Covid-19 Sentry

Contents

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

From Preprints

• Resilience Strategies of Tour Operators During the Uncertainty of COVID-19: Evidence from Bangladesh -
  Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, tour operators have been going through uncertain times as they depend directly on supply-side (e.g. airlines, hotels) and demand-side (e.g. tourists) of tourism as well as on destination management organizations. This study explores resilience strategies made by tour operators in Bangladesh that ultimately helped them survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 tour operators, findings of the study show that resilience-building depends not only on strategies of tour operators but also on supports from external agencies. The study further shows that a multi-dimensional understanding of resilience strategies is essential in tourism research and proposes that the resilience-building of tour operators can be conceptualized as a three-dimensional mechanism including innate resilience, internally-induced resilience, and externally-induced resilience. The study would facilitate improved resilience strategy and informed policymaking to better address uncertainties during and after a major crisis for tour operators.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Resilience Strategies of Tour Operators During the Uncertainty of COVID-19: Evidence from Bangladesh
• Hesitancy Dilemma regarding covid19 vaccination -
  COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus which responsible for the high mortality rate in the last 3 years . Covid19 crisis change the world vision to infectious diseases .Vaccination is the master key in protective control behavior for COVID-19. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are the safest and effective modality to stop the COVID- 19 pandemic which limit the hospital and intensive care units admission .World Health Organisation delay acceptance or refusal of vaccines and considered it acritical descion making procedure . Although the high safety profile of the vaccine ,there were a reported rare adverse events following vaccines administration .Global adverse events categorise into; uncommon ,common ,very common. the vaccine -induce the immune-mediated response which takes days to develop, so resultant a life long immunity or a subsequent overexagerated adverse reaction in the second booster doses .The aim of this study to thorough the light on importance of vaccine to limit the wide spread of the virus and raise awarness of physicians toward different common and rare adverse reaction to promote early diagnosis and so prevent complication.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Hesitancy Dilemma regarding covid19 vaccination
• Proliferation of mesenchymal stem cell trials for COVID-19: risks and recommendations -
  At least 20 clinical trials of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) for the treatment of covid-19 have been registered. We assess the emerging trial registrations and argue that the information gain is likely to be low, while the likelihood of false-positives and over-interpretation is high. The rush to test treatments may come at the expense of research quality.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Proliferation of mesenchymal stem cell trials for COVID-19: risks and recommendations
• Public Procurement and Corruption in South Africa -
  Like many other countries, South Africa depends heavily on its public procurement system and faces persistent issues of corruption within that system. Its regulatory regimes for public procurement and for anti-corruption are nonetheless distinct. Despite knowledge of significant corruption in the final decades of apartheid, anti-corruption was treated as a secondary rather than a primary objective in the initial phase of post-apartheid reform and design of public procurement. Rules against corruption in public procurement have largely taken the form of criminal offences in the anti-corruption regime, and the form of administrative rules internal to government within the public procurement system, neither of which has been effective. The lack of attention to the overlap of these two regimes has created the potential for continued growth of corruption in public procurement. As a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to the grand corruption termed ‘state capture’, the South African government has recently introduced several measures and strengthened institutions to address corruption linked to public procurement; these are more investigative and ad-hoc than systemic and preventative. Finally, we briefly describe and then examine the place of information technology in South African public procurement, particularly in advancing the anti-corruption goal.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Public Procurement and Corruption in South Africa
• Online Credibility of National Health Institutions: Infodemiological Analysis of Facebook Users’ Reactions in Eight Countries Worldwide -
  Public trust in physicians, health-related websites, and medical institutions is one of the main determinants of health behaviour. This paper aims to examine the online credibility of the leading national health authorities in various countries worldwide in order to estimate the extent of the reputation damage during the COVID-19 crisis and evaluate the countermeasures to be undertaken. Specifically, users’ reactions to Facebook posts related to vaccine development and administration were studied. From 2021 to 2022, a sharp deterioration in the online credibility of the leading national health institutions worldwide has been observed. Infodemic reactions such as derision and anger, which already represented a health issue in 2021, have reached alarming percentages (i.e., between 30 and 50%) in England, France, Italy, Spain, and the USA during 2022. Such reactions reached a disproportionate 90% in Germany, where the online infodemiological situation appears incredibly serious. Conversely, the situation seemed more moderate in Argentina and Brazil (below 20%). Regardless of the sample size and its suitability for representing the global situation, these findings reveal a rising global security threat. Future research should focus on verifying how much of this online infodemic directly translates into dangerous health behaviours (e.g., vaccine hesitancy) and what were the main causes for these communication crises.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Online Credibility of National Health Institutions: Infodemiological Analysis of Facebook Users’ Reactions in Eight Countries Worldwide
• Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation -
  The pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus and associated COVID-19 disease in 2020 prompted governments around the world to pursue strict containment protocols to minimize contagion risk. Although restrictions were interpreted more strictly in some countries than in others, widespread social isolation resulted on an unseen scale, leading to severe negative mental health consequences such as loss of hope, increased anxiety, stress, depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbance. During this time, while governments were battling the health crisis, musical engagement provided key, individualized coping strategies for laypeople. This was first demonstrated anecdotally in captivating balcony music videos from Italy and Spain and later substantiated in large scale, multi-country survey studies. This chapter reviews the emerging research literature on music listening and making during pandemic lockdown to establish how music became a compensatory source of hedonic pleasure and how it satisfied the need for eudaimonic meaning in life during socially and psychologically impoverished times.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation
• Mapping OHDSI OMOP Common Data Model and GA4GH Phenopackets for COVID-19 disease epidemics and analytics -
  The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates a critical requirement for rapid and efficient sharing of data to facilitate the global response to this and future pandemics. Our project aims are to enhance interoperability between health and research data by mapping Phenopackets and OMOP schemas, and representing COVID-19 metadata using the FAIR principles to enable discovery, integration and analysis of genotypic and phenotypic data. Here, we present our outcomes after one week of BioHacking together 17 participants (10 new to the project), from different countries (CH, US and in EU), and continents.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Mapping OHDSI OMOP Common Data Model and GA4GH Phenopackets for COVID-19 disease epidemics and analytics
• Viral Tunes: Changes in musical behaviours and interest in coronamusic predict socio-emotional coping during COVID-19 lockdown -
  Beyond immediate health risks, the COVID-19 pandemic poses a variety of stressors, which may require expensive or unavailable strategies during a pandemic (e.g., therapy, socialising). Here we asked whether musical engagement is an effective strategy for socio-emotional coping. During the first lockdown period (April-May 2020), we surveyed changes in music listening and making behaviours of over 5000 people, with representative samples from 3 continents. More than half of respondents reported using music to cope. People experiencing increased negative emotions used music for solitary emotional regulation, whereas people experiencing increased positive emotions used music as a proxy for social interaction. Light gradient-boosted regressor models were used to identify the most important predictors of an individual’s use of music to cope, the foremost of which was, intriguingly, their interest in the novel genre of “coronamusic.” Overall, our results emphasise the importance of real-time musical responses to societal crises, as well as individually tailored adaptations in musical behaviours to meet socio-emotional needs.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: Viral Tunes: Changes in musical behaviours and interest in coronamusic predict socio-emotional coping during COVID-19 lockdown
• CovidTube: Mapping information segregation on YouTube -
  The COVID-19 pandemic set the stage for a range of new conspiracy theories and extreme beliefs. Social media in general, and YouTube in particular, play a decisive role in the spreading of fringe content by not suppressing or even boosting the spread of such information. Users are predisposed to consume extreme content, creators prey on the emotions of users and game the algorithm to increase their popularity, and recommendation algorithms create feedback loops of progressively extreme content or ‘radicalization pipelines’. All three forces together may create information ‘bubbles’ that bias individual beliefs. We know, however, very little about the degree of information segregation and the structure of recommendation flows on YouTube, despite the platform’s position as the second most visited website in the world. This study maps the structure of COVID-19 information as a network of videos connected by inter-video recommendations. We collected nearly 10,000 videos and up to 20 recommendation links per video using COVID-related search terms on the YouTube API. To understand the structure of the graph we employed a mixed methods approach, using, a combination of quantitative graph analysis techniques and qualitative descriptions. We manually labeled the content of over a third of all videos and enriched the data further by merging with ideological labels from the Recfluence dataset. We then mapped these labels to pockets of videos that are well-connected to each other, as revealed by a community detection algorithm. Descriptive analyses of topical homogeneity within clusters of videos are supplemented with qualitative characterizations of the communities and the most important ‘bridging’ and ‘switching’ nodes within them. Contrary to popular beliefs about YouTube’s tendency to create informational ‘rabbit holes’ or ‘radicalization pipelines’, we find no evidence for algorithmic bias that would push users towards the consumption of fringe content.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: CovidTube: Mapping information segregation on YouTube
• Substance use, psychiatric symptoms, personal mastery, and social support among COVID-19 long haulers: A compensatory model -

