Evaluation of nanoplastics toxicity to the human placenta in systems.

Following the discovery of plastics in the human placenta, this study evaluated the toxicity of ten different nanoplastics (NPs) in the human placenta. Since the placenta performs metabolic and excretion functions by the enzymatic system, the NPs were docked on these human enzymes including soluble epoxide hydrolase, uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, beta 1,3-glucuronyltransferase I, sulfotransferase, N-acetyltransferase 2, and cytochrome P450 1A1at their active sites with toxicity (binding affinity) determined and compared to control compounds. Density functional theory analysis were conducted on the NPs to identify their global reactivity descriptors and Artificial Neural Networks to predict toxicity based on reactivity descriptors.

Blocking the interactions between human ACE2 and coronavirus spike glycoprotein by selected drugs: a computational perspective.

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic with rapid rate of transmission and fatalities worldwide. Scientists have been investigating a host of drugs that may be rechanneled to fight this malaise. Thus, in this current computational study we carried out molecular docking experiments to assess the bridging potentials of some commercial drugs such as chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir, nafamostat, camostat, famotidine, umifenovir, nitazoxanide, ivermectin, and fluvoxamine at the interface between human ACE2 and the coronavirus spike glycoprotein complex.

In silico identification of compounds from seed oil as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 targets.

Background: The growing number of cases, severity and fatality of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the fact that no cure has been found has made infected individuals especially in Africa, to resort to the consumption of different natural products to alleviate their condition. One of such plant materials that have been consumed to remedy the severity of this viral infection is the oil of  seed commonly called black seed oil. In this study, we extracted and characterized the oil from this seed using gas chromatography coupled to a mass selective detector to identify the component phytochemicals.