COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictive measures have present serious unprecedented challenges to human eating behavior. Given that Google Search has become a valuable information resource to examine, predict, and estimate human online interests and behavior, that somehow linked to real people concerns. This study aimed to investigate the features and evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown on consumer worldwide interest in eating behavior and its related factors. Google Trends-Relative Search Volumes (RSV) of distinct keywords related to eating behavior, were obtained from a timeframe before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 1, 2018, to December 13, 2020. During the global lockdown from March 11, 2020, to June 30, 2020, RSV curves exhibited a short-term fluctuation of interest in multiple keywords related to eating behavior and its related factors such as food purchasing, food security, food poisoning, panic buying, stocking up, health awareness and mental illness. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed a strong correlation between daily confirmed cases and examined keywords. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA following with Bonferroni Post-hoc test revealed that during the year with the presence of COVID-19 pandemic, people worldwide pay more concerns in each keyword (1) environmental and economic factors (unemployment: +269%, food shortage: +180%, food bank: +50%); (2) health- and food-safety concerns (immunity: +138%, vitamin C: +90%, vitamin D: +55%, zinc: +47%, food storage containers: +40%, food packaging: +31%); (3) food choices and interest (local meat: +84%, frozen food: +67%, CSA: +65%, flour: +66%, bread: +53%, soybean oil: +45%, local fruit: +43%, canned tomato: +42%, refrigerated food: +41%, canned meat: +39%, pancake: +37%, cookie: +29%, butter: +29%, canned fish: +29%, liquior: +20%); (4) social and individual factors (take-out: +128%, deliver: +53%), (6) lifestyle factors (stationary bicycle: +110%, dumbbell: +89%, yoga mat: +84%, treadmill: +65%, grocery store: +51%); (6) psychological factors (isolation: +113%). COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown have had far-reaching effects on global concerns in many factors related to human eating behavior. Swift action is necessarily performed to strengthen the resilience of the food supply chain system, support and adapt to the new normal behavior, and mitigation the profound negative changes, especially targeting those in high-risks and vulnerable groups and food-insecure regions.

Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There is sufficient experimental evidence to confirm that SARS-CoV-2 infection produces states of ciliary and flagellar dysfunction. However, these studies are unable to explain the observed effects molecularly, because they lack a sufficient understanding of the interaction between human proteins and virus proteins. Using the physical-chemical study of the human interactome in interaction with the SARS-CoV-2 proteome, we found evidence of interactions to explain the experimental effects from a molecular perspective. We found that ten viral proteins interact with key components in the maintenance of the molecular structure of axoneme. Additionally, we evaluated the pulmonary and extrapulmonary pathogenesis of COVID-19 from the point of view of ciliary dysfunction, and warned about other possible complications such as episodes of transient infertility that, due to the limitations of our work, would need verification.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been showing a speedy growth in the number of infected patients with a remarkable mortality rate, thus it has become a worldwide public health concern. From March 8, 2020, the disease was confirmed to start spreading in Bangladesh. Since then, people got infected so exponentially that the country positions at the list of top infected countries in the world. Therefore, the objective of this comprehensive review was representing overall scenario of COVID-19 in different sectors of Bangladesh, particularly prioritizing the health sector. Up to 14 September 2020, 339,332 confirmed cases and 4,759 deaths were reported. An alarming fact is that while the global mutation rate of coronavirus is 7.23 % in average, the rate is 12.6 % in Bangladesh. Although the government ruled preventive strategies such as nationwide lockdown, social distancing, contact monitoring, quarantine and isolation, it was difficult to implement those due to lack of public awareness, inappropriate attitudes and so on. Moreover, the overburdened healthcare system had a weak response at initial stage because of insufficient healthcare facilities. Consequently, this pandemic affected severely almost all the important sectors of the country, specifically the economy, agriculture and health sectors. Hence, focusing on healthcare system as well as maintaining social distance and other essential precautions can limit the spread of infection and help to alleviate the severity of the pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic face masks grew in importance as their use by the general population was recommended by health officials in order to minimize the risk of infection and prevent further spread of the virus. To ensure health protection of medical personal and other system relevant staff, it is of considerable interest to quickly test if a certain lot of filtering facepiece masks meets the requirements or if the permeability changes under different conditions. As certified penetrometers are rather expensive and were difficult to obtain during the COVID-19 pandemic, we describe two quite simple and cheap methods to quickly test the filter permeability based on an electronic cigarette. The first method uses a precision scale, the second method uses a light scattering detector to measure the filter penetration. To make sure these two methods yield reliable results, both were tested with freshly cut filter samples covering the range of approx. 7% to 60% permeability and compared to the results of a certified penetrometer. The comparison of the two methods with the certified penetrometer showed a good correlation and therefore allow a quick and rather reliable estimation of the permeability. Several examples about the use of faulty masks and the resulting health risks show that simple, fast, cheap and broadly available methods for filter characterization might be useful in these days.

Purpose: A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 was identified as the cause of COVID-19 eventually led to the declaration of Public health emergency of international concern and a pandemic by WHO due to its exponential global spread. Present study was conducted to investigate the impact of second wave of pandemic on mental wellbeing and social behaviors among university students of Pakistan during this crucial period of COVID-19 infection. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was designed to evaluate the psychosocial impact during the current COVID-19 outbreak among the students of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Snowball sampling or chain referral sampling procedure was adopted to recruit the participants in the study. Verbal informed consent was taken from all participants before recruitment in the study irrespective of their gender, age and socioeconomic status. Results: Mental health of university students during COVID-19 epidemic was affected to a varying degree revealing that 26.66% were recorded to have mild, 27.15% moderate and 17.04% suffering from severe anxiety out of total 1029 students. Students who were residing in urban areas with parents and having a steady family income were negatively associated and found protective factors against anxiety. However, having a relative or an acquaintance infected with COVID-19 was an independent risk factor for experienced anxiety. Positively associated factors with the level of anxiety symptoms included economic stressors, effects on daily-life, and academic delays whereas social support was negatively correlated with anxiety in COVID-19 related stressors. Conclusion: Public health emergencies and such pandemic are exerting serious psychological impacts on university students. It is recommended that the higher authorities should plan better policies to reduce this impact for the provision of high quality and timely crisis-oriented psychological services to university students.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill with the infected cases surpassing millions. The causative agent of COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus that emerged from the wet animal market in Wuhan, China in early December 2019. Soon after, human-to-human transmission increased the rate of infection making the disease widespread with new hotspots emerging around the world.The epidemiological reports based on clinical characteristics including age, gender, symptoms (both severe and non-severe), and the conditions requiring intensive medical care, along with case fatality revealed that people with co-existing health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, cigarette smoking, and others with cardiovascular and kidney diseases were more susceptible to COVID-19 infection with poor prognosis in cases related to the severity of symptoms and requiring ICU, medical ventilators with a high fatality rate. Even people with immunosuppressed conditions like HIV and cancer, alongwith old age and pregnant women are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and can cause severe health complications.It is extremely important to have a comprehensive idea of the underlying pathophysiology related to these health conditions which makes them more susceptible to contract SARS-CoV-2 infection in correlation with the development of severe symptoms. This review will provide an extensive viewpoint related to COVID-19 patients having coexisting health conditions together with the association between the prognosis of the disease and the pathogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on the current information available.

The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an emerging situation with high rates of morbidity and mortality, in the pathophysiology of which inflammation and thrombosis are implicated. The disease is directly connected to the nutritional status of patients and a well-balanced diet is recommended by official sources. Recently, the role of platelet activating factor (PAF) was suggested in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. In the present review several micronutrients (vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin D, selenium, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals), phytonutrients and Mediterranean diet compounds (olive oil, fish, honey, plant foods) with potential anti-COVID activity are presented. We further underline that the well-known anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic actions of the investigated nutrients and/ or holistic dietary schemes, such as the Mediterranean diet, are also mediated through PAF. In conclusion, although there is no single food to prevent coronavirus, the aim is to follow a healthy diet containing PAF inhibitors in order to target both inflammation and thrombosis and try to avoid or/and reduce the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The developments of confirmed daily Sars-CoV-2 infections can be modeled a posteriori in a comparatively simple and satisfactory way by means of a special exponential function: its exponential coefficient varies exponentially with time itself. This property enables the function to directly simulate the „daily case“ curve fragments observed for the first waves of the current epidemics in a number of counties and countries. Linear combinations of two or more of the functions allow for the modeling of the complete curves observed in the vast majority of all regions for which case number developments have been tabulated.

(1)Background: To perform a simulation-based analysis of 2019 COVID-19 outbreak and how would the electronic commerce indursty help China’s economy resilient. (2)Methods: As the epidemic continues, it is possible to use Computable General Equilibrium model to simulate the economic consequences and analyse the role of electronic commerce industy in COVID-19 outbreak. (3)Results: Estimates and models produced at the time of the outbreak suggested that COVID-19 could have a catastrophic effect on China’s economy. National statistics were examined for anomalies that corresponded to the timing of COVID-19 outbreak and, where possible, the size of any gain or loss found estimated. Our analysis suggests that the electronic commerce industry could help China’s economy to recover by stimulating consumption, improving technological level and expanding investment. (4)Conclusions: This exercise holds important lessons for estimating the electronic commerce’s role of similar events – such as pandemic influenza – and measures to recover the economy. We suggest that electronic commerce industry should be paid more attention in economic development, especially in epidemic time. The implications of our findings are discussed in the light of a prospective epidemic.

This paper establishes a prognosis of the long term environmental impact of various car subsidy concepts. The CO2 emissions of the German car fleet impacted by the purchase subsidies are determined. A balance model of the CO2 emissions of the whole car life cycle is developed. Consideration of production-, use- and End-of-Life processes are taken into account. The implementation of different subsidy scenarios directly affects the forecasted composition of the vehicle population and therefore the resulting life cycle assessment. All scenarios compensate the additional emissions required by the production pull-in within the considered period and hence reduce the accumulated CO2 emissions until 2030. The exclusive funding of BEVs is most effective with a break-even in 2025.

As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a sudden and abrupt change in global energy landscape. Traditional fossil fuels that serve as the linchpin of the modern civilization have found their consumption rapidly fell across the most categories due to strict lockdown and stringent measures that have been adopted to suppress the disease. These changes consequently steered various environmental benefits across the world in recent time. The present article is an attempt to investigate these environmental benefits and reversals that have been materialized in this unfolding situation due to reduced consumption of fossil fuels. Life cycle assessment tool has been used hereby to evaluate nine environmental impacts and one energy based impact. These impacts include: ozone formation (terrestrial ecosystems), terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, land use, mineral resources scarcity and cumulative exergy demand. Outcomes from the study demonstrate that COVID-19 has delivered impressive changes in global environment and life cycle exergy demand with about 11-25% curtailment in all above-mentioned impacts in 2020 in comparison to their corresponding readings in 2019.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was particularly invasive in Italy during the period between March and late April 2020 then decreased in both in the number of infections and in the seriousness of the illness throughout the summer of 2020. In this discussion, we measure the severity of the disease by the ratio of Intensive Care Units (ICU) spaces occupied by COVID-19 patients and the number of Active Cases (AC) each month from April to October 2020. We also use the ratio of the number of Deaths (D) to the number of Active Cases. What clearly emerges, from rigorous statistical analysis, is a progressive decrease in both ratios until August, indicating progressive mitigation of the disease. This is particularly evident when comparing March-April with July-August; during the summer period the two ratios became roughly 18 times lower. We test such sharp decreases against possible bias in counting active cases and we confirm their statistical significance. We then interpret such evidence in terms of the well-known seasonality of the human immune system and the virus-inactivating effect of stronger UV rays in the summer. Both ratios, however, increased again in October as ICU/AC began to increase in September 2020. These ratios and the exponential growth of infections in October indicate that the virus - if not contained by strict measures - will lead to unsustainable challenges for the Italian health system in the winter of 2020-2021 .

Understanding tourist behaviour during and after major tourism crises is essential to help destinations recover. The COVID-19 pandemic, a period of uncertainty and risk, makes it relevant to assess factors that influence travel intentions. There has been little research on tourist behaviour during health crises and, in particular, on perceived health risk and uncertainty effects on travel intentions. This study was carried out during the first months of the pandemic in Brazil and aims to investigate the role of health risk perception and intolerance of uncertainty on travel intentions for 2020 and 2021. We applied an online survey to 1,150 Brazilian participants from March to May of 2020. Our findings indicate that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived probability of contracting it, and expected pandemic duration are significant predictors of travel intentions for both years. This paper sheds new light on tourist behaviour in the context of global health crises.

(1) Background: A global pandemic due to COVID-19 emerged in November 2019 and hit France in early March 2020. It not only resulted in a loss of lives but also in very strict confinement measures. The objective of this study was to understand what the determinants of the change in participants’ behavior and mental state were during the confinement. (2) Methods: An online survey was launched on April 23rd, 2020, and closed on May 7th, 2020. The final sample included 1454 participants from 24 to 65 years old. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were then performed. (3) Results: 28.7% reported having a more balanced diet, against 17.1% with a less balanced diet. 22.7% of respondents reported an increased alcohol consumption, as opposed to only 12.2% declaring a decrease and 11.2% of respondents increased their tobacco consumption, while 6.3% decreased it. 50.6% of the participants reported being more depressed, stressed, or irritable since the beginning of the lockdown. Confinement had a negative effect on every behavior studied in this survey, except for nutrition. We also found that negative mental state changes were strongly associated with nutrition, sleep, physical activity, and alcohol consumption changes.