  Background: Substance use has become a critical health concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, and emerging attention has been paid to people with the persistent symptoms of COVID-19 (COVID-19 long haulers) due to their high vulnerability. However, scant research has investigated their substance use and relevant psychosocial factors. The current study was to (1) examine substance use behaviors (i.e., legal drug use, illicit drug use, and non-medical use of prescription drugs); and (2) assessed their associations with psychiatric symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder) and psychosocial factors (i.e., personal mastery and social support) among COVID-19 long haulers. Methods: In January to March 2022, 460 COVID-19 long haulers (50% female), with an average age of 32, completed online surveys regarding their demographics, substance use, psychiatric symptoms, and psychosocial factors. Results: In the past three months, the most commonly used or non-medically used substances were tobacco (82%) for legal drugs, cocaine (53%) for illicit drugs, and prescription opioids (67%) for prescription drugs. Structural equation modeling suggested that psychiatric symptoms were positively associated with substance use behaviors (bs = .38 to .68, ps < .001), while psychosocial factors were negatively associated with substance use behaviors (bs = -.61 to -.43, ps < .001). Conclusion: Substance use is common in COVID-19 long haulers and psychiatric symptoms are the risk factors. Personal mastery and social support appear to offer protection offsetting the psychiatric influences. Substance use prevention and mental health services for COVID-19 long haulers should attend to personal mastery and social support.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Substance use, psychiatric symptoms, personal mastery, and social support among COVID-19 long haulers: A compensatory model
• PARA-DIPLOMACY IN TIME OF COVID-19: JAKARTA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT’S OBJECTIVES IN HOSTING INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP -
  The Novel Corona Virus Disease or COVID-19 has caused unprecedented huge impacts and affected all aspects of governance including the relations among countries. Amid the crisis, sub-national governments have demonstrated their international engagements and innovations in order to respond to the pandemic. Jakarta as the largest city and the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia became the national attention in early of the pandemic due to its functional position as the main gate of international mobility. However, the region held an international event called the International Youth Championship while the pandemic still existed. This research aimed to describe the region’s objectives to carry out the event as a para-diplomacy practice. This research applied the qualitative research method with a descriptive analysis. In addition, the research utilized para-diplomacy concept as a theoretical tool to help describe such objectives. This research found that the regional government had a number of objectives in hosting the event; promoting the success of handing the COVID-19, promoting sports tourism in the post-pandemic, and introducing a new ‘green’ icon of the region. Those objectives belong to the economic and cultural dimension of para-diplomacy. This paper argues that Indonesian para-diplomacy is an asset inasmuch as the national government can harvest benefits from sub-national governments’ para-diplomatic activities.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: PARA-DIPLOMACY IN TIME OF COVID-19: JAKARTA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT’S OBJECTIVES IN HOSTING INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
• The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: considerations for model training data sets -

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based surveillance has been used alongside diagnostic testing to monitor infection rates. With the decline in cases reported to public health departments due to at-home testing, wastewater data may serve as the primary input for epidemiological models, but training these models is not straightforward. We explored factors affecting noise and bias in the ratio between wastewater and case data collected in 26 sewersheds in California from October 2020 to March 2022. The strength of the relationship between wastewater and case data appeared dependent on sampling frequency and population size, but was not increased by wastewater normalization to flow rate or case count normalization to testing rates. Additionally, the lead and lag times between wastewater and case data varied over time and space, and the ratio of log-transformed individual cases to wastewater concentrations changed over time. This ratio increased sequentially in the Epsilon/Alpha, Delta, and Omicron BA.1 variant surges of COVID-19 and was also related to the diagnostic testing rate. Based on this analysis, we present a framework of scenarios describing the dynamics of the case to wastewater ratio to aid in data handling decisions for ongoing modeling efforts.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: considerations for model training data sets
• An Early SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Outbreak in a Dormitory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia -

  The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread globally in late 2021 - early 2022, displacing the previously prevalent Delta variant. Before December 16, 2021, community transmission had already been observed in tens of countries globally. However, in Russia, the majority of reported cases at that time had been sporadic and associated with travel. Here, we report an Omicron outbreak at a student dormitory in Saint Petersburg between December 16 - 29, 2021, which was the earliest known instance of large-scale community transmission in Russia. Out of the 465 sampled residents of the dormitory, 180 (38.7%) tested PCR positive. Among the 118 residents for whom the variant has been tested by whole-genome sequencing, 111 (94.1%) carried the Omicron variant. Among these 111 residents, 60 (54.1%) were vaccinated or had reported previous COVID-19. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the outbreak was caused by a single introduction of the BA.1.1 sublineage of Omicron. The dormitory-derived clade constituted a significant proportion of BA.1.1 samples in Saint-Petersburg and has spread to other regions of Russia and other countries. The rapid spread of Omicron in a population with preexisting immunity to previous variants underlines its propensity for immune evasion.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: An Early SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Outbreak in a Dormitory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia
• Assessment of Attitude and Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccine among Hepatitis B and C Patients in Pakistan -

  OBJECTIVE: The research aimed to evaluate the attitude and perceptions towards the covid-19 vaccine among Hepatitis B and C patients in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. METHODS: A survey-based study was adopted to evaluate the attitude of Hepatitis B and C patients towards immunization against covid-19 in Peshawar (KPK) and Muzaffarabad (AJK) cities of Pakistan. The study continued from January 2020 to February 2021. Participants were also assessed for their perception towards covid-19 vaccination. RESULTS: A total of 839 (33.6%) individuals participated in the study. About 52 % of Hepatitis B patients were immunized against Covid-19, whereas the number of Hepatitis C patients was recorded at around 48%. About 53.7 % of participants refused to get the vaccine without any reason. About 63.2% of patients showed concern about the insufficient data available on the vaccine safety and efficacy published by the Public Health Department. Individuals with higher education were observed to be more open towards vaccination then those without a formal education. More than half of the participants (61.5 %) were concerned about the interference of the vaccine with their hepatitis treatment whereas 54.7 % patients refused vaccine because of a poor liver condition. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicated that limited data availability regarding the vaccine efficacy in viral hepatitis patients and negative attitudes of people toward covid-19 vaccination is the main cause of Covid-19 vaccination refusal among hepatitis B and C patients. DESCRIPTORS: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, covid-19, immunization, vaccine refusal, Pakistan.

  🖺 Full Text HTML: Assessment of Attitude and Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccine among Hepatitis B and C Patients in Pakistan
• An FcRn-targeted mucosal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission -
  SARS-CoV-2 and its variants cause COVID-19, which is primarily transmitted through droplets and airborne aerosols. To prevent viral infection and reduce viral spread, vaccine strategies must elicit protective immunity in the airways. FcRn transfers IgG across epithelial barriers; we explore FcRn-mediated respiratory delivery of SARS-CoV-2 spike (S). A monomeric IgG Fc was fused to a stabilized S protein; the resulting S-Fc bound to S-specific antibodies (Ab) and FcRn. A significant increase in Ab responses was observed following the intranasal immunization of mice with S-Fc formulated in CpG as compared to the immunization with S alone or PBS. Furthermore, we intranasally immunize adult or aged mice and hamsters with S-Fc. A significant reduction of virus replication in nasal turbinate, lung, and brain was observed following nasal challenges with SARS-CoV-2, including Delta and Omicron variants. Intranasal immunization also significantly reduced viral transmission between immunized and naive hamsters. Protection was mediated by nasal IgA, serum-neutralizing Abs, tissue-resident memory T cells, and bone marrow S-specific plasma cells. Hence FcRn delivers an S-Fc antigen effectively into the airway and induces protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission. Based on these findings, FcRn-targeted non-invasive respiratory immunizations are superior strategies for preventing highly contagious respiratory viruses from spreading.
  🖺 Full Text HTML: An FcRn-targeted mucosal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission

From Clinical Trials

• A Study on Voluntary Routine COVID-19 Self-testing in Mizoram, India. - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Diagnostic Test: COVID-19 Self testing and related messaging
  Sponsors:   PATH;   UNITAID;   Zoram Medical College (ZMC);   Pacchunga University College;   Association for Leprosy Education Rehabilitation & Treatment India (ALERT India);   Government of Mizoram
  Not yet 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

• Study of RAY1216 Tablets Compared With Placebo in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - Condition:   Mild to Moderate COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: RAY1216;   Drug: Placebo
  Sponsor:   Guangdong Raynovent Biotech Co., Ltd
  Not yet 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 SARS-CoV-2 Assay 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

