Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral respiratory disease that spreads rapidly, reaching pandemic status, causing the collapse of numerous health systems, and a strong economic and social impact. The treatment so far has not been well established and there are several clinical trials testing known drugs that have antiviral activity, due to the urgency that the global situation imposes. Drugs with specific mechanisms of action can take years to be discovered, while vaccines may also take a long time to be widely distributed while new virus variants emerge. Thus, drug repositioning has been shown to be a good strategy for defining new therapeutic approaches. Studies of the effect of enriched heparin in the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro assays justify the advance for clinical tests. Methods and analysis: A phase I/II triple-blind parallel clinical trial will be conducted. Fifty participants with radiological diagnosis of grade IIA pneumonia will be selected, which will be allocated in 2 arms. Participants allocated in Group 1 (placebo) will receive nebulized 0.9% saline. Participants allocated in Group 2 (intervention) will receive nebulized enriched heparin (2.5 mg/mL 0.9% saline). Both groups will receive the respective solutions on a 4/4 hour basis, for 7 days. The main outcomes of interest will be safety (absence of serious adverse events) and efficacy (measured by the viral load). Protocols will be filled on a daily basis, ranging from day 0 (diagnosis) until day 8.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression associated with cell differentiation, proliferation, adhesion, and important biological functions such as inflammation. miRNAs play roles associated with the pathogenesis of chronic degenerative disorders including cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the influence of miRNAs and their target genes can effectively streamline the identification of key biologically active pathways that are important in the development of vascular grafts through the tissue engineering of blood vessels. To determine miRNA expression levels and identify miRNA target genes and pathways with biological roles in scaffolds that have been repopulated with adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) generated through tissue engineering for the construction of blood vessels. miRNA quantification assays were performed in triplicate to determine miRNA expression in a total of 20 samples: five controls (natural inferior vena cava), five scaffolds recellularized with ASCs and differentiated into the endothelium (luminal layer), five samples of complete scaffolds seeded with ASCs differentiated into the endothelium (luminal layer) and smooth muscle (extraluminal layer), and five samples of ASC without cell differentiation. Several differentially expressed miRNAs were identified and predicted to modulate target genes with roles in key pathways associated with angiogenesis, vascular system control, and endothelial and smooth muscle regulation, including migration, proliferation, and growth. These findings underscore the involvement of these pathways in the regulatory mechanisms that are essential for vascular scaffold production through tissue engineering. Our research contributes to the knowledge of miRNA-regulated mechanisms, which may impact the design of vascular substitutes, and provide valuable insights for enhancing clinical practice. The molecular pathways regulated by miRNAs in tissue engineering of blood vessels (TEBV) allowed us to elucidate the main phenomena involved in cellular differentiation to constitute a blood vessel, with the main pathways being essential for angiogenesis, cellular differentiation, and differentiation into vascular smooth muscle.

To evaluate using a biocellulose-based hydrogel as an adjuvant in the healing process of arterial ulcers.

To evaluate methods that improve adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) population in decellularized biological venous scaffold for tissue engineering in blood vessels, a model in rabbits. The ASC was expanded until the third passage. Inferior vena cava (IVC) was submitted to the decellularization process using 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or 2% sodium deoxycholate (SD) to compose 12 study groups (G): pure SD or SDS, exposed or not to 1% TritonX-100 (TX-100) and exposed or not to poly-l’lysine and laminin (PL). Scaffolds were covered with 1 × 10⁵ or 1 × 10⁶ ASCs diluted in 10 μL Puramatrix™. The histological analysis was done by cell counting in hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and nuclei count in immunofluorescence (IF) with 4’,6-Diamidine-2’-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI). The study of groups in HE and IF showed similar results. For both analyses,IVC-SD-1 × 10⁶ ASC and IVC-SD-PL-1 × 10⁶ ASC provided the best results. The IF technique showed better sensitivity than HE, with a weak agreement between them. Decellularizing agent and the number of ASC influence scaffolds cellularization response and the best protocols as those ones using SD with or without the addition of PL.