Recent advances of functional nucleic acid-based sensors for point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV-2.

This review focuses on critical scientific barriers that the field of point-of-care (POC) testing of SARS-CoV-2 is facing and possible solutions to overcome these barriers using functional nucleic acid (FNA)-based technology. Beyond the summary of recent advances in FNA-based sensors for COVID-19 diagnostics, our goal is to outline how FNA might serve to overcome the scientific barriers that currently available diagnostic approaches are suffering. The first introductory section on the operationalization of the COVID-19 pandemic in historical view and its clinical features contextualizes essential SARS-CoV-2-specific biomarkers. The second part highlights three major scientific barriers for POC COVID-19 diagnosis, that is, the lack of a general method for (1) designing receptors of SARS-CoV-2 variants; (2) improving sensitivity to overcome false negatives; and (3) signal readout in resource-limited settings. The subsequent part provides fundamental insights into FNA and technical tricks to successfully achieve effective COVID-19 diagnosis by using in vitro selection of FNA to overcome receptor design barriers, combining FNA with multiple DNA signal amplification strategies to improve sensitivity, and interfacing FNA with portable analyzers to overcome signal readout barriers. This review concludes with an overview of further opportunities and emerging applications for FNA-based sensors against COVID-19.

Chronic Diseases as a Predictor for Severity and Mortality of COVID-19: A Systematic Review With Cumulative Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Given the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the consequent global healthcare crisis, there is an urgent need to better understand risk factors for symptom deterioration and mortality among patients with COVID-19. This systematic review aimed to meet the need by determining the predictive value of chronic diseases for COVID-19 severity and mortality. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Complete to identify studies published between December 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. Two hundred and seventeen observational studies from 26 countries involving 624,986 patients were included. We assessed the risk of bias of the included studies and performed a cumulative meta-analysis. Results: We found that among COVID-19 patients, hypertension was a very common condition and was associated with higher severity, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mortality. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was the strongest predictor for COVID-19 severity, admission to ICU, and mortality, while asthma was associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 mortality. Patients with obesity were at a higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms of COVID-19 rather than mortality. Patients with cerebrovascular disease, chronic liver disease, chronic renal disease, or cancer were more likely to become severe COVID-19 cases and had a greater probability of mortality. Conclusions: COVID-19 patients with chronic diseases were more likely to experience severe symptoms and ICU admission and faced a higher risk of mortality. Aggressive strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic should target patients with chronic diseases as a priority.

Synthesis of dual-phase Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers for efficient adsorption of SARS-CoV-2.

In this study, we synthesized the dual-phase Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers for efficient adsorption of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a life-threatening virus being taking millions of people lives. The Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers were synthesized by preparation of H2Ti3O7 precursor, polydopamine coating and furnace calcination. Protein and phospholipid adsorption assays showed that the dual-phase nanofibers had much higher affinity to both the model molecules bovine serum album (BSA) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) than the control single-phase Ti6O11 nanofibers. Consistently, the dual-phase nanofibers exhibited much stronger adsorption ability to SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus than Ti6O11. This study sheds a light on titanium oxide nanomaterials to adsorb SARS-CoV-2 for avoiding its infection and for capturing it during rapid virus detection.

Personal Growth and Well-Being in the Time of COVID: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Analysis.

The physical distancing measures necessitated by COVID-19 have resulted in a severe withdrawal from the patterns of daily life, necessitating significantly reduced contact with other people. To many, such withdrawal can be a major cause of distress. But, to some, this sort of withdrawal is an integral part of growth, a pathway to a more enriching life. The present study uses a sequential explanatory QUAN-qual design to investigate whether people who felt that their lives had changed for the better after being forced to engage in physical distancing, what factors predicted such well-being, and how they spent their time to generate this sense of well-being. We invited 614 participants who reported closely following physical distancing recommendations to complete a survey exploring this topic. Our analyses, after controlling for all other variables in the regression model, found a greater positive association between presence of meaning in life, coping style, and self-transcendent wisdom and residualized current well-being accounting for retrospective assessments of well-being prior to physical distancing. An extreme-case content analysis of participants' personal projects found that participants with low self-transcendent wisdom reported more survival-oriented projects (e.g., acquiring groceries or engaging in distracting entertainments), while participants reporting high self-transcendent wisdom reported more projects involving deepening interactions with other people, especially family. Our findings suggest a more nuanced pathway from adversity to a deeper sense of well-being by showing the importance of not merely coping with adversity, but truly transcending it.