Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Trends in Healthcare Service Disruptions and Associations with COVID-19 Outcomes among Patients with SMI vs. Non-SMI during COVID-19 -

  Abstract Objective: The study aims to quantify differential changes in outpatient mental health service utilization among 3,724,348 individuals, contrasting those with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) to those without, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design & Setting: A retrospective cohort study was conducted, utilizing data from Healthix, the second-largest health information exchange in the U.S. Participants: The study population included 3,134,959 Non-SMI patients (84.2%), 355,397 SMI patients (9.5%), and 149,345 Recurrent SMI Patients (4.0%). Exposures: The primary exposure was the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on its impact on outpatient mental health services. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the rate of utilization of outpatient mental health services. Secondary outcomes included COVID-19 infection rates and vaccination rates among the study cohorts. Results: Among the non-SMI patients, there was a 30% decline in emergency visits from 650,000 pre-COVID to 455,000 post-COVID (OR=0.70, p < 0.001), and outpatient visits decreased by 50% from 1.2 million to 600,000 (OR=0.50, p = 0.002). In contrast, the SMI group witnessed a 20% reduction in outpatient visits from 120,000 to 96,000 (OR=0.80, p = 0.015) and a 40% decrease in inpatient visits from 50,000 to 30,000 (OR=0.60, p = 0.008). Recurrent SMI patients exhibited a 25% decline in emergency visits from 32,000 to 24,000 (OR=0.75, p = 0.03) and a 35% drop in outpatient visits from 40,000 to 26,000 (OR=0.65, p = 0.009). The pandemic influenced the type of disorders diagnosed. Non-SMI patients experienced a 23% rise in anxiety-related disorders (n=80,000, OR=1.23, p = 0.01) and an 18% increase in stress-related disorders (n=70,000, OR=1.18, p = 0.04). SMI patients had a 15% surge in severe anxiety disorders (n=9,000, OR=1.15, p = 0.02) and a 12% uptick in substance-related disorders (n=7,200, OR=1.12, p = 0.05). Recurrent SMI patients showed a 20% increase in anxiety and adjustment disorders (n=6,400, OR=1.20, p = 0.03). SMI patients were more adversely affected by COVID-19, with a higher infection rate of 7.8% (n=45,972) compared to 4.2% (n=131,669) in non-SMI patients (OR=1.88, p < 0.001). Hospitalization rates also followed this trend, with 5.2% (n=30,648) of SMI patients being hospitalized compared to 3.7% (n=115,995) among non-SMI patients (OR=1.41, p = 0.007). Moreover, SMI patients had lower vaccination rates of 45.6% (n=268,888) versus 58.9% (n=1,844,261) among non-SMI patients (OR=0.77, p = 0.019). Conclusions: In conclusion, our findings reveal significant disparities in healthcare service utilization between individuals with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and those without. Notably, the SMI cohort experienced greater disruptions in service continuity, with a more pronounced decline in both outpatient and inpatient visits. Furthermore, the types of disorders diagnosed among this group also saw a shift, emphasizing the need for specialized care and attention during times of crisis. The higher rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization among SMI patients compared to non-SMI patients underscore the urgency of targeted public health interventions for this vulnerable group. The lower vaccination rates in the SMI cohort highlight another layer of healthcare disparity that needs to be urgently addressed. These findings suggest that the pandemic has amplified pre-existing inequalities in healthcare access and outcomes for individuals with SMI, calling for immediate, evidence-based interventions to mitigate these effects and ensure equitable healthcare service provision.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Trends in Healthcare Service Disruptions and Associations with COVID-19 Outcomes among Patients with SMI vs. Non-SMI during COVID-19
• Dynamic Contact Networks of Residents of an Urban Jail in the Era of SARS-CoV-2 -

