| Title | Venue | Year | Impact | Source |
| 6551 | Single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) using cross hand technique N/A | Minim Invasive Ther Allied Tec | 2009 | | CORD-19 |
| 6552 | Acute Invasive Rhino-Orbital Mucormycosis in a Patient With COVID-19 Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis is a rare, although highly morbid, infection primarily affecting immunosuppressed individuals. The same population is at particularly high risk of complications and mortality in the setting of SARS-CoV-2 infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related acute respiratory distress syndrome. The authors present a case of acute invasive fungal rhino-orbital mucormycosis in a patient with COVID-19 and discuss the prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of fungal coinfections in COVID-19. Prompt recognition, initiation of therapy, and consideration of the challenges of rapidly evolving COVID-19 therapy guidelines are important for improving patient survival. | Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6553 | Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: A Computational Drug Repurposing Study BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) induced Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has currently become pandemic worldwide. Though drugs like remdesivir, favipiravir, and dexamethasone found beneficial for COVID-19 management, they have limitations clinically, and vaccine development takes a long time. The researchers have reported key proteins which could act as druggable targets. Among them, the major protease M(pro) is first published, plays a prominent role in viral replication and an attractive drug-target for drug discovery. Hence, to target M(pro) and inhibit it, we accomplished the virtual screening of US-FDA approved drugs using well-known drug repurposing approach by computer-aided tools. METHODS: The protein M(pro), PDB-ID 6LU7 was imported to Maestro graphical user interphase of Schrödinger software. The US-FDA approved drug structures are imported from DrugBank and docked after preliminary protein and ligand preparation. The drugs are shortlisted based on the docking scores in the Standard Precision method (SP-docking) and then based on the type of molecular interactions they are studied for molecular dynamics simulations. RESULTS: The docking and molecular interactions studies, five drugs emerged as potential hits by forming hydrophilic, hydrophobic, electrostatic interactions. The drugs such as arbutin, terbutaline, barnidipine, tipiracil and aprepitant identified as potential hits. Among the drugs, tipiracil and aprepitant interacted with the M(pro) consistently, and they turned out to be most promising. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the possible exploration for drug repurposing using computer-aided docking tools and the potential roles of tipiracil and aprepitant, which can be explored further in the treatment of COVID-19. | Arch Med Res | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6554 | Two Different Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE) Risks for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) disease severity and stages varies from asymptomatic, mild flu-like symptoms, moderate, severe, critical, and chronic disease. COVID-19 disease progression include lymphopenia, elevated proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, accumulation of macrophages and neutrophils in lungs, immune dysregulation, cytokine storms, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), etc. Development of vaccines to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and other coronavirus has been difficult to create due to vaccine induced enhanced disease responses in animal models. Multiple betacoronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 expand cellular tropism by infecting some phagocytic cells (immature macrophages and dendritic cells) via antibody bound Fc receptor uptake of virus. Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) may be involved in the clinical observation of increased severity of symptoms associated with early high levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patients. Infants with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 may also have ADE caused by maternally acquired SARS-CoV-2 antibodies bound to mast cells. ADE risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 has implications for COVID-19 and MIS-C treatments, B-cell vaccines, SARS-CoV-2 antibody therapy, and convalescent plasma therapy for patients. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies bound to mast cells may be involved in MIS-C and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A) following initial COVID-19 infection. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies bound to Fc receptors on macrophages and mast cells may represent two different mechanisms for ADE in patients. These two different ADE risks have possible implications for SARS-CoV-2 B-cell vaccines for subsets of populations based on age, cross-reactive antibodies, variabilities in antibody levels over time, and pregnancy. These models place increased emphasis on the importance of developing safe SARS-CoV-2 T cell vaccines that are not dependent upon antibodies. | Front Immunol | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6555 | Healthcare Workers Emotions, Perceived Stressors and Coping Strategies During a MERS-CoV Outbreak N/A | Clin Med Res | 2016 | | CORD-19 |
| 6556 | A minimal common outcome measure set for COVID-19 clinical research Clinical research is necessary for an effective response to an emerging infectious disease outbreak. However, research efforts are often hastily organised and done using various research tools, with the result that pooling data across studies is challenging. In response to the needs of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 outbreak, the Clinical Characterisation and Management Working Group of the WHO Research and Development Blueprint programme, the International Forum for Acute Care Trialists, and the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium have developed a minimum set of common outcome measures for studies of COVID-19. This set includes three elements: a measure of viral burden (quantitative PCR or cycle threshold), a measure of patient survival (mortality at hospital discharge or at 60 days), and a measure of patient progression through the health-care system by use of the WHO Clinical Progression Scale, which reflects patient trajectory and resource use over the course of clinical illness. We urge investigators to include these key data elements in ongoing and future studies to expedite the pooling of data during this immediate threat, and to hone a tool for future needs. | Lancet Infect Dis | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6557 | COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine T-cell epitope prediction analysis based on distributions of HLA class I loci (HLA-A, -B, -C) across global populations T cell immunity, such as CD4 and/or CD8 T cell responses, plays a vital role in controlling the virus infection and pathological damage. Several studies have reported SARS-CoV-2 proteins could serve as ideal vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 infection by activating the T cell responses. In the current study, based on the SARS-CoV-2 sequence and distribution of host human leukocyte antigen (HLA), we predicted the possible epitopes for the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infections. Firstly, the current study retrieved the SARS-CoV-2 S and N protein sequences from the NCBI Database. Then, using the Immune Epitope Database Analysis Resource, we predicted the CTL epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 S and N proteins according to worldwide frequency distributions of HLA-A, -B, and -C alleles (>1%). Our results predicted 90 and 106 epitopes of N and S proteins, respectively. Epitope cluster analysis showed 16 and 34 respective clusters of SARS-CoV-2 N and S proteins, which covered 95.91% and 96.14% of the global population, respectively. After epitope conservancy analysis, 8 N protein epitopes and 6 S protein epitopes showed conservancy within two SARS-CoV-2 types. Of these 14 epitopes, 13 could cover SARS coronavirus and Bat SARS-like coronavirus. The remaining epitope (KWPWYIWLGF(1211-1220)) could cover MERS coronavirus. Finally, the 14-epitope combination could vaccinate 89.60% of all individuals worldwide. Our results propose single or combined CTL epitopes predicted in the current study as candidates for vaccines to effectively control SARS-CoV-2 infection and development. | Hum Vaccin Immunother | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6558 | Role of protease in mouse hepatitis virus induced cell fusion Studies with a cold-sensitive mutant isolated from a persistent infection Abstract A plaque mutant was isolated from Kirsten mouse sarcoma virus-transformed BALB/c cells persistently infected with a mouse hepatitis virus strain MHV-S. While the wild type produced large plaques consisting of fused cells (fusion type) both at 39 and at 32°, the mutant produced small fusion-type plaques at 39°, and at 32°, only after longer incubation, plaques consisting of round dead cells (non-fusion type) were obtained. The mutant grew equally well at both temperatures. Thus, the mutant was cold sensitive in inducing cell fusion, but not in replication or in ultimate cell killing. The cold sensitivity was overcome by the addition of trypsin (0.04 to 0.05%) to the culture medium, but not by treating the virions with trypsin. