Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Fertility recovery despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland? -
  Finland’s increase in births, recorded in the months following the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, was among the strongest. We assess whether the fertility increase in Finland occurred because of or despite the pandemic, or both, by investigating the country’s fertility trends by women’s region of residence, age group, and parity. While the country as a whole was modestly hit by the pandemic in 2020, the capital region Helsinki-Uusimaa faced more severe restrictions. We used aggregate register data until September 2021 to assess monthly fertility. In 2020 and 2021, the relative annual increases in fertility were strongest among women aged 30–34 and 35–49. In 2021, but not in 2020, fertility increased most in Helsinki-Uusimaa, and across all parities. Model-based estimates provided tentative support for an overall pandemic fertility boost for the time period until September 2019. We conclude that the unusual fertility increases in 2021 in Finland broadly follow from pre-existing trends where the country recovers from its all-time low fertility, but do not exclude the possibility of an additional boost from the pandemic itself. The study highlights the importance of carefully considering existing fertility trends when studying fertility responses to the pandemic.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Fertility recovery despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland?
• LEVEL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISTANCE LEARNING (PJJ) IN STUDENTS’ LEARNING INTEREST -
  Many problems arise in this global era. For example, problems arise in the fields of economy, society, culture, and even education. The poor distribution of the population is due to a lack of knowledge in the wider community, a high proportion of illiterate people, and communication barriers which are the main factors in distance learning. In this regard, the government has made new dedications namely Education Network, Communication Network, and Distance Learning Process Program to expand and equalize public education. This can suppress the ]iteracy rate in Indonesia. Long before this program was socialized, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the public had to understand what made the situation interact through electronic media (Internet) not directly. The method used in this study is based on interaction with UIN K.H. Student Abdurrahman Wahid about the current online learning system in scientific disciplines. The purpose of this study was to assess student interest in distance learning at UIN K.H. To identify Abdurrahman Wahid.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: LEVEL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISTANCE LEARNING (PJJ) IN STUDENTS’ LEARNING INTEREST
• FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE OF STATE HIGH INSTITUTIONS DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC -
  Covid-19 is a deadly virus that originated in Wuhan, China. This infectious disease hurts health throughout the world, including in Indonesia, as a result, many people have died from the Covid-19 virus. In addition, this disease has a major impact on the world of education. Therefore, the Indonesian government is trying to prevent this virus from spreading more widely by implementing the WFH (Work From Home) policy which requires Indonesian people to only work indoors, including education. As a result, students, including university students, are required to take lessons using the online method (In the Network). There are positive and negative impacts in the world of education. With that, this study aims to find out how effective distance learning is for students or a student during the covid-19 pandemic who uses qualitative methods by compiling data and information obtained by an author with the results of his writing conducted at UIN KH Abdurrahman Wahid by interviewing some of the students who were affected.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE OF STATE HIGH INSTITUTIONS DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC
• VIEWS OF LEARNING AND OBSTACLES EXPERIENCED BY STUDENTS IN ONLINE LECTURES -
  At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, all lectures were changed to online or online (on the network). Of course, this online lecture is for students whose homes are far away or who are unable to come to campus. Circumstances like this can certainly cause the learning system to change drastically, where lectures should be face-to-face, now online. This can make students overwhelmed in taking lectures online, because of this pandemic, students cannot face each other anymore with lecturers or other students while studying. This pandemic emerged 2 years ago in February 2019. The purpose of this research is to find solutions to students’ barriers to online lectures. This research is taken from a descriptive-qualitative method, the subject is students. The results of this study in terms of internal factors, namely carrying out lectures online, either during learning or practice. Students can no longer go to college as they should, who always go to campus to get knowledge from their lecturers and can also communicate with other students. Communication with the lecturer is a bit difficult and it is also difficult to create motivation. External obstacles include the limitations of gadget facilities, wifi, and internet quota at home, not all students have a stable internet connection and a large quota.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: VIEWS OF LEARNING AND OBSTACLES EXPERIENCED BY STUDENTS IN ONLINE LECTURES
• Humanized antibody potently neutralizes all SARS-CoV-2 variants by a novel mechanism -
  SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants have generated a world-wide health crisis due to resistance to most approved SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and evasion of antibodies induced by vaccination. Here, we describe the SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing SP1-77 antibody that was generated from a humanized mouse model with a single human VH1-2 and V{kappa}1-33-associated with immensely diverse complementarity-determining-region-3 (CDR3) sequences. SP1-77 potently and broadly neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and binds the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding-domain (RBD) via a novel-CDR3-based mode. SP1-77 does not block RBD-binding to the ACE2-receptor or endocytosis step of viral entry, but rather blocks membrane fusion. Our findings provide the first mechanistic insight into how a non-ACE2 blocking antibody potently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2, which may inform strategies for designing vaccines that robustly neutralize current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Humanized antibody potently neutralizes all SARS-CoV-2 variants by a novel mechanism
• Examining COVID-19 Mortality Rates by Race and Ethnicity Among Incarcerated People in U.S. State Prisons -