The current global COVID-19 pandemic is compounding on populations susceptible to tropical illnesses like dengue in different developing countries like Bangladesh. The growing concern is that Bangladesh is a dengue-endemic zone and the peak transmission occurs in the monsoon season (June to October). In the most recent monsoon, a total of 354 dengue cases have been confirmed until 27^th July 2020, data-driven from only 41 hospitals alone. A fifty-three-year-old male patient was found to be co-infected with COVID-19 and dengue fever. Concerns arise as hospitals are increasingly denying to admit the patients. Moreover, reports of the false-positive results in dengue screening tests recorded in different countries further exacerbate the issue. These conditions could postpone the early diagnosis of COVID-19 cases and aggravate the situation. In addition, the overwhelming wave of the dengue cases would be a challenge for the vulnerable health care system of the country which is already under strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to establish and implement proper policies might lead to the dengue outbreak with the burdens of the concurrent COVID pandemic, resulting in the collapse of the health and social system, as well as the economic growth of the country.

Background: A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that emerged from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, has spread throughout the world and is declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). A lot remains to be understood of SARS-CoV-2 and the disease (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 has until recently been identified as responsible for both asymptomatic and serious life-threatening infections. The unavailability of specific therapeutic agents is a major hurdle in the treatment and management of COVID-19 patients. The present review attempts to evaluate the immunobiochemical aspects of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Main Body: This review is a comprehensive evaluation of the data collected through various sources, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. The articles were searched and selected using key words such as “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)”, “Diagnosis of COVID-19”, Pathogenesis of Covid-19”, “management of COVID-19”, “Immunology of COVID-19”, and “Complications of COVID-19”. The study noted that the novel Coronavirus infection could result in an exaggerated immune response, causing a cytokine storm and damaging several organs of the body. The infected patients develop several complications, including immunological, hematological, and biochemical alterations. Consequently, COVID-19 patients may develop cardiovascular, liver, renal, and neurological complications, among others. Conclusion: An increased understanding of the immunobiochemical aspects of the disease may contribute to better management of SARS-CoV-2-infected persons, as evidenced from the available literature. A holistic approach to the management of COVID-19 patients taking into consideration the effect of COVID-19 infection on various organs of the body assumes increased significance in patient management.

Pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) is a new entity in children, likely associated with previous coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Most of reports about PIMS come from countries particularly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our aim was to investigate the nature of inflammatory syndromes in Poland (a country with low COVID-19 prevalence) and to perceive the emergence of PIMS in our country. On May 25th, we have launched a nationwide survey of inflammatory syndromes in children for retrospective (since 4th March 2020) and prospective data collection. Up to 28th July, 39 reported children met inclusion criteria. We stratified them according to age (<5 and ≥ 5 years old) and COVID-19 status. The majority of children had clinical and laboratory features of Kawasaki disease, probably non-associated with COVID-19. However, children ≥5 years of age had PIMS characteristics, and 9 children had COVID-19 confirmation. This is the first to our knowledge report of PIMS register from the country with low COVID-19 prevalence, and it proves that PIMS may emerge in any area involved in the COVID-19 pandemic. In a context of limited COVID-19 testing availability, other risk factors of PIMS, e.g. older age should be considered in the differential diagnosis of inflammatory syndromes in children.

COVID-19, previously known as “2019 novel coronavirus”, is a newly discovered virus which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, similar to corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has spread widely through human to human contact and was declared a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020. To cope with this pandemic many countries have adopted nationwide lockdowns which restrict nonessential activities and encourage their populations to avoid public transport, work from hone wherever possible, and to maintain social distancing at all times. While the severity of these shutdowns has varied with country, large geographic regions of the world (including China, India, Iran, Italy, Spain, and the USA) have all been severely affected, not just in the loss of human life, but also in terms of the financial impacts the lockdowns will have on their countries future prosperityIt was previously reported that a number of environmental factors, including humidity and temperature, played an important role in development and spread of the SARS-Corona Virus infection with the virus retaining viability for over 5 days at temperatures between 22–25^oC and relative humidity (RH) of 40–50%. Whereas, elevated temperatures and higher RH (38^oC, and >95% RH) decreased virus viability (Kroumpouzos et al., 2020). The spread of COVID-19 started in low temperature areas of China, with major outbreaks subsequently occurring in Iran, Japan, Northern Italy and South Korea. These new virus epicenters all had similar temperature and latitude, along the 30-50^◦N” zone. Subsequently, the virus was spread to regions of elevated temperature, such as India, the Middle East and Thailand, due to international travel (Kroumpouzos et al., 2020).The aim of this study was to consider the environmental impact of COVID-19, including water pollution. The paper is divided into four sections. In the first section the current literature related to COVID-19 is reviewed. In the second section a recent update on COVID-19 globally is presented, followed by a descriptive impact on the environment in the third section and finally in the fourth section the COVID-19 related worldwide environmental impact is discussed. Since COVID-19 is a currently an active pandemic with no end in sight, while constructive conclusions can only be made on the limited data currently, which may be prone to high errors. However, these conclusions may provide some preliminary suggestions for assisting in assessing spreading patterns of COVID-19 across the globe, and may be of long-term significances with respect to assessing the environmental impact of lockdown policies due to COVID-19 worldwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, with the United States being highly affected. A vaccine provides the best hope for a permanent solution to controlling the pandemic. However, to be effective, a vaccine must be accepted and used by a large majority of the population. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the relationships of several factors with attitudes toward potential COVID-19 vaccination. The survey was administered to 316 respondents across the United States by a survey corporation. Prior vaccine usage and attitudes predicted attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. Assessment of the severity of COVID-19 for the United States was also predictive. Approximately 68% of all respondents were supportive of being vaccinated for COVID-19, but side effects, efficacy, and length of testing remained concerns. Longer testing, increased efficacy and development in the United States were significantly associated with increased vaccine acceptance. Messages promoting COVID-19 vaccination should seek to alleviate the concerns of those who are already vaccine-hesitant. Messaging directed at the benefits of vaccination for the United States as a country would address the second predictive factor. Enough time should be taken to allay concerns about both short and long-term side effects before a vaccine is released.

Policy induced decline of human mobility has been recognised to be effective in controlling the COVID-19 spread especially in the initial stage of the outbreak, although the relationship among mobility, policy implementation, and virus spread remains contentious. Coupling data of confirmed COVID-19 cases with Google mobility data in Australia, we present a state-level empirical study to: 1) inspect the temporal variation of COVID-19 spread and the change of mobility adherent to social restriction policies; 2) examine the extent that different types of mobility are associated with the COVID-19 spread in eight Australian states/territories; and 3) analyse the time-lag effect of mobility restriction on the COVID-19 spread. We find that social restriction policies implemented in the early stage of the pandemic controlled the COVID-19 spread effectively; the restriction of human mobility has a time-lag effect on growth rates, and the strength of the mobility-spread correlation increases up to seven days after policy implementation but decreases afterwards. The association between mobility and COVID-19 spread varies across space and time, and subjects to the types of mobility. Thus, it is important for governments to consider the degree to which lockdown conditions can be eased by accounting for this dynamic mobility-spread relationship.

The outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues to affect millions of people around the world. The absence of a globally distributed effective treatment makes the exploration of new mechanisms of action a key step to address this situation. Stabilization of non-native Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) of the nucleocapsid protein of MERS-CoV has been reported as a valid strategy to inhibit viral replication. In this study, the applicability of this unexplored mechanism of action against SARS-CoV-2 is analyzed. During our research, we were able to find three inducible interfaces of SARS-CoV-2 N protein NTD, compare them to the previously reported MERS-CoV stabilized dimers, and identify those residues that are responsible for their formation. A drug discovery protocol implemented consisting of docking, molecular dynamics and MM-GBSA enabled us to find several compounds that might be able to exploit this mechanism of action. In addition, a common catechin skeleton was found among many of these molecules, which might be useful for further drug design. We consider that our findings could motivate future research in the fields of drug discovery and design towards the exploitation of this previously unexplored mechanism of action against COVID-19.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) affects human respiratory function causing COVID-19 disease. Safe natural products with potential antiviral phytochemicals with benefits to control high-altitude sickness could be adopted as adjunct therapy for COVID-19. The red petals of Rhododendron arboreum, commonly available and consumed in the Himalayan region may have phytochemicals with potential antiviral properties against COVID-19 targets.Purpose: This study was aimed to profile the secondary metabolites of R. arboreum petals, to assess their absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) properties and evaluate their antiviral potential by docking against COVID-19 targets such as SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) that mediates the viral replication and entry into the host respectively.Methods: The phytochemicals of R. arboreum petals were mainly profiled using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) and ¹H-NMR. In addition, the phytochemicals reported from the literature were tabulated. The ADME properties of the phytochemicals were predicted using SwissADME tool. Molecular docking simulation of the phytochemicals against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) were carried out using PyRx.Results: R. arboreum petals were found to be rich in appreciable proportions of secondary metabolites such as Quinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 2,4-Quinolinediamine, Coumaric acid, Caffeic acid, Epicatechin, Catechin, 3-Hydroxybenzoic acid, Shikimic acid, Protocatechuic acid, Epicatechin gallate, Quercetin, Quercetin-O-pentoside, Quercetin-O-rhamnoside, Kaempferol-O-pentoside and Kaempferol. Several of these phytochemicals were reported to exhibit inhibitory activities against a range of viruses. From the molecular docking studies, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, Epicatechin and Catechin showed strong binding affinity with SARS-CoV-2 M^pro and human ACE2 receptor.Conclusion: This report showed that R. arboreum petals are rich in several antiviral phytochemicals that also docked against SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro and Human ACE2 receptor. This is the first report highlighting R. arboreum petals as a reservoir of antiviral phytochemicals with potential for synergetic activities. The outcomes merit further in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on R. arboreum phytochemicals to develop natural formulations against COVID-19 disease for therapeutic benefits.

Geoscientists developed geoethics, an intra-disciplinary field of applied philosophical studies, during the last decade. Reaching beyond the sphere of professional geosciences, it led to professional, cultural, and philosophical approaches to handle the social-ecological structures of our planet ‘wherever human activities interact with the Earth system’. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 and considering geoscientists’ experiences dealing with disasters (related to hazards like tsunamis, floods, climate changes.), this essay (1) explores the geoethical approach, (2) re-casts geoethics within western philosophical systems, such as the Kantian imperatives, Kohlberg scale of moral adequacy, Jonas’ imperative of responsibility, and (3) advances a ‘geoethical thesis’. The latter takes the form of a hypothesis of a much broader scope of geoethics than initially envisioned. That hypothesis appears by suspecting a relationship between the relative successes in the COVID-19 battle with the positioning of agents (individual, collective, institutional) into ethical frameworks. The turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for the transfer of experiences between different disciplinary domains to further sustainable governance, hence generalising the geoethical approach. It is emphasized that only when behaving as responsible and knowledgeable citizens, then people of any trade (including [geo-]scientists) can transgress the boundaries of ordinary governance practices with legitimacy.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with high risk of malnutrition, primarily in elderly people; assessing nutritional risk using appropriate screening tools is critical. This systematic review identified applicable tools and assessed their measurement properties. Literature was searched in the MEDLINE, Embase, and LILACS databases. Four studies conducted in China met the eligibility criteria. Sample sizes ranged from six to 182, and participants’ ages from 65 to 87 years. Seven nutritional screening and assessment tools were used: the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), MNA-short form (MNA-sf), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Nutritional Risk Index (NRI), Geriatric NRI (GNRI), and modified Nutrition Risk in the Critically ill (mNUTRIC) score. Nutritional risk was identified in 27.5% to 100% of participants. The NRS-2002, MNA, MNA-sf, NRI, and MUST demonstrated high sensitivity; the MUST had better specificity. The MNA and MUST demonstrated better criterion validity. The MNA-sf demonstrated better predictive validity for poor appetite and weight loss; the NRS-2002 demonstrated better predictive validity for prolonged hospitalization. mNUTRIC score demonstrated good predictive validity for hospital mortality. Most instruments demonstrate high sensitivity for identifying nutritional risk, but none are acknowledged as the best for nutritional screening in elderly COVID-19 patients.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The implications for industries related to the Olympics—tourism, hotels and restaurants, and others—are expected to be affected by reduced demand. Japanese workers in these industries were prepared to offer their hospitality to visitors from around the world. They would be satisfied from not only an increase in income but also in offering visitors a taste of Tokyo’s great hospitality if the Olympics had been held in 2020. However, postponement of the sporting event is likely to have a significant impact on their happiness level. We independently collected individual-level panel data from March to April 2020. Based on this, we found that the happiness level of workers in the tourism and restaurant sectors declined drastically after the announcement of the postponement. Only two weeks later, their happiness level did not alter from the pre-announcement level. This tendency was strongly observed in Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures, but not in other prefectures. However, workers engaged in the tourism and restaurant sectors did not predict a decrease in their income even after the postponement. Combined, these findings indicate that loss of extending hospitality, rather than reduction in income, temporarily reduces the happiness level of workers.

COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented sanitary threat: antiviral and host-directed medications to treat the disease are still urgently needed.A great effort has been paid to find drugs and treatments for hospitalized, severely ill patients. However, medications used for the domiciliary management of initial symptoms, notwithstanding their importance, have not been and are not presently regarded with the same attention. In analogy with other respiratory viral infections, COVID-19 patients in the early phase require specific antivirals (still lacking) and non-etiotropic drugs to lower pain, fever and control inflammation. Non-steroidal antinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and paracetamol (PAC) are widely used as non-etiotropic agents in these conditions and hence are both theoretically repurposable for COVID-19. However, a warning from some research reports and National Authorities raised NSAIDs safety concerns because of the supposed induction of ACE2 protein levels (the receptor used by SARS-CoV2 to enter host airways cells), the risk of bacterial superinfections and masking of disease symptoms. As a consequence, the use of NSAIDs was, and is, strongly discouraged while the alternative adoption of paracetamol is still preferred.On the basis of novel data and hypothesis on the possible role of scarce glutathione (GSH) levels in the exacerbation of COVID-19 and of the GSH depleting activity of PAC, this commentary raises the question of whether PAC may produce an oxidative imbalance which could be detrimental in COVID-19 clinical outcomes.

