bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development of an Optical Assay to Detect SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Binding Interactions with ACE2 and Disruption of these Interactions Using Electric Current
Authors: Al Ahmad Mahmoud , Mustafa Farah , Panicker Neena , Rizvi Tahir A. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis study proposes a novel optical method of detecting and reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping the world today. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the β-coronaviruses characterized by the crown-shaped spike protein that protrudes out of the virus particles, giving the virus a “corona” shape; hence the name coronavirus. This virus is similar to the viruses that caused SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), the other two coronavirus epidemics that were recently contained within the last ten years. The technique being proposed uses a light source from a smart phone and a mobile spectrophotometer to enable detection of viral proteins in solution or paper as well as protein-protein interactions. The proof-of-concept is shown by detecting soluble preparations of spike protein subunits from SARS-CoV-2, followed by detection of the actual binding potential of the spike protein with its host receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The results are validated by showing that this method can detect antigen-antibody binding using two independent viral protein-antibody pairs. The binding could be detected optically both in solution and on a solid support such as nitrocellulose membrane. Finally, this technique is combined with DC bias to show that introduction of a current into the system can be used to disrupt the antigen-antibody reaction, suggesting that the proposed extended technique can be a potential means of not only detecting the virus, but also reducing virus transmission by disrupting virus-receptor interactions electrically.SignificanceThe measured intensity of light can reveal information about different cellular parameters under study. When light passes through a bio-composition, the intensity is associated with its content. The nuclei size, cell shape and the refractive index variation of cells contributes to light intensity. In this work, an optical label-free real time detection method incorporating the smartphone light source and a portable mini spectrometer for SARS-CoV-2 detection was developed based on the ability of its spike protein to interact with the ACE2 receptor. The light interactions with control and viral protein solutions were capable of providing a quick decision regarding whether the sample under test was positive or negative, thus enabling SARS-CoV-2 detection in a rapid manner.
How local interactions impact the dynamics of an epidemic
Authors: Wren Lydia , Best Alex 
Published: November 2020

AbstractSusceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) models have long formed the basis for exploring epidemiological dynamics in a range of contexts, including infectious disease spread in human populations. Classic SIR models take a mean-field assumption, such that a susceptible individual has an equal chance of catching the disease from any infected individual in the population. In reality, spatial and social structure will drive most instances of disease transmission. Here we explore the impacts of including spatial structure in a simple SIR model. We combine an approximate mathematical model (using a pair approximation) and stochastic simulations to consider the impact of increasingly local interactions on the epidemic. Our key development is to allow not just extremes of ‘local’ (neighbour-to-neighbour) or ‘global’ (random) transmission, but all points in between. We find that even medium degrees of local interactions produce epidemics highly similar to those with entirely global interactions, and only once interactions are predominantly local do epidemics become substantially lower and later. We also show how intervention strategies to impose local interactions on a population must be introduced early if significant impacts are to be seen.
Positive rates predict death rates of Covid-19 locally and worldwide 13 days ahead
Authors: Mimkes Jürgen , Janssen Rainer 
Published: November 2020

SummaryIn the Covid-19-pandemic, the numbers of deceased do not consistently follow the number of new infections. The CFR mortality has declined in Germany from 5 % to 0.4 %. However, if we interpret the portion of positive tests as a positive rate, we find the positive rate and the numbers of deceased to run parallel with an offset of about 13 days. This has been observed worldwide in ten other countries and locally in Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Germany the IFR mortality is about 29 per one million inhabitants, in the USA about 42, in Israel about 17, in the Netherlands 23, in Austria 27, in France 33, in Spain 36, in the UK 47 and Italy about 56 per million inhabitants. In Japan and South-Korea the mortality rate is only about 3 per million inhabitants, with an offset of about 25 days.The daily positive ratio, which is reported by state health authorities, allows to estimate the number of deaths (and seriously ill people) about 13 days ahead. This gives local hospitals more time for detailed planning. The daily positive rate may be interpreted as a “thermometer” of the respective country. The positive rate gives a much better picture of the state of the pandemic and should be reported by the media in addition to infection numbers. In official guidelines a 7-day-positive-rate is a much better guideline than the 7-day-incidence.
How Timing of Stay-at-home Orders and Mobility Reductions Impacted First-Wave COVID-19 Deaths in US Counties
Authors: Audirac Michelle , Tec Mauricio , Meyers Lauren Ancel , Fox Spencer , Zigler Cory 
Published: November 2020