• Acute Rehabilitation in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Rehabilitation;   Physical Medicine
  Intervention:   Procedure: Acute rehabilitation program
  Sponsor:   Institut za Rehabilitaciju Sokobanjska Beograd
  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

• 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

• Message Communicating Latest Data on COVID Transmission in Patient’s Area - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: COVID Booster text messages
  Sponsor:   University of Pennsylvania
  Enrolling by invitation

• Message From Local Pharmacy Team - Condition:   COVID-19
  Intervention:   Behavioral: COVID Booster text messages
  Sponsor:   University of Pennsylvania
  Enrolling by invitation

• Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of Trivalent Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate VBI-2901e With E6020 Adjuvant - Conditions:   COVID-19;   Coronavirus Infections
  Intervention:   Biological: VBI-2901e
  Sponsor:   VBI Vaccines Inc.
  Not yet recruiting

• Dietary Modulation of Gut Microbiota in Overweight/Obese Adolescents and COVID-19 Infection - Conditions:   Health Behavior;   Child Development;   Adolescent Obesity
  Interventions:   Dietary Supplement: Probiotics;   Behavioral: Counselling on healthy eating, physical activity, and psychosocial stimulation;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo probiotics
  Sponsors:   Indonesia University;   Gadjah Mada University;   Universitas Airlangga;   University of Melbourne;   The Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education, Ministry of Finance Indonesia
  Recruiting

• Phonation Therapy to Improve Symptoms and Lung Physiology in Patients Referred for Pulmonary Rehabilitation - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Behavioral: Tonation Breathing Techniques;   Behavioral: Music Driven Vocal Exercises;   Behavioral: Silent Breathing
  Sponsor:   MetroHealth Medical Center
  Recruiting

• Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings - Condition:   COVID-19
  Interventions:   Drug: Paxlovid;   Drug: Other;   Other: Other
  Sponsors:   Unity Health Toronto;   Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);   Health Canada
  Not yet recruiting

From PubMed

• Integrative transcriptome analysis of SARS-CoV-2 human-infected cells combined with deep learning algorithms identifies two potential cellular targets for the treatment of coronavirus disease - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) quickly spread worldwide, leading coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to hit pandemic level less than 4 months after the first official cases. Hence, the search for drugs and vaccines that could prevent or treat infections by SARS-CoV-2 began, intending to reduce a possible collapse of health systems. After 2 years, efforts to find therapies to treat COVID-19 continue. However, there is still much to be understood about the virus’…

• Single-cell RNA-sequencing data analysis reveals a highly correlated triphasic transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 infection - Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is currently one of the most powerful techniques available to study the transcriptional response of thousands of cells to an external perturbation. Here, we perform a pseudotime analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection using publicly available scRNA-seq data from human bronchial epithelial cells and colon and ileum organoids. Our results reveal that, for most genes, the transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 infection follows a non-linear pattern characterized by…

• Identification of a group of bisbenzylisoquinoline (BBIQ) compounds as ferroptosis inhibitors - Ferroptosis induced by detrimental accumulation of lipid peroxides has been recently linked to a variety of pathological conditions ranging from acute tissue injuries to chronic degenerative diseases and suppression of ferroptosis by small chemical inhibitors is beneficial to the prevention and treatment of these diseases. However, in vivo applicable small chemical ferroptosis inhibitors are limited currently. In this study, we screened an alkaloid natural compound library for compounds that can…

• Paxlovid accelerates cartilage degeneration and senescence through activating endoplasmic reticulum stress and interfering redox homeostasis - CONCLUSIONS: Paxlovid accelerated cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis development, potentially by inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress. Long-term follow-up is needed with special attention to the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis in patients treated with Paxlovid.

• Comparison of antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants in Australian children - There is limited understanding of antibody responses in children across different SARS-CoV-2 variants. As part of an ongoing household cohort study, we assessed the antibody response among unvaccinated children infected with Wuhan, Delta, or Omicron variants, as well as vaccinated children with breakthrough Omicron infection, using a SARS-CoV-2 S1-specific IgG assay and surrogate virus neutralization test (% inhibition). Most children infected with Delta (100%, 35/35) or Omicron (81.3%, 13/16)…

• siRNA Functionalized Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs) in Management of Diseases - RNAi (RNA interference)-based technology is emerging as a versatile tool which has been widely utilized in the treatment of various diseases. siRNA can alter gene expression by binding to the target mRNA and thereby inhibiting its translation. This remarkable potential of siRNA makes it a useful candidate, and it has been successively used in the treatment of diseases, including cancer. However, certain properties of siRNA such as its large size and susceptibility to degradation by RNases are…

