Background In patients with COVID-19 and baseline soluble urokinase plasminogen receptor plasma (suPAR) levels ≥ 6ng/mL, early administration of anakinra, a recombinant interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, may prevent disease progression and death. In case of suPAR testing unavailability, the Severe COvid Prediction Estimate (SCOPE) score may be used as an alternative in guiding treatment decisions. Methods We conducted a monocenter, retrospective cohort study, including patients with SARS-CoV2 infection and respiratory failure. Patients treated with anakinra (anakinra group, AG) were compared to two control groups of patients who did not receive anakinra, respectively with ≥ 6 ng/mL (CG1) and < 6 ng/mL (CG2) baseline suPAR levels. Controls were paired by age, sex, date of admission and vaccination status. Primary endpoint of the study was disease progression at day 14 from admission, as defined by patient distribution on a simplified version of the 11-point World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale (WHO-CPS). Results Between July, 2021 and January, 2022, 153 patients were included, among which 56 were treated with off-label anakinra, 49 retrospectively fulfilled prescriptive criteria for anakinra and were assigned to CG1, and 48 presented with suPAR levels < 6ng/mL and were assigned to CG2. At day 14, when comparing to CG1, patients who received anakinra had significantly reduced odds of progressing towards worse clinical outcome both in ordinal regression analysis (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.11-0.54, p<0.001) and in multivariable analysis (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.03-0.82, p=0.037), and these results were confirmed even when controlling for age, sex, BMI and vaccinal status. Sensitivities of baseline suPAR and SCOPE score in predicting progression towards severe disease or death at day 14 were similar (83% vs 100%, p=0.59). Conclusion This real-word, retrospective cohort study confirmed the safety and the efficacy of suPAR-guided, early use of anakinra in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure.
Whilst many with SARS-CoV-2 infection have mild disease, managed in the community, individuals with cardiovascular risk factors experienced often more severe acute disease, requiring hospitalisation. Increasing concern has also developed over long symptom duration in many individuals, including the majority who managed acutely in the community. Risk factors for long symptom duration, including biological variables, are still poorly defined. We examine post-illness metabolomic and gut-microbiome profiles, in community-dwelling participants with SARS-CoV-2, ranging from asymptomatic illness to Post-COVID Syndrome, and participants with prolonged non-COVID-19 illnesses. We also assess a pre-established metabolomic biomarker score for its association with illness duration. We found an atherogenic-dyslipidaemic metabolic profile, and greater biomarker scores, associated with longer illness, both in individuals with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found no association between illness duration and gut microbiome in convalescence. Findings highlight the potential role of cardiometabolic dysfunction to the experience of long illness duration, including after COVID-19.
SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 disease has resulted in the death of millions worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019. While much progress has been made to understand acute manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection, less is known about post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). We investigated the levels of circulating SARS-CoV-2 components, Spike protein and viral RNA, in patients hospitalized with acute COVID-19 and in patients with and without PASC. In hospitalized patients with acute COVID-19 (n=116), we observed a positive correlation of Spike protein with D-dimer, length of hospitalization, and peak WHO score while viral RNA correlated with a tissue injury marker, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). When comparing patients with post-COVID symptoms (n=33) and patients without (n=14), we found that Spike protein and viral RNA were more likely to be present in patients with PASC and in some cases at higher levels compared to acute COVID-19 patients. We also observed that the percent positivity of circulating viral RNA increased in the PASC positive individuals compared to acute COVID-19 group while Spike protein positivity remained the same. Additionally, we report that part of the circulating Spike protein is linked to extracellular vesicles without any presence of viral RNA in these vesicles. Our findings suggest that Spike protein and/or viral RNA fragments persist in the recovered COVID-19 patients with PASC, independent of their presence or absence during the acute COVID-19 phase.
We provide follow-up data on the humoral immune response after COVID-19 vaccinations of a cohort aged below 60 and over 80 years. While anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific IgG and neutralization capacity waned rapidly after initial vaccination, additional boosters highly benefitted humoral immune responses including neutralization of Omikron variants in the elderly cohort.
