Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Forecasting regional-level COVID-19 hospitalisation in England as an ordinal variable using the machine learning method -

  Background COVID-19 causes substantial pressure on healthcare, with many healthcare systems now needing to prepare for and mitigate the consequences of surges in demand caused by multiple overlapping waves of infections. Therefore, public health agencies and health system managers also now benefit from short-term forecasts for respiratory infections that allow them to manage services better. However, the availability of easily implemented effective tools for generating precise forecasts at the individual regional level still needs to be improved. Methods We extended prior work on influenza to forecast regional COVID-19 hospitalisations in England for the period from 19th March 2020 to 31st December 2022, treating the number of hospital admissions in each region as an ordinal variable. We further developed the XGBoost model used previously to forecast influenza to enable it to exploit the ordering information in ordinal hospital admission levels. We incorporated different types of data as predictors: epidemiological data including weekly region COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions, weather conditions and mobility data for multiple categories of locations (e.g., parks, workplaces, etc). The impact of different discretisation methods and the number of ordinal levels was also considered. Results We find that the inclusion of weather data consistently increases the accuracy of our forecasts compared with models that rely only on the intrinsic epidemiological data, but only by a small amount. Mobility data brings about a more substantial increase in our forecasts. When both weather and mobility data are used in addition to the epidemiological data, the results are very similar to the model with only epidemiological data and mobility data. Conclusion Accurate ordinal forecasts of COVID-19 hospitalisations can be obtained using XGBoost and mobility data. While uniform ordinal levels show higher apparent accuracy, we recommend N-tile ordinal levels which contain far richer information.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Forecasting regional-level COVID-19 hospitalisation in England as an ordinal variable using the machine learning method
• Socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 infection and vaccine uptake among children and adolescents in Catalonia, Spain -

  IMPORTANCE The relationship between socioeconomic deprivation and COVID-19 infection and vaccination among children and adolescents remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between deprivation and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and infection among children and adolescents before and after the vaccination rollout in Catalonia, Spain. DESIGN AND SETTING Population-based cohort study using primary care electronic health records from the Information System for Research in Primary Care. Individuals were followed 3 months before the start of the vaccination campaign in Spain and 3 months after the vaccination rollout among adolescents and children. PARTICIPANTS Children (5-11 years) and adolescents (12-15 years) with at least 1 year of prior history observation available and without missing deprivation data. EXPOSURE Deprivation, assessed using an ecological socioeconomic deprivation index (SDI) score for census tract urban areas and categorized into quintiles. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 vaccination. For each outcome, we calculated cumulative incidence and crude Cox proportional-hazard models by SDI quintiles, and estimated hazard ratios (HRs) of COVID-19 infection and vaccine uptake relative to the least deprived quintile, Q1. RESULTS Before COVID-19 vaccination rollout, 290,625 children and 179,685 adolescents were analyzed. Increased HR of deprivation was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 infection in both children (Q5: 1.55 [95% CI, 1.47 - 1.63]) and adolescents (Q5: 1.36 [95% CI, 1.29 - 1.43]). After the rollout, this pattern changed among children, with lower risk of infection in more deprived areas (Q5: 0.62 [95% CI, 0.61 - 0.64]). Vaccine uptake was higher among adolescents (72.6%) than children (44.8%), but in both age groups, non-vaccination was more common among those living in more deprived areas (39.3% and 74.6% in Q1 vs. 26.5% and 66.9% in Q5 among children and adolescents, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort study, children and adolescents living in deprived areas were at higher risk of COVID-19 non-vaccination. Socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 infection were also evident before vaccine rollout, with a higher infection risk in deprived areas across age groups. Our findings suggest that changes in the association between deprivation and infections among children after the vaccine rollout were likely due to testing disparities.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 infection and vaccine uptake among children and adolescents in Catalonia, Spain
• Addressing Label Noise for Electronic Health Records: Insights from Computer Vision for Tabular Data -

