Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Inside UK Universities: Staff mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus pandemic -
  This report documents the mental health and wellbeing of university staff during the coronavirus pandemic, using survey data collected online in March 2021 from 1,182 staff employed across 92 UK universities. Overall, the survey data suggest that university staff are grappling with high levels of poor mental health and wellbeing: • One in two university staff reported experiencing chronic emotional exhaustion (55%), worry (53%), and stress (51%) during the academic year 2020/21. • Half of the staff surveyed (47%) described their mental health as poor. • Over a third of staff members reported low life satisfaction (36%). • More than a quarter of staff reported feeling as if the things they did in their lives were not worthwhile (27%). • One in two staff members experienced high levels of anxiety (50%) – 1.5 times higher than the national average (32%). • One in three university staff reported low levels of happiness (33%) compared with a national average1 of one in seven (14%). In this report, we explore factors that may alleviate the burden of poor mental health and wellbeing amongst HE staff. Factors that fall more within the remit of institutions include social inclusion and the alignment between skills and task demands. Factors that fall more within the remit of government and policy makers include autonomy and the value that is placed on universities and their staff. In publishing this report, we hope institutional leaders and policy makers will recognise the urgent need to improve staff mental health and wellbeing. As we approach another academic year impacted by Covid-19 and universities in England brace themselves for funding cuts in the next spending review, action is needed to prevent a further deterioration in staff mental health and wellbeing.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Inside UK Universities: Staff mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus pandemic
• Safety Monitoring of mRNA Vaccines Administered During the Initial 6 Months of the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program: Reports to Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and v-safe -

  Background: In December 2020, two mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for use in the United States. Vaccine safety was monitored using the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a passive surveillance system, and v-safe, an active surveillance system. Methods: VAERS and v-safe data during December 14, 2020-June 14, 2021 were analyzed. VAERS reports were categorized as non-serious, serious, or death; reporting rates were calculated. Rates of reported deaths were compared to expected mortality rates by age. Proportions of v-safe participants reporting local and systemic reactions or health impacts the week following doses 1 and 2 were determined. Findings: During the analytic period, 298,792,852 doses of mRNA vaccines were administered in the United States. VAERS processed 340,522 reports; 92.1% were non-serious; 6.6%, serious, non-death; and 1.3%, death. Over half of 7,914,583 v-safe participants self- reported local and systemic reactogenicity, more frequently after dose 2. Injection-site pain, fatigue, and headache were commonly reported during days 0-7 following vaccination. Reactogenicity was reported most frequently one day after vaccination; most reactions were mild. More reports of being unable to work or do normal activities occurred after dose 2 (32.1%) than dose 1 (11.9%); <1% of participants reported seeking medical care after vaccination. Rates of deaths reported to VAERS were lower than expected background rates by age group. Interpretation: Safety data from >298 million doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine administered in the first 6 months of the U.S. vaccination program show the majority of reported adverse events were mild and short in duration.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Safety Monitoring of mRNA Vaccines Administered During the Initial 6 Months of the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program: Reports to Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and v-safe
• Regional probabilistic situational awareness and forecasting of COVID-19 -

  Mathematical models and statistical inference are fundamental for surveillance and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several aspects cause regional heterogeneity in disease spread. Individual behaviour, mobility, viral variants and transmission vary locally, temporally and with the season, and interventions and vaccination are often implemented regionally. Therefore, we developed a new regional changepoint stochastic SEIR metapopulation model. The model is informed by real-time mobility estimates from mobile phone data, laboratory-confirmed cases, and hospitalisation incidence. To estimate locally and time-varying transmissibility, case detection probabilities, and missed imported cases, we present a new sequential Approximate Bayesian Computation method allowing inference in useful time, despite the high parametric dimension. We test our approach on Norway and find that three-week-ahead predictions are precise and well-calibrated, suitable for real-time surveillance. By comparing the reproduction number before and after lockdown, we find a national transmissibility reduction of 85% (95% CI 78%-89%). The estimated effect varied regionally and was larger for the most populated regions than in the national average.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Regional probabilistic situational awareness and forecasting of COVID-19
• The Persistence of Neutralising Antibodies up to 11 months after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Southern Region of New Zealand -

  During the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infection in New Zealand a cohort of 78 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases was recruited in the Southern District Health Board region. Here we report on this unique cohort nearly 1-year after infection. There was no known community transmission in the region over the study period due to New Zealands elimination status at the time, nor had any participants received a COVID-19 vaccine. In the absence of re exposure, antibody reactivity to the viral spike protein, as well as neutralising antibodies to both the ancestral strain and the delta variant remained relatively stable between 8 and 11 months post-infection. This suggests long-lived antibody responses can be generated from a single natural infection event. However, given the risks of serious disease associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccination is still strongly recommended.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The Persistence of Neutralising Antibodies up to 11 months after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Southern Region of New Zealand
• Dampening of the respiratory cytokine storm is promoted by inhaled budesonide in patients with early COVID-19 -

  Vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 are effective in COVID-19. However, with limited vaccine access, vaccine hesitancy and variant breakthroughs, there is still a need for effective and safe early treatments. Two community-based clinical trials of the inhaled corticosteroid, budesonide, have recently been published showing and improvement in patients with COVID-19 treated early with budesonide1,2. To understand mechanistically how budesonide was beneficial, inflammatory mediators were assessed in the nasal mucosa of patients recruited to the Steroids in COVID (STOIC1) trial and a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 negative individuals. Here we show that in early COVID-19, elevation in viral response proteins and Th1 and Th2 inflammation occurs. Longitudinal sampling in the natural course of COVID-19 showed persistently high interferon levels and elevated concentrations of the eosinophil chemokine, CCL11. In patients who deteriorate, the initial nasal mucosal signal is characterised by a marked suppression of the early inflammatory response, with reduced concentrations of interferon and inflammatory cytokines, but elevated eosinophil chemokines. Systemic inflammation remained altered in COVID-19 patients, implying that even after symptom resolution, changes in immunological mediators do not resolve. Budesonide treatment decreased IL-33 and IFN-γ, implying a reduction in epithelial damage and dampening of the interferon response. Budesonide treatment also increased CCL17 concentrations, suggesting an improved T-cell response; and significantly alters inflammatory pathways giving further insight into how this treatment can accelerate patient recovery.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Dampening of the respiratory cytokine storm is promoted by inhaled budesonide in patients with early COVID-19
• Mutations on non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are possibly responsible for adverse clinical outcomes -

  Among a cluster of COVID-19 cases from the end of March through April 2021 in Asahikawa, we experienced the cases in which patients manifested severe clinical symptoms compared to patients who were infected before that. A hundred three patients (age range: 65 to 89 years old) enrolled in this study were divided into two groups, group A: the patients infected from November 2020 to March 2021, and group B: the patients in this cluster population. The mortality rates were 6.1% in group A and 16.2% in group B (OR: 2.97, 95%CI: 0.65-15.38). For the severity of disease, the patients in group B required higher oxygen flow rate in early course of admission (mild; p=0.892, moderate; p=0.117, severe; p=0.029). Whole viral genome sequences revealed five non-synonymous mutations by comparison of the isolates with each group. Of these, four were on non-structural proteins (NSPs) including nsp3, 6 and 15, and one was on S protein located near the C-terminus, suggesting that the mutations on NSPs could be responsible for adverse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Mutations on non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are possibly responsible for adverse clinical outcomes
• The Comprehensive Thinking Styles Questionnaire: A novel measure of intuitive-analytic thinking styles -
  A common claim is that people vary not just in what they think, but how they think. In fact, there are a large number of scales that have been developed to ostensibly measure the extent to which people think analytically and effortfully rather than relying more on intuitions and gut feelings (i.e., “thinking styles”). Although many of these scales share a clear conceptual and theoretical overlap, several of them are informed by different underlying theoretical perspectives. To add clarity to the thinking styles and dual-process theory literature, we took 265 items from 15 scales and, across seven studies with 1,923 participants, systematically narrowed them down into a 24-item Comprehensive Thinking Style Questionnaire (CTSQ). Our studies revealed a consistent four-factor correlated structure with the following subscales: Actively Open-minded Thinking, Close-minded Thinking, Preference for Intuitive Thinking, and Preference for Effortful Thinking. Predictive validity for the CTSQ was established using several outcome measures (e.g., epistemically suspect beliefs, bullshit receptivity, empathy, moral judgments, among others), with some subscales having stronger predictive validity for some outcomes but not others. In a final study with nationally representative samples in the U.S. and Canada (N=2,091), found that the CTSQ generally outperformed the Cognitive Reflection Test, a popular behavioral measure of thinking styles, in predicting misperceptions about COVID-19, the ability to discern between vaccination-related true and false news, and both COVID-19 vaccination intentions and attitudes. The CTSQ helps alleviate the jangle fallacy in thinking styles research and adds theoretical clarity to the literature on dual-process theories.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The Comprehensive Thinking Styles Questionnaire: A novel measure of intuitive-analytic thinking styles
• Mobility network reveals the impact of geographic vaccination heterogeneity on COVID-19 -

