July 31, 2020 (Diagnostics)

Effect of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Pulmonary Circulation. The Particular Scenario of Precapillary Pulmonary Hypertension

Jorge Nuche, Teresa Segura de la Cal, Carmen Jimenez Lopez Guarch et al.

​https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics10080548

Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) could represent an especially vulnerable population for developing severe COVID-19 because of the high mortality rates reported for respiratory infections. However, the number of cases reported among PAH and CTEPH patients is surprisingly low. Endothelial dysfunction is a common feature between patients with PAH/CTEPH and COVID-19, leading to ventilation/perfusion mismatch, vasoconstriction, thrombosis and inflammation. In this comprehensive review, the authors describe the similarities and differences between both conditions and the possible pathophysiological and therapeutic-based mechanisms leading to the low incidence and severity of COVID-19 reported in PAH/CTEPH patients to date.

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July 30, 2020 (Infection)

Prognostic value of serum amyloid A in patients with COVID-19

Li Cheng, Jian-Zhong Yang, Wen-Hui Bai et al.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-020-01468-7

The authors investigated the prognostic value of serum Amyloid A (SAA) in patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients. They collected data from 89 patients and divided them into survival group and non-survival group. The SAA levels of all patients were recorded and compared on 1 day after admission (before treatment) and 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days after treatment. They found that SAA can be used as a predictor of the prognosis in patients with COVID-19.

 

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July 29, 2020 (JAMA Network Open)

Comparison of Face-Touching Behaviors Before and During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Yong-Jian chen, Gang Qin, Jie Chen et al.

​his cross-sectional study examines mask wearing and face-touching behaviors before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China, Japan, South Korea, Western Europe, and the US.

 

 

July 28, 2020 (Infection)
Pulmonary function in patients surviving to COVID-19 pneumonia

Alessia Fumagalli, Clementina Misuraca, Achille Bianchi et al.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-020-01474-9

The authors studied the respiratory function of 13 confirmed COVID-19 patients at the time of clinical recovery and 6 weeks after discharge in patients surviving to COVID-19 pneumonia. They found that patients with COVID-19 pneumonia may have clinically relevant alterations in pulmonary function tests, with a mainly restrictive pattern.

 

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July 28, 2020 (Infection)

Cardiac manifestations of COVID-19 in Shenzen, China

Jia-Hui Zeng, Wei-Bo Wu, Jiu-Xin Qu et al.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-020-01473-w

The authors compared clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of 416 confirmed COVID-19 inpatients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients. They found that myocardial injury marker elevation, ventricular wall thickening, pulmonary artery hypertension, and cardiac complications including acute myocardial injury, arrhythmia, and acute heart failure are more common in ICU patients with COVID-19. Cardiac injury in COVID-19 patients may be related more to the systemic response after infection rather than direct damage by coronavirus.

 

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July 28, 2020 (NEJM)

Evaluation of the mRNA-1273 Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in Nonhuman Primates

Kizzmekia S. Corbett, Barbara Flynn, Kathryn E. Foulds et al.

​https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2024671

Two injections of an mRNA-based vaccine encoding the SARS-CoV2 spike protein elicited high levels of neutralizing antibody and Th1 CD4 T-cell responses in rhesus macaques. Two days after challenge of vaccinated animals with intranasal and intratracheal virus, viral replication was undetectable in bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid and nasal secretions.

 

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July 27, 2020 (JAMA Network Open)

Estimation of Viral Aerosol Emissions From Simulated Individuals with Asymptomatic to Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019

Michael Riediker, Dai-Hua Tsai

​This mathematical modeling study estimates viral aerosol emissions from simulated individuals with asymptomatic to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

 

 

July 27, 2020 (Nature)

Longitudinal analyses reveal immunological misfiring in severe COVID-19

Lucas, C., Wong, P., Klein, J. et al.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2588-y

The authors serially analysed immune responses in 113 COVID-19 patients with moderate (non-ICU) and severe (ICU) disease. Immune profiling revealed an overall increase in innate cell lineages with a concomitant reduction in T cell number. The authors identified development of a maladapted immune response profile associated with severe COVID-19 outcome and early immune signatures that correlate with divergent disease trajectories.

