bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prominent Ear Correction With Anterior Rasping
Authors: Ors Safvet
Published: April 2020

Purpose:

Prominent ear deformity is usually characterized by antihelical fold deficiency, concha hypertrophy and earlobe deformity.

Materials and Methods:

Between 2000 and 2018, 375 otoplasty patients aged 6 to 58 who underwent surgery in our clinic were included in this study. Among these 375 cases, 25 were unilateral and 350 were bilateral. As surgical techniques anterior rasping, concha-mastoid sutures and concha-scaphoid sutures were used. The average cephaloauricular angle, the upper pole-mastoid distance and the distance between the middle 1/3 of the ear and mastoid was measured preoperatively and postoperatively. Postoperative measurements were made on the 15th day, 3rd month and the 6th month after the surgery. The approximate follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 18 years.

Results:

Concha-mastoid sutures can be used not only to reduce the concha but also to adjust the proportion between the width and height of the ear. Attenuation of the cartilage by rasping provides homogeneous thinning of the cartilage and prevents deformation. In all age groups, relapse and angle changes were observed in the first 6 months. After 6 months, there were no cases of recurrence or angle changes.
Delayed Orbital Apex Syndrome in the Post-Reconstructed Orbit
Authors: Zhao Yiping , Li Zhengkang , Deng Yuan
Published: April 2020

Delayed orbital apex syndrome (OAS) is rare during orbital blowout fracture reconstruction. A 30-year-old woman fractured the right orbital floor in a fall and undergone repairing operation 2 weeks later. After severe sneezing on postoperative day 10, she gradually arose vision loss, ophthalmoplegia, ptosis with a dilated and fixed pupil within few hours, then consulted our department and was diagnosed as OAS. Computed tomography scan showed displaced implant and retrobulbar emphysema resulting in a constellation of compression to orbital apex. Therefore, an exploratory operation was engaged to reposition the implant and reduce the emphysema concurrent with mega-dose steroids. The patient regained vision immediately and resolved all symptoms at the 6 months follow-up.
Characterizing human odorant signals: insights from insect semiochemistry and
in silico
modelling
Authors: Radadiya Ashish , Pickett John A.
Published: April 2020

Interactions relating to human chemical signalling, although widely acknowledged, are relatively poorly characterized chemically, except for human axillary odour. However, the extensive chemical ecology of insects, involving countless pheromone and other semiochemical identifications, may offer insights into overcoming problems of characterizing human-derived semiochemicals more widely. Current techniques for acquiring insect semiochemicals are discussed, particularly in relation to the need for samples to relate, as closely as possible, to the ecological situation in which they are naturally deployed. Analysis is facilitated by chromatography coupled to electrophysiological preparations from the olfactory organs of insects
in vivo
. This is not feasible with human olfaction, but there are now potential approaches using molecular genetically reconstructed olfactory preparations already in use with insect systems. There are specific insights of value for characterizing human semiochemicals from advanced studies on semiochemicals of haematophagous insects, which include those involving human hosts, in addition to wider studies on farm and companion animals. The characterization of the precise molecular properties recognized in olfaction could lead to new advances in analogue design and a range of novel semiochemicals for human benefit. There are insights from successful synthetic biology studies on insect semiochemicals using novel biosynthetic precursors. Already, wider opportunities in olfaction emerging from
in silico
studies, involving a range of theoretical and computational approaches to molecular design and understanding olfactory systems at the molecular level, are showing promise for studying human semiochemistry.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘
Olfactory communication in humans
’.
Consequences of undetected olfactory loss for human chemosensory communication and well-being
Authors: Oleszkiewicz A. , Kunkel F. , Larsson M. , Hummel T.
Published: April 2020

Olfactory perception has implications for human chemosensory communication and in a broader context, it affects well-being. However, most of the studies investigating the consequences of olfactory loss have recruited patients who have already been categorized as having a dysfunctional sense of smell and sought help in an ENT clinic. We revisit these findings by distinguishing subjects with olfactory impairment from a group of subjects who all declared a normal sense of smell when enrolling for this study. In the initial sample of 203 individuals, we found 59 to have impaired olfaction and four with marginal olfactory performance, not useful in daily life. Interestingly, we found a significant between-group difference in cognitive functioning, further supporting the notion of the relationship between cognition and olfactory performance. However, their chemosensory communication and well-being appeared not to be different from subjects with normosmia. Impaired olfactory function certainly has a severe impact on daily life but more so in individuals who are bothered with it and decide to seek treatment. The limited-to-no olfactory perception in the fraction of subjects who neither complain about it nor seek help in ENT clinics does not seem to have a major effect on their social, cognitive, emotional and health functioning.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.
Chemosensory communication of aggression: women's fine-tuned neural processing of male aggression signals
Authors: Pause Bettina M. , Storch Dunja , Lübke Katrin T.
Published: April 2020

