\ BIP! Finder for COVID-19 - Impact-based ranking

BIP! Finder for COVID-19

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)

Provided impact measures:
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.
Score interpretations:
Exceptional score (in top 0.01%).
Substantial score (in top 1%).
Average score (in bottom 99%).
Score not available.
Main data sources:
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)

Use:  Impact  Relevance & Impact
TitleVenueYearImpactSource
351Morally injurious events and post-traumatic embitterment disorder in UK health and social care professionals during COVID-19: a cross-sectional web survey  

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence and predictors of morally injurious events (MIEs) and post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) in UK health and social care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: September–October 2020 in the UK. Online survey hosted on Qualtrics, and recruited through Prolific. PARTICIPANTS: 400 health and social care workers, aged 18 or above and living and working in the UK during the pandemic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: MIEs were assessed using the Moral Injury Events Scale and PTED was assessed using the PTED self-rating scale. Potential predictors were measured using surveys of exposure to occupational stressors, optimism, self-esteem, resilient coping style, consideration of future consequences and personal belief in a just world. RESULTS: 19% of participants displayed clinical levels of PTED, and 73% experienced at least one COVID-related MIE. Exposure to occupational stressors increased the risk of experiencing PTED and MIEs, whereas personal belief in a procedurally just world, which is the belief that they experienced fair processes, was a protective mechanism. CONCLUSIONS: MIEs and PTED are being experienced by UK health and social care professionals, particularly in those exposed to work-related stressors.

BMJ Open2022       LitCov and CORD-19
352Drugs and convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19: a survey of the interventional clinical studies in Italy after 1 year of pandemic  

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Trials2022       LitCov
353High mortality among hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Peru: A single center retrospective cohort study  

BACKGROUND: Peru is the country with the world’s highest COVID-19 death rate per capita. Characteristics associated with increased mortality among adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in this setting are not well described. METHODS: Retrospective, single-center cohort study including 1537 adult patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia between May 2020 and August 2020 at a national hospital in Lima, Peru. The primary outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was 49.71%. The mean age was 60 ± 14.25 years, and 68.38% were males. We found an association between mortality and inflammatory markers, mainly leukocytes, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein and ferritin. A multivariate model adjusted for age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and corticosteroid use demonstrated that in-hospital mortality was associated with greater age (RR: 2.01, 95%CI: 1.59–2.52) and a higher level of oxygen requirement (RR: 2.77, 95%CI: 2.13–3.62). Conclusions: In-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients in Peru is high and is associated with greater age and higher oxygen requirements.

PLoS One2022       LitCov and CORD-19
354Multiple expansions of globally uncommon SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Nigeria  

Disparities in SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance have limited our understanding of the viral population dynamics and may delay identification of globally important variants. Despite being the most populated country in Africa, Nigeria has remained critically under sampled. Here, we report sequences from 378 SARS-CoV-2 isolates collected in Oyo State, Nigeria between July 2020 and August 2021. In early 2021, most isolates belonged to the Alpha “variant of concern” (VOC) or the Eta lineage. Eta outcompeted Alpha in Nigeria and across West Africa, persisting in the region even after expansion of an otherwise rare Delta sub-lineage. Spike protein from the Eta variant conferred increased infectivity and decreased neutralization by convalescent sera in vitro. Phylodynamic reconstructions suggest that Eta originated in West Africa before spreading globally and represented a VOC in early 2021. These results demonstrate a distinct distribution of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Nigeria, and emphasize the need for improved genomic surveillance worldwide.