AbstractAs SARS-CoV-2 transmission continues to evolve, understanding how location-specific variations in non-pharmaceutical interventions and behaviors contributed to disease transmission during the initial epidemic wave will be key for future control strategies. We offer a rigorous statistical analysis of the relative effectiveness of the timing of both official stay-at-home orders and population mobility reductions during the initial stage of the US epidemic. We use a Bayesian hierarchical regression to fit county-level mortality data from the first case on Jan 21 2020 through Apr 20 2020 and quantify associations between the timing of stay-at-home orders and population mobility with epidemic control. We find that among 882 counties with an early local epidemic, a 10-day delay in the enactment of stay-at-home orders would have been associated with 14,700 additional deaths by Apr 20 (95% credible interval: 9,100, 21,500), whereas shifting orders 10 days earlier would have been associated with nearly 15,700 fewer lives lost (95% credible interval: 11,350, 18,950). Analogous estimates are available for reductions in mobility—which typically occurred before stay-at-home orders—and are also stratified by county urbanicity, showing significant heterogeneity. Results underscore the importance of timely policy and behavioral action for early-stage epidemic control.
Prediction of evolution of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
Authors: Ciufolini Ignazio , Paolozzi Antonio 
Published: November 2020

AbstractA relevant problem in the study of the Covid-19 pandemic is the study of its temporal evolution. Such evolution depends on a number of factors, among which the average rate of contacts between susceptible and infected individuals, the duration of infectiousness and the transmissibility, that is the probability of infection after a contact between susceptible and infected individuals. In a previous study, we analyzed the potentiality of a number of distributions to describe the evolution of the pandemic and the potentiality of each distribution to mathematically predict the evolution of the pandemic in Italy. Since the number of daily tests was changing and increasing with time, we used the ratio of the new daily cases per swab. We considered distributions of the type of Gauss (normal), Gamma, Beta, Weibull, Lognormal and in addition of the type of the Planck blackbody radiation law. The Planck law, describing the amount of energy of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a black body at each wavelength or at each frequency, marked in 1900 the beginning of Quantum Mechanics. The result of our analysis was that, among the considered distributions, the Planck law has the best potentiality to mathematically predict the evolution of the pandemic and the best fitting capability. In this paper, we analyze the time evolution of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy and in particular we predict the ratio of the new daily cases per swab at Christmas 2020 using the data in the interval from 17 Oct to 21 Nov. According to Figure 4 and Figure 8, the prediction for such a ratio around Christmas is approximately within 6% and 7%. In this study there is also an attempt to account for the effects of the governmental containment measures.
The Kids Are Not Alright: A Preliminary Report of Post-COVID Syndrome in University Students
Authors: Walsh-Messinger Julie , Manis Hannah , Vrabec Alison , Sizemore Jenna , Bishof Karyn , Debidda Marcella , Malaspina Dolores , Greenspan Noah 
Published: November 2020

ABSTRACTBackgroundPost-COVID syndrome is increasingly recognized by the medical community but has not been studied exclusively in young adults. This preliminary report investigates the prevalence and features of protracted symptoms in non-hospitalized university students who experienced mild-to-moderate acute illness.Methods148 students completed an online study to earn research credit for class. Data from COVID-19 positive participants with symptoms ≥28 days (N=22) were compared to those who fully recovered (N=21) and those not diagnosed with COVID-19 (N=58).Results51% of participants who contracted COVID-19 (N=43) experienced symptoms ≥28 days and were classified as having post-COVID syndrome; all but one (96%) were female. During acute illness the post-COVID group, compared to those who fully recovered, experienced significantly more chest pain (64% vs 14%; P=.002), fatigue (86% vs 48%; P=.009), fever (82% vs 48%; P=.02), olfactory impairment (82% vs 52%; P=.04), headaches (32% vs 5%; P<.05), and diarrhea (32% vs 5%; P<.05). Compared to those not diagnosed with COVID-19, the post-COVID syndrome group more frequently experienced exercise intolerance (43% vs. 0%; P<.001), dyspnea (43% vs. 0%; P<.001), chest pain (31% vs 7%; P=.002), olfactory impairment (19% vs 0%; P=.004), lymphadenopathy (19% vs 0%; P=.004), gustatory impairment (14% vs 0%; P=.02), and appetite loss (36% vs 14%; P=.02).InterpretationOur results contradict the perception that this “yet to be defined” post-COVID syndrome predominantly affects middle-aged adults and suggest that exercise intolerance, dyspnea, chest pain, chemosensory impairment, lymphadenopathy, rhinitis, and appetite loss may differentiate post-COVID syndrome from general symptoms of pandemic, age, and academic related stress. These findings are also consistent with previous reports that females are more vulnerable to this post viral syndrome. Large-scale population-based studies are essential to discerning the magnitude and characterization of post-COVID syndrome in young adults as well as more diverse populations.
A Test-Based Strategy for Safely Shortening Quarantine for COVID-19
Authors: Lewis Dana M. , Leibrand Scott , Leibrand Howard 
Published: November 2020