  The analysis of extensive electronic health records (EHR) datasets often calls for automated solutions, with machine learning (ML) techniques, including deep learning (DL), taking a lead role. One common task involves categorizing EHR data into predefined groups. However, the vulnerability of EHRs to noise and errors stemming from data collection processes, as well as potential human labeling errors, poses a significant risk. This risk is particularly prominent during the training of DL models, where the possibility of overfitting to noisy labels can have serious repercussions in healthcare. Despite the well-documented existence of label noise in EHR data, few studies have tackled this challenge within the EHR domain. Our work addresses this gap by adapting computer vision (CV) algorithms to mitigate the impact of label noise in DL models trained on EHR data. Notably, it remains uncertain whether CV methods, when applied to the EHR domain, will prove effective, given the substantial divergence between the two domains. We present empirical evidence demonstrating that these methods, whether used individually or in combination, can substantially enhance model performance when applied to EHR data, especially in the presence of noisy/incorrect labels. We validate our methods and underscore their practical utility in real-world EHR data, specifically in the context of COVID-19 diagnosis. Our study highlights the effectiveness of CV methods in the EHR domain, making a valuable contribution to the advancement of healthcare analytics and research.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Addressing Label Noise for Electronic Health Records: Insights from Computer Vision for Tabular Data
• Neutrophilia with damage to the blood-brain barrier and neurovascular unit following acute lung injury -
  Background: Links between acute lung injury (ALI), infectious disease, and neurological outcomes have been frequently discussed over the past few years, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, much of the cross-communication between organs, particularly the lung and the brain, has been understudied. Here, we have focused on the role of neutrophils in driving changes to the brain endothelium with ensuing microglial activation and neuronal loss in a model of ALI. Methods: We have applied a three-dose paradigm of 10g/40l intranasal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce neutrophilia accompanied by proteinaceous exudate in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in adult C57BL/6 mice. Brain endothelial markers, microglial activation, and neuronal cytoarchitecture were evaluated 24hr after the last intranasal dose of LPS or saline. C57BL/6-Ly6g(tm2621(Cre-tdTomato)Arte (Catchup mice) were used to measure neutrophil and blood-brain barrier permeability following LPS exposure with intravital 2-photon imaging. Results: Three doses of intranasal LPS induced robust neutrophilia accompanied by proteinaceous exudate in BALF. ALI triggered central nervous system pathology as highlighted by robust activation of the cerebrovascular endothelium (VCAM1, CD31), accumulation of plasma protein (fibrinogen), microglial activation (IBA1, CD68), and decreased expression of proteins associated with postsynaptic terminals (PSD-95) in the hippocampal stratum lacunosum moleculare, a relay station between the entorhinal cortex and CA1 of the hippocampus. 2-photon imaging of Catchup mice revealed neutrophil homing to the cerebral endothelium in the blood-brain barrier and neutrophil extravasation from cerebral vasculature 24hr after the last intranasal treatment. Conclusions: Overall, these data demonstrate ensuing brain pathology resulting from ALI, highlighting a key role for neutrophils in driving brain endothelial changes and subsequent neuroinflammation. This paradigm may have a considerable translational impact on understanding how infectious disease with ALI can lead to neurodegeneration, particularly in the elderly.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Neutrophilia with damage to the blood-brain barrier and neurovascular unit following acute lung injury
• Dual Ethanolamine Head Groups in Ionizable Lipids Facilitate Phospholipid-free Stable Nanoparticle Formulation for Augmented and Safer mRNA Delivery -
  The accelerated advent of mRNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, highlighted by the battle against SARS-CoV-2, underscores the urgency to refine lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for efficient mRNA delivery. In this work, we introduce a novel series of ionizable lipids characterized by double ethanolamine head groups, significantly amplifying mRNA binding affinity. A succinct three-component formulation is subsequently delineated, obviating the conventional dependency on phospholipids inherent in traditional four-component LNPs. Intriguingly, this formulation enables particle formation under neutral pH conditions, a notable departure from the acidic milieu traditionally required, attributable to the enhanced nonionic interactions predominating in mRNA encapsulation. The resultant particles exhibit exceptional stability, superior mRNA encapsulation efficiency, and maintain robust delivery efficacy. When deployed as a vaccine platform, the formulation elicited pronounced humoral and T-cell immune responses, concurrently exhibiting a favorable toxicity profile with a reduced induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6. Our exploration suggests that by fine-tuning the non-electrostatic interactions between the ionizable lipid and mRNA, the dynamics of particle formation can be considerably divergent from the prevailing paradigms of mRNA-LNP formation, hinting at a broader horizon for lipid optimization within the realm of mRNA delivery systems.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Dual Ethanolamine Head Groups in Ionizable Lipids Facilitate Phospholipid-free Stable Nanoparticle Formulation for Augmented and Safer mRNA Delivery
• Psychological resilience factors and their association with weekly stressor reactivity during the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe -
  Recently, cross-sectional relationships between psycho-social resilience factors (RFs) and resilience, operationalized as an outcome of low reactivity of mental health to stressor exposure (low ‘stressor reactivity’) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, were reported. Extending these findings, we here examine prospective relationships and weekly dynamics between the same RFs and stressor reactivity in a longitudinal sample during the aftermath of the first wave in several European countries. Over five weeks of app-based assessments, participants weekly reported stressor exposure, mental health problems, RFs, and demographic data, in one of six different languages. As (partly) preregistered, hypotheses were tested cross-sectionally at baseline (N=558) and longitudinally (N=200), using mixed effects models and mediation analyses. RFs at baseline, including positive appraisal style, optimism, self-efficacy, perceived good stress recovery, and perceived social support, were negatively associated with stressor reactivity (SR) scores, not only cross-sectionally (baseline SR scores) but also prospectively (average SR scores across subsequent weeks). In both analyses, positive appraisal style mediated the effects of perceived social support on SR. In the analyses of weekly RF-SR dynamics, RFs positive appraisal (of stressors generally and specifically of the Corona crisis) and general self-efficacy were negatively associated with SR in a contemporaneous, but not lagged fashion. We identify psychological RFs which prospectively predict resilience and co-fluctuate with weekly stressor reactivity within individuals. The prospective results endorse that the previously reported RF-SR associations do not exclusively reflect mood-congruency or other temporal bias effects. We further confirm an important role for positive appraisal in resilience.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Psychological resilience factors and their association with weekly stressor reactivity during the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe
• Novel risk loci for COVID-19 hospitalization among admixed American populations -