Nat Commun2022       LitCov and CORD-19
355The Impact of COVID-19 on Family Building Among Physicians and Trainees  

J Gen Intern Med2022       LitCov and CORD-19
356Neighborhood socioeconomic inequality based on everyday mobility predicts COVID-19 infection in San Francisco, Seattle and Wisconsin  

Race and class disparities in COVID-19 cases are well documented, but pathways of possible transmission by neighborhood inequality are not. This study uses administrative data on COVID-19 cases for roughly 2000 census tracts in Wisconsin, Seattle/King County, and San Francisco to analyze how neighborhood socioeconomic (dis)advantage predicts cumulative caseloads through February 2021. Unlike past research, we measure a neighborhood’s disadvantage level using both its residents’ demographics and the demographics of neighborhoods its residents visit and are visited by, leveraging daily mobility data from 45 million mobile devices. In all three jurisdictions, we find sizable disparities in COVID-19 caseloads. Disadvantage in a neighborhood’s mobility network has greater impact than its residents’ socioeconomic characteristics. We also find disparities by neighborhood racial/ethnic composition, which can be explained, in part, by residential and mobility-based disadvantage. Neighborhood conditions measured before a pandemic offer substantial predictive power for subsequent incidence, with mobility-based disadvantage playing an important role.

Sci Adv2022       LitCov and CORD-19
357NeoCoV: A foresight of the next possible pandemic  

Int J Surg2022       LitCov and CORD-19
358An early warning system for emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants  

N/A

Nat Med2022       LitCov
359Depression in healthcare workers from the COVID-19 Care and Isolation Center-Villa Panamericana: a single-center prospective study in Peru  

OBJECTIVE: Depression is a mental problem that affects the well-being of healthcare workers, impacting the quality of care and even leading to commit suicide. We aim to the levels of depression in frontline healthcare workers during the first severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak in Peru. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was designed in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Care and Isolation Center – Villa Panamericana in eastern Lima. Care and Isolation Center-Villa Panamericana houses about 150 healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients. The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating scale was used for depression assessment. RESULTS: A total of 96 participants (30±5.6 years) were analyzed: 15 (15.6%) physicians, 39 (40.6%) nurses, 14 (14.6%) medical technologists, and 28 (29.2%) nurse technicians. Mild, moderate, and severe depression were present in 35 (36.5%), 44 (45.8%), and 9 (9.4%) of the cases, respectively. The physicians and nurses reported more severe levels of depression: 8 (53.3%) physicians and 18 (46.2%) nurses presented moderate depression; and 2 (13.3%) physicians and 3 (7.7%) nurses presented severe depression (p=0.005). This study determined greater symptoms of depression according to years of work (p=0.001). Thirty-two healthcare workers had COVID-19, 4 (12.5%) physicians, 9 (28.1%) nurses, 7 (21.9%) medical technologists, and 12 (37.5%) nurse technicians. Twenty-four (75%) participants showed symptoms of COVID-19 and developed moderate (12 [37.5%]) and severe (3 [9.4%]) symptoms of depression (p=0.041). CONCLUSION: This study clearly demonstrated a high prevalence of depression in the Care and Isolation Center-Villa Panamericana frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru.

Einstein (Sao Paulo)2022       LitCov and CORD-19
360A multisource database tracking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the communities of Boston, MA, USA  

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Sci Data2022       LitCov
361Can you lock down in a slum? And who would benefit if you tried? Difficult questions about epidemiology's commitment to global health inequalities during Covid-19  

The initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic was characterised by swift “lockdowns,” a cluster of measures defined by a shared goal of suppressing Covid-19 and a shared character of restricting departure from the home except for specific purposes. By mid-April 2020, most countries were implementing stringent measures of this kind. This essay contends that (1) some epidemiologists played a central role in formulating and promulgating lockdown as a policy and (2) lockdowns were foreseeably harmful to the Global Poor, and foreseeably offered them little benefit, relative to less stringent measures. In view of the widespread commitment to reducing global health inequalities within the profession, this should prompt reflection within the epidemiological community and further work on pandemic response measures more appropriate for the Global Poor.

