title: How can we reduce the risks of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) for dentists and their patients?

text: Design Special report.Study population This paper presented a report about the experience of the oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMS) of Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic.Data analysis The experience of that department formed the content of the report.Results In this study, the authors presented an informative description of experience of treating patients under a pandemic condition. The authors offer some methods of trying to protect oro-maxillofacial surgeons, using an algorithm of diagnosis and classifying the risk of contamination and the materials required in order to avoid it.Conclusions In conclusion, the authors suggest the use of the algorithm for patient admission during the COVID-19 outbreak.


Neuroradiological features in COVID-19 patients: First evidence in a complex scenario


title: Arbidol monotherapy is superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19

text: Lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol have been previously used to treat acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in clinical practice; nevertheless, their effectiveness remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral effects and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol in patients with the 2019-nCoV disease (COVID-19). Fifty patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were divided into two groups: including lopinavir/ritonavir group (34 cases) and arbidol group (16 cases). Lopinavir/ritonavir group received 400 mg/100mg of Lopinavir/ritonavir, twice a day for a week, while the arbidol group was given 0.2 g arbidol, three times a day. Data from these patients were retrospectively analyzed. The cycle threshold values of open reading frame 1ab and nucleocapsid genes by RT-PCR assay were monitored during antiviral therapy. None of the patients developed severe pneumonia or ARDS. There was no difference in fever duration between the two groups (P=0.61). On day 14 after the admission, no viral load was detected in arbidol group, but the viral load was found in 15(44.1%) patients treated with lopinavir/ritonavir. Patients in the arbidol group had a shorter duration of positive RNA test compared to those in the lopinavir/ritonavir group (P<0.01). Moreover, no apparent side effects were found in both groups. In conclusion, our data indicate that arbidol monotherapy may be superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19.


From the Editor of Sexuality and Disability: The Impact of COVID-19 on Sexuality and Disability-Are We Closer or More Isolated?


title: Insights into the Use of C-Reactive Protein as a Diagnostic Index of Disease Severity in COVID-19 Infections

text: Approximately 20% of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) develop potentially life-threatening pathologies involving hyperinflammation, cytokine storm, septic shock complications, coagulation dysfunction, and multiple organ failure. Blood levels of the prototypic acute phase reactant, C-reactive protein (CRP), which is hepatically synthesized and released in response to interleukin-6 stimulation, is markedly elevated in patients with COVID-19. Markedly high CRP levels correlate with poor prognosis for survival. Insights into CRP structure-function relationships have uncovered both pro- and anti-inflammatory isoforms that may be used to monitor the extent of tissue damage associated with COVID-19 pathologies and prognoses. Herein, rationale is given for interpretation of CRP blood levels as a simple, rapid, and cost-effective way to assess disease severity and help guide therapeutic options in COVID-19 patients.


title: Physical child abuse demands increased awareness during health and socioeconomic crises like COVID-19

text: Background and purpose - Physical abuse of children, i.e., nonaccidental injury (NAI) including abusive head trauma (AHT) is experienced by up to 20% of children; however, only 0.1% are diagnosed. Healthcare professionals issue less than 20% of all reports suspecting NAI to the responsible authorities. Insufficient knowledge concerning NAI may partly explain this low percentage. The risk of NAI is heightened during health and socioeconomic crises such as COVID-19 and thus demands increased awareness. This review provides an overview and educational material on NAI and its clinical presentation.Methods - We combined a literature review with expert opinions of the senior authors into an educational paper aiming to help clinicians to recognize NAI and act appropriately by referral to multidisciplinary child protection teams and local authorities.Results - Despite the increased risk of NAI during the current COVID-19 crisis, the number of reports suspecting NAI decreased by 42% during the lockdown of the Danish society. Healthcare professionals filed only 17% of all reports of suspected child abuse in 2016.Interpretation - The key to recognizing and suspecting NAI upon clinical presentation is to be aware of inconsistencies in the medical history and suspicious findings on physical and paraclinical examination. During health and socioeconomic crises the incidence of NAI is likely to peak. Recognition of NAI, adequate handling by referral to child protection teams, and reporting to local authorities are of paramount importance to prevent mortality and physical and mental morbidity.


Diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in children: Less nasopharyngeal swabs, more saliva


Personal Protective Equipment Removal: Preventing Self-Contamination


Possible challenges in behavioral phenotyping of rodents following COVID-19 lockdown


title: RT-qPCR Testing of SARS-CoV-2: A Primer

text: Testing for the presence of coronavirus is an essential diagnostic tool for monitoring and managing the current COVID-19 pandemic. The only reliable test in current use for testing acute infection targets the genome of SARS-CoV-2, and the most widely used method is quantitative fluorescence-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Despite its ubiquity, there is a significant amount of uncertainty about how this test works, potential throughput and reliability. This has resulted in widespread misrepresentation of the problems faced using this test during the current COVID-19 epidemic. This primer provides simple, straightforward and impartial information about RT-qPCR.


title: A case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in a pregnant woman with preterm delivery

text: We presented a case of a 30-week pregnant woman with COVID-19 delivering a healthy baby with no evidence of COVID-19.


Living with the new coronavirus: How can a society cope with uncertainty


title: Epidemic control via stochastic optimal control

text: We study the problem of optimal control of the stochastic SIR model. Models of this type are used in mathematical epidemiology to capture the time evolution of highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Our approach relies on reformulating the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation as a stochastic minimum principle. This results in a system of forward backward stochastic differential equations, which is amenable to numerical solution via Monte Carlo simulations. We present a number of numerical solutions of the system under a variety of scenarios.


Covid-19: WHO and South Korea investigate reconfirmed cases


title: Investigation of a COVID-19 outbreak in Germany resulting from a single travel-associated primary case: a case series

text: BACKGROUND: In December, 2019, the newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China, causing COVID-19, a respiratory disease presenting with fever, cough, and often pneumonia. WHO has set the strategic objective to interrupt spread of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. An outbreak in Bavaria, Germany, starting at the end of January, 2020, provided the opportunity to study transmission events, incubation period, and secondary attack rates. METHODS: A case was defined as a person with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR. Case interviews were done to describe timing of onset and nature of symptoms and to identify and classify contacts as high risk (had cumulative face-to-face contact with a confirmed case for ≥15 min, direct contact with secretions or body fluids of a patient with confirmed COVID-19, or, in the case of health-care workers, had worked within 2 m of a patient with confirmed COVID-19 without personal protective equipment) or low risk (all other contacts). High-risk contacts were ordered to stay at home in quarantine for 14 days and were actively followed up and monitored for symptoms, and low-risk contacts were tested upon self-reporting of symptoms. We defined fever and cough as specific symptoms, and defined a prodromal phase as the presence of non-specific symptoms for at least 1 day before the onset of specific symptoms. Whole genome sequencing was used to confirm epidemiological links and clarify transmission events where contact histories were ambiguous; integration with epidemiological data enabled precise reconstruction of exposure events and incubation periods. Secondary attack rates were calculated as the number of cases divided by the number of contacts, using Fisher's exact test for the 95% CIs. FINDINGS: Patient 0 was a Chinese resident who visited Germany for professional reasons. 16 subsequent cases, often with mild and non-specific symptoms, emerged in four transmission generations. Signature mutations in the viral genome occurred upon foundation of generation 2, as well as in one case pertaining to generation 4. The median incubation period was 4·0 days (IQR 2·3-4·3) and the median serial interval was 4·0 days (3·0-5·0). Transmission events were likely to have occurred presymptomatically for one case (possibly five more), at the day of symptom onset for four cases (possibly five more), and the remainder after the day of symptom onset or unknown. One or two cases resulted from contact with a case during the prodromal phase. Secondary attack rates were 75·0% (95% CI 19·0-99·0; three of four people) among members of a household cluster in common isolation, 10·0% (1·2-32·0; two of 20) among household contacts only together until isolation of the patient, and 5·1% (2·6-8·9; 11 of 217) among non-household, high-risk contacts. INTERPRETATION: Although patients in our study presented with predominately mild, non-specific symptoms, infectiousness before or on the day of symptom onset was substantial. Additionally, the incubation period was often very short and false-negative tests occurred. These results suggest that although the outbreak was controlled, successful long-term and global containment of COVID-19 could be difficult to achieve. FUNDING: All authors are employed and all expenses covered by governmental, federal state, or other publicly funded institutions.


[2019-novel Coronavirus Infection in a Three-month-old Baby]


2019-novel coronavirus infection in a three-month-old baby/ 中华儿科杂志


title: COVID-19 challenge for modern medicine

text: Coronaviruses cause disease in animals and people around the world. Human coronaviruses (HCoV) are mainly known to cause infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract but the symptoms may also involve the nervous and digestive systems. Since the beginning of December 2019, there has been an epidemic of SARS-CoV-2, which was originally referred to as 2019-nCoV. The most common symptoms are fever and cough, fatigue, sputum production, dyspnea, myalgia, arthralgia or sore throat, headache, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea (30%). The best prevention is to avoid exposure. In addition, contact per-sons should be subjected to mandatory quarantine. COVID-19 patients should be treated in specialist centers. A significant number of patients with pneumonia require passive oxygen therapy. Non-invasive ventilation and high-flow nasal oxygen therapy can be applied in mild and moderate non-hypercapnia cases. A lung-saving ventilation strategy must be implemented in acute respiratory distress syndrome and mechanically ventilated patients. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is a highly specialized method, available only in selected centers and not applicable to a significant number of cases. Specific pharmacological treatment for COVID-19 is not currently available. Modern medicine is gearing up to fight the new coronavirus pandemic. The key is a holistic approach to the patient including, primar-ily, the use of personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of further virus transmission, as well as patient management, which consists in both quarantine and, in the absence of specific pharmacological therapy, symptomatic treatment.


title: A Covid Spring .2020

text: A Reflection.