COVID-19 risk mitigation behavior, including social distancing and mask wearing, was a principal factor influencing the spread of COVID-19. Yet this behavior, and its association with COVID-19 perceptions and beliefs, is poorly understood. Here we used a mixed methods approach combining serious game data with survey instruments to describe relationships between perceptions and behavior. Using a series of survey questions, participants were described along a spectrum denoting their perception of their susceptibility to COVID-19 associated with a list of activities. Afterwards, participants engaged with a serious game to examine behavioral responses to scenarios involving shopping at a grocery store and going to a park during simulated pandemic conditions. Messages describing the simulated infection risk were shown to drive many behavioral decisions. Another significant correlate, derived from survey results, was the participant’s perception of susceptibility associated with various activities for acquiring the COVID-19 infection. Individuals that perceived every day activities, such as grocery shopping, as unlikely to lead to a COVID-19 infection spent more time near others in the game-simulated grocery store environment compared to those that consider such activities as risky. Additionally, we found that participant behavior became increasingly risky as time progresses if they were lucky enough not to experience an infection. This reflects behavior observed in the United States and more broadly, possibly explains how people update their perception of the risk of activities. Overall, results show a link between perception and action with regards to COVID-19 and support the use of targeted risk messaging to influence behavior. Moreover, the link between reported real-world perceptions and game behavior suggest that serious games can be used as valuable tools to test policies, risk messaging and communication, with the goal of nudging individuals with varied and nuanced perceptions and belief sets towards behaviors that will reduce the impact of COVID-19.
Background Successive SARS-CoV-2 variants have caused severe disease in long-term care facility (LTCF) residents. Primary vaccination provides strong short-term protection, but data are limited on duration of protection following booster vaccines, particularly against the Omicron variant. We investigated effectiveness of booster vaccination against infections, hospitalisations and deaths among LTCF residents and staff in England. Methods We included residents and staff of LTCFs within the VIVALDI study (ISRCTN 14447421) who underwent routine, asymptomatic testing (December 12 2021-March 31 2022). Cox regression was used to estimate relative hazards of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and associated hospitalisation and death at 0-13, 14-48, 49-83 and 84 days after dose 3 of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination compared to 2 doses (after 84+ days), stratified by previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and adjusting for age, sex, LTCF capacity and local SARS-CoV-2 incidence. Results 14175 residents and 19973 staff were included. In residents without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, infection risk was reduced 0-83 days after first booster, but no protection was apparent after 84 days. Additional protection following booster vaccination waned, but was still present at 84+ days for COVID-associated hospitalisation (aHR: 0.47, 0.24-0.89) and death (aHR: 0.37, 0.21-0.62). Most residents (64.4%) had received primary course of AstraZeneca, but this did not impact on pre- or post-booster risks. Staff showed a similar pattern of waning booster effectiveness against infection, with few hospitalisations and no deaths. Conclusions Booster vaccination provides sustained protection against severe outcomes following infection with the Omicron variant, but no protection against infection from 3 months onwards. Ongoing surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in LTCFs is crucial.
Several measures including behavioral restrictions for individuals have been taken to control the spread of COVID-19 all over the world. The aim of these measures is to prevent infected persons from contacting with susceptible persons. Since the behavioral restrictions for all citizens, such as the city-wide lockdown, are directly linked to stagnation of economic activities, the assessment of such measures is crucial. In order to evaluate the effects of behavioral restrictions, we employ the broken-link model to compare the situation of COVID-19 in Shanghai where the lockdown was implemented from March to June 2022 with it in Taiwan where a spread of COVID-19 was known to be well controlled so far. The result shows that the small link-connection probability is achieved by substantial isolation of infected person including the lockdown measures. Although the strict measures for behavioral restrictions are effective to reduce the total infected people, the daily confirmed cases follow the curve which is evaluated by the broken-link model. This result is considered as unavoidable infections for population.
