Objectives: Case fatality rates (CFR) and recovery rates are important readouts during epidemics andpandemics. In this article, an international analysis was performed on the ongoing coronavirus disease2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Data were retrieved from accurate databases according to the user’s guide of data sourcesfor patient registries, CFR and recovery rates were calculated for each country. A comparison of CFRbetween countries with total cases ≥ 1,000 was observed for 12th and 23rd March. Results: Italy’s CFR was the highest of all countries studied for both time points (12th March, 6.22% versus23rd March, 9.26%). The data showed that even though Italy was the only European country reported on12rd March, Spain and France had the highest CFR of 6.16 and 4.21%, respectively, on 23rd March, whichwas strikingly higher than the overall CFR of 3.61%. Conclusion Obtaining detailed and accurate medical history from COVID-19 patients, and analyzingCFR alongside the recovery rate, may enable the identification of the highest risk areas so that efficientmedical care may be provided. This may lead to the development of point-of-care tools to helpclinicians in stratifying patients based on possible requirements in the level of care, to increase theprobabilities of survival from COVID-19 disease.

The aim of this study was to assess the cytotoxic effects of various concentrations of miltefosine on Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) and L. tropica (MHOM/IR/02/Mash10) promastigotes and to observe the programmed cell death features. The colorimetric MTT assay was used to find L. major and L. tropica viability and the obtained results were expressed as 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50). Also, 50% effective doses (ED50) for L. major and L. tropica amastigotes were also determined. Annexin-V FLUOS staining was performed to study the cell death properties of miltefosine using FACS analysis. Qualitative analysis of the total genomic DNA fragmentation was performed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, to observe changes in cell morphology, promastigotes were examined using light microscopy. In both strains of L. major and L. tropica, miltefosine induced dose-dependent death with features of apoptosis, including cell shrinkage, DNA laddering, and externalization of phosphatidylserine. The IC50 was achieved at 22 microM and 11 microM for L. major and L. tropica after 48 hr of incubation, respectively. ED50 of L. major and L. tropica amastigotes were 5.7 microM and 4.2 microM, respectively. Our results indicate that miltefosine induces apoptosis of the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, L. major did not display any apoptotic changes when it was exposed to miltefosine in concentrations sufficient to kill L. tropica.
Animals ; Apoptosis/*drug effects ; Cell Cycle/drug effects ; Cell Line ; DNA Fragmentation/drug effects ; Humans ; Leishmania major/cytology/*drug effects ; Leishmania tropica/cytology/*drug effects ; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/parasitology ; Mice ; Phosphorylcholine/*analogs & derivatives/pharmacology

This review compared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) laboratory findings, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes in patients from the general population versus medical staff to aid diagnosis of COVID-19 in a more timely, efficient, and accurate way. Electronic databases were searched up to 23rdMarch, 2020. The initial search yielded 6,527 studies. Following screening, 24 studies were included [18 studies (11,564 cases) of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the general public, and 6 studies (394 cases) in medical staff] in this review. Significant differences were observed in white blood cell counts (p < 0.001), lymphocyte counts (p < 0.001), platelet counts (p = 0.04), procalcitonin levels (p < 0.001), lactate dehydrogenase levels (p < 0.001), and creatinine levels (p = 0.03) when comparing infected medical staff with the general public. The mortality rate was higher in the general population than in medical staff (8% versus 2%). This review showed that during the early stages of COVID-19, laboratory findings alone may not be significant predictors of infection and may just accompany increasing C-reactive protein levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and lactate dehydrogenase levels. In the symptomatic stage, the lymphocyte and platelet counts tended to decrease. Elevated D-dimer fibrin degradation product was associated with poor prognosis.