Glob Epidemiol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
36216 Months Follow Up of Patients' Behavior and Mild COVID-19 Patterns in a Large Cohort of Cancer Patients During the Pandemic  

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Front Oncol2022       LitCov
363Role of Folate, Cobalamin and Probiotics in COVID-19 Disease Management [Letter]  

Drug Des Devel Ther2021       LitCov and CORD-19
364SARS-CoV-2 virus NSP14 Impairs NRF2/HMOX1 activation by targeting Sirtuin 1  

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Cell Mol Immunol2022       LitCov
365Crime and deviance during the COVID-19 pandemic  

The COVID‐19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the world and inevitably influenced people's behaviors including the likelihood of crime and deviance. Emerging empirical evidence suggests a decline in certain crimes (e.g., theft, robbery, and assault) but also proliferation of different violent behaviors and cybercriminal activity during the pandemic. To explain those trends, we draw on existent theories and elaborate on how crime and violence have been affected by the changes in people's daily routines and accumulated stressful conditions. However, as recent crime trends appear to be largely inconsistent and vary across social groups and contexts, we argue that social scientists need to pay particular attention to the differential experiences related to crime and violence during this global crisis. Specifically, because of the disproportionate experience of violence by vulnerable groups including minorities and women as well as the unique cross‐national variations in deviance, more nuanced approaches to understanding causes of crime are warranted. We also discuss the limitations of present research and provide recommendations for the development of comparative and multi‐disciplinary studies on criminal and deviant behaviors that are influenced by human crisis situations.

Sociol Compass2022       LitCov and CORD-19
366Computational prediction of the molecular mechanism of statin group of drugs against SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis  

Recently published clinical data from COVID-19 patients indicated that statin therapy is associated with a better clinical outcome and a significant reduction in the risk of mortality. In this study by computational analysis, we have aimed to predict the possible mechanism of the statin group of drugs by which they can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Blind docking of the critical structural and functional proteins of SARS-CoV-2 like RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, M-protease of 3-CL-Pro, Helicase, and the Spike proteins ( wild type and mutants from different VOCs) were performed using the Schrodinger docking tool. We observed that fluvastatin and pitavastatin showed fair, binding affinities to RNA polymerase and 3-CL-Pro, whereas fluvastatin showed the strongest binding affinity to the helicase. Fluvastatin also showed the highest affinity for the Spike(Delta) and a fair docking score for other spike variants. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the formation of a stable drug-protein complex between Fluvastatin and target proteins. Thus our study shows that of all the statins, fluvastatin can bind to multiple target proteins of SARS-CoV-2, including the spike-mutant proteins. This property might contribute to the potent antiviral efficacy of this drug.

Sci Rep2022       LitCov and CORD-19
367Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviral infection requires FcgammaRIIB and virus-antibody complex with bivalent interaction  

Understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms behind ADE of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for development of safe and effective therapies. Here, we report that two neutralizing mAbs, MW01 and MW05, could enhance the infection of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus on FcγRIIB-expressing B cells. X-ray crystal structure determination and S trimer-binding modeling showed that MW01 and MW05 could bind to RBDs in S trimer with both “up” and “down” states. While, the neutralizing mAb MW07, which has no ADE activity only binds to RBD in S trimer with “up” state. Monovalent MW01 and MW05 completely diminished the ADE activity compared with their bivalent counterparts. Moreover, both macropinocytosis and endocytosis are confirmed involving in ADE of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviral infection. Blocking endosome transportation and lysosome acidification could inhibit the ADE activity mediated by MW05. Together, our results identified a novel ADE mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus in vitro, FcγRIIB-mediated uptake of SARS-CoV-2/mAb complex with bivalent interaction.

Commun Biol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
368TRASTORNOS DE LAS EMOCIONES A CONSECUENCIA DEL COVID-19 Y EL CONFINAMIENTO EN UNIVERSITARIOS DE LAS DIFERENTES ESCUELAS DE LA UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL HERMILIO VALDIZÁN. PERÚ  

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Rev Comun Salud2020       LitCov and CORD-19
369Influence of state reopening policies in COVID-19 mortality  

By the end of May 2020, all states in the US have eased their COVID-19 mitigation measures. Different states adopted markedly different policies and timing for reopening. An important question remains in how the relaxation of mitigation measures is related to the number of casualties. To address this question, we compare the actual data to a hypothetical case in which the mitigation measures are left intact using a projection of the data from before mitigation measures were eased. We find that different states have shown significant differences between the actual number of deaths and the projected figures within the present model. We relate these differences to the states different policies and reopening schedules. Our study provides a gauge for the effectiveness of the approaches by different state governments and can serve as a guide for implementing best policies in the future. According to the Pearson correlation coefficients we obtained, the face mask mandate has the strongest correlation with the death count than any other policies we considered.

