Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice -
  Opioid misuse has dramatically increased over the last few decades resulting in many people suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD). The prevalence of opioid overdose has been driven by the development of new synthetic opioids, increased availability of prescription opioids, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Coinciding with increases in exposure to opioids, the United States has also observed increases in multiple Narcan (naloxone) administrations as life-saving measures for respiratory depression, and, thus, consequently, naloxone-precipitated withdrawal. Sleep dysregulation is a main symptom of OUD and opioid withdrawal syndrome, and therefore, should be a key facet of animal models of OUD. Here we examine the effect of precipitated and spontaneous morphine withdrawal on sleep behaviors in C57BL/6J mice. We find that morphine administration and withdrawal dysregulate sleep, but not equally across morphine exposure paradigms. Furthermore, many environmental triggers promote relapse to drug-seeking/taking behavior, and the stress of disrupted sleep may fall into that category. We find that sleep deprivation dysregulates sleep in mice that had previous opioid withdrawal experience. Our data suggest that the 3-day precipitated withdrawal paradigm has the most profound effects on opioid-induced sleep sysregulation and further validates the construct of this model for opioid dependence and OUD.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice
• The role of wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 in developing countries: cumulative evidence from South Africa supports sentinel site surveillance to guide public health decision-making -

  Background: The World Health Organisation recommends wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) for SARS-CoV-2 as a complementary tool for monitoring population-level epidemiological features of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, uptake of WBE in low-to-middle income countries (LMIC) is low. We report on findings from SARS-CoV-2 WBE surveillance network in South Africa, and make recommendations regarding implementation of WBE in LMICs Methods: Seven laboratories using different test methodology, quantified influent wastewater collected from 87 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in all nine South African provinces for SARS-CoV-2 from 01 June 2021 to 31 May 2022 inclusive, during the 3rd and 4th waves of COVID-19. Regression analysis with district laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 case loads, controlling for district, size of plant and testing frequency was determined. The sensitivity and specificity of rules based on WBE data to predict an epidemic wave based on SARS-CoV-2 wastewater levels were determined. Results: Among 2158 wastewater samples, 543/648 (85%) samples taken during a wave tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with 842 positive tests from 1512 (55%) samples taken during the interwave period. Overall, the regression-co-efficient was 0,66 (95% confidence interval=0,6-0,72, R squared=0.59), but ranged from 0.14 to 0.87 by testing laboratory. Early warning of the 4th wave of SARS-CoV-2 in Gauteng Province in November-December 2021 was demonstrated. A 50% increase in log-copies SARS-CoV-2 compared with a rolling mean over the previous 5 weeks was the most sensitive predictive rule (58%) to predict a new wave. Conclusion: Variation in the strength of correlation across testing laboratories, and redundancy of findings across co-located testing plants, suggests that test methodology should be standardised and that surveillance networks may utilise a sentinel site model without compromising the value of WBE findings for public health decision-making. Further research is needed to identify optimal test frequency and the need for normalisation to population size, so as to identify predictive and interpretive rules to support early warning and public health action. Our findings support investment in WBE for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in low and middle-income countries.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The role of wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 in developing countries: cumulative evidence from South Africa supports sentinel site surveillance to guide public health decision-making
• Characterizing the use of the ICD-10 Code for Long COVID in 3 US Healthcare Systems -