  BACKGROUND. In custodial settings such as jails and prisons, infectious disease transmission is heightened by factors such as overcrowding and limited healthcare access. Specific features of social contact networks within these settings have not been sufficiently characterized, especially in the context of a large-scale respiratory infectious disease outbreak. The study aims to quantify contact network dynamics within the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, to improve our understanding respiratory disease spread to informs public health interventions. METHODS. As part of the Surveillance by Wastewater and Nasal Self-collection of Specimens (SWANSS) study, jail roster data were utilized to construct social contact networks. Rosters included resident details, cell locations, and demographic information. This analysis involved 6,702 residents over 140,901 person days. Network statistics, including degree, mixing, and turnover rates, were assessed across age groups, race/ethnicities, and jail floors. We compared outcomes for two distinct periods (January 2022 and April 2022) to understand potential responses in network structures during and after the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant peak. RESULTS. We found high cross-sectional network degree at both cell and block levels, indicative of substantial daily contacts. While mean degree increased with age, older residents exhibited lower degree during the Omicron peak, suggesting potential quarantine measures. Block-level networks demonstrated higher mean degrees than cell-level networks. Cumulative degree distributions for both levels increased from January to April, indicating heightened contacts after the outbreak. Assortative age mixing was strong, especially for residents aged 20-29. Dynamic network statistics illustrated increased degrees over time, emphasizing the potential for disease spread, albeit with a lower growth rate during the Omicron peak. CONCLUSIONS. The contact networks within the Fulton County Jail presented ideal conditions for infectious disease transmission. Despite some reduction in network characteristics during the Omicron peak, the potential for disease spread remained high. Age-specific mixing patterns suggested unintentional age segregation, potentially limiting disease spread to older residents. The study underscores the need for ongoing monitoring of contact networks in carceral settings and provides valuable insights for epidemic modeling and intervention strategies, including quarantine, depopulation, and vaccination. This network analysis offers a foundation for understanding disease dynamics in carceral environments.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Dynamic Contact Networks of Residents of an Urban Jail in the Era of SARS-CoV-2
• The role of socio-economic disparities in the relative success of SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City in early 2021 -

  Background: Socio-economic disparities were associated with disproportionate viral incidence between neighborhoods of New York City (NYC) during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2. We investigated how these disparities affected the co-circulation SARS-CoV-2 variants during the second wave in NYC. Methods: We tested for correlation between the prevalence, in late 2020/early 2021, of Alpha, Iota, Iota with E484K mutation (Iota-E484K), and B.1-like genomes and pre-existing immunity (seropositivity) in NYC neighborhoods. In the context of varying seroprevalence we described socio-economic profiles of neighborhoods and performed migration and lineage persistence analyses using a Bayesian phylogeographical framework. Findings: Seropositivity was greater in areas with high poverty and a larger proportion of Black and Hispanic or Latino residents. Seropositivity was positively correlated with the proportion of Iota-E484K and Iota genomes, and negatively correlated with the proportion of Alpha and B.1-like genomes. The proportion of persisting Alpha lineages declined over time in locations with high seroprevalence, whereas the proportion of persisting Iota-E484K lineages remained the same in high seroprevalence areas. Interpretation: During the second wave, the geographic variation of standing immunity, due to disproportionate disease burden during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in NYC, allowed for the immune evasive Iota-E484K variant, but not the more transmissible Alpha variant, to circulate in locations with high pre-existing immunity. Funding: We acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The role of socio-economic disparities in the relative success of SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City in early 2021
• Exploring the Correlation Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Increased Daily Cigarette Consumption in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A Machine Learning Approach -

  Abstract Objective Smoking is very common in Indonesia: among adults, around 66% of males and 7% of females are smokers. Smoking is not only harmful for people who smoke but also for people who are exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis. Previous research in various countries has shown a changing trend in smoking during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the high prevalence of smoking in Indonesia and the shifting trend during COVID-19, no studies have utilized machine learning to investigate the potential increase in daily cigarette consumption during the pandemic. This study aimed to predict the increase in daily cigarette consumption among smokers during the pandemic, focused on smokers selected from vaccination registrants in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Design Five machine learning algorithms were developed and tested to assess their performance: decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), logistic regression (LoR), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and naive Bayes (NB). The results showed a significant difference in the number of cigarettes consumed daily before and during the pandemic (statistic=2.8, p=0.004). Setting This study is believed to be the first study prediction model to predict the increase of cigarette consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Results The study found that both DT and LoR algorithms were effective in predicting increased daily cigarette consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. They outperformed the other three algorithms in terms of precision, recall, accuracy, F1-score, sensitivity, and AUC (area under the curve operating characteristic curve). LoR showed a precision of 92%, recall of 99%, accuracy of 93%, F1-score of 96%, sensitivity of 91% and AUC of 78%, DT showed a precision of 88%, recall of 91%, accuracy of 81%, F1-score of 89%, sensitivity of 95% and AUC of 98%. Conclusion We recommend using the DT and LoR algorithms, as they demonstrated better prediction performance. This study can be used as a pilot study for predicting smokers continuing behaviour status and the possibility of smoking cessation promotion among smokers, this study is a short report, and we suggested expanding with more factors and a larger dataset to provide more informative and reliable results, The recommendations based on the current findings can serve as a starting point for initial actions and can be further validated and refined with larger-scale studies in the future.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Exploring the Correlation Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Increased Daily Cigarette Consumption in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A Machine Learning Approach
• Suppressed IgG4 class switching in dupilumab- and TNF inhibitor-treated patients after repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination -

  Background Repeated mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to induce class switching to IgG4, a non-inflammatory human antibody subclass linked to tolerance. Although poorly understood, prolonged antigenic stimulation and IL-4 signalling may be instrumental in IgG4 switching. We and others have previously shown that widely used immunosuppressive drugs such as methotrexate (MTX) and TNF inhibitors (TNFi) have a minor inhibitory impact on humoral SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination responses. However, the impact of such immunosuppressive drugs on IgG4 switching is unknown. Aim To study the impact of widely used immunosuppressive drugs (TNFi, MTX, or the IL-4 receptor-blocking antibody dupilumab on IgG4 skewing upon repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. Methods Antibody responses to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein upon repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination were measured in 604 individuals including patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases treated with TNFi and/or MTX, or dupilumab, as well as healthy controls and untreated patients. Results We observed a substantial increase in the proportion of RBD-specific IgG4 antibodies (median 21%) in healthy/untreated controls after a third mRNA vaccination. This IgG4 skewing was absent when primary vaccination was adenoviral vector-based and was profoundly reduced in both dupilumab- and TNFi-treated patients (<1%), but only moderately in patients treated with MTX (7%). Conclusion Our results imply a major role for both IL-4/IL-13 as well as TNF in IgG4 class switching. These novel findings advance our understanding of IgG4 class switch dynamics, and may benefit future mRNA vaccine strategies, humoral tolerance induction, as well as treatment of IgG4 pathologies.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Suppressed IgG4 class switching in dupilumab- and TNF inhibitor-treated patients after repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination
• Protection of second booster vaccinations and prior infection against SARS-CoV-2 in the UK SIREN healthcare worker cohort -

  Background The protection of fourth dose mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is relevant to current global policy decisions regarding ongoing booster roll-out. We estimate the effect of fourth dose vaccination, prior infection, and duration of PCR positivity in a highly-vaccinated and largely prior-COVID-19 infected cohort of UK healthcare workers. Methods Participants underwent fortnightly PCR and regular antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 and completed symptoms questionnaires. A multi-state model was used to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection from a fourth dose compared to a waned third dose, with protection from prior infection and duration of PCR positivity jointly estimated. Results 1,298 infections were detected among 9,560 individuals under active follow-up between September 2022 and March 2023. Compared to a waned third dose, fourth dose VE was 13.1% (95%CI 0.9 to 23.8) overall; 24.0% (95%CI 8.5 to 36.8) in the first two months post-vaccination, reducing to 10.3% (95%CI -11.4 to 27.8) and 1.7% (95%CI -17.0 to 17.4) at 2-4 and 4-6 months, respectively. Relative to an infection >2 years ago and controlling for vaccination, 63.6% (95%CI 46.9 to 75.0) and 29.1% (95%CI 3.8 to 43.1) greater protection against infection was estimated for an infection within the past 0-6, and 6-12 months, respectively. A fourth dose was associated with greater protection against asymptomatic infection than symptomatic infection, whilst prior infection independently provided more protection against symptomatic infection, particularly if the infection had occurred within the previous 6 months. Duration of PCR positivity was significantly lower for asymptomatic compared to symptomatic infection. Conclusions Despite rapid waning of protection, vaccine boosters remain an important tool in responding to the dynamic COVID-19 landscape; boosting population immunity in advance of periods of anticipated pressure, such as surging infection rates or emerging variants of concern. Funding UK Health Security Agency, Medical Research Council, NIHR HPRU Oxford, and others.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Protection of second booster vaccinations and prior infection against SARS-CoV-2 in the UK SIREN healthcare worker cohort
• Simulation of COVID-19 Epidemic from Potential Viral Loads in Saudi Arabian Wastewater Treatment Plants -

