title: Traffic Performance Score for Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Mobility

text: Measuring traffic performance is critical for public agencies who manage traffic and individuals who plan trips, especially when special events happen. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced almost every aspect of daily life, including urban traffic patterns. Thus, it is important to measure the impact of COVID-19 on transportation to further guide agencies and residents to properly respond to changes in traffic patterns. However, most existing traffic performance metrics incorporate only a single traffic parameter and measure only the performance of individual corridors. To overcome these challenges, in this study, a Traffic Performance Score (TPS) is proposed that incorporates multiple parameters for measuring network-wide traffic performance. An interactive web-based TPS platform that provides real-time and historical spatial-temporal traffic performance analysis is developed by the STAR Lab at the University of Washington. Based on data from this platform, this study analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on different road segments and the traffic network as a whole. Considering this pandemic has greatly reshaped social and economic operations, this study also evaluates how COVID-19 is changing the urban mobility from both travel demand and driving behavior perspectives.


When the Game Changes: Guidance to Adjust Sarcoidosis Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic


Imatinib might constitute a treatment option for lung involvement in COVID-19


Síndrome coronario agudo y shock en contexto de infección aguda por COVID-19./ [Acute coronary syndrome and shock in the context of acute COVID-19 infection]


COVID-19 in Africa


title: Impact of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) on training and well-being in subspecialty surgery: A national survey of cardiothoracic trainees in the United Kingdom

text: OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has overwhelmed health care systems and disrupted routine care internationally. Health care workers face disruption to their work routines and professional development, as well as an elevated risk of infection and morbidity. We sought to establish the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being, practice, and progression of all trainees in cardiothoracic surgery in the United Kingdom. METHODS: A 31-item questionnaire was designed, validated, and disseminated via e-mail and an instant-messaging platform. RESULTS: In total, 76 (of 118, 64%) cardiothoracic surgical trainees responded, representing all training grades and programs nationally; 48 (63%) and 24 (32%) were concerned about their physical and mental health, respectively, 25 (33%) had taken time off work due to COVID-19, 65 (86%) had treated patients with COVID-19, 36 of whom (55%) were wearing satisfactory personal protective equipment at the time, 41 (54%) remain concerned about personal protective equipment provision at their institution, 42 (55%) had been redeployed to cover other specialties, and 23 (30%) had encountered ethical dilemmas related to care of patients. There was a significant impact on time spent in outpatient clinics (44% reduction), multidisciplinary team meetings (79% reduction), and operating theaters (78% reduction). In total, 67 (88%) of respondents were concerned about the impact on their training, and 54 (71%) felt that the deviation may require an extension in their planned training time. CONCLUSIONS: The duration and impact of the current pandemic is, as yet, uncertain. Timely sharing of experiences, concerns, and expectations will inform health care and education policy and influence practice in the pandemic era and beyond.


title: A Patient with Acute Cervical Cord Injury and COVID-19: A First Case Report

text: During the pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is possible for rehabilitation physicians and personnel to take care of patients with concurrent spinal cord injury (SCI) and COVID-19. Here, we describe a case of acute cervical SCI resulting in complete tetraplegia C5 American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) A with unrecognized, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2) infection. This resulted in large-scale quarantines of related surgical and rehabilitation staff, and the unexpected death of the patient despite receiving the treatments according to the standard guideline. Rehabilitation personnel who take care of acute SCI patients with COVID-19 should consider the effect of SCI on the course of COVID-19, the effect of COVID-19 and its treatments on the course of SCI, and risks of SAR-CoV2 transmission between patients and rehabilitation staff, to continue providing safe and effective rehabilitation programs.


title: Erythema nodosum as a cutaneous manifestation of COVID-19 infection

text: Erythema nodosum (EN) is a common dermatological manifestation with many different aetiologies. Often however, the aetiology remains unidentified. We present here a 42-year-old male patient with an EN that is due to an acute COVID-19 infection. Most of the usual aetiologies were excluded by laboratory testing and imaging studies. This case is, to our knowledge, the first report of this cutaneous manifestation in the context of a COVID-19 infection. The EN was successfully treated with the disappearance of the COVID-19 infection and topical corticosteroids.


title: Predicting Infection of COVID-19 in Japan: State Space Modeling Approach

text: The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Japan has been increasing day by day and has had a serious impact on the society especially after the declaration of the state of emergency on April 7, 2020. This study analyzes the real time data from March 1 to April 22, 2020 by adopting a sophisticated statistical modeling tool based on the state space model combined with the well-known susceptible-exposed-infected (SIR) model. The model estimation and forecasting are conducted using the Bayesian methodology. The present study provides the parameter estimates of the unknown parameters that critically determine the epidemic process derived from the SIR model and prediction of the future transition of the infectious proportion including the size and timing of the epidemic peak with the prediction intervals that naturally accounts for the uncertainty. The prediction results under various scenarios reveals that the temporary reduction in the infection rate until the planned lifting of the state on May 6 will only delay the epidemic peak slightly. In order to minimize the spread of the epidemic, it is strongly suggested that an intervention is carried out for an extended period of time and that the government and individuals make a long term effort to reduce the infection rate even after the lifting.


Emergency measures for acute oral mucosa diseases during the outbreak of COVID-19


CLL and COVID-19 at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona: an interim report


A novel plan to deal with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 disease


title: SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: Status Report

text: SARS-CoV-2, the causal agent of COVID-19, first emerged in late 2019 in China. It has since infected more than 870,000 individuals and caused more than 43,000 deaths globally. Here, we discuss therapeutic and prophylactic interventions for SARS-CoV-2 with a focus on vaccine development and its challenges. Vaccines are being rapidly developed but will likely come too late to affect the first wave of a potential pandemic. Nevertheless, critical lessons can be learned for the development of vaccines against rapidly emerging viruses. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will be essential to reducing morbidity and mortality if the virus establishes itself in the population.


title: On Accelerated Testing for COVID-19 Using Group Testing

text: COVID-19 has resulted in a global health crisis that may become even more acute over the upcoming months. One of the main reasons behind the current rapid growth of COVID-19 in the U.S. population is the limited availability of testing kits and the relatively-high cost of screening tests. In this draft, we demonstrate the effectiveness of group testing (pooling) ideas to accelerate testing for COVID-19. This draft is semi-tutorial in nature and is written for a broad audience with interest in mathematical formulations relevant to COVID-19 testing. Therefore, ideas are presented through illustrative examples rather than through purely theoretical formulations. The focus is also on pools of size less than 64 such as what is practical with current RT-PCR technology.


title: Initial Clinical Impressions of the Critical Care of COVID-19 Patients in Seattle, New York City, and Chicago

text: Since the first recognition of a cluster of novel respiratory viral infections in China in late December 2019, intensivists in the United States have watched with growing concern as infections with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus-now named coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19)-have spread to hospitals in the United States. Because COVID-19 is extremely transmissible and can progress to a severe form of respiratory failure, the potential to overwhelm available critical care resources is high and critical care management of COVID-19 patients has been thrust into the spotlight. COVID-19 arrived in the United States in January and, as anticipated, has dramatically increased the usage of critical care resources. Three of the hardest-hit cities have been Seattle, New York City, and Chicago with a combined total of over 14,000 cases as of March 23, 2020.In this special article, we describe initial clinical impressions of critical care of COVID-19 in these areas, with attention to clinical presentation, laboratory values, organ system effects, treatment strategies, and resource management. We highlight clinical observations that align with or differ from already published reports. These impressions represent only the early empiric experience of the authors and are not intended to serve as recommendations or guidelines for practice, but rather as a starting point for intensivists preparing to address COVID-19 when it arrives in their community.


Preventing Frailty Progression during the COVID-19 Pandemic


Message from the Editor: Stem Cell Science in the Time of COVID-19


title: The role of children in transmission of SARS-CoV-2: A rapid review

text: Background: Understanding the role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is urgently required given its policy implications in relation to the reopening of schools and intergenerational contacts. Methods: We conducted a rapid review of studies that investigated the role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We synthesized evidence for four categories: 1) studies reporting documented cases of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by infected children; 2) studies presenting indirect evidence on the potential of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) children; 3) studies reporting cluster outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools; 4) studies estimating the proportions of children infected by SARS-CoV-2, and reported results narratively. Results: A total of 16 unique studies were included for narrative synthesis. There is limited evidence detailing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from infected children. We found two studies that reported a 3-month-old whose parents developed symptomatic COVID-19 seven days after caring for the infant and two children who may have contracted COVID-19 from the initial cases at a school in New South Wales. In addition, we identified six studies presenting indirect evidence on the potential for SARS-CoV-2 transmission by children, three of which found prolonged virus shedding in stools. There is little data on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools. We identified only two studies reporting outbreaks of COVID-19 in school settings and one case report of a child attending classes but not infecting any other pupils or staff. Lastly, we identified six studies estimating the proportion of children infected; data from population-based studies in Iceland, Italy, South Korea, Netherlands, California and a hospital-based study in the UK suggest children may be less likely to be infected. Conclusions: Preliminary results from population-based and school-based studies suggest that children may be less frequently infected or infect others, however current evidence is limited. Prolonged faecal shedding observed in studies highlights the potentially increased risk of faeco-oral transmission in children. Further seroprevalence studies (powered adequately for the paediatric population) are urgently required to establish whether children are in fact less likely to be infected compared to adults. Note: We plan to update this rapid review as new data becomes available. These updates are available at https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/uncover/completed-uncover-reviews.