Despite great advances in understanding the dynamics of viral epidemics, the emergence of rapidly spreading, highly pathogenic viruses remains a realistic and catastrophic possibility, which current health systems may not be able to fully contain. An intriguing feature in many recent zoonotic viral outbreaks is the presence of superspreaders, which are infected individuals that cause dramatically more new cases than the average. Here I study the effect of superspreaders on the early dynamics of emerging viruses that have not gained the capacity for efficient human-to-human transmission, i.e viruses with R0 < 1. I show that superspreaders have a higher chance of rapid extinction, but under crowded conditions can lead to outbreaks, causing far more cases than regular viruses. I suggest that outbreaks of highly pathogenic superspreaders are more likely when they coincide in time and space with an unrelated outbreak leading to increased hospital admission rates. These superspreader outbreaks may be difficult to detect, especially in the context of a different epidemic in progress, and can significantly affect mortality patterns observed in affected areas.

Coronavirus disease is the current cause of global concern. The massive outbreak of COVID-19 has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare this as a pandemic situation. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2) is responsible for COVID-19 leading to acute respiratory distress and substantial mortality in humans. However, the first laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 in a pet dog in Hong Kong has shown the possibility of human-to-animal transmission (zooanthroponotic) of the virus. Thereafter, many animals including cat, tiger, lion and mink have also been reported to acquire the virus in several countries. In this situation the role of veterinarian assumes important in treating the animals, helping in food security, disease diagnosis, surveillance and boosting the economy of livestock stakeholders at the grassroot level. In the absence of any selective vaccine or drug against SARS-CoV-2, the world is anticipated to triumph over this pandemic with collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach linking human, animal and environmental health. This article gives an insight into the confirmed SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in animals, including the factors behind the shuffling of the virus among variety of species and also emphasizes on the role of veterinarian in managing and safeguarding public health so as to pave the way for adopting one health approach in order to conserve biodiversity.

Nigeria is the most populous country in the African continent. The aim of this study was to analyze risk factors for COVID-19 prevalence and deaths in all 6 geopolitical regions and 37 states in Nigeria. We analyzed the data retrieved from various sources, including Nigeria CDC, Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics, Unicef-Nigeria multiple indicator cluster survey and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington. We examined 4 clinical risk factors (prevalence of TB, HIV, smoking and BCG vaccination coverage) and 5 sociodemographic factors (age ≥65, population density, literacy rate, unemployment and GDP per capita). Multivariate modeling was conducted using generalized linear model. Our analysis showed that the incidence of confirmed COVID-19 cases differed widely across the 37 states, from 0.09 per 100,000 in Kogi to 83.7 in Lagos. However, more than 70% of confirmed cases were concentrated in just 7 states: Lagos, Abuja, Oyo, Kano, Edo, Rivers and Delta. Case mortality rate (CMR) per million population also varied considerably, with Lagos, Abuja and Edo having CMR above 9. On bivariate analysis, higher CMR correlated positively with GDP and to a lesser extent with TB and population density. On multivariate analysis, which is more definitive, states with higher HIV prevalence and BCG coverage had lower CMR, while high GDP states had a greater CMR. This study indicates that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected certain states in Nigeria. Population susceptibility factors include higher economic development but not literacy or unemployment. Death rates were mildly lower in states with higher HIV prevalence and BCG vaccination coverage.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in a significant surge of critically ill patients and an unprecedented demand on intensive care services. The rapidly evolving understanding of pathogenesis, limited disease specific evidence and demand-resource imbalances have posed significant challenges for intensive care clinicians. COVID-19 is a complex multisystem inflammatory vasculopathy with a significant mortality implication for those admitted to intensive care. Institutional strategic preparation and meticulous intensive care support are essential to maximising outcomes during the pandemic. The significant mortality variation observed between institutions and internationally, despite a single aetiology and uniform presentation, highlights the potential influence of management strategies on outcome. Given that optimal organ support and adjunctive therapies for COVID-19 have not yet been well defined by trial-based outcomes, strategies are predicated on existing literature and experiential learning. This review outlines the relevant pathophysiology and management strategies for critically ill patients with COVID-19, and shares some of the collective learning accumulated in a high volume Severe Respiratory Failure centre in London.

Contact tracing has become an indispensable tool of various extensive measures to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic due to novel coronavirus. This essential tool helps to identify, isolate and quarantine the contacted persons of a COVID-19 patient. However, the existing contact tracing applications developed by various countries, health organizations to trace down the contacts after identifying a COVID-19 patient suffers from several security and privacy concerns. In this work, we have identified those security and privacy issues of several leading contact tracing applications and proposed a blockchain-based framework to overcome the major security and privacy challenges imposed by the applications. We have discussed the security and privacy measures that are achieved by the proposed framework to show the effectiveness against the security and privacy issues raised by the existing mobile contact tracing applications.

Background: Kidney damage is considered to be one of the risk factors for severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients. However, molecular nature of such observations remains unknown. Hypothesis: Altered gene expressions due to infection and in chronic kidney disease could explain severity in COVID-19 with kidney defects. Methods: We collected gene expression data from publicly available resources Gene Expression Omnibus CKD, Enrichr for deregulated genes in SARS-CoV infected cells in vitro, DisGeNET and others and carried out enrichment analysis using Enrichr. Result: Number of common genes altered in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and SARS-CoV infected cells was 2834. Enrichment analysis revealed that biological processes related viral life cycle and growth, cytokines, immunity, interferon, inflammation, apoptosis, autophagy, oxidative stress and others were significantly enriched with common deregulated genes. Similarly, significantly enriched pathways related to viral and bacterial infections, immunity and inflammation, cell cycle, ubiquitin mediated proteolysis, signaling pathways like Relaxin signaling pathway, mTOR signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway were enriched with the common deregulated genes. These processes and pathways are known to be related to kidney damage. DisGeNET terms enriched include and related to Dengue fever, chronic Hepatitis, measles, retroviridae infections, respiratory syncytial virus Infections and many others. Kidney dysfunction related terms ischemia of kidney, renal fibrosis and diabetic nephropathy. Conclusion: Common deregulated genes in SARS-CoV infected cells and chronic kidney disease, as well as their enrichment with molecular processes and pathways relevant for viral pathogenesis and renal dysfunctions, could explain the severity of COVID-19 with kidney disease. This observation not only provides molecular relation of severity in COVID-19 with renal dysfunctions but might also help in the management and treatment targets for these cases.

Currently, there is no effective antiviral therapy recommended for the new coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia (COVID-19). The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the safety of Ozonized Saline Solution (O₃SS) used as a complementary therapy in adult patients COVID-19. Twenty-five adult patients who were hospitalized with mild to severe COVID-19 symptoms, who met the inclusion criteria and were being treated from April 18^rd to April 26th, 2020, at the Viamed Virgen De La Paloma Hospital, Madrid, Spain were included in this study. Patients were allocated to receive standard care (SC) that included 200-400 mg hydroxychloroquine twice daily for 5-7 days plus Tocilizumab 400 mg twice daily for 5 days, low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and 40 mg-60 mg metil-prednisone plus O₃SS, 200 mL, 3-5 µg/mL daily for 10 days. No control group was included, data were compared to clinical trials in this subject. Primary outcomes of treatment with O₃SS were an improvement of clinical symptoms and a reduction in mortality. Secondary end points evaluated included participant clinical status, laboratory examinations, and duration of viral shedding. None of the patients treated with SC + O₃SS died. Improvements in symptoms such as dyspnea, weakness, and reduction in body temperature were observed and corresponded with an improvement of laboratory finding including D-dimer, fibrinogen, LDH, and CRP. No side effects from the O₃SS treatment were observed. Conclusions: COVID-19 patients with mild to severe symptoms who received intravenous O₃SS as a complementary therapy demonstrated no side effects. This preliminary data will be served as base for a future study of the efficacy of this therapy.

In Wuhan city of China, an episode of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) happened. during late December and it has quickly spread to all places in the world. Until May 29, 2020, cases were high in the USA with 1.7 Million, Russia with approximately 387 thousand, the UK with 271 thousand confirmed cases. Everybody on the planet is anxious to know when the coronavirus pandemic will end. In this scourge, most nations force extreme medication measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. Modeling has been utilized broadly by every national government and the World Health Organization in choosing the best procedures to seek after in relieving the impacts of COVID-19. Many epidemiological models are studied to understand the spread of the illness and its prediction to find maximum capacity for human-to-human transmission so that control techniques can be adopted. Also, arrangements for the medical facilities required such as hospital beds and medical supplies can be made in advance. Many models are used to anticipate the results keeping in view the present scenario. There is an urgent need to study the various models and their impacts. In this study, we present a systematic literature review on epidemiological models for the outbreak of novel coronavirus in India. The epidemiological dynamics of COVID-19 is also studied. Here, In addition, an attempt to take out the results from the exploration and comparing it with the real data. The study helps to choose the models that are progressive and dependable to predict and give legitimate methods for various strategies.

The recent outbreak of a new Coronavirus has developed into a global pandemic with about 10,5 million reported cases and over 500,000 deaths worldwide. Our prospective paper reports an updated analysis of the impact that this pandemic had on the Italian agri-food sector during the national lockdown and discusses why and how this unprecedented economic crisis could be a turning point to deal with the overall sustainability of food and agricultural systems in the frame of the forthcoming European Green Deal. Its introductory part includes a wide-ranging examination of the first quarter of pandemic emergency, with a specific focus on the primary production, to be understood as agriculture (i.e. crops and livestock, and their food products), fisheries and forestry. The effect on the typical food and wine exports, and the local environment tourism segments is also taken into account in this analysis, because of their old and deep roots into the cultural and historical heritage of the country. The subsequent part of the paper is centered on strategic lines and research networks for an efficient socio-economic and territorial restart, and a faster transition to sustainability in the frame of a circular bio-economy. Particular emphasis is given to the urgent need of investments in research and development concerning agriculture, in terms of not only a fruitful penetration of the agro-tech for a next-generation agri-food era, but also a deeper attention to the natural and environmental resources, including forestry. As for the rest of Europe, Italy demands actions to expand knowledge and strengthen research applied to technology transfer for innovation activities aimed at providing solutions for a climate neutral and resilient society, in reference to primary production to ensure food security and nutrition quality. Our expectation is that science and culture return to play a central role in national society, as their main actors are capable of making a pivotal contribution to renew and restart the whole primary sector and agri-food industry, addressing also social and environmental issues, and so accelerating the transition to sustainability.

Background: The information on the difference in clinical characteristics between severe and non-severe cases is limited in some countries including Iran. The objective of this case series is to compare the clinical characteristics, radiologic features, and laboratory findings between COVID-19 severe cases who received the intensive care unit (ICU) care with non-severe cases who did not receive ICU care. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 186 laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19 diagnosed from 1 March 2020 to 30 March 2020 were investigated. Results: This study population included 186 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19. The median age was 47 years, and 88 (47.31%) were female. Of these patients, 48 were admitted and transferred to ICU. Of 186 patients, 44.62% had medical comorbidities including hypertension and diabetes. The most common clinical manifestation were shortness of breath 86.56%, myalgia 74.19%, and headache. Higher neutrophil counts, CRP, and LDH as well as the lower levels of lymphocytes were the most important laboratory finding among COVID-19 patients. As of April 15, 2020, 33 were still hospitalized. A total of 116 patients (62.70 %) had been discharged, and 36 patients (19.94 %) had died. Of the 48 patients admitted to the ICU, 33.33% have died. Conclusion: In the present study, shortness of breath was the most common clinical symptom, and the mortality rate in patients admitted to the ICU was about 33%, indicating that about one-third of patients with severe illness who admitted to the ICU section died.

Investigating and classifying sentiments of social media users (e.g., positive, negative) towards an item, situation, and system are very popular among the researchers. However, they rarely discuss the underlying socioeconomic factor associations for such sentiments. This study attempts to explore the factors associated with positive and negative sentiments of the people about reopening the economy, in the United States (US) amidst the COVID-19 global crisis. It takes into consideration the situational uncertainties (i.e., changes in work and travel pattern due to lockdown policies), economic downturn and associated trauma, and emotional factors such as depression. To understand the sentiment of the people about the reopening economy, Twitter data was collected, representing the 51 states including Washington DC of the US. State-wide socioeconomic characteristics of the people (e.g., education, income, family size, and employment status), built environment data (e.g., population density), and the number of COVID-19 related cases were collected and integrated with Twitter data to perform the analysis. A binary logit model was used to identify the factors that influence people toward a positive or negative sentiment. The results from the logit model demonstrate that family households, people with low education levels, people in the labor force, low-income people, and people with higher house rent are more interested in reopening the economy. In contrast, households with a high number of members and high income are less interested to reopen the economy. The accuracy of the model is good (i.e., the model can correctly classify 56.18\% of the sentiments). The Pearson chi2 test indicates that overall this model has high goodness-of-fit. This study provides a clear indication to the policymakers where to allocate resources and what policy options they can undertake to improve the socioeconomic situations of the people and mitigate the impacts of pandemics in the current situation and as well as in the future.

