Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• BLAST Analysis of Sars-Cov-2 deliniates the functionality of the virus's protein -
  In light of recent events that have been happening across the globe until April 2020, I and my colleague decided to bring light upon the main characteristics of the new coronavirus outbreak from the Wuhan province in China, in December 2019. We first compared this SARS-Cov-2 to the old SARS-Cov-1 that appeared in 2003 and found a striking similarity between their genomes and therefore as we showed in our papers they also share some properties. Then we identified the main proteins that form the Covid-19 and in order to find new characteristics of this virus. This paper has informing purposes as in these dark times the best way to cooperate with the ongoing threat is to learn more about it.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: BLAST Analysis of Sars-Cov-2 deliniates the functionality of the virus's protein
• Differential behavior of COVID-19 in Multi-Country Journey: Challenges for Drug Intervention -
  COVID-19, a pandemic is different as it is in an ongoing phase. We need to understand how the pandemic is developing across the globe. All the existing data and research on the virus are preliminary; researchers are rapidly learning more about new and evolving problems. There is always an underlying mystery that can unfold by studying the available data on this emerging problem and especially to provide an understanding of what can and cannot be said based on this available knowledge. It has been seen that large outbreaks are in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, Spain, and France, with the US and UK seeing rapidly increasing numbers. But most countries in the world have reported very few to number cases of COVID-19. This is surprising because the trajectory of the COVID-19 outbreak has been said to follow the exposure due to travel, and the areas with low incidence must be having other reasons. The primary factor resulting in the spread of infection is trans country and continent movement of people. The geographical distribution and pattern of COVID 19 infection show a very interesting feature, the tropical countries having a high incidence of Malaria and have undergone the chloroquine regimen show less spike in COVID19 infection. And one of the reasons may be that the virus has not yet reached and started localized transmission in every country, despite these countries having strong travel, migration, or trade relationships with China and the rest of the world. This observation raises various questions. Is the virus not reaching or establishing infections due to some measures taken and the transmission is controlled? The differential behavior of this virus might pose a potential challenge for the development of a suitable intervention that can be useful in all scenarios.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Differential behavior of COVID-19 in Multi-Country Journey: Challenges for Drug Intervention
• Covid-19: acquired acute porphyria hypothesis -
  Pandemic Covid-19 pneumonia, of SARS-CoV-2 aetiology, is of global importance to health systems, national economies and individual civil liberties. Multiple therapeutic and prophylactic agents are currently undergoing clinical trial and, while progress towards a curative agent is promising, the principal limiting factor in public health emergency is time. A pre-existing licensed therapeutic would offer reprieve to international citizens currently enduring the adverse consequences of lockdown policies. This brief communication serves as an update on the initial version of the acquired acute porphyria hypothesis and advocates for direct testing of the hypothesis.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Covid-19: acquired acute porphyria hypothesis
• Variability in Coronavirus Disease-2019 Case, Death, and Testing Rates in the United States and Worldwide -

  ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been associated with a worldwide pandemic, with the United States (US) having the largest total number of cases and deaths (>7 million and >200,000, respectively) at this time. We assessed data as of September 1, 2020 from our combined laboratories and as reported for selected states and countries for case, death, and testing rates per 1 million in the population. Our goal was to elucidate potential causes for the large rate differences observed. SARS-CoV-2 naso-pharyngeal (NP) RNA swab testing in 985,219 US subjects referred to our laboratories by healthcare providers revealed an overall 10.1% positive rate, comparable to the 7.3% rate reported nationwide. In a small subset of 91 subjects, all of whom had been positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in NP swabs 2-4 weeks earlier, NP swab testing was twice as likely to be positive (58.6%) as saliva samples (21.5%), based on paired sampling. Our positive rates per state agreed reasonably well with reported Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data (r=0.609, P<0.0001) based on 19,898 cases, 593 deaths, and 271,637 tests, all per 1 million in the US population. Louisiana had the highest case rate; New Jersey had the highest death rate; and Rhode Island had the highest testing rate. Of 47 countries, including all countries with populations >50 million, Qatar had the highest case rate; Peru had the highest death rate; and Israel had the highest testing rate for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Correlations between case rates and death rates as well as testing rates were 0.473 and 0.398 for US states and 0.473 and 0.476 for the various countries, respectively (all P<0.0001). In conclusion, outpatient saliva testing is not as sensitive as NP testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection. While testing is important, without adequate public health measures, it is unlikely that we will get this pandemic under adequate control until vaccines become available.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Variability in Coronavirus Disease-2019 Case, Death, and Testing Rates in the United States and Worldwide
• A variational model for computing the effective reproduction number of SARS-CoV-2 -

