Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• How COVID-19 affects voting for incumbents: Evidence from local elections in France -
  How do voters react to an ongoing natural threat? We address this question by investigating voters’ reactions to the early spread of COVID-19 in the 2020 French municipal elections. Using a novel, fine-grained measure of the circulation of the virus based on excess-mortality data, we find that support for incumbents increased in the areas that were particularly hit by the virus. Incumbents from both left and right gained votes in areas more strongly affected by COVID-19. The results are robust to a placebo test and hold across different methods, including regressions with lagged dependent variables, a differences-in-differences approach and propensity score matching. We also provide indirect evidence for two mechanisms that can explain our findings: an emotional channel related to feelings of fear and anxiety, and a prospective-voting channel, related to the ability of incumbents to act more swiftly against the diffusion of the virus than challengers.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: How COVID-19 affects voting for incumbents: Evidence from local elections in France
• The new BRT system has led to an overall increase in transit-based accessibility to essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic: Empirical evidence from Winnipeg, Canada -
  Recently, in Winnipeg, the implementation of new bus rapid transit (BRT) system in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has raised many concerns, challenging the rationale behind the untimely release. However, the new BRT service can benefit low-income, socio-economically vulnerable, and transit captive passengers who must travel to essential services and work opportunities during the pandemic. This study evaluates whether the new BRT system has positive impacts on accessibility to such essential services during the pandemic. Isochrones with different time budgets as well as times of a day are generated based on high-resolution public transit network via the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data and used for evaluating accessibility benefits before and after the BRT construction. The new BRT service in Winnipeg demonstrates varying accessibility impacts across different parts of the BRT corridor. Areas near dedicated lane-section show a significant increase, whereas areas near non-dedicated lane sections show a decrease in accessibility. Nevertheless, across the whole BRT corridor, the new BRT service presents an overall increase in accessibility to essential services. This demonstrates the positive accessibility benefits of the new BRT service to residents seeking essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic. A decrease in accessibility along some parts suggests the necessity of using local transit improvement strategies (e.g., dedicated lanes) to improve service speed when planning BRT services within urban areas.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The new BRT system has led to an overall increase in transit-based accessibility to essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic: Empirical evidence from Winnipeg, Canada
• Incorporating the mutational landscape of SARS-COV-2 variants and case-dependent vaccination rates into epidemic models -

  Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), which began as a small outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 2019, became a global pandemic within months due to its high transmissibility. In the absence of pharmaceutical treatment, various non- pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to contain the spread of COVID-19 brought the entire world to a halt. After almost a year of seemingly returning to normalcy with the world9s quickest vaccine development, the advent of more infectious and vaccine-resistant coronavirus variants is bringing the situation back to where it was a year ago. In the light of this new situation, we conducted a study to portray the possible scenarios based on the three key factors: impact of interventions (pharmaceutical and NPIs), vaccination rate, and vaccine efficacy. In our study, we assessed two of the most crucial factors, transmissibility and vaccination rate, in order to reduce the spreading of COVID in a simple but effective manner. In order to incorporate the time-varying mutational landscape of COVID-19 variants, we estimated weighted transmissibility composed of the proportion of existing strains that naturally vary over time. Additionally, we consider time-varying vaccination rates based on the number of daily new cases. Our method for calculating the vaccination rate from past active cases is an effective approach in forecasting probable future scenarios as it actively tracks people9s attitudes toward immunization as active cases change. Our simulations show that if a large number of individuals cannot be vaccinated in a short period of time, adopting NPIs is the best approach to manage disease transmission with the emergence of new vaccine breakthrough variants and more infectious variants.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Incorporating the mutational landscape of SARS-COV-2 variants and case-dependent vaccination rates into epidemic models
• Anticipating future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern through ab initio quantum mechanical modeling -
  Evolved SARS-CoV-2 variants are currently challenging the efficacy of first-generation vaccines, largely through the emergence of spike protein mutants. Among these variants, Delta is presently the most concerning. We employ an ab initio quantum mechanical model based on Density Functional Theory to characterize the spike protein Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) interaction with host cells and gain mechanistic insight into SARS-CoV-2 evolution. The approach is illustrated via a detailed investigation of the role of the E484K RBD mutation, a signature mutation of the Beta and Gamma variants. The simulation is employed to: predict the depleting effect of the E484K mutation on binding the RBD with select antibodies; identify residue E484 as a weak link in the original interaction with the human receptor hACE2; and describe SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strand binding to the bat Rhinolophus macrotis ACE2 as more optimized than the human counterpart. Finally, we predict the hACE2 binding efficacy of a hypothetical E484K mutation added to the Delta variant RBD, identifying a potential future variant of concern. Results can be generalized to other mutations, and provide useful information to complement existing experimental datasets of the interaction between randomly generated libraries of hACE2 and viral spike mutants. We argue that ab initio modeling is at the point of being aptly employed to inform and predict events pertinent to viral and general evolution.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Anticipating future SARS- CoV-2 variants of concern through ab initio quantum mechanical modeling
• Transient adverse events after REGN-CoV2 administration for mild COVID-19 patients and their potential predictive factors: a single center analysis -