  Massive vaccination is one of the most effective epidemic control measures. Because one9s vaccination decision is shaped by social processes (e.g., socioeconomic sorting and social contagion), the pattern of vaccine uptake tends to show strong social and geographical heterogeneity, such as urban-rural divide and clustering. Yet, little is known to what extent and how the vaccination heterogeneity affects the course of outbreaks. Here, leveraging the unprecedented availability of data and computational models produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigate two network effects –the “hub effect” (hubs in the mobility network usually have higher vaccination rates) and the “homophily effect” (neighboring places tend to have similar vaccination rates). Applying Bayesian deep learning and fine-grained simulations for the U.S., we show that stronger homophily leads to more infections while a stronger hub effect results in fewer cases. Our simulation estimates that these effects have a combined net negative impact on the outcome, increasing the total cases by approximately 10% in the U.S. Inspired by these results, we propose a vaccination campaign strategy that targets a small number of regions to further improve the vaccination rate, which can reduce the number of cases by 20% by only vaccinating an additional 1% of the population according to our simulations. Our results suggest that we must examine the interplay between vaccination patterns and mobility networks beyond the overall vaccination rate, and that the government may need to shift policy focus from overall vaccination rates to geographical vaccination heterogeneity.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Mobility network reveals the impact of geographic vaccination heterogeneity on COVID-19
• Boosting of the SARS-CoV-2-specific immune response after vaccination with single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine -

  Despite the measures taken worldwide, COVID-19 pandemic still progresses. While efficient antiviral drugs are not yet widely available, vaccination is the best option to control the infection rate. Although this option is obvious in case of COVID-19-naive individuals, it is still unclear when individuals who have recovered from a previous SARS- CoV-2 infection should be vaccinated and whether the vaccination raises immune responses against the coronavirus and its novel variants. Here we measured the dynamics of the antibody and T-cell responses, as well as virus neutralizing activity (VNA) in serum against two SARS-CoV-2 variants, B.1.1.1 and B.1.617.2, among 84 individuals with different COVID-19 status who were vaccinated with Sputnik Light vaccine. We showed that vaccination of individuals previously exposed to the virus considerably boosts the existing immune response. In these individuals, RBD-specific IgG titers and VNA in serum were already elevated on the 7th day after vaccination, while COVID-19-naive individuals developed the antibody response and VNA mainly 21 days post-vaccination. Additionally, we found a strong correlation between RBD- specific IgG titers and VNA in serum, and according to these data vaccination may be recommended if the RBD-specific IgG titers drop to 142.7 BAU/mL or below. In summary, the results of the study demonstrate that vaccination is beneficial both for COVID-19-naive and recovered individuals, especially since it raises serum VNA against the B.1.617.2 variant - one of four the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Boosting of the SARS- CoV-2-specific immune response after vaccination with single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine
• Kinetics of immune responses to the AZD1222/Covishield vaccine with varying dose intervals in Sri Lankan individuals -

  Background: To understand the kinetics of immune responses with different dosing gaps of the AZD1222 vaccine, we compared antibody and T cell responses in two cohorts with two different dosing gaps. Methods: Antibodies to the SARS- CoV-2 virus were assessed in 297 individuals with a dosing gap of 12 weeks, sampled at 12 weeks post second dose (cohort

1. and in 77 individuals with a median dosing gap of 21.4 weeks (cohort 2) sampled 6 weeks post second dose. ACE2 receptor blocking antibodies (ACE2R-Abs), antibodies to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the virus and variants of concern (VOC) and ex vivo T cell responses were assessed in a sub cohort. Results: All individuals (100%) had SARS-CoV-2 specific total antibodies and 94.2% of cohort 1 and 97.1% of cohort 2 had ACE2R-blocking Abs. There was no difference in antibody titres or positivity rates in different age groups in both cohorts. The ACE2R- blocking Abs (p<0.0001) and antibodies to the RBD of the VOCs were significantly higher in cohort 2, compared to cohort 1. 41.2% to 65.8% of different age groups gave a positive response by the haemagglutination assay to the RBD of the ancestral virus and VOCs in cohort 1, while 53.6% to 90% gave a positive response in cohort 2. 17/57 (29.8%) of cohort 1 and 17/29 (58.6%) of cohort 2 had ex vivo IFNg ELISpot responses above the positive threshold. The ACE2R-blocking antibodies and ex vivo IFNg ELISpot responses at 12 weeks post-first dose, significantly correlated with levels 12 weeks post second dose (Spearmans r=0.46, p=0.008) and (Spearmans r=0.71, p<0.0001) respectively. Conclusions: Both dosing schedules resulted in high levels of antibody and T cell responses post vaccination, although those with a longer dosing gap had a higher magnitude of responses, possibly as immune responses were measured 6 weeks post second dose compared to 12 weeks post second dose.
   🖺 Full Text HTML: Kinetics of immune responses to the AZD1222/Covishield vaccine with varying dose intervals in Sri Lankan individuals