"COVID-19 and Obesity: Postoperative Risk in Patients Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery. Preliminary Report from High Volume Center in Italy (Lombardy)"


Domestic violence in the COVID-19 pandemic: a forensic psychiatric perspective


Diversifying medical school education to represent BAME backgrounds


Empowering global mental health in the time of Covid19


Managing the R0 of COVID-19: mathematics fights back


title: Detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA in conjunctival secretions: Is it a valuable diagnostic method of COVID-19?

text: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the presence of viral RNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in conjunctival swab specimen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with and without conjunctivitis to establish the diagnostic value of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in each case and to describe its clinical characteristics. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Hospital Clinico San Carlos of Madrid, Spain. Thirty-six subjects from the COVID admission unit with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Conjunctival swabs were collected from 18 patients with conjunctivitis and 18 patients without conjunctivitis and RT-PCR was performed. Conjunctival swab was collected from both eyes of 36 patients (72 eyes), detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA in conjunctival swab of two patients (5.5%). Among the 18 patients with conjunctivitis, only one of them (5.5%) showed positive results. Likewise, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in one patient without conjunctivitis (5.5%). The mean age of the 36 patients was 67.9 years (range, 28-92 years) and the male-to-female ratio was 0.44 (16:20). The mean days since the onset of COVID-19 symptoms until conjunctivitis manifestation was 8 (range, 1-24 days). The mean duration of the conjunctivitis was 3 days (range, 1-7 days). SARS-CoV-2 RNA may be detected in conjunctival swabs of both patients with and without conjunctivitis. This study revealed the same rate of positive results amongst the group with and without conjunctivitis, suggesting that detecting SARS-CoV-2 in ocular fluids is not conditioned on the presence of conjunctivitis. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in ocular samples highlights the role of the eye as a possible route of transmission of the disease.


Pancreatic involvement in SARS-CoV-2: case report and living review


title: Clinical management of COVID-19

text: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with its early origin from Wuhan city in China has evolved into a global pandemic. Maximal precautionary measures and resources have been put forward by most nations in war footing to mitigate transmission and decrease fatality rates. This article was aimed to review the evidence on clinical management and to deal with the identification of high-risk groups, warning signs, appropriate investigations, proper sample collection for confirmation, general and specific treatment measures, strategies as well as infection control in the healthcare settings. Advanced age, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and cancer have been found to be the risk factors for severe disease. Fever lasting for >five days with tachypnoea, tachycardia or hypotension are indications for urgent attention and hospitalization in a patient with suspected COVID-19. At present, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from the upper respiratory tract samples is the diagnostic test of choice. While many drugs have shown in vitro activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there are insufficient clinical data to promote or dissuade their usage. Among the currently available drugs, hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir may be considered for patients with severe COVID-19 infection, awaiting further clinical trials. Stringent droplet and contact precautions will protect healthcare workers against most clinical exposures to COVID-19.


title: Clinical Characterization of 162 COVID-19 patients in Israel: Preliminary Report from a Large Tertiary Center

text: BACKGROUND: In February 2020, the World Health Organisation designated the name COVID-19 for a clinical condition caused by a virus identified as a cause for a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. The virus subsequently spread worldwide, causing havoc to medical systems and paralyzing global economies. The first COVID-19 patient in Israel was diagnosed on 27 February 2020. OBJECTIVES: To present our findings and experiences as the first and largest center for COVID-19 patients in Israel. METHODS: The current analysis included all COVID-19 patients treated in Sheba Medical Center from February 2020 to April 2020. Clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological data gathered during their hospitalization are presented. RESULTS: Our 162 patient cohort included mostly adult (mean age of 52 ± 20 years) males (65%). Patients classified as severe COVID-19 were significantly older and had higher prevalence of arterial hypertension and diabetes. They also had significantly higher white blood cell counts, absolute neutrophil counts, and lactate dehydrogenase. Low folic acid blood levels were more common amongst severe patients (18.2 vs. 12.9 vs. 9.8, P = 0.014). The rate of immune compromised patients (12%) in our cohort was also higher than in the general population. The rate of deterioration from moderate to severe disease was high: 9% necessitated non-invasive oxygenation and 15% were intubated and mechanically ventilated. The mortality rate was 3.1. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 patients present a challenge for healthcare professionals and the whole medical system. We hope our findings will assist other providers and institutions in their care for these patients.


title: ADL-dependency, D-Dimers, LDH and absence of anticoagulation are independently associated with one-month mortality in older inpatients with Covid-19

text: BACKGROUND: To assess factors associated with one-month mortality among older inpatients with Covid-19. RESULTS: The mean age was 78 ± 7.8 years, 55.5% were men, CT scan lung damage was observed in 76% of the patients (mild 23%, moderate 38%, extensive 22%, and severe 7%). The mortality rate was 26%. Dependency/Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score ≤ 5/6, D-Dimers, LDH, and no anticoagulation by reference for curative were independently associated with one-month mortality. A score derived from the multivariate model showed good calibration and very good discrimination (Harrell's C index [95%CI] = 0.83 [0.79-0.87]). CONCLUSION: ADL-dependency, high serum levels of D-Dimers and LDH and the absence of anticoagulation were independently associated with one-month mortality among older inpatients with Covid-19. METHODS: 108 consecutive older inpatients aged 65 and over with Covid-19 confirmed by RT-PCR and/or typical CT chest scan were prospectively included in a French single-centre cohort study from March to April 2020. A systematic geriatric assessment was performed. Covariates were lymphocyte count, serum levels of albumin, C-Reactive Protein, D-Dimers and Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), anticoagulation level, and exposure to the hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combined therapy. Cox uni- and multivariate proportional-hazard regressions were performed to identify predictors of one-month mortality.


title: "We're Not Ready, But I Don't Think You're Ever Ready." Clinician Perspectives on Implementation of Crisis Standards of Care

text: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted health care systems' vulnerabilities. Hospitals face increasing risk of periods of scarcity of life-sustaining resources such as ventilators for mechanical respiratory support, as has been the case in Italy as of March, 2020. The National Academy of Medicine has provided guidance on crisis standards of care, which call for the reallocation of scarce medical resources to those who will benefit most during extreme situations. Given that this will require a departure from the usual fiduciary duty of the bedside clinician, we determined and mapped potential barriers to the implementation of the guidelines from stakeholders using an implementation science framework. Methods: A protocol was created to operationalize national and state guidelines for triaging ventilators during crisis conditions. Focus groups and key informant interviews were conducted from July-September 2018 with clinicians at three acute care hospitals of an urban academic medical center. Respiratory therapists, intensivists, nursing leadership and the palliative care interdisciplinary team participated in focus groups. Key informant interviews were conducted with emergency management, respiratory therapy and emergency medicine. Subjects were presented the protocol and their reflections were elicited using a semi-structured interview guide. Data from transcripts and notes were categorized using a coding strategy based on the Theoretical Domains Framework. Results: Participants anticipated that implementing this protocol would challenge their roles and identities as clinicians including both their fiduciary duty to the patient and their decision-making autonomy. Despite this, many participants acknowledged the need for such a protocol to standardize care and minimize bias as well as to mitigate potential consequences for individual clinicians. Participants identified the question of considering patient quality of life in triage decisions as an important and unresolved ethical issue in disaster triage. Conclusion: Clinicians' discomfort with shifting roles and obligations could pose implementation barriers for crisis standards of care.


Responding to health emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean region in times of conflict


Infección por coronavirus (COVID-19) en Anales de Pediatría./ [Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in Anales de Pediatría]


title: Analysis of a SARS-CoV-2-Infected Individual Reveals Development of Potent Neutralizing Antibodies with Limited Somatic Mutation

text: Antibody responses develop following SARS-CoV-2 infection, but little is known about their epitope specificities, clonality, binding affinities, epitopes, and neutralizing activity. We isolated B cells specific for the SARS-CoV-2 envelope glycoprotein spike (S) from a COVID-19-infected subject 21 days after the onset of clinical disease. 45 S-specific monoclonal antibodies were generated. They had undergone minimal somatic mutation with limited clonal expansion, and three bound the receptor-binding domain (RBD). Two antibodies neutralized SARS-CoV-2. The most potent antibody bound the RBD and prevented binding to the ACE2 receptor, while the other bound outside the RBD. Thus, most anti-S antibodies that were generated in this patient during the first weeks of COVID-19 infection were non-neutralizing and target epitopes outside the RBD. Antibodies that disrupt the SARS-CoV-2 S-ACE2 interaction can potently neutralize the virus without undergoing extensive maturation. Such antibodies have potential preventive and/or therapeutic potential and can serve as templates for vaccine design.


title: Les grands exclus face à la pandémie

text: Faced with the corona virus pandemic, those leaving in total exclusion of our modern societies express various needs other than food: needs of reference points, communication, care and recognition of human dignity. It is our responsibility to consider these needs as essential.


title: Information Sharing in the School Setting During a Public Health Emergency

text: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is the federal law that protects the privacy of personally identifiable information from student education records and applies to all education entities that receive funding under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is the federal law that establishes privacy requirements for patients' protected health information. Together these privacy laws establish rules that guide school nurses in the sharing of student information, even in times of public health emergencies. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have issued special updates to privacy laws in response to the Novel Coronavirus Disease providing certain waivers of typical privacy requirements and direction to allow the sharing of information during this public health emergency. The purpose of this article is to briefly review the privacy laws as they relate to schools, as well as to provide an overview of the recent waivers to assist school nurses, school administrators, healthcare professionals, and public health agencies in protecting the health and safety of students during this current public health emergency.