  The International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 code (U09.9) for post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) was introduced in October of 2021. As researchers seek to leverage this billing code for research purposes in large scale real-world studies of PASC, it is of utmost importance to understand the functional use of the code by healthcare providers and the clinical characteristics of patients who have been assigned this code. To this end, we operationalized clinical case definitions of PASC using World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control guidelines. We then chart reviewed 300 patients with COVID-19 from three participating healthcare systems of the 4CE Consortium who were assigned the U09.9 code. Chart review results showed the average positive predictive value (PPV) of the U09.9 code ranged from 40.2% to 65.4% depending on which definition of PASC was used in the evaluation. The PPV of the U09.9 code also fluctuated significantly between calendar time periods. We demonstrated the potential utility of textual data extracted from natural language processing techniques to more comprehensively capture symptoms associated with PASC from electronic health records data. Finally, we investigated the utilization of long COVID clinics in the cohort of patients. We observed that only an average of 24.0% of patients with the U09.9 code visited a long COVID clinic. Among patients who met the WHO PASC definition, only an average of 35.6% visited a long COVID clinic.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Characterizing the use of the ICD-10 Code for Long COVID in 3 US Healthcare Systems
• Development and characterization of a multimeric recombinant protein based on the spike protein receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 that can neutralize virus infection -
  Background: The SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has four structural proteins and sixteen non-structural proteins. The S-protein is one of the structural proteins exposed on the surface of the virus and is the main target for producing neutralizing antibodies and vaccines. The S-protein forms a trimer that can bind the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) through its receptor binding domain (RBD) for cell entry. Methods: We stably expressed in a constitutive manner in HEK293 cells a new recombinant protein containing a signal sequence of immunoglobulin to produce an extended C-terminal portion of the RBD followed by a region responsible for the trimerization inducer of the bacteriophage T4, and a sequence of 6 histidines. The protein was produced and released in the culture supernatant of cells and was purified by Ni-agarose column and exclusion chromatography. It was then characterized by SDS-polyacrylamide gel and used as antigen to generate protective antibodies to inhibit ACE2 receptor interaction and virus entry into Vero cells. Results: The purified protein displayed a molecular mass of 135 kDa and with a secondary structure like the monomeric RBD. Electrophoresis analysis in SDS-polyacrylamide gel with and without reducing agents, and in the presence of crosslinkers indicated that it forms a multimeric structure composed of trimers and hexamers. The purified protein was able to bind the ACE2 receptor and generated high antibody titers in mice (1:10000), capable of inhibiting the binding of biotin labeled ACE2 to the virus S1 subunit, and to neutralize the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain into cells. Conclusion: Our results characterize a new multimeric protein based on S1 subunit to combat COVID-19, as a possible immunogen or antigen for diagnosis.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Development and characterization of a multimeric recombinant protein based on the spike protein receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 that can neutralize virus infection
• Sotrovimab retains activity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BQ.1.1 in a non-human primate model -
  The SARS-CoV2 Omicron variants have acquired new Spike mutations leading to escape from the most of the currently available monoclonal antibody treatments reducing the options for patients suffering from severe Covid-19. Recently, both in vitro and in vivo data have suggested that Sotrovimab could retain partial activity against recent omicron sub-lineage such as BA.5 variants, including BQ.1.1. Here we report full efficacy of Sotrovimab against BQ.1.1 viral replication as measure by RT-qPCR in a non-human primate challenge model.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Sotrovimab retains activity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BQ.1.1 in a non-human primate model
• Spotlighted but with gender bias: Underrepresentation and paradoxical representation of frontline women health workers in Chinese social media during COVID-19 -
  Despite that women constitute the major force in the frontline health sector during COVID-19, representation and biased representation of women health workers still prevail. This study applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling on Weibo posts (N = 199,110) containing the keyword, “援鄂医疗队” (i.e., “aiding-Hubei medical team” where Hubei is the province that Wuhan is in). Posts were published during the first stage of COVID-19 (January 22, 2020 to June 30, 2020). Results revealed that frontline health workers were spotlighted on Weibo as serving the “nation,” saving the “patients,” and fulfilling family roles, indicating a home-country-isomorphism ideology. According to the 13 topics found in this online corpus, posts discussing health workers in a genderless collective lens tended to emphasize their professional roles; but when the woman identity of health workers became evident, posts tended to emphasize their family roles. Moreover, we observed the militarization of language that reinforced patriarchal masculinity. Corporates’ and male celebrities’ wave-riding and hashtag-jumping/hijacking – with posts celebrating their charitable activities toward COVID-19 medical teams – further deprived women health workers of their voices and visibility. Social bots, notably, participated in this message propagation process. Implications of findings are discussed.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Spotlighted but with gender bias: Underrepresentation and paradoxical representation of frontline women health workers in Chinese social media during COVID-19
• Predicting the replicability of social and behavioural science claims from the COVID-19 Preprint Replication Project with structured expert and novice groups -
  Replication is an important “credibility control” mechanism for clarifying the reliability of published findings. However, replication is costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions from experts or novices could accelerate credibility assessment and improve allocation of replication resources for important and uncertain findings. We elicited judgments from experts and novices on 100 claims from preprints about an emerging area of research (COVID-19 pandemic) using a new interactive structured elicitation protocol and we conducted 35 new replications. Participants’ average estimates were similar to the observed replication rate of 60%. After interacting with their peers, novices updated both their estimates and confidence in their judgements significantly more than experts and their accuracy improved more between elicitation rounds. Experts’ average accuracy was 0.54 (95% CI: [0.454, 0.628]) after interaction and they correctly classified 55% of claims; novices’ average accuracy was 0.55 (95% CI: [0.455, 0.628]), correctly classifying 61% of claims. The difference in accuracy between experts and novices was not significant and their judgments on the full set of claims were strongly correlated (r=.48). These results are consistent with prior investigations eliciting predictions about the replicability of published findings in established areas of research and suggest that expertise may not be required for credibility assessment of some research findings.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Predicting the replicability of social and behavioural science claims from the COVID-19 Preprint Replication Project with structured expert and novice groups
• Optimal Delivery Management for the Prevention of Early Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Systematic review and Meta-analysis -