COVID-19 pneumonia: what has CT taught us?


title: On the probability of strain invasion in endemic settings: accounting for individual heterogeneity and control in multi-strain dynamics

text: The rise of antimicrobial drug resistance is an imminent threat to global health that has warranted, and duly received, considerable attention within the medical, microbiological and modelling communities. Outbreaks of drug-resistant pathogens are ignited by the emergence and transmission of mutant variants descended from wild-type strains circulating in the community. In this work we investigate the stochastic dynamics of the emergence of a novel disease strain, introduced into a population in which it must compete with an existing endemic strain. In analogy with past work on single-strain epidemic outbreaks, we apply a branching process approximation to calculate the probability that the new strain becomes established. As expected, a critical determinant of the survival prospects of any invading strain is the magnitude of its reproduction number relative to that of the background endemic strain. Whilst in most circumstances this ratio must exceed unity in order for invasion to be viable, we show that differential control scenarios can lead to less-fit novel strains invading populations hosting a fitter endemic one. This analysis and the accompanying findings will inform our understanding of the mechanisms that have led to past instances of successful strain invasion, and provide valuable lessons for thwarting future drug-resistant strain incursions.


Immunization recommendations and safety and immunogenicity on the delayed vaccination of non-national immunization program for the corona virus disease 2019 in China


title: Growth pattern changes in China's energy consumption

text: Decoupling energy consumption from economic growth is vital to the realization of sustainable development. To reduce energy demand, China has implemented an energy cap policy and pledged to limit total energy consumption to around 5000 million tons of standard coal equivalent by 2020 in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). The prospect of achieving this target relies on the understanding of China's energy growth pattern. To this end, we investigate the transformation of the growth pattern in China's energy consumption from 2005 to 2015. We combine environmental input-output approach and structural decomposition analysis to study the factors that influence the changes in China's energy consumption. Results show that energy consumption growth shifted from export-driven before the Financial Crisis (2005-2007) to investment-driven during the Financial Crisis (2007-2010) and to consumption-driven both in the Economic Recovery (2010-2012) and in the New Normal (2012-2015). Consumption volume was the major promoting factor of the growth in energy consumption, but it became less important over time. In contrast, energy intensity was the primary factor offsetting energy consumption growth, with varying contribution over the period 2005-2015. Correspondingly, we further discuss how relevant policies for each period contribute to shaping the growth pattern and give recommendations for energy policymakers.


title: Presepsin in risk stratification of SARS-CoV-2 patients

text: BACKGROUND: A severe form of pneumonia, is the leading complication of the respiratory Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), recently renamed SARS-CoV-2. Soluble cluster of differentiation (CD)14 subtype (sCD14-ST also termed presepsin PSP) is a regulatory factor that modulates immune responses by interacting with T and B cells, useful for early diagnosis, prognosis and risk stratification prediction. METHODS: In 75 consecutive patients suffering from COVID-19 microbiology proven infection, admitted to intensive care unit (ICU, n = 21, 28%) and/or in infectious disease ward (IW, n = 54, 72%), PSP (Pathfast, Mitsubishi, Japan) has been measured in addition to routine laboratory tests performed during the period of hospitalization (from January to March 2020). RESULTS: PSP demonstrates: -statistically significant higher values (Mann-Whitney test) in 6 patients died (median, IQR = 1046, 763-1240; vs 417, 281-678 ng/L, p < 0.05); -statistically significant but poor correlations with CRP (r = 0.59, p < 0.001), LDH (r = 0.52, p < 0.001) and PCT (r = 0.72, p < 0.001) measured at the same day; -a significant relationship between concentrations and ICU stay. In fact patients showing PSP values higher than 250 ng/L (cut-off for risk stratification) did stay in ICU for a significantly longer time (median 17 days, IQR 12-31; p < 0.001) than those exhibiting lower values (median 10 days, IQR 7-18). CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained seems to demonstrate the role of PSP in providing prognostic information in COVID-19 patients, allowing to identify, during the early phase of the monitoring, the patients suffering from a more severe disease which will be hospitalized for a more long time.


Conservation implications of COVID19: Effects via tourism and extractive industries


title: Drive-Through Screening Center for COVID-19: a Safe and Efficient Screening System against Massive Community Outbreak

text: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is ongoing, the number of individuals to be tested for COVID-19 is rapidly increasing. For safe and efficient screening for COVID-19, drive-through (DT) screening centers have been designed and implemented in Korea. Herein, we present the overall concept, advantages, and limitations of the COVID-19 DT screening centers. The steps of the DT centers include registration, examination, specimen collection, and instructions. The entire service takes about 10 minutes for one testee without leaving his or her cars. Increased testing capacity over 100 tests per day and prevention of cross-infection between testees in the waiting space are the major advantages, while protection of staff from the outdoor atmosphere is challenging. It could be implemented in other countries to cope with the global COVID-19 outbreak and transformed according to their own situations.


title: Creation of Educational Videos for Patients Undergoing Nonelective Surgery: Tools for the COVID-19 Era

text: Currently, there is a lack of reliable patient-centric educational videos in otolaryngology. In light of COVID-19, otolaryngologists have had to see patients through virtual visits and have been encouraged to send patients home after nonelective surgery. Additionally, most hospitals are not permitting patients' family members and caretakers to enter patient rooms, thus often preventing them from receiving adequate education on postoperative care. Embracing educational videos as a valuable tool will improve communication with patients, especially during the times of COVID-19 and beyond. The goal of this commentary is to describe our early lessons learned in developing educational videos in a streamlined, efficient, and accessible format that can be shared among all members of the multidisciplinary and design production team. Background on the use of multimedia to reduce patient anxiety and frustration with surgical interventions is provided.


Impact of COVID-19 on the vascular interventionist


title: Subjective neurological symptoms frequently occur in patients with SARS-CoV2 infection

text: OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a novel pneumonia leading to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Recent studies documented that SARS-Coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV2), responsible for COVID-19, can affect the nervous system. The aim of the present observational study was to prospectively assess subjective neurological symptoms (sNS) in patients with SARS-CoV2 infection. METHODS: We included patients hospitalized at the University Hospital of Rome "Tor Vergata", medical center dedicated to the treatment of patients with COVID-19 diagnosis, who underwent an anamnestic interview about sNS consisting of 13 items, each related to a specific symptom, requiring a dichotomized answer. RESULTS: We included 103 patients with SARS-CoV2 infection. Ninety-four patients (91.3%) reported at least one sNS. Sleep impairment was the most frequent symptom, followed by dysgeusia, headache, hyposmia, and depression. Women more frequently complained hyposmia, dysgeusia, dizziness, numbeness/paresthesias, daytime sleepiness, and muscle ache. Moreover, muscle ache and daytime sleepiness were more frequent in the first 2 days after admission. Conversely, sleep impairment was more frequent in patients with more than 7 days of hospitalization. In these patients we also documented higher white blood cells and lower C-reactive protein levels. These laboratory findings correlated with the occurrence of hyposmia, dysgeusia, headache, daytime sleepiness, and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SARS-CoV2 infection frequently present with sNS. These symptoms are present from the early phases of the disease. The possibly intrinsic neurotropic properties of SARS-CoV2 may justify the very high frequency of sNS. Further studies targeted at investigating the consequences of SARS-CoV2 infection on the CNS should be planned.


title: COVID-19 Super-spreaders: Definitional Quandaries and Implications

text: Uncertainty around the role 'super-spreaders' play in the transmission and escalation of infectious disease is compounded by its broad and vague definition. It is a term that has been much used in relation to COVID-19, particularly in social media. On its widest definition, it refers to a propensity to infect a larger than average number of people. Given the biological, behavioural and environmental variables relevant to infectivity, this might be pertinent to almost any infected individual who is not physically isolated from others. Nor is the term confined to individuals with a propensity to spread infectious disease: it can potentially be used to describe events, policies or settings. This article explores the use of the term and considers circumstances in which the wide definition can be problematic. One problem is that it can lead to undeserved apportionment of moral blame to alleged super-spreaders. Another is that it can detract from scientific investigation of the heterogeneity of COVID-19 transmission. The author calls for a clearer epidemiological definition.


The biggest mystery: what it will take to trace the coronavirus source


Perfusion-ventilation imaging in an era of COVID-19


The Effects of a Novel Global Pandemic (COVID-19) on a Plastic Surgery Department


title: Lockdown During COVID-19: The Greek Success

text: BACKGROUND/AIM: Coronavirus is an ongoing pandemic challenging health systems worldwide. The aim of this report was to evaluate the effectiveness of lockdown in different countries, highlighting the performance of Greek society and authorities. METHODS: We analyzed publicly available data from the "Worldometer". We evaluated the efficacy of lockdown at one month after implementation. Delta Days (DD) referred to the difference in the days of reaching 1 case/million people to the adoption of lockdown. RESULTS: Higher healthcare expenditure as % of the national GDP was not correlated with better 30-day mortality outcomes. DD index was significantly correlated to the incidence of COVID-19 per million people at 30 days (p-value=0.001). The correlation between DD and 30-day mortality was not statistically significant (p-value=0.087). CONCLUSION: Early lockdown was proven to be the appropriate policy to limit the spread of COVID-19. Greece was a success story in preventing spread despite limited resources.


