Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Unraveling antiviral efficacy of multifunctional immunomodulatory triterpenoids against SARS-COV-2 targeting virus-specific enzymes -
  The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) may be over, but its variants continue to emerge, and patients with mild symptoms having long COVID is still under investigation. SARS-CoV-2 infection leading to elevated cytokine levels and suppressed immune responses set off cytokine storm, fatal systemic inflammation, tissue damage, and multi-organ failure. Thus, drug molecules targeting the SARS-CoV-2 virus-specific proteins or capable of suppressing the host inflammatory responses to viral infection would provide an effective antiviral therapy against emerging variants of concern. Evolutionarily conserved papain-like protease (PLpro) and main protease (Mpro) play an indispensable role in the virus life cycle and immune evasion. Direct-acting antivirals targeting both these viral proteases represent an attractive antiviral strategy that is also expected to reduce viral inflammation. The present study has evaluated the antiviral and anti-inflammatory potential of natural triterpenoids: azadirachtin, withanolide_A, and isoginkgetin. These molecules inhibit the Mpro and PLpro proteolytic activities with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) values ranging from 1.42 to 32.7 M. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) analysis validated the binding of these compounds to Mpro and PLpro. As expected, the two compounds, withanolide_A and azadirachtin exhibit potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in cell-based assays, with half-maximum effective concentration (EC50) values of 21.73 M and 31.19 M, respectively. The anti-inflammatory role of azadirachtin and withanolide_A when assessed using HEK293T cells were found to significantly reduce the levels of CXCL10, TNF, IL6, and IL8 cytokines, which are elevated in severe cases of COVID-19. Interestingly, azadirachtin and withanolide_A were also found to rescue the decreased type-I interferon response (IFN-1). The results of this study clearly highlight the role of triterpenoids as effective antiviral molecules that target SARS-CoV-2 specific enzymes and also host immune pathways involved in virus mediated inflammation.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Unraveling antiviral efficacy of multifunctional immunomodulatory triterpenoids against SARS-COV-2 targeting virus-specific enzymes
• DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groupsin Post?COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Czechia and Slovakia -
  This report is part of the EC-funded research project DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets (VS/2021/0196). It scrutinizes how social partners influenced COVID-19-related policy responses towards vulnerable groups in the labour market, and whether this experience created opportunities for strengthening social dialogue in general. The empirical focus is on Czechia and Slovakia as representatives of embedded neoliberal countries. This means liberalizing labour market policies during their economic transition starting in the 1990s, but at the same time, anchoring some institutional mechanisms of policy-making, including social dialogue at the national level. The analysis is based on new empirical data in two dimensions: • primary data on policy measures relevant for the vulnerable groups in the labour market, categorized in a standard database of the most important COVID-19 measures relevant for vulnerable groups. • 19 original semi-structured interviews with employer organizations, trade unions, governments, and NGOs in Czechia and Slovakia, implemented in 2022-2023.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groupsin Post?COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Czechia and Slovakia
• DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Turkey -
  This report is part of an EU-wide project on the social dialogue regarding labour relations during the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically the report aims to answer the following questions: 1. What public policy and social dialogue measures targeting the selected vulnerable groups were implemented for employment and social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020-2022? 2. To what extent and how did social dialogue play a role in the implementation of social and employment rights of selected vulnerable groups in the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 3. What lessons and opportunities does the COVID-19 pandemic yield for strengthening social dialogue in the studied countries? In the report, secondary and primary data sources are combined. Labour market and industrial relations analysis largely rely on existing literature. Social policies during the Covid-19 pandemic are based on the Turkish DEFEN-CE Database, which combines multiple sources such as international reports, official documents, reports from trade unions and employers’ organizations, and academic literature. To understand the role of social partners in the defense of vulnerable groups, the report uses 9 semi-structured interviews. 3 Trade Union and 3 Employer Associations from different confederations representing workers and employers across different sectors and sizes are selected to provide a broad range of opinions. Additionally, two NGOs that were quite active during the pandemic and the Turkish Medical Association as one of the most vocal groups and the representative of healthcare sector workers were chosen for interviews. No government officials, either at the local or national level, were willing or able to participate in the interviews. All interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis based on a DEFEN-CE coding scheme.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Turkey
• Evolutionary arms race between SARS-CoV-2 and interferon signaling via dynamic interaction with autophagy. -
  SARS-CoV-2 emerged, and is evolving to efficiently infect humans worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 evades early innate recognition, interferon signaling activated only in bystander cells. This balance of innate activation and viral evasion has important consequences, but the pathways involved are incompletely understood. Here we find that autophagy genes regulate innate immune signaling, impacting the basal set point of interferons, and thus permissivity to infection. Mechanistically, autophagy genes negatively regulate MAVS, and this low basal level of MAVS is efficiently antagonized by SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b, blocking interferon activation in infected cells. However, upon loss of autophagy increased MAVS overcomes ORF9b-mediated antagonism suppressing infection. This has led to the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants to express higher levels of ORF9b, allowing SARS-CoV-2 to replicate under conditions of increased MAVS signaling. Altogether, we find a critical role of autophagy in the regulation of innate immunity and uncover an evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b to overcome host defenses.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Evolutionary arms race between SARS-CoV-2 and interferon signaling via dynamic interaction with autophagy.
• The Impact of SIV-Induced Immunodeficiency on Clinical Manifestation, Immune Response, and Viral Dynamics in SARS-CoV-2 Coinfection -
  Persistent and uncontrolled SARS-CoV-2 replication in immunocompromised individuals has been observed and may be a contributing source of novel viral variants that continue to drive the pandemic. Importantly, the effects of immunodeficiency associated with chronic HIV infection on COVID-19 disease and viral persistence have not been directly addressed in a controlled setting. Here we conducted a pilot study wherein two pigtail macaques (PTM) chronically infected with SIVmac239 were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and monitored for six weeks for clinical disease, viral replication, and viral evolution, and compared to our previously published cohort of SIV-naive PTM infected with SARS-CoV-2. At the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection, one PTM had minimal to no detectable CD4+ T cells in gut, blood, or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), while the other PTM harbored a small population of CD4+ T cells in all compartments. Clinical signs were not observed in either PTM; however, the more immunocompromised PTM exhibited a progressive increase in pulmonary infiltrating monocytes throughout SARS-CoV-2 infection. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) of the infiltrating monocytes revealed a less activated/inert phenotype. Neither SIV-infected PTM mounted detectable anti-SARS-CoV-2 T cell responses in blood or BAL, nor anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Interestingly, despite the diminished cellular and humoral immune responses, SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics and evolution were indistinguishable from SIV-naive PTM in all sampled mucosal sites (nasal, oral, and rectal), with clearance of virus by 3-4 weeks post infection. SIV-induced immunodeficiency significantly impacted immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 but did not alter disease progression, viral kinetics or evolution in the PTM model. SIV-induced immunodeficiency alone may not be sufficient to drive the emergence of novel viral variants.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: The Impact of SIV-Induced Immunodeficiency on Clinical Manifestation, Immune Response, and Viral Dynamics in SARS-CoV-2 Coinfection
• The SHOW COVID-19 cohort: methods and rationale for examining the statewide impact of COVID-19 on the social determinants of health -