  Objective: Review how specific delivery management interventions (DMI) are associated with early neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infection (ENI) and neonatal death <28 days of life (ND). Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient-specific data from articles published 1 January 2020 - 31 December 2021 from Cochrane review databases, Medline and Google Scholar. Setting: International publications specifying DMI, ENI, and ND.​​ Patients: ​Pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 and their​ infants Main outcome measures: Article inclusion criteria: 1) mothers with SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive status within 10 days before delivery or symptomatic at delivery with a positive test within 48 hours after delivery, 2) delivery method described, 3) infant SARS-CoV-2 PCR result reported. Primary outcomes were 1) ENI confirmed by positive neonatal PCR and 2) ND. Results: Among 11,075 screened publications, 117 publications containing data for 244 infants and 230 mothers were included. Maternal and infant characteristics were pooled using DerSimonian-Laird inverse variance method. Primary outcome analyses were completed using logit transformation and random effect. Heterogeneity of included studies was evaluated with I2 ​statistics.​ No routine care was described so comparison of DMI combinations to routine care was not possible. Sample size for each combination was too small to conduct any valid comparison of different DMI combinations. Conclusion: Support for specific DMI in SARS-CoV-2 infected mothers is lacking. This review highlights the need for rigorous and multinational studies on the guidelines best suited to prevent transmission from mother to neonate.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Optimal Delivery Management for the Prevention of Early Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Systematic review and Meta-analysis
• Characteristics and Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients Presumed to be Treated with Sotrovimab in NHS Hospitals in England -