  The genetic basis of severe COVID-19 has been thoroughly studied and many genetic risk factors shared between populations have been identified. However, reduced sample sizes from non-European groups have limited the discovery of population-specific common risk loci. In this second study nested in the SCOURGE consortium, we have conducted the largest GWAS meta-analysis for COVID-19 hospitalization in admixed Americans, comprising a total of 4,702 hospitalized cases recruited by SCOURGE and other seven participating studies in the COVID-19 Host Genetic Initiative. We identified four genome-wide significant associations, two of which constitute novel loci and first discovered in Latin-American populations (BAZ2B and DDIAS). A trans-ethnic meta-analysis revealed another novel cross-population risk locus in CREBBP. Finally, we assessed the performance of a cross-ancestry polygenic risk score in the SCOURGE admixed American cohort.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Novel risk loci for COVID-19 hospitalization among admixed American populations
• Cross-sector collaboration reduces SARS-CoV-2 risk in deer -
  One Health helps achieve optimal health outcomes for people, animals, plants, and their shared environments. We describe a multidisciplinary effort to better understand and mitigate SARS-CoV-2 spread in white-tailed deer across One Health sectors. We first framed the risk problem with three governance sectors that manage captive and wild deer and human public health. The framing included the objectives for each sector, interactions that facilitate human-to-deer and deer-to-deer transmission, and alternatives intended to reduce risk. We then developed a dynamic compartmental model that linked wild and captive deer herds and humans and simulated SARS-CoV-2 dynamics. For baseline conditions, we estimated that median SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in wild and captive herds varied between 0.03-0.07, incidence between 0.68-1.46, and probability of persistence between 0.64-0.97 across 120-day simulations. We then tested single-sector alternatives alone and in combination with other sector actions. We found that single sector alternatives varied in their ability to reduce transmission and that the best performing alternative required collaborative actions among wildlife management, agricultural management, and public health agencies.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Cross-sector collaboration reduces SARS-CoV-2 risk in deer
• Who Bought All the Toilet Paper? Conspiracy Theorists Are More Likely to Stockpile During the COVID-19 Pandemic -
  The current COVID-19 pandemic has changed many people’s lives. Some people have responded to the rising of the pandemic by engaging in panic buying behaviors, a phenomenon that has not been well-understood in the past. People who believe in these conspiracies may experience a heightened sense of powerlessness and vulnerability. As a result, they may be particularly susceptible to palliatively and compensatorily engage in the panic buying behaviors (i.e., stockpiling). Supporting this idea, two studies using data from the U.K. (cross-sectional) and the U.S. (longitudinal) show that people who endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories are more likely to engage in stockpiling behaviors in the past as well as in the future.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Who Bought All the Toilet Paper? Conspiracy Theorists Are More Likely to Stockpile During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review -
  Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories can have severe consequences; it is therefore crucial to understand this phenomenon. We present a narrative synthesis of COVID-19 conspiracy belief research from 85 international articles, identified and appraised through a systematic review. We identify a number of significant antecedents of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (individual differences, personality traits, demographic variables, attitudes, thinking styles and biases, group identity, trust in authorities, and social media use) and their consequences (protective behaviours, self-centred and misguided behaviours such as hoarding and pseudoscientific health practices, vaccination intentions, mental health, and other negative social consequences such as discrimination and violence). We conclude that understanding both the antecedents and consequences of conspiracy beliefs is highly important to tackle them, whether in the COVID-19 pandemic or future threats, such as that of climate change.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review
• Fast, accurate ranking of engineered proteins by receptor binding propensity using structure modeling -
  Deep learning-based methods for protein structure prediction have achieved unprecedented accuracy. However, the power of these tools to guide the engineering of protein-based therapeutics remains limited due to a gap between the ability to predict the structures of candidate proteins and the ability to assess which of those proteins are most likely to bind to a target receptor. Here we bridge this gap by introducing Automated Pairwise Peptide-Receptor AnalysIs for Screening Engineered proteins (APPRAISE), a method for predicting the receptor binding propensity of engineered proteins. After generating models of engineered proteins competing for binding to a target using an established structure-prediction tool such as AlphaFold-Multimer or ESMFold, APPRAISE performs a rapid (under 1 CPU second per model) scoring analysis that takes into account biophysical and geometrical constraints. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that APPRAISE can accurately classify receptor-dependent vs. receptor-independent adeno-associated viral vectors and diverse classes of engineered proteins such as miniproteins targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike, nanobodies targeting a G-protein-coupled receptor, and peptides that specifically bind to transferrin receptor or PD-L1. APPRAISE is accessible through a web-based notebook interface using Google Colaboratory (https://tiny.cc/APPRAISE). With its accuracy, interpretability, and generalizability, APPRAISE promises to expand the utility of protein structure prediction and accelerate protein engineering for biomedical applications.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Fast, accurate ranking of engineered proteins by receptor binding propensity using structure modeling
• The impact of self-isolation on psychological wellbeing and how to reduce it: a systematic review -