  We propose a variational model for computing the temporal effective reproduction number, R(t), of SARS-CoV-2 from the daily count of incident cases and the serial interval. The R(t) estimate is made through the minimization of a functional that enforces: (i) the ability to reproduce the incidence curve from R(t) through a renewal equation, (ii) the regularity of R(t) and (iii) the adjustment of the initial value to an initial estimate of R0 obtained from the initial exponential growth of the epidemic. The model does not assume any statistical distribution for R(t) and does not require truncating the serial interval when its distribution contains negative days. A comparative study of the solution is carried out with the standard EpiEstim method. For a particular choice of the parameters of the variational model, a good agreement is found between the estimate provided by the variational model and an estimate obtained by EpiEstim shiftef backward more than 8 days. This backward shift suggests that our model finds values for R(t) that are more than 8 days closer to present. We also examine how to extrapolate R(t) and the form of the incidence curve i(t) in the short term. An implementation and comparison of both methods, applied every day on each country, is available at www.ipol.im/ern.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: A variational model for computing the effective reproduction number of SARS-CoV-2
• Lipid nanoparticle encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines elicit polyfunctional HIV-1 antibodies comparable to proteins in nonhuman primates -
  Development of an effective AIDS vaccine remains a challenge. Nucleoside-modified mRNAs formulated in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNP) have proved to be a potent mode of immunization against infectious diseases in preclinical studies, and are being tested for SARS-CoV-2 in humans. A critical question is how mRNA-LNP vaccine immunogenicity compares to that of traditional adjuvanted protein vaccines in primates. Here, we found that mRNA-LNP immunization compared to protein immunization elicited either the same or superior magnitude and breadth of HIV-1 Env-specific polyfunctional antibodies. Immunization with mRNA-LNP encoding Zika premembrane and envelope (prM-E) or HIV-1 Env gp160 induced durable neutralizing antibodies for at least 41 weeks. Doses of mRNA-LNP as low as 5 g were immunogenic in macaques. Thus, mRNA-LNP can be used to rapidly generate single or multi-component vaccines, such as sequential vaccines needed to protect against HIV-1 infection. Such vaccines would be as or more immunogenic than adjuvanted recombinant protein vaccines in primates.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Lipid nanoparticle encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines elicit polyfunctional HIV-1 antibodies comparable to proteins in nonhuman primates
• Factors influencing intention to adhere to precautionary behavior in times of COVID- 19 pandemic in Sudan: an application of the Health Belief Model -

  Background Corona virus disease (covid-19) is an emerging highly infectious disease caused by novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2). Several public health and social protective measures that may prevent or slow down the transmission of the COVID-19 were introduced. However, these measures are unfortunately neglected or deliberately ignored by some individuals. Objective To identify the factors influencing intention to adhere to precautionary measures againstCOVID-19 in Sudan. Methods and Design Cross sectional online based survey using virtual convenience sampling technique. Variables Measured Perceived threat of corona virus (perceived severity and perceived susceptibility), perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy and intention to adhere to precautionary behavior towards COVID-19 Results The significant predictors of intention to adhere to the precautionary behavior against COVID-19 were: gender (β =3.34, P <0.001), self-efficacy (β= 0.476, P<0.001), perceived benefits (β= 0.349, P<0.001) and perceived severity (β= 0.113, P=0.005). These factors explained 43% of the variance in participants intention to adhere to the protective measures. Participants who were female, confident in their ability to adhere to the protective measures when available, believing in the benefits of the protective measures against COVID-19 and perceiving that the disease could have serious consequences were more likely to be willing to adhere to the protective measures. Conclusion Health Belief model is a useful framework for addressing factors influencing intention to adhere to precautionary behavior during COVID pandemic.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Factors influencing intention to adhere to precautionary behavior in times of COVID- 19 pandemic in Sudan: an application of the Health Belief Model
• Securing your relationship: Quality of intimate relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic can be predicted by attachment style -
  The COVID-19 pandemic along with the restrictions that were introduced within Europe starting spring 2020 allows for the identification of predictors for relationship quality during unstable and stressful times. The present study began as strict measures were enforced in response to the rising spread of the COVID-19 within Austria, Poland, Spain and Czech Republic. Here, we investigated quality of romantic relationships among 313 participants as movement restrictions were implemented and subsequently phased out cross-nationally. Participants completed self-report questionnaires over a period of seven weeks, where we predicted relationship quality and change in relationship quality using machine learning models that include a variety of potential predictors related to psychological, demographic and environmental variables. On average, our machine learning tools predicted 29% (linear models) and 22% (non-linear models) of the variance with regard to relationship quality. Here, the most important predictors consisted of attachment style (anxious attachment being more influential than avoidance), age, and number of conflicts within the relationship. Interestingly, environmental factors such as the local severity of the pandemic did not exert a measurable influence with respect to predicting relationship quality. As opposed to overall relationship quality, the change in relationship quality during lockdown restrictions could not be predicted accurately by our machine learning models when utilizing our selected features. In conclusion, we demonstrate cross-culturally that attachment security is a major predictor of relationship quality during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, whereas sexual behavior, fear, pathogenic threat and the severity of governmental regulations did not significantly influence the accuracy of prediction.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Securing your relationship: Quality of intimate relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic can be predicted by attachment style
• Containing the Spread of Infectious Disease on College Campuses -