  Introduction: There is limited real-world evidence describing the effectiveness of early treatments for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the period where Omicron was the dominant variant. Here we describe characteristics and acute clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 treated with a monoclonal antibody (mAb; presumed to be sotrovimab) across six distinct periods covering the emergence and subsequent dominance of Omicron subvariants (BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5) in England. Methods: Retrospective cohort study using data from Hospital Episode Statistics database between 1^st January – 31^st July 2022. Included patients were aged ≥12 years and received a mAb delivered by a National Health Service (NHS) hospital as a day-case, for which the primary diagnosis was COVID-19. Patients were presumed to have received sotrovimab on the basis of available NHS data showing that 99.98% of individuals who received COVID-19 treatment during the period covered by the study were actually treated with sotrovimab. COVID-19-attributable hospitalisations were reported overall and across six distinct periods of Omicron sub-variant prevalence. A multivariate Poisson regression model was used to estimate incidence rate ratios for each period. Subgroup analyses were conducted in patients with severe renal disease and active cancer. Results: In total, 10,096 patients were included. The most common high-risk comorbidities were Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disorders (43.0%; n = 4,337), severe renal disease (14.1%; n = 1,422), rare neurological conditions (10.4%; n = 1,053) and active cancer (9.0%; n = 910). The proportions of patients with a COVID-19-attributable hospitalisation was 1.0% (n = 96), or with a hospital visit due to any cause was 4.6% (n = 465) during the acute period. The percentage of patients who died due to any cause during the acute study period was 0.3% (n = 27). COVID-19-attributable hospitalisation rates were consistent among subgroups and no significant differences (p-values ranged from 0.13 to 0.64) were observed across periods of Omicron subvariants. Conclusion: Low levels of COVID-19-attributable hospitalisations and deaths were recorded in mAb-treated patients. Results were consistent for patients with severe renal disease and active cancer. No evidence of differences in hospitalisation rates were observed whilst Omicron BA.1, and BA.2 or BA.5 subvariants were predominant, despite reported reductions in in vitro neutralisation activity of sotrovimab against BA.2 and BA.5.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Characteristics and Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients Presumed to be Treated with Sotrovimab in NHS Hospitals in England
• Course and clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in Tianjin, China -

