Anxiety and depression among pregnant women undergoing IVF-ET and WeChat group peer support during the COVID-19 pandemic: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: The psychological well-being of pregnant women following assisted reproductive has increasingly gained attention in recent years. Anxiety and depression may be associated to pregnancy outcomes. This study aims to determine whether peer support and the WeChat group platform will reduce anxiety and depression among in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) women. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In the present randomized controlled study, 296 patients with confirmed clinical pregnancy following IVF-ET will be randomly assigned to receive standard intervention support or WeChat peer support on a 1:1 basis. The levels of anxiety and depression are the primary endpoints. Assessments will be performed at baseline measurements, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester, and data will be collected. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved as ethical by the affiliated hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Reproductive Ethics Committee. Each patient will sign a written statement of informed permission. All information and biological samples will be legally protected. A peer-reviewed academic journal will publish the findings of this investigation. DISCUSSION: Given the inconvenience of visits due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, this study addresses the patient's visit needs by combining WeChat, the most widely used social software in China, with peer support, while helping improve maternal anxiety, depression, and pregnancy outcomes following IVF-ET.

Anxiety and depression among pregnant women undergoing IVF-ET and WeChat group peer support during the COVID-19 pandemic: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The psychological well-being of pregnant women following assisted reproductive has increasingly gained attention in recent years. Anxiety and depression may be associated to pregnancy outcomes. This study aims to determine whether peer support and the WeChat group platform will reduce anxiety and depression among in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) women. Methods and Analysis: In the present randomized controlled study, 296 patients with confirmed clinical pregnancy following IVF-ET will be randomly assigned to receive standard intervention support or WeChat peer support on a 1:1 basis. The levels of anxiety and depression are the primary endpoints. Assessments will be performed at baseline measurements, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester, and data will be collected. Ethics and Dissemination: This study has been approved as ethical by the affiliated hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Reproductive Ethics Committee. Each patient will sign a written statement of informed permission. All information and biological samples will be legally protected. A peer-reviewed academic journal will publish the findings of this investigation. Discussion: Given the inconvenience of visits due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, this study addresses the patient's visit needs by combining WeChat, the most widely used social software in China, with peer support, while helping improve maternal anxiety, depression, and pregnancy outcomes following IVF-ET.

Folic acid: a potential inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.

CONTEXT: Coronavirus disease 2019 is a global pandemic. Studies suggest that folic acid has antiviral effects. Molecular docking shown that folic acid can act on SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Phosphoprotein (SARS-CoV-2 N). OBJECTIVE: To identify novel molecular therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Traditional Chinese medicine targets and virus-related genes were identified with network pharmacology and big data analysis. Folic acid was singled out by molecular docking, and its potential target SARS-CoV-2 N was identified. Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 N of folic acid was verified at the cellular level. RESULTS: In total, 8355 drug targets were potentially involved in the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. 113 hub genes were screened by further association analysis between targets and virus-related genes. The hub genes related compounds were analysed and folic acid was screened as a potential new drug. Moreover, molecular docking showed folic acid could target on SARS-CoV-2 N which inhibits host RNA interference (RNAi). Therefore, this study was based on RNAi to verify whether folic acid antagonises SARS-CoV-2 N. Cell-based experiments shown that RNAi decreased mCherry expression by 81.7% (p < 0.001). This effect was decreased by 8.0% in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 N, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 N inhibits RNAi. With increasing of folic acid concentration, mCherry expression decreased, indicating that folic acid antagonises the regulatory effect of SARS-CoV-2 N on host RNAi. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Folic acid may be an antagonist of SARS-CoV-2 N, but its effect on viruses unclear. In future, the mechanisms of action of folic acid against SARS-CoV-2 N should be studied.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein enhances ACE2 expression via facilitating Interferon effects in bronchial epithelium.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we focused on the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host Type I Interferon (IFN) response, so as to identify whether IFN effects could be influenced by the products of SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: All the structural and non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were transfected and overexpressed in the bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B respectively, and typical antiviral IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) ISG15 expression was detected by qRT-PCR. RNA-seq based transcriptome analysis was performed between control and Spike (S) protein-overexpressed BEAS-2B cells. The expression of ACE2 and IFN effector JAK-STAT signaling activation were detected in control and S protein-overexpressed BEAS-2B cells by qRT-PCR or/and Western blot respectively. The interaction between S protein with STAT1 and STAT2, and the association between JAK1 with downstream STAT1 and STAT2 were measured in BEAS-2B cells by co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP). RESULTS: S protein could activate IFN effects and downstream ISGs expression. By transcriptome analysis, overexpression of S protein induced a set of genes expression, including series of ISGs and the SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2. Mechanistically, S protein enhanced the association between the upstream JAK1 and downstream STAT1 and STAT2, so as to promote STAT1 and STAT2 phosphorylation and ACE2 expression. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 S protein enhances ACE2 expression via facilitating IFN effects, which may help its infection.