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the virion proteins failed to detect differences between the wild type and the mutant. In intracellular viral proteins immunoprecipitated with anti-MHV-S rabbit serum, a protein of 68,000 daltons (68K protein) which was present in the wild type-infected cells was absent in the mutant-infected cells, but trypsin treatment or incubation at 39° of the mutant-infected cells failed to induce the 68K protein. After six to seven undiluted passages, the mutant segregated varieties of mutants which were partially or totally reverted to the wild type in phenotype, and also those whose cell fusion induction was absent even at 39°. All these mutants failed to induce the 68K protein in the infected cells. Thus, there was no linkage between the presence of 68K protein and the fusion induction. Trypsin treatment of the infected cells enabled MHV-S to form fusion plaques on otherwise resistant cells, and MHV-2, a producer of non-fusion-type plaques, to form fusion-type plaques. Protease appears to play an important role in MHV-induced cell fusion in general. | Virology | 1981 | | CORD-19 |
| 6559 | Low SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and high vaccine induced immunity among German healthcare workers at the end of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic In this longitudinal cohort study, we assessed the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroconversion rates and analyzed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine-induced immunity of 872 hospital workers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf between May 11 and May 31, 2021. The overall seroprevalence of anti–NC–SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 4.7% (n = 41), indicating low SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and persistent effectiveness of hospital-wide infection control interventions during the second and third wave of the pandemic. In total, 92.7% (n = 808) out of the entire study cohort, 98.2% (n = 325) of those who had been vaccinated once and all 393 individuals who had been vaccinated twice had detectable anti-S1-RBD-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers and no significant differences in vaccine-induced immune response were detected between male and female individuals and between different age groups. Vaccinated study participants with detectable anti–NC–SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers (n = 30) developed generally higher anti-S1-RBD-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers compared to anti–NC–SARS-CoV-2 negative individuals (n = 694) (median titer: 7812 vs. 345 BAU/ml, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, study participants who received heterologous vaccination with AZD1222 followed by an mRNA vaccine showed markedly higher anti-S1-RBD-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers than individuals who received two doses of an mRNA vaccine or two doses of AZD1222 (median titer: AZD1222/AZD1222: 1069 BAU/ml, mRNA/mRNA: 1388 BAU/ml, AZD1222/mRNA: 9450 BAU/ml; p < 0.0001). Our results indicate that infection control interventions were generally effective in preventing nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and that COVID-19 vaccines can elicit strong humoral responses in the majority of a real-world cohort of hospital workers. | Int J Hyg Environ Health | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6560 | A Global Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Urological Services BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on urological services in different geographical areas is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the global impact of COVID-19 on urological providers and the provision of urological patient care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted from March 30, 2020 to April 7, 2020. A 55-item questionnaire was developed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on various aspects of urological services. Target respondents were practising urologists, urology trainees, and urology nurses/advanced practice providers. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The primary outcome was the degree of reduction in urological services, which was further stratified by the geographical location, degree of outbreak, and nature and urgency of urological conditions. The secondary outcome was the duration of delay in urological services. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 1004 participants responded to our survey, and they were mostly based in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Worldwide, 41% of the respondents reported that their hospital staff members had been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, 27% reported personnel shortage, and 26% had to be deployed to take care of COVID-19 patients. Globally, only 33% of the respondents felt that they were given adequate personal protective equipment, and many providers expressed fear of going to work (47%). It was of concerning that 13% of the respondents were advised not to wear a surgical face mask for the fear of scaring their patients, and 21% of the respondents were advised not to discuss COVID-19 issues or concerns on media. COVID-19 had a global impact on the cut-down of urological services, including outpatient clinic appointments, outpatient investigations and procedures, and urological surgeries. The degree of cut-down of urological services increased with the degree of COVID-19 outbreak. On average, 28% of outpatient clinics, 30% of outpatient investigations and procedures, and 31% of urological surgeries had a delay of >8 wk. Urological services for benign conditions were more affected than those for malignant conditions. Finally, 47% of the respondents believed that the accumulated workload could be dealt with in a timely manner after the COVID-19 outbreak, but 50% thought the postponement of urological services would affect the treatment and survival outcomes of their patients. One of the limitations of this study is that Africa, Australia, and New Zealand were under-represented. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 had a profound global impact on urological care and urology providers. The degree of cut-down of urological services increased with the degree of COVID-19 outbreak and was greater for benign than for malignant conditions. One-fourth of urological providers were deployed to assist with COVID-19 care. Many providers reported insufficient personal protective equipment and support from hospital administration. PATIENT SUMMARY: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has led to significant delay in outpatient care and surgery in urology, particularly in regions with the most COVID-19 cases. A considerable proportion of urology health care professionals have been deployed to assist in COVID-19 care, despite the perception of insufficient training and protective equipment. | Eur Urol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6561 | Racial Disparity of COVID-19 in African American Communities The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled unsettling disparities in the outcome of the disease among African Americans. These disparities are not new, but are rooted in structural inequities that must be addressed to adequately care for communities of color. We describe the historical context of these structural inequities, their impact on the progression of COVID-19 in the African American (Black) community, and suggest a multifaceted approach to addressing these healthcare disparities. Of note, terminology from survey data cited for this article varied from Blacks, African Americans or both; for consistency, we use African Americans throughout. | J Infect Dis | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6562 | Optimal treatment of an SIR epidemic model with time delay N/A | Biosystems | 2009 | | CORD-19 |
