Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Efficient SARS-CoV-2 detection utilizing chitin-immobilized nanobodies synthesized in Ustilago maydis -
  The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the global economy and health care systems, illustrating the urgent need for timely and inexpensive responses to a pandemic threat in the form of vaccines and antigen tests. The causative agent of COVID-19 is SARS-CoV-2. The spike protein on the virus surface interacts with the human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) via the so-called receptor binding domain (RBD), facilitating virus entry. The RBD thus represents a prime target for vaccines, therapeutic antibodies, and antigen test systems. Currently, antigen testing is mostly conducted by qualitative flow chromatography or via quantitative ELISA-type assays. The latter mostly utilize materials like protein-adhesive polymers and gold or latex particles. Here we present an alternative ELISA approach using inexpensive materials and permitting quick detection based on components produced in the microbial model Ustilago maydis. In this fungus, heterologous proteins like biopharmaceuticals can be exported by fusion to unconventionally secreted chitinase Cts1. As a unique feature, the carrier chitinase binds to chitin allowing its additional use as a purification or immobilization tag. In this study, we produced different mono- and bivalent SARS-CoV-2 nanobodies directed against the viral RBD as Cts1 fusions and screened their RBD binding affinity in vitro and in vivo. Functional nanobody-Cts1 fusions were immobilized on chitin forming an RBD tethering surface. This provides a solid base for future development of an inexpensive antigen test utilizing unconventionally secreted nanobodies as RBD trap and a matching ubiquitous and biogenic surface for immobilization.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Efficient SARS-CoV-2 detection utilizing chitin-immobilized nanobodies synthesized in Ustilago maydis
• Age and gender differences in loneliness during the COVID-19: Analyses on large cross-sectional surveys and emotion diaries -
  Loneliness level was shown to vary by age and gender. Considering the recent COVID-19 outbreak had more impact on the susceptible groups’ mental health, this study scrutinized the joint influence of age and gender on loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. We utilized large, government-funded public data that contains self-reported measures and emotion diaries collected from October 2020 to March 2021 (N=4,017, age 20-79, 76% female). Hierarchical regression, t-test, and analysis of variance examined the effect of age as a continuous or categorical variable and gender on loneliness. N-gram frequency analyses and topic modeling helped analyze the differences in expressions used by the age-gender groups in the diaries. Loneliness increased with age (p=0.043), and women were lonelier than men (p<0.001). However, age and gender interacted to predict loneliness (p=0.004), showing that younger women and older men experienced higher levels of loneliness. Age (p<0.001) and age-gender (p=0.030) interaction remained significant even with the presence of demographic and personality risk factors. When parceled by the age groups and gender, gender differences in loneliness level were significant within 20s (95% CI: Female [2.196, 2.264], Male [1.986, 2.133]) and 30s (95% CI: Female [2.390, 2.499], Male [2.071, 2.251]). In emotion diaries, all age-gender groups except women in their 60s-70s frequently expressed anxiety and depression. Women in their 20s talked more about work experiences and difficulties in job search, and women in their 30s wrote more about difficulties in childcare and lack of social connections. Spirituality was one of the major topics mentioned by women in their 50s and 60s-70s, but not by the other groups. The effects of age and gender on loneliness reflect social and psychological challenges in Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to establish valid interventions targeted at younger women and older men.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Age and gender differences in loneliness during the COVID-19: Analyses on large cross-sectional surveys and emotion diaries
• Using Genome Sequence Data to Predict SARS-CoV-2 Detection Cycle Threshold Values -

  The continuing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) presents a serious public health threat, exacerbating the effects of the COVID19 pandemic. Although millions of genomes have been deposited in public archives since the start of the pandemic, predicting SARS-CoV-2 clinical characteristics from the genome sequence remains challenging. In this study, we used a collection of over 29,000 high quality SARS-CoV-2 genomes to build machine learning models for predicting clinical detection cycle threshold (Ct) values, which correspond with viral load. After evaluating several machine learning methods and parameters, our best model was a random forest regressor that used 10-mer oligonucleotides as features and achieved an R2 score of 0.521 +/- 0.010 (95% confidence interval over 5 folds) and an RMSE of 5.7 +/- 0.034, demonstrating the ability of the models to detect the presence of a signal in the genomic data. In an attempt to predict Ct values for newly emerging variants, we predicted Ct values for Omicron variants using models trained on previous variants. We found that approximately 5% of the data in the model needed to be from the new variant in order to learn its Ct values. Finally, to understand how the model is working, we evaluated the top features and found that the model is using a multitude of k-mers from across the genome to make the predictions. However, when we looked at the top k-mers that occurred most frequently across the set of genomes, we observed a clustering of k-mers that span spike protein regions corresponding with key variations that are hallmarks of the VOCs including G339, K417, L452, N501, and P681, indicating that these sites are informative in the model and may impact the Ct values that are observed in clinical samples.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Using Genome Sequence Data to Predict SARS-CoV-2 Detection Cycle Threshold Values
• Detection of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in frozen aerosol samples collected from hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19 -

