Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Getting Off the Gold Standard: A Holistic Approach to Causal Inference with Entropic Causal Graphs -
  While many classify studies as either descriptive or causal, I argue that causality is a continuous construct, and different inference modes–experimental, observational and mechanistic–can at best provide only partial causal information. To discriminate between the relative value of different inference modes, I employ statistical entropy as a possible yardstick for evaluating research designs as different operations on causal graphs. Rather than dichotomize studies as either causal or descriptive, the concept of entropy instead emphasizes the relative causal knowledge gained from a given research finding. I employ this theory to clarify why and when researchers relied on divergent modes of inference to determine the efficacy of vaccines over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Getting Off the Gold Standard: A Holistic Approach to Causal Inference with Entropic Causal Graphs
• Anti-social behaviour in the coronavirus pandemic -
  Anti-social behaviour recorded by police more than doubled early in the coronavirus pandemic in England and Wales. This was a stark contrast to the steep falls in most types of recorded crime. Why was ASB so different? Was it changes in ‘traditional’ ASB such as noisy neighbours, or was it ASB records of breaches of COVID-19 regulations? Further, why did police-recorded ASB find much larger increases early in the pandemic than the Telephone Crime Survey for England and Wales? This study uses two approaches to address the issues. The first is a survey of police forces, via Freedom of Information requests, to determine whether covid-regulation breaches were recorded as ASB. The second is natural language processing (NLP) used to interrogate the text details of police ASB records. We find police recording practice varied greatly between areas. We conclude that the early-pandemic increases in recorded ASB were primarily due to breaches of covid regulations with around half of these also involving traditional forms of ASB. We also suggest that the study offers proof of concept that NLP may have significant potential to inform policing and crime policy globally.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Anti-social behaviour in the coronavirus pandemic
• Default change nudges Covid-19 vaccine uptake: a randomized controlled trial -
  Background. Although vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is considered the central strategy against the pandemic, uptake lags behind target rates. Method. To explore whether this rate could be enhanced by a nudging strategy that exploits the status quo bias, we conducted a randomized controlled trial in northern Italy comparing vaccination acceptance among 2000 adults aged 50 to 59 years who were either invited to set an appointment (opt-in group) or assigned an individual appointment (opt-out group). Results. Results indicate a difference of 3.2 percentage points, which represents a 32% relative increase in the vaccination rate for the opt-out group compared with the opt-in group. Conclusions. A significant portion of those who remain unvaccinated may not hold strong beliefs against vaccination but rather tend to inaction and may therefore be nudged toward vaccination with a reduction of action required.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Default change nudges Covid-19 vaccine uptake: a randomized controlled trial
• Antibody-dependent Enhancement during viral infections: Chemical and biochemical interactions among proteins -
  Antibody-dependent Enhancement during viral infections has been reported previously. It is also a concern amid current COVID-19 pandemic. As proteins can interact via ionic bonding, van der Waals force, aromatic stacking, hydrogen bonding and secondary chemical bonding to non-proton cations, these types of weak chemical bonding can synergize independently or collectively to consolidate protein aggregate structures, allowing more efficient viral entry into cells of vaccinated individuals and perhaps trigger respiratory syndromes upon infection of evolved virus with mutations capable of reinforcing weak chemical bonding. Virion production can be lowered with calorie restriction or dietary regimens, consequently imposing a bottleneck in the aforementioned process. Custom-made as well as universal strategies need to be developed to address concerns on various pathogens.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Antibody-dependent Enhancement during viral infections: Chemical and biochemical interactions among proteins
• The cost of the COVID-19 pandemic vs the cost-effectiveness of mitigation strategies in the EU/UK/EEA and OECD countries: a systematic review -