| 6563 | A longitudinal observation of general psychopathology before the COVID-19 outbreak and during lockdown in Italy Objective Italy has been largely involved by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aimed at evaluating the impact of the lockdown during the pandemic on mental health adopting both a longitudinal and a cross-sectional design. Accordingly, the study investigated general psychopathology a few weeks before the COVID-19 outbreak (T0) and during lockdown (T1), and the associations between lockdown-related environmental conditions, self-perceived worsening in daily living and psychopathology. Methods 130 subjects (aged 18–60 years) were included in the longitudinal design, and an additional subsample of 541 subjects was recruited for the in-lockdown evaluation. Socio-demographic data and the Brief Symptom Inventory were collected both at T0 and T1. Moreover, at T1 an online survey was administered for the evaluation of lockdown-related environmental conditions and self-perceived variations in daily living induced by quarantine, along with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Results Longitudinal analysis showed that phobic anxiety and depressive symptoms increased at T1 as compared with T0, whereas interpersonal sensitivity and paranoid ideation decreased. Pre-existing general psychopathology predicted COVID-19-related post-traumatic symptomatology. Cross-sectional analyses underlined that self-perceived deteriorations in various areas of daily living were associated with general and post-traumatic psychopathology, and with several lockdown-related conditions, especially economic damage. Conclusion The present study underlined a different trend of increased internalizing and decreased interpersonal symptoms during COVID-19 quarantine in Italy. Furthermore, the results showed that subjects with pre-existing psychopathology and those reporting economic damage during the pandemic were more likely to develop deterioration of their mental health. | J Psychosom Res | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6564 | Burnout and its influencing factors between frontline nurses and nurses from other wards during the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease -COVID-19- in Iran OBJECTIVE. To assess burnout level during an outbreak of COVID-19 and to identify influencing factors between frontline nurses and nurses from other wards. METHODS. This cross-sectional study makes comparison between two groups of nurses including frontline (exposure group) and other nurses working in usual wards (non-exposure group) in Torbat Heydariyeh city, Iran. Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), Job stress questionnaire (JSQ), and questionnaires of hospital resources, family support, and measuring the fear of COVID-19 were used as research instruments. RESULTS. The scores of job stress and burnout in the exposure group with COVID-19 infection were significantly higher than in the non-exposure group (p=0.006 and p=0.002, respectively). Although, in univariate linear regression, employment status (p=0.047), experience in taking care of patient confirmed or suspected with COVID-19 infection (p=0.006), hospital resources (p=0.047), and job stress (p<0.001) were considered as significant risk factors for COVID-19-related burnout. In multivariate regression analysis, job stress (p=0.031, β=0.308) was considered as an only factor that has a significant relationship with COVID-19-related burnout. CONCLUSION. The burnout level in frontline nurses was higher than other nurses, the most important influencing factor was the job stress. Regarding to negative effects of burnout on both physical and mental health nurses, it is suggested that a strong strategy be considered to reduce nurses' burnout to be able to control ongoing and future outbreaks successfully. | Invest Educ Enferm | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6565 | Protein structure analysis of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor: from conformational changes to novel neutralizing antibodies The recent severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread so much rapidly and severely to induce World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a state of emergency over the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. While several countries have chosen the almost complete lock-down for slowing down SARS-CoV-2 spread, the scientific community is called to respond to the devastating outbreak by identifying new tools for diagnosis and treatment of the dangerous COVID-19. With this aim, we performed an in silico comparative modeling analysis, which allows gaining new insights into the main conformational changes occurring in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, at the level of the receptor-binding domain (RBD), along interactions with human cells angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, that favor human cell invasion. Furthermore, our analysis provides (1) an ideal pipeline to identify already characterized antibodies that might target SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD, aiming to prevent interactions with the human ACE2, and (2) instructions for building new possible neutralizing antibodies, according to chemical/physical space restraints and complementary determining regions (CDR) mutagenesis of the identified existing antibodies. The proposed antibodies show in silico high affinity for SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and can be used as reference antibodies also for building new high-affinity antibodies against present and future coronaviruses able to invade human cells through interactions of their spike proteins with the human ACE2. More in general, our analysis provides indications for the set-up of the right biological molecular context for investigating spike RBD–ACE2 interactions for the development of new vaccines, diagnostic kits, and other treatments based on the targeting of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00018-020-03580-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. | Cell Mol Life Sci | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6566 | SARS-CoV-2 specific serological pattern in healthcare workers of an Italian COVID-19 forefront hospital BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The immunopathogenesis of the infection is currently unknown. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at highest risk of infection and disease. Aim of the study was to assess the sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in an Italian cohort of HCWs exposed to COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay (BioMedomics IgM-IgG Combined Antibody Rapid Test) was adopted to assess the prevalence of IgG and IgM against SARS-CoV-2. It was ethically approved (“Milano Area 1” Ethical Committee prot. n. 2020/ST/057). RESULTS: A total of 202 individuals (median age 45 years; 34.7% males) were retrospectively recruited in an Italian hospital (Milan, Italy). The percentage (95% CI) of recruited individuals with IgM and IgG were 14.4% (9.6–19.2%) and 7.4% (3.8–11.0%), respectively. IgM were more frequently found in males (24.3%), and in individuals aged 20–29 (25.9%) and 60–69 (30.4%) years. No relationship was found between exposure to COVID-19 patients and IgM and IgG positivity. CONCLUSIONS: The present study did show a low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgM in Italian HCWs. New studies are needed to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in HCWs exposed to COVID-19 patients, as well the role of neutralizing antibodies. | BMC Pulm Med | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6567 | SARS-CoV-2 endothelial infection causes COVID-19 chilblains: histopathological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of seven pediatric cases BACKGROUND: Chilblains (COVID toes) are being seen with increasing frequency in children and young adults during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Detailed histopathological descriptions of COVID‐19 chilblains have not been reported, and causality of SARS‐CoV‐2 has not been established yet. OBJECTIVE: To describe histopathological features of Covid‐19 chilblains and explore the presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in the tissue. METHODS: We examined skin biopsies from 7 paediatric patients presenting with chilblains during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Immunohistochemistry for SARS‐CoV‐2 was performed in all cases and electron microscopy in one. RESULTS: Histopathology showed variable degrees of lymphocytic vasculitis ranging from endothelial swelling and endothelialitis to fibrinoid necrosis and thrombosis. Purpura, superficial and deep perivascular lymphocytic inflammation with perieccrine accentuation, oedema, and mild vacuolar interface damage were also seen. SARS‐CoV‐2 immunohistochemistry was positive in endothelial cells and epithelial cells of eccrine glands. Coronavirus particles were found in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells on electron microscopy. CONCLUSIONS: Although the clinical and histopathological