Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Characterizing all-cause excess mortality patterns during COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico -

  Background: Low testing rates and delays in reporting hinder the estimation of the mortality burden associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. During a public health emergency, estimating all cause excess deaths above an expected level of death can provide a more reliable picture of the mortality burden. Here, we aim to estimate the absolute and relative mortality impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. Methods: We obtained weekly mortality time series due to all causes for Mexico, and by gender, and geographic region from 2015 to 2020. We also compiled surveillance data on COVID-19 cases and deaths to assess the timing and intensity of the pandemic and assembled weekly series of the proportion of tweets about death from Mexico to assess the correlation between media interaction of people about death and the rise in pandemic deaths. We estimated all-cause excess mortality rates and mortality rate ratio increase over baseline by fitting Serfling regression models and forecasted the total excess deaths for Mexico for the first four weeks of 2021 using the generalized logistic growth model. Results: We estimated the all-cause excess mortality rate associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico in 2020 at 26.10 per 10,000 population, which corresponds to 333,538 excess deaths. Males had about 2-fold higher excess mortality rate (33.99) compared to females (18.53). Mexico City reported the highest excess death rate (63.54) and RR (2.09) compared to rest of the country (excess rate=23.25, RR=1.62). While COVID-19 deaths accounted for only 38.64% of total excess deaths in Mexico, our forecast estimate that Mexico has accumulated a total of ~61610 [95% PI: 60003, 63216] excess deaths in the first four weeks of 2021. Proportion of tweets was significantly correlated with the excess mortality (ρ=0.508 [95% CI: 0.245, 0.701], p-value=0.0004). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily affected Mexico. The lab-confirmed COVID-19 deaths accounted for only 38.64% of total all cause excess deaths (333,538) in Mexico in 2020. This reflects either the effect of low testing rates in Mexico, or the surge in number of deaths due to other causes during the pandemic. A model-based forecast indicates that an average of 61,610 excess deaths have occurred in January 2021.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Characterizing all-cause excess mortality patterns during COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
• COVID-19, PHYSICAL DISTANCING IN THE WORKPLACE AND EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH: IMPLICATIONS AND INSIGHTS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL INTERVENTIONS - NARRATIVE REVIEW -
  Physical distancing is one of the non-pharmaceutical measures adopted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Although it appears to be effective in mitigating this spread, its implementation in workplaces may undermine employees’ mental health. In fact, torn between the fear of contagion and the need to maintain their jobs, employees must also comply with physical distancing measures in the workplace, which alter social interactions and set a predetermined frame and distance that guide employees’ behaviors within the organization while they need empathy. This situation might increase their level of stress. This paper is a narrative review that addresses the impact of physical distancing in the workplace on employees’ mental health. It presents the main factors that might moderate this impact and it recommends organizational interventions that can help to mitigate it. Physical distancing measures in workplaces are necessary and inevitable. Notwithstanding, they might undermine employees’ mental health, whence the importance to implement proper organizational actions to support employees and to facilitate their adaptation, in this unprecedented organizational change. This paper examines a relatively unexplored topic. It goes beyond examining social isolation to explore how setting a predetermined frame and distance can have an impact on employees’ mental health and recommends interventions that might help organizations to prevent mental health issues.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: COVID-19, PHYSICAL DISTANCING IN THE WORKPLACE AND EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH: IMPLICATIONS AND INSIGHTS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL INTERVENTIONS - NARRATIVE REVIEW
• The human factor between airborne pollen concentrations and COVID-19 disease dynamics -
  In their seminal paper, Damialis and colleagues (2021, PNAS) report that, in early 2020, higher airborne pollen concentrations were related to higher COVID-19 infection rates. As a mechanism, the authors propose that “pollen exposure weakens the immunity … by diminishing the antiviral interferon response.” Although they assume an effect for the whole population, they speculate that it could be stronger for those with allergies. As a limitation, they acknowledge that they did not account for the countries’ testing strategies. As allergic people may be more likely to show symptoms that may be mistaken for those of COVID-19 (runny nose, headache, increased temperature), we explored whether people with allergies were more prone to get a rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen test. Moreover, we assessed whether the test result was more likely to be positive among those with allergies.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The human factor between airborne pollen concentrations and COVID-19 disease dynamics
• Daily Fluctuations in Occupation with and Worry about COVID-19 -
  In the first week after the first COVID-19 patient was reported in the Netherlands, we conducted a pre-registered momentary assessment study (7 surveys per day, 50 participants, 7 days) to study the dynamic relationship between individuals’ occupation with and worries about COVID-19 in daily life, and the moderating role of neuroticism in this relationship. At the group level, higher scores on occupation and worry co-occurred, and occupation predicted worry one hour later, but not vice versa. There were substantial individual differences in the magnitudes and directions of the effects. For instance, occupation with COVID-19 was related to increases in worry for some, but decreases in worry for others. Neuroticism did not predict any of these individual differences in the links between worry and occupation. This study suggests that it is important to go beyond group-level analyses and to account for individual differences in responses to COVID-19.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Daily Fluctuations in Occupation with and Worry about COVID-19
• LET’S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER: A Challenge for Medically Optimal Coronavirus Social Distancing Policies -
  Public health efforts to slow the COVID-19 epidemic and protect the vulnerable have focused on reducing interpersonal contact and increasing interpersonal physical distance. They have achieved considerable success, with over three-quarters of Americans reporting that they follow all the recommended precautionary practices of social distancing, so it is likely that, at least, they follow most of them most of the time. But there is an elephant in the room: Overnighting – staying overnight at someone else’s home or having them stay overnight at your place is rarely, if ever, mentioned publicly. But we will show that this is a widespread practice in American society, throughout the epidemic thus far. In the past month, over half of all Americans had at least one overnight guest and about the same number (but not always the same people) spent at least one night in the past month at somebody else’s home. The consequences are striking: People who overnight are more than twice as likely to report that they have had COVID-19. Who overnights? The practice is much more common among young adults (over 60% for those 25-34) than among their seniors (dipping below 30% for those age 65 and over). Moreover, risk seekers are hugely more likely to overnight than are their otherwise similar risk averse peers. Data: International Social Science Survey, Round 21, Cohorts 1-5, collected April – July 2020, N=4,815. Methods: Descriptive statistics and multiple regression.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: LET’S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER: A Challenge for Medically Optimal Coronavirus Social Distancing Policies
• A Scale for Measuring Social Distancing Behavior: Survey Questions and National Norms, USA 2020 -
  “Social distancing”, a set of “nonpharmaceutical interventions” or NPIs in the medical literature, is a primary defence, perhaps the primary defence, against infectious disease, universally advocated by medical authorities in the US and throughout the world during the current coronavirus pandemic. The idea is not new. Perhaps the first government-directed quarantine system was mid-fourteenth-century Venice’s “quaranta giorni”, forty days of mandated isolation for incoming ships. We propose a 5-item primary scale of “social distancing” behavior (KEK-3) and a slightly extended variant (KEK-3m), developed for use during the COVID-19 epidemic (and, potentially, beyond). The candidate items all had 7 answer categories. Assessment aligns very well with the classical measurement model for multi-item scales: interitem correlations are high; alpha reliability is 0.86; correlations with criterion variables are similar across the candidate items; factor analysis (oblimin rotation) finds a single dimension with an eigenvalue over 1 and loadings around .7. We provide behavioral norms for America during the 2020 pandemic and describe KEK-3’s links to demographic and socioeconomic factors. Developing a replicable scale is especially important now, because many researchers are making erroneous comparisons using the same terminology to describe aspects of the epidemic which have been measured differently. To successfully assess the “…meaning of social change related to COVID-19, the newly emerging social practices due to lockdown measures…” (Esposito, Stark and Squazzoni 2020), high-quality measurements sufficiently reliable and robust to be replicated in different times as the epidemic evolves and in different settings are desperately needed: KEK-3 contributes to such a set of measures. Data: four large national sample surveys conducted April - July, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Data collection was through Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk. This scale may be freely used by other researchers so long as its origin is acknowledged.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: A Scale for Measuring Social Distancing Behavior: Survey Questions and National Norms, USA 2020
• Eating Disorders Spectrum during COVID Pandemic: a systematic review -