The current study is the first to examine the central nervous processing of aggression chemosignals within men and women by means of chemosensory event-related potential (CSERP) analysis. Axillary sweat was collected from 17 men and 17 women participating in a competitive computer game (aggression condition) and playing a construction game (control condition). Sweat samples were pooled with reference to donor gender and condition, and presented to 23 men and 25 women via a constant flow olfactometer. Ongoing electroencephalogram was recorded from 61 scalp locations, CSERPs (P2, P3-1, P3-2) were analysed and neuronal sources calculated (low-resolution electromagnetic tomography, LORETA). Women, especially, showed larger P3-1 and P3-2 amplitudes in response to male as compared with female aggression signals (allpvalues < 0.01). The peak activation of this effect was related to activity within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 8). As male aggression commonly targets physical harm, the competence of the human brain to sensitively detect male aggression signals is considered to be highly adaptive. The detection of male aggression signals seems to be of higher importance for women than for men. It is suggested that the processing of male aggression signals in women induces an immediate response selection.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.
Human odour thresholds are tuned to atmospheric chemical lifetimes
Authors: Williams Jonathan , Ringsdorf Akima
Published: April 2020

In this study, the odour thresholds (OT) and atmospheric lifetimes (AL) were compared for a suite of volatile organic compounds. It was found that odour threshold, as determined by the triangle bag method, correlated surprisingly well with atmospheric lifetime for a given chemical family. Molecules with short atmospheric lifetimes with respect to the primary atmospheric oxidant OH tend to be more sensitively detected by the human nose. Overall the correlation of odour threshold with atmospheric lifetime was better than with mass and vapour pressure. Several outliers from the correlations for particular chemical families were examined in detail. For example, diacetyl was an outlier in the ketone dataset that fitted the trend when its more important photolysis lifetime was included; and similarly, the relatively low odour threshold of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) was interpreted in terms of uptake by vegetation. The OT/AL relationship suggests that OH rate constants can be used as a first-order estimate for odour thresholds (and
vice versa
). We speculate that the nose's high sensitivity to chemicals that are reactive in the air is likely an evolved rather than a learned condition. This is based on the lack of dependence on ozone in the aliphatics, that the anthropogenically emitted aromatic compounds had the worst correlation, and that OCS had a much lower than predicted OT. Finally, we use the OT/AL relationships derived to predict odour thresholds and rate constants that have not yet been determined in order to provide a test to this hypothesis.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.
Are humans constantly but subconsciously smelling themselves?
Authors: Perl Ofer , Mishor Eva , Ravia Aharon , Ravreby Inbal , Sobel Noam
Published: April 2020

All primates, including humans, engage in self-face-touching at very high frequency. The functional purpose or antecedents of this behaviour remain unclear. In this
hybrid review
, we put forth the hypothesis that self-face-touching subserves self-smelling. We first review data implying that humans touch their faces at very high frequency. We then detail evidence from the one study that implicated an olfactory origin for this behaviour: This evidence consists of significantly increased nasal inhalation concurrent with self-face-touching, and predictable increases or decreases in self-face-touching as a function of subliminal odourant tainting. Although we speculate that self-smelling through self-face-touching is largely an unconscious act, we note that in addition, humans also consciously smell themselves at high frequency. To verify this added statement, we administered an online self-report questionnaire. Upon being asked, approximately 94% of approximately 400 respondents acknowledged engaging in smelling themselves. Paradoxically, we observe that although this very prevalent behaviour of self-smelling is of concern to individuals, especially to parents of children overtly exhibiting self-smelling, the behaviour has nearly no traction in the medical or psychological literature. We suggest psychological and cultural explanations for this paradox, and end in suggesting that human self-smelling become a formal topic of investigation in the study of human social olfaction.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.
Excess Mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic: Early evidence from England and Wales
Authors: Vandoros Sotiris
Published: April 2020

Background

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed many lives in the UK and globally. The objective of this paper is to study whether the number of deaths not registered as covid-19-related has increased compared to what would have been expected in the absence of the pandemic. This may be a result of some covid-19 deaths being unreported or spillover effects on other causes of death (or both). Reasons behind this might include covid-19 underreporting, avoiding visits to hospitals or GPs, and the effects of the lockdown.

Methods

I used weekly ONS data on the number of deaths in England and Wales that did not officially involve covid-19 over the period 2015-2020. Simply observing trends is not sufficient as spikes in deaths may occasionally occur. I thus followed a differences-in-differences econometric approach to study whether there was a relative increase in deaths not registered as covid-19-related during the pandemic, compared to a control. As an additional approach, an interrupted time series model was also used.

Results

Results suggest that there are an additional 968 weekly deaths that officially did not involve covid-19, compared to what would have otherwise been expected. This increase is also confirmed by the interrupted time series analysis.