  We isolated infectious SARS-CoV-2 from aerosol samples collected from hospital rooms of COVID19 patients. Isolated virus successfully replicated in cell cultures 14 months after collection, opening up prospects for retrospective analyses of samples stored during the previous waves of COVID-19.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Detection of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in frozen aerosol samples collected from hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19
• Assessment of level of depression and associated factors among COVID-19 recovered patients: a cross sectional study -

  Objectives: The Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has psychological consequences such as increased risk of depression, anxiety, and stress problems, exacerbating human health disparities. This study aimed to analyze depression and its causes in COVID-19-recovered patients in Bangladesh. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on COVID-19 recovered patients, who attended for follow-up after 14 days to 3 months at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Dhaka North City Corporation Hospital (DNCCH), Dhaka, Bangladesh from 1st January to 31st December, 2021. Respondents were face-to-face interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire after written agreement. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess respondents9 depression, and data were analyzed using SPSS version-23, with p < 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results: A total of 325 COVID-19 recovered patients aged from 15 to 65 years (mean 44.34 ±13.87 years) of age were included in this study, highest 23.1% of them belonged to 46-55 years, and majority (61.5%) of them were male. There were 69.5% of respondents had no signs of depression while 31% of them had with 26.7% being mildly depressed, 2.5% being extremely depressed, and 1.2% being severely depressed. Diabetes mellitus, hospitalization duration, social distancing, the social media post on COVID-19, loss of employment, family damage, and fear of re-infection were significantly associated with depression level of respondents. Conclusion: This study gives us a glimpse into the psychological health of COVID-19 recovered patients, and its findings highlight the imperative of alleviating their psychological anguish in Bangladesh.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Assessment of level of depression and associated factors among COVID-19 recovered patients: a cross sectional study
• Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice -
  Opioid misuse has dramatically increased over the last few decades resulting in many people suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD). The prevalence of opioid overdose has been driven by the development of new synthetic opioids, increased availability of prescription opioids, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Coinciding with increases in exposure to opioids, the United States has also observed increases in multiple Narcan (naloxone) administrations as life-saving measures for respiratory depression, and, thus, consequently, naloxone-precipitated withdrawal. Sleep dysregulation is a main symptom of OUD and opioid withdrawal syndrome, and therefore, should be a key facet of animal models of OUD. Here we examine the effect of precipitated and spontaneous morphine withdrawal on sleep behaviors in C57BL/6J mice. We find that morphine administration and withdrawal dysregulate sleep, but not equally across morphine exposure paradigms. Furthermore, many environmental triggers promote relapse to drug-seeking/taking behavior, and the stress of disrupted sleep may fall into that category. We find that sleep deprivation dysregulates sleep in mice that had previous opioid withdrawal experience. Our data suggest that the 3-day precipitated withdrawal paradigm has the most profound effects on opioid-induced sleep dysregulation and further validates the construct of this model for opioid dependence and OUD.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice
• Moral decision making in healthcare and medical professions during the COVID-19 pandemic -
  With coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, healthcare and medical professions face challenging situations. High number of infected patients, scarce resources, and being vulnerable to the infection are among the reasons that may influence clinicians’ decision making and puts them in a moral situation. Furthermore, they may be carriers of coronavirus, resulting their social interactions to involve moral decision making. The aim of this study was to examine the moral decision making in clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic and to find its relation to psychological, cognitive, and behavioral correlates. 193 clinicians who worked in hospitals allocated to coronavirus disease patients, participated in our study. We designed an online survey containing 8 dilemmas to test moral decision making in clinicians. Information on clinicians’ behavior, cognition and psychological state during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the degree of respect to social distancing, sources of stress, and dead cases of COVID-19 they confronted with were collected. The relation between these measures and moral decision making was assessed. Based on our results, clinicians’ most important source of stress was the infection of their families. There was a positive correlation between utilitarian responses and clinicians’ stress level, and number of dead cases they confronted with. Moreover, degree of utilitarian behavior was positively correlated to social distancing. Both age and sex contributed to individual differences in respecting social distancing, stress and utilitarian behavior. With increasing stress and encountering more deaths, clinicians tended to decide based on the outcome. Our results have critical implications in implementing policies for healthcare principals.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Moral decision making in healthcare and medical professions during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Pandemic modelling for regions implementing an elimination strategy -