title: [The preliminary analysis on the characteristics of the cluster for the COVID-19]

text: Since December 2019, COVID-19, a new emerging infection disease, has spread in 27 countries and regions. The clusters of many cases were reported with the epidemic progresses. We collected currently available information for 377 COVID-19 clusters (1 719 cases), excluded the hospital clusters and Hubei cases, during the period from January 1 to February 20, 2020. There were 297 family clusters (79%), case median was 4; 39 clusters of dining (10%), case median was 5; 23 clusters of shopping malls or supermarkets (6%), case median was 13; 12 clusters of work units (3%), case median was 6, and 6 clusters of transportation. We selected 325 cases to estimate the incubation period and its range was 1 to 20 days, median was 7 days, and mode was 4 days. The analysis of the epidemic situation in a department store in China indicated that there was a possibility of patients as the source of infection during the incubation period of the epidemic. From February 5 to 21, 2020, 634 persons were infected on the Diamond Princess Liner. All persons are susceptible to the 2019 coronavirus. Age, patients during the incubation period and the worse environment might be the cause of the cases rising. The progress of the two typical outbreaks clearly demonstrated the spread of the early cases in Wuhan. In conclusion, screening and isolating close contacts remained essential other than clinical treatment during the epidemic. Especially for the healthy people in the epidemic area, isolation was the key.


Thoughts during a COVID nightmare


Favorable outcome after COVID-19 infection in a multiple sclerosis patient initiated on ocrelizumab during the pandemic


A message from the trench: A day in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic


Stress-induced cardiac arrest with mitral annulus disjunction in a physician amid the COVID-19 pandemic fight


title: Interrupting COVID-19 transmission by implementing enhanced traffic control bundling: Implications for global prevention and control efforts

text: We argue that enhanced Traffic Control Bundling (eTCB) can interrupt the community-hospital-community transmission cycle, thereby limiting COVID-19's impact. Enhanced TCB is an expansion of the traditional TCB that proved highly effective during Taiwan's 2003 SARS outbreak. TCB's success derived from ensuring that Health Care Workers (HCWs) and patients were protected from fomite, contact and droplet transmission within hospitals. Although TCB proved successful during SARS, achieving a similar level of success with the COVID-19 outbreak requires adapting TCB to the unique manifestations of this new disease. These manifestations include asymptomatic infection, a hyper-affinity to ACE2 receptors resulting in high transmissibility, false negatives, and an incubation period of up to 22 days. Enhanced TCB incorporates the necessary adaptations. In particular, eTCB includes expanding the TCB transition zone to incorporate a new sector - the quarantine ward. This ward houses patients exhibiting atypical manifestations or awaiting definitive diagnosis. A second adaptation involves enhancing the checkpoint hand disinfection and gowning up with Personal Protective Equipment deployed in traditional TCB. Under eTCB, checkpoint hand disinfection and donning of face masks are now required of all visitors who seek to enter hospitals. These enhancements ensure that transmissions by droplets, fomites and contact are disrupted both within hospitals and between hospitals and the broader community. Evidencing eTCB effectiveness is Taiwan's success to date in containing and controlling the community-hospital-community transmission cycle.


Nasal endoscopy protocols in the era of COVID-19


Perspectives on the recommendations for skin cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic


Add to your learning experience as a histopathology professional: dealing with the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic and publications in this issue


Covid-19: Delaying school reopening by two weeks would halve risks to children, says iSAGE


Prescribing COVID-19 treatments: what we should never forget


Phenomenology and outcomes of in-patients with Parkinson's disease during COVID-19 pandemic


title: Donación de órganos y trasplante en la era COVID-19: ¿Realmente se deben parar los programas?

text: Durante los primeros meses de la pandemia por SARS-CoV 2 (Coronavirus 2 del Síndrome Respiratorio Agudo y Grave), el agente etiológico de la Enfermedad Infecciosa por Coronavirus de 2019 (COVID-19), la actividad de donación y trasplante de órganos en todo el mundo se ha visto claramente afectada Las principales razones que en este momento motivan el cese parcial o total de los trasplantes son: 1) la carga asistencial que genera el manejo de un potencial donante en la Unidad de Cuidado Intensivo (UCI), 2) el alto riesgo de contagio entre donante y receptor, 3) el riesgo de inmunosuprimir a un paciente en medio de la pandemia y 4) la escasez de camas de UCI A pesar de que el mundo está enfrentando a una enfermedad emergente que merece especial atención, al mismo tiempo continúan prevaleciendo las complicaciones asociadas a las demás enfermedades, incluyendo las complicaciones de patologías crónicas en estado terminal La decisión de continuar con los programas de trasplante se debe basar en el comportamiento local del virus y en la capacidad asistencial de cada una de las instituciones En Colombia, el comportamiento epidemiológico del SARS-CoV 2 varía significativamente entre las diferentes regionales, permitiendo a las instituciones que hasta el momento presentan poca carga de atención del COVID-19 retomar sus actividades de trasplante De esta manera se propone un balance entre mantener las medidas de prevención y atención del COVID-19 y continuar ofreciendo los servicios de trasplante, principalmente a los pacientes con alto riesgo de morbi-mortalidad en lista de esperaThe SARS-CoV2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromerelated to Coronavirus 2) pandemic, which is the etiological agent of the Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19), organ donation and transplantation activity throughout the world has been clearly affected The main reasons that currently motivate the partial or total cessation of transplants are: 1) the burden of care burden generated by the management of a potential donor in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 2) the high risk of donor/recipient viral transmission, 3) the risk of using immuno-suppressing a patient in the midst of the pandemic, and 4) the shortage of ICU beds Despite the fact that the world is facing an emerging disease that deserves special attention, at the same time the complications associated with other diseases continue to prevail, including complications of end-stage chronic diseases The decision to continue with the transplant programs should be based on the local behavior of the virus and the healthcare capacity of each of the institutions In Colombia, the epidemiological behavior of SARS-CoV2 varies significantly between different regions, allowing institutions that, until now, have little burden of attention from COVID-19, to resume their transplant activities In this way, a balance is proposed between maintaining the prevention and care measures of COVID-19 and continuing to offer transplant services mainly to patients with a high risk of morbidity and mortality on the waiting list


title: Genomic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of SARS-COV-2 in Italy

text: This report describes the isolation, molecular characterization, and phylogenetic analysis of the first three complete genomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) isolated from three patients involved in the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Lombardy, Italy. Early molecular epidemiological tracing suggests that SARS-CoV-2 was present in Italy weeks before the first reported cases of infection.


Preparedness and proactive infection control measures of Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak


title: "Masking" our emotions: Botulinum toxin, facial expression, and well-being in the age of COVID-19

text: BACKGROUND: The globally devastating effects of COVID-19 breach not only the realm of public health, but of psychosocial interaction and communication as well, particularly with the advent of mask-wearing. METHODS: A review of the literature and understanding of facial anatomy and expressions as well as the effect of botulinum toxin on emotions and nonverbal communication. RESULTS: Today, the mask has become a semi-permanent accessory to the face, blocking our ability to express and perceive each other's facial expressions by dividing it into a visible top half and invisible bottom half. This significantly restricts our ability to accurately interpret emotions based on facial expressions and strengthens our perceptions of negative emotions produced by frowning. The addition of botulinum toxin (BTX)-induced facial muscle paralysis to target the muscles of the top (visible) half of the face, especially the corrugator and procerus muscles, may act as a therapeutic solution by its suppression of glabellar lines and our ability to frown. The treatment of the glabella complex not only has been shown to inhibit the negative emotions of the treated individual but also can reduce the negative emotions in those who come in contact with the treated individual. CONCLUSIONS: Mask-wearing in the wake of COVID-19 brings new challenges to our ability to communicate and perceive emotion through full facial expression, our most effective and universally shared form of communication, and BTX may offer a positive solution to decrease negative emotions and promote well-being for both the mask-wearer and all who come in contact with that individual.


title: "Masking" our Emotions: Botulinum Toxin, Facial Expression and Well-Being in the Age of COVID-19

text: The globally devastating effects of COVID-19 breach not only the realm of public health, but of psychosocial interaction and communication as well, particularly with the advent of mask-wearing. Today, the mask has become a semi-permanent accessory to the face, blocking our ability to express and perceive each other's facial expressions by dividing it into a visible top-half and invisible bottom-half. This significantly restricts our ability to accurately interpret emotions based on facial expressions and strengthens our perceptions of negative emotions produced by frowning. The addition of botulinum toxin (BTX) induced facial muscle paralysis to target the muscles of the top (visible) half of the face, especially the corrugator and procerus muscles, may act as a therapeutic solution by its suppression of glabellar lines and our ability to frown. The treatment of the glabella complex not only has been shown to inhibit the negative emotions of the treated individual but also can reduce the negative in those who come in contact with the treated individual. Mask-wearing in the wake of COVID-19 brings new challenges to our ability to communicate and perceive emotion through full facial expression, our most effective and universally-shared form of communication, and BTX may offer a positive solution to decrease negative emotions and promote well-being for both the mask wearer as well as all who come in contact with that individual.


