate hybrid immunity, up-gradation of medical facilities and strict implementation of adequate prevention and control measures need to be given high priority to handle the on-going SARS-CoV-2 pandemic successfully.

Various internal and external factors negatively affect the homeostatic equilibrium of organisms at the molecular to the whole-body level, inducing the so-called state of stress. Stress affects an organism's welfare status and induces energy-consuming mechanisms to combat the subsequent ill effects; thus, the individual may be immunocompromised, making them vulnerable to pathogens. The information presented here has been extensively reviewed, compiled, and analyzed from authenticated published resources available on Medline, PubMed, PubMed Central, Science Direct, and other scientific databases. Stress levels can be monitored by the quantitative and qualitative measurement of biomarkers. Potential markers of stress include thermal stress markers, such as heat shock proteins (HSPs), innate immune markers, such as Acute Phase Proteins (APPs), oxidative stress markers, and chemical secretions in the saliva and urine. In addition, stress biomarkers also play critical roles in the prognosis of stress-related diseases and disorders, and therapy guidance. Moreover, different components have been identified as potent mediators of cardiovascular, central nervous system, hepatic, and nephrological disorders, which can also be employed to evaluate these conditions precisely, but with stringent validation and specificity. Considerable scientific advances have been made in the detection, quantitation, and application of these biomarkers. The present review describes the current progress of identifying biomarkers, their prognostic, and therapeutic values.

Autophagy (self-eating) is a conserved cellular degradation process that plays important roles in maintaining homeostasis and preventing nutritional, metabolic, and infection-mediated stresses. Autophagy dysfunction can have various pathological consequences, including tumor progression, pathogen hyper-virulence, and neurodegeneration. This review describes the mechanisms of autophagy and its associations with other cell death mechanisms, including apoptosis, necrosis, necroptosis, and autosis. Autophagy has both positive and negative roles in infection, cancer, neural development, metabolism, cardiovascular health, immunity, and iron homeostasis. Genetic defects in autophagy can have pathological consequences, such as static childhood encephalopathy with neurodegeneration in adulthood, Crohn’s disease, hereditary spastic paraparesis, Danon disease, X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy, and sporadic inclusion body myositis. Further studies on the process of autophagy in different microbial infections could help to design and develop novel therapeutic strategies against important pathogenic microbes. This review on the progress and prospects of autophagy research describes various activators and suppressors, which could be used to design novel intervention strategies against numerous diseases and develop therapeutic drugs to protect human and animal health.

This review addresses the scientific significance of various herbal formulations of different medicinal plants and their extracts, which have shown promise or been proven effective for the treatment of diseases caused by various viral pathogens, including emerging and re-emerging viruses that infect humans, animals, poultry and fish.