Sci Rep2022       LitCov and CORD-19
370Covid-19 as a long multiwave event: implications for responses to safeguard younger generations  

Mandeep Dhaliwal and colleagues call for urgent correction of the response to covid-19 to safeguard the development of children and young people

BMJ2022       LitCov and CORD-19
371COVIDiSTRESS diverse dataset on psychological and behavioural outcomes one year into the COVID-19 pandemic  

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Sci Data2022       LitCov
372Facemasks and ferrous metallurgy: improving gasification reactivity of low-volatile coals using waste COVID-19 facemasks for ironmaking application  

The global pandemic response to COVID-19 has led to the generation of huge volumes of unrecyclable plastic waste from single use disposable face coverings. Rotary hearth furnaces can be used to recover Zn and Fe from non-recyclable steelmaking by-product dusts, and waste plastic material such as facemasks could be utilized as a supplementary reductant for the rotary hearth furnace (RHF), but their fibrous form makes milling and processing to appropriate sizing for RHF application extremely challenging. A scalable method of grinding facemasks to powder by melting and mixing with Welsh coal dust reported herein provides a solution to both environmental challenges. The melt-blended PPE/coal dust shows a dramatically improved CO(2) gasification reactivity (E(a) = 133–159 kJmol(−1)) when compared to the untreated coal (E(a) = 183–246 kJmol(−1)), because of improved pore development in the coal during the pyrolysis stage of heating and the catalytic activity of the CaO based ash present in the facemask plastic. The results are promising for the application of waste facemasks in recycling steelmaking by-product dusts in rotary hearth furnaces and may also be suitable for direct injection to the blast furnace subject to further study.

Sci Rep2022       LitCov and CORD-19
373An overview of current drugs and prophylactic vaccines for COVID-19  

Designing and producing an effective vaccine is the best possible way to reduce the burden and spread of a disease. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies invested a great deal of time and money in trying to control and combat the disease. In this regard, due to the urgent need, many vaccines are now available earlier than scheduled. Based on their manufacturing technology, the vaccines available for COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV2)) infection can be classified into four platforms: RNA vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, subunit (protein-based) vaccines, and inactivated virus vaccines. Moreover, various drugs have been deemed to negatively affect the progression of the infection via various actions. However, adaptive variants of the SARS-CoV-2 genome can alter the pathogenic potential of the virus and increase the difficulty of both drug and vaccine development. In this review, along with drugs used in COVID-19 treatment, currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines as well as variants of the virus are described and evaluated, considering all platforms. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text]

Cell Mol Biol Lett2022       LitCov and CORD-19
374Networks of necessity: Simulating COVID-19 mitigation strategies for disabled people and their caregivers  

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PLoS Comput Biol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
375Structural insights in cell-type specific evolution of intra-host diversity by SARS-CoV-2  

As the global burden of SARS-CoV-2 infections escalates, so does the evolution of viral variants with increased transmissibility and pathology. In addition to this entrenched diversity, RNA viruses can also display genetic diversity within single infected hosts with co-existing viral variants evolving differently in distinct cell types. The BriSΔ variant, originally identified as a viral subpopulation from SARS-CoV-2 isolate hCoV-19/England/02/2020, comprises in the spike an eight amino-acid deletion encompassing a furin recognition motif and S1/S2 cleavage site. We elucidate the structure, function and molecular dynamics of this spike providing mechanistic insight into how the deletion correlates to viral cell tropism, ACE2 receptor binding and infectivity of this SARS-CoV-2 variant. Our results reveal long-range allosteric communication between functional domains that differ in the wild-type and the deletion variant and support a view of SARS-CoV-2 probing multiple evolutionary trajectories in distinct cell types within the same infected host.

Nat Commun2022       LitCov and CORD-19
376Risk, benefit and social value in Covid-19 human challenge studies: pandemic decision making in historical context  

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Monash Bioeth Rev2022       LitCov
377Excess mortality, COVID-19 and Healthcare systems in Canada  

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CMAJ2022       LitCov
378Waiting for the truth: is reluctance in accepting an early origin hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 delaying our understanding of viral emergence?  