  Introduction There is limited information describing the course and severity of illness in subjects infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant, especially in children. Methods In this population-based cohort study, subjects with Omicron variant infection during the outbreak between January 8 and February 12, 2022 in Tianjin, China were included (n=429). The main outcomes were the distribution of asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe patients, and clinical courses including the interval from positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to the onset, aggravation or relief of symptoms, and the interval of reversing positive PCR-test into negative, and length of hospital stay. Results Of the 429 subjects (113 [26.3%] children; 239 [55.7%] female; median age, 36 years [IQR 15.0 to 55.0 years]), the proportion (95% CI) of symptomatic subjects on admission was 95.6% (93.2%, 97.2%), including 60.4% (55.7%, 64.9%) mild, 35.0% (30.6%, 39.6%) moderate, and 0.2% (0.0%, 1.3%) severe. Compared with adults, children had lower proportion of moderate Covid-19 (8.8% vs 44.3%). On discharge, 45.9% (41.3%, 50.7%) and 42.2% (37.6%, 46.9%) of the subjects were diagnosed as having experienced mild and moderate Covid-19. The median (IQR) length of hospital stay was 14.0 (12.0, 15.0) days. The median interval of reversing positive PCR-test into negative was 12.0 (10.0, 13.0) days. Discussion Symptomatic and moderate Covid-19 in Omicron infections was common in adults and children, recovery from Omicron infections took around 2 weeks of time. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in this study was not as mild as previously suggested.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Course and clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in Tianjin, China
• Vulture: Cloud-enabled scalable mining of microbial reads in public scRNA-seq data -
  The rapidly growing collection of public single-cell sequencing data have become a valuable resource for molecular, cellular and microbial discovery. Previous studies mostly overlooked detecting pathogens in human single-cell sequencing data. Moreover, existing bioinformatics tools lack the scalability to deal with big public data. We introduce Vulture, a scalable cloud-based pipeline that performs microbial calling for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data, enabling meta-analysis of host-microbial studies from the public domain. In our scalability benchmarking experiments, Vulture can outperform the state-of-the-art cloud-based pipeline Cumulus with a 40% and 80% reduction of runtime and cost, respectively. Furthermore, Vulture is 2-10 times faster than PathogenTrack and Venus, while generating comparable results. We applied Vulture to two COVID-19, three hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and two gastric cancer human patient cohorts with public sequencing reads data from scRNA-seq experiments and discovered cell-type specific enrichment of SARS-CoV2, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and H. pylori positive cells, respectively. In the HCC analysis, all cohorts showed hepatocyte-only enrichment of HBV, with cell subtype-associated HBV enrichment based on inferred copy number variations. In summary, Vulture presents a scalable and economical framework to mine unknown host-microbial interactions from large-scale public scRNA-seq data. Vulture is available via an open-source license at https://github.com/holab-hku/Vulture.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Vulture: Cloud-enabled scalable mining of microbial reads in public scRNA-seq data
• In the driver’s seat: Pathways to automobile ownership for lower-income households in the United States -
  We examine how lower-income households in the United States acquire automobiles. Although car ownership plays a vital role in social and economic mobility in the US, transportation scholars know little about how low-income households obtain cars. Better understanding the pathways to car ownership can help policymakers and non-government actors design interventions to assist low-income households in acquiring and maintaining cars. Our research contributes to basic social science by illuminating the financial and quality of life effects of obtaining cars through various means. We use an online opt-in survey of adults from lower-income households to examine how and why they acquire cars and the effects of these different pathways to car ownership on finances and quality of life. We identify five pathways to car ownership. The most common pathway is to acquire a used car from a dealer (38% of our sample), followed by buying a used car informally (24%), purchasing a new car (17%), receiving a car as a gift (15%), and via a move-in with someone who has a car (5%). Respondents most often acquired a car for financial reasons and to increase accessibility. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic, life events, and built environment factors played a smaller role. Respondents reported that acquiring a car had a positive effect on their lives. Almost 90% of respondents said that acquiring the car was worth it, despite nearly half of the survey respondents experiencing financial hardship related to car ownership, operation, and maintenance.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: In the driver’s seat: Pathways to automobile ownership for lower-income households in the United States
• The state of e-commerce industry after Covid-19 pandemic and some development policies -
  The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic leads to e-commerce’s explosive growth with brands such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo and The Gioi Di Dong, etc. Since then, e-commerce activities have been going into practice in the life of every Vietnamese person and are constantly developing. The article presents the current situation of the e-commerce industry in recent years through discussion to analyze, evaluate and have a broader perspective on the development of e-commerce, thereby offering some development policies.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The state of e-commerce industry after Covid-19 pandemic and some development policies
• Pathology and Anticatalysis treatment of exacerbated COVID-19 -
  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces various systemic coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19). Its pathophysiologies involve 1 the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway, 2 Neuropilins (NRPs) Pathway, 3 The sterile alpha motif (SAM) and histi-dine-aspartate domain (HD)-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) tetramerization pathway 4 Inflammasome ac-tivation pathways, 5 Cytosolic DNA sensor cyclic-GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)/stimulator of interferon genes (STING) (cGAS–STING) signaling pathway, 6 Spike protein pathway, and 7 Immunological memory en-gram pathway. COVID-19 exacerbates immune-mediated diseases whose metabolisms use 1. ACE2, TLR4 in the brain, 2. SAMHD1 tetramerization and cGAS–STING-NLRP3 signaling, 3. inflammasome–spike protein–genetic activation, and 4. innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) with NRPs. Immune triad: Aspirin, Dapsone, and Dexamethasone to treat COVID-19 have worked harmoniously with modulating ILCs. Therefore, it is necessary to prescribe this triad to alleviate and block the pathologic course due to diverse and subsequent SARS-CoV-2 variants.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Pathology and Anticatalysis treatment of exacerbated COVID-19
• Sarbecoviruses of British Horseshoe Bats; Sequence Variation and Epidemiology -
  Horseshoe bats are the natural hosts of the Sarbecovirus subgenus that includes SARS-CoV-1 and 2. Despite the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still little known about the underlying epidemiology and virology of sarbecoviruses in their original hosts, leaving large gaps in our pandemic preparedness. Here we describe the results of PCR testing for sarbecoviruses in the two horseshoe bat species (Rhinolophus hipposideros and R. ferrumequinum) present in Great Britain, collected in 2021-22 during the COVID-19 pandemic. One hundred and ninety seven R. hipposideros samples from 33 roost sites and 277 R. ferremequinum samples from 20 roost sites were tested. No coronaviruses were detected in any samples from R. ferrumequinum whereas 44% and 56% of individual and pooled (respectively) faecal samples from R. hipposideros across multiple roost sites tested positive in a sarbecovirus-specific qPCR. Full genome sequences were generated from three of the positive samples (and partial genomes from two more) using Illumina RNAseq on unenriched samples. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the obtained sequences belong to the same monophyletic clade, with >95% similarity, as previously reported European isolates from R. hipposideros. The sequences differed in the presence or absence of accessory genes ORF 7b, 9b and 10. All lacked the furin cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 spike gene and are therefore unlikely to be infective for humans. These results demonstrate a lack, or at least low incidence, of SARS-CoV-2 spill over from humans to high-risk GB bats, and confirm that sarbecovirus infection is widespread in R. hipposideros. Despite frequently sharing roost sites with R. ferrumequinum, no evidence of cross-species transmission was found.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Sarbecoviruses of British Horseshoe Bats; Sequence Variation and Epidemiology