Discussion

The number of deaths not officially involving covid-19 has demonstrated an absolute and relative increase during the pandemic. It is possible that some people are dying from covid-19 without being diagnosed, and that there are excess deaths due to other causes as a result of the pandemic. Analysing the cause of death for any excess non-covid-19 deaths will shed light upon the reasons for the increase in such deaths and will help design appropriate policy responses to save lives.
Significantly longer Covid-19 incubation times for the elderly, from a case study of 136 patients throughout China
Authors: Jiang Ally Bi-Zhu , Lieu Richard , Quenby Siobhan
Published: April 2020

Objective

To infer Covid-19 incubation time distribution from a large sample.

Method

Based on individual case data published online by 21 cities of China, we investigated a total of 136 COVID-19 patients who traveled to Hubei from 21 cities of China between January 5 and January 31, 2020, remained there for 48 hours or less, and returned to these cities with onset of symptoms between January 10 and February 6, 2020. Among these patients, 110 were found to be aged 15 – 64, 22 aged 65 – 86, and 4 aged under 15.

Findings

The differential incubation time histogram of the two age groups 15 – 64 and 65 – 86 are adequately fitted by the log normal model. For the 15 - 64 age group, the median incubation time of days (uncertainties are 95 −0.90 % CL) is broadly consistent with previous literature. For the 65-86 age group, the median is days is statistically significantly longer. Moreover, for −2.0 this group, the 95 % confidence contour indicates the data cannot constrain the upper bound of the log normal parameters µ, σ by failing to close there; this is because the sample has a maximum incubation time of 17 days, beyond which we ran out of data even though the histogram has not yet peaked. Thus there is the potential of a much longer incubation time for the 65-86 age group than 10 – 14 days. Only a much larger sample can settle this.
Impact of healthcare worker shift scheduling on workforce preservation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Kluger Dan M. , Aizenbud Yariv , Jaffe Ariel , Parisi Fabio , Aizenbud Lilach , Minsky-Fenick Eyal , Kluger Jonathan M. , Farhadian Shelli , Kluger Harriet M. , Kluger Yuval
Published: April 2020

Background

As we contend with the massive SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, preventing infections among healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients is critical for delivering care to patients admitted for other purposes, and many standard scheduling practices require reassessment. In most academic hospitals in the United States, inpatient rotations are designed to deliver optimal patient care by staggering rotations of attendings and house-staff, and much emphasis is placed on HCW burnout, yet during a pandemic preventing further infection is the single most important factor. Our purpose was to model various inpatient rotation schedules of physicians and nurses to determine patterns associated with optimal workforce preservation and lower nosocomial infections in settings in which personal protective equipment is imperfect or unavailable.

Summary of Methods

We simulated the spread of COVID-19 in hospital wards using Monte Carlo methods. Universal model parameters for COVID-19 included incubation period distribution and latent period distribution. Situation-dependent COVID-19 model parameters included pre-admission infection probability, team member infection probability, physician-to-patient, nurse-to-patient, patient-to-physician, patient-to-nurse, and HCW-to-HCW transmission probabilities, team member absence after symptom onset, daily SARS-CoV-2 exposure probability of team members (e.g. via exposure to other staff), length of admission after COVID-19 symptoms, and length of simulation time. Model parameters that varied by hospital setting and service type included average patient load per team, average patient hospitalization, and number of physicians and nurses on a team and on duty.

Results

The primary outcome measure was probability of team failure, defined as the likelihood that at some point there are insufficient attendings, house-staff or nurses to staff a fully functioning floor. In all of our simulations, physician and nurse rotation lengths of 1-3 days led to higher team failure rates. Nursing shifts of 12 versus 8 hours and avoiding staggering of physician rotations also decreased the chance of team failure.

Conclusions

Simple changes in staff scheduling, such as lengthening nursing shifts or avoiding rotations that are either staggered or last fewer than three days, can result in improved workforce preservation. These workforce scheduling changes are easy to implement.
A Validation Study for the Successful Isolation Policy in China: a Meta-Analysis in COVID-19
Authors: Dong Jianghu (James) , Zhou Yongdao , Zhang Ying , Fraz Douglas
Published: April 2020

COVID-19 is quickly spreading around the world and carries along with it a significant threat to public health. This study sought to apply meta-analysis to more precisely and accurately estimate the basic reproduction number (R0) of COVID-19 in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the isolation policy across countries, and the corresponding public health capability to care for patients. Prior estimates of R0 have varied widely and range from 1.95 to 6.49. Utilizing meta-analysis techniques we determined a more robust estimation of 3.05 for R0, which is substantially larger than that provided by the WHO. We also present the infectious rate standardized to per million population, which has proved to be a good index to determine whether the isolation measures in specific countries are effective. Also, this standardized infection rate can be used to determine whether the current infectious severity status is out of range of the national health capacity. Finally, we utilize our robust estimate of R0 and the standardized infectious rate to illustrate that the early and aggressive isolation measures enforced by the Chinese government were substantially more effective in controlling the negative impact COVID-19 than the more permissive measures enacted early in Italy and the United States.
A consideration of publication-derived immune-related associations in Coronavirus and related lung damaging diseases
Authors: Geifman Nophar , Whetton Anthony D.
Published: April 2020

The severe acute respiratory syndrome virus SARS-CoV-2, a close relative of the SARS-CoV virus, is the cause of recent COVID-19 pandemic affecting, to date, nearly 2 million individuals across the globe and demonstrating relatively high rates of infection and mortality. A third virus, the H5N1, responsible for avian influenza, has caused infection with some clinical similarities to those in COVID-19 infections.