COVID-19 appeared as an infectious disease of global health emergency and the highest public health concern of 21st century for this world due to its high-speed of spread across the globe. The disease started as one single case to a cluster of cases in Wuhan, China (Dec 2019) and within few months with its continuous upsurge of cases spreading globally which has created enormous threat and tension across the global Public health care field. Most significantly to share the fact that, this disease caused high level of Risk Group mortality, high morbidity, health care services burden, panic anxiety, mental trauma and tension, social and economic insecurity, which also collectively surfaced by diverse range of social reaction and political pressure across the world. Also with the appearance of new and unknown pathogenesis of the disease has created the most and significant attention and concern for the scientific community and political leaders as well. The disease also varies much with its pattern of virus, sign, symptoms, characteristics including its epidemiological and public health response (like prevention strategy, diagnoses, case management, treatment pattern) across the countries. However, this variance is comparatively less rather even more in commonality while it comes to basic public health prevention interventions like frequent hand washing, wearing face mask, maintaining social/physical distancing (2 - 6 meter in between), individual isolation and community quarantine for suspected exposure and lockdown in community areas where cases are identified. These are with the most commonly practiced public health interventions to deal with this disease in majority of the epicenters across countries. Also with the progress of the disease with its diverse categorical appearance of sign symptoms which are uniquely portraying this disease is more of a kind of COVID-19 syndrome than as COVID-19. Moreover, various factors including socio economic status, health status, population dynamics, health system and infrastructure, health behavioral pattern, nutrition and food habit and access to information and knowledge made this viral disease one of the historically counted on expensive disease of the modern world to fight for. Specially to mention here, the case fatality rate distinctively vary with the population dynamics and the health system infrastructure and ability factors which have already created clear evidence as explained in this paper how these factors are uniquely distinguished and different from country to country. Apart from the contextual differences, the various kind of ongoing preventive measures (like prevention, diagnosis and treatment) learnt every day from the emerging characteristics and pattern of this viral disease which are most commonly practiced across countries with a variance. According to the Public health prevention practice and interventions, the total world is connected and learning from each other’s public health experiences to fight for the virus. However, the world communities are eagerly waiting to see the result and outcome of the ongoing therapeutics and vaccine trial initiated in several countries, the people of the world are quite optimistic and hopeful that, global scientific community will be able to invent some miraculous and magic solution in upcoming months which ultimately will free the world from this most terrifying COVID-19 pandemic of 21st century.

Real-time estimation of the parameters characterising infectious disease transmission is important for optimization quarantine interventions during outbreaks. One of the most significant parameters is the effective reproduction number - number of secondary cases produced by a single infection. The current study presents an approach for estimating the effective reproduction number and its application to COVID-19 outbreak. The method is based on fitting SIR epidemic model to observation data in a sliding time window and allows to show real-time dynamics of reproduction number at any phase of epidemic for countries globally. Online data on COVID-19 daily cases of infections, recoveries, deaths are used.Finally, time-dependent reproduction number is explored in connection with dynamics of peoples mobility. The method allows to assess the disease transmission potential and understand the effect of interventions on epidemics spread. It also can be easily adapted to future outbreaks of different pathogens. The tool is available online as Python code from the Github repository.

The risk factors associated with COVID-19 related severity, morbidity, and mortality, i.e., obesity (often associated with NAFLD), hyperglycemia, hypertension and dyslipidemia all cluster together as metabolic syndrome (MetS). Instead of studying association of these risk factors with COVID-19, it makes sense studying the association between MetS on one hand and COVID-19 on the other. This study explores a molecular basis underpinning the above association. Severity of COVID-19 patients with MetS could be due to functional alterations of host proteins due to their interactions with viral proteins. We collected data from Enrichr (https://amp.pharm.mssm.edu/Enrichr/), DisGeNET (https://www.disgenet.org/) and others and carried out enrichment analysis using Enrichr. Various biological processes and pathways associated with viral protein interacting partners are known to involve in metabolic diseases. The molecular pathways underlying insulin resistance, insulin signaling and insulin secretion are not only involved in diabetes but also in CVD and obesity (associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NAFLD). Lipid metabolism/lipogenesis, fatty acid oxidation and inflammation are associated with MetS. Viral interacting host proteins are associated and enriched with terms like hyperglycemia, coronary artery disease, hypertensive disease related to CVD and liver diseases in DisGeNET. Association of viral interacting proteins with disease-relevant biological processes, pathways and disease-related terms suggests that altered host protein function following interaction with viral proteins might contribute to frequent occurrence and/or severity of COVID-19 in subjects with MetS. Such analysis not only provides a molecular basis of comorbidity but also incriminates host proteins in viral replication, growth and identifies possible drug targets for intervention.

Corona Virus Infectious Disease (COVID-19) is newly emerging infectious disease. This disease is known to the globe in early 2019. Poor status of mental health is often caused by unemployment, ongoing socio-economic condition. Poor mental health may even accelerate the process of panic attack. It has been happening rapidly during COVID-19. It has a great effect on human health. This paper utilizes multiple related factors those have impact on causing panic attack. Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) based framework is utilized in this paper that assembles multiple RNN layers along with other parameters into a single platform. This method is implemented by capturing interfering factors and predicts panic attack tendency of people during COVID-19. Early prediction of panic attacks may assist in saving life from unwanted circumstances.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) fatal outcomes have been associated with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. In new epidemic areas, such as Latin America, there is a lack of studies about this. Here, we evaluated those factors in a retrospective cohort of patients in a national reference hospital of Lima, Peru. Design. A retrospective cohort observational study was done. For this study, information was obtained from clinical records of the hospital for the cases that were laboratory-diagnosed and related, during March 6^th and April 30^th, 2020. rRT-PCR was used for the detection of the RNA of SARS-CoV-2 following the protocol Charité, Berlin, Germany, from nasopharyngeal swabs at the National Institute of Health. Calculation of the odds ratio (OR) with the respective 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was done, also logistic regression for adjusted OR (multivariate) was done. Values of p < 0.05 were considered significant for all analyses. Results. One hundred six hospitalized patients were evaluated. The mean age of patients was 61.58 years (SD 16.81). Cardiovascular risk factors among them were hypertension (46.2%), diabetes (28.3%), and obesity (28.3%), among others. Fifty-six patients died (52.8%). Mortality associated factors at the multivariate analysis were arterial hypertension (OR=1.343, 95% 1.089-1.667), myocardial injury (OR=1.303, 95% 1.031-1.642), and mechanical ventilation (OR 1.262, 95% 1.034-1.665), as associated factors. Conclusion. As observed in other regions of the world, cardiovascular risk factors represent a significant and independent threat to be considered in patients with COVID-19. Further studies and interventions in Peru and Latin America are expected.

Coronavirus (COVID19) appears to be an inflection point that is forcing a disruption in medical education. However, it is not clear what the responses of the institutions are to this pandemic and how the adaptation of new methods may impact medical education in the post COVID-19 era. Objective: The study aims to explore how medical schools in Egypt responded to COVID-19 pandemic regarding the teaching and learning/assessment for undergraduate students. Design: A mixed method exploratory two-phase study was conducted. A survey was prepared and disseminated to a convenient non-probability sample of the medical school faculty through various social platforms. Then, a focus group guide was conducted to explore in more depth the findings. Results: The staff level of preparedness for that unexpected shift was evaluated by 55.1% of the survey participants as optimum to high and a good leadership support was reported by 70 % of them. They reported conflicting views about the proper role of medical education units but reinforced the idea of Egyptian Knowledge Bank’s crucial role in this transition. Additionally, there is a communication problem with the students that leads to their detachment. Subsequently, 84.6 % of the participants reported that their schools used alternative teaching methods for small groups, large groups, pre-clinical and clinical clerkships. However, 64.1 % of the participants identified a clinical skills teaching challenge. Although, 68.4% reported that alternative methods were used for formative assessment but absence of alternative methods for summative assessment was declared by 76.3%. Conclusions: Individuals moved faster than bodies and relied on support existing outside the universities when catastrophe happened. However, institutes which have experience in adapting modern engaging learning methods should organize a better response for crisis. Online learning should be integrated in the curriculum with a fair percentage especially in the early years of medical study.

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has not only commenced a global health emergency but agitated various aspects of humanity. During this period of crisis researchers over the world have ramped their efforts to constrain the disease in all possible ways whether it is vaccination, therapy, or diagnosis. Since the spread of the disease has not yet elapsed sharing the ongoing research findings could be the key to disease control and management. An early and efficient diagnosis could leverage the outcome until a successful vaccine is developed. Molecular tests both in-house and commercial kits are preferably being used worldwide in the COVID-19 diagnosis. However, the limitation of high prices and lengthy procedures impede their use for mass testing. Keeping the constant rise of infection in mind search for an alternative test that should be cost-effective, simple, and suitable for large scale testing and surveillance is a need of an hour. One such alternative could be the immunological tests. Therefore, in the last few months deluge of immunological rapid tests has been developed and validated across the globe. The objective of the present review is to share the diagnostic performance of various immunological assays reported so far in SARS-CoV-2 case detection. The article consolidated the studies (published and preprints) related to the serological tests such as chemiluminescence, enzyme-linked and lateral flow-based point-of-care tests in COVID-19 diagnosis and updated the current scenario. This review will hopefully be an add-on in COVID-19 research and will contribute to congregate the evidence for decision-making.

The COVID-19 epidemic is an emerging infectious disease of the viral zoonosis type caused by the corona-virus strain SARS-CoV-2, is classified as a human-to-human communicable disease and is currently a pandemic worldwide. In this paper, we propose conceptual mathematical models the epidemic dynamics of four compartments. We have collected data from the Djibouti health ministry. We define the positivity, boundedness of solutions and basic reproduction number. Then, we study local and global stability and bifurcation analysis of equilibrium to examine its epidemiological relevance. Finally, we analyze the fit of the data in comparison with the result of our mathematical results, to validate the model and estimating the important model parameters and prediction about the disease, we consider the real cases of Djibouti from 23th March to 10th June, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created extraordinary challenges and prompted remarkable social changes around the world. The implications of the novel coronavirus and the public health control measures that have been implemented to mitigate its impact are likely to be accompanied by a unique set of consequences for specific populations living in low income-countries that have fragile health systems and pervasive social-structural vulnerabilities. This paper discusses the implications of COVID-19 and related public health interventions for children and young people living in Eastern and Southern Africa. Actionable prevention, care, and health promotion initiatives are proposed to attenuate the negative effects of the pandemic and government-enforced movement restrictions on children and young people.

The current pneumonia epidemic could evolve into a pandemic on a global scale if not effectively contained. The COVID-19 virus possesses a 61-amino acid open reading frame resembling SARS-CoV virulence factor - ORF6 peptide. The isoleucine content is 15.9% in ORF6 of SARS-CoV versus 16.4% of that in SARS-CoV-2. Given the proton affinity in the carbonyl oxygen in isoleucine, augmented proton traffic can enhance proton-ion antiport and prompt cell swelling. Calorie restriction has been confirmed in animal studies to extend lifespan, and its underlying mechanism is not fully known. As the content of essential amino acids in the open reading frame of SARS-CoV-2 reaches 57.4%, a starch/vitamin diet served for short period of time does not give rise to essential amino acids and halts virion production, which could be adopted as prophylactic approach of many viral infections. Plant-based diet or fasting/boiled rice water can also minimize the intake of essential amino acids or all amino acids respectively. Furthermore, several proteins of SARS-CoV-2 possess high valine plus glycine content which is implicated in heart disease, justifying the aforementioned approaches.

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected nearly 7 million individuals and claimed more than 0.4 million lives to date. There are several reports of gender differences related to infection and death due to COVID-19. This raises important questions such as “Whether there are differences based on gender in risk and severity of infection or mortality rate?” and “What are the biological explanation and mechanisms underlying these differences?” Emerging evidence has proposed sex-based immunological, genetic, and hormonal differences to explain this ambiguity. Besides biological differences, women have also faced social inequities and economic hardships due to this pandemic. Several recent studies have shown that independent of age males are at higher risk for severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Although susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 was found to be similar across both genders in several disease cohorts, a disproportionate death ratio in men can be partly explained by the higher burden of pre-existing diseases and occupational exposures among men. From an immunological point of view, females can engage a more active immune response, which may protect them and counter infectious diseases as compared to men. This attribute of better immune responses towards pathogens is thought to be due to high estrogen levels in females. Here we review the current knowledge about sex differences in susceptibility, the severity of infection and mortality, host immune responses, and the role of sex hormones in COVID-19 disease.

Our first modern global pandemic is caused by a nanosized lipid vesicle, called SARS-CoV-2. Its molecular structure and biogenesis have remarkable similarities with Extracellular Vesicles (EVs, most notably exosomes) that are constantly shed by all cells during their life. Their resemblance may not be a coincidence. Growing body of evidence has shown that EVs have significant roles in various biological processes, including viral infection, transmission and anti-viral response. Drawing comparison with the virus might shed light on how we could fight the COVID-19 disease. This may include novel EV research and diagnostics technologies as well as novel EV-based treatments.

In this review, we address issues that relate to the rapid “Warp Speed” development of vaccines to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. We review the antibody response that is triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection of humans, and how it may inform vaccine research. The isolation and properties of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies from COVID-19 patients provide additional information on what vaccines should try to elicit. The nature and longevity of the antibody response to coronaviruses are relevant to the potency and duration of vaccine-induced immunity. We summarize the immunogenicity of leading vaccine candidates tested to date in animals and humans, and discuss the outcome and interpretation of virus-challenge experiments in animals. By far the most immunogenic vaccine candidates for antibody responses are recombinant proteins, which are not included in the initial wave of “Warp Speed” immunogens. A substantial concern for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is adverse events, which we review by considering what was seen in studies of SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV vaccines. We conclude by outlining the possible outcomes of the “Warp Speed” vaccine program, which range from the hoped-for rapid success to a catastrophic adverse influence on vaccine uptake generally.

