Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Pulmonary Embolism Detection in COVID-19 Patients -
  Background: A clinically important impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the increased likelihood of thromboembolism, mainly pulmonary embolism (PE). To screen for these complications a biochemical marker, D-dimer, is usually done. There is a plethora of research validating the use of D-dimer cutoff levels in non-COVID-19 patients, however less so in the COVID-19 population. Aim: To determine the number of suspected COVID patients with D-dimer ≥ 0.5 and PE reported on CTPA. Methods: Non-interventional single-centre retrospective clinical correlational study. Patient cohort was patients admitted with suspected COVID-19 over a 5-week period. N=690. Results: 76.5% of suspected COVID-19 patients were PCR positive. 40% of these patients had a CTPA completed with 19% reported to have a PE. 52% of patients had a D-dimer value ≥ 0.5 10.6% patients had a PE with a D-dimer ≥ 0.5. Conclusion: Nationally, hospitals are adopting existing D-dimer cut off levels to rule out PEs, however this leads to a large proportion of admitted COVID-19 patients having possibly unnecessary computed tomography pulmonary angiogram. This study highlights that majority of patients with D-dimers above the cut off level have negative PEs and contributes to the notion that standard D-dimer cutoffs are insufficiently accurate to be used as a standalone test in diagnosis in the context of an underlying SARS- CoV-2 infection.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Pulmonary Embolism Detection in COVID-19 Patients
• Vaccine Effectiveness against Referral to Hospital and Severe Lung Injury Associated with COVID-19: A Population- Based Case-Control Study in St. Petersburg, Russia -

  Background: Results of a randomised trial showed the safety and efficacy of Gam-COVID-Vac against COVID-19. However, compared to other vaccines used across the globe, the real-world data on the effectiveness of Gam-COVID-Vac, especially against the disease caused by Delta variant of concern, was not available. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of vaccination mainly conducted with Gam-COVID-Vac in St. Petersburg, Russia. Methods: We designed a case- control study to assess the vaccine effectiveness (VE) against lung injury and referral to hospital. Self-reported vaccination status was collected for individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who were referred for initial low- dose computed tomography triage in two outpatient centres in July 3 – August 9, 2021 in St. Petersburg, Russia. We used logistic regression models to estimate the adjusted (for age, and triage centre) VE for complete (>14 days after the second dose) and partial vaccination (>14 days after the first dose). We estimated the VE against referral for hospital admission, COVID-19-related lung injury assessed with LDCT, and decline in oxygen saturation. Results: In the final analysis, 13,893 patients were included, 1,291 (9.3%) of patients met our criteria for complete vaccination status, and 495 (3.6%) were referred to hospital. In the primary analysis, the adjusted VE against referral to hospital was 81% (95% CI: 68–88) for complete vaccination. The effect of the partial vaccination was not statistically significant. The VE against referral to hospital was more pronounced in women (84%, 95% CI: 66–92) compared to men (76%, 95% CI: 51–88). Vaccine protective effect increased with increasing lung injury categories, from 54% (95% CI: 48 –60) against any sign of lung injury to 76% (95% CI: 59–86) against more than 50% lung involvement. A sharp increase was observed in the probability of hospital admission with age for non-vaccinated patients in relation to an almost flat relationship for the completely vaccinated group. Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination was effective against referral to hospital in patients with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in St. Petersburg, Russia. This protection is probably mediated through VE against lung injury associated with COVID-19.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Vaccine Effectiveness against Referral to Hospital and Severe Lung Injury Associated with COVID-19: A Population-Based Case- Control Study in St. Petersburg, Russia
• Are We There Yet? Big Surveys Significantly Overestimate COVID-19 Vaccination in the US -