  Objective: To estimate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality rates among individuals incarcerated in U.S. state prisons by race and ethnicity (RE). Design: Retrospective population-based analysis Setting: Data from state-level Departments of Corrections (DOCs) from March 1 through October 1, 2020. Participants: Publicly available data collected by Freedom of Information Act requests representing adults in the custody of US state DOCs. Main Outcomes: Cumulative COVID-19 death and custody population data. Crude RE-specific cumulative death rates per 1,000 persons, by state and in aggregate, using RE-specific custody population on March 1, 2020, as the denominator. Rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) compared state-level and aggregate cumulative age-adjusted mortality rates as of 10/01/2020 by RE, with White individuals as reference group. Results: Of all COVID-related deaths in U.S. prisons through October 2020, 23.35% (272 of 1165) were captured in our analyses. The average age at COVID-19 mortality was 63 years (SD=10 years) and was significantly lower among Black (60 years, SD=11 years) compared to White adults (66 years, SD=10 years; p<0.001). In age-standardized analysis, COVID-19 mortality rates were significantly higher among Black (RR=1.93, 95% CI: 1.25-2.99), Hispanic (RR=1.81, 95% CI: 1.10-2.96) and those of Other racial and ethnic groups (RR=2.60, 95% CI: 1.01-6.67) when compared to White individuals. Conclusions: Age-standardized mortality rates were higher among incarcerated Black, Hispanic and those of Other RE groups compared to their White counterparts. Greater data transparency from all carceral systems is needed to better understand populations at disproportionate risk of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Examining COVID-19 Mortality Rates by Race and Ethnicity Among Incarcerated People in U.S. State Prisons
• Deviant Behavior of Minors in Making and Watching Tiktok Videos -
  Tiktok, also known as Douyin, is a social media application from China or China. A social network in the form of videos with a short duration. During a pandemic many creative people appear. Short videos on Tiktok can be as entertainment or education that is positive. They do new things, one of which is creating Tiktok content. Why are children attracted to and addicted to Tiktok, and how to direct children to play Tiktok to also the impact on children?. To find out why children are attracted and addicted to Tiktok. As impact on children. This research uses a qualitative, phenological, approach through the literature study method. Most of them started to actively watch videos on tiktok. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was because of the government’s rule to stay at home. But even though it has a positive value, tiktok also has a negative value.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Deviant Behavior of Minors in Making and Watching Tiktok Videos
• Altered Rhythms of Ramadan: Temporalities of Social Media Non/Use during COVID-19 -
  This article explores how the relational context of religious rituals and practices and pandemic-induced stay-at-home orders shape the socio-temporal organization of young Muslims’ everyday social media engagement during Ramadan under COVID-19. We collected semi-structured interviews with 22 self-identified Muslims who observed Ramadan during the pandemic (in 2020 and 2021). Our findings point to the impacts of COVID-19 and related public health measures in the formation of the participants’ psyche about their observance of Ramadan in 2020 and 2021. Drawing on the concept of socio-temporal rhythms in everyday life practices, we map the temporal patterning of their everyday religious rituals and practices onto their social media (dis)engagement, as enabled or constrained by pandemic restrictions.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Altered Rhythms of Ramadan: Temporalities of Social Media Non/Use during COVID-19
• Childbearing desires before and after the Covid-19 outbreak in Australia: Who changed their attitudes toward having a first or additional child? -
  Using a quasi-experimental cohort design, this study examines whether childbearing desires were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and investigates which pandemic-related factors have affected childbearing desires the most. To address these questions, a unique panel dataset is used, collected before and after the outbreak of Covid-19 in Australia. Results show that parents who already had one child were the most likely to experience a decline in childbearing desires as a result of the pandemic, while childbearing desires were most stable among those who were childless. Economic and employment related factors did not appear to be of great relevance in predicting changes in childbearing plans, however of strong importance were changes to the quality of couple relationships and of social support from family and friends.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Childbearing desires before and after the Covid-19 outbreak in Australia: Who changed their attitudes toward having a first or additional child?
• Business Continuity During the COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Surviving and Improving the Quality Process Management System -
  Worldwide health and the global economy have been heavily damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic,with business continuity being the primary issue of every company operating in the health industry. A criticalinstrument for enterprises’ survival is the establishment of a business continuity management system that enablesthem to manage risks, discover opportunities created by the pandemic, and secure their continuity. The purposeof this paper is to examine how a pharmaceutical firm may ensure business continuity by adopting ISO22301:2019 in parallel with the existing ISO 9001:2015 quality standard, as well as the similarities anddifferences between the two management standards. According to the results, the pharmaceutical company,whose case was studied, managed to create an effective action plan in order to mitigate at an acceptable level theidentified risks, to maintain its business continuity and to ensure the quality of the product and the health of thepatients and its employees.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Business Continuity During the COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Surviving and Improving the Quality Process Management System