  Background: National and large city mortality and morbidity data emerged during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet statewide data to assess the impact COVID-19 had across urban and rural landscapes on subpopulations was lacking. The SHOW COVID-19 cohort was established to provide descriptive and longitudinal data to examine the influence the social determinants of health had on COVID-19 related outcomes. Methods: Participants were recruited from the 5,742 adults in the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) cohort who were all residents of Wisconsin, United States when they joined the cohort between 2008-2019. Online surveys were administered at three timepoints during 2020-2021. Survey topics included COVID-19 exposure, testing and vaccination, COVID-19 impact on economic wellbeing, healthcare access, mental and emotional health, caregiving, diet, lifestyle behaviors, social cohesion, and resilience. Results: A total of 2,304 adults completed at least one COVID-19 online survey, with n=1,090 completing all three survey timepoints. Non-Whites were 2-3 times more likely to report having had COVID-19 compared to Whites, females were more likely than males to experience disruptions in their employment, and those with children in the home were more likely to report moderate to high levels of stress compared to adults without children. Conclusion: Longitudinal, statewide cohorts are important for investigating how the social determinants of health affect health and well-being during the first years of a pandemic and offer insight into future pandemic preparation. The data are available for researchers and cohort is active for continued and future follow-up.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The SHOW COVID-19 cohort: methods and rationale for examining the statewide impact of COVID-19 on the social determinants of health
• Becoming A Resilient Scientist Series: An Intervention Program -