• Novel CYP11A1-Derived Vitamin D and Lumisterol Biometabolites for the Management of COVID-19 - Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and poor outcomes of the COVID-19 disease. However, a satisfactory mechanism explaining the vitamin D protective effects is missing. Based on the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties of classical and novel (CYP11A1-derived) vitamin D and lumisterol hydroxymetabolites, we have proposed that they would attenuate the self-amplifying damage in lungs and other organs through mechanisms initiated by interactions…

• Virtual Screening of Artemisia annua Phytochemicals as Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Enzyme - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a human coronaviruses that emerged in China at Wuhan city, Hubei province during December 2019. Subsequently, SARS-CoV-2 has spread worldwide and caused millions of deaths around the globe. Several compounds and vaccines have been proposed to tackle this crisis. Novel recommended in silico approaches have been commonly used to screen for specific SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors of different types. Herein, the phytochemicals of Pakistani…

• Neuropeptides, New Ligands of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleoprotein, a Potential Link between Replication, Inflammation and Neurotransmission - This work identifies new ligands of the nucleoprotein N of SARS-CoV-2 by in silico screening, which used a new model of N, built from an Alphafold model refined by molecular dynamic simulations. The ligands were neuropeptides, such as substance P (1-7) and enkephalin, bound at a large site of the C-terminal or associated with the N-terminal β-sheet. The BA4 and BA5 Omicron variants of N also exhibited a large site as in wt N, and an increased flexibility of the BA5 variant, enabling substance P…

• Elevated Serum Amyloid A Levels Contribute to Increased Platelet Adhesion in COVID-19 Patients - Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients are prone to thrombotic complications that may increase morbidity and mortality. These complications are thought to be driven by endothelial activation and tissue damage promoted by the systemic hyperinflammation associated with COVID-19. However, the exact mechanisms contributing to these complications are still unknown. To identify additional mechanisms contributing to the aberrant clotting observed in COVID-19 patients, we analyzed platelets from…

• The SARS-CoV-2 Delta-Omicron Recombinant Lineage (XD) Exhibits Immune-Escape Properties Similar to the Omicron (BA.1) Variant - Recently, a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 lineage, XD, emerged that harbors a spike gene that is largely derived from the Omicron variant BA.1 in the genetic background of the Delta variant. This finding raised concerns that the recombinant virus might exhibit altered biological properties as compared to the parental viruses and might pose an elevated threat to human health. Here, using pseudotyped particles, we show that ACE2 binding and cell tropism of XD mimics that of BA.1. Further, XD and BA.1…

• Computational Analysis of SAM Analogs as Methyltransferase Inhibitors of nsp16/nsp10 Complex from SARS-CoV-2 - Methyltransferases (MTases) enzymes, responsible for RNA capping into severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are emerging important targets for the design of new anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents. Here, analogs of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), obtained from the bioisosteric substitution of the sulfonium and amino acid groups, were evaluated by rigorous computational modeling techniques such as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations followed by relative binding free analysis against…

• Long Chain N3-PUFA Decreases ACE2 Protein Levels and Prevents SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry - Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a target of interest for both COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease management. Even though lower ACE2 levels may be beneficial in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity, maintaining the ACE1/ACE2 balance is also crucial for cardiovascular health. So far, reports describing conditions capable of altering ACE2 protein levels, especially via dietary components, are limited. In this study, the effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n3-PUFA) on the protein levels of…

• The Recovery of China’s Industrial Parks in the First Wave of COVID-19 - Industrial parks are functional urban areas that carry the capacity to support highly concentrated production activities. The robustness and anti-interference ability of these areas are of great importance to maintaining economic vitality of a country. Focusing on the rate of production recovery (RPR), this paper examines the recovery of 436 major industrial parks in mainland China during the first wave of COVID-19. Leveraging spatio-temporal big data, we measured 14 attributes pertaining to…

• Regression of Lung Cancer in Mice by Intranasal Administration of SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 - This study underlines the importance of SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 in prompting death in cultured non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells and in vivo in lung tumors in mice. Interestingly, we found that recombinant spike S1 treatment at very low doses led to death of human A549 NSCLC cells. On the other hand, boiled recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 remained unable to induce death, suggesting that the induction of cell death in A549 cells was due to native SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 protein. SARS-CoV-2 spike…

From Patent Search