From Clinical Trials

• MG Granules Improve COVID-19 Efficacy and Safety of Convalescent Exercise Tolerance - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: Manzi Guben granules
  Sponsors:   Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University;   The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University;   Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine;   Suzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
  Not yet recruiting

• Heterologous Booster Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine in Children 12-17 Years of Age - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 subunit protein recombinant vaccine
  Sponsors:   PT Bio Farma;   Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran
  Not yet recruiting

• Improving Adherence to COVID-19 Prevention Behaviours: Test of Persuasive Messages - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: Persuasive Appeal
  Sponsor:   University of Calgary
  Completed

• Incidence of COVID-19 Following Vaccination in Botswana Against SARS CoV 2 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Drug: AZD 1222
  Sponsors:   Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership;   AstraZeneca;   Botswana Ministry of Health
  Completed

• Study Evaluating GS-5245 in Nonhospitalized Participants With COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: GS-5245;   Drug: GS-5245 Placebo
  Sponsor:   Gilead Sciences
  Not yet recruiting

• A Study To Assess The Efficacy and Safety of HH-120 Nasal Spray for the Treatment of Mild COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: HH-120 nasal spray;   Drug: Placebo Comparator
  Sponsor:   Huahui Health
  Recruiting

• Study for Efficacy and Safety Assessment of the Drug RADAMIN®VIRO for COVID-19 Postexposure Prophylaxis - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Double-Stranded RNA sodium salt;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Promomed, LLC
  Completed

• Study of Flonoltinib Maleate Tablets in the Treatment of Severe Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: VV116+SOC;   Drug: SOC
  Sponsor:   Chengdu Zenitar Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd
  Recruiting

• Study to Access the Efficacy and Safety of STI-1558 in Adult Subjects With Mild or Moderate (COVID-19) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: STI-1558;   Drug: STI-1558 placebo
  Sponsor:   Zhejiang ACEA Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Effects of Pilates in Patients With Post- -COVID-19 Syndrome: Controlled and Randomized Clinical Trial - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Procedure: Pilates Exercises
  Sponsor:   Michele de Aguiar Zacaria
  Recruiting

• Pirfenidone in Adult Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19 Pneumonia
  Interventions:   Drug: Pirfenidone Oral Product;   Drug: Pirfenidone placebo
  Sponsor:   Capital Medical University
  Active, not recruiting

• Efficacy and Safety of Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of Long COVID-19 - Condition:   Long COVID-19
  Intervention:   Biological: UC-MSCs
  Sponsor:   Shanghai East Hospital
  Not yet recruiting

