Background: At the end of December 2019, a novel coronavirus tentatively named SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, a central city in China, was announced by the World Health Organization. SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus that has become a major public health concern after the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV) in 2002 and 2012, respectively. As of 29 October 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases had reached over 44 million worldwide, with more than 1.17 million confirmed deaths. Discussion: SARS-CoV-2 infected patients usually present with severe viral pneumonia. Similar to SARS-CoV, the virus enters respiratory tract cells via the angiotensinconverting enzyme receptor 2. The structural proteins play an essential role in budding the virus particles released from different host cells. To date, an approved vaccine or treatment option of a preventive character to avoid severe courses of COVID-19 is still not available. Conclusions: In the present study, we provide a brief review of the general biological features of CoVs and explain the pathogenesis, clinical symptoms and diagnostic approaches regarding monitoring future infectivity and prevent emerging COVID-19 infections.

Objectives Multiple sclerosis is a common autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. There are several underlying mechanisms for the pathogenesis of the disease, including inflammation, oligodendrocyte apoptosis and oxidative stress. Methods The mechanism of action of shikonin was investigated in the C57BL/6 experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of multiple sclerosis. Key findings The results revealed that EAE induction significantly increased the extent of demyelination in the corpus callosum tissues of the animals, while treatment of the mice with shikonin significantly decreased the extent of demyelination. Real-time polymerase chain reaction-based analysis of the brain samples from the EAE mice revealed significant enhancement in the expression levels of tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), interferon-c (IFN-c) and Bax genes as well as a reduction in the expression levels of transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-b) and Bcl2. But, shikonin treatment significantly reduced the expression levels of TNF-a, IFN-c and Bax. On the other hand, the expression levels of TGF-b and Bcl2 as well as the activity of glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPX-1) enzyme were significantly increased following the shikonin treatment. Conclusions This study emphasized the immune-modulatory and antioxidative effects of shikonin, which may have an important healing effect on the severity of EAE.

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Background. The 2010 revision of the McDonald criteria, widely used for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), has established that dissemination in time (DIT) can be demonstrated by the simultaneous presence of asymptomatic gadolinium-enhancing and non-enhancing plaques on a single magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). When the use of gadolinium contrast agents is contraindicated, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is utilized to confirm diffusion alterations in active inflammatory plaques. This study intended to examine whether DWI can be a viable alternative to contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging for demonstrating DIT in MS. Material and methods.We assessed 30 previously diagnosed MS patients during acute relapse (based on the 2010 McDonald criteria) and evaluated their brain MRI via DWI‚ contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging, and FLAIR sequences. Asymptomatic plaques were defined as either hyperintense or non-hyperintense in DWI and enhancing or non-enhancing in T1GAD-MRI. Statistical indices for the prediction of plaque enhancement in T1 GAD-MRI via DWI-MRI were calculated and compared. Results. The 30 participants in our study had a total of 925 demyelinating plaques that were larger than 3mm in size and presented to be hyperintense in FLAIR-MRI. Diffusion hyperintensity and plaque enhancement were significantly correlated. The sensitivity‚ specificity, positive predictive value‚ negative predictive value, and accuracy of DWI were calculated to be 69.66%‚ 99.76%‚ 96.88%‚ 96.86%, and 96.86%, respectively. Conclusions. Hyperintense DWI findings do not necessarily overlap with contrast enhancements in T1 GAD-MRI. DWI was shown to produce a higher rate of false-positive results. Our study concludes that although T1 GAD-MRI should not be replaced by DWI to determine DIT due to its lower specificity, DWI’s continued use as a surrogate screening imaging sequence whenever the use of T1GAD-MRI is of concern is not without its merits.

Background and Aim: Since late 2019, with the emergence of a new type of coronavirus that causes a new respiratory disease called COVID-19, there have been many concerns about the spread of this disease and how to deal with it. Due to the ability of the virus to be transmitted rapidly, diagnosing the infected individuals in the early stages for isolating them is critical. This study aims to evaluate the reliability of Computed Tomography (CT) scan in diagnosing COVID-19. Methods & Materials: Participants were 212 patients admitted to hospital with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Demographic information, medical history, symptoms, and the chest CT scan results were collected and analyzed. Finally, the power of CT scans in the diagnosis of this disease was compared with the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) molecular test. Ethical Considerations: This study received ethical approval from the ethics committee of AJA University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.AJAUMS.REC.1399.091). Results: The sensitivity of CT scan in the diagnosis of COVID-19 was relatively high, but its false-positive results were also high. Conclusion: CT scan is a relatively sensitive method for diagnosing COVID-19, but caution should be made due to its high false-positive results which can lead to increased financial burden on the health system.