  Background The efficacy of REGN-COV2 in preventing severe COVID-19 has been proven, and its use in outpatient and home settings is expanding. Adverse events such as fever and decreased oxygen saturation, which are often seen after REGN-COV2 administration, are generally transient, but predicting these events is useful in developing a monitoring plan for patients. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of 76 patients who received REGN-CoV2 between August and September 2021. The clinical course of the patients9 fever and oxygen administration was collected from their medical records, and the patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of these adverse events, and the underlying pathology and blood sampling data were compared. Parameters that showed significant differences were further examined by Fisher9s exact probability test to see if the use of appropriate thresholds would significantly correlate with the occurrence of adverse events. Findings Of the 76 patients, 47 had fever of 38.5°C or higher within 24 hours after administration, and 27 of these patients had a body temperature of 37.5°C or lower before administration. Oxygen was required in 14 cases, 5 of which required oxygen more than 24 hours after administration of REGN-COV2, and additional treatment such as dexamethasone was given as a transition to moderate disease. Among the parameters analyzed, except for fever before administration, lymphocyte count and IFNλ3 showed significant differences between the fever and non-fever groups. There was also a significant difference in ferritin and CRP between the oxygen required and non- required groups. This was also the case in the comparison excluding patients who had fever before administration. In addition to IFNλ3, ferritin, and CRP, there was a significant difference in LDH between the group that required additional treatment and the group that did not. Fisher9s exact test was used to examine the prediction threshold for fever and non-fever groups. The sensitivity and specificity were 55% and 79%, respectively with odds ratio 4.746 (95% CI: 1.666 to 14.12) when lymphocytes counts <950/μL was used (p=0.004). Similarly, when IFNλ3>5.0 was used as the cutoff, sensitivity 72%, specificity 76%, odds ratio 8.220 (2.857 to 22.22; p<0.0001). Interpretations Fever and decreased oxygen saturation after administration of REGN-Cov2 were found to correlate with the severity factors of COVID-19 itself. Evaluation of these items at the time of administration is useful not only for predicting the severity of illness but also for the development of adverse events in patients.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Transient adverse events after REGN-CoV2 administration for mild COVID-19 patients and their potential predictive factors: a single center analysis
• Potent neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies cure infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamster model -
  Treatment with neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) contributes to COVID-19 management. Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 variants can escape several of these recently approved mAbs, highlighting the need for additional discovery and development. In a convalescent COVID-19 patient, we identified six mAbs, classified in four epitope groups, that potently neutralized SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, alpha, beta, gamma and delta infection in vitro. In hamsters, mAbs 3E6 and 3B8 potently cured infection with SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, beta and delta when administered post-viral infection at 5 mg/kg. Even at 0.2 mg/kg, 3B8 still reduced viral titers. Intramuscular delivery of DNA-encoded 3B8 resulted in in vivo mAb production of median serum levels up to 90 ug/ml, and protected hamsters against delta infection. Overall, our data mark 3B8 as a promising candidate against COVID-19, and highlight advances in both the identification and gene-based delivery of potent human mAbs.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Potent neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies cure infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamster model
• Caring for a Relative with Dementia in Long-Term Care During COVID-19 -
  Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic created unique stressors for caregivers of persons with dementia living in long- term care (LTC) facilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the challenges associated with caring for a relative with dementia in LTC during the pandemic, as well as resources, strategies, and practices caregivers found helpful in coping with COVID-19. Design: This study was conducted within the context of an ongoing randomized controlled trial of a psychosocial intervention to support caregivers. Open-ended survey responses (N=125) and semi- structured interviews with a subset of the sample (N=20) collected between June 2020 and June 2021 explored caregivers’ experiences during COVID-19. Setting and Participants: Participants included 125 family caregivers of persons with dementia living in residential LTC. Methods: Thematic analysis was used to identify themes capturing caregivers’ experiences. Results: In addition to concerns about COVID-19 infection, participants reported key challenges such as the difficulty of maintaining contact with relatives because of visiting restrictions, lack of information about relatives’ health and well-being, worries about overburdened LTC staff, impossibility of returning relatives home from the LTC facility, and fears about relatives dying alone. Participants also identified resources, strategies, and practices that they perceived as helpful, including effective infection prevention within the LTC facility, good communication with LTC staff, and creative strategies for connecting with their relatives. Conclusions and Implications: This qualitative analysis informs recommendations for practice within LTC facilities, as well as supports that may help caregivers manage stressful situations in the context of COVID-19. Vaccination and testing protocols should be implemented to maximize family caregivers’ opportunities for in-person contact with relatives in LTC, as alternative visiting modalities were often unsatisfactory or unfeasible. Informing caregivers regularly about individual residents’ needs and status is crucial. Supports for bereaved caregivers should address complicated grief and feelings of loss.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Caring for a Relative with Dementia in Long-Term Care During COVID-19
• Unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess deaths, life expectancy, and premature mortality across Spanish regions in 2020 and 2021 -