Two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, key questions about the emergence of its aetiological agent (SARS-CoV-2) remain a matter of considerable debate. Identifying when SARS-CoV-2 began spreading among people is one of those questions. Although the current canonically accepted timeline hypothesises viral emergence in Wuhan, China, in November or December 2019, a growing body of diverse studies provides evidence that the virus may have been spreading worldwide weeks, or even months, prior to that time. However, the hypothesis of earlier SARS-CoV-2 circulation is often dismissed with prejudicial scepticism and experimental studies pointing to early origins are frequently and speculatively attributed to false-positive tests. In this paper, we critically review current evidence that SARS-CoV-2 had been circulating prior to December of 2019, and emphasise how, despite some scientific limitations, this hypothesis should no longer be ignored and considered sufficient to warrant further larger-scale studies to determine its veracity.

BMJ Glob Health2022       LitCov and CORD-19
379Role of the T-cell vitamin D receptor in severe COVID-19  

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Nat Immunol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
380Diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by canine olfaction  

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PLoS One2022       LitCov
381Geographical patterns of social cohesion drive disparities in early COVID infection hazard  

The uneven spread of COVID-19 has resulted in disparate experiences for marginalized populations in urban centers. Using computational models, we examine the effects of local cohesion on COVID-19 spread in social contact networks for the city of San Francisco, finding that more early COVID-19 infections occur in areas with strong local cohesion. This spatially correlated process tends to affect Black and Hispanic communities more than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Local social cohesion thus acts as a potential source of hidden risk for COVID-19 infection.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A2022       LitCov and CORD-19
382Estimating the effects of lockdown timing on COVID-19 cases and deaths in England: A counterfactual modelling study  

BACKGROUND: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom experienced one of the highest per-capita death tolls worldwide. It is debated whether this may partly be explained by the relatively late initiation of voluntary social distancing and mandatory lockdown measures. In this study, we used simulations to estimate the number of cases and deaths that would have occurred in England by 1 June 2020 if these interventions had been implemented one or two weeks earlier, and the impact on the required duration of lockdown. METHODS: Using official reported data on the number of Pillar 1 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and associated deaths occurring in England from 3 March to 1 June, we modelled: the natural (i.e. observed) growth of cases, and the counterfactual (i.e. hypothetical) growth of cases that would have occurred had measures been implemented one or two weeks earlier. Under each counterfactual condition, we estimated the expected number of deaths and the time required to reach the incidence observed under natural growth on 1 June. RESULTS: Introducing measures one week earlier would have reduced by 74% the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in England by 1 June, resulting in approximately 21,000 fewer hospital deaths and 34,000 fewer total deaths; the required time spent in full lockdown could also have been halved, from 69 to 35 days. Acting two weeks earlier would have reduced cases by 93%, resulting in between 26,000 and 43,000 fewer deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Our modelling supports the claim that the relatively late introduction of social distancing and lockdown measures likely increased the scale, severity, and duration of the first wave of COVID-19 in England. Our results highlight the importance of acting swiftly to minimise the spread of an infectious disease when case numbers are increasing exponentially.

PLoS One2022       LitCov and CORD-19
383COVID-19 lockdown-who cares? The first lockdown from the perspective of relatives of people with severe mental illness  

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BMC Public Health2022       LitCov
384COVID-19 Induced Acute Pancreatitis in a Malagasy Woman Patient: Case Report and Literature Review  

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 has been described as a respiratory tropic virus since its emergence in December 2019. During the course of the disease, other extra-pulmonary manifestations have been reported in the literature including pancreatic involvement such as acute pancreatitis. This phenomenon linking COVID-19 and acute pancreatitis has been reported by several case reports and cohort studies. No cases had been reported in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. We report one more case Of COVID-19 induced acute pancreatitis in a Malagasy woman patient without risk factors, further consolidating the existing evidence. CASE PRESENTATION: A 44-year-old woman was diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and had a favorable course under home isolation and drug treatments. One week later, the patient was admitted to hospital with severe acute abdominal pain. Acute pancreatitis was considered according to the revised Atlanta criteria with the presence of the three criteria. Other etiologies of acute pancreatitis (lithiasis, alcohol, hypercalcemia, hypertriglyceridemia, tumor, trauma, surgery) were excluded. Ultimately, a COVID-19 induced acute pancreatitis was retained. The outcome was favorable under symptomatic medical treatment (fluid resuscitation, bowel rest, management of pain and vomiting, and early oral feeding). The patient was discharged after one week of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 is a possible etiology of acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis should be routinely ruled out in a patient with COVID-19 infection with acute abdominal pain.