Cytokines, small proteins that modulate immune responses, have been directly implicated in some of the severe responses seen in COVID-19 patients, e.g. cytokine storms.

Understanding the immune processes related to COVID-19, and other similar infections, could help identify diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets.

Here we examine data of cytokine, immune cell types, and disease associations captured from biomedical literature associated with coronavirus, SARS, and H5N1 influenza, with the objective of identifying potentially useful relationships and areas for future research. Cytokine and cell-type associations captured from MeSH terms linked to thousands of PubMed abstracts, has identified differing patterns of associations between the three corpuses of abstracts (coronavirus, SARS, or H5N1 influenza). Clustering of cytokine-disease co-occurrences in the context of coronavirus has identified compelling clusters of co-morbidities and symptoms, some of which already known to be linked to COVID-19. Finally, network analysis identified sub-networks of cytokines and immune cell types associated with different manifestations, co-morbidities and symptoms of coronavirus, SARS, and H5N1.

Systematic review of research in medicine is essential to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions. In a fast moving pandemic the approach taken here will identify trends and enable rapid comparison to the literature of related diseases.
Machine learning based predictive model of early mortality in stage III and IV prostate cancer
Authors: Chen Robert
Published: April 2020

Prostate cancer remains the third highest cause of cancer-related deaths. Metastatic prostate cancer could yield poor prognosis, however there is limited work on predictive models for clinical decision support in stage III and IV prostate cancer.

We developed a machine learning model for predicting early mortality in prostate cancer (survival less than 21 months after initial diagnosis). A cohort of 10,303 patients was extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. Features were constructed in several domains including demographics, histology of primary tumor, and metastatic sites. Feature selection was performed followed by regularized logistic regression. The model was evaluated using 5-fold cross validation and achieved 75.2% accuracy with AUC 0.649. Of the 19 most predictive features, all of them were validated to be clinically meaningful for prediction of early mortality.

Our study serves as a framework for prediction of early mortality in patients with stage II and stage IV prostate cancer, and can be generalized to predictive modeling problems for other relevant clinical endpoints. Future work should involve integration of other data sources such as electronic health record and genomic or metabolomic data.
The impact of early scientific literature in response to COVID-19: a scientometric perspective
Authors: Golinelli Davide , Nuzzolese Andrea Giovanni , Boetto Erik , Rallo Flavia , Greco Manfredi , Toscano Fabrizio , Fantini Maria Pia
Published: April 2020

Background

In the early phases of a new pandemic, identifying the most relevant evidence and quantifying which studies are shared the most can help researchers and policy makers. The aim of this study is to describe and quantify the impact of early scientific production in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The study consisted of: 1) review of the scientific literature produced in the first 30 days since the first COVID-19 paper was published; 2) analysis of papers’ metrics with the construction of a “Computed-Impact-Score” (CIS) that represents a unifying score over heterogeneous bibliometric indicators. In this study we use metrics and alternative metrics collected into five separate categories. On top of those categories we compute the CIS. Highest CIS papers are further analyzed.

Results

239 papers have been included in the study. The mean of citations, mentions and social media interactions resulted in 1.63, 10 and 1250, respectively. The paper with highest CIS resulted “Clinical features of patients[…]” by Chaolin Huang et al., which rated first also in citations and mentions. This is the first paper describing patients affected by the new disease and reporting data that are clearly of great interest to both the scientific community and the general population.

Conclusions

The early response of scientific literature during an epidemic does not follow a pre-established pattern. Being able to monitor how communications spread from the scientific world toward the general population using both traditional and alternative metric measures is essential, especially in the early stages of a pandemic.
Faecal immunochemical testing (FIT): Sources of analytical variation based on three years of routine testing in the context of DG30
Authors: James Tim , Nicholson Brian D , Marr Rhiannon , Paddon Maria , East James E , Justice Steve , Oke Jason L , Shine Brian
Published: April 2020

Aims

To determine analytical capabilities of a commonly used faecal immunochemical test (FIT) to detect haemoglobin (Hb) in the context of NICE guidance DG30, and the likely use of FIT to reprioritise patients delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Data obtained from independent verification studies and clinical testing of the HM-JACKarc FIT method in routine primary care practice were analysed to derive analytical performance characteristics.