Hydroxychloroquine: small effects in mild disease


title: Identification and validation of a novel clinical signature to predict the prognosis in confirmed COVID-19 patients

text: BACKGROUND: This study aims to identify a prognostic biomarker to predict the disease prognosis and reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19, which has caused a worldwide pandemic. METHODS: COVID-19 patients were randomly divided into training and test groups. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify the disease prognosis signature, which was selected to establish a risk model in the training group. Furthermore, the disease prognosis signature of COVID-19 was validated in the test group. RESULTS: The signature of COVID-19 was combined with five indicators, namely neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, procalcitonin, older age, and C-reactive protein. The signature stratified patients into high- and low-risk groups with significantly relevant disease prognosis (log-rank test, P<0.001) in the training group. The survival analysis indicated that the high-risk group displayed substantially lower survival probability than the low-risk group (log-rank test P<0.001). The area under ROC curve (AUC) showed that the signature of COVID-19 displayed the highest predictive accuracy regarding disease prognosis, which was 0.955 in the training group and 0.945 in the test group. The ROC analysis of both groups demonstrated that the predictive ability of the signature surpassed the use of each of the five indicators alone. CONCLUSION: The signature of COVID-19 presents a novel predictor and prognostic biomarker for closely monitoring patients and providing timely treatment for those who are severely or critically ill.


title: Seroprävalenz und SARS-CoV-2-Testung in Gesundheitsberufen./ [Seroprevalence and SARS-CoV-2 testing in healthcare occupations]

text: The SARS-CoV2 causes a disease spectrum that includes asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic infections with subclinical manifestations but which can nevertheless still be potentially contagious. Evidence from SARS-CoV2 infected macaque monkeys and from studies with seasonal coronaviruses suggests that the infection is likely to produce an immunity that is protective for a certain period of time. Available test methods enable a high degree of reliability, e.g. if high-quality serological methods are combined. Although individual test results have to be interpreted with caution, serosurveillance in a tertiary eye care center and large eye research institute can reduce anxiety and provide clarity regarding the actual number of (unreported) SARS-CoV2 infections.


Study on the cleaning effect of medical protective positive pressure air supply respirator during COVID-19


title: Reducing dexamethasone antiemetic prophylaxis during the COVID-19 pandemic: recommendations from Ontario, Canada

text: PURPOSE: People with cancer face an elevated risk of infection and severe sequelae from COVID-19. Dexamethasone is commonly used for antiemetic prophylaxis with systemic therapy for cancer. However, dexamethasone is associated with increased risk of viral and respiratory infections, and causes lymphopenia, which is associated with worse outcomes during COVID-19 infections. Our purpose was to minimize dexamethasone exposure during antiemetic prophylaxis for systemic therapy for solid tumors during the COVID-19 pandemic, while maintaining control of nausea and emesis. METHODS: We convened an expert panel to systematically review the literature and formulate consensus recommendations. RESULTS: No studies considered the impact of dexamethasone-based antiemetic regimens on the risk and severity of COVID-19 infection. Expert consensus recommended modifications to the 2019 Cancer Care Ontario Antiemetic Recommendations. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should prescribe the minimally effective dose of dexamethasone for antiemetic prophylaxis. Single-day dexamethasone dosing is recommended over multi-day dosing for regimens with high emetogenic risk excluding high-dose cisplatin, preferably in combination with palonosetron, netupitant, and olanzapine. For regimens with low emetogenic risk, 5-HT3 antagonists are recommended over dexamethasone.


Experiences and lesson strategies for cardiology from the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, by 'on the scene' cardiologists


Novel coronavirus: Australian GPs raise concerns about shortage of face masks


Clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms


Parálisis facial periférica aislada en un paciente con COVID-19./ [Isolated peripheral facial paralysis in a patient with COVID-19]


title: SARS-CoV-2 nsp13, nsp14, nsp15 and orf6 function as potent interferon antagonists

text: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, is now causing a tremendous global health concern. Since its first appearance in December 2019, the outbreak has already caused over 5.8 million infections worldwide (till 29 May 2020), with more than 0.35 million deaths. Early virus-mediated immune suppression is believed to be one of the unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection and contributes at least partially to the viral pathogenesis. In this study, we identified the key viral interferon antagonists of SARS-CoV-2 and compared them with two well-characterized SARS-CoV interferon antagonists, PLpro and orf6. Here we demonstrated that the SARS-CoV-2 nsp13, nsp14, nsp15 and orf6, but not the unique orf8, could potently suppress primary interferon production and interferon signalling. Although SARS-CoV PLpro has been well-characterized for its potent interferon-antagonizing, deubiquitinase and protease activities, SARS-CoV-2 PLpro, despite sharing high amino acid sequence similarity with SARS-CoV, loses both interferon-antagonising and deubiquitinase activities. Among the 27 viral proteins, SARS-CoV-2 orf6 demonstrated the strongest suppression on both primary interferon production and interferon signalling. Orf6-deleted SARS-CoV-2 may be considered for the development of intranasal live-but-attenuated vaccine against COVID-19.


title: Statistical Explorations and Univariate Timeseries Analysis on COVID-19 Datasets to Understand the Trend of Disease Spreading and Death

text: "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)", the novel coronavirus, is responsible for the ongoing worldwide pandemic. "World Health Organization (WHO)" assigned an "International Classification of Diseases (ICD)" code-"COVID-19"-as the name of the new disease. Coronaviruses are generally transferred by people and many diverse species of animals, including birds and mammals such as cattle, camels, cats, and bats. Infrequently, the coronavirus can be transferred from animals to humans, and then propagate among people, such as with "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV)", "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV)", and now with this new virus, namely "SARS-CoV-2", or human coronavirus. Its rapid spreading has sent billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope up. The COVID-19 outbreak comes along with an exponential growth of new infections, as well as a growing death count. A major goal to limit the further exponential spreading is to slow down the transmission rate, which is denoted by a "spread factor (f)", and we proposed an algorithm in this study for analyzing the same. This paper addresses the potential of data science to assess the risk factors correlated with COVID-19, after analyzing existing datasets available in "ourworldindata.org (Oxford University database)", and newly simulated datasets, following the analysis of different univariate "Long Short Term Memory (LSTM)" models for forecasting new cases and resulting deaths. The result shows that vanilla, stacked, and bidirectional LSTM models outperformed multilayer LSTM models. Besides, we discuss the findings related to the statistical analysis on simulated datasets. For correlation analysis, we included features, such as external temperature, rainfall, sunshine, population, infected cases, death, country, population, area, and population density of the past three months - January, February, and March in 2020. For univariate timeseries forecasting using LSTM, we used datasets from 1 January 2020, to 22 April 2020.


Community-Based Epidemic Prevention in Taiwan: Combating the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Crisis


Clozapine treated patients and COVID-19: Ensuring continued care through collaboration


Evolution of COVID-19 infection in four psoriatic patients treated with biological drugs


title: Effect of Environmental Conditions on SARS-CoV-2 Stability in Human Nasal Mucus and Sputum

text: We found that environmental conditions affect the stability of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in nasal mucus and sputum. The virus is more stable at low-temperature and low-humidity conditions, whereas warmer temperature and higher humidity shortened half-life. Although infectious virus was undetectable after 48 hours, viral RNA remained detectable for 7 days.


title: Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Secreting Staphylococcus aureus Pneumonia Complicating COVID-19

text: Necrotizing pneumonia induced by Panton-Valentine leukocidin-secreting Staphylococcus aureus is a rare but life-threatening infection that has been described in patients after they had influenza. We report a fatal case of this superinfection in a young adult who had coronavirus disease.


Biologics for psoriasis in COVID-19 era: What do we know?


The COVID-19 outbreak and rheumatologic skin diseases


title: Exploration on the emergency support mode of hospital medical supplies under the epidemic of NCP/ 中华医院管理杂志

text: Since the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia(NCP), hospitals have taken the fight against the virus as its own responsibility, and keep standing in the front line of epidemic prevention and control. The continuous input of anti-epidemic forces in hospitals also brings challenges to the medical supplies support, including the management of protective supplies and the maintenance of medical equipment. In the face of increasing security pressure, the medical materials support team broke the game on multiple fronts. Firstly, the team implements active material procurement strategy, sets material distribution priority according to risk level, releases materials uniformly based on stock and use, and implements traceability management of donated materials to ensure material supply. Secondly, centralized allocation management of equipment, emergency installation, advanced maintenance and emergency maintenance work is effectively completed. Thirdly, disinfection strategies for items and equipment are developed safely and effectively with the aid of disinfection equipment functions. At last, personnel management and training have been strengthened. These measures have provided strong support for the orderly prevention and control of the epidemic.