• CONFIDENCE: a Multicomponent Clinic-based Intervention to Promote COVID-19 Vaccine Intention and Uptake Among Diverse Youth and Adolescents - Condition:   COVID-19 Vaccination
  Intervention:   Behavioral: CONFIDENCE
  Sponsors:   University of Massachusetts, Worcester;   Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC;   Baystate Health
  Not yet recruiting

• Washing COVID-19 Away With a Hypertonic Seawater Nasal Irrigation Solution - Condition:   SARS-CoV2 Infection
  Intervention:   Other: Hypertonic seawater solution
  Sponsor:   Larissa University Hospital
  Completed

• The Effectiveness of a Health Education Intervention to Reduce Anxiety in Quarantined COVID-19 Patients - Condition:   Health Education, COVID-19, Quarantine, Anxiety, Pandemic
  Intervention:   Other: health education intervention
  Sponsor:   University of Monastir
  Completed

From PubMed

• The effect of vitamin C supplementation on favipiravir-induced oxidative stress and proinflammatory damage in livers and kidneys of rats - Favipiravir (FPV), an effective antiviral agent, is a drug used to treat influenza and COVID-19 by inhibiting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of RNA viruses. FPV has the potential to increase oxidative stress and organ damage. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the oxidative stress and inflammation caused by FPV in the liver and kidneys of rats, as well as to investigate the curative effects of vitamin C (VitC). A total of 40 Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly and equally…

• Supporting and inhibiting factors of accepting COVID-19 booster vaccination in the elderly in north Jakarta, Indonesia - CONCLUSIONS: Most of the elderly displayed positive attitudes concerning booster shots, but it was discovered that some barriers need to be removed.

• Comparison of the mucosal and systemic antibody responses in Covid-19 recovered patients with one dose of mRNA vaccine and unexposed subjects with three doses of mRNA vaccines - CONCLUSION: The booster benefited all subjects to obtain neutralizing antibody (NAb) against omicron BA.1 variant in plasma while only the Covid-19 recovered subjects had an extra enrichment in nasal NAb against omicron BA.1 variant.

• The development and validation of the pandemic medication-assisted treatment questionnaire for the assessment of pandemic crises impact on medication management and administration for patients with opioid use disorders - Pandemic and the globally applied restriction measures mainly affect vulnerable population groups, such as patients with opioid use disorders. Towards inhibiting SARS-Cov-2 spread, the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs follow strategies targeting the reduction of in-person psychosocial interventions and an increase of take-home doses. However, there is no available instrument to examine the impact of such modifications on diverse health aspects of patients under MAT. The aim of this…

• Nirmatrelvir exerts distinct antiviral potency against different human coronaviruses - Nirmatrelvir is the main component of Paxlovid, an oral antiviral drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19 caused by SARS-COV-2 infection. Nirmatrelvir targets the main protease (M^(pro)), which is substantially conserved among different coronaviruses. Here, our molecular docking analysis indicates comparable affinity of nirmatrelvir binding to the M^(pro) enzymes of SARS-CoV-2 and three seasonal coronaviruses (OC43, 229E and NL63). However, in cell culture models, we found that nirmatrelvir…

• The Inhibition and Variability of Two Different RT-qPCR Assays Used for Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater - Faecal shedding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its subsequent detection in wastewater turned the spotlight onto wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for monitoring the coronavirus-disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. WBE for SARS-CoV-2 has been deployed in 70 countries, providing insights into disease prevalence, forecasting and the spatiotemporal tracking and emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Wastewater, however, is a complex sample matrix containing numerous…

• LncRNA446 Regulates Tight Junctions by Inhibiting the Ubiquitinated Degradation of Alix after Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Infection - Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a highly contagious disease, caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which causes huge economic losses. Tight junction-associated proteins play an important role during virus infection; therefore, maintaining their integrity may be a new strategy for the prevention and treatment of PEDV. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in numerous cellular functional activities, yet whether and how they regulate the intestinal barrier against viral infection…

