This version of BIP! Finder aims to ease the exploration of COVID-19-related literature by enabling ranking articles based on various impact metrics.
Last Update: 18 - 01 - 2023 (628506 entries)
Popularity: Citation-based measure reflecting the current impact.
Influence: Citation-based measure reflecting the total impact.
Reader Attention: The current number of Mendeley readers.
Social Media Attention: The number of recent tweets related to this article.
*More details on these impact measures can be found here.
Exceptional score (in top 0.01%).
Substantial score (in top 1%).
Average score (in bottom 99%).
Score not available.
CORD-19 dataset(1) (list of papers)
LitCovid hub(2) (list of papers)
PMC & PubMed (citations)
Mendeley (number of readers)
COVID-19-TweetIDs(3) (tweets)
| Title | Venue | Year | Impact | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6501 | Comparison of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Anxiety and Depression Among People Affected by vs People Unaffected by Quarantine During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Southwestern China BACKGROUND: At the end of 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and spread rapidly to the whole country within 1 month. This new epidemic caused a great mental reaction among the public. This study aimed to assess and compare the prevalence and associated factors of anxiety and depression among the public affected by quarantine and those unaffected during the COVID-19 outbreak in southwestern China in early Feb. 2020. MATERIAL/METHODS: Data were collected using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and the self-rating depression scale (SDS) administered to 1593 respondents aged 18 years and above. The respondents were grouped as ‘affected group’ and ‘unaffected group’ on the basis of whether they or their families/colleagues/classmates/neighbors had been quarantined. RESULTS: Among 1593 participants, the prevalence of anxiety and depression was approximately 8.3% and 14.6%, respectively, and the prevalence in the affected group (12.9%, 22.4%) was significantly higher than that in the unaffected group (6.7%, 11.9%). Lower average household income, lower education level, having a higher self-evaluated level of knowledge, being more worried about being infected, having no psychological support, greater property damage, and lower self-perceived health condition were significant associated with higher scores on the SAS and SDS. People living in Chongqing had higher SAS and SDS scores than those living in Yunnan Province. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of anxiety and depression of the affected group are higher than in the unaffected group during the COVID-19 outbreak in southwestern China in early Feb. 2020. The government should focus more on providing economic and medical support to improve the general population’s mental state. | Med Sci Monit | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6502 | Misinformation of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine hesitancy N/A | Sci Rep | 2022 | LitCov | |
| 6503 | Psychological Distress and Loneliness Reported by US Adults in 2018 and April 2020 N/A | JAMA | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6504 | Advance Care Planning Among Users of a Patient Portal During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Observational Study BACKGROUND: Advance care planning is the process of discussing health care treatment preferences based on patients’ personal values, and it often involves the completion of advance directives. In the first months of 2020, a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began circulating widely in the American state of Colorado, leading to widespread diagnosis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), hospitalizations, and deaths. In this context, the importance of technology-based, non–face-to-face methods to conduct advance care planning via patient portals has increased. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the rates of use of a web-based advance care planning tool through a health system–based electronic patient portal both before and in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: In 2017, we implemented web-based tools through the patient portal of UCHealth’s electronic health record (EHR) for patients to learn about advance care planning and complete an electronically signed medical durable power of attorney (MDPOA) to legally appoint a medical decision maker. Patients accessing the portal can complete and submit a legally valid MDPOA, which becomes part of their medical record. We collected data on the patients’ date of MDPOA completion, use of advance care planning messaging, age, sex, and geographic location during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (December 29, 2019, to May 30, 2020). RESULTS: Over a 5-month period that includes the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado, total monthly use of the advance care planning portal tool increased from 418 users in January to 1037 users in April and then decreased slightly to 815 users in May. The number of MDPOA forms submitted per week increased 2.4-fold after the stay-at-home order was issued in Colorado on March 26, 2020 (P<.001). The mean age of the advance care planning portal users was 47.7 years (SD 16.1), and 2206/3292 (67.0%) were female. Women were more likely than men to complete an MDPOA, particularly in younger age groups (P<.001). The primary use of the advance care planning portal tools was the completion of an MDPOA (3138/3292, 95.3%), compared to sending an electronic message (148/3292, 4.5%). Over 50% of patients who completed an MDPOA did not have a prior agent in the EHR. CONCLUSIONS: Use of a web-based patient portal to complete an MDPOA increased substantially during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado. There was an increase in advance care planning that corresponded with state government shelter-in-place orders as well as public health reports of increased numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Patient portals are an important tool for providing advance care planning resources and documenting medical decision makers during the pandemic to ensure that medical treatment aligns with patient goals and values. | J Med Internet Res | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6505 | Clinical characteristics and outcomes of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Tokyo: a single-center observational study from the first wave BACKGROUND: Many studies have been published about critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the early phases of the pandemic but the characteristic or survival of critically ill Japanese patients have not yet been investigated. We sought to investigate the characteristics, inflammatory laboratory finding trends, and outcomes among critically ill Japanese patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with the first wave of COVID-19. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was performed in a single institution in the center of Tokyo. Laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU from March 19 to April 30, 2020 were included. Trends for significant inflammatory laboratory findings were analyzed. In-hospital death, days of mechanical ventilation or oxygen supplementation, days of ICU or hospital stay were followed until May 26, 2020. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients were included. Median age was 57.5 years, and 79% were male. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was elevated to a median of 10.1 on admission and peaked on Day 10 of illness. Seventeen patients were intubated on Day 11 of illness and received mechanical ventilation. One patient underwent extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The majority (88%) received systemic steroids, including 16 patients who received high dose methylprednisolone (500–1000 mg). Favipiravir was used in 38% of patients. Two patients, including 1 who refused intensive care, died. Eighteen patients were discharged. Median length of ICU and hospital stay for all patients was 6 and 22 days, respectively. Median length of ventilator dependency was 7 days. Four patients underwent a tracheostomy and received prolonged ventilation for more than 21 days. One patient receiving mechanical ventilation died. All survivors discontinued ventilator use. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality was remarkably low in our single institutional study. Three survivors received mechanical ventilation for more than 3 weeks. Trends of clinically significant laboratory markers reflected the clinical course of COVID-19. | BMC Infect Dis | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6506 | Laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 in China: A review of challenging cases and analysis Since the initial emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, a rapid spread of the disease occurred around the world, rising to become an international global health concern at pandemic level. In the face of this medical challenge threatening humans, the development of rapid and accurate methods for early screening and diagnosis of COVID-19 became crucial to containing the emerging public health threat, and prevent further spread within the population. Despite the large number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in China, some problematic cases with inconsistent laboratory testing results, were reported. Specifically, a high false-negative rate of 41% on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays was observed in China. Although serological testing has been applied worldwide as a complementary method to help identify SARS-CoV-2, several limitations on its use have been reported in China. Therefore, the use of both qRT-PCR and serological testing in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in China and elsewhere, presented considerable challenges, but when used in combination, can be valuable tools in the fight against COVID-19. In this review, we give an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of different molecular techniques for SARS-CoV-2 detection that are currently used in several labs, including qRT-PCR, gene sequencing, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), nucleic acid mass spectrometry (MS), and gene editing technique based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas13) system. Then we mainly review and analyze some causes of false-negative qRT-PCR results, and how to resolve some of the diagnostic dilemma. | J Microbiol Immunol Infect | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6507 | The Effect of Strict State Measures on the Epidemiologic Curve of COVID-19 Infection in the Context of a Developing Country: A Simulation from Jordan COVID-19 has posed an unprecedented global public health threat and caused a significant number of severe cases that necessitated long hospitalization and overwhelmed health services in the most affected countries. In response, governments initiated a series of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) that led to severe economic and social impacts. The effect of these intervention measures on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic are not well investigated within developing country settings. This study simulated the trajectories of the COVID-19 pandemic curve in Jordan between February and May and assessed the effect of Jordan’s strict NPI measures on the spread of COVID-19. A modified susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered (SEIR) epidemic model was utilized. The compartments in the proposed model categorized the Jordanian population into six deterministic compartments: suspected, exposed, infectious pre-symptomatic, infectious with mild symptoms, infectious with moderate to severe symptoms, and recovered. The GLEAMviz client simulator was used to run the simulation model. Epidemic curves were plotted for estimated COVID-19 cases in the simulation model, and compared against the reported