| Title | Venue | Year | Impact | Source |
| 8001 | Physical activity, mental health and well-being of adults during initial COVID-19 containment strategies: A multi-country cross-sectional analysis Objectives To assess physical activity (PA), mental health and well-being of adults in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia during the initial stages of National governments’ Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) containment responses. Design Observational, cross-sectional. Methods An online survey was disseminated to adults (n = 8,425; 44.5 ± 14.8y) residing in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia within the first 2-6 weeks of government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions. Main outcome measures included: Stages of Change scale for exercise behaviour change; International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short-form); World Health Organisation-5 Well-being Index; and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-9. Results Participants who reported a negative change in exercise behaviour between pre-initial COVID-19 restrictions and during initial COVID-19 restrictions demonstrated poorer mental health and well-being compared to those demonstrating either a positive-or no change in their exercise behaviour (p < 0.001). Whilst women reported more positive changes in exercise behaviour, young people (18-29y) reported more negative changes (both p < 0.001). Individuals who had more positive exercise behaviours reported better mental health and well-being (p < 0.001). Although there were no differences in PA between countries, individuals in New Zealand reported better mental health and well-being (p < 0.001). Conclusion The initial COVID-19 restrictions have differentially impacted upon PA habits of individuals based upon their age and sex, and therefore have important implications for international policy and guideline recommendations. Public health interventions that encourage PA should target specific groups (e.g., men, young adults) who are most vulnerable to the negative effects of physical distancing and/or self-isolation. | J Sci Med Sport | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8002 | The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Dental Education: An Online Survey of Students' Perceptions and Attitudes Purpose: Dental education institutions worldwide experienced disruptive changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a rapid switch to the online learning format. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental education and evaluates the perceptions and attitudes of students towards the introduction of online learning in the School of Dental Medicine in Zagreb, Croatia. Methods: A survey was conducted on a population of undergraduate students. It was comprised of perceptions and attitudes of students on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their psychoemotional status, changes introduced in the educational system, and online learning in particular. Results: Of the 352 students that completed the survey, 66.2% of students reported being psychoemotionally affected by the lockdown. The most significant impact of the switch from in-person to online learning was observed in terms of missing contact with lecturers (60.3%) and peers (90.3%) and loss of practical courses, regarding which 65% of students agreed that they could not be compensated. While only 36.1% reported that online teaching fully met their expectations, the majority of the students (61.9%) agreed that online lectures were as valuable as in-person lectures and that the theoretical courses could be carried out online in the future as well (69.9%). Conclusions: Students reported relative satisfaction with changes in the learning format and a positive attitude towards online learning; however, several challenges and obstacles were identified. | Dent J (Basel) | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8003 | COVID-19: Evaluation and Care of Patients With Persistent Symptoms Following Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection This article summarizes the ACP/Annals COVID-19 Forum V held on 9 June 2021. | Ann Intern Med | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8004 | Gastrointestinal involvement of COVID-19 and potential faecal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 多中心临床数据显示, 部分 2019 冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 患者存在腹泻、 恶心和呕吐等胃肠道症状, 相关研究也证实严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 型 (SARS-CoV-2) 能够在胃肠道复制并从粪便中分离到活的 SARS-CoV-2. 在意大利和澳大利亚等国, 其未处理的污水中检测到了 SARS-CoV-2, 且根据污水中 SARS-CoV-2 的含量估算出的 COVID-19 患者与临床实际感染患者较为一致. 粪便中的 SARS-CoV-2 能够挥发存在于气溶胶中并保持较长时间的活力, 故当人们暴露在被 SARS-CoV-2 污染的环境中即可能经 “粪便-气溶胶-粘膜” 途径感染 SARS-CoV-2, 而当人们食用被 SARS-CoV-2 污染的食物或水则可能经 “粪-口” 途径感染 SARS-CoV-2. 因此, 对可能被 COVID-19 患者粪便污染的环境或物品进行严格管理和有效消毒对控制 COVID-19 大流行具有重要意义. | J Zhejiang Univ Sci B | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8005 | SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Spike recognition by plasma from individuals receiving BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination with a 16-week interval between doses Continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) is fueling the COVID-19 pandemic. Omicron (B.1.1.529) rapidly spread worldwide. The large number of mutations in its Spike raise concerns about a major antigenic drift that could significantly decrease vaccine efficacy and infection-induced immunity. A long interval between BNT162b2 mRNA doses elicit antibodies that efficiently recognize Spikes from different VOCs. Here we evaluate the recognition of Omicron Spike by plasma from a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 naïve and previously infected individuals that received their BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine 16-weeks apart. Omicron Spike is recognized less efficiently than D614G, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Spikes. We compare to plasma activity from participants receiving a short (4-weeks) interval regimen. Plasma from individuals of the long interval cohort recognize and neutralize better the Omicron Spike compared to those that received a short interval. Whether this difference confers any clinical benefit against Omicron remains unknown. | Cell Rep | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8006 | COVID-19-Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis Infodemics, often including rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories, have been common during the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring social media data has been identified as the best method for tracking rumors in real time and as a possible way to dispel misinformation and reduce stigma. However, the detection, assessment, and response to rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in real time are a challenge. Therefore, we followed and examined COVID-19–related rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories circulating on online platforms, including fact-checking agency websites, Facebook, Twitter, and online newspapers, and their impacts on public health. Information was extracted between December 31, 2019 and April 5, 2020, and descriptively analyzed. We performed a content analysis of the news articles to compare and contrast data collected from other sources. We identified 2,311 reports of rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in 25 languages from 87 countries. Claims were related to illness, transmission and mortality (24%), control measures (21%), treatment and cure (19%), cause of disease including the origin (15%), violence (1%), and miscellaneous (20%). Of the 2,276 reports for which text ratings were available, 1,856 claims were false (82%). Misinformation fueled by rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories can have potentially serious implications on the individual and community if prioritized over evidence-based guidelines. Health agencies must track misinformation associated with the COVID-19 in real time, and engage local communities and government stakeholders to debunk misinformation. | Am J Trop Med Hyg | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8007 | Knowledge, attitude, perceptions and concerns of pregnant and lactating women regarding COVID-19 vaccination: A cross-sectional survey of 313 participants from a tertiary care center of North India AIM: The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, perceptions, and concerns of pregnant and lactating women regarding COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a pre-validated questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitude, perceptions, and concerns about COVID 19 vaccination among pregnant and lactating women. RESULTS: Most (90%) of the study participants(n =313) agreed that it was essential to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and were aware that pregnant (72.2%) or lactating women (65.2%) are eligible for vaccination. There was a significant positive association between willingness to pay for the vaccine and the socio-economic status (p<0.01). Women residing in rural areas wanted to wait to see the effect of the vaccine on other pregnant and lactating women (p<0.001). The major factors associated with vaccine hesitancy were unforeseen future effects of vaccines on the foetus (58.6%) and rapid