 

 

July 24, 2020 (Science)

The impact of COVID-19 and strategies for mitigation and suppression in low- and middle-income countries

Patrick G. T. Walker, Charles Whittaker, Oliver J. Watson et al.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc0035

The authors combine data on demography, contact patterns, disease severity and health care capacity and quality to understand the impact of COVID-19 and inform strategies for its control.

 

 

July 24, 2020 (JAMA)

Presence of Genetic Variants Among Young Men With Severe COVID-19

Caspar I. van der Made, Annet Simmons, Janneke Schuurs-Hoeijmakers et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.13719

This case series included 4 young male patients, with no previous medical ailments who were admitted with severe COVID-19 from 2 families (2 pairs of brothers). The authors performed rapid clinical whole-exome sequencing, as well as basic genetic and immunological tests in primary immune cells isolated from the patients and family members to characterize any immune defects. They found rare loss-of- function variants of the X-chromosomal TLR7, with immunological defects in type I and II interferon production. These preliminary findings provide insights into the pathogenesis of COVID-19.

 

 

July 24, 2020 (JAMA)

Molecular Underpinnings of Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019

Robert M. Plenge

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.14015

The molecular underpinnings of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the COVID-19 disease it causes are poorly understood. Inherited genetic variation is an important tool to disentangle cause and consequence, which in turn can generate insights to guide therapeutic interventions to prevent or treat disease. The author reviews the study by van der Made and colleagues (above) and discusses the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of this genetic study for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19? The author concludes that the genetic study begins to unravel the molecular underpinnings of COVID-19, and as additional genetic loci are identified, such data could lead to improved diagnostics and therapeutics, including rational repurposing of existing anti-inflammatory therapies in either early infection or late-stage severe disease.

 

 

July 23, 2020 (NEJM)

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in U.S. Children and Adolescents

Leora R Feldstein, Erica B. Rose, Steven M. Horwitz et al.

10.1056/NEJMoa2021680

This report describes the epidemiology and clinical course of patients younger than 21 years of age from 26 states in USA who had multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Many were infected with SARS-CoV2 at least 1 – 2 weeks before syndrome onset. The median age of the patients was 8.3 years, and 73% were previously healthy.

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June 23, 2020 (Int J of Inf. Dis)

Comparing COVID-19 and the 1918–19 influenza pandemics in the United Kingdom

Daihai He, Shi Zhao, Yingke Li

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.075

The authors compared the COVID-19 and 1918–19 influenza pandemics in the United Kingdom. They found that the ongoing COVID-19 wave of infection matched the major wave of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic, with both reaching similar magnitudes (in terms of estimated weekly new infections). They also discussed the similarities in epidemiological characteristics between these two pandemics.

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July 22, 2020 (Psychiatry Research)

The COVID-19 anxiety syndrome scale: Development and psychometric properties

Ana V. Nikcevic, Marcantonio M.Spada

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113322

The authors developed a COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C-19ASS) to identify the presence of anxiety syndrome features associated with COVID-19. They evaluated the C-19ASS and found that it appears to be a reliable and valid measure of COVID-19 anxiety syndrome. The implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.

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July 22, 2020 (JAMA)

Pooling Data from Individual Clinical Trials in the COVID-19 Era

Eva Petkova, Elliot M. Antman, Andrea B. Troxel

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.13042

This Viewpoint proposes principles and processes to allow pooling of individual patient data from clinical trials given decelerating participant recruitment at sites where the COVID-19 surge has been controlled and new cases are diminishing.