  College campuses are highly vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks, and there is a pressing need to develop better strategies to mitigate their size and duration, particularly as educational institutions around the world reopen to in-person instruction in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Towards addressing this need, we applied a stochastic compartmental model to quantify the impact of university-level responses to past mumps outbreaks in college campuses and used it to determine which control interventions are most effective. Mumps is a very relevant disease in such settings, given its airborne mode of transmission, high infectivity, and recurrence of outbreaks despite availability of a vaccine. Our model aims to simultaneously overcome three crucial issues: stochastic variation in small populations, missing or unobserved case data, and changes in disease transmission rates post-intervention. We tested the model and assessed various interventions using data from the 2014 and 2016 mumps outbreaks at Ohio State University and Harvard University, respectively. Our results suggest that in order to decrease infectious disease incidence on their campuses, universities should apply diagnostic protocols that address false negatives from molecular tests, stricter quarantine policies, and effective awareness campaigns among their students and staff. Our model can be applied to data from other outbreaks in college campuses and similar small-population settings.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Containing the Spread of Infectious Disease on College Campuses
• Covid-19 Pfizer Vaccine: The Worst-Case Scenario -
  The BioNTech/Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine against Covid-19 is composed of an RNA having 4284 nucleotides, divided into 6 sections, which bring the information to create a factory of S Spike proteins, the ones used by Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19) to infect the subject. After that, these proteins are directed outside the cell, triggering the immune reaction and antibody production. The problem is the heavy alteration of the mRNA: the Uracyl is replaced to fool the immune system, the letters of all codon triplets are replaced by a C or a G, to extremely increase the speed of protein production, replacement of some amino acids with Proline, the addition of a not clear sequence (3'-UTR), combined with alternative splicing, which is the possibility of errors in translation of the sequence and synthesis of proteins; they are not produced equal, but slightly different. All this can be the cause of many hereditary diseases and various types of tumors, from appearance to their growth, up to the metastasis formation. In essence, what will be created is anything but well defined as protein S Spike: just a transcription error, wrong production of amino acids, then proteins, to cause serious long-term damage to human health, despite the DNA is not modified, being instead in the cell nucleus and not in the cytoplasm, where the modified mRNA arrives. However, in this case, the correlation between speed of synthesis and protein expression with synthesis errors, as well as the mechanism that could affect the translation of the sequence remain obscure, as many trials are owned by BioNTech/Pfizer.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Covid-19 Pfizer Vaccine: The Worst-Case Scenario
• Predictions of COVID-19 dynamics in the UK: short-term forecasting and analysis of potential exit strategies -

