Abstract Peripheral facial paralysis (PFP) has been shown to be a neurological manifestation of COVID-19. The current study presents two cases of PFP after COVID-19, along with a rapid review of known cases in the literature. Both case reports were conducted following CARE guidelines. We also performed a systematic review of PFP cases temporally related to COVID-19 using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases on August 30, 2021, using a rapid review methodology. The two patients experienced PFP 102 and 110 days after COVID-19 symptom onset. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in nasal samples through reverse-transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) testing. Anosmia was the only other neurological manifestation. PFP was treated with steroids in both cases, with complete subsequent recovery. In the rapid review, we identified 764 articles and included 43 studies. From those, 128 patients with PFP were analyzed, of whom 42.1% (54/128) were male, 39.06% (50/128) female, and in 23 cases the gender was not reported. The age range was 18 to 59 (54.68%). The median time between COVID-19 and PFP was three days (ranging from the first symptom of COVID-19 to 40 days after the acute phase of infection). Late PFP associated with COVID-19 presents mild symptoms and improves with time, with no identified predictors. Late PFP should be added to the spectrum of neurological manifestations associated with the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection as a post COVID-19 condition.

BACKGROUND The main clinical forms of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) are the acute/subacute form (AF) and the chronic form (CF), and they both display considerable clinical variability. The immune responses of PCM patients, during and after treatment, remain neglected, mainly in the case of CF patients, due to the high prevalence of pulmonary sequelae. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the distribution of whole blood T cell subsets, serum cytokines, and biomarkers of pulmonary fibrosis in PCM patients, according to the clinical form and at different time points, during the antifungal therapy. METHODS Eighty-seven PCM patients, from an endemic area in Brazil, were categorised into groups, according to the clinical form (AF or CF) and the moment of treatment. The peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets of these patients were analysed using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The serum levels of cytokines, basic fibroblast growth factor and surfactant protein-D (SP-D) were also analysed. FINDINGS In the CF patients, an expansion of the peripheral blood TCD4+ cells was observed during the treatment, and this persisted even after two years of antifungal treatment. In addition, these patients showed high serum levels of SP-D. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight the immunological changes CF patients undergo, during and after treatment, possibly due to the hypoxia triggered by pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema.

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of a diet rich in synthetic PEtn on the metabolism macrophages of tumor-bearing mice. The results demonstrated that PEtn increased the animals' survival time. In addition, the treated animals released smaller amounts of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO) than the non-treated animals, particularly after day 14. From the results it could be concluded that H2O2 and NO were important in the modulation of neoplastic growth, and pointed to a promising role of PEtn in the control of human neoplasms.