Early warning indicators based on critical slowing down have been suggested as a model-independent and low-cost tool to anticipate the (re)emergence of infectious diseases. We studied whether such indicators could reliably have anticipated the second COVID-19 wave in European countries. Contrary to theoretical predictions, we found that characteristic early warning indicators generally decreased rather than increased prior to the second wave. A model explains this unexpected finding as a result of transient dynamics and the multiple time scales of relaxation during a non-stationary epidemic. Particularly, if an epidemic that seems initially contained after a first wave does not fully settle to its new quasi-equilibrium prior to changing circumstances or conditions that force a second wave, then indicators will show a decreasing rather than an increasing trend as a result of the persistent transient trajectory of the first wave. Our simulations show that this lack of time scale separation was to be expected during the second European epidemic wave of COVID-19. Overall, our results emphasize that the theory of critical slowing down applies only when the external forcing of the system across a critical point is slow relative to the internal system dynamics.
INTRODUCTION: Within 2 months of first detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Honduras, its government promoted nationwide implementation of multi-drug COVID-19 inpatient and outpatient treatment protocols. This was associated with a case fatality rate decrease from 9.33% to 2.97%. No decrease was seen in Mexico, a similar Latin American country that did not introduce multi-drug treatment protocols at that time. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of the study was to use statistical process control to assess the likelihood that the decrease in case fatality rate in Honduras was due to chance, using Mexico as a control country. METHODS: Fourteen day running average COVID-19 case fatality rates in Honduras and Mexico were used to create Shewhart control charts during the first 6 months of the epidemic. The date of implementation in Honduras of the inpatient and outpatient multi-drug COVID-19 protocols were plotted on control charts, with a Mexican COVID-19 case fatality control chart for comparison. RESULTS: The case fatality rate for COVID-19 in Honduras dropped below the lower control limit 9 days after implementation of an inpatient and outpatient multi-drug therapeutic protocol, from an average 9.33% case fatality rate to 5.01%. The Honduran COVID-19 case fatality rate again dropped below the lower control limit to 2.97%, 17 days after launching a substantial government program to make the protocol medications accessible to underserved areas. Shewhart control chart plots of case fatality rates in Honduras suggest a plausible temporal association between the implementation dates of both the initial protocol implementation on May 3, 2020, and the outreach effort on June 10, 2020, and statistically significant control chart anomalies. No control chart anomalies were seen during that time in Mexico. CONCLUSION: Decreases in COVID-19 case fatality rates in Honduras were associated with both the initial publication a multi-drug COVID-19 therapeutic protocol and a subsequent outreach program.
Considering medical and economic burden of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a high COVID-19 vaccination coverage among health care workers (HCWs) is an urgent need. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the intention of HCWs to accept COVID-19 vaccination and to find out related factors. We searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, CINAHL and medRxiv until July 14, 2021. The heterogeneity between results was very high and thus we applied a random effect model to estimate pooled effects. We performed subgroup and meta- regression analysis to identify possible resources of heterogeneity. Twenty four studies, including 39,617 HCWs met the inclusion criteria. The overall proportion of HCWs that intend to accept COVID-19 vaccination was 63.5% (95% confidence interval: 56.5-70.2%) with a wide range among studies from 27.7% to 90.1%. The following factors were associated with increased HCWs willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19: male gender, older age, white HCWs, physician profession, higher education level, comorbidity among HCWs, seasonal influenza vaccination, stronger vaccine confidence, positive attitude towards a COVID-19 vaccine, fear about COVID-19, individual perceived risk about COVID-19, and contact with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients. The reluctance of HCWs to vaccinate against COVID-19 could diminish the trust of individuals and trigger a ripple effect in the general public. Since vaccination is a complex behavior, understanding the way that HCWs take the decision to accept or not COVID-19 vaccination will give us the opportunity to develop the appropriate interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake.