 

 

July 21, 2020 (Jama Int Med)

Seroprevalence of Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in 10 Sites in the United States, March 23-May 12, 2020

Fiona P. Havers, Carrie Reed, Travis Lim et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.4130

This cross-sectional study estimates the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies in convenience samples from 10 geographic sites in the United States. Of the 16025 clinical specimens tested, it was estimated that the proportion of persons with detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies ranged from 1.0% in the San Francisco Bay area (collected April 23-27) to 6.9% of persons in New York City (collected March 23-April 1). Six to 24 times more infections were estimated per site with seroprevalence than with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) case report data. The results indicate that it is likely that greater than 10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred than the number of reported COVID-19 cases; most persons in each site, however, likely had no detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

 

 

July 21, 2020 (JAMA)

Clinical Characteristics of 58 Children With a Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV2

Elizabeth Whittaker, Alasdair Bamford, Julia Kenny et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.10369

This case series describes the clinical and laboratory characteristics of children hospitalized in England from March to May 2020 who met criteria for pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (PIMS-TS), and compares syndrome characteristics with historical cases of Kawasaki disease (KD), KD shock syndrome, and toxic shock syndrome (TSS).

 

 

July 20, 2020 (The Lancet)

Immunogenicity and safety of a recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine in healthy adults aged 18 years or older: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial

Feng-Cai Zhu, Xu-Hua Guan, Yu-Hua Li et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31605-6

This authors report the results of the first randomised controlled trial for assessment of the immunogenicity and safety of a candidate non-replicating adenovirus type-5 (Ad5)-vectored COVID-19 vaccine. The trial was aimed at determining an appropriate dose of the candidate vaccine for an efficacy study. The authors found that the Ad5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine at 5 × 1010 viral particles is safe, and induced significant immune responses in the majority of recipients after a single immunisation.

 

 

July 20, 2020 (The Lancet)

Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase 1 / 2, single-blind, randomised controlled trial

Pedro M Folegatti, Katie J Ewer, Parvinder K Aley et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31604-4

The authors assessed the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of a viral vectored coronavirus vaccine that expresses the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 showed an acceptable safety profile, and homologous boosting increased antibody responses. These results, together with the induction of both humoral and cellular immune responses, support large-scale evaluation of this candidate vaccine in an ongoing phase 3 programme.

 

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July 20, 2020 (JAMA)

Thrombosis in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in a New York City Health System

Seda Bilaloglu,  Yin Aphinyanaphongs,  Simon Jones, et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.13372

This study examines the incidence of and risk factors for venous and arterial thrombosis in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in 4 New York City hospitals.

 

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July 18, 2020 (European Radiology)

From community-acquired pneumonia to COVID-19: a deep learning–based method for quantitative analysis of COVID-19 on thick-section CT scans

Zhang Li, Zheng Zhong, Yang Li et al.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-07042-x

In this retrospective study, an AI system was developed to automatically segment and quantify the COVID-19 infected lung regions on thick-section chest CT images. The authors found that this system can accurately quantify the COVID-19-associated lung abnormalities and assess the disease severity and its progressions.

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July 17, 2020 (Science)

Aging immunity may exacerbate COVID-19

Arne N. Akbar and Derek W. Gilroy

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb0762

This Viewpoint piece describes the immune system in the elderly population and how it contributes to florid inflammation seen in more severe manifestation of Covid-19 infections among the aged.

 

 

July 17, 2020 (The NEJM)

Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19 — Preliminary Report

The RECOVERY Collaborative Group

https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2021436

This preliminary report by the RECOVERY Collaborative Group provides details on the current findings of the trial that looks at Dexamethasone in hospitalized Covid-19 patients, with 28-day mortality as a primary outcome.

 

 

July 15, 2020 (Nature Microbiology)

A dynamic nomenclature proposal for SARS-CoV2 lineages to assist genomic epidemiology

Andrew Rambaut, Edward C. Holmes, Aine O’Toole et al.