NO2 is a mainly anthropogenic gas that affects population health and its exposure is associated with several respiratory diseases. Its tropospheric concentration is associated with vehicle emissions. During 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns have impeded populations mobility, hence constructing an almost ideal situation to study their relationship with tropospheric NO2 concentration. We used TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) satellite images, Google mobility reports and vehicule count in order to study these relationships in six big Latin American metropolitan areas: Mexico DF, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima and Bogota. In all of them, tropospheric NO2 concentration decreased during 2020 compared to 2019, particularly during April 2020. Temperature differences alone could not explain the NO2 concentration differences between February and April 2020. The daily vehicle count in Buenos Aires was a significantly important variable in order to explain NO2 concentration variations (p < 0.001) and it could be replaced by the daily Googles residential variation without significant information loss (p~1). This study strengthens previous research findings about NO2 concentration reduction during COVID-19 lockdowns and shows the relationship between human mobility and air pollution in the particular context of Latin America big cities.
The real-world performance of vaccines against COVID-19 infections is critically important to counter the pandemics. We propose a varying coefficient stochastic epidemic model to estimate the vaccine efficacy based on the publicly available epidemiological and vaccination data. To tackle the challenges posed by the unobserved state variables, we develop a multi-step decentralized estimation procedure that uses different data segments to estimate different parameters. A B-spline structure is used to approximate the underlying infection rates and to facilitate model simulation in obtaining an objective function between the imputed and the simulation-based estimates of the latent state variables, leading to simulation-based estimation of the diagnosis rate using data in the pre-vaccine period and the vaccine effect parameters using data in the post-vaccine periods. And the time-varying infection, recovery and death rates are estimated by kernel regressions. We apply the proposed method to analyze the data in ten countries which collectively used 8 vaccines. The analysis reveals that the average effectiveness of the full vaccination was at least 22% higher than that of the partial vaccination and was largely above the WHO recognized level of 50% before November 20, 2021, including the Delta variant dominated period.
Background: Cardiac involvement in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with poor outcomes. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) can be used to assess cardiac structure and function non-invasively, and has been shown to influence management in COVID-19. Objectives: We aim to investigate the prognostic value of TTE findings in hospitalized adults with confirmed COVID-19. Methods: All consecutive hospitalized adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 who underwent TTE assessment between 3rd April 2020-6th April 2021 were included. Comprehensive clinical data including TTE findings were collected from electronic medical records. Patients with mild-moderate and severe-critical COVID-19 were compared. Within the severe-critical group, patients who survived hospitalization and died were compared. Further analyses were conducted after matching for age >60 years, obesity, and diabetes. Results: A total of 488 COVID-19 patients were included in this study; 202 with mild-moderate and 286 severe-critical disease. All mild-moderate patients and 152 severe-critical patients survived hospitalization. In the matched cohorts, TTE findings associated with severe-critical COVID-19 included left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (OR: 1.91; CI: 1.21-3.02), LV diastolic dysfunction (OR: 1.55; CI: 1.00-2.38), right ventricular (RV) dysfunction (OR: 3.86; CI: 1.06-14.08), wall motion abnormalities (WMAs) (OR: 2.76; CI: 1.28-5.96), and any TTE abnormalities (OR: 2.99; CI: 1.73-5.17). TTE findings associated with mortality included RV dysfunction (OR: 3.53; CI: 1.12-11.19) and WMAs (OR: 2.63; CI: 1.26-5.49). Conclusion: TTE is a non-invasive modality that can potentially be used for risk-stratification of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. These findings must be confirmed in larger prospective studies.
Background: The UK was the first country to start national COVID-19 vaccination programmes, initially administering doses 3-weeks apart. However, early evidence of high vaccine effectiveness after the first dose and the emergence of the Alpha variant prompted the UK to extend the interval between doses to 12-weeks. In this study, we quantify the impact of delaying the second vaccine dose on the epidemic in England. Methods: We used a previously described model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and calibrated the model to English surveillance data including hospital admissions, hospital occupancy, seroprevalence data, and population-level PCR testing data using a Bayesian evidence synthesis framework. We modelled and compared the epidemic trajectory assuming that vaccine doses were administered 3-weeks apart against the real vaccine roll-out schedule. We estimated and compared the resulting number of daily infections, hospital admissions, and deaths. A range of scenarios spanning a range of vaccine effectiveness and waning assumptions were investigated. Findings: We estimate that delaying the interval between the first and second COVID-19 vaccine doses from 3- to 12-weeks prevented an average 64,000 COVID-19 hospital admissions and 9,400 deaths between 8th December 2020 and 13th September 2021. Similarly, we estimate that the 3-week strategy would have resulted in more infections and deaths compared to the 12-week strategy. Across all sensitivity analyses the 3-week strategy resulted in a greater number of hospital admissions. Interpretation: England9s delayed second dose vaccination strategy was informed by early real-world vaccine effectiveness data and a careful assessment of the trade-offs in the context of limited vaccine supplies in a growing epidemic. Our study shows that rapidly providing partial vaccine-induced protection to a larger proportion of the population was successful in reducing the burden of COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths. There is benefit in carefully considering and adapting guidelines in light of new emerging evidence and the population in question. Funding: National Institute for Health Research, UK Medical Research Council, Jameel Institute, Wellcome Trust, and UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, National Health and Medical Research Council.