features were similar to other forms of chilblains, the presence of viral particles in the endothelium and the histological evidence of vascular damage, support a causal relation of the lesions with SARS‐CoV‐2. Endothelial damage induced by the virus could be the key mechanism in the pathogenesis of COVID‐19 chilblains and perhaps also in a group of patients severely affected by COVID‐19 presenting with features of microangiopathic damage. | Br J Dermatol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6568 | Investigation of a COVID-19 outbreak in Germany resulting from a single travel-associated primary case: a case series BACKGROUND: In December, 2019, the newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China, causing COVID-19, a respiratory disease presenting with fever, cough, and often pneumonia. WHO has set the strategic objective to interrupt spread of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. An outbreak in Bavaria, Germany, starting at the end of January, 2020, provided the opportunity to study transmission events, incubation period, and secondary attack rates. METHODS: A case was defined as a person with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR. Case interviews were done to describe timing of onset and nature of symptoms and to identify and classify contacts as high risk (had cumulative face-to-face contact with a confirmed case for ≥15 min, direct contact with secretions or body fluids of a patient with confirmed COVID-19, or, in the case of health-care workers, had worked within 2 m of a patient with confirmed COVID-19 without personal protective equipment) or low risk (all other contacts). High-risk contacts were ordered to stay at home in quarantine for 14 days and were actively followed up and monitored for symptoms, and low-risk contacts were tested upon self-reporting of symptoms. We defined fever and cough as specific symptoms, and defined a prodromal phase as the presence of non-specific symptoms for at least 1 day before the onset of specific symptoms. Whole genome sequencing was used to confirm epidemiological links and clarify transmission events where contact histories were ambiguous; integration with epidemiological data enabled precise reconstruction of exposure events and incubation periods. Secondary attack rates were calculated as the number of cases divided by the number of contacts, using Fisher's exact test for the 95% CIs. FINDINGS: Patient 0 was a Chinese resident who visited Germany for professional reasons. 16 subsequent cases, often with mild and non-specific symptoms, emerged in four transmission generations. Signature mutations in the viral genome occurred upon foundation of generation 2, as well as in one case pertaining to generation 4. The median incubation period was 4·0 days (IQR 2·3–4·3) and the median serial interval was 4·0 days (3·0–5·0). Transmission events were likely to have occurred presymptomatically for one case (possibly five more), at the day of symptom onset for four cases (possibly five more), and the remainder after the day of symptom onset or unknown. One or two cases resulted from contact with a case during the prodromal phase. Secondary attack rates were 75·0% (95% CI 19·0–99·0; three of four people) among members of a household cluster in common isolation, 10·0% (1·2–32·0; two of 20) among household contacts only together until isolation of the patient, and 5·1% (2·6–8·9; 11 of 217) among non-household, high-risk contacts. INTERPRETATION: Although patients in our study presented with predominately mild, non-specific symptoms, infectiousness before or on the day of symptom onset was substantial. Additionally, the incubation period was often very short and false-negative tests occurred. These results suggest that although the outbreak was controlled, successful long-term and global containment of COVID-19 could be difficult to achieve. FUNDING: All authors are employed and all expenses covered by governmental, federal state, or other publicly funded institutions. | Lancet Infect Dis | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6569 | Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infections at a testing site in Berlin, Germany, March and April 2020-a cross-sectional study OBJECTIVE: In Berlin, the first public SARS-CoV-2 testing site started one day after the first case in the city occured. We describe epidemiological and clinical characteristics and aim at identifying risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 detection during the first six weeks of operation. METHODS: Testing followed national recommendations, but was also based on the physician´s discretion. We related patient characteristics to SARS-CoV-2 test positivity for exploratory analyses using a cross-sectional, observational study design. RESULTS: Between March 3 and April 13, 2020, 5179 patients attended the site (median age 34 years; IQR 26-47 years). The median time since disease onset was 4 days (IQR 2-7 days). Among 4333 patients tested, 333 (7.7%) were positive. Test positivity increased up to 10.3% (96/929) during the first three weeks and then declined, paralleling Germany’s lock-down and the course of the epidemic in Berlin. Strict adherence to testing guidelines resulted in 10.4% (262/2530) test positivity, compared to 3.9% (71/1803) among patients tested for other indications. A nightclub was a transmission hotspot; 27.7% (26/94) of one night’s visitors were found positive. Smell and/or taste dysfunction indicated COVID-19 with 85.6% specificity (95%CI 82.1-88.1%). Some 4% (14/333) of those infected were asymptomatic. Risk factors for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection were recent contact to a positive case (second week after contact, OR 3.42; 95%CI 2.48-4.71), travel to regions of high pandemic activity (e.g. Austria, OR 4.16; 95%CI 2.48-6.99), recent onset of symptoms (second week, OR 3.61; 95%CI 1.87-6.98), and an impaired sense of smell/taste (4.08; 95%CI 2.36-7.03). CONCLUSIONS: In this young population, early-onset presentation of COVID-19 resembled flu-like symptoms, except for smell and/or taste dysfunction. Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 detection were return from regions with high incidence and contact to confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases, particularly when tests were administered within the first two weeks after contact and/or onset of symptoms. | Clin Microbiol Infect | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6570 | Immunogenicity and efficacy of heterologous ChAdOx1-BNT162b2 vaccination N/A | Nature | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6571 | Multilevel influences on resilient healthcare in six countries: an international comparative study protocol INTRODUCTION: Resilient healthcare (RHC) is an emerging area of theory and applied research to understand how healthcare organisations cope with the dynamic, variable and demanding environments in which they operate, based on insights from complexity and systems theory. Understanding adaptive capacity has been a focus of RHC studies. Previous studies clearly show why adaptations are necessary and document the successful adaptive actions taken by clinicians. To our knowledge, however, no studies have thus far compared RHC across different teams and countries. There are gaps in the research knowledge related to the multilevel nature of resilience across healthcare systems and the team-based nature of adaptive capacity. This cross-country comparative study therefore aims to add knowledge of how resilience is enabled in diverse healthcare systems by examining adaptive capacity in hospital teams in six countries. The study will identify how team, organisational and national healthcare system factors support or hinder the ability of teams to adapt to variability and change. Findings from this study are anticipated to provide insights to inform the design of RHC systems by considering how macro-level and meso-level structures support adaptive capacity at the micro-level, and to develop guidance for organisations and policymakers. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study will employ a multiple comparative case study design of teams nested within hospitals, in turn embedded within six countries: Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. The design will be based on the Adaptive Teams Framework placing adaptive teams at the centre of the healthcare system with layers of environmental, organisational and system level factors shaping adaptive capacity. In each of the six countries, a focused mapping of the macro-level features of the healthcare system will be undertaken by using documentary sources and interviews with key informants operating at the macro-level. A sampling framework will be developed to select two hospitals in each country to ensure variability based on size, location and teaching status. Four teams will be selected in each hospital—one each of a structural, hybrid, responsive and coordinating team. A total of eight teams will be studied in each country, creating a total sample of 48 teams. Data collection methods will be observations, interviews and document analysis. Within-case analysis will be conducted according to a standardised template using a combination of deductive and inductive qualitative coding, and cross-case analysis will be conducted drawing on the Qualitative Comparative Analysis framework. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The overall Resilience in Healthcare research programme of which this study is a part has been granted ethical approval by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (Ref. No. 8643334 and Ref. No. 478838). Ethical approval will also be sought in each country involved in the study according to their respective regulatory procedures. Country-specific reports of study outcomes will be produced for dissemination online. A collection of case study summaries will be made freely available, translated into multiple languages. Brief policy communications will be produced to inform policymakers and regulators about the study results and to facilitate translation into practice. Academic dissemination will occur through publication in journals specialising in health services research. Findings will be presented at academic, policy and practitioner conferences, including the annual RHC Network meeting and other healthcare quality and safety conferences. Presentations at practitioner and academic conferences will include workshops to translate the findings into practice and influence quality and safety programmes internationally. | BMJ Open | 2020 | | CORD-19 |
| 6572 | Hypercoagulopathy and Adipose Tissue Exacerbated Inflammation May Explain Higher Mortality in COVID-19 Patients With Obesity COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is characterized by pneumonia, lymphopenia, exhausted lymphocytes and a cytokine storm. Several reports from around the world have identified obesity and severe obesity as one of the strongest risk factors for COVID-19 hospitalization and mechanical ventilation. Moreover, countries with greater obesity prevalence have a higher morbidity and mortality risk of developing serious outcomes from COVID-19. The understanding of how this increased susceptibility of the people with obesity to develop severe forms of the SARS-CoV-2 infection occurs is crucial for implementing appropriate public health and therapeutic strategies to avoid COVID-19 severe symptoms and complications in people living with obesity. We hypothesize here that increased ACE2 expression in adipose tissue displayed by people with obesity may increase SARS-CoV-2 infection and accessibility to this tissue. Individuals with obesity have increased white adipose tissue, which may act as a reservoir for a more extensive viral spread with increased shedding, immune activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine amplification. Here we discuss how obesity is related to a pro-inflammatory and metabolic dysregulation, increased SARS-CoV-2 host cell entry in adipose tissue and induction of hypercoagulopathy, leading people with obesity to develop severe forms of COVID-19 and also death. Taken together, it may be crucial to better explore the role of visceral adipose tissue in the inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and investigate the potential therapeutic effect of using specific target anti-inflammatories (canakinumab or anakinra for IL-1β inhibition; anti-IL-6 antibodies for IL-6 inhibition), anticoagulant or anti-diabetic drugs in COVID-19 treatment of people with obesity. Defining the immunopathological changes in COVID-19 patients with obesity can provide prominent targets for drug discovery and clinical management improvement. | Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6573 | Persuasive System Design Principles and Behavior Change Techniques to Stimulate Motivation and Adherence in Electronic Health Interventions to Support Weight Loss Maintenance: Scoping Review N/A | J Med Internet Res | 2019 | | CORD-19 |
| 6574 | Subphenotyping Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Patients with COVID-19: Consequences for Ventilator Management | Ann Am Thorac Soc | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6575 | Fluorescent antibody test for rapid diagnosis of coronaviral enteritis of turkeys (bluecomb) N/A | Am J Vet Res | 1975 | | CORD-19 |
| 6576 | Death and contagious infectious diseases: Impact of the COVID-19 virus on stock market returns This study investigates whether contagious infectious diseases affect stock market outcomes. As a natural experiment, we use panel data regression analysis to measure the effect of the COVID-19 virus, which is a contagious infectious disease, on the Chinese stock market. The findings indicate that both the daily growth in total confirmed cases and in total cases of death caused by COVID-19 have significant negative effects on stock returns across all companies. | J Behav Exp Finance | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6577 | Acceptance of seasonal influenza vaccination and associated factors among pregnant women in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in China: a multi-center cross-sectional study based on health belief model BACKGROUND: Seasonal influenza can circulate in parallel with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in winter. In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of co-infection and the burden it poses on healthcare system calls for timely influenza vaccination among pregnant women, who are the priority population recommended for vaccination. We aimed to evaluate the acceptance of influenza vaccination and associated factors among pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic, provide evidence to improve influenza vaccination among pregnant women, help reduce the risk of infection and alleviate the burden of healthcare system for co-infected patients. METHODS: We conducted a multi-center cross-sectional study among pregnant women in China. Sociodemographic characteristics, health status, knowledge on influenza, attitude towards vaccination, and health beliefs were collected. Locally weighted scatterplot smoothing regression analysis was used to evaluate the trends in the acceptance of influenza vaccine. Logistic regression was applied to identify factors associated with vaccination acceptance. RESULTS: The total acceptance rate was 76.5% (95%CI: 74.8–78.1%) among 2568 pregnant women enrolled. Only 8.3% of the participants had a history of seasonal influenza vaccination. In the logistic regression model, factors associated with the acceptance of influenza vaccine were western region, history of influenza vaccination, high knowledge of influenza infection and vaccination, high level of perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit, cues to action and low level of perceived barriers. Among 23.5% of the participants who had vaccine hesitancy, 48.0% of them were worried about side effect, 35.6% of them lacked confidence of vaccine safety. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlighted that tailored strategies and publicity for influenza vaccination in the context of COVID-19 pandemic are warranted to reduce pregnant women’s concerns, improve their knowledge, expand vaccine uptake and alleviate pressure for healthcare system. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-021-04224-3. | BMC Pregnancy Childbirth | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6578 | Isolation and identification of infectious bronchitis virus from chickens in Sichuan, China N/A | Avian Dis | 1997 | | CORD-19 |
| 6579 | RNA interference-mediated virus clearance from cells both acutely and chronically infected with the prototypic arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus N/A | J Virol | 2005 | | CORD-19 |