Results

Detection capabilities for the FIT method were 0.5 µg/g (limit of blank), 1.1 (limit of detection) and 15.0 µg/g (limit of quantification). 31 of 33 (94%) non-homogenised specimens analysed in triplicate were consistently categorised relative to 10 µg/g compared to all 33 (100%) homogenised specimens. Imprecision in non-homogenised specimens was higher (median 27.8%, (range 20.5% - 48.6%)) than in homogenised specimens (10.2%, (7.0 to 13.5%)). Considerable variation was observed in sequential clinical specimens from individual patients but no positive or negative trend in specimen degradation was observed (p=0.26).

Conclusions

The FIT method is capable of detecting Hb at concentrations well below the DG30 threshold of 10 µg/g. However, total imprecision is considerable when including sampling variation. Binary categorisation against a single defined threshold above and below 10 µg/g was more consistent and improved following specimen homogenisation. This approach may be more appropriate when reporting results for symptomatic patients tested in primary care, including those who have had definitive investigation delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and need to be re-prioritised.

Key Messages

Faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) is increasingly used to detect blood at low haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations in specimens from symptomatic primary care patients but the analytical characteristics in this context have not been fully documented.

A commonly used FIT method showed good capability in a routine UK clinical setting to detect Hb at the NICE recommended threshold of 10µg/g. Imprecision estimates were considerable when sampling was considered, even above the limit of quantification of 15 µg/g.

Analytical variability appears too high for reliable reporting of quantitative Hb concentrations: reporting positive or negative results around a threshold of 10µg/g appears more appropriate after sample homogenisation.

Dichotomous FIT reporting is likely to be an important tool to risk stratify patients with lower GI cancer symptoms who have had their test deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Serum anti-NMDA-receptor antibodies and cognitive function after ischemic stroke (PROSCIS-B)
Authors: Sperber Pia S. , Gebert Pimrapat , Broersen Leonie H.A. , Huo Shufan , Piper Sophie K. , Prüss Harald , Heuschmann Peter U. , Endres Matthias , Liman Thomas G. , Siegerink Bob
Published: April 2020

Objective

We aimed to investigate whether serum anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate-receptor GluN1 antibodies (NMDAR1-abs) are associated with worse cognitive function over three years after first ischemic stroke.

Methods

Data were used from the PROSpective Cohort with Incident Stroke-Berlin (PROSCIS-B;NCT01363856). NMDAR1-abs (IgM/IgA/IgG) were measured with cell-based assays from serum obtained within seven days after first-ever stroke. Seropositivity was defined as titers ≥1:10, low titers as ≤1:100 and high titers as >1:100. We assessed cognitive status annually up to three years after stroke with the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status – modified (TICS–m) and used crude and adjusted linear mixed models to estimate the impact of NMDAR1-abs exposure on TICS-m over time.

Results

Data on NMDAR1-abs (median day of sampling=4[IQR=2–5]) were available in 583 of 621 PROSCIS-B patients (39% female; median NIHSS=2[IQR=1–4]; median MMSE=28[IQR:26–30]; median mRS=2[IQR=1–3]) of whom 76(13%) were seropositive (IgM:n=48/IgA:n=43/IgG:n=2). TICS-m over time was not different in NMDAR1-abs seropositive compared to seronegative patients (βCrude=0.38[95%CI=-1.00 to 1.76]; adjusted βModel3=0.30[95%CI=-1.14 to 1.73]). In subgroups, TICS-m over time was not different in patients with low titers (βCrude=1.53[95%CI=-0.06 to 3.11]; adjusted βModel3=1.42[95%CI=-0.23 to 3.08]), however, in patients with high titers TICS-m was lower in the crude model (β=-2.54[95%CI=-4.99 to -0.08]), with a similar effect size after confounder adjustment (βModel3=-2.30[95%CI=-4.82 to 0.21]). All groups were compared to seronegative patients, respectively.

Conclusion

Overall NMDAR1-abs seropositivity was not associated with cognitive function over time after first-ever mild-to-moderate ischemic stroke. Our data suggest that high titers associate with impaired cognitive function after stroke, warranting larger studies.
Association between dopamine receptor D2 genetic polymorphism TaqIA1 (C t) and susceptibility to alcohol dependence
Authors: Choudhary Amrita , Yadav Upendra , Kumar Pradeep , Rai Vandana
Published: April 2020

Several studies are published, which investigated dopamine receptor 2 (DRD2) gene TaqIA polymorphism as ris factor for alcohol dependence (AD) with positive and negative association. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis of case-control studies that examined the association between DRD2 gene Taq1A polymorphism and alcohol dependence were performed. Eligible articles were identified through search of databases including PubMed, Science Direct, Springer link and Google Scholar. The association between the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism and AD susceptibility was conducted using odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) as association measure.