  Efforts to suppress transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK have seen non-pharmaceutical interventions being invoked. The most severe measures to date include all restaurants, pubs and cafes being ordered to close on 20th March, followed by a stay at home order on the 23rd March and the closure of all non-essential retail outlets for an indefinite period. Government agencies are presently analysing how best to develop an exit strategy from these measures and to determine how the epidemic may progress once measures are lifted. Mathematical models are currently providing short and long term forecasts regarding the future course of the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK to support evidence-based policymaking. We present a deterministic, age-structured transmission model that uses real-time data on confirmed cases requiring hospital care and mortality to provide up-to-date predictions on epidemic spread in ten regions of the UK. The model captures a range of age-dependent heterogeneities, reduced transmission from asymptomatic infections and produces a good fit to the key epidemic features over time. We simulated a suite of scenarios to assess the impact of differing approaches to relaxing social distancing measures from 7th May 2020 on the estimated number of patients requiring inpatient and critical care treatment, and deaths. With regard to future epidemic outcomes, we investigated the impact of reducing compliance, ongoing shielding of elder age groups, reapplying stringent social distancing measures using region based triggers and the role of asymptomatic transmission. We find that significant relaxation of social distancing measures from 7th May onwards can lead to a rapid resurgence of COVID-19 disease and the health system being quickly overwhelmed by a sizeable, second epidemic wave. In all considered age-shielding based strategies, we projected serious demand on critical care resources during the course of the pandemic. The reintroduction and release of strict measures on a regional basis, based on ICU bed occupancy, results in a long epidemic tail, until the second half of 2021, but ensures that the health service is protected by reintroducing social distancing measures for all individuals in a region when required. Our work confirms the effectiveness of stringent non-pharmaceutical measures in March 2020 to suppress the epidemic. It also provides strong evidence to support the need for a cautious, measured approach to relaxation of lockdown measures, to protect the most vulnerable members of society and support the health service through subduing demand on hospital beds, in particular bed occupancy in intensive care units.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Predictions of COVID-19 dynamics in the UK: short-term forecasting and analysis of potential exit strategies
• Characterization of cell-cell communication in COVID-19 patients -
  COVID-19 patients display a wide range of disease severity, ranging from asymptomatic to critical symptoms with high mortality risk. Our ability to understand the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 infected cells within the lung, and of protective or dysfunctional immune responses to the virus, is critical to effectively treat these patients. Currently, our understanding of cell-cell interactions across different disease states, and how such interactions may drive pathogenic outcomes, is incomplete. Here, we developed a generalizable workflow for identifying cells that are differentially interacting across COVID-19 patients with distinct disease outcomes and use it to examine five public single-cell RNA-seq datasets with a total of 85 individual samples. By characterizing the cell-cell interaction patterns across epithelial and immune cells in lung tissues for patients with varying disease severity, we illustrate diverse communication patterns across individuals, and discover heterogeneous communication patterns among moderate and severe patients. We further illustrate patterns derived from cell-cell interactions are potential signatures for discriminating between moderate and severe patients.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Characterization of cell-cell communication in COVID-19 patients
• Screening a library of FDA-approved and bioactive compounds for antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 -
  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has emerged as a major global health threat. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 80 million cases and 1.7 million deaths to date while the number of cases continues to rise. With limited therapeutic options, the identification of safe and effective therapeutics is urgently needed. The repurposing of known clinical compounds holds the potential for rapid identification of drugs effective against SARS-CoV-2. Here we utilized a library of FDA-approved and well-studied preclinical and clinical compounds to screen for antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 in human pulmonary epithelial cells. We identified 13 compounds that exhibit potent antiviral activity across multiple orthogonal assays. Hits include known antivirals, compounds with anti-inflammatory activity, and compounds targeting host pathways such as kinases and proteases critical for SARS-CoV-2 replication. We identified seven compounds not previously reported to have activity against SARS-CoV-2, including B02, a human RAD51 inhibitor. We further demonstrated that B02 exhibits synergy with remdesivir, the only antiviral approved by the FDA to treat COVID-19, highlighting the potential for combination therapy. Taken together, our comparative compound screening strategy highlights the potential of drug repurposing screens to identify novel starting points for development of effective antiviral mono- or combination therapies to treat COVID-19.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Screening a library of FDA-approved and bioactive compounds for antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2
• Direct measurement of B lymphocyte gene expression biomarkers in peripheral blood enables early prediction of seroconversion after vaccination -
  Vaccination is a common and efficient means to reduce the mortality and morbidity of emerging infectious diseases. Among responders, injected antigen induces acquired immunity pathways and leads to the final production of antigen-specific antibodies. The whole process may take weeks to months, depending on the antigen. Typically, seroconversion to influenza vaccine is expected after one month with a responder rate of ~50%. An early biomarker to predict response is desirable. Peripheral blood gene expression (or transcript abundance, TA) datasets in the public domain were analyzed for early biomarkers among responders. As peripheral blood samples (such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMC) are cell mixture samples containing various blood cell-types (leukocyte subpopulations, LS). We first develop a model that enables the determination of TA in B lymphocytes of certain genes directly in PBMC samples without the need of prior cell isolation. These genes are called B cell informative genes. Then a ratio of two B cell informative genes (a target gene and a stably expressed reference gene) measured in PBMC was used as a new biomarker to gauge the target gene expression in B lymphocytes. This method having an obvious advantage over conventional methods by eliminating the tedious procedure of cell sorting and enables directly determining TA of a leukocyte subpopulation in cell mixture samples is called Direct LS-TA method. By using a B lymphocyte-specific gene such as TNFRSF17 or TXNDC5 as target genes with either TNFRSF13C or FCRLA as reference genes, the B cell biomarkers were determined directly in PBMC which was highly correlated with TA of target genes in purified B lymphocytes. These Direct LS-TA biomarkers in PBMC increased significantly early after vaccination in both the discovery dataset and a meta-analysis of 7 datasets. Responders had almost a 2-fold higher Direct LS-TA biomarker level of TNFRSF17 (SMD=0.84, 95% CI=0.47-1.21 after log2). And Direct LS-TA biomarkers of TNFRSF17 and TXNDC5 measured at day 7 predict responder with sensitivity values of higher than 0.7. The Area-under curves (AUC) in receiver operation curve (ROC) analysis were over 0.8. Here, we report a straightforward approach to directly analyses B lymphocyte gene expression in PBMC, which could be used in a routine clinical setting as it avoids the labor-intensive procedures of B lymphocyte isolation. And the method allows the practice of precision medicine in the prediction of vaccination response. Furthermore, response to vaccination could be predicted as early as on day 7. As vaccination response is based on the similar acquired immunology pathway in the upcoming worldwide vaccination campaign against COVID-19, these biomarkers could also be useful to predict seroconversion for individuals.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Direct measurement of B lymphocyte gene expression biomarkers in peripheral blood enables early prediction of seroconversion after vaccination
• Engineering, production and characterization of Spike and Nucleocapsid structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in Nicotiana benthamiana as vaccine candidates against COVID-19 -
  The COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread to more than 216 countries and has put global public health at high risk. The world urgently needs a cost-effective and safe SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccine, antiviral and therapeutic drugs to control the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we engineered the Nucleocapsid (N) and Spike protein (S) variants (Receptor binding domain, RBD and S1 domain) of SARS-CoV-2 genes and produced in Nicotiana benthamiana plant. The purification yields were at least 20 mg of pure protein/kg of plant biomass for each target protein. The S protein variants of SARS-CoV-2 showed specific binding to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the SARS-CoV-2 receptor. The purified plant produced N and S variants were recognized by N and S protein specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies demonstrating specific reactivity of mAb to plant produced N and S protein variants. In addition, IgG responses of plant produced N and S antigens elicited significantly high titers of antibody in mice. This is the first report demonstrating production of functional active S1 domain and Nucleocapsid protein of SARC-CoV-2 in plants. In addition, in this study, for the first time, we report the co-expression of RBD with N protein to produce a cocktail antigen of SARS-CoV-2, which elicited high-titer antibodies compared to RBD or N proteins. Thus, obtained data support that plant produced N and S antigens, developed in this study, are promising vaccine candidates against COVID-19.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Engineering, production and characterization of Spike and Nucleocapsid structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in Nicotiana benthamiana as vaccine candidates against COVID-19

