Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

• From Preprints
• From Clinical Trials
• From PubMed
• From Patent Search

From Preprints

• Understanding the trouble spot: Does vaccination status identification fuel societal polarization? -
  As COVID-19 vaccination campaigns failed to achieve sufficient immunization rates, public discord between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated has intensified globally. Theories of intergroup relations propose that identifying with one’s social group plays a key role in the perceptions and behaviors that fuel intergroup conflict. Here, we apply these insights to the context of COVID-19 vaccination, exploring the idea that identification with one’s vaccination status is what underlies the current societal polarization. The study draws on unique panel data from large samples of vaccinated (n = 3,267) and unvaccinated (n = 2,038) respondents in Germany and Austria that were collected in December 2021, February, March, and July 2022. The findings confirm that vaccination status identification (VSI) explains substantial variance in a range of polarizing attitudes and behaviors, indicating its importance for increasing conflicts between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. VSI was also found to be related to higher psychological reactance toward mandatory vaccination policies among the unvaccinated and to their intention to resist and evade such regulations. Similarly, higher levels of VSI reduced the gap between intended and actual counter-behaviors over time by the unvaccinated. The results highlight that identification processes may play a pivotal role in explaining and mitigating polarized situations. VSI also appears to be an important measure for more accurately predicting behavioral responses to vaccination policies. Additionally, the results suggest the need for identity-based interventions and de-escalating strategies to increase the acceptance and effectiveness of vaccination campaigns.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Understanding the trouble spot: Does vaccination status identification fuel societal polarization?
• Parenting in a Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Experiences of Supporting their Children During the Covid-19 Pandemic -
  This qualitative study examined parents’ experiences of supporting their children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventeen parents of children aged 2-16 years from diverse backgrounds, living in the UK, were interviewed one-to-one about their experiences. Ten professionals working with children and families were also interviewed to gain a broader perspective of parents’ experiences. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, we identified four central themes: a) worries and uncertainties; b) mental exhaustion; c) resources available to cope with the challenges; and d) finding the positives. Findings revealed the worries and uncertainties that parents faced regarding how best to support their child and the long-term consequences of the pandemic, as well as feelings of mental exhaustion from juggling multiple responsibilities. The impact of Covid-19 on parents’ wellbeing was varied and parents identified several factors that determined their ability to support their children, such as space in the home environment, support networks and their personal mental health. Despite the challenges, some parents reported positive experiences, such as strengthened family bonds during the pandemic. Our study emphasizes the importance of flexible work arrangements and family-friendly employment policies, as well as support for parents to enable them to support their children and look after their own wellbeing.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Parenting in a Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Experiences of Supporting their Children During the Covid-19 Pandemic
• Early Impacts of College, Interrupted: Considering First-Year Students’ Narratives about COVID and Reports of Adjustment during College Shutdowns -
  The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened lives and livelihoods, imperiled families and communities, and disrupted developmental milestones globally. Among the critical developmental disruptions experienced is the transition to college, which is common and foundational for personal and social exploration. During college shutdowns (Spring 2020), we recruited 633 first year, US students (M age = 18.83 years; 71.3% cisgender women) to provide narratives about the impacts of the pandemic. We tested the ways narrative features were associated with concurrent and longitudinal COVID stressors, psychosocial adjustment, and identity development. Narrative growth expressed in Spring 2020 was positively associated with psychosocial adjustment and global identity development and was negatively associated with mental health concerns. Associations were supported concurrently and at one-year follow-up. Growth partly explained associations between COVID stressors and students’ adjustment. Our findings reinforce the importance of growth for resilience and underscore the importance of connective reasoning as people navigate a chronic stress.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Early Impacts of College, Interrupted: Considering First-Year Students’ Narratives about COVID and Reports of Adjustment during College Shutdowns
• The COVID-19 Pandemic Attenuated Ongoing Declines in Drinking Trajectories in Emerging Adults: A Longitudinal Behavioral Economic Analysis -
  Background: Longitudinal research on COVID-19 impacts on drinking is scarce and largely restricted to comparing drinking levels before and after the introduction of COVID mitigation measures. This brief snapshot of behavior ignores the extended pre-COVID drinking trajectory, which may be decreasing increasing, or remaining stable over time. Behavioral economics predicts that pandemic-related constraints on behavioral alternatives to alcohol and drug use, and decreased constraints on alcohol, may result in increases in drinking at later stages of the pandemic. Therefore, the current study characterized drinking trajectories among emerging adults before and during the pandemic and investigated time-invariant demographic predictors and time-varying behavioral economic predictors of trajectories of drinking and behavioral economic variables. Methods: A pandemic-focused survey was distributed between May 15 and June 29, 2020 to emerging adults participating in an ongoing longitudinal study involving pre-COVID data collection every four months. Participants with four pre-COVID assessments were included in the current study (N = 312, ages 21.5-24 years; 65.1% female). Results: Linear piecewise models best fit the drinking days and drinks per week data, suggesting a pandemic-related disruption of ongoing drinking trajectories. After controlling for all other time-invariant predictors, lower environmental reward was associated with greater increases in heavy drinking days and income loss was associated with lower drinking days, drinks, and heavy drinking days per week. In parallel LGCM models, increases in alcohol demand indices were generally associated with increases in drinking from the pre- to the post-COVID onset timepoint. Conclusions: The results suggest that the pandemic attenuated ongoing declines in drinking trajectories and highlight the value of examining trajectories to characterize COVID-19-related effects. Behavioral economic measures of environmental and alcohol reward may be useful predictors of changing alcohol use patterns, particularly in the context of emergent public health crises.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The COVID-19 Pandemic Attenuated Ongoing Declines in Drinking Trajectories in Emerging Adults: A Longitudinal Behavioral Economic Analysis
• SARS-CoV-2 Non-Structural Protein 1(NSP1) Mutation Virulence and Natural Selection: Evolutionary Trends in the Six Continents -
  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an unsegmented positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the {beta}-coronavirus. This virus was the cause of a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2019 (COVID-19) that emerged in Wuhan, China at the early stage of the pandemic and rapidly spread around the world. Rapid transmission and reproduction of SARS-CoV-2 threaten worldwide health with a high mortality rate from the virus. According to the significant role of non-structural protein 1 (NSP1) in inhibiting host mRNA translation, this study focuses on the link between amino acid sequences of NSP1 and alterations of them spreading around the world. The SARS-CoV-2 NSP1 protein sequences were analyzed and FASTA files were processed by Python language programming libraries. Reference sequences compared with each NSP1 sample to identify every mutation and categorize them were based on continents and frequencies. NSP1 mutations rate divided into continents were different. Based on continental studies, E87D in global vision and also in Europe notably increased. The E87D mutation has significantly risen especially in the last months of the study as the first frequent mutation observed. The remarkable mutations, H110Y and R24C, have the second and third frequencies, respectively. Based on this mutational information, despite NSP1 being a conserved sequence occurrence, these mutations change the rate of flexibility and stability of the NSP1 protein, which can eventually affect inhibiting the host translation.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: SARS-CoV-2 Non-Structural Protein 1(NSP1) Mutation Virulence and Natural Selection: Evolutionary Trends in the Six Continents
• Visual Transformer and Deep CNN Prediction of High-risk COVID-19 Infected Patients using Fusion of CT Images and Clinical Data -