| 6580 | Social Distancing for COVID-19 and Diagnoses of Other Infectious Diseases in Children N/A | Pediatrics | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6581 | Long-term strategies to control COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries: an options overview of community-based, non-pharmacological interventions In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), strict social distancing measures (e.g., nationwide lockdown) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are unsustainable in the long-term due to knock-on socioeconomic and psychological effects. However, an optimal epidemiology-focused strategy for ‘safe-reopening’ (i.e., balancing between the economic and health consequences) remain unclear, particularly given the suboptimal disease surveillance and diagnostic infrastructure in these settings. As the lockdown is now being relaxed in many LMICs, in this paper, we have (1) conducted an epidemiology-based “options appraisal” of various available non-pharmacological intervention options that can be employed to safely lift the lockdowns (namely, sustained mitigation, zonal lockdown and rolling lockdown strategies), and (2) propose suitable application, pre-requisites, and inherent limitations for each measure. Among these, a sustained mitigation-only approach (adopted in many high-income countries) may not be feasible in most LMIC settings given the absence of nationwide population surveillance, generalised testing, contact tracing and critical care infrastructure needed to tackle the likely resurgence of infections. By contrast, zonal or local lockdowns may be suitable for some countries where systematic identification of new outbreak clusters in real-time would be feasible. This requires a generalised testing and surveillance structure, and a well-thought out (and executed) zone management plan. Finally, an intermittent, rolling lockdown strategy has recently been suggested by the World Health Organization as a potential strategy to get the epidemic under control in some LMI settings, where generalised mitigation and zonal containment is unfeasible. This strategy, however, needs to be carefully considered for economic costs and necessary supply chain reforms. In conclusion, while we propose three community-based, non-pharmacological options for LMICs, a suitable measure should be context-specific and based on: (1) epidemiological considerations, (2) social and economic costs, (3) existing health systems capabilities and (4) future-proof plans to implement and sustain the strategy. | Eur J Epidemiol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6582 | Activation of AP-1 signal transduction pathway by SARS coronavirus nucleocapsid protein In March 2003, a novel coronavirus was isolated from patients exhibiting atypical pneumonia and subsequently proven to be the causative agent of the disease now referred to as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The complete genome of the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has since been sequenced. The SARS-CoV nucleocapsid (SARS-CoV N) shares little homology with other members of the coronavirus family. To determine if the N protein is involved in the regulation of cellular signal transduction, an ELISA-based assay on transcription factors was used. We found that the amount of transcription factors binding to promoter sequences of c-Fos, ATF2, CREB-1, and FosB was increased by the expression of SARS-CoV N. Since these factors are related to AP-1 signal transduction pathway, we investigated whether the AP-1 pathway was activated by SARS-CoV N protein using the PathDetect system. The results demonstrated that the expression of N protein, not the membrane protein (M), activated AP-1 pathway. We also found that SARS-CoV N protein does not activate NF-κB pathway, demonstrating that activation of important cellular pathways by SAS-CoV N protein is selective. Thus our data for the first time indicate that SARS-CoV has encoded a strategy to regulate cellular signaling process. | Biochem Biophys Res Commun | 2003 | | CORD-19 |
| 6583 | A single dose of self-transcribing and replicating RNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine produces protective adaptive immunity in mice A self-transcribing and replicating RNA (STARR)-based vaccine (LUNAR-COV19) has been developed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. The vaccine encodes an alphavirus-based replicon and the SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike glycoprotein. Translation of the replicon produces a replicase complex that amplifies and prolongs SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein expression. A single prime vaccination in mice led to robust antibody responses, with neutralizing antibody titers increasing up to day 60. Activation of cell-mediated immunity produced a strong viral antigen-specific CD8(+) T lymphocyte response. Assaying for intracellular cytokine staining for interferon (IFN)γ and interleukin-4 (IL-4)-positive CD4(+) T helper (Th) lymphocytes as well as anti-spike glycoprotein immunoglobulin G (IgG)2a/IgG1 ratios supported a strong Th1-dominant immune response. Finally, single LUNAR-COV19 vaccination at both 2 μg and 10 μg doses completely protected human ACE2 transgenic mice from both mortality and even measurable infection following wild-type SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Our findings collectively suggest the potential of LUNAR-COV19 as a single-dose vaccine. | Mol Ther | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6584 | Global lockdown: An effective safeguard in responding to the threat of COVID-19 RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES: The recent outbreak of coronavirus (COVID‐19) has infected around 1 560 000 individuals till 10 April 2020, which has resulted in 95 000 deaths globally. While no vaccine or anti‐viral drugs for COVID‐19 are available, lockdown acts as a protective public health measures to reduce human interaction and lower transmission. The study aims to explore the impact of delayed planning or lack of planning for the lockdown and inadequate implementation of the lockdown, on the transmission rate of COVID‐19. METHOD: Epidemiological data on the incidence and mortality of COVID‐19 cases as reported by public health authorities were accessed from six countries based on total number of infected cases, namely, United States and Italy (more than 100 000 cases); United Kingdom, and France (50 000‐100 000 cases), and India and Russia (6000‐10 000 cases). The Bayesian inferential technique was used to observe the changes (three points) in pattern of number of cases on different duration of exposure (in days) in these selected countries 1 month after World Health Organization (WHO) declaration about COVID‐19 as a global pandemic. RESULTS: On comparing the pattern of transmission rates observed in these six countries at posterior estimated change points, it is found that partial implementation of lockdown (in the United States), delayed planning in lockdown (Russia, United Kingdom, and France), and inadequate implementation of the lockdown (in India and Italy) were responsible to the spread of infections. CONCLUSIONS: In order to control the spreading of COVID‐19, like other national and international laws, lockdown must be implemented and enforced. It is suggested that on‐time or adequate implementation of lockdown is a step towards social distancing and to control the spread of this pandemic. | J Eval Clin Pract | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6585 | Kinetics of Cytokine mRNA Expression in the Central Nervous System Following Lethal and Nonlethal Coronavirus induced Acute Encephalomyelitis Abstract The potential role(s) of cytokines in the reduction of infectious virus and persistent viral infection in the central nervous system was examined by determining the kinetics of cytokine mRNA expression following infection with the neurotropic JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus. Mice were infected with an antibody escape variant which produces a nonlethal encephalomyelitis and compared to a clonal virus population which produces a fulminant fatal encephalomyelitis. Infection with both viruses induced the accumulation of mRNAs associated with Th1- and Th2-type cytokines, including IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-10. Peak mRNA accumulations were coincident with the clearance of virus and there was no obvious differences between lethally and nonlethally infected mice. TNF-α mRNA was induced more rapidly in lethally infected mice compared to mice undergoing a nonfatal encephalomyelitis. Rapid transient increases in the mRNAs encoding IL-12, iNOS, IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-6 occurred following infection. Nonlethal infections were associated with increased IL-12, IL-1β, and earlier expression of IL-6, while lethal infections were associated with increased iNOS and IL-1α mRNA. These data suggest a rapid but differential response within the central nervous system cells to infection by different JHMV variants. However, neither the accumulation nor kinetics of induction provide evidence to distinguish lethal infections from nonlethal infections leading to a persistent infection. Accumulation of both Th1 and Th2 cytokines in the central nervous system of JHMV-infected mice is consistent with the participation of both cytokines and cell immune effectors during resolution of acute viral-induced encephalomyelitis. | Virology | 1997 | | CORD-19 |