  Accurate surveys are the primary tool for understanding public opinion towards and barriers preventing COVID-19 vaccine uptake. We compare three prominent surveys about vaccination in the US: Delphi-Facebook (n≈250,000 per week), Census Household Pulse (n≈75,000), and Axios-Ipsos (n≈1,000). We find that the two larger surveys are biased compared to the benchmark from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and that their sample sizes lead to devastating overconfidence in those incorrect estimates. By April 26, 2021, Delphi-Facebook and Census Household Pulse estimated that at least 73% and 69% of US adults had received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, which was 16 and 12 percentage points higher, respectively, than the CDC9s estimate (57%). Moreover, estimates of vaccine hesitancy disagree significantly between surveys — we find that these differences cannot be explained entirely by Delphi-Facebook9s under- representation of racial minorities and non-college educated adults. These are examples of the Big Data Paradox (Meng 2018): when a confidence interval based on a large but biased sample exhibits both a seriously displaced center and a grossly underestimated width, thus leading us (confidently) away from the truth. With sufficient attention to quality control, small surveys like Axios-Ipsos can be far more reliable than large ones. We leverage a recently established data quality identity (Meng 2018) to quantify sources of the estimation errors and to conduct a scenario analysis for implications on vaccine willingness and hesitancy. Our study quantifies how bias in large samples can lead to overconfidence in incorrect inferences, which is particularly problematic in studies, like those examined here, that inform high-stakes public policy decisions.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Are We There Yet? Big Surveys Significantly Overestimate COVID-19 Vaccination in the US
• Predictive and Causal Analysis of No-Shows for Medical Exams During COVID-19: A Case Study of Breast Imaging in a Nationwide Israeli Health Organization -

  “No-shows”, defined as missed appointments or late cancellations, is a central problem in healthcare systems. It has appeared to intensify during the COVID-19 pandemic and the nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as closures, taken to slow its spread. No-shows interfere with patients9 continuous care, lead to inefficient utilization of medical resources, and increase healthcare costs. We present a comprehensive analysis of no-shows for breast imaging appointments made during 2020 in a large medical network in Israel. We applied advanced machine learning methods to provide insights into novel and known predictors. Additionally, we employed causal inference methodology to infer the effect of closures on no-shows, after accounting for confounding biases, and demonstrate the superiority of adversarial balancing over inverse probability weighting in correcting these biases. Our results imply that a patient9s perceived risk of cancer and the COVID-19 time-based factors are major predictors. Further, we reveal that closures impact patients over 60, but not patients undergoing advanced diagnostic examinations.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Predictive and Causal Analysis of No-Shows for Medical Exams During COVID-19: A Case Study of Breast Imaging in a Nationwide Israeli Health Organization
• Whole genome sequencing identifies multiple loci for critical illness caused by COVID-19 -

  Critical illness in COVID-19 is caused by inflammatory lung injury, mediated by the host immune system. We and others have shown that host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care or hospitalisation following SARS-Co-V2 infection. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study is designed to compare genetic variants in critically-ill cases with population controls in order to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we use whole genome sequencing and statistical fine mapping in 7,491 critically-ill cases compared with 48,400 population controls to discover and replicate 22 independent variants that significantly predispose to life- threatening COVID-19. We identified 15 new independent associations with severe COVID-19, including variants within genes involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB, PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A), and blood type secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalisation to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence implicating expression of multiple genes, including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased mucin expression (MUC1), in severe disease. We show that comparison between critically- ill cases and population controls is highly efficient for genetic association analysis and enables detection of therapeutically-relevant mechanisms of disease. Therapeutic predictions arising from these findings require testing in clinical trials.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Whole genome sequencing identifies multiple loci for critical illness caused by COVID-19
• Ensemble forecast of COVID-19 in Karnataka for vulnerability assessment and policy interventions -

  We present an ensemble forecast for Wave-3 of COVID-19 in the state of Karnataka, India, using the IISc Population Balance Model for infectious disease spread. The reported data of confirmed, recovered, and deceased cases in Karnataka from 1 July 2020 to 4 July 2021 is utilized to tune the model9s parameters, and an ensemble forecast is done from 5 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. The ensemble is built with 972 members by varying seven critical parameters that quantify the uncertainty in the spread dynamics (antibody waning, viral mutation) and interventions (pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical). The probability of Wave-3, the peak date distribution, and the peak caseload distribution are estimated from the ensemble forecast. Our analysis shows that the most significant causal factors are compliance to Covid-appropriate behavior, daily vaccination rate, and the immune escape new variant emergence-time. These causal factors determine when and how severe the Wave-3 of COVID-19 would be in Karnataka. We observe that when compliance to Covid-Appropriate Behavior is good (i.e., lockdown-like compliance), the emergence of new immune-escape variants beyond Sep 921 is unlikely to induce a new wave. A new wave is inevitable when compliance to Covid-Appropriate Behavior is only partial. Increasing the daily vaccination rates reduces the peak active caseload at Wave-3. Consequently, the hospitalization, ICU, and Oxygen requirements also decrease. Compared to Wave-2, the ensemble forecast indicates that the number of daily confirmed cases of children (0-17 years) at Wave-39s peak could be seven times more on average. Our results provide insights to plan science-informed policy interventions and public health response.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Ensemble forecast of COVID-19 in Karnataka for vulnerability assessment and policy interventions
• Deep immune profiling reveals early-stage and highly coordinated immune responses in mild COVID-19 patients -