​​https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0770-5 

The ongoing pandemic spread of SARS-CoV-2, which is associated with severe pneumonia/disease (COVID-19), has resulted in the generation of tens of thousands of virus genome sequences. The rate of genome generation is unprecedented, yet there is currently no coherent nor accepted scheme for naming the expanding phylogenetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2. Here, the authors present a rational and dynamic virus nomenclature that uses a phylogenetic framework to identify those lineages that contribute most to active spread. Their system on active virus lineages and those spreading to new locations. This nomenclature will assist in tracking and understanding the patterns and determinants of the global spread of SARS-CoV-2.

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July 15, 2020 (JAMA Psychiatry)

Meeting Maternal Mental Health Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alison Hermann,  Elizabeth M. Fitelson, Veerle Bergink

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1947

This Viewpoint discusses current mental health concerns for pregnant and postpartum women in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

 

 

July 15, 2020 (JAMA Int. Med)

Factors Associated With Death in Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in the US

Shruti Gupta, Salim S. Hayek, Wei Wang, et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.3596

This cohort study of adults with COVID-19 examines factors associated with death and interhospital variation in treatment and outcomes in the US.

 

 

July 14, 2020 (JAMA)

Association Between Universal Masking in a Health Care System and SARS-CoV-2 Positivity Among Health Care Workers

Xiaowen Wang, MD; Enrico G. Ferro, MD; Guohai Zhou, PhD; et al

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.12897

This study amongst healthcare workers in the Mass General Brigham (MGB) healthcare system in Massachusetts, USA, explores associations of hospital masking policies with the SARS-CoV-2 infection rates among HCW.

 

 

July 14, 2020 (The NEJM)

An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report

Jackson LA, Anderson EJ, Rouphael NG, Roberts PC, Makhene M, Coler RN, et al.

https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483

This article is a preliminary report on an ongoing open-label, phase 1 trial of mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 conducted in Seattle and Atlanta, USA. The authors provide a current report on the immune response among the trial participants, and adverse effects from the vaccine.

 

 

July 10, 2020 (Journal of Immunology Research)

The Pathogenesis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Evaluation and Prevention

Ouassou, Hayat, Kharchoufa, Loubna, Bouhrim, Mohamed et al.

https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1357983

This study highlights the epidemiology, immunology, transmission, symptoms, and treatment of Covid-19, as well as  explore potential strategies to control the spread of the disease.

 

 

July 10, 2020 (RadioGraphics)

RadioGraphics Update: Venous Thrombosis and Hypercoagulability in the Abdomen and Pelvis—Findings in COVID-19

Michael C. Olson, Meghan G. Lubner , Christine O. Menias et al.

https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.202020119

This RadioGraphics update reviews current updates from prior studies done on radiological and imaging findings in COVID-19 patients that are associated with thromboembolic phenomena.

 

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July 10, 2020 (The Lancet Haematology)

Haematological characteristics and risk factors in the classification and prognosis evaluation of COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study

Danying Liao, Fen Zhou, Lili Luo et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30217-9

Changes in haematological characteristics in patients with COVID-19 are emerging as important features of the disease. In this retrospective study, the authors explored the haematological characteristics and related risk factors in patients with COVID-19. They found that rapid blood tests, including platelet count, prothrombin time, D-dimer, and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio can help clinicians to assess severity and prognosis of patients with COVID-19. The sepsis-induced coagulopathy scoring system can be used for early assessment and management of patients with critical disease.

 

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July 10, 2020 (JAMA)

Pathophysiology, Transmission, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Review

W, Joost Wiersinga, Andrew Rhodes, Allen C. Cheng et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.12839

This comprehensive and up-to-date review discusses current evidence regarding the pathophysiology, transmission, diagnosis, and management of COVID-19.

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July 9, 2020 (The NEJM)

Pulmonary Vascular Endothelialitis, Thrombosis, and Angiogenesis in COVID-19

Ackermann M, Verleden SE, Kuehnel M, et al.

https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2015432

This study describes autopsy findings amongst patients who died from COVID-19, compared to similar patients who died from Influenza A(H1N1). The authors describe the inflammation and thrombotic findings in post-mortem COVID-19 lungs.