development and approval of vaccine without including pregnant and lactating women in vaccine trials (53.6%). These factors were positively associated with socioeconomic status (p<0.05) and residence (p<0.01) CONCLUSION: The safety concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine is a major reason for vaccine hesitancy. The policymakers should advocate, investigate, and publicize relevant data on vaccine efficacy and safety among these women. | Diabetes Metab Syndr | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8008 | Personalized predictive models for symptomatic COVID-19 patients using basic preconditions: Hospitalizations, mortality and the need for an ICU or ventilator Abstract Background The rapid global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has provoked a spike in demand for hospital care. Hospital systems across the world have been over-extended, including in Northern Italy, Ecuador, and New York City, and many other systems face similar challenges. As a result, decisions on how to best allocate very limited medical resources and design targeted policies for vulnerable subgroups have come to the forefront. Specifically, under consideration are decisions on who to test, who to admit into hospitals, who to treat in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and who to support with a ventilator. Given today’s ability to gather, share, analyze and process data, personalized predictive models based on demographics and information regarding prior conditions can be used to (1) help decision-makers allocate limited resources, when needed, (2) advise individuals how to better protect themselves given their risk profile, (3) differentiate social distancing guidelines based on risk, and (4) prioritize vaccinations once a vaccine becomes available. Objective To develop personalized models that predict the following events: (1) hospitalization, (2) mortality, (3) need for ICU, and (4) need for a ventilator. To predict hospitalization, it is assumed that one has access to a patient’s basic preconditions, which can be easily gathered without the need to be at a hospital and hence serve citizens and policy makers to assess individual risk during a pandemic. For the remaining models, different versions developed include different sets of a patient’s features, with some including information on how the disease is progressing (e.g., diagnosis of pneumonia). Materials and Methods National data from a publicly available repository, updated daily, containing information from approximately 91,000 patients in Mexico were used. The data for each patient include demographics, prior medical conditions, SARS-CoV-2 test results, hospitalization, mortality and whether a patient has developed pneumonia or not. Several classification methods were applied and compared, including robust versions of logistic regression, and support vector machines, as well as random forests and gradient boosted decision trees. Results Interpretable methods (logistic regression and support vector machines) perform just as well as more complex models in terms of accuracy and detection rates, with the additional benefit of elucidating variables on which the predictions are based. Classification accuracies reached 72%, 79%, 89%, and 90% for predicting hospitalization, mortality, need for ICU and need for a ventilator, respectively. The analysis reveals the most important preconditions for making the predictions. For the four models derived, these are: (1) for hospitalization:age, pregnancy, diabetes, gender, chronic renal insufficiency, and immunosuppression; (2) for mortality: age, immunosuppression, chronic renal insufficiency, obesity and diabetes; (3) for ICU need: development of pneumonia (if available), age, obesity, diabetes and hypertension; and (4) for ventilator need: ICU and pneumonia (if available), age, obesity, and hypertension. | Int J Med Inform | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8009 | Computational screening of dual inhibitors from FDA approved antiviral drugs on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the main protease using molecular docking approach N/A | Acta Virol | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8010 | Comparison of antibody responses after the 1st and 2nd doses of COVID-19 vaccine with those of patients with mild or severe COVID-19 BACKGROUND/AIMS: Data comparing the antibody responses of different coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine platforms according to dose with natural severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection-induced antibody responses are limited. METHODS: Blood samples from adult patients with mild and severe COVID-19 and healthcare workers who received ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (2nd dose at 12-week intervals) and BNT162b2 vaccine (2nd dose at 3-week intervals) were collected and compared by immunoglobulin G immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 specific spike protein using an in-house-developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: A total of 53 patients, including 12 and 41 with mild and severe COVID-19, respectively, were analyzed. In addition, a total of 73 healthcare workers, including 37 who received ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and 36 who received BNT162b2, were enrolled. Antibody responses after the first and second doses of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or the first dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine were similar to those in convalescent patients with mild COVID-19, but lower than those in convalescent patients with severe COVID-19, respectively. However, after the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine, the antibody response was comparable to that in convalescent patients with severe COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the second dose of mRNA vaccination may be more beneficial in terms of long-term immunity and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 variant infection than a single dose of COVID-19 vaccination or homologous second challenge ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. | Korean J Intern Med | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8011 | Immunogenicity and Safety of Standard and Third-Dose SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Patients Receiving Immunosuppressive Therapy N/A | Arthritis Rheumatol | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8012 | Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome after reinfection and vaccine breakthrough by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in Brazil We describe a case of prolonged COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in a fully vaccinated healthcare worker, 387 days after an infection caused by lineage B.1.1.33. Infections were confirmed by whole-genome sequencing and corroborated by the detection of neutralizing antibodies in convalescent serum samples. Considering the permanent exposure of this healthcare worker to SARS-CoV-2, the waning immunity after the first infection, the low efficacy of the inactivated vaccine at preventing COVID-19, the immune escape of the Gamma variant (VOC), and the burden of post-COVID syndrome, this individual would have benefited from an additional dose of a heterologous vaccine. | Int J Infect Dis | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8013 | Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Feces of Patient with Severe COVID-19 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was isolated from feces of a patient in China with coronavirus disease who died. Confirmation of infectious virus in feces affirms the potential for fecal–oral or fecal–respiratory transmission and warrants further study. | Emerg Infect Dis | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8014 | A Double Triage and Telemedicine Protocol to Optimize Infection Control in an Emergency Department in Taiwan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Feasibility Study BACKGROUND: Frontline health care workers, including physicians, are at high risk of contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) owing to their exposure to patients suspected of having COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits and feasibility of a double triage and telemedicine protocol in improving infection control in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: In this retrospective study, we recruited patients aged ≥20 years referred to the ED of the National Taiwan University Hospital between March 1 and April 30, 2020. A double triage and telemedicine protocol was developed to triage suggested COVID-19 cases and minimize health workers’ exposure to this disease. We categorized patients attending video interviews into a telemedicine group and patients experiencing face-to-face interviews into a conventional group. A questionnaire was used to assess how patients perceived the quality of the interviews and their communication with physicians as well as perceptions of stress, discrimination, and privacy. Each question was evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Physicians’ total exposure time and total evaluation time were treated as primary outcomes, and the mean scores of the questions were treated as secondary outcomes. RESULTS: The final sample included 198 patients, including 93 cases (47.0%) in the telemedicine group and 105 cases (53.0%) in the conventional group. The total exposure time in the telemedicine group was significantly shorter than that in the conventional group (4.7 minutes vs 8.9 minutes, P<.001), whereas the total evaluation time in the telemedicine group was significantly longer than that in the conventional group (12.2 minutes vs 8.9 minutes, P<.001). After controlling for potential confounders, the total exposure time in the telemedicine group was 4.6 minutes shorter than that in the conventional group (95% CI −5.7 to −3.5, P<.001), whereas the total evaluation time in the telemedicine group was 2.8 minutes longer than that in the conventional group (95% CI −1.6 to −4.0, P<.001). The mean scores of the patient questionnaire were high in both groups (4.5/5 to 4.7/5 points). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of the double triage and telemedicine protocol in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic has high potential to improve infection control. | J Med Internet Res | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8015 | Identification of natural inhibitors against Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 by molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation and MM/PBSA methods The recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 disease, also known as COVID-19, has emerged as a pandemic. The unavailability of specific therapeutic drugs and vaccines urgently demands sincere efforts for drug discovery against COVID-19. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is a critical drug target as it plays an essential role in virus replication. Therefore for the identification of potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, we applied a structure-based virtual screening approach followed by molecular dynamics (MD) study. A library of 686 phytochemicals was subjected to virtual screening which resulted in 28 phytochemicals based on binding energy. These phytochemicals were further subjected to drug-likeness and toxicity analysis, which resulted in seven drug-like hits. Out of seven, five phytochemicals viz., Mpro-Dehydrtectol (-10.3 kcal/mol), Epsilon-viniferin (-8.6 kcal/mol), Peimisine (-8.6 kcal/mol), Gmelanone (-8.4 kcal/mol), and Isocolumbin (-8.4 kcal/mol) were non-toxic. Consequently, these phytochemicals are subjected to MD, post MD analysis, and MM/PBSA calculations. The results of 100 ns MD simulation, RMSF, SASA, Rg, and MM/PBSA show that Epsilon-viniferin (-29.240 kJ/mol), Mpro-Peimisine (-43.031 kJ/mol) and Gmelanone (-13.093 kJ/mol) form a stable complex with Mpro and could be used as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. However, further investigation of these inhibitors against Mpro receptor of COVID-19 is needed to validate their candidacy for clinical trials. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma | J Biomol Struct Dyn | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8016 | Clinical Characteristics and Immune Injury Mechanisms in 71 Patients with COVID-19 The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a threat to global health. The mortality rate of severely ill patients in the early stage is 32.5%. The exacerbation of the condition and death of patients are closely associated with inflammatory cytokine storms, which are caused by excessive activation of the immune and complement systems as well as the coinfection of other pathogens. However, the immunological characteristics and the mechanisms underlying inflammatory storms have not been well elucidated. Here, we analyzed the clinical and immunological characteristics of 71 confirmed COVID-19 patients. Based on the National Health Commission of China (NHCC) guidelines, patients were stratified into mild and severe types. We compared the clinical and laboratory data obtained from electronic medical records between the two types. In regard to the hematological parameters, COVID-19 patients showed decreased erythrocyte count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, lymphocyte count, eosinophil count, and complement C1q, whereas neutrophils, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin were significantly increased, especially in severe cases. We also found that CD3(+) CD4(+) T lymphocytes, CD3(+) CD8(+) T lymphocytes, CD19(+) B lymphocytes, and CD16(+) CD56(+) NK cells in the peripheral blood of all patients were decreased. In addition, CD3(+) CD8(+) T lymphocytes, CD16(+) CD56(+) NK cells, and complement C1q in severely ill patients decreased more significantly. Additionally, interleukin 6 (IL-6) elevation was particularly prominent in all patients, especially in severe cases. These results suggest that CD3(+) CD8(+) T lymphocytes, CD16(+) CD56(+) NK cells, C1q as well as IL-6 may play critical roles in the inflammatory cytokine storm. The dysregulation of these aforementioned immune parameters, along with bacterial coinfection, were the important causes of exacerbation of the patients’ condition and death. This study improves our understanding of the immune dysregulation of COVID-19 and provides potential immunotherapeutic strategies. IMPORTANCE The dysregulation of CD3(+) CD8(+) T lymphocytes, CD16(+) CD56(+) NK cells, C1q as well as IL-6, along with bacterial coinfection, were important causes of exacerbation of the patients’ condition and death. | mSphere | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8017 | Hepatitis C virus drugs that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease synergize with remdesivir to suppress viral replication in cell culture Effective control of COVID-19 requires antivirals directed against SARS-CoV-2. We assessed ten hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease-inhibitor drugs as potential SARS-CoV-2 antivirals. There is a striking structural similarity of the substrate binding clefts of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) and HCV NS3/4A protease. Virtual docking experiments show that these HCV drugs can potentially bind into the Mpro binding cleft. We show that seven HCV drugs inhibit both SARS-CoV-2 Mpro protease activity and SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in Vero and/or human cells. However, their Mpro inhibiting activities did not correlate with their antiviral activities. This conundrum was resolved by demonstrating that four HCV protease inhibitor drugs, simeprevir, vaniprevir, paritaprevir, and grazoprevir inhibit the SARS CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro). HCV drugs that inhibit PLpro synergize with the viral polymerase inhibitor remdesivir to inhibit virus replication, increasing remdesivir’s antiviral activity as much as 10-fold, while those that only inhibit Mpro do not synergize with remdesivir. | Cell Rep | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8018 | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ophthalmology Residency Training in Portugal N/A | Acta Med Port | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8019 | COVID-19 Pandemic: Evaluation of Socio-Economic Impact on Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Providers BACKGROUND: In many countries, the worldwide spread of COVID-19 has led to a near total stop of non-urgent, elective surgeries across all specialties during the first wave’s peak of the pandemic. For providers of aesthetic surgery procedures or minimal invasive cosmetic treatments, this led to a huge socio-economic impact worldwide. In order to evaluate valid clinical management strategies for future pandemic events and to overcome the challenges imposed by the current pandemic, it is paramount to analyse the socio-economic effects caused by the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS: An online survey comprising 18 questions was sent out five times by e-mail to all members of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) between June and August 2020. The data set was statistically analyzed and grouped into an overall group and into subgroups of countries with high (n = 251) vs. low (n = 440) gross domestic product per capita (GDP p.c.) and five defined world regions (Europe (n = 214); North America (NA; n = 97); South America (SA; n = 206); Asia and Oceania (Asia + OC; n = 99); Africa and Middle East (Africa + ME; n = 75)). RESULTS: A total of 691 recipients completed the survey. The majority of the participants experienced severe operating restrictions resulting in a major drop of income from surgical patients. Low GDP p.c. countries experienced a bigger negative economic impact with less aesthetic (non-) surgical procedures, whereas the high GDP p.c. subgroup was less affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Most of the survey participants had already adopted the ISAPS guidelines for patient (pre-) appointment screening and clinical/patient-flow management. For surgical and non-surgical aesthetic procedures, in the high GDP p.c. subgroup more basic-level PPE (surgical mask) was used, whereas the low GDP p.c. subgroup relied more on advanced-level PPE (N-95 respirator mask or higher). Comparing the different world regions, Europe and Africa used more basic-level PPE. CONCLUSIONS: Measurable differences in the socio-economic impact and in the adaptation of safety protocols between high and low GDP p.c. subgroups and between different world regions were present. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is an international crisis, aligned, expedient and universal actions should be taken. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine Ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00266-021-02130-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. | Aesthetic Plast Surg | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8020 | Telemedicine, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the future: a narrative review and perspectives moving forward in the USA A narrative review was conducted to examine the current state of the utilisation of telemedicine amid the current COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate the benefits of continuing telemedicine usage in the future. A literature review was performed for articles related to telemedicine. Databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Ovid MEDLINE were searched. Three reviewers independently performed article selection based on relevance to our topic. We included all articles between 1990 and 2020 related to telemedicine using the following keywords: ‘telemedicine’, ‘telehealth’, ‘policy’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘regulation’, ‘rural’, ‘physical examination’, ‘future’. A total of 60 articles were identified, and through careful selection we narrowed the final number of articles to 42 based on relevance to our topic. Telemedicine has been rapidly evolving over the past several decades. Issues with regulation and reimbursement have prevented its full immersion into the healthcare system. During the current pandemic, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have expanded access to telemedicine services. The advantages of telemedicine moving forward include its cost-effectiveness, ability to extend access to specialty services and its potential to help mitigate the looming physician shortage. Disadvantages include lack of available technological resources in certain parts of the country, issues with security of patient data, and challenges in performing the traditional patient examination. It is critically important that changes are made to fully immerse telemedicine services into the healthcare landscape in order to be prepared for future pandemics as well as to reap the benefits of this service in the future. | Fam Med Community Health | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8021 | Effectiveness of the third dose of BNT162b2 vaccine on neutralizing Omicron variant in the Japanese population N/A | J Infect Chemother | 2022 | | LitCov |
| 8022 | Characterizations of SARS-CoV-2 mutational profile, spike protein stability and viral transmission The recent pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 infection has affected more than 3.0 million people worldwide with more than 200 thousand reported deaths. The SARS-CoV-2 genome has the capability of gaining rapid mutations as the virus spreads. Whole-genome sequencing data offers a wide range of opportunities to study mutation dynamics. The advantage of an increasing amount of whole-genome sequence data of SARS-CoV-2 intrigued us to explore the mutation profile across the genome, to check the genome diversity, and to investigate the implications of those mutations in protein stability and viral transmission. We have identified frequently mutated residues by aligning ~660 SARS-CoV-2 genomes and validated in 10,000 datasets available in GISAID Nextstrain. We further evaluated the potential of these frequently mutated residues in protein structure stability of spike glycoprotein and their possible functional consequences in other proteins. Among the 11 genes, surface glycoprotein, nucleocapsid, ORF1ab, and ORF8 showed frequent mutations, while envelop, membrane, ORF6, ORF7a and ORF7b showed conservation in terms of amino acid substitutions. Combined analysis with the frequently mutated residues identified 20 viral variants, among which 12 specific combinations comprised more than 97% of the isolates considered for the analysis. Some of the mutations across different proteins showed co-occurrences, suggesting their structural and/or functional interaction among different SARS-COV-2 proteins, and their involvement in adaptability and viral transmission. Analysis of protein structure stability of surface glycoprotein mutants indicated the viability of specific variants and are more prone to be temporally and spatially distributed across the globe. A similar empirical analysis of other proteins indicated the existence of important functional implications of several variants. Identification of frequently mutated variants among COVID-19 patients might be useful for better clinical management, contact tracing, and containment of the disease. | Infect Genet Evol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8023 | Implementation of initiatives designed to improve healthcare worker health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: comparative case studies from 13 healthcare provider organisations globally BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers are at a disproportionate risk of contracting COVID-19. The physical and mental repercussions of such risk have an impact on the wellbeing of healthcare workers around the world. Healthcare workers are the foundation of all well-functioning health systems capable of responding to the ongoing pandemic; initiatives to address and reduce such risk are critical. Since the onset of the pandemic healthcare organizations have embarked on the implementation of a range of initiatives designed to improve healthcare worker health and wellbeing. METHODS: Through a qualitative collective case study approach where participants responded to a longform survey, the facilitators, and barriers to implementing such initiatives were explored, offering global insights into the challenges faced at the organizational level. 13 healthcare organizations were surveyed across 13 countries. Of these 13 participants, 5 subsequently provided missing information through longform interviews or written clarifications. RESULTS: 13 case studies were received from healthcare provider organizations. Mental health initiatives were the most commonly described health and wellbeing initiatives among respondents. Physical health and health and safety focused initiatives, such as the adaption of workspaces, were also described. Strong institutional level direction, including engaged leadership, and the input, feedback, and engagement of frontline staff were the two main facilitators in implementing initiatives. The most common barrier was HCWs’ fear of contracting COVID-19 / fear of passing COVID-19 to family members. In organizations who discussed infection prevention and control initiatives, inadequate personal protective equipment and supply chain disruption were highlighted by respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Common themes emerge globally in exploring the enablers and barriers to implementing initiatives to improve healthcare workers health and wellbeing through the COVID-19 pandemic. Consideration of the themes outlined in the paper by healthcare organizations could help influence the design and deployment of future initiatives ahead of implementation. | Global Health | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8024 | Working in a care home during the COVID-19 pandemic: How has the pandemic changed working practices? A qualitative study BACKGROUND: The pandemic has significantly affected care homes’ residents and families through the national visiting restrictions. However, less is known on the impact these changes have had on the care home workforce. The aim of this research was to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the working practices of care home staff, caring for people living with dementia. METHODS: Remote qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with care home staff caring for people living with dementia (PLWD) in the UK. RESULTS: Participants were recruited to the larger programme of research via convenience sampling. Interviews were conducted via telephone or online platforms. This research employed inductive thematic analysis. Sixteen care home staff were included in this study. Three overarching themes were developed from the analysis that conveyed changes to the everyday working practices of the care home workforce and the impact such changes posed to staff wellbeing: (1) Practical implications of working in a care home during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2); Staff values and changes to the staff roles (3): Impact to the care home staff and concerns for the care sector. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the daily working practices of care home staff, with staff forced to adopt additional roles on top of increased workloads to compensate for the loss of external agencies and support. Support and guidance must be offered urgently to inform care home staff on how to best adapt to their new working practices, ensuring that they are adequately trained. | BMC Geriatr | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8025 | Deep Learning-Based Sentiment Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination Responses from Twitter Data The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on many people, creating severe anxiety, fear, and complicated feelings or emotions. After the initiation of vaccinations against coronavirus, people's feelings have become more diverse and complex. Our aim is to understand and unravel their sentiments in this research using deep learning techniques. Social media is currently the best way to express feelings and emotions, and with the help of Twitter, one can have a better idea of what is trending and going on in people's minds. Our motivation for this research was to understand the diverse sentiments of people regarding the vaccination process. In this research, the timeline of the collected tweets was from December 21 to July21. The tweets contained information about the most common vaccines available recently from across the world. The sentiments of people regarding vaccines of all sorts were assessed using the natural language processing (NLP) tool, Valence Aware Dictionary for sEntiment Reasoner (VADER). Initializing the polarities of the obtained sentiments into three groups (positive, negative, and neutral) helped us visualize the overall scenario; our findings included 33.96% positive, 17.55% negative, and 48.49% neutral responses. In addition, we included our analysis of the timeline of the tweets in this research, as sentiments fluctuated over time. A recurrent neural network- (RNN-) oriented architecture, including long short-term memory (LSTM) and bidirectional LSTM (Bi-LSTM), was used to assess the performance of the predictive models, with LSTM achieving an accuracy of 90.59% and Bi-LSTM achieving 90.83%. Other performance metrics such as precision,, F1-score, and a confusion matrix were also used to validate our models and findings more effectively. This study improves understanding of the public's opinion on COVID-19 vaccines and supports the aim of eradicating coronavirus from the world. | Comput Math Methods Med | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8026 | COVID-19 vaccines in patients with decompensated cirrhosis: a retrospective cohort on safety data and risk factors associated with unvaccinated status BACKGROUND: Safety data reported from the large-scale clinical trials of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine are extremely limited in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. The vaccination campaign in this specific population could be difficult due to uncertainty about the adverse events following vaccination. We aimed to assessed the COVID-19 vaccination rate, factors associated with unvaccinated status, and the adverse events following vaccination in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. METHODS: This is a retrospective study from Ruijin Hospial (Shanghai, China) on an ongoing prospective cohort designed for long-term survival analysis of decompensated cirrhotic patients who recovered from decompensating events or acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) between 2016 and 2018. We assessed the COVID-19 vaccination rate, the number of doses, type of vaccine, safety data, patient-reported reasons for remaining unvaccinated, factors associated with unvaccinated status, and the adverse events of COVID-19 vaccine. Binary logistic regression was used for identifying factors associated with unvaccinated status. RESULTS: A total of 229 patients with decompensated cirrhosis without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection participated (mean age, 56 ± 12.2 years, 75% male, 65% viral-related cirrhosis). Mode of decompensation were grade II‒III ascites (82.5%), gastroesophageal varices bleeding (7.9%), hepatic encephalopathy (7.9%). Eighty-five participants (37.1%) received at least one dose of vaccination (1 dose: n = 1, 2 doses: n = 65, 3 doses: n = 19) while 62.9% remained unvaccinated. Patient-reported reasons for remaining unvaccinated were mainly fear of adverse events (37.5%) and lack of positive advice from healthcare providers (52.1%). The experience of hepatic encephalopathy (OR = 5.61, 95% CI: 1.24–25.4) or ACLF (OR = 3.13, 95% CI: 1.12–8.69) and post-liver transplantation status (OR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.06–5.76) were risk factors of remaining unvaccinated independent of residential areas. The safety analysis demonstrated that 75.3% had no adverse events, 23.6% had non-severe reactions (20% injection-site pain, 1.2% fatigue, 2.4% rash) and 1.2% had a severe event (development of acute decompensation requiring hospitalization). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with decompensated cirrhosis in eastern China are largely remained at unvaccinated status, particularly those with previous episodes of ACLF or hepatic encephalopathy and liver transplantation recipients. Vaccination against COVID-19 in this population is safe. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40249-022-00982-0. | Infect Dis Poverty | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8027 | Are the conditions met to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare professionals? | Infect Dis Now | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8028 | Prevalence of stress, burnout syndrome, anxiety and depression among physicians of a teaching hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic N/A | Arch Argent Pediatr | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8029 | Subacute and chronic post-covid myoendocarditis: clinical presentation, role of coronavirus persistence and autoimmune mechanisms N/A | Kardiologiia | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8030 | Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Antibody Response in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Immune-modifying Therapy: Prospective Single-Tertiary Study N/A | Inflamm Bowel Dis | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8031 | Food insecurity measurement and prevalence estimates during the COVID-19 pandemic in a repeated cross-sectional survey in Mexico OBJECTIVE: To validate the telephone modality of the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) included in three waves of a phone survey to estimate the monthly household food insecurity prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. DESIGN: We examined the reliability and internal validity of the ELCSA scale in three repeated waves of cross-sectional surveys with Rasch models. We estimated the monthly prevalence of food insecurity in the general population and in households with and without children and compared them with a national 2018 survey. We tested concurrent validity by testing associations of food insecurity with socio-economic status and anxiety. SETTING: ENCOVID-19 is a monthly telephone cross-sectional survey collecting information on the well-being of Mexican households during the pandemic lockdown. Surveys used probabilistic samples, and we used data from April (n 833), May (n 850) and June 2020 (n 1674). PARTICIPANTS: Mexicans 18 years or older who had a mobile telephone. RESULTS: ELCSA had an adequate model fit and food insecurity was associated, within each wave, with more poverty and anxiety. The COVID-19 lockdown was associated with an important reduction in food security, decreasing stepwise from 38·9 % in 2018 to 24·9 % in June 2020 in households with children. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone surveys were a feasible strategy to monitor reductions in food security during the COVID-19 lockdown. | Public Health Nutr | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8032 | Oxygen therapy via high flow nasal cannula in severe respiratory failure caused by Sars-Cov-2 infection: a real-life observational study The worldwide spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. According to clinical studies carried out in China and Italy, most patients experience mild or moderate symptoms; about a fifth of subjects develop a severe and critical disease, and may suffer from interstitial pneumonia, possibly associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death. In patients who develop respiratory failure, timely conventional oxygen therapy through nasal catheter plays a crucial role, but it can be used only in mild forms. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) support or non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) are uncomfortable, and require significant man–machine cooperation. Herein we describe our experience of five patients with COVID-19, who were treated with high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) after failure of CPAP or NIV, and discuss the role of HFNC in COVID-19 patients. Our findings suggest that HFNC can be used successfully in selected patients with COVID-19-related ARDS. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section. | Ther Adv Respir Dis | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8033 | Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge We are experiencing a historical moment with an unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 will have a long-term and profound impact on older adults’ health and well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are likely to be one of the most affected health outcomes. Social isolation and loneliness are major risk factors that have been linked with poor physical and mental health status. This paper discusses several approaches that may address the issues of social isolation and loneliness. These approaches include promoting social connection as public health messaging, mobilizing the resources from family members, community-based networks and resources, developing innovative technology-based interventions to improve social connections, and engaging the health care system to begin the process of developing methods to identify social isolation and loneliness in health care settings. | Glob Health Res Policy | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8034 | Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study BACKGROUND: Online misinformation proliferation during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major public health concern. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation exposure and beliefs, associated factors including psychological distress with misinformation exposure, and the associations between COVID-19 knowledge and number of preventive behaviors. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1049 South Korean adults in April 2020. Respondents were asked about receiving COVID-19 misinformation using 12 items identified by the World Health Organization. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for the association of receiving misinformation with sociodemographic characteristics, source of information, COVID-19 misinformation belief, and psychological distress, as well as the associations of COVID-19 misinformation belief with COVID-19 knowledge and the number of COVID-19 preventive behaviors among those who received the misinformation. All data were weighted according to the Korea census data in 2018. RESULTS: Overall, 67.78% (n=711) of respondents reported exposure to at least one COVID-19 misinformation item. Misinformation exposure was associated with younger age, higher education levels, and lower income. Sources of information associated with misinformation exposure were social networking services (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.20-2.32) and instant messaging (aOR 1.79, 1.27-2.51). Misinformation exposure was also associated with psychological distress including anxiety (aOR 1.80, 1.24-2.61), depressive (aOR 1.47, 1.09-2.00), and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (aOR 1.97, 1.42-2.73), as well as misinformation belief (aOR 7.33, 5.17-10.38). Misinformation belief was associated with poorer COVID-19 knowledge (high: aOR 0.62, 0.45-0.84) and fewer preventive behaviors (≥7 behaviors: aOR 0.54, 0.39-0.74). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 misinformation exposure was associated with misinformation belief, while misinformation belief was associated with fewer preventive behaviors. Given the potential of misinformation to undermine global efforts in COVID-19 disease control, up-to-date public health strategies are required to counter the proliferation of misinformation. | J Med Internet Res | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8035 | Depression, anxiety symptoms, Insomnia and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic period among individuals living with disabilities in Ethiopia, 2020 BACKGROUND: People with disabilities face multiple barriers that prevent them from accessing care and essential information related to the COVID-19 pandemic that poses additional stress and psychopathology. Therefore, the investigation of psychopathologies during the COVID-19 outbreak and emergency response is critical. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was implemented from July 15/2020 to July 30/2020. The PHQ-9, GAD-7 scale, insomnia severity index-7, and brief resilient coping scale were administered to participants. The collected data was then entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS-20 for analysis. Descriptive statistical procedures were employed to describe the various psychopathologies. A binary logistic regression method was used to identify the related factors for the psychopathologies. Furthermore, an odds ratio with its 95%CI was driven to show association strength, and a P-value <0.05 was declared as statistically significant. RESULTS: A significant proportion of individuals living with disability had psychopathologies; 46.2% for depression symptoms, 48.1% for generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, and 71% for insomnia symptoms. Nearly 45.7% of participants were low resilient copers to their psychopathology. Depression was significantly higher in divorced/widowed/separated (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI: 1.28–8.92, P-value = 0.006), non-educated (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.12, 5.90, P-value = 0.001), and unemployed (AOR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.32, 5.11, P-value = 0.005) as well as a daily laborer (AOR = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.20, 4.89, P-value = 0.014) subjects. Generalized anxiety disorder was also significantly higher in young age (<40 years) (AOR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.32, 2.98, P-value = 0.02), single (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.24, 5.3, P-value = 0.011), widowed/divorced/separated (AOR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.78, P-value = 0.032), preparatory school completed (AOR = 3.00, 95% CI: 1.59, 5.46, P-value = 0.001), daily laborer (AOR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.21, 5.23, P-value = 0.003), and unemployed (AOR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.17, 4.78, P-value = 0.005) participants. Moreover, insomnia was significantly higher in single (AOR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.09, P-value = 0.027), divorced/widowed/separated(AOR = 6.2, 95% CI: 1.08, 11.29, P-value = 0.032), unemployed (AOR = 3.00, 95% CI: 1.22, 7.03, P-value = 0.001), blind (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.42, 6.35, P-value = 0.001), and deaf (AOR = 10.2, 95% CI: 4.52, 35.33, P-value = 0.002) participants. CONCLUSION: Depression, anxiety, and insomnia were highly prevalent among individuals with a disability during the COVID-19 period. Multiple sociodemographic and disability-related factors were associated with this high psychopathology. Attention has to be given by the government and other stakeholders to intervene in psychopathology and its associated factors. | PLoS One | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8036 | Diagnostic yield of point-of-care ultrasound imaging of the lung in patients with COVID-19 N/A | Emergencias | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8037 | Clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity in patients with hematological malignancies in Italy: a retrospective, multicentre, cohort study Summary Background Several small studies on patients with COVID-19 and haematological malignancies are available showing a high mortality in this population. The Italian Hematology Alliance on COVID-19 aimed to collect data from adult patients with haematological malignancies who required hospitalisation for COVID-19. Methods This multicentre, retrospective, cohort study included adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with diagnosis of a WHO-defined haematological malignancy admitted to 66 Italian hospitals between Feb 25 and May 18, 2020, with laboratory-confirmed and symptomatic COVID-19. Data cutoff for this analysis was June 22, 2020. The primary outcome was mortality and evaluation of potential predictive parameters of mortality. We calculated standardised mortality ratios between observed death in the study cohort and expected death by applying stratum-specific mortality rates of the Italian population with COVID-19 and an Italian cohort of 31 993 patients with haematological malignancies without COVID-19 (data up to March 1, 2019). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify factors associated with overall survival. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04352556, and the prospective part of the study is ongoing. Findings We enrolled 536 patients with a median follow-up of 20 days (IQR 10–34) at data cutoff, 85 (16%) of whom were managed as outpatients. 440 (98%) of 451 hospitalised patients completed their hospital course (were either discharged alive or died). 