• Deep autoencoder enables interpretable tissue-adaptive deconvolution and cell-type-specific gene analysis -
  Single-cell RNA-seq has become a powerful tool for researchers to study biologically significant characteristics at explicitly high resolution, but its application on emerging data is currently limited by its intrinsic techniques. Here, we introduce TAPE, a deep learning method that connects bulk RNA-seq and single-cell RNA-seq to balance the demands of big data and precision. By taking advantage of constructing an interpretable decoder and training under a unique scheme, TAPE can predict cell-type fractions and cell-type-specific gene expression tissue-adaptively. Compared with existing methods on several benchmarking datasets, TAPE is more accurate (up to 40% performance improvement on the real bulk data) and faster than previous methods. For example, only TAPE can predict the tendency of increasing monocytes-to-lymphocytes (MLR) ratio in COVID-19 patients from mild to serious symptoms, whose estimated indices are consistent with laboratory data. More importantly, through the analysis of clinical data, TAPE shows its ability to predict cell-type-specific gene expression profiles with biological significance. Combining with single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), TAPE also provides valuable clues for people to investigate the immune response in different virus-infected patients. We believe that TAPE will enable and accelerate the precise analysis of high- throughput clinical data in a wide range.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Deep autoencoder enables interpretable tissue-adaptive deconvolution and cell-type-specific gene analysis
• Commuting behaviours and COVID-19 -
  The UK Government restrictions on non-essential work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that millions of working aged-adults were forced into an unplanned lifestyle change. We present data on changes in commuting behaviour of public transport and car commuters and describe the facilitators and barriers to switching commuting behaviours, with a specific focus on cycling and walking. An online survey queried individuals’ transport mode to/from work before becoming aware of COVID-19 threat, when restrictions were in place and the transport mode they may use once restrictions are lifted. Free-form text responses were also collected on why they may switch to a sustainable mode of transport (e.g. walk, bicycle or bus) to work in the future and what would help/allow them to achieve this. Quantitative and qualitative data on those who commuted by car (single occupant) and public transport (bus/rail/park & ride) were analysed and presented separately. Overall, 725 car and public transport commuters responded; 72.4% were car commuters and 27.6% were public transport commuters before COVID-19. Of the car commuters, 81.9% may continue travelling by car once restrictions are lifted while 3.6% and 6.5% might change to walking and cycling, respectively. Of the public transport commuters, 49.0% plan to switch modes. From the free-form text responses three themes were identified: (a) perceived behavioural control towards cycling and walking (infrastructure and safety of roads, distance, weather) (b) key motivators to encourage a switch to cycling and walking (provision to support cycling, personal and environmental benefits); (c) the demands of current lifestyle (job requirements, family and lifestyle commitments). These UK data show how the COVID-19 pandemic has been an “external shock” causing some individuals to reassess their commuting mode. This provides an opportunity for theory-based behaviour change interventions tackling motivations, barriers and beliefs towards changing commute mode.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Commuting behaviours and COVID-19
• COVCOG 1: Factors predicting Cognitive Symptoms in Long COVID. A First Publication from the COVID and Cognition Study. -

  Since its first emergence in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS–CoV–2), has evolved into a global pandemic. Whilst often considered a respiratory disease, a large proportion of COVID–19 patients report neurological symptoms, and there is accumulating evidence for neural damage in some individuals, with recent studies suggesting loss of gray matter in multiple regions, particularly in the left hemisphere. There are a number of mechanisms by which COVID–19 infection may lead to neurological symptoms and structural and functional changes in the brain, and it is reasonable to expect that many of these may translate into cognitive problems. Indeed, cognitive problems are one of the most commonly reported symptoms in those suffering from Long COVID – the chronic illness following COVID–19 infection that affects between 10–25% of sufferers. The COVID and Cognition Study is a part cross–sectional, part longitudinal, study documenting and aiming to understand the cognitive problems in Long COVID. In this first paper from the study, we document the characteristics of our sample of 181 individuals who had suffered COVID–19 infection, and 185 who had not. We explore which factors may be predictive of ongoing symptoms and their severity, as well as conducting an in-depth analysis of symptom profiles. Finally, we explore which factors predict the presence and severity of cognitive symptoms, both throughout the ongoing illness and at the time of testing. The main finding from this first analysis is that that severity of initial illness is a significant predictor of the presence and severity of ongoing symptoms, and that some symptoms during the acute illness – particularly limb weakness – may be more common in those that have more severe ongoing symptoms. Symptom profiles can be well described in terms of 5 or 6 factors, reflecting the variety of this highly heterogenous condition suffered by the individual. Specifically, we found that neurological and fatigue symptoms during the initial illness, and that neurological, gastro-intestinal and cardiopulmonary symptoms during the ongoing illness, predicted experience of cognitive symptoms.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: COVCOG 1: Factors predicting Cognitive Symptoms in Long COVID. A First Publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.
• HYPER: Group testing via hypergraph factorization applied to COVID-19 -