  Spain is one of the most heavily affected countries by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study, we estimated the regional inequalities in excess deaths and premature mortality in Spain. Between January 2020 and June 2021, an estimated 89,200 (men: 48,000; women: 41,200) excess deaths occurred in the 17 Spanish regions with a substantial variability (highest in Madrid: 22,000, lowest in Canary Islands: -210). Highest reductions in life expectancy at birth (e_0) in 2020 were observed in Madrid (men: -3.48 years, women: -2.15), Castile La Mancha (men: -2.67, women: -2.30), and Castile and Leon (men: -2.00, women: -1.32). In the first six months of 2021, the highest reduction in e_0 was observed in Valencian Community (men: -2.04, women: -1.63), Madrid (men: -2.37), and Andalusia (men: -1.75; women: -1.43). In some Spanish regions, life expectancy at age 65 during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 was comparable to that observed as far back as 20 years ago.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess deaths, life expectancy, and premature mortality across Spanish regions in 2020 and 2021
• Evaluating the impact of a pulse oximetry remote monitoring programme on mortality and healthcare utilisation in patients with covid-19 assessed in Accident and Emergency departments in England: a retrospective matched cohort study -

  Objectives To identify the impact of a national pulse oximetry remote monitoring programme for covid-19 (COVID Oximetry @home; CO@h) on health service use and mortality in patients attending Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments. Design Retrospective matched cohort study of patients enrolled onto the CO@h pathway from A&E. Setting National Health Service (NHS) A&E departments in England. Participants All patients with a positive covid-19 test from 1st October 2020 to 3rd May 2021 who attended A&E from three days before to ten days after the date of the test. All patients who were admitted or died on the same or following day to the first A&E attendance within the time window were excluded. Interventions Participants enrolled onto CO@h were matched using demographic and clinical criteria to participants who were not enrolled. Main outcome measures Five outcome measures were examined within 28 days of first A&E attendance: i) death from any cause; ii) any subsequent A&E attendance; iii) any emergency hospital admission; iv) critical care admission; and v) length of stay. Results 15,621 participants were included in the primary analysis, of whom 639 were enrolled onto CO@h and 14,982 were controls. Odds of death were 52% lower in those enrolled (95% CI: 7%-75% lower) compared to those not enrolled on CO@h. Odds of any A&E attendance or admission were 37% (95% CI: 16-63%) and 59% (95% CI: 16-63%) higher, respectively, in those enrolled. Of those admitted, those enrolled had 53% (95% CI: 7%-76%) lower odds of critical care admission. There was no significant impact on length of stay. Conclusions These findings indicate that for patients assessed in A&E, pulse oximetry remote monitoring may be a clinically effective and safe model for early detection of hypoxia and escalation, leading to increased subsequent A&E attendance and admissions, and reduced critical care requirement and mortality.

• Use of Artificial Intelligence on spatio-temporal data to generate insights during COVID-19 pandemic: A Review -