  Despite the globally reducing hospitalization rates and the much lower risks of Covid-19 mortality, accurate diagnosis of the infection stage and prediction of outcomes are clinically of interest. Advanced current technology can facilitate automating the process and help identifying those who are at higher risks of developing severe illness. Deep-learning schemes including Visual Transformer and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), in particular, are shown to be powerful tools for predicting clinical outcomes when fed with either CT scan images or clinical data of patients. This paper demonstrates how a novel 3D data fusion approach through concatenating CT scan images with patients clinical data can remarkably improve the performance of Visual Transformer and CNN models in predicting Covid-19 infection outcomes. Here, we explore and represent comprehensive research on the efficiency of Video Swin Transformers and a number of CNN models fed with fusion datasets and CT scans only vs a set of conventional classifiers fed with patients clinical data only. A relatively large clinical dataset from 380 Covid-19 diagnosed patients was used to train/test the models. Results show that the 3D Video Swin Transformers fed with the fusion datasets of 64 sectional CT scans+67 (or 30 selected) clinical labels outperformed all other approaches for predicting outcomes in Covid-19-infected patients amongst all techniques (i.e., TPR=0.95, FPR=0.40, F0.5 score=0.82, AUC=0.77, Kappa=0.6). Results indicate possibilities of predicting the severity of outcome using patients CT images and clinical data collected at the time of admission to hospital.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Visual Transformer and Deep CNN Prediction of High-risk COVID-19 Infected Patients using Fusion of CT Images and Clinical Data
• The highly conserved RNA-binding specificity of nucleocapsid protein facilitates the identification of drugs with broad anti-coronavirus activity -
  The binding of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein to both the 5’- and 3’-ends of genomic RNA has different implications arising from its binding to the central region during virion assembly. However, the mechanism underlying selective binding remains unknown. Herein, we performed the high-throughput RNA-SELEX (HTR-SELEX) to determine the RNA-binding specificity of the N proteins of various SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as other {beta}-coronaviruses and showed that N proteins could bind two unrelated sequences, both of which were highly conserved across all variants and species. Interestingly, both these sequence motifs are virtually absent from the human transcriptome; however, they exhibit a highly enriched, mutually complementary distribution in the coronavirus genome, highlighting their varied functions in genome packaging. Our results provide mechanistic insights into viral genome packaging, thereby increasing the feasibility of developing drugs with broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus activity by targeting RNA binding by N proteins.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The highly conserved RNA-binding specificity of nucleocapsid protein facilitates the identification of drugs with broad anti-coronavirus activity
• Intranasal delivery of lipid nanoparticle encapsulated SARS-CoV-2 and RSV-targeting siRNAs reduces lung infection -
  RNA interference (RNAi) is an emerging and promising therapy for a wide range of respiratory viral infections. This highly specific suppression can be achieved by the introduction of short-interfering RNA (siRNA) into mammalian systems, resulting in the effective reduction of viral load. Unfortunately, this has been hindered by the lack of a good delivery system, especially via the intranasal (IN) route. Here, we have developed an IN siRNA encapsulated lipid nanoparticle (LNP) in vivo delivery system that is highly efficient at targeting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infected mouse lungs. Importantly, IN siRNA delivery without the aid of LNPs abolishes anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in vivo. Our approach using LNPs as the delivery vehicle overcomes the significant barriers seen with IN delivery of siRNA therapeutics and is a significant advancement in our ability to delivery siRNAs. The studies presented here demonstrates an attractive alternate therapeutic delivery strategy for the treatment of both future and emerging respiratory viral diseases.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Intranasal delivery of lipid nanoparticle encapsulated SARS-CoV-2 and RSV-targeting siRNAs reduces lung infection
• Primary Omicron infection elicits weak antibody response but robust cellularimmunity in children -
  The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is now globally dominant but despite high prevalence little is known regarding the immune response in children. We determined the antibody and cellular immune response following Omicron infection in children aged 6-14 years and related this to prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination status. Primary Omicron infection elicited a weak antibody response and only 53% of children developed detectable neutralising antibodies. In contrast, children with secondary Omicron infection following prior infection with a pre-Omicron variant developed 24-fold higher antibody titres and neutralisation of Omicron. Vaccination elicited the highest levels of antibody response and was also strongly immunogenic following prior natural infection with Omicron. Cellular responses against Omicron were robust and broadly equivalent in all study groups. These data reveal that primary Omicron infection elicits a weak humoral immune response in children and may presage a clinical profile of recurrent infection as seen with antecedent seasonal coronaviruses. Vaccination may represent the most effective approach to control infection whilst cellular immunity should offer strong clinical protection.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Primary Omicron infection elicits weak antibody response but robust cellularimmunity in children
• A Randomised -Controlled Phase 2 trial of Molnupiravir in Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Individuals with Early SARS-CoV-2 -