A total of 69 studies with 9,125 cases and 9,123 healthy controls were included in current meta-analysis. Results of present analysis showed significant association between DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism and AD risk using a five genetic modes (allele contrast model -OR=1.22, 95% CI=1.13-1.32, p<0.0001; homozygote model -OR= 1.35, 95%CI= 1.18-1.55; p= <0.0001; dominant model -OR= 1.29; 95%CI= 1.20-1.39; p<0.0001; recessive model-OR= 1.21; 95%CI= 1.08-1.36; p= 0.0006). There was no significant association found between In subgroup analysis, TaqIA polymorphism was not significantly associated with AD risk in Asian population under all genetic models, but in Caucasian population TaqIA polymorphism was significantly associated with AD risk.

Overall, results support the hypothesis that DRD2 Taq1A polymorphism plays a role in alcohol dependence.
Community Needs Assessments in a Student-Run Clinic serving a West Philadelphia Neighborhood
Authors: Arenas Daniel J. , Hallak Dania D. , Noche Rommell , Vila-Arroyo Gilberto , Raman Swathi , Thomas Arthur , Zhou Sara , Richmond Adriana , Rauf Raisa , Su Irene , Beltrán Sourik , Lee Tim , Abelman Rebecca , Baginski Casey , Klusaritz Heather A.
Published: April 2020

Background

While Community Needs Assessments (CNAs) are an important tool for Student-Run Clinics (SRCs) to understand local communities’ healthcare needs, few studies have evaluated CNAs and their impact on care provided at SRCs.

Objective

Evaluate results from two CNAs of an SRC in East Parkside, Philadelphia to better comprehend (1) community awareness and opinions regarding the SRC and (2) local healthcare concerns and access.

Methods

58 and 105 East Parkside residents were surveyed in 2011 and 2015 respectively. The results were analyzed to quantify various health-related measures in the community.

Results

Results showed high rates of hypertension, asthma, and diabetes. Rates of pap-smear and hypertension screening matched national averages while mammograms and colonoscopies were below national rates. Both CNAs showed that less than 40% of community members were aware of the clinic’s existence.

Conclusions

CNAs can provide valuable insights regarding local health needs which can inform future healthcare interventions.
Meteorological factors and domestic new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in nine Asian cities: A time-series analysis
Authors: He Zonglin , Chin Yiqiao , Huang Jian , He Yi , Akinwunmi Babatunde O. , Yu Shinning , Zhang Casper JP , Ming Wai-kit
Published: April 2020

AIM

To investigate the associations of meteorological factors and the daily new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in nine Asian cities.

METHOD

Pearson’s correlation and generalized additive modeling were performed to assess the relationships between daily new COVID-19 cases and meteorological factors (daily average temperature and relative humidity) with the most updated data currently available.

RESULTS

The Pearson correlation showed that daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were more correlated with the average temperature than with relative humidity. Daily new confirmed cases were negatively correlated with the average temperature in Beijing (r=-0.565, P<0.01), Shanghai (r=-0.471, P<0.01), and Guangzhou (r=-0.530, P<0.01), yet in contrast, positively correlated with that in Japan (r=0.441, P<0.01). In most of the cities (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur), generalized additive modeling analysis showed the number of daily new confirmed cases was positively associated with both average temperature and relative humidity, especially in lagged 3d model, where a positive influence of temperature on the daily new confirmed cases was discerned in 5 cities except in Beijing, Wuhan, Korea, and Malaysia. Nevertheless, the results were inconsistent across cities and lagged time, suggesting meteorological factors were unlikely to greatly influence the COVID-19 epidemic.

CONCLUSION

The associations between meteorological factors and the number of COVID-19 daily cases are inconsistent across cities and lagged time. Large-scale public health measures and expanded regional research are still required until a vaccine becomes available and herd immunity is established.

Significance statement

With increasing COVID-19 cases across China and the world, and previous studies showing that meteorological factors may be associated with infectious disease transmission, the saying has it that when summer comes, the epidemic of COVID-19 may simultaneously fade away. We demonstrated the influence of meteorological factors on the daily domestic new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in nine Asian cities. And we found that the associations between meteorological factors and the number of COVID-19 daily cases are inconsistent across cities and time. We think this important topic may give better clues on prevention, management, and preparation for new events or new changes that could happen in the COVID-19 epidemiology in various geographical regions and as we move towards Summer.
Digital Herd Immunity and COVID-19
Authors: Bulchandani Vir B. , Shivam Saumya , Moudgalya Sanjay , Sondhi S. L.
Published: April 2020

