N-acetylcysteine Reduces Inflammasome Activation Induced by SARS-CoV-2 Proteins In Vitro.

Inflammasome activation is one of the first steps in initiating innate immune responses. In this work, we studied the activation of inflammasomes in the airways of critically ill COVID-19 patients and the effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on inflammasomes. Tracheal biopsies were obtained from critically ill patients without COVID-19 and no respiratory disease (control, = 32), SARS-CoV-2 B.

Targeting Oxidative Stress as a Therapeutic Approach for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by an abnormal reepithelialisation, an excessive tissue remodelling and a progressive fibrosis within the alveolar wall that are not due to infection or cancer. Oxidative stress has been proposed as a key molecular process in pulmonary fibrosis development and different components of the redox system are altered in the cellular actors participating in lung fibrosis. To this respect, several activators of the antioxidant machinery and inhibitors of the oxidant species and pathways have been assayed in preclinical and models and in different clinical trials.

Incidence, Clinical Characteristics, Risk Factors and Outcomes of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Patients With COVID-19: Results of the UMC-19-S10.

Background: There is a lack of knowledge about the real incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in patients with COVID-19, their clinical characteristics, and their prognoses.

Objective: We investigated the incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of ACS in patients with COVID-19 in the emergency department.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all COVID-19 patients diagnosed with ACS in 62 Spanish emergency departments between March and April 2020 (the first wave of COVID-19).

Nitric Oxide System and Bronchial Epithelium: More Than a Barrier.

Airway epithelium forms a physical barrier that protects the lung from the entrance of inhaled allergens, irritants, or microorganisms. This epithelial structure is maintained by tight junctions, adherens junctions and desmosomes that prevent the diffusion of soluble mediators or proteins between apical and basolateral cell surfaces. This apical junctional complex also participates in several signaling pathways involved in gene expression, cell proliferation and cell differentiation.

Rejection odds and rejection ratios: A proposal for statistical practice in testing hypotheses.

Much of science is (rightly or wrongly) driven by hypothesis testing. Even in situations where the hypothesis testing paradigm is correct, the common practice of basing inferences solely on -values has been under intense criticism for over 50 years. We propose, as an alternative, the use of the odds of a correct rejection of the null hypothesis to incorrect rejection.