COVID-19 pandemic; prevention, treatment, and mental health


title: Relational ethical approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic

text: Key ethical challenges for healthcare workers arising from the COVID-19 pandemic are identified: isolation and social distancing, duty of care and fair access to treatment. The paper argues for a relational approach to ethics which includes solidarity, relational autonomy, duty, equity, trust and reciprocity as core values. The needs of the poor and socially disadvantaged are highlighted. Relational autonomy and solidarity are explored in relation to isolation and social distancing. Reciprocity is discussed with reference to healthcare workers' duty of care and its limits. Priority setting and access to treatment raise ethical issues of utility and equity. Difficult ethical dilemmas around triage, do not resuscitate decisions, and withholding and withdrawing treatment are discussed in the light of recently published guidelines. The paper concludes with the hope for a wider discussion of relational ethics and a glimpse of a future after the pandemic has subsided.


Doctor-patient relationship at the time of COVID-19: travel notes


title: Public practice，attitude and knowledge of coronavirus disease/ 热带医学杂志

text: @#Objective To analyze the status of knowledge，attitude and practice of the coronavirus disease（COVID ⁃19）among the adults of 18⁃59 years old in China，and to provide scientific basis for corresponding health education strategies. Methods In the rapid development phrase of COVID ⁃ 19，subjects from all provinces or municipalities of China were invited to participate in a quick questionnaire online survey on January 29th，2020. Results The effective response rate of completing questionnaire was 97.41%（3 083/3 165）. 98.54% of the subjects reported that they were very terrified. The main reasons included the high contagion（64.71%）and lack of effective treatments（19.92%）；94.45% of the subjects were concerned that they and their family members would be infected by the novel coronavirus. 99.42% knew that the virus could be transmitted from person to person；97.89% and 93.87% knew that it could spread through respiratory tract and contact respectively，97.73% knew that patients without symptom could also be contagious，96.37% knew that persons in close contact to COVID⁃19 patient were required to be quarantined for at least 14 days of medical observation. 99.09% knew that the pathogen of this disease was novel coronavirus. 65.46% knew that both medical protective masks and surgical masks could prevent COVID⁃19 effectively. 99.68% had confidence in defeating COVID⁃19，and 85.86% believed that COVID⁃19 would be controlled within the next 3 months. Study subjects mainly obtained health information through WeChat（88.97%）or websites（82.06%）. The proportions of the subjects who can cover mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing，avoid hand contacting with eyes，mouth or nose，practice hand hygiene，wear masks outside，avoid exposure to respiratory patients，and avoid the crowded were 89.85%，85.44%，95.13%，96.89%，92.18% and 96.27%，respectively. Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that gender（OR=0.544，95%CI：0.440⁃0.673，P<0.001），age（OR=1.844，95%CI：1.466⁃2.320，P<0.001），recognition （OR=2.200，95% CI：1.780 ⁃ 2.718，P<0.001） were associated with those good behaviors. Conclusion After the happened，the government and society′s vigorous publicity to the public achieved good results. The public are highly concerned and have a high awareness of the knowledge of COVID ⁃ 19. They adopt protective measures proactively. Females，middle⁃aged，and individuals with insufficient recognition are likely under⁃protected. In the different epidemic stages of the emerging infectious disease，health education should be carried out to the public based on scientific evidences.


Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Human Challenge Trials: Too Risky, Too Soon


title: COVID-19 patients and the radiology department - advice from the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI)

text: This document from the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) aims to present the main imaging features, and the role of CT scan in the early diagnosis of COVID-19, describing, in particular, the typical findings which make it possible to identify the disease and distinguish it from bacterial causes of infection, and to define which category of patients may benefit from CT imaging. The precautions that must be taken when performing scans to protect radiologists and technologists from infection will be described. The organisational measures that can be taken within radiology departments in order to cope with the influx of patients, while continuing to manage other emergency and time-sensitive activity (e.g. oncology, other infectious diseases etc.), will be discussed. KEY POINTS: â¢ Bilateral ground glass opacities are typical CT manifestations of COVID-19. â¢ Crazy paving and organising pneumonia pattern are seen at a later stage. â¢ Extensive consolidation is associated with a poor prognosis.


Chronic pain after COVID-19: implications for rehabilitation


title: A first look at COVID-19 information and misinformation sharing on Twitter

text: Since December 2019, COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly across the world. Not surprisingly, conversation about COVID-19 is also increasing. This article is a first look at the amount of conversation taking place on social media, specifically Twitter, with respect to COVID-19, the themes of discussion, where the discussion is emerging from, myths shared about the virus, and how much of it is connected to other high and low quality information on the Internet through shared URL links. Our preliminary findings suggest that a meaningful spatio-temporal relationship exists between information flow and new cases of COVID-19, and while discussions about myths and links to poor quality information exist, their presence is less dominant than other crisis specific themes. This research is a first step toward understanding social media conversation about COVID-19.


Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Inhibitors in Patients with Covid-19


Covid-19, pregnancy and childbirth


title: COVID-19 pandemic as a watershed moment: A call for systematic psychological health care for frontline medical staff

text: The COVID-19 pandemic is producing a huge health care burden with millions of cases and thousands of deaths. The coronavirus' high virulence and contagiousness and the frequent sudden onset of illness is overwhelming critical care and frontline healthcare staff. Frontline professionals are exposed to unprecedented levels of intensive existential threat requiring systematic, specialized psychological intervention and support. New psychological services need to be urgently implemented to manage the mental healthcare needs of frontline medical staff working with patients with COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is a watershed moment: health care systems universally require a step-change to improve our preparedness for future pandemics.


Potential infectious risk from the pets carrying SARS-CoV-2


title: [Explore the Optimal Resolvent of Medical Needs and Mental Health for Patients with Lung Cancer during Epidemic Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia]

text: BACKGROUND: With the rapid spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) worldwide and the escalation of prevention and control efforts, the routine medical needs of patients have been restricted. The aims were to investigate medical needs of lung cancer patients and their mental health status during the epidemic periods, so as to provide rational recommendations for subsequent diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: The questionnaire was sent in the form of an electronic questionnaire at 7am on 4th, March, 2020, until 7am 6th, March, 2020, 368 questionnaires were recollected from 25 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) in 48 h. RESULTS: Of the 368 patients, 18 patients were excluded as they didn't receive anti-tumor treatment, and 350 patients were included in the final analysis. 229 cases were treated with oral targeted drugs, and 121 cases were treated with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. 41.3% of patients treated with intravenous chemotherapy or immunotherapy experienced treatment discontinuation, and the proportion of treatment discontinuation in chemotherapy or immunotherapy was higher than those treated with oral targeted drugs (21.0%). Whether oral targeted drugs or intravenous chemotherapy or immunotherapy, more than 60% of patients experienced delays in imaging examinations. Nearly one third of patients developed new symptoms or exacerbation of existing symptoms. 26.6%-28.9% of patients have changed their treatment plans through online consultation. During novel coronavirus pneumonia, 40%-75% of lung cancer patients have mental health problems, and more than 95% of patients support government's prevention and control measures. CONCLUSIONS: During the emergence of NCP, the medical needs of patients with lung cancer have not been enough, especially those who discontinued chemotherapy or immunotherapy. When medical institution resumes work, priority should be given to them. At the same time, mental health problems of patients should be valued and resolved timely.


title: Bowel perforation in a Covid-19 patient: case report

text: INTRODUCTION: Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), it became evident that a proportion of patients may present with gastrointestinal symptoms. CASE: We report the case of a Covid-19-infected patient who, during recovery from the pulmonary pneumonia, had gastrointestinal symptoms followed by a diastasic right colon perforation due to acute over distension of the bowel. CONCLUSION: This case highlights the importance of paying attention to initial gastrointestinal symptoms in order to prevent possible complications.


title: High incidence of venous thromboembolic events in anticoagulated severe COVID-19 patients

text: BACKGROUND: Coagulopathy is a common abnormality in patients with COVID-19. However, the exact incidence of venous thromboembolic event is unknown in anticoagulated, severe COVID-19 patients. OBJECTIVES: Systematic assessment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) using complete duplex ultrasound (CDU) in anticoagulated COVID-19 patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective study in 2 French intensive care units (ICU) where CDU is performed as a standard of care. A CDU from thigh to ankle at selected sites with Doppler waveforms and images was performed early during ICU stay in patients admitted with COVID-19. Anticoagulation dose was left to the discretion of the treating physician based on the individual risk of thrombosis. Patients were classified as treated with prophylactic anticoagulation or therapeutic anticoagulation. Pulmonary embolism was systematically searched in patients with persistent hypoxemia or secondary deterioration. RESULTS: From March 19 to April 11, 2020, 26 consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 were screened for VTE. Eight patients (31%) were treated with prophylactic anticoagulation, whereas 18 patients (69%) were treated with therapeutic anticoagulation. The overall rate of VTE in patients was 69%. The proportion of VTE was significantly higher in patients treated with prophylactic anticoagulation when compared with the other group (100% vs 56%, respectively, P = .03). Surprisingly, we found a high rate of thromboembolic events in COVID-19 patients treated with therapeutic anticoagulation, with 56% of VTE and 6 pulmonary embolisms. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest considering both systematic screening of VTE and early therapeutic anticoagulation in severe ICU COVID-19 patients.


title: A numerical simulation of the COVID-19 epidemic in Argentina using the SEIR model

text: A pandemic caused by a new coronavirus has spread worldwide, affecting Argentina. We implement an SEIR model to analyze the disease evolution in Buenos Aires and neighbouring cities. The model parameters are calibrated using the number of casualties officially reported. Since infinite solutions honour the data, we show different cases. In all of them the reproduction ratio $R_0$ decreases after early lockdown, but then raises, probably due to an increase in contagion in highly populated slums. Therefore it is mandatory to reverse this growing trend in $R_0$ by applying control strategies to avoid a high number of infectious and dead individuals. The model provides an effective procedure to estimate epidemic parameters (fatality rate, transmission probability, infection and incubation periods) and monitor control measures during the epidemic evolution.