• In silico anti-SARS-CoV-2, antiplasmodial, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of crude extracts and homopterocarpin from heartwood of Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz - Natural products play an essential role in new drug discovery. In the present study, we determined the anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2), antioxidant, antiplasmodial, and antimicrobial activities of Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz. heartwood and structurally characterized the bioactive compounds. P. macrocarpus Kurz. heartwood was macerated with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol, respectively, for 7 days, three times. The compounds were isolated by…

• A novel antiviral formulation containing caprylic acid inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection of a human bronchial epithelial cell model - A novel proprietary formulation, ViruSAL, has previously been demonstrated to inhibit diverse enveloped viral infections in vitro and in vivo. We evaluated the ability of ViruSAL to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) infectivity, using physiologically relevant models of the human bronchial epithelium, to model early infection of the upper respiratory tract. ViruSAL potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection of human bronchial epithelial cells cultured as an…

• Virtual screening of bioactive anti-SARS-CoV natural products and identification of 3β,12-diacetoxyabieta-6,8,11,13-tetraene as a potential inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its infection related pathways by MD simulation and network pharmacology - Since the first prevalence of COVID-19 in 2019, it still remains the most devastating pandemic throughout the world. The current research aimed to find potential natural products to inhibit the novel coronavirus and associated infection by MD simulation and network pharmacology approach. Molecular docking was performed for 39 natural products having potent anti-SARS-CoV activity. Five natural products showed high binding interaction with the viral main protease for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, where…

• Nanozyme-Based Colorimetric SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Detection by Naked Eye - Fluorescence-based PCR and other amplification methods have been used for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, however, it requires costly fluorescence detectors and probes limiting deploying large-scale screening. Here, a cut-price colorimetric method for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection by iron manganese silicate nanozyme (IMSN) is established. IMSN catalyzes the oxidation of chromogenic substrates by its peroxidase (POD)-like activity, which is effectively inhibited by pyrophosphate ions (PPi). Due to the large…

• Remdesivir Use in Low Weight, Premature, and Renally Impaired Infants With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, UAE: Case Series - Remdesivir possesses in vitro inhibitory effect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome. It works by inhibiting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase that is essential for viral replication. Remdesivir is approved by Food and Drug Administration for treating COVID-19 in hospitalized adult and pediatric patients aged 28 days and more and weighing 3 kg and more. This case series is describing two cases…

• Can Internet penetration curb the spread of infectious diseases among regions?-Analysis based on spatial spillover perspective - Based on the outbreak of COVID-19, this paper empirically studied the impact of internet penetration on the incidence of class A and B infectious diseases among regions in spatial Dubin model, by using health panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. The findings showed that: (1) The regional spillover effect of incidence of class A and B infectious diseases was significantly positive, and that is most obvious in the central regions. (2) Internet penetration not only has a…

• A comprehensive survey of coronaviral main protease active site diversity in 3D: Identifying and analyzing drug discovery targets in search of broad specificity inhibitors for the next coronavirus pandemic - Although the rapid development of therapeutic responses to combat SARS-CoV-2 represents a great human achievement, it also demonstrates untapped potential for advanced pandemic preparedness. Cross-species efficacy against multiple human coronaviruses by the main protease (MPro) inhibitor nirmatrelvir raises the question of its breadth of inhibition and our preparedness against future coronaviral threats. Herein, we describe sequence and structural analyses of 346 unique MPro enzymes from all…

• Stress adaptation signature into the functional units of spike, envelope, membrane protein and ssRNA of SARS-CoV-2 - Pandemic coronavirus causes respiratory, enteric and sometimes neurological diseases. Proteome data of individual coronavirus strains were already reported. Here we investigated of SARS-CoV-2 ssRNA and protein of spike, envelope and membrane to determine stress adaptation profile. Thermodynamic properties, Physicochemical behaviour and, amino acid composition along with their RMSD value was analysed. Thermodynamic index of SARS-CoV2 spike, envelope and membrane ssRNA is unstable in higher…

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