Variation in individual susceptibility or exposure to infection accelerates the rate at which populations acquire immunity by natural infection. Individuals that are more susceptible or more exposed tend to be infected earlier and hence selectively removed from the susceptible pool, decelerating the incidence of new infections. Eventually, susceptible numbers become low enough to prevent epidemic growth or, in other words, the herd immunity threshold is reached. Here we fit epidemiological models, with inbuilt distributions of susceptibility or exposure, to SARS-CoV-2 epidemics in Spain and Portugal, to estimate basic reproduction numbers (R0) alongside coefficients of individual variation (CV) and the effects of control measures. Herd immunity thresholds are then calculated as 1-(1/R0)(1/(1+CV2)) or 1-(1/R0)(1/(1+2CV2)), depending on whether variation is in susceptibility or exposure. Our inferences result in lower herd immunity thresholds than what would be expected if population immunity was to be induced by random infection or vaccination, 1-1/R0.
Background: COVID-19 vaccine is the mighty weapon opted by all the countries across the globe in an attempt to eradicate the fatal COVID-19 pandemic. The myths on the COVID-19 vaccine are spreading widely, causing a hindrance to this noble preventive measure. The prevalence of such myths among the healthcare professionals may be toxic and deadly. Aim & Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of the healthcare professionals regarding the myths on COVID-19 vaccination and to demystify them. Materials and Methods: An 18-item questionnaire evaluating knowledge, attitude, and practice based on the existing myths on COVID-19 vaccination was circulated through Google Forms among the 412 healthcare professionals of six disciplines belonging to a private University. The responses obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS 20 software package. Results: A total of 385 health professionals participated in this study. The majority of them had medium knowledge (165) and positive attitude (273) with the mean knowledge and attitude scores of 3.82 (SD-1.55) out of 6 and 4.3 (SD-1.58) out of 7 respectively. Even though 312 participants got vaccinated, 72 of them failed to receive it. The knowledge scores showed a high statistically significant difference among the participants of different designations (p=0.001), but not with gender, field, and staff with different years of experience (p>0.05). The attitude scores were statistically different among participants of fields and designation (p<0.05) but not among genders (p=0.31) and staff with different years of experience (p=0.87). Knowledge and attitude scores showed a positive linear correlation and a high statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study recommends more enhanced education programs on COVID-19 vaccination for the health professionals and demands an improved knowledge, attitude, and practice among them to achieve the goal of 100% vaccination so as to completely eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background: To manage the COVID-19 pandemic effectively, governments need clear and effective communication. This is a challenge for culturally diverse communities as groups may have different informational needs and information- seeking behaviours. In this paper we present the frequency of information sources for COVID-19 in a culturally diverse area of Sydney, Australia. Methods: This study reports findings from two surveys. The first recruited participants across 10 languages between March 21 and July 9, 2021. The second provides a point of reference, and was an Australian, nationally-representative sample of English-speaking participants between November 4 and 18, 2020. Results: For the survey in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, of 708 participants, mean age was 45.4 years (SE 0.78), and 51% of respondents were female. Across all language groups, 54.7% of participants used Australian official or public broadcasters to find out about COVID-19 (n=421). Australian commercial information sources (54.1%, n=417), social media (51.6%, n=397), and family and friends in Australia (32.7%, n=252) were common sources. Patterns varied substantially across language groups. In the nationally representative survey (n=2313), 67% of participants (n=1540) used Australian official or public broadcasters, with lower proportions for social media (31.9%, n=738) and friends, family or other personal sources (23.1%; n=533). Conclusion: Almost 50% of participants from culturally and linguistically diverse communities did not report using Australian official or public broadcaster as main sources of information. Instead Australian commercial information sources, friends and family, overseas sources and social media were common. Though a crude comparison of the two datasets, this data can guide policy decisions for communication to different community groups. Further analysis is needed to interpret this data. Better understanding of how diverse communities seek and receive COVID-19 health information is imperative as we manage the current COVID-19 outbreak in the Sydney region.