  Background Molnupiravir was licensed for treating high-risk patients with COVID-19 based on data from unvaccinated adults. AGILE CST-2 (NCT04746183) Phase II reports safety and virological efficacy of molnupiravir in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Methods Adult out-patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within five days of symptom onset were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive molnupiravir (800mg twice daily for five days) or placebo. The primary outcome was time to swab PCR-negativity, compared using a Bayesian model for estimating the probability of a superior virological response (Hazard Ratio>1) for molnupiravir over placebo. Secondary outcomes included change in viral titre at day 5, safety and tolerability, clinical progression and patient reported outcome measures. We analysed outcomes after the last participant reached day 29. Findings Of 180 participants randomised (90 molnupiravir, 90 placebo), 50% were vaccinated. Infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants Delta (40%), Alpha (21%), Omicron (21%) and EU1 (16%) were represented. The median time to negative-PCR was 8 versus 11 days for molnupiravir and placebo (HR=1.30, 95% CrI 0.92-1.71, p=0.7 by Logrank and p=0.03 by Breslow-Gehan tests). Although small numbers precluded subgroup analysis, no obvious differences were observed between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants. Using a two-point prior the probability of molnupiravir being superior to placebo (HR>1) was 75.4%, which was just below our defined threshold of 80% for establishing superiority. Using an uninformative continuous prior, the probability of HR>1 was 94.7%. As an exploratory analysis, the change in viral titre on day 5 (end of treatment) was significantly greater with molnupiravir compared with placebo. A total of 4 participants reported severe adverse events (grade 3+), 3 of whom were in the placebo arm. Interpretation We found molnupiravir to be well-tolerated, with evidence for high probability of antiviral efficacy in a population of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals infected with a broad range of viral variants.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: A Randomised -Controlled Phase 2 trial of Molnupiravir in Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Individuals with Early SARS-CoV-2
• High stress levels and trust toward the government are associated with more positive attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccines among youth -
  Background: Distrust of COVID-19 vaccines may hamper vaccination campaigns. We focused on the cognitive determinants of intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We were interested in (i) the effects of stress, and (ii) the effects of self-protection systems on attitudes and intentions to get vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: We conducted an online observational study with 203 French students (MAge = 19, SDAge = 2.52, Women = 173), in which we measured, through self-reported questionnaires, their perceived stress and vulnerability to disease, belief in a dangerous world, pandemic-related stressors living conditions, attitudes and intentions to get vaccinated, and confidence in the government’s management of COVID-19. We conducted two multiple linear mediation analyses. Results: Participants who reported higher trust in the government and who reported higher stress levels were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine, although both these influences seem to be –at least partially - independent. Conclusions: The factor that most robustly predicted both attitudes and intentions to vaccinate was confidence in the information provided by the government and its ability to manage the pandemic in general. Our analyses suggest the existence of two profiles of people likely to have positive attitudes toward vaccination: those who trust the government and are not stressed by vaccination, and those who do not trust the government but would get vaccinated to reduce their stress. We discuss how to improve the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine policies through communication.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: High stress levels and trust toward the government are associated with more positive attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccines among youth
• Positive prospective mental imagery characteristics in young adults and their associations with depressive symptoms -
  Background: Positive prospective mental imagery plays an important role in mental well-being, and depressive symptoms have been associated with difficulties in generating positive prospective mental images (PPMIs). We used a mobile app to gather PPMIs generated by young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed content, characteristics, and associations with depressive symptoms. Methods: For this longitudinal study, 50 healthy students reported PPMIs at least three times per day for seven consecutive days using a mobile app inducing PPMI generation. We categorized entries into themes and applied linear mixed models to investigate associations between PPMI characteristics and depressive symptom outcomes. Results: We distinguished 25 PPMI themes. The most frequent were related to consuming food and drinks, watching TV/streaming platforms, and doing sports. More vivid PPMIs were easier to generate. Vividness and ease of generation of PPMIs, but not their anticipation or pleasure intensity, were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Discussion: We identified PPMI themes in young adults and found significant negative associations between depressive symptoms and vividness and generation ease of PPMIs. These results may inform prevention and intervention science, including design of personalized interventions. We discuss implications for future studies and treatment development for individuals experiencing diminished PPMI.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Positive prospective mental imagery characteristics in young adults and their associations with depressive symptoms
• Pregnancy during COVID-19: social contact patterns and vaccine coverage of pregnant women from CoMix in 19 European countries -