  Background: Several data suggest that COVID-19 pandemic might exacerbate or trigger Eating Disorders (EDs). The aim of this paper was to summarize present literature on COVID pandemic and EDs. Methods: Literature search, study selection, methods, and quality evaluation were performed following PRISMA Guidelines. Results: The systematic search permitted the identification of 91 studies; 21 papers were eligible and included in the review. Nine papers (42.9%) evaluated the effect of pandemic and associated protective and risk factors in EDs patients, ten (47.6%) explored the prevalence of disturbed eating behaviours and risk factors for exacerbating EDs in the general population, and the remaining two (9.5%) were qualitative studies describing the impact of lockdown and quarantine on EDs patients. Their analysis revealed five main findings: 1) changes in physical activities routines were related to a worsening of preoccupation on weight/body shape; 2) food access limitation during pandemic represented a risk factors for both triggering and exacerbating EDs; 3) restriction in healthcare facilities contributed to increase anxiety levels and modifies treatment compliance; 4) social isolation was related to symptoms9 exacerbation in EDs patients who are home-confined with family members; 5) conflicts and difficulties in relationships with 9no way out9 were maintenance factors for EDs symptoms, especially in adolescents and young adults. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on EDs that might be triggered or worsened by the exceptional conditions deriving from COVID-19-related stress in predisposed subjects. Patients already affected by EDs experienced a worsening of their clinical conditions and related quality of life.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Eating Disorders Spectrum during COVID Pandemic: a systematic review
• Adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination: machine learning and statistical approach to identify and classify incidences of morbidity and post-vaccination reactogenicity -