• Environmental Policy Issues and Public Health Concerns Associated with Rohingya Refugee Population in Bangladesh -
  Introduction: The Rohingya population in Myanmar has been adversely affected by the Citizenship Act of 1982. This Act opted out of them from the list of recognized ethnic minorities and deprived them of civil rights and public services. As a result, the Myanmar army started a massive cleaning operation in the Rohingya community where thousands of Rohingyas were killed, and 750,000 refugees fled to Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh is helping this migrant community to settle in Bangladesh with the support of multiple national and international nonprofit organizations. This paper aims to explain the policy challenges in accommodating the Rohingya refugees from an environmental policy and public health perspective. Methodology: In this study, the researchers collected secondary data from multiple sources, such as journal articles, websites of internationally renowned organizations, and the health record of clinics supported by OBAT Helpers, Inc., a U.S.-based nonprofit, who are providing healthcare services to the Rohingya community living in multiple camps. The collected information is summarized systematically to understand the risks to the environment and health conditions in the Rohingya refugee camps that occurred due to a lacking policy readiness and logistic unpreparedness of the government. These issues are very critical not only for the migrant population but also for the host community. Findings: Approximately 860,175 Rohingya Refugees have been placed in 34 camps located in multiple districts in Bangladesh since 2017. To accommodate this large population in Bangladesh, the government had to cut the forest and fill out water bodies. Therefore, deforestation and building houses near cliff areas cause soil erosion and create risks for marine resources. In these camps, the refugees use fuelwood and kerosene for cooking, which increases particle pollution in the air. The overpopulated camps are having issues with the inexistence of ventilation. In the past couple of years, there were several massive fire incidents where hundreds of houses were burnt, and many people were injured and dead. Besides, building new houses for the refugees sets the local biodiversity at critical risk. The Kutupalong camp blocked the only corridor for the Asian elephants and trapped them in a corner of that area. In this challenging situation, the elephants invade nearby camp areas for food. As a result, 13 people died in a human-elephant conflict. Along with the environmental issues, the health condition in these refugee camps is very critical for different age groups and sex. Unplanned water and sewerage system are also polluting the water bodies which is increasing water-borne diseases in the community. The most common diseases found in these clinics are communicable, such as upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), skin disease, cough and cold, diarrhea, chickenpox, respiratory tract infection, fever, measles/rubella, and sexually transmitted disease, and malnutrition. In the past several decades, the Government of Bangladesh has been successfully working root-level to end chronic diseases, such as diphtheria, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis, chickenpox, and cholera which are crucial not only for the babies but for the community. The healthcare services of OBAT Health clinics have found many cases of these chronic diseases among the Rohingya refugees which may bring new threats to public health situations in Bangladesh. The congested environment of the camps spreads communicable diseases including COVID-19. Besides, thousands of patients in the camps are diagnosed with psychological trauma and gender-based violence in multiple age groups. More healthcare facilities are needed in these camps to provide mental healthcare services and support sexually assaulted victims. Conclusion: The government of Bangladesh and multiple national and international organizations are supporting the Rohingya refugees to live with basic human rights and security in Bangladesh. However, accommodating a large number of Rohingya refugees in a very short time causes multiple environmental issues and public health concerns. Policy readiness and logistic preparedness are necessary to reduce these long-term environmental challenges and public health concerns in the refugee camps and the nearby host communities. Planned zoning of the refugee camps and forestation would minimize the harm to land, water bodies, and biodiversity. Providing renewable or clean energy would help reduce PM pollution in the air quality. In addition to that, health education, awareness for immunization and vaccination, and adequate healthcare facilities for physical and mental healthcare would help to minimize health risks in this community. All these proposed solutions require support for policy intervention at both national and international levels. It will help to minimize the risk of climate change and public health issues globally.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Environmental Policy Issues and Public Health Concerns Associated with Rohingya Refugee Population in Bangladesh
• SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough by Omicron and Delta variants: comparative assessments with New York State genomic surveillance data -