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, some countries, such as Australia, China, Iceland, New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam successfully implemented an elimination strategy, enacting strict border control and periods of lockdowns to end community transmission. Atlantic Canada and Canada9s territories implemented similar policies, and reported long periods with no community cases. In Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island a median of 80% or more of daily reported cases were travel-related from July 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021. With increasing vaccination coverage, it may be appropriate to exit an elimination strategy, but most existing epidemiological frameworks are applicable only to situations where most cases occur in the community, and are not appropriate for regions that have implemented an elimination strategy. To inform the pandemic response in regions that are implementing an elimination strategy, we extend importation modelling to consider post-arrival travel restrictions, and pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions in the local community. We find that shortly after the Omicron variant had begun spreading in Canada, the expected daily number of spillovers, infections spread to NL community members from travelers and their close contacts, was higher than any time previously in the pandemic. By December 24, 2021, the expected number of spillovers was 44% higher than the previous high, which occurred in late July 2021 shortly after travel restrictions were first relaxed. We develop a method to assess the characteristics of potential future community outbreaks in regions that are implementing an elimination strategy. We apply this method to predict the effect of variant and vaccination coverage on the size of hypothetical community outbreaks in Mount Pearl, a suburb of the St. John9s metropolitan area in NL. Our methodology can be used to evaluate alternative plans to relax public health restrictions when vaccine coverage is high in regions that have implemented an elimination strategy. This manuscript was submitted as part of a theme issue on “Modelling COVID-19 and Preparedness for Future Pandemics”.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Pandemic modelling for regions implementing an elimination strategy
• The SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF3c is a mitochondrial modulator of innate immunity -
  The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes a multitude of accessory proteins. Using comparative genomic approaches, an additional accessory protein, ORF3c, has been predicted to be encoded within the ORF3a sgmRNA. Expression of ORF3c during infection has been confirmed independently by ribosome profiling. Despite ORF3c also being present in the 2002-2003 SARS-CoV, its function has remained unexplored. Here we show that ORF3c localises to mitochondria during infection, where it inhibits innate immunity by restricting IFN-{beta} production, but not NF-{kappa}B activation or JAK-STAT signalling downstream of type I IFN stimulation. We find that ORF3c acts after stimulation with cytoplasmic RNA helicases RIG-I or MDA5 or adaptor protein MAVS, but not after TRIF, TBK1 or phospho-IRF3 stimulation. ORF3c co-immunoprecipitates with the antiviral proteins MAVS and PGAM5 and induces MAVS cleavage by caspase-3. Together, these data provide insight into an uncharacterised mechanism of innate immune evasion by this important human pathogen.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF3c is a mitochondrial modulator of innate immunity
• Use of substances to cope predicts PTSD symptom persistence: Investigating patterns of interactions between complex PTSD symptoms and its maintaining mechanisms -
  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a novel related condition, complex PTSD, remain a growing public health challenge across the globe and are associated with negative and persistent long-term consequences. The last decades of research revealed different processes and mechanisms associated with the development and persistence of PTSD and complex PTSD symptoms, including different maladaptive coping strategies, cognitive and experiential avoidance, positive, and negative metacognitions. Despite these advances, little is known about how these different processes interact with specific (C)PTSD symptoms, and how they influence each other over time at the within-person level. Leveraging a large (N > 1,800) longitudinal dataset representative of the Norwegian population during the COVID-19 pandemic, this pre-registered study investigated these symptom-process interactions over an eight-month period. Our panel graphical vector autoregressive (GVAR) network model revealed the dominating role of substance use to cope in predicting higher levels of all different PTSD symptoms over time and being associated with increases in CPTSD symptomatology within more proximal time-windows (i.e., within six weeks). Threat monitoring was associated with increased suicidal ideation, while threat monitoring itself was increasing upon decreased avoidance behavior, greater presence of negative metacognitions, and higher use of substances to cope. In addition, our analyses revealed several, particularly strongly co-occurring PTSD symptoms and processes within the same time window (six weeks, contemporaneous associations). Our findings speak to the importance of attending to different coping strategies, particularly the use of substances as a coping behavior in efforts to prevent PTSD chronicity upon symptom onset. We outline future directions for research efforts to better understand the complex interactions and temporal pathways leading up to the development and maintenance of (C)PTSD symptomatology.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Use of substances to cope predicts PTSD symptom persistence: Investigating patterns of interactions between complex PTSD symptoms and its maintaining mechanisms
• A call for immediate action to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake to prepare for the third pandemic winter -
  This Comment piece summarises current challenges regarding routine vaccine uptake in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations on how to increase uptake. To implement these recommendations, the article points to evidence-based resources that can support health care workers, policy makers and communicators.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: A call for immediate action to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake to prepare for the third pandemic winter
• The COVID-19 marathon: demands and resources of crises managers in continuous operation -
  The COVID-19 pandemic required the deployment of crisis management teams (CMTs) on an unprecedented scale. Due to their high level of responsibility and wide-ranging decision-making authority, the enduring resilience and health of CMT members is essential – yet, during pandemics they are permanently challenged. We tested six hypotheses based on the Job Demands-Resources model with 219 CMT members. In our preregistered analyses, we found most of the expected associations: Between demands and strain, moderated by leisure time resources, between resources and work engagement, as well as between strain and engagement and outcome measures such as evaluations of CMT members’ performance and quitting intention. Furthermore, we explore how the pandemic has changed from experts’ perspectives, describe lessons learned, and derive practical recommendations and suggestions for future research. Particularly, promoting specific resources should allow CMTs to buffer negative effects of unavoidable demands, and promote the long-term viability of these key crisis management entities.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The COVID-19 marathon: demands and resources of crises managers in continuous operation
• To read or not to read? Motives for reading negative COVID-19 news. -
  People were confronted with a barrage of negative news during the COVID-19 crisis. This study investigated how anticipated psychological impact predicted decisions to read personalized and factual COVID-19 news. First, participants chose, based on headlines, whether they wanted to read news articles (or not). Then, all headlines were rated on a set of motivational dimensions. In order to test confirmatory hypotheses, the data was divided into an exploration (n = 398) and validation dataset (n = 399). Using multilevel modelling, we found robust support for four preregistered hypotheses: choice for negative COVID-19 news was positively predicted by 1) personal vs. factual news; 2) the anticipated amount of knowledge acquisition; 3) the anticipated relevance to one’s own personal situation; and 4) participant’s sense of moral duty. Moreover, exploratory findings suggested a positive relationship between headline choice and anticipated compassion, a negative relationship with anticipated inappropriateness and gratitude, and a quadratic relationship with anticipated strength of feelings. These results support the idea that negative content offers informational value, both in terms of understanding negative events, and in terms of preparing for these events. Furthermore, engagement with negative content can be motivated by moral values.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: To read or not to read? Motives for reading negative COVID-19 news.
• Fear and Trembling While Working in a Pandemic: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis of Workers’ COVID-19 Distress -
  The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of workers and taken its toll on health and well-being. In line with recent calls for more inductive and abductive occupational health science research, we exploratorily meta-analyzed workers’ COVID-19 distress, defined as psychological and psychosomatic strain contextualized to experiencing the virus and pandemic broadly. We identified many existing COVID-19 distress measures (e.g., Fear of COVID-19 Scale by Ahorsu et al., 2020; Coronavirus Anxiety Scale by Lee, 2020a) and correlates, including demographic variables (viz., gender, marital status, whether worker has children), positive well-being (e.g., quality of life, perceived social support, resilience), negative well-being (e.g., anxiety, depression, sleep problems), and work-related variables (e.g., job satisfaction, burnout, task performance). Additionally, we found preliminary evidence of subgroup differences by COVID-19 distress measure and country-level moderation moderators (viz., cultural values, pandemic-related government response) as well as COVID-19 distress’s incremental validity over and above anxiety and depression. The findings—based on k = 135 independent samples totaling N = 61,470 workers—were abductively contextualized with existing theories and previous research. We also call for future research to address the grand challenge of working during the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately develop a cumulative occupational health psychology of pandemics.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Fear and Trembling While Working in a Pandemic: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis of Workers’ COVID-19 Distress
• Long-term COVID-19 booster effectiveness by infection history and clinical vulnerability and immune imprinting -