  Self-isolation is a public health measure used to prevent the spread of infection, and which can have an impact on the psychological wellbeing of those going through it. It is likely that self-isolation will be used to contain future outbreaks of infectious disease. We synthesised evidence on the impact of home self-isolation on psychological wellbeing of the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic. This systematic review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022378140). We searched Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Embase, and grey literature (01 January 2020 to 13 December 2022). Our definition of wellbeing included adverse mental health outcomes and adaptive wellbeing. Studies that investigated isolation in managed facilities, children, and healthcare workers were excluded. We followed PRISMA and synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) guidelines. We extracted data on the impact of self-isolation on wellbeing, and factors associated with and interventions targeting wellbeing during self-isolation. We included 36 studies (most were cross sectional, two were longitudinal cohort studies, three assessed interventions, and five were qualitative). The mode quality rating was high-risk. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were most investigated. Evidence for an impact of self-isolation on wellbeing was often inconsistent in quantitative studies, although qualitative studies consistently reported a negative impact on wellbeing. However, people with pre-existing mental and physical health needs consistently reported increased symptoms of mental ill health during self-isolation. Studies reported modifiable stressors that have been reported in previous infectious disease contexts, such as inadequate support, poor coping strategies, inadequate and conflicting information, and the importance of regular contact from trusted healthcare professionals. However, interventions targeting psychological wellbeing were rare and evaluative studies of these had high or very high risk of bias. When implementing self-isolation directives, public health officials should prioritise support for more vulnerable individuals who have pre-existing mental or physical health needs, lack support, or who are facing significant life stressors. Clinicians can play a key role in identifying and supporting those most at risk. Focus should be directed toward interventions that address loneliness, worries, and misinformation, whilst monitoring and identifying individuals in need of additional support.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The impact of self-isolation on psychological wellbeing and how to reduce it: a systematic review
• Covid-19 Related Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Health Care Workers In A Hospital In The Greater Accra Region -

