The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

On the origins of SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors

In order to address the world-wide health challenge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 3CL protease/SARS-CoV-2 main protease (SARS-CoV-2-Mpro) coded by its nsp5 gene became one of the biochemical targets for the design of antiviral drugs. In less than 3 years of research, 4 inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2-Mpro have actually been authorized for COVID-19 treatment (nirmatrelvir, ensitrelvir, leritrelvir and simnotrelvir) and more such as EDP-235, FB-2001 and STI-1558/Olgotrelvir or five undisclosed compounds (CDI-988, ASC11, ALG-097558, QLS1128 and H-10517) are undergoing clinical trials. This review is an attempt to picture this quite unprecedented medicinal chemistry feat and provide insights on how these cysteine protease inhibitors were discovered. Since many series of covalent SARS-CoV-2-Mpro inhibitors owe some of their origins to previous work on other proteases, we first provided a description of various inhibitors of cysteine-bearing human caspase-1 or cathepsin K, as well as inhibitors of serine proteases such as human dipeptidyl peptidase-4 or the hepatitis C protein complex NS3/4A. This is then followed by a description of the results of the approaches adopted (repurposing, structure-based and high throughput screening) to discover coronavirus main protease inhibitors.

Knowledge domain, research hotspots and frontiers in physiology teaching reforms from 2012 to 2021: A bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis

Objective

To identify author collaborations and impact; participating countries, institutions, and journals; evaluate the knowledge base; and analyze research hotspots and frontiers in teaching reforms in physiology.

Methods

Articles and reviews related to teaching reforms in physiology published between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2021, were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. Two Scientometric software applications (CiteSpace 5.7 and VOSviewer 1.6.15) were used to perform bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis, generate network maps, and identify research trends and top keywords, authors, co-cited authors, institutions, countries, journals, and references.

Results

The search identified a total of 2,882 papers in 466 academic journals by 13,895 authors from 4,072 organizations in 67 countries/regions. Physiology teaching reform-related publications increased rapidly over time. Arango-Lasprilla and Rivera published the most papers, while Moseley had the most co-citations. Active collaborations among physiology researchers were noted. Advances in Physiology Education published the most papers on physiology teaching reforms and was also the top co-cited journal in the Medicine/Medical/Clinical, Psychology/Education/Health, and Neurology/Sports/Ophthalmology fields. The United States and University of California published the most physiology teaching publications in the search criteria. Ten references (research articles and reviews) on mechanisms and diseases were identified as the knowledge base. The mainstream research directions were education, Alzheimer’s disease, performance, physiology, and risk factors. Mental health and emotion regulation are increasing in significance and may become new hotspots. The research trend to move from the field of pain pathogenesis to the field of neuropsychiatry has become increasingly clear. This tendency away from peripheral system-based disorders to central system-based orders is inextricably linked to further developments in physiological understanding of the brain.

Conclusion

This study analyzed the research hot spots and frontiers of teaching reforms on in physiology using bibliometric and visual methods. Based on the results, rehabilitation, neurosciences, and infectious disease are hot topics in physiology. In particular, the pathogenesis of neurological diseases, treatment strategies, and technology updates have gradually become research hotspots. We predict that this trend is closely related to the implementation of brain research programs in various countries. These findings provide helpful references for scholars focusing on physiology education.

Palladium-Catalyzed Asymmetric [3 + 2] Annulation of Vinylethylene Carbonates with Alkenes Installed on Cyclic N-Sulfonyl Imines: Highly Enantio- and Diastereoselective Construction of Chiral Tetrahydrofuran Scaffolds Bearing Three Vicinal and Quaternary Stereocenters

A multisubstituted tetrahydrofuran building block bearing three vicinal chiral carbon centers widely exists in a broad spectrum of bioactive natural products, and the development of efficient and convenient methods to establish this skeleton remains a challenging task. Herein, we have developed an efficient method for the construction of significant tetrahydrofuran scaffolds bearing three vicinal and α-quaternary chiral carbon stereocenters through Pd-catalyzed asymmetric [3 + 2] annulation of vinylethylene carbonates with alkenes installed on cyclic N-sulfonyl imines. A series of multisubstituted tetrahydrofuran derivatives are obtained in high efficiencies with excellent enantioselectivities and diastereoselectivities. Density functional theory (DFT) studies are accomplished to rationalize the stereocontrol of the annulation process and disclose that methanol could be applied to stabilize the reactive zwitterionic π-allylpalladium via the H-bond interaction.

Anno 2021: Which antivirals for the coming decade?

Despite considerable progress in the development of antiviral drugs, among which anti-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) medications can be considered real success stories, many viral infections remain without an effective treatment. This not only applies to infectious outbreaks caused by zoonotic viruses that have recently spilled over into humans such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but also ancient viral diseases that have been brought under control by vaccination such as variola (smallpox), poliomyelitis, measles, and rabies. A largely unsolved problem are endemic respiratory infections due to influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinoviruses, whose associated morbidity will likely worsen with increasing air pollution. Furthermore, climate changes will expose industrialized countries to a dangerous resurgence of viral hemorrhagic fevers, which might also become global infections. Herein, we summarize the recent progress that has been made in the search for new antivirals against these different threats that the world population will need to confront with increasing frequency in the next decade.