Bronchoscopy in COVID-19 Patients with Invasive Mechanical Ventilation: A Center Experience


Taiwan's experience in pandemic control: Drawing the right lessons from SARS outbreak


title: Discovery of alliin as a putative inhibitor of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 by molecular docking

text: The outbreak of viral pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that began in December 2019 caused high mortality. It has been suggested that the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 may be an important target to discover pharmaceutical compounds for the therapy of this life-threatening disease. Remdesivir, ritonavir and chloroquine have all been reported to play a role in suppressing SARS-CoV-2. Here, we applied a molecular docking method to study the binding stability of these drugs with SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. It appeared that the ligand-protein binding stability of the alliin and SARS-CoV-2 Mpro complex was better than others. The results suggested that alliin may serve as a good candidate as an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Therefore, the present research may provide some meaningful guidance for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2.


title: A search for rotation periods in 1000 TESS objects of interest

text: The high quality light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) represent a unique laboratory for the study of stellar rotation, a fundamental observable driving stellar and planetary evolution, including planetary atmospheres and impacting on habitability conditions and the genesis of life around stars. As of April 14th 2020, this mission delivered public light curves for 1000 TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs), observed with 2 minute cadence during the first 20 months of the mission. Here, we present a search for rotation signatures in these TOIs, using Fast Fourier Transform, Lomb-Scargle, and wavelet techniques, accompanied by a rigorous visual inspection. This effort revealed 163 targets with rotation signatures, 131 of which present unambiguous rotation periods ranging from 0.321 and 13.219 days, whereas 32 of them present dubious rotation periodicities. One hundred and nine of these stars show flux fluctuations whose root-cause is not clearly identified. For 714 TOIs, the light curves show a noisy behavior, corresponding to typically low-amplitude signals. Our analysis has also revealed 10 TOI stars with pulsation periodicities ranging from 0.049 to 2.995 days and four eclipsing binaries. With upcoming TESS data releases, our periodicity analysis will be expanded to almost all TOI stars, thereby contributing in defining criteria for follow-up strategy itself, and the study of star-planet interactions, surface dynamic of host stars and habitability conditions in planets, among other aspects. In this context, a living catalog is maintained on the Filtergraph visualization portal at the URL https://filtergraph.com/tess_rotation_tois.


Technology Literacy as a Barrier to Telehealth During COVID-19


title: Diabetes and severity of COVID-19: What is the link?

text: In Diabetes Mellitus the loss of capacity to regulate immunity, the reduction of pulmonary functions and the pro-thrombotic state determine the severity of COVID-19.


Recommendations for anesthesia in patients suspected of COVID-19 Coronavirus infection


Academic global surgery and COVID-19: Turning impediments into opportunities


title: Neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19: a review and a call for action

text: While the epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread globally, more and more evidences are collected about the presence of neurological manifestations and symptoms associated with it. A systematic review has been performed of papers published until 5 April 2020. 29 papers related to neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19 were examined. The results show presence of central and peripheral nervous system manifestations related to coronavirus. Neurological manifestations, or NeuroCOVID, are part of the COVID-19 clinical picture, but questions remain regarding the frequency and severity of CNS symptoms, the mechanism of action underlying neurological symptoms, and the relationship of symptoms with the course and severity of COVID-19. Further clinical, epidemiological, and basic science research is urgently needed to understand and address neurological sequalae of COVID-19. Concomitant risk factors or determinants (e.g. demographic factors, comorbidities, or available biomarkers) that may predispose a person with COVID-19 to neurological manifestations also need to be identified. The review shows that although more and more papers are reporting neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19; however, many items remain unclear and this uncertainty calls for a global action that requires close coordination and open-data sharing between hospitals, academic institutions and the fast establishment of harmonised research priorities and research consortia to face the NeuroCOVID-19 complications.


title: Zero COVID-19 infection in inflammatory bowel disease patients: Findings from National IBD Registries in Hong Kong and Taiwan

text: INTRODUCTION: It is unsure whether inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a risk factor for novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). METHODS: IBD patients were identified from population-based databases in Hong Kong and Taiwan from 21 January 2020 till 15 April 2020. RESULTS: Total 2,954 and 2,554 IBD patients were identified in Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively. None had COVID-19. Pooled analysis showed 65.3%, 39.1%, 4.3% and 12.8% IBD patients in Hong Kong and 75.8 %, 51.4 %, 26.1% and 52.3 % in Taiwan were on 5-aminosalicylates, immunomodulators, corticosteroids and biologics, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was no reported cases of COVID-19 infection amongst IBD patients in Hong Kong and Taiwan. IBD patients should continue their usual medications during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Zero COVID-19 infection in inflammatory bowel disease patients: Findings from population-based inflammatory bowel disease registries in Hong Kong and Taiwan

text: BACKGROUND AND AIM: It is unsure whether inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a risk factor for novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). METHODS: IBD patients were identified from population-based databases in Hong Kong and Taiwan from January 21, 2020, until April 15, 2020. RESULTS: Total 2954 and 2554 IBD patients were identified in Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively. None had COVID-19. Pooled analysis showed that 65.3%, 39.1%, 4.3%, and 12.8% IBD patients in Hong Kong and 75.8 %, 51.4 %, 26.1%, and 52.3 % in Taiwan were on 5-aminosalicylates, immunomodulators, corticosteroids, and biologics, respectively. CONCLUSION: There were no reported cases of COVID-19 infection amongst IBD patients in Hong Kong and Taiwan. IBD patients should continue their usual medications during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Telemedicina, telementorización y evaluación telemática en cirugía. ¿Es su momento después de la COVID-19?/ Telemedicina, telementorización y evaluación telemática en cirugía. ¿Es su momento después de la COVID-19?/ Telemedicine, telementoring and telematic evaluation in surgery. Is it your time after COVID-19?


Life after COVID-19: R WE going to help?


Distinguishing between direct and indirect consequences of covid-19


title: Repurposing drugs for COVID-19 based on transcriptional response of host cells to SARS-CoV-2

text: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has infected over 10 million people globally with a relatively high mortality rate. There are many therapeutics undergoing clinical trials, but there is no effective vaccine or therapy for treatment thus far. After affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), molecular signaling of host cells plays critical roles during the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, it is significant to identify the involved molecular signaling pathways within the host cells, and drugs targeting these molecular signaling pathways could be potentially effective for COVID-19 treatment. In this study, we aimed to identify these potential molecular signaling pathways, and repurpose existing drugs as a potentially effective treatment of COVID-19 to facilitate the therapeutic discovery, based on the transcriptional response of host cells. We first identified dysfunctional signaling pathways associated with the infection caused SARS-CoV-2 in human lung epithelial cells through analysis of the altered gene expression profiles. In addition to the signaling pathway analysis, the activated gene ontologies (GOs) and super gene ontologies were identified. Signaling pathways and GOs such as MAPK, JNK, STAT, ERK, JAK-STAT, IRF7-NFkB signaling, and MYD88/CXCR6 immune signaling were particularly identified. Based on the identified signaling pathways and GOs, a set of potentially effective drugs were repurposed by integrating the drug-target and reverse gene expression data resources. The dexamethasone was top-ranked in the prediction, which was the first reported drug to be able to significantly reduce the death rate of COVID-19 patients receiving respiratory support. The results can be helpful to understand the associated molecular signaling pathways within host cells, and facilitate the discovery of effective drugs for COVID-19 treatment.


title: Effectiveness of Testing, Tracing, Social Distancing and Hygiene in Tackling Covid-19 in India: A System Dynamics Model

text: We present a System Dynamics (SD) model of the Covid-19 pandemic spread in India. The detailed age-structured compartment-based model endogenously captures various disease transmission pathways, expanding significantly from the standard SEIR model. The model is customized for India by using the appropriate population pyramid, contact rate matrices, external arrivals (as per actual data), and a few other calibrated fractions based on the reported cases of Covid-19 in India. Also, we have explicitly modeled, using independent time-variant levers, the effects of testing, contact tracing, isolating Covid-positive patients, quarantining, use of mask/better hygiene practices, social distancing through contact rate reductions at distinct zones of home(H), work(W), school(S) and other(O) locations. Simulation results show that, even after an extended lock-down, some non-trivial number of infections (even asymptomatic) will be left and the pandemic will resurface. Only tools that work against the pandemic is high rate of testing of those who show Covid-19 like symptoms, isolating them if they are positive and contact tracing all contacts of positive patients and quarantining them, in combination with use of face masks and personal hygiene. A wide range of combination of effectiveness of contact tracing, isolation, quarantining and personal hygiene measures help minimize the pandemic impact and some imperfections in implementation of one measure can be compensated by better implementation of other measures.


title: Asignación justa de recursos médicos: guía bioética del CSG./ Allocating medical resources fairly: the CSG bioethics guide

text: On April 12, 2020, a bioethics guide for allocating scarce hospital resources during the current Covid-19 pandemic was posted on the website of the Consejo de Salubridad General (CSG) of the Government of Mexico. The guide, entitled Guía bioética para asignación de recursos limitados de medicina crítica en situación de emergencia, was intended as a preliminary document, but the website posting did not describe it as a first step in the process. The publicity resulted in a wide array of comments and criticisms. That first version posted on the CSG website contained an age-based criterion for breaking a tie between two or more medically eligible patients who needed of a ventilator: younger patients would have preference over older ones. The final version of the guide eliminated that criterion and instead, relied on the leading public health principle, "save the most lives", without regard to personal characteristics other than the possibility of benefitting from the scarce medical resources.