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a global integration of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) into public health surveillance. Among early pre-COVID practitioners was Greater Tempe (population ~200,000), Arizona, where high- frequency, high-resolution monitoring of opioids began in 2018, leading to unrestricted online data release. Leveraging an existing, neighborhood-level monitoring network, wastewater from eleven contiguous catchment areas was analyzed by RT-qPCR for the SARS-CoV-2 E gene from April 2020 to March 2021 (n=1,556). Wastewater data identified an infection hotspot in a predominantly Hispanic and Native American community, triggering targeted interventions. During the first SARS-CoV-2 wave (June 2020), spikes in virus levels preceded an increase in clinical cases by 8.5+/-2.1 days, providing an early-warning capability that later transitioned into a lagging indicator (-2.0+/-1.4 days) during the December/January 2020-21 wave of clinical cases. Globally representing the first demonstration of immediate, unrestricted WBE data sharing and featuring long-term, innovative, high-frequency, high-resolution sub-catchment monitoring, this successful case study encourages further applications of WBE to inform public health interventions.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, varies with regard to symptoms and mortality rates among populations. Humoral immunity plays critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery from COVID-19. However, differences in immune responses and clinical features among COVID-19 patients remain largely unknown. Here, we report a database for COVID-19-specific IgG/IgM immune responses and clinical parameters (COVID-ONE humoral immune). COVID-ONE humoral immunity is based on a dataset that contains the IgG/IgM responses to 21 of 28 known SARS-CoV-2 proteins and 197 spike protein peptides against 2,360 COVID-19 samples collected from 783 patients. In addition, 96 clinical parameters for the 2,360 samples and information for the 783 patients are integrated into the database. Furthermore, COVID-ONE humoral immune provides a dashboard for defining samples and a one-click analysis pipeline for a single group or paired groups. A set of samples of interest is easily defined by adjusting the scale bars of a variety of parameters. After the START button is clicked, one can readily obtain a comprehensive analysis report for further interpretation. COVID-ONE-humoral immune is freely available at www.COVID-ONE.cn.
Objectives: Ensuring a high COVID-19 vaccine uptake among U.S. child care providers is crucial to mitigating the public health implications of child-to-staff and staff-to-child transmission of SARS-CoV-2; however, the vaccination rate among this group is unknown. Methods: To characterize the vaccine uptake among U.S. child care providers, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of the child care workforce. Providers were identified through various national databases and state registries. A link to the survey was sent via email between May 26 and June 23, 2021. Out of 44,771 potential respondents, 21,663 responded (48.4%). Results: Overall COVID-19 vaccine uptake among U.S. child care providers (78.1%, 95% CI [77.3% to 78.9%]) was higher than that of the U.S. adult population (65%). Vaccination rates varied from 53.5% to 89.4% between states. Vaccine uptake differed significantly (p < .01) based on respondent age (70.0% for ages 25-34, 91.5% for ages 75-84), race (70.0% for Black or African Americans, 92.5% for Asian-Americans), annual household income (70.7% for <$35,000, 85.0% for>$75,000), and childcare setting (72.9% for home-based, 79.7% for center- based). Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccine uptake among U.S. child care providers was higher than that of the general U.S. adult population. Those who were younger, lower income, Black or African American, resided in states either in the Mountain West or the South, and/or worked in home- based childcare programs reported the lowest rates of vaccination; state public health leaders and lawmakers should prioritize these subgroups for placement on the policy agenda to realize the largest gains in vaccine uptake among providers.
Hyperactive and damaging inflammation is a hallmark of severe rather than mild COVID-19 syndrome. To uncover key inflammatory differentiators between severe and mild COVID-19 disease, we applied an unbiased single-cell transcriptomic analysis. We integrated a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) dataset with a peripheral blood mononuclear cell dataset (PBMC) and analyzed the combined cell population, focusing on genes associated with disease severity. Distinct cell populations were detected in both BAL and PBMC where the immunomodulatory long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) NEAT1 and MALAT1 were highly differentially expressed between mild and severe patients. The detection of other severity associated genes involved in cellular stress response and apoptosis regulation suggests that the pro-inflammatory functions of these lncRNAs may foster cell stress and damage. The lncRNAs NEAT1 and MALAT1 are potential components of immune dysregulation in COVID-19 that may provide targets for severity related diagnostic measures or therapy.