  Good vaccine safety and reliability are essential to prevent infectious disease spread. A small but significant number of apparent adverse reactions to the new COVID-19 vaccines have been reported. Here, we aim to identify possible common causes for such adverse reactions with a view to enabling strategies that reduce patient risk by using patient data to classify and characterise patients those at risk of such reactions. We examined patient medical histories and data documenting post-vaccination effects and outcomes. The data analyses were conducted by different statistical approaches followed by a set of machine learning classification algorithms. In most cases, similar features were significantly associated with poor patient reactions. These included patient prior illnesses, admission to hospitals and SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. The analyses indicated that patient age, gender, allergic history, taking other medications, type-2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are the most significant pre-existing factors associated with risk of poor outcome and long duration of hospital treatments, pyrexia, headache, dyspnoea, chills, fatigue, various kind of pain and dizziness are the most significant clinical predictors. The machine learning classifiers using medical history were also able to predict patients most likely to have complication-free vaccination with an accuracy score above 85%. Our study identifies profiles of individuals that may need extra monitoring and care (e.g., vaccination at a location with access to comprehensive clinical support) to reduce negative outcomes through classification approaches. Important classifiers achieving these reactions notably included allergic susceptibility and incidence of heart disease or type-2 diabetes.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination: machine learning and statistical approach to identify and classify incidences of morbidity and post-vaccination reactogenicity
• Will the Large-scale Vaccination Succeed in Containing the COVID-19 Epidemic and How Soon? -

  The availability of vaccines provides a promising solution to containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we develop an epidemiological model to quantitatively analyze and predict the epidemic dynamics of COVID-19 under vaccination. The model is applied to the daily released numbers of confirmed cases of Israel and United States of America to explore and predict the trend under vaccination based on their current epidemic status and intervention measures. For Israel, of which 53.83% of the population was fully vaccinated, under the current intensity of NPIs and vaccination scheme, the pandemic is predicted to end between May 14, 2021 to May 16, 2021 depending on an immunity duration between 180 days and 365 days; Assuming no NPIs after March 24, 2021, the pandemic will ends later, between July 4, 2021 to August 26, 2021. For USA, if we assume the current vaccination rate (0.268% per day) and intensity of NPIs, the pandemic will end between February 3, 2022 and August 17, 2029 depending on an immunity duration between 180 days and 365 days. However, assuming an immunity duration of 180 days and with no NPIs, the pandemic will not end, and instead reach an equilibrium state with a proportion of the population remaining actively infected. Overall the daily vaccination rate should be chosen according to the vaccine efficacy and the immunity duration to achieve herd immunity. In some situations, vaccination alone cannot stop the pandemic, and NPIs are necessary both to supplement vaccination and accelerate the end of the pandemic. Considering that vaccine efficacy and duration of immunity may be reduced for new mutant strains, it is necessary to remain cautiously optimistic about the prospect of the pandemic under vaccination.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Will the Large-scale Vaccination Succeed in Containing the COVID-19 Epidemic and How Soon?
• Conspiratorial thinking during COVID-19: The roles of paranoia, delusion-proneness, and intolerance of uncertainty -
  The COVID-19 global pandemic has left many feeling a sense of profound uncertainty about their world, safety, and livelihood. Information that can help make sense of this uncertainty is offered by both official health-organizations as well as sources espousing misinformation and conspiracy theories. Individuals high in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may be particularly impacted by the impoverished epistemic environment and may thus be more drawn to conspiratorial thinking (CT). In the present study we show that endorsement of COVID-19-specific conspiracy theories is associated with higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty as well as anxiety, delusion-proneness, and paranoid ideation. Furthermore, delusion-proneness and paranoia explained the relationship between IU and CT, and emerged as independent partial predictors of CT even when controlling for other facets of schizotypy. In contrast, anxiety did not explain the relationship between IU and CT, suggesting a stronger role of cognitive traits as opposed to affective factors. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of individual differences in IU, delusion proneness and paranoia in the development of CT in the context of the acute uncertainty of a global crisis, in which CT is more prevalent and salient. Informational intervention designs may benefit from leveraging the body of work demonstrating the efficacy of targeting IU to incite meaningful changes in thinking.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Conspiratorial thinking during COVID-19: The roles of paranoia, delusion-proneness, and intolerance of uncertainty
• Expanding access to SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM serologic testing using fingerstick whole blood, plasma, and rapid lateral flow assays -