title: AI-Driven Tools for Coronavirus Outbreak: Need of Active Learning and Cross-Population Train/Test Models on Multitudinal/Multimodal Data

text: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which was identified in late 2019, requires special attention because of its future epidemics and possible global threats. Beside clinical procedures and treatments, since Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises a new paradigm for healthcare, several different AI tools that are built upon Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are employed for analyzing data and decision-making processes. This means that AI-driven tools help identify COVID-19 outbreaks as well as forecast their nature of spread across the globe. However, unlike other healthcare issues, for COVID-19, to detect COVID-19, AI-driven tools are expected to have active learning-based cross-population train/test models that employs multitudinal and multimodal data, which is the primary purpose of the paper.


title: Stand by me 2.0. Visits by family members at Covid-19 time

text: BACKGROUND: In the complex health emergency situation of our country, the application of Information Technology tools has a decisive role in supporting health insurance, creating a highly performing and technologically advanced system that reduce distances, suffering of disease and the weight of necessary isolation. The theme of the humanization of care, understood as attention to the person as a whole, is a highly topical issue today. The humanization in the healthcare is intended as the ability to make the places of care and the same medical care practices more open, safer and painless, reconciling hospitality, information and comfort with care paths as much as possible in sharing with the patient and his family. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pursuing the purposes inherent in the concept of humanization of care and assistance, with the aim of offering Apulian citizens a complementary, but also fundamental, service in clinical-therapeutic assistance to the patient affected by COVID-19, in the hope of improving the quality of care, also in relation to the perception of the user, the Strategic Management of the AOU Policlinico of Bari has launched an experimental project that fits into the context of care quality, a crucial and not negligible issue, despite the extreme difficulties dictated by the ongoing medical emergency. RESULTS: The experimental project proposes an innovative clinical-organizational model which, through Information and Communications Technology (ICT), intends to make the management of COVID-19 patients optimal, safe and better, in all the spheres that jointly define the concept of Health.


title: The pandemic of COVID-19 and its implications for the purity and authenticity of alcohol-based hand sanitizers: The health risks associated with falsified sanitizers and recommendations for regulatory and public health bodies

text: With the beginning of the pandemic of COVID-19 throughout the world, the demand and consumption of hand sanitizers has increased, which had led to a sharp crunch in these products at all levels. This shortage has led to an increase in the prevalence of falsified alcohol-based hand sanitizers, including the illegal addition of methanol to hand sanitizers and the production of hand sanitizers with an alcohol concentration of less than 60%. These findings indicate that regulatory and public health bodies should take an active role in ensuring the safety and quality of antimicrobial products such as alcohol-based hand sanitizers at every stage of the products' lifecycle, including distribution, manufacture and import.


Covid-19 treatment-induced neuropsychiatric adverse effects


BET 2: Hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19


Special report: The simulations driving the world's response to COVID-19


Building Informatics Capacity of Local Health Departments to Combat COVID-19: A Call to Action


Doctor-patient communication in surgical practice during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic


title: Can Chinese Medicine Be Used for Prevention of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)? A Review of Historical Classics, Research Evidence and Current Prevention Programs

text: OBJECTIVE: Since December 2019, an outbreak of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, and rapidly spread to almost all parts of China. This was followed by prevention programs recommending Chinese medicine (CM) for the prevention. In order to provide evidence for CM recommendations, we reviewed ancient classics and human studies. METHODS: Historical records on prevention and treatment of infections in CM classics, clinical evidence of CM on the prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and H1N1 influenza, and CM prevention programs issued by health authorities in China since the COVID-19 outbreak were retrieved from different databases and websites till 12 February, 2020. Research evidence included data from clinical trials, cohort or other population studies using CM for preventing contagious respiratory virus diseases. RESULTS: The use of CM to prevent epidemics of infectious diseases was traced back to ancient Chinese practice cited in Huangdi's Internal Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing) where preventive effects were recorded. There were 3 studies using CM for prevention of SARS and 4 studies for H1N1 influenza. None of the participants who took CM contracted SARS in the 3 studies. The infection rate of H1N1 influenza in the CM group was significantly lower than the non-CM group (relative risk 0.36, 95% confidence interval 0.24-0.52; n=4). For prevention of COVID-19, 23 provinces in China issued CM programs. The main principles of CM use were to tonify qi to protect from external pathogens, disperse wind and discharge heat, and resolve dampness. The most frequently used herbs included Radix astragali (Huangqi), Radix glycyrrhizae (Gancao), Radix saposhnikoviae (Fangfeng), Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae (Baizhu), Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Jinyinhua), and Fructus forsythia (Lianqiao). CONCLUSIONS: Based on historical records and human evidence of SARS and H1N1 influenza prevention, Chinese herbal formula could be an alternative approach for prevention of COVID-19 in high-risk population. Prospective, rigorous population studies are warranted to confirm the potential preventive effect of CM.


Establishment of a safety protocol for the administration of treatments in multiple sclerosis during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic


Covid-19: Ministers urged to waive £993 visa bill for "stranded" doctors who had exams cancelled


A real-time dashboard of clinical trials for COVID-19


title: SIRNet: Understanding Social Distancing Measures with Hybrid Neural Network Model for COVID-19 Infectious Spread

text: The SARS-CoV-2 infectious outbreak has rapidly spread across the globe and precipitated varying policies to effectuate physical distancing to ameliorate its impact. In this study, we propose a new hybrid machine learning model, SIRNet, for forecasting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that couples with the epidemiological models. We use categorized spatiotemporally explicit cellphone mobility data as surrogate markers for physical distancing, along with population weighted density and other local data points. We demonstrate at varying geographical granularity that the spectrum of physical distancing options currently being discussed among policy leaders have epidemiologically significant differences in consequences, ranging from viral extinction to near complete population prevalence. The current mobility inflection points vary across geographical regions. Experimental results from SIRNet establish preliminary bounds on such localized mobility that asymptotically induce containment. The model can support in studying non-pharmacological interventions and approaches that minimize societal collateral damage and control mechanisms for an extended period of time.


CID-19 pulmonary infection in erythrodermic psoriatic patient with oligodendroglioma: safety and compatibility of apremilast with critical intensive care management


title: Potential of Flavonoid-Inspired Phytomedicines against COVID-19

text: Flavonoids are widely used as phytomedicines. Here, we report on flavonoid phytomedicines with potential for development into prophylactics or therapeutics against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These flavonoid-based phytomedicines include: caflanone, Equivir, hesperetin, myricetin, and Linebacker. Our in silico studies show that these flavonoid-based molecules can bind with high affinity to the spike protein, helicase, and protease sites on the ACE2 receptor used by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to infect cells and cause COVID-19. Meanwhile, in vitro studies show potential of caflanone to inhibit virus entry factors including, ABL-2, cathepsin L, cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, Mip-1α, TNF-α), and PI4Kiiiß as well as AXL-2, which facilitates mother-to-fetus transmission of coronavirus. The potential for the use of smart drug delivery technologies like nanoparticle drones loaded with these phytomedicines to overcome bioavailability limitations and improve therapeutic efficacy are discussed.


Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Detected at the Lung Apices During CT Angiography in Acute Stroke Assessment


Endoscopy staff are concerned about acquiring COVID-19 infection when resuming elective endoscopy


Pursuing a Good Death in the Time of COVID-19


Coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak


COVID-19 in Nepal: Lower Than Expected Incidence and Mortality


The South African Response to the Pandemic


title: Antibody Detection and Dynamic Characteristics in Patients with COVID-19

text: BACKGROUND: The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been rapidly spreading nationwide and abroad. A serologic test to identify antibody dynamics and response to SARS-CoV-2 was developed. METHODS: The antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the recombinant nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 at 3-40 days after symptom onset. The gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis was nucleic acid testing for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. The serodiagnostic power of the specific IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was investigated in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and consistency rate. RESULTS: The seroconversion of specific IgM and IgG antibodies were observed as early as the 4th day after symptom onset. In the confirmed patients with COVID-19, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and consistency rate of IgM were 77.3% (51/66), 100%, 100%, 80.0%, and 88.1%, and those of IgG were 83.3.3% (55/66), 95.0%, 94.8%, 83.8%, and 88.9 %. In patients with suspected COVID-19, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and consistency rate of IgM were 87.5% (21/24), 100%, 100%, 95.2%, and 96.4%, and those of IgG were 70.8% (17/24), 96.6%, 85.0%, 89.1%, and 88.1%. Both antibodies performed well in serodiagnosis for COVID-19 rely on great specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in the middle and later stage of the illness. Antibody detection may play an important role in the diagnosis of COVID-19 as complement approach for viral nucleid acid assays.