| 6586 | CT Scans Obtained for Nonpulmonary Indications: Associated Respiratory Findings of COVID-19 BACKGROUND: Atypical manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are being encountered as the pandemic unfolds, leading to non–chest CT scans that may uncover unsuspected pulmonary disease. PURPOSE: To investigate patients with primary nonrespiratory symptoms who underwent CT of the abdomen or pelvis or CT of the cervical spine or neck with unsuspected findings highly suspicious for pulmonary COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study from March 10, 2020, to April 6, 2020, involved three institutions, two in a region considered a hot spot (area of high prevalence) for COVID-19. Patients without known COVID-19 were included who presented to the emergency department (ED) with primary nonrespiratory (gastrointestinal or neurologic) symptoms, had lung parenchymal findings suspicious for COVID-19 at non–chest CT but not concurrent chest CT, and underwent COVID-19 testing in the ED. Group 1 patients had reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results obtained before CT scan reading (COVID-19 suspected on presentation); group 2 had RT-PCR results obtained after CT scans were read (COVID-19 not suspected). Presentation and imaging findings were compared, and outcomes were evaluated. Descriptive statistics and Fisher exact tests were used for analysis. RESULTS: Group 1 comprised 62 patients (31 men, 31 women; mean age, 67 years ±17 [standard deviation]), and group 2 comprised 57 patients (28 men, 29 women; mean age, 63 years ± 16). Cough and fever were more common in group 1 (37 of 62 [60%] and 29 of 62 [47%], respectively) than in group 2 (nine of 57 [16%] and 12 of 57 [21%], respectively), with no significant difference in the remaining symptoms. There were 101 CT scans of the abdomen or pelvis and 18 CT scans of the cervical spine or neck. In group 1, non–chest CT findings provided the initial evidence of COVID-19–related pneumonia in 32 of 62 (52%) patients. In group 2, the evidence was found in 44 of 57 (77%) patients. Overall, the most common CT findings were ground-glass opacity (114 of 119, 96%) and consolidation (47 of 119, 40%). Major interventions (vasopressor medication or intubation) were required for 29 of 119 (24%) patients, and 27 of 119 (23%) died. Patients who underwent CT of the cervical spine or neck had worse outcomes than those who underwent abdominal or pelvic CT (P = .01). CONCLUSION: In a substantial percentage of patients with primary nonrespiratory symptoms who underwent non–chest CT, CT provided evidence of coronavirus disease 2019–related pneumonia. © RSNA, 2020 | Radiology | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6587 | Validation of a commercially available SARS-CoV-2 serological immunoassay OBJECTIVES: To validate the diagnostic accuracy of a Euroimmun SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA immunoassay for COVID-19. METHODS: In this unmatched (1:2) case-control validation study, we used sera of 181 laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases and 326 controls collected before SARS-CoV-2 emergence. Diagnostic accuracy of the immunoassay was assessed against a whole spike protein-based recombinant immunofluorescence assay (rIFA) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Discrepant cases between ELISA and rIFA were further tested by pseudo-neutralization assay. RESULTS: COVID-19 patients were more likely to be male and older than controls, and 50.3% were hospitalized. ROC curve analyses indicated that IgG and IgA had high diagnostic accuracies with AUCs of 0.990 (95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: 0.983-0.996) and 0.978 (95%CI: 0.967-0.989), respectively. IgG assays outperformed IgA assays (p=0.01). Taking an assessed 15% inter-assay imprecision into account, an optimized IgG ratio cut-off > 2.5 displayed a 100% specificity (95%CI: 99-100) and a 100% positive predictive value (95%CI: 96-100). A 0.8 cut-off displayed a 94% sensitivity (95%CI: 88-97) and a 97% negative predictive value (95%CI: 95-99). Substituting the upper threshold for the manufacturer’s, improved assay performance, leaving 8.9% of IgG ratios indeterminate between 0.8-2.5. CONCLUSIONS: The Euroimmun assay displays a nearly optimal diagnostic accuracy using IgG against SARS-CoV-2 in patient samples, with no obvious gains from IgA serology. The optimized cut-offs are fit for rule-in and rule-out purposes, allowing determination of whether individuals in our study population have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 or not. IgG serology should however not be considered as a surrogate of protection at this stage. | Clin Microbiol Infect | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6588 | "Picture to puncture": a novel time metric to enhance outcomes in patients transferred for endovascular reperfusion in acute ischemic stroke N/A | Circulation | 2013 | | CORD-19 |
| 6589 | A modified deep convolutional neural network for detecting COVID-19 and pneumonia from chest X-ray images based on the concatenation of Xception and ResNet50V2 In this paper, we have trained several deep convolutional networks with introduced training techniques for classifying X-ray images into three classes: normal, pneumonia, and COVID-19, based on two open-source datasets. Our data contains 180 X-ray images that belong to persons infected with COVID-19, and we attempted to apply methods to achieve the best possible results. In this research, we introduce some training techniques that help the network learn better when we have an unbalanced dataset (fewer cases of COVID-19 along with more cases from other classes). We also propose a neural network that is a concatenation of the Xception and ResNet50V2 networks. This network achieved the best accuracy by utilizing multiple features extracted by two robust networks. For evaluating our network, we have tested it on 11302 images to report the actual accuracy achievable in real circumstances. The average accuracy of the proposed network for detecting COVID-19 cases is 99.50%, and the overall average accuracy for all classes is 91.4%. | Inform Med Unlocked | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6590 | Physical inactivity and cardiovascular disease at the time of COVID-19 | Eur J Prev Cardiol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6591 | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Quasispecies That Include Homologues of Human Isolates Revealed through Whole-Genome Analysis and Virus Cultured from Dromedary Camels in Saudi Arabia Complete Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) genome sequences were obtained from nasal swabs of dromedary camels sampled in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through direct analysis of nucleic acid extracts or following virus isolation in cell culture. Consensus dromedary MERS-CoV genome sequences were the same with either template source and identical to published human MERS-CoV sequences. However, in contrast to individual human cases, where only clonal genomic sequences are reported, detailed population analyses revealed the presence of more than one genomic variant in individual dromedaries. If humans are truly infected only with clonal virus populations, we must entertain a model for interspecies transmission of MERS-CoV wherein only specific genotypes are capable of passing bottleneck selection. | mBio | 2014 | | CORD-19 |
| 6592 | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): challenges in identifying its source and controlling its spread Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a novel human coronavirus that caused outbreaks of a SARS-like illness in the Middle East, is now considered a threat to global public health. This review discusses the challenges in identifying the source of this fatal virus and developing effective and safe anti-MERS-CoV vaccines and therapeutics in order to control its spread and to combat any future pandemic. | Microbes Infect | 2013 | | CORD-19 |