  Compared to the general population, science trainees experience challenges and heightened stressors that often lead to adverse mental health outcomes. With COVID-19, the stressors of social distancing, isolation, truncated lab time, and uncertainty about the future have all likely exacerbated these issues. Now, more than ever, practical and effective interventions are vitally needed to address the core causes of stress among science trainees and increase their resilience. This paper introduces a new resilience program targeted to biomedical trainees and scientists - Becoming a Resilient Scientist Series (BRS), a multi-part workshop complemented by facilitated group discussions all aimed at bolstering resilience, particularly in the context of academic and research environments. To assess the program9s efficacy, participants completed resilience measures and related assessments before and after completing the series. The results demonstrate that BRS significantly enhances trainee resilience (primary outcome) and reduces perceived stress, anxiety, and work-related presenteeism, as well as increased adaptability, self-awareness, and self-efficacy (secondary outcomes). Furthermore, program participants reported a high level of satisfaction, a strong willingness to recommend the program to others, and perceived positive changes in their resilience skills. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first resilience program designed explicitly for biomedical trainees and scientists, tailored to their unique professional culture and work environment.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Becoming A Resilient Scientist Series: An Intervention Program
• Unsupervised identification of significant lineages of SARS-CoV-2 through scalable machine learning methods -
  Since its emergence in late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has diversified into a large number of lineages and globally caused multiple waves of infection. Novel lineages have the potential to spread rapidly and internationally if they have higher intrinsic transmissibility and/or can evade host immune responses, as has been seen with the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants of concern (VoC). They can also cause increased mortality and morbidity if they have increased virulence, as was seen for Alpha and Delta, but not Omicron. Phylogenetic methods provide the gold standard for representing the global diversity of SARS-CoV-2 and to identify newly emerging lineages. However, these methods are computationally expensive, struggle when datasets get too large, and require manual curation to designate new lineages. These challenges together with the increasing volumes of genomic data available provide a motivation to develop complementary methods that can incorporate all of the genetic data available, without down-sampling, to extract meaningful information rapidly and with minimal curation. Here, we demonstrate the utility of using algorithmic approaches based on word-statistics to represent whole sequences, bringing speed, scalability, and interpretability to the construction of genetic topologies, and while not serving as a substitute for current phylogenetic analyses the proposed methods can be used as a complementary approach to identify and confirm new emerging variants.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Unsupervised identification of significant lineages of SARS-CoV-2 through scalable machine learning methods
• Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. EU-Level Report -
  The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis that has caused far-reaching life consequences. The impact of COVID-19 and the measures that aimed to protect lives have triggered a social and economic crisis across the globe. This crisis calls for social scientists and researchers to study the shortcomings in social and economic preparedness and responses to the pandemic. The Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in the Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets project (the DEFEN-CE project), funded by the Directorate-General for Employment, the European Commission, aims to examine institutional strategies and power relations in social protection and policymaking and policy implementation to protect labour markets and workers by analysing the governance of vulnerable groups in (post) COVID-19 labour markets as well as to produce research-based knowledge and expertise on the protection of vulnerable groups at the EU level, in the EU Member States and in the candidate countries. This report emphasises the institutional strategies and power relations among social partners and stakeholders at the EU level and highlights key findings from country case studies. The research questions are threefold. 1) What public policy and social dialogue measures targeting the selected vulnerable groups were implemented for employment and social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020–2022? 2) How and to what extent did social dialogue play a role in the implementation of the social and employment rights of selected vulnerable groups in the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 3) What lessons and opportunities does the COVID-19 pandemic provide for strengthening social dialogue at the EU level? DEFEN-CE employed a mixed-method approach combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The data are comprised of datasets, policy documents, scientific literature, existing statistical data, and semi-structured interviews. In this EU-level research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 respondents: representatives from the European Parliament, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, and a European federation organisation representing domestic employers. It is important to note that the research team invited representatives from the European Commission to participate in the interviews but received no reply. (See the list of respondents in the appendices). DEFEN-CE’s EU-level study aimed to contribute to social dialogue research and the theoretical understanding of vulnerability. Relevant concepts and approaches to deepen our understanding of vulnerability are employed as the foundation for identifying ‘vulnerable groups’ in connection to the labour market. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to identify the lessons learned by pinpointing crucial areas of policy development and implementation and necessary coordination mechanisms among social partners and by showcasing best practices.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. EU-Level Report
• DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Latvia and Lithuania -
  This is a comparative country report of Latvia and Lithuania for the project DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. DEFEN-CE is a research project funded by the Directorate-General for Employment, the European Commission (Grant number: VS/2021/0196). The project investigates the experience of various stakeholders with the design and implementation of COVID-19-related policies relevant to work and employment in EU Member States (Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Italy, and Spain) and two candidate countries, Serbia and Turkey. The aim of the project is to identify the role of social dialogue in facilitating policy implementation that addresses the labour market situation of vulnerable groups in the post-COVID-19 labour markets. With this aim in mind, the report seeks to answer three main research questions from a comparative perspective, emphasising similarities and differences between Latvia’s and Lithuania’s pandemic response, industrial relations (with a key focus on social dialogue structures and interactions), policy design, and protection of vulnerable groups. 1. What public policy and social dialogue measures targeting selected vulnerable groups were implemented for employment and social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 2. To what extent and how did social dialogue play a role in the implementation of social and employment rights of selected vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 3. What lessons and opportunities does the COVID-19 pandemic yield for strengthening social dialogue in the studied countries? The report mixes analysis and findings based on the construction of country-specific Defence-Databases (one for Latvia and one for Lithuania) and qualitative interviews with national stakeholders. The respective database contains information on almost 60 countries-specific Covid-19 policies that have been gathered from international databases (e.g., Eurofound, Eurostat, and ICTWSS), national and international policy documents and legislation, reports from trade unions and employers’ organisations, and academic literature. The interviews that complement the general information provided from the databases were conducted with representatives from trade unions, employers’ organisations and the government. In total, 10 interviews were done in Latvia, and 10 interviews were done in Lithuania (see Annex 1 and 2). Interview data were analysed based on qualitative content analysis using the DEFEN-CE coding scheme.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Latvia and Lithuania
• Locating the Processes of Non-State Relief Work during the Covid-19 Lockdown in Delhi: Lessons from the Field Towards an Inclusive Approach to Care and Social Protection - A Policy Brief -
  This policy brief emanates from an ISST-conducted study titled ‘Locating the Processes of Non-state Relief Work during the Covid-19 Lockdown in Delhi,’ with a focus on informal settlements. Employing qualitative case study methodologies, this research delved into the mechanics of non-state relief work conducted during the pandemic in Delhi. Four slum communities—Yamuna Khadar, Sanjay Camp, Seelampur, and Bawana JJ colony—were purposively selected as case study sites due to their varied characteristics. Data was collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews with key actors actively engaged in relief efforts from December 2020 to June 2021. The study illuminated the complex dynamics of relief efforts within the realm of the care economy. It unveiled the intricate interplay between gaps in the state’s social protection systems, the endeavours of non-state entities, and the vulnerabilities faced by families residing in informal settlements. These dynamics collectively brought forth the immediate socio-economic challenges posed during the national lockdown.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Locating the Processes of Non-State Relief Work during the Covid-19 Lockdown in Delhi: Lessons from the Field Towards an Inclusive Approach to Care and Social Protection - A Policy Brief
• Moralized Attitudes Toward the Unvaccinated During the Pandemic -
  Non-compliance with public health advice became an object of moral condemnation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown that media framing may affect the strength of moral attitudes and emotional responses. However, the process of attitude moralization by framing and the role emotions have in this process are inadequately understood. In this study, we examine media frames’ impact on emotional reactions to and moral attitudes toward unvaccinated individuals. We conducted a survey experiment (N = 482) where participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. We presented each group a news story about COVID-19 vaccines with one of the following frames: neutral (control group), episodic, and thematic. After framing, we measured respondents’ emotions regarding and moral attitudes toward the unvaccinated. We found that compared to the control group, the episodic frame reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions toward the unvaccinated. Also, the episodic frame mitigated the strength of moral attitudes toward the unvaccinated. The thematic frame had no statistically significant effect on emotions or moral attitudes compared to the control group. The mediation analysis confirmed that negative and positive emotions mediated the difference in moral attitudes toward the unvaccinated.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Moralized Attitudes Toward the Unvaccinated During the Pandemic
• Portrait of Mental Health Identified by People with the Post-Covid Syndrome -