Int Med Case Rep J2022       LitCov and CORD-19
385Brain changes after COVID-19-how concerned should we be?  

Analysis of brain images taken before and after infection with SARS-CoV-2 suggests that even mild COVID-19 is associated with brain structure alterations and cognitive impairment. However, the clinical implications for individuals are unclear and further studies are needed to assess the generalizability of the findings and whether the effects are long-lasting.

Nat Rev Neurol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
386Face-mask noninvasive ventilation plus high flow nasal oxygen in COVID-19 patients: "one size fits all" or tailored approach?  

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Minerva Anestesiol2022       LitCov
387Post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination COVID toes and fingers: Two case reports and a short literature review  

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Wien Med Wochenschr2022       LitCov
388Suicide among users of mental health and addiction services in the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: observational study using national registry data  

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BJPsych Open2022       LitCov
389Age-specific rate of severe and critical SARS-CoV-2 infections estimated with multi-country seroprevalence studies  

BACKGROUND: Knowing the age-specific rates at which individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop severe and critical disease is essential for designing public policy, for infectious disease modeling, and for individual risk evaluation. METHODS: In this study, we present the first estimates of these rates using multi-country serology studies, and public data on hospital admissions and mortality from early to mid-2020. We combine these under a Bayesian framework that accounts for the high heterogeneity between data sources and their respective uncertainties. We also validate our results using an indirect method based on infection fatality rates and hospital mortality data. RESULTS: Our results show that the risk of severe and critical disease increases exponentially with age, but much less steeply than the risk of fatal illness. We also show that our results are consistent across several robustness checks. CONCLUSION: A complete evaluation of the risks of SARS-CoV-2 for health must take non-fatal disease outcomes into account, particularly in young populations where they can be 2 orders of magnitude more frequent than deaths. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07262-0.

BMC Infect Dis2022       LitCov and CORD-19
390Dublin hospital workers' mental health during the peak of Ireland's COVID-19 pandemic  

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Ir J Med Sci2022       LitCov
391COVID-19 ethnic inequalities in mental health and multimorbidities: protocol for the COVEIMM study  

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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epide2022       LitCov
392Visceral fat inflammation and fat embolism are associated with lung's lipidic hyaline membranes in subjects with COVID-19  

BACKGROUND: Preliminary data suggested that fat embolism could explain the importance of visceral obesity as a critical determinant of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: We performed a comprehensive histomorphologic analysis of autoptic visceral adipose tissue (VAT), lungs and livers of 19 subjects with COVID-19 (COVID-19+), and 23 people without COVID-19 (controls). Human adipocytes (hMADS) infected with SARS-CoV-2 were also studied. RESULTS: Although there were no between-group differences in body-mass-index and adipocytes size, a higher prevalence of CD68+ macrophages among COVID-19+ VAT was detected (p = 0.005) and accompanied by crown-like structures presence, signs of adipocytes stress and death. Consistently, human adipocytes were successfully infected by SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and displayed lower cell viability. Being VAT inflammation associated with lipids spill-over from dead adipocytes, we studied lipids distribution by ORO. Lipids were observed within lungs and livers interstitial spaces, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vessels lumen, features suggestive of fat embolism syndrome, more prevalent among COVID-19+ (p < 0.001). Notably, signs of fat embolism were more prevalent among people with obesity (p = 0.03) independently of COVID-19 diagnosis, suggesting that such condition may be an obesity complication exacerbated by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Importantly, all infected subjects’ lungs presented lipids-rich (ORO+) hyaline membranes, formations associated with COVID-19-related pneumonia, present only in one control patient with non-COVID-19-related pneumonia. Importantly, transition aspects between embolic fat and hyaline membranes were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the lung fat embolism in COVID-19+ patients and describes for the first time novel COVID-19-related features possibly underlying the unfavorable prognosis in people with COVID-19 and obesity.