| 6593 | COVID-19 infection: Knowledge, attitude, practices and impact among healthcare workers in a South-Eastern Nigerian state N/A | J Infect Dev Ctries | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6594 | Epistasis at the SARS-CoV-2 Receptor-Binding Domain Interface and the Propitiously Boring Implications for Vaccine Escape At the time of this writing, December 2021, potential emergence of vaccine escape variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a grave global concern. The interface between the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein and the host receptor (ACE2) overlaps the binding site of principal neutralizing antibodies (NAb), limiting the repertoire of viable mutations. Nonetheless, variants with multiple RBD mutations have risen to dominance. Nonadditive, epistatic relationships among RBD mutations are apparent, and assessing the impact of such epistasis on the mutational landscape, particularly the risk of vaccine escape, is crucial. We employed protein structure modeling using Rosetta to compare the effects of all single mutants at the RBD-NAb and RBD-ACE2 interfaces for the wild type and Delta, Gamma, and Omicron variants. Overall, epistasis at the RBD interface appears to be limited, and the effects of most multiple mutations are additive. Epistasis at the Delta variant interface weakly stabilizes NAb interaction relative to ACE2 interaction, whereas in Gamma, epistasis more substantially destabilizes NAb interaction. Despite bearing many more RBD mutations, the epistatic landscape of Omicron closely resembles that of Gamma. Thus, although Omicron poses new risks not observed with Delta, structural constraints on the RBD appear to hamper continued evolution toward more complete vaccine escape. The modest ensemble of mutations relative to the wild type that are currently known to reduce vaccine efficacy is likely to contain the majority of all possible escape mutations for future variants, predicting the continued efficacy of the existing vaccines. | mBio | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6595 | A preliminary assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on environment-A case study of China Abstract The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seriously threatening world public health security. Currently, >200 countries and regions have been affected by the epidemic, with the number of infections and deaths still increasing. As an extreme event, the outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly damaged the global economic growth and caused a certain impact on the environment. This paper takes China as a case study, comprehensively evaluating the dynamic impact of COVID-19 on the environment. The analysis results indicate that the outbreak of COVID-19 improves China's air quality in the short term and significantly contributes to global carbon emission reduction. However, in the long run, there is no evidence that this improvement will continue. When China completely lifts the lockdown and resumes large-scale industrial production, its energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are likely to exceed the level before the event. Moreover, COVID-19 significantly reduces the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the atmosphere. The decline initially occurred near Wuhan and eventually spread to the whole country. The above phenomenon shows that the decreasing economic activities and traffic restrictions directly lead to the changes of China's energy consumption and further prevent the environment from pollution. The results in this study support the fact that strict quarantine measures can not only protect the public from COVID-19, but also exert a positive impact on the environment. These findings can provide a reference for other countries to assess the influence of COVID-19 on the environment. | Sci Total Environ | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6596 | Detection of human coronavirus NL63, human metapneumovirus and respiratory syncytial virus in children with respiratory tract infections in south-west Sweden Two recently detected viruses, human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63), have been associated with acute respiratory tract infections, particularly in young children. This study investigated the frequency of hMPV and HCoV-NL63 infections in Swedish children by screening 221 nasopharyngeal aspirates, collected between November 2003 and May 2005, from 212 children attending the paediatric department of a county hospital in Sweden or submitted from local general practitioners. The samples were originally submitted to be tested for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and were examined retrospectively for hMPV and HCoV-NL63 by RT-PCR. Of the 212 patients, 101 were positive for RSV (48%), 22 (10%) were positive for hMPV, and 12 (6%) were positive for HCoV-NL63. The frequency of HCoV-NL63 infection increased from 1% in 2003–2004 to 10% in 2004–2005. Sequence analysis of parts of the coronavirus genomes showed considerable similarity to the HCoV-NL63 prototype sequence. The study demonstrated that HCoV-NL63 and hMPV occur in south-west Sweden with essentially the same frequency, seasonal distribution and clinical characteristics as have been reported in other countries. | Clin Microbiol Infect | 2006 | | CORD-19 |
| 6597 | Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge We are experiencing a historical moment with an unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 will have a long-term and profound impact on older adults’ health and well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are likely to be one of the most affected health outcomes. Social isolation and loneliness are major risk factors that have been linked with poor physical and mental health status. This paper discusses several approaches that may address the issues of social isolation and loneliness. These approaches include promoting social connection as public health messaging, mobilizing the resources from family members, community-based networks and resources, developing innovative technology-based interventions to improve social connections, and engaging the health care system to begin the process of developing methods to identify social isolation and loneliness in health care settings. | Glob Health Res Policy | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6598 | Are children less susceptible to COVID-19? | J Microbiol Immunol Infect | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6599 | Live Video Adaptations to a Mind-Body Activity Program for Chronic Pain and Cognitive Decline: Protocol for the Virtual Active Brains Study BACKGROUND: Chronic pain (CP) and cognitive decline (CD) are costly, challenging to treat, prevalent among older adults, and worsen each other over time. We are iteratively developing Active Brains-Fitbit (AB-F), a live video program for older adults with CP and CD that teaches mind-body skills and gradual increases in step count. AB-F has demonstrated feasibility; acceptability; and signs of improvement in emotional, physical, and cognitive functions when delivered in person to older adults. OBJECTIVE: We are conducting a feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT) of AB-F versus a time- and dose-matched educational control (health enhancement program [HEP]) in older adults with CP and CD. Here, we describe virtual adaptions to our study protocol, manualized treatments, evaluation plan, and study design in response to feedback from former participants and COVID-19. We will evaluate the feasibility benchmarks and the potential of AB-F to improve physical, emotional, and cognitive functions. METHODS: This is a single-blind pilot RCT. Participants are randomized to AB-F or HEP. Patients are recruited through pain clinic referrals, institutional registries, and flyers. Interested participants are screened for eligibility via telephone and provide electronic informed consent. After randomization, participants are mailed all study documents, including their treatment manual, an ActiGraph accelerometer, and a Fitbit (separate envelope for AB-F only). Both conditions are manualized and delivered over 8 weekly sessions via Zoom. Participants complete self-report and performance-based (6-min walk test and Montreal Cognitive Assessment) outcome measures via Zoom at baseline and post intervention. Primary outcomes are a priori set feasibility (recruitment, quantitative measures, and adherence), acceptability, credibility, expectancy, and satisfaction benchmarks. Secondary outcomes are physical, cognitive, and emotional functions as well as intervention targets (social function, pain intensity, pain-specific coping, and mindfulness). RESULTS: The trial is ongoing. We have recruited 21 participants (10 AB-F and 11 HEP) across 2 rounds. Only 2 participants have withdrawn (1 before baseline and 1 before the first session). All 19 remaining participants have completed the baseline assessment. In the first round, attendance is high (11 out of 12 participants completed all 4 sessions so far), and AB-F participants are adherent to their Fitbit and step goals (5 out of 6 participants). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings are promising for the feasibility of our completely virtual AB-F intervention. However, these findings need to be confirmed at the trial conclusion. This study will answer important questions about the feasibility of delivering a completely virtual mind-body activity program to older adults with comorbid CP and CD, which, to our knowledge, is unprecedented. Details on integrating multiple digital platforms for virtual assessments and intervention delivery will inform treatment development for older adults and those with comorbid CP and CD, which is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04044183; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04044183 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/25351 | JMIR Res Protoc | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 6600 | On the use of corticosteroids for 2019-nCoV pneumonia | Lancet | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