  The COVID-19 pandemic, within a short time span, has had a significant impact on every aspect of life in almost every country on the planet. As it evolved from a local epidemic isolated to certain regions of China, to the deadliest pandemic since the influenza outbreak of 1918, scientists all over the world have only amplified their efforts to combat it. In that battle, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, with its wide ranging capabilities and versatility, has played a vital role and thus has had a sizable impact. In this review, we present a comprehensive analysis of the use of AI techniques for spatio-temporal modeling and forecasting and impact modeling on diverse populations as it relates to COVID-19. Furthermore, we catalogue the articles in these areas based on spatio-temporal modeling, intrinsic parameters, extrinsic parameters, dynamic parameters and multivariate inputs (to ascertain the penetration of AI usage in each sub area). The manner in which AI is used and the associated techniques utilized vary for each body of work. Majority of articles use deep learning models, compartment models, stochastic methods and numerous statistical methods. We conclude by listing potential paths of research for which AI based techniques can be used for greater impact in tackling the pandemic.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Use of Artificial Intelligence on spatio-temporal data to generate insights during COVID-19 pandemic: A Review
• Genetic alteration of human MYH6 is mimicked by SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein: mapping viral variants of cardiac interest -
  Acute cardiac injury has been observed in a subset of COVID-19 patients, but the molecular basis for this clinical phenotype is unknown. It has been hypothesized that molecular mimicry may play a role in triggering an autoimmune inflammatory reaction in some individuals after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here we investigate if linear peptides contained in proteins that are primarily expressed in the heart also occur in the SARS-CoV-2 proteome. Specifically, we compared the library of 136,704 8-mer peptides from 144 human proteins (including splicing variants) to 9,926 8-mers from all 17 viral proteins in the reference SARS-CoV-2 proteome. No 8-mers were exactly identical between the reference human proteome and the reference SARS-CoV-2 proteome. However, there were 45 8-mers that differed by only one amino acid when compared to the reference SARS-CoV-2 proteome. Interestingly, analysis of protein-coding mutations from 141,456 individuals showed that one of these 8-mers from the SARS-CoV-2 Replicase polyprotein 1a/1ab (KIALKGGK) is identical to a MYH6 peptide encoded by the c.5410C>A (Q1804K) genetic variation, which has been observed at low prevalence in Africans/African Americans (0.08%), East Asians (0.3%), South Asians (0.06%) and Latino/Admixed Americans (0.003%). Furthermore, analysis of 4.85 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes from over 200 countries shows that viral evolution has already resulted in 20 additional 8-mer peptides that are identical to human heart-enriched proteins encoded by reference sequences or genetic variants. Whether such mimicry contributes to cardiac inflammation during or after COVID-19 illness warrants further experimental evaluation. We suggest that SARS-CoV-2 variants harboring peptides identical to human cardiac proteins should be investigated as ‘viral variants of cardiac interest’.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Genetic alteration of human MYH6 is mimicked by SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein: mapping viral variants of cardiac interest
• Computational analysis of B cell receptor repertoires in COVID-19 patients using deep embedded representations of protein sequences -
  Analyzing B cell receptor (BCR) repertoires is immensely useful in evaluating one’s immunological status. Conventionally, repertoire analysis methods have focused on comprehensive assessments of clonal compositions, including V(D)J segment usage, nucleotide insertions/deletions, and amino acid distributions. Here, we introduce a novel computational approach that applies deep-learning-based protein embedding techniques to analyze BCR repertoires. By selecting the most frequently occurring BCR sequences in a given repertoire and computing the sum of the vector representations of these sequences, we represent an entire repertoire as a 100-dimensional vector and eventually as a single data point in vector space. We demonstrate that this new approach enables us to not only accurately cluster BCR repertoires of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and healthy subjects but also efficiently track minute changes in immune status over time as patients undergo treatment. Furthermore, using the distributed representations, we successfully trained an XGBoost classification model that achieved a mean accuracy rate of over 87% given a repertoire of CDR3 sequences.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Computational analysis of B cell receptor repertoires in COVID-19 patients using deep embedded representations of protein sequences
• Glycolytic inhibitor 2-Deoxy-D-glucose attenuates SARS-CoV-2 multiplication in host cells and weakens the infective potential of progeny virions -
  The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing public health emergency of international concern. Millions of people lost their lives to this pandemic. While a lot of efforts are being invested in vaccinating the population, there is also an emergent requirement to find potential therapeutics to effectively counter this fast mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus-induced pathogenicity. Virus-infected host cells switch their metabolism to a more glycolytic phenotype. This switch induced by the virus is needed for faster production of ATP and higher levels of glycolytic intermediates, which are required for anabolic processes such as fatty acid synthesis and nucleotide generation for new virion synthesis and packaging. In this study, we used 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) to target and inhibit the metabolic reprogramming induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our results showed that virus infection induces glucose influx and glycolysis resulting in selective high accumulation of the fluorescent glucose/2-DG analogue, 2-NBDG in these cells. Subsequently, 2-DG reduces the virus multiplication and alleviates the cells from infection-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) and cell death. Herein, we demonstrate that the crucial N-glycosites (N331 and N343) of RBD in spike protein of progeny virions produced from 2-DG treated cells were found unglycosylated and defective with compromised infectivity potential. In conclusion, our findings suggest that 2-DG effectively inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 multiplication and can be used as a treatment regimen. Based on these preliminary in-vitro findings this molecule reached clinical trial in COVID patients.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Glycolytic inhibitor 2-Deoxy-D- glucose attenuates SARS-CoV-2 multiplication in host cells and weakens the infective potential of progeny virions
• A case series of SARS-CoV-2 reinfections caused by the variant of concern Gamma in Brazil -