  Objectives: COVID-19 poses a threat of loss of life, economic instability, and social disruption. We conducted a systematic review of published economic analyses to assess the direct and indirect costs of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and to contrast these with the costs and the cost-benefit of public health surveillance, preparedness, and response measures in averting and/or responding to SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Setting: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles estimating the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical or non-pharmaceutical interventions in EU/EEA/UK and OECD countries, published from the 1st of January 2020 through 22nd April 2021 in Ovid Medline and EMBASE. The cost-effectiveness of interventions was assessed through a dominance ranking matrix approach. All cost data were adjusted to the 2021 Euro, with interventions compared with the null. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Direct and indirect costs for SARS-CoV-2 and preparedness and/or response or cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness were measured. Results: We included data from 41 economic studies. Ten studies evaluated the cost of COVID-19 pandemic, while 31 assessed the cost-benefit of public health surveillance, preparedness, and response measures. Overall, the economic burden of SARS-CoV-2 was found to be substantial for both the general population and within specific population subgroups. Community screening, bed provision policies, investing in personal protective equipment and vaccination strategies were cost-effective, in most cases due to the representative economic value of below acceptable cost-effectiveness thresholds. Physical distancing measures were associated with health benefits; however, their cost-effectiveness was dependent on the duration, compliance and the phase of the epidemic in which it was implemented. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 is associated with substantial economic costs to healthcare systems, payers, and societies, both short term and long term, while interventions including testing and screening policies, vaccination and physical distancing policies were identified as those presenting cost-effective options to deal with the pandemic, dependent on population vaccination and the Re at the stage of the pandemic.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The cost of the COVID-19 pandemic vs the cost-effectiveness of mitigation strategies in the EU/UK/EEA and OECD countries: a systematic review
• Lineage BA.2 dominated the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 epidemic wave in the Philippines -

  The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant led to a dramatic global epidemic wave following detection in South Africa in November, 2021. The Omicron lineage BA.1 was dominant and responsible for most domestic outbreaks during December 2021-January 2022, whilst other Omicron lineages including BA.2 accounted for the minority of global isolates. Here, we describe the Omicron wave in the Philippines by analysing genomic data. Our results identify the presence of both BA.1 and BA.2 lineages in the Philippines in December 2021, before cases surged in January 2022. We infer that only lineage BA.2 underwent sustained transmission in the country, with an estimated emergence around November 18th, 2021 [95% highest posterior density: November 6-28th], whilst despite multiple introductions BA.1 transmission remained limited. These results suggest the Philippines was one of the earliest areas affected by BA.2, and reiterate the importance of whole-genome sequencing for monitoring outbreaks.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Lineage BA.2 dominated the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 epidemic wave in the Philippines
• Safety and superior immunogenicity of heterologous boosting with an RBD-based SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine in Chinese adults -

  Homologous and heterologous booster with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines represent the most effective strategy to prevent the ongoing Omicron pandemic. The additional protection from these prototype SARS-CoV-2 S-targeting vaccine was attributed to the increased RBD-specific memory B cells with expanded potency and breadth. Herein, we show the safety and immunogenicity of heterologous boosting with the RBD-targeting mRNA vaccine AWcorna (also term ARCoV) in Chinese adults who have received two doses inactivated vaccine. The superiority over inactivated vaccine in neutralization antibodies, as well as the safety profile, support the use of AWcorna as heterologous booster in China.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Safety and superior immunogenicity of heterologous boosting with an RBD-based SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine in Chinese adults
• The salivary and nasopharyngeal microbiomes are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity -
  Oral and upper respiratory microbiota play important roles in modulating host immune responses to viral infection. As emerging evidence suggests the host microbiome may be involved in the pathophysiology of COVID-19, we aimed to investigate associations between the oral and nasopharyngeal microbiome and COVID-19 severity. We collected saliva (n = 78) and nasopharyngeal swab (n = 66) samples from a COVID-19 cohort and characterized the microbiomes using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. We also examined associations between the salivary and nasopharyngeal microbiome and age, COVID-19 symptoms, and blood cytokines. SARS-CoV-2 infection status, but not COVID-19 severity, was associated with community-level differences in the oral and nasopharyngeal microbiomes. Salivary and nasopharyngeal microbiome alpha diversity negatively correlated with age and were associated with fever and diarrhea. Several bacterial genera were differentially abundant by COVID-19 severity, including oral Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Solobacterium, all of which were depleted in patients with severe COVID-19. Nasopharyngeal Paracoccus was depleted while nasopharyngeal Proteus, Cupravidus, and Lactobacillus were increased in patients with severe COVID-19. Further analysis revealed that the abundance of oral Bifidobacterium was negatively associated with plasma concentrations of known COVID-19 biomarkers interleukin 17F (IL-17F) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). In conclusion, our results suggest COVID-19 disease severity is associated with the relative abundance of certain bacterial taxa.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The salivary and nasopharyngeal microbiomes are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity
• Accurate Prediction of Virus-Host Protein-Protein Interactions via a Siamese Neural Network Using Deep Protein Sequence Embeddings -
  Prediction and understanding of tissue-specific virus-host interactions have relevance for the development of novel therapeutic interventions strategies. In addition, virus-like particles (VLPs) open novel opportunities to deliver therapeutic compounds to targeted cell types and tissues. Given our incomplete knowledge of virus-host interactions on one hand and the cost and time associated with experimental procedures on the other, we here propose a novel deep learning approach to predict virus-host protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Our method (Siamese Tailored deep sequence Embedding of Proteins - STEP) is based on recent deep protein sequence embedding techniques, which we integrate into a Siamese neural network architecture. After evaluating the high prediction performance of STEP in comparison to an existing method, we apply it to two use cases, SARS-CoV-2 and John Cunningham polyomavirus (JCV), to predict virus protein to human host interactions. For the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein our method predicts an interaction with the sigma 2 receptor, which has been suggested as a drug target. As a second use case, we apply STEP to predict interactions of the JCV VP1 protein showing an enrichment of PPIs with neurotransmitters, which are known to function as an entry point of the virus into glial brain cells. In both cases we demonstrate how recent techniques from the field of Explainable AI (XAI) can be employed to identify those parts of a pair of sequences, which most likely contribute to the protein-protein interaction. Altogether our work highlights the potential of deep sequence embedding techniques originating from the field of natural language processing as well as XAI methods for the analysis of biological sequences. We have made our method publicly available via GitHub.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Accurate Prediction of Virus-Host Protein-Protein Interactions via a Siamese Neural Network Using Deep Protein Sequence Embeddings
• SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in Rwanda: Introductions and local transmission of the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of concern -