  Serologic testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can be used to confirm diagnosis, estimate seroprevalence, screen convalescent plasma donors, and assess vaccine efficacy. Several logistical and infrastructure challenges limit access to SARS-CoV-2 serologic testing. Dried blood spot (DBS) samples have been used for serology testing of various diseases in resource-limited settings. We examined the use of DBS samples and capillary blood (fingerstick) plasma collected in Microtainer tubes for SARS-CoV-2 testing with the automated Abbott ARCHITECT SARS-CoV-2 IgG (List 6R86) and IgM assays and use of venous whole blood with a prototype PANBIO rapid point-of-care lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay. The ARCHITECT SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay was initially optimized for use with DBS, venous and capillary plasma, and venous whole blood collected from patients with symptoms and PCR-confirmed COVID-19 and negative asymptomatic controls. Assay linearity and reproducibility was confirmed with 3 contrived DBS samples, with sample stability and signal recovery after 14 days at room temperature. ARCHITECT SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM assay results showed high concordance between fingerstick DBS and venous DBS samples, and between fingerstick DBS and venous whole blood samples (n=61). Discordant results were seen in 3 participants (2 IgG, 1 IgM) who were in the process of seroreversion at the time of sample collection and had results near the assay cutoff. Use of fingerstick plasma collected in Microtainer tubes (n=109) showed 100% concordant results (R2=0.997) with matched patient venous plasma on the ARCHITECT SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay. High concordance of assay results (92.9% positive, 100% negative) was also observed for the PANBIO SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay compared to the ARCHITECT SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay run with matched venous plasma (n=61). Fingerstick DBS and plasma samples are easy and inexpensive to collect and, along with the use of rapid point-of-care testing platforms, will expand access to SARS-CoV-2 serology testing, particularly in resource-limited areas.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Expanding access to SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM serologic testing using fingerstick whole blood, plasma, and rapid lateral flow assays
• Prospective predictive performance comparison between Clinical Gestalt and validated COVID-19 mortality scores. -

  ABSTRACT Background: Most COVID-19 mortality scores were developed in the early months of the pandemic and now available evidence-based interventions have helped reduce its lethality. It has not been evaluated if the original predictive performance of these scores holds true nor compared it against Clinical Gestalt predictions. We tested the current predictive accuracy of six COVID-19 scores and compared it with Clinical Gestalt predictions. Methods: 200 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in a tertiary hospital in Mexico City between September and December 2020. Clinical Gestalt predictions of death (as a percentage) and LOW-HARM, qSOFA, MSL-COVID-19, NUTRI-CoV and NEWS2 were obtained at admission. We calculated the AUC of each score and compared it against Clinical Gestalt predictions and against their respective originally reported value. Results: 106 men and 60 women aged 56+/-9 and with confirmed COVID-19 were included in the analysis. The observed AUC of all scores was significantly lower than originally reported; LOW-HARM 0.96 (0.94-0.98) vs 0.76 (0.69-0.84), qSOFA 0.74 (0.65-0.81) vs 0.61 (0.53-0.69), MSL-COVID-19 0.72 (0.69-0.75) vs 0.64 (0.55-0.73) NUTRI-CoV 0.79 (0.76-0.82) vs 0.60 (0.51-0.69), NEWS2 0.84 (0.79-0.90) vs 0.65 (0.56-0.75), Neutrophil-Lymphocyte ratio 0.74 (0.62-0.85) vs 0.65 (0.57-0.73). Clinical Gestalt predictions were non-inferior to mortality scores (AUC=0.68 (0.59-0.77)). Adjusting the LOW-HARM score with locally derived likelihood ratios did not improve its performance. However, some scores performed better than Clinical Gestalt predictions when clinician9s confidence of prediction was <80%. Conclusion: No score was significantly better than Clinical Gestalt predictions. Despite its subjective nature, Clinical Gestalt has relevant advantages for predicting COVID-19 clinical outcomes.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Prospective predictive performance comparison between Clinical Gestalt and validated COVID-19 mortality scores.
• Enumerating asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and estimating SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding rates via wastewater-based epidemiology -

  Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was utilized to monitor SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewage collected from manholes specific to individual student dormitories (dorms) at the University of Arizona in the fall semester of 2020, which led to successful identification and reduction of transmission events. Positive wastewater samples triggered clinical testing of almost all residents within that dorm; thus, SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were identified regardless of symptom expression. This current study examined clinical testing data to determine the abundance of asymptomatic versus symptomatic cases in these defined communities. Nasal and nasopharyngeal swab samples processed via antigen and PCR tests indicated that 79.2% of SARS-CoV-2 infections were asymptomatic, and only 20.8% of positive cases reported COVID-19 symptoms at the time of testing. Clinical data was paired with corresponding wastewater virus concentrations, which enabled calculation of viral shedding rates in feces per infected person(s). Mean shedding rates averaged from positive wastewater samples across all dorms were 6.84 ± 0.77 log10 genome copies per gram of feces (gc/g-feces) based on the N1 gene and 7.74 ± 0.53 log10 gc/g-feces based on the N2 gene. Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding rates from infected persons has been the critical missing component necessary for WBE models to measure and predict SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence in communities. The findings from this study can be utilized to create models that can be used to inform public health prevention and response actions.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Enumerating asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and estimating SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding rates via wastewater-based epidemiology
• The new SARS-CoV-2 variant and reinfection in the resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks in Manaus, Brazil -

  Manaus, a city of 2.2 million population, the capital of Amazonas state of Brazil was hit badly by two waves of COVID-19 with more than 10,000 severe acute respiratory syndrome deaths by the end of February 2021. It was estimated that the first wave infected over three quarters of the population in Manaus based on routine blood donor data, and the second wave was largely due to reinfection with a new variant named P1 strain. In this work, we revisit these claims, and discuss biological constraints. In particular, we model the two waves with a two-strain model without a significant proportion of reinfections.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The new SARS-CoV-2 variant and reinfection in the resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks in Manaus, Brazil
• Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020 -

  Background: As of March, 2021, the COVID-19 outbreak has been record the highest peak in the end of December, 2020. Nevertheless, no remarkable excess mortality attributable to COVID-19 has been observed. Object: We sought to quantify excess mortality in April using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. Method: We applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through January, 2021 for the whole of Japan and up through November for Tokyo. Results: Results in Japan show very few excess mortality in August and October, 2020 It was estimated as 12 and 104. Conversely, in Tokyo, 595 excess mortality was detected between August and October, which was 3.1% and 1.7% of baseline. Discussion and Conclusion: We detected substantial excess mortality in Tokyo but a few in Japan. It might be important to continue to monitor excess mortality of COVID-19 carefully hereafter.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020

From Clinical Trials

• Virgin Coconut Oil as Adjunctive Therapy for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Drug: Virgin Coconut Oil
  Sponsors:   University of the Philippines;   Philippine Coconut Authority;   Philippine Council for Health Research & Development
  Recruiting

• Clinical Study in the Treatment of Patients With Moderate Course of COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: COVID-globulin;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Microgen
  Not yet recruiting

• Rehabilitation for Patients With Persistent Symptoms Post COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Other: Concentrated rehabilitation for patients with persistent symptoms post COVID-19
  Sponsors:   Western Norway University of Applied Sciences;   Helse-Bergen HF
  Recruiting

• Efficacy and Safety of Three Different Doses of an Anti SARS-CoV-2 Hyperimmune Equine Serum in COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Biological: Anti SARS-CoV-2 equine hyperimmune serum;   Biological: placebo
  Sponsors:   Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social;   Universidad de Costa Rica;   Ministry of Health Costa Rica
  Not yet recruiting