title: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Surgeons during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Availability, Usage, and Rationing

text: BACKGROUND: Surgeons need guidance regarding appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic based on scientific evidence rather than availability. The aim of this paper is to inform surgeons of appropriate PPE requirements, and to discuss usage, availability, rationing and future solutions. METHODS: A systematic review was undertaken in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines using the MEDLINE, EMBASE, & WHO COVID-19 Databases. Newspaper and internet article sources were identified using NEXIS. The search was complemented by bibliographic secondary linkage. The findings were analysed alongside guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Public Health England (PHE), the Royal College of Surgeons & Specialty Associations. RESULTS: Of a total 1329 articles identified, 305 were removed (duplicates etc), and finally, 95 studies met the inclusion criteria. Recommendations made by the WHO regarding the use of PPE in the COVID-19 pandemic have evolved alongside emerging evidence. Medical resources including PPE have been rapidly overwhelmed. There is a global effort to overcome this by combining the most effective use of existing PPE in combination with innovative strategies to produce more. Practical advice on all aspects of PPE are detailed in this systematic review. CONCLUSION: Although there is a need to balance limited supplies with staff and patient safety, this should not leave surgeons treating patients with inadequate PPE. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


title: Use of in situ simulation to evaluate the operational readiness of a high-consequence infectious disease intensive care unit

text: On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of a coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO guidance states that patients with (COVID-19) should be managed by staff wearing appropriate personal protective equipment; however, working whilst wearing personal protective equipment is unfamiliar to many healthcare professionals. We ran high-fidelity, in-situ simulation of high-risk procedures on patients with COVID-19 in a negative-pressure side room on our intensive care unit (ICU). Our aim was to identify potential problems, test the robustness of our systems and inform modification of our standard operating procedures for any patients with COVID-19 admitted to our ICU. The simulations revealed several important latent risks and allowed us to put corrective measures in place before the admission of patients with COVID-19. We recommend that staff working in clinical areas expected to receive patients with COVID-19 conduct in-situ simulation in order to detect their own unique risks and aid in the creation of local guidelines of management of patients with COVID-19.


title: A family cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections

text: Clinical and epidemiological knowledge of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is limited. We reported a family cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases in Beijing, China. This family comprised three laboratory confirmed cases with clinical symptoms. All three patients had close contact with a relative from Wuhan, Hubei Province. Throat swab samples were all positive for SARS-CoV-2 using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assays. Chest computerized tomography revealed ground-glass opacities and consolidation. SARS-CoV-2 infections tend to clusters. Physicians should be aware of contact history so that infected patients can be identified promptly and further spreading prevented.


Hospital response to the COVID-19 outbreak: The experience in Shanghai, China


title: Dying with SARS-CoV-2 infection-an autopsy study of the first consecutive 80 cases in Hamburg, Germany

text: Autopsies of deceased with a confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can provide important insights into the novel disease and its course. Furthermore, autopsies are essential for the correct statistical recording of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths. In the northern German Federal State of Hamburg, all deaths of Hamburg citizens with ante- or postmortem PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection have been autopsied since the outbreak of the pandemic in Germany. Our evaluation provides a systematic overview of the first 80 consecutive full autopsies. A proposal for the categorisation of deaths with SARS-CoV-2 infection is presented (category 1: definite COVID-19 death; category 2: probable COVID-19 death; category 3: possible COVID-19 death with an equal alternative cause of death; category 4: SARS-CoV-2 detection with cause of death not associated to COVID-19). In six cases, SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed postmortem by a positive PCR test in a nasopharyngeal or lung tissue swab. In the other 74 cases, SARS-CoV-2 infection had already been known antemortem. The deceased were aged between 52 and 96 years (average 79.2 years, median 82.4 years). In the study cohort, 34 deceased were female (38%) and 46 male (62%). Overall, 38% of the deceased were overweight or obese. All deceased, except for two women, in whom no significant pre-existing conditions were found autoptically, had relevant comorbidities (in descending order of frequency): (1) diseases of the cardiovascular system, (2) lung diseases, (3) central nervous system diseases, (4) kidney diseases, and (5) diabetes mellitus. A total of 76 cases (95%) were classified as COVID-19 deaths, corresponding to categories 1-3. Four deaths (5%) were defined as non-COVID-19 deaths with virus-independent causes of death. In eight cases, pneumonia was combined with a fulminant pulmonary artery embolism. Peripheral pulmonary artery embolisms were found in nine other cases. Overall, deep vein thrombosis has been found in 40% of the cases. This study provides the largest overview of autopsies of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients presented so far.


title: Cardiovascular Implications and Therapeutic Considerations in COVID-19 Infection

text: The ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has profoundly impacted all fields of medicine. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome has multiorgan effects. The pandemic has united researchers from bench to bedside in attempts to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and define optimal treatment strategies. Cardiovascular disease is highly prevalent and a leading cause of death across gender, race, and ethnic groups. As the pandemic spreads, there is increasing concern about the cardiovascular effects of the viral infection and the interaction of infection with existing cardiovascular disease. Additionally, there are concerns about the cardiac effects of the numerous treatment agents under study. It will be essential for cardiologists to understand the interplay between underlying cardiac comorbidities, acute cardiovascular effects of COVID-19 disease, and adverse effects of new treatments. Here we describe emerging evidence of the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and underlying cardiovascular disease, the evidence for direct myocardial injury in SARS-CoV-2 infection, the specific presentations of cardiovascular involvement by SARS-CoV-2, and the cardiac effects of emerging treatments.


Living in a Covid-19 World


Covid-19 and Health at Work


title: Value of leukocytosis and elevated C-reactive protein in predicting severe coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

text: BACKGROUND: Since December 2019, coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide. Identifying poor prognostic factors is helpful for risk stratification. In this meta-analysis, we investigated the association between severe COVID-19 and a change in white blood cell (WBC) count, an elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP), and fever. Moreover, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of leukocytosis and an elevation of CRP. METHODS: We performed a systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library through April 20th, 2020. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. A sensitivity analysis was conducted according to the study size (>200 or <200) and median age (>55 or <55). Meta-regression analyses were conducted to examine possible sources of heterogeneity. We calculated the diagnostic accuracy of leukocytosis and CRP. RESULTS: Eighteen studies with 3278 patients were selected. Fever, leukocytosis, and elevated CRP were associated with poor outcomes (OR (95% CI) 1.63 (1.06-2.51), 4.51 (2.53-8.04), and 11.97 (4.97-28.8), respectively). Leukopenia was associated with a better prognosis (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.40-0.78). Sensitivity analyses showed similar tendencies. Meta-regression analysis for leukocytosis indicated that age, dyspnea, and hypertension contributed to heterogeneity. The pooled area under the leukocytosis and CRP curves were 0.70 (0.64-0.76) and 0.89 (0.80-0.99), respectively. CONCLUSION: In patients with COVID-19, fever, leukocytosis, and an elevated CRP were associated with severe outcomes. Leukocytosis and CRP on arrival may predict poor outcomes.


Pandemic Makes Chronic Disease Prevention a Priority


Urticarial vasculitis in COVID-19 infection: a vasculopathy-related symptom?


The Variety of Cardiovascular Presentations of COVID-19


title: Antigenic and immunogenic properties of the canine distemper virus nucleocapsid protein expressed in Escherichia coli employing codon optimized synthetic gene/ Propriedades antigênicas e imunogênicas da proteína do nucleocapsídeo do virus da cinomose canina expressa em Escherichia coli empregando gene sintético com codons otimizados

text: Despite common occurrence and importance of canine distemper disease the majority of tests currently available for diagnosis are hampered by either low sensitivity or specificity. In this study it was evaluated antigenic and immunogenic characteristics of a conserved region of nucleocapsid protein of canine distemper virus (rCDV NP) expressed in Escherichia coli employing a codon optimized synthetic gene. The expression of rCDVNP in Star strain (mean 300μg/mL, purified) was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis by using His-Tag monoclonal antibodies. Western blot and ELISA, employing positive and negative control dog sera, demonstrated the rCDVNP antigenicity. The rCDVNP was inoculated in hens and immunoglobulin Y (IgY) was purified from the egg yolk. The mean yield of IgY was 28.55mg/mL. IgY reacted with the recombinant protein as demonstrated by Western blot and ELISA assays. In summary, our findings demonstrated that rCDVNP is antigenic since CDV positive dog sera recognized the protein in vitro. Additionally, the rCDVNP proved to be immunogenic in hens being possible to isolate a high concentration of specific IgY antibodies from the egg yolk. Taken together, these results indicate that the rCDVNP along with the specific IgY could be useful tools for development of the canine distemper immunodiagnostic assays.(AU)


title: Domain Extrapolation via Regret Minimization

text: Many real prediction tasks such as molecular property prediction require ability to extrapolate to unseen domains. The success in these tasks typically hinges on finding a good representation. In this paper, we extend invariant risk minimization (IRM) by recasting the simultaneous optimality condition in terms of regret, finding instead a representation that enables the predictor to be optimal against an oracle with hindsight access on held-out environments. The change refocuses the principle on generalization and doesn't collapse even with strong predictors that can perfectly fit all the training data. Our regret minimization (RGM) approach can be further combined with adaptive domain perturbations to handle combinatorially defined environments. We evaluate our method on two real-world applications: molecule property prediction and protein homology detection and show that RGM significantly outperforms previous state-of-the-art domain generalization techniques.


title: Mortality and survival of COVID-19

text: This study aims to identify the risk factors associated with mortality and survival of COVID-19 cases in a state of the Brazilian Northeast. It is a historical cohort with a secondary database of 2070 people that presented flu-like symptoms, sought health assistance in the state and tested positive to COVID-19 until 14 April 2020, only moderate and severe cases were hospitalised. The main outcome was death as a binary variable (yes/no). It also investigated the main factors related to mortality and survival of the disease. Time since the beginning of symptoms until death/end of the survey (14 April 2020) was the time variable of this study. Mortality was analysed by robust Poisson regression, and survival by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. From the 2070 people that tested positive to COVID-19, 131 (6.3%) died and 1939 (93.7%) survived, the overall survival probability was 87.7% from the 24th day of infection. Mortality was enhanced by the variables: elderly (HR 3.6; 95% CI 2.3-5.8; P < 0.001), neurological diseases (HR 3.9; 95% CI 1.9-7.8; P < 0.001), pneumopathies (HR 2.6; 95% CI 1.4-4.7; P < 0.001) and cardiovascular diseases (HR 8.9; 95% CI 5.4-14.5; P < 0.001). In conclusion, mortality by COVID-19 in Ceará is similar to countries with a large number of cases of the disease, although deaths occur later. Elderly people and comorbidities presented a greater risk of death.


