Curative effects of crocin in ulcerative colitis via modulating apoptosis and inflammation.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease with characteristic inflammation to mucosal cells in rectum and colon leading to lesions in mucosa and submucosa. Moreover, crocin is a carotenoid compound among active constituents of saffron with many pharmacological effects as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. Therefore, we aimed to investigate therapeutic effects of crocin against UC through affecting the inflammatory and apoptotic pathways.

The Unusual Architecture of RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp)'s Catalytic Chamber Provides a Potential Strategy for Combination Therapy against COVID-19.

The unusual and interesting architecture of the catalytic chamber of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) was recently explored using Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM), which revealed the presence of two distinctive binding cavities within the catalytic chamber. In this report, first, we mapped out and fully characterized the variations between the two binding sites, BS1 and BS2, for significant differences in their amino acid architecture, size, volume, and hydrophobicity. This was followed by investigating the preferential binding of eight antiviral agents to each of the two binding sites, BS1 and BS2, to understand the fundamental factors that govern the preferential binding of each drug to each binding site.