Int J Obes (Lond)2022       LitCov and CORD-19
393eHealth Literacy and its Associated Factors Among Health Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Resource-Limited Settings: Cross-sectional Study  

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JMIR Form Res2022       LitCov
394Accelerated biological aging in COVID-19 patients  

Chronological age is a risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19. Previous findings indicate that epigenetic age could be altered in viral infection. However, the epigenetic aging in COVID-19 has not been well studied. In this study, DNA methylation of the blood samples from 232 healthy individuals and 413 COVID-19 patients is profiled using EPIC methylation array. Epigenetic ages of each individual are determined by applying epigenetic clocks and telomere length estimator to the methylation profile of the individual. Epigenetic age acceleration is calculated and compared between groups. We observe strong correlations between the epigenetic clocks and individual’s chronological age (r > 0.8, p < 0.0001). We also find the increasing acceleration of epigenetic aging and telomere attrition in the sequential blood samples from healthy individuals and infected patients developing non-severe and severe COVID-19. In addition, the longitudinal DNA methylation profiling analysis find that the accumulation of epigenetic aging from COVID-19 syndrome could be partly reversed at late clinic phases in some patients. In conclusion, accelerated epigenetic aging is associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and developing severe COVID-19. In addition, the accumulation of epigenetic aging from COVID-19 may contribute to the post-COVID-19 syndrome among survivors.

Nat Commun2022       LitCov and CORD-19
395A single-cell atlas reveals shared and distinct immune responses and metabolism during SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 infections  

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bioRxiv2022       CORD-19
396Digital transfer in radiation oncology education for medical students-single-center data and systemic review of the literature  

PURPOSE: Modern medical education demands innovative, competence-orientated concepts. The forced digital transfer of teaching due to the coronavirus pandemic also affected radiation oncology (RO). The following analysis investigates whether the attractivity of RO teaching at our faculty could be maintained during the pandemic and which possibilities exist to involve students (in active learning). The latter aspect is further elaborated on a broader scale by a systemic review of the literature on competence-orientated digital education. METHODS: Evaluation results and participation rates of clinical lectures in radiation oncology (RO) were analyzed between the winter semester 2018/2019 and the summer semester 2021. A systemic review of the literature on digital education in RO for medical students was conducted. RESULTS: Concerning evaluation results, a significant improvement for the 7th and 9th semesters was observed in comparison between the pre-pandemic and pandemic semesters (p = 0.046 and p = 0.05, respectively). Overall participation rates did not differ. However, the number of students attending > 75% of classes in the respective semester increased significantly between the pre-pandemic and pandemic period (median values: 38 vs. 79%, p = 0.046; 44 vs. 73%, p = 0.05; 45 vs. 64%, p = 0.05; 41 vs. 77%, p = 0.05; 41 vs. 71%, p = 0.05, for the 6th to 10th semester, respectively). CONCLUSION: The analysis demonstrates the possibility of efficient digital transfer of a core curriculum in RO to the digital era, with a more continuous participation of students. This transfer may enable amelioration of teaching quality and the introduction of innovative and interactive concepts in accordance with the literature.

Strahlenther Onkol2022       LitCov and CORD-19
397Vaccination Is Reasonably Effective in Limiting the Spread of COVID-19 Infections, Hospitalizations and Deaths with COVID-19  