The physical environment plays an important role in the transmission of respiratory infections like Covid-19. To find relevant articles on environmental factors influencing respiratory infection outbreaks, we searched Pub med Central on the following topics: 1. Environmental pollution causing coronavirus fatality- 73 results, relevant 1 article, 2. Environmental factors affecting Covid-19, 149 results from which there were 6 relevant articles, 3. Impact of air pollution on Covid-19 fatality, 10 results, relevant 3 articles, 4. Environmental factors affecting respiratory viruses- 10646 results were obtained, 2 relevant articles. We searched Google scholar on environmental factors affecting Covid-19 transmission and found 7 relevant papers. We excluded the duplicates in each of the key words search. Date of search was on 20^th April 2020. All articles included in results were scrutinized and relevance of articles was based on their content that discussed meteorological and physical environment factors in the spread and severity of Covid-19. We have discussed factors like air pollution, smoking, air temperature, humidity and air velocity as contributing factors. If meteorological factors are conducive to spread in a particular area, we need protective measures way before a respiratory infection outbreak occurs. Covid-19 is a lesson learnt the hard way, and we must enable people to practice hygienic practices with limited resources but high level of protection that it provides. Air pollution control can prevent priming of respiratory system which shall further protect from pulmonary infections.

In the 21st century, three highly pathogenic betacoronaviruses have emerged, with an alarming rate of human morbidity and case fatality. Genomic information has been widely used to understand the pathogenesis, animal origin and mode of transmission of betacoronaviruses in the aftermath of the 2002-03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks. Furthermore, genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis have had an unprecedented relevance in the battle against the 2019-20 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the newest and most devastating outbreak caused by a coronavirus in the history of mankind, allowing the follow up of disease spread and transmission dynamics in near real time. Here, we review how genomic information has been used to tackle outbreaks caused by emerging, highly pathogenic, betacoronavirus strains, emphasizing on SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.

As the first initiative of its kind in Algeria, here is presented a solar-powered mobile “Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation” disinfection unit (UVGI) based on a special germicidal ultraviolet-C (UVC) radiator. The system was designed to disinfect several objects such as: medical tools, reusable masks, face-shields, gloves, phones, laptops, keys, money and many other portable devices that need to be disinfected/sterilized. It offers the advantage of complete autonomy through the built-in photovoltaic (PV) system that includes a solar panel, a gel battery, a charge controller and a power inverter. The system provides an extra 220V-50Hz outlet with 375VA maximum power to be used when energy is needed. The system is easily scalable to generate higher ultraviolet dosages by adding more UVC lamps. The chemical-free germicidal UVC sanitizing method employed by this device effectively disactivates a very wide range of microorganisms (microbes, bacteria and fungi and viruses including the actual SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 respiratory disease) and it has several advantages in comparison to chemical-based sanitizing methods. The total cost to make this open source device is below 1000 € and is easily customizable and scalable. This device is an open source, secure and fast equipment for objects and surface disinfection. The device will be fully automated by adding PIR sensors or remote control after further funding will be received.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the end of 2019, the clinical presentation of the disease showed a great heterogeneity with a diverse impact between different subpopulations. Emerging evidence from different parts of the world showed significantly poor outcome among males compared to female patients. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind this difference might be a fundamental step for a more effective and targeted response to the outbreak. For that reason, here we try to investigate the molecular basis of the gender variations in mortality rates related to COVID-19 infection. To achieve this, we used our in-house pipeline to process publicly available lung transcriptomic data from 141 females compared to 286 males. After excluding Y specific genes, our results showed a shortlist of 73 genes that are differentially expressed between the two groups. Our results showed downregulation of a group of genes that are involved in the regulation of hydrolase activity including (AGTR1, CHM, DDX3X, FGFR3, SFRP2, and NLRP2), which is also believed to be essential for lung immune response and antimicrobial activity in the lung tissues in males compared to females. In contrast, our results showed an upregulation of angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AGTR1), a member of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) that plays a role in angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) activity modulation. Interestingly, recent reports and experimental animal models highlight an important role of this receptor in SARS-Coronavirus lung damage as well as pulmonary edema, suggesting a possible role of its blockers like losartan and olmesartan as potential therapeutic options for COVID-19 infection. Finally, our results also showed a differential expression of different genes that are involved in the immune response including the NLRP2 and PTGDR2, further supporting the notion of the sex-based immunological differences. Taken together, our results provide an initial evidence of the molecular mechanisms that might be involved in the differential outcomes observed between both genders during the COVID-19 outbreak. This might be essential for the discovery of new targets and more precise therapeutic options to treat COVID-19 patients from different clinical and epidemiological characteristics with the aim of improving their outcome.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the disease COVID-19 that has decimated the health and economy of our planet. The virus causes the disease not only in people but also in companion and wild animals. People with diabetes are at risk of the disease. As yet we do not know why the virus is highly successful in causing the pandemic within 3 months of its first report. The structural proteins of SARS include, membrane glycoprotein (M), envelope protein (E), nucleocapsid protein (N) and the spike protein (S). The structure and function of the most abundant structural protein of SARS-CoV-2, the membrane (M) glycoprotein is not fully understood. Using in silico analyses we determined the structure and potential function of the M protein. The M protein of SARS-CoV-2 is 98.6% similar to the M protein of bat SARS-CoV, maintains 98.2% homology with pangolin SARS-CoV, and has 90% homology with M protein of SARS-CoV; whereas, the similarity was only 38% with the M protein of MERS-CoV. In silico analyses showed that the M protein of SARS-CoV-2 has a triple helix bundle, form a single 3-transmembrane domain (TM), and are homologous to the prokaryotic sugar transport protein semiSWEET. SemiSWEETs are related to the PQ-loop family that function as cargo receptors in vesicle transport, mediates movement of basic amino acids across lysosomal membranes, and is also involved in phospholipase flippase function. The advantage and role of the M protein having a sugar transport-like structure is not clearly understood. The M protein of SARS-CoV-2 interacts with S, E and N protein. The S protein of the virus is glycosylated. It could be hypothesized that the sugar transporter-like structure of the M protein influences glycosylation of the S protein. Endocytosis is critical for the internalization and maturation of RNA viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Sucrose is involved in endosome and lysosome maturation and may also induce autophagy, pathways that help in the entry of the virus. Overall, it could be hypothesized that the semiSWEET sugar transporter-like structure of the M protein may be involved in multiple functions that may aid in the rapid proliferation, replication and immune evasion of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Biological experiments would validate the presence and function of the semiSWEET sugar transporter.

Smoking is a risk factor for respiratory infections and there is reasonable concern that it may affect COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. Recent studies have focused on the interaction between smoking (and nicotine) and ACE2 expression, suggesting that ACE2 up-regulation could contribute to enhanced viral cell entry. However, case series have shown that there is an unexpectedly low prevalence of smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 cases. Since early April, we were the first to hypothesize that dysfunction of the nicotinic cholinergic system (NCS) may be implicated in the pathophysiology of severe COVID-19. We recently reported that many of the clinical manifestations of severe COVID-19 could be explained by dysregulation of the NCS. In this study, we present an amino acid sequence in the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein which is homologous to a sequence of a snake venom toxin. We present the 3D structural location of this “toxin-like” sequence on the Spike Glycoprotein. These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 could potentially interact with acetylcholine receptors causing dysregulation of the NCS and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

The constant news about the corona virus is scary. It is not possible to separate treatment for Cancer due to COVID-19. An effective treatment comparison strategy is needed. We need to have a handy tool to understand cancer progression in this unprecedented scenario. Linking different events of cancer progression is the need of the hour. It is a methodological challenge. We provide the solutions to overcome the issue with interval between two consecutive events in motivating head and neck cancer (HNC) data.

Abstract. The COVID-19 has turned in to a global human tragedy and economic devastation. Governments have implemented lockdown measures, blocked international travel, and enforced other public containment measures to mitigate the virus morbidity and mortality. As of today, no drug has the power to fight the infection and bring normalcy to the utter chaos. This leaves us with only one choice namely an effective and safe vaccine that shall be manufactured as soon as possible and available to all countries and populations affected by the pandemic at an affordable price. There has been an unprecedented fast track path taken in R&D by the World community for developing an effective and safe vaccine. Platform technology has been exploited to develop candidate vaccines in a matter of days to weeks and as of now, 108 such vaccines are available. Six of these vaccines have entered clinical trials. As clinical trials are ‘rate-limiting’ and ‘time-consuming’, many innovative methods are in practice for a fast track. These include parallel phase I-II trials and obtaining efficacy data from phase IIb trials. Human ‘challenge experiments’ to confirm efficacy in humans is under serious consideration. The availability of the COVID-19 vaccine has become a race against time in the middle of death and devastation. There is an atmosphere of tremendous hype around the COVID-19 vaccine and developers are using every moment to make claims, which remain unverified. However, concerns are raised about a rush to deploy a COVID-19 vaccine. Applying ‘Quick fix’ and ‘short cuts’ can lead to errors with disastrous consequences.

Family doctors can have an active role in identifying significant population needs and solutions. During COVID-19 epidemic, patient home monitoring with pulse oximetry has been a key aspect of care of patients. However, pandemics bring shortage medical equipment such as pulse oximetry. Through the local maker community in a matter of days four “smart” pulsoximeters were created and built. Following Internet of Things principles, the pulsoximeters were programmed to transmit recorded data through Wi-Fi, in real time, directly to the doctors. Each protype pulsoximeter served a family doctor during the pandemic. Building instructions were shared in maker-oriented websites, potentially leading to additional small-scale productions.

Chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCDs) have been a major public health concern worldwide, especially diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, in addition to obesity, which is even more worrying when the subject involves the covid-19 pandemic, because such incidences correlate with the need for intensive care units, including the possibility of death of the patient. Therefore, for countries with the highest numbers of critical cases, it is important to assess the incidence of these diseases to guide the public that most needs guidance on public policies for social isolation.

It has been a long time since the world has experienced a pandemic with such a rapid devastating impact as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The causative agent, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is further unusual in that it appears capable of infecting many different mammal species. As a significant proportion of people worldwide are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and may spread the infection unknowingly before symptoms occur or without any symptoms ever occurring, there is a non-negligible risk of humans spreading SARS-CoV-2 to wildlife, in particular mammals. Because of SARS-CoV-2’s evolutionary origins in bats and reports of humans transmitting the virus to pets and zoo animals, regulations for prevention of human-to-animal transmission have so far focused mostly on these animal groups. Here, we summarize recent studies and reports that show that a wide range of distantly related mammals are likely susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and that susceptibility or resistance to the virus is in general not predictable, or only to some extent, by phylogenetic proximity to known susceptible or resistant hosts. In the absence of solid evidence on the SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility/resistance for each of the >5,500 mammal species, we argue that sanitary precautions should be taken when interacting with any mammal species in the wild. Preventing human-to-wildlife SARS-CoV-2 transmission is important for protecting these (sometimes endangered) animals from disease, but also to avoid establishment of novel SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs in wild animals. The risk of repeated re-infection of humans from such a wildlife reservoir could severely hamper SARS-CoV-2 control efforts. For wildlife fieldworkers interacting directly or indirectly with mammals, we recommend sanitary precautions such as physical distancing, wearing face masks and gloves, and frequent decontamination, which are very similar to regulations currently imposed to prevent transmission among humans.

The World Health Organization has defined the outbreak of the new coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern. The average age of patients affected by the disease caused by the virus ranges from 49 to 59 years. The symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection include fever, cough, acute respiratory disease, and, in severe cases, the disease may progress to pneumonia and renal failure that may lead to death. Many oral and maxillofacial hospital procedures produce aerosol and droplets contaminated by blood, bacteria, and viruses. The purpose of this study is to gather recommendations from health authorities and scientific articles in order to educate surgeons regarding the procedures to assist and treat in oral and maxillofacial surgeries. The objective is to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 during the treatment of patients in urgent and emergency situations. The study’s methodology used the guidelines provided by the Brazilian College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, in addition to the recommendations and epidemiologic data from national and international health authorities. The implementation of special precautions in oral and maxillofacial surgeries may elucidate questions related to the transmission of the disease by asymptomatic carriers and help control the spread of the virus.

The human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has a crucial role on blood pressure control; however, ACE2 is also the primary SARS-CoV-2 (S domain) virus receptor. Inhibiting or even reducing the expression of the native ACE2 might diminish the viral entry into the cells, but may cause a failure of ACE2 biological activity, primarily in patients with comorbidities, including diabetes mellitus or hypertension. Since the ACE2 catalytic site and the SARS-Cov-2 receptor are distinct, we designed a Crispr-Cas9 model system, predicting the respective sequences for a guide RNA (gRNA) and a single-stranded oligo dideoxy nucleotide (ssODN), to introduce point mutations into the exon 1 of the human ACE2 gene, which encodes the alpha-helix, implicated on the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 envelope S protein. Protein modeling predicted that the specific substitutions of residues Phe28, Lys31, and Tyr41 for Ala at the ACE2 alpha-helix do not significantly alter ACE2 native conformation. The analysis of the impact of these mutations on ACE2 receptor function predicted a weakening of the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 protein S. An experimental genome editing of cells based on these Crispr-Cas9 elements might reduce the SARS-CoV-2 ability to enter the epithelial cell, preserving the biological activity of ACE2 enzyme.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and effects of current smoking on adverse outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature (PubMed) for studies published until April 25. Studies were included into the analysis if they satisfied all of the following criteria: 1. To present hospitalized patients with COVID-19. 2. To classify patients into less and more severe disease, irrespective of the severity definition (defined as “adverse ourtcome”). 3. To present data on the smoking status, separately for each severity classification. We identified 18 (from a total of 1398) relevant studies. Pooled current smoking prevalence was compared with the gender-adjusted, population-based expected prevalence by calculating Prevalence Odds Ratio (POR). The association between current, compared to non-current and former, smoking and adverse outcome was examined by calculating Odds Ratio (OR). All analyses were performed using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: Among 6515 patients, 440 of whom were current smokers, the pooled prevalence of current smoking was 6.8% (95%CI: 4.8-9.1%) and the POR was 0.21 (95%CI: 0.16-0.26, P < 0.001). In Chinese studies only, the POR was 0.22 (95%CI: 0.17-0.27, P < 0.001). Current smokers were more likely to have an adverse outcome compared to non-current smokers (OR: 1.53, 95%CI: 1.06-2.20, P = 0.022). However, they were less likely to have an adverse outcome compared to former smokers (OR: 0.42, 95%CI: 0.27-0.74, P = 0.003). Conclusion: An unexpectedly low prevalence of current smoking was observed among hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Hospitalized current smokers had higher odds compared to non-current smokers but lower odds compared to former smokers for an adverse outcome. The possibility that nicotine may have a protective effect in COVID-19 which may be masked by smoking-related toxicity and by the abrupt cessation of nicotine intake when smokers are hospitalized should be explored.