A Study to Measure the Amount of Study Medicine in Blood in Adult Participants With COVID-19 and Severe Kidney Disease - Condition: COVID-19
Intervention: Drug: PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir)/ritonavir
Sponsor: Pfizer
Not yet recruiting
Cognitive Rehabilitation in Post-COVID-19 Condition - Condition: COVID-19
Intervention: Behavioral: Goal Management Training (GMT)
Sponsors: Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital; University of Oslo; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; University of Toronto; UiT The Arctic University of Norway; Oslo University Hospital
Not yet recruiting
EFFECTS OF INSPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IN POST-COVID-19 PATIENTS - Condition: Covid19
Interventions: Other: TREATMENT GROUP (TG); Other: CONTROL GROUP (CG)
Sponsor: University Vila Velha
Completed
Long-term Effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the Central Nervous System and One-year Follow-up of “Long COVID-19” Patients - Condition: Long Covid19
Intervention: Diagnostic Test: Perfusion brain scintigraphy imaging
Sponsor: Brugmann University Hospital
Recruiting
Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program on Post Hospitalization Severe COVID- 19 Patients - Condition: Post COVID-19 Condition
Intervention: Combination Product: respiratory exercises - incentive spirometer - walking
Sponsor: Fayoum University Hospital
Completed
Physiotherapy in Post COVID-19 Syndrome Patients - Condition: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
Interventions: Other: Cognitive behavioral principles-based treatment program; Other: Control intervention
Sponsor: Universidad de Granada
Recruiting
Rehabilitation for People With Post COVID-19 Syndrome - Condition: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
Interventions: Other: Multidimensional intervention; Other: Control intervention
Sponsor: Universidad de Granada
Recruiting
Active Cycle Of Breathing Technique Verses Breathing Exercises In Post ICU COVID-19 Patients - Condition: Post Covid-19 Patients
Interventions: Other: Chest physiotherapy with breathing exercises and ACBT; Other: Chest physiotherapy with breathing exercises
Sponsor: Riphah International University
Recruiting
Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African American Young Adults in the South - Conditions: COVID-19; Vaccine Uptake
Intervention: Behavioral: Tough Talks COVID
Sponsors: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Alabama at Birmingham; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Not yet recruiting
rSIFN-co Among Healthy Subjects and Subjects With Mild or Asymptomatic COVID-19 - Conditions: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2
Interventions: Drug: rSIFN-co Nasal Spray; Drug: Placebo Nasal Spray
Sponsor: Sichuan Huiyang Life Science and Technology Corporation
Recruiting
Evaluation of Safety and Immunogenicity of the Recombinant ZR202-CoV and ZR202a-CoV Vaccines in Adults. - Conditions: SARS-CoV-2 Infection; COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: ZR202-CoV; Biological: ZR202a-CoV; Biological: Comirnaty®
Sponsor: Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology Co.,Ltd
Recruiting
Immunogenicity and Safety of BBIBP-Corv Coadministered With PPV23 and IIV4 in Hemodialysis Population - Conditions: Hemolysis; COVID-19
Interventions: Biological: coadministration; Biological: COVID-19 vaccine; Biological: IIV4+PPV23
Sponsors: China National Biotec Group Company Limited; Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Guizhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Xiangya Hospital of Central South University; Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.; Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co.,Ltd.; Shanghai Institute Of Biological Products
Not yet recruiting