  The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant of concern (lineage B.1.617.2) in late 2020 resulted in a new wave of infections in many countries across the world, where it often became the dominant lineage in a relatively short amount of time. We here report on a novel genomic surveillance effort in Rwanda in the time period from June to September 2021, leading to 201 SARS-CoV-2 genomes being generated, the majority of which were identified as the Delta variant of concern. We show that in Rwanda, the Delta variant almost completely replaced the previously dominant A.23.1 and B.1.351 (Beta) lineages in a matter of weeks, and led to a tripling of the total number of COVID-19 infections and COVID-19-related fatalities over the course of only three months. We estimate that Delta in Rwanda had an average growth rate advantage of 0.034 (95% CI 0.025-0.045) per day over A.23.1, and of 0.022 (95% CI 0.012-0.032) over B.1.351. Phylogenetic analysis reveals the presence of at least seven local Delta transmission clusters, with two of these clusters occurring close to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and another cluster close to the border with Tanzania. A smaller Delta cluster of infections also appeared close to the border with Uganda, illustrating the importance of monitoring cross-border traffic to limit the spread between Rwanda and its neighboring countries. We discuss our findings against a background of increased vaccination efforts in Rwanda, and also discuss a number of breakthrough infections identified during our study. Concluding, our study has added an important collection of data to the available genomes for the Eastern Africa region, with the number of Delta infections close to the border with neighboring countries highlighting the need to further strengthen genomic surveillance in the region to obtain a better understanding of the impact of border crossings on lowering the epidemic curve in Rwanda.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in Rwanda: Introductions and local transmission of the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of concern
• Descriptive Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Gamma (P.1/501Y.V3) variant cases in England, August 2021 -

  Purpose The Gamma variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in travellers from Brazil, was found to have high transmissibility and virulence; following this finding, this paper aims to describe the epidemiology of Gamma cases in England from its first detection on 12 February 2021 to 31 August 2021. Methods The demographic analysis of Gamma cases was stratified by travel exposure. Travel-associated cases were further analysed by countries travelled from, stratified by categories set in place by the Red (highest risk countries), Amber, Green (lowest risk countries) travel policy, which was implemented from May to October 2021. Results There were 251 confirmed Gamma cases detected in England in the study period. 35.1% were imported, 5.6% were secondary, and 29.5% were not travel associated. Early cases were predominantly travel-associated, with later cases likely obtained through community transmission. 51.0% of travel-related cases were travellers from Amber countries, and 40.2% had at least one Red country in their journey. Conclusion The Gamma variant has not seen the same expansion as other variants such as Delta, most likely due to Delta out-competing community transmission of Gamma. Findings indicate the travel policy requiring quarantine for Red and Amber list travellers may have also contributed to preventing onward transmission of Gamma.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Descriptive Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Gamma (P.1/501Y.V3) variant cases in England, August 2021
• SARS-COV-2 Delta and Omicron community transmission networks -