The COVID-19 information pandemic: how have we managed the surge?


title: New EEG parameters correlated with sevoflurane concentration in dogs: tau and burst

text: Background: Electroencephalographic (EEG) indicators for anaesthesia depth are being developed. Here, we propose novel EEG parameters created by using two kinds of waveforms discriminated by voltage thresholds from a new perspective. Methods: Six young-adult beagles and 6 senior beagles were anaesthetised with end-tidal sevoflurane (SEV) of 2.0%-4.0% in 0.5% intervals, and 2-channel EEG (256 Hz) was recorded. Two events were discriminated: a consecutive part ({\tau}) with a peak-to-peak potential difference (Vpp) within 1-6, 8, 12, or 20 mcrV, and another part (burst) with Vpp outside the threshold. Number of {\tau} (N{\tau}), mean {\tau} duration (M{\tau}), total percentage of {\tau} (SR{\tau}), mean burst duration (Mbst), and amplitude of burst (Abst) were evaluated as anaesthesia depth indicators using Pearsons correlation coefficients (r). Results: When Vpp was near the suppression wave threshold, N{\tau} had the highest correlation with SEV in both groups. As SEV was increased until onset of burst suppression, N{\tau} decreased, M{\tau} remained unchanged, and Mbst and Abst increased. In the young-adult group, mean |r| exceeded 0.95 for N{\tau} with Vpp of 4-6 mcrV, for Mbst with Vpp of 8-12 mcrV, and for Abst with Vpp of 4-12 mcrV. In the senior group, r exceeded 0.90 for N{\tau} with Vpp of 4 mcrV and for Abst with Vpp of 5-12 mcrV. Conclusion: We developed new EEG parameters that were almost perfectly correlated with volatile anaesthetic concentrations using traditional bipolar recording. This study suggests that the effect of anaesthetics on EEG can be investigated from two directions: pacemaker ({\tau}) and generator (burst).


Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV): Lessons of uncertainty and globalization


Adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and opportunities of frontline colorectal cancer teams in the UK


title: An Evasion Attack against ML-based Phishing URL Detectors

text: Background: Over the year, Machine Learning Phishing URL classification (MLPU) systems have gained tremendous popularity to detect phishing URLs proactively. Despite this vogue, the security vulnerabilities of MLPUs remain mostly unknown. Aim: To address this concern, we conduct a study to understand the test time security vulnerabilities of the state-of-the-art MLPU systems, aiming at providing guidelines for the future development of these systems. Method: In this paper, we propose an evasion attack framework against MLPU systems. To achieve this, we first develop an algorithm to generate adversarial phishing URLs. We then reproduce 41 MLPU systems and record their baseline performance. Finally, we simulate an evasion attack to evaluate these MLPU systems against our generated adversarial URLs. Results: In comparison to previous works, our attack is: (i) effective as it evades all the models with an average success rate of 66% and 85% for famous (such as Netflix, Google) and less popular phishing targets (e.g., Wish, JBHIFI, Officeworks) respectively; (ii) realistic as it requires only 23ms to produce a new adversarial URL variant that is available for registration with a median cost of only $11.99/year. We also found that popular online services such as Google SafeBrowsing and VirusTotal are unable to detect these URLs. (iii) We find that Adversarial training (successful defence against evasion attack) does not significantly improve the robustness of these systems as it decreases the success rate of our attack by only 6% on average for all the models. (iv) Further, we identify the security vulnerabilities of the considered MLPU systems. Our findings lead to promising directions for future research. Conclusion: Our study not only illustrate vulnerabilities in MLPU systems but also highlights implications for future study towards assessing and improving these systems.


Collateral consequences of COVID-19 epidemic in Greater Paris


title: Preying on Public Fears and Anxieties in a Pandemic: Businesses Selling Unproven and Unlicensed "Stem Cell Treatments" for COVID-19

text: In the midst of a global public health emergency, some businesses are taking advantage of widespread fears by marketing purported stem cell treatments for COVID-19. Such businesses target prospective clients with misleading claims, expose patients to potentially risky stem cell-based products, and undermine efforts to develop evidence-based treatments for COVID-19.


title: 'Policing' a pandemic: Garda wellbeing and COVID-19

text: In response to the global pandemic COVID-19, the Irish government has called upon the Garda Síochána to implement an unparalleled mode of policing to mitigate and contain the spread of the Coronavirus. Studies investigating smaller scale epidemics, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), indicate that staff at the frontlines of an outbreak are exposed to an insuperable amount of stress and experience increased psychological morbidities as a result. Furthermore, research not only indicates that heighted levels of psychological distress are an occupational hazard associated with the law enforcement profession, but that members of the Garda Síochána feel their mental health needs are largely unmet by their organisation. Given the pandemic's propensity to expose officers to indeterminate echelons of physical and psychological threat; there has never been a more appropriate time to explore the potential burdens associated with 'policing' a pandemic, question the governments capacity to address the psychological support needs of frontline professionals, and plan future research for best practice.


title: Comparative computational analysis of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein epitopes in taxonomically related coronaviruses

text: Several research lines are currently ongoing to address the multitude of facets of the pandemic COVID-19. In line with the One-Health concept, extending the target of the studies to the animals which humans are continuously interacting with may favor a better understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 biology and pathogenetic mechanisms; thus, helping to adopt the most suitable containment measures. The last two decades have already faced severe manifestations of the coronavirus infection in both humans and animals, thus, circulating epitopes from previous outbreaks might confer partial protection from SARS-CoV-2 infections. In the present study, we provide an in-silico survey of the major nucleocapsid protein epitopes and compare them with the homologues of taxonomically-related coronaviruses with tropism for animal species that are closely inter-related with the human beings population all over the world. Protein sequence alignment provides evidence of high sequence homology for some of the investigated proteins. Moreover, structural epitope mapping by homology modelling revealed a potential immunogenic value also for specific sequences scoring a lower identity with SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid proteins. These evidence provide a molecular structural rationale for a potential role in conferring protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection and identifying potential candidates for the development of diagnostic tools and prophylactic-oriented strategies.


title: Identification of coronavirus sequences in carp cDNA from Wuhan, China

text: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus sequences were identified in two separate complementary DNA (cDNA) pools. The first pool was from a Carassius auratus (crusian carp) cell line and the second was from Ctenopharyngodon idella (grass carp) head kidney tissue. BLAST analysis suggests that these sequences belong to SARS-like coronaviruses, and that they are not evolutionarily conserved in other species. Investigation of the submitting laboratories revealed that two laboratories from the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, China performed the research and submitted the cDNA libraries to GenBank. This institution is very close in proximity to the Wuhan South China Seafood Wholesale Market where SARS-CoV-2 first amplified in the human population. It is possible that these sequences are an artifact of the bioinformatics pipeline that was used. It is also possible that SARS-like coronaviruses are a common environmental pathogen in the region that may be in aquatic habitats.


COVID-19 Fatigue: Not So Fast


title: Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic

text: Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) originating from China has rapidly crossed borders, infecting people throughout the whole world. This phenomenon has led to a massive public reaction; the media has been reporting continuously across borders to keep all informed about the pandemic situation. All these things are creating a lot of concern for people leading to heightened levels of anxiety. Pandemics can lead to heightened levels of stress; Anxiety is a common response to any stressful situation. This study attempted to assess the knowledge, attitude, anxiety experience, and perceived mental healthcare need among adult Indian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 662 responses were received. The responders had a moderate level of knowledge about the COVID-19 infection and adequate knowledge about its preventive aspects. The attitude towards COVID-19 showed peoples' willingness to follow government guidelines on quarantine and social distancing. The anxiety levels identified in the study were high. More than 80 % of the people were preoccupied with the thoughts of COVID-19 and 72 % reported the need to use gloves, and sanitizers. In this study, sleep difficulties, paranoia about acquiring COVID-19 infection and distress related social media were reported in 12.5 %, 37.8 %, and 36.4 % participants respectively. The perceived mental healthcare need was seen in more than 80 % of participants. There is a need to intensify the awareness and address the mental health issues of people during this COVID-19 pandemic.


Letter to the Editor Regarding "Implementation and Workflow of a Telehealth Clinic in Neurosurgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic"


The COVID-19 pandemic and the Tata Memorial Centre response


High COVID-19 testing rate in Portugal


COVID-19 and the treatment of acute appendicitis in Ireland: a new era or short-term pivot?


Will the status of infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals be improved in the context of COVID-19?


title: Rapidly evaluating lockdown strategies using spectral analysis: the cycles behind new daily COVID-19 cases and what happens after lockdown

text: Spectral analysis characterises oscillatory time series behaviours such as cycles, but accurate estimation requires reasonable numbers of observations. Current COVID-19 time series for many countries are short: pre- and post-lockdown series are shorter still. Accurate estimation of potentially interesting cycles within such series seems beyond reach. We solve the problem of obtaining accurate estimates from short time series by using recent Bayesian spectral fusion methods. Here we show that transformed new daily COVID-19 cases for many countries generally contain three cycles operating at wavelengths of around 2.7, 4.1 and 6.7 days (weekly). We show that the shorter cycles are suppressed after lockdown. The pre- and post lockdown differences suggest that the weekly effect is at least partly due to non-epidemic factors, whereas the two shorter cycles seem intrinsic to the epidemic. Unconstrained, new cases grow exponentially, but the internal cyclic structure causes periodic falls in cases. This suggests that lockdown success might only be indicated by four or more daily falls in cases. Spectral learning for epidemic time series contributes to the understanding of the epidemic process, helping evaluate interventions and assists with forecasting. Spectral fusion is a general technique that is able to fuse spectra recorded at different sampling rates, which can be applied to a wide range of time series from many disciplines.


title: Neurobiology of COVID-19

text: Anosmia, stroke, paralysis, cranial nerve deficits, encephalopathy, delirium, meningitis, and seizures are some of the neurological complications in patients with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) which is caused by acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2). There remains a challenge to determine the extent to which neurological abnormalities in COVID-19 are caused by SARS-Cov2 itself, the exaggerated cytokine response it triggers, and/or the resulting hypercoagulapathy and formation of blood clots in blood vessels throughout the body and the brain. In this article, we review the reports that address neurological manifestations in patients with COVID-19 who may present with acute neurological symptoms (e.g., stroke), even without typical respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Next, we discuss the different neurobiological processes and mechanisms that may underlie the link between SARS-Cov2 and COVID-19 in the brain, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, and muscles. Finally, we propose a basic "NeuroCovid" classification scheme that integrates these concepts and highlights some of the short-term challenges for the practice of neurology today and the long-term sequalae of COVID-19 such as depression, OCD, insomnia, cognitive decline, accelerated aging, Parkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's disease in the future. In doing so, we intend to provide a basis from which to build on future hypotheses and investigations regarding SARS-Cov2 and the nervous system.