 

 

July 9, 2020 (Int. J of Dentistry)

COVID-19 Pandemic and Dental Practice

A.S Kochhar, R. Bhasin, G.K Kochhar, H. Dadlani

https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8894794

This paper provides a brief overview of the etiology, incubation, symptoms, and transmission paradigms of COVID-19 and how to minimize the spread in a dental healthcare setting. This review presents evidence-based patient management practice and protocols from the available literature to help formulate a contingency plan with recommendations, for the dental practices prior to patients’ visit, during in-office dental treatment, and post-treatment, during the pandemic and after.

 

 

July 8, 2020 (Infection, Disease & Health)

Understanding Covid-19 transmission: The effect of temperature and health behavior on transmission rates

Ozyigit A.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idh.2020.07.001

This study examines factors that impact transmission rates in several countries in Europe, including containment measures and temperature.

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July 8, 2020 (JAMA Netw. Open)

Association of a Public Health Campaign About Coronavirus Disease 2019 Promoted by News Media and a Social Influencer With Self-reported Personal Hygiene and Physical Distancing in the Netherlands

Hamza Yousuf, Jonathan Corbin, Govert Sweep et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.14323

This survey study examines a nationwide social media campaign about personal hygiene and physical distancing in the Netherlands and evaluates its effectiveness in improving behaviour and curbing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

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July 7, 2020 (Genes & Diseases)

Pandemic COVID-19: current status and challenges of antiviral therapies

Winglam Chan, Betsy He, Xiong Wang, Ming-Liang He

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gendis.2020.07.001

This article is a summary of the mechanisms of antiviral therapies that have been used for COVID-19 treatment and the clinical findings from different countries. These include Azithromycin, Hydroxycloroquine, Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy and Natural Killer (NK) Cell therapy.

 

 

July 2020 (Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging)

Chest CT in COVID-19 pneumonia: A review of current knowledge

C.Jalabera, T.Lapotreb, T.Morcet-Delattreb et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diii.2020.06.001

This review explores current updates in CT-scan findings in Covid-19, and their role in triaging patients in an emergency setting, as well as the utility of artificial intelligence in improving Covid-19 diagnosis and management.

 

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July 6, 2020 (Clin Inf Dis)

It is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 

Lidia Morawska, Donald K Milton

https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa939

The authors review existing evidence of transmission of COVID-19 and are of the viewpoint that it is important to recognize the potential for airborne spread of COVID-19.

 

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July 6, 2020 (JAMA)

Developing a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine at Warp Speed

Kevin P. O’Callaghan, Allison M. Blatz, Paul A. Offit

https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.12190

In this Viewpoint, we describe the proposed mechanisms and current status of each of these leading candidates, all of which are aimed at inducing antibodies directed against the receptor-binding domain of the surface spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2.

 

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June 5, 2020 (Diab. & Metabolic Syndrome: Clin Research & Reviews)

COVID-19 and addiction

Mahua Jana Dubey, Ritwik Ghosh, Subham Chatterjee et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2020.06.008

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant psychosocial impact worldwide Marginalized community, particularly those with substance use disorders (SUD), are particularly vulnerable to contract the infection and also likely to suffer from a greater psychosocial burden. This article analyses the intricate bi-directional relationship between COVID-19 and addiction.

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July 3, 2020 (Cell)

Making sense of mutation: what D614G means for the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear

Nathan D. Grubaugh, William P. Hanage, Angela L. Rasmussen

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.040

Korber et al. (2020) found that a SARS-CoV-2 variant in the spike protein, D614G, rapidly became dominant around the world. While clinical and in vitro data suggest that D614G changes the virus phenotype, the impact of the mutation on transmission, disease, vaccine and therapeutic development are largely unknown. Here the authors try to answer questions on the potential impacts, if any, that D614G has on the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

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July 3, 2020 (Science)

SARS-CoV-2 productively infects human gut enterocytes

Mart M. Lamers, Joep Beumer, Jelte van der Vaart et al.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc1669

SARS-CoV-2 causes an influenza-like disease with a respiratory transmission route;, however, patients often present with gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea. Lamers et al. used human intestinal organoids, a “mini-gut” cultured in a dish, to demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 readily replicates in an abundant cell type in the gut lining—the enterocyte—resulting in the production of large amounts of infective virus particles in the intestine. This work demonstrates that intestinal organoids can serve as a model to understand SARS-CoV-2 biology and infectivity in the gut.