198 (37%) of 536 patients died. When compared with the general Italian population with COVID-19, the standardised mortality ratio was 2·04 (95% CI 1·77–2·34) in our whole study cohort and 3·72 (2·86–4·64) in individuals younger than 70 years. When compared with the non-COVID-19 cohort with haematological malignancies, the standardised mortality ratio was 41·3 (38·1–44·9). Older age (hazard ratio 1·03, 95% CI 1·01–1·05); progressive disease status (2·10, 1·41–3·12); diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia (3·49, 1·56–7·81), indolent non-Hodgin lymphoma (2·19, 1·07–4·48), aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (2·56, 1·34–4·89), or plasma cell neoplasms (2·48, 1·31–4·69), and severe or critical COVID-19 (4·08, 2·73–6·09) were associated with worse overall survival. Interpretation This study adds to the evidence that patients with haematological malignancies have worse outcomes than both the general population with COVID-19 and patients with haematological malignancies without COVID-19. The high mortality among patients with haematological malignancies hospitalised with COVID-19 highlights the need for aggressive infection prevention strategies, at least until effective vaccination or treatment strategies are available. Funding Associazione italiana contro le leucemie, linfomi e mieloma–Varese Onlus. | Lancet Haematol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8038 | Passive Immunotherapy Against SARS-CoV-2: From Plasma-Based Therapy to Single Potent Antibodies in the Race to Stay Ahead of the Variants The COVID-19 pandemic is now approaching 2 years old, with more than 440 million people infected and nearly six million dead worldwide, making it the most significant pandemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic. The severity and significance of SARS-CoV-2 was recognized immediately upon discovery, leading to innumerable companies and institutes designing and generating vaccines and therapeutic antibodies literally as soon as recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein sequence was available. Within months of the pandemic start, several antibodies had been generated, tested, and moved into clinical trials, including Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab and etesevimab, Regeneron’s mixture of imdevimab and casirivimab, Vir’s sotrovimab, Celltrion’s regdanvimab, and Lilly’s bebtelovimab. These antibodies all have now received at least Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) and some have received full approval in select countries. To date, more than three dozen antibodies or antibody combinations have been forwarded into clinical trials. These antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 all target the receptor-binding domain (RBD), with some blocking the ability of the RBD to bind human ACE2, while others bind core regions of the RBD to modulate spike stability or ability to fuse to host cell membranes. While these antibodies were being discovered and developed, new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have cropped up in real time, altering the antibody landscape on a moving basis. Over the past year, the search has widened to find antibodies capable of neutralizing the wide array of variants that have arisen, including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron. The recent rise and dominance of the Omicron family of variants, including the rather disparate BA.1 and BA.2 variants, demonstrate the need to continue to find new approaches to neutralize the rapidly evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus. This review highlights both convalescent plasma- and polyclonal antibody-based approaches as well as the top approximately 50 antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, their epitopes, their ability to bind to SARS-CoV-2 variants, and how they are delivered. New approaches to antibody constructs, including single domain antibodies, bispecific antibodies, IgA- and IgM-based antibodies, and modified ACE2-Fc fusion proteins, are also described. Finally, antibodies being developed for palliative care of COVID-19 disease, including the ramifications of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), are described. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40259-022-00529-7. | BioDrugs | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8039 | Immunogenicity of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung transplant recipients The immunogenicity of the novel mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in immunocompromised lung transplant recipients is still unknown. We compared the antibody response after the first and second doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech) with the response after natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung transplant recipients. None of the vaccinees tested after two doses of the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, while 85% patients presented an antibody response after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The absence of antibody response to vaccination led us to investigate the cellular response in a subset of patients. We detected SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells in 4 out of 12 tested patients. Some patients therefore might have clinical benefit from the vaccine despite an absent antibody response. These results contrast with the excellent antibody response in immunocompetent individuals observed in mRNA BNT162b2 trials and indicate an urgent need to identify the best vaccine type and scheme for immunocompromised transplanted patients. | J Heart Lung Transplant | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8040 | The psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures: Experience from 4000 participants BACKGROUND: In February 2020 the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in Kuwait. Inevitably as many countries worldwide, the general public were negatively affected by the pandemic. Unemployment, uncertainty, distress, increasing deaths, lockdown measures all of which are potential burdens on mental health. AIM: To assess the impact of COVID19 outbreak on mental health in Kuwait, and to explore the potential influencing risk factors. METHODS: We conducted an online questionnaire-based study in Kuwait between 25(th) May 2020 to 30(th) May 2020. Questions were based on demographics, lifestyle during outbreak, depression and anxiety assessment. Total PHQ9 and GAD7 scores were calculated for each responder. RESULTS: We had 4132 responders. Most were females (69.31%), married (59.37%), between the age of 21-30 (23.84%) and non-smokers (81.46%). Only (7.96%) had a positive past psychiatric history, (32.04%) had a past history of a chronic medical disease. During the outbreak most of the responders lost their jobs (39.21%) and only (12.83%) were attending work regularly, only (6.82%) worked in the healthcare sector. 59.27% report increased social media use compared to before the lockdown. When asked about their daily time spent following COVID19-related news, most (37.8%) spend more than 2 hours and (7.74%) spend more than 4 hours. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was (30.13%) and the prevalence of anxiety symptoms was (25.28%). | J Affect Disord | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8041 | Using Twitter for sentiment analysis towards AstraZeneca/Oxford, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines INTRODUCTION: A worldwide vaccination campaign is underway to bring an end to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; however, its success relies heavily on the actual willingness of individuals to get vaccinated. Social media platforms such as Twitter may prove to be a valuable source of information on the attitudes and sentiment towards SARS-CoV-2 vaccination that can be tracked almost instantaneously. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Twitter academic Application Programming Interface was used to retrieve all English-language tweets mentioning AstraZeneca/Oxford, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in 4 months from 1 December 2020 to 31 March 2021. Sentiment analysis was performed using the AFINN lexicon to calculate the daily average sentiment of tweets which was evaluated longitudinally and comparatively for each vaccine throughout the 4 months. RESULTS: A total of 701 891 tweets have been retrieved and included in the daily sentiment analysis. The sentiment regarding Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appeared positive and stable throughout the 4 months, with no significant differences in sentiment between the months. In contrast, the sentiment regarding the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine seems to be decreasing over time, with a significant decrease when comparing December with March (p<0.0000000001, mean difference=−0.746, 95% CI=−0.915 to −0.577). CONCLUSION: Lexicon-based Twitter sentiment analysis is a valuable and easily implemented tool to track the sentiment regarding SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. It is worrisome that the sentiment regarding the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine appears to be turning negative over time, as this may boost hesitancy rates towards this specific SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. | Postgrad Med J | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8042 | Lessons learned while creating an effective emergency remote learning environment for students during the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many institutions to consider remote, virtual instruction for the safety of employees and students. Based upon the authors’ experiences in transforming preclerkship medical science courses to virtual platforms, this paper shares tips for faculty rapidly establishing remote medical science instruction. With planning and support, faculty can create engaging, high-quality educational experiences for learners. | Adv Physiol Educ | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8043 | The unique features of SARS-CoV-2 transmission: Comparison with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus From 2002 to 2019, three deadly human coronaviruses (hCoVs), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV), Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) emerged to produce outbreaks of SARS, MERS and coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19), respectively. All three hCoVs are members of the Betacoronavirus genus in the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae and share many similarities in virology and epidemiology. However, the pattern and scale of Covid‐19 global spread