  To date, calculations of SARS-CoV-2 transmission networks at a population level have not been performed. Networks that estimate infections between individuals and whether this results in a mutation, can evaluate fitness of a mutational clone by how much it expands in number as well as determining the likelihood a transmission results in a new variant. Transmission networks of SARS-CoV-2 infection between individuals in Australia were estimated for Delta and Omicron variants using a novel method. Many of the sequences were identical, with clone sizes following power law distributions driven by negative binomial probability distributions for both the number of infections per individual and the number of mutations per transmission (mean 1.0 nucleotide change for Delta and 0.79 for Omicron). Using these distributions, an agent based model was able to replicate the observed clonal network structure, providing a basis for more detailed COVID-19 modelling. Recombination events, tracked by insertion/deletion (indel) patterns, occurred for each variant in these outbreaks. The residue at position 142 in the S open reading frame (ORF), frequently changed between G and D for Delta sequences, but this was independent of other mutations. On the other hand, several Omicron mutations were significantly connected across different ORF. This model reveals key transmission characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and may complement traditional contact tracing and other public health strategies. This methodology can also be applied to other diseases as genetic sequencing of viruses becomes more commonplace.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: SARS-COV-2 Delta and Omicron community transmission networks
• Response of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Predictor for the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Ahmedabad, India: A Long-term Data Perspective -

  Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) surveillance could play a key role in managing the COVID-19 pandemic by covering pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases in highly populated areas with limited clinical tests. In the present work, wastewater surveillance was introduced in Ahmedabad, India, after the successful containment of the first wave of COVID-19 to predict the resurge of the infection during the second wave of the pandemic. The increasing number of positive influent samples correlated with the number of confirmed clinical cases. It also showed clear evidence of early detection of the second wave of COVID-19 in Ahmedabad. We further put forward the wastewater surveillance-based city zonation for effective COVID-19 pandemic preparedness. An eight-month data of Surveillance of Wastewater for Early Epidemic Prediction (SWEEP) was generated for the Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Influent wastewater samples (n=287) were analyzed weekly to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA from nine locations during September 2020 to April 2021. A total of 258 out of 287 samples were detected positive with at least two out of three SARS-CoV-2 genes (N, ORF 1ab, and S). Monthly variation represented a significant decline in all three gene copies in October compared to September 2020, followed by an abrupt increase in November 2020. A similar increment in the gene copies was observed in March 2021, which is an indicator of the second wave of COVID-19. Correspondingly, the descending order of average effective gene concentration was: November (1.1 x 104 copies/L)> April (7.5 x 103 copies/L)> March (4.5 x 103 copies/L)> September (3.0 x 103 copies/L)> December (1.8 x 103 copies/L)> January (1.6 x 103 copies/L)> February (4.7 x 102 copies/L) > October (4.5 x 102 copies/L). A lead of 1-2 weeks was observed in the percentage change in gene concentration with respect to the confirmed cases. Th study highlighted the effectiveness of wastewater surveillance as a tool to predict various waves of the pandemic, to identify the hotspots within the city, and to instigate better implementation of the management interventions.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Response of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Predictor for the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Ahmedabad, India: A Long-term Data Perspective
• The haves and have-nots: Glycine, valine and arginine in heart disease and cancer -
  KRAS G12, BRAF V600, IDH1 R132 are the 3 most frequent somatic mutation sites across 41 cancer types in a previous survey, yet glycine plus valine is overrepresented in heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease as well as SARS and SARS-CoV-2 proteins. This finding suggests that these amino acids could play contradictory roles in different major human diseases. Valine and glycine have long carbonyl bond lengths, allowing potent secondary chemical bonding of carbonyl oxygen to cations, particularly divalent cations. Arginine potentially possesses coordination bond with calcium besides attracting anions such as oxalate. The formation of insoluble and stiff calcium salts, for instance calcium oxalate, is stressful to the cells. This important phenomenon has not been extensively explored in the studies of human disorders except renal stones. The aforementioned insight highlights the need for different intervention measures for heart disease and cancer, two major age-related diseases.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The haves and have-nots: Glycine, valine and arginine in heart disease and cancer
• Potent and pan-neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern by DARPins -
  We report the engineering and selection of two synthetic proteins – FSR16m and FSR22 – for possible treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. FSR16m and FSR22 are trimeric proteins composed of DARPin SR16m or SR22 fused with a T4 foldon and exhibit broad spectrum neutralization of SARS-Cov-2 strains. The IC50 values of FSR16m against authentic B.1.351, B.1.617.2 and BA.1.1 variants are 3.4 ng/mL, 2.2 ng/mL and 7.4 ng/mL, respectively, comparable to currently used therapeutic antibodies. Despite the use of the spike protein from a now historical wild-type virus for design, FSR16m and FSR22 both exhibit increased neutralization against newly-emerged variants of concern (39- to 296-fold) in pseudovirus assays. Cryo-EM structures revealed that these DARPins recognize a region of the receptor binding domain (RBD, residues 455-456, 486-489) overlapping a critical portion of the ACE2-binding surface. K18-hACE2 transgenic mice inoculated with a B.1.617.2 variant and receiving intranasally-administered FSR16m were protected as judged by less weight loss and 10-100-fold reductions in viral burden in the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The strong and broad neutralization potency make FSR16m and FSR22 promising candidates for prevention and treatment of infection by current and potential future strains of SARS-CoV-2.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Potent and pan-neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern by DARPins