  Large scale screening is a critical tool in the life sciences, but is often limited by reagents, samples, or cost. An important challenge in screening has recently manifested in the ongoing effort to achieve widespread testing for individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the face of substantial resource constraints. Group testing methods utilize constrained testing resources more efficiently by pooling specimens together, potentially allowing larger populations to be screened with fewer tests. A key challenge in group testing is to design an effective pooling strategy. The global nature of the ongoing pandemic calls for something simple (to aid implementation) and flexible (to tailor for settings with differing needs) that remains efficient. Here we propose HYPER, a new group testing method based on hypergraph factorizations. We provide theoretical characterizations under a general statistical model, and exhaustively evaluate HYPER and proposed alternatives for SARS-CoV-2 screening under realistic simulations of epidemic spread and within-host viral kinetics. We demonstrate that HYPER performs at least as well as other methods in scenarios that are well-suited to each method, while outperforming those methods across a broad range of resource-constrained environments, being more flexible and simple in design, and taking no expertise to implement. An online tool to implement these designs in the lab is available at http://hyper.covid19-analysis.org.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: HYPER: Group testing via hypergraph factorization applied to COVID-19
• Children Mirror Adults for the Worse: Evidence of Suicide Rates due to Air Pollution and Recessions -
  [Background] Every year, more than 700,000 die due to suicide, one of the most common reasons for youth death. While many studies have revealed two main factors for suicidal behavior: impulsive suicidal behavior due to mental illness and financial stress, it is not clear what happens if individuals face deterioration of mental health and economic recession. This paper attempts to answer this question and how suicide rates are correlated with these factors. [Methods] We empirically investigate whether economic recessions and air pollution trigger suicides by examining Japan, a country with one of the highest suicide rates, from 2014 to 2021. We take advantage of the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic and the periods before the pandemic when both economic recessions and reductions in air pollution occurred simultaneously. Using monthly and municipal-level data, we construct a triple difference model that takes air pollution and unemployment as treatments. [Results] Our findings show that high levels of air pollution and unemployment have substantial impacts on the suicide rates of adults (22.9% in the short term) and children (42.7% in the short term, 36.0% in the long term), indicating that the increase in suicide rates among children is almost twice as high as that among adults. Our study finds that unemployment and air pollution alone are not associated with increased suicide rates but their simultaneous occurrence triggers suicides. [Conclusions] Our study urges suicide prevention, particularly among children, as an essential consideration for public health. Furthermore, our results indicate the need for the government to allocate resources to recover air quality and the economy simultaneously during a recession to reduce suicide mortality.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Children Mirror Adults for the Worse: Evidence of Suicide Rates due to Air Pollution and Recessions

From Clinical Trials

• Efficacy and Safety of Apixaban in COVID-19 Coagulopathy Patients With Respiratory Severity Under Critical Care - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: Apixaban
  Sponsors:  
  Scotmann Pharmaceuticals;   Rawalpindi Medical College
  Not yet recruiting

• Efficacy of Home Inspiratory Muscle Training in Post-covid-19 Patients: a Randomized Clinical Trial - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Device: Inspiratory muscle training
  Sponsor:  
  Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
  Recruiting

• COVID-19 Study of Pharmacokinetics, Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Intravenous Anti-Spike(s) SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal Antibodies (Casirivimab+Imdevimab) for the Treatment of Pediatric Patients Hospitalized Due to COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: casirivimab+imdevimab
  Sponsor:  
  Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
  Not yet recruiting

• Immunogenicity and Safety of Heterologous and Homologous Boosting With ChAdOx1-S and CoronaVac or a Formulation of SCB-2019 (COVID-19) - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Biological: ChAdOx1-S COVID-19 Vaccine(Fiocruz/Oxford- AstraZeneca);   Biological: CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech);   Biological: Adjuvanted Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 TrimericS- protein Subunit Vaccine (SCB-2019 - Clover)
  Sponsors:   D’Or Institute for Research and Education;   Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;   Instituto Fernandes Figueira
  Not yet recruiting

• WHO COVID-19 - Evaluation of the Efficacy of Probiotics to Reduce the Occurrence of Long COVID - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: Probiotics;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke;   Lallemand Health Solutions
  Not yet recruiting

• Tocilizumab Versus Baricitinib in Patients With Severe COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Tocilizumab;   Drug: Baricitinib
  Sponsor:   University Hospital of Patras
  Recruiting

• The Efficacy and Safety of Pyramax in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Patients (Phase3) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Pyramax;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:  
  Shin Poong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
  Recruiting

• JINZHEN for Treatment of Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: JINZHEN Granules for Oral Solution;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Lianyungang Kanion Group, Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Effectiveness of Using Interactive Consulting System to Enhance Decision Aids of COVID-19 Vaccination - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Device: Chatbot
  Sponsor:   Sun Yat- sen University
  Recruiting

• Impact of Nudges on Downloads of COVID-19 Exposure Notification Smartphone Apps: A Randomized Trial - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Self-Benefit/Social Norm;   Behavioral: Self- Benefit/No Social Norm;   Behavioral: Other Benefit/Social Norm;   Behavioral: Other Benefit/No Social Norm
  Sponsors:   University of Pennsylvania;   Pennsylvania Department of Health
  Completed