Safety and Immunogenicity Study of a Booster Dose of the Investigational CV0501 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults at Least 18 Years Old - Condition: SARS-CoV-2
Interventions: Biological: CV0501 (3 μg); Biological: CV0501 (6 μg); Biological: CV0501 (12 μg); Biological: CV0501 (25 μg); Biological: CV0501 (50 μg); Biological: CV0501 (75 μg); Biological: CV0501 (100 μg); Biological: CV0501 (150 μg); Biological: CV0501 (200 μg)
Sponsor: GlaxoSmithKline
Not yet recruiting
This Trial is a Clinical Performance Validation Study That Will Evaluate the Clinical Agreement of the Sky Medical™ Rapid Antigen Test Comparing the Antigen Rapid Test to RT-PCR - Conditions: COVID-19; Sars-CoV-2 Infection
Intervention: Diagnostic Test: Sky Medical™ Rapid Antigen Test
Sponsor: Sky Medical Supplies & Equipments, LLC
Recruiting
The Effect Of Distraction Methods On Fear And Anxiety In Children Before The Covid 19 Test - Conditions: Anxiety; Fear
Interventions: Behavioral: The Kaleidescope; Behavioral: The visual illusion cards
Sponsor: Ondokuz Mayıs University
Completed
The long term vaccine-induced anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response is impaired in quantity and quality under TNFα blockade - CONCLUSIONS: We show a reduced SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity in patients under TNFα blockade. In this cohort, the plasma cell response appears to be less specific and show stronger bystander activation. While these effects were observable after the first two vaccinations and with older VOC, the differences in responses to BA.2 were enhanced. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Efficacy and safety of the investigational complement C5 inhibitor zilucoplan in patients hospitalized with COVID-19: an open-label randomized controlled trial - CONCLUSION: Administration of zilucoplan to COVID-19 patients in this proof-of-concept randomized trial was well tolerated under antibiotic prophylaxis. While not reaching statistical significance, indicators of respiratory function (PaO(2)/FiO(2)) and clinical outcome (mortality and 6-min walk test) suggest that C5 inhibition might be beneficial, although this requires further research in larger randomized studies.
Targeting autophagy regulation in NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated lung inflammation in COVID-19 - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Emerging evidence indicates that the NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is activated, which results in a cytokine storm at the late stage of COVID-19. Autophagy regulation is involved in the infection and replication of SARS-CoV-2 at the early stage and the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated lung inflammation at the late…
Therapeutic drug monitoring and dosage adjustments of immunosuppressive drugs when combined with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in patients with COVID-19 - Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid®) consists of a peptidomimetic inhibitor (Nirmatrelvir) of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and a pharmacokinetic enhancer (Ritonavir). It is approved for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19. This combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir can mediate significant and complex drug-drug interactions (DDIs), primarily due to the ritonavir component. Indeed, ritonavir inhibits the metabolism of nirmatrelvir through cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) leading to higher…
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants reduce COVID-19 infection: prospects for use - CONCLUSION: If successful, these drugs can substantially reduce hospitalization and mortality rates, as well as allow for fully outpatient treatment for mild-to-moderate infections. Thus, repositioning SSRIs can provide benefits when faced with a rapidly evolving pandemic such as COVID-19.