  The rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern (VOC) Gamma during late 2020 and early 2021 in Brazilian settings with high seroprevalence raised some concern about the potential role of reinfections in driving the epidemic. Very few cases of reinfection associated with the VOC Gamma, however, have been reported. Here we describe 25 cases of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection confirmed by real-time RT-PCR twice within months apart in Brazil. SARS-CoV-2 genomic analysis confirmed that individuals were primo-infected between March and December 2020 with distinct viral lineages, including B.1.1, B.1.1.28, B.1.1.33, B.1.195 and P.2, and then reinfected with the VOC Gamma between 3 to 12 months after primo- infection. The overall mean cycle threshold (Ct) value of the first (25.7) and second (24.5) episodes were roughly similar for the whole group and 14 individuals displayed mean Ct values < 25.0 at reinfection. Sera of 14 patients tested by plaque reduction neutralization test after reinfection displayed detectable neutralizing antibodies against Gamma and other SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1.33, B.1.1.28 and Delta). All individuals have milder or no symptoms after reinfection and none required hospitalization. The present study demonstrates that the VOC Gamma was associated with reinfections during the second Brazilian epidemic wave in 2021 and raised concern about the potential infectiousness of reinfected subjects. Although individuals here analyzed failed to mount a long-term sterilizing immunity, they developed a high anti-Gamma neutralizing antibody response after reinfection that may provide some protection against severe disease.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: A case series of SARS-CoV-2 reinfections caused by the variant of concern Gamma in Brazil
• Diagnostic performance of attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for detecting COVID-19 from routine nasopharyngeal swab samples -

  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing global COVID-19 pandemic since 2019 has led to increasing amount of research to study how to do fast screening and diagnosis to efficiently detect COVID-19 positive cases, and how to prevent spreading of the virus. Our research objective was to study whether SARS-CoV-2 could be detected from routine nasopharyngeal swab samples by using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The advantage of ATR-FTIR is that measurements can be conducted without any sample preparation and no reagents are needed. Our study included 558 positive and 558 negative samples collected from Northern Finland. Overall, we found moderate diagnostic performance for ATR-FTIR when polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used as the gold standard: the average area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) was 0.67-0.68 (min. 0.65, max. 0.69) with 20, 10 and 5 k-fold cross validations. Mean accuracy, sensitivity and specificity was 0.62-0.63 (min. 0.60, max. 0.65), 0.61 (min. 0.58, max. 0.65) and 0.64 (min. 0.59, max. 0.67) with 20, 10 and 5 k-fold cross validations. As a conclusion, our study with relatively large sample set clearly indicate that measured ATR-FTIR spectrum contains specific information for SARS-CoV-2 infection (P<0.001 in label permutation test). However, the diagnostic performance of ATR-FTIR remained only moderate, potentially due to low concentration of viral particles in the transport medium. Further studies are needed before ATR- FTIR can be recommended for fast screening of SARS-CoV-2 from routine nasopharyngeal swab samples.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Diagnostic performance of attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for detecting COVID-19 from routine nasopharyngeal swab samples

From Clinical Trials

• Study to Evaluate the Effects of RO7496998 (AT-527) in Non-Hospitalized Adult and Adolescent Participants With Mild or Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: RO7496998;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:  
  Hoffmann-La Roche
  Suspended

• Mesenchymal Stem Cell Secretome In Severe Cases of COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Injection of secretome - mesenchymal stem cell;   Other: Placebo;   Drug: Standard treatment of Covid-19
  Sponsor:   Indonesia University
  Completed

• Allogenic UCMSCs as Adjuvant Therapy for Severe COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Covid 19
  Interventions:   Biological: Normoxic Allogenic UCMSC;   Other: Normal saline solution
  Sponsors:   Kementerian Riset dan Teknologi / Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, Indonesia;   Dr. Moewardi General Hospital, Surakarta, Indonesia;   Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia;   Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia;   PT Bifarma Adiluhung
  Recruiting

• Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cell Derived Extracellular Vesicles Infusion Treatment for Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19: A Phase II Clinical Trial - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: ExoFlo
  Sponsor:   Direct Biologics, LLC
  Recruiting

• Physical Fitness in Young Healthy Adults After COVID-19 Infection - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Other: Physical Activity Level;   Other: Evaluation of knee extension and elbow flexion muscle strength;   Other: Evaluation of functional strength of trunk muscles;   Other: Muscle Endurance;   Other: Flexibility;   Other: Balance;   Other: Fatigue
  Sponsor:  
  Baskent University
  Enrolling by invitation