From Clinical Trials

• Dendritic Cell Vaccine to Prevent COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: AV-COVID-19
  Sponsors:   Indonesia-MoH;   Aivita Biomedical, Inc.;   PT AIVITA Biomedika Indonesia;   National Institute of Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia;   RSUP Dr. Kariadi Semarang, indonesia;   Faculty of Medicine University of Diponegoro, Indonesia
  Recruiting

• Effect of Dalcetrapib in Patients With Confirmed Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: Dalcetrapib;   Other: Placebo
  Sponsors:   DalCor Pharmaceuticals;   The Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC);   Covance
  Not yet recruiting

• suPAR-Guided Anakinra Treatment for Management of Severe Respiratory Failure by COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: Anakinra;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis
  Recruiting

• Evaluating the Impact of EnteraGam In People With COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: Bovine Plasma-Derived Immunoglobulin Concentrate;   Other: Standard of care
  Sponsors:   Entera Health, Inc;   Lemus Buhils, SL;   Clinical Research Unit, IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute)
  Not yet recruiting

• Efficacy and Safety of Remdesivir and Tociluzumab for the Management of Severe COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial - Conditions:   Covid19;   Covid-19 ARDS
  Interventions:   Drug: Remdesivir;   Drug: Tocilizumab
  Sponsors:   M Abdur Rahim Medical College and Hospital;   First affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaoting University
  Recruiting

• Inhaled Ivermectin and COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: Ivermectin Powder
  Sponsor:   Mansoura University
  Not yet recruiting

• Effect of Tenofovir/Emtricitabine in Patients Recently Infected With SARS-COV2 (Covid-19) Discharged Home - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Drug: tenofovir disoproxil and emtricitabine
  Sponsor:   University Hospital, Caen
  Recruiting

• Safety and Immunogenicity of Two Different Strengths of the Inactivated COVID 19 Vaccine ERUCOV-VAC - Condition:   COVID-19 Vaccine
  Interventions:   Biological: ERUCOV-VAC;   Other: Placebo Vaccine
  Sponsors:   Health Institutes of Turkey;   TC Erciyes University
  Recruiting

