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The novel coronavirus COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic with many long-ranging effects on the physiological balance of the human body. The impact of COVID-19 on the thyroid axis remains uncertain. Our aim was to assess the long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection and its vaccination with thyroid hormones. Thirty laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-positive patients with no vaccination record, thirty COVID-19-negative patients with vaccination records, and ten healthy subjects were retrospectively, and cross-sectionally enrolled in this study. An ELISA assay was performed to evaluate thyroid function tests, including the total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). We found decreased levels of TT3, average or low plasma T4 levels, and standard or slightly decreased TSH levels in unvaccinated COVID-19-positive patients than in the healthy group, while the vaccinated COVID-19-negative group had normal thyroid hormone levels compared to controls. The correlation between TT3 and TSH levels gradually shifted from no association to a negative pattern in the unvaccinated COVID-19-positive group. Again, a highly significant negative correlation between TSH and TT3 was observed on days above 150, although a slight fluctuation was noted on day 90. This pilot study from Bangladesh shows that abnormalities in thyroid function can be observed during COVID-19 infection and after vaccination, which gradually recovers over time., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. & Maxim.) Maxim., popularly known as 'Siberian ginseng', is an important medicinal plant. Pharmacologically active compounds of this plant are called eleutherosides and among them, eleutheroside B is the most prevalent. The E. senticosus has been reported to have many medicinal properties however; very few studies are reported to understand the medicinal properties of eleutheroside B. Consequently, in the present study various computational tools have been used to predict the drug-likeness, bioactivities, and pharmacokinetic properties of eleutheroside B. Besides, the inhibitory potential of eleutheroside B has been investigated against cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) enzyme. This study suggests that eleutheroside B is a drug-like compound with bioactivity score (-0.08 to 0.38), having satisfactory pharmacokinetic values. Metabolism and toxicities were further studied using FAME3, GLORY, pred-hERG and Endocrine Disruptome tools. No severe toxicities (Ames, hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, skin sensitization) were predicted. Rat acute toxicity, ecotoxicity and cell line cytotoxicity were evaluated based on GUSAR and CLC-pred. The compound has been predicted as non-toxic (class 5), non-hERG inhibitor and less likely to cause adverse drug interactions. Molecular docking against COX-2 enzyme revealed strong hydrogen bonds (SER530, TYR355, LEU352, SER353, VAL349, TYR385, MET522) and hydrophobic interaction (LEU352) with eleutheroside B. The docking score (-6.97 kcal/mol) suggested that this molecule can be utilized as an anti-inflammatory agent as well as a potential anticancer drug in the future. Hence, this is a comprehensive integrated in silico approach to establish the anti-inflammatory mechanism of eleutheroside B in the background of its potential in future drug development.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.