A population can be immune to epidemics even if not all of its individual members are immune to the disease, just as long as sufficiently many are immune—this is the traditional notion of herd immunity. In the smartphone era a population can be immune to epidemics even if not a single one of its members is immune to the disease—a notion we propose to call “digital herd immunity”, which is similarly an emergent characteristic of the population. This immunity arises because contact-tracing protocols based on smartphone capabilities can lead to highly efficient quarantining of infected population members and thus the extinguishing of nascent epidemics. When the disease characteristics are favorable and smartphone usage is high enough, the population is in this immune phase. As usage decreases there is a novel “contact tracing” phase transition to an epidemic phase. We present and study a simple branching-process model for COVID-19 and show that digital immunity is possible regardless of the proportion of non-symptomatic transmission. We believe this is a promising strategy for dealing with COVID-19 in many countries such as India, whose challenges of scale motivated us to undertake this study in the first place and whose case we discuss briefly.
A cross-sectional study of patients presenting for hospital-based screening for COVID-19: risk of disease, and healthcare access preferences
Authors: Rojek Amanda , Dutch Martin , Peyton Daniel , Pelly Rachel , Putland Mark , Hiscock Harriet , Knott Jonathan
Published: April 2020

Introduction

Early during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Australian emergency departments (EDs) have experienced an unprecedented surge in patients seeking screening for COVID-19. Understanding what proportion of these patients require screening, who can be safely screened in community based models of care, and who requires an emergency departments to care for them is critical for workforce and infrastructure planning across the healthcare system, as well as public messaging campaigns.

Methodss

In this cross sectional survey, we screened patients presenting to a SARS-CoV-2 screening clinic in a tertiary hospital Emergency Department in Melbourne, Australia. We assessed the proportion of patients who met screening criteria; self-reported symptom severity; reasons why they came to the ED for screening; views on community-based models of care; and sources of information accessed about COVID-19.

Results

We included findings from 1846 patients who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) for COVID-19 screening from 18th to 30th March 2020. Most patients (55.3%) did not meet criteria for screening and most (57.6%) had mild or no (13.4%) symptoms. The main reason for coming to the ED was being referred by a telephone health service (31.3%) and 136 (7.4%) said they tried to contact their GP but could not get an appointment. Only 47 (2.6%) said they thought the disease was too specialized for their GP to manage. Patients accessed numerous information sources, commonly government websites (68.4%) and other websites (51.3%) for COVID-19 information.

Conclusions

if we are to ensure that emergency departments can cope with the likely surge in presentations requiring resuscitation or inpatient care COVID-19, we should strengthen access to alternative services to triage patients to prevent unnecessary presentations at health services, and to direct those who are well but require screening away from EDs.
A Heuristic Model for Spreading of COVID 19 in Singapore
Authors: Lee Fook Hou
Published: April 2020

This paper presents a simple heuristic model for COVID 19 spreading. The model is based on a propagation unit of time. The state of the epidemic at the end of the time unit is then related to that at the start through recurrence relationships. By propagating these relationships over the required number of time units, a projection can be made over time. The model is readily implemented on a spreadsheet and is therefore potentially widely accessible. It can serve as a useful tool for scenario planning and forecasting not just for an entire population, but also for a specific community within a population.
Meta-transcriptomic analysis reveals the gene expression and novel conserved sub-genomic RNAs in SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV
Authors: Lyu Lin , Feng Ru , Zhang Mingnan , Gong Qiyu , Liao Yinjing , Zhou Yanjiao , Guo Xiaokui , Su Bing , Dorsett Yair , Chen Lei
Published: April 2020

Background

Fundamental to viral biology is identification and annotation of viral genes and their function. Determining the level of coronavirus gene expression is inherently difficult due to the positive stranded RNA genome and the identification of sub-genomic RNAs (sgRNAs) that are required for expression of most viral genes. In the COVID-19 epidemic so far, few genomic studies have looked at viral sgRNAs and none have systematically examined the sgRNA profiles of large numbers of SARS-CoV2 datasets in conjuction with data for other coronaviruses.

Results

We developed a bioinformatic pipeline to analyze the sgRNA profiles of coronaviruses and applied it to 588 individual samples from 20 independent studies, covering more than 10 coronavirus species. Our result showed that SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV each had a core sgRNA repertoire generated via a canonical mechanism. Novel sgRNAs that encode peptides with evolutionarily conserved structures were identified in several coronaviruses and were expressed in vitro and in vivo. Two novel peptides may have direct functional relevance to disease, by alluding interferon responses and disrupting IL17E (IL25) signaling. Relevant to coronavirus infectivity and transmission, we also observed that the level of Spike sgRNAs were significantly higher in-vivo than in-vitro, while the opposite held true for the Nucleocapside protein.