The state of community lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic caused restricted movements of people. There are existing evidence of the negative impact of quarantine and isolation to the mental health of a person in different contexts. A scoping review of literature using Google Scholar was conducted to discover records about the public mental health while in a community quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic. A methodological approach suggested by Arksey and O’Malley was utilized. It comprised (a) identifying the research questions, (b) identifying relevant literatures, (c) selecting literature, (d) charting the extracted data, and (e) summarizing, analyzing, and reporting the results. As of April 17, 2020, there were only 4 original articles found that discuss psychosocial aspect of the COVID-19 crisis. After an online survey, they present evidence that (1) there is an outward change in the people’s behavior toward self-care during the pandemic and (2) trusting the community governing bodies can minimize the level of anxiety and stress. Other literatures found are original articles in preprint (n=8), letters, commentaries, editorial (n=6), review paper (n=4), and WHO guideline (n=1). It is evident that the psychosocial aspect of COVID-19 crisis needs more attention from the scholars and a large research gap can be lessened trough expansion of online platforms.

As the novel COVID-19 disease spreads around the world, the most affected population are those who suffer from the most common chronic diseases, such as obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, which are quite associated with the so-called age-related diseases. On the other hand, since the Spanish influenza outbreak, humanity has not experienced an infectious disease that synergizes so quickly with chronic diseases, making it mortal for those individuals with comorbidities. In this context, COVID-19 is challenging for health systems all around the world due to the high prevalence of chronic diseases. Nowadays, we are facing the beginning of a new era in which health infectious and chronic diseases meet. Therefore, epidemiologic and biomedical researchers must work together to solve further contingencies, and politicians should direct science-centered decisions on public health. In the present paper, we make an urgent call to learn from the COVID-19 lessons in order to mitigate the chronic diseases prevalence and to address the influence of the infectious diseases on the aging process; since we are about to begin the Decade of Healthy Aging.

Objective: On March 11, 2020 the WHO declared that COVID-19 is pandemic. Among the risk factors for many infectious diseases, a role of the ABO blood group system is reported in the literature. We argue whether it is necessary to investigate the relationship between ABO blood groups and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and if we should consider some blood groups as potential risk factors for COVID-19. Results: Based on the scientific evidence reported in this letter, we believe that further studies are needed to investigate how the ABO polymorphism influences the host susceptibility, individual response and clinical risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Since January, the disease caused by the Sars Cov-2 virus has spread and following pandemic. In a few months, the virus is seriously affecting the health systems of the various countries of the world and placing people in difficult psychological conditions. Few scientific resources on mental health have been published but still no one has proposed an action plan to cope the future psychological problems.This manuscript provides a plan to easily frame the priorities of mental health area related to COVID-19 to be taken into consideration which should be disseminated and that should be known by all health professionals and also by the major administrators of public health.

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is largely driven by community transmission, after 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2) crosses the borders. To stop the spread, rapid testing is required at community clinics and hospitals. These rapid tests should be comparable with the standard PCR technology. Isothermal amplification technology provides an excellent alternative that is highly amenable to resource limited settings, where expertise and infrastructure to support PCR are not available. In this review, we provide a brief description of isothermal amplification technology, its potential and the gaps that need to be considered for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Among this emerging technology, loop mediated amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) technologies have been identified as potential platforms that could be implemented at community level, without samples referral to a centralised laboratory and prolonged turn-around-time associated with the standard COVID-19 RT-PCR test. LAMP, for example, has recently been shown to be comparable with PCR and could be performed in less than 30 min by non-laboratory staff, without RNA extractions commonly associated with PCR. More so, it is cost effective and could easily be scaled up to resource limited settings. Diagnostics developers, scientific community and commercial companies could consider this alternative method to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

The most striking and dramatic catastrophe, as on April 2020, is - COVID - 19. Understanding of the COVID-19, the causing agent- the virus and the resultant causalities are still evolving. Till now, there is no specific treatment, no vaccine for the COVID-19. At this stage, what is utmost important now to face the disaster is to put emphasis on the preparedness and responses: research to discover vaccine, antivirals as soon as possible. Till then, it is necessary to put emphasis on infection preventive and control measures like to avoid close contact of infected people showing symptoms of respiratory diseases, hand hygiene and coughing etiquette. To make the infection preventive and control measures a success, the followings are to make success: ‘quarantine’ ‘isolation’, ‘travel bans’, ‘cordon sanitaire’ and ‘social distancing’ measures. The tools of modern information technology could help the authority to manage and monitor the preventive measures. Above all, preventive and control measures will not be successful if we fail to make aware the common people about the fatality of the COVID - 19. So, rapid preparedness and responses to COVID-19 are critically essential to face such disaster. Not a single moment is to waste!

In this paper we first provide a primer on SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 delineating the etiopathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical manifestations and the natural history of the disease. We then trace the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting the characteristics of the epidemic in China where the pandemic originated, select countries of Europe which peaked during April, and Brazil, US and India where the pandemic has taken serious turns recently. We also project some possible trajectories for the mega cities of India based on the demographic characteristics of these cities in comparison to New York city. This is an updated version of the article from mid-April published online.

Sars-CoV-2 outbreak represents a public health emergency, affecting different regions of the world. Lung is the organ more damaged due to the high presence of Sars-CoV-2 binding receptor ACE2 on epithelial alveolar cells. Severity of infection vary from absence of symptomatology to be more severe, characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiorgan failure and sepsis requiring treatment in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).It is not still clear why in a small percentage of patients immune system is not able to efficiently suppress viral replication. It has been documented as predictive factors for severity and susceptibility affections of cardiovascular system such as heart failure (HF), coronary heart disease (CHD) and risk factors for atherosclerotic progression, hypertension and diabetes among others.Atherosclerotic progression, as chronic inflammation process, is characterized by immune system dysregulation leading to pro-inflammatory pattern, including (Interleukin 6) IL-6, Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α) and IL-1β raise. Reviewing immune system and inflammation profiles in atherosclerosis and laboratory results report in severe Sars-CoV-2 infection we have supposed a pathogenetic correlation. Atherosclerosis may be a pathogenetic ideal substrate to high viral replication ability leading to adverse outcomes, how reported in patients with cardiovascular factors. Moreover, level of atherosclerotic progression may impact on a different degree of severe infection and in a vicious circle feeding itself Sars-CoV-2 may exacerbate atherosclerotic progression due to excessive and aberrant plasmatic concentration of cytokines.

Covid-19 infections are rapidly spreading worldwide with more than 100000 death and thus understanding the molecular mechanism of tropism of human cells is an urgent need for drug design. We have described here a bioinformatics approach to predict the functional aspects of non-structural nsp16 protein of Corona virus. The covid-19 7098 AA large polyprotein was degraded into sixteen proteins and last nsp16 protein was found an RlmE type rRNA methyltransferase. Nsp16 has no similarity to bacterial RlmABCD but has 25 percent similarity to the bacterial RlmE protein which methylates the U2551 2-hydroxy group of Ribose. The nsp16 proteins of different corona viruses like covid-19, bat-coronavirus, SARS and MERS have strong homology. Mrm2 and Dim1 like yeast and mammalian rRNA methyltransferases have 26-33 percent homologies but not with 2-O-capping MTase as reported previously. Rrp8 MTases also has no similarity to nsp16. We postulated that mitochondrial rRNA methylation of bronchial cells were mediated by the nsp16 protein causing inhibition of protein synthesis due to poor assembly of aminoacyl-tRNA or mRNA and peptidyl transferase at the PTC. This is one of the new molecular mechanism of corona virus cellular tropism and different than ACE-2 mediated blockage of cellular signalling to inhibit aldesterone biosynthesis with abnormal Na⁺ ions in cells. We also designed primers based on nsp16 cDNA sequence (nt 20659-21552, accession no MT121215) specific for Covid-19 diagnosis by RT-PCR.

COVID-19 disease outbreak was started in the December, 2019 in the Wuhan city of China which is also known as the largest transportation hub of China. During the spring festival of China the situation become epidemic. Soon, the virus is imported to many regions including the low income countries. Till now, 234073 infected reported cases of the COVID-19 in the world with the total of 9840 deaths (March 20, 2020). The common symptoms of the COVID-19 are the cough, high fever, sore throat, fatigue and breathlessness. The disease is found to be mild in most of the people, some of cases reported to the pneumonia also with multi organ dysfunction and acute ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). It is found that the incubation period for the infection is 2-14 days which is usually 4 days in maximum of cases. India has reported 283 cases of COVID-19 infections till now with 4 deaths. India is still at stage 2 on local transmission as per WHO report 60. WHO reported 60 clearly stated that there is no community transmission occurred in India yet which can be prevented by the avoiding mass gathering and proper screening of the people. Govt. of India has taken many initiatives to minimize the spread of COVID-19 infection in the country. The infection rate of the COVID-19 in India remains low related to population size of the country. It is because of fast government action to quarantine the suspected people and shut down all its borders. There is a great slowdown in the global economy due to COVID-19 attack which is likely to costs around $1 trillion. The spread of COVID-19 infection can be reduced by minimizing the H-H transmissions. Still there is need of Anti-n-CoV drug development which can replace the supporting therapies for the treatment of infection.

Objectives Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has high infectivity in humans, attributed to the strong affinity of its spike (S) protein to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Here, we analyzed the structural similarity of the S protein between SARS-CoV-2 and other SARS-related coronaviruses (CoVs). Methods We performed multiple alignment analysis of nine amino acid sequences of CoV S proteins from NCBI with MAFFT web-based software, followed by phylogeny analysis. Three-dimensional structure modeling was performed by SWISS-MODEL. We calculated the template modeling score between the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 and that of other SARS-related CoVs. Results The S1 domain of the unclassified CoV RaTG13 (the host of which is the intermediate horseshoe bat) was structurally very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2, implying that RaTG13 could be the origin of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, the folding property of the entire S protein was nearly the same between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 after the PRRA amino acid insertion was removed from SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions RaTG13 could have a high binding affinity to ACE2, similar to SARS-CoV-2, and it is therefore highly likely to infect other animals. Therefore, massive research and monitoring of CoVs in animals is necessary to prevent future COVID-19-like disasters.

In the end of December 2019, a new strain of coronavirus was identified in the Wuhan city of Hubei province in China. Within a shorter period of time, an unprecedented outbreak of this strain was witnessed over the entire Wuhan city. This novel coronavirus strain was later officially renamed as COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) by the World Health Organization. The mode of transmission had been found to be human-to-human contact and hence resulted in a rapid surge across the globe where more than 1,100,000 people have been infected with COVID-19. In the current scenario, finding potent drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19 has emerged as the most challenging task for clinicians and researchers worldwide. Identification of new drugs and vaccine development may take from a few months to years based on the clinical trial processes. To overcome the several limitations involved in identifying and bringing out potent drug candidates for treating COVID-19, in the present study attempts were made to screen the FDA approved drugs using High Throughput Virtual Screening (HTVS). The COVID-19 main protease (COVID-19 Mpro) was chosen as the drug target for which the FDA approved drugs were initially screened with HTVS. The drug candidates that exhibited favorable docking score, energy and emodel calculations were further taken for performing Induced Fit Docking (IFD) using Schrodinger’s GLIDE. From the flexible docking results, the following four FDA approved drugs Sincalide, Pentagastrin, Ritonavir and Phytonadione were identified. In particular, Sincalide and Pentagastrin can be considered potential key players for the treatment of COVID-19 disease.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are causing significant damages to many nations. For mitigating its risk, Japan’s Prime Minister called on all elementary, junior high and high schools nationwide to close beginning March 1, 2020. However, its effectiveness in decreasing disease burden has not been investigated. Methods: We used daily data on the report of COVID-19 and coronavirus infection incidence in Japan until March 31, 2020. Time series analysis were conducted using Bayesian method. Local linear trend models with interventional effect were constructed for number of newly reported cases of COVID-19, including asymptomatic infections. We considered that the effects of intervention start to appear 9 days after the school closure; i.e., on March 9. Results: The intervention of school closure did not appear to decrease the incidence of coronavirus infection. If the effectiveness of school closure began on March 9, mean coefficient α for effectiveness of the measure was calculated to be 0.08 (95% credible interval -0.36 to 0.65), and the actual reported cases were more than predicted, yet with rather wide credible interval. Sensitivity analyses using different dates also showed similar results. Conclusions: School closure carried out in Japan did not show the effectiveness to mitigate the transmission of novel coronavirus infection.