cases. The simulation model estimated the highest number of total daily new COVID-19 cases, in the pre-symptomatic compartmental state, to be 65 cases, with an epidemic curve growing to its peak in 49 days and terminating in a duration of 83 days, and a total simulated cumulative case count of 1048 cases. The curve representing the number of actual reported cases in Jordan showed a good pattern compatibility to that in the mild and moderate to severe compartmental states. The reproduction number under the NPIs was reduced from 5.6 to less than one. NPIs in Jordan seem to be effective in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic and reducing the reproduction rate. Early strict intervention measures showed evidence of containing and suppressing the disease. | Int J Environ Res Public Healt | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6508 | Migrants and Service Providers' Perspectives of Barriers to Accessing Mental Health Services in South Australia: A Case of African Migrants with a Refugee Background in South Australia International mobility has increased steadily in recent times, bringing along a myriad of health, social and health system challenges to migrants themselves and the host nations. Mental health issues have been identified as a significant problem among migrants, with poor accessibility and underutilisation of the available mental health services (MHSs) repeatedly reported, including in Australia. Using a qualitative inquiry and one-on-one in-depth interviews, this study explored perspectives of African migrants and service providers on barriers to accessing MHSs among African migrants in South Australia. The data collection took place during the COVID-19 pandemic with lockdown and other measures to combat the pandemic restricting face to face meetings with potential participants. Online platforms including Zoom and/or WhatsApp video calls were used to interview 20 African migrants and 10 service providers. Participants were recruited from community groups and/or associations, and organisations providing services for migrants and/or refugees in South Australia using the snowball sampling technique. Thematic framework analysis was used to guide the data analysis. Key themes centred on personal factors (health literacy including knowledge and the understanding of the health system, and poor financial condition), structural factors related to difficulties in navigating the complexity of the health system and a lack of culturally aware service provision, sociocultural and religious factors, mental health stigma and discrimination. The findings provide an insight into the experiences of African migrants of service provision to them and offer suggestions on how to improve these migrants’ mental health outcomes in Australia. Overcoming barriers to accessing mental health services would need a wide range of strategies including education on mental health, recognising variations in cultures for effective service provision, and addressing mental health stigma and discrimination which strongly deter service access by these migrants. These strategies will facilitate help-seeking behaviours as well as effective provision of culturally safe MHSs and improvement in access to MHSs among African migrants. | Int J Environ Res Public Healt | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6509 | Virtual screening of phytochemicals by targeting multiple proteins of SARS-CoV-2: Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies N/A | Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol | 2022 | LitCov | |
| 6510 | The Clinical and Chest CT Features Associated With Severe and Critical COVID-19 Pneumonia OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and computed tomography (CT) features associated with severe and critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-three patients with COVID-19 pneumonia including 25 severe/critical cases and 58 ordinary cases were enrolled. The chest CT images and clinical data of them were reviewed and compared. The risk factors associated with disease severity were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the ordinary patients, the severe/critical patients had older ages, higher incidence of comorbidities, cough, expectoration, chest pain, and dyspnea. The incidences of consolidation, linear opacities, crazy-paving pattern, and bronchial wall thickening in severe/critical patients were significantly higher than those of the ordinary patients. Besides, severe/critical patients showed higher incidences of lymph node enlargement, pericardial effusion, and pleural effusion than the ordinary patients. The CT scores of severe/critical patients were significantly higher than those of the ordinary patients (P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the sensitivity and specificity of CT score were 80.0% and 82.8%, respectively, for the discrimination of the 2 types. The clinical factors of age older than 50 years, comorbidities, dyspnea, chest pain, cough, expectoration, decreased lymphocytes, and increased inflammation indicators were risk factors for severe/critical COVID-19 pneumonia. Computed tomography findings of consolidation, linear opacities, crazy-paving pattern, bronchial wall thickening, high CT scores, and extrapulmonary lesions were features of severe/critical COVID-19 pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: There are significant differences in clinical symptoms, laboratory examinations, and CT manifestations between the ordinary patients and the severe/critical patients. Many factors are related to the severity of the disease, which can help clinicians to judge the severity of the patient and evaluate the prognosis. | Invest Radiol | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6511 | Love in the Time of COVID-19: Sexual Function and Quality of Life Analysis During the Social Distancing Measures in a Group of Italian Reproductive-Age Women BACKGROUND: The beginning of 2020 was characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic. The world governments have adopted restrictive measures to reduce the spread of infection. These measures could affect the sexual function and quality of life of women living with their partner. AIM: The aim is to assess the impact of the social distancing measures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual function and quality of life of noninfected reproductive-age women, living with their sexual partner. METHODS: Observational analysis on sexually active women, living with their partner, and without COVID-19 infection was performed. The population previously answered FSFI, FSDS, and SF-36 questionnaires. 4 weeks after the introduction of the restrictive measures, these women were invited to complete the same questionnaires by e-mail for an evaluation during the COVID-19 outbreak. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the assessment of the women's sex function change during the social restriction period, by analyzing the FSFI and FSDS questionnaires. The secondary endpoint was the evaluation of the impact on the quality of life calculated by the SF-36 questionnaire. RESULTS: 89 patients were considered. The median age was 39 (28–50) years. Mean sexual intercourses/month decreased from 6.3 ± 1.9 to 2.3 ± 1.8, mean difference: −3.9 ± 1.2. FSFI decreased significantly (29.2 ± 4.2 vs 19.2 ± 3.3, mean difference: −9.7 ± 2.6) and FSDS increased significantly (9.3 ± 5.5 vs 20.1 ± 5.2, mean difference: 10.8 ± 3.4). The SF-36 showed a significant change from 82.2 ± 10.2 to 64.2 ± 11.8 4 weeks after the introduction of the restrictive measures; mean difference: −17.8 ± 6.7. The univariable analysis identified working outside the home, university educational level, and parity ≥1 as predictive factors of lower FSFI. In multivariable analysis, working outside the home and combination of working outside the home + university educational level + parity ≥1 were the independent factors of a lower FSFI. CLINICAL IMPLICATION: The negative impact of the COVID-19 epidemic period on sexual function and quality of life in women shows how acute stress might affect the psychological state. Thus, psychological or sexual support could be useful. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: To our knowledge, this study is the first that analyzes the change in sexual activity in women during the COVID-19 outbreak period. The limitations were the low number of the analyzed participants, psychological tests were not included, and no data were collected on masturbation, self-heroism, solitary, and nonpenetrative sex. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 epidemic and the restrictive social distancing measures have negatively influenced the sexual function and quality of life in not-infected reproductive-age women who live with their sexual partners. Schiavi MC, Spina V, Zullo MA, et al. Love in the Time of COVID-19: Sexual Function and Quality of Life Analysis During the Social Distancing Measures in a Group of Italian Reproductive-Age Women. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX. | J Sex Med | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6512 | Targeting TMPRSS2 in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Abstract SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly caused a global pandemic associated with a novel respiratory infection now termed coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). ACE2 is necessary to facilitate SARS-CoV-2 infection, but due to its essential metabolic roles, it may be difficult to target it in therapies. TMPRSS2, which interacts with ACE2, may be a better candidate for targeted therapies. Using publicly-available expression data, we show that both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are expressed in many host tissues, including lung. The highest expression of ACE2 is found in the testes, whereas the prostate display the highest expression of TMPRSS2. Given the increased severity of disease among older males with SARS-CoV-2 infection, we address the potential roles of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in their contribution to the sex differences in disease severity. We show that expression levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are overall comparable between males and females in multiple tissues suggesting that differences in the expression levels of TMPRSS2 and ACE2 in the lung and other non-sex-specific tissues may not explain the gender disparities in SARS CoV-2 severity. However, given their instrumental roles for SARS-CoV-2 infection and their pleiotropic expression, targeting the activity and expression levels of TMPRSS2 is a rational approach to treat COVID-19. | Mayo Clin Proc | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6513 | How Did Distribution Patterns of Particulate Matter Air Pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) Change in China during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Spatiotemporal Investigation at Chinese City-Level Due to the suspension of traffic mobility and industrial activities during the COVID-19, particulate matter (PM) pollution has decreased in China. However, rarely have research studies discussed the spatiotemporal pattern of this change and related influencing factors at city-scale across the nation. In this research, the clustering patterns of the decline rates of PM(2.5) and PM(10) during the period from 20 January to 8 April in 2020, compared with the same period of 2019, were investigated using spatial autocorrelation analysis. Four meteorological factors and two socioeconomic factors, i.e., the decline of intra-city mobility intensity (dIMI) representing the effect of traffic mobility and the decline rates of the secondary industrial output values (drSIOV), were adopted in the regression analysis. Then, multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR), a model allowing the particular processing scale for each independent variable, was applied for investigating the relationship between PM pollution reductions and influencing factors. For comparison, ordinary least