The cardiovascular system remains vulnerable to a multitude of threats, including infections, inflammation, and oxidative stress. These factors contribute significantly to the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases, a pressing global health concern. Historically, research into natural medicines has primarily focused on isolated compounds. However, complex natural entities like essential oils, rich in diverse chemical constituents, offer superior therapeutic potential. We discuss here how their inherent variability can lead to unpredictable synergistic and antagonistic effects, hindering consistent therapeutic outcomes. This inconsistency is particularly problematic in addressing the rising incidence of perioperative infections and the need to combat radical-mediated damage and subclinical inflammation. This scoping review departs from the hypothesis “Can we leverage complex natural products for the discovery of new clinical approaches to cardiovascular diseases encompassing inflammation and infection?”. Therefore, we delve into the potential of complex natural products, particularly essential oils, in preventing cardiovascular infections and mitigating oxidative damage, emphasizing the crucial role of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in advancing this field. The review emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to generate quality data for effective ANN analysis, envisioning future integration of omics technologies with ANNs for more precise predictions of natural product activities. It addresses challenges in translating AI-designed essential oils to clinical practice, including intellectual property protection and standardization issues due to regional variability, suggesting a potential role for the World Health Organization in establishing guidelines for essential oil specifications to ensure consistent efficacy while enabling global accessibility. The author concludes by stressing the need to address ethical considerations at the intersection of technology, science, and clinical practice, particularly regarding the proprietary status of essential oils versus making them freely available worldwide.

Vaccines are typically designed either for human or veterinary use. Using One Health principles it would be more efficient to develop a single vaccine to cover all animal and human species at threat from a specific pathogen. A major issue for designing One Health vaccines is that some commonly used human adjuvants such as aluminium salts are not suitable for some animal species, such as felines, where they can cause injection site sarcomas. Conversely, some commonly used animal adjuvants such as mineral oil emulsions are too reactogenic to be used in humans. In addition, species-specific differences in innate immune receptors such as Toll-like receptors (TLR) may mean an adjuvant that works in one species does not work in another. This review presents an overview of human and veterinary adjuvants in use and from this list identifies those that might be most suitable for use in a One Health vaccine strategy. Two notable adjuvant candidates already supported by both human and animal data are squalene oil emulsions and delta inulin-CpG combination adjuvant known as Advax-CpG55.2. These two adjuvants have already been shown to be safe and effective across multiple species including when formulated in influenza vaccines. This could be highly relevant to adjuvant selection for vaccines in development against the current North American bovine H5N1 avian influenza outbreak with the potential need to cover multiple susceptible species including birds, cattle and cats in addition to humans. Additional considerations for One Health adjuvants would be suitable administration routes and dosing across species of widely varying size, physiology and genetics. The availability of adjuvants such as squalene emulsions and Advax-CpG55.2 with broad species activity and safety, including in humans, should make One Health vaccine approaches more common in the future.

The interaction between cancer and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses significant challenges, particularly for immunocompromised individuals who are at heightened risk for acute infections and long-term complications. The pandemic has exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in cancer care by disrupting treatment protocols and delaying diagnoses, leading to worsened health outcomes. This article emphasizes the importance of investigating the potential impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on cancer progression and highlights the need for effective strategies to protect this high-risk population. Long-term health consequences, including the emergence of long COVID, further emphasize the need for ongoing surveillance and comprehensive healthcare planning for cancer patients during and after pandemics. A multifaceted approach is essential, incorporating vaccination, timely therapeutic interventions, and sustained support for patients with lingering symptoms. This article also discusses and urges continued research into the oncogenic risks associated with SARS-CoV-2, which is crucial for enhancing our understanding of the broader health implications of COVID-19 and for informing public health strategies aimed at safeguarding cancer patients in future pandemics. Moreover, effective data collection and the development of refined clinical guidelines are vital for improving patient outcomes and preparing healthcare systems to support cancer patients during crises. Additionally, this article discusses the importance of investigating the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 may increase cancer susceptibility, including chronic inflammation, cellular senescence, and immune dysregulation. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for elucidating the virus’s long-term oncogenic potential, particularly among cancer survivors and individuals with chronic infections. Ensuring continuity and resilience in cancer care during global crises requires strategies to mitigate healthcare disruptions, enhance access to screenings and treatments, and address the specific challenges faced by cancer patients experiencing long COVID.

We report a rare case of a female patient with multiple rheumatological conditions. The patient initially presented with periodic, diffuse abdominal pain. This complaint was not fully investigated because polyarthritic symptoms became the predominant ones. This led to the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Afterward, the patient complained of xerostomia, xerophthalmia, and diffuse rash. After investigations, she was diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome. Suspecting a case of methotrexate-induced vasculitis, her initial prescription was changed to azathioprine and then to etanercept. Eventually, her persistent abdominal pain, combined with her Armenian origin, prompted her physician to order a genetic analysis of the MEFV gene, which revealed the V726A/P369S mutation, giving rise to the diagnosis of Familial Mediterranean Fever. In her routine follow-up, the patient was in a stable condition, adherent to the medications, and showed improvement in her symptoms. Therefore, this case shows the importance of early genetic testing in similar cases, which in turn will allow timely diagnosis and treatment.

Breath analysis is a relatively new topic of study that has a lot of potential for both therapeutic and scientific applications. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in breath are created internally by the body due to environmental interactions, gut and air passage bacteria, and metabolites of ingested precursors. Breath analysis may help diagnose disorders linked to changes in breath composition, according to several recent research. An analytical technique that shows promise for the metabolic examination of breath is infrared spectroscopy. Chemical substances found in exhaled human breath can be used to diagnose illnesses, determine physiological states, or evaluate environmental exposure. Exhaled breath (EB) is the perfect biological fluid because it is nearly limitless and causes little to no discomfort for the patient, which promotes collaboration. Furthermore, EB can be sampled without requiring medical professionals or privacy, and it usually doesn’t produce infectious waste (despite airborne infections), which makes breath analysis a desirable method for a variety of applications. Breath analysis is a non-invasive method that solely uses the volatile composition of the EB to characterize the bloodstream and airways’ volatile content, which indicates the state and condition of the entire body’s metabolism. The absorption strength of the metabolites is still very modest, though, because EB contains minimal amounts of them. Several of the most recent uses of infrared spectroscopy for breath analysis, published between 2020 and 2024, are presented in this study.