Humanity’s social and economic development has been challenged by a range of adversities over the millennia that have caused widespread and unimaginable suffering. At the same time, these challenges have forced humans to evolve more wisely, overcoming adversity through creativity and leading to advancements in science and technology, medicine, ethics and legal systems, and socio-political systems. The dynamics of risks and opportunities caused by COVID-19, in the built, cyber, social and economic environments, present opportunities for deepening our understanding of resilient and sustainable development and infrastructure. This article reflects on five lessons that COVID-19 is teaching us about what it means to develop sustainably through the lens of transportation: (1) sustainable development planning and analytical frameworks must be comprehensive, for long-term sustainability; (2) multi-modal transportation is a superior vision for sustainable development than any one particular mode; (3) tele-activities are part of an effective infrastructure sustainability strategy; (4) economic capital is critically important to sustainable development even when it is not a critical existential threat, and, (5) effective social capital is essential in global disaster resistance and recovery, and can and must be leveraged between fast-moving and slow-moving disasters. Resilient and sustainable infrastructure will continue to be critical to addressing evolving natural and man-made hazards in the 21^st Century.

Nearly three months have passed since the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused the rapidly spreading Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date, there have been more than 550,000 confirmed cases and more than 25,000 deaths globally caused by COVID-19. Chinese health authorities, where the virus emerged, have taken prompt strict public health measures to control and prevent the spread of the outbreak. In the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unprecedented precautionary strict measures were applied to slow virus entry and to mitigate the risk of the outbreak. Here, we review the experience learned during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic in Saudi Arabia, which has been in the country since 2012, and is expected to have helped the country to be well prepared for the current COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss the country readiness, improvement in research and development, and the unprecedented rapid precautionary measures that have been taken by the Saudi government thus far.

Background: COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global pandemic affecting approximately 490,000 people and accounting for more than 22,000 deaths and has no generally acceptable cure. Here, the recently resolved 3D structure of SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) in complex with its receptor-the angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) have provided the basis for screening chemical database for novel entry inhibitors. Methods: Molecular docking protocols have been used to rapidly screen FDA database for high affinity interaction at the SARS-CoV-2-RBD/ACE-2 interface. One of the top candidates, ubrogepant has been selected and further studied using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation method. Results: Molecular docking result showed that ubrogepant (UBR) and darunavir have binding energies of -10.4 kcal/mol. MMPBSA free energy analyses of UBR bound to RBD, ACE-2 and RBD/ACE-2 revealed RBD/ACE-2 > ACE-2 > RBD preference. Network analysis showed that interaction captured in the crystal structure were disrupted in UBR-bound state, hydration of the interface and increased atomic fluctuation within the RBD oligomerization interface and ACE-2 zinc binding site. Conclusions: The ability of ubrogepant to rupture the interaction at the RBD/ACE-2 interface residues of SARS-CoV-2 RBD/ACE-2 complex may result in loss of protein function with direct implication on oligomerization formation in RBD and loss of function in ACE-2 thus, making binding, cellular receptor recognition impossible. General Significance: Ubrogepant represents a new therapeutic candidate in the fight against COVID-19, as it binds with relatively high affinity with free RBD, ACE-2 receptor and SARS-CoV-2 RBD/ACE-2 complex based on binding affinity calculations.

The current emergency due to the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 is a great concern for global public health. Already in the past, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012 demonstrates the potential of coronaviruses to cross-species borders and further underlines the importance of identifying new-targeted drugs. An ideal antiviral agent should target essential proteins involved in the lifecycle of SARS-CoV. Currently, some HIV protease inhibitors (i.e., Lopinavir) are proposed for the treatment of COVID-19, although their effectiveness was not yet assessed. The main protease (Mpro) provides a highly validated pharmacological target for the discovery and design of inhibitors. We identified potent Mpro inhibitors employing computational techniques that entail the screening of a Marine Natural Product (MNP) library. MNP library was screened by hyphenated pharmacophore model, and molecular docking approaches. Molecular dynamics and re-docking further confirmed the results obtained by structure-based techniques and allowed to highlight some crucial aspects. Seventeen potential SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors have been identified among the natural substances of marine origin. As these compounds were extensively validated by a consensus approach and by molecular dynamics, the likelihood that at least one of these compounds could be bioactive is excellent.

A novel strategy is presented for reliable diagnosis and progression prediction of diseases with special attention to COVID-19 pandemy. A plan is presented for how the model can be implemented worldwide in healthcare and how novel treatments and targets can be detected. The idea is based on poikilosis, pervasive heterogeneity and variation at all levels, systems and mechanisms. Poikilosis in diseases can be taken account in pathogenicity model, which is based on distribution of three independent condition measures – extent, modulation and severity. Pathogenicity model is a population or cohort-based description of disease components. Evidence-based thresholds can be applied to the pathogenicity model and used for diagnosis as well as for early detection of patients in risk of developing the most severe forms of the disease. Analysis of patients with differential course of disease can help in detecting biomarkers of diagnostic and prognostic significance. A practical and feasible plan is presented how the concepts can be implemented in practice. Collaboration of many actors, including the World Health Organization and national health authorities, will be essential for success.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 accounts for more than 14,000 deaths worldwide. However, little is known about the host genetics interaction with infection and COVID-19 progression. To better understand the role of host genetics, we review the current literature, aggregate readily available genetic resources, and provide some updated analysis relevant to COVID-19 and associated phenotypes. Using the unrelated individuals in UK Biobank (total n = 337,579 across 5 populations), we aggregate human leukocyte antigen and ABO blood type frequencies. We find significant and consistent risk reduction of blood group O reported in Zhao et al. and encourage broad sharing of ABO blood type frequencies that are readily accessible across COVID-19 with mild, moderate, and severe/critical symptoms for robust inferences at https://tinyurl.com/abo-covid19. In addition, we generate polygenic risk scores (PRSs) weights for 29 blood measurements, including clinically relevant haematological measurements for COVID-19, such as lymphocyte count and percentage. Focusing on the 8 most COVID-19 clinically relevant blood measurements, we performed PRS-PheWAS analysis across 44 disease antigen measurements (n = 6,643 unrelated individuals in White British group), infectious diseases and acute respiratory infections (n = 20,928 cases and 349,000 controls across 3 population groups) and deaths (n = 1,846 cases and 368,082 controls), recorded in hospital inpatient record and death registry data, respectively, in UK Biobank, and find host genetic PRS associations with disease risk. Taken together, we anticipate these resources (https://github.com/rivas-lab/covid19) will aid in improving our understanding of host genetic risk factors playing a role in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease severity.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed a significant concern in many countries due to the rapid rate of transmission between humans. Taking advantage of the experience of the last epidemics in 2002 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and 2012 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), some regions of the world were well- prepared for the new outbreak. However, other countries needed to be adapted to the situation promptly. Many management strategies were established, and some restrictions were introduced in some regions. In this review, we aimed to determine countries’ public responses to the epidemic of COVID-19 and how they developed administrative approaches towards the outbreak.

The outbreak of 2019-novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes severe respiratory infection (COVID-19) has spread in China, and the world health organization declared it pandemic. However, no approved drug or vaccines are available, and treatment is mainly supportive and through a few repurposed drugs. In this urgency situation, development of SARS-CoV-2 based vaccines is immediately required. Immunoinformatic and molecular modelling are generally used time-efficient methods to accelerate the discovery and design of the candidate peptides for vaccine development. In recent years, the use of multiepitope vaccines is proved to be a promising immunization strategy against viruses and pathogens, which induce more comprehensive protective immunity. The current study demonstrated a comprehensive in-silico strategy to design stable multiepitope vaccine construct (MVC) from B-cell and T-cell epitopes of essential SARS-CoV-2 proteins with the help of adjuvants and linkers. The integrated molecular dynamics simulations analysis revealed the stability of MVC and its interaction with human Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which trigger an innate and adaptive immune response. Later, the in-silico cloning in a known pET28a vector system also estimated the possibility of MVC expression in E. Coli. Despite this study lacks validation of this vaccine construct in terms of its efficacy, the current integrated strategy encompasses the initial multiple epitope vaccine design concepts. After validation, this MVC can present to be a better prophylactic solution against COVID-19.

Background Critical patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia ( COVID-19) have worse outcome and high mortality. However, the histopathology of critical patient with COVID-19 remains undisclosed. Methods We performed the whole lung biopsy, and described the pathological changes of critical COVID-19 patient done with transplant by HE staining, immunohistochemistry and special staining observed under the microscopy. Findings The whole lungs displayed diffuse congestive appearance and partly haemorrhagic necrosis on gross examination. The haemorrhagic necrosis was prominently present in outer edge of the right lower lung. The cut surfaces of the lung displayed severe congestive and haemorrhagic changes. The main pathological changes showed massive pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, and partly hyaline degeneration, variable degrees of hemorrhagic pulmonary infarction. Small vessels hyperplasia, vessel wall thickening, lumen stenosis, occlusion and microthrombosis formation. Focal monocytes, lymphocytes and plasma cells infiltrating into pulmonary interstitium. Bronchiolitis and alveolitis with proliferation, atrophy, desquamation and squamous metaplasia of epithelial cells. Atrophy, vacuolar degeneration, proliferation, desquamation and squamous metaplasia in alveolar epithelial cells. Alveolar cavity congestion was prominent, and contained mucus, edema fluid, desquamated epithelial cells, and inflammatory cells. We also found several multinucleate giant cells and intracytoplasmic viral inclusion bodies. Special stains including Masson stain, sirius red staining, reticular fibers staining indicated massive pulmonary interstitial fibrosis. Immunohistochemistry showed positive for immunity cells including CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD79a, CD5, CD38 and CD68. Interpretation We demonstrate the pathological findings of critical patient with COVID-19, which might provide a deep insight of the pathogenesis and severity of this disease.

Background: In 80% of patients, COVID-19 presents as mild disease^1,2. 20% of cases develop severe (13%) or critical (6%) illness. More severe forms of COVID-19 present as clinical severe acute respiratory syndrome, but include a T-predominant lymphopenia³, high circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, accumulation of neutrophils and macrophages in lungs, and immune dysregulation including immunosuppression⁴. Methods: All major SARS-CoV-2 proteins were characterized using an amino acid residue variation analysis method. Results predict that most SARS-CoV-2 proteins are evolutionary constrained, with the exception of the spike (S) protein extended outer surface. Results were interpreted based on known SARS-like coronavirus virology and pathophysiology, with a focus on medical countermeasure development implications. Findings: Non-neutralizing antibodies to variable S domains may enable an alternative infection pathway via Fc receptor-mediated uptake. This may be a gating event for the immune response dysregulation observed in more severe COVID-19 disease. Prior studies involving vaccine candidates for FCoV^5,6 SARS-CoV-1^7-10 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) ¹¹ demonstrate vaccination-induced antibody-dependent enhancement of disease (ADE), including infection of phagocytic antigen presenting cells (APC). T effector cells are believed to play an important role in controlling coronavirus infection; pan-T depletion is present in severe COVID-19 disease³ and may be accelerated by APC infection. Sequence and structural conservation of S motifs suggests that SARS and MERS vaccine ADE risks may foreshadow SARS-CoV-2 S-based vaccine risks. Autophagy inhibitors may reduce APC infection and T-cell depletion^{12 13}. Amino acid residue variation analysis identifies multiple constrained domains suitable as T cell vaccine targets. Evolutionary constraints on proven antiviral drug targets present in SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 may reduce risk of developing antiviral drug escape mutants. Interpretation: Safety testing of COVID-19 S protein-based B cell vaccines in animal models is strongly encouraged prior to clinical trials to reduce risk of ADE upon virus exposure.

The disease COVID-19 is highly infectious, and infectious in asymptomatic incubation period. The national epidemic development has been effectively controlled and continues improving, especially in areas outside Hubei province. Such periodical results were achieved by the joint efforts of the whole society, including not only the hard work and dedication of the front-line medical workers but also the active cooperation of the general public. The strict epidemic prevention and control measurements have brought remarkable control results. In the present study, the basic infection number of the coronavirus R0 (basic replication number of the infection) before and after prevention and control measurements was simulated to elaborate the measurements of the Chinese government on epidemic prevention and control, providing reference for the people around the world.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, social media platforms, such as Twitter, have experienced a tremendous increase in conversations related to Long COVID. The term “Long COVID” describes the persistence of symptoms of COVID-19 for several weeks or even months following the initial infection. Recent works in this field have focused on sentiment analysis of Tweets related to COVID-19 to unveil the multifaceted spectrum of emotions, viewpoints, and perspectives held by the Twitter community. However, most of these works did not focus on Long COVID, and the few works that focused on Long COVID have limitations. Furthermore, no prior work in this field has investigated Tweets where individuals self-reported experiencing Long COVID on Twitter. The work presented in this paper aims to address these research challenges by presenting multiple novel findings from a comprehensive analysis of a dataset comprising 1,244,051 Tweets about Long COVID, posted on Twitter between May 25, 2020, and January 31, 2023. First, the analysis shows that the average number of Tweets per month where individuals self-reported Long COVID on Twitter, has been considerably high in 2022 as compared to the average number of Tweets per month in 2021. Second, findings of sentiment analysis using VADER show that the percentage of Tweets with positive, negative, and neutral sentiment were 43.12%, 42.65%, and 14.22%, respectively. Third, the analysis of sentiments associated with these Tweets also shows that the emotion of sadness was expressed in most of these Tweets. It was followed by the emotions of fear, neutral, surprise, anger, joy, and disgust, respectively.