• Clinical Validation of Breath Analyser Tests for Diagnosis of COVID-19. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: Breath Sample analysis
  Sponsor:   Tera Group
  Recruiting

• Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity Study of the Recombinant Two-component COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Recombinant two-component COVID-19 vaccine (CHO cell);   Biological: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Jiangsu Rec-Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Cardiovascular Assessment in Patient Recovered From COVID-19 and Recovery of Autonomic Nervous System in Association With the Severity of the Disease - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Other: Non invasive cardiovascular monitoring with CNAP device of arterial pressure, ECG and respiratory activity
  Sponsor:   IRCCS Policlinico S. Donato
  Recruiting

• Safety and Efficacy of KOVIR (TD0068) in the Combination Regimen With Background Treatment in COVID-19 Patients (KOVIR) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: KOVIR (TD0068) oral capsule;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo oral capsule
  Sponsors:   Sunstar Joint Stock Company;   Vietstar Biomedical Research
  Recruiting

• Phase 1 Trial of ChAd68 and Ad5 Adenovirus COVID-19 Vaccines Delivered by Aerosol - Conditions:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV2 Infection
  Interventions:   Biological: Ad5-triCoV/Mac;   Biological: ChAd-triCoV/Mac
  Sponsors:   McMaster University;   Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Associations between accessibility to health care service, social support, and Korean Americans’ mental health status amid the COVID-19 pandemic - CONCLUSION: Our findings recommend that equipping community health care services with translators or interpreters is necessary. Additionally, health practitioners and staff should be trained to utilize telehealth tools to effectively treat individuals with mental health problems. American policymakers and health care professionals need to understand and address the unique hardships Korean Americans experience amid COVID-19.

• ORF3a of SARS-CoV-2 promotes lysosomal exocytosis-mediated viral egress - Viral entry and egress are important determinants of virus infectivity and pathogenicity. β-coronaviruses, including the COVID-19 virus SARS-CoV-2 and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), exploit the lysosomal exocytosis pathway for egress. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a, but not SARS-CoV ORF3a, promotes lysosomal exocytosis. SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a facilitates lysosomal targeting of the BORC-ARL8b complex, which mediates trafficking of lysosomes to the vicinity of the plasma membrane, and…

• Structural, Electronic, and Electrostatic Determinants for Inhibitor Binding to Subsites S1 and S2 in SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease - Creating small-molecule antivirals specific for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins is crucial to battle coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)) is an established drug target for the design of protease inhibitors. We performed a structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of noncovalent compounds that bind in the enzyme’s substrate-binding subsites S1 and S2, revealing structural, electronic, and electrostatic determinants of…

• Gold-Nanostar-Chitosan-Mediated Delivery of SARS-CoV-2 DNA Vaccine for Respiratory Mucosal Immunization: Development and Proof-of-Principle - The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (SC2). A variety of anti-SC2 vaccines have been approved for human applications, including those using messenger RNA (mRNA), adenoviruses expressing SC2 spike (S) protein, and inactivated virus. The protective periods of immunization afforded by these intramuscularly administered vaccines are currently unknown. An alternative self-administrable vaccine capable of mounting long-lasting immunity via sterilizing neutralizing antibodies…

• Natural products for infectious microbes and diseases: an overview of sources, compounds, and chemical diversities - As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threatens human health globally, infectious disorders have become one of the most challenging problem for the medical community. Natural products (NP) have been a prolific source of antimicrobial agents with widely divergent structures and a range vast biological activities. A dataset comprising 618 articles, including 646 NP-based compounds from 672 species of natural sources with biological activities against 21 infectious pathogens from five categories,…

• Pediococcus acidilactici CCFM6432 mitigates chronic stress-induced anxiety and gut microbial abnormalities - The discovery of psychobiotics has improved the therapeutic choices available for clinical mental disorders and shows promise for regulating mental health in people by combining the properties of food and medicine. A Pediococcus acidilactici strain CCFM6432 was previously isolated and its mood-regulating effect was investigated in this study. Viable bacteria were given to chronically stressed mice for five weeks, and then the behavioral, neurobiological, and gut microbial changes were…

• Efficacy and safety of IL-6 inhibitors in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of multicentre, randomized trials - CONCLUSION: IL-6 inhibitors reduced longest follow-up mortality and intubation in COVID-19 patients. Findings need to be confirmed in high-quality RCTs.