Targeting Doublecortin-Like Kinase 1 (DCLK1)-Regulated SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis in COVID-19 - Host factors play critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection-associated pathology and the severity of COVID-19. In this study, we systematically analyzed the roles of SARS-CoV-2-induced host factors, doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1), and S100A9 in viral pathogenesis. In autopsied subjects with COVID-19 and pre-existing chronic liver disease, we observed high levels of DCLK1 and S100A9 expression and immunosuppressive (DCLK1(+)S100A9(+)CD206^(+)) M2-like macrophages and N2-like neutrophils in…
Broad-spectrum antiviral activity of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn against SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, H5N1, and other enveloped viruses - The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2 is responsible for more than 6 million deaths globally. The development of broad-spectrum and cost-effective antivirals is urgently needed. Medicinal plants are renowned as a complementary approach in which antiviral natural products have been established as safe and effective drugs. Here, we report that the percolation extract of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (SSP) is a broad-spectrum viral entry inhibitor against SARS-CoV-1/2 and other enveloped…
Zinc pyrithione is a potent inhibitor of PLPro and cathepsin L enzymes with ex vivo inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication - Zinc pyrithione (1a), together with its analogues 1b-h and ruthenium pyrithione complex 2a, were synthesised and evaluated for the stability in biologically relevant media and anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Zinc pyrithione revealed potent in vitro inhibition of cathepsin L (IC(50)=1.88 ± 0.49 µM) and PL^(Pro) (IC(50)=0.50 ± 0.07 µM), enzymes involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication, respectively, as well as antiviral entry and replication properties in an ex vivo system derived from primary human…
Not “My” crisis: Social identity and followers’ crisis responses to COVID-19 - Operationalizing social group identification as political partisanship, we examine followers’ (i.e., US residents’) affective experiences and behavioral responses during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (March to May 2020). In Study 1, we conducted content analyses on major news outlets’ coverage of COVID-19 (N = 4319) to examine media polarization and how it plays a role in shaping followers’ perceptions of the pandemic and leadership. News outlets trusted by Republicans…
Oridonin Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 by Targeting Its 3C-Like Protease - Oridonin Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Oridonin, a natural product extracted from Rabdosia rubescens, possesses a wide range of pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-microbial, neuroprotection, immunoregulation, etc. In article number 2100124, Baisen Zhong, Litao Sun, and co-workers demonstrate that Oridonin targets the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease by covalently binding to cysteine145 in its active pocket to exert an anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect, which provides a novel candidate…
‘In most supermarkets food does not cost £3 per day …’ The impact of the school food voucher scheme during COVID-19 - Households with children eligible for Free School Meals are at risk of food insecurity. This paper reports on a rapid-response study that investigated the impact of the school food voucher scheme during the COVID-19 crisis on young people, families and schools. It pays close attention to the reliance of the state on the goodwill of society and its citizens in feeding those most in need. The Capabilities Approach is used to highlight factors that inhibited and restricted the use of the vouchers…
Synthesis, crystal structure elucidation, DFT analysis, drug-likeness and ADMET evaluation and molecular docking studies of triazole derivatives: Binary inhibition of spike protein and ACE2 receptor protein of COVID-19 - The recent incidence of terrible acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) has presently experienced some noteworthy mutations since its discovery in 2019 in Wuhan, China. The present research work focuses on the synthesis of three triazole derivatives (BMTPP, BMTTP, and BMTIP) and their inhibition activities against SARS-Cov-2 spike and ACE2 receptor proteins. The crystal structure for BMTTP was determined by the SCXRD method and optimized geometrical parameters for the three…
The Influence of Vicarious Fear-Learning in “Infecting” Reactive Action Inhibition - Since the dawn of cognitive neuroscience, emotions have been recognized to impact on several executive processes, such as action inhibition. However, the complex interplay between emotional stimuli and action control is not yet fully understood. One way to measure inhibitory control is the stop-signal task (SST), which estimates the ability to cancel outright an action to the presentation of a stop signal by means of the stop-signal reaction times (SSRTs). Impaired as well as facilitated action…
Human Lung Fibroblasts Exhibit Induced Inflammation Memory via Increased IL6 Gene Expression and Release - Fibroblasts of different origins are known to possess stromal memory after inflammatory episodes. However, there are no studies exploring human lung fibroblast memory which may predict a subsequent inflammatory response in chronic respiratory diseases and COVID-19. MRC-5 and HF19 human lung fibroblast cell lines were treated using different primary and secondary stimulus combinations: TNFα-WD-TNFα, Poly (I:C)-WD-TNFα, TNFα-WD-Poly (I:C), or LPS-WD-TNFα with a 24-h rest period (withdrawal period;…
Rapid quantitative monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mediated syncytia formation using split NanoLuc - SARS-CoV-2 infection causes syncytial pneumocyte in patients and this has been considered as a defining feature of severe COVID-19 cases. Traditional methods of syncytia quantification require the morphology characterization of fused cells either with light microscope or fluorescent microscope, which is time-consuming and not accurate. Here we developed a rapid and sensitive coculture system measuring spike-induced syncytia by using NanoLuc complementation system. We found the formation of…