Covid Lists

Scientific Reports - Incidence and burden of long COVID in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The multitude of cellular types can be expected to behave differently when receiving invading pathogens such as mammalian viruses. The nature-dictated causes for such intrinsic cellular diversity become the criteria for the emergence of specific virus-receptor interactions on that particular host cellular surface, in order to accommodate contact with various other living entities whether desirable to the host or not. At present, we are presented with an example of two contrasting behaviours wherein the well-known HIV-1 and the more recently emergent SARS-CoV-2 cause adverse consequences to the differentiation and functions of progenitor stem cells. These include the two different downstream multipotent CD34+ hematopoietic (HSPC) and CD133+ endothelial (ESPC) stem-progenitor cells of their common pluripotent hemangioblast precursors. The two viruses target the respective endothelial and hematopoietic stem-progenitor cells to thrive upon the relevant host cellular surrounded stromal microenvironments by adopting reciprocally-driven mechanistic routes, which incidentally cause pathogenesis either directly of ESPC (SARS-CoV-2), or indirectly of HSPC (HIV-1). HIV-1 utilizes the CD4+ T-lymphocyte receptor thereby advancing pathogenesis indirectly to the CD34+ HSPC. SARS-CoV-2 directly targets the CD133+ ESPC via ACE2 receptor causing cytokine storms of the CD4+ T-lymphocytes. In this manner, these two viruses cause and extend their damage to the other cellular sub/types coexisti...

Background COVID-19 survivors may suffer from a wide range of chronic cognitive symptoms for months or years as part of post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC). To date, there is no definitive objective cognitive marker for PCC. We hypothesised that a key common deficit in people with PCC might be generalised cognitive slowing. Methods To examine cognitive slowing, PCC patients completed two short web-based cognitive tasks, Simple Reaction Time (SRT) and Number Vigilance Test (NVT). 270 patients diagnosed with PCC at two different clinics in UK and Germany were compared to two control groups: individuals who contracted COVID-19 before but did not experience PCC after recovery (No-PCC group) and uninfected individuals (No-COVID group). Findings We identified pronounced cognitive slowing in PCC patients, which distinguished them from age-matched healthy individuals who previously had symptomatic COVID-19 but did not manifest PCC. Cognitive slowing was evident even on a 30-second task measuring simple reaction time (SRT), with PCC patients responding to stimuli ~3 standard deviations slower than healthy controls. This finding was replicated across two clinic samples in Germany and the UK. Comorbidities such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and post-traumatic stress disorder did not account for the extent of cognitive slowing in PCC patients. Furthermore, cognitive slowing on the SRT was highly correlated with the poor performance of PCC patients on the NVT measure of sustained attention. Interpretation Together, these results robustly demonstrate pronounced cognitive slowing in people with PCC, which distinguishes them from age-matched healthy individuals who previously had symptomatic COVID-19 but did not manifest PCC. This might be an important factor contributing to some of the cognitive impairments reported in PCC patients. Funding Wellcome Trust (206330/Z/17/Z), NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, the Thuringer Aufbaubank (2021 FGI 0060), German Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, FI 1424/2-1) and the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union (ITN SmartAge, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019-859890). ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This research was supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, and the Thuringer Aufbaubank (2021 FGI 0060). S.Z. and M.H. were funded by the Wellcome Trust (206330/Z/17/Z). E.M.M. was funded by Ph.D. scholarship Landesgraduiertenstipendium of Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. K.F. was funded by German Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, FI 1424/2-1) and the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union (ITN SmartAge, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019-859890). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The ethics committee of Jena University Hospital (Approval Reference: 5082-02/17) and South Central Oxford A Research Ethics Committee (Approval Reference: 18/SC/0448) gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes De-identified data supporting this study may be shared based on reasonable written requests to the corresponding author. Access to de-identified data will require a Data Access Agreement and IRB clearance, which will be considered by the institutions who provided the data for this research. The simple reaction time task and the number vigilance task can be tried online at [https://octalportal.com/pcc]. The source code is shared using a Creative Commons NC-ND 4.0 international licence upon reasonable written request to the corresponding author and publicly available at [https://octalportal.com/pcc]. https://octalportal.com/pcc

We’re in our *3rd* post-lockdown viral respiratory season and admissions for viral resp illness+pneumonia are 6 standard deviations above the historical average. I do not understand how so many reasonable people haven’t figured out that the “immunity debt” scapegoat is disinfo.🧵 https://t.co/6JHLSqp1Cl— Dr. Lisa Iannattone (@lisa_iannattone) December 2, 2023

Scientific Reports - Infectivity of exhaled SARS-CoV-2 aerosols is sufficient to transmit covid-19 within minutes

Last year observed a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2) infection affecting millions of individuals worldwide. There is an urgent unmet need to provide an easily producible and affordable medicine to prevent transmission and provide early treatment for this disease. Since the nasal cavity and the rhinopharynx are the sites of initial replication of SARS-CoV-2, a nasal spray may be an effective option to target SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we tested the antiviral action of three candidate nasal spray formulations against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. We determined that iota-carrageenan in concentrations as low as 6 μg/mL inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The concentrations of iota-carrageenan with activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro may be easily achieved through the application of nasal sprays as commonly used in several countries. Recently a double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that iota-carrageenan in isotonic sodium chloride reduces ca. five times the risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2 in health care personnel. Further, xylitol at a concentration of 50 mg/mL (ca. 329 mM) was found to exert some antiviral action, though this preliminary finding needs further confirmation.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent, making it an attractive alternative to traditional antibiotics for treating infections. To date, a direct comparison of the antibacterial activity of gaseous NO (gNO) versus water-soluble NO-releasing ...