Dynamic models are used to assess the impact of three types of face masks − cloth masks, surgical/procedure masks and respirators − in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. We showed that the pandemic would have failed to establish in the US if a nationwide mask mandate, based on using respirators with moderately-high compliance, had been implemented during the first two months of the pandemic. The other mask types would fail to prevent the pandemic from becoming established. When mask usage compliance is low to moderate, respirators are far more effective in reducing disease burden. Using data from the third wave, we showed that the epidemic could be eliminated in the US if at least 40% of the population consistently wore respirators in public. Surgical masks can also lead to elimination, but requires compliance of at least 55%. Daily COVID-19 mortality could be eliminated in the US by June or July 2021 if 95% of the population opted for either respirators or surgical masks from the beginning of the third wave. We showed that the prospect of effective control or elimination of the pandemic using mask-based strategy is greatly enhanced if combined with other nonpharmaceutical interventions that significantly reduce the baseline community transmission. This study further emphasizes the role of human behavior towards masking on COVID-19 burden, and highlights the urgent need to maintain a healthy stockpile of highly-effective respiratory protection, particularly respirators, to be made available to the general public in times of future outbreaks or pandemics of respiratory diseases that inflict severe public health and socio-economic burden on the population.
Background: Current recommendations in the United States are that subjects with a previous history of COVID-19 disease receive the full 2 dose mRNA vaccine regimen. We tested the hypothesis that humoral immune responses and reactogenicity to a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine (BNT-162b2) differ qualitatively and quantitatively in subjects with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection versus infection-naive subjects. Methods: Health care workers (n=61) from a single academic institution with and without prior COVID-19 received two 30 μg doses of BNT162b2 vaccine 3 weeks apart. The COVID group (n=30) received vaccine approximately 7 months post infection. IgG antibody against the Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD), serum neutralizing activity and vaccine adverse reactions were assessed every 2 weeks for 56 days after the 1st injection. A longitudinal design and long study duration allowed the onset, maximum response and initial decay rate of Spike IgG antibody to be assessed in each subject. In addition, Spike IgG antibody levels are expressed as μg / mL to provide normal values for clinical decision-making. Findings: Spike IgG responses were highly variable in both groups. However, the COVID group manifested rapid increases in Spike IgG antibody and serum neutralizing activity post 1st vaccine dose but little or no increase in Spike IgG or serum neutralizing activity after the 2nd dose. In fact, Spike IgG was maximum prior to the 2nd dose in 36% of the COVID group and 0% of controls. Peak IgG antibody was lower but appeared to fall more slowly in the COVID than in the control group. Finally, adverse systemic reactions e.g., fever, headache and malaise, after both the 1st and 2nd injection were more frequent and lasted longer in the COVID group than in the control group. Conclusions: Health care workers with prior COVID-19 demonstrate a robust, accelerated humoral immune response to the 1st dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine but attenuated response to the 2nd dose. They also experience greater reactogenicity than controls. Accordingly, subjects with prior COVID-19 may require only a single dose of vaccine.
Phase II/III Study of AZD2816, for the Prevention of COVID-19 in Adults - Conditions: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2
Interventions: Biological: AZD1222; Biological: AZD2816
Sponsor: AstraZeneca
Recruiting
Clinical Trial For Early SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Treatment - Condition: Covid19
Interventions: Drug: Hydroxychloroquine; Drug: Favipiravir; Drug: Favipiravir + Hydroxychloroquine; Drug: Placebo
Sponsor: Health Institutes of Turkey
Completed
Echinacea Drug for Covid-19 - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Drug: ECHINACEA ARKOPHARMA
Sponsors:
Jesús R. Requena; IDIS; SALUD; Laboratoires Arkopharma
Recruiting
Effects of Respiratory Muscle Training in Patients With Post COVID-19 - Condition: Covid19
Interventions: Other: Exercise training group; Other: Control training group
Sponsor: Gazi University
Completed
SOLIDARITY Finland Long COVID-19 - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Drug: Remdesivir
Sponsors:
Clinical Urology and Epidemiology Working Group; University of Helsinki; World Health Organization; Helsinki University Central Hospital; Hyvinkää Hospital; Kanta-Häme Central Hospital; Kuopio University Hospital; Oulu University Hospital; Porvoo Hospital; Seinajoki Central Hospital; Mikkeli Central Hospital; Tampere University Hospital
Recruiting
Vaccination for Recovered Inpatients With COVID-19 (VATICO) - Condition: Covid19
Interventions: Biological: Moderna mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine; Biological: Pfizer BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine
Sponsors: International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT); University of Minnesota; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); University of Copenhagen; Kirby Institute; Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center; AIDS Clinical Trials Group; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); US Department of Veterans Affairs; Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL); Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN); Medical Research Council
Not yet recruiting
COVID-19 and Lung Ultrasound Utility - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Device: Device: Butterfly iQ
Sponsor:
Rocket Doctor Inc.