  Background: Recently emerged variants of SARS-CoV-2 have shown greater potential to cause vaccine breakthrough infections. Methods: A matched cohort analysis used a genomic sequence dataset linked with demographic and vaccination information from New York State (NYS). Two sets of conditional logistic regression analyses were performed, one during the emergence of Delta and another during the emergence of Omicron. For each set, cases were defined as individuals with the emerging lineage, and controls were individuals infected with any other lineage. The adjusted associations of vaccination status, vaccine type, time since vaccination, and age with lineage were assessed using odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Fully vaccinated status (OR: 3, 95% CI: 2.0 - 4.9) and Boosted status (OR 6.7, 95% CI: 3.4 - 13.0) were significantly associated with having the Omicron lineage during the Omicron emergence period. Risk of Omicron infection relative to Delta generally decreased with increasing age (OR: 0.964, 95% CI 0.950 - 0.978). The Delta emergence analysis had low statistical power for the observed effect size. Conclusions: Vaccines offered less protection against Omicron, thereby increasing the number of potential hosts for the emerging variant.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough by Omicron and Delta variants: comparative assessments with New York State genomic surveillance data
• Immunogenicity and safety of COVID-19 vaccine in lung cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment: A prospective multicenter cohort study -

  Introduction: This study assessed the immunogenicity and safety of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in lung cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment using two immunoassays. Methods: We enrolled lung cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment and non-cancer patients with chronic diseases; all participants were fully vaccinated with the BNT162b2 vaccine. Blood samples were collected before the first and second vaccinations and 4 ± 1 weeks after the second vaccination. Anti-acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein S1 subunit receptor-binding domain antibody titers were measured using the Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant (Abbott Laboratory) and Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S (Roche Diagnostics). Results: Fifty-five lung cancer patients and 38 non-cancer patients were included in the immunogenicity analysis. Lung cancer patients showed significant increase in the geometric mean antibody titer, which was significantly lower than that in the non-cancer patients after the first (30 vs. 121 AU/mL, p<0.001 on Architect; 4.0 vs 1.2 U/mL, p<0.001, on Elecsys) and second vaccinations (1632 vs. 3472 AU/mL, p=0.005, on Architect; 213 vs 573 A/mL, p=0.002, on Elecsys). The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for seroprotection was significantly lower in the lung cancer patients. Analysis of the anticancer treatment types showed that the adjusted OR for seroprotection was significantly lower in lung cancer patients receiving cytotoxic agents. Lung cancer patients showed no increase in the number of adverse reactions. Conclusions: BNT162b2 vaccination in lung cancer patients undergoing anticancer treatment significantly increased antibody titers and showed acceptable safety. However, the immunogenicity in these patients could be inadequate compared with that in non-cancer patients.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Immunogenicity and safety of COVID-19 vaccine in lung cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment: A prospective multicenter cohort study
• Long-term immune persistence induced by two-dose BBIBP-CorV vaccine with different intervals, and immunogenicity and safety of a homologous booster dose in high-risk occupational population. Secondary Study Based on a Randomized Clinical Trial -