is similar to 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza (H1N1pdm09), rather than SARS or MERS. Covid‐19 exhibits high viral shedding in the upper respiratory tract at an early stage of infection, and has a high proportion of transmission competent individuals that are pre‐symptomatic, asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, characteristics seen in H1N1pdm09 but not in SARS or MERS. These two traits of Covid‐19 and H1N1pdm09 result in reduced efficiency in identification of transmission sources by symptomatic screening and play important roles in their ability to spread unchecked to cause pandemics. To overcome these attributes of Covid‐19 in community transmission, identifying the transmission source by testing for virus shedding and interrupting chains of transmission by social distancing and public masking are required. | Rev Med Virol | 2020 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8044 | Computation of Antigenicity Predicts SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Breakthrough Variants It has been reported that multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOCs) including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta can reduce neutralization by antibodies, resulting in vaccine breakthrough infections. Virus–antiserum neutralization assays are typically performed to monitor potential vaccine breakthrough strains. However, experiment-based methods took several weeks whether newly emerging variants can break through current vaccines or therapeutic antibodies. To address this, we sought to establish a computational model to predict the antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants by sequence alone. In this study, we firstly identified the relationship between the antigenic difference transformed from the amino acid sequence and the antigenic distance from the neutralization titers. Based on this correlation, we obtained a computational model for the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein to predict the fold decrease in virus–antiserum neutralization titers with high accuracy (~0.79). Our predicted results were comparable to experimental neutralization titers of variants, including Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda, as well as SARS-CoV. Here, we predicted the fold of decrease of Omicron as 17.4-fold less susceptible to neutralization. We visualized all 1,521 SARS-CoV-2 lineages to indicate variants including Mu, B.1.630, B.1.633, B.1.649, and C.1.2, which can induce vaccine breakthrough infections in addition to reported VOCs Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron. Our study offers a quick approach to predict the antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants as soon as they emerge. Furthermore, this approach can facilitate future vaccine updates to cover all major variants. An online version can be accessed at http://jdlab.online. | Front Immunol | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8045 | Antibody and T-cell immune responses following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer | Cancer Cell | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8046 | Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Eating and Purchasing Behaviours of People Living in England Consumers’ eating habits have changed significantly due to the anxiety and boredom from the reported cases and deaths of COVID-19, the change in work patterns, controlled food shopping, and the inability to meet loved ones during the lockdown. The magnitude of these changes in the eating behaviours and purchasing habits of consumers varies across different groups of people. This study provides empirical evidence of the effects of COVID-19 on the eating and purchasing behaviours of people living in England, which was assessed based on sociodemographic variables. A total of 911 participants were recruited by a market research company, while only 792 useable responses were included in this study. The participants, aged between 18 and 91 years, completed an online questionnaire, and the data were analysed using ordinal regression. Data were collected between October and December 2020. Male participants constituted 34.60%, females 63.89%, and others (other gender and those who prefer not to declare their gender) were 0.63%. The majority of participants’ ages fell into the ranges of 23–38 and 39–54. Participants aged 23 to 38 years had the greatest effect of COVID-19 on their purchasing decision of healthier foods, while participants in the age groups 55–73 and 74–91 were least affected. The amount of foods purchased during the pandemic decreased with increasing age. The amount of foods purchased by students, people in employment, and people from minority ethnic groups were greatly affected by the pandemic. All participants who stated that taking food supplements is not important during the pandemic were from the White ethnic group. The effects of the pandemic on purchasing healthier foods were greater in younger generations and participants in full- or part-time employment than participants who were retired and who were aged above 55. The participants with higher educational qualifications and those from minority ethnic groups were also more affected by the pandemic. We suggest further studies to monitor any changes in the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the eating and purchasing behaviours of consumers. | Nutrients | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8047 | COVID-19 vaccination attitudes and intention among Quebecers during the first and second waves of the pandemic: findings from repeated cross-sectional surveys N/A | Hum Vaccin Immunother | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8048 | Spatiotemporal variations of ambient air pollutants and meteorological influences over typical urban agglomerations in China during the COVID-19 lockdown N/A | J Environ Sci (China) | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8049 | Impact of the Delta variant on vaccine efficacy and response strategies INTRODUCTION: The Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has caused a new wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in many countries. It is the most infectious variant of SARS-CoV-2 to date, and its high infectivity means that a higher proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated to reduce the disease burden, which poses a substantial public health challenge. AREAS COVERED: The evolution of the Delta variant is reviewed, including an overview of the Delta Plus variant with a K417N mutation in the RBD, which may confer an improved immune evasion ability. Decreases in serum neutralizing antibody titers after vaccination against Delta were greater than those against Alpha but less than those against Beta. The protective efficacy of existing vaccines against the Delta variant have declined and is related to the number of doses and the time since vaccination. EXPERT OPINION: The currently used vaccines are effective against hospitalization/severe disease due to the Delta variant. Accelerating the popularization of vaccination, improving the coverage rate, and the implementation of intervention measures, such as wearing masks, are effective means to control the spread of the Delta variant and other variants. However, vaccination alone against SARS-CoV-2 without intervention measures may lead to continuous spread and the emergence of new variants. | Expert Rev Vaccines | 2021 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
| 8050 | Central nervous system adverse events after ChAdOx1 vaccination INTRODUCTION: Post-ChAdOx1 vaccine (AZD1222) adverse events following immunization (AEFI) are uncommon. Recently described neurological events include thrombocytopenia with thrombosis syndrome (TTS) with cerebral venous thrombosis and Guillain-Barré syndrome. There are very few AEFI reports following COVID vaccination from India, because of underreporting or other factors. A few cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) and post-vaccinal encephalitis have also been reported. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over 11 months, in 2 districts of Kerala, India, 8.19 million people were vaccinated with the ChAdOx1 vaccine. RESULTS: During this period, we encountered five cases of autoimmune central nervous system (CNS) AEFI following ChAdOX1 (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Covishield™) vaccination. These included three cases of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), one case of opsoclonus myoclonus ataxia syndrome (OMAS), and one case of limbic encephalitis. The calculated crude incidence of post-ChAdOX1 autoimmune CNS AEFI was approximately 0.24 cases per million for encephalitis and 0.36 per million for ADEM. This was compared to the crude annual incidence of community-acquired ADEM worldwide (3.2–4 per million) and the crude annual incidence of community-acquired encephalitis in India (8.35–10 per million). CONCLUSION: There was no increase in the incidence of post-vaccination CNS AEFI (ADEM or encephalitis) as compared to the community incidence of ADEM or encephalitis. While this emphasizes the safety of ChAdOX1 nCoV-19 vaccination for COVID-19, it is important to recognize these post-vaccination autoimmune syndromes early to initiate immunosuppressive therapy. | Neurol Sci | 2022 | | LitCov and CORD-19 |