• AZD1222 Vaccine in Combination With rAd26-S, Recombinant Adenovirus Type 26 Component of Gam-COVID-Vac Vaccine, for the Prevention of COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: AZD1222;   Biological: rAd26-S
  Sponsors:   AstraZeneca;   R-Pharm
  Not yet recruiting

• Anti-COVID19 AKS-452 - ACT Study - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Biological: AKS-452
  Sponsors:   University Medical Center Groningen;   Akston Biosciences Corporation
  Not yet recruiting

• Study in Adults to Determine the Safety and Immunogenicity of AZD1222, a Non-replicating ChAdOx1 Vector Vaccine, Given in Combination With rAd26-S, Recombinant Adenovirus Type 26 Component of Gam-COVID-Vac Vaccine, for the Prevention of COVID-19. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: AZD1222;   Biological: rAd26-S
  Sponsors:   R-Pharm;   AstraZeneca
  Not yet recruiting

• Surgical Face Mask Effects in Patients With COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Other: Sit-To-Stand test
  Sponsor:   Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc- Université Catholique de Louvain
  Not yet recruiting

• Dendritic Cell Vaccine, AV-COVID-19, to Prevent COVID-19 Infection - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: AV-COVID-19;   Other: GM-CSF
  Sponsors:   Aivita Biomedical, Inc.;   PT AIVITA Biomedika Indonesia;   Indonesia Ministry of Health;   National Institute of Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia
  Recruiting

• Efficacy and Safety of hzVSF-v13 in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: hzVSF-v13;   Drug: Placebo (Normal saline solution)
  Sponsor:   ImmuneMed, Inc.
  Recruiting

• A Clinical Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Amizon® Max in the Treatment of Moderate Covid-19 - Condition:   Covid-19 Disease
  Interventions:   Drug: Enisamium Iodide;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Joint Stock Company "Farmak"
  Recruiting

From PubMed

• Human species D adenovirus hexon capsid protein mediates cell entry through a direct interaction with CD46 - Human adenovirus species D (HAdV-D) types are currently being explored as vaccine vectors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other severe infectious diseases. The efficacy of such vector-based vaccines depends on functional interactions with receptors on host cells. Adenoviruses of different species are assumed to enter host cells mainly by interactions between the knob domain of the protruding fiber capsid protein and cellular receptors. Using a cell-based receptor-screening assay, we...

• A novel virtual screening procedure identifies Pralatrexate as inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and it reduces viral replication in vitro - The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus poses serious threats to the global public health and leads to worldwide crisis. No effective drug or vaccine is readily available. The viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is a promising therapeutic target. A hybrid drug screening procedure was proposed and applied to identify potential drug candidates targeting RdRp from 1906 approved drugs. Among the four selected market available drug candidates,...

• MicroRNAs and SARS-CoV-2 life cycle, pathogenesis, and mutations: biomarkers or therapeutic agents? - To date, proposed therapies and antiviral drugs have been failed to cure coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, at least two drug companies have applied for emergency use authorization with the United States Food and Drug Administration for their coronavirus vaccine candidates and several other vaccines are in various stages of development to determine safety and efficacy. Recently, some studies have shown the role of different human and severe acute respiratory syndrome...

• Fisetin 8-C-glucoside as entry inhibitor in SARS CoV-2 infection: molecular modelling study - Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that infect varied species including humans. TMPRSS2 is gateway for SARS CoV-2 entry into the host cell. It causes proteolytic activation of spike protein and discharge of the peptide into host cell. The TMPRSS2 inhibition could be one of the approaches to stop the viral entry, therefore, interaction pattern and binding energies for Fisetin and TMPRSS2 have been explored in the present study. TMPRSS2 peptide was used for homology modelling and then for further...

• A narrative review of hydrogen-oxygen mixture for medical purpose and the inhaler thereof - Recent development regarding mixture of H(2) (concentration of ~66%) with O(2) (concentration of ~34%) for medical purpose, such as treatment of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients, is introduced. Furthermore, the design principles of a hydrogen inhaler which generates mixture of hydrogen (~66%) with oxygen (~34%) for medical purpose are proposed. With the installation of the liquid blocking module and flame arresters, the air pathway of the hydrogen inhaler is divided by multiple...

• Developing multiplex ddPCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection based on probe mix and amplitude based multiplexing - Introduction: With the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, different articles have been published highlighting the superiority of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) over the gold-standard reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) in SARS-CoV-2 detection. However, few studies have been reported on developing multiplex ddPCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection and their performance. This study shows steps on how to develop different ddPCR SAR-CoV-2 assays including higher order multiplex assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection...