  Background Evidence and advice for pregnant women evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied social contact behaviour and vaccine uptake in pregnant women between March 2020 and September 2021 in 19 European countries. Methods In each country, repeated online survey data were collected from a panel of nationally-representative participants. We calculated the mean adjusted contacts reported with an individual-level generalized additive mixed model, modelled using the negative binomial distribution and a log link function. Mean proportion of people in isolation or quarantine, and vaccination coverage by pregnancy status and gender were calculated using a clustered bootstrap. Findings We recorded 4,129 observations from 1,041 pregnant women, and 115,359 observations from 29,860 non-pregnant individuals aged 18-49. Pregnant women made slightly fewer contacts (3.6, 95%CI=3.5-3.7) than non-pregnant women (4.0, 95%CI=3.9-4.0), driven by fewer work contacts but marginally more contacts in non-essential social settings. Approximately 15-20% pregnant and 5% of non-pregnant individuals reported to be in isolation and quarantine for large parts of the study period. COVID-19 vaccine coverage was higher in pregnant women than in non-pregnant women between January and April 2021. Since May 2021, vaccination in non-pregnant women began to increase and surpassed that in pregnant women. Interpretation Social contacts and vaccine uptake protect pregnant women and their newborn babies. Recognition of maternal social support need, and efforts to promote the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy are high priorities in this vulnerable group.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Pregnancy during COVID-19: social contact patterns and vaccine coverage of pregnant women from CoMix in 19 European countries
• Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar -

  Background: The BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for children 5-11 years of age and adolescents 12-17 years of age, but in different dose sizes. We assessed BNT162b2 real-world effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar. Methods: Three matched, retrospective, target-trial, cohort studies were conducted to compare incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the national cohort of vaccinated individuals to incidence in the national cohort of unvaccinated individuals. Associations were estimated using Cox proportional-hazards regression models. Results: Effectiveness of the 10 micrograms dose for children against Omicron infection was 25.7% (95% CI: 10.0-38.6%). It was highest at 49.6% (95% CI: 28.5-64.5%) right after the second dose, but waned rapidly thereafter and was negligible after 3 months. Effectiveness was 46.3% (95% CI: 21.5-63.3%) among those aged 5-7 years and 16.6% (-4.2-33.2%) among those aged 8-11 years. Effectiveness of the 30 micrograms dose for adolescents against Omicron infection was 30.6% (95% CI: 26.9-34.1%), but many adolescents were vaccinated months earlier. Effectiveness waned with time after the second dose. Effectiveness was 35.6% (95% CI: 31.2-39.6%) among those aged 12-14 years and 20.9% (13.8-27.4%) among those aged 15-17 years. Effectiveness of the 30 micrograms dose for adolescents against pre-Omicron infection was 87.6% (95% CI: 84.0-90.4%) and waned relatively slowly after the second dose. Conclusions: Pediatric vaccination is associated with modest and rapidly waning protection against Omicron infection. Adolescent vaccination is associated with stronger and more durable protection, perhaps because of the larger dose size. Age at such young age appears to play a role in determining vaccine protection, with greater protection observed in younger than older children or adolescents.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar
• COVID-19 mortality: positive correlation with cloudiness but no correlation with sunlight and latitude in Europe -