• The South Proxa-Rescue AndroCoV Trial Against COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Proxalutamide;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Corpometria Institute;   Hospital da Brigada Militar de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil;   Hospital Arcanjo Sao Miguel, Gramado, Brazil;   Hospital Unimed Chapeco, Chapeco, Brazil
  Completed

• Vitamin D Supplementation and Clinical Improvement in COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: Vitamin D3 10000 IU;   Dietary Supplement: Vitamin D3 1000 IU
  Sponsor:   Bumi Herman
  Completed

• Feasibility Pilot Clinical Trial of Omega-3 Supplement vs. Placebo for Post Covid-19 Recovery Among Health Care Workers - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Omega-3 (EPA+DHA);   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Hackensack Meridian Health
  Not yet recruiting

• Controlled Trial of Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ARB) & Chemokine Receptor Type 2 (CCR2) Antagonist for the Treatment of COVID-19 - Conditions:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV2 Infection
  Interventions:   Drug: Candesartan Cilexetil;   Drug: Repagermanium;   Drug: Candesartan Placebo;   Drug: Repagermanium Placebo
  Sponsors:  
  University of Sydney;   The George Institute for Global Health, India
  Not yet recruiting

• Partnerships to Address COVID-19 Inequities - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Crowdsourced campaign package;   Behavioral: Standard information
  Sponsor:   Duke University
  Not yet recruiting

• Study to Evaluate the inHaled Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) On the Protective-Efficacy in Adults (SeiHOPE) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (adenovirus type 5 vector) for Inhalation (Ad5-nCoV-IH);   Biological: Placebo
  Sponsors:   CanSino Biologics Inc.;   Beijing Institute of Biotechnology
  Not yet recruiting

• Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, and Safety of Single-dose Sotrovimab in High-risk Pediatric Participants With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: Sotrovimab
  Sponsors:  
  GlaxoSmithKline;   Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
  Not yet recruiting

• PREVENT-COVID-19: A Q-Griffithsin Intranasal Spray - Condition:   COVID-19 Prevention
  Interventions:   Drug: Q-Griffithsin;   Other: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Kenneth Palmer;   United States Department of Defense
  Recruiting

• Inhaled Recombinant Non-immunogenic Staphylokinase vs Placebo in Patients With COVID-19 - FORRIF Trial - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Recombinant nonimmunogenic staphylokinase;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Supergene, LLC;   Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
  Not yet recruiting

• Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 Vaccine, Inactivated in Healthy Population Aged From 3 to 11 Years - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine,Inactivated
  Sponsor:   Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Identification of oligosaccharyltransferase as a host target for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants - No abstract

• Dysregulation of ACE (Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme)-2 and Renin-Angiotensin Peptides in SARS-CoV-2 Mediated Mortality and End-Organ Injuries - ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme)-2 as the target for SARS-CoV-2 also negatively regulates the renin-angiotensin system. Pathological activation of ADAM17 (A disintegrin and metalloproteinase-17) may potentiate inflammation and diminish ACE2-mediated tissue protection through proteolytic shedding, contributing to SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. We aim to examine plasma soluble ACE2 and angiotensin profiles in relation to outcomes by enrolling consecutive patients admitted for COVID-19 with baseline…

• Murine monoclonal antibodies against RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as useful analytical tools for subunit vaccine development and clinical trials - COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious threat to human health; it has completely disrupted global stability, making vaccine development an important goal to achieve. Monoclonal antibodies play an important role in subunit vaccines strategies. In this work, nine murine MAbs against the RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were obtained by hybridoma technology. Characterization of purified antibodies demonstrated that five of them have affinities in the order of 10⁸ L/mol. Six of the eight MAbs showed…

• Structural and theoretical investigations, Hirshfeld surface analysis and anti-SARS CoV-2 of nickel (II) coordination complex - A nickel(II) Schiff base complex, Ni(L)(DMF), was synthesized by treating NiCl(2).6H(2)O with an ONS-donor Schiff base ligand(H(2)L) derived from the condensation 3,5-Dichlorosalicylaldehyde and 4,4-Dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazide in DMF. The geometry around the center metal ion in Ni(L)(DMF) was square planar as revealed by the data collection from diffraction studies. DFT calculations were performed on the complex to get a structure-property relationship. Hirshfeld surface analysis was…

• Mechanistic Insights into SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibition Reveals Hotspot Residues - The main protease (M^(pro)) is a key enzyme responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication that causes the spread of the global pandemic novel coronavirus (nCOVID-19) infection. In the present study, multiple computational approaches such as docking, long-range molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and binding free-energy (BFE) estimation techniques were employed to investigate the mechanistic basis of the high-affinity inhibitors─GC-376, Calpain XII, and…

• Survey on usage and concerns of a COVID-19 contact tracing application in Japan - CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that income may create inequalities in the efficacy and effectiveness of COVID-19 contact tracing applications. Awareness activity strategies to dispel such concerns and support low-income individuals may be needed.