Mortality and survival of COVID-19


Challenges facing the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: lessons from short food supply systems


title: Stemming the flow: how much can the Australian smartphone app help to control COVID-19?

text: OBJECTIVES: Our objective is to assess the potential contribution of the Australian Government's mobile smartphone tracing app (COVIDSafe) to the sustained control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). STUDY TYPE: Development and analysis of a system dynamics model. METHODS: To define the pandemic context and specify model-building parameters, we searched for literature on COVID-19, its epidemiology in Australia, case finding processes, and factors that might affect community acceptance of the COVIDSafe smartphone app for contact tracing. We then developed a system dynamics model of COVID-19 based on a modified susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered compartmental model structure, using initial pandemic data and published information on virus behaviour to determine parameter values. We applied the model to examine factors influencing the projected trends: the extent of viral testing, community participation in social distancing, and the level of uptake of the COVIDSafe app. RESULTS: Modelling suggests that a second COVID-19 wave will occur if social distancing declines (i.e. if the average number of contacts made by each individual each day increases) and the rate of testing declines. The timing and size of the second wave will depend on the rate of decrease in social distancing and the decline in testing rates. At the app uptake level of approximately 27% (current at 20 May 2020), with a monthly 50% reduction in social distancing (i.e. the average number of contacts per day doubling every 30 days until they reach pre-social distancing rates) and a 5% decline in testing, the app would reduce the projected total number of new cases during April-December 2020 by one-quarter. If uptake reaches the possible maximum of 61%, the reduction could be more than half. CONCLUSIONS: Maintenance of a large-scale testing regimen for COVID-19 and widespread community practice of social distancing are vital. The COVIDSafe smartphone app has the potential to be an important adjunct to testing and social distancing. Depending on the level of community uptake of the app, it could have a significant mitigating effect on a second wave of COVID-19 in Australia.


An independent appraisal and re-analysis of hydroxychloroquine treatment trial for COVID-19


Management of leprosy patients in the era of COVID-19


A survey of psoriasis patients on biologics during COVID-19: a single centre experience


title: Evaluation of eleven rapid tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

text: Objectives SARS-CoV-2, causing COVID-19, has emerged to cause a human pandemic. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory samples by using PCR is the standard laboratory diagnostic tool. Our aim was to perform a limited evaluation of the diagnostic performance and user-friendliness of eleven rapid tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Methods All participants were tested with PCR against SARS-CoV-2 at a clinical microbiology laboratory. Comparing with results from PCR tests, we evaluated the rapid tests' performances in three arms; 1) 20 hospitalized patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19, 2) 23 recovered outpatients with former PCR-confirmed COVID-19, and 3) 49 participants with suspected COVID-19 presenting at a primary care emergency room. Results All eleven tests detected antibodies in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, though with varying sensitivities. In former outpatients recovered from COVID-19, there were differences between tests in the immunoglobulin type G (IgG) sensitivity, with five tests having a sensitivity below 65%. In participants with suspected COVID-19 infection, the rapid tests had very low sensitivities. Most rapid tests were easy to perform and interpret. Conclusions Rapid tests were not suited as stand-alone tests to detect present infection in a Norwegian primary care emergency room population. All the rapid tests were able to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, although sensitivities varied and were generally higher in the study arm of more severely affected participants. Rapid tests with high IgG sensitivity (and specificity) may be useful for confirmation of past infection. An independent evaluation should be performed in the intended population before introducing a rapid test.


title: Difficulties and strategies of public hospitals in their participation in the prevention and control of novel coronavirus pneumonia/ 中华医院管理杂志

text: Outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NC) across the country has seriously threatened people's lives and health, endangering smooth operation of the national economy and social stability. An all-out campaign to save the NCP patients and reduce their mortality is not only one of the key tasks to fight against the epidemic, but also a major responsibility and mission of public hospitals. In view of the field practice of Wuhan Union Hospital in the epicenter, the authorsDescribed the challenges faced by such hospitals in the prevention and control, summarized its experiences and proposed improvement measures, for reference of other public hospitals and relevant authorities.


title: H∞ Scaled Consensus for MASs With Mixed Time Delays and Disturbances via Observer-Based Output Feedback

text: In this article, the H∞ scaled consensus control problem for multiagent systems in the presence of external disturbances and mixed time delays in both input and Lipschitz nonlinearity is investigated. First, a state observer is introduced for each agent based on the output information of the agent. Then, a scaled consensus protocol is proposed via a truncated predictor output-feedback method, which can deal with the input delay. The integral terms with the mixed time delays that are contained in the transformed systems are analyzed by using the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals method, and sufficient conditions are obtained to achieve scaled consensus with guaranteed H∞ performance. An iterative procedure is utilized to calculate the linear matrix inequality. By this, the feedback gain and observer gain are then designed. Finally, a simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.


title: Reproduction matrix for an epidemic and lockdowns in a city

text: We consider an epidemic spreading in a city which is divided geographically into different districts. We introduce the reproduction matrix $\R=\bigl(R(i,j)\bigr)$ between districts, where $R(i,j)$ is the mean number of individuals in district $j$ infected by an individual from district $i$. We analyse policies of partial lockdowns of the city, that is of a set of districts, based on the study of matrix $\R$, where rows and columns corresponding to districts in lockdown are set to zero. This schema can also be applied to a country divided into regions or other appropriate units, provided the relevant information is available. We conclude by analyzing a matrix~$\R$ which was constructed for the spread of COVID-19 in Santiago, Chile, with the aid of an agent-based simulator for generating surrogate district data.


COVID-19 pandemic and vascular surgery unit


title: Simple, fast and affordable triaging pathway for COVID-19

text: Coronavirus disease 2019 has caused a global pandemic. The majority of patients will experience mild disease, but others will develop a severe respiratory infection that requires hospitalisation. This is causing a significant strain on health services. Patients are presenting at emergency departments with symptoms of dyspnoea, dry cough and fever with varying severity. The appropriate triaging of patients will assist in preventing health services becoming overwhelmed during the pandemic. This is assisted through clinical assessment and various imaging and laboratory investigations, including chest X-ray, blood analysis and identification of viral infection with SARS-CoV-2. Here, a succinct triaging pathway that aims to be fast, reliable and affordable is presented. The hope is that such a pathway will assist health services in appropriately combating the pandemic.


title: Characteristics of disease progress in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

text: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients were classified into four clinical stages (uncomplicated illness, mild, severe and critical pneumonia) depending on disease severity. We aim to investigate the corresponding clinical, radiological and laboratory characteristics between different clinical stages. A retrospective, single-centre study of 101 confirmed patients with COVID-19 at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from 2 January to 28 January 2020 was enrolled; follow-up endpoint was on 8 February 2020. Clinical data were collected and compared during the course of illness. The median age of the 101 patients was 51.0 years and 33.6% were medical staff. Fever (68%), cough (50%) and fatigue (23%) are the most common symptoms. About 26% patients underwent the mechanical ventilation and 98% patients were treated with antibiotics. Thirty-seven per cent patients were cured and 11 died. On admission, the number of patients with uncomplicated illness, mild, severe and critical pneumonia were 2 [2%], 86 [85%], 11 [11%] and 2 [2%]. Forty-four of the 86 mild pneumonia progressed to severe illness within 4 days, with nine patients worsened due to critical pneumonia within 4 days. Two of the 11 severe patients improved to mild condition while three others deteriorated. Significant differences were observed among groups of different clinical stages in numbers of influenced pulmonary segments (6 vs. 12 vs. 17, P < 0.001). A significantly upward trend was witnessed in ground-glass opacities overlapped with striped shadows (33% vs. 42% vs. 55% vs. 80%, P < 0.001), while pure ground-glass opacities gradually decreased as disease progressed (45% vs. 35% vs. 24% vs. 13%, P < 0.001) within 12 days. Lymphocytes, prealbumin and albumin showed a downtrend as disease progressed from mild to severe or critical condition, an uptrend was found in white blood cells, C-reactive protein, neutrophils and lactate dehydrogenase. The proportions of serum amyloid A > 300 mg/l in mild, severe and critical conditions were 18%, 46% and 71%, respectively.


An invited commentary on "The Surgeon and the COVID-19 pandemic"


COVID-19 in Care Home Settings


title: Rationale of a loading dose initiation for hydroxychloroquine treatment in COVID-19 infection in the DisCoVeRy trial

text: Around the world, several dose regimens of hydroxychloroquine have been used for COVID-19 infection treatment, with the objective of identifying a short-term course. Hydroxychloroquine was found to decrease the viral replication in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro and to be more active when added prior to the viral challenge. A loading dose is used to rapidly attain a target drug concentration, which is usually considered as approximately the steady-state concentration. With a loading dose, the minimum effective concentration is reached much more rapidly than when using only the maintenance dose from the start. Thus, we propose a hydroxychloroquine sulphate dose regimen of 400 mg twice daily at Day 1 then 400 mg once daily from Day 2 to Day 10. We aim to evaluate this in the C-20-15 DisCoVeRy trial.


title: Spatio-Temporal Resource Mapping for Intensive Care Units at Regional Level for COVID-19 Emergency in Italy

text: COVID-19 is a worldwide emergency since it has rapidly spread from China to almost all the countries worldwide. Italy has been one of the most affected countries after China. North Italian regions, such as Lombardia and Veneto, had an abnormally large number of cases. COVID-19 patients management requires availability of sufficiently large number of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) beds. Resources shortening is a critical issue when the number of COVID-19 severe cases are higher than the available resources. This is also the case at a regional scale. We analysed Italian data at regional level with the aim to: (i) support health and government decision-makers in gathering rapid and efficient decisions on increasing health structures capacities (in terms of ICU slots) and (ii) define a geographic model to plan emergency and future COVID-19 patients management using reallocating them among health structures. Finally, we retain that the here proposed model can be also used in other countries.


title: Continual BERT: Continual Learning for Adaptive Extractive Summarization of COVID-19 Literature

text: The scientific community continues to publish an overwhelming amount of new research related to COVID-19 on a daily basis, leading to much literature without little to no attention. To aid the community in understanding the rapidly flowing array of COVID-19 literature, we propose a novel BERT architecture that provides a brief yet original summarization of lengthy papers. The model continually learns on new data in online fashion while minimizing catastrophic forgetting, thus fitting to the need of the community. Benchmark and manual examination of its performance show that the model provide a sound summary of new scientific literature.