AbstractQuarantine for COVID-19 is hard and could safely be made easier. Lengthy quarantine is difficult for many individuals to rigorously observe. To date, 14 days has been recommended as the quarantine period for people who are exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case, because most infections appear by then. For household close contacts, there remains a 0.5% chance that a COVID-19 infection may appear after that time, because the COVID-19 incubation period is up to 21 days. However, the risk of transmission after 14 days is so small that public health authorities have decided that 0.5% is an acceptable risk to balance the impact of quarantine on individuals, their communities, and our economy. Therefore, this 0.5% risk of infection is a useful benchmark to consider additional strategies for reducing the burden on individuals while reducing spread of COVID-19. With appropriately timed testing and awareness of possible symptoms, a non-symptomatic individual with a negative COVID-19 test at day 7-8 would be at lower risk of being or becoming infectious than someone completing a 14-day quarantine without testing. If we implemented a test-based strategy for determining the end of quarantine, these individuals could be safely released from quarantine at an earlier date, and would be able to more rigorously quarantine themselves while potentially most infectious.
The Relationship between Weekly Periodicity and COVID-19 Progression
Authors: Li Sophia 
Published: November 2020

AbstractCOVID-19 is extraordinary both as once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and having abundant real-time case data, thus providing an extraordinary opportunity for timely independent analysis and novel perspectives. We investigate the weekly periodicity in the daily reported new cases and new deaths with the implied relationships to the societal and institutional responses using autocorrelation and Fourier transformation. The results show significant linear correlations between the weekly periodicity and the total cases and deaths, ranging from 50% to 84% for sizable groups of countries with population normalized deaths spanning nearly three orders of magnitude, from a few to approaching a thousand per million. In particular, the Strength Indicator of the periodicity in the new cases, defined by the autocorrelation with a 7-day lag, is positively correlated strongly to the total deaths per million in respective countries. The Persistence Indicator of the periodicity, defined as the average of three autocorrelations with 7-, 14- and 21-day lags, is an overall better indicator of the progression of the pandemic. For longer time series, Fourier transformation gives similar results. This analysis begins to fill the gap in modeling and simulation of epidemics with the inclusion of high frequency modulations, in this case most likely from human behaviors and institutional practices, and reveals that they can be highly correlated to the magnitude and duration of the pandemic. The results show that there is significant need to understand the causes and effects of the periodicity and its relationship to the progression and outcome of the pandemic, and how we could adapt our strategies and implementations to reduce the extent of the impact of COVID-19.
Exploring the Healthy Behaviors of Nigerians during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Eyisi Ifeanyichukwu Meek 
Published: November 2020

ABSTRACTHealthy behaviors remain important for staying safe during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study, therefore, explored the healthy behaviors of Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 related news on healthy behaviors. Thirty-three (17 females and 16 males) participants from the general Nigerian population with age range of 23-64 years were recruited via social media using the snowball technique. Responses were elicited using semi-structured questions and subjected to thematic analysis. The healthy behaviors identified included; “social distancing”, “changes in nutrition”, “hand washing or sanitizing”, “exercise”, “increased vigilance from those with comorbidities”, and “use of facemask”. In another analysis, the impacts of COVID-19 related news on healthy behaviors were; “behavior modification”, “anxious impacts”, and “fake news about COVID-19 caused people to stop listening to COVID-19 related news”. Findings generated practical implications for enhancing healthy behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The role of the media in strengthening healthy behaviors during the pandemic was also highlighted.
Clinical and immunological benefits of convalescent plasma therapy in severe COVID-19: insights from a single center open label randomised control trial
Authors: Ray Yogiraj , Paul Shekhar Ranjan , Bandopadhyay Purbita , D’Rozario Ranit , Sarif Jafar , Lahiri Abhishake , Bhowmik Debaleena , Vasudevan Janani Srinivasa , Maurya Ranjeet , Kanakan Akshay , Sharma Sachin , Kumar Manish , Singh Praveen , Roy Rammohan , Chaudhury Kausik , Maiti Rajsekhar , Bagchi Saugata , Maiti Ayan , Perwez Md. Masoom , Mondal Abhinandan , Tewari Avinash , Mandal Samik , Roy Arpan , Saha Moumita , Biswas Durba , Maiti Chikam , Chakraborty Sayantan , Sarkar Biswanath Sharma , Haldar Anima , Saha Bibhuti , Sengupta Shantanu , Pandey Rajesh , Chatterjee Shilpak , Bhattacharya Prasun , Paul Sandip , Ganguly Dipyaman 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIntroductionA single center open label phase II randomised control trial was done to assess the pathogen and host-intrinsic factors influencing clinical and immunological benefits of passive immunization using convalescent plasma therapy (CPT), in addition to standard of care (SOC) therapy in severe COVID-19 patients, as compared to patients only on SOC therapy.MethodsConvalescent plasma was collected from patients recovered from COVID-19 following a screening protocol which also included measuring plasma anti SARS-CoV2 spike IgG content. Retrospectively, neutralizing antibody content was measured and proteome was characterized by LC-MS/MS for all convalescent plasma units that were transfused to patients. Severe COVID-19 patients with evidence for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with PaO2/FiO2 ratio 100-300 (moderate ARDS) were recruited and randomised into two parallel arms of SOC and CPT, N=40 in each arm. Peripheral blood samples were collected on the day of enrolment (T1) followed by day3/4 (T2) and day 7 (T3). RT-PCR and sequencing was done for SARS-CoV2 RNA isolated from nasopharyngeal swabs collected at T1. A panel of cytokines and neutralizing antibody content were measured in plasma at all three timepoints. Patients were followed up for 30 days post-admission to assess the primary outcomes of all cause mortality and immunological correlates for clinical benefits.ResultsWhile across all age-groups no statistically significant clinical benefit was registered for patients in the CPT arm, significant immediate mitigation of hypoxia, reduction in hospital stay as well as survival benefit was recorded in severe COVID-19 patients with ARDS aged less than 67 years receiving convalescent plasma therapy. In addition to its neutralizing antibody content a prominent effect of convalescent plasma on attenuation of systemic cytokine levels possibly contributed to its benefits.ConclusionPrecise targeting of severe COVID-19 patients is necessary for reaping the clinical benefits of convalescent plasma therapy.Clinical trial registrationClinical Trial Registry of India No. CTRI/2020/05/025209
Self-harm during the early period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in England: comparative trend analysis of hospital presentations
Authors: Hawton Keith , Casey Deborah , Bale Elizabeth , Brand Fiona , Ness Jennifer , Waters Keith , Kelly Sam , Geulayov Galit 
Published: November 2020