  Background BBIBP-CorV vaccine with two doses and an interval of 3-4 weeks had been proved to have good immunogenicity and efficacy as well as an acceptable safety profile according to our initial research and other similar studies. Maintaining adequate neutralizing antibody levels is also necessary for long-term protection, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our aim was to evaluate the immune persistence of neutralizing antibody elicited by BBIBP-CorV vaccines with day 0-14, 0-21 and 0-28 schedule, and assess the immunogenicity and safety of a homologous booster dose in the high-risk occupational population aged 18-59 years. Methods A total of 809 eligible participants, aged 18-59 years, were recruited and randomly allocated to receive BBIBP-CorV vaccine with day 0-14, 0-21 or 0-28 schedule respectively between January and May 2021 in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, China among the public security officers and the airport ground staff in initial study. In this secondary study, the responders (GMT ≥ 16) at day 28 after priming two-dose vaccine were followed up at months 3, 6 and 10 to evaluate the immune persistence of three two-dose schedules. At month 10, eligible participants of three two-dose schedules were received a homologous booster dose respectively (hereafter abbreviated as 0-14d-10m group, 0-21d-10m group and 0-28d-10m group), and followed up at day 28 post-booster to assess the safety and immunogenicity of the booster dose. The contents of follow-up included the blood samples, oropharyngeal/nasal swabs, and adverse reactions collection. The main outcomes of the study included geometric mean titers (GMT) of neutralizing antibody to live SARS-CoV-2, the positive rates of different criteria and the constituent ratio of GMT of neutralizing antibodies at different follow-up point. Meanwhile, we explored the kinetics of antibody levels of different vaccination regimens by generalized estimating equations (GEE) and used exponent curve model to predict the duration of maintaining protected antibody after the booster dose. We also determined predictors of maintaining protected antibody level within 10 months after the second dose by Cox proportional hazards regression model and nomogram. The trial was registered with ChiCTR.org.cn (ChiCTR2100041705, ChiCTR2100041706). Results The number of 241, 247 and 256 responders (GMT ≥ 16) at day 28 after two-dose BBIBP-CorV vaccine in 0-14d, 0-21d and 0-28d schedule were followed-up at months 3, 6, and 10 for immune persistence evaluation. At month 10, a total of 390 participants were eligible and received a booster dose with 130 participants in the 0-14d-10m, 0-21d-10m and 0-28d-10m group respectively, of whom 74.1% (289/390) were male, with a mean age of 37.1±10.3 years. The GMT of neutralizing antibody in 0-28d-10m and 0-21d-10m group were significantly higher than 0-14d-10m group at month 3 (GMT: 71.6 & 64.2 vs 46.4, P＜0.0001 ), month 6 (GMT: 47.1 & 42.8 vs 30.5, P＜0.0001) and month 10 (GMT: 32.4 vs 20.3, P＜0.0001; 28.8 vs 20.3, P=0.0004) after the second dose. A sharply decrease by 4.85-fold (GMT: 94.4-20.3), 4.67-fold (GMT: 134.4-28.8) and 4.49-fold (GMT: 145.5-32.4) was observed from day 28 to month 10 after the second dose in 0-14d-10m, 0-21d-10m and 0-28d-10m group, respectively, and they had similar decline kinetics (P=0.67). At 28 days after booster dose, a remarkable rebound in neutralizing antibody (GMT: 246.2, 277.5 and 288.6) were observed in three groups, respectively. Notably, the GMT after booster dose was not affected by priming two-dose schedule. The predictive duration of neutralizing antibody declining to the cutoff level of positive antibody response may be 18.08 months, 18.83 months and 19.08 months after booster dose in three groups, respectively. Long-term immune persistence within 10 months after the second dose was associated with age<40, female, and history of influenza vaccination. All adverse reactions were mild after the booster injection. None of the participants were infected SARS-CoV-2 during the trial period. Conclusions The priming two-dose BBIBP-CorV vaccine with 0-28 days and 0-21 days schedule could lead a longer persistence of neutralizing antibody than 0-14 days schedule. Maintaining long-term immune persistence was also associated with age<40, female, and history of influenza vaccination. Regardless of priming two-doses vaccination regimens, a homologous booster dose led to a strong rebound in neutralizing antibody and might elicit satisfactory persistent immunity.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Long-term immune persistence induced by two-dose BBIBP-CorV vaccine with different intervals, and immunogenicity and safety of a homologous booster dose in high-risk occupational population. Secondary Study Based on a Randomized Clinical Trial
• Inflammasome activation and pulmonary viral loads define two distinct clinical outcomes in COVID-19 -