From Clinical Trials

• A Safety and Efficacy Study of Hymecromone Tablets for the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Hymecromone tablets;   Other: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital
  Recruiting

• A Study to Assess the Safety and Immunogenicity of a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster in Healthy Adults - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: Prime-2-CoV_Beta
  Sponsors:   University Hospital Tuebingen;   FGK Clinical Research GmbH;   VisMederi srl;   Staburo GmbH;   Viedoc Technologies AB
  Not yet recruiting

• A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Called Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir) in Pregnant Women With Mild or Moderate COVID-19. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: nirmatrelvir;   Drug: ritonavir
  Sponsor:   Pfizer
  Not yet recruiting

• Evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccines Given as a Booster in Healthy Adults in Indonesia (MIACoV Indonesia) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Standard dose;   Biological: AstraZeneca Standard dose;   Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Fractional dose;   Biological: AstraZeneca Fractional dose;   Biological: Moderna Standard dose;   Biological: Moderna Fractional dose
  Sponsors:   Murdoch Childrens Research Institute;   Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD);   Universitas Indonesia (UI);   Health Development Policy Agency, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia;   Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations;   The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
  Not yet recruiting

• A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of DXP604 in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: DXP604
  Sponsor:   Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd
  Not yet recruiting

• Sequential Immunization of Two Doses of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (Omicron) in Vaccinated Population Aged 18 Years and Above - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: BIBP Omicron Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Vero Cell);   Biological: WIBP Omicron Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Vero Cell);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated
  Sponsors:   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.;   Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd;   The University of Hong Kong
  Not yet recruiting

• Immunogenicity and Safety of Booster Immunization of COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated (Omicron Variant) in Healthy People Aged 18 Years and Above - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero cell), Inactivated (Omicron variant);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero cell), Inactivated (CZ strain)
  Sponsor:   Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• A Phase 1b Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Chimera Vaccine Against COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: RQ3013;   Biological: Comirnaty
  Sponsors:   Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd.;   Shanghai RNACure Biopharma Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• INTEGrating Ag-RDTs for COVID in MNCH,HIV and TB Services in Cameroon and Kenya:A Cluster Randomized Trial of Two Models - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: Test all
  Sponsors:   Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation;   UNITAID;   Kenya Ministry of Health;   Ministry of Public Health, Cameroon
  Not yet recruiting

• Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program With Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy in Patients With Post-covid Sequelae. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Device: Pulsed ectromagnetid field therapy;   Other: Pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP)
  Sponsor:   University of Malaga
  Not yet recruiting

• Inhaled Interferon α2b Treatment in Mild-to-moderate COVID-19 Infected Children - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Children
  Interventions:   Drug: Inhaled Interferon α2b;   Other: Standard of Care
  Sponsors:   Children’s Hospital of Fudan University;   RenJi Hospital;   Shanghai Children’s Hospital;   Shanghai Children’s Medical Center Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine
  Recruiting

• Paxlovid in the Treatment of COVID-19 Patients With Uremia - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Uremia
  Interventions:   Drug: Paxlovid;   Drug: standard-of-care
  Sponsor:   Ruijin Hospital
  Not yet recruiting

• Telemedically Assisted Sampling of COVID-19 Patients - Is the Sampling Quality Sufficient - Conditions:   Telemedicine;   Pharynx;   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: telemedically guided oropharyngeal + nasal (OP+N) self-sampling (GSS) and nasopharyngeal (NP) or OP+N sampling performed by health care professionals (HCP)
  Sponsor:   Teststation Praxis Dr. med Bielecki
  Active, not recruiting

• Improving Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Using an mHealth Tool - Conditions:   COVID-19 Vaccines;   Telemedicine;   Vaccine Hesitancy;   Pediatric ALL
  Interventions:   Behavioral: COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake App;   Other: General Health App
  Sponsors:   University of Arkansas;   National Institutes of Health (NIH);   University of Nebraska;   University of Montana
  Not yet recruiting

• Safety and Effectiveness of EV-Pure + WJ-Pure Treatment on Pulmonary Fibrosis Secondary to Covid-19 - Conditions:   Pulmonary Fibrosis;   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection
  Interventions:   Drug: EV-Pure™ and WJ-Pure™ plus standard care;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Vitti Labs, LLC
  Recruiting

From PubMed

• Performance of nasopharyngeal swab and saliva in detecting Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants - A prospective cohort study was conducted during the Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 epidemic waves from paired nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) and saliva samples taken from 624 participants. The study aimed to assess if any differences among participants from both waves could be observed and if any difference in molecular diagnostic performance could be observed among the two sample types. Samples were transported immediately to the laboratory to ensure the highest possible sample quality without any…

• COVID-19 therapies: do we see substantial progress? - The appearance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its spread all over the world is the cause of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has recently resulted in almost 400 million confirmed cases and 6 million deaths, not to mention unknown long-term or persistent side effects in convalescent individuals. In this short review, we discuss approaches to treat COVID-19 that are based on current knowledge of the mechanisms of viral cell receptor…

• Structural and biochemical mechanism for increased infectivity and immune evasion of Omicron BA.2 variant compared to BA.1 and their possible mouse origins - The Omicron BA.2 variant has become a dominant infective strain worldwide. Receptor binding studies show that the Omicron BA.2 spike trimer exhibits 11-fold and 2-fold higher potency in binding to human ACE2 than the spike trimer from the wildtype (WT) and Omicron BA.1 strains. The structure of the BA.2 spike trimer complexed with human ACE2 reveals that all three receptor-binding domains (RBDs) in the spike trimer are in open conformation, ready for ACE2 binding, thus providing a basis for the…

• Metformin: Is it a drug for all reasons and diseases? - Metformin was first used to treat type 2 diabetes in the late 1950s and in 2022 remains the first-choice drug used daily by approximately 150 million people. An accumulation of positive pre-clinical and clinical data has stimulated interest in re-purposing metformin to treat a variety of diseases including COVID-19. In polycystic ovary syndrome metformin improves insulin sensitivity. In type 1 diabetes metformin may help reduce the insulin dose. Meta-analysis and data from pre-clinical and…

• Lianhuaqingwen alleviates p53-mediated apoptosis in alveolar epithelial cells to prevent LPS-induced ALI - CONCLUSION: Lianhuaqingwen inhibits p53-mediated apoptosis in alveolar epithelial cells, thereby preventing LPS-induced ALI.