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures necessary to address it may have major effects on mental health, including on self-harm. We have used well-established monitoring systems in two hospitals in England to investigate trends in self-harm presentations to hospitals during the early period of the pandemic.MethodData collected in Oxford and Derby on patients aged 18 years and over who received a psychosocial assessment after presenting to the emergency departments following self-harm were used to compare trends during the three-month period following lockdown in the UK (23rd March 2020) to the period preceding lockdown and the equivalent period in 2019.ResultsDuring the 12 weeks following introduction of lockdown restrictions there was a large reduction in the number of self-harm presentations to hospitals by individuals aged 18 years and over compared to the pre-lockdown weeks in 2020 (mean weekly reduction of 13.5 (95% CI 5.6 - 21.4) and the equivalent period in 2019 (mean weekly reduction of 18.0 (95% CI 13.9 - 22.1). The reduction was greater in females than males, occurred in all age groups, with a larger reduction in presentations following self-poisoning than self-injury.ConclusionsA substantial decline in hospital presentations for self-harm occurred during the three months following the introduction of lockdown restrictions. Reasons could include a reduction in self-harm at the community level and individuals avoiding presenting to hospital following self-harm. Longer-term monitoring of self-harm behaviour during the pandemic is essential, together with efforts to encourage help-seeking and the modification of care provision.
Emotion regulation in emerging adults with major depressive disorder and frequent cannabis use
Authors: Nichols Emily S. , Penner Jacob , Ford Kristen A. , Wammes Michael , Neufeld Richard W.J. , Mitchell Derek G.V. , Greening Steven G. , Théberge Jean , Williamson Peter C. , Osuch Elizabeth A. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn people with mental health issues, approximately 20% have co-occurring substance use, often involving cannabis. Although emotion regulation can be affected both by major depressive disorder (MDD) and by cannabis use, the relationship among all three factors is unknown. In this study, we used fMRI to evaluate the effect that cannabis use and MDD have on brain activation during an emotion regulation task. Differences were assessed in 74 emerging adults aged 16-23 with and without MDD who either used or did not use cannabis. Severity of depressive symptoms, emotion regulation style, and age of cannabis use onset were also measured. Both MDD and cannabis use interacted with the emotion regulation task in the left temporal lobe, however the location of the interaction differed for each factor. Specifically, MDD showed an interaction with emotion regulation in the middle temporal gyrus, whereas cannabis use showed an interaction in the superior temporal gyrus. Emotion regulation style predicted activity in the right superior frontal gyrus, however, this did not interact with MDD or cannabis use. Severity of depressive symptoms interacted with the emotion regulation task in the left middle temporal gyrus. The results highlight the influence of cannabis use and MDD on emotion regulation processing, suggesting that both may have a broader impact on the brain than previously thought.