  Inflammasome activation is associated with disease severity in patients who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses, but the specific cell types involved in inflammasome activation, as well as the balance of inflammasome activation versus viral replication in COVID-19 exacerbation and the induction of patient death, are unknown. In this study, we assessed lung autopsies of 47 COVID-19 and 12 influenza fatal cases and examined the inflammatory profiles and inflammasome activation; additionally, we correlated these factors with clinical and histopathological patient conditions. We observed an overall stronger inflammasome activation in lethal cases of SARS-CoV-2 compared to influenza and found a different profile of inflammasome-activating cells during these diseases. In COVID-19 patients, inflammasome activation is mostly mediated by macrophages and endothelial cells, whereas in influenza, type I and type II pneumocytes contribute more significantly. An analysis of gene expression allowed for the classification of COVID-19 patients into two different clusters. Cluster 1 (n=16 patients) died with higher viral loads and exhibited a reduced inflammatory profile than Cluster 2 (n=31 patients). Illness time, mechanical ventilation time, pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory functions, histopathological status, thrombosis, and inflammasome activation significantly differed between the two clusters. Our data demonstrated two distinct profiles in lethal cases of COVID-19, thus indicating that the balance of viral replication and inflammasome-mediated pulmonary inflammation may lead to different clinical conditions, yet both lead to patient death. An understanding of this process is critical for decisions between immune-mediated or antiviral-mediated therapies for the treatment of critical cases of COVID-19.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Inflammasome activation and pulmonary viral loads define two distinct clinical outcomes in COVID-19

From Clinical Trials

• Immunosuppression and COVID-19 Boosters - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (adsorbed) vaccine;   Biological: COVID-19 vaccine
  Sponsors:   Kirby Institute;   Seqirus Pty Ltd, Australia;   Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
  Not yet recruiting

• Discussing COVID-19 Vaccines in Private Facebook Groups - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Gist messages on COVID-19 vaccination;   Behavioral: COVID-19 vaccine information
  Sponsor:   George Washington University
  Completed

• Home-Based Exercise Tele-Rehabilitation After COVID-19 - Condition:   Post SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19)
  Intervention:   Other: Tele-exercise
  Sponsors:   VA Office of Research and Development;   Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center
  Not yet recruiting

• IMM-BCP-01 in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Conditions:   SARS-CoV2 Infection;   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: IMM-BCP-01;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Immunome, Inc.;   United States Department of Defense
  Recruiting

• Calcitriol Supplementation in COVID-19 Patients - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Vitamin D Deficiency
  Intervention:   Drug: Calcitriol
  Sponsor:   RenJi Hospital
  Not yet recruiting

• Olfactory Training in COVID-19 Associated Loss of Smell - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Hyposmia
  Intervention:   Device: Sniffin’ sticks Duftquartett
  Sponsor:   Medical University Innsbruck
  Not yet recruiting

• Psychological Impact of Medical Evacuations on Families of Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Unit for Severe COVID-19 - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  Interventions:   Other: Revised Impact of Event Scale;   Other: Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale;   Other: 36-Item Short Form Survey;   Other: satisfaction survey;   Other: semi-directed interview with trusted person on the general experience of the patient’s medical evacuation;   Other: semi-directed interview with trusted person on the general experience of hospitalization in intensive care
  Sponsor:   Centre Hospitalier Metropole Savoie
  Completed

• Effect of COVID-19 on Platelet Mitochondrial Bioenergetic, Antioxidants and Oxidative Stress in Infertile Men. - Conditions:   Infertility, Male;   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Other: diagnostic test and sperm analysis
  Sponsors:   Comenius University;   GYN-FIV
  Active, not recruiting

• A Study to Evaluate Immunogenicity and Safety of MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Compared With AZD1222 - Condition:   COVID-19 Vaccine
  Interventions:   Biological: MVC-COV1901;   Biological: AZD1222
  Sponsor:   Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.
  Not yet recruiting

• COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Trial - Conditions:   Vaccination Refusal;   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Other: Short Message Service (SMS) + Website Link Strategy;   Other: Phone Call with Peer Strategy
  Sponsor:   Washington University School of Medicine
  Not yet recruiting

• Laser Therapy on Tension-type Cephalea and Orofacial Pain in Post-covid-19 Patients - Conditions:   Tension-Type Headache;   Orofacial Pain;   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Radiation: Photobimodulation
  Sponsor:   University of Nove de Julho
  Recruiting