  Aims: The Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) represents an epidemic within the COVID-19 pandemic, with potentially serious consequences for affected individuals, the healthcare system, and society at large. Facing a new and poorly understood health condition, this study aimed to produce a patient-centered understanding of mental health symptom patterns, functional impact, and intervention priorities. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of the first 414 participants in a longitudinal study recruited over a 5-month from September 2022 to January 2023 was carried out involving people from Quebec who self-identified as having symptoms of PCS. People were asked to name areas of their mental health affected by PCS using the structure of the Patient Generated Index (PGI), an individualized measure suited to eliciting the most frequent and most bothersome symptoms. The PGI was supplemented with a set of patient-reported outcome measures across the rubrics of the Wilson-Cleary model. The text threads from the PGI were grouped into topics using BERTopic analysis. Results: Twenty topics were identified from 818 text threads referring to PCS mental health symptoms nominated using the PGI format. 35% of threads were identified as relating to anxiety, discussed in terms of five topics: generalized/social anxiety, fear/worry, post-traumatic stress, panic, and nervous. 29% of threads were identified as relating to low mood, represented by five topics: depression, discouragement, emotional distress, sadness, and loneliness. A cognitive domain (22% of threads) was covered by four topics referring to concentration, memory, brain fog, and mental fatigue. Topics related to frustration, anger, irritability. and mood swings (7%) were considered as one domain and there were separate topics related to motivation, insomnia, and isolation. Conclusion: This novel method of digital transformation of unstructured text data uncovered different ways in which people think about classical mental health domains. This information could be used to evaluate the extent to which existing measures cover the content identified by people with PCS or to justify the development of a new measure of the mental health impact of PCS.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Portrait of Mental Health Identified by People with the Post-Covid Syndrome
• Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of time use: evidence from the 1970 British birth cohort -

  Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women9s mental health, although most evidence has focused on mental illbeing outcomes. Previous research suggests that gendered differences in time-use may explain this disparity, as women generally spend more time doing psychologically taxing activities than men. We investigated gender differences in the long-term trajectories of life satisfaction, how these were impacted during the pandemic, and the role of time-use differences in explaining gender inequalities. Methods. We used data from 6766 (56.2% women) members of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), a nationally representative birth cohort of people born in Great Britain in 1970, who were alive and residing in the UK between May 2020 and March 2021. Life satisfaction was prospectively assessed between the ages of 26 (1996) and 51 (2021) using a single question with responses ranging from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest). We analysed life satisfaction trajectories using piecewise latent growth curve models and investigated whether gender differences in the change in the life satisfaction trajectories with the pandemic were explained by self-reported time spent doing different paid and unpaid activities. Findings. Women had consistently higher life satisfaction than men prior to the pandemic (Δintercept,unadjusted=0.213 [95% CI: 0.087, 0.340], p=.001) and experienced a more accelerated decline with the pandemic onset (Δquad2,unadjusted=-0.018 [-0.026, -0.011], p<.001). Time-use differences did not account for the more accelerated decrease in women9s life satisfaction levels with the pandemic (Δquad2,adjusted=-0.016 [-0.031, -0.001], p=.035). Interpretation. Our study shows pronounced gender inequalities in the impact of the pandemic on the long-term life satisfaction trajectories of adults in their 50s, with women losing their historical advantage over men. Self-reported time-use differences did not account for these inequalities, suggesting that they could be linked to other factors including the 9mental load9 (invisible, unrecognised labour disproportionately undertook by women) or the menopausal transition.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of time use: evidence from the 1970 British birth cohort
• Virtual and remote opioid poisoning education and naloxone distribution programs: a scoping review -