• S100A8 and S100A9, biomarkers of SARS-Cov2-infected patients, suppress HIV replication in primary macrophages - S100A8 and S100A9 are members of the Alarmin family; these proteins are abundantly expressed in neutrophils and form a heterodimer complex. Recently, both proteins were identified as novel biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 infection and were shown to play key roles in inducing an aggressive inflammatory response by mediating the release of large amounts of pro- inflammatory cytokines, called the “cytokine storm.” Although co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in people living with HIV-1 may result in an…

• Synergistic inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 cell entry by otamixaban and covalent protease inhibitors: pre-clinical assessment of pharmacological and molecular properties - SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploits host cell proteins for viral entry into human lung cells. One of them, the protease TMPRSS2, is required to activate the viral spike protein (S). Even though two inhibitors, camostat and nafamostat, are known to inhibit TMPRSS2 and block cell entry of SARS-CoV-2, finding further potent therapeutic options is still an important task. In this study, we report that a late-stage drug candidate, otamixaban, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 cell entry. We…

• Humoral immunogenicity of the seasonal influenza vaccine before and after CAR-T-cell therapy: a prospective observational study - Recipients of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cell therapies for B cell malignancies have profound and prolonged immunodeficiencies and are at risk for serious infections, including respiratory virus infections. Vaccination may be important for infection prevention, but there are limited data on vaccine immunogenicity in this population. We conducted a prospective observational study of the humoral immunogenicity of commercially available 2019-2020 inactivated influenza vaccines in…

• Chemoradiation With or Without Metformin in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer: Phase II Randomized Trial - CONCLUSION: Metformin decreases cervical tumor hypoxia with a trend towards improved DFS in this trial. A larger confirmatory trial is warranted.

• Structural characteristics of Heparan sulfate required for the binding with the virus processing Enzyme Furin - Furin is one of the nine-member proprotein convertase family. Furin cleaves proteins with polybasic residues, which includes many viral glycoproteins such as SARS-Cov-2 spike protein. The cleavage is required for the activation of the proteins. Currently, the mechanisms that regulate Furin activity remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrated that Furin is a novel heparin/heparan sulfate binding protein by the use of biochemical and genetic assays. The K(D) is 9.78 nM based on the biolayer…

• New Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors and Their Anesthetic and Analgesic Considerations - Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) inhibit the presynaptic neuronal uptake of serotonin and norepinephrine and prolong the effects of the monoamines in the synaptic cleft within the central nervous system, leading to increased postsynaptic receptor activation and neuronal activities. Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors can have multiple clinical indications, including as the first-line agents for the management of depression and anxiety, and as analgesics in the…

• Garcinia kola and garcinoic acid suppress SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein S1-induced hyper-inflammation in human PBMCs through inhibition of NF-kappaB activation - Symptoms and complications associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and organ damage have been linked to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1-induced increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by immune cells. In this study, the effects of an extract of Garcinia kola seeds and garcinoic acid were investigated in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1-stimulated human PBMCs. Results of ELISA experiments revealed that Garcinia kola extract (6.25, 12.5, and…

• Haste makes waste: A critical review of docking-based virtual screening in drug repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M-pro) inhibition - This review makes a critical evaluation of 61 peer-reviewed manuscripts that use a docking step in a virtual screening (VS) protocol to predict SARS-CoV-2 M-pro (M-pro) inhibitors in approved or investigational drugs. Various manuscripts predict different compounds, even when they use a similar initial dataset and methodology, and most of them do not validate their methodology or results. In addition, a set of known 150 SARS-CoV-2 M-pro inhibitors extracted from the literature and a second set…

From Patent Search

• Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and uses thereof I - - link

• Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and uses thereof II - - link

• 휴대용 자화 육각수물 발생기 - 본인의 발명은, 사람의 신체에서 육각수물 생성에는 한계가 있으며, 동맥혈관, 정맥혈관 내부 혈액은 수분이 약 90% 이며, 건강한 성인이면, 육각수 물은 약 62% 이며, COVID-19 환자, 사고의 부상, 17만개의 질병, 질환으로 조직세포가 손상되면 자기 신체수복을 위해서 육각수 물을 평소보다 많이 흡수 하면서 동반 산소부족 상태가 되며, 육각수물 보충 없이 산소 호흡기를 사용하면 심각한 후유증이 발병 할 수 있다.

육각수물 부족 상태를 해결하기 위해서, 객관적인 과학적으로 네오디뮴(원자번호 = 60) 3.000 가우스의 자기장을 이용하여서 육각수 물을 62% ~ 80% 이상, 상시 유지 시켜주는 제조 방법이며, 휴대용으로 항시 착용 가능하다. 결론은 COVID-19, 질병, 질환의 근본적인 원인은, 육각수물 부족 상태가 되면 동반 산소 부족 상태가 되면서, 염증 -> 통증 -> 극심한 통증 -> 석회화, 섬유화, 암 까지 발병 한다. - link