• Viral Clearance, PK and Tolerability of Ensovibep in COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Drug: ensovibep
  Sponsor:   Molecular Partners AG
  Recruiting

• A Clinical Study Evaluating Inhaled Aviptadil on COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: Inhaled Aviptadil;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Centurion Pharma;   Klinar CRO
  Recruiting

• ACTIV-3b: Therapeutics for Severely Ill Inpatients With COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Biological: Remdesivir;   Drug: Remdesivir Placebo;   Biological: Aviptadil;   Drug: Aviptadil Placebo;   Drug: Corticosteroid
  Sponsors:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   NeuroRx, Inc.;   Gilead Sciences
  Recruiting

• The Effects of a Multi-factorial Rehabilitation Program for Healthcare Workers Suffering From Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Other: Exercise
  Sponsor:   Medical University of Vienna
  Recruiting

• COVID-19 Close Contact Self-Testing Study - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: COVID-19 self-test;   Behavioral: COVID-19 test referral
  Sponsor:   University of Pennsylvania
  Not yet recruiting

• A Nurse-Community Health Worker-Family Partnership Model: Addressing Uptake of COVID-19 Testing and Control Measures - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: Nurse-Community-Family Partnership Intervention
  Sponsor:   New York University
  Not yet recruiting

• Total-Body Parametric 18F-FDG PET of COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Device: uEXPLORER/mCT
  Sponsor:   University of California, Davis
  Recruiting

• Safety and Immunogenicity of the Inactivated Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine Compared to Placebo - Condition:   COVID-19 Vaccine
  Interventions:   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 4 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 6 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Kocak Farma
  Recruiting

• Study on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector) and RBD-based Protein Subunit Vaccine - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: recombinant Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: RBD-based protein subunit vaccine (ZF2001) against COVID-19;   Biological: trivalent split influenza vaccine
  Sponsor:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Recruiting

• Omega-3 Oil Use in COVID-19 Patients in Qatar - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: Omega 3 fatty acid
  Sponsor:   Hamad Medical Corporation
  Recruiting

• SLV213 Treatment in COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: SLV213;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Kenneth Krantz, MD, PhD;   FHI Clinical, Inc.
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Interleukin-6: obstacles to targeting a complex cytokine in critical illness - Circulating concentrations of the pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) are known to be increased in pro-inflammatory critical care syndromes, such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Elevations in serum IL-6 concentrations in patients with severe COVID-19 have led to renewed interest in the cytokine as a therapeutic target. However, although the pro-inflammatory properties of IL-6 are widely known, the cytokine also has a series of important physiological and…

• Interactions between SARS coronavirus 2 papain-like protease and immune system: a potential drug target for the treatment of COVID-19 - Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of respiratory viruses which can cause mild to moderate upper respiratory tract infections. Recently, new coronavirus named as Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been identified which is a major threat to public health. Innate immune responses play a vital role in a host’s defense against viruses. Interestingly, CoVs have evolved elaborate strategies to evade the complex system of sensors and signaling molecules to suppress…

• Acute Cardiac Injury in Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Other Viral Infections-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - CONCLUSIONS: Acute cardiac injury may be associated with whether the virus binds angiotensin-converting enzyme-2. Acute cardiac injury occurs in half of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients, but only 12% of patients infected by viruses that do not bind to angiotensin-converting enzyme-2.

• A Multifunctional Peptide From Bacillus Fermented Soybean for Effective Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 S1 Receptor Binding Domain and Modulation of Toll Like Receptor 4: A Molecular Docking Study - Fermented soybean products are traditionally consumed and popular in many Asian countries and the northeastern part of India. To search for potential agents for the interruption of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Spike glycoprotein 1 (S1) and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor interactions, the in silico antiviral prospective of peptides identified from the proteome of kinema was investigated. Soybean was fermented using Bacillus licheniformis…

• Virtual screening by targeting proteolytic sites of furin and TMPRSS2 to propose potential compounds obstructing the entry of SARS-CoV-2 virus into human host cells - BACKGROUND AND AIM: The year 2020 begins with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that cause the disease COVID-19, and continue till today. As of March 23, 2021, the outbreak has infected 124,313,054 worldwide with a total death of 2,735,707. The use of traditional medicines as an adjuvant therapy with western drugs can lower the fatality rate due to the COVID-19. Therefore, in silico molecular docking study was performed to search potential…