Current strategies against COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recently was declared a pandemic by world health organization (WHO) Due to sudden outbreaks, currently, no completely effective vaccine or drug is clinically approved. Several therapeutic strategies can be envisaged to prevent further mortality and morbidity. Based on the past contribution of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and immune-based therapies as a treatment option in crucial pathogen outbreaks, we aimed to summarize potential therapeutic strategies that could be helpful to stop further spread of SARS-CoV-2 by effecting its structural components or modulation of immune responses. Several TCM with or without modification could be effective against the structural protein, enzymes, and nucleic acid should be tested from available libraries or to identify their immune-stimulatory activities to enhance several antiviral biological agents for effective elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from the host. TCM is not only effective in the direct inhibition of virus attachment and internalization in a cell but can also prevent their replication and can also help to boost up host immune response. Immune-modulatory effects of TCMs may lead to new medications and can guide us for the scientific validity of drug development. Besides, we also summarized the effective therapies in clinical for controlling inflammation. This review will be not only helpful for the current situation of COVID-19, but can also play a major role in such epidemics in the future.

Automatic Detection of COVID-19 Using X-ray Images with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks and Machine Learning (preprint)

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating effect on the health and well-being of the global population. A vital step in the combat towards COVID-19 is a successful screening of contaminated patients, with one of the key screening approaches being radiological imaging using chest radiography. This study aimed to automatically detect COVID-19 pneumonia patients using digital chest x-ray images while maximizing the accuracy in detection using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN). The dataset consists of 864 COVID-19, 1345 viral pneumonia and 1341 normal chest x-ray images. In this study, DCNN based model Inception V3 with transfer learning have been proposed for the detection of coronavirus pneumonia infected patients using chest X-ray radiographs and gives a classification accuracy of more than 98% (training accuracy of 97% and validation accuracy of 93%). The results demonstrate that transfer learning proved to be effective, showed robust performance and easily deployable approach for COVID-19 detection.

Active constituents and mechanisms of Respiratory Detox Shot, a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, for COVID-19 control and prevention: Network-molecular docking-LC-MSE analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Lung-toxin Dispelling Formula No. 1, referred to as Respiratory Detox Shot (RDS), was developed based on a classical prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the theoretical understanding of herbal properties within TCM. Therapeutic benefits of using RDS for both disease control and prevention, in the effort to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have been shown. However, the biochemically active constituents of RDS and their mechanisms of action are still unclear. The goal of the present study is to clarify the material foundation and action mechanism of RDS. METHODS: To conduct an analysis of RDS, an integrative analytical platform was constructed, including target prediction, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and cluster analysis; further, the hub genes involved in the disease-related pathways were identified, and the their corresponding compounds were used for in vitro validation of molecular docking predictions. The presence of these validated compounds was also measured in samples of the RDS formula to quantify the abundance of the biochemically active constituents. In our network pharmacological study, a total of 26 bioinformatic programs and databases were used, and six networks, covering the entire Zang-fu viscera, were constructed to comprehensively analyze the intricate connections among the compounds-targets-disease pathways-meridians of RDS. RESULTS: For all 1071 known chemical constituents of the nine ingredients in RDS, identified from established TCM databases, 157 passed drug-likeness screening and led to 339 predicted targets in the constituent-target network. Forty-two hub genes with core regulatory effects were extracted from the PPI network, and 134 compounds and 29 crucial disease pathways were implicated in the target-constituent-disease network. Twelve disease pathways attributed to the Lung-Large Intestine meridians, with six and five attributed to the Kidney-Urinary Bladder and Stomach-Spleen meridians, respectively. One-hundred and eighteen candidate constituents showed a high binding affinity with SARS-coronavirus-2 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro), as indicated by molecular docking using computational pattern recognition. The in vitro activity of 22 chemical constituents of RDS was validated using the 3CLpro inhibition assay. Finally, using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry in data-independent analysis mode, the presence of seven out of these 22 constituents was confirmed and validated in an aqueous decoction of RDS, using reference standards in both non-targeted and targeted approaches. CONCLUSION: RDS acts primarily in the Lung-Large Intestine, Kidney-Urinary Bladder and Stomach-Spleen meridians, with other Zang-fu viscera strategically covered by all nine ingredients. In the context of TCM meridian theory, the multiple components and targets of RDS contribute to RDS's dual effects of health-strengthening and pathogen-eliminating. This results in general therapeutic effects for early COVID-19 control and prevention.