Month: March 2021

Ivermectin: a systematic review from antiviral effects to COVID-19 complementary regimen | The Journal of Antibiotics

Ivermectin proposes many potentials effects to treat a range of diseases, with its antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-cancer properties as a wonder drug. It is highly effective against many microorganisms including some viruses. In this comprehensive systematic review, antiviral effects of ivermectin are summarized including in vitro and in vivo studies over the past 50 years. Several studies reported antiviral effects of ivermectin on RNA viruses such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, Hendra, Newcastle, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, chikungunya, Semliki Forest, Sindbis, Avian influenza A, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus type 1, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Furthermore, there are some studies showing antiviral effects of ivermectin against DNA viruses such as Equine herpes type 1, BK polyomavirus, pseudorabies, porcine circovirus 2, and bovine herpesvirus 1. Ivermectin plays a role in several biological mechanisms, therefore it could serve as a potential candidate in the treatment of a wide range of viruses including COVID-19 as well as other types of positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. In vivo studies of animal models revealed a broad range of antiviral effects of ivermectin, however, clinical trials are necessary to appraise the potential efficacy of ivermectin in clinical setting.
ā€” Read on www.nature.com/articles/s41429-020-0336-z

An Alternative “Trojan Horse” Hypothesis for COVID-19: Immune Deficiency of IL-10 and SARS-CoV-2 Biology

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was a challenge for emergency care units worldwide due to the large numbers of patients, the scarcity of information, the medical resources, and the uncertainty regarding the disease’s etiology and pathogenesis. The transmission of the virus and a probable post-pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 will depend on how deep we can understand this disease, the duration of immunity and the degree of cross immunity between SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens either bacteria or fungi. Most mortalities have been treated to an atypical pneumonia consisted of a sudden worsening of general condition of the admitted positive COVID-19 patients. The severe thromboembolism often characterized by a violent pulmonary and systemic complications described with a blend of inflammatory-infectious patterns that rapidly shifted into a typical systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or into an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that eventually concluded into a multi-organ failure (MOF) and death. The fatality rate reported in our Covid-19 structure, SG Moscati Hospital of Taranto province in Italy, was higher in aged male people with preexisting chronic pulmonary disease (COPD), patients with cancer and preexisting cardio-vascular diseases (CVD). We assumed a different theoretical position to clarify the higher mortality event seen among those patients that was not as obvious as it appeared, we thus offered different pathophysiological picture that could help to newly solutions in therapy and prevention.

I am tired

Iā€™m tired of seeing masked faces.
I wanna see peopleā€™s faces.
I wanna see their smiles. Their sorrow. Their fears. Their worries. I wanna see them. I want to see the image of God, marred that it is, on the face of the ones Jesus Christ died for.

Vincenzo Russo

KEDS Essays ā€” Exegesis and Theology

Romans 9-11 as a proof-text for the Calvinist doctrine of election. Discuss.

Calvinist soteriology is perhaps most widely known for the doctrine of unconditional election, a divine choice concerning mankindā€™s eternal destiny, where both ā€œelection and reprobation are individual, personal, specific, and particularā€ (Enns, 2008, p. 510). In the words of John Calvin himself:

God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction. (Calvin, 2017, p. 407)[1]

Chapters nine through eleven of the Epistle to the Romans are foundational to Calvinism. Palmer (2010) calls chapter nine the ā€œfinest statement of allā€ about election (p. 39); Boice & Ryken (2002) deem it ā€œthe most important passageā€ (p. 92); Moo (1996) says it ā€œgives strong exegetical support to Calvinistic interpretationā€ (p. 587). However, the debate throughout history has been fierce at times (de Villiers, 1981), and many still think ā€œthe apostle says nothing about eternal life and deathā€ (Sanday & Headlam, 1908, p. 258).

We shall begin with a more detailed analysis of Romans 9, to then overview chapters 10-11 briefly, and conclude with the purpose of these three chapters; since modern Calvinist interpretations are virtually the same as John Calvinā€™s, we shall refer primarily to his commentary on Romans. Finally, we shall attempt to account for the origin of both the Calvinist doctrine of election and the usage of Romans 9-11 as its prooftext.

Continue reading