• Tocilizumab combined with favipiravir in the treatment of COVID-19: A multicenter trial in a small sample size - CONCLUSION: Tocilizumab combined with or without favipiravir can effectively improve the pulmonary inflammation of COVID-19 patients and inhibit the deterioration of the disease.

• Therapeutic approaches against coronaviruses acute respiratory syndrome - Coronaviruses represent global health threat. In this century, they have already caused two epidemics and one serious pandemic. Although, at present, there are no approved drugs and therapies for the treatment and prevention of human coronaviruses, several agents, FDA-approved, and preclinical, have shown in vitro and/or in vivo antiviral activity. An in-depth analysis of the current situation leads to the identification of several potential drugs that could have an impact on the fight against...

• The British variant of the new coronavirus-19 (Sars-Cov-2) should not create a vaccine problem - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious virus that infects humans and a number of animal species causing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), a respiratory distress syndrome which has provoked a global pandemic and a serious health crisis in most countries across our planet. COVID-19 inflammation is mediated by IL-1, a disease that can cause symptoms such as fever, cough, lung inflammation, thrombosis, stroke, renal failure and headache, to name a few....

• Hydroxychloroquine Inhibits the Trained Innate Immune Response to Interferons - Hydroxychloroquine is being investigated for a potential prophylactic effect in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but its mechanism of action is poorly understood. Circulating leukocytes from the blood of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients show increased responses to Toll-like receptor ligands, suggestive of trained immunity. By analyzing interferon responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors conditioned with heat-killed...

• Lycorine, a non-nucleoside RNA dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor, as potential treatment for emerging coronavirus infections - CONCLUSIONS: Lycorine is a potent non-nucleoside direct-acting antiviral against emerging coronavirus infections and acts by inhibiting viral RdRp activity; therefore, lycorine may be a candidate against the current COVID-19 pandemic.

• The PIKfyve Inhibitor Apilimod: A Double-Edged Sword against COVID-19 - The PIKfyve inhibitor apilimod is currently undergoing clinical trials for treatment of COVID-19. However, although apilimod might prevent viral invasion by inhibiting host cell proteases, the same proteases are critical for antigen presentation leading to T cell activation and there is good evidence from both in vitro studies and the clinic that apilimod blocks antiviral immune responses. We therefore warn that the immunosuppression observed in many COVID-19 patients might be aggravated by...

• Blocking Effect of Demethylzeylasteral on the Interaction between Human ACE2 Protein and SARS-CoV-2 RBD Protein Discovered Using SPR Technology - The novel coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) has been affecting global health since the end of 2019, and there is no sign that the epidemic is abating. Targeting the interaction between the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor is a promising therapeutic strategy. In this study, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used as the primary method to screen a library of 960 compounds. A compound 02B05...

• Fucoidan and Lung Function: Value in Viral Infection - Compromised lung function is a feature of both infection driven and non-infective pathologies. Viral infections-including the current pandemic strain SARS-CoV-2-that affect lung function can cause both acute and long-term chronic damage. SARS-CoV-2 infection suppresses innate immunity and promotes an inflammatory response. Targeting these aspects of SARS-CoV-2 is important as the pandemic affects greater proportions of the population. In clinical and animal studies, fucoidans have been shown to...

• Conus venom fractions inhibit the adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 domains to the host vascular receptors - Using high-throughput BioPlex assays, we determined that six fractions from the venom of Conus nux inhibit the adhesion of various recombinant PfEMP-1 protein domains (PF08_0106 CIDR1α3.1, PF11_0521 DBL2β3, and PFL0030c DBL3X and DBL5e) to their corresponding receptors (CD36, ICAM-1, and CSA, respectively). The protein domain-receptor interactions permit P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes (IE) to evade elimination in the spleen by adhering to the microvasculature in various organs including the...

From Patent Search

• Covid 19 - Chewing Gum - - link

• A traditional Chinese medicine composition for COVID-19 and/or influenza and preparation method thereof - - link

• STOCHASTIC MODEL METHOD TO DETERMINE THE PROBABILITY OF TRANSMISSION OF NOVEL COVID-19 - The present invention is directed to a stochastic model method to assess the risk of spreading the disease and determine the probability of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). - link

• The use of human serum albumin (HSA) and Cannabigerol (CBG) as active ingredients in a composition for use in the treatment of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and its symptoms - - link

• The use of human serum albumin (HSA) and Cannabigerol (CBG) as active ingredients in a composition for use in the treatment of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and its symptoms - - link