• MicroLet-7b Regulates Neutrophil Function and Dampens Neutrophilic Inflammation by Suppressing the Canonical TLR4/NF-κB Pathway - Sepsis is a heterogeneous syndrome caused by a dysregulated host response during the process of infection. Neutrophils are involved in the development of sepsis due to their essential role in host defense. COVID-19 is a viral sepsis. Disfunction of neutrophils in sepsis has been described in previous studies, however, little is known about the role of microRNA-let-7b (miR-let-7b), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity in neutrophils and how they participate in…

• Possible Potential Effects of Honey and Its Main Components Against Covid-19 Infection - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral pneumonia that is spreading rapidly worldwide. The main feature of this disease is a severe acute respiratory syndrome and caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are several unknowns about the pathogenesis and therapeutically treatment of COVID-19 infection. In addition, available treatment protocols have not been effective in managing COVID-19 infection. It is proposed that natural anti-oxidants such as lemon, green tea, saffron, curcuma…

• Discovery of anti-MERS-CoV small covalent inhibitors through pharmacophore modeling, covalent docking and molecular dynamics simulation - Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a fatal pathogen that poses a serious health risk worldwide and especially in the middle east countries. Targeting the MERS-CoV 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CL^(pro)) with small covalent inhibitors is a significant approach to inhibit replication of the virus. The present work includes generating a pharmacophore model based on the X-ray crystal structures of MERS-CoV 3CL^(pro) in complex with two covalently bound inhibitors….

• In-silico pharmacophoric and molecular docking-based drug discovery against the Main Protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, a causative agent COVID-19 - COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) caused by a novel ‘SARS-CoV-2’ virus resulted in public health emergencies across the world. An effective vaccine to cure this virus is not yet available, thus requires concerted efforts at various scales. In this study, we employed Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) based approach to identify the drug-like compounds - inhibiting the replication of the main protease (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2. Our database search using an online tool “ZINC pharmer” retrieved ~1500…

• Babaodan controls excessive immune responses and may represent a cytokine-targeted agent suitable for COVID-19 treatment - It has become evident that the actions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and/or the development of a cytokine storm are responsible for the occurrence of severe COVID-19 during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although immunomodulatory mechanisms vary among viruses, the activation of multiple TLRs that occurs primarily through the recruitment of adapter proteins such as MyD88 and TRIF contributes to the induction of a cytokine storm. Based on this, controlling the robust production of pro-inflammatory…

• Antiviral strategies should focus on stimulating the biosynthesis of heparan sulfates, not their inhibition - Antiviral strategies for viruses that utilize proteoglycan core proteins (syndecans and glypicans) as receptors should focus on heparan sulfate (HS) biosynthesis rather than on inhibition of these sugar chains. Here, we show that heparin and certain xylosides, which exhibit in vitro viral entry inhibitory properties against HSV-1, HSV-2, HPV-16, HPV-31, HVB, HVC, HIV-1, HTLV-1, SARS-CoV-2, HCMV, DENV-1, and DENV-2, stimulated HS biosynthesis at the cell surface 2- to 3-fold for heparin and up to…

• High-throughput screening identifies established drugs as SARS-CoV-2 PLpro inhibitors - A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been identified as the etiologic agent for the COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, effective treatment options remain very limited for this disease; therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new anti-COVID-19 agents. In this study, we screened over 6,000 compounds that included approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical trials, and pharmacologically active compounds to identify leads that target the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro). Together with main…

• Multi-conformation representation of Mpro identifies promising candidates for drug repurposing against COVID-19 - The COVID-19 main protease (Mpro), one of the conserved proteins of the novel coronavirus is crucial for its replication and so is a very lucrative drug target. Till now, there is no drug molecule that has been convincingly identified as the inhibitor of the function of this protein. The current pandemic situation demands a shortcut to quickly reach to a lead compound or a drug, which may not be the best but might serve as an interim solution at least. Following this notion, the present…

• Orally delivered MK-4482 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in the Syrian hamster model - The COVID-19 pandemic progresses unabated in many regions of the world. An effective antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 that could be administered orally for use following high-risk exposure would be of substantial benefit in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Herein, we show that MK-4482, an orally administered nucleoside analog, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in the Syrian hamster model. The inhibitory effect of MK-4482 on SARS-CoV-2 replication is observed in animals when the drug is administered…