Recruiting
Efficacy of Canrenone as add-on Treatment in Moderate to Severe ARDS in COVID-19 - Condition: COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Intervention:
Drug: Potassium Canrenoate
Sponsors: Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico; University of Milan; IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna
Not yet recruiting
Saliva-based COVID-19 DNA Aptamer Test - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Device: AptameX
Sponsors: Achiko AG; Udayana University
Recruiting
Evaluation of the RD-X19 Treatment Device in Individuals With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition: COVID19
Interventions: Device: RD-X19; Device: Sham
Sponsor:
EmitBio Inc.
Recruiting
Evaluation of The Efficacy of Triazavirin Versus Oseltamivir in Egyptian Patients Infected With COVID-19 - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Drug: standard treatment COVID-19 + Triazavirin
Sponsor: Ain Shams University
Recruiting
The Efficacy of Nigella Sativa Versus VitaminD3 as Supplement Therapy in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Condition: Covid19
Intervention: Dietary Supplement: Nigella Sativa capsule twice daily
Sponsor: Ain Shams University
Recruiting
Effect of Cyproheptadine on Ventilatory Support-free Days in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 - Condition: COVID-19 Pneumonia
Intervention: Drug: Cyproheptadine
Sponsor:
Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre
Not yet recruiting
Intervention to Promote COVID-19 Vaccination - Conditions: Covid19; Vaccination
Intervention: Behavioral: Health System Vaccination Text Messages
Sponsors: University of Massachusetts, Worcester; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Not yet recruiting
Effects of COVID-19 on Cavernous Smooth Muscle - Conditions: Erectile Dysfunction Due to Diseases Classified Elsewhere; Covid19
Intervention:
Diagnostic Test: corpus cavernosum electromyography
Sponsor: Ankara Yildirim Beyazıt University
Completed
Computational identification of repurposed drugs against viruses causing epidemics and pandemics via drug-target network analysis - Viral epidemics and pandemics are considered public health emergencies. However, traditional and novel antiviral discovery approaches are unable to mitigate them in a timely manner. Notably, drug repurposing emerged as an alternative strategy to provide antiviral solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner. In the literature, many FDA-approved drugs have been repurposed to inhibit viruses, while a few among them have also entered clinical trials. Using experimental data, we identified…
Sialic acid-conjugate modified doxorubicin nanoplatform for treating neutrophil-related inflammation - Neutrophils, the most abundant leukocytes in human peripheral blood, are important effector cells that mediate the inflammatory response. During neutrophil dysfunction, excessive activation and uncontrolled infiltration are the core processes in the progression of inflammation-related diseases, including severe coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), sepsis, etc. Herein, we used sialic acid-modified liposomal doxorubicin (DOX-SAL) to selectively target inflammatory neutrophils in the peripheral blood…
A synthetic nanobody targeting RBD protects hamsters from SARS-CoV-2 infection - SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19¹, features a receptor-binding domain (RBD) for binding to the host cell ACE2 protein^(1-6). Neutralizing antibodies that block RBD-ACE2 interaction are candidates for the development of targeted therapeutics^(7-17). Llama-derived single-domain antibodies (nanobodies, ~15 kDa) offer advantages in bioavailability, amenability, and production and storage owing to their small sizes and high stability. Here, we report the rapid selection of 99 synthetic…
A 34-Year-Old Woman from Brazil with Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis Diagnosed by Raised Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-D (VEGF-D) Levels and Lung Cysts on Computed Tomography Imaging Presenting with COVID-19 Pneumonia - BACKGROUND There is growing concern about the clinical course of certain diseases in patients who are simultaneously infected by SARS-CoV-2. This report is of a 34-year-old woman from Brazil with a recent diagnosis of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) diagnosed by raised serum VEGF-D levels and the finding of lung cysts on computed tomography (CT) imaging, who presented with COVID-19 pneumonia. CASE REPORT Five months after the diagnosis of pulmonary LAM, which was based on the presence…