  We systematically investigated an ongoing debate about the possible correlation between SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) epidemiological outcomes and solar exposure in European countries, in the period of March - December 2020. For each country, we correlated its mortality data with: i) objective sky cloudiness (as cloud fraction) derived from satellite weather data, ii) solar insolation (watt/square metre at ground level), iii) latitude. We found a positive correlation between the monthly mortality rate and the overall cloudiness in that month (Pearson9s r(35)=.68, P<.001; averaged linear model fitting the data, adjusted R2 =0.45). In an additional month-by-month analysis, 17% to 59% of the variance in COVID-19 mortality/million appears to be predicted by the cloudiness fraction of the sky, except in the last two months of 2020. We did not find any statistical significant correlation with insolation, nor with latitude of the countries, when the “latitude of a country” was precisely defined as the average landmass location (country centroid). The unexpected correlation found between cloudiness and mortality could perhaps be explained by the following: 1) heavy cloudiness is linked with colder outdoor surfaces, which might aid virus survival; 2) reduced evaporation rate; 3) moderate pollution may be linked to both cloudiness and mortality; and 4) large-scale behavioural changes due to cloudiness (which perhaps drives people to spend more time indoors and thus facilitates indoor contamination).

  🖺 Full Text HTML: COVID-19 mortality: positive correlation with cloudiness but no correlation with sunlight and latitude in Europe

From Clinical Trials

• Puerto Rico COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Study - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Other: Educational intervention
  Sponsors:   University of Puerto Rico;   National Institutes of Health (NIH);   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
  Recruiting

• Monitoring the Efficacy of a Probiotic Dietary Supplement SmartProbio C in Patients With Severe COVID-19 Infection - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: SmartProbio C;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Medi Pharma Vision;   Veterinary Research Institute;   Brno University Hospital
  Completed

• Bank of Human Leukocytes From COVID-19 Convalescent Donors With an Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Cellular Immunity - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Other: Generation of a biobank allowing the cryopreservation of leucocytes from COVID19 convalescent donors
  Sponsor:   Central Hospital, Nancy, France
  Not yet recruiting

• Beta-glucans for Hospitalised Patients With COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: MC 3x3;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Concentra Educacion e Investigación Biomédica;   Wohlstand Pharmaceutical
  Not yet recruiting

• A Study to Learn About a New COVID-19 RNA Vaccine Candidate as a Booster Dose in COVID-19 Vaccine-Experienced Healthy Adults - Conditions:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: BNT162b5 Bivalent (WT/OMI BA.2);   Biological: BNT162b2 Bivalent (WT/OMI BA.1)
  Sponsors:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer
  Not yet recruiting

• A Randomised, Multi-centre, Double-blind, Phase 3 Study to Observe the Effectiveness, Safety and Tolerability of Molnupiravir Compared to Placebo Administered Orally to High-risk Adult Outpatients With Mild COVID-19 Receiving Local Standard of Care in South Africa - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: Molnupiravir 200 mg
  Sponsors:   University of Witwatersrand, South Africa;   Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  Not yet recruiting

• An Observer-blind, Cohort Randomized, Exploratory Phase 3 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of Recombinant Covid-19 Vaccine, mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine and Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Trimeric S-protein Subunit Vaccine as 4th Dose in Individuals Primed/ Boosted With Various Regimens - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: AstraZeneca/Fiocruz;   Biological: Pfizer/Wyeth;   Biological: Clover SCB-2019
  Sponsors:   D’Or Institute for Research and Education;   Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;   University of Oxford
  Not yet recruiting

• Safety and Immunogenicity of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) as a Booster - Conditions:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection
  Interventions:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cell);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated
  Sponsor:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.
  Recruiting

• Safety and Immunogenicity of Recombinant COVID-19 Variant Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) as a Booster - Conditions:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection
  Interventions:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 variant Vaccine (Sf9 Cell);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated;   Biological: mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Moderna);   Biological: Viral Vector COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca)
  Sponsor:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Rehabilitation for People With Post COVID-19 Syndrome - Condition:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions:   Other: Multidimensional intervention;   Other: Control intervention
  Sponsor:   Universidad de Granada
  Recruiting

• Xanthohumol as an Adjuvant Therapy in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection
  Intervention:   Biological: Xanthohumol - prenylated chalcone extracted from female inflorescences of hop cones (Humulus lupus). Hop-RXn™, BioActive-Tech Ltd, Lublin, Poland; http://xanthohumol.com.pl/
  Sponsor:   Medical University of Lublin
  Suspended

• Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program on Post Hospitalization Severe COVID- 19 Patients - Condition:   Post COVID-19 Condition
  Intervention:   Combination Product: respiratory exercises - incentive spirometer - walking
  Sponsor:   Fayoum University Hospital
  Completed

• Study to Evaluate Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 Vaccine in Children 6 Months to < 12 Years - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Biological/Vaccine: SARS-CoV-2 rS/Matrix-M1 Adjuvant (Initial Vaccination Period);   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 rS/Matrix-M1 Adjuvant (Open Label Crossover Vaccination period);   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 rS/Matrix-M1 Adjuvant (Booster Vaccination);   Other: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Novavax
  Recruiting

• A Clinical Trial of Immuno-bridging Between Different Manufacture Scales of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) - Conditions:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia
  Intervention:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cell)
  Sponsor:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Passive Antibodies Against COVID-19 With EVUSHELD in Vaccine Non-responsive CLL - Conditions:   Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia;   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: EVUSHELD
  Sponsors:   Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre;   AstraZeneca
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Peimine inhibits variants of SARS-CoV-2 cell entry via blocking the interaction between viral spike protein and ACE2 - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been approved; however, variants of concern (VOCs) can evade vaccine protection. Therefore, developing small compound drugs that directly block the interaction between the viral spike glycoprotein and ACE2 is urgently needed to provide a complementary or alternative treatment for COVID-19 patients. We developed a viral infection assay…

• Anti-TNFα Treatment Impairs Long-Term Immune Responses to COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with anti-tumor-necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) exhibited lower serologic responses one-month following the second dose of the COVID-19 BNT162b2 vaccine compared to those not treated with anti-TNFα (non-anti-TNFα) or to healthy controls (HCs). We comprehensively analyzed long-term humoral responses, including anti-spike (S) antibodies, serum inhibition, neutralization, cross-reactivity and circulating B cell six months post BNT162b2, in…

• TRIM7 Restricts Coxsackievirus and Norovirus Infection by Detecting the C-Terminal Glutamine Generated by 3C Protease Processing - TRIM7 catalyzes the ubiquitination of multiple substrates with unrelated biological functions. This cross-reactivity is at odds with the specificity usually displayed by enzymes, including ubiquitin ligases. Here we show that TRIM7’s extreme substrate promiscuity is due to a highly unusual binding mechanism, in which the PRYSPRY domain captures any ligand with a C-terminal helix that terminates in a hydrophobic residue followed by a glutamine. Many of the non-structural proteins found in RNA…

• Bio-Guided Isolation of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors from Medicinal Plants: In Vitro Assay and Molecular Dynamics - Since the emergence of the pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the discovery of antiviral phytoconstituents from medicinal plants against SARS-CoV-2 has been comprehensively researched. In this study, thirty-three plants belonging to seventeen different families used traditionally in Saudi Arabia were tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(PRO)). Major constituents of the…

• The Inhibitory Potential of Ferulic Acid Derivatives against the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: Molecular Docking, Molecular Dynamics, and ADMET Evaluation - The main protease (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2 is an appealing target for the development of antiviral compounds, due to its critical role in the viral life cycle and its high conservation among different coronaviruses and the continuously emerging mutants of SARS-CoV-2. Ferulic acid (FA) is a phytochemical with several health benefits that is abundant in plant biomass and has been used as a basis for the enzymatic or chemical synthesis of derivatives with improved properties, including antiviral…

• MicroRNAs as Potential Tools for Predicting Cancer Patients’ Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination Response - Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that is caused by a highly contagious and severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This infection started to spread across the world in 2019 and rapidly turned into a global pandemic, causing an urgent necessity for treatment strategies development. The mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 can trigger an immune response, providing genetic information that allows the production of spike glycoproteins. MiRNAs play a crucial…