  While immunopathology has been widely studied in severe COVID-19 patients, immunoprotective factors in non- hospitalized patients have remained largely elusive. We systematically analyzed 484 peripheral immune cell signatures, various serological parameters and TCR repertoire in a longitudinal cohort of 63 mild and 15 hospitalized patients versus 14 asymptomatic and 26 control individuals. Within three days following PCR diagnosis, we observed coordinated responses of CD4 and CD8 T cells, various antigen presenting cells and antibody-secreting cells in mild, but not hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This early-stage SARS-CoV-2-specific response was predominantly characterized by substantially expanded clonotypes of CD4 and less of CD8 T cells. The early-stage responses of T cells and dendritic cells were highly predictive for later seroconversion and protective antibody levels after three weeks in mild non- hospitalized, but not in hospitalized patients. Our systemic analysis provides the first full picture and early-stage trajectory of highly coordinated immune responses in mild COVID-19 patients.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Deep immune profiling reveals early-stage and highly coordinated immune responses in mild COVID-19 patients
• Reducing public transit compounds social vulnerabilities during COVID-19 -
  The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted public transit services through a combination of plummeting ridership during the lockdown and subsequent budget cuts. This study investigates the equity impacts of reductions in accessibility due to public transit service cuts during COVID-19 and their association with urban sprawl. We evaluated accessibility to essential services such as grocery stores and both urgent and non-urgent health care across 22 cities across the United States in three phases during 2020: pre-lockdown, lockdown, and post-lockdown. We estimated the spatio-temporal coverage of transit service during the peak and off-peak periods in each phase. We found stark disparities in food and health care access for various socio-economic groups. Economically disadvantaged and suburban neighborhoods were more likely to lose food and health care access by public transit during COVID-19. In particular, transit service cuts worsened accessibility for population groups with multiple social vulnerabilities, such as low- income workers with zero vehicle ownership, poor households living in urban neighborhoods, and non-white populations residing in suburban neighborhoods. Moreover, our study suggests that sprawled cities experienced greater losses in access to food and health care during COVID-19 than compact cities, highlighting the influence of urban form on the functionality of transit services during crises.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Reducing public transit compounds social vulnerabilities during COVID-19
• Impact of Vaccine Prioritization Strategies on Mitigating COVID-19: An Agent-Based Simulation Study using an Urban Region in the United States -