• 휴대용 자화 육각수물 발생기 - 본인의 발명은, 사람의 신체에서 육각수 생성에는 한계가 있으며, 동맥혈관, 정맥혈관 내부 혈액은 수분이 90% 이며, 육각수물은 약 62% 이며, COVID-19, 사고 부상, 질병, 질환으로 조직세포가 손상되면 자기 신체수복을 위해서 육각수물을 평소보다 많이 흡수하면서 산소부족 상태가 되며, 육각수 보충 없이 산소호흡기를 사용하면 심각한 후유증이 발병 할 수 있다 육각수물 부족 상태를 해결하기 위해서, 객관적인 과학적으로 네오디뮴(원자번호 = 60) 3.000 가우스의 자기장을 이용하여서 육각수물을 62% ~ 80% 상시 유지 시켜주는 제조 방법이며, 휴대용으로 항시 착용 가능하다. 결론은 COVID-19, 질병, 질환의 근본적인 원인은, 육각수물 부족 상태가 되면 동반 산소 부족 상태가 되면서, 염증 -> 통증 -> 극심한 통증 -> 석회화, 섬유화, 암 까지 발병 한다. - link

• 用于检测新冠病毒的配对抗体及其应用 - 本发明涉及一种用于检测新冠病毒的配对抗体及其应用，其包括第一检测抗体和第二检测抗体；第一检测抗体具有如SEQ ID NO:1~3所示的轻链互补决定区，以及如SEQ ID NO:4~6所示的重链互补决定区，第二检测抗体具有如SEQ ID NO:7~9所示的轻链互补决定区，以及如SEQ ID NO:10~12所示的重链互补决定区。本发明筛选得到具有上述互补决定区序列的配对抗体，其识别N蛋白的不同表位，且由于两种抗体识别的是N蛋白非核酸结合区域，不会受核酸负电荷干扰，对核酸抗原表现出了兼容性，具有较好的稳定性，同时上述配对抗体具有较高的亲和力，病毒N蛋白检测灵敏度高。 - link

• 抗KL-6双特异性抗体及基因、重组载体、药物、试剂盒 - 本发明公开了抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段，所述抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段包括抗PTS域和抗SEA域，所述抗PTS域的重链可变区的CDR1、CDR2和CDR3分别具有SEQ ID NO.1~3所示的氨基酸序列。本发明还提供了基因、重组载体、药物、试剂盒。本发明的抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段用于与KL‑6蛋白特异性结合，基因、重组载体用于抗KL‑6双特异性抗体的制备，药物用于治疗KL‑6蛋白引起的相关疾病，试剂盒用于KL‑6蛋白的定量检测。 - link

• 基于决策树模型与逻辑回归模型组合的感染筛查方法 - 本发明公开了一种基于决策树模型与逻辑回归模型组合的感染筛查方法，其检测操作方便，可提高感染筛查准确性，该方法基于生命体征监护仪实现，生命体征监护仪与远程数据服务平台通信连接，远程数据服务平台依据临床数据进行感染筛查，该方法包括：通过生命体征监护仪检测获取用户临床数据，将临床数据随机划分为训练集、测试集，将训练集均分为两份：训练集A、训练集B，基于训练集A构建决策树模型，同时，对训练集A进行特征选择，将关键特征向量作为已构建的决策树模型的输入，获取新构造特征向量，基于组合特征向量，构造逻辑回归模型，基于决策树模型和逻辑回归模型组合，对测试集进行预测分类，获取分类结果。 - link

• 病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及应用 - 一种病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及其应用，通过病毒受体结合蛋白夹心法原理检测中和抗体，其为通过提前设置病毒受体结合蛋白和能阻断中和抗体与其结合的作为配体的蛋白所形成的复合物，将靶向受体蛋白的非中和抗体提前捕获，保证后续通过夹心法检测中和抗体的特异性。解决了现有技术中中和抗体检测灵敏度低、特异性差以及不能区分中和抗体与非中和抗体的问题，提供了一种简便、快速、灵敏度高、特异性高的病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及其应用。 - link

• 扩增△500-532的SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1基因的引物对及其检测方法 - 本发明公开了一种扩增Δ500‑532的SARS‑CoV‑2 Nsp1基因的引物对及其检测方法。引物对的具体序列如SEQ ID NO.1和SEQ ID NO.2所示，其检测方法为：采用引物对对SARS‑CoV‑2 Nsp1基因进行PCR，对PCR产物进行变性退火后，加入T7EI内切酶孵育，再进行PCR扩增，并判断是否存在Δ500‑532的SARS‑CoV‑2 Nsp1基因。本发明可简便快捷的区分出SARS‑CoV‑2 Nsp1基因突变型和野生型。 - link

• 广谱抗冠状病毒和流感病毒及口腔致病菌复合IgY及其制剂 - 本发明提供一种广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体和制剂。本发明提供制备广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体和制剂的方法。广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY可结合保守的抗原表位，达到广谱中和效果，解决新冠病毒和流感病毒变异的问题。本发明将广谱抗新冠病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体制成系列制剂，包括牙膏和口含片以及潄口水和其它日用品、口鼻喷雾剂、消毒剂、洗手液、粉剂、片剂、糖果、滴鼻剂、滴眼剂、口服剂、胶囊剂，应用于防治新冠和流感以及口腔疾病的药物、消毒产品、保健品和医疗器械中。 - link