  The opioid poisoning crisis is a complex and multi-faceted global epidemic with far-reaching public health effects. Opioid Poisoning Education and Naloxone Distribution (OPEND) programs destigmatize and legitimize harm reduction measures while increasing participants’ ability to administer naloxone and other life-saving interventions in opioid poisoning emergencies. While virtual OPEND programs existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and were shown to be effective in improving knowledge of opioid poisoning response, they were not widely implemented and evaluated. The COVID-19 pandemic brought both urgent and sustained interest in virtual health services, including harm reduction interventions and OPEND programs. We aimed to assess the scope of literature related to fully virtual OPEND programming, with or without naloxone distribution, worldwide. A search of the literature was conducted and yielded 7,722 articles, of which 31 studies fit the inclusion criteria. Type and content of the educational component, duration of training, scales used, and key findings were extracted and synthesized. Our search shows that virtual and remote OPEND programs appear effective in increasing knowledge, confidence, and preparedness to respond to opioid poisoning events while improving stigma regarding people who use substances. This effect is shown to be true in a wide variety of populations but is significantly relevant when focused on laypersons. Interventions ranged from the use of videos, websites, telephone calls, and virtual reality simulations. A lack of consensus was found regarding the duration of the activity and the scales used to measure its effectiveness. Despite increasing efforts, access remains an issue, with most interventions addressing White people in urban areas. These findings provide insights for planning, implementation, and evaluation of future virtual and remote OPEND programs.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Virtual and remote opioid poisoning education and naloxone distribution programs: a scoping review

From Clinical Trials

• A Multicenter, Adaptive, Randomized, doublE-blinded, Placebo-controlled Study in Participants With Long COVID-19: The REVIVE Trial - Conditions: Long COVID-19 Syndrome; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  Interventions: Drug: Fluvoxamine Maleate 100 MG; Drug: Placebo; Drug: Metformin Extended Release Oral Tablet
  Sponsors: Cardresearch
  Recruiting

• Clinical Evaluation of the Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&B Panel - Conditions: COVID-19; Influenza A; Influenza B
  Interventions: Diagnostic Test: Panbio™
  Sponsors: Abbott Rapid Dx
  Not yet recruiting

• Connecting Friends and Health Workers to Boost COVID-19 Vaccination in Latino Communities - Conditions: COVID-19; Vaccine
  Interventions: Behavioral: REDES; Behavioral: Control
  Sponsors: Johns Hopkins University; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD); Rutgers University
  Recruiting

• Influence of Hypoxic, Normobaric and Hypobaric Training on the Immunometabolism of Post-covid-19 Athletes - Conditions: Normobaric Hypoxia; Hypoventilation; Normoxia
  Interventions: Other: Repeated sprint
  Sponsors: Faculdade de Motricidade Humana; University of Sao Paulo; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.
  Not yet recruiting

• The Safety and Tolerability of A8G6 COVID-19 Neutralization Antibody Combined With Nasal Spray - Conditions: SARS-CoV-2; Prevention
  Interventions: Biological: A8G6 SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody combination nasal spray; Other: A8G6 SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody nasal excipient
  Sponsors: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University
  Recruiting

• Building Engagement Using Financial Incentives Trial - Colorectal Cancer Screening - Conditions: Health Behavior; Colorectal Cancer; Influenza; COVID-19; Vaccine Hesitancy; Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; Healthcare Patient Acceptance
  Interventions: Behavioral: Financial incentive for colorectal cancer screening; Behavioral: Financial incentive for flu shot; Behavioral: Financial incentive for COVID-19 shot
  Sponsors: Tulane University; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
  Recruiting

• Clinical Evaluation of the Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&B Panel to Support Home Use - Conditions: COVID-19; Influenza A; Influenza Type B
  Interventions: Diagnostic Test: Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&B Panel
  Sponsors: Abbott Rapid Dx
  Recruiting

