By the beginning of 2020, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has rapidly evolved into an emergent worldwide pandemic, an outbreak whose unprecedented consequences highlighted the existing flaws within the global public healthcare systems. While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is bestowed with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestation involving vital organs, the respiratory system transpires as the main route of entry of SARS-CoV-2, with the lungs being its primary target. Of those infected, up to 20% require hospitalization on account of severity, while the majority of patients are either asymptomatic or exhibit mild symptoms. Exacerbation in disease severity and complications of COVID-19 infection have been allied with multiple comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, and chronic lung disease. Interestingly, a recent body of evidence have foregrounded the pulmonary and gut microbiome as potential modulators in altering the course of COVID-19, plausibly via the microbiome-immune system axis. While relative concordance between microbes and immunity is still not fully elucidated in a COVID-19 disease context, we present here an overview of our current understanding of this COVID-19-microbiome-immune cross talk and discuss the potential contributions of microbiome-related immunity to SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and COVID-19 disease progression.

There is a lack of predictive markers for early and rapid identification of disease progression in COVID-19 patients. Our study aims at identifying microRNAs (miRNAs)/small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) as potential biomarkers of COVID-19 severity. Using differential expression analysis of microarray data (n = 29), we identified hsa-miR-1246, ACA40, hsa-miR-4532, hsa-miR-145-5p, and ACA18 as the top five differentially expressed transcripts in severe versus asymptomatic, and ACA40, hsa-miR-3609, ENSG00000212378 (SNORD78), hsa-miR-1231, hsa-miR-885-3p as the most significant five in severe versus mild cases. Moreover, we found that white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), neutrophil (%), lymphocyte (%), red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, D-Dimer, and albumin are significantly correlated with the identified differentially expressed miRNAs and snoRNAs. We report a unique miRNA and snoRNA profile that is associated with a higher risk of severity in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Altogether, we present a differential expression analysis of COVID-19-associated microRNA (miRNA)/small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) signature, highlighting their importance in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy with a high mortality rate worldwide. It is a complex, multifactorial disease that is strongly impacted by both hereditary and environmental factors. The role of microbes (e.g., viruses) in the pathogenesis of CRC is poorly understood. In the current study, we explored the status of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in a well-defined CRC cohort using immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction assays. Our data showed that high-risk HPVs were common (~80%) and EBV had a low presence (14–25%) in the CRC samples. The most common high-risk HPVs are HPV16, 31, 18, 51, 52 and 45 genotypes. The co-presence of high-risk HPV and EBV was observed in ~16% of the sample population without any significant association with the clinicopathological variables. We conclude that high-risk HPVs are very prevalent in CRC samples while EBV positivity is relatively low. The co-expression of the two viruses was observed in a minority of cases and without any correlation with the studied parameters. Further studies are necessary to confirm the clinical relevance and potential therapeutic (preventive) effects of the observations reported herein.

Cranioplasty is a common neurosurgical procedure and autologous grafts are preferred due to their aesthetic and biocompatibility benefits. Multiple risk factors are implicated as predictors for neurologic outcome. This study focuses on risk factors that may be associated with complications and analyzes the predictors of neurologic outcomes after autologous cranioplasty. This is a retrospective observational study conducted at a tertiary care center between 2015 and 2021. Adults with autologous cranioplasty (n = 132) were recruited from procedure logs and the hospital electronic health record. Clinicodemographic parameters, risk factors, and complications were recorded. Neurologic outcomes were measured using the dichotomized Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). Primary outcome measure was pre- and post-cranioplasty GOS at the last follow up. Secondary outcome measures were the predicting factors that contributed to enhanced neurologic outcome post-cranioplasty. Mean age was 41.4 (standard deviation ± 13.5) years with male predominance (12.2:1). Complications developed in 12.9% (n = 17), with infections in 3.8% (n = 5) and hydrocephalus in 2.3% (n = 3). In bivariate analysis, pre-cranioplasty GOS good grades 4 and 5 (P < 0.001), trauma as an indication for decompressive craniectomy (DC) (P < 0.001), and early cranioplasty ≤12 weeks (P = 0.023) were statistically significant predictors for post-cranioplasty neurologic recovery at follow-up. In a multiple logistic regression model, adjusted odds ratio for pre-cranioplasty GOS was 28.77 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.21-114.74, P < 0.001), for trauma as indication for DC was 5.15 (95% CI 1.65-16.05, P = 0.003), and for early cranioplasty ≤12 weeks was 3.04 (95% CI 1.12-8.27 P = 0.029). Autologous cranioplasty contributes to a quantifiable neurologic outcome. Pre-cranioplasty neurologic status, cranioplasty done for traumatic DC and early cranioplasty may have potential for enhanced neurologic recovery. Further clinical studies with better evidence may expound upon these findings.