  Background Approval of novel vaccines for COVID-19 has brought hope and expectations, but not without additional challenges. One central challenge is how to appropriately prioritize the use of limited supply of vaccines. This study examines the efficacy of the various vaccine prioritization strategies using the vaccination campaign underway in the U.S. Methods The study develops a granular agent-based simulation model for mimicking community spread of COVID-19 under various social interventions including full and partial closures, isolation and quarantine, use of face mask and contact tracing, and vaccination. The model is populated with parameters of disease natural history, as well as demographic and societal data for an urban community in the U.S. with 2.8 million residents. The model tracks daily numbers of infected, hospitalized, and deaths for all census age-groups. Model is calibrated using parameters for viral transmission and level of community circulation of individuals. Published data from the Florida COVID-19 dashboard is used to validate the model. Vaccination strategies are compared using hypothesis test for pairwise comparisons. Results Three prioritization strategies are examined: a minor variant of CDC9s recommendation, an age-stratified strategy, and a random strategy. The impact of vaccination is also contrasted with a no vaccination scenario. The study shows that the ongoing campaign in the U.S. using vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna is expected to 1) reduce the cumulative number of infections by 10% and 2) help the pandemic to subside below a small threshold of 100 daily new reported cases sooner by approximately a month. A comparison of the prioritization strategies shows no significant difference in their impacts on pandemic mitigation. Conclusions Recent explosive growth of the number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continues to shrink the susceptible population. A shrinking susceptible pool may be an attributable reason for the observed lack of statistical difference among the outcomes of the prioritization strategies. However, the invariance of the strategies offers more latitude to decision makers in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. For example, instead of adhering strictly to priority groups sequentially (as in CDC variant), the approach of distributing vaccines among all elgibile as quickly as possible (as in random strategy) is equally effective and also easier to implement.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Impact of Vaccine Prioritization Strategies on Mitigating COVID-19: An Agent-Based Simulation Study using an Urban Region in the United States
• High diversity in Delta variant across countries revealed via genome-wide analysis of SARS-CoV-2 beyond the Spike protein -
  The highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as the new dominant global strain, and reports of reduced effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant are highly concerning. While there has been extensive focus on understanding the amino acid mutations in the Delta variant’s Spike protein, the mutational landscape of the rest of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome (25 proteins) remains poorly understood. To this end, we performed a systematic analysis of mutations in all the SARS-CoV-2 proteins from nearly 2 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes from 176 countries/territories. Six highly-prevalent missense mutations in the viral life cycle-associated Membrane (I82T), Nucleocapsid (R203M, D377Y), NS3 (S26L), and NS7a (V82A, T120I) proteins are almost exclusive to the Delta variant compared to other variants of concern (mean prevalence across genomes: Delta = 99.74%, Alpha = 0.06%, Beta = 0.09%, Gamma = 0.22%). Furthermore, we find that the Delta variant harbors a more diverse repertoire of mutations across countries compared to the previously dominant Alpha variant (cosine similarity: meanAlpha = 0.94, S.D.Alpha = 0.05; meanDelta = 0.86, S.D.Delta = 0.1; Cohen’s dAlpha-Delta = 1.17, p-value < 0.001). Overall, our study underscores the high diversity of the Delta variant between countries and identifies a list of targetable amino acid mutations in the Delta variant’s proteome for probing the mechanistic basis of pathogenic features such as high viral loads, high transmissibility, and reduced susceptibility against neutralization by vaccines.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: High diversity in Delta variant across countries revealed via genome-wide analysis of SARS-CoV-2 beyond the Spike protein
• Nanobody-Functionalized Cellulose for Capturing and Containing SARS-CoV-2 -
  The highly transmissible severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 217 million people, claiming ~ 4.5 million lives to date. Although mandatory quarantines, lockdowns, and vaccinations help curb viral transmission, safe and effective preventative measures remain urgently needed. Here, we present a generic strategy for containing SARS-CoV-2 by cellulose materials. Specifically, we developed a bifunctional fusion protein consisting of a cellulose-binding domain and a nanobody (Nb) targeting the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2. The immobilization of the fusion proteins on cellulose substrates enhanced the capture efficiency of Nbs against SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses of the wildtype and the D614G variant, the latter of which has been shown to confer higher infectivity. Furthermore, the fusion protein was integrated into a customizable chromatography with highly porous cellulose for neutralizing virus from contaminated fluids in a continuous and cost-effective fashion. Taken together, our work leverages low-cost cellulose materials and recently developed Nbs to provide a complementary approach to addressing the pandemic.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Nanobody-Functionalized Cellulose for Capturing and Containing SARS-CoV-2
• Addressing the Impact of Border Enforcement Measures on the Self-Reported Health of Migrants Aiming to Enter Japan During the COVID-19 Epidemic. -
  Following the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, Japan has implemented border enforcement measures to ban most foreigners, including tourists, workers and students from entering Japan for the time being, except for special humanitarian circumstances. For about a year, many migrants have been unable to enter Japan and had to postpone their plans. Using an online questionnaire (N=478), this study aimed to assess the impact of border enforcement measures on migrants’ health and wellbeing. Results indicate that border enforcement measures have generated insecurities, both from a financial and personal point of view. These have had strong negative effects on physical health and, to a greater extent, on sleep quality, level of stress and quality of life. The article demonstrates that insecurity is key for understanding Japanese border policies and, consequently, migrants’ health as it shapes a spectrum between the insiders and the outsiders that is determined by factors that take little account of individuals’ situation and that the state of exception reveals a gradient that is independent from the epidemic situation. It concludes with five points to be discussed further to protect migrants’ heath in case of travel ban: allow a fair treatment of migrants, developing international remote work possibilities, discussing the portability of the costs related to border enforcement measures, allow non-married couples to reunite and give a greater visibility to international migrants.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Addressing the Impact of Border Enforcement Measures on the Self-Reported Health of Migrants Aiming to Enter Japan During the COVID-19 Epidemic.
• Pandemic-response adenoviral vector and RNA vaccine manufacturing -