  Background The emergence of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) an infectious disease caused by the newly discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) has caused a lot of harm to humanity. Healthcare workers who are the leading the charge in the fight against the virus can experience mental health challenges with anxiety being an important illness. Anxiety can become morbid quickly and ultimately affect function, hence the need to study its prevalence among HCWs, since they are a high-risk population. Studies across various regions worldwide reported elevated levels of anxiety amongst HCWs during the SARS, Ebola, and H1N1 pandemics. Nevertheless, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), an easily measured and ubiquitous member of the family of anxiety disorders has hardly been researched. However, new studies in Togo, China, India and Mexico have reported elevated levels of GAD in HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the complexities surrounding mental health care in Ghana, and Africa as a whole it would be expedient to uncover the prevalence of GAD among HCWs during the pandemic. Hence, a study at Family Health Hospital will provide information about the prevalence of COVID-19 related GAD among Health care workers representative of Ghana. Aim The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of COVID-19 related GAD amongst healthcare workers, in a tertiary hospital in Accra. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study design using a self-administered questionnaire was employed. Nine-two (92) HCWs in the study area were sampled. A consecutive sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. The study was analyzed using SPSS version 25. The results were presented in summary tables and analyzed using frequencies and percentages. Chi square test performed on categorical data to test association between selected variables and their outcome with COVID-19 related GAD. Results The GAD level among nurses was 55.4%, and for doctors it was 30.4%. The GAD level among medical laboratory technicians and pharmacists were 7.6% and 6.5% respectively. Furthermore being age 50-69 years was a significant risk factor for developing GAD during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. Female HCWs were more likely to experience GAD. However, only 13.1% of the HCWs were considered to have Corona phobia. Perception of workplace as being high risk was positively correlated with mild to moderate forms of anxiety. However, perception of organizational support as being guaranteed in case one succumbed to the virus and confidence in PPE availability was not reported to be strong protective factors against GAD among HCWs. Conclusion COVID-19 related GAD is a challenge amongst HCWs especially nurses in FHH. The management of the FHH should set up certain services such as psychological help lines, peer support programs as well as run a sensitization campaign to cater for the wellbeing of doctors as well as encourage mental health seeking behavior.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Covid-19 Related Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Health Care Workers In A Hospital In The Greater Accra Region
• The landscape of biomedical research -
  The number of publications in biomedicine and life sciences has rapidly grown over the last decades, with over 1.5 million papers now being published every year. This makes it difficult to keep track of new scientific works and to have an overview of the evolution of the field as a whole. Here we present a 2D map of the entire corpus of biomedical literature, and argue that it provides a unique and useful overview of the life sciences research. We based our atlas on the abstract texts of 21 million English articles from the PubMed database. To embed the abstracts into 2D, we used the large language model PubMedBERT, combined with t-SNE tailored to handle samples of our size. We used our atlas to study the emergence of the Covid-19 literature, the evolution of the neuroscience discipline, the uptake of machine learning, the distribution of gender imbalance in academic authorship, and the distribution of retracted paper mill articles. Furthermore, we present an interactive web version of our atlas that allows easy exploration and will enable further insights and facilitate future research.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The landscape of biomedical research
• Trends in Nationally Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Humans and Animals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea -

  Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were implemented to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Korea. These interventions could also have affected other infectious diseases, but there have been no comprehensive studies regarding their impacts. This study examined trends in notifiable infectious diseases in both humans and animals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models were developed for each disease using data from 2016 to 2019, and the incidences for 2020 to 2021 were predicted. Subsequently, the predicted numbers of cases were compared with actual observations. Our findings indicated a substantial reduction in human respiratory infectious diseases during implementation of NPIs. However, human gastrointestinal infectious diseases and livestock diseases did not show a significant decrease. The results revealed that the preventive effect sizes of NPIs varied among diseases and indicated the potential for side effects, suggesting that complementary interventions are needed to minimize these negative effects.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Trends in Nationally Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Humans and Animals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

From Clinical Trials

• Rural Tailored Communication to Promote SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing in Saliva - Conditions: SARS-CoV2 Infection
  Interventions: Behavioral: General SARS-CoV-2 Communication; Behavioral: Rural-Targeted SARS-CoV-2 Communication
  Sponsors: Michigan State University; National Cancer Institute (NCI); Johns Hopkins University
  Recruiting

• Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for COVID-19 - Conditions: Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Behavioral: Compensatory Cognitive Training for COVID-19; Behavioral: Holistic Cognitive Education
  Sponsors: VA Office of Research and Development
  Not yet recruiting

• COVID Rehabilitation - Conditions: Rehabilitation; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Post-Infectious Disorders
  Interventions: Behavioral: One day course; Behavioral: Individual follow-ups
  Sponsors: University Hospital of North Norway; University of Bergen; Oslo University Hospital; Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  Not yet recruiting

• Food Effects of GST-HG171 Tablets Combined With Ritonavir in Healthy Chinese Participants - Conditions: COVID-19 Respiratory Infection
  Interventions: Drug: GST-HG171/ritonavir; Drug: ritonavir
  Sponsors: Fujian Akeylink Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
  Active, not recruiting

• Phase 3 Open-Label Controlled Trial of Convalescent Plasma in Early COVID-19 Infection - Conditions: Covid19
  Interventions: Drug: Convalescent Plasma; Other: Standard of Care
  Sponsors: Larkin Community Hospital
  Withdrawn

• Improving Post COVID-19 Syndrome With Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments - Conditions: Post COVID-19 Condition; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome; Post-COVID Syndrome; COVID-19; Fatigue; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
  Interventions: Device: Monoplace Hyperbaric Chamber (Class III medical device).
  Sponsors: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
  Not yet recruiting

• Education of Medical Staff to Post Acute Covid susTained sYmptoms - Conditions: Post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Other: Training in the management of functional disorders; Other: Reimbursement of 3 long consultations
  Sponsors: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris; ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases
  Not yet recruiting

• Pharmacist Management of Paxlovid eVisits - Conditions: COVID-19; Quality of Care
  Interventions: Other: Pharmacist Care; Other: AFM Pool Care
  Sponsors: Kaiser Permanente
  Not yet recruiting

• Equity Evaluation of Fact Boxes on Informed COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Decisions - Study Protocol - Conditions: COVID-19; Influenza
  Interventions: Other: Fact box
  Sponsors: Harding Center for Risk Literacy
  Not yet recruiting

• ACTIVATE in Public Housing - Conditions: Pneumonia; Influenza; Varicella Zoster; Meningitis; COVID-19; Vaccine Hesitancy
  Interventions: Behavioral: Increasing Willingness and Uptake of Influenza, Pneumonia, Meningitis, HZV, and COVID-19 Vaccination
  Sponsors: Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science
  Not yet recruiting