  SARS-CoV-2 is a contagious respiratory virus that has been discovered in sewage, human waste, and wastewater treatment facilities. Wastewater surveillance has been considered one of the lowest-cost means of testing for tracking the COVID-19 outbreak in communities. This paper highlights the dynamics of the virus9s infection, persistence, and occurrence in wastewater treatment plants. Our aim is to develop and implement a mathematical model to infer the epidemic dynamics from the possible density of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater. We present a long-normal model and fractional order of susceptible-exposed-infected-recovery (SEIR) epidemic model for predicting the spread of the COVID-19 disease from the wastewater data. We study the dynamic properties of the fractional order SEIR model with respect to the fractional ordered values. The model is used to comprehend how the coronavirus spreads through wastewater treatment plants in Saudi Arabia. Our modeling approach can help with wastewater surveillance for early prediction and cost-effective monitoring of the epidemic outbreak in a situation of low testing capacity.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Simulation of COVID-19 Epidemic from Potential Viral Loads in Saudi Arabian Wastewater Treatment Plants
• The TMPRSS2 non-protease domains regulating SARS-CoV-2 Spike in mediated virus entry -
  The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) enters cells by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. This process is aided by the transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), which enhances entry efficiency and infectiousness by cleaving the SARS-CoV-2 surface glycoprotein (Spike). The cleavage primes the Spike protein, promoting membrane fusion instead of receptor-mediated endocytosis. Despite the pivotal role played by TMPRSS2, our understanding of its non-protease distinct domains remains limited. In this report, we present evidence indicating the potential phosphorylation of a minimum of six tyrosine residues within the cytosolic tail (CT) of TMPRSS2. Through the use of TMPRSS2 CT phospho-mimetic mutants, we observed a reduction in TMPRSS2 protease activity, accompanied by a decrease in SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection, which was found to occur mainly via the endosomal pathway. We expanded our investigation beyond TMPRSS2 CT and discovered the involvement of other non-protease domains in regulating infection. Our co-immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated a strong interaction between TMPRSS2 and Spike. We revealed a 21 amino acid long TMPRSS2-Spike-binding region (TSBR) within the TMPRSS2 scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) domain that contributes to this interaction. Our study sheds light on novel functionalities associated with TMPRSS2's cytosolic tail and SRCR region. Both of these regions have the capability to regulate SARS-CoV-2 entry pathways. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between viral entry and host factors, opening new avenues for potential therapeutic interventions.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The TMPRSS2 non-protease domains regulating SARS-CoV-2 Spike in mediated virus entry
• Synthesis, Insertion and Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Membrane Protein Within Lipid Bilayers -
  The membrane protein (M) is the most abundant structural protein in the SARS-CoV-2 virus and functions exclusively as a membrane-embedded homodimer. M protein is required for the formation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus particle and has been shown to interact with the Spike and Envelope proteins, as well as the RNA-packaging Nucleocapsid protein. Our knowledge of M protein is very limited due to its small size and challenges in expressing enough protein for use in structural and biophysical experiments. We report the successful development of a SUMO tag-based expression system to produce and purify significant quantities of M protein, and a method to insert the synthesized dimers into a suspended lipid membrane in a homogeneous orientation. We used AFM and Cryo-EM to image individual membrane-bound M protein dimers and characterize the configurations that they can assume. Our experimental results are in agreement with our molecular dynamics simulations which predict thinning of the membrane around the M protein and a propensity to induce local membrane curvature. Taken together, our results shed new light on M protein properties within the lipid bilayer and suggest mechanisms that could contribute to viral assembly and budding.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Synthesis, Insertion and Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Membrane Protein Within Lipid Bilayers
• Neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BA.2.86 and EG.5.1 by antibodies induced by earlier infection or vaccination -
  Highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant BA.2.86 emerged in July 2023. We investigated the neutralisation of isolated virus by antibodies induced by earlier infection or vaccination. The neutralisation titres for BA.2.86 were comparable to those for XBB.1 and EG.5.1, by antibodies induced by XBB.1.5 or BA.4/5 breakthrough infection or BA.4/5 vaccination.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BA.2.86 and EG.5.1 by antibodies induced by earlier infection or vaccination
• COVID-19 Hand Hygiene Intervention - PREPRINT -
  Objective: We aimed to test the efficacy of a theory-based intervention to promote the avoidance of touching one’s face with unwashed hands to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Methods: We tested effects of an intervention employing imagery, persuasive communication, and planning techniques in two pre-registered studies adopting randomized controlled designs in samples of Australian (N=254; Study 1) and US (N=245; Study 2) residents. Participants were randomly assigned to theory-based intervention or education-only conditions (Study 1), or to theory-based intervention, education-only, and no-intervention control conditions (Study 2). The intervention was delivered online and participants completed measures of behavior and theory-based social cognition constructs pre-intervention and one-week post-intervention. Results: Mixed-model ANOVAs revealed a significant increase in avoidance of touching the face with unwashed hands from pre-intervention to follow-up irrespective of intervention condition in both studies, but no significant condition effects. Exploratory analyses revealed significant effects of the theory-based intervention on behavior at follow-up in individuals with low pre-intervention risk perceptions in Study 2. Conclusions: Results indicate high adoption of avoiding touching one’s face with unwashed hands, with behavior increasing over time independent of the intervention. Future research should confirm risk perceptions as a moderator of the effect theory-based interventions on infection-prevention behaviors.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: COVID-19 Hand Hygiene Intervention - PREPRINT