  Rapid global COVID-19 pandemic response by mass vaccination is currently limited by the rate of vaccine manufacturing. This study presents a techno-economic feasibility assessment and comparison of three vaccine production platform technologies deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) adenovirus-vectored (AVV) vaccines, (2) messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, and (3) the newer self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines. Besides assessing the baseline performance of the production process, the impact of key design and operational uncertainties on the productivity and cost performance of these vaccine platforms were also evaluated using variance-based global sensitivity analysis. Cost and resource requirement projections were also computed for manufacturing multi-billion vaccine doses for covering the current global demand shortage and for providing annual booster immunizations. This model-based assessment provides key insights to policymakers and vaccine manufacturers for risk analysis, asset utilisation, directions for future technology improvements and future epidemic/pandemic preparedness, given the disease-agnostic nature of these vaccine production platforms.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Pandemic-response adenoviral vector and RNA vaccine manufacturing
• Co-expression analysis to identify key modules and hub genes associated with COVID19 in Platelets -
  The severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious virus that causes a severe respiratory disease known as Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID19). Indeed, COVID19 increases the risk of cardiovascular occlusive/thrombotic events and is linked to poor outcomes. The pathophysiological processes underlying COVID19-induced thrombosis are complex, and remain poorly understood. To this end, platelets play important roles in regulating our cardiovascular system, including via contributions to coagulation and inflammation. There is an ample of evidence that circulating platelets are activated in COVID19 patients, which is a primary driver of the thrombotic outcome observed in these patients. However, the comprehensive molecular basis of platelet activation in COVID19 disease remains elusive, which warrants more investigation. Hence, we employed gene co-expression network analysis combined with pathways enrichment analysis to further investigate the aforementioned issues. Our study revealed three important gene clusters/modules that were closely related to COVID19. Furthermore, enrichment analysis showed that these three modules were mostly related to platelet metabolism, protein translation, mitochondrial activity, and oxidative phosphorylation, as well as regulation of megakaryocyte differentiation, and apoptosis, suggesting a hyperactivation status of platelets in COVID19. We identified the three hub genes from each of three key modules according to their intramodular connectivity value ranking, namely: COPE, CDC37, CAPNS1, AURKAIP1, LAMTOR2, GABARAP MT-ND1, MT-ND5, and MTRNR2L12. Collectively, our results offer a new and interesting insight into platelet involvement in COVID19 disease at the molecular level, which might aid in defining new targets for treatment of COVID19-induced thrombosis.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Co-expression analysis to identify key modules and hub genes associated with COVID19 in Platelets
• Azacytidine targeting SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA as a potential treatment for COVID-19 -
  The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health disaster. Moreover, emerging mutated virus strains present an even greater challenge for existing vaccines and medications. One possible solution is to design drugs based on the properties of virus epigenome, which are more common among coronaviruses. Here, we reported an FDA-approved drug for myelodysplastic syndrome, azacytidine (5Aza), limited virus infection and protected mice against SARS-CoV-2. We demonstrated that this antiviral effect is related to 5Aza incorporation into viral RNA, which disrupt m5C RNA methylation modification profile. This work suggests that targeting viral epigenomes is a viable therapeutic strategy, potentially opening new pathways for treating COVID-19.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Azacytidine targeting SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA as a potential treatment for COVID-19

From Clinical Trials

• High-dose Intravenous Vitamin C (HDIVC) as Adjuvant Therapy in Critical Patients With Positive COVID-19. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Dose-comparison Trial. - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: High doses of intravenous vitamin C;   Drug: Dextrose 500 mL
  Sponsor:   Hugo Galindo
  Not yet recruiting

• Developing and Testing a COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Intervention - Condition:   COVID-19 Vaccination
  Intervention:   Behavioral: Moving to COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Intervention
  Sponsors:   VA Office of Research and Development;   VA Bedford Healthcare System
  Not yet recruiting

• Study on Safety and Clinical Efficacy of AZVUDINE in Initial Stage COVID-19 Patients (SARS-CoV-2 Infected) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: AZVUDINE;   Drug: AZVUDINE placebo
  Sponsors:   HRH Holdngs Limited;   GALZU INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH, TEACHING, APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Brazil;   SANTA CASA DE MISERICORDIA DE CAMPOS HOSPITAL (SCMCH), Brazil;   UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DO NORTE FLUMINENSE (UENF), Brazil
  Not yet recruiting

• Andrographis Paniculata vs Boesenbergia Rotunda vs Control in Asymptomatic COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: Andrographis Paniculata;   Drug: Boesenbergia;   Other: Standard supportive treatment
  Sponsors:   Mahidol University;   Ministry of Health, Thailand
  Not yet recruiting