This paper uses large cross-country data for 110 countries to examine the effectiveness of COVID vaccination coverage during the delta variant outbreak. Our results confirm that vaccines are reasonably effective in both limiting the spread of infections and containing more severe disease progression in symptomatic patients. First, the results show that full vaccination rate is consistently negatively correlated with the number of new COVID cases, whereby a 10 percent increase in vaccination rate is associated with a 1.3 to 1.7 percent decrease in new COVID cases. Second, the magnitude of vaccination is shown to contribute significantly to moderating severe disease progression. On average, a 10 percent increase in the rate of vaccination leads to a reduction of about 5 percent in the number of new hospitalizations, 12 percent decrease in the number of new intensive care patients and 2 percent reduction in the number of new deaths. Finally, by comparing the data for the same period between 2020 and 2021, we also check how well vaccination performs as a substitute for lockdowns or other stringent government protection measures. Results suggest that vaccination appears to be an effective substitute for more stringent government safety measures to contain the spread of COVID infections only at a sufficiently high vaccination coverage threshold (more than 70 percent). On the other hand, vaccination is shown to be quite effective in limiting the more severe course of the disease in symptomatic patients already at moderate vaccination coverage (between 40 and 70 percent). This suggests that vaccination can also help to reduce pressure on the health system and thus benefit the overall public health of society. On the other hand, the efficient rollout of vaccines could explain the favourable economic performance in the second half of 2021 despite the severe outbreak of the delta variant.

Vaccines (Basel)2022       LitCov and CORD-19
398Simplified Cas13-based assays for the fast identification of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants  

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Nat Biomed Eng2022       LitCov
399SARS-CoV-2 variants with reduced infectivity and varied sensitivity to the BNT162b2 vaccine are developed during the course of infection  

In-depth analysis of SARS-CoV-2 quasispecies is pivotal for a thorough understating of its evolution during infection. The recent deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, which elicit protective anti-spike neutralizing antibodies, has stressed the importance of uncovering and characterizing SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutated spike proteins. Sequencing databases have allowed to follow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants that are circulating in the human population, and several experimental platforms were developed to study these variants. However, less is known about the SARS-CoV-2 variants that are developed in the respiratory system of the infected individual. To gain further insight on SARS-CoV-2 mutagenesis during natural infection, we preformed single-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from nose-throat swabs of infected individuals. Interestingly, intra-host SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutated S genes or N genes were detected in all individuals who were analyzed. These intra-host variants were present in low frequencies in the swab samples and were rarely documented in current sequencing databases. Further examination of representative spike variants identified by our analysis showed that these variants have impaired infectivity capacity and that the mutated variants showed varied sensitivity to neutralization by convalescent plasma and to plasma from vaccinated individuals. Notably, analysis of the plasma neutralization activity against these variants showed that the L1197I mutation at the S2 subunit of the spike can affect the plasma neutralization activity. Together, these results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 intra-host variants should be further analyzed for a more thorough characterization of potential circulating variants.

PLoS Pathog2022       LitCov and CORD-19
400Mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke in COVID-19 patients: multicenter experience in 111 cases  

BACKGROUND: Data on the frequency and outcome of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for large vessel occlusion (LVO) in patients with COVID-19 is limited. Addressing this subject, we report our multicenter experience. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed of consecutive acute stroke patients with COVID-19 infection treated with MT at 26 tertiary care centers between January 2020 and November 2021. Baseline demographics, angiographic outcome and clinical outcome evaluated by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge and 90 days were noted. RESULTS: We identified 111 out of 11 365 (1%) patients with acute or subsided COVID-19 infection who underwent MT due to LVO. Cardioembolic events were the most common etiology for LVO (38.7%). Median baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score were 16 (IQR 11.5–20) and 9 (IQR 7–10), respectively. Successful reperfusion (mTICI ≥2b) was achieved in 97/111 (87.4%) patients and 46/111 (41.4%) patients were reperfused completely. The procedure-related complication rate was 12.6% (14/111). Functional independence was achieved in 20/108 (18.5%) patients at discharge and 14/66 (21.2%) at 90 days follow-up. The in-hospital mortality rate was 30.6% (33/108). In the subgroup analysis, patients with severe acute COVID-19 infection requiring intubation had a mortality rate twice as high as patients with mild or moderate acute COVID-19 infection. Acute respiratory failure requiring ventilation and time interval from symptom onset to groin puncture were independent predictors for an unfavorable outcome in a logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Our study showed a poor clinical outcome and high mortality, especially in patients with severe acute COVID-19 infection undergoing MT due to LVO.

J Neurointerv Surg2022       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.

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