• Early Awake Alterning Prone Positioning Combined With Non-invasive Oxygen Therapy in Patients With COVID-19. - Conditions: COVID-19 Pneumonia
  Interventions: Other: Prone position; Other: Standard treatment
  Sponsors: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran
  Terminated

• tDCS in the Management of Post-COVID Disorders - Conditions: Long COVID
  Interventions: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS); Behavioral: Motor Training; Behavioral: Cognitive Training
  Sponsors: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; São Paulo State University
  Recruiting

• Effects of a Home-Based Exercise Intervention in Subjects With Long COVID - Conditions: Long COVID-19; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Other: home-based concurrent exercise
  Sponsors: University of Vienna
  Recruiting

• Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac-M (Altered Antigenic Composition) - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Biological: GamCovidVac-M vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition
  Sponsors: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation
  Not yet recruiting

• Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Profile With Participation of Adult Volunteers - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Biological: GamCovidVac vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 (with altered antigenic profile)
  Sponsors: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Inhaled nitric oxide: can it serve as a savior for COVID-19 and related respiratory and cardiovascular diseases? - Nitric oxide (NO), as an important gaseous medium, plays a pivotal role in the human body, such as maintaining vascular homeostasis, regulating immune-inflammatory responses, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and inhibiting leukocyte adhesion. In recent years, the rapid prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected the daily lives and physical and mental health of people all over the world, and the therapeutic efficacy and resuscitation strategies for critically ill…

• Protective effect of olopatadine hydrochloride against LPS-induced acute lung injury: via targeting NF-κB signaling pathway - CONCLUSION: In nutshell, inhibition of NF-κB pathway by Olo resulted in protection and reduced mortality in LPS- induced ALI and thus has potential to be used clinically to arrest disease progression in ALI/ARDS, since the drug is already in the market. However, the findings warrant further extensive studies, and also future studies can be planned to elucidate its role in COVID-19-associated ARDS or cytokine storm.

• Molecular insights and optimization strategies for the competitive binding of engineered ACE2 proteins: a multiple replica molecular dynamics study - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread globally, and rapid viral evolution and the emergence of new variants pose challenges to pandemic control. During infection, the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the human ACE2 protein via its receptor binding domain (RBD), and it is known that engineered forms of ACE2 can compete with wild-type (WT) ACE2 for binding to inhibit infection. Here, we conducted multiple replica…

• Andrographolide inhibits infectious bronchitis virus-induced apoptosis, pyroptosis, and inflammation - CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we delved into the antiviral properties of APL in the context of chicken macrophage (HD11) infection with IBV. Our findings confirm that andrographolide effectively inhibits apoptosis, pyroptosis, and inflammation by IBV infection. Furthermore, this inhibition was verified on chicken embryos in vivo. This inhibition suggests a substantial potential for APL as a therapeutic agent to mitigate the harmful effects of IBV on host cells.

• Betaine prevents cognitive dysfunction by suppressing hippocampal microglial activation in chronic social isolated male mice - Chronic social isolation (SI) stress, which became more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributes to abnormal behavior, including mood changes and cognitive impairment. Known as a functional nutrient, betaine has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in vivo. However, whether betaine can alleviate the abnormal behavior induced by chronic SI in mice remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of betaine in the treatment of behavioral changes and its…

• Block of the Angiotensin Pathways Affects Flow-Volume Spirometry in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection - BACKGROUND: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) is an endothelial cell receptor used by SARS-CoV- 2 virus to enter cells. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs), mainly spirometry, are the main diagnostic tools for most respiratory diseases. PFTs are mandatory for assessing the response to therapy.