square (OLS) regression and the classic geographically weighted regression (GWR) were also performed. The research found that there were 16% and 20% reduction of PM(2.5) and PM(10) concentration across China and significant PM pollution mitigation in central, east, and south regions of China. As for the regression analysis results, MGWR outperformed the other two models, with R(2) of 0.711 and 0.732 for PM(2.5) and PM(10), respectively. The results of MGWR revealed that the two socioeconomic factors had more significant impacts than meteorological factors. It showed that the reduction of traffic mobility caused more relative declines of PM(2.5) in east China (e.g., cities in Jiangsu), while it caused more relative declines of PM(10) in central China (e.g., cities in Henan). The reduction of industrial operation had a strong relationship with the PM(10) drop in northeast China. The results are crucial for understanding how the decline pattern of PM pollution varied spatially during the COVID-19 outbreak, and it also provides a good reference for air pollution control in the future. | Int J Environ Res Public Healt | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6514 | Chest CT manifestations of new COVID-19: a pictorial review Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, first reported in Wuhan, China, has rapidly swept around the world just within a month, causing global public health emergency. In diagnosis, chest computed tomography (CT) manifestations can supplement parts of limitations of real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Based on a comprehensive literature review and the experience in the frontline, we aim to review the typical and relatively atypical CT manifestations with representative COVID-19 cases at our hospital, and hope to strengthen the recognition of these features with radiologists and help them make a quick and accurate diagnosis. Key Points • Ground glass opacities, consolidation, reticular pattern, and crazy paving pattern are typical CT manifestations of COVID-19. • Emerging atypical CT manifestations, including airway changes, pleural changes, fibrosis, nodules, etc., were demonstrated in COVID-19 patients. • CT manifestations may associate with the progression and prognosis of COVID-19. | Eur Radiol | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6515 | Preparation for Quarantine on the Cruise Ship Diamond Princess in Japan due to COVID-19 BACKGROUND: Japan implemented a large-scale quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in an attempt to control the spread of the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in February 2020. OBJECTIVE: We aim to describe the medical activities initiated and difficulties in implementing quarantine on a cruise ship. METHODS: Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for SARS-CoV-2 were performed for all 3711 people (2666 passengers and 1045 crew) on board. RESULTS: Of those tested, 696 (18.8%) tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), of which 410 (58.9%) were asymptomatic. We also confirmed that 54% of the asymptomatic patients with a positive RT-PCR result had lung opacities on chest computed tomography. There were many difficulties in implementing quarantine, such as creating a dividing traffic line between infectious and noninfectious passengers, finding hospitals and transportation providers willing to accept these patients, transporting individuals, language barriers, and supporting daily life. As of March 8, 2020, 31 patients (4.5% of patients with positive RT-PCR results) were hospitalized and required ventilator support or intensive care, and 7 patients (1.0% of patients with positive RT-PCR results) had died. CONCLUSIONS: There were several difficulties in implementing large-scale quarantine and obtaining medical support on the cruise ship. In the future, we need to prepare for patients’ transfer and the admitting hospitals when disembarking the passengers. We recommend treating the crew the same way as the passengers to control the infection. We must also draw a plan for the future, to protect travelers and passengers from emerging infectious diseases on cruise ships. | JMIR Public Health Surveill | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6516 | Medical student remote eConsult participation during the COVID-19 pandemic BACKGROUND: Undergraduate medical education was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As traditional clinical rotations were suspended, medical students quickly began alternative, novel educational experiences. Third-year medical students at an academic medical center were given the opportunity to join inpatient eConsult teams within the department of medicine. This study describes the development and implementation of this program as well as the experiences of student and faculty participants. METHODS: Student eConsult participation was rapidly developed and implemented within medical subspecialty teams in either infectious diseases (ID) or nephrology. Twelve third-year medical students and 15 subspecialty attendings participated in this program during an eight-week period from April 6 through May 29, 2020. Breadth of student clinical experience was assessed via review of clinical documentation and surveys. Participating students and attending physicians completed surveys to reflect upon their impressions of the program. Surveys were returned by nine students and eight faculty members. Survey responses were summarized with descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Over an eight-week period, student consultants wrote 126 notes on 100 patients; 74 of these patients (74%) were hospitalized with COVID-19. Student experiences were largely positive with most strongly agreeing that attendings promoted interactive and engaged learning (N = 8 of 8, 100%), that the experience helped to expand their knowledge about consultant roles (N = 6, 75%), and that they would participate in a remote eConsult program again if given the opportunity (N = 6, 75%). Faculty also were largely positive about the experience with most agreeing or strongly agreeing with the importance of teaching medical students about telehealth (N = 7 of 8, 88%) and eConsults (N = 6, 75%). In narrative responses, students and faculty agreed that teaching was a strength of the program whereas lack of in-person contact was a challenge. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid development of an inpatient eConsult-based educational experience for third-year medical students was feasible and successful. Student-consultants saw a range of pathology including COVID-19 and related complications. Students were satisfied with the program. They were able to develop a strong relationship with attendings while learning about the role of a consultant. Faculty agreed with the importance of teaching students about telehealth and eConsults specifically. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-021-02562-6. | BMC Med Educ | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6517 | COVID-19 Cases from the First Local Outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Variant in China May Present More Serious Clinical Features: A Prospective, Comparative Cohort Study The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant has increased sharply in numbers worldwide and is reported to be more contagious than the nonvariant. Little is known regarding the detailed clinical features of B.1.1.7 variant infection. Data on 74 COVID-19 cases from two outbreaks in two districts of Beijing, China were extracted from a cloud database, including 41 cases from Shunyi District (Shunyi B.1.470 group) and 33 from Daxing (Daxing B.1.1.7 group) from December 25, 2020 to January 17, 2021. We conducted a comparison of the clinical characteristics. Seven clinical indicators of the Daxing B.1.1.7 group were significantly higher than those of the Shunyi group, including the proportion with fever over 38°C, the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), creatine kinase (CK), d-dimer (DD), and CD4(+) T lymphocytes (CD4(+) T), and the proportion with ground-glass opacity (GGO) in the lung (P values of ≤0.05). After adjusting for age, B.1.1.7 variant infection was a risk factor for elevated CRP (P = 0·045), SAA (P = 0·011), CK (P = 0·034), and CD4(+) T (P = 0.029) and for the presence of GGO (P = 0.005). The median threshold cycle (C(T)) value of reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) tests of the N gene target in the Daxing B.1.1.7 group was significantly lower (P = 0.036) than that in the Shunyi B.1.470 group. Clinical features, including a more serious inflammatory response, pneumonia, and a possibly higher viral load, were detected in the cases infected with B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2. The B.1.1.7 variant may have increased pathogenicity. IMPORTANCE The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, has increased sharply in numbers worldwide and was reported to be more contagious than the nonvariant. To our knowledge, no studies investigating the detailed clinical features of COVID-19 cases infected with the B.1.1.7 variant have been published. Local epidemics have rarely occurred in China, but occasionally, a small clustered outbreak triggered by an imported SARS-CoV-2 strain with only one chain of transmission could happen. From late 2020 to early 2021, two clustered COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in Beijing, one of which was caused by the B.1.1.7 variant. The COVID-19 patients from the two outbreaks received similar clinical tests, diagnoses, and treatments. We found that the B.1.1.7 variant infection could lead to a more serious inflammatory response, acute response process, more severe pneumonia, and probably higher viral loads. This therefore implies that the B.1.1.7 variant may have increased pathogenicity. | Microbiol Spectr | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6518 | COVID-19: towards controlling of a pandemic | Lancet | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6519 | Response and role of palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national telephone survey of hospices in Italy BACKGROUND: Palliative care is an important component of health care in pandemics, contributing to symptom control, psychological support, and supporting triage and complex decision making. AIM: To examine preparedness for, and impact of, the COVID-19 pandemic on hospices in Italy to inform the response in other countries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional telephone survey, in March 2020. SETTING: Italian hospices, purposively sampled according to COVID-19 regional prevalence categorised as high (>25), medium (15–25) and low prevalence (<15) COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. A brief questionnaire was developed to guide the interviews. Analysis was descriptive. RESULTS: Seven high, five medium and four low prevalence hospices provided data. Two high prevalence hospices had experienced COVID-19 cases among both patients and staff. All hospices had implemented policy changes, and several had rapidly implemented changes in practice including transfer of staff from inpatient to community settings, change in admission criteria and daily telephone support for families. Concerns included scarcity of personal protective equipment, a lack of hospice-specific guidance on COVID-19, anxiety about needing to care for children and other relatives, and poor integration of palliative care in the acute planning response. CONCLUSION: The hospice sector is capable of responding flexibly and rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments must urgently recognise the essential contribution of hospice and palliative care to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure these services are integrated into the health care system response. Availability of personal protective equipment and setting-specific guidance is essential. Hospices may also need to be proactive in connecting with the acute pandemic response. | Palliat Med | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6520 | Undergraduate Medical Competencies in Digital Health and Curricular Module Development: Mixed Methods Study BACKGROUND: Owing to an increase in digital technologies in health care, recently leveraged by the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians are required to use these technologies appropriately and to be familiar with their implications on patient care, the health system, and society. Therefore, medical students should be confronted with digital health during their medical education. However, corresponding teaching formats and concepts are still largely lacking in the medical curricula. