Standardized Brazilian green propolis extract (EPP-AF®) in COVID-19 outcomes: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

SARS-CoV-2 and its different variants caused a "wave and wave" pandemic pattern. During the first wave we demonstrated that standardized Brazilian green propolis extract (EPP-AF®) reduces length of hospital stay in adult patients with COVID-19. Afterwards, we decided to evaluate the impact of EPP-AF in hospitalized patients during the third wave of the pandemic.

The use of standardized Brazilian green propolis extract (EPP-AF) as an adjunct treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients (BeeCovid2): a structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread and affects large numbers of people with unprecedented impacts. Experimental evidence has already been obtained for use of the standardized extract of Brazilian green propolis (EPP-AF) against viral targets, and clinical rationality has been demonstrated for testing this extract as an adjunct to treatment in patients affected by COVID-19. The BeeCovid2 study aims to assess whether EPP-AF has an impact on the improvement of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 by reducing the length of hospital stay.

Efficacy of Brazilian green propolis (EPP-AF®) as an adjunct treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) promotes challenging immune and inflammatory phenomena. Though various therapeutic possibilities have been tested against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the most adequate treatment has not yet been established. Propolis is a natural product with considerable evidence of immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory activities, and experimental data point to potential against viral targets.

Evaluation of urine SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR as a predictor of acute kidney injury and disease severity in patients with critical COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which began as an outbreak in Wuhan, China and has spread rapidly across the globe. Although most infections are mild, patients with severe and critical COVID-19 infections face deterioration of respiratory function and may also have extrapulmonary manifestations, mostly affecting the kidney, digestive tract, heart, and nervous system. Here, we prospectively evaluated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction in urine samples obtained from patients with COVID-19 receiving critical care.

Chemiexcitation Efficiency of Intermolecular Electron-transfer Catalyzed Peroxide Decomposition Shows Low Sensitivity to Solvent-cavity Effects.

Intermolecular chemically initiated electron exchange luminescence (CIEEL) systems are known to possess low chemiluminescence efficiency; whereas, the corresponding intramolecular transformations are highly efficient. As the reasons for this discrepancy are not known, we report in this work our studies of the solvent-cavity effect on the efficiency of two intermolecular CIEEL systems, the catalyzed decomposition of diphenoyl peroxide and of a relatively stable 1,2-dioxetanone derivative, spiro-adamantyl-1,2-dioxetanone. The results indicate a very low medium viscosity effect on the quantum yields of these systems, a priori not compatible with these bimolecular transformations, showing also that their low efficiency cannot be due to solvent-cavity escape of intermediate radical ion pairs.

Solvent viscosity influence on the chemiexcitation efficiency of inter and intramolecular chemiluminescence systems.

The effects of the medium viscosity on the chemiexcitation quantum yields of the induced decomposition of 1,2-dioxetanes (highly efficient intramolecular CIEEL system) and the catalyzed decomposition of diphenoyl peroxide and a 1,2-dioxetanone derivative (model systems for the intermolecular CIEEL mechanism, despite their low efficiency) are compared in this work. Quantum yields of the rubrene catalyzed decomposition of diphenoyl peroxide and spiro-adamantyl-1,2-dioxetanone as well as the fluoride induced decomposition of a phenoxy-substituted 1,2-dioxetane derivative are shown to depend on the composition of the binary solvent mixture toluene/diphenyl ether, which possess similar polarity parameters but different viscosities. Correlations of the quantum yield data with the medium viscosity using the diffusional and the frictional (free-volume) models indicate that the induced 1,2-dioxetane decomposition indeed occurs by an entirely intramolecular process and the low efficiency of the intermolecular chemiluminescence systems (catalyzed decomposition of diphenoyl peroxide and 1,2-dioxetanone derivative) is not primarily due to the cage escape of radical ion species.

Septic versus non-septic acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: characteristics and clinical outcomes.

Objective: This study aimed to describe and compare the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with septic and non-septic acute kidney injury.

Methods: This study evaluated an open cohort of 117 critically ill patients with acute kidney injury who were consecutively admitted to an intensive care unit, excluding patients with a history of advanced-stage chronic kidney disease, kidney transplantation, hospitalization or death in a period shorter than 24 hours. The presence of sepsis and in-hospital death were the exposure and primary variables in this study, respectively.

Inverse association between serum creatinine and mortality in acute kidney injury.

Introduction: Sepsis is a leading precipitant of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and is associated with a high mortality rate.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the risk factors for dialysis and mortality in a cohort of AKI patients of predominantly septic etiology.

Methods: Adult patients from an ICU for whom nephrology consultation was requested were included.

Comparison of the RIFLE, AKIN and KDIGO criteria to predict mortality in critically ill patients.

Objective: Acute kidney injury is a common complication in critically ill patients, and the RIFLE, AKIN and KDIGO criteria are used to classify these patients. The present study's aim was to compare these criteria as predictors of mortality in critically ill patients.

Methods: Prospective cohort study using medical records as the source of data.

Effect of terbium(III) on the binding of aromatic guests with sodium taurocholate aggregates.

The effect of binding Tb(3+) to sodium taurocholate aggregates containing polyaromatic hydrocarbon guests was examined using pyrene and 1-ethylnaphthalene as guests that bind to the primary aggregate, and 1-naphthyl-1-ethanol as a secondary aggregate guest. Time-resolved fluorescence quenching studies were used to study the binding site properties, while laser flash photolysis quenching studies provided information on the dynamics of the guest-aggregate system. Both the primary and secondary aggregate binding sites became more compact in the presence of bound Tb(3+), while only the primary aggregate became more accessible to anionic molecules.