• Novel inhibitors of the main protease enzyme of SARS-CoV-2 identified via molecular dynamics simulation-guided in vitro assay - For the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, there are currently no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this coronavirus infection. In this study, we focus on the main protease enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, 3CL^(pro), which is critical for viral replication. We employ explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations of about 150 compounds docked into 3CL^(pro)’s binding site and that had emerged as good main protease ligands from our previous in silico screening of over 1.2 million compounds. By…

From Patent Search

• Compositions and methods for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection - - link

• 5-(4-TERT-BUTOXY PHENYL)-3-(4N-OCTYLOXYPHENYL)-4,5-DIHYDROISOXAZOLE MOLECULE (C-I): A PROMISING DRUG FOR SARS-COV-2 (TARGET I) AND BLOOD CANCER (TARGET II) - The present invention relates to a method ofmolecular docking of crystalline compound (C-I) with SARS-COV 2 proteins and its repurposing with proteins of blood cancer, comprising the steps of ; employing an algorithmto carry molecular docking calculations of the crystalized compound (C-I); studying the compound computationally to understand the effect of binding groups with the atoms of the amino acids on at least four target proteins of SARS-COV 2; downloading the structure of the proteins; removing water molecules, co enzymes and inhibitors attached to the enzymes; drawing the structure using Chem Sketch software; converting the mol file into a PDB file; using crystalized compound (C-I) for comparative and drug repurposing with two other mutated proteins; docking compound into the groove of the proteins; saving format of docked molecules retrieved; and filtering and docking the best docked results. - link

• AQUEOUS ZINC OXIDE NANOSPRAY COMPOSITIONS - Disclosed herein is aqueous zinc oxide nano spray compositions comprising zinc oxide nanoparticles and a synthetic surfactant for controlling the spread of Covid-19 virus. - link

• 一种肝素类药物组合物、喷鼻剂及其制备方法及应用 - 本发明公开了一种肝素类药物组合物、喷鼻剂及其制备方法及应用。该肝素类药物组合物包括肝素钠和阿比朵尔。本发明中的肝素类药物组合物首次采用肝素钠和阿比朵尔联合使用，普通肝素钠联合1μM/L以上的阿比朵尔病毒抑制效率显著高于单独普通肝素钠或单独阿比多尔组（p<0.05）。 - link

• USING CLINICAL ONTOLOGIES TO BUILD KNOWLEDGE BASED CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) WITH THE ADOPTION OF TELECONFERENCING FOR THE PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRES/SATELLITE CLINICS OF ROYAL OMAN POLICE IN SULTANATE OF OMAN - - link

• 抗SARS-COV-2中和抗体 - 本公开提供了针对SARS‑COV‑2的新颖中和抗体和其抗原结合片段。还提供了包括其的药物组合物和试剂盒以及其用途。 - link

• Peptides and their use in diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection - - link

• **一种4-肟-5-（2-甲基丙酰基）尿苷的制备方法** - 本发明公开了一种4‑肟‑5‑（2‑甲基丙酰基）尿苷的制备方法，包括：S1：在酸存在条件下，使得化合物1和2,2‑二甲氧基丙烷在有机溶剂中反应得到化合物2；S2：在碱存在条件下，使得化合物2在有机溶剂中反应得到化合物3；S3：在羟胺水溶液存在条件下使化合物3在有机溶剂中反应得到化合物4；S4：在酸存在条件下使化合物4在有机溶剂中反应得到化合物I。本发明制备得到的结晶性能良好的固体，且制备条件简单，转化率以及原子经济性好。 - link

• 一种COVID-19假病毒及其制备方法和用途 - 本发明涉及生物技术领域，特别是涉及一种COVID‑19假病毒及其制备方法和用途本发明，所述COVID‑19假病毒由外壳蛋白质粒与辅助质粒经病毒包装而成，所述外壳蛋白质粒包括表达COVID‑19 S蛋白的质粒、表达COVID‑19 M蛋白的质粒和表达COVID‑19 E蛋白的质粒。本发明的COVID‑19假病毒采用三质粒系统包装，以S/M/E蛋白替代表达VSV‑G蛋白，比仅含有S蛋白的假病毒感染能力更强、灵敏度更高。而且，COVID‑19假病毒携带两种荧光报告基团，不同的荧光报告基团可应用于不同的场景，使得COVID‑19假病毒应用时更简便。 - link

• A PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF COVID 19 POSITIVE PATIENTS - - link