• Cardiovascular Autonomic and Immune Mechanism of Post COVID-19 Tachycardia Syndrome - Conditions:   Post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome;   Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS);   Long COVID;   SARS CoV 2 Infection
  Interventions:   Diagnostic Test: Determine the inflammatory and immune profile of post-COVID-19 POTS patients;   Diagnostic Test: Measurement of PNS activity by HRV (Heart rate Variation);   Diagnostic Test: Autonomic Symptoms assessment
  Sponsors:   Vanderbilt University Medical Center;   American Heart Association
  Recruiting

• Clinical Trial of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine(LVRNA009) as Heterologous Booster in Islamabad - Condition:   SARS-CoV-2
  Interventions:   Biological: LVRNA009;   Biological: CoronaVac®
  Sponsor:   AIM Vaccine Co., Ltd.
  Not yet recruiting

• STEP-COVID: A Program for Pregnant Women During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic - Conditions:   Psychological;   Mental Health Issue;   Prenatal Stress;   Maternal Distress;   COVID-19 Pandemic
  Intervention:   Behavioral: STEP-COVID
  Sponsors:   Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières;   Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC);   Canada Research Chairs Endowment of the Federal Government of Canada
  Active, not recruiting

• Evaluate Safety and Pharmacokinetics of HLX70 in Healthy Adult Volunteers - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: HLX70;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Shanghai Henlius Biotech;   Hengenix Biotech Inc;   Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals(Shanghai)Co., Ltd;   Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech Co., Ltd
  Withdrawn

From PubMed

• An engineered 5-helix bundle derived from SARS-CoV-2 S2 pre-binds sarbecoviral spike at both serological- and endosomal-pH to inhibit virus entry - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and related sarbecoviruses enter host cells by receptor-recognition and membrane-fusion. An indispensable step in fusion is the formation of 6-helix bundle by viral spike heptad repeats 1 and 2 (HR1 and HR2). Here, we report the construction of 5-helix bundle (5HB) proteins for virus infection inhibition. The optimal construct inhibits SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus entry with sub-micromolar IC50. Unlike HR2-based peptides that cannot bind…

• Development of an efficient reproducible cell-cell transmission assay for rapid quantification of SARS-CoV-2 Spike interaction with hACE2 - Efficient quantitative assays for measurement of viral replication and infectivity are indispensable to future endeavors to develop prophylactic or therapeutic antiviral drugs or vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. We developed a SARS-CoV-2 cell-cell transmission assay that provides a rapid and quantitative readout to assess SARS-CoV-2 Spike hACE2 interaction in the absence of pseudotyped particles or live virus. We established two well-behaved stable cell lines, which demonstrated a remarkable…

• Heparanase Is a Putative Mediator of Endothelial Glycocalyx Damage in COVID-19 - A Proof-of-Concept Study - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a systemic disease associated with injury (thinning) of the endothelial glycocalyx (eGC), a protective layer on the vascular endothelium. The aim of this translational study was to investigate the role of the eGC-degrading enzyme heparanase (HPSE), which is known to play a central role in the destruction of the eGC in bacterial sepsis. Excess activity of HPSE in plasma from COVID-19 patients correlated with several markers of eGC damage and perfused…

• Neutrophil Extracellular Traps, Sepsis and COVID-19 - A Tripod Stand - The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Majority of COVID-19 patients have mild disease but about 20% of COVID-19 patients progress to severe disease. These patients end up in the intensive care unit (ICU) with clinical manifestations of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis. The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) has also been associated with severe…

• Immunosuppressant Treatment in Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Diseases Does Not Inhibit Elicitation of Humoral Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Preserves Effector Immune Cell Populations - COVID-19 has proven to be particularly serious and life-threatening for patients presenting with pre-existing pathologies. Patients affected by rheumatic musculoskeletal disease (RMD) are likely to have impaired immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection due to their compromised immune system and the prolonged use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which include conventional synthetic (cs) DMARDs or biologic and targeted synthetic (b/ts) DMARDs. To provide an integrated…

• Seroprevalence of Anti-S1-RBD Antibodies in Pre-pandemic and Pandemic Subjects From Hail Region, KSA - CONCLUSION: Antibody levels increased in samples collected during the pandemic, even though these subjects were not clinically COVID-19 positive. A small number of pre-pandemic subjects showed serum antibodies, suggesting prior exposure to other coronaviruses in the region. With dwindling neutralizing antibody levels and reduced vaccine efficacy against newer variants, it remains crucial to develop better assays for surveillance, management, and future research.