• Effects of Rehabilitation Combined With a Maintenance Program Compared to Rehabilitation Alone in Post-COVID-19 - Conditions: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome
  Interventions: Procedure: Rehabilitation combined to a digital maintenance program; Procedure: Rehabilitation without maintenance program
  Sponsors: Schön Klinik Berchtesgadener Land; Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care (Funding); Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (German pension insurance) (Design); Betriebskrankenkassen Landesverband Bayern (Bavarian health insurance) (Design)
  Not yet recruiting

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Literacy for Primary Schools Teachers. A Multicomponent Intervention - Conditions: Child Mental Health
  Interventions: Behavioral: Child Mental Health Literacy Program
  Sponsors: Universidad de Valparaiso
  Recruiting

• Brief Digital Intervention to Increase COVID-19 Vaccination Among Individuals With Anxiety or Depression - Conditions: Misinformation; Vaccine Hesitancy; Anxiety; Depression; COVID-19
  Interventions: Behavioral: Attitudinal inoculation; Behavioral: Cognitive-behavioral therapy-informed intervention; Behavioral: Conventional public health messaging
  Sponsors: City University of New York, School of Public Health; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Engineered Nanovesicles Expressing Bispecific Single Chain Variable Fragments to Protect against SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Although the epidemic has been controlled in many areas and numerous patients have been successfully treated, the risk of reinfection persists due to the low neutralizing antibody titers and weak immune response. To provide long-term immune protection for infected patients, novel bispecific CB6/dendritic cell (DC)-specific…

• Molecular Design of Novel Inhibitor by TargetingIL-6Rα using Combined Pharmacophore and Experimentally Verified Plant Products with Scaffold-Hopping Techniques: A Dual Therapeutic Strategy for COVID-19 and Cancer - The IL-6/IL-6R/gp130 complex serves as a significant indicator of cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 and chronic inflammation, increasing the risk of cancer. Therefore, we identified IL-6Rα as a potential target to block gp130 interaction. Notably, there has been no reception of approval for an orally available drug to serve this purpose, to date. In this study, we targeted IL-6Rα to inhibit IL-6Rα/gp130 interaction. The selection of the lead candidate L821 involved the amalgamation of three…

• The matrix metalloproteinase ADAM10 supports hepatitis C virus entry and cell-to-cell spread via its sheddase activity - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exploits the four entry factors CD81, scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI, also known as SCARB1), occludin, and claudin-1 as well as the co-factor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to infect human hepatocytes. Here, we report that the disintegrin and matrix metalloproteinase 10 (ADAM10) associates with CD81, SR-BI, and EGFR and acts as HCV host factor. Pharmacological inhibition, siRNA-mediated silencing and genetic ablation of ADAM10 reduced HCV infection….

• Structure-based virtual screening, ADMET analysis, and molecular dynamics simulation of Moroccan natural compounds as candidates for the SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors - The lack of treatments and vaccines effective against SARS-CoV-2 has forced us to explore natural compounds that could potentially inhibit this virus. Additionally, Morocco is renowned for its rich plant diversity and traditional medicinal uses, which inspires us to leverage our cultural heritage and the abundance of natural resources in our country for therapeutic purposes. In this study, an extensive investigation was conducted to gather a collection of phytoconstituents extracted from…

• The double-edged sword of the hippocampus-ventromedial prefrontal cortex resting-state connectivity in stress susceptibility and resilience: A prospective study - The hippocampus has long been considered a pivotal region implicated in both stress susceptibility and resilience. A wealth of evidence from animal and human studies underscores the significance of hippocampal functional connectivity with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in these stress-related processes. However, there remains a scarcity of research that explores and contrasts the roles of hippocampus-vmPFC connectivity in stress susceptibility and resilience when facing a real-life…

• Influenza A virus replication has a stronger dependency on Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway activity than SARS-CoV-2 - The recent COVID-19 pandemic again highlighted the urgent need for broad-spectrum antivirals, both for therapeutic use in acute viral infection and for pandemic preparedness in general. The targeting of host cell factors hijacked by viruses during their replication cycle presents one possible strategy for development of broad-spectrum antivirals. By inhibiting the Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway, a central kinase cascade of eukaryotic cells, which is being exploited by numerous viruses of…

• Coffee as a dietary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection - CONCLUSIONS: This study verified moderate coffee consumption, including decaffeination, can provide a new guideline for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the results, we also suggest a coffee-drinking plan for people to prevent infection in the post-COVID-19 era.