  Background: Long-term effectiveness of COVID-19 mRNA boosters in populations with different prior infection histories and clinical vulnerability profiles is inadequately understood. Methods: A national, matched, retrospective, target trial cohort study was conducted in Qatar to investigate effectiveness of a third mRNA (booster) dose, relative to a primary series of two doses, against SARS-CoV-2 omicron infection and against severe COVID-19. Associations were estimated using Cox proportional-hazards regression models. Results: Booster effectiveness relative to primary series was 41.1% (95% CI: 40.0-42.1%) against infection and 80.5% (95% CI: 55.7-91.4%) against severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19, over one-year follow-up after the booster. Among persons clinically vulnerable to severe COVID-19, effectiveness was 49.7% (95% CI: 47.8-51.6%) against infection and 84.2% (95% CI: 58.8-93.9%) against severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19. Effectiveness against infection was highest at 57.1% (95% CI: 55.9-58.3%) in the first month after the booster but waned thereafter and was modest at only 14.4% (95% CI: 7.3-20.9%) by the sixth month. In the seventh month and thereafter, coincident with BA.4/BA.5 and BA.2.75* subvariant incidence, effectiveness was progressively negative reaching -20.3% (95% CI: -55.0-29.0%) after one year of follow-up. Similar levels and patterns of protection were observed irrespective of prior infection status, clinical vulnerability, or type of vaccine (BNT162b2 versus mRNA-1273). Conclusions: Boosters reduced infection and severe COVID-19, particularly among those clinically vulnerable to severe COVID-19. However, protection against infection waned after the booster, and eventually suggested an imprinting effect of compromised protection relative to the primary series. However, imprinting effects are unlikely to negate the overall public health value of booster vaccinations.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Long-term COVID-19 booster effectiveness by infection history and clinical vulnerability and immune imprinting