• Differential specificity of SARS-CoV-2 main protease variants on peptide versus protein-based substrates - The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro) ) holds significant importance as a biological target in combating coronaviruses due to its importance in virus replication. Considering the emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants and the mutations observed in the M^(pro) sequence, we hypothesized that these mutations may have a potential impact on the protease’s specificity. To test this, we expressed M^(pro) corresponding to the original strain and variants Beta1, Beta2 and Omicron, and analyzed their…

• DHA and EPA inhibit porcine coronavirus replication by alleviating ER stress - The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) highlighted significant gaps in our mechanisms to prevent and control cross-species transmission of animal coronaviruses. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), and porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV) are common porcine coronaviruses with similar clinical features. In the absence of effective drugs and methods of prevention and…

• Autoantibodies against Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and immune molecules are associated with COVID-19 disease severity - Increased inflammation caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and long-term disease manifestations referred to as post-acute sequalae of COVID (PASC). The mechanisms of this variable long-term immune activation are poorly defined. Autoantibodies targeting immune factors such as cytokines, as well as the viral host cell receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), have been observed after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Autoantibodies to immune factors…

• Point of care detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and neutralisation capacity-lateral flow immunoassay evaluation compared to commercial assay to inform potential role in therapeutic and surveillance practices - CONCLUSION: High sensitivity, specificity, and PPV were demonstrated for the POC LFA for the detection of anti-S-RBD antibodies in comparison to the commercial assay. The LFA was not a reliable determinant of the neutralisation capacity of identified antibodies. POC LFA are useful tools in sero-epidemiology settings, pandemic preparedness and may act as supportive tools in treatment decisions through the rapid identification of anti-Spike antibodies.

• The clinical relevance of OSM in inflammatory diseases: a comprehensive review - Oncostatin M (OSM) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in a variety of inflammatory responses such as wound healing, liver regeneration, and bone remodeling. As a member of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines, OSM binds the shared receptor gp130, recruits either OSMRβ or LIFRβ, and activates a variety of signaling pathways including the JAK/STAT, MAPK, JNK, and PI3K/AKT pathways. Since its discovery in 1986, OSM has been identified as a significant contributor to a multitude of…

• Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzothiazolyl-pyridine Hybrids as New Antiviral Agents against H5N1 Bird Flu and SARS-COV-2 Viruses - A novel series of benzothiazolyl-pyridine hybrids 8a-h and 14a-e were produced from the reaction of enamine derivative 4 with each of the arylcyanoacetamides 5a-h and cyanoacetohydrazides 9a-e. The new products were characterized by spectral techniques (IR, ¹H NMR, ^(13)C NMR, and MS). Biological evaluation of 8a-h and 14a-e in vitro against H5N1 and SARS-COV-2 viruses showed that several compounds had significant activity. Compounds 8f-h, which contain fluorine atoms, have better activity…

• Exploration of 1,2,3-triazolo fused triterpenoids as inhibitors of human coronavirus 229E targeting the viral nsp15 protein - The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has raised major interest in innovative drug concepts to suppress human coronavirus (HCoV) infections. We previously reported on a class of 1,2,3-triazolo fused betulonic acid derivatives causing strong inhibition of HCoV-229E replication via the viral nsp15 protein, which is proposedly related to compound binding at an intermonomer interface in hexameric nsp15. In the present study, we further explored the structure-activity relationship (SAR), by…

• Anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of cyanopeptolins produced by Nostoc edaphicum CCNP1411 - Despite the advances in contemporary medicine and availability of numerous innovative therapies, effective treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infections pose a challenge. In the search for new anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug candidates, natural products are frequently explored. Here, fifteen cyanopeptolins (CPs) were isolated from the Baltic cyanobacterium Nostoc edaphicum and tested against SARS-CoV-2. Of these depsipeptides, the Arg-containing structural variants showed the strongest inhibition of…

• Discovery of druggable potent inhibitors of serine proteases and farnesoid X receptor by ligand-based virtual screening to obstruct SARS-CoV-2 - The coronavirus, a subfamily of the coronavirinae family, is an RNA virus with over 40 variations that can infect humans, non-human mammals and birds. There are seven types of human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The current study is focused on the identification of drug molecules for the treatment of COVID-19 by targeting human proteases like transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), furin, cathepsin B, and a nuclear receptor named…

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