• SARS-CoV-2 infects an in vitro model of the human developing pancreas through endocytosis - Recent studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 can infect adult human pancreas and trigger pancreatic damage. Here, using human fetal pancreas samples and 3D differentiation of human pluripotent cells into pancreatic endocrine cells, we determined that SARS-CoV-2 receptors ACE2, TMPRSS2 and NRP1 are expressed in precursors of insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells, rendering them permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also show that SARS-CoV-2 enters and undergoes efficient replication in human multipotent…

• A review of the effects of ATP and hydroxychloroquine on the phase separation of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein - SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus causing the ongoing pandemic with > 460 millions of infections and > 6 millions of deaths. SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) is the only structural protein which plays essential roles in almost all key steps of the viral life cycle with its diverse functions depending on liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) driven by interacting with various nucleic acids. The 419-residue N protein is highly conserved in all variants including delta and omicron, and composed of both…

• Phytochemistry, biological activities and in silico molecular docking studies of Oxalis pes-caprae L. compounds against SARS-CoV-2 - Phytochemicals are directly involved in therapeutic treatment or precursors to synthesize useful drugs. The current study was aimed to evaluate the phytocompounds and their biopotentials using methanolic and n-hexane extracts of various parts of Oxalis pes-caprae. For the phytochemical analysis, standard procedures were used, whereas Aluminum Chloride reagent and Follin-ciocalteau reagent methods were used to determine total flavonoid and phenolic contents. Radical scavenging DPPH,…

• Interaction of 5-[4’-(N-Methyl-1,3-benzimidazol-2-yl)phenyl]-10,15,20-tri-(N-methyl-3’-pyridyl)porphyrin Triiodide with SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein - The results of experimental studies of the interaction of the S-protein with a monohetaryl-substituted porphyrin containing a benzimidazole residue are presented. It has been revealed that the S-protein forms high-affinity complexes with the specified porphyrin. The porphyrin binding by the SARS-CoV-2 S-protein has proceeded stepwise; at the first stage, the driving force of the complexation is electrostatic interaction between the surface negatively charged regions of the protein and cationic…

• Human miRNAs to Identify Potential Regions of SARS-CoV-2 - It is two years now but the world is still struggling against COVID-19 due to the havoc created by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its multiple variants. Considering this perspective, in this work, we have hypothesized a new approach in order to identify potential regions in SARS-CoV-2 similar to the human miRNAs. Thus, they may have similar consequences as caused by the human miRNAs in human body. Therefore, the same way by which human miRNAs are inhibited can be applied for such potential regions of…

• Induction of a Cytokine Storm Involves Suppression of the Osteopontin-Dependent TH1 Response - Cytokine release syndromes represent a severe turn in certain disease states, which may be caused by several infections, including those with the virus SARS-CoV-2. This inefficient, even harmful, immune response has been associated with a broad release of chemokines. Although a cellular (type I) immune reaction is efficacious against viral infections, we noted a type I deficit in the cytokine patterns produced by cytokine storms of all reported etiologies. Agents including lipopolysaccharide…

• MicroRNAs in the development of potential therapeutic targets against COVID-19: A narrative review - CONCLUSION: This review summarizes several studies revealing the involvement of miRNAs in diverse and complex processes during the infection process of SARS-CoV-2. The miRNAs can substantially reduce the viral load by degradation of viral RNA and reduced expression of ACE2 receptors, besides mitigating the deleterious consequences of the exaggerated secretion of cytokines. Extensive investigations need to be done by the scientific community to utilize the miRNA based strategies for the…

• COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health service providers: A single centre experience from Karachi, Pakistan - CONCLUSIONS: A lack of trust in the safety and efficacy data of the available Chinese vaccines appeared as a factor inducing hesitancy. The resistance of younger respondents, especially trainee physicians, was a finding of concern since they form the backbone of the health system in the country.

• Matched Versus Mixed COVID-19 Vaccinations in Korean Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: An Observational Study - CONCLUSIONS: The ChAd/BNT group showed higher humoral immunogenicity than the AdV-Vec group, with similar immunogenicity to the mRNA vaccine. Nevertheless, immunogenicity following the primary vaccination series was poor in all vaccine groups, supporting the justification for booster vaccination in SOTRs.

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