Targeting COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease through active phytocompounds of ayurvedic medicinal plants - Emblica officinalis (Amla), Phyllanthus niruri Linn. (Bhumi Amla) and Tinospora cordifolia (Giloy) - A molecular docking and simulation study - Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), a viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS- CoV-2) was declared a global pandemic by WHO in 2020. In this scenario, SARS-CoV-2 main protease (COVID-19 M^(pro)), an enzyme mainly involved in viral replication and transcription is identified as a crucial target for drug discovery. Traditionally used medicinal plants contain a large amount of bioactives and pave a new path to develop drugs and medications for COVID-19. The…
Potent antiviral activity of Agrimonia pilosa, Galla rhois, and their components against SARS-CoV-2 - Agrimonia pilosa (AP), Galla rhois (RG), and their mixture (APRG64) strongly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 by interfering with multiple steps of the viral life cycle including viral entry and replication. Furthermore, among 12 components identified in APRG64, three displayed strong antiviral activity, ursolic acid (1), quercetin (7), and 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O- galloyl-β-d-glucose (12). Molecular docking analysis showed these components to bind potently to the spike receptor- binding-domain (RBD) of the…
Facile synthesis, antimicrobial and antiviral evaluation of novel substituted phenyl 1,3-thiazolidin-4-one sulfonyl derivatives - A series of novel substituted phenyl 1, 3-thiazolidin-4-one sulfonyl derivatives 5 (a-t) were synthesized and screened for their in-vitro anti-microbial and anti-viral activity. The result of the anti-microbial assay demonstrated compounds 5d, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 5j showed prominent inhibitory activity against all the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains, while compounds 5g, 5j, 5o, 5p, 5q showed significant activity against the entire set of fungal strains as compared to…
Synthetic Peptides That Antagonize the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE-2) Interaction with SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Spike Protein - The SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein S receptor-binding domain (S-RBD) binds ACE2 on host cells to initiate molecular events, resulting in intracellular release of the viral genome. Therefore, antagonists of this interaction could allow a modality for therapeutic intervention. Peptides can inhibit the S-RBD:ACE2 interaction by interacting with the protein- protein interface. In this study, protein contact atlas data and molecular dynamics simulations were used to locate interaction hotspots on the…
Quantum simulations of SARS-CoV-2 main protease M(pro) enable high-quality scoring of diverse ligands - The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented efforts to identify drugs that can reduce its associated morbidity/mortality rate. Computational chemistry approaches hold the potential for triaging potential candidates far more quickly than their experimental counterparts. These methods have been widely used to search for small molecules that can inhibit critical proteins involved in the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle. An important target is the SARS-CoV-2 main protease Mpro, an enzyme that cleaves…
In-silico study on viability of MXenes in suppressing the coronavirus infection and distribution - Herein, based on the paramount importance of combating emerging diseases, through employing a detailed in-silico study, the possibility of using MXenes in suppressing the coronavirus infection was elucidated. To this end, first, interactions of MXene nanosheets (Mn(2)C, Ti(2)C, and Mo(2)C) and spike protein (SP), the main infecting portion of the COVID-19, were investigated. It was found that the modeled MXenes were effective in attracting the SP, so that they can be exploited in filtering the…
COVID-19 as a Potential Trigger for Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura and Reason for an Unusual Treatment: A Case Report - Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by severely reduced activity of the von Willebrand factor (VWF)-cleaving protease ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13) due to autoantibodies. This leads to the development of pathogenic multimers of VWF, causing a thrombotic microangiopathy with decreased number of platelets, hemolysis, and life-threatening tissue ischemia of mostly brain, heart,…