Conclusions

Our results greatly expanded the predicted number of coronaviruses proteins and identified potential viral peptide suggested to be involved in viral virulence. These methods and findings shed new light on coronavirus biology and provides a valuable resource for future genomic studies of coronaviruses.
Leigh Syndrome-inducing Mutations Affect LRPPRC / SLIRP Complex Formation
Authors: Coquille Sandrine , Thore Stéphane
Published: April 2020

Mitochondria are essential organelles carrying their own genetic information which require specific gene expression processes. The leucine rich pentatricopeptide protein (LRPPRC) and its partner the SRA stem-loop interacting RNA binding protein (SLIRP) form a stable complex implicated in mRNA stability and polyadenylation. LRPPRC/SLIRP complex formation is still poorly characterized. We demonstrate that SLIRP interacts with the N-terminal region of LRPPRC in a RNA independent manner. We further show that the complex is stable in presence of high salt concentration. Point mutation and deletions found in the LRPPRC protein and responsible for the French-Canadian Leigh Syndrome (LSFC) are shown to affect complex formationin vitro. Our data are identifying the key region of LRPPRC involved in SLIRP association and showing the direct consequence of various LSFC mutations on the complex formation. Further experiments aiming at deciphering LRPPRC/SLIRP function(s)in vivowill benefit from our functional domain characterization.
The scRNA-seq expression profiling of the receptor ACE2 and the cellular protease TMPRSS2 reveals human organs susceptible to COVID-19 infection
Authors: Qi Jing , Zhou Yang , Hua Jiao , Zhang Liying , Bian Jialin , Liu Beibei , Zhao Zicen , Jin Shuilin
Published: April 2020

Background

COVID-19 caused by SARA-CoV-2 is a disaster sweeping over 200 countries, and more than 2,150,000 people are suffering from the disease and 140,000 people died. ACE2 is a receptor protein of SARS- CoV-2, and TMPRSS2 promotes virus proliferation and transmission. Some patients developed multiple organ dysfunction syndromes other than lungs. Therefore, studying the viral susceptibility of other organs is important for a deeper understanding of viral pathogenesis.

Methods

The advantage of scRNA-seq data is the identification of cell types by clustering the gene expression of cells. ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are highly expressed in AT2 of lungs, we compared the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression levels of cell types from 31 organs, with AT2 of lungs to evaluate the risk of the viral infection using scRNA-seq data.

Findings

For the first time, we found the brain, gall bladder, and fallopian tube are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Besides, the nose, heart, small intestine, large intestine, esophagus, testis and kidney are also identified to be high-risk organs with high expression levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Moreover, the susceptible organs are grouped into three risk levels based on the TMPRSS2 expression. As a result, the respiratory system, digestive system and reproductive system are at the top-risk level to COVID-19 infection.

Interpretation

This study provides evidence for COVID-19 infection in the human nervous system, digestive system, reproductive system, respiratory system, circulatory system and urinary system using scRNA-seq data, which helps for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients.
Potential microenvironment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in airway epithelial cells revealed by Human Protein Atlas database analysis
Authors: Leng Ling , Ma Jie , Zhang Leike , Li Wei , Zhao Lei , Zhu Yunping , Wu Zhihong , Cao Ruiyuan , Zhong Wu
Published: April 2020

The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused serious epidemic events in China and other countries. With the rapid spread of COVID-19, it is urgent to explore the pathogenesis of this novel coronavirus. However, the foundational research of COVID-19 is very weak. Although angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the reported receptor of SARS-CoV-2, information about SARS-CoV-2 invading airway epithelial cells is very limited. Based on the analysis of the Human Protein Atlas database, we compared the virus-related receptors of epithelial-derived cells from different organs and found potential key molecules in the local microenvironment for SARS-CoV-2 entering airway epithelial cells. In addition, we found that these proteins were associated with virus reactive proteins in host airway epithelial cells, which may promote the activation of the immune system and the release of inflammatory factors. Our findings provide a new research direction for understanding the potential microenvironment required by SARS-CoV-2 infection in airway epithelial, which may assist in the discovery of potential drug targets against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Protein structure analysis of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor: from conformational changes to novel neutralizing antibodies
Authors: Mercurio Ivan , Tragni Vincenzo , Busco Francesco , De Grassi Anna , Pierri Ciro Leonardo
Published: April 2020

The recent severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread so much rapidly and severely to induce World Health Organization (WHO) to declare state of emergency over the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. While several countries have chosen the almost complete lock-down for slowing down SARS-CoV-2 spread, scientific community is called to respond to the devastating outbreak by identifying new tools for diagnosis and treatment of the dangerous COVID-19. With this aim we performed anin silicocomparative modeling analysis, which allows to gain new insights about the main conformational changes occurring in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, at the level of the receptor binding domain (RBD), along interactions with human cells angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, that favour human cell invasion. Furthermore, our analysis provides i) an ideal pipeline to identify already characterized antibodies that might target SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD, for preventing interactions with the human ACE2, and ii) instructions for building new possible neutralizing antibodies, according to chemical/physical space restraints and complementary determining regions (CDR) mutagenesis of the identified existing antibodies. The proposed antibodies showin silicoa high affinity for SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and can be used as reference antibodies also for building new high affinity antibodies against present and future coronavirus able to invade human cells through interactions of their spike proteins with the human ACE2. More in general, our analysis provides indications for the set-up of the right biological molecular context for investigating spike RBD-ACE2 interactions for the development of new vaccines, diagnosis kits and other treatments based on the usage or the targeting of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.