• Face-touching behavior as a possible correlate of mask-wearing: A video observational study of public place incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic -
  Most countries in the world have recommended or mandated face masks in some or all public places during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, mask-wearing has been thought to increase people’s face-touching frequency and, thus, the risk of self-inoculation. Across two studies, we video observed the face-touching behavior of members of the public in Amsterdam and Rotterdam (the Netherlands) during the first wave of the pandemic. Study 1 (n = 383) yielded evidence in favor of the absence of an association between mask-wearing and face-touching (defined as touches of face or mask), and Study 2 (n = 421) replicated this result. Secondary outcome analysis of the two studies—separately and with pooled datasets—found a robust negative association between mask-wearing and hand contacts with the face and t-zone (i.e., eyes, nose, and mouth). Our results alleviate the concern that mask-wearing has an adverse face-touching effect.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Face-touching behavior as a possible correlate of mask-wearing: A video observational study of public place incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic
• A psychological exploration into collecting behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic -
  Over a third of Americans collect at least one type of item, with similar proportions found in other Western cultures. Despite the large size of the global population of collectors, little has been investigated in terms of collecting behaviors and their relationship with identity, compulsive buying, shopping addiction, mood modification, interpersonal relationships, spiritual aspects to collecting, and the differences between collectors. Cross-cultural research was used to investigate the aforementioned relationships and build a groundwork for future research. In addition, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on collecting behaviors was examined, with a focus on exploring the differences between people that greatly increased collection spending during the pandemic compared to those that did not or moderately increased their spending. High salience in collector identity was associated with higher levels of excessive buying, shopping addiction, mood modification, communal support for collecting, competitive collecting, relatedness with other collectors, viewing collecting as sacred/spiritual, and lower levels of doubt about collecting. Young and single collectors most drastically increased their spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to higher levels of doubt, guilt, disgust, fear, loneliness, relationship strain, higher levels of dependence on collecting to modify mood, and higher levels of withdrawal symptoms consistent with addiction.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: A psychological exploration into collecting behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Self-reported energy use in UK homes during the first COVID-19 lockdown: A survey study -
  To contain the spread of COVID-19, governments across the world imposed partial or complete lockdowns. National energy demand decreased in periods of lockdowns; however, as people spent more time at home, residential energy use likely increased. This paper reports results of a survey study with N = 1016 participants in the UK about their energy use practices during the first lockdown in March 2020. Results indicated that self-reported heating behaviours did not substantially change during lockdown. Regarding appliance use, in particular the duration of usage for TVs and computing equipment has increased and has spread out more over the day. Being less able to manage financially was correlated with greater usage of the smart-meter in-home-display and greater attempt to save energy was positively correlated with greater usage of the in-home display though correlations were small. In summary, the results indicate that home energy use behaviours, in particular around heating, did not change as much as might have been expected, which might at least partly be explained by the comparatively warm weather during the first lockdown. Corroborating the survey findings with actual energy data is the next essential step to understand findings in more detail.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Self-reported energy use in UK homes during the first COVID-19 lockdown: A survey study
• Mask-wearing and social distancing: Evidence from a video-observational and natural-experimental study of public space behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic -
  Background: Face masks have been widely employed as a personal protective measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, concerns remain that masks create a false sense of security that reduces adherence to other public health measures, including social distancing. Purpose: This paper tested whether mask-wearing was negatively associated with social distancing compliance. Methods: In two studies, we combined video-observational records of public mask-wearing in two Dutch cities with a natural-experimental approach to evaluate the effect of an area-based mask mandate. Results: We found no observational evidence of an association between mask-wearing and social distancing (Study 1: p = .398; Study 2: p = .511), but found a positive link between crowding and social distancing violations (Study 1: p < .001; Study 2: p < .001). Our natural-experimental analysis showed that an area-based mask mandate did not significantly affect social distancing or crowding levels (Study 2: p = .781 and p = .126, respectively). Conclusions: Our results alleviate the concern that mask use reduces social distancing compliance or increases crowding levels. On the other hand, crowding reduction may be a viable strategy to mitigate social distancing violations.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Mask-wearing and social distancing: Evidence from a video-observational and natural-experimental study of public space behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