Could enhanced influenza and pneumococcal vaccination programs help limit the potential damage from SARS-CoV-2 to fragile health systems of southern hemisphere countries this winter?


title: Anticipating and Mitigating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias

text: The COVID-19 pandemic is causing global morbidity and mortality, straining health systems, and disrupting society, putting individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) at risk of significant harm. In this Special Article, we examine the current and expected impact of the pandemic on individuals with ADRD. We discuss and propose mitigation strategies for: the risk of COVID-19 infection and its associated morbidity and mortality for individuals with ADRD; the impact of COVID-19 on the diagnosis and clinical management of ADRD; consequences of societal responses to COVID-19 in different ADRD care settings; the effect of COVID-19 on caregivers and physicians of individuals with ADRD; mental hygiene, trauma, and stigma in the time of COVID-19; and the potential impact of COVID-19 on ADRD research. Amid considerable uncertainty, we may be able to prevent or reduce the harm of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences for individuals with ADRD and their caregivers.


Evaluation on different non-pharmaceutical interventions during COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of 139 countries


Novel Coronavirus and Old Lessons - Preparing the Health System for the Pandemic


title: Neuroimaging and neurologic findings in COVID-19 and other coronavirus infections: A systematic review in 116 patients

text: Various neurologic syndromes have been described in patients with COVID-19 and other coronavirus infections. In this paper, we systematically reviewed the available imaging findings of patients diagnosed with neurological symptoms associated with coronavirus infections. Diverse radiologic results in the context of different neurologic presentations have been demonstrated using CT and MRI. While many patients have normal imaging evaluations, some patients present with intra-axial and extra-axial abnormalities. Stroke (both ischemic and hemorrhagic), encephalomyelitis, meningitis, demyelinating disorders such as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and encephalopathy have been reported. Familiarity with these radiologic patterns will guide radiologists and referring clinicians to consider coronavirus infections in patients with worsening or progressive neurologic findings, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic. As data on this topic is very limited, further research and investigation are required.


title: Dual function of sialic acid in gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection

text: Recent analysis concerning the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)- angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) receptor interaction in enterocytes, the definition of gut-lung axis, as well as the molecular basis of sialic acid-related dual recognition concept in gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection, have brought a new perspective to potential therapeutic targets. In this review evolving research and clinical data on gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection are discussed in the context of viral fusion and entry mechanisms, focusing on the different triggers used by coronaviruses. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the viral spike protein is prevented from binding gangliosides, which are composed of a glycosphingolipid with one or more sialic acids, in the presence of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. In gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection the efficiency of these repositioned drugs is debated.


title: COVID-19 effect on phototherapy treatment utilization in dermatology

text: Background: At the end of 2019, an innovative coronavirus caused an outbreak of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, a city Hubei Province of China. Despite the direct effect on the routine of all life aspects, there are no clinical guidelines regarding phototherapy treatment during COVID-19 pandemic and as a result, phototherapies units continued to deliver this therapy for patients worldwide.Objective: We wish to explore the phototherapy utilization among dermatologic patients.Methods: We marked all patients that continue to arrive and being treated during COVID-19 pandemic.Results: From March more than 50% of patients stopped arriving to treatments due to the fear of COVID-19 infection.Conclusions: COVID-19 has a major implication on chronic dermatology treatments such as phototherapy.


title: A Comparison of Clinical and Chest CT Findings in Patients With Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

text: OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical and chest CT findings in patients with influenza A (H1N1) pneumonia and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty patients with diagnosed influenza A (H1N1) virus infection (group A) and 30 patients with diagnosed COVID-19 (group B) were retrospectively enrolled in the present study. The clinical characteristics and chest CT findings of the two groups were compared. RESULTS. Fever, cough, expectoration, and dyspnea were the main symptoms in both groups with viral pneumonia, with cough and expectoration more frequently found in group A. Lymphopenia, an elevated C-reactive protein level, and an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate were common laboratory test findings in the two groups. The median time from symptom onset to CT in group A and group B was 6 and 15 days, respectively, and the median total CT score of the pulmonary lobes involved was 6 and 13, respectively. Linear opacification, crazy-paving sign, vascular enlargement, were more common in group B. In contrast, bronchiectasis and pleural effusion were more common in group A. Other common CT features, including peripheral or peribronchovascular distribution, ground-glass opacities (GGOs), consolidation, subpleural line, air bronchogram, and bronchial distortion, did not show statistical significance. CONCLUSION. On CT, the significant differences between influenza A (H1N1) pneumonia and COVID-19 pneumonia were findings of linear opacification, crazy-paving sign, vascular enlargement, pleural thickening, and pleural effusion, which were more common in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, and bronchiectasis and pleural effusion, which were more common in patients with influenza A (H1N1) pneumonia. Other imaging findings, including peripheral or peribronchovascular distribution, ground-glass opacities (GGO), consolidation, subpleural line, air bronchogram, and bronchial distortion, were not significantly different between the two patient groups.


title: Brassinosteroids regulate root meristem development by mediating BIN2-UPB1 module in Arabidopsis

text: Plant steroid hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) regulate plant growth and development at many levels. While negative regulatory factors that inhibit development and are counteracted by BRs exist in the root meristem, these factors have not been characterized. The functions of UPB1 transcription factor in BR-regulated root growth have not been established, although its role in regulating root are well documented. Here, we found that BIN2 interacts with and phosphorylates the UPB1 transcription factor consequently promoting UPB1 stability and transcriptional activity. Genetic analysis revealed that UPB1 deficiency could partially recover the short-root phenotype of BR-deficient mutants. Expression of a mutated UPB1S37AS41A protein lacking a conserved BIN2 phosphorylation sites can rescue shorter root phenotype of bin2-1 mutant. In addition, UPB1 was repressed by BES1 at the transcriptional level. The paclobutrazol-resistant protein family (PRE2/3) interacts with UPB1 and inhibits its transcriptional activity to promote root meristem development, and BIN2-mediated phosphorylation of UPB1 suppresses its interaction with PRE2/3, and subsequently impairing root meristem development. Taken together, our data elucidate a molecular mechanism by which BR promotes root growth via inhibiting BIN2-UPB1 module.


Viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva from infected patients


title: COVID-19 is a challenge for dental education-A commentary

text: The COVID-19, which appeared to originate in China in December 2019, has spread worldwide pandemically. In this commentary, authors described this new challenge for dental education using the recent literature and experience gained in the Italian University of Catanzaro.


title: Medidas de contención de la violencia de género durante la pandemia de COVID-19./ [Measures to contain gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic]

text: Crises, emergencies and times of unrest have been linked to increased interpersonal violence, including violence against women. Following the declaration of alarm status and quarantine, different measures have been implemented to mitigate the possible effect of gender violence (Contingency Plan against Gender-Based Violence in Coronavirus Crisis or Royal Decree Law on Emergency Measures). This document reviews the measures adopted so far by the government of Spain, the autonomous governments and the initiatives formulated in different countries. In the absence of concrete economic measures to date, and the scenario of economic uncertainty, we conclude that it is not possible to prevent gender-based violence in a comprehensive way, without considering the increase in unemployment, temporary and instability employment, economic dependency or the overload of household chores and reproductive tasks, among other elements that facilitate it.


title: A combination of four serum miRNAs for screening of lung adenocarcinoma

text: Serum microRNAs (miRNAs), with their noticeable stability and unique expression pattern in patients with various diseases, are robust novel non-invasive biomarkers for cancer detection. The objective of this study was to identify specific serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers for screening lung adenocarcinoma. The study was divided into a screening phase, training phase, and validation phase. The expression of 46 serum miRNAs from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients and healthy controls (HCs) were examined in the screening phase. The expression of the most dysregulated miRNAs was further verified in training (30 LUAD vs. 30 HCs) and validation (82 LUAD vs. 90 HCs) phases. Seven serum miRNAs (miR-142-5p, miR-203a-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p, miR-150-5p, miR-486-5p and miR-146a-5p) in LUAD patients were significantly dysregulated compared to those in HCs. Their ability to diagnose lung cancer was also significant, with miR-142-5p (AUC = 0.743), miR-409-3p (AUC = 0.755), miR-223-3p (AUC = 0.828) and miR-146a-5p (AUC = 0.745) being more prominent. The combined use of these four could enhance diagnostic value (AUC = 0.933). Our findings define a distinct miRNA expression profile in the serum of LUAD patients. The four-miRNA panel (miR-142-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p and 146a-5p) may be considered as a novel, non-invasive biomarker for LUAD early detection.