• Enhancing COVID Rehabilitation With Technology - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: NexJ Connected Wellness;   Other: Usual Care
  Sponsors:   University of Ottawa;   Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);   Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  Not yet recruiting

• Phase I/II Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cells) in Children and Adolescents - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cells);   Other: Placebo control
  Sponsors:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.;   West China Hospital
  Not yet recruiting

• Treatment of Covid-19 With a Herbal Compound, Xagrotin - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Combination Product: Xagrotin
  Sponsors:  
  Biomad AS;   Directorate of health of Sulaimani, Iraq -KRG
  Completed

• Evaluation of Clinical and Antibody Response to Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy in TBRI, Egypt - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Biological: Astrazenica vaccine
  Sponsor:  
  Samia Hassan El-Shishtawy
  Recruiting

• Philippine Trial to Determine Efficacy and Safety of Favipiravir for COVID-19 - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Combination Product: Favipiravir + Standard of Care;   Procedure: Standard of Care
  Sponsors:   University of the Philippines;   Department of Health, Philippines
  Recruiting

• Evaluation of Safety and Immunogenicity of a Novel Vaccine for Prevention of Covid-19 in Adults Previously Immunized - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Biological: A vaccine composed of a recombinant S1 antigen
  Sponsors:   Hospital do Coracao;   Farmacore Biotecnologia Ltda
  Withdrawn

• Comparison of Detection of SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) Between Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens and Those Obtained by Salivary Sputum - Condition:   Covid19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: Salivary test for COVID19
  Sponsor:   Centre Hospitalier de Cayenne
  Active, not recruiting

• Menstrual Blood Stem Cells in Severe Covid-19 - Conditions:   Covid19;   Cytokine Storm
  Interventions:   Biological: Allogeneic human menstrual blood stem cells secretome;   Other: Intravenous saline injection
  Sponsors:   Avicenna Research Institute;   Tehran University of Medical Sciences
  Completed

• Public Health Emergency: SOLIDARITY TRIAL Philippines - Condition:   Covid19
  Interventions:   Drug: Remdesivir;   Drug: Hydroxychloroquine;   Drug: Lopinavir / Ritonavir;   Drug: Interferon beta-1a;   Drug: Acalabrutinib
  Sponsor:  
  University of the Philippines
  Active, not recruiting

• Tazemetostat for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Infection - Conditions:   COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome;   Cytokine Release Syndrome
  Intervention:   Drug: Tazemetostat
  Sponsor:   Ciprian Gheorghe
  Not yet recruiting

• Sexual Functions and Covid-19 - Conditions:   Covid19;   Sexual Behavior
  Intervention:   Behavioral: Women sexual dysfunctions were screened using Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI)
  Sponsor:  
  Gaziosmanpasa Research and Education Hospital
  Completed

From PubMed

• Patchy signals: capturing women’s voices in mobile phone surveys of rural India - Phone surveys are a rapid and cost-effective way to collect primary data for research, monitoring and evaluation purposes. But for these data to be precise, reliable and unbiased, women’s perspectives must be accurately represented. Throughout 2020, we conducted seven household surveys in rural India to understand households’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and contemporaneous relief programmes. Given social distancing protocols, we conducted these surveys over the phone, using household…

• Synthesis of novel calcium channel blockers with ACE2 inhibition and dual antihypertensive/anti-inflammatory effects: A possible therapeutic tool for COVID-19 - Hypertension has been recognized as one of the most frequent comorbidities and risk factors for the seriousness and adverse consequences in COVID-19 patients. 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H) ones have attracted researchers to be synthesized via Beginilli reaction and evaluate their antihypertensive activities as bioisosteres of nifedipine a well-known calcium channel blocker. In this study, we report synthesis of some bioisosteres of pyrimidines as novel CCBs with potential ACE2 inhibitory effect as…

• In-silico immunoinformatic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 virus for the development of putative vaccine construct - COVID-19 (CoronaVirus disease 2019) is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2). SARS-CoV-2 virus is highly contagious and affects the human respiratory tract resulting in symptoms such as high fever, body ache, cough, dysfunctions of tastebuds and smelling sense of body. The objective of the present study involves immunoinformatic analysis to predict COVID-19 protein for vaccine construct based on the genomic information SARS-CoV-2 virus. At present, as…