From Clinical Trials

• COVID-19 Bivalent Booster Megastudy - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: COVID Booster text messages
  Sponsor:   University of Pennsylvania
  Enrolling by invitation

• A Study on Utilization, Adherence, and Acceptability of Voluntary Routine COVID-19 Self-testing Among Students, Staff and Health Workers at Two Institutions in Mizoram, India. - Condition:   COVID-19 Pandemic
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: COVID-19 Self testing and related messaging
  Sponsors:   PATH;   UNITAID;   Zoram Medical College;   Pacchunga University College;   ALERT India;   Government of Mizoram
  Not yet recruiting

• Using a Community-level Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention to Address COVID-19 Testing Disparities - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Multi-Level Multi-Component Intervention (MLI);   Behavioral: Community Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (Community JITAI)
  Sponsors:   The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
  Active, not recruiting

• Examining How a Facilitated Self-Sampling Intervention and Testing Navigation Intervention Influences COVID-19 Testing - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Facilitated Self-Sampling Intervention (FSSI);   Behavioral: Testing Navigation Intervention (TNI).;   Behavioral: Control
  Sponsors:   The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
  Not yet recruiting

• Assessing Performance of the Testing Done Simple Covid 19 Antigen Test - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: Testing Done Simple SARS CoV-2 Antigen Test
  Sponsors:   Testing Done Simple;   Nao Medical Urgent Care
  Recruiting

• A Study to Evaluate EDP-235 in Non-hospitalized Adults With COVID-19 - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: EDP-235;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc
  Recruiting

• A Phase III of COVID-19 Vaccine EuCorVac-19 in Healthy Adults Aged 18 Years and Older - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: EuCorVac-19;   Biological: ChAdOx1
  Sponsor:   EuBiologics Co.,Ltd
  Recruiting

• Study Evaluating GS-5245 in Participants With COVID-19 Who Have a High Risk of Developing Serious or Severe Illness - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: GS-5245;   Drug: GS-5245 Placebo
  Sponsor:   Gilead Sciences
  Recruiting

• The LAVA (Lateral Flow Antigen Validation and Applicability) 2 Study for COVID-19 - Condition:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: Innova Lateral Flow Test
  Sponsor:   Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
  Completed