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to introduce digital health as a curricular module at a German medical school and to identify undergraduate medical competencies in digital health and their suitable teaching methods. METHODS: We developed a 3-week curricular module on digital health for third-year medical students at a large German medical school, taking place for the first time in January 2020. Semistructured interviews with 5 digital health experts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an abductive approach. We obtained feedback from the participating students and lecturers of the module through a 17-item survey questionnaire. RESULTS: The module received overall positive feedback from both students and lecturers who expressed the need for further digital health education and stated that the field is very important for clinical care and is underrepresented in the current medical curriculum. We extracted a detailed overview of digital health competencies, skills, and knowledge to teach the students from the expert interviews. They also contained suggestions for teaching methods and statements supporting the urgency of the implementation of digital health education in the mandatory curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: An elective class seems to be a suitable format for the timely introduction of digital health education. However, a longitudinal implementation in the mandatory curriculum should be the goal. Beyond training future physicians in digital skills and teaching them digital health’s ethical, legal, and social implications, the experience-based development of a critical digital health mindset with openness to innovation and the ability to assess ever-changing health technologies through a broad transdisciplinary approach to translate research into clinical routine seem more important. Therefore, the teaching of digital health should be as practice-based as possible and involve the educational cooperation of different institutions and academic disciplines. | J Med Internet Res | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6521 | Change in Threads on Twitter Regarding Influenza, Vaccines and Vaccination During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Artificial Intelligence-Based Infodemiology Study BACKGROUND: Discussions of health issues on social media are a crucial information source reflecting real-world responses regarding events and opinions. They are often important in public health care, since these are influencing pathways that affect vaccination decision-making by hesitant individuals. Artificial intelligence methodologies based on internet search engine queries have been suggested to detect disease outbreaks and population behavior. Among social media, Twitter is a common platform of choice to search and share opinions and (mis)information about health care issues, including vaccination and vaccines. OBJECTIVE: Our primary objective was to support the design and implementation of future eHealth strategies and interventions on social media to increase the quality of targeted communication campaigns and therefore increase influenza vaccination rates. Our goal was to define an artificial intelligence–based approach to elucidate how threads in Twitter on influenza vaccination changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such findings may support adapted vaccination campaigns and could be generalized to other health-related mass communications. METHODS: The study comprised the following 5 stages: (1) collecting tweets from Twitter related to influenza, vaccines, and vaccination in the United States; (2) data cleansing and storage using machine learning techniques; (3) identifying terms, hashtags, and topics related to influenza, vaccines, and vaccination; (4) building a dynamic folksonomy of the previously defined vocabulary (terms and topics) to support the understanding of its trends; and (5) labeling and evaluating the folksonomy. RESULTS: We collected and analyzed 2,782,720 tweets of 420,617 unique users between December 30, 2019, and April 30, 2021. These tweets were in English, were from the United States, and included at least one of the following terms: “flu,” “influenza,” “vaccination,” “vaccine,” and “vaxx.” We noticed that the prevalence of the terms vaccine and vaccination increased over 2020, and that “flu” and “covid” occurrences were inversely correlated as “flu” disappeared over time from the tweets. By combining word embedding and clustering, we then identified a folksonomy built around the following 3 topics dominating the content of the collected tweets: “health and medicine (biological and clinical aspects),” “protection and responsibility,” and “politics.” By analyzing terms frequently appearing together, we noticed that the tweets were related mainly to COVID-19 pandemic events. CONCLUSIONS: This study focused initially on vaccination against influenza and moved to vaccination against COVID-19. Infoveillance supported by machine learning on Twitter and other social media about topics related to vaccines and vaccination against communicable diseases and their trends can lead to the design of personalized messages encouraging targeted subpopulations’ engagement in vaccination. A greater likelihood that a targeted population receives a personalized message is associated with higher response, engagement, and proactiveness of the target population for the vaccination process. | JMIR Infodemiology | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6522 | Increases in Loneliness Among Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Association With Increases in Mental Health Problems PURPOSE: Young adults are at high risk for increases in loneliness and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined increases in loneliness in a young adult sample, for whom increases were greater, and association with increases in depression and anxiety. METHOD: Data from 564 young adults (ages 22–29, 60.7% women) were collected in January 2020 (pre-pandemic) and April/May 2020 (during pandemic). RESULTS: Loneliness increased from January to April/May and changes in loneliness were greater for females, those with higher perceived social support in January, and those with greater concerns about the pandemic's social impacts. Depression (but not anxiety) increased during this time with changes in loneliness accounting for much of the increase in depression. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention strategies with young adults need to address loneliness and feelings of reduced social support during this time, especially for those who may have had greater disruption in their social lives. | J Adolesc Health | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6523 | Mortality comparison between the first and second/third waves among 3,795 critical COVID-19 patients with pneumonia admitted to the ICU: A multicenter retrospective cohort study BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether the changes in critical care throughout the pandemic have improved the outcomes in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in adults with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to 73 ICUs from Spain, Andorra and Ireland between February 2020 and March 2021. The first wave corresponded with the period from February 2020 to June 2020, whereas the second/third waves occurred from July 2020 to March 2021. The primary outcome was ICU mortality between study periods. Mortality predictors and differences in mortality between COVID-19 waves were identified using logistic regression. FINDINGS: As of March 2021, the participating ICUs had included 3795 COVID-19 pneumonia patients, 2479 (65·3%) and 1316 (34·7%) belonging to the first and second/third waves, respectively. Illness severity scores predicting mortality were lower in the second/third waves compared with the first wave according with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation system (median APACHE II score 12 [IQR 9–16] vs 14 [IQR 10–19]) and the organ failure assessment score (median SOFA 4 [3–6] vs 5 [3–7], p<0·001). The need of invasive mechanical ventilation was high (76·1%) during the whole study period. However, a significant increase in the use of high flow nasal cannula (48·7% vs 18·2%, p<0·001) was found in the second/third waves compared with the first surge. Significant changes on treatments prescribed were also observed, highlighting the remarkable increase on the use of corticosteroids to up to 95.9% in the second/third waves. A significant reduction on the use of tocilizumab was found during the study (first wave 28·9% vs second/third waves 6·2%, p<0·001), and a negligible administration of lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, and interferon during the second/third waves compared with the first wave. Overall ICU mortality was 30·7% (n = 1166), without significant differences between study periods (first wave 31·7% vs second/third waves 28·8%, p = 0·06). No significant differences were found in ICU mortality between waves according to age subsets except for the subgroup of 61–75 years of age, in whom a reduced unadjusted ICU mortality was observed in the second/third waves (first 38·7% vs second/third 34·0%, p = 0·048). Non-survivors were older, with higher severity of the disease, had more comorbidities, and developed more complications. After adjusting for confounding factors through a multivariable analysis, no significant association was found between the COVID-19 waves and mortality (OR 0·81, 95% CI 0·64–1·03; p = 0·09). Ventilator-associated pneumonia rate increased significantly during the second/third waves and it was independently associated with ICU mortality (OR 1·48, 95% CI 1·19–1·85, p<0·001). Nevertheless, a significant reduction both in the ICU and hospital length of stay in survivors was observed during the second/third waves. INTERPRETATION: Despite substantial changes on supportive care and management, we did not find significant improvement on case-fatality rates among critical COVID-19 pneumonia patients. FUNDING: Ricardo Barri Casanovas Foundation (RBCF2020) and SEMICYUC. | Lancet Reg Health Eur | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6524 | Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales Abstract Research and clinical observations suggest that during times of pandemic many people exhibit stress- or anxiety-related psychopathology that include fear of becoming infected, fear of coming into contact with possibly contaminated objects or surfaces, fear of foreigners who might be carrying infection (i.e., disease-related xenophobia), fear of the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking regarding possible pandemic-related threats, and traumatic stress symptoms about the pandemic (e.g., nightmares, intrusive thoughts). We developed the 36-item COVID Stress Scales (CSS) to measure these features, as they pertain to COVID-19. The CSS were developed to better understand and assess COVID-19-related psychopathology. The scales were intentionally designed so they could be readily adapted for future pandemics. The CSS were developed and initially validated in population-representative samples from Canada (N = 3,479) and the United States (N = 3,375). A stable 5-factor solution was identified, corresponding to scales assessing COVID-related stress and anxiety symptoms: (1) Danger and contamination fears, (2) fears about economic consequences, (3) xenophobia, (4) compulsive checking, and (5) traumatic stress symptoms about COVID-19. The scales performed well on various indices of reliability and validity. The scales were intercorrelated, providing evidence of a COVID Stress Syndrome. The scales offer promise as tools for better understanding the psychopathology associated with COVID-19 and for identifying people in need of mental health services. | J Anxiety Disord | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6525 | Mental Health Community and Health System Issues in COVID-19: Lessons from Academic, Community, Provider and Policy Stakeholders N/A | Ethn Dis | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6526 | Perspectives on COVID-19 vaccination among kidney and pancreas transplant recipients living in New York City PURPOSE: Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but limited vaccine access and vaccine hesitancy can complicate efforts for expanded vaccination. We report patient perspectives and outcomes from a vaccine outreach initiative for a vulnerable population of transplant recipients living in New York City. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of qualitative perspectives from a COVID-19 vaccine outreach initiative. In the outreach effort, kidney and pancreas transplant recipients under care at the transplant center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital were initially contacted electronically with educational material about vaccination followed by telephone outreach to eligible unvaccinated patients. Calls were used to schedule vaccine appointments for patients who agreed, answer questions, and assess attitudes and concerns for patients not yet ready to be vaccinated, with conversational themes recorded. RESULTS: Of the 1,078 patients living in the 5 New York City boroughs who had not reported receiving COVID-19 vaccination, 320 eligible patients were contacted by telephone. Of these, 210 patients were scheduled for vaccination at our vaccine site (including 13 who agreed to vaccination after initially declining), while 110 patients were either not ready or not interested in being vaccinated. The total number of patients willing to be vaccinated was 554 when also including those already vaccinated. Unwillingness to be vaccinated was associated with younger age (median age of 47 vs 60 years, P < 0.001), Black race (P = 0.004), and residence in Bronx or Brooklyn counties (P = 0.018) or a zip code with a medium level of poverty (P = 0.044). The most common issues raised by patients who were ambivalent or not interested in vaccination were regarding unknown safety of the vaccines in general, a belief that there was a lack of data about the vaccines in transplant recipients, and a lack of trust in the scientific process underlying vaccine development, with 34% of the patients contacted expressing vaccine hesitancy overall. CONCLUSION: Our qualitative summary identifies determinants of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a diverse transplant patient population, supporting the need for transplant centers to implement tailored interventions to increase vaccine acceptance in this vulnerable population. | Am J Health Syst Pharm | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6527 | Omicron neutralizing antibody response following booster vaccination compared with breakthrough infection N/A | Med (N Y) | 2022 | LitCov | |
| 6528 | The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21: Development and Validation of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-Item in Psychiatric Patients and the General Public for Easier Mental Health Measurement in a post-COVID-19 World Despite extensive investigations of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) since its development in 1995, its factor structure and other psychometric properties still need to be firmly established, with several calls for revising its item structure. Employing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study examined the factor structure of the DASS-21 and five shortened versions of the DASS-21 among psychiatric patients (N = 168) and the general public (N = 992) during the COVID-19 confinement period in Saudi Arabia. Multigroup CFA, Mann Whitney W test, Spearman’s correlation, and coefficient alpha were used to examine the shortened versions of the DASS-21 (DASS-13, DASS-12, DASS-9 (two versions), and DASS-8) for invariance across age and gender groups, discriminant validity, predictive validity, item coverage, and internal consistency, respectively. Compared with the DASS-21, all three-factor structures of the shortened versions expressed good fit, with the DASS-8 demonstrating the best fit and highest item loadings on the corresponding factors in both samples (χ(2)(16, 15) = 16.5, 67.0; p = 0.420, 0.001; CFI = 1.000, 0.998; TLI = 0.999, 0.997; RMSEA = 0.013, 0.059, SRMR = 0.0186, 0.0203). The DASS-8 expressed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across age and gender groups. Its internal consistency was comparable to other versions (α = 0.94). Strong positive correlations of the DASS-8 and its subscales with the DASS-21 and its subscales (r = 0.97 to 0.81) suggest adequate item coverage and good predictive validity of this version. The DASS-8 and its subscales distinguished the clinical sample from the general public at the same level of significance expressed by the DASS-21 and other shortened versions, supporting its discriminant validity. Neither the DASS-21 nor the shortened versions distinguished patients diagnosed with depression and anxiety from each other or from other psychiatric conditions. The DASS-8 represents a valid short version of the DASS-21, which may be useful in research and clinical practice for quick identification of individuals with potential psychopathologies. Diagnosing depression/anxiety disorders may be further confirmed in a next step by clinician-facilitated examinations. Brevity of the DASS-21 would save time and effort used for filling the questionnaire and support comprehensive assessments by allowing the inclusion of more measures on test batteries. | Int J Environ Res Public Healt | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6529 | Contamination-free visual detection of SARS-CoV-2 with CRISPR/Cas12a: A promising method in the point-of-care detection The outbreaks of the infectious disease COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 seriously threatened the life of humans. A rapid, reliable and specific detection method was urgently needed. Herein, we reported a contamination-free visual detection method of for SARS-CoV-2 with LAMP and CRISPR/Cas12a technology. CRISPR/Cas12a reagents were pre-added on the inner wall of the tube lid. After LAMP reaction, CRISPR/Cas12a reagents were flowed into the tube and mixed with amplicon solution by hand shaking, which can effectively avoid possible amplicon formed aerosol contamination caused by re-opening the lid after amplification. CRISPR/Cas12a can highly specific recognize target sequence and discriminately cleave single strand DNA probes (5′-6FAM 3′-BHQ1). With smart phone and portable 3D printing instrument, the produced fluorescence can be seen by naked eyes without any dedicated instruments, which is promising in the point-of-care detection. The whole amplification and detection process could be completed within 40 min with high sensitivity of 20 copies RNA of SARS-CoV-2. This reaction had high specificity and could avoid cross-reactivity with other common viruses such as influenza virus. For 7 positive and 3 negative respiratory swab samples provided by Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, our detection results had 100% positive agreement and 100% negative agreement, which demonstrated the accuracy and application prospect of this method. | Biosens Bioelectron | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6530 | New-onset autoimmune phenomena post-COVID-19 vaccination N/A | Immunology | 2022 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6531 | 2-Pyridone natural products as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease The disease, COVID-19, is caused by the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for which there is currently no treatment. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M(pro)) is an important enzyme for viral replication. Small molecules that inhibit this protease could lead to an effective COVID-19 treatment. The 2-pyridone scaffold was previously identified as a possible key pharmacophore to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 M(pro). A search for natural, antimicrobial products with the 2-pyridone moiety was undertaken herein, and their calculated potency as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) was investigated. Thirty-three natural products containing the 2-pyridone scaffold were identified from the literature. An in silico methodology using AutoDock was employed to predict the binding energies and inhibition constants (K(i) values) for each 2-pyridone-containing compound with SARS-CoV-2 M(pro). This consisted of molecular optimization of the 2-pyridone compound, docking of the compound with a crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 M(pro), and evaluation of the predicted interactions and ligand-enzyme conformations. All compounds investigated bound to the active site of SARS-CoV-2 M(pro), close to the catalytic dyad (His-41 and Cys-145). Thirteen molecules had predicted K(i) values < 1 μM. Glu-166 formed a key hydrogen bond in the majority of the predicted complexes, while Met-165 had some involvement in the complex binding as a close contact to the ligand. Prominent 2-pyridone compounds were further evaluated for their ADMET properties. This work has identified 2-pyridone natural products with calculated potent inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) and with desirable drug-like properties, which may lead to the rapid discovery of a treatment for COVID-19. | Chem Biol Interact | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6532 | GRL-0920, an Indole Chloropyridinyl Ester, Completely Blocks SARS-CoV-2 Infection We assessed various newly generated compounds that target the main protease (M(pro)) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and various previously known compounds reportedly active against SARS-CoV-2, employing RNA quantitative PCR (RNA-qPCR), cytopathicity assays, and immunocytochemistry. Here, we show that two indole-chloropyridinyl-ester derivatives, GRL-0820 and GRL-0920, exerted potent activity against SARS-CoV-2 in cell-based assays performed using VeroE6 cells and TMPRSS2-overexpressing VeroE6 cells. While GRL-0820 and the nucleotide analog remdesivir blocked SARS-CoV-2 infection, viral breakthrough occurred. No significant anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity was found for several compounds reportedly active against SARS-CoV-2 such as lopinavir, nelfinavir, nitazoxanide, favipiravir, and hydroxychroloquine. In contrast, GRL-0920 exerted potent activity against SARS-CoV-2 (50% effective concentration [EC(50)] = 2.8 μM) and dramatically reduced the infectivity, replication, and cytopathic effect of SARS-CoV-2 without significant toxicity as examined with immunocytochemistry. Structural modeling shows that indole and chloropyridinyl of the derivatives interact with two catalytic dyad residues of M(pro), Cys145 and His41, resulting in covalent bonding, which was verified using high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS), suggesting that the indole moiety is critical for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of the derivatives. GRL-0920 might serve as a potential therapeutic for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and might be optimized to generate more-potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds. | mBio | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6533 | Co-movement of energy prices and stock market return: environmental wavelet nexus of COVID-19 pandemic from the USA, Europe and China This work aims to study the