Can Lung US Help Critical Care Clinicians in the Early Diagnosis of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia?


title: Management of Hepatocellular Cancer in the time of SARS-CoV-2

text: As COVID-19 the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 continues to have a profound impact on global health, there have been a number of guidelines recently published addressing the management of patients with liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic including the recently published EASL-ESCMID Position Paper, guidelines issued by the International Liver Cancer Association and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (1-3). All publications present a sound discussion regarding the challenges face by both patients and clinicians alike in the management of chronic liver disease in the setting of this ongoing pandemic.


title: Challenges and Responses: A Tertiary Hospital in 2019-nCoV Epidemic

text: The recent outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, has imposed challenges on the Chinese medical system. Not only the dramatically increasing number of infected cases and insufficient medical resources, but also the peoples' panic throughout the whole country have made medical services extremely difficult. To respond to these challenges effectively, our hospital implemented an urgent response strategy, including human resources and medical resources preparation and re-allocation, immediate fever screening, strict patient-visiting flow management, and reasonable information communication. Our experience and response measures could provide a reference for other hospitals in the current situation.


The Response of the UK Clinical Oncology Community to the COVID-19 Pandemic


title: A Physics Modeling Study of SARS-CoV-2 Transport in Air

text: Health threat from SARS-CoV-2 airborne infection has become a public emergency of international concern. During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, people have been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain social distancing of at least 2 m to limit the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. We carry out a physics modeling study for SARS-CoV-2 transport in air. We show that if aerosols and droplets follow semi-ballistic emission trajectories, then their horizontal range is proportional to the particle's diameter. For standard ambient temperature and pressure conditions, the horizontal range of these aerosols remains safely below 2 m. We also show that aerosols and droplets can remain suspended for hours in the air, providing a health threat of airborne infection. The latter argues in favor of implementing additional precautions to the recommended 2~m social distancing, e.g. wearing a face mask when we are out in public.


title: Safety guidelines for nonsurgical facial procedures during COVID-19 outbreak

text: BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is expected to last for an extended time, making strict safety precautions for office procedures unavoidable. The lockdown is going to be lifted in many areas, and strict guidelines detailing the infection control measures for aesthetic clinics are going to be of particular importance. METHODS: A virtual meeting was conducted with the members (n = 12) of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery Focus Group to outline the safety protocol for the nonsurgical facial aesthetic procedures for aesthetic practices in order to protect the clinic staff and the patients from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The data analysis was undertaken by thematic and iterative approach. RESULTS: Consensus guidelines for nonsurgical facial aesthetic procedures based on current knowledge are provided for three levels: precautions before visiting the clinic, precautions during the clinic visit, and precautions after the clinic visit. CONCLUSIONS: Sound infection control measures are mandatory for nonsurgical aesthetic practices all around the world. These may vary from country to country, but this logical approach can be customized according to the respective country laws and guidelines.


title: Safety guidelines for non-surgical facial procedures during covid-19 outbreak

text: BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is expected to last for an extended time, making strict safety precautions for office procedures unavoidable. The lockdown is going to be lifted in many areas, and strict guidelines detailing the infection control measures for aesthetic clinics are going to be of particular importance. METHODS: A virtual meeting was conducted with the members (n=12) of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery Focus Group to outline the safety protocol for the non-surgical facial aesthetic procedures for aesthetic practices in order to protect the clinic staff and the patients from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The data analysis was undertaken by thematic and iterative approach. RESULTS: Consensus guidelines for non-surgical facial aesthetic procedures based on current knowledge are provided for three levels: precautions before visiting the clinic, precautions during the clinic visit, and precautions after the clinic visit. CONCLUSIONS: Sound infection control measures are mandatory for non-surgical aesthetic practices all around the world. These may vary from country to country, but this logical approach can be customized according to the respective country laws and guidelines.


title: Correlação entre uso de anti-inflamatório não esteroidais e efeitos adversos em equinos: revisão de literatura/ Correlation between the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory use causing side effects in equine: review article/ Correlacion entre el uso de anti-inflamatorios no esteroideos y los efectos adversos en equinos: revision bibliográfica

text: O controle da dor nos animais vem sendo foco de vários estudos em virtude de significativasalterações no bem-estar animal e pela influência da mesma em diversos parâmetros fisiológicos. Uma das causas prováveis de efeitos adversos promovidos pelos agentes anti-inflamatórios não esteroidais (AINES) é a inibição da cicloxigenase 1, enzima responsável pela produção não só de mediadores inflamatórios, mas também da camada protetora estomacal, agregação plaquetária e irrigação renal. Os AINES são amplamente utilizados em equinos, sendo os agentes mais empregados para o tratamento da dor nesta espécie. Porém, devido particularidades da espécie, os efeitos adversos em trato gastrointestinal (TGI) são os mais recorrentes em equinos, principalmente nos animais já hospitalizados sendo que vários fármacos utilizados para o controle da dor podem piorar este quadro. Para redução do risco de lesão em TGI com o emprego de AINES, deve-se considerar o uso concomitante de protetores gástricos, principalmente os bloqueadores da bomba de prótons. Outros efeitos adversos também podem aparecer, como lesão renal, hipoproteinemia e alterações na agregação plaquetária. Sendo assim, esta revisão tem o objetivo de explicitar os efeitos adversos mais recorrentes ao uso de AINES em equinos, assim como suas consequências e possíveis tratamentos.


Virtual psychiatric care for older adults in the age of COVID-19: challenges & opportunities


Challenges in the Practice of Sexual Medicine in the Time of COVID-19 in Japan


Clinical relevance of para-tertiary-butylphenol-formaldehyde resin (PTBP-FR) contact allergy among general dermatology patients


title: COVID-19 in patients with myasthenia gravis

text: INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly become a global pandemic, but little is known about its potential impact on patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). METHODS: We studied the clinical course of COVID-19 in five hospitalized patients with autoimmune MG (four with acetylcholine receptor antibodies, one with muscle-specific tyrosine kinase antibodies) between April 1, 2020-April 30-2020. RESULTS: Two patients required intubation for hypoxemic respiratory failure, whereas one required significant supplemental oxygen. One patient with previously stable MG had myasthenic exacerbation. One patient treated with tocilizumab for COVID-19 was successfully extubated. Two patients were treated for MG with intravenous immunoglobulin without thromboembolic complications. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that the clinical course and outcomes in patients with MG and COVID-19 are highly variable. Further large studies are needed to define best practices and determinants of outcomes in this unique population.


title: Dynamics of COVID-19 outbreak in Poland: an epidemiological analysis of the first two months of the epidemic

text: INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to present an epidemiological analysis of the first two months (March and April 2020) of the COVID-19 epidemic in Poland. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This analysis was based on data from epidemiological reports collected between March 4 and April 30, 2020, by the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate. These epidemiological reports include data on sociodemographic characteristics of new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, the number of COVID-19 related deaths, the number of recovered COVID-19 patients, as well as the number of laboratory tests performed. Results: From March 4 to April 30, 2020, a total of 12,877 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases were registered in Poland (55.7% women, mean age 50.6 (20.5) years). The RT-PCR test was performed on 338,000 patients. The notification rate for COVID-19 was 33.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. One-third of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases were among quarantined persons, 26.1% were related to the healthcare system (hospital or clinic), and 13.3% occurred in nursing homes. As of April 30, 2020, 644 COVID-19-related deaths were registered in Poland (46.5% women). The death rate for the whole country was 1.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show higher notification rate for COVID-19 among women than men but men more likely to die from COVID-19. The notification rate for COVID-19 in Poland among women aged 45-54 years is two times higher than among men.


title: The lung ultrasound: facts or artifacts? In the era of COVID-19 outbreak

text: Ultrasound is the most disruptive innovation in intensive care life, above all in this time, with a high diagnostic value when applied appropriately. In recent years, point-of-care lung ultrasound has gained significant popularity as a diagnostic tool in the acutely dyspnoeic patients. In the era of Sars-CoV-2 outbreak, lung ultrasound seems to be strongly adapting to the follow-up for lung involvement of patients with ascertaining infections, till to be used, in our opinion emblematically, as a screening test in suspected patients at the emergency triage or at home medical visit. In this brief review, we discuss the lung ultrasound dichotomy, certainties and uncertainties, describing its potential role in validated clinical contexts, as a clinical-dependent exam, its limits and pitfalls in a generic and off-label clinical context, as a virtual anatomical-dependent exam, and its effects on the clinical management of patients with COVID-19.