Long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may occur after experiencing acute COVID-19 infec-tion with many effects on patients´ kidneys. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and labora-tory aspects of kidney function in individuals with long COVID in the Amazon region of Brazil. This cross-sectional study selected participants from a ‘long COVID’ clinical care program. Clini-cal data and baseline demographics were obtained, and blood samples were collected to quantify kidney-related markers. Patients were evaluated after COVID-19 infection at several time points as follows: 0–3 months, 3–6 months, 6–12 months, and 12 months. Altogether, 246 patients were selected for this study, and only 79 were hospitalised (9 in the intensive care unit because of COVID-19. Of the patients, 38 were diagnosed with hypertension after COVID-19, 52 cases had to have their medications adjusted, and 83 patients presented with kidney function decline. The older age group and individuals with glycaemic alterations presented with a higher risk of devel-oping kidney dysfunction. Therefore, health professionals should monitor long-term kidney mark-ers in long COVID.

Currently available data are consistent with increased severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication at temperatures encountered in the upper airways (25–33°C when breathing room temperature air, 25°C) compared to those in the lower airways (37°C). One factor that may contribute to more rapid viral growth in the upper airways is the exponential increase in SARS-CoV-2 stability that occurs with reductions in temperature, as measured in vitro. Because SARS-CoV-2 frequently initiates infection in the upper airways before spreading through the body, increased upper airway viral growth early in the disease course may result in more rapid progression of disease and potentially contribute to more severe outcomes. Similarly, higher SARS-CoV-2 viral titer in the upper airways likely supports more efficient transmission. Conversely, the possible significance of air temperature to upper airway viral growth suggests that prolonged delivery of heated air might represent a preventative measure and prophylactic treatment for coronavirus disease 2019.

A striking aspect of COVID-19 is the difference in the outcome of the infection between different countries, and different ethnic groups within one country. We surveyed the literature on SARS-CoV-2 complemented with comparative publications on SARS-CoV and other coronaviruses to capture the current understanding of virus – host interactions including virus subtypes, transmission, zoonotic aspects, and potential host determinants.

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant psychological challenges, particularly depressive and anxiety-related behaviors in those who have recovered from the virus. This study focuses on individuals aged 30-75+ to understand the prevalence, severity, and impact of these symptoms. By exploring their lasting consequences and potential risk factors, we aim to provide valuable insights for healthcare and mental health professionals, guiding the development of effective support systems to address the psychological aftermath of COVID-19. In this study, a quantitative research design was used to investigate the effects of depressive and anxiety behaviors in patients aged 30-75+ who had experienced COVID-19. The research employed a cross-sectional approach, collecting data at a specific time to assess the prevalence and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms in the target population. A total of 422 patients were recruited through convenience sampling from various sources, including healthcare facilities, community organizations, and online platforms. Inclusion criteria encompassed individuals aged 30-75+ who had tested positive for COVID-19 and had recovered from the infection. Those with pre-existing mental health conditions significantly affecting depressive and anxiety symptoms were excluded. The sample was diverse in terms of age, gender, employment status, education level, marital status, and past chronic problems. Data collection involved administering standardized questionnaires, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depressive behaviors and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) for anxiety behaviors. These questionnaires assessed symptom severity, while demographic variables were collected separately. The collected data underwent analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, encompassing descriptive statistics, reliability assessments, normality tests, non-parametric tests for demographic comparisons, correlation analyses, and linear regression. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained, ensuring participant confidentiality and data privacy. Several limitations were acknowledged, including the cross-sectional design's inability to establish causal relationships, potential selection bias due to convenience sampling, susceptibility to response biases with self-report measures, and assumptions and limitations inherent in statistical tests. Overall, the study aimed to provide insights into the effects of depressive and anxiety behaviors in COVID-19 survivors aged 30-75+ and contribute to the development of targeted interventions and support services for this population. This study explored the impact of depressive and anxiety behaviors in COVID-19 survivors aged 30-75+. It involved data collection through validated questionnaires and rigorous statistical analysis. The findings underscore the importance of tailored interventions and support systems to address the long-term psychological effects of the pandemic. Healthcare professionals, researchers, and policymakers must collaborate to prioritize mental well-being and allocate resources accordingly, ultimately improving the quality of life for survivors.

(1) Background: Several chronic respiratory diseases could be a risk factor for acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection: among them, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare (about 1:10.000) inherited ciliopathy (MIM 242650) characterized by recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections due to a dysfunctioning of the respiratory cilia; We aimed to investigate if some polymorphisms of the TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor correlate with an increased prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity of symptoms in a cohort of PCD subjects; (2) Methods: Patients answered several questions about possible SARS-CoV-2 infection, experienced symptoms and vaccinations; in case of infection, they also filled out a SNOT-22 and ARTIQ questionnaires; (3) Results: Forty PCD adult patients (mean age 36.6 ± 16.7 years, 23 females) participated to the study, out of which 30 % had tested positive for COVID-19 during the last four years; most of them reported a mildly symptomatic disease. We found no differences in age or sex, but a statistic significant difference (p=0.03) was observed in body mass index (BMI), that was higher in the COVID-acquired group (23.2 ± 3.3 vs 20.1 ± 4.1 kg/m2). Genotyping for TAS2R38 polymorphisms showed a prevalence of 28.6% PAV/PAV, 48.6% PAV/AVI and 22.8% AVI/AVI individuals in our cohort. In contrast to our hypothesis, we did not observe a protective role of PAV allele towards SARS-CoV-2 infection; (4) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that subjects with PCD may not be at increased risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 and the TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor genotype type does not affect SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A phase 1-2, prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label clinical trial (Code RPCEC00000382, https://rpcec.sld.cu/trials/RPCEC00000382-En/), with parallel groups, involving 1161 participants was designed to assess safety and immunogenicity of two Cuban COVID-19 vaccines (Mambisa and Abdala) in boosting COVID-19 immunity of convalescent adults after receiving one dose of either vaccine. The main safety outcome was severe vaccination adverse events occurring in &lt;5% of vaccinees. Main immunogenicity success endpoints were ≥4-fold anti-RBD IgG seroconversion or ≥20% increase in ACE2-RBD inhibitory antibodies in &gt;55% of vaccinees in Phase 1 and &gt;70% in Phase 2. Neutralizing antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 variants were evaluated. Both vaccines were safe; no deaths or severe adverse events occurred. Mild intensity adverse events were the most frequent (&gt;73%); headache predominated for both vaccines. Phase 1 responders were 83.3% (p = 0.0018) for Abdala. Mambisa showed similar results. Phase 2 responders were 88.6% for Abdala (p &lt;0.0001) and 74.2% for Mambisa (p = 0.0412). In both phases, anti-RBD IgG titers, inhibition percentages and neutralizing antibody titers increased significantly after the booster dose. Both vaccines were safe and their immunogenicity surpassed the study endpoints.

Gc protein-derived Macrophage Activating Factor (GcMAF), a powerful immunostimulant endowed with anti-cancer and anti-angiogenetic activities, offers significant advantages when combined with radiation therapy. A stronger immune response improves the effectiveness of radiation therapy by allowing the body to better eliminate residual cancer cells after treatment. In addition, by boosting the immune system, GcMAF mitigates some of the immunosuppressive side effects of radiation therapy, leading to faster recovery. In order to fully exploit the potential of GcMAF in cancer therapy, knowledge of the molecular interactions with its receptor is essential. This study proposes the first extracellular domain (residues 1-34) of the CCR1 protein as the GcMAF receptor. The CCR1 gene, expressed in monocytes and 168 other cell types or tissues, encodes this transmembrane protein. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, along with hydrogen bonds mediate the molecular interactions between the TPT^420-GalNAcELAK (or TPK⁴²⁰ELAK) sequences of GcMAF (or Gc2 protein variant) and the TTEDYDTTT sequence of its receptor.

Immortal-time bias (ITB) is known to be common in cohort studies and distorts the association estimates between treated and untreated groups. We used data from the last of two large studies in an Italian province on COVID-19 vaccines safety and effectiveness incurred this bias, and aligned the entire population on a single index date, to correct the ITB. We considered the "all-cause deaths" outcome to compare the survival curves between the unvaccinated group and the various vaccination statuses. The all-cause deaths Hazard Ratios in univariate analysis for unvaccinated (reference) versus vaccinated with 1, 2, 3/4 doses were 0.88 (CI95: 0.78 –1.00; p-value 0.044), 1.23 (1.16–1.32; p-value ≤0.001) and 1.21 (1.14–1.29; p-value ≤0.001), respectively. The multivariate values were 2.40 (2.00–2.88; p-value <0.0001), 1.98 (1.75–2.24; p-value <0.0001), 0.99 (0.90–1.09; ns). The possible explanations of the trend of the Hazard Ratios as vaccinations increase could be a harvesting effect; a calendar-time bias, accounting for seasonality and pandemic waves; a case-counting windows bias; a healthy-vaccinee bias; or some their combination. With two and even with 3/4 doses the calculated Restricted Mean Survival Time and Restricted Mean Time Lost have shown a small but significant downside for the vaccinated populations.

In late December 2019 a novel RNA beta-coronavirus was recognized as the causative agent of previously pneumonia cases of unknown origin. The virus was successively named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as well as the respiratory illness that it causes Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) (1, 2). The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the thousands of deaths caused by COVID-19 led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic on 11 March 2020. To date, the world has paid a high toll in this pandemic in terms of human lives lost, economic repercussions and increased poverty. Indeed, even if most patients with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or experience mild self-limiting disease, 14% of them progress to severe disease and 5% to critical illness with complications, such as interstitial pneumonia, respiratory failure with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS) (3). It is accepted that SARS-CoV-2 primarily affects the respiratory system, although other organs are also involved (4). The virus enters host cells by attaching its Spike like surface projections to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor which is mainly expressed on alveolar epithelial cells and in nearly all human organs in varying degrees. Thus, although the central target of SARS-CoV-2 infection is the lung, the wide distribution of ACE2 receptors in other organs may lead to cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, kidney, liver, central nervous system and ocular damages that have to be closely monitored during the disease (5, 6). The virus then activates the innate and adaptive immune system resulting in a large number of cytokines release, known as “cytokine storm”, that is directly correlated with tissue injury and unfavourable prognosis of severe lung disease (7). In particular, interleukin (IL)-6 seems to plays an important role in driving this cytokine release so that its increased levels have been recognized as a hallmark inflammatory signature in sera of COVID-19 patients (8). IL-6 is a polyfunctional cytokine with both anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory properties which exerts its several functions through two main signal transduction pathways (9). In the classical signal transduction pathway, IL-6 binds to IL-6-trans membrane receptor (IL-6R) to form a complex that, then, binds to the trans membrane glycoprotein gp130, inducing its homo-dimerization and initiating intracellular signal transduction. This kind of signaling is limited to cells (hepatocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, T cells, etc.) that express IL-6R on their cell surface (10). Nevertheless, cells do not express IL- 6R, as stromal and epithelial cells, are able to still respond to IL-6 because the soluble form of the receptor (sIL-6R) binds to IL-6 in circle and then anchors to membrane gp130 receptor, initiating the trans-signaling pathway. For this reason, sIL-6R is able to increase the function of IL-6 and is considered the agonist form of its receptor. When the level of IL-6 increases, its effects are widely expressed because gp130 molecules are ubiquitous and, therefore, also present in cells without IL-6R in the membrane form. On the contrary, a soluble form of the glycoprotein 130 (sgp130) can complex with sIL-6R to prevent the sIL-6R from binding to the membrane-bound gp130. In this case sgp130 is able to decrease the function of IL-6 and is considered the antagonist form of IL-6 receptor system (11). Based on the central role of IL-6 in the inflammatory pathology of COVID-19 and the consistent association between elevated levels of the cytokine and severe disease outcomes found in the first phase of infection, we sought to analysis IL-6 and its soluble receptor complex behavior during the different waves of COVID-19 pandemic, in order to evaluate the possible differences which occur among them and to hypothesize if they might be used as prognostic markers of disease severity.

Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic has raised significant concerns about public health, particularly in terms of mental well-being due to heightened fear and uncertainty. The findings of this study are based on a survey conducted to evaluate the mental health status of the general population in Croatia during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: A survey conducted randomly and cross-sectionally included 588 respondents from all 21 counties in Croatia. The survey gathered demographic data and assessed various factors related to pandemic response measures and mental health using the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) scale. Results: Despite feeling adequately informed about Covid-19 (76.0%), most respondents (60.8%) expressed concerns about their loved ones during the pandemic. There were significant numbers who felt there was no risk of infection (50.9%) or believed they would not get infected (40.2%), while 72.4% were content with government measures. Statistical analysis indicated that mental health was not significantly different between genders, but age-related differences were evident, with those under 21 experiencing the most distress. The lowest level of psychological and social well-being was observed in respondents who were unemployed. Conclusions: The study identifies vulnerable groups in the Croatian population during the pandemic, including younger individuals, those on parental leave, students, and the unemployed, who exhibited worse mental health. The importance of implementing targeted mental health interventions to support these vulnerable groups is highlighted by these findings.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, masks have been promoted as an important tool for reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, even though masks are plausible experimental interventions, their mechanistic effectiveness has not been validated by randomized clinical trials (RCTs), with reduction risks of just 1.1-fold (11%) or less. Several meta-analyses have suggested that masks effectively reduce viral transmission, but all of them rely heavily or exclusively on observational data. Indeed, there is a strong inverse correlation between the effectiveness of masks and the number of RCTs included in the meta-analysis. RCTs on alternative therapies often show similar low levels of effectiveness. Thus, masks can be compared with potential new drugs or therapies that failed clinical trials despite showing mechanistic evidence.