From Clinical Trials

• Motivational Interviewing for Vaccine Uptake in Latinx Adults - Conditions: Vaccine Hesitancy
  Interventions: Other: EHR alert; Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing; Behavioral: Warm hand off to nurse
  Sponsors: Boston College; East Boston Neighborhood Health Center; Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH); Boston Children’s Hospital; National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
  Not yet recruiting

• Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety of RQ-01 in SARS-CoV-2 Positive Subjects - Conditions: COVID-19; Infectious Disease; Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection Laboratory-Confirmed; SARS CoV 2 Infection
  Interventions: Combination Product: RQ-001; Other: Placebo
  Sponsors: Red Queen Therapeutics, Inc.; PPD
  Recruiting

• Study of “Sputnik Lite” for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Composition. - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Biological: “Sputnik Lite” vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition
  Sponsors: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation
  Not yet recruiting

• Study Will Assess the Safety, Neutralizing Activity and Efficacy of AZD3152 in Adults With Conditions Increasing Risk of Inadequate Protective Immune Response After Vaccination and Thus Are at High Risk of Developing Severe COVID-19 - Conditions: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
  Interventions: Biological: Biological: AZD3152; Biological: Biological: Placebo
  Sponsors: AstraZeneca
  Not yet recruiting

• Amantadine Therapy for Cognitive Impairment in Long COVID - Conditions: Long COVID; Post-COVID19 Condition; Post-Acute COVID19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Drug: Amantadine
  Sponsors: Ohio State University
  Not yet recruiting

• Examining the Function of Cs4 on Post-COVID-19 Disorders - Conditions: Long COVID
  Interventions: Other: Chinese medicine nutritional supplement Cs4
  Sponsors: The University of Hong Kong
  Recruiting

• Stellate Ganglion Block With Lidocaine for the Treatment of COVID-19-Induced Parosmia - Conditions: Parosmia
  Interventions: Procedure: Stellate Ganglion Block; Other: Placebo
  Sponsors: Lawson Health Research Institute
  Not yet recruiting

• CPAP Efficacy in Post-COVID Patients With Sleep Apnea - Conditions: COVID-19; Sleep Apnea
  Interventions: Device: Continuous positive airway pressure
  Sponsors: University of Pittsburgh
  Not yet recruiting

• Cell Therapy With Treg Cells Obtained From Thymic Tissue (thyTreg) to Control the Immune Hyperactivation Associated With COVID-19 (THYTECH2) - Conditions: Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome
  Interventions: Biological: Allogeneic thyTreg 5.000.000; Biological: Allogeneic thyTreg 10.000.000
  Sponsors: Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon; Instituto de Salud Carlos III
  Recruiting