time-frequency relationship between the recent COVID-19 pandemic and instabilities in oil price and the stock market, geopolitical risks, and uncertainty in the economic policy in the USA, Europe, and China. The coherence wavelet method and the wavelet-based Granger causality tests are applied to the data (31st December 2019 to 1st August 2020) based on daily COVID-19 observations, oil prices, US-EPU, the US geopolitical risk index, and the US stock price index. The short- and long-term COVID-19 consequences are depicted differently and may initially be viewed as an economic crisis. The results illustrate the reduced industrial productivity, which intensifies with the increase in the pandemic’s severeness (i.e., a 10.57% decrease in the productivity index with a 1% increase in the pandemic severeness). Similarly, indices for oil demand, stock market, GDP growth, and electricity demand decrease significantly with an increase in the pandemic severeness index (i.e., a 1% increase in the pandemic severeness results in a 0.9%, 0.67%, 1.12%, and 0.65% decrease, respectively). However, the oil market shows low co-movement with the stock exchange, exchange rate, and gold markets. Therefore, investors and the government are recommended to invest in the oil market to generate revenue during the sanctions period. | Environ Sci Pollut Res Int | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6534 | Inadequate preparedness for response to COVID-19 is associated with stress and burnout among healthcare workers in Ghana INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the global crisis of stress and burnout among healthcare workers. But few studies have empirically examined the factors driving these outcomes in Africa. Our study examined associations between perceived preparedness to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and healthcare worker stress and burnout and identified potential mediating factors among healthcare workers in Ghana. METHODS: Healthcare workers in Ghana completed a cross-sectional self-administered online survey from April to May 2020; 414 and 409 completed stress and burnout questions, respectively. Perceived preparedness, stress, and burnout were measured using validated psychosocial scales. We assessed associations using linear regressions with robust standard errors. RESULTS: The average score for preparedness was 24 (SD = 8.8), 16.3 (SD = 5.9) for stress, and 37.4 (SD = 15.5) for burnout. In multivariate analysis, healthcare workers who felt somewhat prepared and prepared had lower stress (β = -1.89, 95% CI: -3.49 to -0.30 and β = -2.66, 95% CI: -4.48 to -0.84) and burnout (β = -7.74, 95% CI: -11.8 to -3.64 and β = -9.25, 95% CI: -14.1 to –4.41) scores than those who did not feel prepared. Appreciation from management and family support were associated with lower stress and burnout, while fear of infection was associated with higher stress and burnout. Fear of infection partially mediated the relationship between perceived preparedness and stress/burnout, accounting for about 16 to 17% of the effect. CONCLUSIONS: Low perceived preparedness to respond to COVID-19 increases stress and burnout, and this is partly through fear of infection. Interventions, incentives, and health systemic changes to increase healthcare workers’ morale and capacity to respond to the pandemic are needed. | PLoS One | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6535 | A phase 1/2 randomised placebo-controlled study of the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 in healthy Japanese adults: An interim report INTRODUCTION: The mRNA vaccine, mRNA-1273/TAK-919, encodes the prefusion-stabilised spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We report interim results of the first study evaluating safety and immunogenicity of mRNA-1273 in healthy Japanese participants. METHODS: This phase 1/2, randomised, observer-blind, placebo-controlled trial, conducted in Japan (two sites), enrolled healthy adults aged ≥ 20 years with no prior exposure to investigational coronavirus vaccines/treatments, and no known history/risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Participants were stratified by age (< 65/≥ 65 years) and randomised to receive two doses of 100 μg mRNA-1273 or placebo administered as intramuscular injections 28 days apart. Primary outcomes were safety and immunogenicity assessed by anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike protein-binding antibody level (bAb). A secondary outcome was SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody (nAb) response. RESULTS: Participants were enrolled between 21 January and 3 February 2021, and 200 were randomised: mRNA-1273, n = 150 (< 65 years, n = 100; ≥ 65 years, n = 50); placebo, n = 50 (< 65 years, n = 40; ≥ 65 years, n = 10). Solicited adverse events (AEs) through 7 days after each vaccination occurred in 144/150 (96%) and 19/50 (38%) participants in the mRNA-1273 and placebo arms, respectively. In the mRNA-1273 arm, injection-site pain, myalgia and fatigue were the most frequently reported solicited AEs after each vaccination, irrespective of age. Robust immune responses occurred with mRNA-1273 (n = 147) with a bAb geometric mean fold rise (95% confidence interval [CI]) from baseline of 1009 (865, 1177) and a nAb of 21.7 (19.8, 23.8) at day 57. Seroconversion rates (95% CI) for bAb and nAb were both 100% (97.5, 100) at day 57. No such response occurred with placebo (n = 49). CONCLUSION: Two doses of 100 μg mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart demonstrated an acceptable safety profile and induced significant anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in a Japanese population aged ≥ 20 years. Funding: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04677660. | Vaccine | 2022 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6536 | Cross-sectional prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in healthcare workers in pediatric facilities in eight countries BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 which may in part be driven by nosocomial exposure. If HCW exposure is predominantly nosocomial, HCWs in paediatric facilities, where few patients are admitted with COVID-19, may lack antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and be at increased risk during the current resurgence. AIMS: To compare SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence amongst HCWs in paediatric facilities in seven European countries and South Africa (n=8). METHODS: All categories of paediatric HCWs were invited to participate in the study irrespective of previous symptoms. A single blood sample was taken and data about previous symptoms documented. Serum was shipped to a central laboratory in London where IgG to SARS-CoV-2 was measured. FINDINGS: 4114 HCWs were recruited between 1(st) May and mid-July 2020. The overall seroprevalence range was 0-16·93%. The highest seroprevalence was in London (16.93%) followed by that in Cape Town, South Africa (10.36%). There were no positive HCWs in the Austrian, Estonian and Latvian cohorts, 2/300 positive in Lithuania (0·66%, 0·18-2.4), 1/124 (0·81%, 0·14-4.3) in Romania, and 1/76 (1·3%, 0·23-7·0) in Greece. CONCLUSION: The overall seroprevalence amongst paediatric HCWs is similar to their national populations and linked to national COVID-19 burden. Staff working in paediatric facilities in low burden countries have very low rates of seroprevalence and thus are likely to be susceptible to COVID-19. Their susceptibility to infection may impact on the ability to provide care in the face of increasing COVID-19 disease and highlights the need for appropriate preventative strategies in paediatric health care settings. | J Hosp Infect | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6537 | SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infectivity and expression of viral entry-related factors ACE2, TMPRSS2, Kim-1 and NRP-1 in human cells from the respiratory, urinary, digestive, reproductive and immune systems Infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) causes a wide spectrum of syndromes involving multiple organ systems and is primarily mediated by viral spike (S) glycoprotein through the receptor‐binding domain (RBD) and numerous cellular proteins including ACE2, transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), kidney injury molecule‐1 (Kim‐1), and neuropilin‐1 (NRP‐1). In this study, we examined the entry tropism of SARS‐CoV‐2 and SARS‐CoV using S protein‐based pseudoviruses to infect 22 cell lines and 3 types of primary cells isolated from respiratory, urinary, digestive, reproductive, and immune systems. At least one cell line or type of primary cell from each organ system was infected by both pseudoviruses. Infection by pseudoviruses is effectively blocked by S1, RBD, and ACE2 recombinant proteins, and more weakly by Kim‐1 and NRP‐1 recombinant proteins. Furthermore, cells with robust SARS‐CoV‐2 pseudovirus infection had strong expression of either ACE2 or Kim‐1 and NRP‐1 proteins. ACE2 glycosylation appeared to be critical for the infections of both viruses as there was a positive correlation between infectivity of either SARS‐CoV‐2 or SARS‐CoV pseudovirus with the level of glycosylated ACE2 (gly‐ACE2). These results reveal that SARS‐CoV‐2 cell entry could be mediated by either an ACE2‐dependent or ‐independent mechanism, thus providing a likely molecular basis for its broad tropism for a wide variety of cell types. | J Med Virol | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6538 | Urological surgery during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Descriptive analysis of the experience in a Urology Department across the pandemic phases Introducción: la pandemia por SARS-CoV-2 ha cambiado la práctica urológica a nivel mundial. Nuestro objetivo es describir los resultados en salud observados en los pacientes intervenidos en el Servicio de Urología de un hospital terciario, a lo largo de diferentes fases epidemiológicas. Métodos: estudio de cohortes observacional que incluye todos los pacientes intervenidos entre el 1 de marzo y el 14 de mayo. Según la organización hospitalaria, distinguimos tres periodos: durante las primeras dos semanas no hubo cambios (1er periodo), en las siete semanas siguientes sólo se realizaron intervenciones urgentes previa extracción de exudado nasofaríngeo (2º periodo), y tras el 4 de mayo se reanudó la cirugía electiva aplicando un protocolo de cribado multidisciplinar (3er periodo). Las variables demográficas y basales, las quirúrgicas y perioperatorias, así como los resultados postoperatorios, se obtuvieron de forma retrospectiva (periodos 1 y 2) y prospectiva (periodo 3). El seguimiento telefónico se realizó al menos 3 semanas tras el alta hospitalaria. Resultados: se realizaron 103 cirugías urológicas y fueron diagnosticados de COVID-19 11 pacientes, 8 de ellos en el 1er periodo. El diagnóstico era conocido en 1 paciente, mientras que los otros 10 desarrollaron la enfermedad en una media de 25 días tras la intervención y 16.6 días tras el alta. Cuatro de siete pacientes trasplantados resultaron afectados. Se registraron 3 éxitus por la enfermedad: una mujer de 69 años trasplantada y 2 varones mayores de 80 años con comorbilidades y alto riesgo anestésico a los que se realizó drenaje de absceso retroperitoneal y cirugía retrógrada intrarrenal, respectivamente. Conclusiones: la infección por SARS-CoV-2 afectó principalmente a trasplantados renales o pacientes añosos con alto riesgo anestésico, durante las 2 primeras semanas de la pandemia. Tras implantar la PCR preoperatoria y un protocolo completo de cribado, los casos se redujeron de manera sustancial y se pudo operar con seguridad. Introduction: the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed the urological practice around the world. Our objective is to describe the outcomes presented by patients undergoing surgery in the urology department of a tertiary hospital, across the pandemic phases. Methods: Observational, cohort study including all patients undergoing surgery between the March 1 and May 14. According to the hospital organization, we identified three periods: there were no changes during the first two weeks (1st. period), the following seven weeks, when only urgent interventions were carried out after performance of nasopharyngeal swab test (2nd. period), and finally, elective surgery was resumed on May 4, after the implementation of a multidisciplinary screening protocol (3rd. period). Demographic, baseline, surgical and perioperative variables, as well as postoperative outcomes, were obtained in a retrospective (periods 1 and 2) and prospective (period 3) manner. Telephone follow-up was initiated at least 3 weeks after hospital discharge. Results: 103 urological surgeries were performed, and 11 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, 8 of them within the 1st. period. The diagnosis was clear in 1 patient, while the other 10 developed the disease in an average of 25 days after the intervention and 16.6 days after discharge. Of seven transplant patients, four got the infection. Three deaths were recorded due to the disease: a 69-year-old woman transplanted and two men over 80 with comorbidities and high anesthetic risk who underwent drainage of retroperitoneal abscess and retrograde intrarenal surgery, respectively. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection mainly affected renal transplant recipients or elderly patients with high anesthetic risk, during the first 2 weeks of the pandemic. After implementing preoperative PCR tests and a comprehensive screening protocol, cases were substantially reduced, and safe surgical procedures were achieved. | Actas Urol Esp (Engl Ed) | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6539 | Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by uncertainty and constant change, forcing governments and health authorities to ramp up risk communication efforts. Consequently, visuality and social media platforms like Twitter have come to play a vital role in disseminating prevention messages widely. Yet to date, only little is known about what characterizes visual risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this gap in the literature, this study’s objective was to determine how visual risk communication was used on Twitter to promote the World Health Organisations (WHO) recommended preventative behaviours and how this communication changed over time. METHODS: We sourced Twitter’s 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January–October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. For inclusion, tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain one of the keywords ‘covid19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘corona’, or ‘covid’. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the 616 tweets meeting inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Our results show communication dynamics changed over the course of the pandemic. At the start, most retweeted preventative messages came from the media and health and government institutions, but overall, personal accounts with many followers (51.3%) predominated, and their tweets had the highest spread (10.0%, i.e., retweet count divided by followers). Messages used mostly photographs and images were found to be rich with information. 78.1% of Tweets contained 1–2 preventative messages, whereby ‘stay home’ and ‘wear a mask’ frequented most. Although more tweets used health loss framing, health gain messages spread more. CONCLUSION: Our findings can inform the didactics of future crisis communication. The results underscore the value of engaging individuals, particularly influencers, as advocates to spread health risk messages and promote solidarity. Further, our findings on the visual characteristic of the most retweeted tweets highlight factors that health and government organisations should consider when creating visual health messages for Twitter. However, that more tweets used the emotive medium of photographs often combined with health loss framing raises concerns about persuasive tactics. More research is needed to understand the implications of framing and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10851-4. | BMC Public Health | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6540 | Initial success in the identification and management of the COVID-19 indicates human-to-human transmission in Wuhan, China Coronavirus (CoV) has been one of the major pandemic threats to human health in the last two decades. The human coronavirus was first identified in 1960s. CoVs 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV have caused numerous disasters or human deaths worldwide. Recently, an outbreak of the previously unknown deadly CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 (SARS-CoV-2, early named 2019-nCoV) occurred in Wuhan, China, and it had caused 81238 cases of confirmed infection, including 3250 deaths until March 19, 2020. Its risks and pandemic potential have brought global consideration. We summarized epidemiology, virological characteristics, clinical symptoms, diagnostic methods, clinical treatments, and prevention methods for COVID-19 to present a reference for the future wave of probable CoV outbreaks. | Int J Biol Sci | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6541 | Third dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine in heart transplant recipients: Immunogenicity and clinical experience BACKGROUND: The repeated waves of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the necessity to optimize vaccine responses in immunocompromised populations. We investigated the safety and immunogenicity of a third, booster, dose of the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine in heart transplant (HT) patients. METHODS: The cohort comprised 96 adult HT patients who received a third homologous dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine 168 days after the second dose. The vaccine-induced antibody responses of both receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG and neutralizing antibodies were assessed in all patients, with a positive antibody response being defined as the presence of either IgG anti-RBD or neutralizing antibodies. For a subset of patients, T cell response was also studied. RESULTS: The third dose was associated with a low rate of adverse events, mostly mild pain at the injection site. No serious adverse events were recorded, and there were no episodes of rejection. At 18 days following the third dose of the vaccine, the positive antibody response increased from 23% to 67%, with a corresponding increase in neutralizing capacity. The third dose elicited SARS-CoV-2 neutralization titers >9-fold and IgG anti-RBD antibodies >3-fold of the range achieved after the two primary doses. Mycophenolate use, lower eGFR and higher C-reactive protein were independently associated with a reduced likelihood of generating an immune response. Importantly, a specific T-cell response following the third dose was evident in the majority of transplant recipients. CONCLUSIONS: An homologous third booster dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine gave overall consistent tolerability and a good safety profile, while eliciting humoral and cellular immune responses. | J Heart Lung Transplant | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6542 | Vaccination of Pregnant Women Against COVID-19 N/A | Neoreviews | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6543 | COVID-19 vaccines: where we stand and challenges ahead In the eleven months elapsed since the identification of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its genome, an exceptional effort by the scientific community has led to the development of over 300 vaccine projects. Over 40 are now undergoing clinical evaluation, ten of these are in Phase III clinical trials, three of them have ended Phase III with positive results. A few of these new vaccines are being approved for emergency use. Existing data suggest that new vaccine candidates may be instrumental in protecting individuals and reducing the spread of pandemic. The conceptual and technological platforms exploited are diverse, and it is likely that different vaccines will show to be better suited to distinct groups of the human population. Moreover, it remains to be elucidated whether and to what extent the capacity of vaccines under evaluation and of unrelated vaccines such as BCG can increase immunological fitness by training innate immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and pathogen-agnostic protection. Due to the short development time and the novelty of the technologies adopted, these vaccines will be deployed with several unresolved issues that only the passage of time will permit to clarify. Technical problems connected with the production of billions of doses and ethical ones connected with the availably of these vaccines also in the poorest countries, are imminent challenges facing us. It is our tenet that in the long run more than one vaccine will be needed to ensure equitable global access, protection of diverse subjects and immunity against viral variants. | Cell Death Differ | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6544 | Challenges for Nontechnical Implementation of Digital Proximity Tracing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Media Analysis of the SwissCovid App BACKGROUND: Several countries have released digital proximity tracing (DPT) apps to complement manual contact tracing for combatting the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. DPT aims to notify app users about proximity exposures to persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 so that they can self-quarantine. The success of DPT apps depends on user acceptance and the embedding of DPT into the pandemic mitigation strategy. OBJECTIVE: By searching for media articles published during the first 3 months after DPT launch, the implementation of DPT in Switzerland was evaluated to inform similar undertakings in other countries. The second aim of the study was to create a link between reported DPT implementation challenges and normalization process theory for planning and optimizing complex digital health interventions, which can provide useful guidance for decision-making in DPT design and implementation. METHODS: A Swiss media database was searched for articles on the Swiss DPT app (SwissCovid) published in German or French between July 4 and October 3, 2020. In a structured process, topics were extracted and clustered manually from articles that were deemed pertinent. Extracted topics were mapped to four NPT constructs, which reflected the flow of intervention development from planning, stakeholder onboarding, and execution to critical appraisal. Coherence constructs describe sense-making by stakeholders, cognitive participation constructs reflect participants’ efforts to create engagement with the intervention, collective actions refer to intervention execution and joint stakeholder efforts to make the intervention work, and reflexive monitoring refers to collective risk-benefit appraisals to create improvements. RESULTS: Out of 94 articles deemed pertinent and selected for closer inspection, 38 provided unique information on implementation challenges. Five challenge areas were identified: communication challenges, challenges for DPT to interface with other processes, fear of resource competition with established pandemic mitigation measures, unclear DPT effectiveness, and obstacles to greater user coverage and compliance. Specifically, several articles mentioned unclear DPT benefits to affect commitment and to raise fears among different health system actors regarding resource competition. Moreover, media reports indicated process interface challenges such as delays or unclear responsibilities in the notification cascade, as well as misunderstandings and unmet communication needs from health system actors. Finally, reports suggested misaligned incentives, not only for app usage by the public but also for process engagement by other actors in the app notification cascade. NPT provided a well-fitting framework to contextualize the different DPT implementation challenges and to highlight improvement strategies, namely a better alignment of stakeholder incentives, or stakeholder-specific communication to address their concerns about DPT. CONCLUSIONS: Early experiences from one of the first adopters of DPT indicate that nontechnical implementation challenges may affect the effectiveness of DPT. The NPT analysis provides a novel perspective on DPT implementation and stresses the need for stakeholder inclusion in development and operationalization. | JMIR Mhealth Uhealth | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6545 | Preexisting Comorbidities Predicting COVID-19 and Mortality in the UK Biobank Community Cohort BACKGROUND: Hospitalized COVID-19 patients tend to be older and frequently have hypertension, diabetes, or coronary heart disease, but whether these comorbidities are true risk factors (ie, more common than in the general older population) is unclear. We estimated associations between preexisting diagnoses and hospitalized COVID-19 alone or with mortality, in a large community cohort. METHODS: UK Biobank (England) participants with baseline assessment 2006–2010, followed in hospital discharge records to 2017 and death records to 2020. Demographic and preexisting common diagnoses association tested with hospitalized laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 (March 16 to April 26, 2020), alone or with mortality, in logistic models. RESULTS: Of 269 070 participants aged older than 65, 507 (0.2%) became COVID-19 hospital inpatients, of which 141 (27.8%) died. Common comorbidities in hospitalized inpatients were hypertension (59.6%), history of fall or fragility fractures (29.4%), coronary heart disease (21.5%), type 2 diabetes (type 2, 19. 