 

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July 3, 2020 (The Lancet Haematology)

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply and use of blood for transfusion

Simon J Stanworth, Helen V New, Torunn O Apelseth et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30186-1

The COVID-19 pandemic has major implications for blood transfusion. The authors systematically searched for relevant studies addressing the transfusion chain—from donor, through collection and processing, to patients—to provide a synthesis of the published literature and guidance during times of potential or actual shortage.

 

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July 2, 2020 (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health)

Emergence of Kawasaki disease related to SARS-CoV-2 infection in an epicentre of the French COVID-19 epidemic: a time-series analysis

Naim Ouldali, Marie Pouletty, Patricia Mariani et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30175-9

Kawasaki disease is an acute febrile systemic childhood vasculitis, which is suspected to be triggered by respiratory viral infections. The authors examined whether the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with an increase in the incidence of Kawasaki disease.

 

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July 2, 2020 (JAMA Neurology)

Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vs Patients With Influenza

Alexander E. Merkler, Neal S. Parikh, Saad Mir et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.2730

This cohort study compares the rate of ischemic stroke among patients with COVID-19 vs patients with influenza in 2 hospitals in New York City, New York. They found that patients with COVID-19 appear to have a heightened risk of acute ischemic stroke compared with patients with influenza.

 

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July 2, 2020 (Science)

Primary exposure to SARS-CoV-2 protects against reinfection in rhesus macaques

Wei Deng, Linlin Bao, Jiangning Liu et al.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc5343

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, there are still many questions we need to answer. Currently, it remains unclear whether convalescing patients have a risk of reinfection. The authors generated a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection that was characterized by interstitial pneumonia and systemic viral dissemination mainly in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Rhesus macaques reinfected with the identical SARS-CoV-2 strain during the early recovery phase of the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection did not show detectable viral dissemination, clinical manifestations of viral disease, or histopathological changes. Comparing the humoral and cellular immunity between primary infection and rechallenge revealed notably enhanced neutralizing antibody and immune responses. These results suggest that primary SARS-CoV-2 exposure protects against subsequent reinfection in rhesus macaques.

 

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July 1, 2020 (JAMA Psychiatry)

Telehealth for Substance-Using Populations in the Age of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Recommendations to Enhance Adoption

Lewei (Allison) Lin, Anne C. Fernandez, Erin E. Bonar

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1698

This Viewpoint discusses the need for and implementation of telemedicine for patients with substance use disorder in the era of coronavirus disease 2019.

 

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July 1, 2020 (JAMA Network Open)

Prevalence of and Risk Factors Associated With Mental Health Symptoms Among the General Population in China During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Le Shi, Zheng-An Lu, Jian-Yu Que, et al.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.14053

This survey involving more than 50,000 participants estimated the prevalence of depression and anxiety, and also looked at the risk factors associated with mental health symptoms. The mental health burden associated with COVID-19 is considerable among the general population of China, suggesting that mental health interventions are in urgent demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for some at-risk populations.

 

 

July 1, 2020 (Heliyon)

A one-step, one-tube real-time RT-PCR based assay with an automated analysis for detection of SARS-CoV2

Bhasker Dharavath, Neelima Yadav, Sanket Desai et al.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e4405

The authors present a rapid, easy to implement real-time PCR based assay with automated analysis using a novel COVID qPCR Analyzer tool with graphical user interface (GUI) to analyze the raw qRT-PCR data in an unbiased manner at a cost of under $3 per reaction and turnaround time of less than 2h, to enable in-house SARS-CoV-2 testing across laboratories.

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