• Kant on Remote Working: a Moral Defence - In this article I maintain that when employers could free workers from the space constraint of the office without incurring unbearable economic losses, it is morally wrong not to grant workers the possibility to work remotely, as this violates the humanity formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative. The article therefore aims to contribute to the development of Kantian business ethics, taking into account a series of empirical evidence gathered in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. I firstly…

• Is job performance conditioned by work-from-home demands and resources? - Substantial research has been dedicated to describing remote work, yet the understanding of working from home since the Covid-19 pandemic remains rather limited. While recognising the necessity for exploring employees’ perceptions and interaction with technology as the ultimate requirement for a functional work-from-home, this study observes the factors that would determine job performance. Thus, adhering to the Job Demands-Resources theory, we argue that employees’ ICT (Information and…

• Interactions between main protease of SARS-CoV-2 and testosterone or progesterone using computational approach - SARS-CoV-2 is drastically spread across the globe in a short period of time and affects the lives of billions. There is a need to find the promising drugs like candidates against the inhibition of novel corona virus or SARS-CoV-2. Herein, the interaction on sex hormones (testosterone and progesterone) with Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 was investigated with the help of molecular docking. The binding energy for the formation complex between the progesterone and testosterone with main protease of SARS-CoV-2…

• Targeting conserved N-glycosylation blocks SARS-CoV-2 variant infection in vitro - BACKGROUND: Despite clinical success with anti-spike vaccines, the effectiveness of neutralizing antibodies and vaccines has been compromised by rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants. Viruses can hijack the glycosylation machinery of host cells to shield themselves from the host’s immune response and attenuate antibody efficiency. However, it remains unclear if targeting glycosylation on viral spike protein can impair infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.

• Mitochondrial DNA and TLR9 activation contribute to SARS-CoV-2-induced endothelial cell damage - CONCLUSION AND APPLICATIONS: SARS-CoV-2 infection impairs mitochondrial function and activates TLR9 signaling in endothelial cells. TLR9 triggers inflammatory responses that lead to endothelial cell dysfunction, potentially contributing to the severity of symptoms in COVID-19. Targeting mitochondrial metabolic pathways may help to define novel therapeutic strategies for COVID-19.

• Endothelial contribution to COVID-19: an update on mechanisms and therapeutic implications - The global propagation of SARS-CoV-2 leads to an unprecedented public health emergency. Despite that the lungs are the primary organ targeted by COVID-19, systemic endothelial inflammation and dysfunction is observed particularly in patients with severe COVID-19, manifested by elevated endothelial injury markers, endotheliitis, and coagulopathy. Here, we review the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 associated endothelial dysfunction; and the likely pathological mechanisms underlying the…

• Inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 3CL(pro) main protease by plant polyphenols - The abundance of polyphenols in edible plants makes them an important component of human nutrition. Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a number of studies have investigated polyphenols as bioactive constituents. We applied in- silico molecular docking as well as molecular dynamics supported by in-vitro assays to determine the inhibitory potential of various plant polyphenols against an important SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic target, the protease 3CL^(pro). Of the polyphenols in initial in-vitro…

• Identification of a therapeutic interfering particle-A single-dose SARS-CoV-2 antiviral intervention with a high barrier to resistance - Viral-deletion mutants that conditionally replicate and inhibit the wild-type virus (i.e., defective interfering particles, DIPs) have long been proposed as single-administration interventions with high genetic barriers to resistance. However, theories predict that robust, therapeutic DIPs (i.e., therapeutic interfering particles, TIPs) must conditionally spread between cells with R(0) >1. Here, we report engineering of TIPs that conditionally replicate with SARS-CoV-2, exhibit R(0) >1, and…

• In Silico Analysis of Bacteriocins from Lactic Acid Bacteria Against SARS-CoV-2 - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a serious health concern in the twenty-first century for scientists, health workers, and all humans. The absence of specific biotherapeutics requires new strategies to prevent the spread and prophylaxis of the novel virus and its variants. The SARS-CoV-2 virus shows pathogenesis by entering the host cells via spike protein and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 receptor protein. Thus, the present study aims to compute the binding…