9%), and asthma (17.6%). However, in models adjusted for comorbidities, age group, sex, ethnicity, and education, preexisting diagnoses of dementia, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, depression, atrial fibrillation, and hypertension emerged as independent risk factors for COVID-19 hospitalization, the first 5 remaining statistically significant for related mortality. Chronic kidney disease and asthma were risk factors for COVID-19 hospitalization in women but not men. CONCLUSIONS: There are specific high-risk preexisting comorbidities for COVID-19 hospitalization and related deaths in community-based older men and women. These results do not support simple age-based targeting of the older population to prevent severe COVID-19 infections. | J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6546 | Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Among Residents and Staff Members of an Independent and Assisted Living Community for Older Adults-Seattle, Washington, 2020 In the Seattle, Washington metropolitan area, where the first case of novel coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) in the United States was reported (1), a community-level outbreak is ongoing with evidence of rapid spread and high morbidity and mortality among older adults in long-term care skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) (2,3). However, COVID-19 morbidity among residents of senior independent and assisted living communities, in which residents do not live as closely together as do residents in SNFs and do not require skilled nursing services, has not been described. During March 5-9, 2020, two residents of a senior independent and assisted living community in Seattle (facility 1) were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 infection; on March 6, social distancing and other preventive measures were implemented in the community. UW Medicine (the health system linked to the University of Washington), Public Health - Seattle & King County, and CDC conducted an investigation at the facility. On March 10, all residents and staff members at facility 1 were tested for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and asked to complete a questionnaire about their symptoms; all residents were tested again 7 days later. Among 142 residents and staff members tested during the initial phase, three of 80 residents (3.8%) and two of 62 staff members (3.2%) had positive test results. The three residents had no symptoms at the time of testing, although one reported an earlier cough that had resolved. A fourth resident, who had negative test results in the initial phase, had positive test results 7 days later. This resident was asymptomatic on both days. Possible explanations for so few cases of COVID-19 in this residential community compared with those in several Seattle SNFs with high morbidity and mortality include more social distancing among residents and less contact with health care providers. In addition, early implementation of stringent isolation and protective measures after identification of two COVID-19 cases might have been effective in minimizing spread of the virus in this type of setting. When investigating a potential outbreak of COVID-19 in senior independent and assisted living communities, symptom screening is unlikely to be sufficient to identify all persons infected with SARS-CoV-2. Adherence to CDC guidance to prevent COVID-19 transmission in senior independent and assisted living communities (4) could be instrumental in preventing a facility outbreak. | MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6547 | Parental hesitancy towards vaccinating their children with a booster dose against COVID-19: Real-world evidence from Taizhou, China N/A | J Infect Public Health | 2022 | LitCov | |
| 6548 | An alpaca nanobody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 by blocking receptor interaction SARS-CoV-2 enters host cells through an interaction between the spike glycoprotein and the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Directly preventing this interaction presents an attractive possibility for suppressing SARS-CoV-2 replication. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of an alpaca-derived single domain antibody fragment, Ty1, that specifically targets the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike, directly preventing ACE2 engagement. Ty1 binds the RBD with high affinity, occluding ACE2. A cryo-electron microscopy structure of the bound complex at 2.9 Å resolution reveals that Ty1 binds to an epitope on the RBD accessible in both the ‘up’ and ‘down’ conformations, sterically hindering RBD-ACE2 binding. While fusion to an Fc domain renders Ty1 extremely potent, Ty1 neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudovirus as a 12.8 kDa nanobody, which can be expressed in high quantities in bacteria, presenting opportunities for manufacturing at scale. Ty1 is therefore an excellent candidate as an intervention against COVID-19. | Nat Commun | 2020 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6549 | Comparison of 16 Serological SARS-CoV-2 Immunoassays in 16 Clinical Laboratories Serological assays for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are needed to support clinical diagnosis and epidemiological investigations. Recently, assays for large-scale detection of total antibodies (Ab), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and IgM against SARS-CoV-2 antigens have been developed, but there are limited data on the diagnostic accuracy of these assays. This study was a Danish national collaboration and evaluated 15 commercial and one in-house anti-SARS-CoV-2 assays in 16 laboratories. Sensitivity was evaluated using 150 samples from individuals with asymptomatic, mild, or moderate COVID-19, nonhospitalized or hospitalized, confirmed by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT); samples were collected 13 to 73 days either from symptom onset or from positive NAAT (patients without symptoms). Specificity and cross-reactivity were evaluated in samples collected prior to the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic from >586 blood donors and patients with autoimmune diseases, cytomegalovirus or Epstein-Barr virus infections, and acute viral infections. A specificity of ≥99% was achieved by all total-Ab and IgG assays except one, DiaSorin Liaison XL IgG (97.2%). Sensitivities in descending order were Wantai ELISA total Ab (96.7%), CUH-NOVO in-house ELISA total Ab (96.0%), Ortho Vitros total Ab (95.3%), YHLO iFlash IgG (94.0%), Ortho Vitros IgG (93.3%), Siemens Atellica total Ab (93.2%), Roche Elecsys total Ab (92.7%), Abbott Architect IgG (90.0%), Abbott Alinity IgG (median 88.0%), DiaSorin Liaison XL IgG (median 84.6%), Siemens Vista total Ab (81.0%), Euroimmun/ELISA IgG (78.0%), and Snibe Maglumi IgG (median 78.0%). However, confidence intervals overlapped for several assays. The IgM results were variable, with the Wantai IgM ELISA showing the highest sensitivity (82.7%) and specificity (99%). The rate of seropositivity increased with time from symptom onset and symptom severity. | J Clin Microbiol | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 | |
| 6550 | Psychological Distress, Early Behavioral Response and Perception Towards the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Healthcare Workers in North Shoa Zone, Oromiya Region Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant psychological impact on health care workers (HCWs). Therefore, this study inspects the mental health status, behavioral response, and perception among HCWs (nurses, physicians, and medical laboratory workers) during the COVID-19 pandemic in public health care facilities. Methods: A facilities-based cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2020. A simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data were collected by self-report administered questionnaires using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression, General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) for insomnia, Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) for psychological distress, Perceived Threat Scale for perception, and Behavioral Response Inquiry for the behavioral response. Moreover, bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions analysis was used to identify the association between dependent and independent variables at p-value <0.05. Results: A total of 417 (98.6%) HCWs responded to a self-administered questionnaire. The proportion of HCWs who had moderate to severe symptoms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic were 58, 16.3, 30.7, and 15.9%, respectively. Three-fifth of the nurses, medical laboratory professionals (62.2%), and physicians (59.2%) had reported good behavioral responses toward the COVID-19 pandemic. More than three-fifths of the nurses had reported poor perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, 61.2% of physicians and three-fourths (75.5%) of medical laboratory professionals had reported good perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic. Female and married participants, those working in the emergency unit, those with poor behavioral responses, and those with poor perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly associated with symptoms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Conclusions: Psychological impacts among physicians, nurses, and medical laboratory professionals are high during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health should aim to protect all HCWs' psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic with appropriate interventions and accurate information response. | Front Psychiatry | 2021 | LitCov and CORD-19 |
(1) COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19). 2020. Version 2022-06-02. Retrieved from https://ai2-semanticscholar-cord-19.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/historical_releases.html. Accessed 2022-06-05. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3715506
(2) Chen Q, Allot A, & Lu Z. (2020) Keep up with the latest coronavirus research, Nature 579:193 and Chen Q, Allot A, Lu Z. LitCovid: an open database of COVID-19 literature. Nucleic Acids Research. 2020. (version 2023-01-10)
(3) Currently tweets of June 23rd to June 29th 2022 have been considered.