• Weak SARS-CoV-2-specific responses of TIGIT-expressing CD8+ T cells in people living with HIV after a third dose of a SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine - CONCLUSION: TIGIT expression on CD8+ T cells may hinder the T-cell immune response to a booster dose of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, suggesting weakened resistance to SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially in PLWH. Furthermore, TIGIT may be used as a potential target to increase the production of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of vaccination.

• Intranasal G5-BGG/pDNA vaccine elicits protective systemic and mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2 by transfecting mucosal dendritic cells - Infectious disease pandemics, including the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, have heightened the demand for vaccines that provide both disease protection and transmission inhibition. Although parenteral vaccines induce robust systemic immunity, their effectiveness in respiratory mucosae is limited. Considering the crucial role of nasal-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) in mucosal immune responses, in this study, the intranasal complex composed of G5-BGG and antigen-expressing plasmid DNA…

• Colloidal aggregation confounds cell-based Covid-19 antiviral screens - Colloidal aggregation is one of the largest contributors to false-positives in early drug discovery and chemical biology. Much work has focused on its impact on pure-protein screens; here we consider aggregations role in cell-based infectivity assays in Covid-19 drug repurposing. We began by investigating the potential aggregation of 41 drug candidates reported as SARs-CoV-2 entry inhibitors. Of these, 17 formed colloidal-particles by dynamic light scattering and exhibited detergent-dependent…

• Application of Luteolin in Neoplasms and Nonneoplastic Diseases - Researchers are amazed at the multitude of biological effects of 3’,4’,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone, more commonly known as luteolin, as it simultaneously has antioxidant and pro-oxidant, as well as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and cancer-preventive, properties. The anticancer properties of luteolin constitute a mosaic of pathways due to which this flavonoid influences cancer cells. Not only is it able to induce apoptosis and inhibit cancer cell proliferation, but it also suppresses angiogenesis…

• HSP90AB1 Is a Host Factor Required for Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus Infection - Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) is an important swine enteric coronavirus causing viral diarrhea in pigs of all ages. Currently, the development of antiviral agents targeting host proteins to combat viral infection has received great attention. The heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a critical host factor and has important regulatory effects on the infection of various viruses. However, its roles in porcine coronavirus infection remain unclear. In this study, the effect of HSP90 on TGEV…

• Therapeutic Effect and Safety Evaluation of Naringin on Klebsiella pneumoniae in Mice - Critically ill patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) often develop secondary bacterial infections that pose a significant threat to patient life safety, making the development of drugs to prevent bacterial infections in the lungs critical to clinical care. Naringin (NAR) is one of the significant natural flavonoids rich in Pummelo Peel (Hua Ju Hong), with anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities, and is commonly used in treating respiratory tract infectious…

• Interaction of Methylene Blue with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Envelope Revealed by Molecular Modeling - Methylene blue has multiple antiviral properties against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The ability of methylene blue to inhibit different stages of the virus life cycle, both in light-independent and photodynamic processes, is used in clinical practice. At the same time, the molecular aspects of the interactions of methylene blue with molecular components of coronaviruses are not fully understood. Here, we use Brownian dynamics to identify methylene blue…

• Genetic Predisposition to Elevated Levels of Circulating ADAM17 Is Associated with the Risk of Severe COVID-19 - High levels of ADAM17 activity have emerged as an important mediator in severe COVID-19. This study aims to characterize eventual causal relationships between ADAM17 and COVID-19. Using Mendelian randomization analyses, we examined the causal effects of circulating ADAM17 on COVID-19 outcomes using summary statistics from large, genome-wide association studies of ADAM17 (up to 35,559 individuals) from the Icelandic Cancer Project and deCODE genetics, as well as critically ill COVID-19 patients…

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