Increasing evidence suggests immune dysregulation in individuals recovering from SARS- CoV-2 infection. We have undertaken an integrated analysis of immune responses at a transcriptional, cellular, and serological level at 12, 16, and 24 weeks post-infection (wpi) in 69 individuals recovering from mild, moderate, severe, or critical COVID-19. Anti-Spike and anti-RBD IgG responses were largely stable up to 24wpi and correlated with disease severity. Deep immunophenotyping revealed significant differences in multiple innate (NK cells, LD neutrophils, CXCR3+ monocytes) and adaptive immune populations (T helper, T follicular helper and regulatory T cells) in COVID-19 convalescents compared to healthy controls, which were most strongly evident at 12 and 16wpi. RNA sequencing suggested ongoing immune and metabolic dysregulation in convalescents months after infection. Variation in the rate of recovery from infection at a cellular and transcriptional level may explain the persistence of symptoms associated with long COVID in some individuals. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study was financially supported by grants from The Hospital Research Foundation, Flinders Foundation, The Womens and Childrens Hospital Foundation, and the Flinders University College of Medicine and Public Health COVID-19 grant scheme. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Study participants were recruited via the Central Adelaide Health Network (CALHN). The study was performed in accordance with the ethical principles consistent with the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki (version Fortaleza 2013), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and according to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Guidelines for Research published in the National Statement on the Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007; updated 2018). The protocol was approved CALHN Human Research Ethics Committee, Adelaide, Australia (Approval No. 13050) All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes RNA-Seq data have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) under accession GSE169687. Count tables, metadata, and R code for all analyses (serology, flow cytometry and RNA-Seq) have been uploaded to the Lynn Laboratory BitBucket (https://bitbucket.org/lynnlab/covid-sa).

Lymphocytopenia - Etiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, signs, diagnosis & prognosis from the Merck Manuals - Medical Professional Version.

To investigate whether COVID-19 infection was associated with increased risk for incident respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections and associated diseases among young children that might have contributed to the 2022 surge of severe paediatric RSV ...

archived 7 Nov 2023 16:58:03 UTC

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), believed to be linked to COVID-19, damages the heart to such an extent that some children will need lifelong monitoring and interventions, said the senior author of a medical literature review published Sept. 4 in EClinicalMedicine, a journal of The Lancet. Case studies also show MIS-C can strike seemingly […]

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant worsening of cognition in older adults, associated with changes in known dementia risk factors. The sustained decline in cognition highlights the need for public health interventions to mitigate the risk of dementia—particularly in people with mild cognitive impairment, in whom conversion to dementia within 5 years is a substantial risk. Long-term intervention for people with a history of COVID-19 should be considered to support cognitive health.

Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy - The long-term health outcomes, pathophysiological mechanisms and multidisciplinary management of long COVID

A discovery by Stanford Medicine researchers and colleagues may pave the way for a “morning after” or prophylactic nasal spray to prevent infection.

The most recent review into the effectiveness of face masks has confirmed that they do help to prevent covid-19, but the intervention remains a controversial issue

More than three years after the first COVID-19 cases, several patients suffer from post-infectious health effects called long COVID [1, 2]. These sequelae have been defined as symptoms persisting more than 3 months after initial COVID-19 [3]. Fatigue, concentration difficulties, shortness of breath, and myalgia are among the numerous symptoms associated with long COVID [1, 4, 5]. It was early documented, that Omicron infection resulted in a milder acute course compared to previous variants [6], and understanding the risk and the characteristics of long COVID symptoms following changing variants has been of great interest for planning prevention and rehabilitation strategies.

72% Indians surveyed have one or more in their close network who experienced heart or brain stroke or cancer acceleration in the last three and half years since COVID arrived

A novel nitric oxide nasal spray launched in India for treating Covid-19 patients among adults who are at high risk of progressing to severe stages of the viral disease.

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You’re good to go Taffix is a scientifically proven nasal spray that creates a hostile microenvironment in the nose where many airborne viruses can’t survive.  The Taffix (Powder) Spray Device is indicated for use against viruses within the nasal cavity. How It Works Taffix’s creates...

Objectives: Bney Brak city tops Israel's COVID-19 infection rate and mortality. Before the Jewish New Year (two-day gathering) SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity rates were 17.6% and reached 28.1% two weeks later Taffix - an innovative nasal powder creates a protective gel over the nasal mucosa blocki …

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Use BETADINE® Cold Defence Nasal Spray for colds at the first sign of cold symptoms. Learn about BETADINE® Nasal Spray, a clinically proven cold treatment.

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👃🏽💦 Nasal sprays are an under-used but highly effective layer to include in your covid-safety strategy! 👃🏿 Here's a thread on 4 really effective ones: pic.twitter.com/RdtXXAlRLf— Clean Air Club (@Clean_Air_Club_) July 30, 2023