• SA55 Injection: a Potential Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Drug: SA55 Injection; Other: Placebo for SA55 injection
  Sponsors: Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.
  Recruiting

• SA55 Novel Coronavirus Broad-spectrum Neutralizing Antibody Nasal Spray in Health People - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Drug: SA55 nasal spray
  Sponsors: Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.
  Recruiting

• Psychosomatic, Physical Activity or Both for Post-covid19 Syndrom - Conditions: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Behavioral: Exercise Therapy; Behavioral: Psychotherapy
  Sponsors: Hannover Medical School; Health Insurance Audi BKK; occupational health service Volkswagen AG; Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
  Not yet recruiting

• A Bioequivalence Trial of Fasting Single Oral STI-1558 Capsule in Healthy Chinese Subjects - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Drug: STI-1558
  Sponsors: Zhejiang ACEA Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• Mind Body Intervention for Long COVID - Conditions: Long COVID; Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19; COVID Long-Haul
  Interventions: Behavioral: Mind Body Intervention #1
  Sponsors: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  Not yet recruiting

• Omicron BA.4/5-Delta COVID-19 Vaccine Phase I Clinical Trial - Conditions: COVID-19
  Interventions: Biological: Omicron BA.4/5-Delta strain recombinant novel coronavirus protein vaccine (CHO cells); Biological: Placebo
  Sponsors: Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.; Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• A First-In-Human Phase 1 Study of Simnotrelvir, a 3CL-like Protease Inhibitor for Treatment of COVID-19, in Healthy Adult Subjects - Safe and efficacious antiviral therapeutics are in urgent need for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. Simnotrelvir is a selective 3C-like protease inhibitor that can effectively inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of dose escalations of simnotrelvir alone or with ritonavir (simnotrelvir or simnotrelvir/ritonavir) in healthy subjects, as well as the food effect (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:…

• An in-vitro evaluation of antifungal, anti-lungcancer (A549), and anti-hyperglycemic activities potential of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) flower extract - The medical plant research has received more attention among researchers especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. This research performed to evaluate the antifungal, anti-lung cancer (A549), and anti-hyperglycemic activities of aqueous extract of Andrographis paniculata flower. Interestingly, A. paniculata flower aqueous extract contains pharmaceutically valuable phytochemicals such as alkaloid, phenolics, terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, and protein. It also showed fine antifungal activity…

• Development in biomarkers of breast cancer: a bibliometric analysis from 2011 to 2020 - CONCLUSIONS: In the past decade, most research has focused on basic and clinical studies, of which microRNAs (miRNAs) and circulating tumor DNAs (ctDNAs) associated with the inhibition and attenuation of BC have become the focus of recent research.

• The effect of loneliness on depression in young people: a multiple mediated effects model - CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the inability to alleviate negative emotions through socialization and interpersonal companionship during COVID-19 contributed to increased loneliness and subsequent depression. Reduced resilience due to loneliness may lead individuals to project unfavorable interpersonal experiences onto other aspects of life and believe they are incapable of overcoming challenges, thereby deteriorating depression conditions. Enhancing an individual’s resilience may help…

• Virus on surfaces: Chemical mechanism, influence factors, disinfection strategies, and implications for virus repelling surface design - While SARS-CoV-2 is generally under control, the question of variants and infections still persists. Fundamental information on how the virus interacts with inanimate surfaces commonly found in our daily life and when in contact with the skin will be helpful in developing strategies to inhibit the spread of the virus. Here in, a critically important review of current understanding of the interaction between virus and surface is summarized from chemistry point-of-view. The…

• The role of cross-reactive immunity to emerging coronaviruses: Implications for novel universal mucosal vaccine design - Host immune response to coronaviruses and the role of cross-reactivity immunity among different coronaviruses are crucial for understanding and combating the continuing COVID-19 outbreak and potential subsequent pandemics. This review paper explores how previous exposure to common cold coronaviruses and more pathogenic coronaviruses may elicit a protective immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and discusses the challenges posed by some variants of concern that may escape current…