• Differential plasmacytoid dendritic cell phenotype and type I Interferon response in asymptomatic and severe COVID-19 infection - SARS-CoV-2 fine-tunes the interferon (IFN)-induced antiviral responses, which play a key role in preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) progression. Indeed, critically ill patients show an impaired type I IFN response accompanied by elevated inflammatory cytokine and chemokine levels, responsible for cell and tissue damage and associated multi-organ failure. Here, the early interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and immune cells was investigated by interrogating an in vitro human peripheral…

• Participation of nitrogen oxide and its metabolites in the genesis of hyperimmune inflammation in COVID-19 - Despite the success in the tactics of treating COVID-19, there are many unexplored issues related to the development and progression of the process in the lungs, brain, and other organs, as well as the role of individual elements, in particular, nitric oxide (NO), and in the pathogenesis of organ damage. Based on the analyzed literature data, we considered a possible pathophysiological mechanism of action of NO and its derivatives in COVID-19. It can be noted that hyperimmune systemic…

• Discovery of novel inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease - Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), referred to as ‘New Coronary Pneumonia’, is a type of acute infectious disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. M^(pro) is one of the main targets for treating COVID-19. The current research on M^(pro) mainly focuses on the repurposing of old drugs, and there are only a few novel ligands that inhibit M^(pro). In this research, we used computational free energy calculation to screen a compound library…

• Funeral Processes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions Among Islamic Religious Leaders in Indonesia - Controversies surrounding the handling of corpses have been amplified during the present COVID-19 pandemic. According to Indonesian scholars, certain perspectives driving these controversies inhibit the implementation of health protocols issued by the government. This study comprehensively explores the diverse perceptions and responses of religious leaders regarding COVID-19 funeral management. Participants comprised six scholars from major Islamic religious organizations, two community leaders,…

• Electrochemical and Mechanistic Study of Oxidative Degradation of Favipiravir by Electrogenerated Superoxide through Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer - Electrochemical analyses aided by density functional theory calculations were used to investigate the oxidative degradation of pyrazine antiviral drugs, 3-hydroxypyrazine-2-carboxamide (T-1105) and 6-fluoro-3-hydroxypyrazine-2-carboxamide (favipiravir, T-705), by the electrogenerated superoxide radical anion (O(2) ^(•-)). T-1105 and T-705 are antiviral RNA nucleobase analogues that selectively inhibit the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. They are expected as a drug candidate against various viral…

• Prediction of potential drug interactions between repurposed COVID-19 and antitubercular drugs: an integrational approach of drug information software and computational techniques data - CONCLUSION: Predicting these potential drug-drug interactions, particularly related to CYP3A4, P-gp and the human Ether- à-go-go-Related Gene proteins, could be used in clinical settings for screening and management of drug-drug interactions for delivering safer chemotherapeutic tuberculosis and COVID-19 care. The current study provides an initial propulsion for further well-designed pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic-based drug-drug interaction studies.

• Recent advances in the chromatographic determination of the most commonly used anti-hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir and its co-administered drugs in human plasma - Sofosbuvir is a direct-acting antiviral drug that inhibits hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5B polymerase which in turn reflects on the virus replication inside biological systems. The vital importance of sofosbuvir is not only based on its effect on HCV but also on other lethal viruses such as Zika and SARS-COVID-19. Accordingly, there is a continuous shedding of light on the development and validation of accurate and fast analytical methods for the determination of sofosbuvir in different…

• Disruption of the biological activity of protease-activated receptors2/4 in adults rather than children in SARS CoV-2 virus-mediated mortality in COVID-19 infection - One of the most remarkable results in 2019 is the reduced prevalence and death of children from coronavirus infection (COVID-19). In 2019, a worldwide pandemic impacted around 0.1 billion individuals, with over 3.5 million mortality reported in the literature. There is minimal knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 infection immunological responses in kids. Studies have been focused mostly on adults and children since the course of pediatric sickness is often short. In adults, severe COVID-19 is related to an…

• Active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8) point-of-care test (POCT) in the COVID-19 pandemic - INTRODUCTION: Active matrix metalloproteinase (aMMP)-8 utilized in point-of-care testing (POCT) is regarded as a potential biomarker for periodontal and peri-implant diseases. Various host and microbial factors eventually influence the expression, degranulation, levels and activation of aMMP-8. The type of oral fluids (saliva, mouthrinse, gingival crevicular and peri-implant sulcular fluids [GCF/PISF], respectively) affect the analysis.