• Capsanthin from Capsicum annum fruits exerts anti-glaucoma, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory activity, and corneal pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression in a benzalkonium chloride-induced rat dry eye model - Dry eye disease (DED) is a complex ocular surface inflammatory disease. Its occurrence varies widely over the world, ranging from 5% to 34%. The use of preservatives, specifically benzalkonium chloride, in the ocular drops worsens the DED conditions. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic increased screen time and the use of face masks and shields. As a result, the number of people suffering from dry eye disease (DED) has increased significantly in recent years. The main objective of our study is to…

• FUT2 gene as a genetic susceptible marker of infectious diseases: A Review - Some blood group antigens are reported as a susceptibility marker for some diseases. For instance, HBGA (Histo-blood group antigen) which is controlled by gene FUT2 also considered as a susceptible marker. The FUT2 gene which exhibits the expression of alpha-1, 2-L-fucosyltransferase enzyme also leads to HBGA expression for the gut, and it provides a composition of the phenotypical profile that exists in some populations with unique histories of evolution and it can be considered as a marker of…

• What is at stake without high-stakes exams? Students’ evaluation and admission to college at the time of COVID-19 - The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 inhibited face-to-face education and constrained exam taking. In many countries worldwide, high-stakes exams happening at the end of the school year determine college admissions. This paper investigates the impact of using historical data of school and high-stakes exams results to train a model to predict high-stakes exams given the available data in the Spring. The most transparent and accurate model turns out to be a linear regression model with high school GPA…

• Point-specific interactions of isovitexin with the neighboring amino acid residues of the hACE2 receptor as a targeted therapeutic agent in suppressing the SARS-CoV-2 influx mechanism - CONCLUSIONS: Isovitexin is a phytochemical with a reasonable bioactivity and safety profile for use in humans, and it can potentially be used as a hACE2-specific therapeutic to inhibit COVID-19 infection.

• Nafamostat-Mediated Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Ribosomal Frameshifting Is Insufficient to Impair Viral Replication in Vero Cells. Comment on Munshi et al. Identifying Inhibitors of -1 Programmed Ribosomal Frameshifting in a Broad Spectrum of Coronaviruses. Viruses 2022, 14, 177 - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has been reported to have caused 18 […].

• Commercially Available Flavonols Are Better SARS-CoV-2 Inhibitors than Isoflavone and Flavones - Despite the fast development of vaccines, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still circulating and generating variants of concern (VoC) that escape the humoral immune response. In this context, the search for anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds is still essential. A class of natural polyphenols known as flavonoids, frequently available in fruits and vegetables, is widely explored in the treatment of different diseases and used as a scaffold for the design of novel drugs….

• Identifying Structural Features of Nucleotide Analogues to Overcome SARS-CoV-2 Exonuclease Activity - With the recent global spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, there remains an urgent need to develop effective and variant-resistant oral drugs. Recently, we reported in vitro results validating the use of combination drugs targeting both the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and proofreading exonuclease (ExoN) as potential COVID-19 therapeutics. For the nucleotide analogues to be efficient SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors, two properties are required: efficient incorporation by RdRp and…

• Sequence-Specific Features of Short Double-Strand, Blunt-End RNAs Have RIG-I- and Type 1 Interferon-Dependent or -Independent Anti-Viral Effects - Pathogen-associated molecular patterns, including cytoplasmic DNA and double-strand (ds)RNA trigger the induction of interferon (IFN) and antiviral states protecting cells and organisms from pathogens. Here we discovered that the transfection of human airway cell lines or non-transformed fibroblasts with 24mer dsRNA mimicking the cellular micro-RNA (miR)29b-1* gives strong anti-viral effects against human adenovirus type 5 (AdV-C5), influenza A virus X31 (H3N2), and SARS-CoV-2. These anti-viral…

• Inhibitors of Deubiquitinating Enzymes Interfere with the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-like Protease and Block Virus Replication In Vitro - The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), particularly its deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs), play a key role in the replication cycle of coronaviruses. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (Plpro) is known to process the viral polyproteins to form the replicase transcriptase complex and to counteract the host viral response. Recently, it was shown that this viral protease can also act as a deubiquitinating enzyme. In this study, we demonstrate that certain DUB-Inhibitors (DIs) interfere with…

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