• Q-POC COVID-19 Clinical Evaluation - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Diagnostic Test: RT-PCR Test;   Diagnostic Test: Real-time PCR Test
  Sponsors:   QuantuMDx Group Ltd;   EDP Biotech;   Paragon Rx Clinical;   PathAI;   PRX Research and Development
  Not yet recruiting

• A Phase I/II Study of GLB-COV2-043 as a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: GLB-COV2-043;   Drug: BNT162b2/COMIRNATY®
  Sponsor:   GreenLight Biosciences, Inc.
  Not yet recruiting

• Enhancing Protection Against Influenza and COVID-19 for Pregnant Women and Medically at Risk Children - Conditions:   Influenza;   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: Nudge
  Sponsor:   University of Adelaide
  Recruiting

• Safety and Efficacy of Intranasal Administration of Avacc 10 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Healthy Volunteers - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Avacc 10;   Combination Product: Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) : OMV alone in vehicle;   Other: Placebo
  Sponsors:   Intravacc B.V.;   Novotech (Australia) Pty Limited
  Not yet recruiting

• A Trial Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of Recombinant COVID-19 Omicron-Delta Variant Vaccine (CHO Cell) - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Biological: Omicron-Delta Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Protein Vaccine (CHO cells);   Biological: Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Protein Vaccine (CHO cells)
  Sponsor:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.
  Recruiting

• COVID-19 Antibody Responses in Cystic Fibrosis - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Cystic Fibrosis
  Intervention:   Biological: Blood sample
  Sponsors:   Hospices Civils de Lyon;   Queen’s University, Belfast
  Recruiting

From PubMed

• Evaluation of the anti-diabetic drug sitagliptin as a novel attenuate to SARS-CoV-2 evidence-based in silico: molecular docking and molecular dynamics - The current outbreak of COVID-19 cases worldwide has been responsible for a significant number of deaths, especially in hospitalized patients suffering from comorbidities, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension. The disease not only has prompted an interest in the pathophysiology, but also it has propelled a massive race to find new anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. In this scenario, known drugs commonly used to treat other diseases have been suggested as alternative or complementary therapeutics. Herein…

• In Silico and In Vitro studies of taiwan chingguan yihau (NRICM101) on TNF-α/IL-1β-induced human lung cells - COVID-19 pandemic has been a global outbreak of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 virus) since 2019. Taiwan Chingguan Yihau (NRICM101) is the first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) classic herbal formula and is widely used for COVID-19 patients in Taiwan and more than 50 nations. This study is to investigate in silico target fishing for the components of NRICM101 and to explore whether NRICM101 inhibits cytokines-induced normal human lung cell injury in vitro. Our results showed that network prediction…

• Comparison of RT-qPCR and RT-dPCR Platforms for the Trace Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater - We compared reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and RT digital PCR (RT-dPCR) platforms for the trace detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in low-prevalence COVID-19 locations in Queensland, Australia, using CDC N1 and CDC N2 assays. The assay limit of detection (ALOD), PCR inhibition rates, and performance characteristics of each assay, along with the positivity rates with the RT-qPCR and RT-dPCR platforms, were evaluated by seeding known concentrations of exogenous…

• GLUCOSE AND MANNOSE ANALOGS INHIBIT KSHV REPLICATION BY BLOCKING N-GLYCOSYLATION AND INDUCING THE UNFOLDED PROTEIN RESPONSE - Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), an HIV/AIDS-associated malignancy. Effective treatments against KS remain to be developed. The sugar analog 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) is an anti-cancer agent that is well-tolerated and safe in patients and was recently demonstrated to be a potent antiviral, including KSHV and SARS-Cov-2. Because 2-DG inhibits glycolysis and N-glycosylation, identifying its molecular targets is challenging. Here we…

• Differential upregulation of AU-rich element-containing mRNAs in COVID-19 - CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the rest of the transcriptome, ARE-containing mRNAs are preferentially upregulated in response to viral infections at a global level. In the context of COVID-19, they are most upregulated in mild disease. Due to their large number, their levels measured by RNA-seq may provide a reliable indication of COVID-19 severity.

• SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein suppresses CTL-mediated killing by inhibiting immune synapse assembly - CTL-mediated killing of virally infected or malignant cells is orchestrated at the immune synapse (IS). We hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 may target lytic IS assembly to escape elimination. We show that human CD8+ T cells upregulate the expression of ACE2, the Spike receptor, during differentiation to CTLs. CTL preincubation with the Wuhan or Omicron Spike variants inhibits IS assembly and function, as shown by defective synaptic accumulation of TCRs and tyrosine phosphoproteins as well as…

• Charge-Dependent Signal Changes for Label-Free Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassays - Label-free electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassays (lf-ECLIA), based on biomarker-induced ECL signal changes, have attracted increasing attention due to the simple, rapid, and low-cost detection of biomarkers without secondary antibodies and complicated labeling procedures. However, the interaction rule and mechanism between analytical interfaces and biomarkers have rarely been explored. Herein, the interactions between biomarkers and analytical interfaces constructed by assembly of a…

• Rational Development of Hypervalent Glycan Shield-Binding Nanoparticles with Broad-Spectrum Inhibition against Fatal Viruses Including SARS-CoV-2 Variants - Infectious virus diseases, particularly coronavirus disease 2019, have posed a severe threat to public health, whereas the developed therapeutic and prophylactic strategies are seriously challenged by viral evolution and mutation. Therefore, broad-spectrum inhibitors of viruses are highly demanded. Herein, an unprecedented antiviral strategy is reported, targeting the viral glycan shields with hypervalent mannose-binding nanoparticles. The nanoparticles exhibit a unique double-punch mechanism,…

• DNA virus oncoprotein HPV18 E7 selectively antagonizes cGAS-STING-triggered innate immune activation - Cellular infections by DNA viruses trigger innate immune responses mediated by DNA sensors. The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon gene (STING) signaling pathway has been identified as a DNA-sensing pathway that activates interferons in response to viral infection and, thus, mediates host defense against viruses. Previous studies have identified oncogenes E7 and E1A of the DNA tumor viruses, human papillomavirus 18 (HPV18) and adenovirus, respectively, as inhibitors of the…

• Favipiravir Efficacy And Safety For The Treatment Of Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Retrospective Study - CONCLUSIONS: In this study, Favipiravir showed better therapeutic responses in patients with severe COVID-19 infection, in terms of average duration of stay in the intensive care unit and was well tolerated in the younger age, but showed no mortality benefit. However, elevated levels of inflammatory markers, including increased ALT, AST, BUN, bilirubin, and creatinine, needs to be carefully examined.

• Characteristics and source apportionment of PM_2.5 under the dual influence of the Spring Festival and the COVID-19 pandemic in Yuncheng city - Based on the online and membrane sampling data of Yuncheng from January 1st to February 12th, 2020, the formation mechanism of haze under the dual influence of Spring Festival and COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease) was analyzed. Atmospheric capacity, chemical composition, secondary transformation, source apportionment, backward trajectory, pollution space and enterprise distribution were studied. Low wind speed, high humidity and small atmospheric capacity inhibited the diffusion of air pollutants….

• Active Ingredients of Reduning Injections Maintain High Potency against SARS-CoV-2 Variants - CONCLUSIONS: The mechanisms were revealed of quercetin and luteolin inhibiting the infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. Reduning Injection is a promising drug for COVID-19.

• Why Molnupiravir Fails in Hospitalized Patients - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has radically altered daily life. Effective antiviral therapies to combat COVID-19, especially severe disease, remain scarce. Molnupiravir is an antiviral that has shown clinical efficacy against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 but failed to provide benefit to hospitalized patients with severe disease. Here, we explained the mechanism behind the failure of molnupiravir in…

• Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides ameliorate lipopolysaccharide-induced acute pneumonia via inhibiting NRP1-mediated inflammation - CONTEXT: Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (GLP), from Ganoderma lucidum (Leyss. ex Fr.) Karst. (Ganodermataceae), are reported to have anti-inflammatory effects, including anti-neuroinflammation and anti-colitis. Nevertheless, the role of GLP in acute pneumonia is unknown.

• The numerical solution of a mathematical model of the Covid-19 pandemic utilizing a meshless local discrete Galerkin method - It was in early December 2019 that the terrible news of the outbreak of new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was reported by the world media, which appeared in Wuhan, China, and is rapidly spreading to other parts of China and several overseas countries. In the field of infectious diseases, modeling, evaluating, and predicting the rate of disease transmission are very important for epidemic prevention and control. Several preliminary mathematical models for Covid-19 are formulated by various…

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