• "AYURVEDIC PROPRIETARY MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF SEVERWE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2." - AbstractAyurvedic Proprietary Medicine for treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)In one of the aspect of the present invention it is provided that Polyherbal combinations called Coufex (syrup) is prepared as Ayurvedic Proprietary Medicine , Aqueous Extracts Mixing with Sugar Syrup form the following herbal aqueous extract coriandrum sativum was used for the formulation of protek.Further another Polyherbal combination protek as syrup is prepared by the combining an aqueous extract of the medicinal herbs including Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica, Aegle marmelos, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum sanctum, Adatoda zeylanica, Piper lingum, Andrographis panivulata, Coriandrum sativum, Tinospora cordiofolia, cuminum cyminum,piper nigrum was used for the formulation of Coufex. - link

• 제2형 중증급성호흡기증후군 코로나바이러스 감염 질환의 예방 또는 치료용 조성물 - 본 발명은 화학식 1로 표시되는 화합물, 또는 이의 약학적으로 허용가능한 염; 및 글루카곤 수용체 작용제(glucagon receptor agonist), 위 억제 펩타이드(gastric inhibitory peptide, GIP), 글루카곤-유사 펩타이드 1(glucagon-like peptide 1, GLP-1) 및 글루카곤 수용체/위 억제 펩타이드/글루카곤-유사 펩타이드 1(Glucagon/GIP/GLP-1) 삼중 완전 작용제(glucagon receptors, gastric inhibitory peptide and glucagon-like peptide 1 (Glucagon/GIP/GLP-1) triple full agonist)로 이루어진 군으로부터 선택된 1종 이상;을 포함하는 제2형 중증급성호흡기증후군 코로나바이러스 감염 질환 예방 또는 치료용 약학적 조성물을 제공한다. - link

• Haptens, hapten conjugates, compositions thereof and method for their preparation and use - A method for performing a multiplexed diagnostic assay, such as for two or more different targets in a sample, is described. One embodiment comprised contacting the sample with two or more specific binding moieties that bind specifically to two or more different targets. The two or more specific binding moieties are conjugated to different haptens, and at least one of the haptens is an oxazole, a pyrazole, a thiazole, a nitroaryl compound other than dinitrophenyl, a benzofurazan, a triterpene, a urea, a thiourea, a rotenoid, a coumarin, a cyclolignan, a heterobiaryl, an azo aryl, or a benzodiazepine. The sample is contacted with two or more different anti-hapten antibodies that can be detected separately. The two or more different anti-hapten antibodies may be conjugated to different detectable labels. - link

• SARS-CoV-2 RBD共轭纳米颗粒疫苗 - 本发明涉及免疫医学领域，具体而言，涉及一种SARS‑CoV‑2 RBD共轭纳米颗粒疫苗。该疫苗包含免疫原性复合物，所述免疫原性复合物包含：a）与SpyCatcher融合表达的载体蛋白自组装得到的纳米颗粒载体；b）与SpyTag融合表达的SARS‑CoV‑2病毒的RBD抗原；所述载体蛋白选自Ferritin、mi3和I53‑50；所述载体蛋白与所述抗原之间通过SpyCatcher‑SpyTag共价连接。 - link

• Устройство электронного контроля и дистанционного управления аппарата искусственной вентиляции легких - Полезная модель относится к медицинской технике, а именно к устройствам для воздействия на дыхательную систему пациента смесью различных газов, в частности, к устройствам для проведения искусственной вентиляции легких (ИВЛ). Технический результат предлагаемой полезной модели заключается в решении технической проблемы, состоящей в необходимости расширения арсенала технических средств, предназначенных для электронного контроля и управления ИВЛ, путем реализации возможности дистанционного управления аппаратами ИВЛ в медицинских учреждениях, не оборудованных кабельными вычислительными сетями. Указанный технический результат достигается благодаря тому, что в известное устройство электронного контроля и дистанционного управления аппарата ИВЛ, содержащее центральный микроконтроллер, а также программно-аппаратные средства управления функциями доставки воздушной смеси пациенту и многоуровневой тревожной сигнализации об отклонениях от нормативных условий и технических неполадках в аппарате ИВЛ, введены связанные друг с другом микроконтроллер связи и дистанционного управления и радиомодем, выполненный с возможностью связи с точками доступа радиканальной сети, при этом центральный микроконтроллер устройства выполнен с дополнительными входом/выходом, которые связаны с управляющими выходом/входом микроконтроллера связи и дистанционного управления, а, в зависимости от типа применяемой в медицинском учреждении радиоканальной сети связи и передачи данных, радиомодем может быть выполнен в виде интерфейсного аудиомодуля Bluetooth 4.0 BLE, приемопередающего модуля Wi-Fi либо устройства "малого радиуса действия", работающего по технологии LoRa на нелицензируемых частотах мегагерцового диапазона, например, в диапазоне 868 МГц. 3 з.п. ф-лы, 1 ил. - link