Immunometabolic bases of type 2 diabetes in the severity of COVID-19 - The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have now merged into an ongoing global syndemic that is threatening the lives of millions of people around the globe. For this reason, there is a deep need to understand the immunometabolic bases of the main etiological factors of T2D that affect the severity of COVID-19. Here, we discuss how hyperglycemia contributes to the…
The Many Faces of JAKs and STATs Within the COVID-19 Storm - The positive-sense single stranded RNA virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), resulted in a global pandemic with horrendous health and economic consequences not seen in a century. At a finer scale, immunologically, many of these devastating effects by SARS-CoV-2 can be traced to a “cytokine storm” resulting in the simultaneous activation of Janus Kinases (JAKs) and Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) proteins downstream of the many cytokine…
Progress and challenges in the comprehensive management of chronic viral hepatitis: Key ways to achieve the elimination - Chronic viral hepatitis is a significant health problem throughout the world, which already represents high annual mortality. By 2040, chronic viral hepatitis due to virus B and virus C and their complications cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma will be more deadly than malaria, vitellogenesis-inhibiting hormone, and tuberculosis altogether. In this review, we analyze the global impact of chronic viral hepatitis with a focus on the most vulnerable groups, the goals set by the World Health…
Comprehensive virtual screening of 4.8 k flavonoids reveals novel insights into allosteric inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 M(PRO) - SARS-CoV-2 main protease is a common target for inhibition assays due to its high conservation among coronaviruses. Since flavonoids show antiviral activity, several in silico works have proposed them as potential SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors. Nonetheless, there is reason to doubt certain results given the lack of consideration for flavonoid promiscuity or main protease plasticity, usage of short library sizes, absence of control molecules and/or the limitation of the methodology to a…
Camellia nitidissima C.W.Chi Caffeine and Chlorogenic acid composition for anti-SARS-CoV-2 and preparation method and application thereof - - link
A Novel Method COVID -19 infection using Deep Learning Based System - - link
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COVID- 19 DIAGNOSIS USING DETECTION RESULTS FROM CHEST X- RAY IMAGES - - link
Advanced Machine Learning System combating COVID-19 virus Detection, Spread, Prevention and Medical Assistance. - - link
一种包装重组流感病毒的重组载体和重组流感病毒及其构建方法和应用 - 本发明提供了一种包装重组流感病毒的重组载体和重组流感病毒及其构建方法和应用，涉及生物医药技术领域。本发明利用A型流感病毒八个基因片段为骨架包装出带有新型冠状病毒SARS‑CoV‑2表面刺突蛋白受体结合域（SARS‑CoV‑2_RBD）片段的重组流感病毒，此重组流感病毒可在复制过程中表达具有生物学活性和免疫原性的刺突蛋白受体结合区域RBD。本发明所述重组流感病毒rgH1N1（PR8）‑PA‑RBD可作为重组病毒类药物，用于2019新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID‑19）的预防；也可作为体外SARS‑COV‑2 RBD等相关抗原表达和体内递呈系统。 - link
Differential detection kit for common SARS-CoV-2 variants in COVID-19 patients - - link
新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD的基因及其应用 - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD的基因及其应用。本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD的基因，其核苷酸序列如SEQ ID NO.1或SEQ ID NO.6所示。本发明通过优化野生型新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD的基因序列，并结合筛选确定了相对最佳序列，优化后序列产生的克隆表达效率比野生型新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD序列表达效率大幅提高，从而，本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.525尼日利亚突变株RBD的基因可以用于制备新型冠状病毒疫苗。 - link
一种新型冠状病毒的mRNA疫苗 - 本发明公开了一种新型冠状病毒的mRNA疫苗。本发明提供的疫苗，其活性成分为mRNA，如序列表的序列6所示。本发明还保护TF‑RBD蛋白，如序列表的序列2所示。本发明的发明人通过一系列序列设计和序列优化得到了特异DNA分子，进一步构建了特异重组质粒，将特异重组质粒进行体外转录，可以得到多聚化TF‑RBD mRNA。进一步的，发明人制备了负载TF‑RBD mRNA的脂质纳米粒。本发明对于新型冠状病毒的防控具有重大的应用推广价值。 - link
新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD的基因及其应用 - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD的基因及其应用。本发明的新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD的基因，其核苷酸序列如SEQ ID NO.1或SEQ ID NO.6所示。本发明通过优化野生型新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD的基因序列，并结合筛选确定了相对最佳序列，优化后序列产生的克隆表达效率比野生型新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD序列表达效率大幅提高，从而，本发明的新型冠状病毒B．1．1．7英国突变株RBD的基因更有利于用于制备新型冠状病毒疫苗。 - link
SARS-CoV-2 anti-viral therapeutic - - link