• Multi-structural molecular docking (MOD) combined with molecular dynamics reveal the structural requirements of designing broad-spectrum inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 entry to host cells - New variants of SARS-CoV-2 that can escape immune response continue to emerge. Consequently, there is an urgent demand to design small molecule therapeutics inhibiting viral entry to host cells to reduce infectivity rate. Despite numerous in silico and in situ studies, the structural requirement of designing viral-entry inhibitors effective against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 has yet to be described. Here we systematically screened the binding of various natural products (NPs) to six…

• Effect of monovalent COVID-19 vaccines on viral interference between SARS-CoV-2 and several DNA viruses in patients with long-COVID syndrome - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation may be involved in long-COVID symptoms, but reactivation of other viruses as a factor has received less attention. Here we evaluated the reactivation of parvovirus-B19 and several members of the Herpesviridae family (DNA viruses) in patients with long-COVID syndrome. We hypothesized that monovalent COVID-19 vaccines inhibit viral interference between SARS-CoV-2 and several DNA viruses in patients with long-COVID syndrome, thereby reducing clinical symptoms….

• Antibacterial and anti-corona virus (229E) activity of Nigella sativa oil combined with photodynamic therapy based on methylene blue in wound infection: in vitro and in vivo study - Microbial skin infections, antibiotic resistance, and poor wound healing are major problems, and new treatments are needed. Our study targeted solving this problem with Nigella sativa (NS) oil and photodynamic therapy based on methylene blue (MB-PDT). Antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were determined via agar well diffusion assay and broth microdilution, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) proved deformations in Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538….

• N-linked glycoproteins and host proteases are involved in swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus entry - Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) is highly pathogenic to piglets and poses a major threat to the swine industry. SADS-CoV has a wide cell tropism and pathogenic potential in younger animals. Therefore, understanding how SADS-CoV enters cells is essential for curbing its re-emergence and spread. Here, we report that tunicamycin, an N-linked glycoprotein inhibitor, inhibited the attachment of SADS-CoV to host cells, suggesting that the SADS-CoV receptor may be an N-linked…

• EGR1 functions as a new host restriction factor for SARS-CoV-2 to inhibit virus replication through the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 - Coronavirus disease 2019, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to an unprecedented public health crisis worldwide. Though the host produces interferons (IFNs) and restriction factors to suppress virus infection, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved multiple strategies to inhibit the antiviral responses. Understanding host restriction factors and viral escape mechanisms is conducive to developing effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. Here, we constructed SARS-CoV-2…

• In-silico investigation of 4-nitro-N-1H-pyrazol-3-ylbenzamide towards its potential use against SARS-CoV-2: a DFT, molecular docking and molecular dynamics study - In the present research work, we report the synthesis and characterization of novel pyrazole derivative obtained by the condensation reaction of 4-nitro benzaldehyde group with one equivalent of the 2-amino pyrazole yielding 4-nitro-N-1H-pyrazol-3-ylbenzamide with high yield. The two symmetry-independent molecules (molecule A and molecule B) differ about the central C-N bond, with the dihedral angles between the pyrazole ring system and the nitrobenzene ring being 13.90° and 18.64°,…

• Dimeric ACE2-FC Is Equivalent to Monomeric ACE2 in the Surrogate Virus Neutralization Test - Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the main cellular receptor for the dangerous sarbecoviruses SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Its recombinant extracellular domain is used to monitor the level of protective humoral immune response to a viral infection or vaccine using the surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT). Soluble ACE2 is also considered as an option for antiviral therapy potentially insensitive to the changes in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Extensive testing of the samples of…

• Ancestral, Delta, and Omicron (BA.1) SARS-CoV-2 strains are dependent on serine proteases for entry throughout the human respiratory tract - CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that entry of Omicron BA.1 SARS-CoV-2 is dependent on serine proteases for entry throughout the respiratory tract.

• DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES IN RETROPHARYNGEAL LYMPH NODE EXUDATES OF WHITE-TAILED DEER (ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS) FROM NEBRASKA, USA - Disease surveillance testing for emerging zoonotic pathogens in wildlife is a key component in understanding the epidemiology of these agents and potential risk to human populations. Recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans, and subsequent detection of this virus in wildlife, highlights the need for developing new One Health surveillance strategies. We used lymph node exudate, a sample type that is routinely collected in hunter-harvested white-tailed deer (WTD, Odocoileus virginianus) for…

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