• Investigation on anti-Corona viral potential of Yarrow tea - Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) is a herbaceous plant of Greek origin noted to treat pneumonia, common cold, cough, and other respiratory disorders. The flowers and leaves are the core part used to prepare herbal tea that gains the world’s recognition as medicinal tea. Coronavirus disease is spreading across the globe, and numerous approaches are lodged to treat virus-induced lung inflammation. Here, we used the network pharmacology, metabolite analysis, docking and molecular simulation and…

• Seeking antiviral drugs to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 RNA dependent RNA polymerase: A molecular docking analysis - COVID-19 outbreak associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) raised health concerns across the globe and has been considered highly transmissible between people. In attempts for finding therapeutic treatment for the new disease, this work has focused on examining the polymerase inhibitors against the SARS-CoV-2 nsp12 and co-factors nsp8 and nsp7. Several polymerase inhibitors were examined against PDB ID: 6M71 using computational analysis evaluating the…

• Amentoflavone derivatives significantly act towards the main protease (3CL^PRO/M^PRO) of SARS-CoV-2: in silico admet profiling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, network pharmacology - SARS-CoV-2 is the foremost culprit of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (nCoV-19 and/or simply COVID-19) and poses a threat to the continued life of humans on the planet and create pandemic issue globally. The 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (M^(PRO) or 3CL^(PRO)) is the crucial protease enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, which directly involves the processing and release of translated non-structural proteins (nsps), and therefore involves the development of virus pathogenesis along with outbreak the…

• Role of Stress Granules in Suppressing Viral Replication by the Infectious Bronchitis Virus Endoribonuclease - Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a γ-coronavirus, causes the economically important poultry disease infectious bronchitis. Cellular stress response is an effective antiviral strategy that leads to stress granule (SG) formation. Previous studies suggested that SGs were involved in the antiviral activity of host cells to limit viral propagation. Here, we aimed to delineate the molecular mechanisms regulating the SG response to pathogenic IBV strain infection. We found that most chicken embryo…

• The Deubiquitinase USP29 Promotes SARS-CoV-2 Virulence by Preventing Proteasome Degradation of ORF9b - Ubiquitin signaling is essential for immunity to restrict pathogen proliferation. Due to its enormous impact on human health and the global economy, intensive efforts have been invested in studying severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its interactions with hosts. However, the role of the ubiquitin network in pathogenicity has not yet been explored. Here, we found that ORF9b of SARS-CoV-2 is ubiquitinated on Lys-4 and Lys-40 by unknown E3 ubiquitin ligases and is…

• Role of Superantigens In Various Childhood Inflamatory Diseases - —-:: Super antigens (Sags) are some part of virus or bacteria proteins which stimulate T cells and antigen-presenting cells leading to systemic immune repose and inflammation. —SAgs might have possible role in in various inflammatory childhood diseases (eg Kawasaki disease, atopic dermatitis, and chronic rhinosinusitis). —-Worldwide studies had done to determine the role of staphylococcal SAgs (TSST-1 ) in various inflammatory diseases. The SAgs (TSST-1) not only induce sepsis and septic…

• Molnupiravir in COVID-19: A scoping review - CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: On the basis of the limited evidence available as of now, molnupiravir could prove to be a promising oral therapy, worthy of further exploration of its utility for both treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in humans. Elaborate clinical evaluation is further warranted to confirm whether the results are replicable to the clinical scenario among outpatients to reduce the chance of progression to more severe disease.

• Neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infections during pregnancy: a national prospective study in Kuwait - CONCLUSION: The neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infections seem favorable. However, more studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are required.

• Potential and challenges of placenta-derived decidua stromal cell therapy in inflammation-associated disorders - Decidual stromal cells (DSCs) isolated from maternal part of placenta, like mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), are able to inhibit alloreactivity in-vitro but in a superior way which makes them an attractive alternative for anti-inflammatory therapies. In alloreactivity, when a strong immune response is developed against alloantigens, DSCs develop an anti-inflammatory environment, both through cell-to-cell contact and soluble factors, to prevent the adverse effects of alloantigens. In…

• Anisodamine potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro and targets its main protease - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) provoked a pandemic of acute respiratory disease, namely coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Currently, effective drugs for this disease are urgently warranted. Anisodamine is a traditional Chinese medicine that is predicted as a potential therapeutic drug for the treatment of COVID-19. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate its antiviral activity and crucial targets in SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 and anisodamine were…

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