• Inhibition of IRGM establishes a robust antiviral immune state to restrict pathogenic viruses - The type I interferon (IFN) response is the major host arsenal against invading viruses. IRGM is a negative regulator of IFN responses under basal conditions. However, the role of human IRGM during viral infection has remained unclear. In this study, we show that IRGM expression is increased upon viral infection. IFN responses induced by viral PAMPs are negatively regulated by IRGM. Conversely, IRGM depletion results in a robust induction of key viral restriction factors including IFITMs,…

• Thiol-Mediated Uptake - This Perspective focuses on thiol-mediated uptake, that is, the entry of substrates into cells enabled by oligochalcogenides or mimics, often disulfides, and inhibited by thiol-reactive agents. A short chronology from the initial observations in 1990 until today is followed by a summary of cell-penetrating poly(disulfide)s (CPDs) and cyclic oligochalcogenides (COCs) as privileged scaffolds in thiol-mediated uptake and inhibitors of thiol-mediated uptake as potential antivirals. In the spirit of…

• Youth Relationships in the Era of COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Study Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Kenya - CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 disrupted adolescent girls’ and young women’s romantic relationships, depriving some of partner emotional support and exposing others to sexual violence, early pregnancy, and economically motivated transactional relationships. Increased social support systems, including access to psychosocial services, are needed in low-income communities in Kilifi, Kisumu, and Nairobi, in particular the informal settlement areas, to mitigate COVID-19’s consequences on girls’ SRH.

From Patent Search

• Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies - - link

• Expression Vector for Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies - - link

• DEVELOPMENT OF CNN SCHEME FOR COVID-19 DISEASE DETECTION USING CHEST RADIOGRAPH - - link

• SARS-COV-2 BINDING PROTEINS - - link

• A PROCESS FOR PREPARING MONTELUKAST SODIUM FOR TREATING COVID 19 PATIENTS - - link

• IDENTIFICATION OF ANTI-COVID 19 AGENT SOMNIFERINE AS INHIBITOR OF MPRO & ACE2-RBD INTERACTION - - link

• Deep Learning Based System For Detection of Covid-19 Disease of Patient At Infection Risk. - - link

• 鼠抗新型冠状病毒N蛋白杂交瘤细胞株，单克隆抗体及应用 - 本发明提供两株鼠抗新型冠状病毒N蛋白杂交瘤细胞株，单克隆抗体及应用，通过小鼠杂交瘤单克隆抗体筛选及RT‑PCR法克隆Ig可变区基因，获得稳定分泌抗新型冠状病毒N蛋白抗体的杂交瘤细胞株及其可变区序列，并用ELISA方式对抗体结合特异性进行了鉴定，为抗新型冠状病毒N蛋白基因工程抗体的研发奠定了基础；该鼠源性新型冠状病毒N蛋白单克隆抗体与新型冠状病毒N蛋白反应高效价，且结合特异性强，可用于新型冠状病毒N蛋白的检测，以该抗体为原料开发的检测试剂盒具备很好的临床应用价值。 - link

• 자외선살균등 - 본 발명은 사람의 의복이나 사용한 마스크 등에 부착하여 있다 호흡기로 유입되어 감염을 유발할 수 있는 COVID-19와 같은 유해균류를 간편하게 살균하기 위한 휴대용 자와선살균등에 관한 것이다. 반감기가 길고 인체에 유해한 오존을 발생하지 않으면서 탁월한 살균능력이 있는 250~265nm(최적은 253.7nm) 파장의 자외선을 발광하는 자외선램프를 본 발명의 막대형의 자외선살균등 광원으로 사용하고 비광원부를 손으로 잡고 의복이나 사용한 마스크 등 유해균류가 부착되었을 것으로 의심되는 곳에 자외선을 조사하여 간편하게 유해균류를 살균하므로써 감염을 예방하기 위한 휴대용 자외선살균등에 관함 것이다. - link

• 图像识别方法、装置、电子设备和计算机可读存储介质 - 本发明实施例公开了一种图像识别方法、装置、电子设备和计算机可读存储介质；本发明实施例在获取人脸图像样本后，对人脸图像样本进行空间特征提取，并基于提取出的图像特征和人脸标签信息对预设人脸识别模型进行训练，得到训练后人脸识别模型，然后，对图像特征进行域特征提取，得到人脸图像样本的类别特征，然后，基于类别特征和类别标签信息确定人脸图像样本的特征分类结果，然后，根据特征分类结果与训练后人脸识别模型进行修正，并采用修正后人脸识别模型对待识别人脸图像进行识别；该方案可以提升图像识别的效率。 - link