From Patent Search

• P2P 네트워크를 이용한 내장된 화상회의 시스템 - 본 발명은 P2P 네트워크를 이용한 내장된 화상회의 시스템에 관한 것으로, 상태표시부(1), 영상송출부(2), 제어부(3), 광고부(4), 입력부(5)를 포함한다. - link

• A DOORBELL SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AND RECORDING A PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA OF A PERSON - AbstractTitle: A doorbell system for monitoring and recording a physiological data of a person The present invention provides a doorbell system 500 for monitoring and recording a physiological data of a person. The doorbell system 500 having a transmitter module 100 and a receiving module 200. The transmitter module 100 is having a TOF sensor module 110, an ultrasound detector 120, and an infrared detector 130. Further, a speech recognition system 150, a facial recognition system 160, and a temperature detector 190 are provided for recognizing speech, face, and temperature of the person by comparing pre-stored data. A controlling module 180 is set with a predefined commands for communicating with the transmitter module 100 and receiving module 200. The collected facial and speech data is compared and matched with the pre-stored data then the temperature detector 190 triggers and the door opens when the captured body temperature of the person is matched within the predefined range of temperature.Figure 1 - link

• A study of contemporary trends in investing patterns, household savings, and economic investment. - Because household savings and household investments are intertwined and interdependent, they are discussed briefly in this paper. Household savings account for more than half of a country’s capital formation, which fluctuates due to a variety of economic factors such as inflation and interest rates. Households should gradually shift their savings and investments from physical assets to financial assets to avoid a sudden change in wealth. They should also save and invest using a variety of platforms. Trends in investing and saving will be easier to track and measure this way. This year’s domestic saving rate in India is 2.3 percent lower than last year’s and 1.2 percent lower than the year before. Since 2011, general domestic savings have been steadily declining, with the trend continuing into the following year. According to official data, the GDP in 2020 shrank by 23.9%, the least in previous years and the least since the Covid-19 pandemic in previous years. As a result, the information presented in this paper is drawn from and evaluated from other sources - link

• PROLIPOSOMAL DRY POWDER INHALER OF REMDESIVIR - The present invention is related to Proliposomal Dry Powder Inhaler of Remdesivir and its method thereof for the treatment of viral infections such Coronaviridae (including COVID-19 infection). - link

• Use of Diminazene Aceturate, Xanthenone, ACE 2 activators or analogs for the Treatment and therapeutic use of COVID-19 on human patients. - - link

• ACTIVE RIDER SAFETY SYSTEM FOR TWO WHEELERS - The present invention relates to an active rider safety system for two wheelers comprising, a protective case equipped by a user for riding, where the case is integrated with multiple piezoelectric sensor that determines fastening of the case by user, a processing unit linked to the sensor, where the unit detects absence of case upon fetching data from the sensor below a threshold value and thereby terminates operation of ignition by stopping a coupled motor operated via a radio frequency module, an alcohol detection sensor that detects presence of alcohol and send data to processing unit, a temperature sensor that measures temperature of the user, an accelerometer sensor that activates upon ignition us tuned on to determine presence of a crash and a navigation module that via communication module sends location of user to pre saved users and concerned authorities. - link

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

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

• Secured Health monitoring system using cloud computing - As used in public health surveillance, the invention generally relates to remote health monitoring systems with cloud computing. This is particularly relevant about a multi-user remote health monitoring system that can detect and gather data from healthcare professionals on the ground and systems in laboratories and hospitals to help the public health sector. It is possible to utilize the system for tracking, monitoring, and collecting patient data and for querying and collecting more information on the health of the people. - link

• Bst DNA聚合酶重组突变体、其编码DNA及超快磁珠LAMP检测方法 - 本发明在野生型Bst DNA聚合酶序列上进行了Ser358Asp、Thr480Asn、Asp533Glu、Ala539Gly几个点位的突变，然后将进行点突变后的Bst DNA聚合酶的292‑305的氨基酸EGLLKVVRPDTKKV替换成DPLPDLIHPRTLRL，在突变后Bst DNA聚合酶序列的C端融合了一个DNA结合蛋白，在突变后Bst DNA聚合酶序列的N端融合了一个HP47多肽序列（SEQ ID No.17），在HP47多肽序列前面融合了一个CL7‑SUMO‑Tag，得到一种具有高活性和热稳定性的Bst DNA聚合酶重组突变体Super‑Bst（SEQ ID No.16）。Super‑Bst在热稳定性、特异性、链置换能力、延伸能力和逆转录酶活性上得到了显著地提升，能够耐受高盐和各类抑制剂，且可以通过原核表达和亲和纯化大量获得。本发明还公开了其编码DNA，以及一种超快磁珠LAMP检测方法。 - link