title: Cross-species transmission of the newly identified coronavirus 2019-nCoV

text: The current outbreak of viral pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, China, was caused by a novel coronavirus designated 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization, as determined by sequencing the viral RNA genome. Many initial patients were exposed to wildlife animals at the Huanan seafood wholesale market, where poultry, snake, bats, and other farm animals were also sold. To investigate possible virus reservoir, we have carried out comprehensive sequence analysis and comparison in conjunction with relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) bias among different animal species based on the 2019-nCoV sequence. Results obtained from our analyses suggest that the 2019-nCoV may appear to be a recombinant virus between the bat coronavirus and an origin-unknown coronavirus. The recombination may occurred within the viral spike glycoprotein, which recognizes a cell surface receptor. Additionally, our findings suggest that 2019-nCoV has most similar genetic information with bat coronovirus and most similar codon usage bias with snake. Taken together, our results suggest that homologous recombination may occur and contribute to the 2019-nCoV cross-species transmission.


title: The Weather Impacts the Outbreak of COVID-19 in Mainland China

text: Recent literature has suggested that climate conditions have considerably significant influences on the transmission of coronavirus COVID-19. However, there is a lack of comprehensive study that investigates the relationships between multiple weather factors and the development of COVID-19 pandemic while excluding the impact of social factors. In this paper, we study the relationships between six main weather factors and the infection statistics of COVID-19 on 250 cities in Mainland China. Our correlation analysis using weather and infection statistics indicates that all the studied weather factors are correlated with the spread of COVID-19, where precipitation shows the strongest correlation. We also build a weather-aware predictive model that forecasts the number of infected cases should there be a second wave of the outbreak in Mainland China. Our predicted results show that cities located in different geographical areas are likely to be challenged with the second wave of COVID-19 at very different time periods and the severity of the outbreak varies to a large degree, in correspondence with the varying weather conditions.


title: Coronavirus disease 2019: initial chest CT findings

text: OBJECTIVES: To systematically analyze CT findings during the early and progressive stages of natural course of coronavirus disease 2019 and also to explore possible changes in pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities during these two stages. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the initial chest CT data of 62 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 patients (34 men, 28 women; age range 20-91 years old) who did not receive any antiviral treatment between January 21 and February 4, 2020, in Chongqing, China. Patients were assigned to the early-stage group (onset of symptoms within 4 days) or progressive-stage group (onset of symptoms within 4-7 days) for analysis. CT characteristics and the distribution, size, and CT score of pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities were assessed. RESULTS: In our study, the major characteristic of coronavirus disease 2019 was ground-glass opacity (61.3%), followed by ground-glass opacity with consolidation (35.5%), rounded opacities (25.8%), a crazy-paving pattern (25.8%), and an air bronchogram (22.6%). No patient presented cavitation, a reticular pattern, or bronchial wall thickening. The CT scores of the progressive-stage group were significantly greater than those of the early-stage group (p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Multiple ground-glass opacities with consolidations in the periphery of the lungs were the primary CT characteristic of coronavirus disease 2019. CT score can be used to evaluate the severity of the disease. If these typical alterations are found, then the differential diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 must be considered. KEY POINTS: â¢ Multiple GGOs with consolidations in the periphery of the lungs were the primary CT characteristic of COVID-19. â¢ The halo sign may be a special CT feature in the early-stage COVID-19 patients. â¢ Significantly increased CT score may indicate the aggravation of COVID-19 in the progressive stage.


title: High Proportion of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections in 9 Long-Term Care Facilities, Pasadena, California, USA, April 2020

text: Our analysis of coronavirus disease prevalence in 9 long-term care facilities demonstrated a high proportion (40.7%) of asymptomatic infections among residents and staff members. Infection control measures in congregate settings should include mass testing-based strategies in concert with symptom screening for greater effectiveness in preventing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.


The COVID-19 pandemic highlights shortcomings in U.S. healthcare informatics infrastructure: a call to action


Ventilator Sharing During an Acute Shortage Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic


Frailty index predicts poor outcome in COVID-19 patients


La educación médica durante la contingencia sanitaria por COVID-19: lecciones para el futuro./ Medical Education during the health contingency by COVID-19: Lessons for the future


La educación médica durante la contingencia sanitaria por COVID-19: lecciones para el futuro


title: Endocrinology in the time of COVID-19: Management of pituitary tumours

text: Patients with pituitary tumours, ensuing hormonal abnormalities and mass effects are usually followed in multidisciplinary pituitary clinics and can represent a management challenge even during the times of non-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has put on hold routine medical care for hundreds of millions of patients around the globe, while many pituitary patients' evaluations cannot be delayed for too long. Furthermore, the majority of patients with pituitary tumours have co-morbidities potentially impacting the course and management of COVID-19 (e.g. hypopituitarism, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity and cardiovascular disease). Here, we summarize some of the diagnostic and management dilemmas encountered, and provide guidance on safe and as effective as possible delivery of care in the COVID-19 era. We also attempt to address how pituitary services should be remodelled in the event of similar crises, while maintaining or even improving patient outcomes. Regular review of these recommendations and further adjustments are needed, depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic status. We consider that the utilization of successful models of pituitary multidisciplinary care implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic should continue after the crisis is over by using the valuable and exceptional experience gained during these challenging times.


Teledermatology for acne during COVID-19: high patients' satisfaction in spite of the emergency


title: 2019-nCoV: The Identify-Isolate-Inform (3I) Tool Applied to a Novel Emerging Coronavirus

text: 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is an emerging infectious disease closely related to MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV that was first reported in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. As of January 2020, cases of 2019-nCoV are continuing to be reported in other Eastern Asian countries as well as in the United States, Europe, Australia, and numerous other countries. An unusually high volume of domestic and international travel corresponding to the beginning of the 2020 Chinese New Year complicated initial identification and containment of infected persons. Due to the rapidly rising number of cases and reported deaths, all countries should be considered at risk of imported 2019-nCoV. Therefore, it is essential for prehospital, clinic, and emergency department personnel to be able to rapidly assess 2019-nCoV risk and take immediate actions if indicated. The Identify-Isolate-Inform (3I) Tool, originally conceived for the initial detection and management of Ebola virus and later adjusted for other infectious agents, can be adapted for any emerging infectious disease. This paper reports a modification of the 3I Tool for use in the initial detection and management of patients under investigation for 2019-nCoV. After initial assessment for symptoms and epidemiological risk factors, including travel to affected areas and exposure to confirmed 2019-nCoV patients within 14 days, patients are classified in a risk-stratified system. Upon confirmation of a suspected 2019-nCoV case, affected persons must immediately be placed in airborne infection isolation and the appropriate public health agencies notified. This modified 3I Tool will assist emergency and primary care clinicians, as well as out-of-hospital providers, in effectively managing persons with suspected or confirmed 2019-nCoV.


title: International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation: COVID-19 consensus on science, treatment recommendations and task force insights

text: Consensus on Science and Treatment recommendations aim to balance the benefits of early resuscitation with the potential for harm to care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chest compressions and cardiopulmonary resuscitation have the potential to generate aerosols. During the current COVID-19 pandemic lay rescuers should consider compressions and public-access defibrillation. Lay rescuers who are willing, trained and able to do so, should consider providing rescue breaths to infants and children in addition to chest compressions. Healthcare professionals should use personal protective equipment for aerosol generating procedures during resuscitation and may consider defibrillation before donning personal protective equipment for aerosol generating procedures.


Association between time from SARS-CoV-2 onset to case confirmation and time to recovery across sociodemographic strata in Singapore


title: An epidemiological model for the spread of COVID-19: A South African case study

text: An epidemiological model is developed for the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. A variant of the classical compartmental SEIR model, called the SEIQRDP model, is used. As South Africa is still in the early phases of the global COVID-19 pandemic with the confirmed infectious cases not having peaked, the SEIQRDP model is first parameterized on data for Germany, Italy, and South Korea - countries for which the number of infectious cases are well past their peaks. Good fits are achieved with reasonable predictions of where the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, deaths, and recovered cases will end up and by when. South African data for the period from 23 March to 8 May 2020 is then used to obtain SEIQRDP model parameters. It is found that the model fits the initial disease progression well, but that the long-term predictive capability of the model is rather poor. The South African SEIQRDP model is subsequently recalculated with the basic reproduction number constrained to reported values. The resulting model fits the data well, and long-term predictions appear to be reasonable. The South African SEIQRDP model predicts that the peak in the number of confirmed infectious individuals will occur at the end of October 2020, and that the total number of deaths will range from about 10,000 to 90,000, with a nominal value of about 22,000. All of these predictions are heavily dependent on the disease control measures in place, and the adherence to these measures. These predictions are further shown to be particularly sensitive to parameters used to determine the basic reproduction number. The future aim is to use a feedback control approach together with the South African SEIQRDP model to determine the epidemiological impact of varying lockdown levels proposed by the South African Government.


title: Clinical and High-Resolution CT Features of the COVID-19 Infection: Comparison of the Initial and Follow-up Changes

text: OBJECTIVES: In late December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China was caused by a novel coronavirus, newly named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. We aimed to quantify the severity of COVID-19 infection on high-resolution chest computed tomography (CT) and to determine its relationship with clinical parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 11, 2020, to February 5, 2020, the clinical, laboratory, and high-resolution CT features of 42 patients (26-75 years, 25 males) with COVID-19 were analyzed. The initial and follow-up CT, obtained a mean of 4.5 days and 11.6 days from the illness onset were retrospectively assessed for the severity and progression of pneumonia. Correlations among clinical parameters, initial CT features, and progression of opacifications were evaluated with Spearman correlation and linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients (83%) exhibited a progressive process according to CT features during the early stage from onset. Follow-up CT findings showed progressive opacifications, consolidation, interstitial thickening, fibrous strips, and air bronchograms, compared with initial CT (all P < 0.05). Before regular treatments, there was a moderate correlation between the days from onset and sum score of opacifications (R = 0.68, P < 0.01). The C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and lactate dehydrogenase showed significantly positive correlation with the severity of pneumonia assessed on initial CT (Rrange, 0.36-0.75; P < 0.05). The highest temperature and the severity of opacifications assessed on initial CT were significantly related to the progression of opacifications on follow-up CT (P = 0.001-0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with the COVID-19 infection usually presented with typical ground glass opacities and other CT features, which showed significant correlations with some clinical and laboratory measurements. Follow-up CT images often demonstrated progressions during the early stage from illness onset.


First confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in India: A case report


title: Are PETs (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) Giving Protection for Smartphones? -- A Case Study

text: With smartphone technologies enhanced way of interacting with the world around us, it has also been paving the way for easier access to our private and personal information. This has been amplified by the existence of numerous embedded sensors utilized by millions of apps to users. While mobile apps have positively transformed many aspects of our lives with new functionalities, many of these applications are taking advantage of vast amounts of data, privacy apps, a form of Privacy Enhancing Technology can be an effective privacy management tool for smartphones. To protect against vulnerabilities related to the collection, storage, and sharing of sensitive data, developers are building numerous privacy apps. However, there has been a lack of discretion in this particular area which calls for a proper assessment to understand the far-reaching utilization of these apps among users. During this process we have conducted an evaluation of the most popular privacy apps from our total collection of five hundred and twelve to demonstrate their functionality specific data protections they are claiming to offer, both technologically and conventionally, measuring up to standards. Taking their offered security functionalities as a scale, we conducted forensic experiments to indicate where they are failing to be consistent in maintaining protection. For legitimate validation of security gaps in assessed privacy apps, we have also utilized NIST and OWASP guidelines. We believe this study will be efficacious for continuous improvement and can be considered as a foundation towards a common standard for privacy and security measures for an app's development stage.


Acute Kidney Injury in COVID-19: Emerging Evidence of a Distinct Pathophysiology


Playing the Cards We Are Dealt: COVID-19 and Nursing Homes


Playing the Cards We are Dealt: Covid-19 and Nursing Homes


Thyroid surgery during COVID-19 pandemic: Principles and philosophies


title: Investigating the effects of COVID-19 on global male sex work populations: a longitudinal study of digital data

text: OBJECTIVES: Recommendations of 'social distancing' and home quarantines to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic have implications for sex and intimacy, including sex work. This study examined the effects of COVID-19 on male sex work globally and investigated how men who sold sex responded to and engaged with the virus in the context of work. METHODS: This study made use of an existing database of deidentified data extracted from the online profiles maintained by male sex workers on a large, international website. Website engagement metrics were calculated for the periods before (September to December 2019) and during COVID-19 (January to May 2020); Poisson regression analyses were used to assess changes over time before and after, while a content analysis was undertaken to identify modes of engagement with the virus. RESULTS: Data were collected from 78 399 profiles representing 19 388 individuals. In the 'before' period, the number of active profiles was stable (inter-rate ratio (IRR)=1.01, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.01, p=0.339) but during COVID-19 decreased by 26.3% (IRR=0.90, 95% CI 0.89 to 0.91, p<0.001). Newly created profiles also decreased during COVID-19 (59.4%; IRR=0.71, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.74, p<0.001) after a period of stability. In total, 211 unique profiles explicitly referenced COVID-19; 185 (85.8%) evoked risk reduction strategies, including discontinuation of in-person services (41.2%), pivoting to virtual services (38.9%), COVID-19 status disclosure (20.9%), enhanced sanitary and screening requirements (12.3%) and restricted travel (5.2%). Some profiles, however, seemed to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19 or resist protective measures (14.7%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the contention that COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the sex industry; globally, male sex workers may be facing considerable economic strain. Targeted education and outreach are needed to support male sex workers grappling with COVID-19, including around the most effective risk reduction strategies. Those involved with the sex industry must have access to state-sponsored COVID-19 financial and other aid programmes to support individual and public health.


Should I be worried about carrying the virus that causes COVID-19 home on my clothes?


title: Conditional particle filters with diffuse initial distributions

text: Conditional particle filters (CPFs) are powerful smoothing algorithms for general nonlinear/non-Gaussian hidden Markov models. However, CPFs can be inefficient or difficult to apply with diffuse initial distributions, which are common in statistical applications. We propose a simple but generally applicable auxiliary variable method, which can be used together with the CPF in order to perform efficient inference with diffuse initial distributions. The method only requires simulatable Markov transitions that are reversible with respect to the initial distribution, which can be improper. We focus in particular on random-walk type transitions which are reversible with respect to a uniform initial distribution (on some domain), and autoregressive kernels for Gaussian initial distributions. We propose to use on-line adaptations within the methods. In the case of random-walk transition, our adaptations use the estimated covariance and acceptance rate adaptation, and we detail their theoretical validity. We tested our methods with a linear-Gaussian random-walk model, a stochastic volatility model, and a stochastic epidemic compartment model with time-varying transmission rate. The experimental findings demonstrate that our method works reliably with little user specification, and can be substantially better mixing than a direct particle Gibbs algorithm that treats initial states as parameters.


title: Optimal frequency setting of metro services in the age of COVID-19 distancing measures

text: Public transport is one of the most disrupted sectors of the COVID-19 pandemic with reported ridership drops up to 90% in majorly affected countries. As many government authorities strive to partially resume activities, public transport operators are in an urgent need for models that can evaluate the impact of different social distancing policies on operational and passenger-related costs. In this study, we introduce a mixed-integer quadratic programming model for the redesign of public transport services considering the operational, passenger, and revenue loss-related costs by evaluating the effects of different social distancing policies. Our model is applied at the metro network of Washington D.C. and provides optimal redistribution of vehicles across lines for different social distancing scenarios. This model can be used as a decision support tool by other policymakers and public transport operators that are in need of evaluating the costs related to the implementation of different social distancing policies.


The Doctor Will Call You Now! Telemedicine in the Midst of a Pandemic


Teledermatology in the wake of COVID-19: Advantages and challenges to continued care in a time of disarray


title: Cancer surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey

text: The coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which has spread rapidly all over the world after its appearance in December 2019, soon became a pandemic. In many places struck by the epidemic, clinical branches have prepared new guidelines for approaching the management of the disease in their area during the pandemic. Surgeons have also delayed elective surgeries. The first case of Covid-19 in Turkey was detected on March 10, 2020. After this date, 39 patients with a diagnosis of cancer were operated on in our clinic. In this study, we wanted to reveal the results of the cancer surgeries that we have performed during this period.


Response of a European surgical department to the COVID-19 crisis


title: Interventional radiology and COVID-19: evidence-based measures to limit transmission

text: As we face an explosion of COVID-19 cases and deal with an unprecedented set of circumstances all over the world, healthcare personnel are at the forefront, dealing with this emerging scenario. Certain subspecialties like interventional radiology entails a greater risk of acquiring and transmitting infection due to the close patient contact and invasive patient care the service provides. This makes it imperative to develop and set guidelines in place to limit transmission and utilize resources in an optimal fashion. A multi-tiered approach needs to be devised and monitored at the administrative level, taking into account the various staff and patient contact points. Based on these factors, work site and health force rearrangements need to be in place while enforcing segregation and disinfection parameters. We are putting forth an all-encompassing review of infection control measures that cover the dynamics of patient care and staff protocols that such a situation demands of an interventional department.


title: Improved safety of endoscopic vessel harvesting during the COVID-19 pandemic

text: The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated that operating room procedures be modified to ensure the safety of staff and patients. Specifically, procedures that have the potential to create aerosolization must be reassessed, given the risk of viral transmission via aerosolization. We present the use of a non-sealed endoscopic vessel harvesting(EVH) approach during coronary surgery that does not necessitate the use of CO2 insufflation and utilizes suction through an ultra low particulate filter, thus mitigating the risk of possible viral transmission via aerosolization or surgical smoke production. This approach is technically feasible and can minimize the risk of viral transmission during EVH.


Considerations on Colorectal Cancer Care in a COVID-19 Pandemic Epicenter


Re: Delayed Radical Prostatectomy is Not Associated with Adverse Oncological Outcomes: Implications for Men Experiencing Surgical Delay Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic


title: How to Best Predict the Daily Number of New Infections of Covid-19

text: Knowledge about the daily number of new infections of Covid-19 is important because it is the basis for political decisions resulting in lockdowns and urgent health care measures. We use Germany as an example to illustrate shortcomings of official numbers, which are, at least in Germany, disclosed only with several days of delay and severely underreported on weekends (more than 40%). These shortcomings outline an urgent need for alternative data sources. The other widely cited source provided by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) also deviates for Germany on average by 79% from the official numbers. We argue that Google Search and Twitter data should complement official numbers. They predict even better than the original values from Johns Hopkins University and do so several days ahead. These two data sources could also be used in parts of the world where official numbers do not exist or are perceived to be unreliable.


Letter to the editor in response to COVID-19 presenting as acute pancreatitis


COVID-19: Una pandemia de valores./ COVID-19: Una pandemia de valores./ COVID-19: a pandemic of values


Editorial: Geriatric medicine in Italy in the time of COVID-19


Sweet signals - gut-brain circuit for sugar identified